I second this!!! I think this last name thing is really non-intuitive to someone not used to the way Chinese titles work and how it’s recorded. And also the fact that for majority of Chinese history marriage was polygamous and so women’s last name were used to differentiate the wives of one husband.
(I think even the original MDZS text gets it wrong sometimes.)
(there’s also the variation that comes with different dynasties…but we won’t go there)
So “fu'ren” 夫人 is the equivalent of “Lady”, and (for the most part) this is ONLY used for the main wife of a man, the 妻 “Qi”. Therefore, Yu Ziyuan, the wife of Jiang Fengmian should be Lady Jiang or 江夫人 “jiang-fu'ren”. Sometimes to introduce the wife to someone who’s never met her, we can also include her last name in the introduction. For example, 这位是江夫人余氏。“This is Jiang fu’ren, of Yu-shi”.
The word “shi” 氏 means “clan”. It is considered sometimes to be impolite for a stranger to know the actual “name” of a woman if he is not her family or close assoicate. This rule is not followed in most wuxia stories and fictional works, but it is in history. So to track which family wives are from, their maiden last name is always kept. The “shi” of a woman is never changed after marriage because well…you can’t change which family you’re born in.
The story refers to Yu Ziyuan as Yu-fu’ren. This is literally a mistake. >_>
A married women may be referred by both the “shi” of her husband and her father. So in the case of Yu Ziyuan, in a legal document (if she was ever like…idk summoned in court or something) she will referred to as “Jiang-Yu shi”.
Now, for Jiang Yanli, because Jin Zixuan’s mother was still alive and the head of the family is Jin Guangshan at the time Zixuan and Yanli got married, technically Jin Zixuan’s mother is “Jin fu’ren”, and Yanli should be referred to as “shao fu’ren”. 少 “shao” means “younger”. So “Lady Jiang the younger” is essentially what that means, indicating that Jiang Yanli is the wife of the son of the family.
Addendum: In certain dynasty, the term “da niang-zi” 大娘子 is also used to describe the wife. In which case, her own maiden name would be used. So this might be why Yu Ziyuan is called Madam Yu. Because if she’d been born in let’s say the Song dynasty, she could be called 余大娘子 “yu-da’niang’zi”. Regardless of that, she should still be 江夫人 Jiang fu’ren.
2. The other non-wives and the use of last names
The above described in #1 is referring to the legal wife of a man. Even in polygamous China, every man only has 1 wife. The rest of the women he marries are not wives. The term used for them is 妾 “qie”. Because a man can have as many non-wives are he can afford (ugh), you have to differentiate them somehow. If the husband’s last name was Li, for example, it would be wrong to call the concubines “Li fu’ren”. Depending on the dynasty, terms like “xiao-niang” 小娘, “tai-tai” 太太 are used. So a concubine with the last name Cheng, married to a man with the last name Li, would be referred to as “Cheng-xiao’niang of the Li family.”
When in doubt, as in you see a man with a woman who is definitely his spouse but not sure if she’s wife or concubine, you should always assume the woman is the wife until corrected or told otherwise. So you may see a inn keeper refer to a concubine as “fu’ren” out of respect.
Sometimes, to show respect to a concubine, you can refer to them as “fu’ren” as well but with a number attached. For example if concubine Cheng was ranked number two in her husband’s household, she could be referred to as “Li-er-fu’ren” 李家二夫人 or just 二夫人 “er-fu’ren”, meaning she’s the second woman her husband married.
3. The term “fu’ren” used as “Mrs.”
The term “fu’ren” can be used generally to refer to any woman who is married. It would be impolite to refer to a woman as “gu’niang”, because “gu’niang” means Miss, an unmarried female. In a context where you don’t know who the woman’s husband is, or her rank in the family, a married woman should be addressed by strangers, workers, salesperson, doctors, as “fu’ren”.
And how do you know if a woman’s married? From her hair. A married woman’s hair should be dressed up in an updo. Low-dos are reserved for maidens. The fact that Jiang Yanli’s hair didn’t change pre and post marriage is historical inaccuracy.
But this is wuxia, a fantasy drama, so the rules are a bit lax.
The above refers to nobles or commoners. Royals have their own set of titles and depending on the dynasty, that shit gets real complicated, so the titles of the wives of emperors and dukes and such we’re not gonna talk about because it’s irrelevant to CQL.
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