Note 492 — XCIV. THE BOAT-GIRL BRIDE.

Adoption is common all over China, and is regulated by law. For instance, an adopted son excludes all the daughters of the family. A man is not allowed to marry a girl whom he has adopted until he shall have given her away to be adopted in a family of a different surname from his own; after which fictitious ceremony, his marriage with her becomes legal (see No. XV., note 109); for the child adopted takes the same surname as that of the family into which he is adopted, and is so far cut off from his own relations, that he would not venture even to put on mourning for his real parents without first obtaining the consent of those who had adopted him. A son or daughter may be sold, but an adopted child may not; neither may the adopted child be given away in adoption to any one else without the specific consent of his real parents. The general object in adopting children is to leave some one behind at death to look after the duties of ancestral worship. For this boys are preferred; but the Fortunate Union gives an instance in which these rites were very creditably performed by the heroine of the tale. return to footnote anchor 492 return to footnote 610