Whether you marry into a merchant house or go into the fireworks and willow lane, it is actually for survival.
"Skinny horse" mentions this word, the first thing that comes to mind is Yangzhou, and Yangzhou people still call marrying wives "marrying horses".
Why the city of Yangzhou? Yangzhou has been very famous since ancient times, Yangzhou due to its geographical location, close to the coast, sea salt reserves are very rich, coupled with the Sui Dynasty and the excavation of canals, convenient transportation, convenient transportation and transit, coupled with the Ming and Qing Dynasty government encouragement and corresponding preferential policies, so that a large number of business people gathered in Yangzhou, the arrival of these people, to pull the local economy but also brought a deformed industry - thin horses.
The most famous Yangzhou merchants are the salt merchants, who can be said to be rich and wealthy, and the degree of luxury of life is comparable to that of the royal family. Therefore, since the Ming Dynasty, there have been a large number of young and beautiful women who have been trained to marry rich merchants. Most of these women came from poor backgrounds, and their parents, in order to survive, sold their daughters to traffickers, and sent them to Yangzhou after years of training.
"Skinny horses" are also graded, and those with first-class qualifications will learn piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, and physical shape.
The second-class ones will learn to read, play, bookkeeping, etc.
The third class did not allow literacy, and only studied female workers and cooking.
The lucky "skinny horse" will be caught in the hands of merchants, marry into the rich, live a life of fine clothes and food, and change the fate of the moment. If you are not favored by rich businessmen, find an ordinary family to marry and have children. Pick the rest and eventually sell it into the Qinglou.
The status of the "skinny horse" who marries into the rich is far inferior to that of wives and concubines, and wives have the right to make any disposition. A lot of it will be abandoned within a few years.
Therefore, the Yangzhou "skinny horse" is also a history of the blood and tears of Yangzhou beauties.