Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/106

96 for divorce required. If a husband is not pleased with the wife, he can sell or trade her off. If the wife is not satisfied, she can drown herself. The so-called slavery of women in Chinese communities in this country is simply the lawful marriage arrangement of that country. It sometimes transpires that women bought as wives are treated as merchandise, which they really are as a matter of fact, and are subjected to immoral and degrading uses. This is especially the case in this country, where the women are few in comparison to the number of men of that race. In China women are treated with perhaps as much consideration as in other countries. They are not accorded full recognition as the equal in rights with man, but there are those even in our own country who declare that this is true of our women also. In China they are not treated as being personally responsible for their position in society, and are guarded with a more jealous care than with us. Here, a wife or daughter, growing weary of the restraints of the home, may go to another city, change her name, and enter upon a life of entire freedom from all restraints with impunity. With them it is impossible. Women there sustain more the position of domestic animals, which have a material value, and, if they stray from home, some one is interested in looking after them, much as an estrayed horse or ox. It is a matter of fact that, from whatever cause, there is not to be found in Chinese cities the class of abandoned and immoral women as in all European and American cities. The laws of the land forbid them, and their laws are more strictly enforced in this regard than in any other country I know anything about. Polygamous marriages and the concubinage system prevail, however, and, while this may be as bad as the other, it is not so apparent and obtrusive upon the public notice as are the Whitechapels of London or New York. But, view it as one may, it is apparent that the condition of Chinese women is far from what Confucius thought it should be.

—In this relation the greatest stress is placed upon filial obedience. Under the patriarchal family economy, the eldest male living is the acknowledged head of every family, even though the family, as it often does, contains three and four generations. The father of the family is the established authority on all matters of policy in business and otherwise, yet each son owes special allegiance to his own father. Nor is this duty ended with the death of the father, but is perpetual. Once a year the grave must be visited and the little mound rebuilt and kept in repair by the dutiful son. The wine and food that are left by the grave in connection with this ceremony of rebuilding graves are not a part of Confucianism, but the point of contact with Taouism. This custom of