Chinese Literature

A bristly-faced old man looked up at the big tree and said, half to himself:

“Tf I remember rightly, the widow is the fifth one to hang herself on that damned tree. We ought to get a Taoist priest to drive the evil spirit away, then cut it down!”

Seeing the old man, Chun-mei was reminded. ‘“‘Aunt,” she asked, “has the Elder been here tonight?”

Aunt Li shook her head. “He’s not home.” She leaned close and put her mouth to Chun-mei’s ear. “He went to his married daughter’s place to shoot some fireworks. That girl Huan is raising quite a rumpus over there too!”

The unfair way her friend Huan was being treated angered Chunmei. “He’s so good at managing people,” she snorted, “just let him keep on trying!”

Li-ho was calling his wife, and Aunt Li took her leave. “I have to

go now. Come to my house tomorrow and I'll tell you all about your mother’s problem.”

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Chun-mei’s mother had married a Yang at fifteen. At seventeen, she gave birth to Chun-mei. Her husband died before she was twenty. The Yangs were the leading clan in the village, and in their ancestral temple was a large stone plate inscribed with the clan “Laws.” Among them was one which read: “All women of this clan, whether by birth or marriage, may only marry once. Any woman who elopes or remarries shall be punished as the clan members may direct.”

Chun-mei’s mother was in the same position as all the other unfortunate girls and wives in the clan. After her husband died, she had to devote herself to serving her mother-in-law, without another word. She remained a widow and brought up her daughter. The year her mother-in-law died, the landlord, Yang Li-chai, foreclosed her small patch of land for a usurious debt. Because the land still couldn’t meet what she owed, she was forced to indenture fifteen-year-old Chun-mei into the landlord’s service for several years. No wages were paid.

It was these things that Aunt Li and Chun-mei first discussed. Some of them, Chun-mei knew about, or had experienced personally ; others, she had heard of only vaguely, or had no knowledge of whatsoever. “Being a widow was harder than standing on one leg!” Aunt Li paused with the scissors in her hand and looked at her niece. Chun-mei was helping her paste cloth shoe uppers. “Taxes and levies to the officials, the landlord bearing down like a sledge-hammer—they never let up. As for social life, the only men you could meet were your own brothers. If any other man should be seen at a widow’s door more than once, the rumours would start flying. Take your mother, for

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