In ancient times, the first choice to solve the problem of bachelors was to do this to women

Being single is a phenomenon that occurs when human sexual behavior is constrained by a relationship. It is not a sexual problem but a marriage problem. In ancient times, the problem of bachelors was actually much more serious than it is now, and it existed in every dynasty. In ancient times, brothels were allowed and female prostitution was legal, largely to solve the sexual life of these single men.

But visiting brothels is not a complete solution after all. So, how did the problem of bachelors be solved in ancient times? Let me summarize it briefly. Generally speaking, there are the following seven methods.

Force women to marry

For example, in the Jin Dynasty, women had to get married when they reached a certain age, otherwise the government would force them to find a partner. The "Book of Jin: Chronicle of Emperor Wu" (Volume 3) records that in October of the winter of the ninth year of Taishi, Sima Yan required that "if a girl is seventeen years old and her parents do not marry her off, the local officials should arrange a marriage for her." This means that if a girl reaches the age of 17 and her parents do not marry her off, the local leaders will find a husband for her and force her to marry.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, if a girl did not get married at the appropriate age, it was illegal and her entire family would go to jail. This is what is said in "Book of Song: Biography of Zhou Lang" - "If a girl does not get married at the age of 15, her entire family will be imprisoned." Nowadays, many girls are very picky about their boyfriends and end up becoming leftovers. In the past, doing this was a crime and you would be careful not to bring trouble to your family. The original intention of forcing women to marry may have been to increase the population, but objectively it solved the problem of many bachelors being unable to afford a wife.

Official media designated

In the past, marriages between men and women were arranged by their parents and matchmakers. Everyone knows that a matchmaker is someone who brings men and women together. In "Romance of the West Chamber" by Wang Shifu of the Yuan Dynasty, Cui Yingying and Zhang Sheng met by chance in Puji Temple, fell in love at first sight, and secretly got engaged. There was a matchmaker between them. These matchmakers are all from the public and are private matchmakers. The official media are full-time personnel in the government who are responsible for finding spouses for single men. They have the same functions as the civil servants who issue marriage certificates in today's civil affairs department, but have greater power. The official media use coercive means to find wives for single men, designating a certain woman to marry a certain man, which is purely "arranging female partners."

In the Qing Dynasty, there were "official matchmakers". For example, when a large number of men were exiled to Xinjiang, in order to ensure stability in the border areas and ensure successors, many official matchmakers were set up to help the large number of bachelors find wives. The wives and daughters of some peasant rebels and women fleeing famine in disaster areas were often assigned by official media to a bachelor so that they could live together and reproduce. Because there are more men than women, the official media has a lot of money, and bachelors are competing to give "bride price". If they don't, the media will ask for red envelopes from the bachelors. What’s interesting is that in order to prevent men and women from bypassing official media to communicate privately and elope, official media often “check the walls” at night. The so-called "walls" are alleys and corners where men and women can meet privately. If a bachelor is found to have a secret meeting over the wall like Cui Yingying and Zhang Sheng, he will often be driven away by official media.

Support widows to remarry

In the past, there was a saying that "marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog; marry a carrying pole, carry it with you wherever you go," and "a good woman will not marry twice," emphasizing faithfulness to one person. Because superstition holds that a woman who marries two men is equivalent to having her sex with two men. This is considered shameful and will not only make her look down upon, but she will also not have peace after death and will be haunted by two ghosts in the underworld. It would be horrific if the two ghosts made trouble before the King of Hell, who would often sentence the female ghost to be sawed in half and the remaining two halves given to the two ghosts. Therefore, it was difficult for widows to remarry in ancient times. In order to balance the ratio of marriageable men and women, in places where there were more men than women, both the public and the government took an active and supportive attitude towards widows remarrying, rather than emphasizing the Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues and being faithful to one's spouse.

Encourage second marriage

In contrast to the above promotion of widows remarrying, men are encouraged to marry widows and find remarried wives. In the past, men generally viewed marrying a widow as inferior, and would not be able to hold their heads up in society and would be looked down upon. Unless they really could not find a wife or could not afford a virgin, they would choose to marry a woman with a history of marriage and start a family. Therefore, in the past, it was not only difficult for widows to remarry, but it was also difficult for men to marry divorced women. However, anything will become easier if you see it more often. Once people get used to it, it will gradually evolve into a social custom. Among the ancient northern ethnic minorities, marrying a widow was not considered shameful, especially within the family, where it became a common ethics for a younger brother to marry his sister-in-law and a sister-in-law to marry her uncle.

In the early days, some ethnic minorities even had the custom of "marrying their stepmother", that is, the son married his father's concubine as his wife. Wang Zhaojun, one of the four great beauties in ancient China, encountered such an embarrassing thing. She was married to a foreign country at the border, and after her husband, Huhanye Chanyu Yanshi of the Xiongnu, died, she had to follow the local customs and married her ex-husband's son. The original intention of this kind of remarriage within the family is to make the best possible use of the reproductive capacity of women of childbearing age to increase the family population, but in fact it also helps to solve the problem of bachelors.

Restricting the rich from taking concubines

Whether in modern times or in ancient times, the gender ratio between men and women is certain, and under natural conditions there are basically no leftover men or women. But anyone who knows about ancient Chinese history knows that in the past, unlike today, marriage was not monogamous. For a long time, polygamy or one wife and multiple concubines were practiced. For example, wealthy men like today's tycoons (not to mention powerful men) could have three wives and four concubines at home, and hang up big red lanterns high. This artificially creates the phenomenon of more men than women. Many men of marriageable age cannot find women of the same age, so women of marriageable age become concubines. The rulers of the country saw the many serious problems that men taking concubines excessively brought to society, so many dynasties imposed restrictions. It does not mean that you can marry any concubine you want if you are rich.

For example, in the Han Dynasty, Cai Yong's "Duduan" stated that "a noble official can have one wife and two concubines" and that only those who have made special contributions can marry up to eight concubines - "if they have achieved success and are awarded a title, they can have eight concubines." People with a little culture and status could marry a concubine, that is, "a scholar could have one wife and one concubine." Ordinary people were not allowed to take concubines. "Common people had one husband and one wife", just like now, it was monogamy. In the Yuan Dynasty, it was stipulated by law that common people (ordinary people) were not allowed to take concubines.

Even if the conditions for taking a concubine are met, you cannot take her whenever you want. For example, during the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that the princes were allowed to "select once, and the maximum number was no more than ten"; the number of concubines for the crown princes and county princes was much less, reduced by more than half, "four concubines, and generally only one concubine in a lifetime, unless there is no offspring, then they can take another concubine.

Polyandry

This needs no explanation, everyone understands that a woman has more than one husband, or in other words, several men marry a wife together and take turns sleeping with her. This phenomenon can still be found in places like Tibet today, many years after the founding of the Republic, where research cases often involve several brothers sharing one wife.

Increase the chance of "running"

"Ben" can be simply understood as the free communication between men and women. The "ben" in "elope" has this meaning. In today's terms, this is called providing a platform for single men and women to make friends. This method of solving the problem of being single is the most respected in modern times, and the aunties and grandmas in trade unions and neighborhood committees are most happy about it. The "Mid-Spring Festival" during the Spring and Autumn Period was a typical "running away" opportunity, providing a special chance for young men and women of marriageable age and men and women of fertility to get along with each other, thus increasing the marriage rate between men and women. "The Official of the Land and the Matchmaker" in "The Book of Zhou" says, "In the middle of spring, men and women are ordered to meet. At that time, ejaculation is not prohibited. If anyone disobeys the order without reason, he will be punished." The "Mid-Spring Meeting" is usually on "March 3rd". In addition to this day, there were many other days in ancient times that could provide bachelors with good opportunities to find a mate, such as the 15th day of the first lunar month and the 7th day of the seventh lunar month.

Of course, there were many means and ways to solve the problem of bachelors in ancient times. But then again, no matter how many there are, there are not as many opportunities and variety as in modern times. Now we have computers, the Internet, dance halls, karaoke bars... and TV dating shows like "If You Are the One". In my opinion, bachelors nowadays don’t need any matchmakers or matchmakers at all, they can find the girl of their dreams by themselves. What do you think, bachelor brothers?