Evening star., 1911-08-26
Philippine Judges Mast
Understand Chinese I ongue

the friends and relatives Of the house
are invited.
4
''Three days afterward the couple make
their appearance before the Chinese gods
Of the family, the tablets of their ances-
tors. and with the elder members of the
family pay their respects to them, kneel-
ing down and kowtow1ng to them. Then
q reception is given to all the members
Of the family, both distant and near
relatives. in the home of the bride, and
she Is introduced there to them. A few
days after this she is to serve tea to
the elder members Of the family and to
other members, who all must be of equal
rank with the couple, and these in return
for the tea usually give her presents
Later q general reception is given to all
the people Of the village. This is most
trying day for her. as remarks upon heI
personal appearance are INDUCED in.
the couple are invited to visit the girls
mother They call on every member OF
her family, and the brothers Of the bride
perform the introductions Here again
the bride and groom are burdened with
presents consisting of cakes. sugar can
dies, dishes of food, etc. Every day from
this, for thirty or sometimes sixty days
the parents Of the bride send especially
prepared dishes to the home of the
groom for the meals of the newly mar
ried couple"
The Chinese have a peculiar doctrine
regarding the nature of their marriage
laws. They hold that their marriage is
homogeneous, in that they have only one
wife who is called such.
Linn Pan Ling, one of the witnesses,
testified that he was born in Cebu, and
that his mothers name in both China
and Cebu was Maria. Asked il his father
and mother were married, he replied
"Yes. in China and at Cebu." 1t was
found that his father was married to two
women, and when asked why he had
called them both mother" he replied: Il
called both of them mother. l was a
boy, and they treated me as mother
would treat a son, and, therefore, 1 call
ed them mother. They were both mar
ried to my father, and they were both
my mother"
II q man marries another woman with
out his ife's consent he gets ninety
blows of the heavy bamboo and is sepa-
rated from the second wife. who is re-
turned to her parents.
Religion in China centers about, one
supreme deity whom the celestials call
God, as do the people of our own country
They have other gods of lesser lmpor-
tance, but when inquiry was made about
them the Christian witnesses would give
only the reply, They do not count
+
The emperor is regarded as holy, and is
called '"The Son &C Heaven" Officials re-
main on their knees while In his pres
ence. and when he goes abroad for an
airing the people put up mating and
hofy
ground and repeatedly bump their heads
to do him reverence Should any dare
to peep at the imperial procession he
NAV expect q bullet or an arrow In his
eye The emperor's dominion Is SO vast
that not even with all his off1cials and
assistants can he attend to every part
of 1t. and, therefore each village or clan
is governed by elders" The elders
are the old. intelligent men of the village,
and their duty is to settle disputes and
quarrels among the people. This ar
raneement exists under the unwritten
law.
II boy commits a. crime, his father.
his elder brothers and sometimes even
his 0eachers are punished, as Wen as
himself 1t is held that II they had
broken the laws. Jurisdiction of parents
over the children is absolute. A parent
NAV whip a child to death II he does not
obey, and their authority over the child
is never ended save by death Married
men and women are sometimes whipped
nv their parents, and married men must
ask their mother for permission to go out
on the streets at night.
Punishment for even a very small crime
IL terribly severe, the commonest forms
being the stocks and the cangue- the
cansue is q frame made Of heavy boards
cut SO as to At about the neck, the two
parts hinged together. and clamping to
form q close, immovable circle. Its
weight IL about twenty-five pounds but
when loaded by chains. which are added
according to the gravity Of the offense,
they sometimes weigh as much as ninety
pounds. The criminal SO accoutered must
20 about with an account of his crime
written on papers pasted on each side of
the hole for his neck. SO that the people
NAV stop and read as he passes along
the streets.