The Chinese Woman

Maoriland Worker, Volume 12, Issue 293, 11 October 1922, Page 12

The Chinese Woman

■* —» m The position of women in China can be compared favourably with that of her sisters in the West. In a public thoroughfare or in a; crowd, she receives most courteous treatment from man. i As a wife, she has equal rights in i instituting divorce proceedings, in the j custody of children, and in property. Furthermore, if she is successful in a divorce suit she can claim alimony according to her husband's social and financial position. In the domestic circle she-is supreme, and receives. the greatest reverence from her children. X a man ill-treats his mother the offence is held to be almost too frightful to be contemplated. After her death she is honoured by three years' mourning, and the tablet on which her name is inscribed receives perpetual reverence, from her children. If after the death of her husband she remains unmarried and in her husband's family, she inherits hie" titles and emoluments and succeeds to his position in the family organisation. The Chinese delight to honour and respect the wido'vf. In the old days the widow wlio had brought up her children to maturity' and had faithfully fulfilled her other \ duties received an Imperial reward, in' the form o| a gateway or area, erected in h©r honour in the community where* she lived. These gateways and arches; are to be scon. In almost every village -taLCWflfe J