MARRIAGE CUSTOMS 147 



is furnished with a card stating the ancestral name 

 and the eight characters which denote the hour, day, 

 month, and year of birth of the candidate for matri- 

 mony. The go-between takes this card to the family 

 indicated, and tenders a proposal of marriage for a 

 daughter. Should the girl's parents entertain the pro- 

 posal, they show to a fortune-teller the eight characters 

 which tell the exact time of birth of the young people, 

 and he, after examining them, says whether the betrothal 

 would be auspicious. If, for instance, the girl was 

 born on the day dedicated, to the goose, and the boy 

 on that of the fox, negotiations would terminate, be- 

 cause from time immemorial foxes have eaten geese. 

 Should, however, the respective days be favourable the 

 families interchange cards, upon which a formal agree- 

 ment has been written. The parents of the young 

 man send with the card gold or silver bangles for 

 the girl, and for her family a pig's feet, a pair of 

 fowls, two fish, eight cocoanuts, etc. The girl's family 

 send with the card five kinds of dried fruit, artificial 

 flowers, vermicelli, and cakes of ceremony for distribu- 

 tion amongst friends. On the top stack of these cakes 

 small dolls made of flour are stuck. A pair of geese 

 are sent, not to cast a reflection upon the intellectual 

 condition of the youth and maiden to be married,, 

 but as an emblem of domestic bliss, these birds being" 

 reputed to be good family birds. 



Some children are betrothed from their birth, so the 

 time between betrothal and marriage varies from a 

 month or two to eighteen or twenty years. Two persons 

 having the same surname are not allowed to marry. As 

 there are only about a hundred recognized family names 

 in the Chinese Empire this is a serious limitation. 



