ABSTRACT
A wedding event begins ten days before the marriage with the passing of the big parade, made up of the gifts from the bridegroom's family to the parents of the bride. When the fact of her coming marriage is announced to the daughter by her mother, the girl runs to her room to hide and weep, presumably because of her sadness at leaving her home. On the third day after her marriage the bride visits her parents, and on the evening of that same day the groom first pays his respects to his parents-in-law, who, on this same evening, give a feast in his honour. When we consider the whole Chinese system, and remember that the separation of the sexes through life is the result of a desire on the part of the people to preserve the virtue of their women, we can begin to appreciate the intensity of this desire.
