Chapter 16: Feminism (2)

This gave a great impetus to the social atmosphere, and the widow's observance of festivals was not only politically honorable for the whole family, but also economically beneficial, so people followed suit. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoThe ruling class of the Ming Dynasty not only vigorously commended the martyrs, but also severely punished those who were so-called unscrupulous. During the Tianshun period, Shanxi was sentenced to Liu Chong, the prosecutor (the yamen in charge of Shanxi's justice and supervision), who married the remarried woman Zhu as his wife. Just such a thing, Ming Yingzong directly intervened and ordered Liu Chong to be arrested and brought to Beijing for interrogation. The Zhu family was originally the concubine of Wu Jie, Marquis of Anlu; Wu died and remarried Zhang Neng as a concubine; Zhang died and remarried Cheng Peng as a concubine. Cheng was killed for a crime, and Liu Chong admired Zhu's appearance and married him as his wife. Zhu was very unlucky, and finally married Liu Chong as his wife, which can be regarded as getting a better home. But in the end, Ming Yingzong accused the two of them for "forgetting their honesty and shame, deserving of a bad woman", and "having a defiled constitution", and ordered Liu Chong to be reduced to the people.

These practices of the feudal rulers were to force countless Liu Chong and Zhu to "submit", oppress women with chastity, distort and split their personalities, and make the people obey the feudal ruling order.

Due to the vigorous advocacy and pressure exerted by the feudal rulers, in the Ming Dynasty, the so-called festival women and martyrs increased rapidly. a "Twenty-Four History", in which 54 women are recorded in the "Book of Tang"; "History of the Song Dynasty" has 55 people; And the "Yuan History" has 187 people. In the "History of the Ming Dynasty", there are 308 people, almost double that of the "History of the Yuan". In the "Collection of Ancient and Modern Books", there were only 51 martyrs in the Tang Dynasty, 267 in the Song Dynasty, and 36,000 in the Ming Dynasty.

"History of the Ming Dynasty: The Biography of the Daughters" begins with the clouds: Ming Xing, written as a rule, the patrol inspector is on the school, the big one gives the ancestral shrine, the second is also the tree square table, the aconite wedge, shining on the well, and even the daughter of the lower household in the remote area, can also be chaste and white, its work in the record and the county chronicles, no less than 10,000 people, although there are many literary and artistic important festivals, woohoo, how prosperous! Isn't it because the voice is taught by the people, and the distinction between honesty and shame is clear, so the name is heavy and the righteousness is brave? Now the most especial, or by the year, or by the like, with a thousand articles, depending on the prehistory will be doubled, but the name of the annihilation is not yet countable, and the tithe is enough to persuade the clouds.

The general idea is that since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, chastity and martyrdom have been implemented as a legal provision. Every year, local officials have to report the matter of the martyrdom of the local chastity, and if the matter is true, they will also be given the construction of an ancestral hall and the establishment of a chastity archway. For a time, whether it was a rural village woman or a wealthy lady, everyone was silently complying with it, and there may be tens of thousands of people on record.

The Ming Dynasty's "Biography of the Daughters" recorded:

In Kaifeng in the Ming Dynasty, there was a peasant female single third sister, who was only 14 years old and beautiful. One of the neighbors of the single family coveted her beauty, and raped her by jumping over the wall while her parents were working in the fields. She tried her best to resist, and when there was no way out, the third sister grabbed her coat tightly, and the evil young man broke her hand with all her might, and she couldn't break it no matter how she broke it, and in a fit of anger, she picked up a kitchen knife and killed the third sister. When her parents came back to find her, she was still clutching her middle coat, incomprehensible. When the government heard about this, they examined her, and after confirming that she was not lost, they declared her a martyr. If she had been raped before her death, she would be worthless, and not only would she lose her qualification to be a martyr, but her entire family would be dishonorable.

In terms of the clear law, "husband respects wife inferiority" not only makes a woman's status in society unable to be determined by herself, but also manifests itself in "the same crime and different punishments" when husband and wife commit crimes against each other, and this phenomenon will inevitably cause damage to the personal rights of wives. For example, if a wife beats her husband, "a hundred rods" until he is injured or above, "every one adds three mortals"; And when a husband beats his wife, "it is not a wound, but it is not a wound"; "To the wound above, reduce the mortal second-class". It can be seen that under the same degree of fighting, the punishment of the wife by the law is far heavier than the punishment of the husband. What's more, if a husband negligently beats his wife, it is classified as "to each other". It can be seen that the wife is regarded as the husband's private property, and even the wife's life is not guaranteed, which clearly reflects the basic principle of "the husband respects the wife and inferior" in the Ming Dynasty law. Women in the Ming Dynasty were in the period of decline of feudal society, and their social status was extremely low, and the feudal rulers poisoned women with feudal etiquette, resulting in a large number of women and martyrs in society. Therefore, Wan Qiyang believes that women in the Ming Dynasty have fallen to the bottom of the abyss, whether in terms of ethical awareness, legal status or practical life.

Wan Qiyang thought to himself that if one day he was given the ability to influence the rights of a geographical area, he must gradually reverse this inequality. After thinking about it, Wan Qiyang didn't have much appetite, so he directly pulled a few mouthfuls of rice, and finally drank a little soup and stopped eating, then washed the dishes himself, poured more than half a bowl of soup and added half a piece of fish, and put it in front of him.

When Wan Qiyang was doing this, Uncle Ma was still a little strange, why Wan Qiyang was not very happy to eat at night, and he didn't talk much, so he only asked one question. After a few meals, he put half of the fish in his bowl, and it seems that he likes to eat fish. Uncle Ma is still a little happy in his heart, at least his lady's cooking is still quite popular.

But at this time, Wan Qiyang spoke, "Zhuzi, don't eat yet, come!" I've washed this bowl, bring this bowl of fish soup to your mother and grandmother, go! That's what I meant! ”

Seeing Wan Qianyang's sharp eyes, the gaze that was originally looking at his father was also retracted, and he didn't dare to ask Uncle Ma when he heard Wan Qianyang's serious words.

"Go!" Wan Qiyang directly put the bowl containing the fish soup on the hand of the pillar at this time, and the pillar had to stand up and bring the bowl in. In fact, he is very happy for the pillar, and Ma Chenglong is also in favor, but it is still the old saying, this feudal etiquette restricts everyone's simple heart, they are afraid that others will say that they have no family education, no etiquette, especially the social atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty, in fact, Ma Chenglong usually eats together as a family, but suddenly came to Wan Qiyang, an 'outsider', to behave 'normal', at least now he is an outsider, after all, he has been to Ma's house for less than a whole day.

"Uncle Ma, in fact, I understand that you are treating me as an outsider. But I can make it clear, no matter who you think of me, I need to explain that I am like this, as long as I am a relative or a friend, I have to care with my heart, and this heart is naturally sincere. I just went a little too far, I'm sorry! Wan Qiyang is also absolutely serious at this time, he wants Ma Chenglong to know his character and temper, so he directly exposes such a side.

Note: *Some of the historical data in the article comes from "Sina History", excerpted from reading "Golden Vase Plum" and tasting Ming Dynasty society? Author: Mei Chaorong? Publisher: Wuhan University Press, hereby explained.

(End of chapter)