What is the reason why nobles adopt child brides? Why spend a lot of money to raise this child?

Before understanding why nobles raise child brides and why they spend a lot of money to raise this child, we need to first understand a concept, what is a child bride. The so-called child bride, also known as "year-old daughter-in-law" and "child bride-in-law", means that the mother-in-law's family raises infant girls or young girls until they reach adulthood and then officially gets married and becomes the daughter-in-law of the husband's family. Usually, girls raised as children are very young, but some girls have reached the legal marriage age and still stay in their husband's family, waiting for their son-in-law to come of age.

After knowing what a child bride is, let’s talk about why nobles raise child brides. The first reason is the backward view caused by the low economic level of feudal society.

According to the content of the marriage certificate of the child bride in the Ming Dynasty, in most cases, people in the feudal period generally believed that sons could carry on the family line and increase the family's labor force, while daughters would have to marry sooner or later and would have to pay a share. Dowry, so giving birth to a daughter is like raising a daughter-in-law for another family, not to mention that marrying a daughter also has to endure the pain of parting from relatives.

It is precisely because of such common backward ideas that both nobles and poor people have the custom of raising children and wives.

The second reason why nobles adopted children and wives was due to the normal life of wealthy families in ancient times. As we all know, in ancient times, there was a system and custom of monogamy and multiple concubines. Even the emperor, who was as high as ninety-five, could only marry one wife, the queen, according to the system.

Under the constraints of such a traditional system, a phenomenon has emerged, that is, if a man takes a child bride as his wife, he cannot remarry. However, if the man takes a child bride as a concubine, the man can still remarry after he becomes an adult. Under such a phenomenon, nobles were used to having multiple wives and concubines, and raising children and wives, because this was already a normal part of their lives.

The third reason why nobles raise children and wives is to reduce the financial burden. Even a well-off family, in order to save the cost of marrying a wife for their son, will buy a girl to be his wife when the son is young, so that the man's family will have an additional member to help with labor.

As for the fourth reason why nobles adopt child brides, that is because child brides feel more at ease. Because the child bride has lived in the man's family since childhood, her every move and habit will be controlled by the man's family. If the husband's family wants the child bride to learn certain skills, then the child bride will learn this skill. The daughter-in-law trained in this way will naturally be more Don't worry, at the same time, the relationship between the child bride and the man's family will become closer during the long-term living together.

After knowing the four reasons why nobles raise child brides, let’s look at the last question, which is why do nobles spend a lot of money to raise this child?

Although raising a child bride from childhood seems to cost a lot of money, compared with the cost of marrying a son, the cost of raising a child bride is even lower. Secondly, the child bride was raised in the noble family of her husband from an early age and would also become a member of the labor force. Furthermore, child brides can be trained to be what the nobles want from an early age. If they are nurturing, they will naturally be more favored by the nobles. Finally, raising a child bride can also allow him to develop a deep emotional foundation with his husband from an early age, so that he can have children as soon as possible after getting married and continue the family line.

Although child brides appeared as early as the Three Kingdoms period, by the 21st century, the feudal custom of child brides has been basically abolished, because this custom does not respect the woman’s wishes and human rights, and is a feudal society. product.