256
Appen- dix A.
(4) That no girl should be sold as a prostitute and this should apply to a
mui-tsai as much as to any girl.
(5) That by custom, when a mui-tsai is engaged to be married, if her parents be then living, the Master or Mistress should notify them of the fact and the circumstances attending thereto. If the parents desired to do so they would associate with the family of the girl's husband as if she had been married by them. In such a case the responsibility of the Master or Mis- tress would cease but if her parents be dead the girl, after her marriage, would be treated in her Master's house as a "quasi daughter" and her husband as a "quasi-son-in-law''; and all the thousand and one, Chinese ceremonies relating to child birth and annual festivities etc., would be performed by and at the expense of the Mistress as a mother-in-law.
There is one point I omitted to mention in my memorandum to H.E. the Governor on the question of mui-tsai, that is (6) a mui-tsai wears mourning on the death of her Mas- ter or Mistress for the same period as that of a daughter. This is custom and is usually done but is not provided by law, as the law only prescribes the period of mourning of per- sons related to the deceased within the 5 degrees of consanguinity. This point is very important as it shows that a mui-tsai is treated by the Chinese as a foster-daughter.
Now I will proceed to answer the following questions.
Question 1.-Is the Document Exhibit "A" consistent with:---
(1) An intent that the child should be adopted as the daughter of first defen-
dant (Lei Wong Shi), or,
(2) An intent that the child should render to the first defendant services as a
domestic servant?
Or, is the document equally consistent with either such intention?
Answer:-Exhibit "A" is the usual form of a document presenting a daughter to another family as a mui-tsai. With the explanation of the meaning and position of a mui- tsai in a family as above, a mui-tsai is neither an adopted daughter in the strict legal sense of the word "adoption" according to Chinese law, nor is she a domestic servant in the ordinary sense of a menial or paid servant. She is rather in the position of a foster- daughter liable to do such domestic service as a natural daughter might be called upon to do at any time. The amount or degree of household work to be performed by her de- pends entirely on the social position of the family to which she is attached. When there are plenty of paid servants in the house she is only called upon to do the very light kind of household duties. Therefore Exhibit "A" is equally consistent with the intentions of 1 and 2 in the question.
Question 2.—Is it customary or usual among the Chinese to adopt daughters?
Answer: No. It is unusual to "adopt" daughters among the Chinese but they are in the habit of having foster-daughters. The word "adopt" has a special meaning in the Chinese law. There is only one kind of adoption in the Chinese law, that is, the adoption of an heir male (there is no such thing as a female heir in China) to carry on or continue the line of lineal descent for the purposes of ancestral worship. The law regulates the proper class of male persons to be adopted as an heir but no regulation exists to provide for the adoption of a daughter. To use the word adopt loosely and to apply it to females is rather misleading and confusing.
Question 3.-Would such adoption be usual for an elderly lady whose own only daughter had died? Would the fact that the lady had a son and several grandchildren affect the position?
Answer :-To use the word "fostering". Yes. Particularly with old spinsters or old ladies whose children are all married-more so if the only daughter had died. The fact of having grand-children does not affect the position. The object of having a foster- daughter is so that the old lady might have some one constantly near her and that she might receive the little attentions, care and affection of some one like a daughter. When one foster-daughter is married, she would look for another.