Therefore, the matchmaker's specific duties are: first, record the birth date and name of the newborn baby; Second, order adult men and women to get married on time, not beyond the time limit; Third, urge young men and women of school age to get married in time before the busy farming season in February every year. At this time, the wedding has not been completed. It is also necessary to supervise the financial expenses in the wedding, and be responsible for marriage litigation cases and punish offenders. This is the earliest and most complete official media system record in the history of China.
Guanzi Entering the Country describes the official media in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in this way: every country has a palm media. Husbands are widowed and widowed, and women are widowed and widowed. Combine several widows and give them to Tian Zhai and his family. This is called combination independence.
It can be seen that the official media at that time not only arranged marriages for young people, but also helped widowers and widows reorganize their families and integrate their property. From the Qin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, the power of official media was still great.
During the Spring and Autumn Period of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the government attached importance to the role of matchmakers in marriage and set up a special agency to take charge of it. Matchmakers were endowed with the role value of representing the official will and implementing the marriage system.
The official media developed into the Song Dynasty, and there was a hierarchy. According to Meng Yuan's Dream in Tokyo, there were several matchmakers at that time, for example, the first one wore a hijab and a purple curtain, saying that the official was good to the palace, and the middle one wore a crown and a yellow bun, or just wore a skirt hand and a green umbrella, and the two walked together.
This classification is not only reflected in the objects of matchmaking, but also in clothes and numbers. It is the most obvious feature of matchmaker's high professionalism to have a special client and take unique clothing as a symbol of rank. According to "History of Song Dynasty", the person to be married should appoint the chief marriage clan, choose those who have served as county officials or above for three generations in the temple, and list their names, family background, state capital and age. After verification, the Zong Zheng Department will call for insurance and submit it to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for announcement and hearing. Marry a woman and have her husband call for insurance.
The guarantee here is the media guarantee, that is, the court professional official media dedicated to the imperial clan marriage. The high professionalism of matchmakers in Song Dynasty was related to the development of commodity economy and the change of social atmosphere.
The Song Dynasty is an important historical period for China's social, economic and cultural development. With the rapid development of cities and the high prosperity of commodity economy, the status of emerging citizens is rising day by day. Citizens' strong awareness of money has penetrated into all fields of social life, including marriage and marriage.
Marriage in Song Dynasty paid more attention to each other's property. But in the end, in order for the two companies to reach an agreement, it is necessary for the matchmaker to mediate, which further highlights the status and role of the matchmaker and becomes a highly professional catalyst.
The official media in Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties refers to the matchmaker registered and recognized in the yamen, whose identity is the same as that of the yamen, and is mainly responsible for the marriage of female prisoners. Or marriage disputes, court marriage, the official media to solve. The Regulations of the Yuan Dynasty said: "The matchmaker was sent by the local elders to send the faithful daughter away as an official."
In addition to completing the marriage affairs assigned by the government, the official media also acts as a marriage intermediary for local private marriages. For example, an official media in Guan Hanqing's zaju Yujingtai in the Yuan Dynasty said, "My family is an official media. Mr. Wen took me to the old lady's house to tell her about it, choose an auspicious day and marry a young lady." This is Wen Qiao using official media to choose his wife. For example, Article 852 of Biography of the Qing Dynasty wrote: "Women are detained and detained, and the official media will accompany them during the autumn trial."
In ancient China, private media were people who served for the conclusion of civil marriages. They are not registered with the government and do not receive state wages. Folk media originated earlier than the official media, and existed as early as the patriarchal clan system.
Private media can be divided into two categories, namely professional matchmakers and non-professional matchmakers. Professional matchmakers, who make a living as matchmakers, mainly want to get some property, which belongs to the kind of private coal that "eats and drinks Lazar".
For example, there is a description in the book 13 "Bao San Appears": Niang and Yinger are working at home and see two women with red faces and cheeks. They started with a bottle of wine. They opened the curtains with two grass flowers and came in: "Here we are." When Niang saw it, it turned out to be two matchmakers, nothing more than Zhang and Li.
The matchmaker's face was red and his cheeks were red, which indicated that he had just come back from drinking at a certain house, and the other two matchmakers were still holding something in their hands, apparently wanting something from their house. The two matchmakers described in this passage should be full-time matchmakers. They ate and took and made a lot of money.
A non-professional matchmaker is someone who has other jobs, works as a matchmaker for others and earns some matchmaker gifts. This kind of person is very common in novels of Ming and Qing Dynasties, such as Wang Po in Wake Up the World 14, and the affectionate Zhou Shengxian, which is this kind of matchmaker. The book introduces her like this: Wang Po asked Wang Baihui to enroll students, sew, be a matchmaker, and feel the pulse with others.
Wang Po not only delivered and mended babies for others, but also treated diseases. In this way, she has many opportunities to get close to the wives of various families. The profession of midwifery also let her know the birthdays of various children, and it is also convenient for her to be a matchmaker. Wang Po is one of the most representative examples of private media.
Among the non-professional matchmakers, in addition to part-time matchmakers who receive certain gifts, there are also some temporary matchmakers who do not pay for the beauty of adults. The categories of such people are complicated, ranging from emperors to wild people in the mountains.
The matchmaker can be the emperor, such as "Chen Xiu, the third person on the Huang Gongdu list between Shaoxing". Because the survey work is good, "Gao Zongqin's book is stuck on a piece of paper and glued to the temple wall. And roll call ",and I heard that Chen Xiu is 73 years old and not married, so" this just called my wife Shi to marry her. 30 years old. Rich in resources. "
The matchmaker can also be an official, such as "Du Qigong visited Jiyuan when he was young, and those who have a county magistrate can meet people and be kind to them." After the death of Qi Gong's wife, the county magistrate will act as a temporary matchmaker for him. "The daughter in the phase is regarded as the wife of the country."
Matchmakers can also be relatives and friends. For example, Su Dongpo himself used to be a matchmaker and married his sister to his good friend Qin Guan.
Teachers can also be matchmakers, which is very common in ancient times. Teachers know students' interests, hobbies, specialties and temper best, so as a media, they are more targeted, win students' trust and have a higher success rate.