HABITS AND CIJSTOMS OP THE CHINESE.
Bv Mr. Pearse, of Gan-k'ing, the capital of the Gan-hwuy Province.
MARRIAGE.
N CONNECTION with the subject ot marriage, the Chinese have many customs which bear a very close resemblance to those existing amongst God's chosen
people ; and the first of these to be noticed is the
BETROTHAL
of the future husband and wife. This is usually ai ranged some
time before the actual marriage ceremony takes place. Thus
Matthew speaks of the time when the mother of our Lord was
"espoused to Joseph." Moses, too, in instituting regulations
CHINA'S MILLIONS.
for the observance of those who " go out to battle," makes
exception, amongst others, of the man " that hath betrothed a wife and hath not taken her." He is commanded to " re- turn to his house lest he die in the battle and another man
take her." The betrothal is generally
ARRANGED BY THE PARENTS
on both sides, and is eiafected by a " go-beiweea," who
manages the whole affair on their behalf. The parties most concerned have little to do with the matter, as the power of the parent over the children is paramount in the question of selecting a husband or a wife. Corresponding to
this, we find that Abraham sent " the eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had," to seek a wife for Isaac. " Thou shalt not," said Abraham to him, when sending
him forth on this mission, '
' take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell, but thou
shalt go unto my country and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac." Subsequently the servant went to Abraham's
native place, and arranged the whole affair without consulting Isaac at all in the matter. The
"friend of the bridegroom"
{John iii. 2g) is probably the go-hetween who has managed the
affair on behalf of the bridegroom's family,and
who would usually take
the initiative in bringing
about the marriage.
His joy is fulfilled when
the bridegroom hath the
bride, for his object is gained, and his work
satisfactorily completed.
John the Baptist sought
not honour for himself
but for Christ, and
was contented to decrease so long as Christ increased ; and when
told by his disciples that " all men come to Him "
(Jesus), far from being
grieved, as they seemed
to expect, he rejoiced
greatly, because he saw
ill this the earnest of the consummation of all his hopes, and the fulfilment of his desires. There is not much romance connected with Chinese love- making in the ordinary way. Very frequently the betrothed
pair do not meet each other until the v/edding day ; in such
cases the bridegroom
DOES NOT SEE HIS BRIDE's FACE
until after the marriage ceremony is completed, as the veil which
is worn by the bride, effectually hides her features from the gaze of the curious, Bot excepting the bridegroom himself ; so one can easily understand that he is often grievously disappointed with the lady who has become the partner of his life. But, alas ! it is now too late to repent.
Amusing stories are told of the chagrin of disappointed
bridegrooms on discovering, v/hen the veil is removed, and
at last he gets a sight of the wife whom he has taken "for better, for worse," that she is old, ugly, or deformed. One
of them is as follows : —A gentleman, when negotiating for a
wife, was informed by the "friend" who was arranging the matter for his family, that the lady was everything that could be
desired, both as regards beauty and accomplishment. There was but one thing, he said, which prevented his being able to describe her as absolutely perfect : her hair was black, her teeth white as driven snow, her lips like rubies ; but she has a defect
in this eye (pointing with his finger to his own right eye).
" Oh ! " said the delighted bridegroom in prospect, " if that is
all, a slight defect in one eye is no great matter." On a subseBRIDAL SEDAN.
quent occasion the go-between repeated the information, pointing,
however, not to his right but to his left eye. This difference in his description of the fair one was not, however, noticed until
it was too late. IV/ien Ihe tuedding was all over, the poor fellow made the terrible discovery that his wife was totally blind. As a general rule, no woman in China remains unmarried after arrival at the marriageable age. The same might probably be
the case also with the men, but for the fact that marriage with them is an expensive business. THE WIFE HAS TO BE BOUGHT
with a larger or smaller sum, according to the means and posi- tion of the intended bridegroom. There can be no doubt but
that a similar custom prevailed amongst the Israelites, for when
the Lord commanded the prophet Hosea to " go, yet love a woman beloved of her friend," he says, "/ bought her to me for
fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half- homer of barley." And again, when the soul of Shechem, the son of Hamor, " clave unto Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and
he loved the damsel," he said unto her father and her brethren, " Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give. Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me ; but give me
the damsel to wife." And Jacob also, as he had no money
to give Laban for his daughter Rachel, agreed to serve him
:- seven years, that she might become his wife. David, too, when
pressed to marry Saul's daughter (thinking of the amount of the money that would be
required for the king's
daughter), answered,
"Seemcthit to you to be a light thing to be a
king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man,
and lightly esteemed ? " But when he was told that ^' tile king desireth not any dowry," "it
pleased David well to
iDe the king's son-in- law " (l Sam. xviii. 23,
25, 26).
It only remains now
for me to say something
of the BRIDAL PROCESSION,
which forms such an important part of the ceremony. When the bride has "made herself ready " by taking the customary bath on the morning of the wedding day ( Ezek. xxiii. 40) and array- ing herself in her bridal garments (often richly embroidered
and purchased for her at considerable cost), with the addition of such jewels and ornaments as the means of the bridegroom's
family enable them to procure for the occasion (see Psalm xlv.
13, 14; Isaiah Ixi. 10; Ezek. xvi. 10-13), she is "prepared
as a bride adorned for hier husband," and the procession starts en route for the residence of the other party "with gladness and
rejoicing" (Psalm xlv. 15). " In front of the procession are .^ .
. . men carrying lighted torches, and a band of music;
near the bridal chair are several brothers of the bride, or friends of her family, and several friends ('companions' Judges xiv. n) or brothers of the groom. These latter, 'the children of the bride-chamber' (Matt. ix. 15), are despatched from the house
of the groom early in the morning, for the purpose of meeting
the bridal procession and escorting the bride to her home." * Very nearly corresponding to this is the account of the wedding
procession in Matt, xxv., except that in that case it is the bride- groom who forms the central figure in the procession. In China the feast is an important part of the proceedings, but as I have already written upon that subject in a former paper,
I need not do so here.
* Doolittle's " Social Lif