The San Francisco call., 1913-08-31
American Born Girl
Wife Adopts theCus-
tom Of Old China at
the F unc tions, and
When They Are at
an End, Whispers to
a Guest Who In
derstood, well, I'm
Glad That $ Over. !"

NHINA, Oldest Of nations. was re-
~ born last year. They celebrated
the event in Peking by imprisoning the
Manchu Emperor. writing constitu-
ton, founding parliamentary few
battles. several executions and many
speeches. 1t was a revolution of ideas.
and nearly bloodless.
But it has changed the face of life
in China.
Also, the new spirit has changed the
face of life in the Mongolian swarms
that have been squeezed out of the
teeming mother-hive and forced to set
tie elsewhere. A few weeks ago. for
instance, a Chinese girl was married
in New York's Chinatown. The groom,
Chin Chez, was the most important
citizen of the quarter His tea busi-
ness supplies a living wage to half of
the lowly Chinese in Mott and Pell
streets. His influence among his ex-
lied countrymen. founded on money
and position, is immense.
After one of the immemorial we'd
ding ceremonies, in which the bride
conceals her face from the male guests
while passing provokingly before
them, Ching Chee's wife threw down
the protecting fan, sank into a chair
and, smiling nto the eyes of her near
est friend. said:
I'm glad that's overl"
It was the voice Of young China and
the death kneu of the old. 1t is heard
in China every day And 1t is gather
Ing volume particularly from every
Chinese quarter in America
The brides words were English-as
perfect English as your own. The
wedding had been solemnized In a
church Of the Episcopal faith. The
couple were soon to start housekeeping
in an apartment equipped with
modern conveniences and a few stray
samples of gloriously carved Chinese
idols. priced purely for their artistic
value.
Questioned as to the strange conde-
scension toward the rites of the fore.
fathers exhibited by the natives of a
country. the core Of whose religion is
respect for the. past, one of the we'd
ding guests-an American girl who
nas married cousin of the Chinese
bridegroom-replied:
Not more than quarter of the
Chinese nowadays. you know, are SUI
perstitious"
That was the key to the most curl
Gus bi-national wedding that has oc-
Cured in this country in many years.
Few, indeed, of the Chinese are still
superstitious. But their love of cere-
mony survives. Although the wedding
CT Mr.. Chin Chez and Miss Eng Gun
Low, for example, began in the Church
of the Disciples Of Christ, it ended
week later in four Chinatown cafes at
once, where the smell of incense was
as penetrating as the wall of the in
toned prayers and toasts. The clothes
Of the guests, save for the occasional
weil-tailored leg of Mongolian gradu-
ates of Harvard or Yale, were Of brill
liant silk and heavy embroidery. The
food at the banquet, the names for
which we're queer nasal syllables that
no Occidental has ever really mastered,
was concocted from recipes as ancient
as the empire.
The romance Of Chin Chez and Eng
Gun Low began in a New Jersey
suburb, the home Of the domestic ro-
nance. The bride is the granddaughter
of Shung Yoke, merchant OF Harri
son, N ]. The groom is the rich tea
merchant of No. 30 Pell street. New
York City. Both are Christians, mem
bers of the same Sunday school class
for ten years. Chin Chez waited long
for his bride, three or four years
longer than most of his countrymen
wait. He had learned Christian re-
straint At last Eng Gun Low was
eighteen. and mistress of High
School education that surpassed his
own. Chin Chez arranged the matter
of dowry with grandfather Shung Yoke
and took the girl to New York for
the marriage.
Two sets Of invitations we're issued