Mystery of henpecked in Tang Dynasty: Only Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty took the lead in the tradition of henpecked in Tang Dynasty.

"henpecked" is commonly known as "afraid of his wife". This phenomenon is not uncommon in today's society where men and women are equal. If a man is afraid of his wife, friends often joke that he has "tracheitis (wife's inflammation)". However, do you know that in the patriarchal society of the Tang Dynasty, there was also the phenomenon of pecking at men and pecking at women?

In the Tang Dynasty, there was a trend of "henpecked wife", and being afraid of his wife almost became a common problem for men in upper class. Open the history books or biographies of the Tang Dynasty, and there are countless records about men being henpecked.

For example, there are two henpecked stories in Tai Ping Guang Ji. Li Yanbi, a soldier in Zhou Shu, has been out eating and drinking with friends for three days in a row. His wife sent him a message: "If you come back, kill him with a knife!" " Li Yanbi was so scared that he had to ask the local state shepherd for help and move to a Buddhist temple.

There is a hero in Sichuan who has a large number of concubines, but because his wife is jealous, he never dares to go near them. Before he died, his wife said to him, "If you dare to go near your concubine after I die, I will take your life at once!" " "After his wife died, the hero began to prefer a maid. However, one night, just as they were getting ready for bed, they heard a thunderbolt outside the window and the curtains of the bed split. The hero thought it was the ghost of his wife and was scared to death on the spot.

Henpecked husband was a social phenomenon before the Tang Dynasty. Yang Di's mother, Queen Dugu, was a famous jealous woman at that time. She kept Emperor Wendi in strict custody and forbade her to marry other concubines. Wei Chijiong's granddaughter is very beautiful. After seeing her at Renshou Palace, Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty liked her very much and called her lucky. After the discovery of Queen Dugu, while Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty was in the dynasty, she sent someone to assassinate the beauty. Emperor Wendi of Sui was furious when he knew this, but he was helpless. He had to go out from the imperial garden alone, but his heart melted and he ran into the valley of more than twenty miles. Su Yang, the minister, and others knew that they were going to chase him soon, so they detained the horse and tried hard to persuade Emperor Wendi to return to the DPRK. Emperor Wendi sighed and said, "I am the son of heaven, but I can't be free." Queen Dugu not only forbids Emperor Wendi of Sui to touch other women, but also makes sure that Emperor Wendi of Sui scolds the king and courtiers when they see that their concubines are pregnant.

In the Tang Dynasty, jealousy between men and women became the fashion of the times. According to the story of Sui and Tang Dynasties, Mrs. Fang was very famous for her jealousy. Emperor Taizong once wanted to give a beautiful woman to Fang, but Fang refused to accept it. Knowing what the problem was, Emperor Taizong asked the queen to call Mrs. Fang to work and told her that it was normal for ministers to have concubines and other women, and that Fang was old, and the emperor just wanted to give him special treatment. Women are easy-going women, but Mrs. Fang just doesn't agree and her attitude is very firm. Emperor Taizong then ordered: "Do you want to live without jealousy, or do you want to die with jealousy?" Mrs. Fang said, "I'd rather die of jealousy." The Tai Sect sent a glass of wine and said to her, "In that case, drink this poisoned wine." I didn't expect Mrs. Fang to drink it without hesitation. When the woman arrived, she was not even afraid of death. The emperor could do nothing about her and sighed, "I was a little scared when I saw her, not to mention Fang Lingxuan."

Others are afraid that their wives are ridiculous. Tang Gaozong asked Si Rongshao Chang Bo Yang Hongwu why he gave an important official position to others for no reason. He replied, "My wife is very strong and tenacious. Yesterday, she entrusted this man to me. If I don't obey her, I am afraid that my future life will never be peaceful. "

The story recorded in The Tale of the Ruling and Opposition is just the opposite of the above-mentioned Tale of the Sui and Tang Dynasties: during the Zhenguan period, one day Guiyang ordered Ruan Song to hold a banquet in his living room. When his wife learned that he invited several female Song Nu at the banquet, she was disheveled, barefoot and rushed to the living room with a big knife. The guests fled in fear, and Ruan Song also hid under the bed. After learning about this, the secretariat said angrily, "A woman is strong and her husband is weak, but she is firm inside and soft outside. If a wife can't discipline well, how can she manage many local people? " So he removed Ruan Song from his post.

As recorded in Yushitai, Guan Guogong was particularly afraid of his wife in the Tang Dynasty and was often ridiculed by Du, an official of the same dynasty. On one occasion, Du ridiculed him again, and he plausibly retorted, "I am afraid that women are right for three reasons: when I first married, I was as dignified as a bodhisattva. Who is not afraid of bodhisattva? " Then she gave birth to a baby, and she was like a baby blade. Who is not afraid of the blade? When she is old, wrinkled and like a ghost, who is not afraid of ghosts? "

There are also many records about henpecked husband in A Dream in the North: Zhang Brown, a senior minister, gave birth to a son with a prostitute outside, but he was afraid to take it home for fear of his wife's jealousy and put it in foster care in Jianghuai area, which is far away from home. It was not until Zhang Brown died that the son came back to pay his respects that the brothers in the family knew that they had a younger brother.

Wang Duo was ordered by the secretariat to lead the troops to fight at the front. Suddenly someone came to report that his wife was on her way to see him. Wang Duo suddenly panicked, and his opponent said, "Huang Chao approached us from the south, and now his wife is coming from the north. What should I do? " The adjutant jokingly replied, "It is better to surrender to Huang Chao."

In addition, there were many henpecked phenomena in the Tang Dynasty, among which the stories of Gao Zong, Su Zong and Zhong Zong were the most typical. According to legend, Zhongzong was very afraid of Wei Hou. At a banquet held in the palace, Youren sang in front of him: "It's good to be afraid of women when you go back to Bohr. Only Pei is talking outside, but there is no Li Lao inside. " It is said that after singing, the celebrity was rewarded by Wei Hou.

After reading all kinds of henpecked stories above, readers will definitely ask, how did the internal wind in the Tang Dynasty prevail so badly? This problem has also aroused widespread concern among scholars. After research, they believe that the Tang Dynasty before the mid-Tang Dynasty was dominated by the wind of respect and inferiority, and it was mostly concentrated among men in the upper class. The degree of pecking hens is typical in history, and public opinion at that time was not ashamed of pecking hens. This phenomenon may have the following reasons:

First of all, before the middle Tang Dynasty, the social atmosphere was relatively open and the status of women was high. Especially in upper-class families, the status of husband and wife is often equal, and even in some families, the status of wife is higher than that of husband. Because his wife comes from a well-known family and is rich and powerful, she despises her husband. Marriage in the Tang Dynasty attached great importance to "the right family", and the laws and ethics at that time also attached great importance to family status. The concepts of "don't marry at a good price", "don't marry high and low" and "don't marry ordinary people" are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Therefore, many people in the literati class regard Jinshi and marrying a noble woman as their highest ideal in life. For example, in the Sui and Tang Dynasties Jiahua, there is a record that Xue became a prime minister. He often tells others that he has two great regrets in his life. One is that although he is the prime minister, he is not a scholar, and the other is that he failed to marry a woman with five surnames.

This "five-surname woman" refers to the daughters of the five most prestigious families in society at that time. However, this kind of marriage that blindly pursues family status is sometimes unhappy. Take the marriage between the princess and Ma Xu as an example. The princess is a golden branch and jade leaf. The long-term arrogant life of the court has formed their superior psychology and arrogant personality. According to the records in Zi Tong Zhi Jian, when a princess gets married, not only her in-laws should be paid homage, but also her in-laws. The Book of Old Tang Dynasty says that after the princess's death, Xu will keep filial piety for her for three years, just like keeping filial piety for her parents. In addition, the princesses in the Tang Dynasty often ignored all kinds of female etiquette that ordinary women should abide by at that time. Imagine this relationship between husband and wife. How did Xu Can not submit to humiliation and be held hostage by the princess? Not only that, before the middle Tang Dynasty, it was not uncommon for people from princesses to rich girls to look down on their husbands and even bully them by relying on the power of their parents. In view of this drawback, Bai Juyi also lamented in his poem: "A rich girl is easy to marry, and marrying early is lighter than her husband. It is difficult for a poor woman to marry, and then filial to her aunt. "

Secondly, the husband is henpecked, which is related to his wife's own gas field and talent. The social background of the Tang Dynasty was more enlightened and open. Women in upper-class society often learn calligraphy, recite poems and draw pictures since childhood, and some even ride horses, shoot arrows and participate in social activities. They have been educated almost as much as men since childhood. This world style has created a large number of women with high cultural literacy and independent personality. Wu Zetian, Princess Taiping, Princess Anle, Shangguan Waner, and the five sisters of the Song family are typical examples. In addition, many women among ordinary literati are also very ambitious and talented.