Page:The Spirit of the Chinese People.djvu/125

Rh say, when a woman is unmarried, she is to live for her father (在家從父); when married, she is to live for her husband (出嫁從夫); and, as a widow, she is to live for her children (夫死從子). In fact, the chief end of a woman in China is not to live for herself, or for society; not to be a reformer or to be president of the woman's natural feet Society; not to live even as a saint or to do good to the world; the chief end of a woman in China is to live as a good daughter a good wife and a good mother.

A foreign lady friend of mine once wrote and asked me whether it is true that we Chinese believe, like the MohamedansMohammedans [sic], that a woman has no soul. I wrote back and told her that we Chinese do not hold that a woman has no soul, but that we hold that a woman,—a true Chinese woman has no self. Now speaking of this "no self" in the Chinese woman leads me to say a few words on a very difficult subject,—a subject which is not only difficult, but, I am afraid almost impossible for people with the modern European education to understand, viz. concubinage in China. This subject of concubinage, I am afraid, is not only a difficult, but also a dangerous subject to discuss in public. But, as the English poet says.

Thus fools rush in where angels fear to tread,

I will try my best here to explain why concubinage in China is not such an immoral custom as people generally imagine.

The first thing I want to say on this subject of concubinage is that it is the selflessness in the Chinese