200-year-old marriage law uncovered in SW China
( 2004-01-05 21:00) (Xinhua)
Cultural heritage authorities in the southwest China province of Guizhou have
uncovered two stone tablets inscribed with the "dos and don'ts" of marriage more
than 200 years ago.
The tablets, inscribed during the reigns of Qian Long (1736- 1795) and Jia
Qing (1796-1820), emperors of the Qing Dynasty (1644- 1911), outlawed marriage
between close relations, elopement, blackmail or unilateral breach of
engagement, and granted the widowed the right to remarry.
"They can be called a systematic marriage law," said Wang Zongxun, head of
the Archives of Jinping County, where the tablets are kept. "It's quite rare for
the ethnic people in an underdeveloped region to make laws like this 200 years
ago."
The tablets were found in Jinping County, a traditional timber production
base that is densely populated by the Miao ethnic group along the Qingshuijiang
River.
Wang assumed it was the booming timber trade that brought the cultural
concepts and value systems of the Han people to the Miao.
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