We all know that in the Song Dynasty, commercial activities were very developed, and also led to the economic development of the Song Dynasty. However, in the context of the commercial development of the Song Dynasty, there were also many ethical collapses, and what we want to talk about today is that in the Song Dynasty, the rental of wives and daughters became a fashion.
The reason for the phenomenon of renting wives and daughters is inseparable from China's oppression of women for thousands of years. In this feudal society where men are superior to women, women have almost no right to choose their own destiny, they can only raise children at home, and they are never given the right to participate in politics, and can only be manipulated. Men, on the other hand, enjoy all kinds of privileges and can have three wives and four concubines.
In the Song Dynasty, renting wives and daughters was called "concubines", which meant that when people could not repay their debts, they would take their wives and daughters to rich families as collateral. And the time of this mortgage is often several years, and what is even more tragic is that the wife and daughter cannot be redeemed for a lifetime.
In the Song Dynasty, there was once a scholar named Gao Wenhu, one of his concubines was named Yinhua, who was mortgaged by his family to enter the palace, and the two were very affectionate, and everyone else expressed tacit approval of the "husband and wife", which shows how ironic it is that women have completely become a commodity at that time, without any dignity to speak of.
At that time, people who would mortgage their wives and daughters were generally businessmen, and we also know that merchants were always more mercenary, but in the rapid development of commerce in the Song Dynasty, lending behavior was endless, when the merchants were really desperate, coupled with the fact that morality had almost no binding effect on the business at that time, so the merchants also began to intensify. At that time, the scholar-doctor class, in order to meet its own needs, did not stop it, but allowed this immoral behavior to occur.
Due to the tacit approval and support of the aristocratic class, gradually, the concubines formed an industry, and in order to meet the needs of the aristocratic class, some people even specially gave birth to a daughter and cultivated it, in order to finally pawn their daughter out, thus obtaining a series of benefits.
And women under this oppression have no right to choose, they can only accept this unfair trade. Some women even think that this is a quick way to enjoy a rich life, so that they can break the jar and break it, and hope that they will one day be favored by some scholars, and it is conceivable that the interests distorted the moral concepts of the people at that time into a shape.
In order to cover up this unhealthy atmosphere at that time, but also to maintain the reputation of the scholar class, so the historical records of concubines are also very few, which makes people feel very helpless. It is precisely because of the chaotic atmosphere of the Song Dynasty at that time that the famous "Cheng Zhu Lixue" appeared, in order to standardize people's behavior and reduce the occurrence of chaos. Therefore, for "Cheng Zhu Lixue", we should also look at it in light of the background of the times at that time, rather than blindly opposing its feudalism.
From the chaos of the "concubines" of the Song Dynasty, we should learn a lesson, understand the necessity of morality, and not betray our goodwill for the sake of so-called interests.
Reference: History of the Song Dynasty