Ancient China - Divorcing

 

Divorcing in Ancient China

 

In ancient China, divorce was a legal and social process primarily governed by Confucian principles and patriarchal authority. While marriages were intended to be lifelong unions for the benefit of the family lineage, the law provided specific mechanisms for dissolution 

Three Major Legal Categories of Divorce

Imperial law generally categorized divorce into three types:

 

1. Seven Grounds for Repudiation (Qichu, 七出): A husband could unilaterally divorce his wife if she committed any of the following "misconducts":Infertility: Failing to bear a son, as continuing the male lineage was the primary purpose of marriage.

• Adultery: Betraying the husband's lineage.
• Filial Impiety: Failing to serve or being disobedient to her parents-in-law.
• Loquacity: Talking too much or gossiping, which was believed to disrupt family harmony.
• Theft: Taking family property without permission.
• Jealousy: Objecting to the husband taking a concubine or another wife.
• Incurable Disease: Suffering from a serious or "vile" illness.

2. Divorce by Mutual Consent (He Li, 和离): A "harmonious" separation where both the husband and wife agreed to end the marriage. While seemingly more equitable, in practice, it often required the wife to accept the terms dictated by the husband's family.
 

3. Compulsory Divorce (Yijue, 义绝): A state-mandated dissolution occurring when "righteousness" was broken. This was typically triggered by serious crimes or extreme violence committed by one spouse (or their family) against the other. 

 

Protection for Women: The "Three Exceptions"

Even if a wife committed one of the "Seven Grounds," she could not be divorced if she met any of these three conditions (San Bu Qu, 三不去):

• She had observed the three-year mourning period for her husband's deceased parents.
• The family had been poor when they married but became wealthy later.
• She had no natal family (parents or siblings) to return to.

Social & Economic Realities

• Stigma: Divorce was highly stigmatized, especially for women. A divorced woman often became a financial burden on her natal family and had very limited options for a first-wife status remarriage.
• Property: In most dynasties, women lost their dowry and property rights upon divorce, though some eras like the Tang Dynasty allowed for more leniency.
• Dynastic Variation: The Tang Dynasty is often noted for having relatively more relaxed divorce policies, even allowing women to file for divorce in certain cases of abandonment or abuse. By contrast, later dynasties, such as the Qing, enforced much stricter moral and legal codes.