KennonRude

ProfessorPingYao
Historiography
8February2016

CousinMarriagesinTangChinabyPingYao

I.
Introduction
Theintroductionstartsoffbystatingthatcousinmarriagesarepracticedinmorethan40%ofall
worldsocieties.Therearetwodifferenttypesofcousinmarriageswithtwosubcategories.First
iscrosscousinmarriageandtheotherisparallelcousinmarriage.Thedifferenceissiblingsof
differentgendermarryingeach(crosscousin)andsiblingsthatfromthesamegender(parallel
cousin).HereisaquotefromProfessorYaoaboutcousinmarriages

Cousinmarriageisoneofthemostintenselyresearchedtopicsinthefieldof
kinshipandmarriage.Thusfar,ethnographiesandhistoricalnarrativeshave
firmlyestablishedthefollowingthreegeneraltrendsamongthesocietiesthathave
practicedcousinmarriages.(25)

II.
InterpretingCousinMarriage:AllianceTheoryRevisited

CousinmarriagesarelinkedandassociatedwithLeviStraussAllianceTheory.TheAlliance
Theorywhenappliedtocousinmarriageisabouthowfamilieswanttokeeptheirsocialbondand
hiearchyinplace.Whenamarriagetakesplaceoutsideofthefamilyandsocialcircle,mainlythe
womenareexchanged,thusstringingoutanalliancetobethin.Theideaistokeeptheinner
circleallianceascloseknitaspossiblewithouthavinganyonefromanoutsidesocailgroup
interfere.

Thealliancetheoryhasclearlyinfluencedhistoricalresearchonkinship
systemsinvarioussocieties.MarriagesamongtheJulioClaudians,forexample,
weresaidtobecomprisedofacompositetypeofmarriagestructureinvolving
patternsofsiblingexchangebetweenthreeormoresiblingsets,andfunctionedas
amechanismforcreatingalliancesbetweenfamiliesforthepurposeofseeking
financialorsocialadvantage(28)

III.
DebriefingCousinMarriage:RecordsinTangEpitaphs

DuringtheTangdynasty,therearerecordsofinformationoncousinsmarriagesandthat
practicesthatfollowedwithit.Thereweremanyrecordsandepitaphsthatweretakenduringthe
Tangdynastythatallowshistorianstobeabletodoresearchtobeabletoretellthestoriesthat
tookplaceinthepast.

IV.
HistoricizingCousinMarriage:TheDynamicsofTangChina

CousinmarriagesrecordedinduringtheTangdynastyinepitaphsattesttotheexistenceofthis
practice.Withtheinformationthatispresentonthesecousinmarriages,itisinterestingtosee
howthescholarsbeforetheTangDynastyviewedandtreatedcousinmarriages,letaloneallowit
tobeanactualpracticethathappened.

ThemostimportanteventofthisdebateoccurredduringtheJindynasty(265420)whenthe
ConfucianscholarYuanZhun(fl.237316)rightlypointedoutthat,inreality(or,biologically
speaking),cousinmarriageviolatedthelongstandingrulesofnotmarryingsomeonewiththe
samefamilyname(44)

V.
Conclusion
Thissectionistheconcludingstatement,regardingthewholearticletheProfessorPing
Yaowrote.IttalksabouthowFBDMarriageswerecompletelyforbiddenwhileMBD
alongwithMZDMarriageswerepracticedinstead.Italsotalksabouttheunique
characteristicsthatcousinmarriageshadinTangChina,thatcouldhavebeenoverlooked
byalliancetheoryproponents(54)

Questions:
1) Wouldtherebeacrossbetweencousinmarriagesandleviratemarriages?
2)Whatmadeyouchoosethisspecifictopic?
3)Professor,doyoupersonallyknowofanyoneinyourancestraltree,whohastakenpartina
cousinmarriage?