Review
Long ago, there was a matriarchal society for a while, that is, the respect for women. At that time, men went out hunting for food, and as the importance of male roles became more prominent, patrilineal society gradually replaced matrilineal society.
Later, the changes in the social system, the changes from the public world to the family world, have been formed by the Zen system, so that the inheritance of the family is mainly male, whether it is official family property or land, most of them can only be inherited by men, so the status of women is getting lower and lower.
At the same time, in order to continue the offspring, men make the family continue to grow and grow, and ancient men generally married three wives and four concubines. At the same time, there was also the relationship between concubines and concubines. Obviously, the concubines are going to be better than the concubines.
Then the question arises, since men are inferior to women, and the concubines are more honorable than the concubines, then who will have a better position than the women who are married and the men who are out?
In order to study this problem, we can start with the relationship between concubines and concubines.
The difference between a wife and a concubine
Wife, wife and husband also
Although the concept of ancient people is deeply rooted in the idea that men are inferior to women, they still advocate equality between men and women, and this sentence is also reflected. Although the woman can only stay at home to take care of the housework, the husband and wife should also form a state of respect for each other.
Of course this is only the relationship between husband and wife.
Although there is no provision for the number of concubines, only one of the wives that the Ming media is marrying back can only exist.
The so-called right wife and the main room, that is, through the "words of the matchmaker", after going through a series of cumbersome procedures such as sending bride price and welcoming relatives to the temple to sacrifice, the woman who marries back can become a full wife.
This is what we often call the ming media is marrying. They are the ones who deserve to be treated with courtesy and protected by law, and they have the right to control the family, their descendants and their wealth, which cannot be replaced by concubines.
In the imperial palace, even if the harem concubines regain power, only the emperor's wife, that is, the empress, can enjoy the right to rule the six palaces. This is the same principle.
The procedure for marrying concubines is less formal, and they come from different sources.
We often hear that the robbery of women can become the concubines of men without going through cumbersome procedures or even the unification of the parties.
Not only that, only the wife's mother's family can establish a relationship with the man, and the concubine and the husband have nothing to do with each other except nominally.
If the husband wants to dissolve the relationship, the repudiated wife must pass the consent of the parents, and the concubine is up to the husband. It can be seen from this that the status of concubines is not only status, but also has no guarantee at all, and may be expelled at any time.
This is probably why concubines want to ascend to the throne and become wives.
By understanding the difference between wives and concubines, we can naturally understand the difference between concubines and concubines.
Concubines are born to wives, and concubines are born to concubines. She must have an absolute inheritance advantage, and even if Masamune is childless, she has the right to decide which child to make the heir.
Now that the difference in the status of concubines has been clarified, the question comes back, which of the higher status is the concubine or the concubine?
Concubine and concubine status
We should also analyze this problem according to different conditions.
Before adulthood (marriage).
Before the minor, that is, before the infancy, the status of the concubine must be higher than that of the concubine, after all, at that time, the child was all supported by the mother, and the child was still young and did not have to worry about inheriting the family business.
For example, Emperor Mingxian, the princess born to him and Concubine Shunhui was of a very high status, and even the princess's horse was stained, and even if she did not do anything, she got the throne.
And Zhu Youfan, the son born to Emperor Mingxian and a palace maid, was thrown aside from a young age and grew up on a hundred meals.
Although one is a daughter and the other is a son, because the status of Concubine Shunhui is higher than that of the palace daughter, the status of her children will also be different.
For another example, Liu Bang and Lü Yan of the Han Dynasty had a son and a daughter, the daughter was Princess Lu Yuan, who was deeply favored, and the civil and military officials also showed goodwill, while Liu Bang's son Liu Fei was driven to a remote place to become king.
Once Liu Fei provoked the princess and almost was about to be exterminated, or the officials kept pleading, sending a lot of beautiful jewelry to calm the princess's anger, so that Liu Fei saved his life.
It can be seen that before the daughter reaches adulthood or is married, the parents can even spoil the concubine to a better extent than the concubine.
After adulthood (marriage).
However, when they reach a certain age, their status will be completely different.
For, first of all, a woman has no right to inherit, and another woman cannot be an official. These two points largely determine the status of women.
As the saying goes, marrying a girl is like splashing water, maybe it is different now, but in ancient times, women adhered to the concept of marrying chickens with chickens and dogs with dogs, and after marriage, they would slowly become estranged from their mothers.
Unless the family lineage of the concubine married to is particularly prominent, and the two families are still profitable, even if the mother's family loves her no matter how much, it is useless.
On the contrary, sons, whether they are concubines or concubines, at least have the possibility of inheriting the family business, even for the sake of the family and future generations, they will begin to pay attention to and cultivate their sons at this time, so as to carry forward the family business.
brief summary
To sum up, when a child is underage or is not yet married, the children of the concubine line are of a higher status than those of both men and women in any case.
When they grow up, when parents begin to consider the inheritance of the family business, they will begin to shift their focus to men, and if the daughter of the concubine marries to a far place, or to the family at the end, then the status of the son of the concubine will most likely be better than that of the daughter of the concubine.