News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-09-18
MARRIAGE IN CHINA.
SHOWING DIVORCE TO BE OF RARE
OCCURRENCE AND WHY.
A Chin aman's Comparison of the Family
Institution with European Gust Oms.

SHOWING DIVORCE TO BE OF hAhE
OCCURRENCE AND WHY.
A Chin aman's Comparison of the Family
Institution with European Gust
Colonel Tcheng- ki-Tong, military
attdche to the Chinese Embassy in
Paris, is telling the Western barbarians
how very inferior their civilization is to
that of China in such essential funda-
mentals as the position of woman aud
the sanctity of marriage. Colonel
Tcheng-ki-Tong sees nothing to admire
IN European marriages. Marriages in
well-ordered States should be arranged
by the parents. They are emphatically
affairs of the family and should be set
tied by the heads of the families con-
cerned. The idea that two young people
are qualified to decide upon their future
destlnies on the strength of a brief &C
quaintance formed in their green and
April days seems to the good Oriental
unspeakably absurd. They manage
these things better in China than in
France. As for England and long en-
gagements and free opportunities for
acquaintance before marriage Colonel
Tcheng does not speak of them. but his
principles would probably lead him to
condemn them unsparingly. He has at
least one point in his favor. In China.
where the parents choose the bride.
every one marries; celibacy is regarded
as an anti-social vice, and old bachelors
and old maids are rare phenomena. All
good Cinnamon marry young. Bride
grooms of sixteen marry ladies two wears
younger than themselves, and Chinese
grandmother at the age of thirty is
more familiar sight than spinster.
NO MARRIAGES FOR MONEY.
There are no marriages for money in
China. The great institution of dot is
unknown. Marriage for money. ex.
claims Colonel Tcheng, is the greatest
injury which you can infiict upon wo-
man. In a social system based upon
the virtual purchase of O spouse. the
good Chinaman is not surprised that
men should fear that the Introduction of
divorce may prove like the discharge of
artillery at house of cards. In China
it Is otherwise; there, in addition to the
causes of divorce recognized in Europe
marriage may be dissolved for steriIity
or for contumelious conduct toward
mothers and fathers in law. Yet divorce
is comparatively rare. "Eyerybody
whom have met" says Colonel Tcheng
''and who has asked me about our
morals, has addressed the question to
me, Do divorces often occur in China @
The fist time L was astonished at this
demand, but on rejecting [ found out
that indeed this is the only question
which is important for them to know.
When for the first time you are Obliged
by pain to go to the dentist. Won ask a.
friend whether it hurts much p" The
fact OF the matter is that divorces are
only rare exceptions, and the strong
family ties which are the outcome of the
patrlarchal system forbid divorce.
''Among aristocrats divorces seldom
occur from the very fact that they are
such; among the working classes be-
cause-they have no time for vain dis
cussions, and If they quarrel they do not
end by being divorced, but by being
reconciled."
DIVORCES,
Women in China are deeply interested
in avoiding a divorce, as the Divorce
loses tue honorable position of a wife.
The Chinese lady, not having the con-
seriousness of personality strongly de-
veloped, avoids both scandals and in.
trigues. The magistrate often composes
quarrels instead of pronouncing decree
of divorce, and the wife has an unfailing
source of consolation in the upbringing
of her children. "She is ever a creature
of hope" says the colonel, "and she
endures patiently the injuries inflicted
on her by her husband in the thought
OF her children" If a husband sur
prises his wife Ragrante delicto, he may
kill her on the spot; but Colonel
Icheng makes fun of A. Dumas for his
assertion that adulteresses in China are
lifted up by an elephant and then thrown
down to be crushed on the stones.
There are fewer elephants in China
than in France. There are hardly two
| or three at Pekin, which one goes to
see out of curiosity, like animals of a
menagerie."
| A CONTRAST.
Colonel Tcheng vehemently combats
the popular delusion that Chinese
woman is crippled, waddling creature,
who lives imprisoned amid her servants,
her husband and his concuhines. As
far as the crippled feet are concerned,
we read:-"Ihe Chinese woman walks
as well as you and / she runs even with
her small feet" and as to being i'm
prisoned, ''she goes out, takes walks in
her sedan chair and has not even veil
to protect her from indiscreet chances.
From higher education the Chinese
would gladly save their wives and
daughters; they are not trained in col
leges where they might acquire the
| knowledge of art and science, but family
life forms the world of the Chinese wo-
man. She aspires solely to be learned
in the art of governing her family. 1t
is she who directs the education of her
children. She is content to live for the
good of her relations, and if heaven has
granted her good husband she GER
tainly is the most fortunate of women.
Colonel Tcheng has many severe things
to say about tho position of women in
France. In China the wife's legal
position in disposing of her goods and
of her children, he asserts, is far more
privileged than that of her French sister.
He concludes his interesting essay by
some remarkable words about concu-
binage. Gin France" says he, syou
have mlstresses; in China we have con-
cubines. The former is a clandestine
connection and the children are bastards;
the latter has recognized position, she
is tolerated by the wife and her children
bear no social brand. The Chinese re-
gard concubinage as the safeguard of
the indissolubility of marriage, and, nc
cepting human nature as it is, they pre-
fer to recognize an admitted evil, to
sacrifice the innocent offspring of a
guilty passion"
A HINDOO OUTLAW.