Class Differences and Affinal Relations in South China Author(S): Rubie S

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Class Differences and Affinal Relations in South China Author(s): Rubie S. Watson Reviewed work(s): Source: Man, New Series, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Dec., 1981), pp. 593-615 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2801490 . Accessed: 31/10/2012 00:39

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http://www.jstor.org CLASS DIFFERENCES AND AFFINAL RELATIONS IN SOUTH CHINA

RUBIE S. WATSON LondonSchool of Economics & PoliticalScience

This articleinvestigates marriage and affinityin one ofHong Kong's largestlineages, the Teng of Ha Tsuen. Until recentlyits memberswere stratifiedinto two distinctclasses: peasants and landlord-merchants.Although both classes followed the same set of marriagerites, they had strikinglydifferent systems of marriagepayments and affinalrelations. The landlord-merchants maintainedclose ties to theiraffines, while peasantmales had littleto do withtheir wives' kin. Among thepeasants it was women,not men, who becameinvolved with their affines. Variations in affinalrelations were not, however, mere markers of classdifferences, for they were part of the institutionalframework which createdand maintainedthose differences. Marriage and affinity thusplayed an importantrole in reproducingthe class system in southChina.

Marriageand therelationships it createshave long been of centralimportance foranalyses of social stratification. Anthropologists who workon Indiansociety havetaken the lead in thisfield (for example, Dumont I957; ParryI979; Van Der Veen I972). Elsewhere researchershave pointed to the leading role of marriagein the maintenanceof class or racial/ethnicboundaries (for example, Bourdieu I976; Martinez-AlierI974). In a broadly comparativeapproach Goody (I973; I976) has stressedthe close linksbetween a particularpattern of stratificationon theone hand and themode of marriageand inheritanceon the other.In all thesestudies, marriage serves as a lens whichfocuses our attention on importantaspects of stratification. The study of marriagein traditionalChina is relativelyunderdeveloped, particularlyfor those parts of China where the patrilinealdescent group is prominent.Most anthropologicalwork on southeasternChina, whichincludes Hong Kong, has been dominated by the descent paradigm (Baker I968; FreedmanI958; I966; PotterI968; J. WatsonI975). Whilethe study of descent highlightscertain issues, it tendsto obscureothers-notably thoserelating to social stratification.The centralsignificance of class is broughtout clearlyby shiftingthe focus of analysisfrom descent to marriage.The Chinesesystem of descenttends to emphasisethe unityand solidarityof agnates;marriage and affinity,on theother hand, are firmlygrounded in theworld of classdifference. Descent and affinitybetween them highlight the tensionsinherent in China's powerfullineage systems, tensions between an egalitarianideology of descent and an economicstructure based on class. Yet theissue of classhas receivedlittle attentionin the earlier literaturedevoted to the Chinese lineage. This is particularlysurprising when one considersthat pre-revolutionary China had an Man (N.S.) i6, 593-6I5 594 RUBIE S. WATSON extremelycomplicated system of social and economic differentiation.The presentarticle deals specificallywith the dynamicsof class in the Chinese countryside. The data upon which thisdiscussion is based were collectedin the lineage village of Ha Tsuen in Hong Kong's New Territories.All males in this community,save a handfulof shopkeepers,share the same surname(Teng) and tracedescent from a commonancestor. Until recently the residents of Ha Tsuen weredivided into two clearlydefined classes. The dominantclass was composed ofwealthy landlords and merchantswhile the other, much more numerous class consistedof tenantfarmers and labourers.There were importantclass differences in villagers'marriage patterns and in theirconduct of affinalrelations. While men fromlandlord-merchant families often had close ties with their affines,peasant men rarely had anyform of directcontact with their wives' kin. A close examinationof affinalrelationships among peasants shows thatwomen, not men, played the key role. Marriage paymentsalso varied accordingto economicstanding. In fact,marriage exchanges among the wealthy ofHa Tsuen might be characterisedas dowry, while among the poor the arrangement approacheda systemof brideprice.Marriage and affinityin Ha Tsuen werenot, however, mere markersof class difference,but partof the set of institutions whichmaintained and reproducedthose differences. The lack of affinalcontacts between peasant men was part of a wider systemof domination.While the peasanthad littleto do withmen outsidehis lineage,he remainedan economic and politicaldependant of his wealthy agnates. In strikingcontrast extra-lineage contacts,including contacts with affines, helped maintain the landlords' dominant position. In Ha Tsuen, I argue, marriageplayed an importantrole in structuringrelations between landlord and peasant. It is necessaryto place thisanalysis in a generalperspective. I have already noted thatthe studyof marriagein traditionalChina (pre-I949) is relatively underdeveloped.There is to date only one monographon thesubject (Wolf & Huang I980). Freedmanargued that there was a basic systemof marriageand marriagerites throughout traditional China (I967: 6; I970: I79). The evidence does not, however, support this view: the ethnographicrecord provides confusedand sometimesconflicting accounts of traditionalmarriage. Some scholarsargue that a systemof matrilateralcross-cousin marriage was practised in large areas of China (Hsu I945: 84), while othersmaintain that mother's brother'sdaughter marriage was rareor non-existent(Feng I937: 43-4; fora review of this debate see Gallin I963). Many writersdescribe marriage pay- mentsas dowry(for example, Fei & ChangI948: I I0; McCreeryI976); some referto both dowryand brideprice(Wolf & Huang I980), whileyet others use theterm 'indirect dowry' (Parish& WhyteI978: I82). There is even disagreementabout the predominantform of marriageitself. Wolfand Huang (I980) have addressedthis question. In thepast theprevailing view was that nearly all Chinese brides were broughtinto theirhusband's householdas young adults. Wolfand Huang have foundthat in some areas of China thissystem was overshadowedby an arrangementthey refer to as 'little daughter-in-law'or 'minor'marriage. In thisform of marriageinfant girls were sometimes'adopted' by a familyand then raised with a view to eventually RUBIE S. WATSON 595 marryingthem to thefamily's sons. In effect,when thegirl reached adulthood she was marriedto her'brother'. 'Minor marriage'was not,as theyshow, a rare or aberrantform. In some parts of China 'little daughter-in-law'unions accountedfor 40 percent. or moreof all marriages(I980: I I 8-32). Wolfand Huang arguethat there are significantregional differences in Chinese marriage practices,and theirwork in factsuggests that it may not be possibleto isolatea uniformpattern of 'Chinese marriage'.Wolf and Huang have pointedto the immenseregional and ethnicdiversity of Chinese marriage customs; the present analysisemphasises the role of class. This studyrelates to the period when Ha Tsuen's economy was based on agriculture;recent changes in economic organisationand their effecton marriageand affinityare not discussed here. The period begins with the marriagesof my oldestinformants (c. I91 5) and continuesinto theearly I960's when Ha Tsuen's peasants began to move out of the agriculturalsector. Althoughthis account is writtenin the past tense,the readershould note that much of what is described(particularly in respectof ritualand women's affinal behaviour)still holds truetoday.

Thesetting: lineage and class in Ha Tsuen The village of Ha Tsuen is located in the north-westernsection of the New Territories,near the Anglo-Chinese border. In I978 Ha Tsuen had a population of approximately2500 people, all Cantonese speakers. The males in this communityare surnamedTeng and, as surnameexogamy is strictlyobserved among theCantonese, all wives mustcome fromoutside the village. The Teng lineageis now in its twentiethgeneration, having been settledin Ha Tsuen for some six hundredyears. In I 898 theimperial Chinese government was forcedto cede to the Britisha sectionof Kwangtungprovince, now known as theNew Territories.Although the New Territoriesfell under British control, the Teng continuedto have close economicand social tieswith people acrossthe border well intothe I940's. It was onlyafter the communists came to powerin I949 that thepeople ofthe New Territoriesbegan to findit difficult to maintaintheir links withfriends or relativesin China. The Ha Tsuen Teng mightbe categorisedas a 'dominantlineage'. Lineages of thistype own highlyproductive paddy lands and controla hinterland(hsiang) of smaller,agnatically unrelated villages (J. WatsonI977). Beforethe communist revolutiondominant lineages were found throughout south China, especiallyin the provinces of Kwangtung and Fukien (see, for example, Baker I968; FreedmanI958; I966; PotterI968;J. WatsonI975). Up to 30 percent. of the ruralpopulation in theseprovinces lived in large localisedlineages, while the remaining70 per cent.were settledin marketcentres or in smallvillages which wereoften under the direct political and economiccontrol of lineages such as the Teng. Most of these dependentcommunities were composed of several sur- names. The single lineage village of Ha Tsuen dominatedand continuesto dominatea networkof fourteen'satellite villages' whose residentswere once tenantsof Teng landlords.Ha Tsuen's traditionalhinterland covers an area of approximatelyI2 square miles. 596 RUBIE S. WATSON Ha Tsuen is thegeneral name fora complexof eleven hamlets. These hamlets arein close proximityto one anotherand, in fact,form a protectivecircle around some of thebest riceland in theregion. Until thesecond world war Ha Tsuen had its own substantialwalled marketwith over twentypermanent shops, two sugar and peanut oil processingplants, and a daily marketfor fishand veg- etables. A periodicmarket, specialising in livestock,also met regularlyin the village. Most peasantssold theirproduce in Ha Tsuen and boughttheir daily supplies thereas well. Occasionallythey used a largermarket in the town of Yuen Long. Yuen Long Old Market,as it is now called, is about threemiles fromHa Tsuen. Priorto theI960's therewere huge differences in wealthand life style between Ha Tsuen's landlords and peasants. Most Ha Tsuen land was owned or controlledby a fewwealthy families. In I905 six menowned about 36 per cent. (or 270 acres) of all Teng owned land in the hsiang,and thelineage's ancestral estatesowned another49 per cent. (or 370 acres).' One man alone controlled (eitheras his own privateproperty or fromhis position as managerof the lineage's large ancestralestates) 30 per cent. of all Teng owned land. Land, however,was not theonly economicinterest of thesewealthy families, as they were also involved in China's coastal boat traffic,in manufacturingand in money lending. They owned the peanut and sugar processingplants in Ha Tsuen Marketand maintainedbusiness interests in othermarket centres as well. There were merchantsas well as landlordsin the same families(many indi- vidualsplayed both roles) and, hence,I categorisethese people as membersof a 'landlord-merchantclass'. The largehouses of thewealthy were clusteredin a specialpart of thevillage. Membersof thisclass had higherlevels of educationthan the bulk of peasants; theydressed differently, ate differently,and themovements of theirwives and daughterswere far more restrictedthan those of peasant women. Until the I930's, one of the most importantindicators of wealthin theNew Territories was the ownershipof male slaves (hsi min)and the employmentof female servants(J. Watson I980). The remainsof the quarters which once housedthese slaves are still standingon the edge of one of Ha Tsuen's hamlets. The landlord-merchantclass made up abouteight per cent. ofHa Tsuen's population. Until the I960's themajority of thevillage's population could be classifiedas 'peasants'. Most people in thiscategory were tenantfarmers, but I have also includeda smallnumber of boatmen,sailors and casuallabourers. The peasants livedprimarily by riceproduction and shorefishing. Shellfish collecting and the cultivationof vegetableswere largelyin thehands of women. In I905 about 60 per cent.2of Ha Tsuen residentswere landlessand most farmersrented all or some oftheir agricultural land from their landlord kinsmen or fromthe lineage's corporateestates. In one of Ha Tsuen's largerhamlets (withjust over I00 households)only fivemen owned more thanone acre of land and the largest holdingwas only 5.28 acres. Land created a powerfulbond between rich and poor Teng, but it was certainlynot the only link. Before the I950's Ha Tsuen's local politicswas dominatedby men fromlarge landholdingfamilies. Community and lineage decisionswere made by a small group of landlord-merchants.Disputes rarely RUBIE S. WATSON 597 reachedthe state authorities; most were settledwithin the village by one or two landlords.Ha Tsuen's landlord-merchantshad access to the imperialChinese bureaucracyand laterto the colonial bureaucracy.They also maintainedclose ties to the region's economic elite. In effect,the landlord-merchantclass controlledthe major channelsof communicationwith the world outside the village. Violence was a featureof everydaylife in south-easternChina until the communistvictory in I949. Banditry,kidnapping and roadsidebullying were prevalentin the New Territorieswell into the I950's. Neighbouringlineages were oftenin directcompetition with the Ha Tsuen Teng forland and water rights.Relations between dominant lineages were characterisedby greatsus- picionand occasionallyby armedconflict (cf. Baker I968: I69sqq.). Ha Tsuen's own securityand itsstanding in theregion rested on itsstrength of numbers, its cohesive lineage organisation,and its selfdefence corps (hsiinting). This was made up exclusivelyof Teng males. The corpsmenenforced Teng hegemony and servedas protectorsof landlord-merchantinterests in thearea. Membershipin a dominantlineage had certainadvantages for both richand poor. It gave thepeasant a measureof physical security often denied to residents of smallervillages. The ties of descentgave poor farmerssome advantagein acquiringrental land fromlandlord kinsmen and, of course,Teng peasantswere decidedlyat an advantagein theiraccess to the corporatelyowned property bound up in ancestralestates. The lineage subsidisededucation, thereby en- ablingmany Teng peasantsto attaina level of literacythat set themapart from theirneighbours. This was no small matterin a society where social and economicmobility was in some measuredependent on theability to read,write and calculate. The landlord-merchantshad in the formof theirpeasant agnates a ready source of tenantsand fightingmen. The lineage's securitycorps aided the wealthyby protectingtheir extensive political and economicinterests in theHa Tsuen region. Consideringthe disorderand violencewhich characterisedthe area duringthe nineteenthand earlytwentieth centuries, this protection was essentialfor the very survivalof the landlord-merchantsas a class. Although lineage membershipprovided some supportfor all Teng, thereis littledoubt thatthe landlord-merchants reaped the greatest economic benefits. There were thus close ties-both economic and political-between Teng tenantsand Teng landlords. When we considerthat these ties were further augmentedby common descent,we gain some appreciationof the qualityof landlord-tenantrelations in Ha Tsuen. Descent ideology was (and is) a potent unifyingforce. While therewere obvious economic and politicaldifferences among theHa Tsuen Teng, thisideology tended to obscurethose differences. The grave of the focal ancestorand the elaboratelyconstructed ancestral hall providedpowerful symbols of lineageunity and exclusiveness.Lineage members were bound togetherby theirdescent from a common ancestor,and because of these links were believed to share a special relationship.Those beyondthe circle defined by thisrelationship were outsiders, to be treatedwith suspicionand calculation.This view of thelineage was expressedby theTeng themselveson countlessoccasions. 598 RUBIE S. WATSON Marriageritual and affinal relations What role did affinityplay in a communitywhere patrilinealdescent was so marked?In Ha Tsuen mostTeng maintained(and continueto maintain)an icy distancefrom their wives' kin, and theytend to have few dealingswith their matrilateralrelations. Many Teng told me thatthey disliked being with their affines;they felt embarrassed near them, and suspiciousof their motives. In fact it was not uncommonto findmen who had nevervisited their wife's father's or brother'shomes and who rarelyor neverhad contactwith their mother's male kin. For mostTeng theironly meaningfulrelations were circumscribedby the lineage. This general reticencetoward and avoidance of affinesstands in striking contrastto much of theinformation we have about therole of affinityin other partsof China, especiallyTaiwan (formainland China see FreedmanI967; I970; Yang I945: I07sqq.). In Taiwan affinalrelations are institutionalised and richly elaboratedin ritual(Ahern I974; CohenI976: I49sqq.; GallinI960; Pasternak I972: 6I-4, 8I-4; A. WolfI970). Freedman,writing about what he callsthe 'basic model' of Chinese marriagerites, states that affines play 'crucialroles' in these rituals(I967: 6, 2I). For example, he notes that the bride's mother's agnatesand the groom's mother'sagnates have a specialplace in the marriage ritual.He goes on to say thatthe bride's brother 'is nearlyalways assigned some role [in theritual] as a linkbetween the two families'(Freedman I967: 2I). Based on fieldworkin northernTaiwan, Ahernproduces a detaileddiscussion of the leading part which wife givers play in marriageritual, in household division,in mortuaryrites and in ritualsof birth.Ahern (I974: 29I) describes how in the villageof Ch'i-nan thebride's kin (and otherfamilies who standas wifegivers to thegroom's family) are invited to attendthe wedding feast, where the bride's fatheror brothertakes the place of honour. On thelast day of the marriagerituals both thebride and groom pay a ceremonialvisit to thebride's natalfamily (I974: 286). Theformal relationship between affines does not cease with the marriagerites, but continuesuntil death, when a brother(or representativeof thewife givers) attends and participatesin thefuneral rites for his sisterand her husband (I974: 294). Duringhousehold divisions Ahern notes that 'all theaffinal groups that gave wives to thedividing brothers' send giftsto the new householdunits and takepart in therituals involved in thedivision (I974: 290). Whenthe father's estate is dividedthe sons callin theirmother's brother or some seniormale fromamong theirmother's male kin to mediatethe division

(I974: 29I). Data fromHa Tsuen are strikinglydifferent. Ties betweenmale affineswere not an importantelement in domesticritual, and affinesreceived little attention in the marriagerites themselves. The differencewe findbetween the ritualisa- tion of affinityin Taiwan and thelack of it in Ha Tsuen can be attributedto at leasttwo factors.Unlike mostvillages in Taiwan, Ha Tsuen was composedof a wealthyand powerfullineage. Furthermore, class differences in Ha Tsuen were verypronounced in comparisonto thosedescribed for Taiwanese villages. The marriageceremonies described in thisarticle refer to thefirst marriage of an adultwoman whereresidence is virilocal.In otherwords, we aredealing with what some observershave called 'major' formsof marriagein China (Wolf& RUBIE S. WATSON 599

Huang I980). Data for this analysis derive from interviewswith married women (40 in all) who were asked about theirown marriagerites, and with whom I discussedmarriage ritual in general.I also attendedthe complete ritual sequencefor three marriages in Ha Tsuen, and witnessedparts of severalother weddings.The marriagerituals I witnessedin I977-78 werelittle changed from thosewhich middle-aged and elderlyHa Tsuen women describedfor their own marriages.3 Ha Tsuen marriagerites were the same bothfor landlord and peasant.On this point villagerswere in agreement;there were, theysaid, no significantdiffer- ences between the marriageceremonies of the richand the poor. Of course, more and betterfood was servedat the weddingfeasts of the wealthy,better clotheswere worn and moreexpensive gifts exchanged, but the structure of the ritualwas thesame (thatis, all followedthe same basic sequenceof acts over a threeday cycle). Both thebride of a peasantfarmer and of a landlord-merchant were formallytransported to theirhusband's village; both worshippedtheir husband'sancestors; both paid theirrespects to theirhusband's agnatic kin; both celebratedthe marriagewith feasting,and both were sentback to theirnatal home on thethird and finalday of theformal rites. In neithercase did themale kinof thebride and themale kinof the groom have anycontact with each other, and in neithercase did male outsiders(non-Teng wife givers) participate in the marriagerituals held in Ha Tsuen. Many villagerswent on to say thatboth rich and poor had the same kind of marriagepayments. However, some wealthy women were adamant,at least to me, thatthere were importantdifferences in marriagepayments and exchangesbetween themselves and thepoorer villagers. This pointis takenup in more detailbelow. Whena familydecided to searchfor a brideor groom,they usually engaged a local woman, oftena widow, to finda suitablespouse. Afterthe go-between (C muihyan) found a prospectivemate, negotiations over marriage payments began in earnest.These negotiationswere carriedout by thego-between who handled the delicatediscussions by meetingwith each familyseparately. During these sometimeslengthy negotiations members of the bride'shousehold and membersof thegroom's householddid not meet. Once theseimportant discussions were settled,the horoscopesof the bride and groom were examinedby a professionalfortune teller to see if the couple were suitedfor each other.If the horoscopes were found to be complementary, the groom's familypresented the bride's familywith some food giftswhich markedthe acceptance of thefuture match. Later, when the date of the marriage riteswas decided,the groom's family sent the bride's family a numberof gifts of food and a cash payment(called C laihgam, 'ceremonialgold'). Hundredsor even thousandsof engagementcakes (C laihbeng, 'ceremonial cakes') were also sentto thebride's family at thistime. The cakes were an importantpart of the marriagepayment.4 When I asked Ha Tsuen women about the giftsand paymentstheir families received at thetime of their own betrothaland marriage, even women in theirseventies and eightiesremembered the exact numberof engagementcakes involved.These cakes,which villagers bought in thenearby markettown, were distributedamong thebride's kin and served,I was told,as an 'engagementannouncement'. There were very precise rules about the 6oo RUBIE S. WATSON distributionof such cakes. The bride's father'sbrothers, father's sisters and mother'sbrothers were alligiventhe same amount.The remainingcakes were given in decliningnumbers to the bride's father'sother close agnatesand to hamletneighbours. When asked who among thebride's mother's kin received cakes,village women repliedthat the mother's brother divided his cakesamong thoseto whom he wishedto announcethe engagement. At the time of betrothalthe bride's familyheld a feastwhich was usually attendedby thebride's father's close agnates(usually descendants of a common greatgrandfather, FFF), by the father'smarried sisters (not accompaniedby theirhusbands), and by the bride's family'sneighbours. Some of the food consumedat thisfeast was providedby thegroom's family (minimally they sent pork,fish and rice). A portionof thecash payment (C laihgam) could be used to underwritethe cost of thismeal. WhenI firstattended a betrothalfeast, I was surprisedto learnthat the bride's mother'sbrother did not attendthe feast nor did he come to collecthis shareof the'ceremonial cakes'. Long afterthe banquet guests had gonehome, the wife of the mother'sbrother came to the bride's house dressedin her work clothes. Afterchatting briefly with the bride's mother,the brother'swife hoistedthe boxes ofcakes onto her carry pole and left.When I askedthe bride's mother why her brotherhad not come himself,she replied'men never pick up the cakes themselves'.In fact,she was quite amused by my suggestionthat her brother mightattend the betrothal feast, or show anyinterest in theengagement cakes. The ritesof marriage lasted three days and nights.They were(and are)among themost expensiveand elaborateof Cantoneseceremonies. The ritesbegan on the eveningbefore the bride's move to the groom's house. On thisnight the groom's familyheld the firstwedding feast,to which only Ha Tsuen people were invited. On the followingmorning (the firstfull day of rites)another banquet was held forHa Tsuen people. Afterthis banquet a group of young unmarriedmen (not includingthe groom or his brothers),musicians, and two old women (C cheuiga,'those who call in a marriage')set offwith great fanfare forthe bride's village. At the bride's house theirentry was blocked by a group of unmarriedgirls fromthe bride's village. After some discussionthe groom's party handed over a redenvelope containing a substantialsum of money to thegirls who theninvited thegroom's partyto enterthe house. Soon afterthis the bride, dressed in a red silk gown which the groom's familyhad provided and wearing her newly acquired gold jewellery, most of which was also provided by the groom's family,made her appearance.The bride was thenescorted from her father's house. As she lefther father's house thedoor was slammedshut behind her-a firmreminder that she could no longercall thishousehold her own. The bride was thentransferred to the groom's home in a red sedan chair.As the carriers liftedthe sedan chair,the bride's youngerbrother, or failingthat some other young kinsman,kicked the side of the chair.Here thebride's younger brother was playinga role verydifferent from that described by Freedmanwho saw the brotheras 'a linkbetween the two families'(I967: 2I)., On thejourney to the groom's house the bride was accompaniedby the groom's contingentand by two old women (C sungga, 'those who send a RUBIE S. WATSON 6oi marriage')from her own village. These women stayedwith the bride until the secondday ofthe marriage rites. The sungga('bride senders') and cheuiga('bride callers')assisted the bride and encouragedher during the three day ordeal.They were,in effect,ritual specialists and it was theirduty to see thatthe marriage rites were properlyconducted. They accompaniedthe bride everywhereand in- structedher in theproper performance of hermany ritual obligations. Whenthe bride arrived at thegroom's house, she was takenimmediately into the room which was to be the conjugal bedroom (called the 'new room'). No memberof thegroom's familycame forwardto welcome thebride. Before she could be considereda memberof her husband'shousehold she had to pay her respectsto his ancestors. Soon afterentering the 'new room' the bride, accompaniedby the bride callers,was escortedto thelineage's central ancestral hall. As thebride entered thehall she was led through,instead of around,the hall's interiordoors which shieldthe ancestralaltar (an honourbestowed on highranking visitors). When thewedding party arrived at thealtar containing the ancestral tablets, the groom and his fatherworshipped while the bride looked on. Untilrecently this was the firsttime the brideand groom saw each other.After the groom and his father had worshipped,the brideknelt at the ancestralaltar by herself,aided by her fourritual instructors. When the bride had finishedprostrating herself three times the groom and his fatherleft the hall, while the bride and her party followed.This timethe bride was led aroundthe inner doors; she was no longer an honouredguest. She had been transformedinto thelowest of the low, the youngestdaughter-in-law, if not in age at leastin status,of thelineage. Upon returningto the groom's house, the brideworshipped her husband's domesticancestors.5 Again thepattern was repeated;her husband and his father worshippedfirst and she followed.When thedomestic worship was finished, thebride was usheredinto the reception room of thegroom's household. Here she wentthrough two ceremoniesin whichshe was formallyintroduced to the marriedwomen and unmarriedgirls of her husband'shamlet. In both these rituals the bride met the groups of women and girls who would play an importantrole in heradult life. On the eveningof the firstday the thirdand mostimportant marriage feast was held. During the marriagefestivities four banquets were given by the groom'sfamily. While no maleoutsiders (that is, non-Teng)were invited to any of thesefeasts, some outsiderwomen did attend.The main weddingbanquet was consideredessential to the public recognitionof the marriage.Many women who did not live in Ha Tsuen attendedthis feast: the groom'smarried sisters,and sometimeshis father'sbrothers' married daughters along with the groom'sfather's sisters and his mother'sbrothers' wives. These women arrived throughoutthe first day of ritesand theyall broughtthe same setof giftsfor the groom: a blanket,uncooked rice, beer and sweets.The groom'smarried sisters also mighthave presentedthe groom witha roastpig whichwas consumedat the wedding feast.A message in paper characterswas pinnedto the blankets making it clear that they were presentedby the husbandsof these women. However, themen in whose name thesegifts were givennever attended any of the wedding festivitiesand theycertainly played no role in the rites.Further- 602 RUBIE S. WATSON more,members of thebride's family (male or female)did not participatein any of thegroom's weddingbanquets. It is importantto note thatthose 'outsider' women who did attendwere not givena place of honourat thewedding feast. In fact,I discoveredthat the older women, especiallythe groom's father'ssisters and mother'sbrothers' wives, usuallyate in the groom's father'shouse and not at the banquetinghall at all. Among all the femaleguests only the groom's mother'sbrothers' wives were singledout forspecial attention.This did not occur at thebanquet, but at the entranceto thevillage. As themother's brother's wife approached the entrance to the village she was metby one of thegroom's father'sbrothers' wives who formallyescorted her to thegroom's house as one would an honouredguest. All themarriage feasts, except for the last which was an intimatefamily affair, were attendedby the groom's close agnatickinsmen and theirwives, by all elders(men over 6o yearsof age) residentin the groom's hamlet,and by one representativeof each householdin thehamlet. Banquets of thewealthy often includeda representativefrom each household in theentire lineage, which in the Teng case meantupwards of a thousandpeople. Afterthe main wedding feastthe bride and groom spent theirfirst night together.On thesecond day theyformally served wine to thegroom's parents and his eldersiblings. As each personreceived their cup of wine fromthe bride, he gave hera red envelopewhich contained money, usually only a fewdollars. These giftsbelonged to thebride; they were her personal property to do withas she chose. Afterthe last guesthad been served,the bride and groomstarted off forthe houses of the groom's closestagnatic kinsmen (usually descendants of commongreat grandfather, FFF). At each house thebride and groomworship- ped thefamily's domestic ancestors. At noon therewas anotherbanquet for the groom's immediatefamily and theagnates at whose domesticaltars the bridal couple hadjust worshipped. On the thirdday thebride returned to hernatal family accompanied by the two 'bridecallers' and a varietyofpresents from the groom's family. The giftsof pork, rice, tea and sugar signified,villagers said, thatthe groom's familyhad acceptedthe bride as wifeand daughter-in-law.The groomdid not accompany thebride, but stayedin his own village. At thebride's parents' house thebride was treatedas a guest,and a specialmeal was preparedin herhonour. The bride had to returnto herhusband's village before dark. Upon herreturn the bride, stilldressed in herfinery, had to fetchwater at thehamlet well. This endedher statusas bride,but untilthe birthof a child she had no secureposition in her husband'sfamily.

Affinityand descent: conflicting systems? Clearlymuch of thismarriage ritual involved placing the bride in hernew social universe.She was introducedto herhusband's ancestors and shown theproper formsof respect she mustpay to them.She was introducedto thefemale society of her husband'svillage, and to herhusband's close agnates.Not only did the brideformally meet the main actorsin hernew environment,but she was also RUBIE S. WATSON 603 instructed(by the'bride callers' and 'bridesenders') in theproper demeanour she mustshow thesepeople. The marriagerites were not, however, only concernedwith the social integrationof an outsider;they also made importantstatements about descent and affinity.During the ritualsof betrothaland marriagethere was no direct contactwhatsoever between the groom's familyand thebride's family. How- ever,it is importantto notethat affinity was not completelynegated. Gifts were exchanged but, one mightsay, in disembodiedform-male affinesdid not actuallymeet. The breakwhich the bride made withher own familyand kinwas dramatised(for example, by thedoor beingfirmly slammed behind her). From thepoint of view of themarriage ritual a woman ceasedbeing a daughterwhen she became a wife:she was treatedas an honouredguest upon herreturn to her family.The marriagerites taken as a whole presenta pictureof agnatic solidarity undiminishedby ties or loyaltiesoutside the lineage. In the formalworld of ritualthe groom and his familykept well away fromentanglements with the bride's family,while the bride upon whom the continuationof the lineage dependedwas firmlyassociated with her husband's family. Men fromoutside the patriline were conspicuouslyabsent from the marriage festivities.Their wives, however, were present.Does thissuggest that these women participatedsimply as representativesof, or substitutesfor, their husbands?In one ratherlimited sense they did, but I do notbelieve it is correctto see thesewomen simplyas extensionsof theirhusbands. Later I discussthe full and activerole whichfemale affines played in domesticritual. The factthat the more seniorof thesewomen did not reallytake part in theimportant festivities and feastsat all suggeststhat they were notjust substitutesfor their husbands. These women, in fact,ate in thegroom's father's house withother older women of the groom's villageand did not sitin thebanqueting hall withthe guests of honour. Only the groom's mother'sbrothers' wives were given special recognition and this, I suggest, stemmedfrom the groom's relationswith his mother's brotherand the mother'sbrother's household. The mother'sbrother is partof thenon-agnatic kin category called in Cantonesethe 'outer family' (C ngoihga). The mother'sbrother is a kinsmanand thushas a specialrelationship with his sister'sson. In Ha Tsuen he was not,however, included in themarriage rites and feasts for his sister's son. In dominant lineages the relationshipbetween mother'sbrother and sister'sson was (and stillis) ambiguous. The mother's brotherwas theone 'outsider'male withwhom thegroom had verylikely had some contactthroughout his childhood.As a childhe accompaniedhis mother on visitsto her brother'shousehold. He was taughtto thinkof his mother's brotheras a kindlyfigure to whom he owed respect,but a respecttinged with warmth.In adulthood,however, the relationship between mother's brother and sister'sson usually grew more distant.The role of mother'sbrother was not ritualised,except that certaingifts were expectedfrom him at the birthand marriageof his sister's son. As notedearlier, however, these gifts were delivered by themother's brother's wife. Ties betweenmother's brother/sister's son and between the more generalcategories of wife takersand wife giverswere not elaboratedin a symbolicsystem as theywere in otherareas of China, where 604 RUBIE S. WATSON

non-agnatickin had a roleto playin marriageritual (and where, significantly, the localised lineage was relativelyunderdeveloped) (for example, Ahern I974; Freedman I967; A. Wolf I970). On the marriageday the bride came to the groom's familywith only the'bride senders'. She was not accompaniedby her natalkin. Bloch maintainsthat transactions between wife givers and wifetakers set up inequalities:he argues thatwith the exceptionof systemsof directexchange, marriageis an asymmetricaltransaction and is thereforepotentially hierarchical. Among the Merina thisinequality is symbolicallyrestated and reversedin the marriageceremony (Bloch I978). In Ha Tsuen, inequalitybetween affines was highlighted.In emphasisingthe unityof thelineage, the Teng appear to have deniedsignificance to theirwife givers.

Marriagepayments: landlords and peasants.The uniformset of marriagerites among theTeng emphasisedthe solidarity of agnates and de-emphasisedaffinal relationships.How did this ritualrelate to actual, informalpatterns of behaviour?Was thereavoidance betweenTeng males and theiraffines? Affinal relationsin factwere farmore complexthan the marriage rites would suggest. Landlordsand peasantsdiffered significantly in choice of marriagepartners, ini thepayments which sealed the marriage bond, and in theirinformal treatment of and contact with affines.Most villagers,however, would deny that such differencesexisted. There were significantvariations in the geographicaldistribution of Teng wives. In a sample6of in-marryingpeasant women (consistingof 68 women over 40 years residingin Ha Tsuen in I978), 76 per cent. (N52) came from withinan area whichis focusedon thenearby market town ofYuen Long (fora discussionof marriagedistribution and marketingpatterns see SkinnerI964). Includedin thisfigure of 52 were i6 women (or 23 per cent.of thetotal of 68) who came not only fromthe Yuen Long area but who were born withinHa Tsuen's own politicalhinterland. Although most wives came froma relatively smallarea, this does notimply that the Teng wereconcentrating their marriages in a few communitiesor kin groups. In fact,these 68 Teng wives represented manydifferent surname groups and villages(the 68 in-marryingwomen were from32 differentcommunities, 25 of thesecommunities being located in the Yuen Long area). Significantly,most of these villages provided only one or two women. The neighbouringsettlement of the Sha Kong Wai sent six wives to Ha Tsuen, thelargest number from any village.There is, however,no evidenceto suggestthat Teng males have attemptedto 'deepen' or concentratetheir affinal ties in Sha Kong Wai. These six women came fromfour different surhame groupswhich make up separatesub-sections, or hamlets,within Sha Kong Wai. Furthermore,Sha Kong Wai is by no meansa smallor highlynucleated village; in I960 it had a populationof about 550 (GazetteerI969: I64). The Teng families into which thesewomen marriedwere not closelyrelated (not descendantsof commongrandfather, for example). Among theTeng theemphasis is on a wide dispersalof affines,for, as thevillagers say, 'it is not good to become involved withother communities'. RUBIE S. WATSON 6o5 Although23 per cent.of Teng wives (over40 yearsof age) came fromwithin Ha Tsuen's hinterland,most Teng had littleor no directcontact with the male population of these villages. Whatevercontacts they did have were usually characterisedby hostility;Teng peasantswere often called on to enforcelineage hegemonyin a directand violentmanner. This situationrelated only to men,for in-marryingpeasant women did maintaincontacts with people outside Ha Tsuen. In contrastto theirpeasant kinsmen,landlords and merchantstook wives froma much largerarea, mostlyfrom urban Hong Kong or the old Chinese centreof governmentat Nam Tao (now in Chineseterritory). Only two wives in landlord-merchantfamilies about which I have detailedinformation (N20) came from the marketingdistrict of Yuen Long, and none came fromHa Tsuen's immediatehinterland. While marriage ritual stressed the separation and avoidanceof affines I found that, among the wealthy, wife givers and wifetakers were without exceptionpersonally acquainted before the betrothalof their offspring.In most cases the bride'sand groom's fathersor the groom and his father-in-lawhad had businessor politicaldealings with each otherbefore the betrothal.In effect,the Ha Tsuen richmarried their friends and thepoor married strangers. Much of the confusionin theliterature over thenature of Chinese marriage paymentsstems, I suggest,not froma basic misunderstandingof thesepay- mentsbut ratherfrom a failureto appreciatethe complexityand diversityof Chinesemarriage practices. Using Goody's framework(I973: 2) itis possibleto characterisemost Chinese marriage exchange as indirectdowry. Money which passes from the groom's familyto the bride's familyis used to purchasea trousseaufor the bride. Parishand Whytehave adopted thisapproach in their comparativework on traditionaland contemporaryChinese kinship (see I978: i82; see also WhyteI977: 47). Thereare, however, certain problems in applying theconcept of indirectdowry to theChinese material.7 In thecase of Ha Tsuen the use of the single categoryof indirectdowry would obscure important differencesbetween classes. It is betterto thinkof Chinese marriage exchanges in termsof a continuum,in some cases tendingtoward a bridepricesystem, while in othersresembling a dowry arrangement.In India a similar situationprevails; one section of a communitymay have a bridepricesystem of exchangewhile another maintains a dowry system(Tambiah I973: 68-7I; ParryI979: 208-Io). WhetherIndian familiesutilise a bridepriceor dowry systemdepends largely on the sub-caste affiliationof the people involved. In China, the relevantvariable is the class status(and perhapsthe ethnic identity) of theinter-marrying families. If one were to ask Ha Tsuen villagersto describetheir marriage exchanges8 most would reply:cakes, food and moneyare givenby the groom's familyto the bride's familyat the time of betrothal.The bride's familyreturns to the groom's familya smallportion of thefood giftsthey receive (usually only a few ouncesof pork). The money(laihgam) is used by thebride's family to defraythe expensesof thebetrothal feast and to buyjewellery, clothes and smallpieces of furniturefor the bride. These itemsbecome thebride's personal property and are referredto as C gajong ('bridalornaments'). Villagers stated firmly that the 6o6 RUBIE S. WATSON bride's familyshould spend all the cash payment(laih gam) on the 'bridal ornaments'(ga jong) and on the betrothalbanquet. People did not admit to makinga profitfrom the marriagepayments. However, in the actualsums of money involvedin laihgam and ga jong I foundinteresting and veryrevealing differencesbetween the two classes. For the remainingdiscussion it seems appropriateto translatelaihgam as 'brideprice'and gajong as 'dowry'. Detailed dataon thedowry and bridepriceof 2I peasantwomen (over40 years ofage) werecollected in Ha Tsuen. All of thewomen stated that their husband's familywas expectedto bear the costs of the marriage,even to the extentof providingthe lion's share of food the bride's parentsused to entertaintheir banquet guests. For example, a 78-year-oldHa Tsuen woman (ages referto I978) receivedHK$6o in laihgamand 3,ooo engagementcakes when she married in I9I6. Her ga jong or dowry consistedof one cupboard,one smallchest, one gold necklace,one pair of earrings,a silverbracelet and a fewclothes. She said thather family received 40 catties(about 53 pounds)of rice and 40 cattiesof pork on theday of herbetrothal. Most women's familiesreceived a largeamount of porkand ricefrom the groom's family at thetime of their betrothal. These food giftswere thenconsumed at thebride's betrothal banquet. Accordingto informationon amountsof brideprice,cost of banquets and itemsin theirdowries, peasant families seem not to have spentmore thanthe amountthey received in brideprice.Some women said thata poor familymight have feltjustifiedin keepingsome ofthe brideprice for themselves, even though everyoneagreed thatthis was not a properthing to do. It is shamefulto be thoughtto have 'sold' one's daughter.Significantly, among peasantsthe bride's familyhad few expenseswhich were not coveredby thegroom's family.The groom's familyeven paid forthe bride's weddingdress. It is clear,therefore, thatmarriage exchange among Ha Tsuen's peasantstended toward a brideprice system.That is, thelaihgam (or brideprice)was used bythe bride's family to pay theirmarriage expenses; a portionwent to the brideherself, and her parents sometimeskept a portionof thecash forthemselves. The groom's familybore nearlythe total burden of marriageexpenses. Most people in Ha Tsuen maintainedthat the system of marriage exchanges I havejust describedapplied to landlordsand merchantsas well as to peasants. This was not literallythe case. Among landlord-merchantfamilies the wife givers did use the laihgam (brideprice)to providega jong (dowry) for their daughter. In this they did not differfrom peasants. However, landlord- merchantsmade an effortto providetheir daughters with a dowrythat matched or even exceededthe cash paymentgiven by thegroom's family. Furthermore, thebrideprice was not used to defraytheir own ceremonialexpenses as was the case amongpeasant families. The findingson bridepriceand dowryin Ha Tsuen are supportedby the work of Parish and Whyte. In a generaldiscussion of marriagepayments in traditionalChina, Parishand Whyte(I978: I82) notethat among the poor a bridepricesystem with minimaldowry prevailed,while dowriespredominated among therural elite. Wealthywomen in Ha Tsuen receiveddowries consisting of elegantfurni- ture,expensive clothes and large amountsof jewellery. In the nineteenthand earlytwentieth centuries male slaves(hsi min) and femaleservants (C muijai)also RUBIE S. WATSON 607

accompaniedtheir young mistressesto the groom's home. While informants frompeasant households did not seem to be aware of thesevariations, wealthy women were certainlyconscious of thedifferences. One fifty-year-oldwoman told me that, among the poor, the bride's parentsoften kept some of the bridepricefor themselves. However, among the rich,she proudlynoted, the bride'sfamily strived to makea good show by providinga handsomedowry for theirdaughter. Two women fromlandlord families (both in theirsixties) made a point of informingme thattheir fathers had spentconsiderable sums of their own moneyin providinga properbetrothal banquet to announcetheir daughters' marriages.All the adultsin the brides'natal villageshad been invitedto thesefeasts. Among peasantsmost betrothalfeasts (held by thebride's family) were small affairs,rarely attended by more thanforty guests and sometimes onlyby membersof thebride's household. The commentswhich the wealthy made about theirown marriagepayments suggest thatlandlord-merchant families were farmore concernedthan their peasantcounterparts with relative status both within their own villageand visa vis the groom's family(Freedman also makes thispoint, I966: 55). Goody's suggestion(I973: I7, 46) thatdowry is associatedwith a concernfor status is certainlyborn out by theHa Tsuen material. Nearly every female informant(of both classes) rememberedthe exact amount of her brideprice(laih gam) and the smallestdetails of her dowry. However, mostpeasant women wereslightly amused or even apologeticwhen they compared theirsmall dowries to today's lavish displays.Women from landlord-merchantfamilies, on the other hand, proudly enumeratedtheir dowry items. Their splendidbetrothal banquets and dowries were, in a very importantsense, a public confirmationof theirnatal families'status. Further- more, fromthe mannerin which thesewomen discussedtheir dowries it was clear that these displays helped determinethe bride's own standingin her husband's familyand community(see also Wolf & Huang I980: 76). The 'grandame' of one of Ha Tsuen's wealthiestfamilies took great pleasurein detailingfor me thecomplete catalogue of chairs, chests, necklaces, earrings and such she receivedon hermarriage. Her family,she told me, received400 silver dollarsin i9i5 when she married.Her ga jong (dowry) also includeda young servantgirl who had been purchasedby herfather to actas maidand companion to herin herhusband's household. By local custom women in thispart of China had no rightsof inheritance.9 However, thegajong (dowry)they received at marriagewas theirown personal property.They mightif they choose sell theirjewellery, the most valuable part of theirdowry. Most women triedto retainat least some jewellerywhich in theirold age theydistributed among theirdaughters-in-law and daughters.In Ha Tsuen thispattern applied to women fromboth rich and poor households. Cohen (I976: I49sqq.) has writtenabout the role which dowry and women's privateproperty plays in a Hakka communityin Taiwan. There,as in Ha Tsuen, thedowry provided the first clear recognition of the new, butas yetembryonic, economic unitwhich duringthe earlystages of a marriagewas focusedon the bride. 608 RUBIE S. WATSON Affinity:landlords and peasants. While non-agnates('outsider' males) played no directpart in Teng marriagerites, the marriagepayments themselves suggest thataffinity was not altogethernegated, especially among landlord-merchant men. Giftexchanges at marriagecan provideimportant insights into the nature of affinity(cf. Dumont I957; Tambiah I973; Comaroffig80). This is certainly true for Ha Tsuen. Among peasants marriagegifts were provided almost exclusivelyby thegroom's family.However, amonglandlord-merchants both the wife giversand wife takersmade substantialcontributions to the dowry, while thebride's family paid forits own betrothaland thirdday feast.To what extentdid the Teng's relationswith theiraffines correspond to theformalised structuresof marriagepayments and rites? Gallin's (I960) and Pasternak's(I972: 6i-4, 8I-4) work in Taiwan clearly shows thataffines are not only brought together by formalrituals but that affinal relationshipsare characterisedby informal economic and political collaboration. In thevillage of Hsin Hsing, forexample, affines exchanged agricultural labour, loaned moneyto one another,and becamepolitical allies (Gallin i960: 637sqq.). In Ha Tsuen, by contrast,many peasant women toldme thattheir husbands had only metthe women's male kin afteryears of marriage,and in some cases they had nevermet themat all. Women reportedthat their brothers rarely or never visitedthem, and thattheir husbands rarely or neveraccompanied them on visits to the wives' families. This was confirtnedby my own observationsof middle-agedand elderlycouples. Peasant men were encapsulatedwithin the lineage. Their most importanteconomic requirement,land, was met by landholdingagnates or by thelineage's corporateestates. Most Teng peasants did theirbuying and sellingwithin Ha Tsuen's own market;their taxes, if they owned land, were collectedand paid by wealthyagnates who also acted as intermediarieswith governmentofficials. Their physicalsecurity was assured by Ha Tsuen's selfdefence corps. Politicallythe peasant had no realalternative to landlorddominated politics. In contrastto theirpeasant agnates,merchants and landlordsdepended on extensiveinterpersonal networks. Clan and surnameassociations, charitable associations,and the committeesof regionaltemples all offeredthe wealthy opportunitiesfor extra-lineagecontacts. Ha Tsuen's propertiedclass once owned cargoboats that operated in theCanton Delta. They also owned factories and shops in the larger market towns of the region and they held land throughoutthe northernNew Territories.The successof Ha Tsuen landlord- merchantswas in large partdue to theirmany contacts with non-agnates, and affineswere importantlinks in theirpersonal networks. Among thewealthy, maintaining relations with affines was largelya personal matter,open to transaction.As Petersnotes in his work on a Lebanesevillage, affinityis par excellence,a relationshipfor manoeuvre (I972: i85-6). In a very real senselandlords and merchantscreated their affinal network on thebasis of self interest.It was up to each individualto definethe contentof his affinal relations and these relationshipsremained culturallyindistinct. The Teng adheredto a commonset of marriagerites irrespective of classbackground, but theyhad no uniformpattern of behaviourtowards affines nor did theyshare a single systemof marriageexchange. While the marriagerites emphasised the RUBIE S. WATSON 609

separationof male affinesand theunity of agnatic kin, differences in theconduct of affinalrelations called into question many of thebasic tenetsof thepatrilineal descentgroup. Landlord-merchants' links with their affines posed a directthreat to lineageideals of unityand selfsufficiency. In relationto theideology of fraternal unity, affinity was seenby theTeng as a divisive force. It was divisive not only because ties to affinescould lead to potentiallydisruptive contacts with outsiders,but also because affinityhigh- lightedeconomic and social differenceswithin the lineage. In Ha Tsuen the uniformset of marriage rites denied that there were differences between agnates, while marriagepayments and affinalbehaviour highlightedand enhanced these differences.The actions of peasant men conformedwith the model of affinityset down in the marriagerites: they kept theiraffines at arm's length. Landlord-merchants,on the otherhand, had constantlyto balance theneed to build social networksthrough affinity with the demands of 'playingthe game' by therules of patrilinealexclusiveness. In theritual life of thecommunity they managedto strikethat balance.

Peasantwomen and affinity Thus faraffinity has beendiscussed only as itrelated to men.Yet peasantwomen in Ha Tsuen werenot simply silent bridges between males; peasant women were activeparticipants in affinalmatters. Women did, of course,stand in fortheir men, bearinggifts back and forthbetween their husbands and theirhusbands' affines.But it would be wrongto concludethat this was simplya sub rosa form of affinity. Women were also affines.Peasant women had (and continueto have) close relationswith theirbrothers' wives, theirhusband's brothers' wives and their husband'ssisters. Cantonese women interactedwith othersin manydifferent contextsand had tiesbased on friendship,kinship, locality (neighbourhood) and affinity.Here I onlydiscuss affinity, but it is importantto rememberthat village women, as well as men,were (and are) involvedin a varietyof relationships. In strikingcontrast to the generalpicture of peasantwomen reportedfor China, women in Ha Tsuen appearedto be more extrovertthan their husbands and fathers-in-lawwhose social relationswere nearly all subsumedunder agnation. Women from wealthy familieswere more socially restrictedthan their peasantcounterparts. This discussionof femaleaffinity therefore applies most directlyto thelives ofpeasant women in Ha Tsuen. I do notsuggest that wealthy women were chainedto theirhouseholds, but they did not,in general,have the freedomof movementthat their poorer neighbours enjoyed. Among peasant women the affinalrelationship was distinguishedby the special role which femaleaffines played in lifecrisis rituals. Of course,others (neighboursand hamletfriends) also helped, but the importantpoint is that affineswere expectedand obliged to assist. Female affineswere expectedto provide extralabour and food on the occasions of birth,marriage and death. Whena son married,the groom's mother's female affines gave hera greatdeal of support. A woman's husband's brothers'wives provided the extra labour necessaryfor the weddingbanquets, and thegroom's mother'sown brothers' 6io RUBIE S. WATSON

wives and her husband's sistersattended the marriagerites on the firstday, bringinggifts of food and, of course,gifts from their husbands for the groom. Femaleaffines also lentsupport to each otherduring periods of bereavement. It was primarilythe deceased's sons' wives and the deceased's married-out daughterswho shoulderedthe burden of preparingfor the extensive mortuary ritesand feastswhich were (and are) partof deathobservances in Ha Tsuen. Therewere also lessformal occasions when peasant women visited outside their husband's village. At lunar New Year and village festivalswomen were expectedto takegifts of sweetsand moneyto theirnatal households. Women marriedto men of the same generationformed the core of female affinity(Chinese women have no generationdesignations apart from those of theirhusbands). A woman's mostimportant affines were herbrothers' wives, husband'sbrothers' wives and husband'ssisters. A woman's sisterswere not, of course,affines, but thenthey were not exactlytreated as kineither. In adultlife thesignificant people in a woman's networkwere not thegirlfriends and sisters withwhom she grewup. Rather,she depended on thewomen who marriedinto her natalvillage: the wives of herbrothers. Her sistersand girlfriendsmarried out ofher natal village, and overthe years she mighthave lostcontact with them altogether.Aside fromher brothers' wives a woman reliedupon herhusband',s agnates'wives and herhusband's sisters. These were thewomen to whom she was rituallyintroduced during the marriage rites. In a society where many familesdid not produce enough for theirown consumption,inter-household exchange of goods was of crucial economic importance.The cost of ritualswas and continuesto be an enormousdrain on mnosthouseholds (on ritualcosts in thepast see Buck 1937: 468-9). Food and money were not, however, the only scarce resourcesfor peasant women. Labour was in equally shortsupply. In Ha Tsuen a mothermight spend weeks preparingfor her son's marriage,and it was essentialthat she be able to call on other women to help. Contributionsof food and labour were extremely importantto women (and to theentire household), but peasantwomen further benefitedfrom their affinal ties in other,less obvious ways. Chinesewomen in generaland Cantonesewomen in particularstand outside thepatrilineal system of descent. There is evensome questionas to thequality of the relationshipbetween a woman and her natal family.Ha Tsuen people believedfirmly that a daughterdoes notreally belong to herparents; informants statedthat 'she is just passingthrough our household',presumably on herway to her truerole as wifeand mother.Johnson reports a similarsentiment from one of her New Territoriesinformants who said of a twenty-fiveyear old, unmarrieddaughter: 'a girlthat old belongsto others'(I976: I52). Most telling of all in this regardis the horrorwith which people reactto the death of an unmarriedgirl or woman in herfather's household. A woman who dies before she entersher properrole as wife may become a vengefulghost, a powerful enemyof hernatal family and village.In thetraditional culture of theHa Tsuen region there was no place for an unmarriedwoman, save that of nun or prostitute.An unmarriedwoman was a constantthreat to her family;usually such women wereforced to quit theirhousehold of birth altogether (see Topley I975). As M. Wolfhas written,'Few womenin China experiencethe continuity RUBIE S. WATSON

thatis typicalof the lives of menfolk. . . If . . . [a woman] dies beforeshe is married,her tablet will not appear on her father'saltar; althoughshe was a temporarymember of his household,she was not a memberof his family' (1972: 32). I could findno evidencein Ha Tsuen thatwomen were incorporated into their husbands'lineage when theymarried. Women who marriedTeng men did not become lineageancestors, although they might for a timebe domesticancestors (see footnote5). Women did not (and stilldo not) participatein lineagerituals; theyhave no rightsof inheritance;they do not worshiplineage ancestors,10 and theydo not even taketheir husband's surname at marriage.Women also had no rightof support from their natal families and theirchildren were never supposed to be born in the mother'snatal household. In Ha Tsuen I knew of only two cases of divorce and thesewomen remainedin the village underthe financial protectionof theirex-husband and his family.Widow remarriageis frowned upon and is, in fact,very rare in Ha Tsuen. In 1977-78 I foundno cases of the remarriageof a Teng widow who was a firstor 'major' wife. In lightof women's positionvis a vis the male descentgroup and even their natal families,it is easierto understandthe importance of affinalnetworks for peasantwomen. These networks,along withties to consanguinesand unrelated women (neighboursand shopkeepers'wives), formeda systemof securityand identity.This was in manyways similar,at least in function,to the women's neighbourhoodgroups which M. Wolfdescribes for rural Taiwan (1972). She illustrateshow these informalgroups influencedhousehold divisions,intra- village disputesand marriagenegotiations. Maher's studyof Morocco (I974) providessome furtherinteresting points of comparison.Maher emphasisesthe importantrole which Moroccan women marriedto proletarianmen have in maintainingand operatingthe kinship (or informal)system of exchange. Maher could be writingof Cantonesepeasants when she remarks:'The non-conjugal roles performedby women [in informalexchange] . .. are so vital to the survivalof the populationthat there are substantialrewards to both men and women if they continueto carrythem out' (1974: 223). For Ha Tsuen, the peasant women's affinalnetworks were in many ways a marginalsysteni, operatedby marginalpeople. Yet thissystem benefited both men and wotnen.

Conclusions I have arguedthat the ritual life of theTeng lineageand theideology of descent stressedsolidarity among agnatickinsmen. Affinity, however, represented not only a threatto the exclusivenessof the lineagebut also a public denialof the patrilinealideal of fraternalequality. While marriage rites in Ha Tsuen stressed the separationand avoidance of affines,men fromlandlord-merchant families had a varietyof economicand politicalties to theiraffines. Peasant men, on the other hand, had few directrelations with outsidersof any kind (including affines).Bourdieu neatlysummarises the situationfor the landlord-merchants when he writes:'It is practicalkin who make marriages;it is officialkin who celebratethem' (1977: 34). In communitiessuch as Ha Tsuen thepeasants were 612 RUBIE S. WATSON encapsulatedby the landlord-dominatedworld of the descent group. The arrangementsof marriagepayments reflected these differences between landlords and peasants.Among peasants,for whom affinitywas unimportant,the trendwas toward a systemof brideprice.Among the wealthy,marriage was used to build bridgesbetween families and thepayments resembled a dowry. In thedominant lineages of theNew Territoriesregion, affinal relations were not culturallyelaborated as theywere in otherparts of China. Relationsbetween male affinestended to be transactionaland subjectto individualchoice. The patternsof affinitywhich I foundin Ha Tsuen thusdiffer radically from those generallyreported in the literatureon Chinese marriageand kinship. The contrastis so sharp,in fact,that one is forcedto concludethat there can be little justificationfor isolating a 'basic model' of Chineseaffinity and marriage.Such models do not take class, regional or ethnic variationsinto account and, furthermore,they focus primarily on themessages conveyed in publicritual. In Ha Tsuen, affinalrelations were not rituallysanctioned or circumscribed, but theywere neverthelesshighly patterned (see also La FontaineI962). The contentof affinalrelations, as opposed to publiclyacknowledged statements (ritualand otherwise)about affinity,reveals importantdifferences in social organisation.Among theTeng thesedifferences are relatedto class. Analysisof theinformal links between affines has also revealeda hithertounexplored field of femaleaction. Affinalrelations among women in Ha Tsuen were conditioned both by the dominantideology of descent and by the overarchingfact of economic inequality.While peasant men remainedfirmly embedded in the lineage,their wives maintainedan affinalnetwork which provided the peasant householdwith important goods and services. The ideologyofpatrilineal descent is so powerfulin Chinese society, especially in thesouth, that it often appears to obliterate,or atleast temper, class differences. In Ha Tsuen ties betweenaffines were not formalisedbeyond the exchange of paymentsand giftsat thetime of marriage.Affinity, like class,was not a matter for ritual elaboration. The rites of marriage,together with lineage rituals, projectedan image of self-sufficiencyand fraternalequality within the descent group.However, theactual patterns of marriage and affinal behaviour highlighted crucialdifferences between the peasant and thelandlord-merchant. Among the Teng affinitywas a key elementin the systemof class reproduction.The peasantwas encapsulatedwithin his own lineageand did nothave close personal tieswith male affines;landlord-merchants, on theother hand, used such tiesto maintainthemselves as a dominantclass.

NOTES I wishto thankthe Social ScienceResearch Council and the University ofLondon (Central Research Fund) forsupporting the field research (I977-J978) upon whichthis study is based. I am particularly indebtedto Maurice Bloch, StephenMorris, Jonathan Parry, James Watson, MartinWhyte and MargeryWolf for theirvaluable commentson this article.Versions were read in anthropology seminarsat theLondon School ofEconomics,Manchester University and theSchool ofOriental and AfricanStudies. I should like to thankthe participantsof those seminarsfor theirconstructive criticisms. The Chineseterms in thisarticle marked (C) arecolloquial Cantonese and areromanised in theYale RUBIE S. WATSON 613

system,as foundin Parker P. F. Huang's CantoneseDictionary (Yale UniversityPress, 1970). All other termsnot so markedare in Mandarin,standard Wade-Giles romanisation. The characternumbers in the following glossary correspond to those in Mathews' Chinese-EnglishDictionary (Harvard UniversityPress, i963): (C) cheui-gaI6I6, 596; (C) fa-kiuh2212, 747; (C) ga-jong596, 145i; hsi-min 2467, 4508; hsiang 2556; hsiin-ting 2927, 638i; (C) mui-jai 441o, 6940; (C) muih-yan 4397, 3097; (C) laih-beng 3886, 5296; (C) laih-gam 3886, 1057; (C) ngoih-ga 7001, 594; (C) sung-ga 5566, 596. 1 These dataon New Territorieslandownership are based on thefirst cadastral survey carried out by Britishcolonial officials in Igos (therecords are held at theYuen Long DistrictOffice). 2 This figureof 6opercent. is based on theigoS landrecords for one ofHa Tsuen's largesthamlets. In examiningthelanddata for thehamletofSikKong Wai (withabout ioohouseholdsin Igos), I found thatabout 60 per cent.of all householdswere landless. There is no reasonto suspectthat the figures forSik Kong Wai are in any way unrepresentativeof otherHa Tsuen hamlets. I Betweenwhat informants told me ofmarriage rituals in thepast and whatI saw in 1977-78, there appearto be fewsignificant changes. Those changeswhich have taken place reflect the groom's more activeparticipation in the rites. The groomnow hasmore contact during the ritual with his bride's kin. 4 In I977-78 familieswere spending as muchas ?400 to?soo on engagementcakes (C laihbeng) .The brideprice(C laihgam) was usuallyaround ?isoo to ?2000. I In a dominantlineage such as thatof theHa Tsuen Teng menworship both domestic ancestors, whose tabletsare kept in their homes, and lineage ancestors, whose tablets are displayed in an ancestral hall. A domesticancestor is normallyworshipped for up to fivegmnerations, after which his or her name is deletedfrom the household ancestral altar. Lineage ancestors are oftenthe foci of segments withinthe lineage. For discussionof thedomestic/lineage ancestor dichotomy, see Freedmani958: 8i sqq. 6 The geographicaldistribution of out-marrying Teng daughtersis broadlysimilar to thatofTeng in-marryingwives. In a sampleconsisting of29 out-marryingTeng daughtersover40 yearsofage, 4I percent. (or N I2) marriedwithin Ha Tsuen hsiang,and 86 percent. (or N25) marriedwithin the Yuen Long marketingarea (which subsumes Ha Tsuen hsiang).It is difficultto know whether the higher rate of out-marriageto villageswithin the hsiang (4I per cent.compared to 23 per cent.for in-marriage fromhsiang villages) is significant.The comparisonmay be affectedby the factthat there is less informationon out-marriageamong older women (29 casesofout-marriage as opposed to 68 casesof in-marriage).Although I asked about out-marryingdaughters, the figures show thatvillagers were likelyto forgetor failto mentionsisters or father'ssisters who may have marriedout of Ha Tsuen decades ago. Does thefinding that 4I per cent.of Teng daughtersmarried into villages which were politicallysubordinated to the Teng suggest a trendtoward hypogamy?Villagers themselves maintainedthat a brideshould come froma familyof thesame socio-economicbackground as the groom or, failingthat, from a familywhich is poorerthan the groom's family.People in Ha Tsuen believedthat a brideshould not 'marry down' because,they said, 'thebride will never be satisfiedand she will onlycause trouble'.In China thedecisive units in negotiatingmarriages were not lineages or villages, but ratherfamilies. It is thereforeimpossible to argue that, because Teng daughters sometimesmarried into satellite villages, this constituted a systemof hypogamy. More information aboutthe families into which these women married would be neededbefore an argumentofthis nature could be sustained. I Goody subsumesindirect dowry under the more general category of dowry (I 973: 2, 22, 46). In hisview, dowry-and byimplication indirect dowry-is associatedwith systems ofstratification and 'divergingdevolution' (or the'women's propertycomplex'). Goody goes on to say thatin societies whichhave dowry,affines and theconjugal unit usually play a centralrole (I973: 39, 45-6). While thereis no doubt thatChinese societyis highlystratified, the otherfactors (women's property complex,strong affinal ties, and strongconjugal unit) which Goody associateswith dowry systems are not particularlysalient in China. Comaroff(I980: 7-I0) makesa similarpoint about dowryin patrilinealsocieties; Rheubottom's (I980) discussionin the samebook describes a society(Macedonia) which has patrilinealdescent, corporate descent groups, and a denial of 'affinity'.And yet, in Macedonia-as in China-a systemof dowryoperates. 8 In I977-78 marriageexchanges were very similarto the arrangementswhich my elderly informantsdescribed for the early part ofthis century. There is one strikingdifference: the amounts of money(even adjusted for inflation) now beingspent on bridepriceand banquetsare much larger than theywere in thepast. The structureof thepayments, however, seems to have been littlechanged. 614 RUBIE S. WATSON

9 This is trueeven todayin theNew Territories;for a discussionof women's inheritancerights in China see McCreeryI976. "I The singleexception to thisoccurs when a bride(ofa 'major' marriage)worships her husband's lineageancestors in his ancestralhall. This is the only timethat a woman worshipsher husband's lineageancestors, as opposed to his domesticancestors (see footnote5). It shouldbe notedthat it is a man's 'major', or first,wife who worshipsin his ancestralhall. Accordingto villagers,this is what distinguishesa 'major' wifefrom all otherwives.

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