The Ming and Qing Dynasties were the final form of China's ancient marriage system, and the concept of marriage hierarchy was slightly lower than before. Moreover, it was even stipulated in Daming Law Marriage that the physical condition of marriage should be told during the engagement, which was quite eugenic in later generations.
Form and content of taking a wife and concubinage
In ancient times, taking a wife was not only to continue the blood line, but also to show the ethical code, and to be in harmony with the two families, so the ritual system was extremely obvious in the process of taking a wife. According to the Confucian Book of Rites, this process can be divided into six parts, namely, "Six Rites".
"Nacai", the man invited the matchmaker to propose marriage to the woman's house, and after getting permission, he presented a gift-geese (geese are birds that follow the sun to symbolize the principle that wives follow their husbands). (I really don't want to say that you are too shabby, sir ...)
"Asking the name", the matchmaker asks the woman's surname, in order to know whether the other person has the same surname as himself, because the ancients learned through observation that "men and women have the same surname, and their lives are not feudal".
"Naji", when the man learns the woman's surname, he will repay the woman's family if he gets a good omen.
"recruiting" means getting engaged. When recruiting, you should give gifts such as silk and deerskin to the woman.
"Invitation date", the man chooses the date for the wedding.
"Kissing" means that the man personally goes to the woman's house to get married on the specified date.
The system of six rituals is too complicated. In Song Dynasty, it was simplified into three kinds of rituals: accepting gifts, accepting coins and welcoming relatives. Moreover, sending "geese" was later changed into sending sheep, wine and colorful forging, which is also a great progress for wildlife protection.
That is to say, as the dragon head of the Confucian school, Confucianism is a congenital hermit, and he didn't even take the first step, so the educated princess should have crossed the door. In fact, she can go to the door if she wants to, but the nature is different.
taking a concubine is very simple compared with taking a wife. The word "accept" has a low feeling compared with "marry", and concubines can also be bought. Zheng Xuan once commented in the annotation of The Book of Rites that "concubines are the same as public property because of their meanness", which shows that the status of concubines is extremely humble. Generally speaking, concubines need the consent of their wives, and most of them are childless in old age, but concubinage may also be from marriage, elopement, gift, official matching, etc., among which "from marriage is", and in "Dead Bodies", it was speculated that it is the system for Queen E to marry Yao. Judging from the system of concubinage, the status of concubine and wife is incomparable, and the clan and husband of concubine are not good for Qin and Jin dynasties, but relatively more like the relationship between businessmen and customers.
A wife is "married" and a concubine is "accepted". The property given to the Yue family when a wife is married is called "betrothal gift", while the property given to the family when a concubine is taken is called "money for buying a concubine".
Marrying a wife is very formal, and it requires matching the family, divining the eight characters, and marrying in the right way. The betrothal gift given by the man and the dowry given by the woman are very rich, and it is necessary to marry in ten miles.
concubines are much simpler. They just need to take a sedan chair and enter the man's house through a side door. There is no wedding ceremony, and there is little dowry and generally no dowry.