Chapter 12 Section 3 Conditions for Establishment of Marriage

From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty, the prohibition of marriage with the same surname was still very strict, and the system of exogamy was implemented. This is of course the inheritance of the principle of "no marriage with the same surname" in Zhou Li.For example, the law of the Tang Dynasty stipulated: "Those who are married with the same surname will each have two years of apprenticeship, and those who are more than hemp will be considered adulterers."Those who are above the lineage are considered relatives within the five households according to their relatives, and belong to the category of "same clan and surname, neither can be married".Related to the prohibition of marriage with the same surname is the strict prohibition of marriage of superiority and inferiority. The law clearly stipulates: "If there is a subordination in the foreign marriage, the superiority and inferiority are a marriage, and if you marry half-sisters of the same mother, if the ex-husband's daughter is also considered adultery. "("Tang Law Discussion").While the law implements non-marriage with the same surname, it does not strictly prohibit the marriage of close relatives of the same generation with different surnames. Middle-cousin marriages between cousins ​​have been popular for a long time in Chinese history.From the perspective of genetics and eugenics, the blood relationship between cousins ​​and cousins ​​is the same, and they belong to inbreeding, which is extremely unfavorable to the growth of offspring.

During the Han and Tang Dynasties, there was also a brief period when intermarriage of the same surname was not prohibited.At the end of the Han Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty, wars continued for years, and the population dropped sharply.Emperor Wu of Jin rebelled against the previous ban on intermarriage with the same surname and allowed intermarriage with the same surname.During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, due to the emphasis on family status, the scope of marriage among the gentry became narrower and narrower, so that there were a large number of marriages of different generations and middle-cousin marriages.As a result, the gentry in the late Southern Dynasties became "fragile in skin and soft in bones, unbearable to walk, weak in body [lei Lei], weak in spirit, and intolerant of cold and heat" ("Yan's Family Instructions · She Wu"), intellectually they were "only remember names when writing "(Ibid., "Mian Xue").This is one of the reasons for the decline of the gentry in the Southern Dynasties.

Intermarriage between the good and the low is strictly prohibited, that is, intermarriage between rich and powerful people and those without money and power is strictly prohibited.The core of the feudal hierarchy system is high and low.Therefore, the strict prohibition of intermarriage between good and low is a rule that has been followed in terms of marriage conditions since the Zhou and Qin Dynasties. During the Han and Tang Dynasties, it was especially emphasized by the ruling class, and it was often included in the legal provisions.Qin destroyed the six kingdoms, and Qin Shihuang carved stones to record his achievements.According to the Taishan inscription stone regulations, in the marriage relationship, there should be "a clear distinction between high and low, and men and women should be courteous".In the Han Dynasty, the feudal ethical relationship was vigorously advocated and maintained, and the trend of paying attention to hierarchy in marriage became more and more popular.During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the law clearly prohibited nobles and commoners from marrying.In the fourth year of peace (AD 463) of Emperor Wencheng of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the winter edict ordered that "the royal family, princes, princes, and the families of scholars and concubines must not marry all kinds of craftsmen and low-ranking surnames. ").In the Tang Dynasty, the law also made express regulations on the strict prohibition of intermarriage between good and bad.The untouchables in the Tang Dynasty included Buqu, Yueren, miscellaneous households, official households, slaves and so on.For example, a miscellaneous household conceals his identity and marries his beloved, requiring a hundred sticks.It will take a year and a half for a beloved man to marry a government official's daughter privately.The law also prohibits marrying women who have fled after committing crimes as wives and concubines.

While intermarriage between good and bad people was strictly prohibited, hierarchical marriages and powerful marriages began to prevail.The characteristic of hierarchical marriage is that both parties to the marriage attach great importance to whether the other party has a similar economic status to their own, especially a similar political and social status to their own.For example, during the Han Dynasty, the wealthy households in the Ying (yingying) Sichuan area had their surnames "married with each other".During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the wealthy Guo Ju family intermarried with the wealthy Dou Xian family.

In the Han Dynasty, the royal family paid the most attention to the political and social status in marriage.According to the regulations of the Han Dynasty, the political status of the person who marries the princess should be a prince clearly determined by the imperial court.Families who marry male members of the royal family should also be the current princes.Relying on the special relationship with the emperor, the foreign relatives often chose high-ranking court officials or members of the royal family as partners for intermarriage. Officials and members of the landlord class generally entered into marriages with each other.One of the many examples is the marriage of Sima Yang Chang, the general of the shogunate army during Emperor Zhaodi of the Western Han Dynasty, to the daughter of Sima Qian, the Taishi Ling.

The same is true for small farmers and small craftsmen. "Hanshu Zhu Maichen Biography" records that Zhu Maichen's family is poor, and his wife's family is also very poor.After Zhu's wife divorced, she also married a poor man. In the Han Dynasty, this kind of hierarchical marriage was intertwined with the marriage style of the ruling class.In addition to considering social status, the main purpose of marriage is to protect and strengthen one's existing political and military power.During the Three Kingdoms period, Sun (Quan) and Zhou (Yu) were married, and the marriage relationship overlapped, which is a typical example.

Aristocratic marriage is a kind of marriage that has evolved from hierarchical marriage and pays special attention to family status.Family status refers to the family of nobles and dignitaries from generation to generation in feudal society.In the feudal society, noble and prominent families were called "high families", while humble families were called "poor families", each of which had its own rank.During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the appointment of officials and communication all paid attention to family status and formed a system.It was even more prosperous during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the emphasis on family status reached an unprecedented degree of solidification.A powerful family marriage is an intermarriage between generations of dignitaries.For example, the intermarriage between the Xie surname and the Wang surname in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the intermarriage between the Gu, Lu, Zhu, and Zhang families in the south of the Yangtze River who had already "had a high position" in the late Eastern Han Dynasty (Chen Lin: "The Qu Wen of the General School of Wu"), etc. .The boundaries of powerful marriages are extremely strict.Even if some common people were rich in wealth and prominent in political status, the nobles would not intermarry with them, fearing that the lower blood would be mixed in.There is a saying that "there is a gap between the scholars and common people" ("Song Shu·Wang Hong Chuan").If the gentry did not strictly abide by the restriction on the non-marriage of the gentry, they would be regarded as "marriage out of class" by the gentry society, and would be repelled and slandered.Wang Yuan, a major surname in Nanliang, married his daughter to the Man family of Fuyang, who was "indistinguishable among scholars and common people", which caused an uproar in the Manchu Dynasty and was impeached.

After Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty Yang Jian unified China, he suppressed the famous surnames in Shandong and Jiangnan who advocated the noble family, but until the Tang Dynasty, the concept of family status was still very strong. "Yue" ("New Book of Tang Du Jianzhuan attached Du Zhongli Biography"), the old family of the former dynasty still "relying on their family prestige, ashamed to marry his surname" ("Sui and Tang Jiahua").It was not until the peasant uprising at the end of the Tang Dynasty that this situation was fatally hit and collapsed. From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the marriage procedure basically followed the ancient "six rituals". The "six rites" center on "acceptance and collection", so marriages are about wealth and weddings are about ostentation, which have become the main conditions and characteristics of marriages in feudal society, and engagement marriages often become disguised business marriages.Weddings in the Han Dynasty were very grand. For the weddings of the royal family and nobles, the caravan stretched for several miles, the drums were loud when they marched, and there must be a big banquet at the end.In the Jin Dynasty, although the political situation was turbulent, the previous rules of etiquette were still followed in concluding marriages.During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the custom of discussing wealth in marriage intensified.Some of the gentry who used to admire the family in marriage are now "married women are mixed, and they don't care about the concubine" (Volume 40 of "Selected Works of Liuchen's Notes").As mentioned above, Wang Yuan married a daughter of the Man clan, and the Man clan "paid 50,000 yuan as a betrothal gift. Yuan first lost his wife, and then took Yuzhi as a concubine" (ibid.), which is an example.For this reason, Yan Zhitui at the end of the Southern and Northern Dynasties said in "Yan's Family Instructions Governing the Family": "In modern times, when we marry, we sell women to pay for money, buy women to transport silk, compare fathers and ancestors, and care about pennies. It’s no different in the market.” This shows how strong the society’s wedding culture was at that time.

In the Tang Dynasty, wedding extravagance was also quite popular.Tang Law's explanation for this is: "Wives, who pass on family affairs and undertake sacrifices, have the six rituals, and take the two rituals." It can be seen that the "six rituals" centered on Nazheng are necessary for both men and women to become husband and wife. condition.Concluding marriages advocates hiring money, and the custom of "giving more goods and bribes" has always been prevalent in the Tang Dynasty.Tang "Tong Dian" quoted a minister's table in the first year of Taiji (AD 712) and said: "The gift of personal welcome...Invite them to drink and eat for entertainment. Recently, this trend has become more prosperous, and it has reached the princes. It is Guangxi Playing music, gathering more couples, covering the roads...the property moved more than ten thousand, which made the barricade [kuang mine] more than the betrothal gift, and the singing and dancing were noisy, but it was not helpful." A few lines, the extravagance of the wedding, No further explanation is needed.

In order to increase the population, Chinese feudal society implemented early marriage in marriage legislation.In the early Han Dynasty, due to long-term wars and population decline, Emperor Gaozu issued an order in the seventh year of Emperor Gaozu (200 BC) to exempt children from corvee for two years ("Han Shu·Gao Di Ji").In the sixth year of Emperor Hui (189 B.C.), the imperial decree "For women who are above fifteen to thirty years old, do not marry, five calculations" ("Han Shu·Hui Di Ji").The Han Dynasty also stipulated some preferential policies for childbirth.

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, long-term wars and civil strife caused a large number of deaths and leakage of the population, so the ruling class adopted a stricter policy of early marriage.In the ninth year of Taishi (AD 273), Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty issued an edict: "If a girl's parents do not marry at the age of seventeen, the elder official will match her" ("Book of Jin·Wu Di Ji").In order to encourage the people to marry and have children early in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the emperor issued an edict, in the name of "propriety and courtesy", to make men and women "go to the meeting in mid-spring", "men and women who lose their time should meet with rites" ("Wei Shu·Gao Zu Ji"), Therefore, the legal age of marriage in the Southern and Northern Dynasties was even earlier.Among the royal families of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Prince Tuoba Huang gave birth to Tuoba Jun (Emperor Wencheng) at the age of 15, and Emperor Xianwen Tuoba Hong gave birth to Tuoba Hong (Emperor Xiaowen) at the age of 13, which shows the early age of marriage and childbearing.The rulers of the Northern Qi Dynasty also used severe torture to force the people to marry early. In "Book of Northern Qi·Houzhu Benji", there was a provision that "women who are under the age of twenty and fourteen have not married, and they are in the province, and the parents of those who hide will be sentenced to death".In the third year of Jiande (574 A.D.), Emperor Wudi of the Northern Zhou Dynasty also decreed that the year of marriage should be 15 for men and 13 for women. At the end of the Sui Dynasty and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, there were years of melee and the population dropped sharply.After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the ruling class also implemented a policy of encouraging timely marriage.In the first year of Zhenguan (627 A.D.), Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty issued the "Order Yousi to Encourage the Common People to Engage in a Timely Edict". The edict said: If men over 20 and women over 15 are not married, the local officials of the prefecture and county shall be responsible for making them marry Courtesy to marry.Those who are unable to marry due to poverty must be sponsored by wealthy families close to their neighbors to start a family.The edict also stipulates that if the local chief executive makes marriages timely, reduces the number of widows and widows, and increases the number of household registrations, they can also be promoted as political achievements.This edict played a great role in the population growth in the early Tang Dynasty.In the 22nd year of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty (734 A.D.), the age of marriage was changed to 15 for males and 13 for females.