Of all the other Asiatics, the Chinese have, perhaps the best title to
modesty. Even the men wrap themselves closely up in their garments, and
reckon it indecent to discover any more of their arms and legs than is
necessary.--The women, still more closely wrapt up, never discover a
naked hand even to their nearest relations, if they can possibly avoid
it. Every part of their dress, every part of their behavior is
calculated to preserve decency, and inspire respect. And, what adds
lustre to of their charms, is that uncommon modesty which appears in
every look and in every action.
Charmed, no doubt, with so engaging a deportment, the men behave to them
in a reciprocal manner. And, that their virtue may not be contaminated
by the neighborhood of vice, the legislature takes care that no
prostitutes shall lodge within the walls of any of the great cities of
China.
Some, however, suspect whether this appearance of modesty be any thing
else than the custom of the country; and allege that, notwithstanding
so much decency and decorum, they have their peculiar modes of
intriguing, and embrace every possible opportunity of putting them in
practice; and that, in these intrigues, they frequently scruple not to
stab the paramour they had invited to their arms, as the surest method
of preventing detection and loss of character.
A bridegroom knows nothing of the character or person of his intended
wife, except what he gathers from the report of some female relative, or
confidant, who undertakes to arrange the marriage, and determine the sum
that shall be paid for the bride. Very severe laws are made to prevent
deception and fraud in these transactions. On the day appointed for the
wedding the damsel is placed in a close palanquin the key of which is
sent to the bridegroom, by the hands of some trusty domestic. Her
relations and friends accompanied by squalling music, escort her to his
house; at the gate of which he stands in full dress, ready to receive
her. He eagerly opens the palanquin and examines his bargain. If he is
pleased, she enters his dwelling, and the marriage is celebrated with
feasting and rejoicing; the men and women being all the time in separate
apartments. If the bridegroom is dissatisfied, he shuts the palanquin,
and sends the woman back to her relations; but when this happens, he
must pay another sum of money equal to the price he first gave for her.
A woman who unites beauty with accomplishments brings from four to seven
hundred louis d'ors; some sell for less than one hundred. The apartments
of the women are separated from those of the men by a wall at which a
guard is stationed. The wife is never allowed to eat with her husband;
she cannot quit her apartments without permission; and he does not enter
hers without first asking leave. Brothers are entirely separated from
their sisters at the age of nine or ten years.