Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 1, 1890.djvu/498

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Marriage Ceremonies of the Manchus.

condition is even imposed on the husband that he is not permitted ever to leave the house of his parents-in-law.

Frequently, especially in the country, children of different sex are promised to each other in marriage whilst they are still quite young. They live separately until marriage; after marriage they are called chua-chiu fu-ch’i—“man and wife [who were promised to each other while they still wore] chua-chiu’s”—i.e., those small pigtails, of which Chinese babies have frequently two, one on each side of the head, and sometimes a third one on the top.