, 1874-01-11
MARRIED LIFE I'll CHINA.

Very little is Known IN this coun try OF tho
| married hfe Of the Chinese, hut nevertheless
| their habits and customs in this respect very
minute, and By no means devoid Of interest
THE patrmrchal system Of the country is exhibit
ed, on d small scale, in al Chinese households :;
| for, as the Emperor claims to be, md theorati-
| cal1y ia, tho absolute and despotlc ruler Of his
subjects, 30 every father exercises simar pow
or over his family even claiming the right to sell
his children as slaves
4 woman in China, when once she il mar
ried and has assumed her husbands clan
name, becomes part and parcel OF his family,
and hnuceforwarl has but slight con-
ncction with her own relations, her duty aud
obedience being entirely transferred to hor h'1s-
baud md his pareuts. tho latter Of whom. sal to
relnte. frequently treat her with great cruolty
and more as slave than danShtor-in-1aw.
The Chinese wifos great hope aad ambition il
that ssro
| MAY RAVE MALE OFFSPRING
to perpetua.o her husbands name, to care for
and support him in old age and, utter death. to
watch over and offer sacrifices At his grave, and
at etated periods to burn incense before his tab
let II she chance to be 30 unfortunate rs to have
no children, only daughters, there il rarely any
| happiness in store for her in her married
/ ~@--e w
himself . concuEinc, il he can afford to do so,
hor1n; thereby to nttnin the darling wish of hia
heart.
When women have no children thoy nnpplicate
tie goddess Eui-lu Fu-ien to aid them
and send them SONS, for, II possible, they
would rather not have daughters. If a man
have no Sons he is thought to 81 live without
| houor and die unhappy" and SO eager is q CHI
| ua1uan for male heir that, failing son OF h!s
oyf1, he will adopt from his brothers fami-
lies, if he get one. Occasionally, too from tls
| al+nbsorbing desire for son. parents rlll bFlbo
nurse to get some poor mans boy and substi-
tute him for ne"l: born daughter. In the e1-
a1:gerated phraseology common to the Chinese,
those vino do this are said "Tou lung. Luan
icnS," that is, to steal q dragon and exchange 1t
Tor pLmnix.
Tic IoIc wing customs, related in tho 'Socfal
Life Of the Chinese" arc 1athcr amusing, and
show what devices womcu in the Celestial En-
pire will lesort to in tie hope that they may
Ee blessed with children. Every year, between
eighth Chinese moons, several OF The most pop
nlar temples devoted 10 the worship Of goddess
of children, commonly. called
MOTHER"
a,c ffequcuted By married, but childless, women.
for the purpose Of procuring QUE of a kind Of
ehoe belonging to her. Those WHO como for
Ehoc burn incense before The image Of 1t Mother"
aud VOW that they will cffcr q Thanksgiving If
Ele WILL 1N lntm III OCa.luss uhle C11lA. 1ut
shoe is taken home and placed in the niche
which holds the family image Of the goddess,
where it is worsllped in connection with
Mother" though nos separately. on the
first and fifteenth days OF ca!b moon; fresh
flowers then offered M, md incense. can
! dies, and lnock-money arc buried. When tho
child thus prayed for his born, should such
fortunate event tahe place, the happy mother, in
accordance with her VOW, causes two shoes to be
made like tho ono obtained from the. temple.
| These two and the original one aTe brought to
the temple with her thank-offe1ing, which gen.
orally consists Of several plates Of food. Some
| women, instead Of asking for shoe OF the
goddess. beg some Of tie flowers which ehe
usually bas in her hands or in flower
vase near by. Tho shoe is lent, but the
flowers are given. On reaching home
sonao women fasten tho flowers thus obtaned in
their hair, whilst others place them in 4 vase
near the niche mentioned above. Should the
euprants not become mothers. no thanksgiving
would be expected By the goddess whose aid haa
been invoked.
When a son is born
TuEnE ARE GREAT nEJorc1Eds
in family. and shortly afterwards what Is
termed the "milk nnmo" is given. which an-
swcrs to pet namcs" among ourselves: Later on
the boy receives regulnr na'ne. usually Of two
characters, corresponding to Nhat we call the
Christian name !" when written it is placed nf
ter the clan or surname. When grown up even,
bovs nre often called, not BY tncir proper names,
but by their number iu the fam!lY-fo example,
A-szo or A-"oo' tua1 ls' >un'ocf nou1 " sun1-
ter Five.
On the third DAY after IT'S olr1n tno nurse
washes tne enld 1of ane ntss T. eh ens
family image OF tue gocdess nlgshe1. Nuo ~ ~
currently believed to watch over all children till
they rea:h their 10th year ni!a attn at tue . earne
tino thank Offering OF meat, cases. tln't,
VINE, flowers, etc. is placed ne1ore net, IN rec
osnltion Of her nld IN the enaractet .l 1:; of
IN chpa he7 en s0 @ g
by the family
Tho important ceremony Of
E1sp.So IT. THE E." WRISTS a,sn J., ,,,a ,,,++o,
is now observed. and tue practlce u tnls matter
differs considerably. A common plan is to ao
piece Of red cotton loosely aIonta tno sn
another is to fasten some ancient copper colns
on the wrists for several DAYS by means OF req
cotton. In some families TINS t. not IL hnSly re-,
moved from tne lnlaut ".1s11 ~ H.. ~
after fourteen days. The ldea ls taet tuls plEo.
lug of tho wrists together VIII presc1t
the baby from being W1ckca ana dlsooo-
after life: In allusion 10 this singular custom,
4&R1y%t %rr6f f1TY1N