Marriage

The Book of History states that ancient Chinese lived promiscuously, knowing their mothers but not their fathers. This state of promiscuous intercourse must have been followed by a state of submi ion of a woman or women to one man, resulting in parental authority. According, to a decree of a.d. 484, the Hsia and Yin dynasties permitted marriage between members of the same elan, but the Chou dynasty was the first to forbid marriage between those of the same surname. During the feudal period a law was pa ed forbidding marriage with five kinds of women: — (a) the daughter of a rebellious house (b) the daughter of a disorderly house (c) the daughter of a house producing criminals IMG:p345_2.png:Chinese characters the daughter of a leprous I house (e) the daughter who had lost her father and elder brother. Marriage was also forbidden during the three years of mourning. Widows were obliged to remain single. During the Sung period camp followers were forbidden to marry. Under the Ming dynasty unborn children were sometimes betrothe.d, but this custom was forbidden by the Ch'ing dynasty. The following are some of the laws regarding betrothal and marriage that were observed under the Manchu dynasty. The legal contractors of a betrothal may be (1) the paternal grandparents of the couple, (2) the parents of the couple, (3) the paternal uncle of the father, and his wife, (4) the paternal aunt, sister of the father, (5) the eldest brother, (6) the eldest sister, (7) the maternal grandparents. Failing these near relatives, those of more remote kin may arrange the contract. A married daughter may make a contract for female relatives of her father's family. If the contract be illegal or fraudulent, the parties arranging the contract are the ones punished. The consent of the couple to the contract is not required. If a widow wishes to remarry, her father-in-law, mother-in-law or other relative of her husband's family, signs the contract; failing these, a member of her father's family. If a widow has a daughter by her first marriage who has become an inmate of her second husband's home, the widow can sign her daughter's betrothal contract. In the contract, the signatories must declare i, any blemishes or physical infirmities of the bride or bridegroom, ii, their ages, iii, if either has been born of a concubine, iv, if either has been aidopted. The full consent of the two families is required. Fraudulent betrothals sometimes take place, as when a healthy brother or sister is described in the contract instead of an unhealthy bridegroom or bride, and so on. If the fraud is discovered before marriage, the contract can be annulled, the presents returned and the fraudulent signatory punished. If the deception is discovered after marriage, the marriage is di olved and the fraudulent signatory is punished. The betrothal contract may also be annulled if the bridegroom or bride commit some crime before marriage; or, if the bridegroom for some political reason be sentenced to life-long exile, the bride may either follow him or be set free to marry another. A marriage celebrated without the requisite formalities, i.e. without signatories to the contract, without a go-between, without giving of presents, without a public celebration, is considered fornication and the couple must be separated. If a son or daughter marry during the period of mourning for his or her father or mother, he or she is punished for committing a great offence against filial piety, and the wife is separated from the husband. 346 There are three e ential conditions to a marriage: — first, the contract signed by the parents or guardians as explained above; secondly, the acceptance of the wedding gifts by the bride's family; thirdly, the bringing of the bride to the groom's house. Marriage customs vary in different provinces, but the following usage is more or le observed all over China. The preliminaries to a betrothal are arranged by go-betweens, generally women, who approach each family and consult the horoscopes of the young couple. If these are favourable, the groom's parents or guardians make a formal offer of marriage, which, when a ented to in writing by the bride's parents, constitutes the marriage contract. A lucky day is then chosen for the event. A month before the wedding, the groom's family send to the bride's family the material for the bridal dre , presents of money, silks, wine, and cakes of ceremony, etc, A few days before the wedding, the bride's dowry, trou eau and furniture, together with gifts from relatives and friends, are carried to the bridegroom's house. On the eve of the wedding the bride puts up her hair, tries on the bridal garments, lights incense before her family's ancestral tablets and kneels before her parents, grandparents and senior relatives. The wedding-day is celebrated by musicians who play while the bride bathes and dons her marriage clothes, the outer garments of red being embroidered with dragons. A veil completely conceals her features. A friend of the groom, bearing a formal letter, then arrives to escort the bride to her new home. This letter is sometimes regarded in the light of a marriage certificate, and is carefully preserved by the bride. She then steps with weeping into the red marriage chair, her mother, sisters and other relatives also weeping, while fire-crackers are let off, and music is played. The chair, a heavy structure covered with red embroideries and rich carving, is borne by four men. Two men carry lanterns in the bridal proce ion bearing the groom's family name in red characters, followed by two other men similarly displaying the bride's family name. A red umbrella is borne in the proce ion, which is accompanied by musicians. The bride's brothers walk near her chair. Fire-crackers are. let off on arrival at the groom'«i house. The chair is carried into a reception room, and the bride is invited to descend by a little boy who holds a bra mirror towards her. A matron and bridesmaids uttering felicitous sentences help her out of the chair. A sieve is sometimes held over her head or placed so that she steps into it from the chair. She is then led to her room where she sits by the groom's side on the edge of the bed. Later they go separately to the reception room, where, in front of a table spread with two sugar cocks, dried fruit and symbolical articles, they do obeisance before the gods, then to the bridegroom's ancestral tablets, then to each other. After this they drink a mixture of wine and honey out of goblets tied together by red thread, exchanging cups and drinking again. They are given pieces of the sugar cocks and a few dried fruits to eat. The bridegroom then pretends to lift the bride's veil after which she is led to her room and divested of her heavy outer garments. The couple then have dinner wuth their guests, the bride eating nothing. She is gazed at by friends and by the public, who criticize her appearance and make all sorts of jokes. On the third day, the couple visit the bride's family, when they worship her ancestral tablets. On the tenth day the bride often goes alone to visit her parents. Posthumous marriages IMG:p346_1.png:Chinese characters ming Jiun are not uncommon among better-cla families. If a son dies unmarried and before adult age, the parents seek by go-betweens a family that has lost a daughter of about the same age and at about the same time. Betrothal and wedding ceremonies are duly carried out, the tablets taking the places of the pair. The bride's coffin is then laid in the grave side by side with the bridegroom's, and she is thenceforward a deceased daughter-in-law in the family. Such marriages are prohibited in the Chou Li, yet have been common from the earliest history down to modern times. There is also marriage which is posthumous) for only one of the pair. If one of a betrothed couple dies before marriage, the wedding may still take place, the tablet representing the dead. Or if a girl dies unbe trothed a living husband may still be found for her; both betrothal and wedding ceremonies being performed with her tablet. Though the above account has been written in the present tense it is probable that much of it has been altered since the Revolution, both with regard to the laws and to the ceremonies. After the establishment of the Republic a new Provisional] Code made various alterations in the laws. Marriage is forbidden before the ages of 18 and 16 for the man and woman respectively. The couple must have the consent of their parents, and the marriage is not recognized before its announcement to the proper magistrate. The parts of this new Code which relate to marriage, etc., are given in the new edition of P. Hoang's work. Von Mollendorff: Family Law of China; Parker: Comparative Chinese Law; Werner: Descriptive Sociology; Hoang: Le Mariage chino is, 2nd ed., 1916; Doo little: Social Life of the Chinese; Gray: China.