Marriage.—A Chinese is not permitted to have more than one wife. He may, however, in addition, keep concubines, or “secondary wives.” Both wives and concubines have a legal status.
The wife is considered to be a relative of all her husband’s family, but a concubine is not so considered. It is an offence for a man to degrade his wife to the level of a concubine, or to elevate a concubine to the level of his wife.
The consent of the parties, which is the first requisite of a valid marriage in Christendom, is legally of no consequence in China. It is the consent of the parents of the respective parties which is material and necessary.
The consent of the father of the woman is sufficient, and if he is dead then the mother may give the necessary consent.
The preliminary stages of a Chinese marriage are elaborately formal. It is the duty of the families of the intended bride and bridegroom to ascertain whether or not the parties have the capacity to conclude marriage. Certain introductions and exchange of social courtesies follow. If everything appears satisfactory the parties acting on behalf of the intended bride send a note of “eight characters” to the parties acting in behalf of the prospective bridegroom, which note is practically a proposal of marriage. If the terms of the proposed marriage are agreed upon the next thing is for the representatives of the parties to draft and execute the articles of marriage.
The courts will hold it to be a marriage if the betrothal is regular, even if there is no consummation.
It is essential to a legal marriage that the written consent of the woman be obtained; it is not sufficient that the woman herself gives free consent.
Fraud makes the marriage a nullity. In his book, “Notes and Commentaries on Chinese Criminal Law,” Mr. Ernest Alabaster tells of the case of “Mrs. Wang.” It appears that an old reprobate, knowing that the girl’s parents would refuse him because of his ugliness of face and character, sent a handsome young nephew to represent him in the marriage negotiations. The impersonation brought about the signing of the contract, and the old man secured possession of the bride. Soon after the wedding he ill-treated his young wife and one night she strangled him. The court decided that the woman had committed an unjustifiable homicide and that the victim was not her husband.
Impediments.—Intermarriage is forbidden between ascendants and descendants and between kinsmen by consanguinity or affinity up to the fourth degree.
Marriage is also forbidden between persons having the same Hsing, or surname.