Why do you often say "men are left and women are right" and "women first"

in our daily life, it seems that men are left and women are right, which has penetrated into all aspects of our social life by convention. Go to the public toilet, male left and female right; Wearing a wedding ring, male left and female right; In addition, there are wedding photos, couples attending some ceremonial occasions and so on. Men are often on the left and women are often on the right. If the position is reversed, some people will joke that it violates the custom of "male left and female right"

how did this custom come into being

? According to legend, after Pangu, the ancestor of the Chinese nation, became immortal, his body organs were transformed into the sun, moon and stars, the four poles and five mountains, rivers and lakes and all living things. Although this legend contains mythical elements, it provides us with a reference material for studying the Chinese Sun God and Moon God. The Calendar of the Five-Movement Calendar holds that the sun, moon and Er Shen of the Chinese nation are transformed by Pangu's eyes, and the sun god is transformed by Pangu's left eye; The moon god was incarnated by Pangu's right eye, from which the folk custom of "male left and female right" came. So who is Er Shen, the sun and moon of the Chinese nation? Sun God is Fuxi; Moon God is Nuwa, and both are legendary ancient gods.

A few years ago, in Shuimogou, Urumqi, I saw the white relief and explanation of Fuxi Nuwa figure unearthed in Astana. A few pictures of Fuxi Nuwa in Turpan were found in the cemetery near Jiaohe Old Town due to the tombs of Astanahala and Zhuogu. Most of them were buried with wooden nails on the top of the tomb, with the picture facing down, and a few paintings were folded and wrapped around the dead. According to the ancient etiquette of China, Fuxi held the moment with his left hand, Nu Wa held the rules with his right hand, and people were snake-headed and twisted. Draw the sun on the head, the moon on the tail, and the stars all around. Because of its profound meaning, peculiar composition, artistic charm and mystery, it has been paid great attention by academic circles since it was published at the beginning of this century. Fuxi and Nu Wa are both gods and ancestors of human beings in ancient Chinese legends. It is said that Fuxi once taught people to engage in agriculture, animal husbandry and fishery production, and Nu Wa once taught people the ethical etiquette of marriage. The rules and regulations in their hands are not only tools of production, but also symbols of social order. In 1953, scientists discovered that the molecule of deoxyribonucleic acid, a basic genetic object of living things, and the structure of this basic genetic material of metaplasia, a double helix structure, was very similar to the image of the human ancestor who expressed metaplasia in Turpan. In the name of metaplasia, a portrait of Fuxi Nuwa unearthed in Turpan became the first page illustration of the 1983 trial issue of the UNESCO magazine International Social Sciences.

In addition, the custom of "male left and female right" is closely related to the ancient people's philosophy. Ancient Chinese philosophers believed that the two opposites of things and personnel in the universe were Yin and Yang. Things in nature are size, length, up and down, left and right, and so on. The ancients classified it into big, long, upper and left yang, and small, short, lower and right yin. Yang is strong, Yin is weak. Man's character, the man's violent and strong nature belongs to the yang in the left, the woman's gentle nature belongs to the yin in the right. "Male left and female right" also has practical scientific significance in the application of traditional Chinese medicine. "Male left and female right" means the physiological difference between men and women in medicine. In traditional Chinese medicine, men take qi to divide the pulse in their left hand and women take blood to divide the pulse in their right hand. Even if children are sick, they observe the hand prints and take the habit of "male left and female right". This is the origin of "male left and female right". This custom, which has been followed to this day, existed as early as more than 2, years ago during the Warring States Period. Of course, whether "male left and female right" can really express the physiological differences between men and women is another question.

in China's feudal society, many things are different in rank, even east, west, north, south, front, back, left and right.

In ancient times, South was regarded as supreme, while North was symbolized as failure and submission. The palaces and temples all face due south, and the emperor's seats are all facing south. When he became emperor, he called it "the south is the respect"; Defeated, surrendered to others, "defeated" and "surrendered to the north." It is precisely because the direction of due south is so honorable that in the past, when people built houses, no one dared to take the direction of due south of the meridian, and all of them were east or west, so as not to violate taboos and be convicted.

in addition to respecting the north in the south, in the east and west, the ancients also took the east as the first, followed by the west. The residences of queens and concubines are divided into the East Palace and the West Palace, with the East Palace as the most important and the West Palace as the second. The ancestral temple dedicated to ancestral tablets should be built on the east side of the palace. In modern Chinese, "owner" and "landlord" also come from this.

in addition to the east, west, north and south, there are also high and low levels to indicate the direction. The ancient emperor was supreme, facing south and facing north, with the east on his left. Therefore, while advocating the East, the "Left" also became noble. Dongwu in the Three Kingdoms period occupied Jiangdong, also known as Jiangzuo. The ritual system of Wen Zuo Wu You, the concept of male left and female right, etc. are all reflections of respecting the left, and some customs even continue to this day.

For example, the room is the most important part of the residential courtyard. The quadrangles in Beijing are bungalows with no buildings. The most important room in the courtyard is the main room. The first room is the north room, also known as the upper room or the main room. Because the ancestral memorial tablet and the hall are located in the middle of the main house, the main house occupies the highest position in the whole house, and its width, depth and height are larger than other rooms. There are generally three main rooms, with the ancestral hall in the middle, grandparents living in the second room on the east, and parents living in the second room on the west. Moreover, the second room on the left (east) of the main room in an old house is slightly larger than that on the right (west), which is the result of the traditional custom of "left is top". In the old days, people had the custom of respecting the left. We often said that "Zuo Zu Ancient Temple", "Wen Zuo Wu You" and "Men Left and Women Right" all reflected the respect for the left.

For another example, wearing a ring is exquisite, which is not recorded in writing, but a convention. The people believe that the left is the top and the right is the bottom. The left symbolizes dignity and strength, and the right symbolizes tenderness and consideration. Therefore, people wearing rings are divided into "male left and female right". In addition, a man wears his index finger to show courtship, his middle finger to show that he is in love and his ring finger to show that he is married. Women generally don't wear it on their index fingers, while others are similar to men. If someone wears his little finger with his left hand and his right hand, it clearly indicates that he is single. In contemporary folk customs, when men and women communicate emotionally, we must pay attention to the position of the ring worn by the other party, respect this established custom and get along properly.

Of course, in the history of China, there has also been a phenomenon that women are left and men are right. Located on the east bank of Jialing River, the Cliff Statue of the Thousand Buddha Cliff, next to the Stone Cabinet Pavilion on the ancient plank road, has a history of 1,4 years. The statue is grand in scale and magnificent in momentum, with a total length of 417 meters from south to north and a height of 45 meters. The statue caves overlap with thirteen layers and are as dense as a beehive. There are more than 4 existing caves, with more than seven statues in size and divided into two sections, with the Great Yun Gu Cave as the center. The Great Yun Gu Cave is the largest cave in Ganfo Cliff. * * * There are 234 statues, and the statue of Maitreya Buddha in the center of the hall is the main Buddha of Dayun Cave and the symbol of Empress Wu Zetian. On the left is the Empress Zetian, and on the right is Li Zhi, the Emperor Gaozong. The arrangement has changed the traditional custom that men are left and women are right. The Munige, with smooth clothes and plump shape, is a rare artistic treasure in the grottoes, with an empty carved screen behind the Buddha, which enhances the performance of the stone carving polyhedron.

it is a tradition that men are superior to women for thousands of years. From left to right, male first, then female. According to the oriental custom, every time you sign your name, if you are husband and wife, your husband's name must be written first, and your wife should be added as a suffix. Unlike in the west, everything pays attention to "Lady first", and even the opening words of the speech are "Ladies and gentlmen".