A Study About "Included Women" In Modern Suiyuan Area

The presence of "included women"was the special female groups in the traditional Chinese society. Since liuXiang in Western Han Dynasty established "included women", this format was constantly followed in the following dynasties both in history or in local history. The local records in Suiyuan area were morstly complied during Guangxu years and during Republic of China, during which there were altogether eight local records including "included women" column, According to the statistics, excluding their duplicate records, there were 316 people from the year 1840 to Republic of China period, that's, about 86.1% "included women" existed in modern society. This article will, on the bacis of the date drawn in the eight local records of Suiyuan area, make a detailed study emphasized on the "included women" groups existing in Suiyuan area since modern time.The appearing of "included women" groups had something to do not only with the great environmental development of traditional Chinese society, but also with local historical feature and its development in Suiyuan area itself. "Included women" groups in modern Suiyuan area traditionally included Jiefu, Liefu, Lienv, Xiaofu, Xiaonv and Xianfu etc. But seen from the inner situation of "included women", it not only reflected the basic characteristics carried by local women, it also showed the typical characteristics of women in Suiyuan area decided by the local historical environment. The "included women" groups in modern Suiyuan area -the basic condition of Jiefu on fertility, life and marriage, not only makes us know their special living condition, but also penetrates further the normal social living conditions of contempory women in that area.In my view, making a further study of special female groups in different periods, based on the historical data existing in the local records of certain areas, combined with local historical development and the historical characteristics not only broke through the limitation of the use of the historical data, but further widen the scope of the study of the social history and women history.