It often happens, therefore, that the Chinese widow is made to marry again, or rather, is sold again, and this time, also, no one dreams of asking her consent. The child at the breast, if there is one, is included in the bargain. In order to moderate the haste of covetous parents, the law has been obliged to intervene, and prevent the sale of the widow before the expiration of the time of mourning. The Chinese widow, if she wishes to escape this traffic in her person, and is without fortune, has no resource except to become a bonzess. Those widows only whose rank or riches place them above the common, are able to pass the rest of their days without being united to a fresh husband;[833] this posthumous fidelity is much encouraged in China by public opinion, whenever interest does not forbid it. The betrothed maiden, who may become a widow before being a wife, is much esteemed if she buries herself for ever in an enforced sorrow; but naturally, a reciprocal demand is not made on the betrothed man who may lose his _fiancée_. If the rich widow who remains inconsolable is much praised, she who refuses to survive her husband receives greater honour. Tablets are erected in the temples in memory of young girls who have killed themselves on the tombs of their betrothed, and twice a year certain mandarins make oblations in their honour.[834] With much stronger reason is this done for real widows. In 1857 the _Pekin Gazette_ published a decree, according a tablet to the memory of the wife of a mandarin who had poisoned herself on hearing of the death of her husband in a battle against the rebels. These suicides of widows are performed in public, with great pomp and solemnity. In January 1861 two young widows thus committed suicide at Fou-Chow, in presence of several thousand spectators. Another did the same at the end of December 1860.[835] It would seem, therefore, that these suicides are frequent enough even at the present time. From observations made during the Anglo-French Expedition to China, it appears that they are generally widows without children or relations who thus sacrifice themselves; they do it openly and with much ceremony. A month beforehand, the widow goes in procession through the town, as has been thus described:--“Two executioners headed the procession; then came musicians; then men dressed in coarse linen tunics with hoods, carrying parasols, little pagodas, boxes of perfumes, and streamers. After them came a third executioner, followed by a second group bearing poles, surmounted by figures of fantastic animals. And lastly came a mandarin’s palanquin, surrounded by numerous servants of both sexes, dressed in mourning, which consisted of grey linen. In the palanquin was the heroine of the _fête_, a young woman dressed in red (the imperial colour), and crowned with a blue diadem. Her red satin robe was ornamented with lace and gold embroidery. This solemn procession had no other object than to announce the suicide to