In the recent hit film and television drama "Wind Rises In Luoyang", there is a wedding scene in the Wu Zetian era, in the wedding ceremony, the man's Baili Hongyi kneels to worship the solemn ceremony, while the woman's Liu Ran is standing, forming a scene of "male kneeling and female worship", which is particularly special under the traditional order of male superiority and female inferiority in ancient times. Historically, before and after Wu Zetian ascended the throne, in order to improve the status of women and consolidate the needs of rule, many regulations and laws were promulgated, and the marriage custom was only one aspect.
Establish a custom of newlywed men and women do not worship
The Northern Song Dynasty monk Wen Ying said in the "Jade Kettle Qing Dialect" that one day Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, asked Zhao Pu, the prime minister: "Obviously, men are inferior to women, why don't men kneel and women kneel?" Zhao Pu could not answer, nor could the others next to him, only Wang Pu's son Wang Yisun replied: "Empress Wu wants to honor the woman, and it is easy to worship now." The Biography of Wang Pu in the History of Song compiled by the Yuan Dynasty also has a record of this dialogue.
This story shows that in the early Song Dynasty, there was still a custom of women worshipping and not kneeling at weddings, and this custom originated in the era of Wu Zetian.
According to the scene depicted in the Dunhuang murals, the way of ceremonial ceremony in the marriage chapel during the Fifth Dynasty of the Tang Dynasty included the form of a man kneeling and a woman,000 in the "Wedding Diagram" of the late Tang Dynasty in the twelfth cave, the ceremony hall at the time of marriage was covered with a step, the bride stood on the right, the groom knelt on the left, and the groom next to the one was the celebrant.
This kind of ceremony mostly occurs in the marriage of husbands, the man worships in the woman's home, the way of worship is the groom kneeling on the ground to prostrate, the bride's hands on the chest, that is, "the man worships the woman and does not worship".
Marriage has been a major event from ancient times to the present, and the union of men and women is a very important thing for individuals, families and even countries. It is related to many issues such as national etiquette, moral customs, and population reproduction. Wu Zetian reformed the wedding ceremony to improve the status of women and strengthen the legitimacy of his rule.
Filial piety for the mother also takes three years
Ancient times is an era of etiquette, in ancient China's etiquette system, the funeral dress system and the marriage system also have a very important position, when the Tang Dynasty followed the Zhou rites, one of which is: the father is alive and the mother dies of illness, can only serve filial piety for the mother for one year, and the mother is alive and the father dies of illness, it is necessary to serve the father for three years. This neglect of motherhood represents a long-standing neglect of the status of women in traditional patriarchal societies.
In the first year of Emperor Gaozong of Tang 's reign (674), after Wu Zetian's "Twelve Matters of Suggestions", this system of mourning changed. Wu Zetian advocated that, in order to repay his mother's kindness in giving birth to labor, the period for the father to serve the mother in filial piety should be extended from one year to three years.
Wu Zetian's measures are undoubtedly to reform the system of etiquette and law, under the established patriarchal authority framework, to re-emphasize the mother alone, the practical role will help to improve the equal status of male parents and female parents in the family relations of the feudal era, and will also affect the children of that era to the living female parents and filial piety, if it can be implemented for a long time, it is beyond doubt to improve the status of women in family life.
Women were selected as officials to participate in government affairs
We know that the Sui and Tang Dynasties began the system of selecting officials through the imperial examination, and in the novel "Mirror Flower Edge", there is a fictional story that Wu Zetian opened the imperial examination for women to take, and admitted the hundred flower fairy Tang Yuchen and other heavenly immortals reincarnated into the human world.
Historically, Wu Zetian never held a women's examination, but the gender transition of imperial power enabled a group of talented women to show their talents, and Wu Zetian provided them with a certain "institutional channel". It was precisely such a group of female officials with outstanding literary talents and abilities that provided the necessary staff and assistance for Wu Zetian to govern. The most famous is Shangguan Wan'er, who is "a mingxi official and a good person".
Regrettably, this period of history is not mentioned at all in the main history, and the historians are unwilling to record or feel that some of the things she did should not be recorded, except for Shangguan Wan'er, we can only find some corroboration in the fragments of history.
According to the epitaph of Sima Shenwei during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, his wife Li Shi, as a well-known local talented woman, was recruited by Wu Zetian and was entrusted with the post of caozhao. Before Wu Zetian came to power, this work was undertaken by male officials trusted by the emperor, and there was never a precedent for a woman to take charge of the grass edict.
"Sima Shenwei's Epitaph": "In the early years, the empress dowager came to the court to ask for the history of the women, and the king of Yingchuan County, Zai De Yi men, summoned to serve. Chenji 15 years, ink edicts, composed by Lady Duo (Li Shi). ”
"Zaichu" is the era name of Wu Zetian's son Tang Ruizong Li Dan, used from November 689 to August 690 AD, which was the first half year before Wu Zetian became emperor, Tang Ruizong was only a puppet in the hands of Wu Zetian, at this time Wu Zetian prepared for the title of emperor, openly recruited and selected "female history", and included it in the palace administrative team.
Wu Zetian's "female officials" group can also be found, and the wife of the famous Tang general Pei Xingjian, Ku Dishi, was "summoned to the palace by Wu Zetian and worshipped as a royal official." "This is from the record in the "Monument to the Gift of Tai Wei Pei Gong Shinto"; There is also the great calligrapher Yan Zhenqing's grandmother Yin Shi, who was also "summoned around" by Wu Zetian, from the Quan Tang Wen record.
Although the female official group of the Wuzhou Dynasty is not an independent system formed outside the system, it is still quite imperfect, the scale may not be large, it is impossible to participate on an equal footing with men, it has certain limitations, even if human society has not fully achieved it now, but this is undoubtedly a very historical practice, which proves for us that the biggest weakness of women is not in ability, but in the right to speak.
Wu Zetian's title of emperor is a proof in itself
Wu Zetian's claim to the emperor was a miracle of history, and this act itself challenged the traditional order of male superiority over female inferiority.
Before Wu Zetian became emperor, it was not uncommon for women to claim the title of emperor in ancient times, and although they held great power, they never changed their status as concubines subordinate to the emperor. Wu Zetian changed his past customs, openly stepped out of the curtain, deposed the emperor, changed the name of the country, and created the Wuzhou Dynasty himself.
We often say that the times create heroes, many times, a person's success is often the result of the combination of time and place and many factors, Wu Zetian just caught up with the era of relatively high status of women in ancient times, weakening her resistance to becoming emperor.
Women in the Tang Dynasty had a certain economic status, had the right to inherit property, women were not bound by so much etiquette, and did not have the later value concept of "no talent is a thing", and noblewomen and bridesmaids took pleasure in reading and took it for granted. In the Tang Dynasty, women among the masses of the people could go out alone to earn a living, or go out to fight for communication, and there was no need to repeat it, so women in the Tang Dynasty had not yet completely become men's appendages.
Under this relatively relaxed social atmosphere for women, it directly and indirectly played a role in Wu Zetian's claim to the throne. After Wu Zetian founded the Wuzhou Dynasty as a woman, he in turn promoted this social atmosphere and further improved the status of women. In short, the social atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty created the empress, and the empress created a generation of social atmosphere.
Finally the Historian says:
Objectively, Wu Zetian failed to change the general environment of male superiority and female inferiority; Subjectively, Wu Zetian was motivated by the need to consolidate his own rule, which made the status of women in the society at that time rise, creating a trend of further opening up during the Tang Dynasty. There are historical limitations, and we cannot blame the ancients for this.
History proves that it is impossible to fundamentally improve the status of women by relying on the subjective will of one person alone. The significant improvement of women's status is the product of the progress of human social civilization, on the one hand, due to the development of productive forces, the productivity gap between women and men has narrowed to a negligible degree, and the economic base determines the superstructure. On the other hand, in the same region, the transformation of social values and institutional guarantees.