kings and princes containing several hundreds of them. This form it
has retained to the present day, though associations now exist for
the abolition of concubinage. In early times, as well as throughout
the whole of Chinese history, concubinage was in fact universal,
and there is some evidence also of polyandry (which, however, cannot
have prevailed to any great extent). The age for marriage was twenty
for the man and fifteen for the girl, celibacy after thirty 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,