History can't bear to look at the complete collection

Chapter 127 Alternative Historical Materials 3
"Divorce agreement" began in the Tang Dynasty

With the improvement of the legal system, the divorce agreement has gradually become a common legal document. Many people also think that the divorce agreement is a new creature that appeared in modern times, let alone under the feudal system that advocates that one woman does not serve two husbands. There will be a divorce agreement.In fact, the "divorce agreement" had already appeared in the Tang Dynasty of our country.The picture above shows the divorce agreement unearthed from Dunhuang, that is, the "wife release agreement".

The content of this "Agreement" is:
"The reason for a husband and wife is that the couple in the past life and three lives will be married to the couple in this life. If the relationship is not compatible, it is like an enemy, so we come to each other...Since two hearts are different, it is difficult to return to one mind, and soon I will meet with my relatives and return to my own way. .May the wives and maidens recomb their temples after they are separated, beautiful women with crescent eyebrows, cleverly show off their slim posture, and choose the master of high-ranking officials. Let go of grievances and knots, let alone hate each other. One is different from the other, and everyone is happy."

The main idea of ​​the translation is: If it is a mistake for us to be together, it is better to break up happily to be detached. I hope you can reorganize the mountains and rivers to climb higher branches, and it is worse than two people who don't like each other and squeeze each other.After leaving, I hope you dress up nicely and find a good family...

From this agreement, we can easily see that this is a divorce agreement similar to ours today. The husband and wife divorced due to emotional discord, so they invited their parents, relatives and friends to be witnesses. The man did not forget to give his wife some good wishes.

According to previous historical records, during most periods of Chinese history, women have always been oppressed. Women in many dynasties did not have the freedom to divorce. Men could "divorce" and "marry" at will, but women could only endure it.At the same time, it is considered a great shame and shame for a woman to be "rested" and "exited", and remarrying is even more "losing chastity".So we thought that women in ancient times were in a very tragic and passive situation in marriage, but this "agreement on letting go of wives" in the Tang Dynasty told us: Not all women in ancient dynasties had such a low status. In "Autumn Hu" In the middle, Qiuhu didn't come back for several years, so Qiuhu's mother persuaded Qiuhu's wife: "Don't stay in the vacant house for a long time, and let someone else remarry." The mother-in-law even took the initiative to persuade her daughter-in-law to remarry.It can be seen that the Tang Dynasty was an "open" society.

The "Tang Legal Household Marriage" has three provisions on divorce:
[-]. Divorce by agreement.Refers to the so-called "reconciliation" in which both men and women voluntarily divorce.

[-]. Arbitration for divorce.Refers to the forced divorce proposed by the husband, that is, the so-called "wife-out".

[-]. Compulsory divorce.Couples who are found to be "judged by righteousness" and "married in violation of the law" must be forcibly divorced.From the perspective of historical facts, it is not only the husband who proposes divorce, and there are also many wives who propose divorce.It is not out of integrity for the woman to remarry.This is evident from the fact that women in the Tang Dynasty were not ashamed to marry repeatedly.There were not a few princesses in the Tang Dynasty who remarried.From the perspective of the Tang Dynasty, divorce and remarriage and remarriage after husband's death were commonplace, and were not seriously constrained by the concept of chastity.The "Wife Release Agreement" unearthed in Dunhuang is considered to highlight the marriage system of the Tang Dynasty.

Meng Xianshi, an expert on Tang history, said: "In ancient times, there was a woman who felt that her husband was worthless and went to the official court to ask for a divorce. It can be seen that divorce was not as difficult as we imagined for women in ancient times. The existence of ancient wives letters shows that ancient people paid more attention to the role of feelings in marriage. "Gu Yan Flying Alone" and other sentences expressing sadness. Of course, if you are really sad, you will not get a divorce. This may be just a superficial article, so sometimes the wife letter is just a model essay, and it is used when divorcing a wife."

In fact, in ancient times, jealousy, internal fear, and divorce happened in all dynasties, but the marriage system in the Tang Dynasty felt more free, and high-level divorce was easier to achieve. For example, Princess Taiping succeeded.Although the exact date of the agreement cannot be determined, its existence proves that during the late Tang, Five Dynasties and early Song Dynasties, men and women were relatively free in matters of marriage.Although men are still in charge of the family, the status of women is not as low as later generations imagined.

(End of this chapter)