Why are there so many people in China? China's population: high or low? Why are there so many Chinese in the world?

Over the past few centuries, only two countries have added more than a billion people to their populations. Many people wonder why there are so many people in China and India. The simplest answer is because there were a lot of Chinese and Indians already at the time when the modern period of rapid human growth began. The reasons for the good starting conditions for these countries are largely common, although they also have their own national nuances. Therefore, in this article we will consider only one country.

Geographical reasons

One of the significant factors influencing why there are so many people in China is the good location of the country. The region has a fairly favorable climate for living and farming. Warm weather lasts much longer than cold weather. You can safely enjoy the gifts of nature; there have been no serious disasters, long periods of drought, floods or hurricanes in the region. These are significant reasons why there are so many people in China.

An important reason for the appearance of a large number of people already in the early period of development is the presence of large areas of fertile land. These, together with easily accessible sources of fresh water, made it possible to grow enough food to feed large numbers of people. Even today, China has a lot of agricultural land with river valleys. In many regions of the country it is possible to grow several crops per year. In addition, the cultivation of plants and the domestication of animals began early here, which also gave a sharp impetus to population growth.

Children are the backbone of the family

Since ancient times, the Chinese population has been engaged in agriculture, which was the main craft. In those distant times, the main food crop of the region was rice. Quite primitive technologies were used to grow it. Therefore, there was a great need for labor. For many peasants with 8-10 children, it was completely clear why there were so many people in China. Peasant families tried to acquire large offspring so that they would become assistants to their parents. The Chinese have a saying: “If you have one son, then you have no children, if you have two sons, then only half a child, but three sons mean a full child.”

Perhaps another reason why there were so many people in China was the Eastern indifference to the value of human life. Several centuries ago there was a high mortality rate, but new generations replaced them, the older ones raised the younger ones. Therefore, only a large number of children in the family could preserve the family line in critical conditions.

Population in ancient times

You can find out why so many people live in China today only by looking at ancient history. Even from historical Chinese films it is clear that a large number of people lived in the country even then. Even the first Han states had armies of hundreds of thousands. In the second century AD, during the Han Dynasty, the first population censuses began to be conducted. At that time, the Celestial Empire was inhabited by about 59,595 thousand people. Even then it was the country with the largest population in the world. This is more than the population of the Roman Empire at its height.

It should be borne in mind that these were not the best times in the history of the country. China had serious demographic problems. In almost continuous wars, many people died, the mortality rate exceeded the birth rate. However, after the formation of a strong state, the situation stabilized, and the population began to grow rapidly again.

Customs and traditions

Confucian ideals are also a factor in why so many people live in China. The doctrine that began to spread in the country around 500 BC put respect for the large family at the forefront of everything. Perhaps this positive factor became a powerful stimulus for population growth. For the Chinese, a large and strong family has been in first place in the value system for dozens of centuries. There were no divorces for a long time, they got married once and for all, and tried to immediately have a large number of children. In those days they said: the more children, the richer the parents.

In addition, for a long time there was practically no pension system in the country. Only in recent years have pensions begun to appear on which one can live in old age, primarily for military and government employees. Therefore, since ancient times, the Chinese have had it this way: the more children, the more calm and prosperous old age.

Public policy

For a long time, China was a state closed from the whole world. Traditions were carefully preserved here, and there was practically no emigration. Foreigners, especially Europeans, were also not allowed into the country for fear of the spread of disease. Only after the Opium Wars, when the British forced China to open the country, did traditional values ​​gradually begin to transform.

After Mao Zedong came to power, the country began to take care of increasing the family in order to turn China into the most advanced and powerful state. To do this, he needed many soldiers and people who would work in factories and farms. Population growth continued every year. Until in 1979 the government began to wonder: “Why are there so many Chinese...” A restriction was introduced in China: a family could only have one child, with the exception of a number of national minorities.

Population now

In 2018, the country's population was 1,390 million and included residents of 31 provinces in mainland China. With a population growth rate of 0.47% per year, China ranks 159th in the world. According to government forecasts, by 2020 there will be 1,420 million people living in the country, by 2030 it will reach a maximum number of 1,450 million, and then it will decrease. So the question: why are there so many people in China will be relevant in the foreseeable future.

China's population is more than 1.3 billion people, thereby making China the most populous country in the world.

However, the national population density is not very high - 137 people per km 2 (as in Switzerland and the Czech Republic). Low population densities mask enormous regional differences. The north and west of China are sparsely populated: the 5 provinces of the north and west occupy 55% of the country's area, but only 5.7% of the population live in them. The Gobi and Taklamakan deserts, part of the Tibetan Plateau, are completely deserted. The bulk of China's population is concentrated in the east, with the Yangtze Valley, North China Plain, Sichuan Basin, and Pearl River Delta being the most densely populated areas. The 11 coastal provinces have a population density of 320 people per km2.

On November 1, 2010, China conducted its sixth national decennial census. According to it, in 2010, 1,339,724,852 people lived in China. The annual growth is 0.47% (156th place in the world). Average life expectancy is 73 years. One of the problems is the gender imbalance: there are 1.18 times more men than women.

China has a population planning policy known as “one family, one child.” The campaign is caused by excessive congestion of land and water resources, and poverty of the main part of the population. Since 1979, Chinese people have not been allowed to have more than one child. The details of the policy vary from province to province, with fines and additional taxes generally imposed for violating the rule. There are a number of concessions and exceptions. There are no restrictions for national minorities; if both parents are the only children of their parents, or if the first child is a girl, they are allowed to have a second one. The restriction does not apply to Hong Kong and Macau. After the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, provincial authorities exempted parents who lost children in the disaster from the rule. There are frequent cases of hiding children. Just 35.9% of Chinese families have no more than one child, an annual population growth rate of 0.47% - one of the lowest rates in the world. The negative consequences of the campaign are the aging of the population, the excess of men over the number of women, and the spoiling of children.

Nationalities

The main nationality of China is Han Chinese. They make up 91.51% of the country's population. The remaining 8.49% of the population belongs to the 55 minor nationalities listed in the country's constitution. The most numerous of them are the Zhuangs (16 million people), Manchus (10 million people), Hui (9.8 million), Miao (8.9 million), Uighurs (8.3 million), Tujia (8 million), I (7.7 million), Mongols (5.8 million) and Tibetans (5.4 million).

Han is the self-name of the main ethnic group in China. Han is the name of one of the first Chinese dynasties. The Russian name - Chinese - comes from the name of the nomads - the Khitan, who inhabited North-East China and were in contact with Russian travelers. The Chinese are very heterogeneous. The heterogeneity is caused by the assimilation of various local nationalities and the breadth of settlement. The Chinese language has many dialects, with differences ranging from slight accents to complete incomprehension. The culture of different regions and provinces is very different. There are also Huaqiao - Chinese living abroad. There are about 35 million of them in the world, mostly in Southeast Asia. Huaqiao usually do not lose ties with their homeland and play an important role in Chinese foreign policy. Another sub-ethnic group of Chinese are the Hakka, who live in southern China. There are at least 40 million of them. The Hakka are distinguished from the rest of the Han Chinese by their special dialect, customs, traditions and high cohesion. The Hui people are also related to the Han people - they speak the same local dialects, the difference is that the Hui people profess Hanafi Islam.

Language

The official language in China is Putonghua (commonly understood). The introduction of Putonghua is due to the fact that there are many dialects in the Chinese language, and those who speak them often cannot understand each other. The main dialects of the Chinese language are Beijing (Mandarin), which is spoken by almost 70% of the population living in the north and southwest of the country; Wu (Shanghai), Yue (Cantonese, Guangdong and Hong Kong), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Taiwan), Xiang, Gan and Hakka. Putonghua is based on the Beijing dialect, television and radio broadcasts are conducted in it, and it is taught in all schools in the country. The level of proficiency in Putonghua varies: young people understand it better, while older people speak only the local dialect.

Chinese writing is based on hieroglyphs. Chinese characters come from divination inscriptions on turtle shells of the second millennium BC, and acquired their modern form during the Han Dynasty in the second century BC. e. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the written language was Wenyang, or ancient Chinese. Traditional writing was written from top to bottom, with columns running from right to left. Over the centuries, the written language did not change, and became very different from the spoken language; it had a very complex, obscure grammar. In the 17th century, during the Ming Dynasty, Baihua appeared, a variant of recording the spoken language, and at the beginning of the 20th century it became the standard and supplanted Wenyan. In baihua, records are written in lines, from left to right, for the convenience of including foreign words and Arabic numerals in the text. The introduction of baihua made it possible to increase the literacy of the population. From the middle of the 19th century, simplified versions of hieroglyphs began to appear, containing fewer features and easier to remember. In 1964, the People's Republic of China passed the Law on the Simplification of Characters, which replaced 2,238 frequently used characters with simplified forms. In China, Singapore and Malaysia, simplified forms of hieroglyphs are used for writing, while in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau they continue to use traditional ones.

Religion

Since 1949, the official ideology of the PRC has been atheism. During the Cultural Revolution in 1965-1976, religious remnants were eradicated. The 1982 constitution enshrines freedom of religion, and the government emphasizes the role of religion in building a harmonious society. An accurate count of the followers of a particular religion is very difficult, firstly, by the huge population, and secondly, by the traditional syncretism of China. Since ancient times, the Chinese have followed Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, calling them “three paths to one goal.” With the advent of Christianity, the Chinese did not abandon traditional religions. From 10 to 59% of the population are atheists, from 8 to 80% are Buddhists, about 8% are Christians, up to 30% are Taoists, and about 1.5% are Muslims.

Education

Free compulsory education in China includes 9 years of primary and secondary school (children aged 6-15 years, six years of primary school and three years of secondary school). The nine-year compulsory education law was introduced in 1986. Due to the huge population, it is not possible to provide free higher education to everyone; China has a shortage of highly qualified personnel, so the government is carrying out a consistent education reform designed to provide the country with more specialists, while at the same time improving the quality of education. At the age of 15-17 years, students can optionally study for three years in high schools, which is chosen by most students, or enroll in lyceums and vocational schools.

There are 2,236 higher education institutions in China, with more than 20 million students. Competition for admission to universities is enormous.

Healthcare

In 2005, China implemented health care reform. Medical insurance is 50 yuan ($7) per year per patient. 20 of them are paid by the central government, 20 by the provincial authorities and 10 by the patient himself. The healthcare system is multi-level; when visiting a local hospital, the state pays 80% of the bill, but in large city clinics it pays only 30%. About 80% of the population is subscribed to the health insurance system.

Most of the institutions have been privatized, which has improved the quality of treatment. Life expectancy has increased from 35 years in 1950 to 73.2 in 2008. Typhoid fever, cholera and scarlet fever have been almost eradicated. However, the huge population and its high density create the threat of epidemics; epidemics of influenza and AIDS are possible; there is an increase in obesity among city residents. A big problem is high water and air pollution. The abundance of smog in large cities and the large number of smokers lead to respiratory diseases.

Traditional Chinese medicine institutions are very popular. It includes diagnosis of the disease by pulse, acupuncture, herbal medicine and the preparation of various tinctures.

Why are there so many Chinese?

Despite the fact that China🇨🇳 is significantly inferior to Russia🇷🇺 and Canada🇨🇦 in terms of territory, it confidently ranks first in the world in terms of population. Why?

It's simple - since ancient times, the country has had a policy according to which a couple could have as many children as they could afford. In this regard, the situation is reminiscent of ours, albeit centuries ago, when families had five, or even eight to ten children. Moreover, until recently, divorce in China was simply unacceptable - family traditions are highly respected here.

Population growth continued annually, so in 1979 the government moved to a birth control policy of no more than one child per family, except for some ethnic minorities. In addition, you can have a second baby if he has developmental disabilities, and if you are a person living in a rural area and you have a girl, then you also have every right to give birth to a second child. After the law was passed, the natural population growth in the country decreased significantly, but it is still increasing due to the huge base figure.

Between 1990 and 2000 alone, the population increased by 12 million people annually.

According to updated data as of December 28, 2016, China has a population of 1,382,402,682 people. It turns out that some Chinese, especially rural residents, are resisting the policies of their state by having children for themselves. Therefore, during the census, they often simply lie about the number of members of their family. By the way, the highest officials in China are against abortion and sterilization, but local authorities still resort to such methods of combating the birth rate, because otherwise they will face a large fine.

As of today, young Chinese no longer value family life as much as their parents did, and divorce is quite normal for them. In addition, it is common to change several partners before marriage, something that could not be seen before.

Littleone 2009-2012 > Boltology > About everything else > Why are there more Chinese people in the world? How did they do it?

View full version: Why are there more Chinese people in the world? How did they do it?

:008:

And the devil knows why there are so many of them... But I was always impressed by the fact that Confucianism was their state ideology when we were still semi-wild tribes... The Chinese are the Jews of Asia (there is such a saying) and the future belongs to them, and not for the owners of our mysterious soul... In general - China, it is very different, but these are special people, with a complex history and experience.

Reptile

31.12.2010, 03:30

The experience of the nation, philosophy, luck... I just looked at history about sports in China - 2 thousand years ago the Chinese diligently took care of their health using the right methods...
and + here are my speculations - it feels like they don’t mix with other nations….

Calculator

31.12.2010, 03:45

Well, it seems that they don’t have much time left to be in the lead - the Indians will soon overtake them.

Because they are smarter and understand that they need to reproduce as quickly as possible)

In terms of numbers, they may overtake, but in terms of influence on the world economy, it’s unlikely.

Then they wouldn't limit the birth rate.

That's it!

In terms of numbers, they may overtake, but in terms of influence on the world economy, it’s unlikely.

Then they wouldn't limit the birth rate.

Birth control applies only to the territory of China... You should see how they breed outside their homeland (I’m not surprised if 1.5 billion live in China itself and the same number in other countries)

31.12.2010, 06:41

Well, as my grandmother used to say: “A bad thing is simple.”

31.12.2010, 08:25

You should see how they breed outside their homeland
I don’t know, all the Chinese I know have a maximum of 3 children in a family, or even 1-2, but my dentist, a religious Jew, has 8 children! And for them this is the norm.

1. Strongly religious American Christians also have 10 children as the norm. For ordinary people, the norm is 3-4. I don’t know a Chinese family with three or more children. Usually - two :).

I'm looking forward to messages from the Chinese :))
AAA!!!

In general, it seems to me that the Chinese have several points that make the nation successful:
— respect for elders — read: adoption of the experience of generations
— discipline — read: mastery of acquired skills and experience of generations
- will - read: the ability to control yourself and your skills
- performance

I really like the Chinese!
Periodic immersion in the ancient book "Tao De Ching" puts your brain in place and helps you understand the world!

I really want to learn to speak Chinese, read their books, study their way of thinking and martial arts...
But since I do not have the above 4 qualities, this will remain in my dreams...)))

Chinese™

31.12.2010, 09:07

But I won’t write anything:004:

I don’t understand the Chinese at all; my brain overstrains not only when I talk to them, but even when I read about them.

Google says over there:
In the religious life of the Chinese, even before Confucius, the cult of ancestors was widespread (as is the case with many peoples), but here it was of great importance (Confucius himself later greatly consolidated this cult). What place and how the souls of the dead will settle in heaven depends solely on whether the necessary rituals will be performed on earth. Only a son could perform such rituals. Therefore, they took special care to ensure that there were many sons. Because if a pestilence suddenly attacks and all the sons die, the souls of their ancestors will remain without a place there.

That’s why they try to give birth, and plus the herb in the form of ginseng and medicinal decoctions know their stuff.

Well…. Don't know:). There must have been a lot before that. Or the mortality rate is somehow reduced.

A lot doesn't convince. At the turn of the 80s-90s, they already had the “One family, one child” policy in full swing. And families without children were very welcome. There must be a minus! They are darkening something, in short, as usual. :))

And if I’m not mistaken, it was possible to give birth in rural areas. But intellectuals, as elsewhere, were limited. But here I can lie :)))))))

It seems possible, but I was told that the second villagers were not registered and were not taken to school. And in the city they seemed to fine the second one. Right now, I don't know. But the villagers are better off with ginseng than the intellectuals. :017:

Is it grown on personal plots like hemp? :)

In general, Google also does not answer this question: it’s just jokes. But the Chinese don’t inject themselves :(.

Whatever the Chinese tell a non-Chinese is not true. But they will smile at you tenderly, just like Americans.
He's not lying!

Well, bigger isn't always better. 😉 They sit on each other’s heads.

The Mongoloid population generally seems to predominate on Earth. Why - they reproduce because.
At one time there were very few Chinese, the number dropped to just a few million. But with their reproduction, anyone will be envious. :)) A living nation.

I have a good friend - a Chinese.
He's not lying!

I'm not talking about everyday life, I'm talking globally. Well, “the exception confirms the rule” has not been canceled. 🙂 Their friend-foe culture is more developed than that of Western nations.

31.12.2010, 09:51

there are many poor people who give birth

They probably don’t say “they gave birth here”

Whatever the Chinese tell a non-Chinese is not true. But they will smile at you tenderly, just like Americans.

I protest! Americans smile not tenderly, but joyfully, jubilantly! Like this -:)).

No, these are not like that at all, they have Ilyich’s cute squint. 🙂

Yeah, but in the states for some reason he doesn’t pass for a smile at all. So... an expression of slight thoughtfulness.

Now I’m thinking: no, I’m not lucky in the states with smiling Chinese, to be honest :).

31.12.2010, 14:50

maybe they started earlier?

31.12.2010, 15:52

1. They have a religion of life, not death.
2. Embezzlers are shot.
3. The Chinese, first of all, feel themselves to be part of a whole people.
4. Mono-national state.
5. Low cost of living with an average salary of $350 per month.

But the most important thing is the philosophy of life and religion. This defines everything.

Impressive. Perhaps this is true.

Will we never have this? And most importantly, why don’t we smile?

31.12.2010, 17:00

I suspect that the increase is due to the fact that when a family gives birth to a girl, they throw her away from the orphanage, and get the right to give birth to a child again, and they continue to give birth until they give birth to a boy.

31.12.2010, 18:43

Oh those Chinese:015:
This is Chinatown in London
30 minutes before selfridges opens, first day of sales.
China Town, no other way http://s006.radikal.ru/i215/1012/17/470fe720135a.jpg (http://www.radikal.ru)http://s53.radikal.ru/i139/1012/59/ 9eb1135140a0.jpg (http://www.radikal.ru)
All xs were snapped up: wife:

An English teacher told me about China; he had been there several times, because... I'm learning Chinese now. The birth limit is only for civil servants, these are those who have a permanent job, sick leave and paid vacation. The rest give birth as much as they want. The work there is like this (unskilled): you come to the meeting in the morning - you are chosen, you work for the day. If you worked well, then the owner can say - come back tomorrow. The Chinese are all positive, they always smile, their medicine is unconventional, there is almost no conventional medicine in our understanding. The Chinese slurp when eating and spit on the ground everywhere - this is a national feature. I don’t know which of this is true, I’ve never been to China :)))

Slurping is good for digestion...

3. The Chinese, first of all, feel themselves to be part of a whole people.
.

but we blew it 🙁

31.12.2010, 19:45

Why are they the most in the world?
:008:

they are the most prone to reproduction.:ded: in general, they love this business...:019:

...Will we never have this?...

31.12.2010, 22:10

and they also have expensive shoes there for 60 rubles...:fifa:

I think there are a lot of Chinese because they still only use traditional medicine. Pharmacology has not yet launched its killing tentacles there.

01.01.2011, 03:51

More:
Housing and communal services in China for a modern apartment (three rubles) - about 1000 rubles per month
hire a cleaner - 60 rubles per hour
local food for a month per person - about 700 rubles
eat in a restaurant for 2-3 people - 700 rubles
rent a hotel room - 700-1000 rubles per day
5 star hotel - 2200-2500 rubles per day
remove a three-ruble note with European-quality renovation - 25-28,000 rubles per month
Buy an apartment in Beijing from 30,000 to 250,000 rubles per square meter
salary of an English teacher (foreigner) - 24,000 rubles per month
Living in Beijing for a couple in the European style (food, transport, restaurants) - 18,000 -20,000 rubles per month
(summary review of English-language Internet forums)

This is a big 350

in their village they don’t earn 100 a year
I confirm!
A Chinese friend of mine (whom I already mentioned) told me that you can live quite comfortably on $50/month...

And he himself came to St. Petersburg, graduated from the conservatory, and is now the owner of his own restaurant)))
Then he brought his parents and sister here - they all work in his restaurant.
Drives a Jaguar.

He says that it’s good in China, there are friends there, but in Russia it’s much more interesting!
Not going back!

Birth control applies only to the territory of China... You should see how they multiply outside their homeland (I’m not surprised if 1.5 billion.

lives in China itself and the same number of them in other countries)
In China there are the so-called Han peoples and others (Uighurs, Manchus, Tibetans and a LOT of other nationalities. Moreover, representatives of the Han (the titular nation) living in the North may poorly understand the speech of the Han living in the south; writing and hieroglyphs save them something the same

How is it that they have population growth, if for a couple of generations (?) the birth rate is limited to one child? I've never been able to count.

1. They have a religion of life, not death.
2. Embezzlers are shot.
3. The Chinese, first of all, feel themselves to be part of a whole people.
4. Mono-national state.
5. Low cost of living with an average salary of $350 per month.

But the most important thing is the philosophy of life and religion. This defines everything.

You are mistaken, China is the same multinational state as Russia, there are administrative entities formed on a national basis - Tibet, Ningxia Hue Autonomous Region, etc.
"Officially in China (http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B9) there are 56 nationalities. Since the Han people (http:// ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A5%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%8C_%28%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%80%D0% BE%D0%B4%29) are approximately 92% of the country's population, the remaining peoples are usually called national minorities."
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4%D1%8B_%D0%9A%D0%B8% D1%82%D0 %B0%D1%8F

These 8 percent of non-Hans are 100 million minorities))))

Anyway, I learned all this about 15 years ago, I don’t remember everything anymore)))) The teacher had a thing about China and its structure, we learned all the provinces by heart))))

Non-Han peoples “multiply” remarkably well; their percentage increases gradually; restrictions do not apply to them.

Well, yes, of course. But 92% are Han Chinese. Can 8% give an increase?
I haven’t studied that in detail, honestly, and not all Han Chinese have one child, it’s more likely in the cities...

As far as I know, in rural areas sometimes “extra” children are not even registered... I heard that such “extra” people sometimes move to us in the Far East and buy documents.. I don’t know how much this corresponds to reality, from the OBS category...

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D 0%B5_% D0%9A%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0 %BE%D0%B9_%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%80%D0% BE%D0%B4%D0%BD%D0% BE%D0%B9_%D0%A0%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BF%D1%83%D0%B1%D0%B B%D0%B8% D0%BA%D0%B8

in general, it’s really interesting, Wiki writes that there are 1.73 children per woman, this is clearly less than at least two required for reproduction (purely mathematically)….
Oh, I understand... birth rate in itself is not all about growth, mortality is also important

Their mortality rate is 2 times lower than their birth rate (for the year 200), so the increase continues.

on the other hand, they also probably have emigration... the opposite is unlikely)))

HACKER and K

01.01.2011, 14:11

as far as I know, in rural areas “extra” children are sometimes not even registered... Not sometimes, but always, as far as I know...
The poor are actively breeding in all countries, and in China the majority are poor, as I understand it...
This is not ice... Here, look at a selection of photos http://www.krasfun.ru/2009/10/problema-ekologii-v-kitae/

Why are there so many Chinese?

“The wife you married and the horse you bought is for you to ride and teach with a whip,” says an old Chinese proverb. And if someone doesn’t like the comparison with a horse, then there is something else: the character for “family” in Chinese consists of a combination of the characters “roof” and “pig”. Like this: pigs living under one roof. A pig, of course, is a useful and even cute animal. But relationships between humans and pigs are usually devoid of romance. In the same way, the relationship of a Chinese man with his wife is traditionally devoid of not only romance, but also ordinary human warmth. At the very least, they are deprived of external relations dictated by tradition and ritual. In old China, it was considered absolutely indecent if a husband publicly or even among relatives showed any attention to his wife. It was assumed that his love for his wife detracted from his devotion to his parents.

Chinese literature is silent about love. As a rule, there is no passion or flirtation in her. And if love, as an exception, does arise, its outcome will be sad. However, love, as a rule, simply had nowhere to arise. Confucian morality, which dominated Chinese society for two and a half millennia, practically prohibited communication between men and women.

Did the man who extended his hand to the drowning woman do a good thing? The question, from the point of view of a Confucian, is very controversial: after all, the rescuer touched her hand. Not everyone approved of such immorality.

Tradition says that Confucius did not recommend that men and women sit at the same table. If a woman met a man on the street, she had to cross to the other side. Confucius said: “The most difficult things to deal with in the home are women and servants. If you bring them closer, they become impudent, and if you move them away, they become embittered.”

One funny episode from the life of Confucius speaks about how isolated Chinese women lived. When the famous philosopher was visiting the kingdom of Wei, a local ruler named Lingong was married to a woman who had an extremely bad reputation. But she was interested in the visiting sage, and the queen wanted to see Confucius. Twice Nanzi sent him invitations, and twice the sage, under various pretexts, refused an audience. When he received the third invitation, it was no longer possible to refuse, and Confucius went to the palace. He did this in secret from his disciples, because meeting a woman with a bad reputation, even if she was a queen, was at odds with the morality that Confucius preached.

He secretly entered Nanzi's chambers, bowed and stood motionless for some time. The queen looked at him through the patterned canopy. Nanzi was a wayward woman, she completely subjugated the weak-willed king and was accustomed to satisfying all her whims, but even she would not dare to come out from behind the curtain or speak to an unfamiliar man. Having looked at the sage enough, Nanzi bowed, and by the ringing of her jasper pendants, Confucius realized that the audience was over. He, in turn, silently bowed and returned home. The students, who learned about the sage’s visit to the queen, were outraged that their teacher had so grossly violated decency and “communicated” with a stranger.

It is clear that under such conditions, romantic love in China was rare. But any Chinese considered getting married his duty to his family: after all, a wife is a worker. A Chinese peasant saying goes: “A woman is stronger than a man.” And this woman, having found herself absolutely powerless in a new family, really had to work like a slave, unquestioningly obeying her mother-in-law and husband. In addition, the Chinese needed sons: after all, only a son can take care of the father’s spirit when he dies. Therefore, Chinese young men willingly entered into marriage. However, no one really asked their consent: everything was decided by the parents.

Girls also wanted to get married. Since childhood, the girl felt like a stranger in her home. The Book of Songs, the oldest literary monument of China, says: “When a boy is born, he is laid on the bed and given to play with jasper; when a girl is born, they put her on the floor and let her play with the shards.” The girl was forbidden to play with boys, even with her own brothers. But she was taught to obey these brothers, laying the foundation for future obedience to her husband. The Chinese did not perceive their daughters as members of their family: after all, they still had to leave this family. The secrets of the family craft were often hidden from daughters so that they would not pass them on to their husband's family. If a girl died before she could get married, her memorial tablet could not stand on the family altar in her parents' house: after all, in this house the daughter was only a temporary guest. And her parents sometimes married her off “posthumously,” moving a sign with her name to her “husband’s” house.

If a girl failed to get married, her situation became even sadder. Women without families were outcasts in China. Not accepted by their parents, they often ended their days in special “shelters for old maids” or were forced to become prostitutes. Therefore, despite the fact that the life of a married Chinese woman was full, at least at first, of humiliation and hard work, Chinese girls strived for marriage. However, nothing depended on them, as well as on the young men, in this matter.

The history of China goes back more than four thousand years. But the Chinese are committed to tradition, so we can say with confidence: the wedding ceremony, as ethnographers of the early 20th century found it, is rooted in the distant past. This is roughly how families were created hundreds, maybe even thousands of years ago. It was a very difficult procedure.

Sometimes, from time immemorial, two clans living nearby exchanged brides, but the initiative usually came from the groom’s family. His numerous relatives gathered for a family council. The opinion of the mother’s brother was especially significant; there was even a saying: “In heaven is the Heavenly Lord, on earth is the maternal uncle.” Relatives discussed potential brides in detail. It was very important that the bride’s surname did not coincide with the groom’s surname. At the same time, the degree of relationship did not matter; in some areas it was customary to marry cousins. But marriage between namesakes was strictly prohibited, and this prohibition remains to this day. The Chinese believe that its violation threatens both the family and offspring with terrible misfortunes.

In the south of China, a girl was considered ripe for marriage at fifteen, and in the north - at sixteen - seventeen years old. When a suitable candidate was found, before sending matchmakers, it was necessary to obtain the consent of the deceased ancestors. The required sacrifices were made to the ancestors, and if they agreed to the marriage (which was confirmed by fortunetellers), then the groom's father sent the bride's parents a wild goose - a symbol of the marriage proposal. This proposal was only preliminary. A goose is a goose, but you can’t bring a bride into the house without knowing her horoscope. And the bride’s family usually did not immediately accept the proposal. However, she did not immediately reject him, even if the groom turned out to be completely unsuitable: it was considered impolite to rush in this matter. Therefore, the matchmakers ran back and forth and brought gifts, until finally the girl’s parents gave them a document certifying the year, month, day and hour of the bride’s birth. Then the groom's parents drew up a similar document, gave both papers to the fortune tellers, and they made the final verdict.

Now it was time to exchange marriage guarantees. They recorded not only information about the young, but also the names, ranks and positions of the heads of both families over the last three generations; the relatives who lived with them were listed; A list of all family property was made public. The bride's side also included a dowry list. The size of the bride price was also indicated here. This ransom was called tea money, because tea was considered a symbol of fertility and marital fidelity. So the groom, as it were, gave the bride’s family a “tip,” but the size of the ransom, of course, was incommensurate with the “tip.”

The guarantees were written on “lucky” red pieces of paper with images of a dragon and a phoenix. In general, red in China, before it became the color of the revolution, was the color of weddings. The bride's clothes, the palanquin in which she was carried to the house of her future husband, and the wedding candles were red... Probably, the wedding procession in medieval China resembled a May Day demonstration.

But we still had to live to see this procession. In the meantime, the bride, groom, and their families still had to go through many ceremonies. However, the expression “we had to survive” is not entirely correct. After signing the contract, it was no longer necessary to live. In the event of the death of one of the spouses, the marriage could still take place. It happened that the bride became a widow even before the wedding, but she still moved into the house of the deceased groom. And if she herself died, then a memorial tablet with her name was brought to her husband’s house and his children from other marriages were supposed to honor the deceased as a deceased mother.

But let's not talk about sad things. Usually both the groom and the bride were alive and well, and the groom's family sent gifts to the bride: earrings, bracelets and pieces of fabric - red, of course. Delicacies were placed in special red boxes: expensive rice, tea, salt... Several paired items were always present: two legs of lamb, figurines of a rabbit and a rabbit baked from dough, two fish... According to custom, the bride's family returned half of the gifts, adding their own gifts to them : clothes, shoes, writing instruments.

It often happened that the groom could see the bride for the first time only at the wedding. But in some areas of China there was a tradition of preliminary meeting of the newlyweds. Until this point, it was still possible to refuse marriage, although this happened very rarely. But if the groom stuck a gold hairpin into the bride's hair at the bride's party, there was no turning back. If the bride received two pieces of silk instead of a hairpin, this meant that she would be consoled with silk instead of a wedding... However, back in the Ming Dynasty, bridesmaids were abolished, and now the newlyweds met for the first time when the bride, at the height of the wedding celebrations, went to the groom’s house.

But the wedding day is set by fortune tellers. Meanwhile, the “Chinese ceremonies” continued. The exchange of gifts continued. The groom's family sent the bride goldfish (a symbol of fertility), round cakes made of rice or wheat. And three days before the wedding, the girl received a roasted pig, ram, rooster and chicken and toiletries. Meanwhile, the bride’s parents sent a dowry to the groom’s house: furniture, bed linen, personal belongings...

The bride herself had to observe seclusion even more strictly than usual. She was supposed to sit on the women's side of the house and cry. The girlfriends invited for this purpose helped me cry. And when you got tired of crying, you were allowed to sing songs that denigrated the matchmakers, the groom, and even his parents. The groom in these songs was called a “greedy dog” and a “hairy insect.” But a woman could use such expressions in relation to her husband only once in her life. Very little time will pass, and the legal wife will not even dare to raise her eyes to her new relatives. And for swearing at her husband, according to the Tang Criminal Code, a wife could receive up to a year of hard labor.

Having poured out her soul for the last time, the bride treated herself to a ritual meal of a pig and a rooster sent by the groom. On the eve of the wedding, she was also supposed to eat a chicken neck, a wing and two boiled eggs.

Meanwhile, the groom was feasting in his house. The main figure for him now was his mother’s brother, whom he had to treat with “four large dishes,” including the obligatory millet porridge with meat.

At the same time, preparations were being made in the groom’s house to welcome the bride: they were making cosmetic repairs and whitewashing the walls. However, the groom himself usually did not participate in this: only people with children could prepare the house for the wedding. Above the marital bed they hung four small bundles of boiled rice and one larger central one. For some reason he was called “mother”. Five coins issued by five different emperors were placed under the bed. A wooden measure of rice was placed on the bed, scissors, small scales, a mirror, and a bow and arrow were placed on top.

On the wedding day, the bride wore a red dress (sometimes it was replaced with a green one) and a red robe. Attached to her clothes were two bags containing a peach and dog hair. The bride's elaborate headdress resembled the crown of an empress. It was a metal frame decorated with bird feathers, glass pendants, silk pompoms and medallions attached to springs. The bride's face was hidden by a red veil with an embroidered dragon. And under the veil the girl was heavily whitened, rouged and made up. Cosmetics are not a tribute to coquetry, but a tribute to ritual. And even the strictest mother-in-law will not judge the bride for plucked eyebrows and shaved hair on her forehead, for a layer of powder and blush, for crimson lips drawn in a circle - this has been the custom from time immemorial. And it was also customary for this face, which rather resembles a mask, to remain impassive, like a mask. And of course, a smile should not appear on him: smiling, much less laughing and baring his teeth in public, was considered extremely indecent.

However, on the wedding day, it was indecent for the bride not only to smile, but even to walk and talk. When a palanquin was sent for her at the hour determined by the fortuneteller, she continued to sit motionless on the chair, and the only thing she was allowed to do was cry under her veil. Although she, most likely, could not cry either: there was no leave-in cosmetics then, and tears could ruin the carefully applied ritual coloring. So the permission to cry was most likely symbolic. But the motionless bride, crying or not crying, was loaded into a palanquin along with the chair, firecrackers exploded around her, grains were scattered, and the wedding cortege set off for the groom’s house.

It probably looked quite impressive. If the bride and groom belonged to the ruling class, the ceremony necessarily took place at night. Torchbearers walked in front of the palanquin, followed by musicians. Someone always carried a red umbrella and a teapot, flowers, red candles...

When the procession arrived at the groom's house, he and his relatives were ready to meet - not with the bride, but with the evil spirits that she might bring with her. Of course, the bride was escorted and carried with all sorts of precautions, and in her palanquin, in addition to the bags with talismans sewn to the dress, there was a bronze mirror, which, as is known, spirits cannot stand. Sometimes this mirror was hung on her chest. Nevertheless, it never hurts to be on the safe side. Therefore, when the palanquin and the bride were brought into the courtyard, the groom first of all fired at it with a bow in order to defeat those evil spirits who were not afraid of the dog’s hair and the mirror. His relatives helped him with fireworks. Then the palanquin was carried over the fire, beans and nuts were scattered around - symbols of fertility. Sometimes the palanquin was sprinkled with rooster's blood, this was supposed to finally finish off the evil spirits that were not shot by the groom. Well, a small table with dishes was immediately set up for the good spirits. After which the showdown with the spirits stopped for a while and the attention of those present finally turned to the bride.

The palanquin was lowered to the ground, its door facing the “happy” side, and the girl went outside. She was presented with symbolic gifts: a piece of sugar, sweet cakes and two boiled eggs, red and blue. There were also more significant gifts: another mirror, a comb and a jug of jewelry - a gift from the groom.

And finally, the bride was heading to the house where she was to meet her new family. This family was huge, because it included many generations, both living and dead. Moreover, she had to introduce herself to the dead first of all... The bride’s path was covered with mats or a carpet of the same red color. And sometimes she was carried into the house, but this was not done by the groom (in China, men do not carry women in their arms, either literally or figuratively), but by one of the women. At the door, the bride stepped over the saddle, because the word “saddle” is consonant with the words “rest” and “peace,” and the groom coming out to meet her could finally see his betrothed for the first time. However, so far he has only seen a figure wrapped in a robe over a dress, and a face covered with a veil. The groom presented the girl with two pieces of red cloth and a calendar, and the newlyweds walked to the altars, where there were signs with the names of the groom's deceased ancestors. The girl knelt before everyone, and the new relatives pushed her from behind, this symbolized their power and the submission of the bride.

And finally, after the young people bowed to Heaven, Earth and their ancestors, the marriage was considered completed. Now the bride could take off her veil, and the groom, sometimes for the first time, saw the face of the one with whom he forever linked his fate (if, of course, he could see something through the impassive painted mask).

Since during the newlyweds’ communication with good spirits, evil spirits could become more active, the groom again had to take some measures against them. He led the bride into the room intended for the new family and fired an arrow into each corner. After which the wedding feast began. The newlyweds were presented with glasses of wine or tea tied with red thread. A bowl of dumplings was placed on a basin turned upside down, symbolizing numerous offspring. Sometimes the bride and groom exchanged shoes, which meant that they wanted to live together into old age. Guests brought gifts to the newlyweds, most often these were envelopes with money, and the amount in each of them was necessarily a multiple of forty.

The feast lasted three days. And the bride and groom, having completed the necessary rituals, were going to retire to the bedroom. By this time, the bride was changing her girlish hairstyle to a woman's one. The young people had time to taste the special “long life noodles”, the incredible length of which was supposed to lengthen their lives. A towel was laid on the newlyweds' bed, which had to be presented to the mother-in-law in the morning. But it was not so easy for the young to fulfill their marital duties and properly stain the towel. Demons, as you know, do not sleep, and to fight them, the friends of the newlyweds staged the so-called “commotion in the marriage chambers.”

After all, if friends don’t create a “commotion,” demons can create it, and this is much more dangerous. However, conscientious guests did such things as part of the “commotion” that the bride might have preferred demons, because at least they were silent... The friends were by no means silent. They uncontrollably entered the couple's bedroom, discussed the bride's appearance, made obscene jokes, and sang obscene songs. The bride had no right to react to this, and the young husband could pay off the uninvited visitors, but they showed up again and again or organized cat concerts under the newlyweds’ window.

On the third day after the wedding, the newlyweds paid a visit to their wife's parents. By this time, etiquette came into force, according to which the husband should not publicly pay any attention to his wife. Therefore, they each rode in their own palanquin. He had to return on the same day, because for the first month after the wedding the young wife was not allowed to spend the night outside the house. However, it was in her interests not to be away at night and to try to get pregnant as soon as possible. After all, only after the wife gave birth to her husband’s boy-heir, did she begin to enjoy at least some rights in her new family. In the meantime, she had to unquestioningly obey her husband and mother-in-law.

Another reason why the young wife should take care of the heir was that the husband had the right to divorce, for which there were seven traditional reasons. First on their list was their wife's infertility. The woman herself did not exercise the right to divorce. A Chinese woman most often had one husband for the rest of her life. For widows, traditional morality did not recommend remarriage. But a man could easily take a concubine even with a living wife.

The family code of the Tang era (VII-X centuries) has been preserved, regulating in detail the relationships between husband, wife and concubines. The fact is that the concubine was a member of the family, a kind of wife, but of a lower rank. Moreover, if there was only one wife, concubines could be taken “without counting.” Sometimes the bride, entering her husband's house, immediately brought with her her younger sister or niece as a concubine. Marriage with such women was formalized quite officially, a contract was concluded, gifts and “tea money” were transferred. As in the case of a wife, it was forbidden to take a concubine of the same name. It was forbidden to take slaves as concubines without first giving them freedom. There were other restrictions. For example, an official could not take a concubine from the family of his subordinate; this was punishable by a hundred strokes of the cane. And if a subordinate nevertheless offered his boss some woman as a concubine, this was equivalent to a bribe.

The concubine had to call the main wife mistress. She wore mourning for her main wife, but the main wife did not wear mourning for her concubine. The husband also did not mourn for his concubine if she did not manage to bear him a son. The Tang Criminal Code for all offenses of a husband or a stranger against a concubine provided for punishment one or two levels lower than for offenses against a wife. For example, if a slave raped his master's concubine, his punishment was one step lower than for raping his wife. A husband for the murder of his own concubine received a punishment two degrees less than for the murder of a stranger. And the legal wife could even kill the concubine without any criminal consequences for herself; it was enough for her to prove that the murder was committed unintentionally. If the poor concubine, unable to bear her powerless situation, dared to scold her husband, then she was threatened with up to one and a half years of hard labor (for a wife in a similar situation - “only” one year).

Everything we have talked about so far concerns an ordinary Chinese family. But there was also a special family in China, where the number of wives and concubines sometimes amounted to thousands. This is the imperial harem.

The first harem in China was owned by the son of the Yellow Emperor, the mythical founder of China who lived in the 3rd millennium BC. He had one main wife and three concubines. The four of them symbolized the four cardinal directions, and together with the emperor they made up the number five, which was considered sacred. During the reign of the ancient Xia dynasty, the number of wives and concubines was increased to twelve, during the reign of the Yin dynasty - to thirty-nine, and the Zhou dynasty - to one hundred and twenty. Each time, the increase in the number of wives was explained by the symbolic meaning of the numbers: the wives were divided into groups and categories, and the number of women in each of them was full of higher meaning. True, when Emperor Xuanzong increased the number of women to forty thousand, it was already difficult to explain this with numerology. During the Tang Dynasty, the harem acquired a complete structure. It housed the chief wife, four junior wives, nine maids of the empress, nine "learned girls" and three groups of twenty-seven "junior girls".

But anyone who thinks that the life of the Chinese emperor was full of love pleasures and poetic pleasures would be wrong. The Chinese would not be Chinese if they had not introduced the strictest ceremony here too. The Emperor was the Son of Heaven, the focus of cosmic forces, the giver of life on earth.

His power was limitless... But he had the right to make love with his wives only under the strict control of eunuchs! And eunuchs are not the best mentors in love affairs. And if the Son of Heaven did not have time to complete his marital duties in the allotted time, no forces of Heaven and Earth could avert the fatal cry of the valet: “Time is up!”

A huge number of eunuchs served under the harem. One of them, the emperor's chief valet, kept a record of the nights that his lord spent with the empress, so that in the event of conception, astrologers could find out its exact date and time. As for meetings with the other wives and concubines, communication with them looked something like this.

After dinner, the valet brought his master a tray on which lay green cards with the names of his wives and concubines. The emperor could choose one of the cards. Then the eunuch went to the chosen one to prepare her for the “night of love.” But love is love, and the life of the Son of Heaven had to be protected, and the protection of one’s bread, or rather, rice, was not in vain. Therefore, a woman, even if she was a beloved and loving wife, was stripped naked so that she could not carry a dagger under her robe. Then she was wrapped in a cape made of bird feathers, which was safe from the point of view of the guards, and carried on her back to the bedroom of her august husband. From this moment the countdown began. Was there any tenderness here! One can imagine how nervous the Son of Heaven was, looking at the hourglass... But then the first exclamation was heard outside the doors: “Time is up!” The second exclamation... Simultaneously with the third exclamation, the valet entered the bedroom of the poor Son of Heaven and dispassionately removed the concubine from the bed. The emperor was to inform the eunuch whether he wished to have a child from this meeting. If “yes,” then the time of the meeting was recorded in the protocol. If “no”, then appropriate measures were taken.

Chinese tradition is generally surprisingly devoid of eroticism. It was formed, on the one hand, under the influence of Confucianism, which considered a woman a being of a lower order, and saw the meaning of life in moral self-improvement and observance of rituals. In the Confucian model of the world, there was practically no place for eros, except to the extent that it was necessary for procreation. Confucius himself was born from the marriage of a seventy-year-old man named Shuliang He and a sixteen-year-old girl. His first wife, Shulan He, gave birth to eight girls. The second, whom he married in his seventh decade, gave birth to a lame boy, and the crippled could not make sacrifices to the souls of the departed. To ensure his afterlife well-being, the old man married for the third time, this time more than successfully. He gave birth not only to a great sage, but also to a man passionately devoted to ritual. Of course, Confucius took good care of the soul of his deceased parent. But Confucius himself, born of a dispassionate forced union, inherited and commanded his disciples to have a cold attitude towards women.

On the other hand, the Chinese were influenced by Taoism, which placed great importance on sex. Taoists believed that sexual techniques contributed to health, longevity and, ultimately, immortality. But here, too, the attitude towards a woman has always been purely functional, devoid of not only romance, but even simple admiration. The Taoists called sexual techniques “the art of the inner chambers” and gave them a corresponding place between gymnastics, breathing exercises and the use of various cinnabar potions. The Chinese sage Baopu Tzu said:

Although taking drugs is the basis for prolonging life, you can simultaneously engage in the regulation of pneuma (breathing exercises. – O.I.), and the benefits of such practice will quickly increase. If it is not possible to get drugs, then it is enough to regulate pneuma, and, having exhausted these methods to the end, you can achieve longevity of several hundred years. At the same time, it is good to know the art of inner chambers, since those who do not know the art of yin and yang often suffer exhaustion of strength and find it difficult to draw strength from practicing the regulation of pneuma.

In bed, Confucianism and Taoism came into irreconcilable conflict with each other. After all, good citizens, the Confucians, fulfilled their marital duty primarily in order to have children. The Taoists, on the contrary, categorically insisted on delaying ejaculation and promised all the joys of life for this, from health to immortality. The treatise “Ten Questions”, created at the turn of the 4th and 3rd centuries BC and written on one hundred and one bamboo strips, has survived. In it, wise sovereigns and immortal sages share sexual experiences with each other:

If sperm is not consumed during the first copulation, then vision and hearing become sharper and sharper. If the sperm is not consumed during the next copulation, the voice becomes clear and loud. If during the third copulation the sperm is not consumed, the skin becomes radiant. If sperm is not consumed during the fourth copulation, then the spinal column and shoulders are strengthened so much that they cannot be damaged. If sperm is not consumed during the fifth copulation, the buttocks, pelvic area and legs are strengthened. If during the sixth copulation the sperm is not consumed, then all the veins begin to communicate well with each other. If the seed is not consumed during the seventh copulation, then longevity may increase. If the sperm is not consumed during the ninth copulation, then penetration into the divine mind is achieved.

One can only be surprised that the Chinese, following the instructions of their Taoist sages, became the most numerous people on earth. Apparently, Confucianism won a convincing victory over Taoism in bed.

Taoism came into some conflict with Chinese laws. Thus, the sage Ge Hong, who lived in the 4th century AD, recommended the Chinese to have as many relationships as possible, believing that men “derive the greater benefit and benefit the more women they communicate with.” He set his students as an example of the founder of Chinese statehood, the Yellow Emperor Huangdi, who had one thousand two hundred women. True, the sage emphasized that you can’t achieve anything with just quantity, and insisted on the strictest adherence to the technique of “the art of inner chambers” with each of these thousand two hundred women, if diligent students could acquire such a number.

Apparently, the Chinese heeded the calls of the wise teacher (and who wouldn’t!), because three hundred years later, during the Tang dynasty, the state had to issue special laws to protect morality. The Tang code “Tang lü shu yi” clearly regulated what kind of extramarital affairs one could enter into, and which ones one could not, and what would happen for it. It turned out that in addition to wives and concubines, the Chinese had the right to enter into relationships with residents of the “fun quarters” and with his own slaves. All other connections were subject to criminal punishment. Moreover, the law considered and included all conceivable and even unimaginable options under the article.

Among the conceivable options was a love affair between a slave and a slave, which was punishable by ninety blows with heavy sticks. Or a voluntary union of an unmarried Chinese man and an unmarried Chinese woman, not related to each other either by kinship or any other hierarchical connection - such a union was punishable by one and a half years of hard labor. If it turned out that the Chinese woman was married, then this was an aggravating circumstance. Having a husband for a libertine was equated to causing grievous bodily harm during rape. If a person entered into an unlawful relationship with a relative, even if she were “the seventh water on jelly,” he was threatened with three years of hard labor.

Pedantic legislators even provided for such exotic options for the Fall as a relationship with the sister of one’s own grandfather and with the wife of one’s own grandfather’s brother. The young seducer of an old woman was punished with exile for two thousand li (about 800 km - O.I), like grandma herself. If the old woman managed to prove that she did not want to and that violence was committed against her, then the poor gerontophile was executed by strangulation.

However, in a country where sexual practices were used to achieve longevity, a relationship with one’s grandfather’s sister should not be particularly surprising. Perhaps the venerable lady had long practiced the “art of inner chambers” and learned to maintain eternal youth. In addition, as the 7th century Chinese writer Wei Yong wrote, “a true beauty at every age has its own charms. In her youth, when she is fifteen or sixteen years old, she is like a flexible willow, a fragrant flower or spring rain: her body is pure and immaculate, her face is smooth and tender. In her blooming age, she is like the sun shining in the heavens, and the moon shedding its pale light from above... When old age approaches and the feeling of love in her weakens, wisdom and peace of soul come to her. In such years, she is like aged wine, or a tangerine fruit touched by early frost, or an experienced commander who has comprehended all the secrets of the art of war.”

It may be enough for a woman to comprehend all the secrets, but what about a man? With age, he has problems in bed, against which experience is powerless, and Viagra did not exist in the times of the ancient Taoist sages. But that’s why they are sages, to solve any problems. The legendary Taoist teacher Da-cheng recommended that his sexually anxious students add bird meat to their food to increase potency, eat spring sparrow eggs, and excite themselves with “the meat of crowing roosters,” giving special preference to the testes. In addition, Taoists recommend drinking millet broth, eating fragrant onions and cypress fruits.

Modern Chinese traditional medicine also does not stand aside from the problem of impotence, although today the Chinese, with their demographic problems, do not seem reasonable to care about increasing potency. But this is at the level of state policy. And an individual Chinese, in the case of family problems (and there are no others in China, they again passed a law prohibiting extramarital cohabitation) uses a reliable old-fashioned recipe:

Take a young chicken that has not laid eggs, put 500 g of turtle meat, 9 g of white pepper (the fruit of the same plant as black pepper, but removed when ripe and freed from the shell) and 500 g of unrefined (brown) sugar. Place the chicken in a pot, pour in one liter of rice vodka and cook under the lid until cooked. Eat in small portions for two to three days (drink the broth too!). If necessary, repeat after two weeks.

Grandfather's recipes, combined with Confucian family virtues and Taoist sexual techniques, produce amazing results. Today there are approximately 1,300,000,000 Chinese people in the world. And the state's attempts to limit the birth rate lead to unpredictable results. For example, in China today there are significantly fewer brides than grooms. The fact is that representatives of the indigenous Chinese nationality, the Han, living in the city are allowed to have only one child. Naturally, as soon as a woman finds out that she is expecting a girl, she immediately gets rid of the fetus: the family will manage without a girl, but not without a boy. Rural residents are allowed to have two children, but they do not want to take risks and try to give birth to boys whenever possible. As a result, by 2010 there will be 40 million “extra” men in China. But there are already a lot of them. Crowds of unsettled grooms are wandering around China, bride theft is beginning to become a custom. And it’s not surprising, because the price of a bride in Hebei province, for example, is $600 – about three monthly salaries. As a result, marriage traditions are changing: From the book I treated Stalin: from the secret archives of the USSR author Chazov Evgeniy Ivanovich

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“The wife you married and the horse you bought is for you to ride and teach with a whip,” says an old Chinese proverb. And if someone doesn’t like the comparison with a horse, then there is something else: the character for “family” in Chinese consists of a combination of the characters “roof” and “pig”. Like this: pigs living under one roof. A pig, of course, is a useful and even cute animal. But relationships between humans and pigs are usually devoid of romance. In the same way, the relationship of a Chinese man with his wife is traditionally devoid of not only romance, but also ordinary human warmth. At the very least, they are deprived of external relations dictated by tradition and ritual. In old China, it was considered absolutely indecent if a husband publicly or even among relatives showed any attention to his wife. It was assumed that his love for his wife detracted from his devotion to his parents. Chinese literature is silent about love. As a rule, there is no passion or flirtation in her. And if love, as an exception, does arise, its outcome will be sad. However, love, as a rule, simply had nowhere to arise. Confucian morality, which dominated Chinese society for two and a half millennia, practically prohibited communication between men and women. Did the man who extended his hand to the drowning woman do a good thing? The question, from the point of view of a Confucian, is very controversial: after all, the rescuer touched her hand. Not everyone approved of such immorality. Tradition says that Confucius did not recommend that men and women sit at the same table. If a woman met a man on the street, she had to cross to the other side. Confucius said: “The most difficult things to deal with in the home are women and servants. If you bring them closer, they become impudent, and if you move them away, they become embittered.” One funny episode from the life of Confucius speaks about how isolated Chinese women lived. When the famous philosopher was visiting the kingdom of Wei, a local ruler named Ling Kung was married to a woman who had an extremely bad reputation. But she was interested in the visiting sage, and the queen wanted to see Confucius. Twice Nanzi sent him invitations, and twice the sage, under various pretexts, refused an audience. When he received the third invitation, it was no longer possible to refuse, and Confucius went to the palace. He did this in secret from his disciples, because meeting a woman with a bad reputation, even if she was a queen, was at odds with the morality that Confucius preached. He secretly entered Nanzi's chambers, bowed and stood motionless for some time. The queen looked at him through the patterned canopy. Nanzi was a wayward woman, she completely subjugated the weak-willed king and was accustomed to satisfying all her whims, but even she would not dare to come out from behind the curtain or speak to an unfamiliar man. Having looked at the sage enough, Nanzi bowed, and by the ringing of her jasper pendants, Confucius realized that the audience was over. He, in turn, silently bowed and returned home. The students, who learned about the sage’s visit to the queen, were outraged that their teacher had so grossly violated decency and “communicated” with a stranger. It is clear that under such conditions, romantic love in China was rare. But any Chinese considered getting married his duty to his family: after all, a wife is a worker. A Chinese peasant saying goes: “A woman is stronger than a man.” And this woman, having found herself absolutely powerless in a new family, really had to work like a slave, unquestioningly obeying her mother-in-law and husband. In addition, the Chinese needed sons: after all, only a son can take care of the father’s spirit when he dies. Therefore, Chinese young men willingly entered into marriage. However, no one really asked their consent: everything was decided by the parents. Girls also wanted to get married. Since childhood, the girl felt like a stranger in her home. The Book of Songs, the oldest literary monument of China, says: “When a boy is born, he is laid on the bed and given to play with jasper; when a girl is born, they put her on the floor and let her play with the shards.” The girl was forbidden to play with boys, even with her own brothers. But she was taught to obey these brothers, laying the foundation for future obedience to her husband. The Chinese did not perceive their daughters as members of their family: after all, they still had to leave this family. The secrets of the family craft were often hidden from daughters so that they would not pass them on to their husband's family. If a girl died before she could get married, her memorial tablet could not stand on the family altar in her parents' house: after all, in this house the daughter was only a temporary guest. And her parents sometimes married her off “posthumously,” moving a sign with her name to her “husband’s” house. If a girl failed to get married, her situation became even sadder. Women without families were outcasts in China. Not accepted by their parents, they often ended their days in special “shelters for old maids” or were forced to become prostitutes. Therefore, despite the fact that the life of a married Chinese woman was full, at least at first, of humiliation and hard work, Chinese girls strived for marriage. However, nothing depended on them, as well as on the young men, in this matter. The history of China goes back more than four thousand years. But the Chinese are committed to tradition, so we can say with confidence: the wedding ceremony, as ethnographers of the early 20th century found it, is rooted in the distant past. This is roughly how families were created hundreds, maybe even thousands of years ago. It was a very difficult procedure. Sometimes, from time immemorial, two clans living nearby exchanged brides, but the initiative usually came from the groom’s family. His numerous relatives gathered for a family council. The opinion of the mother’s brother was especially significant; there was even a saying: “In heaven is the Heavenly Lord, on earth is the maternal uncle.” Relatives discussed potential brides in detail. It was very important that the bride’s surname did not coincide with the groom’s surname. At the same time, the degree of relationship did not matter; in some areas it was customary to marry cousins. But marriage between namesakes was strictly prohibited, and this prohibition remains to this day. The Chinese believe that its violation threatens both the family and offspring with terrible misfortunes. In the south of China, a girl was considered ripe for marriage at fifteen, and in the north - at sixteen or seventeen years old. When a suitable candidate was found, before sending matchmakers, it was necessary to obtain the consent of the deceased ancestors. The required sacrifices were made to the ancestors, and if they agreed to the marriage (which was confirmed by fortunetellers), then the groom's father sent the bride's parents a wild goose - a symbol of the marriage proposal. This proposal was only preliminary. A goose is a goose, but you can’t bring a bride into the house without knowing her horoscope. And the bride’s family usually did not immediately accept the proposal. However, she did not immediately reject him, even if the groom turned out to be completely unsuitable: it was considered impolite to rush in this matter. Therefore, the matchmakers ran back and forth and brought gifts, until finally the girl’s parents gave them a document certifying the year, month, day and hour of the bride’s birth. Then the groom's parents drew up a similar document, gave both papers to the fortune tellers, and they made the final verdict. Now it was time to exchange marriage guarantees. They recorded not only information about the young, but also the names, ranks and positions of the heads of both families over the last three generations; the relatives who lived with them were listed; A list of all family property was made public. The bride's side also included a dowry list. The size of the bride price was also indicated here. This ransom was called tea money, because tea was considered a symbol of fertility and marital fidelity. So the groom, as it were, gave the bride’s family a “tip,” but the size of the ransom, of course, was incommensurate with the “tip.” The guarantees were written on “lucky” red pieces of paper with images of a dragon and a phoenix. In general, red in China, before it became the color of the revolution, was the color of weddings. The bride's clothes, the palanquin in which she was carried to the house of her future husband, and the wedding candles were red... Probably, the wedding procession in medieval China resembled a May Day demonstration. But we still had to live to see this procession. In the meantime, the bride, groom, and their families still had to go through many ceremonies. However, the expression “we had to survive” is not entirely correct. After signing the contract, it was no longer necessary to live. In the event of the death of one of the spouses, the marriage could still take place. It happened that the bride became a widow even before the wedding, but she still moved into the house of the deceased groom. And if she herself died, then a memorial tablet with her name was brought to her husband’s house and his children from other marriages were supposed to honor the deceased as a deceased mother. But let's not talk about sad things. Usually both the groom and the bride were alive and well, and the groom's family sent gifts to the bride: earrings, bracelets and pieces of fabric - red, of course. Delicacies were placed in special red boxes: expensive rice, tea, salt... Several paired items were always present: two legs of lamb, figurines of a rabbit and a rabbit baked from dough, two fish... According to custom, the bride’s family returned half of the gifts, adding to them their gifts: clothes, shoes, writing materials. It often happened that the groom could see the bride for the first time only at the wedding. But in some areas of China there was a tradition of preliminary meeting of the newlyweds. Until this point, it was still possible to refuse marriage, although this happened very rarely. But if the groom stuck a gold hairpin into the bride's hair at the bride's party, there was no turning back. If the bride received two pieces of silk instead of a hairpin, this meant that she would be consoled with silk instead of a wedding... However, even during the Ming Dynasty, bridesmaids were canceled, and now the newlyweds met for the first time when the bride, at the height of the wedding celebrations, went to the groom's house . But the wedding day is set by fortune tellers. Meanwhile, the “Chinese ceremonies” continued. The exchange of gifts continued. The groom's family sent the bride goldfish (a symbol of fertility), round cakes made of rice or wheat. And three days before the wedding, the girl received a roasted pig, ram, rooster and chicken and toiletries. Meanwhile, the bride's parents sent a dowry to the groom's house: furniture, bed linen, personal belongings... The bride herself had to observe seclusion even more strictly than usual. She was supposed to sit on the women's side of the house and cry. The girlfriends invited for this purpose helped me cry. And when you got tired of crying, you were allowed to sing songs that denigrated the matchmakers, the groom, and even his parents. The groom in these songs was called a “greedy dog” and a “hairy insect.” But a woman could use such expressions in relation to her husband only once in her life. Very little time will pass, and the legal wife will not even dare to raise her eyes to her new relatives. And for swearing at her husband, according to the Tang Criminal Code, a wife could receive up to a year of hard labor. Having poured out her soul for the last time, the bride treated herself to a ritual meal of a pig and a rooster sent by the groom. On the eve of the wedding, she was also supposed to eat a chicken neck, a wing and two boiled eggs. Meanwhile, the groom was feasting in his house. The main figure for him now was his mother’s brother, whom he had to treat with “four large dishes,” including the obligatory millet porridge with meat. At the same time, preparations were being made in the groom’s house to welcome the bride: they were making cosmetic repairs and whitewashing the walls. However, the groom himself usually did not participate in this: only people with children could prepare the house for the wedding. Above the marital bed they hung four small bundles of boiled rice and one larger central one. For some reason he was called “mother.” Five coins issued by five different emperors were placed under the bed. A wooden measure of rice was placed on the bed, scissors, small scales, a mirror, and a bow and arrow were placed on top. On the wedding day, the bride wore a red dress (sometimes it was replaced with a green one) and a red robe. Attached to her clothes were two bags containing a peach and dog hair. The bride's elaborate headdress resembled the crown of an empress. It was a metal frame decorated with bird feathers, glass pendants, silk pompoms and medallions attached to springs. The bride's face was hidden by a red veil with an embroidered dragon. And under the veil the girl was heavily whitened, rouged and made up. Cosmetics are not a tribute to coquetry, but a tribute to ritual. And even the strictest mother-in-law will not judge the bride for plucked eyebrows and shaved hair on her forehead, for a layer of powder and blush, for crimson lips drawn in a circle - this has been the custom from time immemorial. And it was also customary for this face, which rather resembles a mask, to remain impassive, like a mask. And of course, a smile should not appear on him: smiling, much less laughing and baring his teeth in public, was considered extremely indecent. However, on the wedding day, it was indecent for the bride not only to smile, but even to walk and talk. When a palanquin was sent for her at the hour determined by the fortuneteller, she continued to sit motionless on the chair, and the only thing she was allowed to do was cry under her veil. Although she, most likely, could not cry either: there was no leave-in cosmetics then, and tears could ruin the carefully applied ritual coloring. So the permission to cry was most likely symbolic. But the motionless bride, crying or not crying, was loaded into a palanquin along with the chair, firecrackers exploded around her, grains were scattered, and the wedding cortege set off for the groom’s house. It probably looked quite impressive. If the bride and groom belonged to the ruling class, the ceremony necessarily took place at night. Torchbearers walked in front of the palanquin, followed by musicians. Someone always carried a red umbrella and a teapot, flowers, red candles... When the procession arrived at the groom's house, he and his relatives were ready to meet - but not with the bride, but with the evil spirits that she could bring with her. Of course, the bride was escorted and carried with all sorts of precautions, and in her palanquin, in addition to the bags with talismans sewn to the dress, there was a bronze mirror, which, as is known, spirits cannot stand. Sometimes this mirror was hung on her chest. Nevertheless, it never hurts to be on the safe side. Therefore, when the palanquin and the bride were brought into the courtyard, the groom first of all fired at it with a bow in order to defeat those evil spirits who were not afraid of the dog’s hair and the mirror. His relatives helped him with fireworks. Then the palanquin was carried over the fire, and beans and nuts were scattered around - symbols of fertility. Sometimes the palanquin was sprinkled with rooster's blood, this was supposed to finally finish off the evil spirits that were not shot by the groom. Well, a small table with dishes was immediately set up for the good spirits. After which the showdown with the spirits stopped for a while and the attention of those present finally turned to the bride. The palanquin was lowered to the ground, its door facing the “happy” side, and the girl went outside. She was presented with symbolic gifts: a piece of sugar, sweet cakes and two boiled eggs, red and blue. There were also more significant gifts: another mirror, a comb and a jug of jewelry - a gift from the groom. And finally, the bride was heading to the house where she was to meet her new family. This family was huge, because it included many generations, both living and dead. Moreover, she had to introduce herself to the dead first of all... The bride’s path was covered with mats or a carpet of the same red color. And sometimes she was carried into the house, but this was not done by the groom (in China, men do not carry women in their arms, either literally or figuratively), but by one of the women. At the door, the bride stepped over the saddle, because the word “saddle” is consonant with the words “rest” and “peace,” and the groom coming out to meet her could finally see his betrothed for the first time. However, so far he has only seen a figure wrapped in a robe over a dress, and a face covered with a veil. The groom presented the girl with two pieces of red cloth and a calendar, and the newlyweds walked to the altars, where there were signs with the names of the groom's deceased ancestors. The girl knelt before everyone, and the new relatives pushed her from behind, this symbolized their power and the submission of the bride. And finally, after the young people bowed to Heaven, Earth and their ancestors, the marriage was considered completed. Now the bride could take off her veil, and the groom, sometimes for the first time, saw the face of the one with whom he forever linked his fate (if, of course, he could see something through the impassive painted mask). Since during the newlyweds’ communication with good spirits, evil spirits could become more active, the groom again had to take some measures against them. He led the bride into the room intended for the new family and fired an arrow into each corner. After which the wedding feast began. The newlyweds were presented with glasses of wine or tea tied with red thread. A bowl of dumplings was placed on a basin turned upside down, symbolizing numerous offspring. Sometimes the bride and groom exchanged shoes, which meant that they wanted to live together into old age. Guests brought gifts to the newlyweds, most often these were envelopes with money, and the amount in each of them was necessarily a multiple of forty. The feast lasted three days. And the bride and groom, having completed the necessary rituals, were going to retire to the bedroom. By this time, the bride was changing her girlish hairstyle to a woman's one. The young people had time to taste the special “long life noodles”, the incredible length of which was supposed to lengthen their lives. A towel was laid on the newlyweds' bed, which had to be presented to the mother-in-law in the morning. But it was not so easy for the young to fulfill their marital duties and properly stain the towel. Demons, as you know, do not sleep, and to fight them, the friends of the newlyweds staged the so-called “commotion in the marriage chambers.” After all, if friends don’t create a “commotion,” demons can create it, and this is much more dangerous. However, conscientious guests did such things as part of the “commotion” that the bride might have preferred demons, because at least they were silent... The friends were by no means silent. They uncontrollably entered the couple's bedroom, discussed the bride's appearance, made obscene jokes, and sang obscene songs. The bride had no right to react to this, and the young husband could pay off the uninvited visitors, but they showed up again and again or organized cat concerts under the newlyweds’ window. On the third day after the wedding, the newlyweds paid a visit to their wife's parents. By this time, etiquette came into force, according to which the husband should not publicly pay any attention to his wife. Therefore, they each rode in their own palanquin. He had to return on the same day, because for the first month after the wedding the young wife was not allowed to spend the night outside the house. However, it was in her interests not to be away at night and to try to get pregnant as soon as possible. After all, only after the wife gave birth to her husband’s boy-heir, did she begin to enjoy at least some rights in her new family. In the meantime, she had to unquestioningly obey her husband and mother-in-law. Another reason why the young wife should take care of the heir was that the husband had the right to divorce, for which there were seven traditional reasons. First on their list was their wife's infertility. The woman herself did not exercise the right to divorce. A Chinese woman most often had one husband for the rest of her life. For widows, traditional morality did not recommend remarriage. But a man could easily take a concubine even with a living wife. The family code of the Tang era (VII-X centuries) has been preserved, regulating in detail the relationships between husband, wife and concubines. The fact is that the concubine was a member of the family, a kind of wife, but of a lower rank. Moreover, if there was only one wife, concubines could be taken “without counting.” Sometimes the bride, entering her husband's house, immediately brought with her her younger sister or niece as a concubine. Marriage with such women was formalized quite officially, a contract was concluded, gifts and “tea money” were transferred. As in the case of a wife, it was forbidden to take a namesake concubine. It was forbidden to take slaves as concubines without first giving them freedom. There were other restrictions. For example, an official could not take a concubine from the family of his subordinate; this was punishable by a hundred strokes of the cane. And if a subordinate nevertheless offered his boss some woman as a concubine, this was equivalent to a bribe. The concubine had to call the main wife mistress. She wore mourning for her main wife, but the main wife did not wear mourning for her concubine. The husband also did not mourn for his concubine if she did not manage to bear him a son. The Tang Criminal Code for all offenses of a husband or a stranger against a concubine provided for punishment one or two levels lower than for offenses against a wife. For example, if a slave raped his master's concubine, his punishment was one step lower than for raping his wife. A husband for the murder of his own concubine received a punishment two degrees less than for the murder of a stranger. And the legal wife could even kill the concubine without any criminal consequences for herself; it was enough for her to prove that the murder was committed unintentionally. If the poor concubine, unable to bear her powerless situation, dared to scold her husband, then she was threatened with up to one and a half years of hard labor (for a wife in a similar situation - “only” one year). Everything we have talked about so far concerns an ordinary Chinese family. But there was also a special family in China, where the number of wives and concubines sometimes amounted to thousands. This is the imperial harem. The first harem in China was owned by the son of the Yellow Emperor, the mythical founder of China who lived in the 3rd millennium BC. He had one main wife and three concubines. The four of them symbolized the four cardinal directions, and together with the emperor they made up the number five, which was considered sacred. During the reign of the ancient Xia dynasty, the number of wives and concubines was increased to twelve, during the reign of the Yin dynasty - to thirty-nine, and the Zhou dynasty - to one hundred and twenty. Each time, the increase in the number of wives was explained by the symbolic meaning of the numbers: the wives were divided into groups and categories, and the number of women in each of them was full of higher meaning. True, when Emperor Xuanzong increased the number of women to forty thousand, it was already difficult to explain this with numerology. During the Tang Dynasty, the harem acquired a complete structure. It housed the chief wife, four junior wives, nine maids of the empress, nine "learned girls" and three groups of twenty-seven "junior girls". But anyone who thinks that the life of the Chinese emperor was full of love pleasures and poetic pleasures would be wrong. The Chinese would not be Chinese if they had not introduced the strictest ceremony here too. The Emperor was the Son of Heaven, the focus of cosmic forces, the giver of life on earth. His power was limitless... But he had the right to make love with his wives only under the strict control of eunuchs! And eunuchs are not the best mentors in love affairs. And if the Son of Heaven did not have time to complete his marital duties in the allotted time, no forces of Heaven and Earth could avert the fatal cry of the valet: “Time is up!” A huge number of eunuchs served under the harem. One of them - the emperor's chief valet - kept a record of the nights that his lord spent with the empress, so that in the event of conception, astrologers could find out its exact date and time. As for meetings with the other wives and concubines, communication with them looked something like this. After dinner, the valet brought his master a tray on which lay green cards with the names of his wives and concubines. The emperor could choose one of the cards. Then the eunuch went to the chosen one to prepare her for the “night of love.” But love is love, and the life of the Son of Heaven had to be protected, and the protection of one’s bread, or rather, rice, was not in vain. Therefore, a woman, even if she was a beloved and loving wife, was stripped naked so that she could not carry a dagger under her robe. Then she was wrapped in a cape made of bird feathers, which was safe from the point of view of the guards, and carried on her back to the bedroom of her august husband. From this moment the countdown began. Was there any tenderness here! One can imagine how nervous the Son of Heaven was, looking at the hourglass... But then the first exclamation was heard outside the doors: “Time is up!” The second exclamation... Simultaneously with the third exclamation, the valet entered the bedroom of the poor Son of Heaven and dispassionately removed the concubine from the bed. The emperor was to inform the eunuch whether he wished to have a child from this meeting. If “yes,” then the time of the meeting was recorded in the protocol. If “no”, then appropriate measures were taken. Chinese tradition is generally surprisingly devoid of eroticism. It was formed, on the one hand, under the influence of Confucianism, which considered a woman a being of a lower order, and saw the meaning of life in moral self-improvement and observance of rituals. In the Confucian model of the world, there was practically no place for eros, except to the extent that it was necessary for procreation. Confucius himself was born from the marriage of a seventy-year-old man named Shuliang He and a sixteen-year-old girl. His first wife, Shulan He, gave birth to eight girls. The second, whom he married in his seventh decade, gave birth to a lame boy, and the crippled could not make sacrifices to the souls of the departed. To ensure his afterlife well-being, the old man married for the third time, this time more than successfully. He gave birth not only to a great sage, but also to a man passionately devoted to ritual. Of course, Confucius took good care of the soul of his deceased parent. But Confucius himself, born of a dispassionate forced union, inherited and commanded his disciples to have a cold attitude towards women. On the other hand, the Chinese were influenced by Taoism, which placed great importance on sex. Taoists believed that sexual techniques contributed to health, longevity and, ultimately, immortality. But here, too, the attitude towards a woman has always been purely functional, devoid of not only romance, but even simple admiration. The Taoists called sexual techniques “the art of the inner chambers” and gave them a corresponding place between gymnastics, breathing exercises and the use of various cinnabar potions. The Chinese sage Baopuzi said: Although drinking potions is the basis for prolonging life, you can simultaneously engage in the regulation of pneuma (breathing exercises - O.I.), and the benefits of such practice will quickly increase. If it is not possible to get drugs, then it is enough to regulate pneuma, and, having exhausted these methods to the end, you can achieve longevity of several hundred years. At the same time, it is good to know the art of inner chambers, since those who do not know the art of yin and yang often suffer exhaustion of strength and find it difficult to draw strength from practicing the regulation of pneuma. In bed, Confucianism and Taoism came into irreconcilable conflict with each other. After all, good citizens, the Confucians, fulfilled their marital duty primarily in order to have children. The Taoists, on the contrary, categorically insisted on delaying ejaculation and promised all the joys of life for this, from health to immortality. The treatise “Ten Questions”, created at the turn of the 4th and 3rd centuries BC and written on one hundred and one bamboo strips, has survived. In it, wise sovereigns and immortal sages share sexual experiences with each other: If sperm is not consumed during the first copulation, then vision and hearing become sharp and sharp. If the sperm is not consumed during the next copulation, the voice becomes clear and loud. If during the third copulation the sperm is not consumed, the skin becomes radiant. If sperm is not consumed during the fourth copulation, then the spinal column and shoulders are strengthened so much that they cannot be damaged. If sperm is not consumed during the fifth copulation, the buttocks, pelvic area and legs are strengthened. If during the sixth copulation the sperm is not consumed, then all the veins begin to communicate well with each other. If the seed is not consumed during the seventh copulation, then longevity may increase. If the sperm is not consumed during the ninth copulation, then penetration into the divine mind is achieved. One can only be surprised that the Chinese, following the instructions of their Taoist sages, became the most numerous people on earth. Apparently, Confucianism won a convincing victory over Taoism in bed. Taoism came into some conflict with Chinese laws. Thus, the sage Ge Hong, who lived in the 4th century AD, recommended the Chinese to have as many relationships as possible, believing that men “derive the greater benefit and benefit the more women they communicate with.” He set his students as an example the founder of Chinese statehood, the Yellow Emperor Huang Di, who had one thousand two hundred women. True, the sage emphasized that you can’t achieve anything with just quantity, and insisted on the strictest adherence to the technique of “the art of inner chambers” with each of these thousand two hundred women, if diligent students could acquire such a number. Apparently, the Chinese heeded the calls of the wise teacher (and who wouldn’t!), because three hundred years later, during the Tang dynasty, the state had to issue special laws to protect morality. The Tang code “Tang lü shu yi” clearly regulated what kind of extramarital affairs one could enter into, and which ones one could not, and what would happen for it. It turned out that in addition to wives and concubines, the Chinese had the right to enter into relationships with residents of the “fun quarters” and with his own slaves. All other connections were subject to criminal punishment. Moreover, the law considered and included all conceivable and even unimaginable options under the article. Among the conceivable options was a love affair between a slave and a slave, which was punishable by ninety blows with heavy sticks. Or a voluntary union of an unmarried Chinese man and an unmarried Chinese woman, not related to each other either by kinship or any other hierarchical connection - such a union was punishable by one and a half years of hard labor. If it turned out that the Chinese woman was married, then this was an aggravating circumstance. Having a husband for a libertine was equated to causing grievous bodily harm during rape. If a person entered into an unlawful relationship with a relative, even if she were “the seventh water on jelly,” he was threatened with three years of hard labor. Pedantic legislators even provided for such exotic options for the Fall as a relationship with the sister of one’s own grandfather and with the wife of one’s own grandfather’s brother. The young seducer of the old woman was punished with exile for two thousand li (about 800 km - O.I.), like the grandmother herself. If the old woman managed to prove that she did not want to and that violence was committed against her, then the poor gerontophile was executed by strangulation. However, in a country where sexual practices were used to achieve longevity, a relationship with one’s grandfather’s sister should not be particularly surprising. Perhaps the venerable lady had long practiced the “art of inner chambers” and learned to maintain eternal youth. In addition, as the 7th century Chinese writer Wei Yong wrote, “a true beauty at every age has its own charms. In her youth, when she is fifteen or sixteen years old, she is like a flexible willow, a fragrant flower or spring rain: her body is pure and immaculate, her face is smooth and tender. In her blooming age, she is like the sun shining in the heavens, and the moon shedding its pale light from above... When old age approaches and the feeling of love in her weakens, wisdom and peace of mind come to her. In such years, she is like aged wine, or a tangerine fruit touched by early frost, or an experienced commander who has comprehended all the secrets of the art of war.” It may be enough for a woman to comprehend all the secrets, but what about a man? With age, he has problems in bed, against which experience is powerless, and Viagra did not exist in the times of the ancient Taoist sages. But that’s why they are sages, to solve any problems. The legendary Taoist teacher Da-cheng recommended that his sexually anxious students add bird meat to their food to increase potency, eat spring sparrow eggs, and excite themselves with “the meat of crowing roosters,” giving special preference to the testes. In addition, Taoists recommend drinking millet broth, eating fragrant onions and cypress fruits. Modern Chinese traditional medicine also does not stand aside from the problem of impotence, although today the Chinese, with their demographic problems, do not seem reasonable to care about increasing potency. But this is at the level of state policy. And an individual Chinese, in case of family problems (and there are no others in China, they again passed a law prohibiting extramarital cohabitation) uses a reliable old-fashioned recipe: Take a young chicken that did not lay eggs, put 500 g of turtle meat, 9 g of white pepper inside ( fruits of the same plant as black pepper, but ripe and freed from the shell) and 500 g of unrefined (brown) sugar. Place the chicken in a pot, pour in one liter of rice vodka and cook under the lid until cooked. Eat in small portions for two to three days (drink the broth too!). If necessary, repeat after two weeks. Grandfather's recipes, combined with Confucian family virtues and Taoist sexual techniques, produce amazing results. Today there are approximately 1,300,000,000 Chinese people in the world. And the state's attempts to limit the birth rate lead to unpredictable results. For example, in China today there are significantly fewer brides than grooms. The fact is that representatives of the indigenous Chinese nationality, the Han, living in the city are allowed to have only one child. Naturally, as soon as a woman finds out that she is expecting a girl, she immediately gets rid of the fetus: the family will manage without a girl, but not without a boy. Rural residents are allowed to have two children, but they do not want to take risks and try to give birth to boys whenever possible. As a result, by 2010 there will be 40 million “extra” men in China. But there are already a lot of them. Crowds of unsettled grooms are wandering around China, and bride theft is beginning to become a custom. And it is not surprising, because the price of a bride in Hebei province, for example, is 600 dollars - about three monthly salaries. As a result, marriage traditions are changing: previously, the groom (more precisely, the groom's family) chose the bride. Nowadays, more and more often, the bride chooses the groom. Chinese women have plenty to choose from. True, today's brides have to wait a long time to make this choice. The minimum age for marriage in China today is 20 years for women and 22 years for men.

We all know that there are "too many people" in China. Let's try to look deeper at the problem and try to understand why the Chinese strive to have many children. Are there really that many Chinese? How are the authorities combating the problem of overpopulation in China and what does this ultimately lead to?

From time immemorial, the main value in China was land. Over the course of several thousand years, different types of allotment systems were replaced, the general meaning of which was that land was allocated according to the number of people in the family. The birth of sons was considered especially lucky, since plots were usually allocated according to the number of men. In addition, men could work on this land, bring women into the house, and then give birth to even more children. While women, after growing up, left their father's house, and the only benefit they could bring to their parents was a strategically successful marriage.

Thanks to this, the inextricable connection between the number of children and the well-being of the family, as well as the special value of newborn boys, has been firmly established in the mentality of the Chinese. Over the past four centuries, China's population has grown steadily, but has been held back by various natural and man-made causes (epidemics, famine, war). However, after the end of the Civil War and the founding of the PRC state in 1949, the quality of life in the Celestial Empire began to grow steadily, the achievements of Western medicine finally came to the country, and, despite the relative political instability, life in the country as a whole began to improve, which could not but be reflected on population growth. Below is a table of population growth from the 17th century to 2010.

Year	Population (million people)
1753	183,7
1812	361,6
1850	432,2
1953	582,6
1964	694,5
1982	1008,1
1990	1133,6
2000	1265,8
2010	1339,7

In order to correct the dangerous situation in the 1970s, China launched the “One Family, One Child” policy, which is still in effect today.

“One family - one child” is a policy of birth control. The goal is to reduce China's demand for land, water and energy resources. City residents can only have 1 child, rural residents can have up to 2, provided that the first was a girl. Small nationalities are allowed to have 2-3 children.

A system of fines, restrictions and rewards for compliance with regulations was introduced. For example, if a civil servant gives birth to a second child, he will be fined from 20 to 36 thousand yuan, deprived of his post with the impossibility of subsequent return to civil service.

In general, experts note that this policy has yielded results: the birth rate in China has decreased so much that if the country continues at the same pace, the population may decline.

China's fertility rate currently stands at 1.7, well below the replacement level of 2.1. According to UN estimates, the country's population may decline to 940 million by the end of the 21st century. By that time, India will be far ahead of China in this indicator.

Another positive result of this policy is a significant increase in the standard of living of modern Chinese. Now a family has to provide for only one child; parents can give their offspring a good education, help them purchase housing, and create all the conditions for the development of their talents.

However, despite the success of the implementation of these measures, the population’s attention is rather drawn to the numerous problems caused by the “One family - one child” policy. The most acute of them are discussed below.

Little Emperor

Since the introduction of population control measures in China, a real “cult of the child” began. The parents call their son nothing less than “little emperor,” emphasizing the extraordinary importance of this person for the whole family. Raising a child takes place according to the “one-two-four” system. This means that for one child there are two parents and four grandparents. According to psychologists, the only children raised with excessive care and guardianship are characterized by inertia, lack of initiative, and laziness. According to experts, the average Chinese couple spends 40-50% of their income on a child. A significant part of the family money goes to pay for education in special schools, tutoring services, and buying a computer.

Modern working class

Children raised in this way are the current working-age population (born in the 1970s-80s). These people are distinguished by late maturation, and at 25 and 30 years old they continue to behave like children. They start a family less often, girls do not want to give birth to children, and if they do give birth, they increasingly resort to caesarean section and artificial feeding so as not to spoil their figure.

In addition, families from villages can now save enough money to send their offspring to study and work in big cities, causing a massive outflow of the rural population (especially the young working age) and excessive urban sprawl.

Having received a good education and endless love and support from their parents, today’s youth no longer want to work in non-prestigious industries for pennies. As a result, in recent years there has been a constant increase in average wages in China and China is really ceasing to be cheap!

Shortage of brides

Another original Chinese problem is gender imbalance. A boy still has greater value; if a son is born into a family, then this is a great joy; a girl, of course, also pleases most parents, but usually with a slight shadow of regret. For a long time now, there have been 110-120 boys per 100 newborn girls. One of the reasons for this phenomenon is the determination of the sex of the child in the early stages of pregnancy and mass abortions.

Now in China there is a ban on ultrasound in the early stages of pregnancy, but many parents manage to get an ultrasound, like an abortion, in other countries (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan).

According to preliminary estimates, by 2020 there will be about 25 million bachelors in China. There are already millions of single middle-aged men in the country who never got a wife. Homosexuality is also developed (up to 4% of the male population). In such a situation, women suffer from high self-esteem and special requirements for choosing a life partner. A young groom must have an apartment; in many families, a bride price for a young daughter-in-law is still common.

The aging of a nation

The birth rate in China is currently already below the population replacement rate. The proportion of the population over 65 now stands at 7.7%, above the 7% normal level set by the UN and classifying China as an "aging society". It is becoming increasingly difficult for the Chinese to care for their elderly relatives; there is no clear pension system in the country, and the maintenance of incapacitated parents falls entirely on the children. The latter usually live in large cities and are busy with their careers, so willy-nilly they neglect their responsibilities.

As a result, older people continually experience psychological problems: withdrawal, depression and anxiety. In a village, if an elderly person has lost his wife (husband) or his ability to work, he finds himself faced with a crisis situation associated with poverty and physical weakness. It is especially difficult for older people who have disabled children or are no longer alive...

China is a country of experiments: from the extermination of sparrows to reducing the birth rate of the population, the Chinese government never tires of frightening and surprising the world community with its bold intervention in the natural processes of life. The “One family - one child” policy has already made irreversible changes to the social and demographic climate of the country, and now, when it can no longer be stopped (otherwise China will have an even greater increase in the disabled population at the expense of infants), we can only observe from the outside how will be the next step of the CCP, and also what changes this will lead to in China, and beyond it throughout the civilized world!