The origin of the cuckold
The cuckold is a symbol of men who are engaged in despicable professions, and later evolved to be used specifically to refer to men whose wives have engaged in unfaithful behavior.
In ancient times, there was a couple. The wife is a housewife. She is pretty and charming, and she usually does some needlework at home. Because of her beauty, she has already attracted some crazy bees and butterflies to pursue her. The husband is a businessman and often goes to other places. do business. The couple lives a prosperous life, but when the husband is away from home, the wife cannot help but feel cold and unbearably lonely. Finally one day, the wife couldn't help but fall in love with a cloth seller in the market. While her husband was out doing business, they hung out together in Wushan. Once, my husband didn't go out for three months after returning home, and the cloth seller was so anxious that he wandered around their house every day. One day, the husband went hunting outside the city on horseback. When he passed the market, the cloth seller was very happy to see him, thinking that he was going out to do business again. That night, he couldn't wait to rush into his wife's bedroom to prepare for a tryst with his sweetheart. The husband came back that night and almost caught him. The wife was also frightened half to death. The cloth seller had to tremble under his bed all night. After this incident, the wife asked the cloth seller for a piece of green cloth and made a hat for her husband. She also made an agreement with the cloth seller that when you see my husband wearing a cuckold and going out, you can come . A few days later, the husband was going out for business again. The wife quickly took out the cuckold and said to her husband: "It's windy and sandy outside, so wearing it won't make your hair dirty. And the color makes you look handsome." Every time you go out, I will make one for you, just like I am with you, so you don’t have to worry about me.” The husband was very happy after hearing this and thought he was really handsome, so he happily put on the hat. The cuckold rode triumphantly through the market and went to other places to do business. That night, his wife slept in his bed with the cloth seller. From now on, whenever the cloth seller saw her husband going out wearing a cuckold, he couldn't help but feel elated: "Ha! Your cuckold is really handsome, but tonight it's my turn to be handsome." So, the idea of ??cuckolding was passed down.
Of course the above statement is a joke. The adulterer and the adulterous couple were not celebrities. In ancient times, there was no television and the Internet, so their story would not have spread so widely. So where does the word cuckold come from? According to my research, this has to start with the Chinese people’s traditional concept of color.
The ancient Han nation was a nation that valued color. "Book of Rites" says: "The Xia family is still black, the Yin people are white, and the Zhou people are red." Later, when Qin destroyed the Zhou Dynasty, it was still black; when the Han Dynasty destroyed Qin, Emperor Wu "changed his color" and changed it to yellow. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the situation was more complicated. The emperor and his ministers had to wear five kinds of court clothes according to the five seasons of spring, summer, summer, autumn and winter. The colors were green, red, yellow, white and black in order. It was really annoying. After the establishment of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the color of clothing was officially used as a means of distinguishing between high and low. During Taizong's Zhenguan period, it was stipulated that the emperor would wear yellow dragon robes. Among the officials, those of the third rank and above would wear purple, the fourth and fifth ranks would wear scarlet (dark red), the sixth and seventh ranks would wear green, and the eighth and ninth ranks would wear green. Later dynasties generally followed this method.
After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, with the establishment of the Confucian ritual and music system, the color system of clothing was gradually established. The color of clothing became a means of distinguishing between high and low, and dignity. The official system of the Tang Dynasty stipulated that officials of the sixth and seventh ranks wear green uniforms, and officials of the eighth and ninth ranks wear green uniforms. Bai Juyi was demoted to the rank of Sima of Jiangzhou County, with an official rank of nine, so he was referred to as "Qingshan" in the poem "Pipa Xing". His poem "Yi Wei Zhi" goes: "I am old and green-shirted", which describes the bumpy official career. Even though I am old and gray, I am still succumbing to the humble ranks of green-shirted people.
In the Yuan and Ming dynasties, musicians and prostitutes had to wear green clothes, green clothes, and green headscarves to mark the lowly jobs they were engaged in. "Yuan Dian Zhang" stipulates that the parents and relatives of prostitutes wear green turbans. From this, the "green turban" has been connected with the male relatives of prostitutes. Because the two colors of blue and green are relatively close and both are cheap colors, people are used to saying "green turban". Since the color green is associated with prostitution, "green turban" was later used to refer to a man whose wife had committed an act of infidelity, and evolved into "cuckold."
Volume 3:46 of Zhao Yi's "Twenty-Two Histories" The princess of Han Dynasty did not hide her secret husband: Princess Guantao, the sister of Emperor Wu, was a widow and she favored Dong Yan for more than ten years. The master wanted to make Yan see the emperor, so he offered the Changmen Garden. The emperor was so happy that he visited the master's house. The Lord led Yan out personally and played: "Princess Guantao cooks Yan and pays homage to her without knowing her death." The Emperor was overjoyed and called him the master. Dong Yan entered the government for training at the age of thirteen, and was probably called "Tong Yangnan".
However, Dong Yan had one great advantage: he was "gentle and loving." This innate personality coupled with the acquired facial features made him popular among those who followed the trend at that time, and some even offered him advice. In fact, Emperor Wu had known for a long time that Princess Guantao was favored, so he said that he wanted to see the "master" here. The princess took Dong Yan out, and Dong Yan also knew what he was interested in, so he wore a cuckold. This is also the origin of the word "cuckold" today. . Since he was given the title of master, he called himself this in front of the emperor. As if he were the head of the family, he made Emperor Wu happy and favored him greatly. Therefore, Dong Jun's favor was heard by everyone in the world. Later, Dongfang Shuo was promoted to Emperor Wu, and he was regarded as a prostitute compared to Dong Yan. Emperor Wu then reduced his contacts with Dong Yan, and Dong Yan's favor gradually declined, ending at the age of thirty.
The origin of cuckolding probably started in the Yuan Dynasty. There were no prostitutes in Mongolia at that time. Outsiders could take whatever they wanted. As long as men and women on the prairie were willing, they would immediately become a quilt and a bed. When the army marched south and entered the Central Plains, they couldn't stand the brothels opened by the Central Plains people, known as the land of etiquette. So the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty required prostitutes to wear purple shirts and men working in brothels to wear green turbans to show the difference from normal people. Continuing to this day, the hat that Chinese men fear most is born: the cuckold.
Chinese men are so afraid of this hat that they go crazy. It is said that the two most intolerable things for Chinese men are the hatred of killing their father and the hatred of taking away their wives. This kind of fear extends to women, that is, life and death are small things, and infidelity is big things. Don't think that only Chinese women are bound by the chastity arch. In fact, Chinese men are also bound by the chastity arch. When the wife loses her reputation, it means that the husband has become a cuckold, so scenes of swords and swords unfold around the cuckold. From the official court to the common people, many people fought over this cuckold, and blood flowed like a river. "
Cuckold records in literature
"Cuckold" originated from the administrators of ancient religious workshops. Their stipulated clothing must be green headscarves. It seems that Zhu Yuanzhang had clear regulations on this
In "Seven Categories of Revisions" written by Lang Ying, there is this description: "...People call wives who have promiscuity a 'green scarf'. Today, people in Le people wear green scarves in the imperial system." Head..." He Mengchun, who was slightly later than Lang Ying, also wrote in "Preface to Yudong": "It is a system for teaching and visiting ministers to wear green scarves to distinguish themselves from scholars and common people. "
Nanfang Shuo's "Joke Reflects Fear" is more comprehensive:
"Green turban", "cuckold" and "cuckold" have been used to refer to the wife who cheated since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. husband. This kind of title is not only scattered in novels, but also one of the common people's terms. In addition, there are also quite a few jokes about "cuckolding".
Contemporary scholars Chris Powell and Steve Linstead pointed out in the essay collection "Humor in Society - Resistance and Control" that the true meaning of many jokes is to reflect Fear is used to strengthen and reshape moral boundaries to achieve the purpose of social control. According to their theory, perhaps we can think that there are many jokes about "cuckolding" in Chinese society, which reflects the phobia of the wife's affair. Therefore, such jokes have the function of social warning and social control.
Therefore, the name "green turban" should come from the Ming Dynasty. Lehu in the Ming Dynasty was a lowly occupation that was half prostitute and half maid. It was stipulated that they could only wear green turbans, so "green turbans" It became a sign of lowly prostitution. Of course, having a wife to support a man is equivalent to this kind of industry wearing a "green turban".
However, it is not entirely correct to think that the "green turban" originated in the Ming Dynasty. Because as early as the fifth year of the Yuan Dynasty, it was stipulated that "prostitutes should wear purple soap shirts and horned crowns. The parents and relatives of prostitutes should wear green turbans." The actions of the Ming Dynasty obviously inherited the Yuan system.
However, if we do a little research on the clothing, colors, and status distinctions in ancient China, we can find that the "green turban" of the Yuan Dynasty was not made up by Xiangbi. In earlier times, "turban" and "green" have always been the patents of the lowly.
As far as the "scarf" is concerned, although it originated very early, until the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was an exclusive crown ornament for common people or untouchables. From the "scarf", similar crown ornaments developed, such as the Han Dynasty "帻" in the Tang Dynasty, "帻" in the Tang Dynasty, etc. Zhai Hao of the Qing Dynasty pointed out in Volume 12 of "Public Edition" that as far back as the Spring and Autumn Period, "those with wealthy wives and daughters who begged for food would have their heads wrapped in green scarves to distinguish between high and low". This shows that the "green turban" is early.
In the Han Dynasty, the word "帻" was changed from "jin". When Yan Shigu of the Tang Dynasty commented on the "green gauze" mentioned in "Han Shu" (Dongfang Shuo Zhuan), he also said: "Green gauze is the uniform of a bitch."
Therefore, before the Eastern Han Dynasty, The scholar-bureaucrat class wore a "crown", while the "turban" could only be used by commoners or untouchables. At that time, the "green turban" was already exclusive to the prostitute's house. Umberto Eco, a modern Italian semiotician, once conducted research on Western color systems and believed that although the same color words are used in each era, the colors that these words refer to cannot be the same; that is to say, Green in ancient times and green in modern times cannot be the same.
This situation is also the same in China. The so-called "green" in the past probably refers to the natural green color of silk cloth. It may be a kind of green color that has been bleached by water and is a little nutritionally deficient. , no wonder it has become a color exclusive to the untouchables. The slave class in the Han Dynasty was called "Cangtou" because the "kerchief" they wore was also this green. This is also the case in Europe.
The blue in the Middle Ages was different from today. It was a moss-like color. The stone walls of the monastery were this color, so it was called "monk blue" in modern times.
Therefore, "green" was the lowest color in ancient China's color rating. In the Tang Dynasty, officials had robes, and the lowest-ranking ones also wore "green" robes. There is a poem written by Bai Juyi (Huaiweizhi) in the Tang Dynasty that says: "We broke up and threw each other by the sea, folding our waists and wearing old green clothes." This can be evidenced.
It is also because the "green turban" is a despicable attire. When Li Feng was the Yanling Order in the Tang Dynasty, "the official was guilty and was not punished with a rod, but he was ordered to be wrapped in green to humiliate him." The number of days will be determined according to the seriousness of the offense."
Based on the above argument, it can be seen that the "green turban" has been a costume used by untouchables or servants for a long time. Because of this, starting from the Yuan Dynasty, it increasingly became the attire of men in prostitutes' homes. Calling a person whose wife has committed adultery a "cuckold", "cuckold" or "cuckold" is the ultimate result of this continuous tradition of dressing up. "Green scarf" and "green hat" have therefore been upgraded from a symbolic language of clothing to everyday language.