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Chinese Marriage
Traditional Chinese marriage () is a ceremonial ritual within Chinese societies that involves not only a union between spouses but also a union between the two families of a man and a woman, sometimes established by pre-arrangement between families. Marriage and family are inextricably linked, which involves the interests of both families. Within Chinese culture, romantic love and polygamy were the norm for most citizens. Around the end of primitive society, traditional Chinese marriage rituals were formed, with deer skin betrothal in the Fuxi era, the appearance of the "meeting hall" during the Xia and Shang dynasties, and then in the Zhou dynasty, a complete set of marriage etiquette ("six rituals") gradually formed. The richness of this series of rituals proves the importance the ancients attached to marriage. In addition to the unique nature of the "three letters and six rituals", monogamy, remarriage and divorce in traditional Chinese marriage culture are also distinctiv ...
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Marriage In Modern China
Marriage has undergone change during the Chinese economic reform period, especially as a result of new legal policies such as the New Marriage Law of 1950 and the family planning policy in place from 1979 to 2015. The major transformation in the twentieth century is characterized by the change from traditional structures for Chinese marriage, such as arranged marriage, to one where the freedom to choose one’s partner is generally respected. However, both parental and cultural pressures are still placed on many individuals, especially women, to choose socially and economically advantageous marriage partners. In 2024, China was on track to record fewer marriages since records began in 1980. In 2010, 1.96 million couples applied for divorce, representing a rate 14% higher than the previous year, and twice as high as ten years before. Despite the rising divorce rate, marriage is still thought of as a natural part of the life course and as a responsibility of good citizenship in Chi ...
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Old Chinese
Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones from around 1250 BC, in the Late Shang period. Chinese bronze inscriptions, Bronze inscriptions became plentiful during the following Zhou dynasty. The latter part of the Zhou period saw a flowering of literature, including Four Books and Five Classics, classical works such as the ''Analects'', the ''Mencius (book), Mencius'', and the ''Zuo Zhuan''. These works served as models for Literary Chinese (or Classical Chinese), which remained the written standard until the early twentieth century, thus preserving the vocabulary and grammar of late Old Chinese. Old Chinese was written with several early forms of Chinese characters, including Oracle bone script, oracle bone, Chinese bronze inscriptions, bronze, and seal scripts. Throughout t ...
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Chinese Surnames
Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicized ethnic groups in Greater China, Korea, Vietnam and among overseas Chinese communities around the world such as Singapore and Malaysia. Written Chinese names begin with surnames, unlike the Western tradition in which surnames are written last. Around 2,000 Han Chinese surnames are currently in use, but the great proportion of Han Chinese people use only a relatively small number of these surnames; 19 surnames are used by around half of the Han Chinese people, while 100 surnames are used by around 87% of the population. A report in 2019 gives the most common Chinese surnames as Wang and Li, each shared by over 100 million people in China. The remaining eight of the top ten most common Chinese surnames are Zhang, Liu, Chen, Yang, Huang, Zhao, Wu and Zhou. Two distinct types of Chinese surnames existed in ancient China, namely ''xing'' () ancestral clan names and ''shi'' () branch lineage names. Later, the two terms wer ...
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Same-surname Marriage
Same-surname marriage is the marriage of two people of the same surname. Historically, same-surname marriage was considered a taboo or prohibited in China and other East Asian cultures influenced by China. China Initially, ancient China did not have regulation on endogamy during the Xia and Shang dynasties. A policy against same-surname marriage was first instituted during the Western Zhou. In his interpretation of the ''Book of Rites'', philosopher Zheng Xuan compared same-surname marriage to zoophilia, and called it blasphemous; indicating the seriousness of the Zhou dynasty's opposition to it. Confucianism opposed same-surname marriage because it thought that it would lead to weakness in reproduction of offspring. Both the '' Guoyu'' and the ''Zuo zhuan'' attributed the lack of same-surname couples to concerns with their offspring. Although Confucianism opposed same-clan name marriage, the taboo did not originate from Confucianism, and opposition to same-clan name marriage la ...
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Incest
Incest ( ) is sexual intercourse, sex between kinship, close relatives, for example a brother, sister, or parent. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by lineage (anthropology), lineage. It is condemned and considered immoral in many societies. It can lead to an increased risk of genetic disorders in children in case of pregnancy from incestuous sex. The incest taboo is one of the most widespread of all cultural taboos, both in present and in past societies. Most modern societies have laws regarding incest or social restrictions on closely consanguineous marriages. In societies where it is illegal, consensual adult incest is seen by some as a victimless crime. Some cultures extend the incest taboo to relatives with no consanguinity, such as Milk kinship, milk-siblings, stepsiblings, and adoptive siblings, albeit sometimes with less intensity. Third-degree relatives (such as half-aunt, half-nephew ...
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Confucianism
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, Religious Confucianism, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius in the Hundred Schools of Thought era (c. 500 BCE), Confucianism integrates philosophy, ethics, and social governance, with a core focus on virtue, Harmonious Society, social harmony, and Filial piety, familial responsibility. Confucianism emphasizes virtue through self-cultivation and communal effort. Key virtues include ''Ren (philosophy), ren'' (benevolence), ''Yi (philosophy), yi'' (righteousness), ''Li (Confucianism), li'' (propriety), ''Wisdom, zhi'' (wisdom), and ''Xin (virtue), xin'' (sincerity). These values, deeply tied to the notion of ''tian'' (heaven), present a worldview where human relationships and social order are manifestations of sacred moral principles.. While Confucianism does not emphasize an ...
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Ruyi (wish Granting Scepter) Used In Empress Xiaoding's Wedding, Imperial Workshop, Beijing, China, Guangxu Period, C
Rúyì (如意 "as desired") may refer to: *Ruyi Bridge, a bridge in Taizhou, Zhejiang, China *Ruyi (scepter), ceremonial Buddhist scepter or a talisman *Ruyi Island, off the coast of Haikou, Hainan *Ruyi Lake, near Chengde, Hebei *Ruyi, Shaoshan, a town in Shaoshan city, Hunan See also *Liu Ruyi Liu Ruyi (208 – January 194BCAccording to volume 12 of ''Zizhi Tongjian'', Liu Ruyi was poisoned in the 12th month of the 1st year of Emperor Hui's reign. This corresponds to 31 Dec 195 BCE - 28 Jan 194 BCE in the proleptic Julian calendar.), ...
(208–195 BC), prince of the Chinese Han dynasty {{disambiguation, geo ...
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Dictionary
A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged Alphabetical order, alphabetically (or by Semitic root, consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical-and-stroke sorting, radical and stroke for Logogram, logographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, pronunciations, Bilingual dictionary, translation, etc.Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition, 2002 It is a Lexicography, lexicographical reference that shows inter-relationships among the data. A broad distinction is made between general and specialized dictionaries. Specialized dictionaries include words in specialist fields, rather than a comprehensive range of words in the language. Lexical items that describe concepts in specific fields are usually called terms instead of words, although there is no consensus whether lexicology and terminology are two different fields of study. In theory, general dictionarie ...
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Shuowen Jiezi
The ''Shuowen Jiezi'' is a Chinese dictionary compiled by Xu Shen , during the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE). While prefigured by earlier reference works for Chinese characters like the ''Erya'' (), the ''Shuowen Jiezi'' contains the first comprehensive analysis of characters in terms of their structure, where Xu attempted to provide rationales for their construction. It was also the first to organize its entries into sections according to shared components called Chinese character radicals, radicals. Background Xu Shen was a scholar of the Five Classics during the Han dynasty. He finished compiling the ''Shuowen Jiezi'' in 100 CE. However, due to an unfavorable imperial attitude towards scholarship, he waited until 121 before his son Xu Chong presented it to Emperor An of Han, along with a memorial. In analyzing the structure of characters and defining the words represented by them, Xu strove to clarify the meaning of the pre-Han classics, so as to ensure order and ...
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Etiquette And Ceremonial
The ''Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial'' is a Chinese classic text about Zhou dynasty social behavior and ceremonial ritual as it was practiced and understood during the Spring and Autumn period. The ''Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial'', along with the ''Rites of Zhou'' and the ''Book of Rites'', formed the "Three Rites" which guided traditional Confucian understandings of propriety and behavior. Title The modern Chinese title ''Yili'' is a compound of two words with many related meanings, leading to a variety of English translations including the ''Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial'', ''Etiquette and Rites'' (Theobald, 2010), the ''Ceremonies and Rites'', ''Ceremonial and Rites'', etc. ''Yi'' may mean "right", "proper", "ceremony" (Baxter & Sagart 2011:80) "demeanor", "appearance", "etiquette", "rite", "present", "gift", or "equipment". ''Li'' , meanwhile, may mean "propriety", "ceremony" (Baxter & Sagart 2011:110) "rite", "ritual", "courtesy", "etiquette", "manners", or "mor ...
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Yin And Yang
Originating in Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (, ), also yinyang or yin-yang, is the concept of opposite cosmic principles or forces that interact, interconnect, and perpetuate each other. Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary and at the same time opposing forces that interact to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the assembled parts and the parts are as important for the cohesion of the whole. In Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of primordial qi or material energy, organized into the cycles of yin and yang, force and motion leading to form and matter. "Yin" is retractive, passive and contractive in nature, while "yang" is repelling, active and expansive in principle; this dichotomy in some form, is seen in all things in nature—patterns of change and difference. For example, biological, psychological and seasonal cycles, the historical evolution of landscapes over days, weeks, years to eons. The origin ...
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Radical 38
Radical 38 or radical woman () meaning "woman" or "female" is one of the 31 Kangxi radicals (214 radicals total) composed of three strokes. In the ''Kangxi Dictionary'', there are 681 characters (out of 49,030) to be found under this radical. is also the 56th indexing component in the ''Table of Indexing Chinese Character Components'' predominantly adopted by Simplified Chinese dictionaries published in mainland China. Evolution File:女-oracle.svg, Oracle bone script character File:女-bronze.svg, Bronze script character File:女-bigseal.svg, Large seal script character File:女-seal.svg, Small seal script character Derived characters Controversies over sexism Some feminists have claimed that many Chinese characters under radical woman are pejorative, (slave, literally a hand holding a woman), (demon), (JP: , envy), (Simp.: , rape, traitor), (dislike) for example, and learning and using them may unconsciously lead to misogyny. Some have even proposed a reform of th ...
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