As we all know, our current marriage system is monogamous, that is, a family can only have one husband and one wife, and such an institution is also intended to reflect the equal social status of men and women. However, in ancient times, our marriage system was not like this, but men can have "three wives and four concubines", so which three wives and which four concubines? Today we will explore this history with this question, and after reading it, we really admire the wisdom of the ancients.
First of all, Xiaobian would like to clarify to you here, the word three wives and four concubines originated from the casual saying of a king, and the meaning he wanted to express at that time was actually that there were many wives and concubines of men, and the emperor could have three palaces and six courtyards, while ordinary people could only say that they were three wives and four concubines. Therefore, three wives and four concubines does not mean that there will be so many wives and concubines, but that the status of women at that time was very low, and they did not have any ability to make a living, so they could only rely on men to live, so they would become appendages of men. The reason why such a system existed in ancient times is that the most important thing is to reflect the phenomenon of inequality between men and women. Just think, if the status of men is relatively low, I am afraid that there will be "three husbands and four husbands".
Secondly, let's talk about which three wives did the ancient "three wives and four concubines" refer to? Which four concubines? In fact, the word is separated, in which "three wives" refers to one wife and two wives. The right wife is the main room, the main room, the wife, that is, what we often call the ming media is marrying, and the wife who asks to marry in the eight caravans is a wife with a certain status status and will have the right to be a housekeeper; and the flat wife is the side room, the side room, and the concubine wife, whose status is second only to the right wife, and only needs to serve the right wife and husband. But the term "flat wife" has never been officially recognized. That is to say, only the wife is really nominal, while the other two wives are nominal. The first wife who marries the door will be responsible for all the affairs of the family, while the other wives must obey the orders of the right wife, otherwise it is against the norm, but the status of the other wives is still higher than that of the concubines mentioned below.
Next, we will talk about the "four concubines", in fact, the interpretation of the "four concubines", there are different theories, but the most popular is that these wives will take their own personal maids to serve themselves after marrying, and these concubines are even if they are married, they can be accepted as their own "concubines" by the male host. To put it bluntly, a concubine is actually equivalent to a sleeping maid, and if you say it nicely, you are called a wife, a young wife or a wife. So why is it said to be "four concubines" instead of "five concubines" and "six concubines"? In fact, "four" here is only a general number, does not mean that it is "four", some men can even accept more concubines, but concubines also have status, some concubines have a status that is only lower than their wives, some concubines have a very low status, and the main reason for determining their identity and status is their origin.
In fact, as early as the Time of the Han Dynasty, the emperor's relatives and state relatives, high-ranking officials and dignitaries could take eight concubines, while ordinary officials and eunuchs could generally take three, as for the flat-headed people, they could wash and sleep, none of them could. Later, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were more and more people with money and power, and the wives and concubines they married were no longer just "three wives and four concubines", and it was not too much to describe them with "groups of wives and concubines", and then it developed until the Yuan Dynasty, and the common people were allowed to take concubines in the true sense. Therefore, the correct term for three wives and four concubines should be "polygamory", that is, in addition to the main wife, everything else can be called a concubine. After reading such an assignment, I really have to admire the wisdom of the ancients! It is even possible to design this famous hall.
After all, in ancient times, because of the limitations of medical conditions, the birth rate of children was not high, and the age of marriage at that time was relatively small, so in order to strengthen their families, the elders would ask to marry more wives. And in ancient times, there was no such thing as free love, almost all of them relied on matchmakers to matchmakers, so women did not know who they wanted to marry before they became relatives. However, with the continuous development of human civilization, this bad habit full of feudal capitalism has finally been submerged in the long river of history. Friends, after reading it, do you now understand the meaning of three wives and four concubines? Is there anything else you would like to say about that? Feel free to leave a message in the comments section.