I am a historical film director in the entertainment industry.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, if a family had no male heirs and only unmarried virgins remained, all their property would be inherited by those unmarried women.

If a family has virgins, daughters who have married into the clan, and daughters who have left the family, the property is divided equally among the virgins and daughters who have married into the clan. Only families with a family fortune of over a thousand strings of cash can give a share to their daughters who have left the family.

If there are only daughters who return to their ancestral home and daughters who marry out, then the daughter who returns to her ancestral home inherits two-thirds, and the daughter who marries out inherits the remaining one-third.

By the Southern Song Dynasty, women's ownership of dowries had begun to decline significantly; however, the inheritance rights of unmarried women both increased and decreased.

According to the law, women in the Southern Song Dynasty could divide property with their brothers. Sons inherited two-thirds, and unmarried women inherited one-third, meaning "women should receive half of what men would inherit."

Of course, when women in the Southern Song Dynasty divorced, they could take their dowry with them, but they could forget about receiving alimony.

If a woman is divorced, she has no right to take her dowry; however, she may receive some compensation from her husband's family.

The status of women in the Ming Dynasty was arguably the lowest among the four dynasties of Han, Tang, Song, and Ming, and their living space was the most suffocating. Don't try to compare them to the Tang and Song dynasties; they couldn't even compare to the Yuan Dynasty.

Like in the Song Dynasty, unmarried women in the Yuan Dynasty could inherit the property of families without heirs, and divorced women were also allowed to remarry with their dowry.

However, in the late Dade period of Emperor Chengzong of Yuan, due to the relative stability of society, chastity began to be required. The court stipulated that if a woman was divorced or widowed after her husband's death, her dowry would be disposed of by her former husband's family and she could not take it with her.

In other words, the Ming Dynasty inherited women's property and dowry rights entirely from the Yuan Dynasty. If a woman in the Ming Dynasty wanted to remarry with her property, she would mostly have to be as capable as Pan Jinlian's best friend to successfully take her dowry with her.

Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that family wealth and land should not be divided among wives, concubines, maids, and sons, but should be divided equally according to the number of people. Children born out of wedlock should "share half the property according to the number of children." If there were no sons, they should be adopted, and the adopted son and the child born out of wedlock should "share equally." If there was no one to adopt, the child born out of wedlock should "inherit the whole property." Only if there were no children born out of wedlock could the property be "inherited by the biological daughter."

Doesn't it look suffocating?
In Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, as long as there is a child born out of wedlock, even if it is a legitimate daughter born to his lawfully wedded wife, she has no right to inherit. It is really remarkable that he has an extra two ounces of flesh between his legs!
Did women in the Ming Dynasty want to remarry with their dowry?

I'm sorry, but the Ming Dynasty law stipulates that the dowry of a remarried woman shall be subject to the jurisdiction of her former husband's family.

In short, the property rights and social status of women in the Ming Dynasty were the lowest in all dynasties, even worse than in the Qing Dynasty. Although the Qing Dynasty inherited the Ming system, it stipulated in the twelfth year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign that divorced women could take their dowry with them.

Therefore, very few women wanted to leave their mark in the Ming Dynasty, mainly because the Ming Dynasty imposed too many restrictions on women.

……

The press conference lasted for more than an hour. When it ended, the reporters were reluctant to leave, as they still had many questions for Cheng Sheng. Unfortunately, as soon as the press conference ended, Cheng Sheng left with the main cast and crew under the escort of security.

As soon as the press conference ended, a large number of news articles about "Zheng He's Voyages to the West" and Fujianese ships began to dominate the headlines. Netizens were discussing whether this film could achieve outstanding results like "Three Kingdoms", "Tang Dynasty" and "Ten Red Army Soldiers", or break the records of these three films.

Many netizens have paid attention to the issue of film investment.

A billion-dollar investment!

Will I be able to get my investment back?

Is it necessary to build a real fleet?
Instead of spending money on this, it would be better to create a fake scene and then use special effects in post-production.

In this way, not only is the investment reduced, but there's also no need to worry about not getting the money back.

Of course, this is just some people worrying unnecessarily.

A billion yuan investment is a huge amount, and it can even be said to be the ceiling for domestic film investment.

However, most people believe that high investment will lead to high returns.

Moreover, how could Cheng Sheng's films possibly fail to recoup their investment?
Relying solely on domestic box office revenue would obviously not recoup the investment, but Cheng Sheng's films are released globally. "The Great Tang Dynasty 1" grossed 7 million US dollars worldwide.

The two "Three Kingdoms" films together grossed $16 billion.

"Ten Red Army Soldiers" grossed $9 million worldwide.

These films, with a maximum investment of no more than 300 million RMB, have yielded returns of a hundredfold.

With an investment of 1 billion RMB, even if "Zheng He's Voyages to the West" doesn't break Cheng Sheng's previous global box office record, it can still recoup his investment and even make a fortune.

Given Cheng Sheng's abilities, no one believed that "Zheng He's Voyages to the West" would lose money at the box office.

Moreover, many people are predicting that the film's global box office may exceed one billion US dollars, breaking Cheng Sheng's previous record.

Therefore, many people are eagerly anticipating this movie and hope to see it released in theaters as soon as possible.

Regardless of what others said, Cheng Sheng officially started filming the day after the press conference.

The film "Zheng He's Voyages to the Western Ocean" was filmed in two locations: one on land and one at sea.

There were relatively few scenes filmed on land; most of the filming took place in the palace. The cast included Li Naiwen, who played Zhu Di, Yang Mi and Zhang Yuqi, who played the princess, as well as some ministers attending court.

Cheng Sheng assigned Liu Meng to be in charge of these dozen or so scenes.

Although Liu Meng is currently working on the TV series "Sniper's Life and Death Line", these dozen or so scenes won't take up much time.

Cheng Sheng led most of the crew to film the ocean scenes and most of the overseas scenes.

The port in southern Fujian was also the first scene in Cheng Sheng's filming.

The scene depicting Zheng He leading everyone onto the ship and setting sail.

Historically, Zheng He embarked on his voyages to the Western Ocean in the third year of the Yongle reign, the same year he was granted the official rank of fourth grade.

In the Ming Dynasty, officials of the fourth rank wore python robes.

Cheng Sheng was extremely meticulous about costumes and props. Before filming began, he consulted with historical experts about Ming Dynasty clothing and even asked them to help him recreate Ming Dynasty attire.

Cheng Sheng's historical films have a unique characteristic that other historical films and television works lack: they are highly realistic.

Currently, period dramas and historical films and television series are basically showing two divergent trends.

One approach is to restore the costumes, striving to showcase the historical background and recreate the style of clothing at that time.

However, most movies and TV series often deviate from reality when they are presented, and even well-made historical documentaries can always be found to have some flaws in the details.

For example, director Hu Jinquan's films not only have unique narratives, but also exquisite costume designs.

Hu Jinquan has a deep understanding of the history of the Ming Dynasty, so he strives to make authentic choices in his costumes.

This meticulous attention to detail allows his films to often resonate with audiences in their presentation of historical context. (End of Chapter)