Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-03-16
MARRYING 200 WIVES.
The Interesting and Peculiar Ways OF
Chinese COurtship.

0LAAN90 OO0AASAARs
From the Nelo York Journal.
"a Chinese love letter. Have ] any
old-fashioned Chinese love letters in my
trunk? Have a gilt-edged Chinese billet
douX with monogram like crows
track? There was never a love letter
written in Chinese. No Chinese maideh
ever penned billet-doux or sent a Valen-
tine"
Rather sadly was this said by roman
tic young Chnaman, Mr.. Hong Wing,
VINO lives in Mott street and is noted
among the Chinese for the skill with
which he plays on the mandolin.
sin China" continued he, ''a man never
sees his wife until he has been welded to
her for life, and sometimes he does not see
her then, for she may refuse to remove
her veil until three days have elapsed af-
ter the wedding. II he doesn't like her he
cannot get divorce, but he may marry an
other wife, and then another, and another,
until he has gone through the blindfold
lottery often enough to hit upon one that
suits him. In China every one may have
as many wives as he pleaees, and have
known men of somewhat moderate means
to have six and eight wives. Some of the
Chinese CrRsuses have hundreds of them.
There was an old Chinese bachelor who
took 1t into his head to get married one
winter, and he married 200 wives before
he got through. The last wife is the fa-
vorite, but the first wife is the boss"
''If man never sees his wife before
their wedding, how does he make love to
her."
"He doesn't make love to her. His
mother arranges the match and his future
motherin-law makes love to him. 1t is a
sour cOurtship. Children are formally en-
gagged to other children that they have
never seen at the tender age OF and 10,
ana after an engagement of 10 or II years
they get married"
docs a young Chinaman ever marry
his cousin ?"
"No; a marriage of cousins was never
heard OF in the whole Chinese Empire. A
man may no more marry his cousin IN
China than in England. He may marry
his deceased wife's sister. You talk about
your old families here, and your oldest
families are only three generations old.
In Boston there are a few families
four or five generations old. In China
families are seventy-five and eighty gen.
erations old and every member has a
complete record of his ancesl ors for all
these generations. Now the remotest
kinship prevents marriage in China, and
if two families have the faintest magma
Dit klnbHAD bGNGlibN EChCA t@tlbAo bNNh
their children cannot marry. Not only is
this true, but people OF the same name,
between whom the longest genealOgy
cannot show trace Of kinship, cannot
marry"
"Wbat are the most common familiesin
your cOuntryY
"The Chens, the Wongs, and the Lees.
The Chens are the Smiths of China, the
WOngs are the JOneses and the Lees are
the Browns. A Mr.. Chen would marry a
Miss Wong, but he wouldn't marry Miss
Chen. Perhaps that is the reason the old
folks make the matches. 1t prevents the
tChens from falling in love with one an
other"
care the Chinese ladies cultivatedY
ooh, yes. They can read and write
and draw and paint and embroider. They
never go out on the street with their nus
bands. If a Chinese man and woman
were to walk armin-arm on the street in
their country as American men and wO-
men do here they would be mObbed. The
women stay indoors. II they go to visit
their mothers they take cOnveyances.
Sometimes they may be seen walking in
the parks with their children"
"You are marriedP'f Il
eyes"
ITO Chinese ladyT
"No. To an American. l came to this
country when | was boy IL years old.
Though / was 5000 miles from China my
mother betrOthed me to little Chinese
girl whom had never seen My mother
used to write me how small the Chinese
girls feet were, and how pretty she was,
and what a beautiful cat-like nose she
had. When l was 20 years old my moth
er sent me letter saying that l was old
enough to get married, and must come
booLr fr China and marry tho GIRL -
what did you think about itW
81 thought l was old enough to get
married, and so fell heels over queue
in love with an American girl in Nevada
and married her. We had our picture
taken, and / sent 1t to my mother with
an account of the wedding, which l had
translated from an American newspaper
into Chinese"
"What happenedW
"The next thing l knew my uncle and
and four of my cousins came on from
China to the United States and had me
arrested for bigamy. l was taken before
a court and tried. My uncle, my four
cousins and thirty-five other Chinese wit
nesses went on the stand and sWore that
l had a wife in China"
"What did you think then?'
81 thought | was in q box, as you
Americans say. The Judge asked the
witnesses how old | was when [ left
China. They said / was II years old. He
asked them if had married the girl in
China. They replied that my mother had
picked her ont for me, and that in Chinese
law that was the same as marriage. The
Judge said that they didn't have any
Chinese statutes in this country, and my
uncle innOcently replied that he would
send TO China for some. Everybody in
the court laughed, and as had lived in
the town ever since came TO America,
all knew that l had left China little
boy, and so the jury acquitted me Of the
charge Of bigamy. My uncle told the
Judge that be would be beheaded when
he went back to China, which was mon
strOus flo with which my uncle intended
TO scare the Judge. i have never been
back to China, and l suppose the little
Dnnr child ~