How cruel was the most cruel act of selling women in ancient times?

Wife system is a kind of human buying and selling marriage. Like the prostitute system, it is a supplement to the formal marriage system. Its history can be described as "a long history", which was recorded as early as the Han Dynasty. It is recorded: "Men's hard work is not enough to eat, and women's spinning performance is not enough. People are depressed, lonely, old and weak, and cannot support each other. " Due to frequent wars, a large number of people can't feed themselves. Yan Chuan, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, recorded: "Marrying a wife and having children is forbidden by law, which means deep room." Selling a wife is buying and selling a wife as a commodity. Although it is not a complete marriage, it prepares for the later marriage phenomenon.

The phenomenon of engagement in Qing Dynasty has different names and forms due to different regions. Traditionally, the ancients usually divided engagement into engagement and wife engagement. Hiring a wife is mainly to check the value of the day and return it when it is due. Generally speaking, a long time is called a wife, and a short time is called a wife. According to different places, it can be roughly divided into:

1 Pawn and rent a wife

This phenomenon generally appears in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. In Ningbo, the pawnbroker and his wife must have media proof, conclude a contract, and specify the time limit and price. Usually the rent is one or two years, three or five years, and the child born belongs to the pawnshop. If a rich woman has no children for a long time, she can marry a poor woman with the consent of her wife and the introduction of an intermediary.

Sit in the hall and invite your husband.

In Songyang, because her ex-husband was poor and ill, her wife got her ex-husband's consent, took her husband to her home and received his life gold. This situation is called "sitting in the classroom to recruit a husband."

3 Rent a wife and borrow a wife

Jiangsu also has such a form of marrying. Some people have been suffering from poverty and illness for a long time. With the consent of the three parties, they find an intermediary to lend or rent their wives to childless men to have children. It is the condition for the husband to undertake housework, and the children born during the period of borrowing a wife take the surname of the biological father and enter the clan of the biological father; Once the original conditions are met, the relationship is dissolved. The difference is that borrowing a wife does not leave home, and renting a wife generally leaves home.

4 bind prostitutes

It was the original husband who sold his wife, usually a child bride, to a brothel. When pledging, both parties set up "binding documents", which can be divided into new year, middle age and off-year according to the length of time. Pay a premium according to the color and age of a brothel woman. This custom is called "paying accounts" in Tianjin. However, in the written evidence, the business life of the pawned wife should also be stated, and the words "After the deadline, the account is paid off and the wife is allowed to leave the library" should be indicated.

5 Partnership

This is a popular custom in northeast China. The husband didn't go home for a long time, and his wife had a hard life, so he betrayed himself and established a partnership with another man, and signed a partnership document, which read: "Because of poverty, the partner was forced by debt, and the partner paid the debt on his behalf. When Ben comes home, he can get his wife by paying the money. " There is also a file about the partnership contract: "Zhang Yiyi, the partner of the partnership, promised his wife Zhang Jinxiang to partner with Zhang Xiansi because he had no money, stating that the value of the partnership was only $300, and the mortgage loan would be paid by himself without default. If there is official money, both families will accept it. In case of natural disasters, diseases, escape, etc. Every family will have its own destiny. Both families are willing and dare not say anything casually. They decided to use the word "Lu carefully killed the cat"

In Qing Dynasty, Northeast China was a key immigrant area. Throughout the Qing Dynasty until the early days of reform and opening up, during hundreds of years, a large number of people from Shanhaiguan migrated to Northeast China, and there were also a large number of immigrants in Northeast China. Especially in the late Qing Dynasty, with the construction of Dongqing Railway,