The morality of the Chinese presents another subject about which there is a wide difference of opinion. It may be a matter of interest and profit to turn for a moment to the views which the Chinese generally entertain of our morality, and their reasons for these views. They are all familiar with the fact that foreigners introduced opium into China, in opposition to the earnest and persistent remonstrances of the Chinese government; that out of the opium trade grew the first war with China; and that when the representatives of Christian England urged the Chinese government to legalize the trade and make it a source of revenue, the Chinese emperor replied that he would not use as a means of revenue that which brought suffering and misery upon his people.
The Chinese form their opinions of western morality to a great extent from the sailors on shore-leave at the open ports, and these men are proverbially vicious under such circumstances. For years foreigners of this class have commanded many of the piratical fleets on the coasts of China, and foreign thieves and robbers have infested many of the inland canals and rivers. In business dealings with strangers from western lands the natives find that duplicity and dishonesty are not confined to their own people. Replying to our criticism of the system of concubinage, the Chinese point to the numerous class of native women in the foreign communities, fostered and patronized by foreigners alone, who appear in the streets with an effrontery which would be regarded as utterly indecent and intolerable in most Chinese cities. The large importation from Europe of obscene pictures which are offered at every hand, is another fact which the educated Chinese cites in answer to criticisms of his people’s morality.
On the general subject of morality and Chinese moral teaching, two quotations from the writings of eminent Englishmen who lived in China for many years are pertinent. Sir John Davis says: “The most commendable feature of the Chinese system is the general diffusion of elementary moral education among the lower orders. It is in the preference of moral to physical instruction that even we might perhaps wisely take a leaf out of the Chinese book, and do something to reform this most mechanical age of ours.” The opinion of Thomas Taylor Meadows is thus expressed: “No people whether of ancient or modern times has possessed a sacred literature so completely exempt as the Chinese from licentious descriptions and from every offensive expression. There is not a single sentence in the whole of their sacred books and their annotations that may not when translated word for word be read aloud in any family in England.”
It must be acknowledged that the Chinese give many evidences, not only in their literature, but also in their paintings and sculpture, of a scrupulous care to avoid all indecent and immoral associations and suggestions. In referring to the above peculiarity of Chinese views and customs, these remarks are not, of course, concerning the private lives and practices of the people, but of their standard of propriety and of what the public taste requires, in objects which are openly represented to be seen and admired by the young and old of both sexes.
The government of the empire is modeled on the government of a household, and at the root of all family ties, says one of the Chinese classics, is the relation of husband and wife, which is as the relation of heaven and earth. Chinese historians record that the rite of marriage was first instituted by the Emperor Fuh-he, who reigned in the twenty-eighth century B.C. But before this period there is abundant evidence to show that as amongst all other peoples the first form of marriage was by capture. At the present day marriage is probably more universal in China than in any other civilized country in the world, for it is regarded as something indispensable and few men pass the age of twenty without taking to themselves a wife. To die without leaving behind a son to perform the burial rites and to offer up the fixed periodical sacrifices at the tomb, is one of the most direful fates that can overtake a Chinaman, and he seeks to avoid it by an early marriage.
Like every other rite in China that of marriage is fenced in with a host of ceremonies. In a vast majority of cases the bridegroom never sees his bride until the wedding night, it being considered a grave breach of etiquette for young men and maidens to associate together or even to see one another. Of course it does occasionally happen that either by stealth or chance a pair become acquainted; but whether they have thus associated, or whether they are perfect strangers, the first formal overture must of necessity be made by a professional go-between, who having received a commission from the parents of a young man, proceeds to the house of the young woman and makes a formal proposal on behalf of the would-be bridegroom’s parents. If the young lady’s father approves the proposed alliance, the suitor sends the lady some presents as an earnest of his intentions.
The parents next exchange documents which set forth the hour, day, month, and year when the young people were born, and the maiden names of their mothers. Astrologers are then called in to cast the horoscopes, and should these be favorable the engagement is formally entered into, but not so irrevocably that there are not several orthodox ways of breaking it off. But should things go smoothly, the bridegroom’s father writes a formal letter of agreement to the lady’s father, accompanied by presents, consisting in some cases of sweetmeats and a live pig, and in others of a goose and gander, which are regarded as emblems of conjugal fidelity. Two large cards are also prepared by the bridegroom, and on these are written the particulars of the engagement. One is sent to the lady and the other he keeps. She in return now makes a present to the suitor according to his rank and fortune. Recourse is then again had to astrologers to fix a fortunate day for the final ceremony, on the evening of which the bridegroom’s best man proceeds to the house of the lady and conducts her to her future home in a red sedan chair, accompanied by musicians who enliven the procession by wedding airs. At the door of the house the bride alights from her sedan, and is lifted over a pan of burning charcoal laid on the threshold by two “women of luck,” whose husbands and children must be living.
In the reception room the bridegroom awaits his bride on a raised dais, at the foot of which she humbly prostrates herself. He then descends to her level, and removing her veil gazes on her face for the first time. Without exchanging a word they seat themselves side by side, and each tries to sit on a part of the dress of the other, it being considered that the one who succeeds in so doing will hold rule in the household. This trial of skill over, the pair proceed to the hall, and there before the family altar worship heaven and earth and their ancestors. They then go to dinner in their apartment, through the open door of which the guests scrutinize and make their remarks on the appearance and demeanor of the bride. This ordeal is the more trying to her, since etiquette forbids her to eat anything, a prohibition which is not shared by the bridegroom, who enjoys the dainties provided as his appetite may suggest. The attendants next hand to each in turn a cup of wine, and having exchanged pledges, the wedding ceremonies come to an end. In some parts of the country it is customary for the bride to sit up late into the night answering riddles which are propounded to her by the guests; in other parts it is usual for her to show herself for a time in the hall, whither her husband does not accompany her, as it is contrary to etiquette for a husband and wife ever to appear together in public. For the same reason she goes to pay the customary visit to her parents on the third day after the wedding alone, and for the rest of her wedded life she enjoys the society of her husband only in the privacy of her apartments.
DISCIPLINE ON THE MARCH, IN THE CHINESE ARMY.