Night Reading 丨 Sight from the marriage tube to social changes

□ Deng Qin

Modern people are pursuing freedom of marriage. However, due to various reasons, some young people have not been able to marry. As a result, under the help of parents and relatives, various marriage and blind date social platforms each showed their magical powers. However, in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, young people were not so lucky. In addition to "the words of the parents of parents", only what they can rely on is the marriage advertisement in newspapers and periodicals.

Zhou Licheng's recently published "The Wedding Story in the Old Painting News" (March 2022, Guangxi Normal University Press). Through five major themes of marriage, engagement, marriage, divorce The complete and clear old pictorials with more than 50 layouts vividly present the social marriage of the Republic of China.

Around 1900, Mr. Cai Yuanpei publicly published a marriage notice. He proposed five conditions: women must not be tangled; literacy; men do not marry; men can marry after death; couples do not meet and divorce. In the early years of the Republic of China, Mr. Zhang Taiyan published a marriage advertisement, requiring the woman: the literature and science were smooth, and they could make short stories; it was a famous ladylike lady, and she had a generous manner; It can be seen that Mr. Cai Yuanpei not only has a gentleman, but also respects women. His conditions restrict both herself and for women. The marriage conditions of Mr. Zhang Taiyan retained the old emotions of some old literati, and have not yet separated from the "three obsession and four virtues".

Zhou Licheng, author of this book, is an expert in editing and research of Tianjin Archives System. He found that during the Republic of China, in addition to marriage advertisements, both men and women engaged, married, divorced, and even cohabitation, lifting cohabitation, etc. need to be reported. In addition to the newcomer's love, the role of engagement notice also gives relatives and friends on both sides to reward, and it is also a text voucher for marriage contracts to avoid regrets.

In the book "The Story of Marriage and Love in the Old Painting News", the author uses a large number of modern old pictorials as resources, with marriage and love as a unique perspective. It shows the concept of marriage and love and values ​​in modern China, and reflects the conflict and blending of modern concepts of modernity and traditional concepts during the social change period. In the book, there are not only the early Chinese "If You Are the One", the marriage scam, the secret engagement of the star, and the lawsuit caused by the engagement notation, but also many advertisements, news, reviews, comics, etc., while being very readable, it is also recorded in China. Palmful information of modern society life, historical culture.

This book involves many celebrities from all walks of life during the Republic of China, such as Zhou Xuan after the "Golden Throat Song", the queen of the film, Hu Die, Cao Yu, etc., through the story of the wedding love stories of these celebrities, we can also perceive the past style and social changes. For example, in "The Truth of Pu Yi and Wenxiu Divorce", the author pointed out that in August 1931, Shu Fei Wenxiu picked up the legal weapon and successfully divorced the last emperor Puyi in Tianjin. tide. The women at that time not only had the desire to get rid of pain and chose happiness, but also began to take action. The author believes that marriage changes in the Republic of China have the characteristics of cultural change, and they are directly linked to social change, which has promoted the development and progress of society.

Source: Excerpted from Hubei Daily, July 6, 2022, the 12th edition of the book author Deng Qin

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