The Political Marriage Of Aristocrat In Spring And Autumn Period

Spring and Autumn Period was in the intense period of social change, and the social and political inthis period was turbulent. The forces of the Group of the ruling class struggled fiercely for the competitionfor political power. At all levels in order to make their aristocratic position to gain an advantage in thestruggle, often consolidated and expanded their political influence in the form of marriage. Therefore, thearistocratic marriage showed strong political utilitarianism in Spring and Autumn Period.Judging from the form of marriage,“not married in surname” system allowed Nobles establishedmarriage alliance between them through marriage. Political marriage became an effective means to drawthe Noble forces for the vassal state ruler. With the increasingly fierce political struggle, some of the rulersbegan to establish the relationship of marriage with the surname vassal state for the needs of developmentof their own political forces, and this kind of marriage also can consolidate the “blood alliance” betweensurname Nobles.“Not married in surname” as an taboo of marriage between Nobles was broken, which ledto the “surname marriage” begin to emerge between Nobles. The emergence of “surname marriage”indicated that the political purpose of aristocratic marriage was continuously strengthened at that time. Inaddition, Engaged marriage and Concubinage system also reflected the political characteristics ofaristocratic marriage. The prevalence of Engaged marriage and Concubinage system consolidated thehierarchy of wives and entropy primogeniture, which have played an positive role in promoting themaintenance of the level of nobility internal order and the protection of the country’s political stability.The political purpose of aristocratic marriage in Spring and Autumn Period was also reflected in themarriage for diplomatic relations between the vassal state. In the intense political competition, each kingsof the vassal state built an political alliances with other states for their own political needs by politicalmarriage. Marriage became ties which strengthened the political connection and improved diplomaticrelations between countries and between the Groups. Therefore, the marriage for diplomatic relationsbetween the vassal state in Spring and Autumn Period embodied the political essence of aristocraticmarriage. The vassal states in strong strength expanded their political forces and improved their politicalinfluence in the country between the princes through political marriage, in order to create favorable conditions for their political hegemony.The vassal states in weak strength, in order to win a place for theirown survival and development also strengthened the diplomatic relations and cooperation with othercountries through political marriage. However, such political marriage which combined for political benefithad a strong instability. Once the conflict of the political benefit between both sides of the marriageoccurred, political alliances established by marriage would also collapse. Even worse, the conflict wouldprobably had an extremely bad influence on diplomatic relations between the two sides.The substance of aristocratic marriage was political, which also had an influence on the countries’interior. Aristocratic marriage which served for the political benefits of all countries was often closelyassociated with the national policy. Moreover, the aristocratic marriage also had an influence on entropyprimogeniture. On one hand, engaged marriage system and Concubine system to a certain extent played arole in the protection and consolidation on the hierarchy of wives, and further promoted the solid of theentropy primogeniture; on the other hand, the political benefits which brought by marriage often becamethe chips which were used to compete for political power by concubines forces of all countries, and suchfierce competition became the certain impact and destruction on entropy primogeniture. As a party of themarriage, aristocratic women performed extremely active in the political arena in Spring and AutumnPeriod. They actively participated in various political activities, and had a very important influence both onthe political diplomacy of vassal state, and on the internal affairs of states had had. However, Spring andAutumn Period was such a society, in which males owned the supremacy, and aristocratic women werealways in a subordinate position, and therefore their political status and political influence was verylimited.In Spring and Autumn Period, aristocratic marriage and politics were closely related, reflecting thesignificant political characteristic, and had had a certain degree of influence on the diplomatic relations andinternal affairs of each vassal state.