金兰契研究

On Sworn Sisters

金兰契即异姓姊妹之间情逾骨肉的结拜契谊,其典型形态主要存在于广东珠江三角洲地区,清代前期已比较活跃,嘉道年间已有了官府干涉禁止的记载。而到了清末民初,由于机器缫丝业为女性提供了大量就业机会,金兰契发展到了全盛,再后随着社会环境的改变而逐渐衰落。同时,湖南南部江永县、福建东南部惠安县等处在清代民国年间金兰契也甚兴盛。分析其产生发展的原因,由于此种现象跨越了差异明显的不同文化区域和经济区域,因此它是属于婚姻形式的一种自然流变,不能把夫权压迫严重作为一种特殊性的原因来做解释。

Sworn sisters are a'relationship between girls or women from different bloodline families. This relationship was mainly developed in Zhujiang Delta, Guangdong, in the early Qing Dynasty when it became so popular that there were records that it was banned officially in the reigns of the Emperor Jiaqing and the Emperor Daoguang. In the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, relationship of sworn sisters was in full boom as more and more women went to work in factories in machine silk-reeling industry and then declined gradually with social changes. At that time, it was also very popular in Jiangshui County in south Hunan and Hui' an County in southeastern Fujian. Since it is a trans-regional phenomenon in different cultural and economical areas, it should be seen as a natural variation of family relationship rather than a special result of high manus oppression.