The Research On Matrimony System In Yuan Dynasty

The Yuan Dynasty was the first country unified by the national minority in the Chinese history, whose entire course mainly performances as the process which blended the Mongolia culture and the Han culture. The reflection in the marriage system is that the matrimony system in Yuan Dynasty had the obvious duality. First, the matrimony system of Mongolian influenced the tradition marriage system of Han people; second, the tradition matrimony system of Han people influenced the marriage system of Mongolian. The two matrimony system influenced and seeped mutually, which enabled the matrimony system in Yuan Dynasty had the traditional characteristic of Han people who lived in the south of Yellow River area, and also presented the own distinctive quality and the complexity of the society ruled by Mongolian.Compared with Tang and Song Dynasty, the stipulation of matrimony system in Yuan Dynasty was more standard, practical and progressive. It mainly included the stipulation of levirate marriage ; marriage of living in the bride's family; marriage certificate ;matchmaker; marriage between common people and cheap person ; renouncing one's wife and sending her back to her parent's home. As the ruler of Yuan Dynasty was influenced little by the feudal ethics and rites, the marital custom maintained, for example levirate marriage and marriage of living in the bride's family. At the initial period the ruler of Yuan Dynasty carried out the matrimony system of Mongolia to the Han people, which caused that these two kind of matrimony system were very popular in the Han people, the ruler of Yuan Dynasty made a very complete legal norm to guide people's action according to the concrete circumstances .Along with the cultural conflict evolution, this marital form also experienced from tightly to strictly .On the stipulation of the marriage certificate aspect , the marriage certificate become essential which the Yuan Dynasty marriage concluded. Compared with Tang and Song Dynasty, the standardize of the content was more formal, as the contract. System of the official matchmaker was set up firstly in Yuan Dynasty, the matchmaker must signed in the marriage certificate and undertook a part of legal liability to the marital establishment. To some degree the ruler of Yuan Dynasty acknowledged the legal effect of the marriage between common people and cheap person, which enabled the woman who was at the slave position to improve her own status by this way that was not seen in ancient times. Renouncing one's wife and sending her back to her parent's home, the law of Yuan Dynasty demands the letter of divorce, and also the procedures and contents were limited by the law, in that way it could reduced the marriage litigation or provided the evidence for the future litigation. All this reflected that the ruler of Yuan Dynasty was very practical and progressive. The law also prohibited selling off and buying off the letter of divorce, to some extent, that is good for the protection of women's rights.The nationalities in Yuan Dynasty were very complexly. The ruler of Yuan Dynasty adopted the class marriage principle, which enabled the marriage system in Yuan Dynasty to have the two systems in fact, as Mongolia marriage system and Han people tradition marriage system. The Mongolian, the semu people and some other nationalities implemented the polygamy, and the Han people implemented the monogyny, but the two did not have the intense conflict, which can exist with each other well. With the massive Mongolians and the semu people living in south of Yellow River area and frequent war which caused migration, it is very common to see different nationalities live together. As a result the marriage between different nationalities floored. The ruler of Yuan Dynasty didn't forbid it, even in law approval and slandered it. The status of women in Yuan Dynasty is the most controversial question, I thought that for the females of Mongolian had the high status in the family, and the Mongolian rulers were influence little by feudal ethics and rites. Although the status of women in Yuan Dynasty couldn't escape "the treatment of women as inferiors" as the traditional feudalism shackles, but compared with Tang and Song. Dynasty, the status of women in Yuan Dynasty improved in all.