Reflections | Unlike in Game of Thrones, incest was considered a crime in ancient China – unless it was between certain first cousins
Although the Chinese word for incest literally means ‘to bring disorder to normal human relationships’, there were instances when it occurred, some legally
I don’t watch much television but I do enjoy the HBO series Game of Thrones. In anticipation of the final season, which starts next month, I’ve been re-watching all the episodes from seasons one to seven. I am sure I’m not alone in this. Among the many narratives of the show is one that depicts the incestuous relationship between a pair of high-born fraternal twins.
Incest is a long-standing taboo in human society. So repugnant is the idea of sexual relations between closely related kin that in many societies, even those where individual freedoms are sacrosanct, incest between two consenting adults is illegal, regardless of whetherthe union results in any offspring.
In Canada, for example, sex between adult siblings, between parents and their grown-up children, and between grandparents and their adult grandchildren is a crime punishable by imprisonment. Incest between grown-ups and children, or perpetrated on a non-consenting adult, is rightfully criminal and should remain so.
Incest was not unknown in the ancient world. If we take the Bible’s creation myth literally, then the whole human race is a product of incest, for how else could Adam and Eve, in the absence of external agencies, have populated the world? The biblical patriarch Abraham’s wife Sarah was his half-sister (or niece according to another interpretation), and the parents of Moses were nephew and aunt, or cousins, again depending on which version you choose to believe. The royal families of ancient Egyptian dynasties were famous for wedding brothers and sisters to “keep the line pure”, a historical fact that no doubt informed the predilection for incest in one of the fictional royal houses in Game of Thrones.
The Chinese established a highly rigid clan and familial structure early on in their history, and incest was the antithesis to the framework that governed kinship, and by extension, human society. Their very word for incest, luanlun, literally means “to bring disorder to normal human relationships”, and throughout the nation’s history it was condemned as a monstrous crime.