The custom of re-establishing relatives and marrying is very popular in Chinese history. Because in the traditional concept of marriage in Chinese history, marriage is not based on the love of the parties, but on marriage is "the good of the two surnames, the upper part of the temple, and the next generation, so the gentleman is important." Since it is for the sake of "the good of combining the two surnames", the marriage of heavy relatives has become a shortcut to kissing and kissing, and it is better to be good. In addition, China's feudal society is a large family, and intermarriage is bound to form a marriage of heavy relatives. At the same time, it also satisfies the concept that marriage is very heavy in Chinese history, talking about the concept of being a doorkeeper, and some large surnames with noble blood in the door are reluctant to marry other surnames in order to maintain their noble door, and only intermarry with each other in the surnames that they think are equivalent to each other, and it is bound to form a heavy marriage. In the upper class, the heavy marriage is also an important means of connecting kinship relations and consolidating hereditary power and status, and almost all dynasties and dynasties have had a number of imperial relatives and state relatives who have continuously carried out heavy marriages to maintain their status and vested interests. Marriage between the princely kingdoms is also a political diplomatic means, through which the two countries can make good friends, draw together forces, and jointly oppose the enemy; sometimes the parties to the marriage are taken hostage by the other party.
Marriages of greater kinship exist both between peers and between generations of unequal generations. The two generations of different generations have the most heavy marriages, and the uncle marries the niece - the nephew marriage. If the customs are traced back to their deep roots, they belong to the Taoist style of extra-tribal marriage in the patriarchal clan era of primitive society. Because in the late matrilineal clan era it has developed into extra-tribal marriage. Intermarriage within the same clan is not allowed, that is, it is taboo for the same clan not to marry or not to marry with the same surname. Extramarital marriages continued to develop in the patrilineal clan era. However, at this time, the surnames of the same family who do not marry or do not marry with the same surname are denominated in patrilineal terms. Once a daughter is married, the children born to them belong to a foreign family, and since they belong to a foreign clan with a different surname, there is naturally no taboo for intermarriage. Marriage is calculated by the father, naturally there is no restriction on the woman's generation, as long as the man and woman have different surnames, they can be married.
Moreover, in the case of the very low productivity of primitive societies, women were also a kind of clan property. Therefore, marrying a woman of the other clan is itself a kind of property loss, and generally requires the clan of the other party to marry a compensatory return, and one of the ways of return is to remarry the woman of the other clan. For example, the "I Ching Gui Mei" records: "Return to the sister to the beard, but return to the di." "Return to the sister punishment period, return late sometimes." The so-called "return to the sister" is to marry the daughter, but the other party needs to return to the concubine. Even if it is too late to return now, it is possible to wait a little later. In this way, the phenomenon of uncle marrying niece as a wife, and cousin marrying cousin as a wife has been formed. This primitive social marriage custom has been handed down, and it is more typical for uncles to marry nieces.
In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was such an example of the marriage between Qin and Jin. Duke Xian of Jin married his daughter to Duke Mu of Qin for Lady Mu of Qin (Zuo Chuan 'Twenty-Eight Years of Duke Zhuang'). After more than twenty years, Duke Mu of Qin married his daughter Huai Ying to Duke Wen of Jin. Lady Qin Mu was the elder sister of Duke Wen of Jin, and according to the generational arrangement, Huai Win should call Duke Wen of Jin an uncle. Here is the uncle marrying his niece. Empress Zhang, who was also married by Emperor Hui of Han in the Han Dynasty, was the biological daughter of his sister Princess Lu Yuan. It is also the marriage of nephews and uncles (Book of Han and The Chronicle of Emperor Hui). Judging from the social atmosphere at that time, there were many examples of heavy relatives and marriages of different generations, and they did not pay much attention to the class. This kind of nephew-uncle marriage still has its legacy until the Three Kingdoms era. The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Wushu, and Concubines records that Sun Xiu's Lady Zhu was the daughter of Zhu Zhao, who was "born to Princess (Sun) Xiu's sister". Pei Songzhi, in his notes to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, associated Sun Xiu's marriage of his sister's daughter as a lady to Emperor Hui of Han's marriage to Empress Zhang, commenting: "(Sun) divorced his nephew, and the matter is the same as that of Han Hui. Xun Yue's ridicule was already deserved, so he did not repeat it. "Sun Xiu's marriage to Lady Zhu can be said to be a reenactment of the marriage story of Emperor Hui of Han marrying Empress Zhang's nephew. Similarly, Sun Liang married Lady Quan, who was born to Princess Quan, the great-granddaughter of Sun Jian's younger brother Sun Dai. According to the generations, Princess Quan is already Sun Liang's niece, and Sun Liang's marriage to Lady Quan becomes an uncle and a niece. It can be seen that the heavy marriage of relatives in the Three Kingdoms era did not strictly emphasize generational division.
The unequal generation of heavy relatives Lian Hu not only married his uncle to his niece, but also his cousin to his cousin, and the "Biography of the Five Kings of Han" records that Liu Bang's son Liu Hui the Prince of Zhao married the daughter of Lü Hou's brother Lü Chan (that is, Lü Hou's niece) as his wife, that is, his cousin and his cousin married; the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Wushu Concubine Biography" records that Sun Quanna Xu's wife was his aunt's granddaughter, and it was also his cousin who married his cousin. There are also heavy relatives between aunts and nephews, such as the "Book of Han and Foreign Relatives Biography" records that the aunt of King Weiji of Zhongshan married the concubine of Emperor Xuan of Han, and her sisters became the concubines of Emperor Hancheng. Emperor Yuan of Han gave birth to Emperor Cheng of Han and Liu You, the Prince of Zhongshan. When Emperor Hancheng was childless, Emperor Hancheng considered the Wei family auspicious and matched him with a son and daughter. This intricate relationship led to the marriage of aunt and nephew. Even more complicated was the marriage between Emperor Xuan of Han and Empress Huo, the daughter of Huo Guang. Emperor Xuan of Han was the nephew of Emperor Zhao of Han, and Empress Shangguan of Emperor Han Zhao was also the granddaughter of Huo Guang and the granddaughter of Shangguan Jie. Empress Shangguan was also the uncle and grandmother of Emperor Xuan of Han, and Empress Huo, the daughter of Huo Guang, was also the aunt of Empress Shangguan. Therefore, Emperor Xuan of Han married Empress Huo quite by his uncle's aunt.
There are many such marriages regardless of generations in Chinese history, especially during the Two Han Dynasties and Three Kingdoms periods. If you push it up carefully, like Emperor Hancheng marrying Empress Xu with his cousin as his wife, Emperor Lifu of han as his wife, and Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty as his granddaughter Yu in the harem, he is married to the daughter of his sister-in-law. Therefore, Zhao Yi of the Qing Dynasty said in the "Twenty-two Historical Records" that during the Han Dynasty, "marriage and marriage did not matter what the generations", "the legal system of the Han Dynasty was so loose".
Marriages of different generations were already opposed during the Eastern Han Dynasty, but were not basically prohibited until the Jin Dynasty. In particular, the marriage of nephews and uncles who are closely related by blood is despised by people, and it is not done for the sake of the virtuous scholars. The "Biography of the Book of Jin and Liang Officials" records that in the last years of the Western Jin Dynasty, Deng You's wife was infertile, and after crossing the river, he took a concubine, and was originally very favored. However, after interrogating his family, he said that his family was separated from the north due to chaos, and "remembering the names of his parents" did he learn that she was Deng You's niece. And Deng Yousu was virtuous, "smelling the feeling of hatred, so he did not have a concubine, and died without an heir." According to the traditional Chinese concept of ethics, "no filial piety has three, and no queen is greater." But Deng You would rather have no heirs than a wife and niece, which shows that the concept has changed greatly. In the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Law Shuyi clearly pointed out that "The Marriage of Filial Piety (marriage during the mourning period of Filial Piety) and the uncle's nephew and wife shall be apprenticed for one year". Since then, this kind of re-kinship marriage of different generations has been on the verge of extinction.