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Concubinage

Women in concubinage are treated as inferior, and expected to be subservient to the wife (if there is one). The women were not wedded in a ceremony, had less right in the relationship, and may be divorced arbitrarily. They generally come from lower social status or were bought as slaves. Women who had eloped may also become concubines since a formal wedding requires her parents' participation. The number of concubines is sometime regulated, which differs according to the men's rank. Emperors almost always have multiple royal concubines. A somewhat different form of it is the so-called "two primary wives". Traditionally, a married woman is expected to live with her husband's family. When the husband has to live away from his family, however, she has to stay with her in-laws and take care of them. A man who thus suffers chronic separation from his wife, such as a traveling merchant, may "marry" another woman where he lives and set up a separate household with her. Due to the geographical separation, the second woman often regards herself as a full wife for all practical matters, yet legally this marriage is not recognized, and she is treated as a concubine. In China specifically, in cases where the primary wife fail to have sons to prolong the last name, a secondary wife is allowed via the Sing-song girls concept by law. This practice has influenced the recent surge of polygamy in mainland China. Since the opening of China's border in the 1970s, businessmen from Hong Kong and Taiwan started setting up "secondary wives" in the mainland. Since then the practice has spread to local affluent men. According to Chinese criminal law, married people who leave home to live with their lovers are considered to have committed bigamy. Trackback(0) TrackBack URI for this entry Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Show/Hide comments Write comment Show/Hide comment form Name Email Website Title Comment Write the displayed characters Add Comment Copyright 2007. All Rights Reserved.

 

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