Marriage. From the Zhou dynasty (771-256 B.C.E.) proceeding to the Tang period (618-907), the marriage institution evolved into a complex structure that was passed down to later dynasties without much alteration. Yet, those gradually established rules and customs laid the foundation for marriage laws set down under Tang rule. Parental consent remained the first marriage requirement, in which the father had final decisional power according to the law. If the parents were dead, the intention of marriage had to be reported to their spirits in the ancestral hall and at a shrine at home. Marriage also was required to be arranged through a go-between, who made the proposals to the two households. A marriage made without such a medium was often considered incomplete and to a large extent illegitimate. Another important custom prohibited marriage between persons of the same...