Myths and Legends of China | Page 6

the
direction of Western progress has had its effect also on the domestic
institutions. But while the essentials of the marriage contract remain

practically the same as before, the most conspicuous changes have been
in the accompanying ceremonial--now sometimes quite foreign, but in
a very large, perhaps the greatest, number of cases that odious thing,
half foreign, half Chinese; as, for instance, when the procession,
otherwise native, includes foreign glass-panelled carriages, or the
bridegroom wears a 'bowler' or top-hat with his Chinese dress--and in
the greater freedom allowed to women, who are seen out of doors much
more than formerly, sit at table with their husbands, attend public
functions and dinners, dress largely in foreign fashion, and play tennis
and other games, instead of being prisoners of the 'inner apartment' and
household drudges little better than slaves.
One unexpected result of this increased freedom is certainly remarkable,
and is one not likely to have been predicted by the most far-sighted
sociologist. Many of the 'progressive' Chinese, now that it is the fashion
for Chinese wives to be seen in public with their husbands, finding the
uneducated, _gauche_, small-footed household drudge unable to
compete with the smarter foreign-educated wives of their neighbours,
have actually repudiated them and taken unto themselves spouses
whom they can exhibit in public without 'loss of face'! It is, however,
only fair to add that the total number of these cases, though by no
means inconsiderable, appears to be proportionately small.
Parents and Children
As was the power of the husband over the wife, so was that of the
father over his children. Infanticide (due chiefly to poverty, and varying
with it) was frequent, especially in the case of female children, who
were but slightly esteemed; the practice prevailing extensively in three
or four provinces, less extensively in others, and being practically
absent in a large number. Beyond the fact that some penalties were
enacted against it by the Emperor Ch'ien Lung (A.D. 1736-96), and that
by statute it was a capital offence to murder children in order to use
parts of their bodies for medicine, it was not legally prohibited. When
the abuse became too scandalous in any district proclamations
condemning it would be issued by the local officials. A man might, by
purchase and contract, adopt a person as son, daughter, or grandchild,
such person acquiring thereby all the rights of a son or daughter.
Descent, both of real and personal property, was to all the sons of wives
and concubines as joint heirs, irrespective of seniority. Bastards

received half shares. Estates were not divisible by the children during
the lifetime of their parents or grandparents.
The head of the family being but the life-renter of the family property,
bound by fixed rules, wills were superfluous, and were used only where
the customary respect for the parents gave them a voice in arranging
the details of the succession. For this purpose verbal or written
instructions were commonly given.
In the absence of the father, the male relatives of the same surname
assumed the guardianship of the young. The guardian exercised full
authority and enjoyed the surplus revenues of his ward's estate, but
might not alienate the property.
There are many instances in Chinese history of extreme devotion of
children to parents taking the form of self-wounding and even of
suicide in the hope of curing parents' illnesses or saving their lives.
Political History
The country inhabited by the Chinese on their arrival from the West
was, as we saw, the district where the modern provinces of Shansi,
Shensi, and Honan join. This they extended in an easterly direction to
the shores of the Gulf of Chihli--a stretch of territory about 600 miles
long by 300 broad. The population, as already stated, was between one
and two millions. During the first two thousand years of their known
history the boundaries of this region were not greatly enlarged, but
beyond the more or less undefined borderland to the south were chou or
colonies, nuclei of Chinese population, which continually increased in
size through conquest of the neighbouring territory. In 221 B.C. all the
feudal states into which this territory had been parcelled out, and which
fought with one another, were subjugated and absorbed by the state of
Ch'in, which in that year instituted the monarchical form of
government--the form which obtained in China for the next twenty-one
centuries.
Though the origin of the name 'China' has not yet been finally decided,
the best authorities regard it as derived from the name of this feudal
state of Ch'in.
Under this short-lived dynasty of Ch'in and the famous Han dynasty
(221 B.C. to A.D. 221) which followed it, the Empire expanded until it
embraced almost all the territory now known as China Proper (the
Eighteen Provinces of Manchu times). To these