WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
The women are much addicted to opium smoking. Letourneau says that in Cochin-China no infamy attaches to this life.
The position of the women of China may be described as one of complete subjection to masculine domination. In this typical patriarchal society woman has little or no personal liberty. The daughter is considered a very inferior being to the son. In the most important affair in her whole existence, a Chinese woman is at the behest of her male kindred. Often her marriage is arranged while she is an infant. "The bride," says a Chinese author, "ought only to be a shadow and an echo in the house." The married woman eats neither with her husband nor with her male children; she waits at table in silence, lights the pipes, must be content with the coarsest food, and has not even the right to touch what her son leaves."[1]
There is, however, some clemency regarding the offence of infidelity in China. The law in this matter is not so severe as that of the Koran, though, as we have seen, it is difficult to prove adultery in Moslem countries. A guilty Chinese woman can be dismissed by her husband, or sold by him.
A practice resembling the Hindu Sati survives in China. It is an honourable deed for a widow to com-
- ↑ Quoted by Letourneau from Hue's "Empire Chinois."
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