The Liberty of Marriage

Despite millennia of autocratic rule in China, folk life has been central to the preservation of traditional forms of expression. One example of this is an early form of documentation for the custom of marriage. The "Zhou Rituals," recorded in the Zhou Dynasty show that marriage represented a civil contract only between individuals. When did the marriage license, a symbol of state authority, appear in China? Below is a marriage certificate in the 11th year of Emperor Tongzhi of the Qing Dynasty (1873). The seal says, "A Harmonious Union Lasting for a Hundred Years," and was split in two halves – one side each for the husband and wife to hold as parties to the contract.

My mother came to my father's house when she was nine years old as a child bride. She said she wished to marry into a wealthier family than hers but it turned out that my father's was poorer. Each time she recounted the story, she couldn't help but sob out loud. At the time, there were no marriage licenses in the rural areas. The most official form of ceremony was the banquet. In China, marriage licenses were issued around the 1930s or 40s. Below is a Nanjing marriage license from a group wedding in 1948, notarized by the Mayor and Director of the Social Affairs Bureau of the city, which was the fashion in those days. This is when marriage began to require state recognition.