10 
THE CHIXTSE. 
The book of ceremonies requires that there should be two apart- 
ments in every house ; the exterior one for the husband, and the 
interior for the wife. They must even be separated by a partition, 
the door of which is carefully guarded ; nor is the husband at liberty 
to enter the wife’s apartment, or she to quit it without good reason. 
A widow of superior rank, who has cliildren, seldom enters a 
second time into the marriage state, though those of the ordinary 
rank generally do. Poor widows are not at liberty to follow their 
inclinations, but are sold for the benefit of the parents of the deceased. 
As soon as the bargain is concluded, a couple of porters bring a 
chair, which is guarded by a number of trusty people. In this the 
widow is shut up, and thus conducted to her new husband. 
Concubinage. is tolerated in China, though not authorized by law; 
This privilege is granted only to the emperor, the princes of the blood, 
and mandarins ; and none but the emperor is permitted to have more 
than one. But the people generally avail themselves of the toleration, 
and have two or three concubines, if they can afford to pay the cus- 
tomary sum to the parents, &c. They, however, excuse themselves as 
well as they can to their wives in this respect, pretending only a desire 
of having many children, and a number of women to attend their 
wives ; for the concubines and children must all be subject to the 
lawful wife. Others, desirous of having a male child, which perhaps 
their lawfid wife cannot have, take a concubine for this reason only, 
and dismiss her as soon as their washes are accomplished ; they then 
permit her to marry whom she pleases, and frequently even provide a 
husband for her themselves. These concubines are almost all procured 
from two cities, named Yang-Tcheou and Sou-Tcheou, where they 
are educated, and taught singing, dancing, music, and every accom- 
plishment suitable to women of quality, or which can render them 
agreeable and pleasing. The greater part of them are purchased in 
other places, to be again disposed of in these cities. Unlawful 
intrigues arc seldom heard of in China. 
Customs peculiar to the Chinese. 
All authors agree, that an absurd custom prevails throughout 
China, of confining the feet of female infants in such a manner, that 
they are never allowed to grow to near their full size. “ Of most of 
the women we saw,” says Sir G. Staunton, “ even in the middle and 
inferior classes, the feet were unnaturally small, or rather truncated. 
They appear as if the forepart of the foot had been accidentally cut 
off, leaving the remainder of the usual size, and bandaged like the 
stump of an amputated limb. They undergo, indeed, much torment, 
and cripple themselves in a great measure, in imitation of ladies of 
higher rank, among whom it is the custom to stop by pressure the 
growth of the ankle as well as foot, from the earliest infancy ; and 
leaving the great toe in its natural position, forcibly to bend the 
others, and retain them under the foot, till at length they adhere to, 
as if buried in the sole, and can no more be separated. It is said, 
indeed, that this practice is now less frequent than formerly, at least 
among the lower sort in the lower provinces.” 
