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daughters with or without payment to persons who present themselves saying that they are in a position to place the children in circumstance which are for their ad- vantage that they are providing them with honourable means of livelihood? It is possible and the information supplied by one expert confirms this opinion that these intermediaries abuse the confidence placed in them and hand over the young girls to disorderly houses in return for money. As a general rule, the go-between justify the possession of young girls by representing them to be adopted daughters.

K

47.

As regards China, assuming that the "Mui-tsai" system is open to the serious criticism directed against it, legislation such as the Canton Government's Edict of 1927 will certainly not put an end to it, for the ediet simply prohibits the sale, purchase and pledging of children. It is, however, far from certain that, under Chinese law, a Mui-tsai" is a child who has been bought in the strict sense of the term. The persons concerned can, as a rule, claim that the purpose of the con- tract is not to transfer the right of ownership over the child, and that, in con- sequence, they are not liable to the penalties laid down in the edict, but that the purpose is rather to transfer the rights of paternal authority over the child and to enable the person receiving the child to make use of such services as the latter can render. Legislation embodying the provisions of the Hong Kong Order would un- doubtedly be far more efficacious. Again, one can hardly anticipate the complete disappearance of the "Mui-tsai" system, unless economic conditions in China become. such that parents are not obliged to hand over their children to others in order to ensure them the means of livelihood. It is necessary also to reckon with Chinese public opinion, which sees nothing reprehensible in the "Mui-tsai" system that has been practised for centuries.

CHAPTER V.

Practices Restrictive on the Liberty of the Person.

(b) Enslavement of children disguised as adoption.

51. Adoption is a current practice in the Far East and Oceania, but appears to be less common in Africa. Apart from the objects of adoption, as practised in western countries, it sometimes has religious objects as well. Sometimes also, it is an ex- pression of politeness between families or a tribute to the adopting family by the family of the adopted child. Under these adoption contracts, the treatment accord- ed to the adopted child differs but little or not at all from that accorded to the child- ren of the person adopting the child.

A French report points out, however, that recourse is sometimes had in Annam to adoption in cancellation of a debt to the parents of the adopted child.

The

It may

52. It is alleged that, in China, adoption is frequently deprived of its true char- acter in such a way as to amount to real enslavement, involving the conditions of existence to which paragraph 45 of this report refers for the adopted children. Committee is not in a position either to contest or to confirm these assertions. be that these allegations confuse the practice of adoption and the system of "Mui- tsai" and the traffic in children described in paragraph 45 of this report, in which the accusations brought against the system of "Mui-tsai" and the denials with which they are met are set forth,