In ancient China, if a man wanted to divorce his spouse, he could not do it on a whim; he had to fulfill the requirements for divorce. In the ancient divorce system, repudiation was the most typical form of divorce.
If the wife failed her responsibilities in one of the seven areas the ancients held dear for harmonious married life, the man was justified in divorcing his wife, and the wife had either no defense or one limited to specific mitigating circumstances.
These seven conditions are also known as the seven conditions for repudiation.
7 conditions for repudiation
1. Disobedience toward or not serving the husband’s parents
Ancient people called their parents-in-law their uncles and aunts, so this condition is also called disobeying or not serving your uncles and aunts, which is the most serious of the seven conditions. In ancient Chinese marriages, a woman’s first task as a wife was to live in harmony with the man’s family and obey them. In other words, the couple had to divorce if the man’s parents thought their daughter-in-law was not submissive enough, even if the husband was happy with her.
Such a forced divorce happened to the Song Dynasty poet Lu You (A.D. 1125-1210). He and his original wife, Tang Wan, were very close. Still, because his mother was worried that Lu You would miss his chance to study and pass the official examination to get a job because he was obsessed with his wife, he was forced to divorce her, leaving behind two poems describing his sadness, which became a famous love tragedy in history.
2. Childlessness
In the patriarchal society of ancient China, one of the primary purposes of marriage was to inherit the family name and carry it onto the next generation. Although modern medicine proves that childlessness in a marriage is not necessarily a problem with the wife, in ancient times, it was a dereliction of a wife not to have a son. However, there were certain limitations to the repudiation of childless wives. Only if the wife was over 50 and had not yet given birth to a child would she safely comply with this rule.
3. Adultery
It aimed to examine the behavior of women in marriage. In ancient marriages, a woman’s most important duty was to maintain family harmony and to produce pure-blooded offspring, so adultery could never be tolerated by the man’s family.
4. Jealousy
It usually applied to the wife in wealthy families with concubines and maidservants, where the wife’s dissatisfaction with her husband’s concubinage will undermine the family’s lineage, so jealousy was also one of the reasons for divorcing a wife.
5. Talking too much
This is a term used to describe a woman’s behavior and speech in her husband’s home. To maintain order in the family and prevent conflict, a woman should keep her words to herself and refrain from gossip. A woman who spoke too much frequently caused trouble and was considered a scourge to her husband’s family so that he could abandon her for this reason.
6. Having a disease
In ancient times, malignant diseases generally referred to two types of illnesses: incurable and infectious. Both could affect the health and reproduction of the family, which was unacceptable in the ancient family-oriented ethics.
7. Theft
In ancient families, wives had no right to own private property. If a wife used the family’s property without authorization, it was considered theft and could be a reason for the husband to leave his wife.
The three counter-repudiation conditions
When the wife met the seven conditions of repudiation, and the husband wanted to divorce, the wife could counterclaim with any of the three protections, as long as she was not a prostitute (condition 3) or had a malignant disease (condition 6). Then, the husband could not abandon her so quickly. The three limitations can be seen as the protection of women’s rights and interests in ancient China, which were as follows:
- A wife who had mourned her husband’s parents for three years
- A wife married her husband when he was poor
- A wife who had a family when she was married, but later had no family to return to
Righteous repudiation, a compulsory divorce
In the Tang and Song dynasties (A.D. 618-1279), a compulsory divorce system was called righteous repudiation. Any couples who met the conditions stipulated in the law were obligated to divorce, even if it was against their will.
The conditions for a compulsory divorce were all related to internal conflicts within the families of the husband and wife. For example, one of the spouses or any of their close relatives had assaulted the other’s ascendants or killed the other’s close relatives; the wife had committed adultery with the husband’s relatives; the wife had attempted to murder her husband, etc. Later, it was added that the husband had forced his wife into prostitution, or the husband had sold his wife to another person, etc., all of which became conditions of a compulsory divorce.
To a certain extent, these conditions protected some women’s rights in early medieval China between the 1st and 6th centuries. According to Qiaomei Tang in his 2016 study of Divorce and the Divorced Woman in Early Medieval China, an examination of actual cases reveals that neither the seven conditions nor the three prohibitions were strictly adhered to when the divorce occurred.
Divorce happened to people from all levels of society and could be initiated by both men and women for reasons outside the seven conditions and the three prohibitions. It was not regarded as a social taboo in early medieval China.
Peaceful and a petitioned divorces
If the wife did not meet any of the seven conditions for repudiation, and the two families had not broken up, yet the husband and wife were not on good terms with each other and could not stay together, they could still get a divorce. It was known as a peaceful divorce or a petitioned divorce.
A peaceful divorce
Generally, a peaceful divorce meant by agreement. In the Tang Dynasty, if a couple was not in harmony, they could get a peaceful divorce. Unlike the conditions for repudiation of a wife, a peaceful divorce had to be agreed to by the wife herself and was finalized only after a series of legal procedures.
A petitioned divorce
Generally speaking, it was difficult for women in ancient China to initiate a divorce, but there was an exception: submitting a petition. The petition was probably the ancient version of litigation divorce. As long as the conditions were met, both spouses could petition the government for a divorce. The man could file because his wife had run away or she had cursed her husband.
The woman could file because her husband had run away for three years, that he had forced or permitted his concubine to commit adultery, that he had pledged his concubines for money, or that the father-in-law had raped the daughter-in-law, etc. After filing a petition, the couple could be officially divorced if the government verified it.
In general, the divorce system in ancient China was based on patriarchal ethics and centered on the family’s interests. The seven conditions for repudiation and three limitations were essential to protect the development and stability of the family, and personal feelings were not considered.
Translated by Audrey Wang and edited by Helen London
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