A Dark Corner of the Old Society The tragic situation of "child daughters-in-law" in the late Qing Dynasty is embarrassing
In feudal times, people's marriages were mostly arranged by parents and patriarchs, and children did not have the right to choose their spouses.
In addition, in order to pass on the family as soon as possible, some families will take young girls into their homes to raise them and marry them off to the men of the family when they reach marriageable age, these girls are called"Child bride-in-law"。
The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms recorded"The bridegroom's family takes the daughter who has been raised for a long time before the age of ten as the bride"。
It can be seen that child brides existed in the early Three Kingdoms. With the change of the times, child brides became more and more popular among the people, reaching their peak in the late Qing Dynasty.
In the final analysis, the essence of child daughter-in-law is actually the ** of feudal society for women, look at these child daughters-in-law at the end of the Qing Dynasty, you will know how ** the old society was.
Child daughter-in-law in the last years of the Qing Dynasty.
This is a photo taken in the last years of the Qing Dynasty, the girl in it looks like she is only about ten years old, she is barefoot, squatting on the ground skillfully doing farm work, is a very typical child daughter-in-law.
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, society was generally poor, and many families could not afford to raise children.
In the minds of many people, girls have no financial means, and raising a girl is equivalent to raising a bride for someone else, so they sell their daughters to people who want to raise a child bride.
If you think that a child bride will be taken back as a bride, then you are very wrong. Because the husbands and sons-in-law of child brides are usually very young, it takes a lot of time to get married and have children, and relatives do not want the man to do nothing.
Therefore, a child bride must undertake all household and farm work while waiting for her husband to grow up**.
Some child brides are sold to relatives when their husbands are still infants.
Since ancient times, the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law has been the biggest problem in the family, even if the child daughter-in-law has been pampered since childhood.
When the mother-in-law abuses her daughter-in-law, the daughter-in-law can still go home, and the mother's family can also support her.
But the child daughter-in-law4, who was sold by her family at the age of four or five, could only silently endure the suffering of her concubine, without support, and could only live alone with her in-laws.
As we all know, there is no one behind the child daughters-in-law, their status in the in-laws' family is very low, they often lack food and clothing, and their treatment is comparable to that of slaves.
When the child brides reach the age of fourteen or fifteen, they must complete their own"Mission", marry a boy in the family, and continue the incense for her mother-in-law.
Without a son, their situation deteriorates and they can be bullied and humiliated by every member of the family.
Many girls who become child brides choose to end their lives because they cannot endure the inhuman torture, and some girls are abused to death by concubines.
Old Society. Child brides are a product of China's feudal society and are rooted in thousands of years of patriarchal thinking.
In the old satanic society, both children and wives were considered the private property of men, and their dignity had no status.
It can be seen from arranged marriages that even if children grow up, they are still accessories of men. Child brides are not even an accessory, in the eyes of men, they are just tools for reproduction.
In the eyes of men, child brides are a means of reproduction. Some child brides-in-law, who were born unable to have children, were kicked out of their homes or sent to bakeries to earn money when they were discovered by relatives.
They are like an object that was sold by their parents when they were children and sold by their husbands when they grew up. For them, physical torture is far less painful than mental blows.
Since the Three Kingdoms period, the Xi of child brides has continued in Chinese society for more than 1,800 years, and countless women have been affected by it.
Some literati and writers once spoke out in support of child brides, but there were many supporters, and the opposition of a few people was ineffective in front of the public, so gradually, from high-ranking officials and nobles to ordinary people, they all regarded child brides as the most common thing.
This ideology contributes to the oppression of women in society, and many women have lost their lives for centuries.
Not only that, but it also affects the next generation, although ** child brides are strictly prohibited, but in some remote areas, the phenomenon of child brides still exists.
In the eyes of some lawbreakers in society, this is a good way to make money, and they have kidnapped and trafficked many young girls, thus seriously threatening the social order.
Nowadays, it is difficult to see child daughters-in-law in society. The status of women had improved considerably, and everyone should have the right to love freely.
What was the old society like?Let's take a look at the tragic situation of child daughters-in-law in the late Qing Dynasty!