INFANTICIDE IN CHINA.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 2, Issue 72, 18 May 1868, Page 119

INFANTICIDE IN CHINA.

DESCRIPTION OF THE BABY TOWERS NEAR SHANGHAI. One day—says a lady traveller in China—we went to inspect one of the baby towers, of which there are numbers, near Shanghai. They are wells surrounded by walls with apertures through which ,tbe bodies are thrown in. It appears that all poor people’s children which die in infancy are wrapped up in straw and deposited in one of the towers, to avoid the expense of coffins and burial ceremonies.

They emit a terrible odor, and'when the mass of straw bundles almost reaches the top of the tower it is emptied, the contents are burned, and the ashes are then spread over their plantations as manure Such a mode of disposing of bodies of infanta struck us as a great incentive of infanticide—a crime which is so very common in China.

We were told that it was not at all uncommon to dispose in this manner of female children, who are considered as only an additional burden to be provided for, and an uncertain article of sale when they become marriageable, whereas boys are made to work as soon as possible, and thus, at an early age, become useful to their families. According to a writer of note, the birth of a daughter is a matter of sorrow to parents. “ The best way,” he goes on to state, “ of satisfying the female babe is to furnish it with tiles to, play with, while a boy is presented with gems and precious stones.”

Such are the terms he employs to denote the insignificance of the first and the importance of the second. Although a celebrated writer has computed that 20 boys are born to 25 girls, it is a well-established fact that the male population is much larger than the female; which justify- us in inferring that many female infants must be killed at their birth.

One cannot reflect on this subject without shuddering; Infanticide is a crime of the most atrocious and heartless nature. The new-born babe has. scarcely felt the caresses of its fond mother before it is drowned in warm water. At the very moment of its birth it is consigned, by a deed of darkness, to the grave. The excuse made for so horrible a crime is that instantaneous death is preferable to protracted, misery-—that the father is the best judge aud arbiter of the destiny of bis child.

The Government connives at this: monstrous practice, because it acknow-- ; ledges; the sovereign authority of the parent over his offspring, makes him the arbitor of his destiny, allows the issues of life or death to remain in his . hands, and consider female infanticide > hs the most effectual check upon thflb ; too rapid increase of population. r