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To the Confucians, marriage is of important significance both in the family and in society.[1] The Confucian classic Book of Rites described marriage as "the union of two surnames, in friendship and in love".[2] In the perspective of family, marriage can bring families of different surnames (different clans) together, and continue the family life of the concerned clans. Therefore, only the benefits and demerits of the clans, instead of the individual couples, are concerned in a marriage. Socially, a married couple is the basic unit of the population; sometimes marriages can affect the country's political stability and international relations (especially to certain foreign tribes like Mongolians, Manchus, Huns, and Turks); thus marriage can be related to politics.

From the point of view of Confucian philosophy, one of the purposes of marriage is the cultivation of virtue. In the Chinese term for marriage (Chinese: 婚姻; pinyin: hūn yīn), hūn (婚) is derived from hūn (昏, literally means "evening" or "dusk") in ancient writings, though the former has the radical character nǚ (女, literally means a female). This is because wedding ceremonies were typically performed in the evenings when yang (representing days/male) and yin (representing nights/female) cross over.[3] 婚 was defined as the father of a man's wife (e.g. a man's father-in-law) in Erya,[4] but now it generally means "marriage" in Modern Standard Chinese. Yīn (姻), on the other hand, was defined as the father of a daughter's husband in Erya,[4] but now generally means "marriage" or "relation by marriage" in Modern Chinese. The character has the same pronunciation as its phonetic component 因 (yīn). According to Shuowen Jiezi, a dictionary of ancient Chinese characters, 因 in this character is not only a phonetic component but also means to "go to" one's husband.[5]

Further influences on marriage

Due to the concept of filial piety and following rites of propriety, marriage was a costly affair and seen as second only to funeral ceremonies. The use of a matchmaker was meant to ensure that the husband and wife were compatible with each other and that the marriage followed proper rituals, but primarily worked in the families' best interests.

See also

References

  1. ^ Affairs, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World. "What Can We Learn From Ancient Chinese Views of Marriage?". berkleycenter.georgetown.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-02.((cite web)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ 《禮記·昏義》：「昏禮者，將合二姓之好。」
  3. ^ 《儀禮·士昏禮註》：「士娶妻之禮，以昏爲期，因而名焉。必以昏者，陽往而隂來，日入三商爲昏。」 Etiquette and Ceremonial: "The ceremony of a gentleman marrying his wife is performed at dusk (or hūn in Modern Chinese), thereby called so. It shall be performed at dusk because dusk, three quarters after the sun sets, is when yang fades and yin comes." (in Pre-Classical Chinese)
  4. ^ a b 《爾雅·釋親》：「女子子之夫爲婿（壻），婿（壻）之父爲姻，婦之父爲婚。」 Erya: Explaining Relatives: "A daughter's husband is called a 婿 (alt. form: 壻, xù), and a 婿's father is called a 姻 (yīn), and someone's wife's father is called a 婚 (hūn)." (in Pre-Classical Chinese)
  5. ^ 《說文解字》：「姻，壻家也。女之所因，故曰姻。从女从因，因亦聲。」 Shuowen Jiezi: "姻 means the husbands' home. It is where the woman goes to (因), thereby called so. It consists of 女 (female) and 因 (go to), and 因 is also phonetic." (in Pre-Classical Chinese) (Note that 婿/壻 can have different meanings depending on its context. It is defined as "husband" in Shuowen Jiezi.)

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