The words of parents and matchmaker As the social system became established, even as far back as in The Book of Songs we can see that when a man wished to take a wife, custom already required asking one's parents 'permission and the formal involvement of a matchmaker, but the prospective partners still had a very large measure of autonomy.
父母之命，媒妁之言隨著社會制度的建立，在詩經中我們可以看到娶妻要「必告父母」、「匪媒不得」，上稟父母、明媒正娶的風俗已經出現，但是男女主角還是有相當的自主權。