Chapter 22 Section 3 Conditions for Establishment of Marriage

In China, the prohibition of marriage with the same surname has been in use for thousands of years since the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and it was changed from the late Qing Dynasty that people of the same clan are not allowed to marry.In addition, in the late Qing Dynasty, the prohibition on marrying Leren as wives by officials and descendants who had inherited their father’s and ancestors’ official positions was changed to prohibiting marrying prostitutes as wives, but the punishment for violators was significantly reduced.At the same time, the decree prohibiting good and cheap marriages was abolished.In the era of the Kuomintang government, the old concept of patriarchal relatives (clan, kinship, and wife) was broken and changed into three categories: spouse, blood relative, and in-law. out of kinship, and as a basis for marriage restrictions.Obviously this is more scientific and reasonable than in the past, although due to the consideration of Chinese tradition, it is still literally written "cousins ​​and sisters are not limited".

From the late Qing Dynasty to the era of the Kuomintang government, the minimum age of marriage for both men and women was set at 18 for men and 16 for women.The Kuomintang Civil Law also stated: "Minors should get the consent of their legal representative to marry" (Article 981). There is no clear definition of the age limit for "minors". Agree, it is not illegal to marry under the legal age of marriage; moreover, it is stipulated that "parents are the legal representatives of their minor children" (Article 1086), which further confirms the legality of forced, arranged and disguised marriage under the patriarchal system change.

As in the previous generation, from the late Qing Dynasty to the Beiyang government, all engagements had to be "written in the marriage certificate and married according to the etiquette", and those who repented and violated were subject to varying punishments.The civil law of the Kuomintang era, in addition to advocating the "marriage according to ceremonies" in real life, also stipulated that "marriage should have a public ceremony and two or more witnesses" (Article 982). Yu said that if this condition is met, even if the marriage does not meet the will of the parties, it is still a legal marriage; otherwise, without this condition, even if the parties are voluntary, the marriage is also illegal.The autonomy of marriage is thus greatly restricted.

It can be seen from the above that, compared with the completely feudal marriage and family system in the past, people in the Republic of China only obtained a certain degree of freedom of marriage.Nevertheless, some young people who have been injected with modern consciousness and some parents who have accepted new ideas have taken advantage of this limited freedom to implement changes in marriage to a certain extent.Of course, this kind of change is not so much asking for the realization of marriage autonomy, it is better to say that it is more about cutting out the complicated and simplified marriage procedures and wedding forms.Marriage theory of wealth, wedding ostentation, the "Six Rites" centered on "Na Zheng", and the later simplified "Three Rites", "Four Rites" and "Five Rites", which have been popular for thousands of years, have been met with enthusiasm in the West. Civilized young intellectuals objected, and a wedding form called "civilized marriage" with Western cultural flavors appeared in some young intellectual circles in big cities.

Civilized marriage is a wedding mode that gets rid of the old wedding customs in the past and combines the characteristics of Chinese and Western marriage customs. It rose around the founding of the Republic of China.The bride and groom who hold a wedding in a civilized way generally wear suits. During the wedding, there are forms such as reading the marriage vows, exchanging ornaments, bowing, playing music, and accepting congratulations from guests.Many people also publish the engagement and marriage announcements in newspapers when they are engaged and married to show openness and civility.Since this kind of wedding has not been popular for a long time, some newspapers and magazines at that time also introduced the various procedures of the wedding in detail, probably to promote and popularize this kind of etiquette:

1) The master of ceremonies takes the seat and stands facing the north; 2) The male guests sit at the table facing the west and play the piano; 3) The female guests sit at the table facing the east and play the piano; ... 6) The bride and groom sit at the table, stand side by side facing the north, and play the piano; 7) The officiant reads the certificate; 8) Bride and groom seals; 9) Seal of the officiant; 10) Seal of the introducer; 11) The officiant exchanges ornaments for the bride and groom; 12) The bride and groom confront each other and bow; 13) The eulogy of the officiant, the bride and groom thank the officiant and the introducer;

14) The officiant and the introducer retreat and play the piano; 15) Congratulatory applause. The new etiquette of civilized marriage gradually became popular in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, where the culture and economy are more developed.For example, in Xiaoshan, Zhejiang, after the "May 4th" movement, "civilized marriage" emerged in the intellectual circles.When getting engaged, the engagement book should be signed and stamped by the betrothed, introducer, certifier and parents one by one.When they get married, most of them rent the auditorium, and invite relatives and friends with higher status to witness the marriage.After the wedding ceremony is over, a banquet is held to celebrate.During the period of the Republic of China, there was a "group marriage" in the intellectual circles of Xiaoshan. Those who participated in the wedding first registered with the civil affairs department, paid the fee and received a certificate. On the wedding day, the certificate was accompanied by relatives and friends to attend the wedding. ("Xiaoshan County Chronicles")

The culture of civilized marriage even spread to Hebei, Beijing and other places, but compared with the south, the traditional Chinese cultural color in the wedding there seems to be more intense, and the scene is much more extravagant.The most interesting thing is that the dress of the groom and his companions is often a mix of Chinese and Western, which shows a kind of marriage custom psychology of people in the era of old and new ideas: the groom wears a top hat, but behind his head is a long red braid. The best man accompanied the guests, some in suits, some in casual clothes, and some in long robes and mandarin jackets.As for the bride, she still takes the sedan chair, which is very festively and gorgeously decorated with traditional crafts.

As an improved wedding model, civilized marriage did not have time to spread to the vast rural areas. When young men and women in rural areas get married, they still perform the old etiquette. The procedures and contents mainly include: Please Geng.Geng refers to the eight characters of Nian Geng.Please Geng, that is, the man's family entrusts a matchmaker to propose marriage to the woman's family. After the woman's family agrees, they will send a Geng post with name, birth date, hometown, and three generations of ancestors to the man's family. inquire.After inviting Geng, both men and women have a better understanding of each other's family background and character.Sometimes the man also asks a fortune teller to "combine the zodiac sign" to divination good or bad luck. If he thinks that the horoscope of male and female Nian Geng does not have "Chong Ke", the man will send a matchmaker to discuss employment.

engagement.Refers to choosing an auspicious date for engagement.Engagement ceremonies are also grand in some places.In the area of ​​Jiangsu and Zhejiang, when the man chooses an auspicious day, he puts the agreed dowry money and the birthday card of the groom into a small box, wraps the outside of the box with red cloth or red silk, puts a bunch of evergreens on it, and escorts them to the bride's home together with various gifts.After the bride's family receives the dowry money, dowry and the man's Geng Tie, they put the woman's Geng Tie in the original box, together with the returned clothes and happy fruits, and then the matchmaker takes it back to her natal family.

due date.After the man's family chooses the date of marriage, they send someone to send a postcard to the woman's family to agree on the date of marriage. line disk.A few days before the wedding, the man's family sends jewelry, silver coins, clothes and other gifts to the woman's family. Dowry.It refers to the day before the marriage, the bride's family sends the dowry to the man's family.There are also two or three days before the wedding, on two days, the man's family sends someone to the woman's house to pick up the dowry. Get married.The wedding is carried out on the agreed auspicious day.On the day of the wedding, the two families put up lanterns and streamers, and festive couplets were hung in front of the hall, such as "Tiancheng couples will always be united in one heart, the phoenix and the phoenix are a match made in heaven", "The character is peaceful, the morality is firm, the reason is clear and the heart is peaceful", and the two families hold a banquet for their guests.The groom, dressed in a new dress, is accompanied by his relatives and takes a sedan chair or float to the bride's home to get married.At this time, the bride has already opened her face and made up her makeup. After the sedan chair arrives, she bids farewell to her family and puts a red scarf on the sedan chair.After the sedan chair arrived at the man's house, the master of ceremonies ordered to sing obeisance to heaven and earth, ancestors, parents, and the new couple in accordance with the rules.Bye, in some areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang (such as Xiaoshan), it is still popular that the man's family will pass the sack on the ground one by one (taking the meaning of "passing on"), and the bridegroom will lead the bride into the new house by stepping on the sack.The red candles are shining brightly in the new house, and on the wall there are auspicious couplet sentences such as "Golden house with phoenix and phoenix, flowers and candles in the bridal chamber to ride the dragon" or "God bestows a good marriage for a hundred years, and the house will be prosperous for five generations".After sitting down, the maid of honor takes a glass of wine and gives the bride and groom each a sip, which is called "handover wine".After the wine is over, the bridesmaid presents auspicious words.At night, many places still have the custom of teasing the bride and "making trouble in the bridal chamber".In some places, such as Shaoxing, Zhejiang, after dark, the bride should not only greet the elders, but also go to the mother-in-law's room to "sit at night".The mother-in-law opened her mouth and let the bride go back to her room to rest. Go back to the door three times.On the third day of the wedding, the bride has to greet her husband's family members, even the elders and children of the entire house family.After the bride sits on the sedan chair, she loses the freedom of speech and action, and is at the mercy of her uncle and bridesmaid.It is not until this time that you salute your in-laws, etc., that you can speak (commonly known as "opening the golden mouth") and restore the freedom of speech and behavior.After meeting with the husband's family, the groom and the bride go to the Yue's house, which is the so-called "three dynasties return door".At this point, the old wedding etiquette came to an end. It can be seen from the above that the various red tapes of wedding customs in the Republic of China era basically remained the same.For brides, there are especially many rules and regulations. For example, in the rural areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, after marriage, the bride must add firewood to make a fire when "cooking", which means "fiery red" and "prosperous".For cutting and mending, pantyhose should be made first. "Pants" and "rich" are homophonic, and the saying goes, "If you want to be rich, you should make pants first; if you want to be rich, you should make socks first."In some places, when a new daughter-in-law returns to her natal home, her brothers, nephews and nephews must set off firecrackers for her. In addition to the meaning of welcome, it also has the meaning of setting off firecrackers, sending out firecrackers, descendants and grandchildren, and thriving for generations to come. .All in all, until the Republic of China, Chinese weddings still strictly reflected the feudal marriage ethics of seeking to carry on the family line, having more children and more blessings, and the feudal human relations of different ages and orderly sizes. effect.Some scenes of old weddings and old marriage customs are still reserved to varying degrees in some rural areas of our country.