Succession in ancient China
Jan. 22nd, 2022 09:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snowynightIn ancient China, only male offsprings could inherit from their fathers. While a man could marry multiple women in ancient China, he could only have one official wife. The other women had lesser status as concubines.
The official wife had limited legal protection and only their sons could inherit titles. The sons by the official wives usually have more right to property succession.
Concubines had less formal marriage ceremony. They had even less legal protection, nor did they have right to their children.
The elder son usually had more rights than his younger brothers if they had the same mother.
As it was very important to have male offsprings to inherit the family name and take care of you after you reaching an old age, childlessness was one of the legal cause for men to divorcing their wives. (Because men were never blamed for infertility.) However, some people would still end up had no sons to inherit them, no matter how they tried or they died early while unmarried. Adoption became one solution.
Family clan was very important in ancient China, so a couple would prefer adopting from inside the clan, or immediate family. For example, the Tang Dynasty poet Bai juyi's only son died early, so he adopted his brother's son as his heir. A clan might also arrange legal adoption for an man died unmarried so he could be worshiped after death.
Sometimes, a man may adopt his sister's sons, which was called 姑子歸宗 (the daughter's son returned to the clan) in Cantonese. A grandfather might also adopt his daughter's sons as his heirs.
Adoption outside the clan wasn't recognized by the law in Ming and Qing Dynasty. The family usually coped with this by keeping the adoption a secret from even the child.
There was a special type of adoption called 兼祧 Jian tiao, which meant a man succeeding two or more families, usually without leaving his original one. Sometimes the man might be adopted by two families at the same time.
The man might marry two wives with equal status so that the respective children would be legitimate heirs of the families the man succeeded, but legally, the wife married later was considered as concubines.
For a man who only had daughters, he might arrange for his son-in-law to marry into his family, which was called 入贅 Ruzhui. Usually contracts were signed beforehand about their right and obligation, including how many of the children will take after the father-in-law's family name. The son-in-law's status was usually lower because they married into the wife's household
The complicated family structure caused a lot of family drama and tragedy , which was depicted in classical novels like Red Chamber of Dream, costume dramas and historical romance, so I hope this short essay might help understanding.
The official wife had limited legal protection and only their sons could inherit titles. The sons by the official wives usually have more right to property succession.
Concubines had less formal marriage ceremony. They had even less legal protection, nor did they have right to their children.
The elder son usually had more rights than his younger brothers if they had the same mother.
As it was very important to have male offsprings to inherit the family name and take care of you after you reaching an old age, childlessness was one of the legal cause for men to divorcing their wives. (Because men were never blamed for infertility.) However, some people would still end up had no sons to inherit them, no matter how they tried or they died early while unmarried. Adoption became one solution.
Family clan was very important in ancient China, so a couple would prefer adopting from inside the clan, or immediate family. For example, the Tang Dynasty poet Bai juyi's only son died early, so he adopted his brother's son as his heir. A clan might also arrange legal adoption for an man died unmarried so he could be worshiped after death.
Sometimes, a man may adopt his sister's sons, which was called 姑子歸宗 (the daughter's son returned to the clan) in Cantonese. A grandfather might also adopt his daughter's sons as his heirs.
Adoption outside the clan wasn't recognized by the law in Ming and Qing Dynasty. The family usually coped with this by keeping the adoption a secret from even the child.
There was a special type of adoption called 兼祧 Jian tiao, which meant a man succeeding two or more families, usually without leaving his original one. Sometimes the man might be adopted by two families at the same time.
The man might marry two wives with equal status so that the respective children would be legitimate heirs of the families the man succeeded, but legally, the wife married later was considered as concubines.
For a man who only had daughters, he might arrange for his son-in-law to marry into his family, which was called 入贅 Ruzhui. Usually contracts were signed beforehand about their right and obligation, including how many of the children will take after the father-in-law's family name. The son-in-law's status was usually lower because they married into the wife's household
The complicated family structure caused a lot of family drama and tragedy , which was depicted in classical novels like Red Chamber of Dream, costume dramas and historical romance, so I hope this short essay might help understanding.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-22 09:40 am (UTC)I have read about the practice of bringing the son's future wife to be raised by her future in-laws while still a child, was that something that happened in the classical times too?
no subject
Date: 2022-01-22 10:22 am (UTC)The brides usually had to do a lot of household work in the groom's families and sometimes abused.
Usually they waited until the bride was 16 to arrange a simple formal marriage ceremony. If the groom then didn't want to marry the bride or already died, the family might sent the bride back to the original family, adopted them, arranged for another marriage or worse selling them into slavery.
There is a Wikipedia page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongyangxi
no subject
Date: 2022-01-22 11:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-23 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-23 06:50 pm (UTC)