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THE CHINA REVIEW.
NOTES AND QUERIES.
NOTES.
CHINESE MARRIAGES.-Marriages in Chi- na are not, as with us, private agreements concluded hotween the two interested parties. In England the tie of marriage most resem- bles a contract for the reciprocal enjoyment It has of personal society and services. been a much-disputed point with the modern jurists whether the Roman marriage should be considered a consensual contract of the nature of a sale, hire, partnership, or man- date, or whether it should be deemed a real contract analogous to a loan, deposit, or hypothes. The better opinion seems to be that it was no contract at all, but a mere transfer of property, or technically speaking a concurrence of two wills creating a jus in
rem.
From a juristical point of view the Chinese marriage would seem to be neither a contract nor a transfor, but rather a manuraission, a double manumission enforced by no positive law, and, until concluded, involving no rights of the two manumitted ones as against the manumittors, but involv ing moral duties to carry out the agreement to manumit as between the two manumittors. The bride and bridegroom, as a general rule, have nothing whatever to say in the matter of their own matrimonial destiny. Proceed- ings are commenced by either the man's or the woman's family, generally the former, and at any age of the interested pair, but most commonly when the age of puberty has been resobed. The first step is to seek the services of a mei jên or "go-between," a
female who is generally bien majeure rather than young, and who is frequently a friend of both families, Neither of these desiderata is, however, a sine quâ non, and, in some rare cases, the mateh-makers are even con- tent to repose confidence in a professional "go-between," whose standing is littlo above that of a common procurEIS. The male household having confided to this mei jên their aspirations, she takes an early op- portunity of paying a visit to the family of the girl, and, asking to see the master, is invited into the court-yard (tu Ping), where, with very little ceremony, the subject is brounhed. Let us assume that the advanseя made are agreeable. The girl's friends, with Chinese caution, confine themselves to set phrases, such as "Marriage is an affair of destiny, in which men have little to say;" "It
appears that the fates have pointed to the son of your employer as a mate for our daughter, and this being the case, we must consult with our friends." After a little time, the girl's family send for the "go- between" and inform her of their favourable conclusion, upon which she busies berself with handing to each family the pa laz or- so to speak-baptismal register" of either party. These are written on red paper, and contain a very few simple words. "The male clement (ch'ien), name
date of birth; age; year, month, day, and hour of birth,* etc., etc." After an interval,
*The two cyclical (male and female) characters for each of the four latter dates, viz, the year, monik, day and hour of birth, are more strictly called the patsz.-En. China Review.
NOTES AND QUERIES.
which may be of months or years according to the age of the betrothed, the man's family send a message to the effect that they pro- pose to send presents. A day is chosen for this, and a pair of gold bracelets, a pair of earrings and a few tacls in money are sent to the family of the girl. Of course these presents are more or less valuable according to the wealth of the parents. If the bride's friends receive these things there is no re- treat: the money and jewels are rogarded as earnest money to a bargain.. It should here be mentioned that marriages never under any circumstances take place in the 1st month of the year: any other months are available, but the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th are the favourite ones. When a day has been fixed on for the consummation of the nuptials, the ceremony of sung hang has to be gone through by the bridegroom. This takes place a day or two before the wedding morning, when hearers are sent with chests containing eatables for the delectation of the bride. This civility is reciprocated by an- other of kui hsieh mao on the part of the bride, who sends to her swain a pair of houts, an official hat, and some articles of furni- ture. Finally the bride's trousseau and outfit are sent over to the house of the bridegroom-pan chung lien,----followed the next day by the bride herself. The bride, with hor father, mother, brother and sistera, is supposed to pass the morning of her mar- riage in tears of sorrow at parting. She partakes of a light repast in the morning, and is robed in a dress of red, her features being concealed by a thick and impenetrable veil. At about eight in the morning she is placed in the hired hua chico, or embroider- ed sedan-chair, which, also, is draped with red. The doors of her house are locked, and
the chair is deposited in the court within. When she has been securely shut up, the gutes are opened and the chair is received by the friends of the bridegroom, who are in waiting outside and who convey it to their own house to the sound of the flute, the cymbal, and the gung. Along the route
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crackers are fired off, and a storm of these greets the chair as it approaches the dwell- ing of the man. The chair is deposited in the court, and approached by two of the luckiest old women in the family, who open the door and invite the trembling girl to make the proper obeisances. These are made by both herself and her betrothed in the court, she remaining closely veiled all the time. The pair first kotow to Heaven and Earth, then to their ancestors, next to the parents, and finally to each other. The officious old ladies, discreet, lucky, and ex- pcrienced, escort the girl to her apartments and cheer her up with words of encourage- ment, with cups of tea, and with even a cake or two. In a few moments the dread event of raising the veil" takes place, Fiuo kai-t'ou lo; the bridegroom stepping in armed with a carpenter's foot-rule with which he twitches of the veil which covers his bride. He seats himself on the left side of the couch, with his betrothed on his right, there being a small table between them. No remarks are made on either side, The discreet old ladies next bring in two small cups of wine which are poured one into the other as a symbol of indissoluble union, and banded to the happy pair to drain. At this interesting juncture the old dames retire, upon which the bride turns her face round to the wall in such wise that it cannot be seen. The husband, for such he now is, probably divining that, what with the ceremonial clothes, the enforced modesty, and the general stiffness of the situation, things would be "slow" if he remained longer, now leaves his wife (sin jen) to her thoughts, and rejoins his friends outside. Once more the old ladios rush in and befriend the disconsolate girl, who sits in the same place until the male festivities are over, to a late bour in the night or an early one in the morning. During the day, for all the above takes place in the early morning,-male and female friends are entertained, and the newly-married pair, in their best clothes, entertain their friends of
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