Reconstruction Of Marriage Norms In Shanghai In The Late Qing Dynasty

In the late Qing Dynasty,Shanghai was in the early stage of modern social changes,and the traditional ethical principles were still deeply rooted.In the individual marriage life,the "three obediences and four virtues" expressed in traditional society had actually begun to be alienated from the public life,and disputes arising from marriage relations were frequently seen in the newspapers.,Shanghai has become a good window for people to study the reconstruction of social marriage norms in the period of modern social changes.The texts of marriage disputes reported in the "Shen Bao" in the forty years of the late Qing Dynasty(1872-1911)constituted the field of public opinion on the changes of marriage in early modern Shanghai.Combining the grounded theory of qualitative research and the relevant analysis methods of quantitative research,the identity of the parties to the event,marriage Comprehensive analysis of information such as conditions,conflicts,conflict handling strategies,judges’ judgment tendency,social attitudes,etc.,based on the actions and speeches of the parties in the case to understand the thinking concepts and action strategies of ordinary individuals in this period,and explain the actions and actions of ordinary people in social changes.The relationship between social norms and the entanglement between new customs and old ethics explore and interpret new categories of marriage reforms in modern society.In the late Qing Dynasty,the concept of marriage establishment and the legality of social marriage in Shanghai had changed.The traditional concepts such as "one and the end","parents’ orders,matchmakers’ words" and other concepts have been inconsistent with reality.The form of marriage breaks through the traditional marriage norms,and traditional ethics denounces as a special factual marriage of "fornication"-concubine marriage has become a generally accepted form of marriage in the lower class of society.Marriage conflicts occurred frequently and in various types in the society of the late Qing Dynasty.On the surface,they were conflicts in the economic and life relationships within marriages.The essence was that marriage ethics based on traditional economics had inherent imbalances and dislocations.These phenomena showed that the public had changed their view of couples as husbands and wives.The traditional concept of fixed identity relationship has turned to understand the relationship between husband and wife from the perspective of exchange contract relationship.Although Shanghai people’s perception of marriage and husband and wife status in the late Qing Dynasty changed,they were restricted by the deep-rooted traditional marriage norms,and the legal divorce channels were narrow.Individual divorce demands could not be realized through proper channels,and they had to be free from social norms.The special strategy to achieve the goal presents the dislocation phenomenon of the"legalization" of divorce by illegal means.The changes in social marriage aroused the reflection of people of insight,and the legislative activities in the late Qing Dynasty reflected to a certain extent the requirements of social marriage norms reform in the late Qing Dynasty forty years.