Unique folk customs
As a unique folk custom phenomenon, bride price is deeply rooted in the soil of China traditional culture. The bride price system comes from the most traditional and extensive marriage form in China history-engagement marriage. This kind of marriage system pays attention to "parents' orders, matchmakers' words" and emphasizes "men and women don't meet without media and silk" (Book of Rites).
The book Yili, which records the pre-Qin etiquette system, says: "When you are confused, there are six gifts, such as receiving gifts, asking names, receiving gifts, inviting guests and welcoming relatives." This set of complete marriage etiquette, formed in the Western Zhou Dynasty, is the "six rites" followed by successive dynasties. Among them, "taking levy", also known as "withdrawing money", is a description of the procedure of delivering the bride price, and "taking levy" means paying. As the name implies, "taking a levy" or "taking money" means giving a bride price, which is equivalent to what is said now.
In ancient times, "Six Rites" was the standard marriage procedure from princes and ministers to ordinary people. If this procedure is not followed, the marital relationship between men and women will not be recognized legally. The completion of the "Zheng Na" ceremony marks the end of the engagement, so the engagement has legal effect. In the feudal codes of past dynasties based on the Tang law, the employment payment system has been used all the time, and there is basically no big change. It was not until the Republic of China that the employment payment system was clearly stipulated by law.
The great change of this engagement system took place after the founding of New China. Although China's marriage law has been revised several times, there is no such provision in the text, but it is forbidden to buy and sell marriage and to ask for property by marriage. In the past, the marriage form of "engagement and marriage" has undergone a qualitative change.
Nowadays, the acceptance of "bride price" by wedding customs seems to be roughly the same as the previous bride price system, but in fact it has essential differences in connotation. With the update of the times and the improvement of the law, the engagement system with the "six rites" procedure has lost its social soil for existence and development. In ancient times, accepting employment property meant the establishment of marriage contract in the legal sense. In today's marriage system, the bride price has no similar institutional value, but highlights the significance of the property itself.
Value geometry of ancient bride price
In ancient times, money or bride price engagement was the decisive condition of engagement etiquette, which had its historical reasons. In the social form of low productivity, when a woman marries a man's house after marriage, it is equivalent to an extra labor force in the man's house and a less producer in the woman's house. The bride price of the man is the economic compensation for the woman's family.
According to legend, in ancient times, Fu took a couple's skin as a gift, that is, a pair of male and female deerskin as a dowry for marriage. Since then, the number and types of bride price have been determined by ceremony or formulated by law, depending on their status. Jade and silk were widely used in Zhou dynasty, gold was first used in Warring States period, and gold was the main one in Han dynasty. The "Thirty Rites" appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty, reaching the peak of various commodities. These thirty things include sheep, geese, sake, white wine, japonica rice and so on. All of them have economic value, but most of them take the meaning of congratulations as a symbol to wish the couple a good relationship. From the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the bride price was reduced to "nine things", which is also meaningful. In the Song Dynasty, which emphasized commerce, money was the most important thing.
In fact, in order to flaunt the family background, the social problem of marrying a woman and a daughter-in-law is extremely extravagant has also occurred from time to time in history. Seriously, even the married children can't get married in time, so that the court ordered "tighten your belt and eat, don't lose thousands of dollars." Zhang Di in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liang Wudi in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Wanyantang in the Yuan Dynasty and Yong Zhengdi in the Qing Dynasty all intervened and stopped extravagant marriages.
As far as the amount of bride price is concerned, there is a legal civilization order in the Tang law: "There is no limit to how much money you can hire", and it is stated that even if you receive an extra foot, you must not regret it. In other words, it doesn't matter what kind of people you hire or how much you pay. As long as you accept more than one foot of silk, it will be regarded as a gift, and the engagement between men and women will take effect from now on.