CHAPTER XXVIII. SOME OF THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE. Young People pledged early to each other.-Feminine Qualities prized by a Chinaman.-Recourse to the Diviner.-Promise of Marriage obtained.—Presents.—Marriage Procession. -Ornamented Chair for the Bride.-Band of Music.-Redrobed Musicians.-Train of hired Attendants.-Stores.Furniture. Arrival. - Music and Songs. - Delicacies.Wine Cup.-Worshipping the Family Gods.-Final Feast. Chinese Card of Invitation.-Funeral Rites.-Hall of Ancestors. THE manners and customs of so strange a country as China, as a matter of course, must be strange to an European. Those who have not paid a visit to the Celestials, have heard such odd accounts of them, that to suppose them thinking, speaking, or acting, eating, drinking, or dressing, marrying or burying, rejoicing or mourning like English people, is hardly a supposable case. If it could be proved to be true, that the Chinese were like other people, the fact would yield disappointment, and not pleasure. You may, how ever, rest satisfied that their manners and customs are odd, and that The Chinese have a Chinese way In all they think, and do, and say. In China a man may be said to purchase his wife, and young people are pledged to each other at a very early age. If I were asked what qualities in a woman stood the highest in the estimation of a Chinaman, my answer would be, Affection, obedience, fidelity, and a grave and dignified deportment, to which must be added the charm of little feet, without which all the rest would be sadly undervalued. Among her accomplishments, skill in music, embroidery, and painting on silk, must be numbered. Lowly as females are estimated in China, a Chinaman regards his countrywomen as the fairest and best in the world. If he did not do this, he would deserve to be bambooed, and bastinadoed with his own tail, knotted for the occasion, into the bargain. Seldom is a marriage contracted in China without having recourse to astrology and divination. When the parents of a marriageable young man have discovered by the aid of the diviner, that omens on the earth, the flight of birds in the air, and the stars in the heavens are in favour of his being happy, if united to any particular young lady, a "go-between"-and what country is there beneath the skies where "go-betweens" are not MARRIAGE PROCESSION. 269 to be found?—is employed to treat for the lady; a written promise of marriage is obtained, and suitable gifts are presented on the part of the would-be bridegroom. When the nuptial-day is fixed, which is first ascertained by astrology to be a lucky one, and preparations made for the marriage ceremony, the young man, adding another name to his own, meaning to love and cherish, wears a tuft of scarlet as a symbol of the joy of his heart, and the young lady, changing her manner of dress, and altering the braiding of her hair, puts on a thoughtful demeanour, and hides herself in deeper seclusion. Among the presents given by friends on the day of nuptials wild and tame geese, as emblems of fidelity and domestic virtue, are usually found, nor is it an uncommon thing to have the figure of a goose carried in the marriage procession. The bridegroom and his friends, with a posse of attendants, go with a highly-ornamented chair to fetch home the bride, with plenty of music and plenty of lanterns. To describe the procession is somewhat difficult, varying as it does in different cases; but usually, if the parties are of any consequence, it is swelled out by a long train of hired persons, with dresses of different kinds. If there were less show, and more affection in Chinese marriages, the change would be for the better; but indeed the same remark may be made of European marriages, though not with equal propriety. |