Enclosure No.2. (cont)
2
86
"adopted girl", usurping the place of Pei nu (
so offensive to the ear of the law, and their use as
domestic slaves in the families of well-to-do Chinese
is too common to call for comment, except on the rare occasions when inhuman treatment occasioning the death or injury of some unfortunate girl is brought to light. One such case of revolting cruelty, to which prominence was recently given in the local Chinese press, has
induced a few social reformers to start a "Society for the Liberation of Slave Girls" in Amoy, but the support given to the Society is of a perfunctory and apathetic nature, public opinion being as yet unconvinced of the necessity of interfering with an age long custom. indifference arises in all probability from the belief shared by all classes that the generality of slave girls are well treated by their mistresses.
This
3. An agreement for the sale or purchase of a slave
other girl in any form/than that of "adoption by purchase"
), is void in law, and the principals
(Yang nu.
nů
are punishable under section 257 of the Chinese Criminal Code. On the other hand, the purchase of a girl for the purpose of becoming the concubine of a particular man, as distinct from procuration for the purpose of general prostitution, would not appear to be prohibited in Chinese law, and is effected in conformity with local custom, which varies in some particulars in every province and, indeed, in every district.
No agreement or bill of sale is, as a rule drawn up nor, if drawn up, would it be recognised as
valid
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