Lead
The word "concubine" was commonly used in ancient societies to mean "female slave". Because of the special status of concubines, in ancient society, they often became "women who men marry other than their wives"; because the status of "concubines" was low, they were also extended to be "the humble title of women's self-designation", such as the Warring States Song Yu "Gao Tang Fu" said "concubine Wushan's daughter also", which means "I am the daughter of Wushan".
Three wives and four concubines is a marriage system unique to ancient China. This kind of rules and regulations do not know how many married men are envied, and thousands of men fantasize about traveling back to ancient times and living a wonderful life of warblers and swallows, stealing jade and stealing incense. But dreams are full of temptations, but in fact they are cruel.
Let's not talk about whether it is possible to travel back to ancient times, that is, if you really travel through the past, you may not be able to live the family life of three wives and four concubines, and it is likely that you will regret that even your intestines are green. Since concubinage in ancient times was not a casual thing, tv series are actually all deceptions.
In ancient China, sons were preferred to women, and women's influence was not high, so there was a polygamous marriage system. However, throughout the ancient history of our country, the basic criterion of married life in our country has always been "monogamy". Three wives and four concubines are only the rights of the top personnel such as royal nobles and princes and nobles, and ordinary people are rich and cannot take concubines casually.
In ancient China, the hierarchy of etiquette was strict, and there were strict requirements for marrying a daughter-in-law and taking a concubine, and no one could mess with the etiquette. Even though the emperor is a heavenly son and there are three thousand beautiful ladies in the harem, the only well-known ones are the "three palaces, six courtyards and seventy-two concubines", and the other women are not counted.
The royal nobility and the dignitaries were inferior to the emperor, but they also had the right to control the concubines, but the total number of concubines was strictly limited. The Han Dynasty required Qing Dafu to have one wife and two concubines, and one husband and one wife for the common man, which meant that the scholar could take two concubines, and the ordinary people were not allowed to take concubines. You need to serve the country with a large number of women, pioneering and innovative, and sealing the number of princes can take up to eight concubines, which is also a very high honor.
The Tang Dynasty had a certain degree of liberalization on the total number of concubines, and the Tang Dynasty required the prince to take twelve concubines, and the county king and his one-pin official ten, which were successively declined, and naturally ordinary people were still not allowed to take concubines.
During the Ming Dynasty, the etiquette was more hierarchical, and it became more and more difficult to take concubines. The kings of the Ming Dynasty only had two concubines, unless they had no children. The children of the prince are still like this, and the ordinary people are obvious. It is the law of etiquette and it is also the law. You need to really dare to resist the law, so wait for punishment. The Tang Dynasty law requires that "those who have a wife and remarry for one year, and those who deceive and remarry for one and a half years"; The ming dynasty law requires, "Those who have a wife and remarry are ninety years old and divorced."
It was not until the Yuan Dynasty, in order to increase the total population, promote the reproduction of the population and the reproduction of the common people, that the common people were allowed to take concubines, but only those who had no children and grandchildren above forty were allowed to accept a concubine. Nature stipulates that the dead are alive, although they cannot take concubines casually, but the rich and gentry avoid the etiquette and law by marrying "outer houses" and collecting "housemaids", similar to today's raising of small three and raising small secrets, so the wisdom of the ancients can not be underestimated.