Ch. xii. China and Japan. 213 



riage ;* the first is, that of perpetuating the sacrP 

 fices in the temple of their fathers; and the 

 second, the multiplication of the species. Duhalde 

 says, that the veneration and submission of chil- 

 dren to parents, which is the grand principle of 

 their political government, continues even after 

 death, and that the same duties are paid to them 

 as if they were living. In consequence of these 

 maxims, a father feels some sort of dishonour, and 

 is not easy in his mind, if he do not marry off all 

 his children; and an elder brother, though he 

 inherit nothing from his father, must bring up the 

 younger children and marry them, lest the family 

 should become extinct, and the ancestors be de- 

 prived of the honours and duties they are entitled 

 to from their descendants^" 



Sir George Staunton observes that whatever is 

 strongly recommended, and generally practised, is 

 at length considered as a kind of religious duty; and 

 that the marriage union as such takes place in China, 

 wherever there is the least prospect of subsist- 

 ence for a future family. This prospect however 

 is not always realized, and the children are then 

 abandoned by the wretched authors of their being ;\ 

 but even this permission given to parents thus to 

 expose their offspring tends undoubtedly to faci- 

 litate marriage, and encourage population. Con- 

 templating this extreme resource beforehand, less 



* Lettres Eclif. et Curieuses, torn, xxiii. p. 448. 

 t Duhalde's China, vol. i. p. 303. 

 \ Embassy to Chin;«, vol. ii. p. 157. 



