In ancient China, the system of "monogamy and multiple concubines" was implemented, plus maids and slaves and legal prostitution.

A man can only have one wife at the same time, including the emperor, and at the same time, there can only be one queen. In the heads of our ancestors, wife and concubine are completely different concepts. Wife is a wife, and concubine is a concubine, and it cannot be compared. At that time, "wife" was in accordance with the words of his parents and the matchmaker. The Ming matchmaker married him formally, and was "the official wife"; otherwise, it cannot be regarded as a formal marriage, but it is just a "side room" and a "side room" and cannot be called a "wife". Although the law at that time

It is stipulated that two wives should not be married, but no one is allowed to take concubines. It is illegal to marry "two wives", "three concubines", and "four concubines" are irrelevant, although it is essentially no different from "poly wife". Chinese characters are really wonderful! In the Ming Dynasty, there were even laws that stipulate that "all men who are over forty and have no heirs must marry". Look, if your wife is not strong and cannot give birth to a son, you will not be able to do it even if you want to "finish" because you are forced to take a concubine.

In ancient times, there were clear laws: In the "Yonghui Rule Memorial" of Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty, the "House Marriage" stipulates: "If any wife marrying a wife, she will be one year after one year, and the daughter's family will be reduced by one level; if you cheat and marry, you will be one year and a half, and the daughter's family will not be seated, and each one will be separated." That is to say, if you have a wife who is married by a matchmaker and you will have to marry a wife of one year and one year, you will be sentenced to one year in prison, and your second wife's family will be sentenced, but it will be reduced by a little. Therefore, three wives and four concubines do not mean that you can marry three wives, but that your wife can marry another one when she dies, but you cannot marry two at the same time. Otherwise, you will not only have to be sentenced, but also have to be forced to divorce your second wife.

Although a wife can only marry one concubine, she can marry more concubines, because "concubine" is not a "wife", even if the wife dies, she cannot support her concubines. "Guliang Zhuan": "Don't be a concubine or a wife". That is to say, a concubine is not qualified to support her as a wife. A man with a concubine but no wife is still an unmarried "diamond king and old fifth". When the legitimate wife dies, even if the husband has a concubine, he is still a widower without a wife, and he wants to find another good family to hire a legitimate wife.

The "Tang Law Commentary" clearly stipulates: "I am a lowly person", "I am a businessman", "I am a wife with a concubine and a guest daughter, and I will be a one-and-a-half-year-old." That is to say, if your wife dies and you want to promote your beloved concubine to a wife, it is a violation of the criminal law. Once the incident occurs, the couple will have to serve one-and-a-half-year-old sentence together, and they will still be divorced after the end.

Of course, the status of a concubine is not the lowest in the family. There is also a maid under the concubine, who is obliged to sleep with the male owner, but can only be considered a slave. For example, Xiren in "Dream of Red Mansions". Only a maid who has completed the procedures can be called a concubine, such as Aunt Zhao in "Dream of Red Mansions".

In the family, although the duties of the wife and concubine are to serve the husband and the housekeeper and to have children, and to the head of the family, the concubine is similar to a slave to the family, but to the maid and servant, the concubine should be the master. However, the rights of the concubine in the family are very limited and very humble.

A concubine cannot participate in family sacrifices, and the concubine is excluded from the family. The concubine's relatives cannot be included in the husband's family's in-laws at all. Even the children born to the concubine (i.e., the concubine's concubine must recognize the official wife as the "legitimate mother", and the mother can only be the "common mother". In this way, the children born to the concubine are young masters and ladies, and the concubine's identity is a slave; the concubine calls her children the young masters and ladies, and her biological children only call her "aunts".

The husband can deal with the concubine at will, either beating, scolding, expelling, or even killing the concubine. The Tang Rules and Song Rules are only punished by punishment. The Qing Rules are even more lighter, only "a hundred sticks, three years of substitution". But if the concubine beats and scolds the husband, the punishment will be much more severe than the wife beats and scolds the husband, "the husband is scolded, and the rod is eighty-year." If the husband is beaten, "there is no need to be injured or not, they will be interfered for one year or a half."

At home, a wife can call her concubine, beat her and scold her concubine, but the concubine must not infringe on her wife. The concubine commits the wife and the concubine commit the same crime as the husband. Therefore, the concubine has no rights in the patriarchal family. She is a master in terms of status, but in fact is no different from a slave. However, generally speaking, those who have given birth to children for the husband's family will often increase their status, status, and rights in the family. In addition, depending on the family background and the education of the head, the rights of the concubine also vary accordingly, and often have a subtle relationship between the wife and the concubine and the husband.

In a monogamous family with multiple concubines, the balance of sexual relations is extremely important. Being favored and losing favor can always cause family conflicts. For concubines, only sexual life is the same as their wives. Moreover, because of their responsibilities of childbirth, they are superior to their wives and can often come into contact with their husbands. However, if the wife is not there, the concubine cannot stay with her husband all night and must leave after the sexual intercourse is completed.
Chapter completed!