The Chastity Arch, which sounds like an honor, is actually a heavy shackle that binds women's freedom. In ancient times, women could only rely on their husbands and sons to live, and during the Han Dynasty, it was still very normal for women to remarry, and the mother of Emperor Wu of Han was to marry a commoner first, and then marry his father, The Han Jing Emperor, but the situation was different in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
The Qing Dynasty's "Rules of Etiquette" actually formulated the standard of "chaste martyrs", stipulating that all local patriarchs, squires, etc. must report to the government every year for chaste martyrs, and this is still a system that tests the local customs. In the Qing Dynasty, the number of chaste martyrs exceeded 1 million, which was only a matter of appreciation.
Now Anhui Shexian cultural ancient village "Xu Village" has a landmark attraction called "Wall Gate", belongs to the local famous invisible chastity archway, Zhu Yuanzhang reigned when the Xu family's 18-year-old daughter-in-law Hu Shi widowed, alone to pull his son up, guarded for more than 50 years widowhood, spent the second half of his lonely and painful life in the wall door, the Xu family took this as glory.
There are too many such examples to watch. Therefore, there is another story in ancient times that has been passed down to this day, that is, Zhu Yaozong asked the emperor for the chastity archway for his mother, but his mother was angry and said that she was about to marry. This story formed a well-known saying that is often talked about now.
To put it simply, Zhu Yaozong's mother, Chen Shi, was also as young as the Hu clan mentioned above, when Zhu Yaozong was only 8 years old. Although it is very hard to raise children alone, the Chen family still pays attention to cultivating his son to become a talent, and invites zhang Wenju, a famous local talent, to be a tutor for him. Under Zhang Wenju's education, Zhu Yaozong studied seriously and soon became familiar with the subset of jingshi.
Not only that, Zhu Yaozong took the first place in the township examination and the meeting examination, and when he took the temple examination, because his eloquence was outstanding, he was appreciated by the emperor, and the imperial pen was hand-picked as a champion. However, when the emperor asked Zhu Yaozong what reward he wanted, Zhu Yaozong did not ask for a reward for himself, but only asked the emperor to give his mother a chastity archway in recognition of his ambition to be a widow for many years.
In the words of Lu Xun in "My Festival of Spirits", Zhu Yaozong, as a man, also knows that Jie Lie is "very difficult, very bitter... So commend him." There was no doubt that the emperor would not refuse such a request, and after Zhu Yaozong returned to his hometown, he told his mother Chen that he had asked her for a "glorious" chastity archway.
Who knew that Chen Shi quickly pulled down his face and told his son that she did not want this thing, because she was ready to wait for her son's title of Jinbang, and then stay in the countryside and marry her mentor Zhang Wenju. If Zhu Yaozong was struck by lightning, he could not accept his mother's plan, and when he strongly persuaded her to accept the archway, Chen Shi took out a dress and bet with him:
"You wash this garment and dry it outside, and do not touch it, and if it is dried day and night, the mother will not marry; if it is not dried, then you will not be able to prevent the mother from marrying." As a result, when Zhu Yaozong hung the clothes outside, it rained heavily, and the heavy rain continued to fall, and as the day and night passed, the clothes were still all wet.
Chen Shi told Zhu Yaozong: "It is going to rain in the sky, the mother is going to get married, and you can't do anything about it." This widely circulated folk tale is said to be the source of the proverb "The sky is going to rain, and the mother is going to marry", and it is clear that the story should be told by people who oppose feudal etiquette and despise the so-called doctrine of chastity.
However, modern scholars believe that the "niang" in this colloquial term may not refer to a mother but to a young girl, because the word niang has the meaning of "girl, maiden" in ancient times, such as the Song Dynasty's "Lefu Poems" in which "Seeing the bride is happy and beautiful, I wish to marry Jinlan".