The history of our country for thousands of years is long, from ancient times to the present, everything around us is constantly changing. One of the things we are most familiar with is the institution of marriage. We all know that since ancient times, many dynasties have been three wives and four concubines, and with the development of the times, we are now monogamous.
Everyone can't help but wonder, was the ancient system of three wives and four concubines really so common? In fact, the proportion of men and women in ancient times is almost the same as it is now, there are more men and fewer women, and the system of three wives and four concubines is implemented, so why in ancient times there were many men who beat single sticks all their lives.
However, the three wives and four concubines of ancient men, this term is quite studied, and there are different definitions of three wives and four concubines, so in the end, what is three wives? What are four concubines?
For three wives and four concubines, of course, it cannot be understood literally. In the costume dramas we see, take the emperor's harem, the gap between wives and concubines is very large. The so-called wife, that is, the men are marrying, eight big cars into the door. Not only that, in ancient times, when a man married a wife, it was also the order of his parents and the words of a matchmaker, and if a man from any family married a wife, he must have met both parents. The couple has worshiped heaven and earth and entered the cave house, which is also called the wife with hair, and this person is usually the man's main room.
And this is only one of the three wives, and there are two wives, which cannot be called the main room, but only the partial room. Although they are not the wives of the main house, the treatment they receive is basically no different from that of the main house, and in the family, the status of the two is also very large.
But compared to the wife, the concubine is very different. There are similarities in "Dream of the Red Chamber", concubines are basically born of concubines, and there is almost no status in the family. As women, their fate is very miserable, and they can only be used as tools for procreation.
For example, we can see on the TV series that many ancient large families, men often married concubines, most of these concubines were once concubines, were photographed by rich people's families, and then bought into the house, their existence is only to pass on the generations, continue the incense. These concubines were not taken seriously at all at home.
Not only that, because concubines are only a dispensable existence, so are the children they give birth to. It has been written in the history books that the sons born of concubines are often called concubines, which is enough to reflect how insignificant a concubine is. And so are their children, some of whom have a talent, but have nowhere to show it, born in a humble environment from an early age, and will always be looked down upon when they grow up. This phenomenon is very common both in the palace and in the life of ordinary people.
However, the fate of being a concubine is also related to their luck. Some women are lucky to meet a kind man, even as a concubine, they will get very good treatment, and will not let her suffer. But if you meet a grumpy man, it is different, they look down on concubines, punch and kick them, do not take their lives seriously, and trample on them at will.
In addition to continuing the incense for them, another place for these concubines to play their role is to be squandered by men as gifts. Some large families, in order to please each other, will give their concubines as gifts to others. This is very unfair to them, and it is also very cruel. In this way, the ancient system of three wives and four concubines is also very unbearable to look at.