Next to death, marriage is the most important event, and is universal, bachelors and old maids in health and mature life being quite unknown. Vet in social life there is a strict separation of the sexes, and the preliminaries of marriage are taken in charge by parents or professional match makers called the go-betweens. Often the future bride and groom do not see cad' other until the woman raises her cap from her covered eyes on the wedding day. _Minute regulations direct every step in this and in all other social ceremo nies, so that at all times and eircumsthnees the Chinaman knows just what to do. and even in a house knows just where and when to sit down or to stand tip. Polygamy is not legal or general, but if (lie wife proves barren the husband is very apt to take a concubine, for the order of Chinese society requires heirs, and especially sons. to keep up the ancestral sacrifices. The parents have full power over their children. but the duty of administering elmstiseznent is usually left to the wife. Though in times of generous food-sup ply child•murder is but little practiced, yet mil lions of youno• children every year; for a sick child when unresponsive to remedies is pected to lie non-human and must pass through an ordeal of neglect, cold, or starvation. If it dies the inference is that it was not human. but either of demoniac origin or else possessed. If it lives, it is human. The Chinese are thns contin ually under the influence of superstitbm. which not infrequently bursts out into great disorders.
;,s in the Boxer uprising. In all their inter course, especially among the higher classes. a tedious and laborious etiquette rules all actions. the Chinese being the slaves of precedent, a cir cumstance which accounts in part for that lack of mental initiative which is the curse of the nation. Chinese manners were regulated by the code in the Li-King or Book of Rites, 3000 years ago. and anything that savors of innovation is hooted down as impiety, if not treason. At Pe king a department of the Government, the Board of Rites, has charge of the interpretation of the Li-King and the direction of ceremonies. The Chinese arc therefore prone to think that most Occidentals, though good mechanics, perhaps, arc destitute of politeness and morals.
The daily food of the Chinese is for the most part rice with a morsel of pork or poultry, though millet is much used by the poor in the north. In their cookery, which in the main is wholesome, are sonic peculiar delicacies, such as soup made from a glutinous substance that is found in birds' nests. sharks' fins. deer-sinews, and ducks' tongues. Their drink is brewed from rice and is a kind of beer, though distilled liquors from the same grain are very strong. The sam shu of southern China and the whisky of Man churia. with the unextracted fusel oil, make mis chievous drunkards. Usually. however, liquor is drunk hot out of tiny cups at mealtime, and tea before or after meals only, in cups that have no saucer or handle, but a cover which holds the 'draw.' Out of this cover, the Euro peans, on introducing tea. made a saucer, adding a handle to the cup. Many festivals and holy days. local, religious, and national, are cele brated. but the greatest of all is New Year's Day. before which debts are paid and new cloth ing is bought. Congratulations and festivities prevail, for this is every one's birthday. all dating their ages from this day. Though a child be born twenty-four hours before New Year's Day, it is considered to he in its second year. The
Festival of the First Full Moon, the Feast of Lan terns, and the Festival of the Dragon Boat, are the other famous holidays. The streets on such occa sions are full of music and gaiety, and night is turned into day by myriads of lanterns made of paper and gorgeous with painted scenes in many hues. The Chinaman is usually afraid of losing his dimity by active effort, and outdoor sports are not as yet in vogue, unless some utilitarian object is in view, and shuttlecock being the most violent in which adults engage; hut cards and dominoes, the theatre, gossiping and visit ing, story-telling, peep-shows and entertainments given by itinerant showmen are very common and much enjoyed. There arc hundreds of children's games and sports. Thousands of traveling per form•rs. aerobsts. wonder-workers, marionette players, and purveyors of amusements of every sort, including movable refreshu.nt stands and bake-shops, gain a living by amusing the little folks. Nonsense rhymes and comic- doggerel for children are chanted by nurses and parents, though for the most part these are as unknown to foreigners as of old the Arabian Nights' Enter tainments were to the closet students of Arabic. The Chinese do not shake hands. and kissing is unknown among them, hut prostrations, saluta tions, and congratulations are very frequent.
From the standpoint of common sense, the Chinese dress is one of the best in the world.
tarying in material and thickness according to the season; the state of temperature usually takes its and quality from the number of garments put on. One prominent idea in the theory of Chinese dress is to conceal or mini mize the visible distinctions of sex, and only in their head-dress and footgear are the women noticeably different in appearance front the men. A loose jacket fitting closely around the neck, and short wide trousers, are the principal gar. ments. Shoes are made of silk or cotton, with thick felt soles, but the upper classes wear hoots of satin, into which they thrust their fans or pipes. The mourning color is white. Until their conquest by the Manchus, the Chinese wore their hair like the Koreans, gathered in a knot at the top, and only after much bloodshed were the con querors able to compel the Chinese to adopt the symbol of subordination and loyalty. Now 200, 000,000 males shave the front part of their heads and braid their hair in a long queue. This fash ion gives employment to multitudes of barbers, for it is rarely that even a poor man attends to his own hair-d•essing. For months after the death of an emperor. an event which allows no one to shave for a hundred days, the barbers have difficulty in earning a living. Hot water is pre ferred both for drinking and washing. After meals the face is wiped with a damp hot cloth. It is thought dangerous in itself to put cold water in the stomach, as it certainly is where drainage is so little attended to. Water to lie drunk is first boiled. Unlike the Manchu women, Chinese girls, especially among the upper classes, have their feet hound in early childhood. After the torture of years is over, the lady with 'lilies' totters about as best she can, rarely going out of the house, and hearing of the outside world through servants and visitors, her circle of friends contracting rather than enlarging as life goes on.
For .1rt in China, see CIITNESE ART.