The marriage is usually solemnized in the house of the bride's father. Thither the bridegroom proceeds, attended by his friends, and from thence conducts the bride to his home in a grand procession, usually by night, with torches and great rejoicings. On both occa- sions considerable expenditure is incurred in feasting the friends and relatives, and in providing ornaments, music, processions, and illuminations. The wealthy spend freely on these objects, and the poorer classes of- ten incur debts which burden them for many years. The costs incurred by the fathers, on both sides, in cel- ebrating a marriage, form a heavy item of Hindu ex- penditure, and one of the motives to female infanticide is doubtless laid in the desire to avoid this charge (Tre- vor, Its Katices and Missions, p. 214).
The marrinr/e procession is thus described by Butler (p. 485). "Often when travelling at night in my pa- lanquin, I have been roused from my sleep by my bear- ers catching sight of an approaching marriage proces- sion, with its torches, music, and shouting; falling in with the enthusiasm of each event, they woidd cry out that ' the bridegroom cometh.' First the bridegroom would make his appearance, mounted on a fine horse splendidly caparisoned — his own or borrowed for the oc- casion— and wearing a grand coat, decked out in tinsel and gold thread, with the matrimonial crown on his head, and his richly-embroidered slippers, all very fine, his friends shouting and dancing alongside of him, and, of course, as he passes, we make our salaam and wish him joy. Right behind the bridegroom's horse comes the palanquin of the bride, but she is veiled, and the Ve- netians are closely shut, and on the little lady is borne to a home which she never saw before, to surrender her- self into the hands of one who has neither wooed nor won her ; a bride without a choice, with no voice in her own destiny; married without preference ; handed over, by those assumed to do all the thinking for her, to a fate where the feelings of her heart were never consulted in the most important transaction of her existence; begin- ning her married life imder circumstances which pre- clude the possibility of her being sustained by the affec- tion which is founded upon esteem. When the proces- sion has come within hailing distance of his home, the watching friends go forth to meet the bridegroom, the bride enters her apartments, the door is shut, and the guests are entertained in other parts of the establish- ment."
IV. A mowj the Chinese and Japanese. — The Chinese are divided into a number of clans, each distinguished by a clan name. Of these clans there are from a hundred to a thousand, according to different authors. The law is that no man shall marry a woman of his own clan name. Thus relationship by the male line, however distant, prevents marriage. This rule is very ancient, its origin being referred by the Chinese to the mythic times of their empire. Th* legendary- emperor Fu-Hi, who reigned before the Ilea dynasty, which, according to the Chinese annals, began in B.C. 2207, is said to have divided the people into clans, and established this rule regarding marriage (Tyler, Researches, p. 278).
We give the Chinese marriage customs at considerable length, as they are highly illustrative of Oriental usages in general.
As in all Eastern countries, the girl to be given in wedlock is not consulted in the choice of her future husband, the parents deciding in her stead. The Chi- nese are firm believers in the sentiment to which the Western mind has given expression in the proverlj that " jVIatches are made in heaven." To secure an alliance, a person is employed as a go-between or match-maker. The negotiation is generally opened by the familj- of the male person. Not unfroquently the girl has to be paid for — a relic of the patriarchal custom. Occasionally, when a female child is born to persons in humble cir- cumstances, it is given avray to a family having a male child only ; is reared by the latter, and, when the girl and boy have reached a marriageable age, they are joined in matrimony. Not unfrequently it occurs among wealthy families having a daughter that the custom of purchase is reversed, and a husband secured for a pecuniary con- sideration. The wealthy look with special favor upon the literary class, and not unfrequently great sacrifices are made to secure a scholarly husband. " It not un- frequently occiu's," says Doolittle {China, i, 99), " that a rich family, havmg only one daughter and no boys, de- sires to obtain a son-in-law who shall be willing to marry the girl and live in the family as a son. Some- times a notice is seen posted np, stating the desire of a certain man to find a son-in-law and heir who will come and live with him, perhaps stating the age and qualifi- cations of an acceptable person. In such a case, the parents of those who have a son whose qualifications might warrant such an appUcation, and whom they would be willing to allow to marry on such terms, are expected to make application by a go-between, when the matter would be considered by the rich man. Some- times the rich man makes application by a go-between to the parents of a young man whose reputation he is pleased with, and who perhaps may be a recent gradu- ate, his name standing near the head of the list of suc- cessful competitors of the first or second literary de- gree."