The daughter-in-law wants to be small, and the daughter wants to marry.
The little woman was twelve years old and left home to serve her in-laws.
These two sentences describe the ancient child brides- "Big marriage" is the normal Ming media is marrying, three media and six hires, and the main entrance of the big palanquin is carried in. "Little begging" is to marry a child and raise a daughter-in-law, there is not so much etiquette, the little daughter-in-law is both economical and obedient, and the child daughter-in-law can act as a laborer for the husband's family at a young age, why not enjoy it?
After the Song Dynasty, the three generations of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, child bridesmaids were quite common in the folk, and many people had heard about child brides. Here are some misconceptions about child brides to be corrected.
1. Is the child bride married to the little boy in the family?
In many novels, movies and televisions, after the child bride lives in the in-laws' house, she has to wait for her in-laws and in-laws, and she has to wait for her young brother. When the little brother grew up, the child's daughter-in-law married the little brother.
In fact, child brides are younger than their husbands, accounting for only a small part (less than 10%). Most husbands are older and much older than child brides-in-law. Most of the child brides-in-law are not married to their own peers, but to the old generation and grandfather generation. It is also common for teenage children to marry daughters-in-law, and to give to 60-year-old men.
To put it bluntly, many child brides are not prepared for juniors. Instead, the elderly uncles and middle-aged uncles "raise their daughters-in-law", according to the current words, it is the "Lolita Cultivation Plan". During the Republic of China period, there was a survey that among child brides, males and young women accounted for nearly 80%, and the age difference was more than 10 to 20 years old.
Second, are child brides-in-law all bought?
Most of the child brides bought, the ancient women's status was low, and their parents sold them when they were tight. Moreover, it is to be a daughter-in-law to others, not to die. For example, in the Yuan Dynasty's "Dou E'e Grievance", Dou Tianzhang is very representative. This poor student had to go to the exam, his daughter-in-law had died early, and the seven-year-old Dou E had no one to take care of him, so Dou Tianzhang sold Dou E to the Cai family's mother-in-law as a child bride.
In the war-torn years of the Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty and the late Ming dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, there were more child brides. In the chaos of war, refugees are everywhere, selling children for food, planting grass labels and selling women, unable to feed and give away... At that time, carrying half a bag of rice could change a child bride to go home. There are also child brides who are not bought and sold. For example, if both families have girls, if they change each other, they will all have child brides-
Like the story of "Yang Naiwu and Xiao Cabbage" in the Qing Dynasty, how did Xiao Cabbage (Bi Xiugu) become a child bride? The two old wives often nag, you have a child, I have a little girl, both children are lost at an early age, they are engaged. The little cabbage first lived in the in-laws' house, waited until the age of marriage, and then discussed the dowry and dowry.
3. Will child brides and daughters-in-law be abused?
Child brides have always been portrayed as "devastated". In fact, in ancient times, didn't the little daughter-in-law who entered the door normally also have to be "angry"? The child bride is not abused, but what kind of family she has entered.
Some people's child bridesmaids are raised as daughters-in-law as soon as they enter the door. When you grow up and marry your husband, you are the "big wife of the right house". Some people's families are bad, buying a child bride is to find a concubine, as a cow and horse, beating and abusing is a common thing. Most ordinary people are treated like normal wives. Whether it is good or bad, whether it is noisy or noisy, all depends on how the relationship is.
[Note]: Many people say that "child brides" existed during the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period. In fact, at that time, it was not called child brides- and daughters-in-law, but the custom of "concubines" that was popular in aristocratic marriages. The so-called "concubine" means that in the noble family, when marrying a concubine with a high status, she will marry one and get one free, and send out one or more concubines who have no status to make concubines for others.
"The Legend of Mi Yue" has been seen, princess Mi Shu got married, mi yue was packaged and sent away. Mi Yue is the "concubine" of King Yingsi of Qin, which is essentially different from the child bride. Most importantly, the crowd is different. "Child brides" were popular among the commoners and small landlords in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. The custom of "delirium" was only in the royal families and large families of the pre-Qin, Qin, Han, and Wei and Jin dynasties.
Why is child brides popular? Or the scourge of poor people. Who in a large family is willing to send their young daughter out and make cattle and horses for others early? The children of poor families can't watch them starve to death, and give it to others to get a way to live.
China's mainland relies on the post-founding marriage law to prohibit this custom; on the other side of the Straits Bay, after the 1970s, people became rich and gradually disappeared. In 2006, a village was also found in Putian, Fujian Province, and hundreds of child brides were found.