Page:Illustrations of China and Its People vol. IV.pdf/44



THE Manchu or Tartar lady may, on the whole, be said to approach more nearly than her Chinese sister to our Western notions of female beauty and grace. The former enjoys greater freedom, and her feet, which are never compressed, appear to be naturally small and well-formed. Their rich dresses, too, are always elegant, but their faces, alas ! they paint to imitate the natural peach bloom ol health which heightens the beauty of our English belles. Although these Tartar ladies are probably less secluded than the Chinese, yet these coatings of paint serve like veils to conceal their true complexion from the outer world, and we may, perhaps, say of them in the language of Moore : —

In Manchu families, when a son has reached the age of fourteen or sixteen years, his mother selects him a partner, and the latter will be brought into the family, and entirely subjected to her new parent's rule; so that should the young bride have a hard-hearted mother-in-law, she may look forward to spending the first years of married life in a state of abject slavery, and is even liable to be beaten by her mother-in-law, and husband too, if she neglect to discharge her duties as general domestic drudge. It is therefore always deemed fortunate by the girl's friends if the mother of the bridegroom be already dead.

The sons of the rich are married at an earlier age than are those of the poor, but no Manchu maiden can be betrothed until she is fourteen years of age. Usually some elderly woman is employed as a go-between to arrange a marriage, and four primary rules exist (though they arc by no means regularly followed) to guide the matron. First, the lady must be amiable. Secondly, she must be a woman of few words. Thirdly, she must be of industrious habits, and lastly, she must neither want a limb nor an eye, and, indeed, she ought to be moderately good-looking. The matter is discussed by the aged go-between and her employer over a cup of tea, and the former then describes in detail the accomplishments and prospects of her son. When an eligible girl has at length been found, a geomancer is called in to fix a lucky day for an interview with the young lady, and an examination of her work. On this occasion she is trotted out before her future mother-in-law and carefully inspected. If found suitable, the geomancer is again consulted, and he settles a lucky day for receiving the presents and the betrothed. He is guided in his reckonings by the na*nes of the contracting parties, and by the dates of their births. He also determines whether they are suited to eac^ other. On the morning of betrothal the young lady is informed of her fate, and is dressed in a simple red cotton or silk robe borrowed or bought, according to her station in life. She is then placed sitting upon the Kang, or bed, there to await the bestowal of gifts from her future lord. The suitor's mother next places a bracelet upon the left wrist of the bride elect, and a lady friend binds another bracelet on the right wrist, and they, as they bestow the presents, wish her long life and happiness. After this formal betrothal, the lucky day is fixed for the marriage, and until the consummation of that joyous event the lady is supposed to seclude herself from public gaze. Her trousseau begins with the making of shoes, for of these she must possess from seven to thirty pairs, many of them richly