Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Traditional customs - Ancient men could have three wives and four concubines, but why should women abide by women's morality? Is it consistent?
Ancient men could have three wives and four concubines, but why should women abide by women's morality? Is it consistent?
One topic that has to be mentioned is that men are superior to women.
First of all, we must rule out some minority situations. For example, there are some primitive tribes or matriarchal societies in the mountainous areas of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, which is just the opposite of what you said. Women can be three zhangs and four husbands, but men should be consistent. Where can you argue?
Secondly, let's talk about most of the situation. The feudal society in China was mainly a patriarchal society, especially the concept of "clan", which was deeply rooted in people's hearts. As far as I know, the provinces with the deepest clan concept belong to Shandong in the north, Jiangsu in the north and Anhui and Henan near Shandong, especially Fujian and Guangxi in the south.
Guangxi, in particular, went there once many years ago. Every village has an ancestral temple and a collective celebration every year.
In fact, the deep thought of this clan concept is "male priority", because all the so-called clans take male families as a whole, and there is almost no "clan" with female families as the main body in China.
The continuation of the whole feudal society is full of this logic that men are superior to women. Women have never been regarded as the existence of independent personality, acting as accessories of men. To put it bluntly, they are responsible for the continuation of men's families.
Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why men can have three wives and four concubines in ancient times, while women should be consistent: because male families need as many children as possible, and at the same time, they must ensure the purity of their bloodline. I just gave birth to a son. It can't be next door to Lao Wang, can it? )
You know, women are the same regardless of ancient and modern times, and it is natural to abide by women's morality. There is no doubt about it.
It's just that men's rules are wrong. Three wives and four concubines are not allowed.
Since entering the patriarchal society, the status of men has gradually improved, while the status of women has been weakened (although there are some feminists). Men can create more resources and wealth and have the right to make rules, so there is inequality in marriage. But this kind of questioning is not completely correct, and it is misled by TV dramas and novels.
Now the so-called three wives and four concubines have a saying that "three wives" means one wife and two equals. The fourth concubine is the little wife, the side wife, the little wife and hetaerism. In fact, it should be said that the status of "monogamy and concubinage" is far higher than that of concubinage. Generally speaking, wives usually get married in the traditional way, and they are all people with status, while concubines have a much lower background. And different dynasties also have different situations. Take Tang as an example. In fact, there are no such strict rules for women. Couples are free to choose divorce, and there is no so-called female virtue. But I can't. Can only be abandoned or oppressed by her husband, can not choose independently.
In fact, whether it is "three wives and four concubines" or "monogamy and multiple concubines", it is still a manifestation of exploitation in feudal society. The landlord class enjoys various privileges, the peasant class is oppressed, men are slaves, and women are played. Of course, since Zhu's theory of "three cardinal guides and five permanents" was discovered by the ruling class in the Song Dynasty and this privilege was strengthened morally and legally, the class gap has been further strengthened and gradually became a matter of course.
In ancient times, because of gender, men were more engaged in manual labor. Naturally, the relationship between the two gradually changed from matriarchal relationship. A man has three wives and four concubines. On the one hand, due to the frequent wars in ancient times, men were often less than women. At this time,
Later, in order to restore the population after the war, the rulers naturally needed to practice polygamy, which also led to women's dependence on men, thus making their status underground. On the other hand, it is also the root cause that I personally think. Among them, the etiquette advocated by Confucianism is a bondage to women. In the Han Dynasty, Confucianism became orthodox, further squeezing the status of women. In the Song Dynasty, there were three cardinal guides and five permanents, and the restrictions on women reached a peak. These are obvious examples. To sum up, the development of civilization needs to move from barbarism to maturity, coupled with China's special geographical environment and humanistic trend of thought, which has created the idea that ancient women should always abide by women's morality.
At present, more things need women's participation. With the progress of civilization, women's rights are also rising slowly, which is a sign of civilization progress.
That's because the status of ancient women was low, and the influence of male superiority and female inferiority in feudal society was deeply rooted. A woman without talent is a virtue. If a woman has a problem with her holiness, she will be brutally tortured by capital punishment, and the whole family will be humiliated and looked down upon. Therefore, there is a saying of embroidered buildings in ancient times. Don't go downstairs until you get married.
This is the inevitable choice of a patriarchal society. After human beings enter the patriarchal society, the inheritance of property and status is based on the paternal line (surname), that is, only half-descendants (including half-brothers) can inherit the father's status and property. In order to ensure the purity of their offspring, and to ensure that men can inherit status and property, men are allowed to have three wives and four concubines from the system, while women can only be faithful. Of course, men want three wives and four concubines, provided that they have enough financial resources to support them. So it is good for the poor to marry a wife. In modern society (whether in China or the West), on the one hand, there is only one or two royal families left in the inheritance of identity, and the others have entered history. The royal family is no longer limited to the inheritance rights of men, but women can also; On the other hand, equality between men and women has become the basic concept of many civilized societies, so monogamy is the mainstream. What is still under polygamy should only be the remnants of the old patriarchal society.
This is the product of ancient men being superior to women. Those who can always afford three wives and four concubines are dignitaries, and these people should also have some influence. In this case, one is influenced by traditional ideas. Even without the shackles of this traditional concept, if the woman remarries, it will offend the man's family. To put it bluntly, it won't be easy for me to offend a rich and powerful family.
A teapot can be equipped with several tea bowls, and a tea bowl cannot be equipped with several teapots.
First of all, women's morality refers to the rules that ancient wives must abide by. There is a saying in the book Mencius Teng Wengong: "Those who obey are also concubines." That is, a wife must absolutely obey her husband and a daughter-in-law must absolutely obey her in-laws. This system of etiquette and law was formed as early as the end of slave society and further developed in feudal society.
Women must abide by three obedience and four virtues. In feudal times, three obedience and four virtues were the code of conduct for women. "Three obedience" comes from The Book of Rites. Mourn. The Biography of Xia Zi means "not marrying from father, marrying from husband, and the husband dies in child". It means that girls should listen to their parents' instructions before getting married, and don't contradict the instructions of their elders at will, because their social knowledge is rich and has fundamental guiding significance; After marriage, you should be polite to your husband, keep a house and practice with your husband, respect the old and love the young; If the husband unfortunately dies before himself, he should stick to his duties, find ways to raise the children and respect their philosophy of life. Obedience here is not "following" in the superficial sense, but the essence of "engaging" with the nature of work. "Four Virtues" comes from "Li Zhoutian's Death", which refers to "female virtue, female speech, female appearance and female merit". That is to say, for women, the first thing is morality, whether it can be upright or not; Then there are looks (pointing out that you should be dignified and steady, and you can't be frivolous and casual), words (meaning that you should be free to add meaning when talking to others, understand what others say, and know what you should and shouldn't say) and the way of running a family (the way of running a family includes taking care of your husband, educating children, respecting the old and loving the young, being thrifty and so on).
Women's single-mindedness, three cardinal principles and five permanents, men being superior to women, differences between men and women, paternalism and the rule of husband power all express the requirements of feudal economy and feudal politics for the marriage and family system, and also become a powerful tool for enslavement and oppression of women. Although Mencius defined women's morality as a wife's responsibility and obligation, feudal society further extended it to "three obedience and four virtues" and became a code of conduct for women, which is also a concentrated expression of China's ancient Confucianism on women's social status in ethics and morality.
Most importantly, the ancient society in China was always very strict with women. Feudal etiquette bound women and deprived them of their freedom and dignity. In ancient feudal society, women's chastity and innocence were particularly valued. They were very cruel and cold-blooded. Once these women are found to have any infidelity, the most cruel punishment awaits them.
Look at Comrade Wu Zetian. As long as you work hard, as long as you climb to the top of the tower, you have the right to speak.
This is determined by DNA, and there is a desire to spread his DNA in male DNA.
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