童养婚是中国传统社会一种特殊的婚姻形态，起源于宋，至明清而盛行。贫穷是其泛滥的主要因素，男女双方家庭将之作为应对婚姻成本高昂的一种手段；而家长制权威和官府对于“民间习惯”的放任，也是其得以长期存在的重要因素。就清代而言，童养婚表现为“现成媳妇”“插花”等多种形式。童养婚在婚姻契约订定上的特殊性，常引发诸如悔婚、经济纠纷等问题，童养媳在婆家地位的低下也常使她们面临被婆婆虐待、易被拐卖、嫁卖等危险。%Child marriage is a special form of marriage in Chinese traditional society. It originated from the Song Dynasty and became prevalent in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Poverty is the main reason for its prevalence. Both families took child marriage as a way to cope with high cost of marriage. The patriarchal authority and official permissiveness are also important reasons. In the Qing Dynasty,there were many forms of child marriage,such as "Chahua" and "Ready bride". Because of the special position of child brides in the families,penitential marriage and some property disputes occurred from time to time. Child brides faced more danger of maltreatment and woman trafficking.
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