In today's society, a striking word is "leftover women". The mention of this word will cause mixed emotions in countless women. In fact, most women long for marriage, but are reluctant to make up their lives. After all, no one wants to walk into a doomed marriage.
In reality, everyone is of the age to marry, but some people choose not to get married. This does not mean that marriage is necessarily a good thing, and not getting married does not mean that it is necessarily a bad thing. Everyone's situation is different and cannot be generalized.
Ancient and modern times have one thing in common, and that is that family background can determine many things in a person's life. Men and women from privileged families have more freedom to choose their partners and express their opinions. Conversely, men and women from disadvantaged families may risk not being able to marry or being forced to marry. There are also cases of door-to-door matches, but the dream of families wanting their children to marry a good girl or a good man is often just a fantasy.
However, rich men are not fools. They have a choice, so they are more inclined to marry girls under the age of 15. There are several reasons behind this.
Secondly, it is closely related to the regulations of the imperial court. Unlike modern times, the legal age of marriage in ancient times was much earlier. For example, in the Han Dynasty, women over 15 years old who were unmarried were fined. War is also a factor, as civilians are the most affected in war. Therefore, the imperial court encouraged people to marry early to ensure the continuation of the population. In the Song Dynasty, the age of marriage was much earlier, men were 15 years old, and women could marry at the age of 13. This also explains why Yue Fei already had a son Yue Yun when he was 18 years old.
In short, the ancient concept of marriage and the social environment made girls under the age of 15 more popular, but it was not their choice, but the tragedy of the times. Today, we live in a more open and egalitarian society, where everyone has the right to freely choose their own path in life, regardless of age.