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--which is after all but a legalized
transfer of prostitutional cohabitation to the domestic circle.

Since the establishment of the Republic in 1912 the 'landslide' in the
direction of Western progress has had its effect also on the domestic
institutions. But while the essentials of the marriage contract remain
practically the same as before, the most conspicuous changes have been
in the accompanying ceremonial--now sometimes quite foreign, but in a
very large, perhaps the greatest, number of cases that odious thing,
half foreign, half Chinese; as, for instance, when the procession,
otherwise native, includes foreign glass-panelled carriages, or the
bridegroom wears a 'bowler' or top-hat with his Chinese dress--and
in the greater freedom allowed to women, who are seen out of doors