MR. TIEN—Unfortunately it does.
MISS TIEN—Oh, father, surely you don’t believe in the reasonableness of such a custom.
MR. TIEN—I don’t, but society does and the old scholars do. A story was told of a peasant woman of the Tien family who married a Mr. Chen by mistake. But after her death, she was not allowed to occupy a seat in the ancestral temple until her name was changed into Shen (申) by prolonging the middle stroke of the word Tien (田).
MISS TIEN—I am willing to prolong the middle stroke of my family name, if that is the only objection.
MR. TIEN—You are willing, but I am not. I don’t want to be criticized by the old scholars of our clan on your account.
MISS TIEN—(Sobbing) But we are not of the same family!
MR. TIEN—Our genealogy says we are, and the old scholars say we are. I have consulted a number of scholars on this point, and they all oppose this union. You see, in a matter of such importance, although one must not be deceived by the wooden gods and blind fortune-tellers, one must respect the opinion of old scholars. And then, your young man is from a very wealthy family. I don’t want people to think that I sold my daughter to a rich man at the cost of sacrificing my family name.
MISS TIEN—(In despair) Oh, oh! Father! You have destroyed the idols of superstition, but you bow to the idols of tradition!
MR. TIEN—You are angry with me? Well, I don’t blame you. I understand your feelings. (Lee Fuh enters)
LEE FUH—Dinner is ready. (All rise except Miss Tien)