Many men can't move to say that it is good in ancient times, how good it is to have three wives and four concubines to serve, or I hope that everyone can understand whether the man who traveled back to ancient times was three wives and four concubines or a 10,000-year-old bachelor.
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The ancients did not advocate early marriage
Unlike today's society, where women practice late marriage and late childbearing, ancient women seem to generally marry early and have children early.
In the general impression, most ancient women got married and had children at the age of thirteen or fourteen. In fact, this is only a general statement, and the legal age of marriage is not exactly the same in successive dynasties.
The Zhou dynasty believed that men should marry at the age of thirty, and women should marry when they were mature in their twenties. It is almost exactly the same as the rules of modern civilized society.
In the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, the beacon fire continued for years, and all countries needed troops, and they all advocated early marriage and early childbearing, and the marriage system was naturally no longer so natural.
The first to intervene in the age of marriage was Qi Huan Gong, the head of the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons. In order to enrich the country and strengthen the army and enhance his comprehensive strength, Qi Henggong adjusted the marriage age of the Qi state to "thirty men start a family, and women fifteen marry." The age of marriage for men has not changed, except that the age of marriage for women has been reduced by five years. Of course, although the age of marriage was generally lowered by countries during this period, it was not excessively coercive.
And the person who really forcibly interferes with the age of marriage is actually Yue Wang Goujian. In order to take revenge on the Wu state, Goujian needed a large number of troops, and the original 20 years old for men and 15 years old for women were only the legal minimum age for marriage, and Goujian directly set 20 years old for men and 17 years old for women as the latest age for marriage. That is to say, men and women who do not marry in this year, if they do not marry, must ask their parents for sin. In short, Gou Jian is to turn all men and women of school age in Vietnam into fertility machines to produce slaves for him, and eventually into his war machine, defeat Wu Guo, and fulfill his ambitions.
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The act of collusion provided a sample for the forced interference of the imperial court in the age of marriage in later generations. Especially in times of war or chaos, the emperor would take coercive measures to interfere with the marriage age.
For the first time, the singles advocated a single tax
In the early Han Dynasty, because many people died in the wars of the late Qin Dynasty, in order to restore the population, Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, forced early marriage and early childbearing, and stipulated that if he did not marry at a certain age, he would be fined.
Remember, the single tax has been around since ancient times, and the pioneer is Liu Bang! However, Liu Bang himself is a typical example of late marriage and late childbearing, who let the family later become the emperor!
During the reign of his son Liu Ying, Emperor Hui of Han, this policy was even more intensified, and "women who are over fifteen to thirty years old do not marry, five counts." That is, women between fifteen and thirty are directly fined five times the tax if they do not marry.
Huh, not married? Wait for bankruptcy! Sima Yan, the emperor of Jinwu, really deserved to be a merry son who played a sheep cart and drove luck", stipulating that "if a woman is seventeen years old, and her parents do not marry, make the elder official match". Blessed are the old bachelors, and the imperial court gives away wives for free. As for the woman who was forcibly married by the officials of the government, she could only admit her fate. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Emperor Liu Yu of Song Wu stipulated that "if a woman does not marry at fifteen, her family sits down", that is, if a woman does not marry at the age of fifteen, the whole family will squat in prison together.
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During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang, "if a man is twenty years old and a woman is over fifteen years old and has no husband, the prefecture and county will marry with ceremony", that is, if he does not marry when he is old, the local government will arrange the marriage partner.
"Leftover women" and "leftover men" have been around since ancient times
Some who marry early, naturally there are those who marry later. The most famous "leftover girl" in Chinese history should be the mother of Empress Wu Ying, Yang. This Yang family has a very extraordinary background, his father is Yang Da, the prime minister of the Sui Dynasty, and his uncle is Yang Xiong, the king of the daimyo. However, for some reason, this typical Bai Fumei stayed at home unmarried until he was forty-four years old, when Tang Gaozu Li Yuan was a hero, and only then married this older "leftover girl" to an old screwman warrior in his fifties.
However, the Sui and Tang Dynasties advocated early marriage, the average marriage age of women was less than eighteen years old, and aristocratic women such as the Yang family were a very small number after all, and the era when the real older "leftover women" prevailed was actually the Song Dynasty, when women were really only later, not the latest.
The reason why women pursued late marriage in Song Dynasty society was only part of the reason, and the more important reason was the custom of "thick marriage" at that time.
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Women in the Song Dynasty generally could not marry without a generous dowry.
How thick was the "thick marriage" of the Song Dynasty?
Fan Zhongyan stipulated in the "Rules of Yizhuang": "Marry a woman and pay 20 guan, marry a woman pay 30 guan, and remarry 20 guan." Thirty pounds of money, which was enough to buy dozens of acres of land at that time. Such a dowry cannot be described as rich.
When the traitor Qin Jian got married, it was said that his wife Wang Shi carried a dowry of 200,000 guan, which is comparable to various century weddings today.
While women in the Song Dynasty generally married later, men also did not want to marry early. Therefore, the society of the Song Dynasty not only produced "leftover women", but also created a lot of "leftover men"
Men in the Song Dynasty were reluctant to marry early because of the imperial examination system at that time.
The imperial examination system in the Song Dynasty was "package distribution", as long as the examination was directly awarded to the official position, it was completely "one test for life". Such a good thing naturally attracts countless people to scramble, "cold window hard reading for decades", just for the first day to be selected, even if the hair must be white, never give up.
As a result, the situation of "catching son-in-law under the list" appeared. Whenever the list was released, many dignitaries and gentry and wealthy businessmen vied to pull the Zhongju student to make him their son-in-law. Because the competition was too fierce, the Song Dynasty had a rare phenomenon of "backward chase". In order to catch the golden turtle son-in-law, the woman smashed the dowry to enhance her competitive advantage.
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Therefore, "establishing a career" has become the first choice of many men. In their opinion, "first establish a business, then start a family" is the best choice. As long as it is hit, it can not only "turn over the serfs and sing", but also perfectly solve lifelong events.
It can be seen that "leftover women" and "leftover men" have existed since ancient times, and there is no need to make a fuss. If you are lucky enough, it is not impossible to become a "golden leftover fighter" like Wu Mo's mother Yang.
So if you dream of wearing three wives and four concubines back in ancient times, then you think too much, haha it is difficult to marry a wife.
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