Text/Goofy
Daughter country is the memory of the post-70s and post-80s generations, because the popularity of the TV series "Journey to the West" in these two generations is too high. In novels and TV series, there are no men but only women in the daughter country. There is a river in the daughter's country called the Zimu River, and when a girl reaches the age of twenty, she will drink a mouthful of the water of the Zimu River and become pregnant and give birth. In this magical country, men are a scarce commodity. Therefore, when the four Tang monks and apprentices came to the daughter country, the queen here coveted the handsome monk and did everything in her power to get him.
So, why did Wu Cheng'en write such a strange and bizarre story into "Journey to the West"? Is it his own reverie or is it a historical basis? In fact, the matter of the daughter country is really recorded in the ancient history books, and there is more than one place, let's take a look at what the "daughter country" in these history books looks like!
Records of the daughter kingdom are first found in the Classic of Mountains and Seas in the history books. In this strange book that looks like a book of heaven, there is a kingdom called the "Women's Kingdom": "The women's country is in the north of Wuxian, where two women live and the water is circumferential." Live in one door for a day. He also said, "At the time of this poor mountain, the kingdom of Xuanyuan is eight hundred years old." In the north of the women's country. These two passages are confusing, and even historians cannot say what they mean.
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms also has a record of the daughter kingdom: "Mother Qiu Jian begged for Guryeo, and the Palace of Guryeo was depressed, so she attacked the division... It is also said that there is a country in the sea, pure women and no men. The "pure women and no men" mentioned in this account are in line with the characteristics of the daughter country, but the book does not say how they continued to come from generation to generation.
In the Tang Dynasty, the "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty" dictated by Master Xuanzang, the prototype of the Tang monks in the Journey to the West, also has a record of the daughter country. The Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty says: "There are western women on the southwest islands of the Kingdom of Fuyi, all of whom are women, and there are no men. There are many treasures, and the kingdom is attached, so the king of the kingdom of Fu is sent to her husband. Its vulgar males do not lift also. This record is very clear, has a specific geographical location, and clearly records the problem of how this female country will be passed on from generation to generation. This record is more reasonable and more credible than books such as the Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. And the way this record describes that this woman's inheritance is actually sent by other countries to send "husbands to match", at first glance, it is surprising. This statement is more "thunderous" than the way in "Journey to the West".
In addition to the Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty, another important tang dynasty historiography work, the Tang Huijiao, also records a daughter state. In the "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty", it is the "Western Women's Kingdom", and in the "Tang Huijiao" is the "Eastern Women's Kingdom". Let's take a look at what kind of kingdom this East Female Kingdom is: "The Eastern Female Kingdom, the Eastern Female Kingdom, the Western Qiang's other species, there is a female kingdom in the Western Sea, so it is called the Eastern Female Kingdom." Judging from this record, the East Nü Kingdom is relative to the West Nü Kingdom, that is, at that time, the two Nü Kingdoms existed at the same time.
Since then, there have also been records of women's kingdoms in the old and new "Book of Tang", but they are very close to the records of books such as "Tang Huijiao". The Old Book of Tang also says that in the eighth year of Emperor Taizong's reign (634 AD), the "female kingdom" also sent envoys to Chang'an to pay tribute together with Guizi, Tubo, Gaochang and other states. In the twenty-ninth year of the new century (741 AD), the "female kingdom" sent envoys to pay tribute.
Through the analysis of many records, historians have speculated that there should be two women countries in history, namely the East Women's Kingdom and the West Women's Kingdom. The Western Nü Kingdom was roughly located on the coast of the present-day Mediterranean Sea and was no longer within the scope of today's China. The Eastern Nü Kingdom was roughly located in the Hengduan Mountains of the present-day Western Sichuan Plateau.
Regarding the Dongnu Kingdom, some historians have verified that its exact location should be in the Dajincheon area of present-day Jinchuan County, Aba Prefecture. Along the banks of the Dajin River, there is still a watchtower nearly 50 meters high, which is a local landmark building and is known as the "King of Chinese Diaowang". According to locals, this watchtower was the palace of the king of the Eastern Nun Kingdom. At that time, the queen was on the top floor of the watchtower to handle official business.
Up to now, the status of local Tibetan women is still relatively high, women's independence is relatively strong, advocating free love, respecting women's choices, and so on. These customs are considered to be the legacy of the Tonomi Kingdom.
But what is certain is that the "Zimu River", a strange river that can make people pregnant, does not exist in reality. Combined with historical data, from the current point of view, the so-called female country, when the status of women is higher, the ruling class of the country is mainly women. In the eyes of the Central Plains Dynasty, where men were inferior to women, it was natural to feel strange.