Research On The Uxorilocal Marriage In The Song Dynasty

Uxorilocal marriage is a special marriage system in ancient China.Contrary to the traditional marriage,uxorilocal marriage is not a woman living in her husband’s home,but a man living in his wife’s home.The husband have to live and work together with his wife’s family,support his wife’s parents,carry on the family line with his wife.Before the Song Dynasty,there were few records of uxorilocal marriage in literature,and it often had a deep derogatory meaning.In the eyes of the public,the uxorilocal son-in-law is the servant of his wife’s family.In the Song Dynasty,a lot of the documents involve uxorilocal marriage,which is also quite colorful in content,without absolutely derogatory meaning in the uxorilocal sonin-law.In addition,at the level of national legislation,it has gradually begun to regulate the right of inheritance and property.In addition to the introduction and conclusion,this paper is divided into three parts to research the uxorilocal marriage of the Song Dynasty.The first part discusses the basic content of uxorilocal marriage in Song Dynasty.First of all,this paper introduces two types of uxorilocal marriage in the song dynasty,They are daughters recruit husbands and widows recruit husbands.In the former,the main reason is to supplement the family labor force.Another reason may be that parents cherish their daughter and do not want her to leave.Secondly,this paper introduces the conditions for the establishment of uxorilocal marriage in Song Dynasty.In addition to the marriage document,there are several prohibitive elements,such as the same family name non-marriage,the hierarchical nature of marriage,the prohibition of bigamy,the prohibition of man’s parents giving uxorilocal marriage,and the prohibition of the children have grown up,the widow chooses uxorilocal marriage.In the end,the dissolution of uxorilocal marriage is discussed.Contrary to the traditional marriage,the wife holds the initiative of divorce.The second part studies the status of uxorilocal marriage couples in the family in the Song Dynasty.In terms of a uxorilocal son-in-law,he has a certain identity right,and does not have to change his family name after entering his wife’s family,there is also can’t inherit his wife’s family lineage.In terms of the right of inheritance,the main content of inheritance is property.In the case of family to eliminate,a uxorilocal son-in-law has the right of inheritance.In the case of parent-child and a uxorilocal son-in-law,his right of inheritance depends on the will.When the adopted son and the uxorilocal son-in-law coexist,hisinheritance right is transferred from the will to the legal,which is still based on the will at first.In the Southern Song Dynasty,it is directly recognized that the uxorilocal son-in-law and the adopted son can share the inheritance equally.With regard to the obligations of the uxorilocal son-in-law,it is analyzed that there are four obligations: carry on the family line,cohabitation,labor and supporting wife’s parents.The wife in the uxorilocal marriage obviously occupied the dominant position in the marriage,had the divorce initiative and the larger proportion of the family property management right.On the obligation is not much different from ordinary women,still need to engage in housework,but relieved of the responsibility of serving husband’s parents.The third part is the analysis of the uxorilocal marriage in the Song Dynasty,which mainly summarizes four characteristics and from the end of the paper to evaluate the uxorilocal marriage system in the Song Dynasty.In terms of the characteristics,the uxorilocal marriage in the Song Dynasty showed the characteristics of "live with wife’s family",but it also showed the form of partial separation,which was the origin of the uxorilocal son-in-law but he doesn’t live in his wife’s house in later generations.The second is that the phenomenon of uxorilocal marriage is universal and has become the regular choice of marriageable men and women in some areas.The third is that the government has begun a relatively comprehensive redundant marriage legislation,mainly reflected in the marriage document and the uxorilocal son-in-law in the wife’s property inheritance rights.Fourth point,uxorilocal sonin-law status is not necessarily low,mainly related to personal ability.Finally,the paper gives dialectical evaluation on the content of uxorilocal marriage in Song Dynasty.On the good side,the uxorilocal marriage woman was able to inherit the family property smoothly,avoiding forfeiture or the partition of relatives,while uxorilocal marriage can solve the pension problem of wife’s parents and the livelihood problem of the widow.The disadvantage is that,because of the gradual relaxation of the Song Dynasty law on the condition of uxorilocal son-in-law’s inheritance,the prevalence of uxorilocal marriage represents the popularity of the worship of money in the society,which is contrary to the mainstream values.