There are profound historical reasons behind the ancient "selling one's body to bury one's father". It is not meaningless for a poor person to bury his parents with his own body, but out of desperation. In ancient China, one of the most famous stories of selling one's body and burying one's father was Dong Yong in "Twenty-four Filial Pieties". Dong Yong's family was poor and wandering, so he had to sell himself to bury his father. His filial piety touched the seven fairies in the sky, and in order to help him get out of his predicament, the seven fairies specially went down to marry him.
Therefore, it is not only women who choose to sell their fathers to bury their fathers, but also the poor. The immediate cause of selling one's body to bury one's father was poverty, and the lack of sufficient money to buy land and coffins to bury one's loved ones. In ancient times, land was privately owned, and it was difficult for the poor to own a piece of their own land. If a piece of land was chosen at random to bury his father, the owner of the land would inevitably report to the officials and arrest him, which would be a great problem for the poor who fled the famine.
On the other hand, those who choose to sell their bodies to bury their fathers are often deserters, and after leaving their original place of residence, they have no relatives and nowhere to live. During the ancient feudal dynasties, the main financial ** of the imperial court was to collect a population tax, and this kind of hidden population would reduce the tax revenue of the imperial court. Therefore, the hukou system in ancient times was quite strict, and being a hidden population meant losing the right to participate in society, and even the basic economic ** would be restricted.
For women, the choice of selling their bodies to bury their fathers is even more difficult. On the one hand, it is to ensure that the loved ones can rest in peace, and on the other hand, it is to find a place where they can live in peace. In ancient times, the status of women was extremely low, and they were subject to the traditional concept of "from father to husband, husband to son", and their lives and destiny were often strictly restricted.
In ancient times, men who lost their parents and family members still had ways to make ends meet, such as enlisting in the army, setting up stalls, or doing odd jobs. However, for unmarried women, the loss of their parents and family means that they have become targets for wanton abuse, facing the dilemma of death or exile. In order to maintain their innocence and their lives, they can only choose to sell their bodies to bury their loved ones.
Although selling one's body to bury one's father may bring only a small amount of money, in ancient times, those who could afford to buy a maid must have been a wealthy family. Therefore, becoming a maid from a wealthy family becomes the best choice for these women. Although being a maid means losing their personal freedom and their future children becoming slaves, at least they no longer have to worry about food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, and they will still receive a monthly wage. Ancient society pursued the feudal idea of the supremacy of filial piety, and filial piety was very important in ancient society.
Many dynasties even implemented the policy of "ruling the world with filial piety", advocating that people respect and love the elderly. This was especially true in the Han Dynasty, where filial piety was regarded as the criterion for selection, and those who were not filial would not be able to enter the court as officials. Children must serve their living parents wholeheartedly without any disobedience to their elders. After the death of a parent, the children should organize the funeral so that they can die in style.
The ancients attached great importance to the ceremonial process of funeral, attaching importance to "the dead are great, and the earth is safe". When organizing funerals, the rich family will always invite relatives and friends to hold a magnificent funeral procession, because they believe that the funeral scenery of the elders will bring prosperity to future generations. In contrast, the poor may not be able to do the funeral in this way, but at least they need coffins, tombstones, and burial land, and if they can't buy them, they have to sell themselves to meet these needs.
It is difficult in modern society to comprehend the act of putting one's life on the sake of the deceased, but under the ancient feudal mentality, if it were not, the spit of the people around them alone would be enough to drown them out. Compared to the ancients, we are very fortunate because in the modern world, the situation of selling one's body to bury one's father no longer exists, and the status of women has improved significantly, and they can hold up half the sky of China.