The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-10-05
CHINESE GIRLS NEGLECTED.
Education Denied Them Because They
win Get Married.

4 writer in the North China Herald IN
an essay on "The National History of the
Chinese Girl, ." has some interesting remarks
ON thc lack Of education Of Chinese women.
When { he child grows up 10 be what we
should call young school girl, her friends
begin to be very uneasy about ner. ms
has not the smallest connection win her III
tellectual nature, which, so far as any cul-
fure which it receives is concerned, might
rs well be nOn-eNistent. Unless her father
happeus to be schOOlmaster aud AT home
with nothing tOdO be never thinks Of teach
ing his daughter tOread; II would be prcpOs-
ferrous. It il like wedding the held Tor some
other man or putting Il gold chain around
the neck of some one clse's puppy. which
NAV at any moment be Whisiled on, ana
then what becomes Of the chain: one OF
the underlying assumptions OF CHI
uese society is that 1t Is the body
of the girl for which the parents
are responsible. aud not the mind. TO AZ
most any Chinese it would appear sell
evident proposition that To spend tine,
strength, and much more, money IN edu-
eating the daughtcr-in-law of some one
else is a sheer waste But" you say 10
him, "she is your daughter Not after
she is married." he replies, "she is theirs ;
let them educate her themselves II thci
want her educated. why should / teach
her how TO read, write, and reckon When IT
will never DO me any gOodE win when
utilitarian inquiry the education OF most
Chinese girls has been banished from bu-
man thought for the space OF some millen-
NUNS.
The anxiety which all her friends begin
10 feel about Chinese girl as soon as she
at'ains any considerable size is exhibited
in the inquiries which are made about her
whenever she happens TO be spoken OF.
These inquiries do not concern her chafac-
ter o. her domestic accomplishments, much
less her intellectual capacity, OF when she
has. theoretically, none TO speak OF; uul
they NAV all be summed up in the single
phrase, AIS she said?' meaning by the iern
'.sald" betrothed. III the reply should be IN
the negative the intelligence Is received IN
much the same way as we should receive
the information that a European chlld had
bv some strange neglect been allowed 10
grow to the age of sixteen without having
been taught anything whatever out OF BOOKS.
The instructive feeling Of a Chinese IN re-
gard TO girl is that she should he performed
as soon as possible. Ihs Is one OF the
many points in regard to which 1t Is almost
impossible for the Chinese and the Anglo
Saxon to come TO terms. As soon as a
Chinese girl is once betrOthed she is placed
i'm different relations to the universe gener-
ally. She is no longer allowed such free
dom as hitherto, although that may have
been little enough. She cannot 90 any
where because it would be announcement
She might be seen by some member OF the
family into which she is TO marry-than
which il is hardly possible to thlnk Oi an!
thing more horrible. why" the irrepres-
sible Occidental inquiries, and is quench. d
bv the information that lit would not b
proper" Why it would not be proper no
one can ever tell, except that 1t never was
proper, and therefore IT is not so now, ana
therefore never will be. The imminent risN
that the gill might at some unguarded mo-
ment 10 be actually seen by the family OF
the future mother-in'law is reason WI! 50
few engagements for girls are made IN the
town in which the giIl liyes-an arrange
ment which would seem to be for the c0nVt-
nience of all parties in a great variety q
ways.