In the world of costume film and television dramas, we can often see such a plot: a poor woman, after the death of her parents, because she had no money to bury her, finally had to choose to sell her body to complete this last filial piety. For modern people, such a choice seems incomprehensible, why don't they choose a simple burial method, just dig a pit and bury it? The reason behind it is tearful.
In ancient China, the culture of filial piety was far more influential than we can imagine today. Since Confucius put forward the idea of "filial piety first", filial piety has become one of the core of Confucianism, which has deeply influenced the social customs and legal systems of every era. Filial piety, as a moral norm, was regarded by the ancients as the highest criterion of life, and its importance even transcends the life and death of an individual.
The culture of filial piety in ancient society has been expressed in various forms, from the bits and pieces of family life to the formulation of laws and regulations of the imperial court, all of which reflect the admiration and respect for filial piety.
In the family, filial piety education is the first lesson that children receive from an early age. Parents convey the importance of filial piety by telling the stories of ancient filial piety, such as Guo Ju burying and Wang Xiang Wobing in "Twenty-four Filial Pieties", so that filial piety becomes the belief and code of conduct in the hearts of their children.
At the legal level, many ancient dynasties codified filial piety and defined unfilial piety as a felony. For example, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the "Nine Clans Joint Sitting Law" was implemented to severely punish family members who were guilty of unfilial piety, which showed that the state attached great importance to filial piety. During the Song Dynasty, filial piety was raised to the height of national governance, and an official position was set up to supervise the filial piety of the people, and the filial piety and meritorious individuals were rewarded, such as the title of "filial piety", which was not only a recognition of personal morality, but also a very high social honor.
A widely circulated story of "filial piety" in ancient times was Dong Yong in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Dong Yong was a poor weaver who felt guilty after his mother's death because he couldn't afford to bury him. In the end, Dong Yong decided to sell himself into slavery and use the money to hold a decent funeral for his mother. Although this act seems incomprehensible today, it was regarded as the highest embodiment of filial piety at the time, and Dong Yong's story was widely praised by later generations as a model of filial piety.
Dong Yong's case is not unique. In ancient times, similar stories abounded, and these stories were not only widely circulated among the people, inspiring generations to learn filial piety, but also reflecting the extreme importance that ancient society attached to filial piety. In such a social atmosphere, filial piety has become an important criterion for measuring a person's moral character, affecting people's social status and interpersonal relationships.
Furthermore, the culture of filial piety also plays a key role in maintaining social order and stability. In Confucianism, filial piety is the cornerstone of "governing the country and leveling the world". By emphasizing filial piety to one's parents, it was extended to respect for superiors and loyalty to the state, and a complete system of moral and social order was formed. This system not only regulated individual behavior, but also became the internal driving force for the long-term stability of ancient Chinese society.
This profound influence of the culture of filial piety is not limited to the field of legal and moral education, but also penetrates into the daily life of the ancients, affecting their way of thinking and behavior. Even in the face of extreme difficulties, the ancients still put filial piety in the first place, preferring to sacrifice personal freedom and the future to fulfill filial piety, and this behavior pattern and value concept is an indispensable part of our understanding of ancient society today.
Returning to the question at the beginning of the article, a woman's choice to sell her body to bury her father first stems from the profound cultural influence of filial piety, and holding a proper funeral for her parents is an important embodiment of filial piety. In ancient China, a family's economic situation often directly determined the size and quality of the funeral services they were able to provide. For daughters from poor families, they often do not have the financial resources to pay for a traditional funeral when their parents die.
Not being able to provide a dignified funeral for their parents is seen as a great shame for the family, and can even affect the social status and marriage opportunities of family members, which also makes women who face financial difficulties prefer to sell themselves rather than have their parents not be properly buried.
In addition, in ancient times, land was not only the most important means of production, but also a necessary condition for burial. Since the land was mostly owned by the aristocracy, landlords and the government, it was difficult for ordinary people to own their own land. Even a simple burial requires a suitable piece of land. For those landless poor families, there is no land to bury, and it is impossible to dig a pit and bury it directly.
Finally, in ancient times, a person's household registration was not only related to their identity, but also to taxes, conscription, and other social rights. After the death of a woman's parents, she may be at risk of losing her household registration if she is not able to bury her parents in accordance with local regulations and traditions. This means not only the loss of social identity, but also the loss of inheritance, marriage and other basic social rights.
Combining the above factors, this also leads to those poor girls having to choose to "sell themselves to bury their fathers", because this is the best choice for them, in case they meet a good family, they can still live a happy life, don't you say?