Chapter 3 Chapter Two: Marriage and Family in the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties

The evolution from patriarchal extended family to monogamous individual marriage has gone through a long and gradual process.my country's Xia and Shang dynasties were in the process of this evolution.Yu, the first king of Xia, unlike the legendary Emperor Ku and Emperor Yao who each had four wives, and unlike Shun who could marry Ehuang and Nvying sisters at the same time, he had only one wife, the Tu Shan family. .Among the more than 30 kings in the Shang Dynasty, most of them were paired with each other, such as Shangtang with Concubine Bing, Taijia with Concubine Xin, etc.But in the late Shang Dynasty, the system of monogamy and multiple concubines had been implemented. For example, Shang Wuding had 64 concubines in addition to his main wife.

In the Zhou Dynasty, the form of marriage was strict monogamy supplemented by multiple concubines.The implementation of this system reflects the privileged status of the slave owners in the Eastern and Western Zhou societies and the extravagance in life.In ancient books, it is recorded that "the son of heaven has queens, wives, wives, wives and concubines" and "princesses have wives, wives, wives and concubines" ("Book of Rites·Qu Li"). A strong proof of the legalization of wives and concubines in the real life of nobles. The practice of monogamy and multiple concubines in the Shang and Zhou slave-owner nobles was related to the concubine (yingying) marriage system implemented at that time.

According to Zhou rituals, due to the importance of the status of the emperor and the princes, their marriage demonstration role is also given special attention. Marrying a wife should only be one-time. Second, the conditions for the princes of the son of heaven to "produce their wives" are restricted compared with those of other classes, that is, "the wives of princes of the son of heaven have no children but only six ears" ("Rituals Mourning Clothes") .Of course, the princes of the Son of Heaven will not cut off the incense because of the death of their main wife or childlessness, so they stipulate that one should be made up as a wife in order from the women who were dowry at the time of marriage, and one of the children born to the dowry women should be selected as the heir. The marriage system came into being.

What is "媵"? "Rituals Shihunli" explained: "Girl, send it off, it is also called a female follower." The meaning of sending off extends to the dowry person.It can be seen that "媵" is the person who married the prince's daughter when she got married.The system of concubine marriage stipulates that when the daughter of a prince marries, her younger sister (di) and niece (姪) must marry along with her.In addition, each of the two princes with the same surname as the woman will send a daughter to marry with them, which is called "Zheng Concubine";This is the so-called "one prince marries nine daughters, and the prince never marries again" ("Gongyang Zhuan Nineteen Years of Zhuang Gong").This kind of marriage system not only reflects the relics of the original marriage customs, but also became a means for slave owners and nobles to expand their political power through marriage.

The concubine marriage system was also reflected in the literary works at that time. "The Book of Songs · Bin [bin Bin] Feng · July" is a work written in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty. In it, the sentence "the woman's heart is sad, and the son will return with him" is explained by Yao Jiheng and Wang Xianqian of the Qing Dynasty: the son refers to the son of Bin. Daughter, the "women" who are sad are their concubines and female slaves. The reason why they are sad is that they are afraid to marry with the mistress and become concubines. The concubine marriage system is actually polygamy under the cover of monogamy.In the Zhou Dynasty, after the situation of multiple wives and concubines was fixed by Zhou Li, it had a strong hierarchical characteristic.The number of wives and concubines is directly proportional to the identity, status, power, property, etc. of the slave owner.The emperor in the highest position can "set up six palaces, three wives, nine concubines, and eighty-one royal wives" and say "this is Shengde" ("Book of Rites · Hunyi").The princes married nine daughters once.Qings and officials who are lower than the princes have one wife and two concubines, and scholars can also marry one wife and one concubine. Unlike the emperor and princes, they are allowed to remarry after the death of their wives, so they do not adopt the "concubine marriage" system of one-time marriage. .

In the Warring States period when each was fighting for hegemony, the princes no longer paid attention to the rule of marrying nine daughters. Some married 12 daughters, while others married again.Although there has always been the phenomenon of dowry in the entire feudal society, the dowry women are still called "媵", and their status is higher than that of ordinary concubines, also called noble concubines, but they follow each other and marry several women at a time. The concubine marriage system marked by the Warring States Period has gone forever. In the Shang and Zhou societies, true monogamy was generally practiced only among the common people (common people), which was determined by their social status and property status. A sentence in "The Analects of Confucius·Xianwen" illustrates this situation of the common people: "It's as if everyone is forgiven."A husband and a woman refer to ordinary people, who have no concubines, and only husband and wife can face each other.

During the more than 1,700 years from the Xia Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period, there were still a large number of slaves, most of whom were prisoners of war.Slaves are owned by their masters, and therefore, slave families are also included in the slave master's family.Everything about the slave, including the labor products created, his own body and life, including marriage, is completely under the control of the slave owner.In order to ensure the reproduction of the labor force they mastered, slave owners often let some male and female slaves pair up to "marry".The common written records in the bronze inscriptions of the Zhou Dynasty, such as "鬲 [li Li] ten families", "servant ten families", and "chen ten families", are a true portrayal of this situation.The title of "children born by slaves" for the children born of male slaves and female slaves continued until the end of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of the Han Dynasty.