Chapter 17 Section 3 Conditions for Establishment of Marriage

As in previous dynasties, the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties still regarded marriage with the same surname as one of the prohibition of marriage.The Song Dynasty followed the Tang system, and people with the same surname were married, each apprenticed for two years.In the Ming and Qing dynasties, people with the same surname were required to have sixty rods each and divorced.In addition, it is also forbidden to marry superiors and inferiors in foreign marriages, and those who violate it will be regarded as adultery.The Yuan Dynasty also established a ban on incestuous marriages for the Han people: "All Han people and southerners who have lost their fathers, their sons will accept their concubine mothers; their brothers will accept their sister-in-law, it is forbidden." ("Yuan History Criminal Law Records Household Marriage")

The prohibition of marriage with the same surname has been greatly loosened in the late Qing Dynasty. "Great Qing Regulations Hulu" said: "People with the same surname should focus on the same clan. The punishment for those who marry is very severe: those who marry five relatives of the same clan can stick one hundred sticks;As for the marriage of aunts and aunts, the folk custom has been practiced for a long time, so the law stipulates: "Where his aunts and aunts marry, follow the convenience of the people" ("Laws of the Qing Dynasty Hulu"). The basic feature of the feudal marriage system was open inequality. Therefore, although marriages were not very particular after the Song Dynasty, marriages between families still had a distinct hierarchical color. Tong "even" word), the color category must be the same" ("Tang Law Shuyi").In this way, non-marriage between good and bad was still listed as one of the important conditions for prohibiting marriage by the feudal dynasties after the Song Dynasty.The Song Dynasty followed the laws of the Tang Dynasty, which stipulated that miscellaneous households and official households were not allowed to marry common people, and those who violated the law would be punished with a hundred sticks.If a commoner marries a woman from an official family, the crime will be added to the second class.If slaves and maids marry their daughters to civilians as wives and concubines, they will be considered criminals as robbers.The law also stipulates that if the above articles are violated, in addition to being punished, they will also be forced to divorce and return to their original status.Cai Kang, a Neo Confucianist in the Southern Song Dynasty and later an official and a political adviser, wrote down such a judgment in accordance with the law that the good and the low should not marry when trying the case: "Isn't it a sinner for a public official to marry an official prostitute? Don't be a disgrace to scholars and friends? It's a big deal!" ("Ming Gongshu Judgment Qingming Collection·Household Marriage Gate")

The Yuan Dynasty also tried its best to maintain the unequal marriage relationship between masters and slaves, good and bad.The law of the Yuan Dynasty stipulated: "All slaves who accept the master's wife shall be judged as adultery, and those who forcibly accept the master's daughter shall be punished with death." Commoner women are also not allowed to marry slaves: "All good women who are willing to marry slaves are slaves. "("Dayuan Tongzhi") The law of the Ming Dynasty also stipulates the punishment method for good and low marriages: "Where parents and slaves marry a beloved woman as a wife, the stick will be eighty, and the woman's family will be reduced by one class; those who don't know will not sit. If the slave marries himself, the crime is also the same. For example... If you mistakenly regard slaves and maidservants as husbands and wives, you will be punished with a staff of ninety. Divorce each other and make corrections" ("Da Ming Law").That is to say, if the master of the untouchables is responsible for prohibiting the intermarriage of good and bad, he cannot escape the responsibility.The Ming Law also stipulates that if an official marries a prostitute from the Jiaofang Division as a wife and concubine, he must have a staff of sixty and divorce.If the descendants who should shadow their father's grandfather's official position marry the prostitute of the Jiaofang Division as a wife and concubine, the crime is the same as above.In addition, there are regulations such as not allowing escaped female prisoners to be wives and concubines, otherwise they will be punished.

In the Qing Dynasty, the prohibition of marriage between the good and the poor was the same as that in the Ming Dynasty.In the Qing Dynasty, scholars, farmers, workers, and merchants were regarded as good people, and "servants and servants who advocated excellence were regarded as lowly" ("Qing Hui Dian · Household Department").The law of the Qing Dynasty stipulates that if a bitch marries a lover as a wife and concubine, the stick is 80 to 100. If the parents know about it, they are guilty of the same crime;In fact, within the "beloved", there are many levels, and there are also differences between rich and poor. Although there is no legal restriction on intermarriage between them, the force of habit is still an invisible wall.Some ordinary businessmen often think that "we, merchants, can only marry the daughters of peasants" (Wang Mingqing: "Miscellaneous Notes of the Qing Dynasty").

The marriage system in the Han and Tang dynasties, although slightly modified in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, was basically the same as before, and it was even more grand and extravagant. Music, theater games, and banquets became indispensable in weddings.The cost of marriage has made it a custom since the Song Dynasty to replace "family marriage" with family wealth. Since the Northern Song Dynasty, the commodity economy began to develop, the old market system began to be broken, and the circulation of commodities increased greatly.Under such circumstances, marriages between scholars and concubines gradually increased in the actual social life, and the level of family status could no longer constitute an obstacle to marriage.According to historical records, a tea merchant surnamed Ma in Kaifeng during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong married the daughter of Liu Mei, a foreign relative who was very popular at that time; and Liu Mei’s son married the daughter of Mengzheng, a local tyrant in Jiazhou (now Leshan, Sichuan) who "started from a profiteer" .Liu, the son and daughter of Li Di, the Prime Minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, was just a retainer.Even the emperors of the Song Dynasty didn't pay much attention to the family when they chose their concubines, and they often chose women from middle and low-level official families.For this reason, Cai Xiang, the magistrate of Fuzhou during the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, exclaimed in the article "Five Precepts of Fuzhou": "Today's custom is to marry a wife, regardless of the family, and directly seek wealth."

In the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, some wealthy businessmen showed off their wealth and intermarried with the Zhao Song clan.It turns out that after the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, with the spread of the royal family, there were more and more descendants, including some "poor and unofficial" people, so the phenomenon of "clan clan selling daughters to marry folks" ("Song Huiyao·Emperor Line") appeared.For example, a wealthy household surnamed Zhang in Kaifeng once married more than 30 "county heads".In the late Northern Song Dynasty, the "county master" was actually commercialized, and its price was "every five thousand guan".Kaifeng's big businessman "Mao Tianjia" relied on his strong capital, bought again and again, married again and again, and even "every ten county owners in his family".For this reason, Song Renzong once had to issue an edict: "It is forbidden to marry a clan woman with wealth." (Song History·Renzong Benji)

In the Yuan Dynasty, the price of marriage was based on money, and the greed for money and profit did not diminish at all. In the Song Dynasty, even though the rich were local tyrants, they could marry princes and daughters, while the poor were unable to marry even though they were 50 years old.As for the lawsuits involving the government in order to care about the amount of money hired and the thickness of the clothes, it is even more common to see.For this reason, the Yuan Dynasty specifically stipulated in detail in the law: "Every marriage letter...must clearly state the betrothal money and gifts. , don’t have each of the characters and the words of the contract, and if you go to the official, you will be the same as the fake” ("Yuan Dian Zhang · Household Department").Yuan Law also stipulates different standards for the appointment of officials and ordinary people: "For officials, the first rank is five hundred guan, the second rank is 500 guan, the third rank is 400 guan, the fourth rank is 300 guan, and the sixth rank is 200 guan. Eight grades, nine grades, one hundred and twenty guan" (ibid.).In the eighth year of Dade (1304 A.D.), Chengzu of the Yuan Dynasty, he also set down the standards for private financial appointments in detail: "Shanghu, one tael of gold, five taels of silver, six wraps of colorful satin, and forty bolts of miscellaneous silk; , five coins of gold, four taels of silver, four wraps of colored satin, and thirty bolts of miscellaneous silk; Xiahu, three taels of silver, two wraps of colorful satin, and fifteen bolts of miscellaneous silk.” ("Tongzhi Tiaoge" )

From the history to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, as in the previous dynasties, the law clearly stipulates that one of the conditions for the establishment of marriage is to write an engagement letter and marry according to rites. "Law of the Ming Dynasty" said: "When a man and a woman get engaged at the beginning of their marriage, if there are disabled, old or young, concubines, intermarriage, or begging for support, the two families must clearly notify each other, and each of them will follow their wishes. Write a marriage certificate and marry according to the etiquette. If a married woman has submitted a marriage certificate, or has a private contract but regrets it, she will be given fifty lashes. Even if she has no marriage certificate, she has been hired for money. If she promises to another person, the unmarried cane will be seventy, and the married one will be eight. Ten." It can be seen how important the marriage letter and dowry are in the process of concluding a marriage.

In terms of dowry, the style of worshiping money based on wealth in Ming and Qing dynasties was stronger than that in Song and Yuan dynasties. "A married family must measure its wealth and then join together" (Volume 30 of "Wuxi Golden Chamber Hezhi").The so-called "rich and poor" mainly refers to the amount of dowry and dowry in addition to the wealth of both parties, especially the amount of dowry, which can often determine the success of a marriage.During the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods of the Qing Dynasty, Xia Ligu, who was an editor of the Imperial Academy, described the customs of rural families marrying and marrying a lot of money in the article "Hun Shuo": When a son wants to marry a wife, he goes to inquire about the dowry of the unmarried daughter-in-law If it is heavy makeup, even if the woman's moral character is not good, she can marry her with peace of mind; when the daughter is about to get married, she must inquire about the dowry amount of the husband's family. If it is a heavy engagement, even if the future son-in-law's character If you are unworthy, you will be greedy for his family's money and ignore the rest. "Qing Barnyard Banknotes Marriage Class" once recorded: During the Jiaqing and Daoguang years of the Qing Dynasty, a royal censor Zhongcheng recognized a woman from the family as his daughter in order to receive money, and then married a rich family, and the bride price was tens of thousands silver.Although rich households broke their fortunes, they also boasted complacently to others: "Zhongcheng is my in-laws." This kind of custom of "seeking wealth directly" in marrying wives and daughters has caused many unfortunate marriages of young men and women.In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Zhu Bailu once used "When marrying a daughter to choose a good son-in-law, don't ask for a heavy engagement; when marrying a woman to ask a lady, don't count heavy dowry" as a key lesson in housekeeping in his influential "Family Motto". One aspect reflects the strong development trend of marriage and wealth in Ming and Qing Dynasties.

When the custom of marrying with wealth spread to the people, marrying a wife became a naked money transaction like buying and selling cattle and horses. Such a case was recorded in the notes of the early Qing Dynasty: At the beginning of Shunzhi (1644-1661 AD), there was a water seller in the capital, Zhao, who was poor and unmarried.Later, he pooled money to buy a woman in the market, and when she returned home, the woman removed the cloth covering her head, and Zhao discovered that it was an old woman with gray hair.Zhao said, "This woman is much older than me, so why dare she be indecent." So she treated each other with motherly courtesy.After some days like this, the old woman felt that Zhao was a loyal person, and said to Zhao: "You put together money to buy a wife, but now the wife has not bought it, but I have become your burden. Fortunately, I have a bag of Tibetan pearls sewn in my clothes." , you can take it and sell your wife to repay your kindness." A few days later, Zhao bought another girl in the market.The young girl came in and saw the old woman. The two hugged each other and wept bitterly. It turned out that they were a mother and daughter who had been separated by Qi Ding.The old woman performed the wedding ceremony for the two of them. (Wang Shizhen: "Continued Talk on Juyi")

Although this is a special case during the period of chaos, it is clear from this that the custom and system of marrying a wife in the Ming and Qing Dynasties is like buying a wife. Like the rulers of previous dynasties, the legal age of marriage was set very low in all dynasties from the Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty.At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the social economy was still in decline. In the ninth year of Emperor Taizu Kaibao (976 A.D.), there were only 3,090,504 households in the country ("Song History Geography"), which was only 1 of the highest number of households in the Tang Dynasty. /3.In order to restore and develop the feudal economy and consolidate the political power, the imperial court adopted a population policy including checking the hidden population and increasing the registered household registration of the imperial court.Regarding the marriageable age of men and women, the Song law followed the Tang law, saying that "men are fifteen years old and women are over thirteen years old, and they are allowed to marry." age.This marriage age regulation in the Southern Song Dynasty was adopted by the Ming and Qing dynasties until the end of the Qing Dynasty.