Portrait of Mencius
On September 13, 2013, a group of celebrities who parted ways gathered together, earning it the nickname “about to disperse” by netizens. In ancient times, celebrity divorce was also highly regarded.
Confucius’ divorce remains a mystery to this day
Among the divorcees in ancient China, Confucius was the most famous, but the truth and falsehood of his divorce are still debated to this day.
According to the “Analects of Confucius’ Family Language: Explanation of His Own Family Name”, when Confucius was 19 years old, he married a non official from the Song Dynasty and had a son a year later. Confucius was a cultural celebrity of the state of Lu at that time. Upon hearing of this, King Zhao of Lu sent carp as a congratulatory gift. Confucius felt that this was a great honor for his family, so he named his son “Li”, taking the courtesy name “Bo Yu” because he was his first child.
It is said that Confucius’ father, Shu Lianghe, also had a wife because his original wife, Shi Shi, had nine daughters in succession but failed to give birth to a son. Later, Uncle Lianghe, who was already an old man, married Yan Zheng, the mother of Confucius, who was only 17 years old at the time, and brought him back home, which gave birth to Confucius. In addition, Kong Li and his grandson Kong Ji (Zisi) also had experiences of divorcing their wives, hence the saying ‘Kong family had three wives’.
The divorce of Confucius was not exposed until the Tang Dynasty, and it was first exposed by the famous Tang scholar Kong Yingda. However, many modern scholars are questioning the credibility of Sima Qian’s “Records of the Grand Historian: The Family of Confucius” because it did not record Confucius’ divorce, which was only exposed in the Tang Dynasty over a thousand years ago.
Mencius’ divorce was stopped by his mother
Confucian culture emphasizes “ritual” and “benevolence”, and the idea of Confucius’ divorce has hurt many “Kong fans”. Moreover, another person of the ‘Confucian Way’, the sage Mencius, also had a divorce dispute.
The earliest exposure of Mencius’ divorce was by the philosopher Xunzi during the Warring States period. He stated in Xunzi’s “Jiechou Pian” that “Mencius gave birth to his wife after suffering from evil defeat”, which means that Mencius disliked his wife’s bad behavior and was worried about damaging his own reputation, so he filed for divorce. What kind of bad things did Meng’s wife do that made Mencius want to ‘marry’? Originally, it was only due to an indecent sitting posture.
Meng’s mother is a woman who understands things very well. Just because her daughter-in-law’s sitting posture is not elegant, her son filed for divorce. Meng’s mother felt it was absurd and quoted the ancient ritual of “when you enter the house, your voice must be raised; when you enter the house, your gaze must be lowered” to remind her son: “If you go to your wife’s room without prior notice and there is no sound when you enter, it is’ your rudeness, not a woman’s rudeness’. After hearing this, Mencius felt very guilty and never dared to mention the matter of divorcing his wife again.
Li Qingzhao’s divorce ‘going to court’
Divorce, in ancient times, was basically the right of the husband, but the wife could also file for divorce. If a woman initiates a divorce and says’ please go ‘or’ beg to go ‘, the meaning is simple: I can’t go on with you anymore, please let me go and let me go.
In addition to the “Seven Exits”, there were three divorce channels in ancient times: “Yijue”, “Heli”, and “Illegal Divorce”. ‘He Li’ may have been initiated by the female party.
Among the women who initiated divorce, the divorce between Li Qingzhao, a famous Song Dynasty poet and representative of the Wanyue School, and her stephusband Zhang Ruzhou was the most sensational at that time. Li Qingzhao had an enviable family, with her husband being Zhao Mingcheng from the Jinshi family, the son of Zhao Ting, the prime minister during the Chongning reign of Emperor Huizong of Song. They lived together for nearly thirty years. In the third year of Jianyan (1129 AD), after Zhao Mingcheng died of illness in Jiankang (now Nanjing), Li Qingzhao, who was lonely, helpless, and physically and mentally exhausted, remarried Zhang Ruzhou. Who would have thought that Zhang Ruzhou was greedy for money? The picture shows the ancient stone and stone artifacts left by Zhao Mingcheng to Li Qingzhao. After discovering that Li Qingzhao did not have much wealth, Zhang Ruzhou punched, kicked, and subjected him to domestic violence. As a knowledgeable woman, Li Qingzhao is determined to divorce Zhang Ruzhou.
