As many people know, the legal age in our country is that men must not be less than 22 years old and women cannot be less than 20 years old. Compared to ancient times, the legal age for marriage is really much higher now.
China has raised the legal age of marriage to 20 to 22 years old, mainly out of consideration for physical fitness. Females mature at least around the age of 20, while men mature around the age of 25. After the body matures, it enters marriage and has children, which is conducive to fertility and the growth of children.
In contrast, in ancient times, it was very common to get married at the age of thirteen or fourteen. Thirteen or fourteen years old, if you put it in contemporary society, you have just graduated from primary school, you are in middle school, and you are still just a child. In addition, children at this age, women have just begun to develop physically, while men have not yet begun to develop.
Despite this, it was very common to marry at the age of thirteen or fourteen in ancient times, and the reason why they chose to marry at the age of thirteen or fourteen was also a helpless move, mainly for the following three main reasons:
First, the average life expectancy is low
In ancient times, life expectancy was very low. For example, during the slave society, the average life expectancy of the Xia and Shang dynasties was about 18 years old; after entering the feudal society, such as the Qin and Han Dynasties, the average life expectancy was about 20 years; even in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the average life expectancy was about 30 years; until the Republic of China period, the average life expectancy was maintained at about 35 years old.
Until 2020, the average life expectancy of Chinese according to the World Health Organization is 77 years. The average life expectancy for men is around 74 years, and for women it is around 80 years.
Therefore, there is a reason why the legal age of marriage between ancient and modern people is different. Ancient people have established a family early, mainly because they are worried that if they do not get married, they will step into the coffin board with half a foot.
Even if you lived for twenty or thirty years in ancient times, you can't escape the risk of untimely death. You know, in ancient times, not only the average life expectancy was low, but the ancient wars were also very frequent.
Second, the war has led to a decline in population
In ancient times, the direct way to change dynasties was war. As the saying goes: one will make a thousand bones dry. Whoever can win is king, choose one out of ten thousand. The nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine that died was the vitality of a dynasty, which was the main reason for the sharp decline in the ancient population.
Even if you survive on the battlefield and get an officer and a half-job to live and work in peace, such opportunities are very few. Moreover, even if the country is stable and there is no war, they still have to overcome the big problem of low newborn survival.
Third, the survival rate of newborns is not high
You know, in ancient societies, people who married early were more common. Many women have not yet begun to develop to face the difficulty of pregnancy and childbirth, pregnancy and childbirth for women, is to close the ghost door on the matter of spinning, coupled with the ancient medical conditions are not high, a little careless will be a corpse two lives.
Even if you are lucky enough to have a child, not every child will live to adulthood. For example, the famous emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty had 55 children in his lifetime, but only 28 could live to adulthood. Leaving aside the factors of concubines, newborns are at risk of some infectious diseases, such as smallpox, typhoid fever, etc., which were fatal to ancient people.
The above three reasons had to prompt the ancient people to marry at the age of thirteen or fourteen and increase the number of people. But despite this, what if some people just don't want to get married?
At this time, the state will formulate some reward and punishment measures to improve the people's desire to marry and have children. For example, Liu Bang in the Western Han Dynasty, before he came to power, years of war led to a sharp decline in population. Therefore, after he came to power, in order to increase the working population and increase productivity, a series of measures were promulgated to promote the development of production.
For those who marry and have children at the age of thirteen or fourteen, the state not only exempts them from taxation, but also allows them not to pay public grain.
And for those between the ages of 15 and 30 who are not married, there is a fine. If you are not married at the age of 15, you have to pay 150 yuan, and if you are not married at the age of 30, you have to pay 600 yuan. Such rewards and punishments forced ordinary civilians to marry early.
For some widows or widowers, the government will also relax the policy and let them marry themselves.
Coupled with the deep concept of son preference in ancient times, the status of women is relatively low, many parents will marry their daughters early, if they do not marry out of age, they will not only be laughed at, but even fined by the government.
In this case, in ancient times, there were few so-called older unmarried women. If there really is, then this person is either a relative of the emperor or a relative of the state, or a rich enemy of the country.
In ancient times, early marriage was commonly meant to increase productivity, and they had already started a family before they understood what marriage was. In contrast, today's marriage, whether you marry or not depends entirely on personal will, and at this point, you are much happier than the ancients.
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