to the necessity of always having a son to carry on the male
line for the purpose of ancestor worship. But for this pur-
pose daughters are useless and the adoption of daughters is
not a custom recognised in China. There are exceptions to
this rule, but we cannot legislate for them."
In view of this statement I would draw your special
attention to the concluding words of the section of the
Ordinance quoted above:- on the first page of this letter.
Again he says:- "Under such conditions the use of
3
39
the term "adopted daughter" is one of convenience not of fact.
So closely are adopted daughters associated with mui tsai that
the Anti-Mui Tsai Society of Hong Kong, at a meeting held in
October, 1928, suggested that adopted daughters should be regis-
tered at the same time and in the same manner as admitted mui
tsai."
Again: "The root of the trouble is that the Chinese,
A girl is
we
like ourselves, are extremely fond of a euphemism.
not called bluntly "slave girl" or "pei nu" but a "little sister"
or "mui Tsai" But this does not alter the facts.The girl is sold
or given-even before her birth in some cases- and her new guar- dian usually has some end in view in acquiring her. I fear that
in many cases this is her use as a wageless servant or later as
a possible concubine or as the source of a fair-sized dowry when
she has attained a suitable age for marriage. 11
He ends by quoting Command Paper 3424 to show conclu-
sively the necessity of registering "adopted daughters" and