The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1886-12-31
CHINESE MARRIAGES.
TH6. LAND WHERE CHILDREN NINE
YEARS OF AGE ARE BETROTHEO.

Celestial Bluebeards with Hundreds of
.wives-Love Letters and Courtship Un-
known-Bigamy Case-An Interview
with Dir. Hong Wing.
"a Chinese love letter. Have / any old
fashioned Chinese love letters in my trunk?
Have a gilt edged Chinese billet-doux with
a monogram like a crows track? There
was never love letter written in Chinese
No Chinese maiden ever penned a billet
doux or sent a valentine
Rather sadly was this said by romantic
young Chinaman, Mr.. Hong Wing, who 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 is welded to her for
slife, and sometimes he does not see her then
for She may refuse to remove her veil until
three days have elapsed after the wedding.
If he dosen't like her he cannot get di-
vorce but he may marry another wife, and
then another and another, until he has gone
s&rough the blindfold lottery often enough
to get one that suits him. Some OF the
Chinese Crceslses have hundreds of wives.
his head to get married one winter, and he
married 200 wives before he got through.
The last wife is the favorite, but the first
one is the boss
'If man never sees his wife before their
wedding, how does he make love TO herr"
'He doesn't make love to her. His
mother arranges the match, and his future
mother-in-law makes love to him. 1t is
sour courtship Children are formally en-
gagged to other children that they have never
seen, at the tender age Of 0 or 10, and after
an engagement of 10 or 10 years they get
married"
''Does Chinaman ever marry his
cousin?"
"No; marriage Of cousins was never
heard Of in China 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 five generations old.
In China families are seventy-f five and eighty
Veno orations old, and every member has
complete record of bis ancestors for all
these gene ltions. The remotest kinship
prevents marriage in China, and il two
famihos have the faintest imaginable kin
ship seventy five generations back their
children cannot marry"
"What are the most common families in
your country?'
"The Chens, the Wongs, and the Lees.
The Chens are tn Smiths of China, the
Wongs are Jo Us, and the Lees are the
Browns. Il en- would marry a Miss
Wong, but J. Unit marry Miss Chen.
Perhaps that Is the reason the old folks
10 fha
from falling III love with one another.
9 care the Chinese ladies cultivated
"Oh yes; they can read and write, draw,
, pain md embroider. They never SO out
on .e street with their husbands. IL a
Chin SO man and woman were to walk on
the street arm in arm in their country as
American mon aud women do, they would
be mobbed The women stay indoors. III
they wish to visit their mothers they take
conveyances. Sometimes they may be seen
walking in the park with their children"
"You are married.
"Yes."
ITO a Chinese LADY,"
mo; to an American. | came to this
country when boy II years old. Though
/ was s, 900 miles from China, my mother
betrothed me to a. little Chinese girl l had
never seen. NY mother used to write TO me
how small her feet were and how pretty she
vas. and what a beautiful cat-like nose she
had When was 20 years old mother sent
mo a letter saying was old enough to get
r. ried and must como back to China and
marry tho girl.
what did you think about itf'
II thought was old enough, and 80 fell
II. o.ro. n,,nua In, lava with an American
girl in Nevada and married her. We had
our pictures taken. and l sent one to my
mother together with an account OF the
dding, which translated from an Ameri-
con newspaper into Chinese"
What happenedT'
THE next thing | knew my uncle and
four cousins came on to the United States
and had me arrested for bigamy. l was
taken before court and tried. My uncle
went on to the stand and swore that had o
wife in China.
"What did you think thenS'
"I thought was in box, as you Ameri-
cans say. The Judge asked the witnesses
how old was when l left China They re-
piled that my mother had picked her out
for me- and that in Chinese law was the
same as marriage. The judge said that
they didn't have any Chinese statutes in this
country, and my uncle innooently replied that
he would send to China for some. Every
body in the court laughed, and as lived
in the town ever since came to America,
all knew that had left China a little boy,
so tho jury acquitted me. My uncle told
the Judge that he would be beheaded when
he went back to China, which was mon
strous fb with which he intended to scare
the Judge | have never been back to
China, and suppose the little girl whom
never saw is grass widow. Poor childP'
Brooklyn Citizen.
uaInarinn Senator EYarIA