Ly our recent review of the latest effort of Her Majesty's Privy Council to regulate the marriages of British subjects abroad, we were obliged to pass over two questions suggested by the Order, both of which may well become pertinent to British residents in China. The first is, how far would the tenderness towards teges loci which this Order undoubtedly exhibits prevail to render valid in the Queen's Dominions a marriage between two British subjects celebrated in China in accordance with Chinese wedding ceremonial The second concerns mixed marriages, that is (in this case) mar-nages in which one of the parties Chinese subject, and is to the eff What, if any, ceremonial which is binding upon the British party would be recognised by the Chinese authorities as equally binding upon the Chinese party Leaving this latter question to be dealt with presently we will proceed to exaniue here the former.
We have been instant, time and again, in protesting against the despatch of unmarried English girls into the interior. But as, in spite of all expostulation, they continue to go (or rather to be sent) it is clearly as well that their position should be regularized as speedily as possible, and it can only be regularized by their marriage. The good people at home, and the gooder people in America, do not seem to understand the light in which the Chinese regard girls who live away from father or husband. Nor, as far as we have been taught, is there anything in the writings of the early fathers of Christianity or in the sayings of their Master, that will excuse the flagrant offence which the presence of these unprotected girls gives to their Chinese neighbours. Therefore we say, them be married as soon as may be. We understand that among the regulations of the C.LM. is one which refuses permission to marry to avy missionary, ale or female, who has failed to pass an examination in Chinese. This means that a delicately nurtured English lady who in a moment of enthusiasm has taken service under our local General Booth will be sent (we purposely say nothing about the journey) a hundred, five hundred, perhaps a thousand, miles from any civilised spot, and there every day for two years will have to sit by the side of a Chinese teacher whose morals are as shady as his linen. She will then be qualified to teach that teacher, and, if she can get the necessary perm from her General, to marry. No remoustranves can turn a fanatic into the paths of common sense, and therefore, we suppose, it will be idle to protest against regulations such as these; but when the testamur has been granted and the permission given, no one would stick so fanatically to the puns-amnia-puta doctrine as to encourage the betrothed couple in journeying together over those hundreds of wiles to the nearest consulate if they could be legally made aman and wife at their place of residence. Judeed we understand that with a view to obviate such journeyings the China Inland Mission has secured the services of certain " clerks in holy orders," whose principal duty it is to: play the part of the historic blacksmith at Gretna Green. But as these cannot be in two places at once, is it not worth our General's while to consider whether British law would be disposed to regard as valid a marriage celebrated by the means available everywhere in China, Chinese ceremonial The first question would be, what among the varying ceremonies of a Chinese nuptial are really essential We have asked the opinion of a Chinese official on the point, who with characteristic caution first replied that mar-nages were no concern of the officials. Further urging induced him to enumerate certain actions the performance of which he regarded as indispensable to the subsequent recognition of the bride as a chi or wife proper. To begin with the man must have no ¢#i living, and the woman no fi or husband. (We pass by, as matters of no practical consequence, the question whether in the highest ritual a widower or a widow can a second time be wedded. It is
irreproachable authority of the Ta-{ sufficient to be able to affirm on ching Li-li—the Penal Code—that such a second marriage is as valid as the first.) Nhe next essential is the free consent of the persons having authority over the bride and bridegroom, There must always in a Chinese marriage be some one not only to give the woman to be warried to the man, but also to give the man to be married to the woman. This, however strange it may seem in English eyes, would appear only natural to a Frenchman: for in France the idea of marriage, as a family compact, is much closer to the Chinese idea than is our English notion. The free consent of the family authorities is brought about in the way necessary to all transactions in China, by the employment of a go-between, so that "no go-between, no nuptial" has passed jute " proverb, In the process of the negotiations a comparison takes place of the dates of birth of both bride and bridegtae that is of the "eight characters" Which fix the year, month, day, and"hour of their coming into the world. "If all is satisfactory the pair (who We need not add, have not or are supposed not to have seen one another) are betrothed, prin ting, and a dee', of betrothal, hun shu, is drawn up in evidence. The bridegroom mow sends to the parents of the bride; what must originally have been, even if it no longer is considered, her yrrice, that is to say the betrothal gifts, ts'aé Ni. This is followed by the naming of the day and that by the bringing home of the bride. The bride should be brought from her father's home to her husband's in a locked red chair accompanied by musiciaus. With what ceremonies she is escorted mournfully out of the une door or welcomed into the other the Code does not concern itself, nor, it should be added, dows it refer tu what is now looked upon by the commonalty as essential, the red chair and music. The only remaining functions which the Code enumerates are the hsiang chien mutual seeing,' when the bridegroom inspects his bride, and the consummation, cling hun. "Yo these popular usage adds a third necessary, the" worshipping" together by bridegroom and bride of Heaven, Earth, and his Ancestors.
To sum up: A Chinese marriage involves (1) the consent of the persons respectively having authority over the youth and the girl, (2) the employment of a go-between, (3) the comparison of birth dates, (4) the formal betrothal,. evidenced' by a deed, (5) the receipt by' the bride's family of gifts, (6) the formal! fixing of a day for the marriage, (7) the escort of the bride in a closed red chair with music to her husband's home, (8) the unritual seeing,' (9) the worshipping, and (10) the consummation, Now of all these elements to whut besides the ninth and possibly the third could objection be taken by the most fanatical: missionary? And it should be noted. that neither the ninth nor the third are alluded to in the Code, so their modification or omission could not be held
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.