The first thing I want to know is whether or not the matchmaker's words have any legal effect.

Mengzi Tengwengong: "If one does not wait for the order of parents and the words of matchmakers, but drills a hole to spy on each other, and goes over the wall to follow each other, then the parents and the countrymen will all be cheap."

The answer is: "Yes" (the official default), the parents' order, the matchmaker's word, in the ancient feudal system and the strict hierarchy of the influence of the young boys and girls can only rely on by virtue of the matchmaker as a communication link, to complete the lifelong event.

"Men and women do not ask for the name of the matchmaker", "men and women without a matchmaker," "women without a matchmaker," "women without a matchmaker," "no rain without clouds in the sky, no marriage without a matchmaker on the ground".

These sayings illustrate the importance of the "matchmaker" and indirectly reflect the legal effect.

"Matchmakers" means that a man and a woman should have a matchmaker in the middle of their marriage, and this person is a matchmaker, who has a very long history and tradition in China and appeared in the Zhou Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago.

The matchmaker in the Zhou Dynasty was actually an official position, the main job is to take charge of the marriage of the people of the country (Civil Affairs Bureau): once a baby is born, it is necessary to go to the official registry. However, all men and women who are thirty or twenty years old must be married, and are not allowed to stay at home all the time, Li; some women who are widowed by the death of their husbands must also be registered for re-marriage; in case of disputes between husband and wife, the official government will intercede and adjudicate the disputes.

From the Zhou Dynasty onwards, some folk matchmakers gradually appeared, making matchmaking as their profession, and the procedure was simple. Although they were not subject to the jurisdiction of the government, they needed to obtain a license from the government, and could only organize marriages for new couples with legal qualifications.

While matchmakers have been gradually fading from the official system since the Zhou Dynasty, it does not mean that they have lost the constraints of the law, and the process of matchmaking is still in accordance with the government's so default.