CHINA. 



381 



With regard to marriages and their treatment of 

 the tender sex confided to their care, the Chinese 

 vary but little from the other Asiatic nations: 

 " The birth of a daughter," says Gutzlaff, "is an 

 object of sorrow; and many female children are 

 destroyed drowned in warm water, and at the 

 moment of birth consigned to the grave. The 

 government connives at this monstrous and most 

 unnatural crime, because it acknowledges the so- 

 vereign authority of the parent over the life of its 

 offspring, and considers female infanticide as the 

 most effectual check upon the too rapid increase of 

 population. The murder of female infants is pre- 

 valent throughout the empire, and perpetrated with 

 shameless atrocity." " The parents, instead of 

 giving a dowry with their daughter, receive a price, 

 varying from six dollars to five thousand, according 

 to the beauty or rank of the lady. When she 

 leaves the paternal roof, the bride is seated in a 

 sedan, in which she is locked up, accompanied with 

 musicians and people bearing flags. The key of 

 the sedan is carried by the bride's mother, who, on 

 arriviug at the bridegroom's, presents him with it. 

 The bride is then released, and if not approved 

 (for that is the first, time she is seen by her future 

 spouse), she may be sent back ; but if her appear- 

 ance is agreeable, she is introduced with many bows 

 and ceremonious gallantries, and ducks and nods, 

 into the great hall. They then burn incense and 

 bow before the idol, and the whole is concluded 

 with a repast. Forced marriages often produce 

 tragical results: sometimes the female has recourse 

 to poison; sometimes she is contented with the 

 gentler but no less decisive means of liberty, by 

 shaving her head. The grandees and rich men 

 keep regular harems. Beautiful and accomplished 

 females, for which the country about Nang-choo 

 and Soo-choo is as celebrated as Circassia, are ex- 

 tensively bought and sold." 



Corpulency is deemed a beauty in men, but a 

 blemish in women. The women have usually a 

 peculiarly arched eye-brow, as much the effect of 

 art as nature, a very unmeaning face, and, among 

 the higher classes, exceedingly small feet, from the 

 tight pressure, during infancy and childhood, of 

 small wooden shoes. This custom originated (as 

 described in Chinese history) several centuries 

 back, when a large body of females rose against, 

 and endeavoured to verthrow, the government. 

 To prevent the recurrence of such an event, the 

 use of wooden shoes ,vas enforced on all female 

 infants, so small as to disable them, without great 

 pain, to make any use of their feet. This custom 

 has now become so familiar from long usage, that a 

 small foot is reckoned one of the greatest attrac- 

 tions a Chinese female can possess. The education 

 of Chinese ladies is extremely limited. According 

 to Chinese writers, the first principles of morality, 

 with skill to perform the necessary household tasks, 

 ought to comprise the whole range of their acquire- 

 ments. One author, indeed, referring to the fre- 

 quent complaint of the husband that he finds very 

 little gratification in the society of a partner whose 

 mental resources are so small, seems to ad vise that 

 he should teach her something, and encourages him 

 by the remark, that even monkeys can be taught to 

 play antics ; but in this instruction nothing intel- 

 lectual can oe intended, since be concurs with other 

 moralists, in declaring that she ought never to open 

 a book. The Chinese, have, however, several female 

 writers, whose learned works they hold in high 

 esteem. To beguile the many tedious and heavy 



hours which must unavoidably occur to secluded 

 females, thus totally unqualified for mental pursuits, 

 the tobacco-pipe is the usual expedient. Every 

 female from the age of eight or nine years, wears 

 as an appendage to her dress, a small silken purse 

 or pocket to hold tobacco, and a pipe, with the use 

 of which many of them are not unacquainted at 

 this tender age. Some, indeed, are constantly em- 

 ployed in working embroidery on silks, or in paint- 

 ing birds, insects, and flowers, on their gauze. 

 " In the ladies' apartments, (says Mr Barrow,) of 

 the great, house in which we lived at Pekin, we ob- 

 served some very beautiful specimens of both kinds 

 in the pannels of the partitions, and brought home a 

 few articles, which I understand have been much 

 admired; but the women who employ their time 

 in this manner, are generally the wives and daugh- 

 ters of tradesmen and artificers, who are usually 

 the weavers both of cotton and silk. I remember 

 asking one of the great officers of the court, who 

 wore a silken vest beautifully embroidered, if it 

 was the work of his lady; but the supposition that 

 his wife should condescend to use her needle, seemed 

 to give him offence." 



Mr Abeel says that the appearance of the 

 Chinese at Canton, differed in some respects from 

 his preconceived notions. The most striking pecu- 

 liarities to the stranger, he tells us, are the great 

 variety of complexion, the general flatness of face, 

 and uniformity of features, and especially the 

 strange formation of the eye, not only with the 

 internal angle curved, but with the lid in many 

 cases so small, as to appear not adapted to its na- 

 tural functions. " This last peculiarity is most 

 remarkable among children. The lid appears un- 

 naturally distended when the eye is open ; at the 

 same time it covers so much of the ball of the 

 eye, as to produce the impression that the latter 

 is uncomfortably confined. With the exception 

 of the occiput, the heads of the men are shaved ; 

 while, if its luxuriance will admit, it is per- 

 mitted to grow until it comes in contact with 

 their heels. It is generally worn in a pendant 

 plait, the cords with which it is woven fre- 

 quently supplying the deficiency of its length. It 

 is quite a comment on fashion " old custom," as 

 the Chinese term it, to associate with the popu- 

 larity and prevalence of the one here described, the 

 recency of its date, and the reproach of its origin. 

 Upon the Tartar conquest, not two centuries ago, 

 the Chinese were compelled to adopt this style of 

 wearing their hair as a mark of subjugation. Many 

 considered it such a disgrace that they preferred 

 losing their heads to their hair. Now it has be- 

 come an ornament and a mark of proud distinction. 

 The girls wear the long plait according to the 

 fashion of the- men, but do not shave the other 

 parts of the head. After marriage, the hair is 

 braided upon the head, and decked with a profusion 

 of flowers and jewels answering to the rank or 

 means of the possessor. The ordinary style of 

 dress differs but little in both sexes. It consists of 

 loose pantaloons, and an* over-garment or robe with 

 long dangling sleeves, and which varies in length 

 from the knee to the ground. Their girdles, like 

 those of the Jews, frequently answer the purpose 

 of purses. The stocking has no reference to the 

 shape or size of the limb, and the shoe his a thick 

 clumsy sole turning up in front, and destitute of 

 elasticity to aid the step." 



The Chinese take a passionate delight in their 

 poetry, such as it is. They have poems on almost 



