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An anthropologist living in rural Taiwan in 1957 made a startling discovery. He met a woman who had years before given away her five infant daughters and replaced them with five girls adopted from other families. “I gave away all five girls and raised instead wives for my five sons,” she said. “This saved me money and the need to pay dowries as well as the trouble of arranging 10 marriages.” For each marriage of an adult son, she would have had to throw large and expansive feats, as well as pay a fee to the bride’s family.
The researcher found these girls were considered daughters-in-law as soon as they were moved in, even if they were only a month or two old. An official marriage ceremony occurred shortly after both members of the couple reached puberty.
From Science News 3/20/04
Posted by Ted at March 23, 2004 8:05 PM