On the one hand, it is to rectify the chaotic marriage and family system since Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties through education, vigorously publicize Yan's family instructions, and commend some families with four generations living under one roof and five generations living under one roof as social models. In addition, there are many books about women's education, especially books written by many women. For example, the eldest grandson of Emperor Taizong wrote ten articles about women, and two sisters, Song Ruoshen and Song Ruozhao, entered the palace as concubines in the harem.
On the other hand, the legislation of marriage. There is a special family marriage law in the Emperor Law of Sui Dynasty, and there is also a family marriage law in the Law of Tang Dynasty. The general content is as follows: parents get married, and the marriage is stopped at the funeral. In order to safeguard the dignity of parents, parents, brothers or other respected relatives have absolute power in marriage. Parents can't get married during the funeral, otherwise they will be punished by law. The engagement is legally binding. If the generational law stipulates that once two families decide to enter into marriage, they must enter into marriage. As long as the marriage contract exists, whether they are married or not, the marriage relationship will be confirmed. It even stipulates that if there is no engagement, as long as they accept the dowry, they will also recognize their marriage relationship. It is forbidden to marry close relatives. In order to ensure the quality of the population, the laws of the Tang Dynasty prohibit the marriage of people with the same surname and those who are related by blood. Bigamy is forbidden, and those who have wives are not allowed to marry other wives. Concubine is certain. According to the law of the Tang Dynasty, if a servant girl in the family was favored by her master and gave birth to a child for her master, she was allowed to be promoted to a concubine and could not make things difficult. If a wife has not given birth at the age of 50, she can be promoted to wife.
The concubinage system is allowed. In the upper class of the Tang Dynasty, monogamy was carried out to the letter, and the number of concubines was increasing. For example, under the emperor and queen, there are imperial concubines, Shu concubines, De concubines and virtuous concubines, especially wives. Zhao Yi, Zhao Rong, Zhao Yuan, Yixiu, Xiurong, Xiu Yuan, Fu Yi, Fu Rong and Fu Yuan; Jieyu nine, beauty nine, gifted scholar nine, a total of 27 people, for the world's women; Lin Bao, Imperial Daughter and Vegetable Daughter each have 27 people, and * * * 8 1 is the royal wife; These are graded. In addition to these principles, there are countless maids in the harem. Therefore, Bai Juyi has a poem: three thousand maids are married, and there are no tears in spring. A large number of poems in the Tang Dynasty reflected the fact of marriage, so there appeared the genre of palace resentment poems and some legendary stories, such as the story of red leaves. It is said that Lu, a calligrapher in China, found a red leaf inscribed with a poem beside the stream in the Tang Palace, which read: Why does the water flow so fast? The palace is full of leisure. Talk about a leaf and give it to your lover. Lou was deeply moved. He treasured the red leaves and sent a message to the ladies-in-waiting in the upper reaches of the stream. Soon, the emperor eliminated the maids, and Lu married one of the freed maids. It turns out that they are the people who send red leaves to each other. Of course, this is a love story with a happy ending. In fact, most of the red leaves at that time came to nothing: I was worried about seeing Liu Yingying Xu Fei, and I was heartbroken at Shangyang Palace. Your kindness is endless. Who should I give the poem about Ye? A leaf of poetry sits in the Forbidden City, who worries about who is alone. Because I am not as good as the waves, ripples and winds are second.
In addition to the emperor, the marriage life of princes and ministers at all levels is also a group of wives. According to Tang records, the prince can have two children, plus ten people, eight second-class officials, six third-class officials, four fourth-class officials and three fifth-class officials. This marital status has caused social problems, that is, there are more and more dissatisfied wives in aristocratic families, but ordinary people can't get married and become widows.
The Tang Dynasty was an open and relaxed society, with great freedom and liberation in family marriage and love customs. In the Tang Dynasty, women could go out and make public appearances, such as going to suburbs, entertainment places, city streets and other places, having picnics, watching plays and enjoying lanterns. Every spring, you can also go hiking and enjoy yourself with men in the scenic spots. Du Fu's poem said: On March 3rd, it was sunny and sunny, and there were many beauties by the Chang 'an River.
Compared with the women of later generations, their marriage attitude is more natural and unrestrained, less closed and reserved, which are concentrated in the legends of the Tang Dynasty, such as The Legend of Yingying, the predecessor of The West Chamber. She has a good personal relationship and dedicated her affection and love to Zhang Sheng. For example, Liu in Liu's biography is her favorite concubine, but she prefers Han Yi, a very poor talent. Li Sheng, who loves talents in a negative spirit, married Han Sheng. Later, although Liu went through hardships, he was still infatuated and faithful to love.
In the Tang Dynasty, remarriage is a very common thing. This open social trend can only be seen from the popular remarriage trend of princesses in the Tang Dynasty. Princess Tang remarried 23 people. Among them, there are four Gaozu women, six Taizong women, two Zhongzong women, two Zongrui women, eight Xuanzong women and one Suzong woman. More interestingly, in the documents found in Dunhuang, there is even a paragraph congratulating women on their remarriage: I hope that after the separation of wife and daughter, I will comb cicadas again, dress up beautifully and choose senior officials skillfully.