and twenty
respectively being officially discouraged. In the province of Shantung
it was usual for the wives to be older than their husbands. The
parents' consent to the betrothal was sought through the intervention
of a matchmaker, the proposal originating with the parents, and
the wishes of the future bride and bridegroom not being taken into
consideration. The conclusion of the marriage was the progress of the
bride from the house of her parents to that of the bridegroom, where
after various ceremonies she and he worshipped his ancestors together,
the worship amounting to little more than an announcement of the union
to the ancestral spirits. After a short sojourn with her husband the
bride revisited her parents, and the marriage was not considered as
finally consummated until after this visit had taken place.

The status of women was low, and the power of the husband great--so
great that he could kill his wife with impunity. Divorce was common,
and all in favour of the husband, who, while he could not be
divorced by her, could put his wife away for disobedience or even
for loquaciousness. A widower remarried immediately, but refusal
to remarry by a widow was esteemed an act of chastity. She often
mutilated herself or even committed suicide to prevent remarriage,
and was posthumously honoured for doing so. Being her husband's as
much in the Otherworld as in this, remarriage would partake of the
character of unchastity and insubordination; the argument, of course,
not applying to the case of the husband, who by remarriage simply
adds another member to his clan without infringing on anyone's rights.

Marriage in Monarchical and Republican Periods

The marital system of the early classical times, of which the above
were the essentials, changed but little during the long period of
monarchical rule lasting from 221 B.C. to A.D. 1912. The principal
object, as before, was to secure an heir to sacrifice to the spirits of
deceased progenitors. Marriage was not compulsory, but old bachelors
and old maids were very scarce. The concubines were subject to the
wife, who was considered to be the mother of their children as well
as her own. Her status, however, was not greatly superior. Implicit
obedience was exacted from her. She could not possess property, but
could not be hired out for prostitution. The latter vice was common,
in spite of the early age at which marriage took place and in spite
of the system of concubinage--w