CO129-467 - Governor Sir Stubbs & Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1921 [1-5] — Page 525

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China and Rome the act which was necessary was a form of sele.

4.

In conclusion perhaps I might add, that there appears to be no possible objection to the adoption of male children as sons and heirs. The two things of course go together, for an adopted son must be an heir and even if a natural born son is born afterwards that does not affect the seniority of the adopted son. In default of a natural born son, the adoption of a son is a religious obligation laid upon every Chinese, for he must make arrangements for carrying on the family sacra. If he omits to

make any adoption, then his kinsmen will do it for him after his

death.

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5. The Sung Tip, which I have attached will I hope shew what the mui tsai system really is. A Mui tɛai cannot be transferred

without the consent of her parents. I have heard it argued that

as in many cases the parents might not know, that this protection is merely nominel. This however is to argue as an Englishman

and as a Chinese. A Chinese is bound by custom to an extent

which we find it difficult to understand. Ask an elder why he

does certain things and he will reply, "It is the custom of our village". He does not think if the custom is good, bad, or

indifferent, he does not ask why it exists, it is the custom and

that is enough for him. Now a Mui Tsai has a perfectly well

understood status in a Chinese family. Mourning. I may mention,

in China, is not a polite way of shewing sympathy with the

relatives of a dead person. It is a very elaborate code of ceremonial carrying with it all sorts of restrictions and

inconveniences. As far as a Chinese is concerned, the whole

world can be divided into two portions, those for whom he must observe the rules of mourning, and those for whom he must not. A Mui Tsai mourne for a dead master or mistress in exactly the same way and for eactly the same period, as the natural born or adopted children do. A Mui Tsai is a member of the Chinese household in a way in which no servant is a member of our

households. The conclusion I wish to draw from this is that no

respectable