明清徽州妇女节烈行为的影响

On the Influence of Huizhou Women’s Death-defying Preservation of Their Chastity in the Ming and the Qing Dynasties

明清时期,徽州地狭人稠的地理环境,迫使徽州人大量出外经商谋生,形成了徽州人的特殊婚姻生活。"东南邹鲁"的人文环境造就了徽州淳朴的民风,明清徽州妇女节烈现象异常突出。大量节烈妇女其守节或殉烈行为产生不可忽视的家庭和社会影响。明清徽州节烈现象致使男女性别比例失调的问题更为突出,给家庭和社会带来严重损失。明清徽州节烈妇女坚守贞节,使自己赢得一定的社会威望,能有效地平息邻里争端,感化部分社会不良分子。

In the Ming and the Qing Dynasties, the pressure of overpopulation and geographic narrowness in Huizhou （a historical region in southeastern China corresponding to the southernmost part of Anhui province plus northeastern part of Jiangxi province） had caused an exodus of a large number of Huizhou people who sought to engage in trade for a living. Under such circumstances, the marriage life of those people had taken on some unusual features. The humanistic environment of Huizhou, which was hailed as the ＂Zoulu in the Southeast＂ （Zhoulu is where Mencius and Confucius were born）, had cultivated the simple and unspoiled folkways in Huizhou. In the Ming and the Qing Dynasties, the problem of Huizhou women＇s death-defying behaviors in preserving their chastity had become exceptionally prominent. Many of the women who resolved to preserve their chastity or who died martyrs for chastity beliefs had had huge influences on their family and the society, which couldn＇t be neglected. On another thought, these Huizhou women＇s death-defying behaviors in preserving their chastity had indeed earned them certain social esteem, which had such positive effects as conciliating disputes in the neighborhood and softening up the undesirable elements in the society.