Note 288 — LIII. THE RAT WIFE.
Herbert Allen Giles translation
The Chinese acknowledge seven just causes for putting away a wife. (1) Bad behaviour towards the husband’s father and mother. (2) Adultery. (3) Jealousy. (4) Garrulity. (5) Theft. (6) Disease. (7) Barrenness. The right of divorce may not, however, be enforced if the husband’s father and mother have died since the marriage, as thus it would be inferred that the wife had served them well up to the time of their death; or if the husband has recently risen to wealth and power (hence the saying, “The wife of my poverty shall not go down from my hall”); or thirdly, if the wife’s parents and brothers are dead, and she has no home in which she can seek shelter. return to footnote anchor 288 return to footnote anchor 303 return to footnote anchor 345 return to footnote anchor 382