Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1891-01-23
CHINESE Girl s NEGLECTED.
Education Denied Them because They
will Get Married.

A writer in the North China Herald.
In an ESSAY on THE National History
of the Chinese Girl" has some inter-
esting remarks on the lack OF educa-
ton of Chinese women. When the
child grows up TO what we should call
a young school girl her friends begin
to be very uneasy about her. This has
not the smallest connection with her
intellectual nature. which. so far as
anv culture which it receives is con-
cerned, might rs well be non-existent.
Unless her father happens to be
schoolmaster and at home with moth
ing TO do he never thinks of teaching
his daughter to read; it would be pre-
posterous. 1t is like wedding the field
for some other man, or putting gold
chain around the neck OF some one
ese's puppy. which may at any mo-
ment be whisted off. fnd then what
becomes Of the chainP One of the un-
DERIVING assumptions of Chinese So
ciety is that it is the body of the girl
for which the parents are responsible.
aud not the mind. To almost any
Chinese it would probably appear a
self-evident proposition that to spend
time, strength. and. much more, money
in educating the danghter-in-layY OF
some one else is Il sheer waste. But.
YOU say TO him. ''she is your daugh-
ter" mot after she is married" no
replies; "she is theirs; let them edu-
cate her themselves if they want her
educated. Why should l teach her
how to read. write and reckon when it
will never do me any good?" With
which unitarian inquiry the education
of most Chinese girls has been Danish
ell from human thought for the space
of some millenniums.
The anxiety which all her friends be-
gin to feel about Chinese girl as soon
as she attains 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 character or her do
nestle accomplishments. much less
her intellectual capacity, of which she
has, theoretically. none to speak of;
but they may all be summed up in the
single phrase: ''ls she said?" mean
ing by the term said" betrothed. If
the reply should be in the negative the
intelligence is received in much the
same way as we should receive the in-
formation that n European child had
by some strange neglect been allowed
to grow to the age of 16 without hav-
ing been taught anything whatever out
of books. The instructive feeling of a
Chinese IN regard to a girl Is that she
should be betrothed as soon as posi-
BILE. This is one of the many points in
regard to which it is almost impossible
for the Chinese and the Anglo-SdXon to
come to terms. AS soon as Chinese
giri Is once betrothed she is placed in
different relations to the universe gen.
orally. She is no longer allowed such
freedom as hitherto. although that may
have been little enough. She can not
20 anywhere. because it would be ''in-
convenient" She might be seen by
some member of the family into which
she is to marre-than which it is
hardly possible 10 think of anything
more horrible. "Why?" the irrepress-
ible occidental inquiries. aud is queuch-
ed by the iHformation that lit would
not be proper" Why it would not be
proper no one can ever tell. except
that it never was proper. and therefore
it is not so now. and therefore never
will be. The imminent risk that the
girl might at some uuguarded moment
be actually seen by the family of the
future mother-in-law is n reason why
80 few engagements for girls are made
Ia the town in which the girl lves-an
arrangement which would seem to be
for the convenience of all parties in .
great variety of ways.