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Property, obligations, inheritance, marriage and family relations in ancient China. Bachno family relations of ancient China

The purpose of the conclusion family union consisted not only in procreation, but also in caring for the deceased ancestors. in marriage young man First of all, his parents were interested, who, on the one hand, were responsible for the fate of the family before the spirits of their ancestors, and on the other hand, they had to take care of their own afterlife.

Except lawful wife a rich man could have several concubines, who were called "second wife", "third wife", etc. All of them were controlled by the "first wife" - the mistress of the house. The concubines lived under the same roof with their lawful wife, to whom they were completely subordinate. Often in the household they performed the duties of servants. A legitimate wife did not have the right to complain to her husband if she did not like the presence of one or another concubine. The legal wife was recognized as the mother of all the children of her husband and, together with him, controlled their fate. Real mothers (concubines) lost all rights to their children. In case of death legal spouse the husband could either acquire a new one, or raise one of the concubines to the rank of lawful wife and mistress of the house.

Marrying a son and seeing grandchildren was the most secret desire head of the family: only in this case did he gain confidence that, having passed to another world, he would be fed and provided with everything necessary. If the lineage ceased, then there was no one to take care of the dead, and their “posthumous existence” turned out to be very difficult.

In the book "Li Tzu" peculiar lower and upper limits were fixed marriageable age: for men from 16 to 30, for women from 14 to 20 years old, fixing, as it were, the limits of patience and restraining the anger of ancestors against an ungrateful and irreverent descendant (43). In antiquity, the state itself was involved in observing these age limits, making sure that they were not violated. For this purpose, according to Zhou Li (book 11), a special official compiled lists of men and women who had reached the age limit, and observed that men who had reached the age of 30 would marry girls who were 20 years old (44).

The most important role in the selection of the bride and groom was played by the social, property factor. Parents were guided by the principle of “matching the couple”, that is, the families of the bride and groom should not differ significantly from each other in terms of material wealth.

Negotiations on matchmaking on behalf of the groom's family, according to tradition, were usually started by a matchmaker (matchmaker). This tradition goes back to the mists of time and already in the "Shi-jing" (Book of Songs) - 1 thousand BC. says:

When you cut an ax for yourself -

You cut it with an axe.

And if you choose a wife for yourself -

You won't take her into the house without matchmakers (45).

This role was played by both relatives and professionals who received remuneration for their work from interested parties. The matchmaker (or matchmaker) went to the bride's family and described in detail to her parents all the virtues of the groom. Then he went to the groom's house and repeated the same thing, but this time he praised the bride. In pursuit of profit, the matchmaker often clearly embellished the merits of both sides. The person involved in the matchmaking was obliged to know all the details concerning the families of the bride and groom; it was especially important to study the genealogy of these two genera. On a special note, always on red silk, the matchmaker brought the bride's parents information about the groom - whose son, what class, what position he has, what kind of craft, where he lives. The groom's relatives received the same information about the bride. These notes, received from the matchmakers, were discussed for a long time in both families, the information was checked and specified in various ways.

The question of whether or not to be a proposed wedding was decided by a special kind of divination called "Suan Ming" (predict the future). Suan Ming was based on the belief that from the moment of birth, a person's life depends on the combination of the proportions of the five elements in his body: wood, fire, earth, metal, water. The sum of the elements of the husband had to correspond in a certain proportion to the sum of the elements of the wife. Each of these elements, in turn, was combined with the masculine principle "Yang" and the feminine principle "Yin".

Knowing the properties of the five elements, the fortuneteller had to answer the question of which elements and in what combinations influence the young people who are going to get married. The source data for such calculations were the year, month and birthday of the bride and groom.

Among the most favorable were the combinations: metal - water, water - wood, wood - fire, fire - earth, earth - metal; interactions were considered unfavorable: metal - wood, wood - earth, earth - water, water - fire, fire - metal. If the groom was born under the sign of "tree", and the bride under the sign of "fire", then marriage between them was considered impossible, since the future wife would destroy her husband. If the groom was born under the sign “fire”, and the bride under the sign “tree”, then the marriage union of this couple will be rewarded with numerous offspring: the warmth of the sun will warm the fruitful branch of the tree, and the fruits will be large and juicy.

In Chinese, the word "marry" literally means "to take a wife into the house", and "get married" - "leave the family." These words expressed the exact meaning of the wedding ceremony. The groom brought the bride to his parents, and the bride left native family. After the wedding, the young wife became a member of her husband's family. In rare cases, the groom moved to permanent residence with the bride's parents. The son could be dissatisfied with the wife chosen for him by his parents; the wife, in turn, could be dissatisfied with her husband - this was not considered the main thing in the marriage union. The forced union of young people gave rise to the saying: "Husband and wife live together, and their hearts are a thousand miles apart" (46). If young people were engaged from childhood, parents felt calmer: in the case sudden death there will always be someone to take care of their afterlife.

Many tragedies, many broken and ruined young lives are told in Chinese literature:

Do not come to our village again,

Do not break branches on my willows.

How dare I love him?

It is terrible to anger my father and mother!

Only harsh parental words

A girl needs to be afraid, believe me! ..

I asked Zhuna to give me the floor

We do not climb the fence again.

Do not break my mullets to shame.

How dare I love him?

A severe reproach is terrible to me brothers.

Zhuna could I love now,

Only here are the brothers of harsh speeches

A girl should be afraid, believe me! (47)

The old Chinese morality disapproved tender relationship between the bride and groom - this was considered not only superfluous, but also indecent. Young people were not supposed to meet at all before the engagement. Their personal feelings were of no interest to anyone and were not taken into account.

If the engagement took place in childhood, and future husband died before the wedding, there was a custom to marry a girl with a memorial tablet of the deceased groom: then she became a widow at the very moment of her wedding and, like any other widow, was deprived of the opportunity to remarry.

There was a custom according to which close friends gave each other oath promises: if they had children, then the boy and girl would become husband and wife, the boy and boy would become brothers, the girl and girl would become sisters. The marriage contract was often concluded when the future husband and wife were still in the womb. And even if later one of them turned out to be mentally ill, ugly in appearance or crippled, the “Shi Ching” says that this often happened:

A net has been set up for the river fish,

Yes, she caught a gray goose ...

You strove for a dear husband - and now

The hunchback took as the wife of the patient! (51)

But still the contract could not be terminated. The only reason its termination could only be the death of one of the betrothed. wedding ceremonies were not performed according to an absolute unshakable and identical ritual. The ceremony was determined both by the social status of the bride and groom, and by the geographical factor: in the south of China, the wedding took place somewhat differently than in the north. Therefore, it is difficult to draw a universal picture of the ancient Chinese wedding. I will try to reproduce only some of its most characteristic features.

Various fruits were dried for the wedding table - a symbol of having many children. They gave peanuts and chestnuts with a wish - to future child grew strong and healthy, dates - so that the child is born faster, lotus seeds and peaches - so that children are born one after another:

Peach is beautiful and tender in spring -

Flowers sparkle brightly.

Girl, you enter the house as a wife -

You clean the house and the upper room.

Peach is beautiful and tender in spring -

There will be fruits in abundance on it.

Girl, you enter the house as a wife -

You clean the upper room and the house...(48)

Large families were also symbolized by pomegranates and cucumbers, they filled vases on tables, and in poorer families they were depicted in pictures that were hung during the wedding.

First joint property bride and groom, regardless of their social status, were: a pillow, bed dress, vase, mirror, teapot, cups. Usually tried to get these things in even number. Gifts were also presented according to this principle: two vases, four cups, etc. The flower vase is called “hua pin” in Chinese: pin in another spelling means “peace”. Therefore, presenting a vase to young spouses as a gift, as if they were saying: "Live in peace." The mirror traditionally symbolizes marital relations. When a husband and wife separated, or when one of them died, they said: "The mirror has broken." If the spouses again began to live in the world, the people said: “The broken mirror became round again” (49).

In Chinese folk art, many paintings are devoted to wedding symbols. Delicate flowers and the full moon expressed all the charm and fullness of the feelings of the husband and wife. The popular prints depicted wild geese and ducks. Wild geese always fly in pairs and never leave each other, so the goose was considered the emblem of the newlyweds. It was given by the groom to the bride as a wedding gift. Duck and drake are strongly attached to each other, and when they are separated, they wither and die. This is why, in Chinese symbolism, duck and drake represent a symbol of marital fidelity and happiness:

Ducks, I hear crying on the river in front of me,

Drake and duck flew to the island of the river ...

Quiet, modest, sweet girl you are,

You will be a good, consonant wife to your spouse (50).

In some areas of China, the groom, after the matchmakers had worked out marriage contract, sent gifts to a completely unfamiliar bride, including a goose. The girl who accepted the goose was considered a betrothed, even if by age she had many more years to wait for the wedding. She has not the slightest idea, either about the appearance or about the character of the person with whom she is ready to link her fate. She cannot learn anything about him either from her parents, or from her brothers, or from acquaintances; from the day of the matchmaking, she has been kept locked up even more strictly than before, she does not dare to see anyone else, and when guests appear, she must immediately leave the room.

In South China, wealthy parents of the groom sent gold or silver bracelets to the bride, and pigs' feet, two chickens, two fish, eight coconuts, etc. were sent to her parents. also a pair of geese as a symbol of family bliss. Sometimes gifts were brought to the bride's house on large trays by porters dressed in bright robes. Ornaments made of gold, silver, jade and jasper were given, as well as nuts, chickens, ducks, etc. The bride from a wealthy family did not come to the groom's house empty-handed. She brought household utensils, clothes, and decorations as a dowry. All this was put into massive chests, and the porters carried them to the groom's house along the busiest streets - let everyone see and know that the bride is not poor! The "weight" of the dowry was also determined by the number of porters. In some areas, the bride, among other things, gave the groom a pair of shoes - this meant that she was transferring herself to the power of her husband. On the day appointed by the soothsayer, the rich groom sent for the bride a gilded palanquin, decorated with openwork binding, multi-colored fringe and carvings depicting a dragon, sky and flowers. Usually, the palanquin, which was carried by dressed-up porters, was decorated with two large gilded hieroglyphs - “wan-si” (double happiness). There was a custom to close the gates of the bride’s house for some time not to let the arriving palanquin in, despite the insistent requests of the groom’s friends and porters. At the same time, the brothers and sisters of the bride, peering through the gaps in the gate, demanded money from the groom's friends. They were given a bundle of coins. After that, the gates opened, the musicians who accompanied the palanquin began to play, and the porters brought the palanquin to the threshold of the house.

The girl had to cry for three days before the wedding, refuse food, expressing her sadness about parting with her home. Then the neighbors will not have a reason to say that she really wants to get married. On the day of the wedding, when the girl was about to leave her native home She usually hides somewhere. The mother began to call loudly and look for her, pretending that her daughter had disappeared. The daughter at this time locked herself in her room. But here comes the palanquin. The porters and musicians also began to loudly call the bride, assuring them that they could not wait any longer. Finally, the girl, having sufficiently demonstrated her defiance, opened the doors of her room and, with tears in her eyes, followed to the palanquin. The father of the bride or his closest relative locked the doors of the palanquin, and handed over the key to the faithful servant to hand over to the groom.

The day before the wedding, the bride was given a special hairstyle worn by married women: the hair on the forehead was shaved or plucked to make it taller. Before being seated in a wedding palanquin, a magnificent headdress, decorated with artificial or real precious stones, was put on her head. The strands of pearls hanging from the headdress were so close to each other that the bride's face was not visible behind them.

The wedding procession was a colorful picture. The red, sequined palanquin, on which the bride from a wealthy family went to the groom's house, the bright outfits of the participants in the wedding procession, as well as the costume of the bride herself, were supposed to testify to wealth and prosperity.

The longer the wedding procession was, the more magnificent the wedding was considered. In front, the participants in the procession carried lanterns and flags attached to long poles, as well as tablets on which the names of the bride and groom were written. The musicians sang funny songs. In the middle of this line, porters carried the palanquin with the hero of the occasion, and her dowry followed behind. In ancient times, the groom also participated in the wedding procession, but later the rite was changed - the bride was accompanied by her brothers and girlfriends. Custom forbade mother and father to accompany their daughter to her new home. Marriage actually meant for the girl a complete break with her relatives, since it was believed that after the wedding she belongs to a new family. Therefore, parting with his father and mother was always difficult. The bride was afraid of the unknown: she did not know how her mother-in-law would meet her, she did not know what kind of husband she would have. But the groom, waiting for the arrival of the bride, was no less worried: he, too, did not know whether fate would reward him with a good wife. The groom meets the bride at the door silently and without any smile. He does not even dare to touch her hand when he leads her into the bedroom, and only lightly touches her with his fingertips. long sleeve her robe.

The bride and groom together bowed to heaven and earth and to the tablets of the spirits of the groom's ancestors, which was considered the main thing in the wedding ceremony. In front of the room, “in front of the sky”, a table was placed on which were placed two lighted candles and a sacrificial vessel with smoking incense, two miniature sugar roosters, five varieties of dry fruits, “sacrificial money”, a bunch of chopsticks, a mirror and scissors. All these were symbols of prosperity and harmony.

The bride took her place at the table with right side from the groom, and both of them on their knees silently made four bows to the earth, bowing their heads to the ground. Then they got up, changed places and repeated the same thing. After that, tablets of ancestors were placed on the table, to which the bride and groom gave eight bows. When they got up, they were offered to sip wine and mead from goblets connected by a red silk ribbon or red cord. Then, having exchanged goblets, the bride and groom tasted sugar cockerel and dried fruit. All this symbolized the consent and union of the newlyweds.

Finally, the bride went to her room, where she was waiting for the groom, who was supposed to remove her wedding headdress. She put on a beautiful dressing gown and a headdress sparkling with multi-colored stones, in this form she appeared before the relatives and friends of her future husband, bowed before them and offered them tea.

After the ceremonies described, the newlyweds sat down to dine together. It was the first and last day they had dinner together. The groom could eat as much as he wanted;

the bride, on the other hand, had to eat for two weeks only the provisions that her parents handed over.

A respectable old man with a white beard was always invited to the wedding, resembling the god of longevity with his appearance. When the bride and groom bowed to heaven and earth, the old man with a bamboo stick, dyed red or wrapped in red silk, first hit the bride lightly above the forehead three times and said with each blow: do fu (much happiness), do show (long live) , to nanzi (many sons);

hitting the groom with the same wand, he said: yue fu (be rich), yue gui (be noble), yue kang ning (be healthy and live in peace).

During the wedding dinner, guests allowed themselves frivolous remarks about the bride, even obscene jokes, to which she had to be cool and indifferent. They unceremoniously mocked her legs, clothes, appearance. The bride was asked to stand with her little feet on an inverted cup. If she did not succeed, then caustic remarks were heard: “What a clumsy one!” There could be such a request: “Bring tea to your husband!” If the bride fulfilled this request, she was told: “What an obedient wife!” If she refused to do so, the guests expressed their condolences to the husband who had married an evil woman.

On the wedding night, two lighted candles were placed in the newlyweds' room. Depending on whether these candles will burn evenly or one will burn out sooner than the other, whether the wax will flow, whether the candles will crack, whether they will burn out during the night and which of the two will go out earlier, “forecasts” were made about the duration of the joint life of a husband and wife, about their joys and sorrows.

In the morning, the newlyweds, to the sound of crackers, left the bedroom and went to the kitchen to pray to the god of the hearth. This meant that the young woman had to master the art of cooking. Then she went to the ancestral temple, where she prayed to her husband's ancestors.

On the third day after the wedding, together with her husband and his parents, the young wife visited the house of her abandoned parents, where a feast was held in their honor. This ended the wedding ceremony in wealthy families.

After the wedding, the worst thing came - the mother-in-law gave vent to her almost unlimited power over her daughter-in-law. And although the husband's heart could bleed at the sight of bullying of his wife, he had no right to express dissatisfaction with the actions of his mother. If he dared to do this, he caused even more suffering to his wife and her life became completely unbearable. Her husband's intercession aroused the indignation of his parents, and even the neighbors condemned him for being disrespectful to his elders. The daughter-in-law had to avoid personal communication with the head of the family and his sons and constantly be “at hand” of the mother-in-law, who usually did not have a quiet disposition. Cruel treatment mothers-in-law with daughter-in-law is one of the darkest sides in the life of a Chinese family:

Alien I call father since then ...

Alien I call father since then -

And he doesn't want to look up at me.

Where the shore stretched a smooth surface ...

To a completely stranger I turn - mother.

To a completely stranger I turn - mother,

She doesn't want to know me at all.

Cannabis shoots intertwined around,

Where the shore is blown up by the river like a moat...

From my dear brothers I am forever away,

I call the stranger big brother...

I call a stranger older brother -

He does not want to bow his head to me (52).

http://www.bolshe.ru/unit/27/books/1860/s/7

The family was patriarchal in ancient China. Family ties in large families were strong, at the head of such a family, as an independent economic unit, was the eldest man in the family, to whom all other family members were subordinate: wives and concubines, sons and grandchildren, their wives and children, slaves and servants. The head of the family acted as its ruler, the owner of property. The concept of "father" was denoted by the hieroglyph "fu", which expressed the hand holding the rod - a symbol of punishment for the disobedience of family members.

Along with the development of private ownership of land, large family ties began to weaken. This process was accelerated by the politics of the Legalists.

The foundations of marriage and family law were built on Confucian ideas. The primary purpose of marriage was to ensure the physical and spiritual reproduction of the family, which was achieved by the birth of primarily male offspring, “so that a person, as it was written in the Li Tzu, would be able to properly serve the deceased ancestors and be able to continue their race.” The absence of offspring was considered by Confucians as a manifestation of filial irreverence, the most serious of other types of disrespect for parents.

For a marriage to take place, a number of conditions had to be met. Marriage was concluded by the families of the bride and groom or by the groom himself and was sealed by a private agreement, the violation of which entailed not only certain material losses, but also criminal punishment of the elders in the family.

If in Shan (Yin) China marriages between relatives were allowed, then later marriages between relatives were not only forbidden, but the rule was established that the bride and groom should not have the same surname, so as not to inadvertently mix kindred families. The limited number of family surnames in Chinese society was the reason for a certain exception to this strict rule - when buying a "secondary wife" (Li Tzu, Book I).

In Book V of Li Tzu, the lower and upper limits of marriageable age were fixed: for men from 16 to 30, for women from 14 to 20 years old, fixing, as it were, the limits of patience and restraining the anger of ancestors against an ungrateful and irreverent descendant. In antiquity, the state itself was involved in observing these age limits, making sure that they were not violated. For this purpose, according to Chou-li (Book XI), a special official compiled lists of men and women who had reached the age limit, and observed that men who had reached the age of 30 took girls who were 20 years old as their wives.

One of the fundamental principles of the established social order was the principle of "one husband - one wife", but it required only strict fidelity of the wife to her husband. A husband (especially in the case of infertility of his wife) could have “secondary” wives and concubines, the number of which was determined depending on the social status of the man (Li Tzu, Book XIV; Zhou Li, Book VII). served as an obstacle to marriage and certain deadlines mourning for her husband and his parents. Marriages with persons who committed a crime were forbidden, as well as inter-class marriages that entailed criminal liability, especially marriages of freemen with slaves. A free man who married a slave was punished like a thief. In Chinese customary law, unlike most other Eastern legal systems, divorce was not only permitted, but also encouraged or directly ordered under threat of criminal punishment in case of "violation of marital duty." This meant, for example, causing harm by insults, beatings, wounds, etc. to the spouse himself and his relatives. The demand for a divorce could be presented not only by spouses, but also by members of their families. Li prescribed a divorce for a man under pain of punishment, if the wife did not “justify the hopes of her ancestors”, was disobedient to her father-in-law and mother-in-law, barren, dissolute, envious, talkative, seriously ill, and also thieves used family property. So, back in the 19th century. a husband who “does not divorce a dissolute wife” was subject to punishment, and the murder of a wife and her lover by a husband who caught them together remained unpunished. A young woman in her husband's family was defenseless against the totalitarian power of her father-in-law. Honoring the mother-in-law and father-in-law, caring for her husband's relatives, for children, according to tradition, were among her main virtues. (si de).

The opportunities for a woman to leave her husband or protest against a divorce were few. According to an ancient rule, a wife had to stay with her husband in “the earthly and afterlife” (Li Tzu, Book XI), she could not marry a second time, but a husband who demanded a divorce without reason was threatened with hard labor. He could not get a divorce if the wife had nowhere to go or she was in mourning for his parents and so on. The husband's responsibility for his wife was also expressed in the fact that for all her offenses, except for a serious crime and treason, she was given to him on bail.

In ancient times, the father could sell children, except for the eldest son, who enjoyed a number of advantages over other children. Impunity for the murder by a father, mother, grandfather and paternal grandmother of a son, grandson, daughter-in-law, which was the result of beatings, persisted until the 19th century. Family members, bound by the duty of mourning for deceased relatives, were responsible for whole line"family" crimes, such as failure to comply with the terms of mourning. Sons and grandsons were punished for trying to move away without permission. big family or to appropriate part of the family property. Relationships, the position of older and younger in the family influenced the severity of punishment for both "family" and other crimes. For example, stealing a father from a son was not considered a crime, but denunciation of the eldest in the family, even if he committed a crime, was severely punished.

All countries have their own wedding customs, and the family in India and the family in Cambodia are very different from each other. The Chinese family also has its own characteristics and traditions.

Many are interested in how they get married in China and whether the family life of the Chinese is very different from ours. Love, it is love in China, but here are the features family life everyone is different.

Marriage in ancient China

In ancient China, a man could have as many concubines as he wanted and could afford. Situations where the young concubine is a teenager, while the husband is an ancient old man, were in the order of things. Poor families often sold their young daughters to wealthy families to get some money and also to get rid of useless women in the family.
And only in 1950, the Chinese government promulgated a law according to which one man could marry only one woman.

A few decades ago, marriages organized by parents were very common. Young people got married only because their parents decided so. Sometimes young people saw each other for the first time only on own wedding. Arranged marriages were also common. The wedding was organized even before the birth of the child, with the consent of the parents from both sides.

Marriage in China today

Things have changed a lot these days. Today, Chinese young people marry those they love. But in order to show respect for the parents, official permission from the parents for the wedding must be obtained in advance.

  • How is a wedding in China

Before getting married, young people must pay an official visit to the parents of their chosen one. When visiting the girl's parents, the young man must bring gifts with him. When a girl visits the groom's house, his parents should prepare a small gift for the future daughter-in-law.

After marriage, young people prefer to live alone, without parents, if they can afford to pay for new apartment or house.

One of the wedding customs is the preparation of a dowry. The bride's family buys various things that will be useful in a young family - clothes, accessories, underwear, dishes, essentials, etc.

  • Choosing a day for the wedding

It is imperative to choose a good day to hold a wedding. This is very important in Chinese culture. The wedding should be held on a day that symbolizes goodness and good energy. The choice of the day for the wedding is made on the basis of the Chinese lunar calendar. Applies to too great attention. However, the dates of almost all holidays in China are based on the lunar calendar.

  • wedding ceremony in China

The groom arrives at the house of the bride's parents, greets his future mother-in-law and shows them every respect. The couple then make their way to the groom's parents' house, where the couple greet his parents together. As on European weddings, the bride and groom are accompanied by their best girlfriends and friends, who, as a rule, are not yet married. Everyone is dressed, as a rule, not in traditional clothes, but in European outfits.

The banquet takes place after the wedding. All relatives and friends are invited. At the banquet, the newlyweds must drink half a glass of wine from a glass tied with a ribbon. The newlyweds then change hands and drink the other half of the wine. It is believed that after this ceremony, the newlyweds will love each other deeply and for a long time.

Some provinces in China serve fish for banquet table, which should not be eaten completely. The head, tail and whole skeleton of the fish must be left intact. It symbolizes a good start and end to a marriage.
After the banquet, the young friends continue the night with games and dancing.

However, these days many young people try to skip most of these rituals and ceremonies. Some do this because they believe that new generations are not obliged to follow the old traditions, while others refuse traditional marriage out of economy, trying to save more money for later family life.

If you are interested in how they live in China, what they eat, where they work and shop in China, read my articles under the heading “ ” on this site. There are many interesting things!

The cult of marriage in ancient China

With the disintegration of tribal ties in Yin and, even more so, Zhou China, family and clan ties became predominant; in modern historiography they are sometimes referred to as patronymic. Within the framework of community villages (predominantly large families), the tendency to separate small individual family became noticeable no earlier than the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. In the noble Shi families, which stood out from the environment of the ruling tribal elite, the process of family formation went faster, and the very organization of these families in the form of a large clan became over time the norm, which subsequently was always oriented in China. This is especially clearly seen in the example of rituals and norms that were associated with marital relations.

In the communal village, marriage family relationships governed by ancient traditions. For peasant boys and girls, even in Zhou, judging by the songs "Shijing", love meetings and free choice of husband or wife was the norm. It was love, the free choice of a loved one, that served as a strong cement at that distant time. married life And it is precisely about love, love longing, cordial intimacy, striving for the beloved that many lyrical lines of songs speak. Gathering plums, the girl sings about her beloved, waiting for a date with him. The two came on a date, met at the edge of the forest, next to the dead doe. A timid and shy young man sings of the tenderness and beauty of his beloved. The young man yearns, waiting for a meeting, not seeing his beloved next to other girls.

The marriage ceremony itself was usually formalized with the help of matchmakers. There was an agreement, engagement, wedding. But the freedom of choice of the young was also preserved until the very last minute. One of the songs speaks of a bride who refuses her groom, citing her right to do so before last rites(i.e. wedding) will be performed.
Among common people the ancient traditions of the tribal system were still very strong. Women and girls had considerable rights and were not yet considered as an appendage of the patriarchal family. Neither about unequal marriages, nor about violence against the will of a woman, nor about tears about love ruined by parents in the songs are there any mentions. The high position of a peasant girl and woman, her right to freely choose her own fate - all this had a close genetic connection with the ancient cults of fertility and reproduction, with naive totemic ideas about the decisive role of women in the reproduction of the family.

In noble families, from the beginning of the Zhou, the situation was somewhat different. Strong patriarchal tendencies, as well as the ever-increasing role of obligatory rituals and political considerations in the developing early class society, largely changed the position of women. First of all, this was reflected in her right to freely choose a husband.

First, the number of noble clans was rather limited. The rule of tribal exogamy and the traditionally established laws of compulsory marriage had an even greater effect on the choice. It is known, for example, that representatives of the two most noble Chou clans Jiang and Ji entered into marriages almost exclusively among themselves. Finally, political considerations played a very important role in the matter of marriage. In the context of ongoing internecine wars, temporary alliances and oath agreements, family ties between the rulers of the destinies and their entourage had great value. These ties, of course, were sealed by marriage. Of course, all this very seriously limited the freedom of choice of the girl and forced her to submit to the will of her father and the force of circumstances. Thus, the foundation was laid for unfree marriage at the will of the parents, which for almost three thousand years was then the norm for China.

Another important feature of the numerous noble families that arose at the beginning of the Zhou was their polygamous organization. Since the family from its very inception in Zhou was strictly patriarchal, and the cult of male ancestors became its cementing basis, care for male offspring began to turn into the central impulse of this family. The head of such a family - strictly in accordance with his rank, degree of nobility, position in society and condition - could and, as a rule, had a whole harem. The harem usually consisted of the main wife, several "minor" wives, a group of concubines. As a rule, in the number of characters of the harem. servants and slaves serving the house, who occupied the lowest position in the harem, also entered. Over time, even special norms arose and were recorded in the sources that regulated the number of women in harems. different representatives know. So, for example, the Zhou emperor had to have main wife- empress, three "minor", nine wives of the "third" and twenty-seven "fourth" ranks, eighty-one concubines. It is clear that these numbers, like the whole scheme associated with them, are only a convention, but true relationships were reflected in it. The imperial harem in China has always consisted of very a large number women, and relations in the harem and the visits of the emperor there were strictly regulated by special norms, the execution of which was zealously monitored by special palace servants (later eunuchs began to play their role).

The head of the women in the house was considered the eldest, the main wife, whose power was very great. Her functions included managing the household and regulating the life of the numerous female half of the house. It was she who could allow this or that woman to go to her relatives, visit her father and mother. Since it was not easy to establish relations between women, and it was even more difficult to appease human emotions and passions, the harem was usually carefully guarded from outside interference. In one of the songs "Shijing" there are such lines:

As there is a rumor about our harem -
I couldn't tell her.
When I could tell her -
How much shame and evil there would be!

Indeed, the desire to win the favor of the owner, envy and jealousy have always been companions of harem life. The rules of tribal exogamy gave rise in noble families to the widely used practice of sororate, according to which, along with the solemnly and officially betrothed main wife, her younger sisters and other younger relatives came to the husband's house as wives and concubines. The main wives were usually interested in having in their house (i.e., in the husband's harem) not strangers, but their own. Accordingly, the younger sisters of the betrothed to the main wives older sister according to tradition, they preferred to get into her husband's house, and not into someone else's, where a woman strange to them could be the eldest over them. This custom of sororate was one of the most characteristic features of marriage and family relations in ancient China.

So, the position of women in noble patriarchal families already at the beginning of the Zhou was more unenviable than in the villages. Having no freedom of choice, largely dependent on the will of her parents, primarily her father, a girl from such a family already at that distant time lost the freedom that, according to tradition, her peers from the simple peasantry still enjoyed. As will be shown below, subsequently this was the fate of all Chinese women.

From all this, however, it does not follow that all noble women were only powerless recluses of the harem. On the contrary, the position of the wife and her influence in the house and in the whole inheritance was important. Women from noble families, whose relatives had a great political influence and weight, often themselves became an important factor in society, in politics. They actively intervened in the affairs of the kingdom, acted at the head of various intrigues and conspiracies, skillfully weaved networks against their opponents. This was especially evident in cases where it was a question of choosing an heir.

The fact is that officially in Zhou China (and subsequently) there was no obligatory principle of primacy. Customary law provided for respect for the eldest son, who most often was appointed heir and guardian of the main branch of the tribal cult (da-zong). However, this was optional. The will of the father in choosing the heir was the decisive factor and was considered sacred, and the father could appoint any of his many sons as his successor. It was here that an active position, dexterity, political influence, or simply the charm of a particular wife, even a beloved concubine, played a significant role.

At the beginning of the Zhou, when the strict traditions of the patriarchal family were still being developed, the position of women in noble families was generally quite influential. and in some cases even gave rise to abuse of the rights granted to them. In the sources of a later time, primarily in the Zuozhuan, a lot of interesting information has been preserved about the free, ambiguous and even openly indecent, defiant behavior of many noble women, especially widows. Written from the standpoint of strict, Confucian principles, these tales tell with indignation that women were free to leave their homes. their husbands, date other men, and even cheat on their husbands. In an episode recorded under 599 BC. e., "Zuozhuan" tells the story of a widow who managed to be in an unlawful relationship at the same time with the ruler of the kingdom and two of his dignitaries. All three of them frolicked in her house and even joked obscenely about which of them the son of this woman looked like. The widow's angry son (who was actually from her late husband, a dignitary of this kingdom) killed the ruler, and "Zuozhuan" does not condemn him for this.

Of course, all these liberties and obscenities, which from the point of view of the authors of "Zozhuan" were perceived only as a vivid example of depravity and licentiousness, in fact, were only a natural relic of earlier traditions, closely connected with ancient rites and cults, with the ritual customs of the tribal system. .

The ancient Chinese family is a complex category, dating back to the patriarchal-clan relations of the primitive era. In Neolithic China, as well as in Yin and at the very beginning of Zhou, families hardly existed at all as independent social and economic units. Paired marriage cells at that time were an integral part of larger social and economic associations (clan, tribal community, large family community). From about the beginning of the Zhou, families began to form in China, at first mainly among the nobility. Later, by the era of Confucius, the monogamous family had already become common in China among all walks of life (although monogamy was still not observed in noble families).

The organization of a noble family served Confucius as a model that most fully met the requirements of the cult of ancestors and the principle of filial piety. In their numerous statements, Confucius and his followers created a cult of a large undivided family with the omnipotence of the father-patriarch, who played the role of a sovereign in miniature in the family. As you know, the philosopher liked to compare the family and the state; whoever is virtuous in the family is also good for the state, whoever cannot manage the family is unable to manage the state, etc. In other words, the Confucians considered the patriarchal family as "a microcosm of order in the state and society." Based on the norms of customary law that had developed in noble families, Confucianism proclaimed these norms as the standard and in every possible way contributed to the strengthening and preservation of the undivided family. Of course, the preservation or disintegration of such a family did not at all depend only on the desire to follow the ideals of Confucianism. There were serious reasons economic order that helped or hindered the organization of the large patriarchal family.

In practice, the influence of Confucian norms and traditions on the organization of families in China was reduced to the fact that, in the presence of favorable economic conditions the desire for close relatives to live together, as a rule, prevailed over the separatist tendencies of individual paired cells.

The cult of ancestors and patriarchal traditions determined the sacred right of the father-patriarch to all the property of the family. Until the death of his father, none of his numerous sons had the right to a share of this property and, for this reason alone, could not separate and run an independent household. All sons and their wives (as well as wives, concubines and unmarried daughters of the head of the family) were required to live in the parental home and contribute to its prosperity. Therefore, for a more or less prosperous Chinese family, it has always been characteristic Cohabitation a large number of representatives of several generations - sons with their wives, grandchildren, often also already married, and great-grandchildren at home. The maids and slaves who belonged to the head of the family or his sons and who usually did all the hard work around the house were often considered members of the family. Finally, impoverished relatives, who sometimes actually were farm laborers, could live in such families as “poor relatives”. Thus, within a single family, which was a fairly typical grassroots social unit of Chinese society, several dozen people often lived and ran a joint household.

Such a family, as a rule, existed as an inseparable social unit until the death of its head, the father-patriarch. After that, she was usually divided according to the number of sons. It is interesting that, despite the clearly expressed tendency to strengthen the large family with its large farm, in the history of China, the principle of primacy, so well-known in the West, according to which all the property of the father goes to the eldest son, has never been worked out. Some scholars attribute this fact to the desire to equalize the land, which is very characteristic of the entire Chinese history, i.e. to ensure that everyone owns at least a small, but their own plot. This principle, which was reflected either in the age-old dreams of implementing the Jing-tian system, or in attempts from above to introduce this or that system of equal allotments, or (most often) in the slogans of the rebellious peasants, also affected the traditional system of inheritance adopted in China. So, for medieval China, it was characteristic to divide the property (land in the first place) of the deceased father equally among all his sons. This was the norm, and the freedom of will in this case was limited - only the father could bequeath his personal property at his choice. This law acted very strictly; in the event that any of the adult sons died before the death of their father, his children, i.e., the grandchildren of the head of the family, received their father’s share during the division and again divided it equally among themselves.

Throughout the history of China, the Confucian thesis that the entire Celestial Empire is just one big family has played such an important role. On the one hand, such a broad interpretation of the concept of "family" had as its specific goal to represent the whole society in the form of a collective of "relatives", soldered together by the same inseparable bonds as family members. On the other hand, this analogy seemed to justify the hierarchy and authoritarianism family system in China.

The cult of the family in China has determined its great attraction. Wherever the Chinese were, wherever the accidents of fate threw him, everywhere and always, he remembered his family, felt his ties with her, strove to return to his house or, at worst, at least be buried in the family cemetery. As some researchers note, the cult of the family played a role in weakening the other feelings of the ordinary Chinese citizen of his social, national feelings. In other words, in old Confucian China, a person was first of all a family man, that is, a member of a certain family and clan, and only as such he acted as a citizen, as a Chinese.

The Confucian cult system had a decisive influence on the relationship between family and marriage - in China. The specificity of Confucian China was that a family usually began not from marriage, not from the union of the young. On the contrary, marriages were made from the family and by the will of the family for the needs of the family. The family was considered primary, eternal. The interests of the family went deep into history. The well-being of the family was closely watched by the ancestors who were interested in its prosperity (and in the regular flow of victims). Marriage, on the other hand, was a sporadic, isolated affair, entirely subordinated to the needs of the family.

According to the cult of ancestors, the care of the dead and the exact performance of all obligatory rituals in their honor was the main duty of the descendants, primarily the head of the family, the head of the clan. As a matter of fact, in the eyes of a faithful Confucian, it was precisely the need to fulfill this sacred duty that justified the very appearance of man in this world and his entire existence on earth. If in the past, in Yin and early Zhou China, the spirits of the dead served as a support for the living, then according to the norms of the cult of ancestors and xiao developed by the Confucians, everything should have been just the opposite. In this paradox, perhaps, the revolution that was accomplished by Confucianism in the ancient cult of the dead is best seen.

But if the main task living is concern for the satisfaction of the dead, then it is quite natural that the entire structure of the family, all forms of its organization should be oriented in such a way as to better cope with this main and honorable business. That is why it was believed that the first duty of any head of the family and bearer of the ancestor cult, who serves as an intermediary between the deceased "ancestors and their living descendants, is in no case - to prevent the extinction of the family and thereby incur the wrath of the deceased. To die fruitless not to give birth to a son who would continue the cult of ancestors - this is the most terrible misfortune not only for an individual and his family, but for the whole society.In China, there have always been beliefs that the souls of such descendants left without living (and, therefore, , without offerings) ancestors become restless, embittered and can harm not only relatives, but also other, outsiders, innocent people. certain days in China, even special commemorations were held to somehow appease them and calm their anger. However, since the time of Confucius, it is well known that the sacrifices made by someone else's hand are not real victims, at best a miserable palliative. These sacrifices cannot properly appease the angry ancestors.

It is not surprising that in such conditions every virtuous father of the family, as a respectful son and descendant of his highly respected ancestors, was obliged, first of all, to take care of his descendants. His task was to produce as much as possible more sons, marry them as soon as they reach marriageable age and wait for grandchildren. Only after that he could die peacefully, knowing that in any case and under any circumstances, the continuity of the family and the undying cult of ancestors are provided to them. It was with this, perhaps, even exclusively for this purpose, that marriages were concluded in old China. Judging by the Shijing, in pre-Confucian China, the issues of love, marriage and the creation of young families were resolved in the same way as in many nations. It took a while for the Confucian ancestor cult and the primacy of ethics and rationality to change all of this. A number of centuries passed, during which Confucian calls for the cultivation of a sense of duty and the curbing of emotions in the name of the sacred cult of ancestors, xiao and family were vigorously carried out, before all classes, mainly among the common people, were penetrated by tradition developed among the aristocracy and then consolidated by the Confucians as an obligatory standard of attitude towards family and marriage. Forever receded into the past village holiday ceremonies and scope for the natural feelings of young people. Emotions and feelings receded into the background. The family began to be based not on feeling, but on the fulfillment of religious duties. Marriage, on the other hand, began to be regarded as an important social matter, as a matter primarily of a large family and clan collective.

Wedding ceremonies in ancient China

So, marriage was considered primarily as a ritual rite, serving the cause of increasing and strengthening the family, and thus being a means of successfully serving the ancestors. In accordance with this, the whole procedure for choosing a bride and concluding a marriage, as a rule, was not connected either with the attraction of young people to each other, or even with their acquaintance. The question of marriage was the business of the family, especially of its head. It was he who, at a special family council, often with the participation of numerous relatives, decided the question of when and which of the sons to marry, from which family to take the bride. This decision was necessarily made with the consent of the ancestors, from whom the blessing for marriage was asked. Only after the deceased ancestors of the family and clan expressed their consent - for which a special ceremony of sacrifice and fortune-telling was carried out - did the groom's father send a wild goose, a symbol of the marriage proposal, to the bride's house.

The marriage of a son has always been considered very important matter, for which they spared neither effort nor money, sometimes getting into unpayable debts. First of all, in the case of a favorable response from the bride's parents, it was necessary to present them with gifts and receive a document certifying the year, month, day and hour of the girl's birth. Then this document, as well as the document on the birth of the groom, was given to the fortuneteller, who, through complex calculations, established whether the marriage would harm the well-being of the groom and his family. If everything was in order, mutual visits began again, gifts were exchanged, a marriage contract was concluded and, with the consent of the bride, the wedding day was appointed.

On this day, the bride, festively dressed in red, still combed like a girl, was brought to the groom's house in a palanquin. The entire wedding trip was carefully protected from evil spirits: special arrows were fired against them, a bronze mirror with magical powers was put on the bride’s chest, etc. also to the numerous gathered, including the beggars, from whom they paid off according to a pre-arranged agreement) were handed out gifts. The bride and groom together bowed to Heaven and Earth, performed a number of rituals and worships. They were offered two glasses of wine tied with a red cord. They served dumplings. All this made sense. everything was full of deep symbolism - both bows, and words, and even food (dumplings, for example, symbolized the wishes of many children), and images around. Finally, the main rites are over. The groom retired, and the bride made the necessary toilet, in particular, combed her hair already as married woman. After that, the young went to the bedroom.

The next day, everyone congratulated the young, guests and relatives were invited to the feast. And only after all the solemn ceremonies were over, the wife specially introduced herself to the mother-in-law, under whose authority she henceforth acted, and to all her husband's relatives. A few months later, she also introduced herself to her husband's ancestors in the ancestral temple and took part in the sacrificial rites. Now she was already truly becoming a wife and a member of the family (before that, she could still be returned to her parents - in case, for example, she was struck by some kind of ailment).

In the treatise "Ili" it is indicated that instead of putting on a hat, girls from noble houses were stuck in their hair, specially made for the wedding ceremony and a very noticeable hairpin. Her appearance in the girl's hair is a sign that she became a bride, or rather, she entered the age when one should prepare to get married.

The songs of "Shijing" talk a lot about wedding ceremonies. Among the highest nobility, sororat was often practiced when, together with the bride, she went to her husband's house younger sister or a niece as a kind of substitute wife, a concubine. In addition, harems from a number of wives and concubines were quite typical. Of course, at the same time, a fairly strict order was always maintained in the female half of the house, and the eldest usually ran everything, i.e. the main wife, whose son, by the way, was usually considered the heir. In those frequent cases when intrigues in the harem led to the fact that the ruler willfully changed the hierarchical order in the female half of the house, as was the case, in particular, in the time of Yu-wang, violation of the norm could lead to disastrous results.

In general, the position of a woman in the harem of a ruling aristocrat was not as humiliated as, say, in a harem. Turkish Sultan. Women from the ruling house had considerable political influence and sometimes actively intervened in the affairs of the state or inheritance, not to mention the mentioned intrigues, which most often also had a political character. It is important to note that, when getting married, a woman presented herself before the ancestral altar to her husband's ancestors, after which she was considered, as it were, an integral part of her husband's house and family and felt and behaved accordingly.

Marriages among members of the ruling class were strictly exogamous. Marrying women with the same name, regardless of whether she will be the main wife, extra wife or a concubine, was strictly forbidden. It was believed that such "incest through the name" dooms the husband, the woman herself and their offspring to terrible misfortunes. According to classical literature, there were no such taboos for commoners, but this is not entirely true. Although the classical sources say that "rituals and ceremonies do not descend to the lower people," the commoners had their own su, or customs. Since anthropologists believe that, in general, archaic communities have an even more rigid system of taboos than highly developed societies, it is safe to say that among the ancient Chinese peasants, marriages were also bound by all sorts of taboo restrictions, although they are not recorded in writing. In later times, the taboo against the marriage of people with the same surname applied equally to all classes and continues to this day.

Representatives of the ruling class could only once take their main wife. If she died or her husband drove her away, he could not marry again, at least with the same ritual as in the first marriage. Marriages were arranged through matchmakers. As the Shijing says:

When you cut an ax for yourself -
You cut it with an axe.
And if you choose a wife for yourself -
You can't take her home without a matchmaker.

It was the matchmaker who conducted all the preliminary negotiations. After making sure that the heavenly signs favor the planned union, he had to find out if the bride really belongs to another clan, is she really a virgin, are they prepared wedding gifts, and at the same time it was his duty to learn about social position and the influence of her parents. Representatives of the ruling class were guided by the developed code of honor, and if one of the parties considered the union inappropriate, this could lead to a blood feud. As a rule, the girl herself did not have the right to vote in choosing a future spouse, the issue was decided by her parents in agreement with the matchmakers.

After the successful completion of all preliminary negotiations, the groom paid a visit to the bride's parents, coming to the house with a goose; later commentators gave this goose different interpretations, but they are all clearly of later origin. Then the groom took the bride to his home, and at a gala dinner in the evening of the same day, the betrothal took place. During this ceremony, the groom's alliance was established with the younger sisters or bridesmaids, whom she usually brought with her to take the place of her husband's additional wives or concubines. On next morning the husband introduced his wife to his parents and in a special hall of the ancestors announced her to their souls. After three months, the ceremony of presenting the wife was repeated, but this time on a more modest scale. Only after the second ceremony was held, the wife was considered finally established in her new status.

Sometimes the bride showed no desire to bring additional wives with her for her future husband. In “Shijing” there is a song called “Jiang Yu Si”: at first, the bride does not want to take girls with her who are destined for such a fate, at the end, the girls express joy that the bride was convinced and now she takes them to the future family.

So a wave of inflow will merge with Jiang ...
That girl went to the groom.

She did not want to take us with her,
Then she yearned.
So the waters merge behind the island ...
That girl went to the groom.
You didn’t want to take us with you to your house,
You didn't want to take us with you to your house.
You were happy for us later.
So Jiang returns the flow of his waters...
That girl went to the groom.
She got ready, but she doesn’t take us,
Yes, she felt sorry for not taking us,
And now he whistles and sings.

The image of the Great River (Jiang) with numerous tributaries, apparently, is an indication of a husband surrounded by numerous women.

The marriage of representatives of the ruling class was called hun. This mysterious ancient term apparently referred to the "twilight ceremony", emphasizing that it was carried out at night.

Marriages of commoners were called ben ("chance meetings"). With the onset of spring, when families left their winter dwellings and moved to the fields, holidays were held in the village communities. Young boys and girls danced together and sang invocative songs and counting songs, which were almost always somehow connected with fertility cults and often were frankly erotic in nature. During these holidays, each young man chose a girl for himself, whom he courted, and then entered into sexual relations with her. The alliance thus made lasted all summer and autumn and was acknowledged - most often by the village elders - even before the families returned to their winter dwellings. Probably the main reason for the confession was the girl's pregnancy.

The girl could accept or reject the boyfriend or accept him, and then change her mind, and the young man had the same freedom of choice - all this suggests that girls from simple families, as a rule, led a sexual life more openly than their peers from high society. The songs about courtship, love and marriage preserved in the Shijing give beautiful picture rural love life. In form and content, surprisingly reminiscent of the songs of other Nations and other times, the songs from the "Shijing" perfectly convey the emotional diversity of joys and sorrows during courtship and love. Below we give a song that describes a village festival on the river bank, where young boys and girls played with each other and indulged in love games followed by copulation. In later erotic literature, the term "peony" often referred to the female genitalia.

Sometimes Zhen and Wei
Shattered in waves
And picking orchids
The girls will come out with their friends.
The maiden says to her friend:
"Will we see each other, dear?"
He replied: "I'm with you,
Have you forgotten?
"No, again by the river
Will we see each other, dear?
On the other side
I know the place for Wei -
On a wide meadow
We'll have more fun!"
With her he wanders over Wei,
With her frolicking on the slopes,
And to my girlfriend
Brings peonies as a gift.
Deep Zhen and Wei,
Rushing transparent waves!
Beach on orchid day
Full of virgins and boys.
Virgo says to her friend:
"Will we see each other, dear?"
He replied: "I'm with you,
Have you forgotten?
"No, again by the river
Will we see each other, dear?
On the other side
I know the place for Wei -
On a wide meadow
We'll have more fun!"
With her he wanders over Wei,
With her frolicking on the slopes,
And to my girlfriend
Brings peonies as a gift.

Another song called “Chu qi dong men” describes the meeting of young men and women outside the city gates:

Here I come out of the eastern gate, and in bright silks
Girls walk in crowds, as clouds float in the sky.
Let them walk in crowds, as clouds float in the sky,
The one I yearn for is not with them - she is far away.
You wear a white dress and a blue scarf fabric -
Poor outfit, but with you only my joy is great.
I exit the gate through the tower in the outer wall
There are many girls around, they are like reeds in the spring.
Let them crowd around like reeds in the spring,
Thought not for these girls, I strive for depth in my heart.
A simple white dress and a scarlet handkerchief on it -
Poor outfit, but with you only happiness comes to me!

The song of a man who marries his beloved is called Dong Fang Zhi Zhi:

The sun will rise from the east during the day - that beautiful maiden will come.

She will spend the day in my house,
She followed me into the house.
At night, the moon will shine from the east -
This beautiful girl is with me.
She is in the house behind my door,
She is in the house behind my door,
Follow me and get out.

In late ancient China, some additions to the wedding ceremony appear, which is well illustrated by the following poem, in which the newlywed bride addresses her future spouse:

The hour of blessed goodbye has come -
I'm waiting in the bedroom, trembling.
I will meet for the first time to know love:
I'm trembling as if I'm touching boiling water.
Let it not be skillful - I will not regret the strength,
To appear to you as a worthy wife,
I'll make sure you have enough snacks
And I will help in offerings to the ancestors.
I dream of becoming a simple mat,
To cover your bed at night.
Ready to be a brocade coverlet
To protect from drafts and cold.
Once the censer is full of incense,
Let's close the door with a golden bolt,
Let only the lamp illuminate us.
I took off the belt, wiped off all the blush,
"Pictures" laid out at the head.
Su-nu will teach me how to comprehend
All ten thousand ingenious poses.

The role of courtesans in the marriage ceremonies of late Ancient China is noted. Through an intermediary, information was exchanged between two families, who at the same time resorted to the services of a fortuneteller on the question of the desirability of the proposed union. If the result of divination turned out to be favorable, there was an exchange of documents in the proper form. These documents contained detailed information about both spouses: indicating the names, ranks and positions held by the heads of families over the past three generations; dates of birth of son and daughter; a listing of relatives who lived with them, and a list of all family property. On the part of the bride, a list of her dowry and a statement of the property status due to her after marriage were also attached. If both parties were satisfied with the given data, then they arranged a meeting between the future spouses during the feast, when they could see each other; such a ceremony was called xiangqing. They drank to each other's health, and if the bride suited the groom, he stuck a golden hairpin in her hair. If he did not like her, he presented her with two pieces of silk. Provided that both parties were satisfied with everything, there was an exchange of gifts, and they chose auspicious date for marriage. After several more exchanges of gifts, most of which were purely symbolic meaning(for example, a pair of goldfish, identified with fertility), the groom, accompanied by a large retinue, which included courtesans and hired musicians, went for the bride. Upon arrival at the bride's house, the young man had to do good to her relatives by presenting them with food and drinks that he had taken with him. Then the bride took her place in the ceremonial palanquin, in which she was solemnly delivered to the groom's house, and she was accompanied by many courtesans who carried flowers and red candles. It was the courtesans who brought the bride into the bridal chamber, and the future spouse was accompanied there by the master of ceremonies. The newlyweds exchanged cups of wine and tied locks of hair in a knot. At this, the marriage ceremony ended, after which the young were taken to the central chambers, where the newlywed officially appeared before her husband's relatives and tablets with the posthumous names of their ancestors.

State of Zhou The legal status of the main estates was somewhat different than in the previous Shang-ying state. Political predominance was in the hands of the Chouan aristocracy, which legally secures vast occupied lands. Part of the Shang-ying aristocracy was recruited into the service, received an estate and became part of the ruling class. The situation of small community members has significantly worsened. The distribution of land to the Zhou'n aristocracy turned them into landless tenants working for the landowners. They, along with slaves, are attracted to field work, to the construction of fortifications, and are forced to serve military service. The use of slave labor is gaining wide proportions. There were many slaves, as evidenced by inscriptions on the purchase and donation of hundreds of thousands of slaves. 5 slaves cost the same as one horse, with the addition of 1 skein of silk. Political system Under the king in the Zhou period, his closest assistant (Xiang) had a fairly broad competence, like an Arab vizier. Then came the "3 Elders" - the three closest advisers and assistants to the king, each of whom led one of the three departments. These 3 dignitaries were subordinated to 6 officials of a lower rank. 9 rulers of the regions were subordinate to the officials. Local government was carried out by a huge bureaucracy formed from the local nobility. The state was ruled by 3 departments: A) financial, which was controlled by "sati" (one of the elders); B) the military department, headed by "simu" (one of the elders); C) public works - led by "sykun". Of great importance was the department that managed the affairs of the religious cult, to which belonged the High Priest of the cult of the royal ancestors, the "supreme fortuneteller." The state of Zhou consisted, in addition to the main territory, of vast conquered lands. At the head of which were the governors, most of them members of the royal house. Remote from the capital, they had broad powers, their own armed forces. The central government demanded from the governors at least two duties: a) an annual appearance at the court to express loyalty to the dignity; b) payment of taxes imposed on the province. Community self-government was replaced by administrative management. The administrative division was as follows: * 5 families made up a five-dvorka, headed by the headman; * 5 five-yard houses were organized in "li" (village); * 4 "li" united in "zu" (clan); * 5 "zu" - into "dan" (group), and so on up to the district and region. The main directions in the development of law The law of China during the Zhou period is characterized by the emergence of legal regulation of private ownership of land, the gradual spread of transactions with land (purchase and sale, lease, mortgage, etc.). d.). All land was considered royal, and all subjects were servants (slaves) of the king, but in fact the king disposed only of the land that was given for service. The land was outside the old fund, the allocated virgin land was considered property and participated in the turnover. The state, interested in increasing the cultivated land fund, exempted private lands from tax. In inheritance law, the principle of inheritance of property by the eldest son from the first wife receives final confirmation. In the absence of sons, other relatives of the husband inherited. During the Zhou period, the first code of criminal law was created, consisting of three thousand articles written in casuistic form and being a record of court decisions. Its publication is attributed to a legendary figure - King Mu.

Law of Ancient China (sources, main institutions, general characteristics). Initially, the law of Ancient China was based on the norms of customary law with additions to the norms formed on the basis of individual judicial decisions and decisions of the central government. Confucianism and the legalist school had the greatest influence on the development of Chinese law. Confucianism recognized the prevailing importance of morality over legal norms, and identified law with criminal law. Legists on the contrary, attaching great importance legal regulations, tried to extend their action to all occasions. They preached the equality of all before the law, the inevitability of punishment for all, put forward the idea of ​​a strong state. Crimes and Punishments in Ancient China. Chinese criminal law singled out among the huge number of criminal acts (sources identify more than 3,000 of them) the following types of crimes: 1) against the state (rebellion, conspiracy); 2) religious (shamanism, throwing ashes into the street); 3) against a person (murder, bodily harm); 4) military (non-attendance at the appointed time at the place of assembly, not a manifestation of courage by a soldier); 5) against property (theft, robbery, slaughter of other people's livestock). ^ The main purpose of punishment was intimidation. practiced Physical punishment combined with the death penalty. During the period of the Zhou state, five main punishments were identified: "moxing" - branding with ink on the face, "isin" - cutting off the nose, "feixing" - cutting off the legs, "foreign" castration for men and turning women into reclusive slaves, "danishin" - beheading. Except

In addition, such punishments as beating with sticks and whips were applied. cutting off ears, gouging out eyes, etc. ^ The court in China was not separated from the administration. The emperor was the supreme judge. Representatives of the local administration judged on the ground. There were officials who were obliged to search for criminals, to wage war against thieves and criminals, heads of prisons and persons who enforced court decisions. ^ The process was accusatory and adversarial in nature, but starting from the Qin period, elements of the search process intensified in the trial. Later, this type of process became the main one. Legal regulation of property relations in ancient China. The end of the slaveholding period in Chinese history was marked by the appearance of numerous collections of law. Types of property in Ancient China were characterized by evolution from communal forms to private property, primarily land and slaves. A feature of China was the presence of large state ownership of both land and slaves. The development of commodity-money relations was accompanied by the development of contractual practice. When making commercial transactions, it was necessary to conclude an agreement in writing, in addition, a monetary duty was paid. With the development of usury, a loan agreement, which was formalized by a promissory note, became widespread. In addition, donation agreements, land leases, personal hiring, etc. were known. Legal regulation of marriage and family relations in ancient China. The family law of ancient China was characterized by patriarchal family with the absolute power of the father, polygamy, the cult of ancestors. The woman was entirely in the power of her husband, had no property and was limited in the right to inherit. Marriages were concluded by the decision of the parents.