Home Categories Chinese history Yi Zhongtian History of China 03. Founder

Chapter 19 1. The eldest son

The core of the patriarchal system is the eldest son. The first wife is the main wife.Wife rivals husband, so it is called Di.A son born to a wife is called a legitimate son.Among the legitimate sons, the first born is called the eldest son. The opposite of the entropy is called the concubine. Shu means many (common people), small (common people), complex (common affairs), humble (common people) and so on.Rare things are more expensive, and more are worthless.Since the original meaning of Shu is "many", it means "humble". However, the status of concubine sons is lower than that of concubine sons, not because the number of concubine sons must be small, but because the number of mothers of concubine sons is large.The mother of a legitimate son is a wife, and there can only be one; the mother of a concubine is a concubine, and there can be several.According to the marriage system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, noble men could have wives and concubines.The lowest class has one wife and one concubine, and the middle and high-level nobles have one wife and one concubine.This is called "monogamy and multiple concubines".

One wife and multiple concubines are also part of the patriarchal system. Well, since there are so many concubines, of course they are "shu". In fact, the title of concubine is derogatory.Its original meaning is female slave.The first were female prisoners of war.To save their lives, prisoners of war could only be slaves, so "men are ministers and women are concubines".Primitive concubines were probably women who were taken casually by the victors, and only because they were captives.At that time, prisoners of war had no human rights. Later concubines, too. According to the "system of one wife and multiple concubines", the origins of wives and concubines are different.A wife is called to marry, and a concubine is called to accept.A wife must be in the right family, and the matchmaker is married in order to be able to rival her husband and be called a concubine.If you take a concubine, you can steal, rob, buy, cheat, and stalk.Because concubines do not have to have status and status.She can be the wife's dowry, the parents' maid, the brothel's girl, and the friend's diva.Therefore, parents can reward it, friends can give it to them, they can ask for it, and even the overlord can force their bows.Since the origin of the concubine is so unknown, its status can be imagined.

Therefore, such a system can only be called "polygamy", not "polygamy". As a result, their sons are also unequal. In fact, not only the concubine and the legitimate son are not equal, but also the legitimate son and the legitimate son are not equal.The highest status is the "eldest son"; the second is the "second son", that is, the other sons of the wife; and the third is the "concubine", that is, the son of the concubine.But their father is the same person, and a nobleman.If the father is the king of Zhou, they are princes; if the father is a prince, they are sons.Princes and sons, should they be divided into different classes?

need.The reason is in inheritance. The emperor, princes, and doctors have many inheritances.Titles, territories, property, power, all of these must be inherited.The right to inherit, of course, is his son.Because the royal family of the emperor, the public family of the princes, and the clan of the doctor, like the whole society, all practice "patriarchal system".This is another content of the patriarchal system.But all the sons came to inherit, but it didn't work.Some things, such as property, can be divided.The title and power cannot be divided, and can only be passed on to one son.

This requires a rule. Without rules, if the sons fight, it will be impossible to maintain stability. The patriarchal system is to establish rules. The rule established by the Zhou people is called "the eldest son inheritance system".To put it bluntly, it was the "inheritance law" at that time, but it was not a "civil law" but a "law of etiquette".This is the core and key of the patriarchal system.According to this system, not only the title and power of the father, but also the blood of the patrilineal family can only be inherited by the eldest son.This is called "patriarchal law".Why is it called "patriarchal law"?Because the first generation of the clan is called Zu, and the second generation is called Zong.The ritual law that determines who is the second generation (zong) is of course called "patriarchal law".

The patriarchal system stipulates that it doesn't matter who the ancestor is.But starting from the second generation, in principle, it can only be inherited by the eldest son, unless there is none.If the eldest son is passed on from the eldest son to the eldest son, and it is passed down all the way without interruption, then such inheritance is called "direct inheritance", such a system is called "direct line", such bloodline is called "orthodox", and such sect is called " authentic". These are the three elements of patriarchal law—— 1. Paternalism;

2. Monogamy and multiple concubines; Three, eldest son inheritance system. But what does this have to do with feudalism?
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