The Evolution Trend of Traditional Marriage and Modern Marriage

In the early primitive population, the sexual relationship between men and women was messy. With the evolution of human beings, the dawn of morality and rationality has emerged in the relationship between men and women. The formation of incest taboo and the implementation of marriage outside the family indicate that sexual needs are subordinate to the needs of "people". The marriage system is gradually established with the development of primitive economy, the increase of human mutual assistance and the clear kinship. In ancient China, the marriage system was an important social norm and was included in the category of ceremony. Weddings are a tangible part of China culture. "Book of Rites" says: Rites are "from diet" and "from marriage". "Diet" includes the way of material production and distribution, and "marriage" is the way of people's own production, including men's and women's communication and marriage. Marriage communicates material and concept, morality and law, and reflects social fashion and etiquette.

First, the concept of marriage.

There are three semantic interpretations of "marriage" in ancient books: one refers to the title of husband and wife, the Book of Rites? After the explanation, Zheng Xuan noted: "A husband has a wife, and a wife has a wife." The second refers to the wedding ceremony, The Book of Songs? Zheng Feng's "On Confucius and Ying Da": "Men are faint to welcome women, and women come because of men ... In the body of men and women, getting along means getting married. Getting married is one thing. Therefore, the way of cloud marriage is called the wedding ceremony. " The third refers to in-laws. Shuo Wen Jie Zi explains "marriage" and "marriage": "marriage is the woman's family" and "marriage is the husband's family". "Two ya? The release of relatives made it more clear: "The husband's parents have husbands, and the mother's parents have husbands. "... a woman's side is a married brother, and a husband's side is a married brother. Although the above three theories are different, they have involved the basic characteristics of marriage. First, it shows that marriage is a kind of social relationship and a sign of the marriage relationship between the two parties. Secondly, it shows that marriage is conducted according to etiquette, and its ceremony is a part of the etiquette system.

Marriage is essentially a kind of interpersonal relationship, and the combination of the two sexes reflects the requirements of social and economic life and the characteristics of social culture. In Confucian classics, marriage is regarded as a major event of family and society. First of all, the wedding is regarded as the beginning of human relations. Book of rites? Jing Jie said: "The wedding ceremony is chaotic, so the difference between men and women is obvious. If the spoony ceremony is abolished, the husband and wife will suffer, and there will be many crimes of adultery. " Secondly, the wedding is considered as the basis of the ceremony. Book of rites? Faint righteousness "cloud:" Respect carefully before you kiss, and the ceremony is general, so it becomes the difference between men and women, and the meaning of husband and wife is also. Men and women are different, and then husband and wife are righteous; Husband and wife are righteous, and then father and son are relatives; Father and son are related, and then the monarch and the minister are righteous. Therefore, the unconscious is also the foundation of the ceremony. "Third, the marital status of society is also related to social chaos. New Tang book? "The Legend of Empress Dowager Cixi" said: "Courtesy is respectful to couples ... The reason for chaos is rise and fall. "Confucianism regards the combination of the two sexes as a cultural and social phenomenon, which is a civilized understanding. Ancient marriage etiquette was gradually formed on the basis of Confucian marriage view. It must be pointed out that Confucianism emphasizes social norms such as "the beginning of human relations" and "the righteousness of husband and wife", that is, "three cardinal guides and five permanents" and "three obedience and four virtues", while relatively ignoring "affection" and "love". Confucianism also takes marriage as a starting point to deduce the hierarchical relationship between father and son, monarch and minister, so marriage relationship becomes the basis of hierarchical relationship between higher and lower levels.

Second, the meaning of marriage

In ancient patriarchal society, marriage is not a personal behavior of the parties, but a major event related to the interests of two clans. Therefore, men marry women for the clan, not for the individual. As far as the purpose of marriage is concerned, the first thing is to carry on the family line. Marriage is the foundation of family formation and kinship. The primary purpose of marriage under the concept of male chauvinism is to broaden the family and reproduce. Book of rites? "Hunyi" said: "Marriage must be the most of the two surnames, the upper is the ancestral hall, and the lower is the heir of future generations. Confucius said: "A great coma is the heir of all ages." . "There are husband and wife first, then children, and the eldest son born of legal marriage is the eldest son. In the patriarchal clan system where the eldest son inherits the family, it is related to the continuation of the family, and "passing on the family" naturally becomes the primary purpose of marriage.

The second is to worship ancestors. The patriarchal society attaches great importance to consanguinity and regards the endless blood of ancestors as the top priority of the family. In ancient times, weddings were often held in front of ancestral tablets, which were called "temple fairs", indicating that newlyweds * * * inherited their ancestral businesses and shared the ancestral temple. "White Tiger Yi Tong?" Wang Buchen said, "The wife and herself are one, inheriting the ancestral temple ... and the ancestors and the next generation. "On Tang Law?" Family Marriage also says: "Wife, family, sacrifice. "In the traditional wedding ceremony, couples pay tribute to their parents-in-law, heaven and earth and ancestors.

The third is to increase the labor force. Since entering the patriarchal society, it has been taken for granted that men are superior to women. "Is it easy? The copula says: "Heaven is humble, but it's determined by dry kunding; Humble to Chen, noble and humble ""Avenue becomes a man, Kun Dao becomes a woman. "These philosophies generally regard men as superior to women as natural laws and cannot be violated. Men can get help when they get married, and women can only "concentrate on weaving, don't laugh, and clean up their own food and drink for the guests." "Wife in food, is the gift of food and clothing. "According to the feudal etiquette," the sons and daughters are selfless in goods, storage and equipment, and dare not take private leave or have an affair. "The wife does housework, serves her aunt and uncle, and supports her in-laws, but she has no economic status.

The fourth is to prevent adultery between men and women. Book of rites? "Ji Fang" said: "Fang's lewdness is different from Zhang Minzhi's, which makes people undoubtedly think that people have discipline. Therefore, men and women have no media, no money and no meeting, and there is no difference between men and women. " The marriage system is used to isolate men and women and prevent fornication, with special emphasis on women's chastity, which essentially meets the needs of patriarchal clan system to ensure the purity of children born to women. However, the feudal concept of chastity and erotic thoughts have many constraints on women and few constraints on men's fornication.

Changes of ancient marriage

Morgan, a famous American scholar, made a special study on the evolution of marriage and family in his book Ancient Society. He combed the evolution of human marriage as follows: first, people in promiscuous state; Secondly, consanguineous families based on group marriage replaced these people; Thirdly, the punaluan family family intermarried; Then the group marriage system transits to the husband-and-wife system based on monogamous marriage instead of exclusive cohabitation; Finally, from pairing marriage to monogamy, this is monogamy. Engels, in his book The Origin of Family, Private Ownership and State published in 1884, absorbed Morgan's research results, corresponding the changes of human family and marriage with the three stages of development of human society, and made a detailed summary of its development track: "Group marriage adapts to uncivilized times, couple marriage adapts to barbaric times, and monogamy supplemented by adultery and prostitution is civilized. According to the above discussion, the changes of ancient marriage in China can be divided into five stages.

First, the original group marriage

Primitive group marriage is a kind of sexual connection practiced by human ancestors, which appeared in human childhood. At that time, "he lives in the wild, Anemarrhena does not know his father, and there is no difference between husband and wife" and "husband and wife are not combined". People live in the wild, have no fixed spouse, and have no custom and rational constraints during sexual intercourse, so it is impossible to form a family. There is no difference between men and women, sexual intercourse is not prohibited, and sexual relations are purely natural. In ancient literature, there are legends about magical birth and heterogeneous marriage. For example, "Yu Jia" contains: "Shennong, Jiang surname is also. My mother said her name was Ren Si and she had a daughter named Deng. By the way, little princess, you have a dragon head in Huayang, and a woman gave birth to Emperor Yan on a sheep. " According to historical records? "Zhou Benji" says: "Zhou Houji abandoned her name, and her mother was the daughter of Taitai, named Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan is the concubine of Emperor Jiao Yuan. When Jiang Yuan went out to the wild and saw the giant's trail, she suddenly said: If you want to practice, you must be pregnant and have a baby while you stay. " The Book of Songs? "Ode to Shang" also has a description of "a mysterious bird born in Shang". These strange birth legends should reflect the twists and turns of ancient messy marriages, as Mr. Guo Moruo inferred: "The ancestors of the Five Emperors and Huang San were born after the Yellow Emperor, but they knew their mother but not their father", indicating that this is a hybrid era of wild mating, or a matriarchal society of blood group marriage.

Second, consanguineous marriage

With the slow development of primitive economy and the accumulation of primitive life experience, especially the use of fire, "primitive groups must be divided into small groups and blood families in order to make a living." Within consanguineous families, the prohibition of marriage began to appear, that is, the marriage of parents (children) was excluded, and only men and women (brothers and sisters) of the same generation were allowed to have sexual relations. This system of consanguineous marriage of the same generation is recorded in ancient Chinese literature, such as the Book of the Later Han Dynasty? The Biography of Nan Man describes the legend that Gao Xin's daughter married Pan Hu to give birth to six men and six women, and their children married each other. In customs, Nu Wa is Fuxi's sister. On the stone carvings of Han tombs unearthed in later generations, Fuxi and Nu Wa are in the shape of "the head of the snake and the tail of the snake intersect", which is a symbol of husband and wife, indicating that Nvwa 、 Fuxi is both brother and sister and husband and wife double god. In the folklore of ethnic minorities in China, the story of brother and sister marriage is also widely circulated. For example, Fuxi sisters of Miao nationality make people smoke, Meige of Yi nationality and Buyi nationality get married, Pangu of Zhuang nationality and Genesis of Naxi nationality all record the story of brother-sister marriage. Although most of these legends are subjective fiction, they reflect the common phenomenon of blood relatives in primitive society.

Third, group marriage.

Group marriage is also called subfamily marriage, and the family of group marriage is punaluan family family. The biggest difference between partner marriage and consanguineous marriage is that there is a new ban on sexual relations, which prohibits the marriage between brothers and sisters. The partnership marriage system is characterized by a group of brothers marrying another group of women who are not their sisters. Brothers are wives, sisters are husbands, and men and women are each other's "close partners". According to historical records? According to the Chronicle of Five Emperors, Shun once married Yao's two daughters and. From this legend, we can see the characteristics of sisters and husbands under the group marriage system.

The emergence of partnership marriage system is more important than the replacement of the original group marriage by blood marriage. The principle of natural selection has played a major role in the development from consanguineous marriage to group marriage. By replacing consanguineous marriage with natural selection, the quantity and quality of the population have been significantly improved. Engels quoted Morgan's words in The Origin of Family, Private Ownership and State: "The marriage between unrelated clans creates a race that is stronger physically and intellectually." Based on this fact, people in ancient China had the understanding that "men and women share the same surname, but their lives are not unusual". The historical function of partnership marriage system lies in promoting the germination of clan system. Because of the marriage ban between brothers and sisters or even collateral brothers and sisters, any man or woman must go to other blood groups to find a spouse, and the children born belong to female groups, which eventually led to the emergence of matriarchal clans. As Engels pointed out: "It seems that the clan system, in most cases, is directly produced from the punaluan family family."

Four. Paired marriage

Paired marriage is characterized by a weak relationship between a man and a woman for a long or short time. Compared with group marriage, it is individual marriage; Compared with monogamous marriage, it is a fragile and unstable relationship between husband and wife. Whether it is the transition from group marriage to exclusive marriage, the children born still belong to the matriarchal line.

In the alternate period between barbarism and barbarism, the system of pairing marriage appeared. Its appearance first lies in the development of primitive economy, which makes the surplus products available for division and exchange. Secondly, the restrictions on intermarriage between relatives are more and more extensive, and it is difficult for people to maintain group marriage or group marriage. "Women also urgently demand the right to remain chaste and marry only one man temporarily or permanently as a way to save them." Generally speaking, the ways to form a husband-and-wife marriage are: the mother talks about marriage, concludes an engagement, realizes marriage by exchanging goods, or takes the spouse from other clans by force. Therefore, the marriage of husband and wife is not based on feelings, but on "convenience and need". Because of the large number of men's deaths and the excessive number of women's surnames in the wars of barbarism, men are mainly responsible for obtaining food within the family, which makes men still enjoy the privilege of accidental adultery in the form of polygamy and pairing marriage. Husband and wife divorce is not bound by clan customs, and the marriage relationship is not strong.

The development from partnership marriage system to pairing marriage system has sprouted new social factors. In a couple's marriage family, the biological father other than the biological mother can be determined. Secondly, the responsibility of men in productive labor is becoming more and more important, which makes them gradually dominate the family economy. There is an unprecedented contradiction between the actual promotion of the husband's status and the matriarchal system. The only way to solve this contradiction is to calculate the lineage according to the male line, which leads to the abolition of matriarchal system and the establishment of patriarchy, which is one of the most radical revolutions that mankind has experienced. When men leap into the dominant position in the family, the middle form of paternalistic family appears, which is a transitional form from pairing marriage family to monogamous family. Especially in the later period of dual marriage system, the progress of labor tools has promoted the development of production, and individual families may become independent economic units. The gradual privatization of tools and products has led to the emergence of private ownership and slavery, thus "giving a powerful blow to the society based on pairing marriage and matriarchal clan". The emergence of patriarchal families and private ownership inevitably requires a new kind of marriage and family, that is, monogamous marriage and family will replace the pairing marriage and family. This new kind of marriage and family was conceived in the later period of the pairing marriage system.

Verb (abbreviation for verb) Spouse marriage

Monogamy marriage is commonly known as monogamy. The establishment of monogamous marriage system is based on patriarchy replacing matriarchal system and private ownership of means of production. Based on this fact, Marx pointed out: "The motive force leading to monogamy is the increase of wealth and the desire to transfer wealth to children, that is, the legal heir, that is, the real offspring born from the duality of marriage." So "the main purpose of marriage is to have legal children." In monogamous marriage and family, the wife, property and children are owned by the husband privately, and the wife's function is mainly to have children and continue the paternal lineage.

The monogamous marriage system has shown the characteristics of male supremacy since its birth. As far as the status of husband and wife is concerned, because the husband has the right to control the family economy, he has the right to control his wife. Book of rites? The special sacrifice on the outskirts of the city says: "Men are handsome and women follow", and the saying goes: "Marry a horse bought by a daughter-in-law, others ride it, and others beat it", which are all portrayal of women's humble status. As far as marriage is concerned, monogamous marriage is much stronger and more lasting than monogamous marriage, and it is inseparable from the opposite sex under normal circumstances. Confucianism emphasizes the permanence of the relationship between husband and wife from the perspective of ethics. As the saying goes, "Husband and wife don't know each other for a long time, so we should endure it forever." "Courtesy begins with the husband."

From the perspective of marriage evolution, it is reasonable to use "faithfulness" to clean up the problems left over from the pairing marriage. But as Engels pointed out: "Monogamy has its special nature from the beginning, which makes it monogamous only for women, not for men." As early as the Zhou Dynasty, the number of wives and concubines of the son of heaven was amazing. In Faint Righteousness, the system of the Zhou Dynasty is "the emperor has six palaces, three wives, nine concubines, twenty-seven concubines and eighty-one emperors." Throughout the feudal society, aristocratic bureaucrats generally had many wives. As far as kinship is concerned, the establishment of monogamous marriage makes kinship clear and complete, and the relationship between blood relatives, in-laws, immediate relatives and ordinary people is clear and definite, thus forming a patriarchal network with paternal parents as the clue.

The development from primitive group marriage to monogamy is a sign that ancient society moved from ignorance and barbarism to civilization. Engels pointed out: "At first, the scope of the same marriage bond was very wide, and then it became narrower and narrower, until only the husband and wife who are now dominant were left." With the narrowing of the scope of marriage relationship, marriage customs tend to be complex and gradually form regulations.

Ancient marriage policy

The marriage policy in ancient China refers to the basic policies and principles pursued by governments (crabs) in past dynasties, which reflects the basic attitudes of governments (crabs) in past dynasties towards marriage. Generally speaking, the ancient marriage policy never went beyond the etiquette norms. Within the framework of ceremony, the laws and regulations of past dynasties made a series of provisions on marriage according to the economic and political needs of each period.

First, guide people to get married.

During the Western Zhou Dynasty, there were officials in charge of marriage, such as "Da Situ" and "Shi Mei". According to "Zhou Li? Sheriff? Situzai: Da Situ "teaches relatives with Yin etiquette, then the people have no complaints. Zheng Xuan's Note: "Yin Li refers to the ceremony of men and women, and there is no resentment when confused. "This means that Da Situ's duty is to educate people with marriage etiquette and help them get married in time, so as to reduce the resentment of women and husbands in society. In ancient times, twenty men and fifteen women were a rite of passage, indicating that adults could get married. If men in their thirties and women in their twenties are unmarried, the government (crab) will urge them to get married. " Zhou Li? Sheriff? Stuart said that one of the responsibilities of the media is that "all famous men and women are famous for their years, months, days and names." Let men get married at the age of thirty, and let women get married at the age of twenty. "Most ancient rulers paid attention to the important influence of intermarriage between men and women and population growth on the prosperity of the country, so they pursued the national policy of encouraging marriage and childbearing. Did everything wrong? "The foreign reserves are right" contains: "(Qi Huangong) ordered people to say: husband twenty, female fifteen." In the sixth year of Zhenguan (632), Emperor Taizong issued a decree stipulating: "Citizens who are 20 men and 15 women and have no husband's family shall be married by courtesy." This means that the local government (crab government) should provide financial assistance to those who cannot be employed according to the "six rites" because of insufficient economic capacity or other conditions. There are two motives for ancient rulers to guide people to get married and encourage early marriage: one is to maintain social stability and reduce resentment towards women and husbands; The second is to encourage population reproduction, ensure that conscripts have sufficient sources and increase taxes, thus enhancing national strength.

Second, marry a matchmaker.

Parents' orders and matchmakers' words are the necessary conditions for feudal marriage. Book of rites? Qu Li said: "Men and women are not known by their media; No money, no money, no kissing. " The Book of Songs? Hurricane? Wako said, "What about Wako? There is no axe to cut. How about finding a wife? Media is not allowed. " Here, we all mentioned an important principle: without a matchmaker, there is no matchmaker. Zhu Yue said, "The matchmaker knows his second surname." The role of the matchmaker is entrusted to the parents of both parties to the marriage. Only through communication between men and women can marriage be established. In ancient times, there was no distinction between men and women in giving and receiving, and the boundaries between the two sexes were clear. Therefore, as a matchmaker, he has naturally become an indispensable person in society, and the role of the matchmaker is beyond reproach. The problem is that the feudal engagement regards the matchmaker's words as a necessary condition for the establishment of the marriage, and stipulates that "Dont Ask For Help is a man, but the woman does not agree". Anyone who marries without the communication of the matchmaker is illegal, not recognized by the society, and even denounced as "elopement" and "fornication", which restricts men and women from freely falling in love and marrying independently. In particular, the feudal government (crab government) made strict regulations on the performance of media employment in the form of law, making it more mandatory. For example, Tang Law? Sparse discussion? Family marriage stipulates: "There must be a medium for the law of marriage." After absolutization and compulsion, "media" is combined with parents' orders and becomes a way for young men and women to fall in love freely. Mencius said: "If you don't wait for your parents' orders, the matchmaker's words, drilling holes and peeping, and crossing the wall with them, then your parents and people will be mean." "pipe? There is also a saying in the situation that "the daughter from the media is ugly and unbelieving". The essence of prohibiting "self-media" is to ensure the implementation of parents' orders and maintain the order of a patriarchal society.

Third, the same surname does not get married.

The ancients realized the harm of consanguineous marriage to reproduction long ago, and it was based on this understanding that intermarriage replaced consanguineous marriage. "Surname" was originally a sign of blood relationship developed from matriarchal clan society, but after the establishment of patriarchal clan system, "Surname" was even more a sign of clan system. The patriarchal clan system established in the Western Zhou Dynasty included establishing a son, establishing a temple and not marrying the same surname, which became an important marriage policy in the Western Zhou Dynasty. The first purpose of its implementation is to ensure the clarity of patriarchal hierarchy, so that the inheritance and ownership of power will not be disordered. Second, for the sake of eugenics, Zuo Zhuan? In twenty-three years, Gong said, "It is not uncommon for men and women to have the same surname." "Mandarin? There is a similar expression in Zhong: "If you don't marry with the same surname, you won't get a bad name." Marriage with the same surname is not conducive to eugenics, which is social common sense. Since the Western Zhou Dynasty, the system of "Shi Qing Shi Lu" has gradually disintegrated, but the unmarried surname can still be passed down as a customary system. For example, there was a clear stipulation in the Tang Dynasty: "People with the same surname, each with two years, are stunned (losing their parents) and regarded as rape." The so-called "same surname" in the Tang Dynasty refers to the descendants of the same great-grandfather, that is, families with the same surname * * * and similar blood. Intermarriage is prohibited, which has a positive effect on prenatal and postnatal care. The laws of the Ming and Qing Dynasties also prohibited consanguineous marriage, but it was forbidden for people with different surnames.

4. Acceptable concubines

Marriage policies in past dynasties were based on the principle of consolidating monogamy under the patriarchal clan system, but at the same time allowed men to be "polygamous". Therefore, monogamy is only aimed at women's marriage norms, while for a few men, polygamy is implemented in the name of monogamy, represented by concubinage. Before the Qin Dynasty, concubines were common among aristocratic men. Export refers to the woman who married him. Biography of the Ram? In the 19th year of Zhuang Gong, he said, "Who? When a vassal marries a country, the two countries will go there, and their nephews will follow. Who is the nephew? So is my brother's son. who is it? Brother also. The princes employed nine women. Liu Xi's Ming Shi also said: "My nephew said." Lu Deming explained the text: "A wife's daughter-in-law is her. "According to this, when a bannerman marries a wife, the woman usually marries her brother's daughter and the bride's sister. These daughters who accompany him are called "Ai". In the Zhou Dynasty, the marriage system was very popular in the upper class. The Book of Songs? Daya？ Han Yi said, "The wife of the empress Han is the nephew of Wang Fen, the son of her father. Han Hou greeted him, and he didn't know where he was. Hundred Liang Pumbaa, eight Luan Qiangtang, does not show its light. All the girls follow it. It's like a cloud. Han Hou Gu Zhi, drunk as mud. "This poem vividly depicts the scene when the Marquis of the Han Dynasty married his wife and the bride's daughter accompanied him like a cloud. Concubine system is actually a relic of the marriage custom of ancient siblings. After Qin Dynasty, concubine system disappeared, but it still prevailed. The difference between a concubine and a wife is that a wife is a matchmaker and her status is much higher than that of a concubine; Secondly, concubines can be bought, sold, given, exchanged and rewarded like ordinary commodities. Under the guidance of the social concept that men are superior to women, and "the unfilial has three sons, and the queen is the oldest", the concubine system lasted for a long time from the pre-Qin period to the Republic of China, and concubines can be taken from top to bottom and ordinary people. The Law of the Tang Dynasty clearly stipulates that concubinage is legal, and the Ming Hui Dian also stipulates: "Shu Ren, who has reached the age of 40 and has no children, can take a concubine".