Flipping through the history books, I accidentally caught a glimpse of a few words - "Shen drowning women's ban". A strong curiosity drove me, and after some research, I learned that the ban on drowning women was a historical decree, and that at a time when patriarchal attitudes were deeply entrenched, the fate of female babies was often more tragic than that of male babies. The introduction of this decree is a resolute rebellion against such cruel acts.
After digging deeper into this history, my heart was filled with mixed emotions. Those innocent baby girls died in the icy river before they had time to feel the beauty of life. I lamented that I was so lucky in the times I lived. In this era, women have more opportunities and rights to pursue their dreams, and their fate is no longer tied and despised.
I felt my own insignificance, and I was fortunate to be a woman living in this era with equal rights and opportunities compared to those innocent baby girls. I realized that each individual is a drop in the long river of history, and our actions and choices are shaping the course of history. Because of this, I cherish the present even more and strive to contribute to the creation of a more equal and better world.
The promulgator of the decree promulgating the prohibition of drowning women--- Ming Xianzong Zhu Jianshen
Ming Xianzong Zhu Jianshen, as the son of Ming Yingzong, had a bad fate and was once deposed as the king of Yi. He re-ascended to the throne after the Rebellion, where he reigned for twenty-three years. His life was full of contradictions and controversies. He admired Buddhism, was obsessed with magic, and reused eunuchs, which undoubtedly caused many problems for his rule. The love story between him and Wan Guifei, who is seventeen years older than him, is even more embarrassing. Wan Guifei's jealousy caused the pregnant concubines in the harem to be framed, resulting in the scarcity of Ming Xianzong's heirs.
In most Ming history books, Ming Xianzong always seems to be a mediocre emperor. But in fact, he was not completely inactive. He had a rare magnanimity, and after ascending the throne, he did not retaliate against Emperor Jingtai, but affirmed his merits. He rehabilitated Yu Qian, who was unjustly killed, showing his fairness and wisdom. He showed his benevolence by being as lenient as possible in dealing with death penalty cases.
But what Ming Xianzong is most commendable about is his respect for life. He introduced a far-reaching ban on drowning children. The introduction of this policy is not accidental. In the Ming Dynasty, the phenomenon of drowning of female babies was extremely serious, and many families chose to end the life of newborn girls for various reasons. Ming Xianzong was deeply saddened by this and decided to take action.
In fact, in the Han Dynasty, the talented woman Ban Zhao quoted a contemptuous proverb at that time in the "Female Commandment": "If you give birth to a man like a wolf, you are afraid of it, and if you give birth to a girl like a mouse, you are afraid of a tiger." Although this sentence was mainly used to emphasize that women should be submissive, it also reflected the anxiety of society at that time about the birth of both boys and girls. Regardless of whether they are born to a boy or a girl, their parents pour out their deep love.
There is also another proverb in the Han Dynasty: "You can't steal the five women's door." This sentence reveals a social concept at the time: if a family has five daughters, it often leads to poverty due to the huge cost of upbringing and dowry. Even thieves and robbers are reluctant to patronize such families. This perception has led directly to people's prejudice against the family of giving birth to girls, and even to the vice of drowning female babies.
The cry croaked in a basin of water, and the fetus was fluffy and unopened. The skin is red and the skin is wrinkled, and the hands and feet are fisted, and the daughter He Xin is killed. The poem depicts a brutal drowned baby girl at birth, which is heartbreaking. Why do parents treat their biological daughters so cruelly?
The patriarchal mentality is an important reason for this phenomenon. In those days, boys were seen as the heirs and laborers of the family, while girls were seen as burdens and burdens. Many families choose to drown their baby girls to ease the burden on their families.
In poor families, parents are often unable to afford to raise and educate their daughters. The legal and social system of the time did not provide adequate protection for the girls.
There was no clear legal norm for this behavior at the time. Although there is a law prohibiting infanticide, this provision does not explicitly state that drowning a female baby is an offence. Public opinion also lacks sufficient condemnation and resistance to the drowning of baby girls.
Zheng Jing began to pay attention and reported the matter to his superiors. According to the description in "The Imperial Approval Case of the Ming Dynasty - The Evil Customs of Brutal Female Infanticide".
In the twenty-first year of the Ming Dynasty (1485), Zheng Jing, the precipitator of Zhejiang, took office, as a county instructor, although the position was not in the stream, but his responsibilities were significant. One day, when he passed by the Jiaojiang Wharf in Taizhou, he saw many people gathered around, as if they were watching something. Out of curiosity, he ordered the boatman to stop and went up to find out.
Zheng Jing was shocked by the sight in front of him. A man of about 30 years old is building a platform with firewood by the river. The platform is surrounded by flags made of white paper, and some paper people, paper cows, paper horses and other objects are also placed. On the table was a crying child, whose hands and feet were moving, but apparently unable to escape from the abyss of fate.
Zheng Jing was puzzled, and was about to ask the onlookers about the reason, but saw that the man had lit a fire under the platform. The flames spread rapidly, and the child on the platform began to cry, but as the fire on his body became more and more intense, the child kicked a few times, and then there was no sound. A puff of smoke drifted in the wind, mixed with the heartbreaking smell of burnt human flesh.
This scene deeply pierced Zheng Jing's heart. He immediately realized that it was a case of drowning a baby girl. In that era, due to the entrenched concept of son preference, many families chose to drown or burn newborn girls to avoid them becoming a burden to the family.
Zheng Jing was heartbroken, he knew that this was a cruel and absurd act. He immediately ordered the man's arrest and opened an investigation. After interrogation, the man confessed to drowning the baby girl. Deeply shocked and outraged, Zheng Jing decided to escalate the matter to his superiors and asked for severe sanctions for such crimes.
The incident caused a stir in the local area. People are beginning to reflect on patriarchal attitudes and attitudes towards female infants. Some people of insight and charitable groups have also begun to take action, calling on the society to pay attention to the rights and welfare of baby girls. They set up nurseries and orphanages to provide shelter and care for these innocent lives.
Changing people's perceptions is not an easy task. At that time, patriarchal attitudes were deeply entrenched, and many people turned a blind eye to the right of female babies to live. Social reform needs to go through a long process, and it requires the efforts of the government, education, and the media.
When Zheng Jing was looking through the historical books, he unexpectedly discovered a shocking fact: although all dynasties had laws and regulations on children, none of them explicitly prohibited the drowning of children. Drowning a child is widely regarded as cruel, immoral and illegal, but it is not officially criminalized.
In the twenty-seventh year of the Yuan Dynasty (1290), a heinous case occurred in Pucheng County, Fujian Province, where a pair of grandparents actually drowned their own grandson in a bucket. In fact, before this, Zhang Ning, the lieutenant of Minqing County, Fuzhou Road, had reported a similar situation: "The people of the south, some of whom are poor but not poor, or who have a large number of men and women, drowned when they were born. This shows that at that time, because of poverty or the perception that having too many children was a burden, some people drowned children at birth. Especially in Pucheng, Fujian, this cruel custom is very prevalent. Zhang Ning hoped that the imperial court would ban it, but his voice was not taken seriously enough.
In the fourth year of Yanyou (1317), Li Chao, the director of the Fujian Provincial Provincial Governor's Commandment Division, discovered a large number of cases of drowning of children when he was patrolling Pucheng County. He was deeply shocked and immediately sent a report to the court asking what to do. The imperial court attached great importance to this matter, believing that this kind of behavior seriously violated ethics and morality and human morality: "The grace of father and son is the most important, and the festival of death and life is not light. "The court demanded that the interrogation of the persons concerned be made clear and judged by the superiors concerned, and ordered the magistrates to be sure to admonish the people so that they could understand the seriousness of the act. A list of articles was also released for the ban.
Despite the efforts of the imperial court, the problem of drowning children remained. This was mainly due to the backward social concepts and the shortcomings of the legal system at that time. Patriarchal attitudes and the pressures of poverty lead to cruelty in the treatment of female infants. Many families are desperate to give birth to baby girls and even see them as hoodoo.
After Zheng Jing carefully flipped through the "Da Ming Law", he couldn't help but fall into deep thought. He found that there were obvious legal gaps and loopholes in the Da Ming Law regarding the killing of children, especially the drowning of newborn girls.
There is a stipulation in the "Da Ming Law": "Anyone who kills his grandparents and grandchildren because of his parents, and his parents who kill slaves and maids, and Tulai people, shall be punished with 70 rods and one and a half years in prison." This means that if a parent intentionally kills a child and is involved in the actions of others, he is punishable by 70 rods and one and a half years in prison. But if there is no intention to rely on others, the law does not seem to apply.
Zheng Jing also checked the article on "assaulting grandparents and parents": "Anyone whose offspring violates the fatwa and his grandparents and parents beat him unreasonably will be punished with 100 rods, and if he kills him, he will be punished with 60 rods and one year's imprisonment." "It is pointed out that if a child disobeys his parents' teachings and his parents kill him irrationally in a fit of anger, he shall be liable only for 100 rods, and if he kills intentionally, he shall be liable for 60 rods and one year's imprisonment. There is a subtle distinction between "murder" and "unjustified killing", and it is naturally impossible for a newborn baby girl to disobey any teachings. It is clearly inappropriate to sanction the drowning of a baby girl for a "breach of fatwa".
Zheng Jing also took into account the social environment of the time. In that era, "the people did not sue, and the officials did not hold accountable", and grandparents and parents would hardly take the initiative to sue the government for such things. In the concept of ordinary people, this kind of behavior is regarded as a family matter and a private matter, and ordinary people rarely expose it. It also means that it is very difficult for the government to know about and stop such behavior.
This series of legal loopholes and backward social concepts have made the act of drowning female babies almost "customary" in some places. This also reflected the serious prejudice and discrimination against female babies in society at that time.
Why did Ming Xianzong pay attention to this matter?
Zheng Jing reported the matter to his superiors, and the ministers of the DPRK and China carefully reviewed the advice submitted by various localities and unanimously agreed that Zheng Jing's opinion was very reasonable. So they decided to submit this proposal to the emperor and forward it to the Metropolitan Procuratorate for approval and implementation.
According to Chapter 335 of the Ming Shilu Xianzong Shilu, Zheng Jing put forward a proposal to prohibit the drowning of female infants. He pointed out that in the Sanfu region of Wentai, Zhejiang, people often drown baby girls because they are worried about the cost of future marriages, which is not only cruel and inhumane, but also seriously undermines social customs.
Zheng Jing believes that although there have been bans on drowning female babies in the past, this malaise is not limited to the three prefectures, but has spread to Ningbo, Shaoxing, Jinhua and other regions, and even in Jiangxi, Fujian, Nanzhili and other places. Therefore, he suggested that it should be widely publicized and disseminated so that everyone understands the dangers of drowning in baby girls.
Ming Xianzong Zhu Jianshen was shocked when he learned about this. He is well aware that the phenomenon of drowning female babies is not only an extreme disregard for life, but also a serious violation of women's rights and interests. He decided to take steps to introduce policies to prohibit the drowning of female babies and to strengthen the protection of women's rights.
This incident became an opportunity for Ming Xianzong to pay attention to the right of life of female infants. He ordered a nationwide investigation into the extent of the phenomenon of drowning of female babies and to develop countermeasures. He also emphasized the importance of women's education and advocated equal educational opportunities for men and women, with a view to fundamentally changing the prejudice and discrimination against women in society.
Ming Xianzong pointed out: "Between heaven and earth, human life is the most precious, and parents and children are close relatives. Nowadays, because they cannot afford the dowry, they disregard family affection and destroy benevolence and righteousness, so that drowning of female babies has become a bad custom. We must know that customs can change people, and it is the responsibility of the government to change customs, so how can we tolerate such evil customs? From now on, all dowries in civil marriages must be done according to the circumstances of one's own family, according to one's own ability, and it is not allowed to pay attention to luxury beyond one's own ability. In the future, if there are still people who drown baby girls, neighbors will be allowed to report them, and those who drowned their daughters will be sent to distant places. ”
The emperor's instructions were very clear, emphasizing the importance of respecting human life and requiring the government to take effective measures to prohibit the vice of drowning female infants. At the same time, he also pointed out the need to get rid of luxurious wedding customs in order to achieve a real change of customs.
The emperor also emphasized the role of supervision between neighbors. He stipulated that if someone is found drowning a child, the neighborhood is allowed to report it. For those who drown their daughters, they will be punished by confiscating the army and distributing them to distant places. This punishment is much heavier than the previous punishment of intentional killing of offspring.
The implementation of this policy has, to a certain extent, curbed the bad custom of drowning children. The social climate has gradually changed, and people have begun to pay more attention to the dignity and value of life. Women's rights and dignity have also been better protected and respected.
The imperial court also strengthened its supervision and management of local officials. They conduct regular inspections to ensure that policies are effectively implemented. Officials who did not act or condoned the drowning of their children were severely punished.
Under the impetus of Ming Xianzong, a series of policies were implemented. The Government has set up relief agencies to provide shelter and medical assistance to girls who are unable to survive. The education system has also begun to pay attention to the development of women's education, encouraging women to receive education and participate in social activities. These measures have gradually changed society's perceptions and attitudes towards women, striving for more equality and respect for women.
Although it takes time to change people's perceptions, the efforts and advocacy of Ming Xianzong set an example for future generations. His policies have not only saved the lives of countless baby girls, but also promoted the progress and development of society. Since then, the status of women in China has gradually improved, and their rights and dignity have been more protected and respected.
Ming Xianzong Zhu Jianshen was an emperor full of contradictions and controversies. Although he has all his shortcomings, he also has something to be commended. His respect for life and concern for the problem of drowning of children among the people show that he has a certain benevolence and magnanimity.