Families with few children have lower ability to resist risks than families with many children, so traditional Chinese society has the saying that "only sons are not soldiers", because once the only son is killed, the family has no future. The "Chronicle of the Duke of Wei" records that Xin Lingjun led the Wei army to save Zhao, and before fighting the Qin army, he ordered that "father and son are in the army, and the father returns; brothers are in the army, brothers return; only sons have no brothers, and they are raised." Since the only son is not a soldier, he will leave each family with a family support and inheritance guarantee.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the system of "three and five dings" was implemented, and for the "scholars" with military ranks, the system of two dings and three dings was implemented as a soldier, two people were taken from four dings and five dings, and three people were taken from more than six dings, but no matter what, the only son was not drawn as a soldier. The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Wushu, and the Biography of Sun Xiu records that for official and military service, "listen to what his father and brother want to keep, and leave one person, except for his rice limit, the army will not follow", that is, to leave at least one heir to support the family.
It can be seen that because the family with few children is very fragile, since ancient times, the use of only sons as soldiers has been regarded as common sense and the bottom line of humanity. In the same way, since the risk resistance of families with fewer children is low, it is advisable to choose a low-risk and most conservative path in the survival strategy, corresponding to high-risk investments that may have extremely high returns, which need to be avoided as much as possible.
In families with many children, the nine sons of the dragon are different, and it is generally more common that the eldest son helps the parents to assume family responsibilities earlier, so the personality of the eldest son is more inclined to hold the old and keep the old. Correspondingly, the young son is more pampered, so he is more rebellious and mischievous, inclined to take risks and open up to the outside world. Therefore, in traditional society, especially aristocratic families, in order to maintain the stability of the scale of property, it is more common for the eldest son to guard the family business and the second son to go out to develop.
From the beginning of the patriarchal law of the feudal nobility in China, the primogeniture system was implemented, and the brothers went out to divide the feudal colonies and engage in entrepreneurship. Since the Warring States and the Qin and Han Dynasties, although the folk have also divided the family model, such as the "Song Penal Unity and Household Marriage" also recognizes that the folk "field house and property, brothers are equally divided", but for large families with titles, the primogeniture inheritance system is still implemented.
With the universalization of feudalism in Western Europe, the primogeniture system of succession of the nobility was also developed, and Charles IV issued the Golden Edict stipulating that the heir to any electoral domain was his eldest son, unless the eldest son was an idiot or had any major defects and could not administer the territory. In the United Kingdom and continental Europe, the legal system evolved differently, but the firstborn inheritance system was established, and the law of the firstborn child inheritance system in the United Kingdom was not abolished until the 20th century, when the Estate Administration Act was abolished.
In Japan, especially during the Tokugawa shogunate, the primogeniture system prevailed, and the non-division of property led to the important accumulation of some noble families, such as the Mitsui chaebol who snowballed through the inheritance of the eldest son for more than 300 years. The advantage of the primogeniture system is that the property is not divided, and the characteristics of the eldest son are often more old and heavy on guarding the family business. The Chinese pre-Qin feudal patriarchy divided the brothers out to colonize, which is more in line with the more creative and adventurous characteristics of the second son or the younger son.
Li Ka-shing let his eldest son Li Zeju inherit the family business, and let the second son Li Zekai, who has a lively and creative personality, go out to start a business, in fact, this kind of family division of labor and layout, forming a good complement, and if it is a family with few children, it is impossible to achieve this multi-level division of labor layout and risk avoidance.
An important reason why Wen Tianxiang was able to kill Chengren was that his younger brother Wen Bi could take care of his parents and family without worries. In Wen Tianxiang's own words, "I die with loyalty, Zhong with filial piety, and Ji is also hidden", that is to say, the three brothers of the Wen family are loyal to Song themselves; the younger brother Wen Bi is an official, who can do filial piety to the family and realize the continuation of the family; the third brother is also a mode of choice, providing an opportunity or possibility. This multi-level layout is of great significance to the long-term development of the entire family.
There were many sons of the Langya Wang clan in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and if Wang Dun could succeed in representing the Jin Dynasty, the entire family would become royal. Wang Dao distanced himself from him in the imperial court, and his role was at ease. Wang Dun failed, his brother Wang Han and his son Wang Ying were killed by Wang Shu, and the Wang family had loyal subjects loyal to the Eastern Jin Dynasty. However, Wang Dun wanted to kill Zhou Boren at that time, but Wang Bin had always defended and protected his friend, and did not hesitate to offend Wang Dun, and his image of affection and righteousness won the excellent reputation of a famous scholar for the Langya Wang clan. The different members of the Langya Wang clan, some risky, some loyal, some righteous, some responsible for maneuvering, no matter what, have a share of winning.
In multi-child families, the personalities and qualifications of each child are different, some are family stocks, which can be used for venture capital, some children are funds, some children are real estate, and some are digital currencies. The different layouts of the three caves, four caves, five caves, etc., such as the watertight compartment, greatly reduce the risk of family development and continuation.
For ordinary families, having more children is also an opportunity to increase the chances of the game and the reversal of family fate. Many people will complain that one can't afford to raise it, and the other can't afford to raise it. In fact, this extremely high childcare cost of "not being able to afford anyone" is precisely because the cost of children is generally rising. Since there is generally only one child, all family resources can only be bet like gamblers, thus forming a vicious arms race in which all families are desperate, and the cost of parenting and education has soared geometrically. In fact, the "exam hell" caused by the low birthrate of East Asian countries and the vicious competition in education are two aspects of the same coin.
If a society is full of fragile families with few children, everyone tends to choose a stable and low-risk model, which tends to reduce the vitality and creativity of this society. On the contrary, families with many children everywhere will inevitably emerge more creative and suitable for adventure and role-creating members, and there will be greater vitality.