Divorcing a spouse was permissible if there was mutual consent, while remarriage after the death of a spouse was common during the Song period. However, widows under post-Song dynasties did not often remarry, following the ethic of the Confucian philosopher Cheng Yi (1033–1107), who stated that it was better for a widow to die than lose her virtue by remarrying. Widows remarrying another after the death of a first spouse did not become common again until the late Qing dynasty (1644–1912), yet such an action was still regarded as morally inferior.