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that the practice is still prevalent under various names. Questioned, the people generally claim the child as a daughter. As far as I can find out, the law on the question is a matter of paper."
he informant of the Foochow Consulate told Mr. Moss that some years ago societies for the suppression of the mui-tsai system were formed in Amoy and Foochow, the Amoy society being far the more active. He had heard nothing whatever of the Foochow society for at least three years and thought that it was no longer in active existence.
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6. Mr. W. Russell-Brown, His Majesty's Consul at Amɔy, has sent me an interesting letter on this subject, of which I enclose a cɔpy. He says that in theory the slave girl system has no existence in China, but in actual fact it is in force from one end of the country to the other. Girls are everywhere bought and sold for maid servants or slaves; the euphemism "adopted daugther " usurping the place of "slave girl." He also says that a few social reformers started a Society for the Liberation of Slave Girls " in Amoy, but that the support given to the society was of a perfunctory and apathetic nature, public opinion being as yet unconvinced of the necessity of >> he interfering with an age-long custom. "This indifference,' writes, "arises in all probability from a belief shared by all classes that the generality of slave girls are well treated by their mistresses."
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7. In addition to making enquiry from official sources, I have also caused investigations to be made through private Chinese channels, and I attach a translation of a letter received by a trusted informant from a Chinese friend of his in Canton. It is to the effect that in the city of Canton the police have warned the people from time to time, in compliance with the regulations, to report in case they have any mui-tsai, and to submit for examination the deeds they have in respect of them; but that in each police station of the city not more than ten cases have been reported, and that the regulations are only a matter of form; that purchases of mui-tsai still continue, despite the prohibition; that some masters do send their mui-tsai to school but only in the hope that they may be sold to rich families as con- cubines for an enhanced price, but that he knows of no case of a mui-tsai being sent to school as a result of any dispute reported to a police station; that the insufficiency of schools in Kwangtung is notorious, and that the Canton Government cannot afford to estab- lish schools for the accommodation of mui-tsai. He then writes, "The abolition of mui-tsai is a good idea in the interests of humanity. But China is a vast country with a dense population, and the idea cannot be altogether excellent. Piracy and unemployment prevail in all outlying districts. Industry and trade have not yet been developed, and no institutions have been established for the accommo- dation of the unemployed. The cost of living in Kwangtung is particularly high, and the poor families of several persons generally
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