Why is it that China has not developed a tradition of women changing to their husband's surname after marriage, as in Europe and Japan?

In fact, China has a tradition of wives taking their husbands' surnames. In the feudal era, when men were superior to women, women generally did not have first names, only surnames. Women were called by their father's family name when they were in the womb, such as ? Miss Zhang, Miss Li? and so on. After a woman is married, she will be called by her husband's family name, as a Mrs.. These are unofficial name, the ancient formal address of the woman should be a certain clan (father's name), after marriage is crowned with the husband's surname for so-and-so clan (husband's surname + father's surname), for example, Yue Fei's mother's maiden name is Yao, it is called Yuemen Yao, Yue Yao's; Lin Zexu's mother's maiden name is Chen, then the Lin Chen.

Women married to the husband's name this custom in China's ancient times continued for thousands of years, until the destruction of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the liberation movement blossomed in the Chinese land, this custom is gradually withdrawn from the stage of history.

In 1930, when the Nanjing National Government was formulating the Civil Law of the Republic of China, it sought the views of all sectors of society on the question of whether or not a married woman needed to take her husband's name, which sparked a community-wide controversy.

Inside the legislative committee, there emerged Fu Bingchang, a spokesman for Hu Hanmin, as a representative of the ? eclecticism? and Zheng Yuxiu? not to take her husband's name? two voices.

At the time, experts in the academic world tended to follow the old custom that the family name was not related to the equality of men and women

Unlike the black-and-white attitude of the authorities, the intellectuals of the time had a wide range of views on the matter

The issue of the family name at the time gave rise to a great debate on gender equality and independence of personality, with the participation of legislators, the legal community, and intellectuals of the society, all of whom had divergent views. Although the national government showed that it was actively listening to the views of all sides, it finally decided to follow the old custom of giving married women their husbands' surnames and men who went into a family union their wives' surnames, unless otherwise agreed by the husband and wife.

It was not until 1950 that the Marriage Law was introduced, stating: ? The husband and wife have the right to use their own names. China's thousands-of-years-old family name system was abolished. The system was abolished for thousands of years, and tacit approval was given to spouses who voluntarily agreed on a family name.

Today, in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, there are still people who follow the tradition of taking their husband's surname, such as Lien Fang-yu, the wife of Lien Chan, and Hong Kong's chief executive, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. These women are all independent and exemplary women, and the fact that they take their husband's name after marriage is just a matter of following the tradition in their hearts, which is quite different from the ancient practice of treating a woman as an accessory to a man before she takes his name.

Japanese wives with husband's name is different from China. First of all, the Japanese Civil Code clearly stipulates to ? Couple with the same surname? , which elevates the crown surname to the legal level. In ancient China, a woman's surname was added in front of her father's surname, while in Japan, the father's surname was changed to the husband's surname. Misae, the mother of the famous Crayola, was called Misae Koyama before marriage, but changed her name to Misae Nohara after marriage.

Secondly, gender relations are not equal in Japanese culture. Nowadays, Chinese women are very independent, educated like men and earn money to support their families, while Japanese women still focus on being housewives and raising children. A few years ago, a Japanese female doctor was interviewed and said? Read the blog is to better do a housewife? which made many Chinese women sigh with regret. This cultural atmosphere has also contributed to the tradition of surnames in Japan to this day.

The tradition of surnames in Europe and the United States also began with the legal requirement that wives take their husbands' surnames after marriage, losing their personal autonomy and becoming their husbands' dependents. After hundreds of years of development, today's Europeans more respect for equality between men and women, couples have independent personality, the crown husband's name has lost its original meaning, only as a tradition passed down. Now the European and American women are also more and more inclined to marry after the husband's last name, after all, this is a manifestation of the era of self, and the divorce rate is so high, change to change is also very troublesome!