If you like the novels that take place in China before the Maoist Revolution, like those of Pearl S. Buck , the autobiographical "The palanquin of tears" of I'm sure you've come across the figure of the Chinese concubines. The wealthy men used to have several women, but only the first spouse He had benefits and prerogatives. Join us to know how they were Chinese Wives and Concubines in Antiquity and their complicated relationship.
Chinese Wives and Concubines
Although traditional Chinese culture did not prohibit polygamy Nor did it encourage it if it was not for the purpose of having a male child. Have several wives or concubines depended on the economic power of the husband. The only requirement is that he could support his women. In practice this resulted in a limitation of the custom of Chinese concubines: only the rich could afford it, the poor were still monogamous, if their lot did not change. A concubine is a lover who through the figure of the concubinage legalized their relationship with man, were also known as "little wives" The concubinage has a long history as it was a symbol of status and wealth.
There were two cases in which a man who was not noble or wealthy could have two wives with almost the same rank: when the man, for his work, spent much of the year in another place and his wife had to stay in the family home caring his in-laws was allowed take a second woman that she was not a concubine, but that she had practically the same rights as the first one but without a marriage ceremony or when there was no male offspring in the marriage. In this second case, he was also allowed a second wife of the same rank as the first.
A complicated relationship: wife against Chinese concubines
Also for the emperors or wealthy families there were some circumstances in which one could have more than one wife with the same rank, but this fact was very unusual and the first wife had a much higher rank than the Chinese concubines .
Among the obligations of Chinese concubines there was obedience to the first wife. They were always treated as inferior and joined their husband in ceremonies very different from the traditional chinese wedding . They had far fewer rights than the main wife and the man could divorce them arbitrarily. Their origin used to be of a lower social extraction and even in many cases they were bought as slaves. Their children did not belong to them, but owed obedience to the main wife.
The Chinese concubines Unlike wives, they had not provided a dowry to the couple and when they were widows they could not remarry or return to their home, so their future was very uncertain, depending on who inherited the possessions of the deceased. From the seventeenth century the conditions of the Chinese concubines improved and they were allowed become the "wife" if the owner died without male offspring and they were allowed to remarry if they were widowed.
If a young woman ran away from her parents' house and married a man, she was not formally considered his wife, but a concubine. This happened because in traditional weddings the participation of the parents was essential, if they were not present, the girl was not a wife, but a concubine.
Imperial Chinese Concubines
The emperors in China had hundreds of concubines who lived in special areas of the Imperial Palace guarded by eunuchs. These Chinese concubines they could have more influence over the emperor than the Empress herself. Throughout the history of China there are several cases in which the son of one of these favorites has inherited the throne passing in front of other children who seemed to have preference.
There are documented cases of the cruelty of the emperors with their concubines. In one case, he ordered the killing of more than 2,000 concubines, including 12-year-old girls, for the alleged infidelity of one of them with a eunuch, and at some moments in the history of China, when the emperor died, he was buried with all his concubines. . The women were killed to accompany the president on his last trip. Fortunately, this custom lasted a short time.
The sorolate
There existed within the types of marital union in China a type that is known as "sororal marriage". It consisted in the successive weddings of a man with the sisters, cousins or relatives of his wife. In general, the first woman was the wife and her relatives had a similar status to the others Chinese concubines . This type of unions occurred especially among the nobility during the Zhou Dynasty until the third century AD.
Did you know the figure of Chinese concubines ? Have you read any interesting novel about this topic? Share it with us!