Little Lotus-Flower

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 352, 12 May 1928, Page 25

Little Lotus-Flower

(Continued from Page 24) , •'We mean In regard to marriage,” she replied, “that men and women shall have the right to choose their own husbands and wives, even if their parents do not sanction the choice. Of course, we believe that the parents should be consulted, but they should not dictate the choice as they have done in the past.”

"Do you believe in a marriage ceremony?” "Yes, if the young people want a ceremony. You know that in China it is the family approval, and not the legal ceremony, that is considered important. If two young people cannot obtain the consent of their parents for a family ceremony, we see no reason why they should not simply announce their marriage in the papers. That is the nearest thing to a family announcement that is possible in the circumstances.” In a large part of China the traditional form requires that the bride shall be carried to the house of the groom in a flowered sedan chair, publicly sobbing with the grief of leaving her parents. In her new home she bows down before the bridegroom’s parents, drinks a cup of wine three times with the bridegroom, and so passes into matrimony. The new women of China do not object to this ceremony, but they prefer motor-cars to sedan chairs in approaching the home of the future husband. Also they advocate marriage at more mature years than has been customary in China. A recent investigation of marriage ages in a village in Chihli Province showed that two-thirds of the women had married at 16 or younger, and that only li per cent, had waited until they were past 20. Some are married at 11 and 12.