下载掌阅APP，畅读海量书库
立即打开
In spite of the fact that the villagers recognize the importance of posterity, there is a limiting factor for population. It is true that children can contribute labour to the domestic economy, but there must be enough work on which it can be utilized. With land holdings of limited size, and with limits to the extent of silkworm raising, surplus members of a Chia will be merely a burden to the unit. This brings us to an examination of the average size of a land holding in the village.
The total area of cultivated land is 3,065 mow or 461 acres. If this area were equally allotted to 360 households, it would mean that each household could only occupy a piece of land about 9.5 mow or 1.2 acres in size. Each mow of land can produce in a normal year six bushels of rice. About twenty-seven bushels of rice is needed for the consumption of one man, one woman, and one child (VII–5). In other words, to obtain sufficient food, a family group needs a piece of land of about five mow . The present size of land holdings is hardly sufficient to provide an average household with a normal livelihood which requires sufficient food and other necessities. The pressure of population on the land is thus a strong limiting factor on the number of children. For example, a family, with a small holding of nine mow , will face a serious problem if a second boy is born. According to local custom, the children when grown up will divide the estate. This will mean poverty for both sons. The usual solution is infanticide or abortion. The people do not attempt to justify these practices and admit that they are bad. But there is no alternative except poverty and "crime." The result can be seen in the figures of the total number of children in the village: there are only 470 children under sixteen years of age, 1.3 per Chia.
然而，这个原则有时也可以根据需要加以修改。经过协议，女儿的丈夫也可以在自己的姓名前面加上他妻子的姓，他们的孩子则接续母亲的家系。也有时夫妇双方各自接续双方的家系。总之，这些是总的原则在特定条件下的次要变动（第四章第四节）。由于男女平等的新概念，现行的法律制度企图改变这种传统的偏重单系的亲属制度（第四章第六节）。关于这些变化，留到以后再加以讨论。
尽管村中的人认识到后代的重要性，但现实中还存在着必须限制人口的因素。儿童的劳动能对家庭经济作出贡献，这是事实，但必须要有足够的劳动对象来利用这些劳动力，由于拥有土地的面积有限，能养多少蚕也有限度，家中多余的成员，成了沉重的负担。有鉴于此，让我们先来观察一下这个村平均的土地拥有量情况。
该村的总面积为3,065亩，农地占90%，如果将2,758.5亩农田平均分配给274家农户，则意味着每户只能有一块约10.06亩大的土地。正常年景，每亩地能生产6蒲式耳稻米。一男、一女和一个儿童一年需消费33蒲式耳稻米（第七章第五节）。换句话说，为了得到足够的食物，每个家庭约需有5.5亩地。目前，即使全部土地都用于粮食生产，一家也只有大约60蒲式耳的稻米。每户以4口人计算，拥有土地的面积在满足一般家庭所需的粮食之后仅能勉强支付大约相当于粮食所值价的其他生活必需品的供应。因此，我们可以看到，这个每家平均有4口人的村子，现有的土地已受到相当重的人口压力。这是限制儿童数量的重要因素。按照当地的习惯，孩子长大后就要分家产。有限的土地如果一分为二，就意味着两个儿子都要贫困。通常的办法是溺婴或流产。人们并不为这种行为辩护，他们承认这是不好的，但是有什么别的办法以免贫穷呢？从这个村子中儿童的总数可以看到这个结果：16岁以下儿童，总共只有470名，平均每家1.3个。
The practice of infanticide is more often for the female children. The patrilineal descent and the patrilocal marriage have effected the social status of women. A girl is of less value in the eyes of the parents because she cannot continue the "incense and fire" and because as soon as she is mature, she will leave her parents. In consequences, the ratio of females in the age group 0–5 is unusually low. There are only 100 girls to 135 boys (II–5). Only in 131 Chia, or 37 per cent. of the total, are there girls (under sixteen) among their children (excluding siaosiv ), and in only fourteen Chia is there more than one girl.
Since population control is considered as a precaution against poverty, families with comparatively large estates are free to have more children. They are proud of their numerous children, and these are taken as a sign of their wealth in the eyes of the people. The desire for posterity, the dislike of infanticide and abortion, and economic pressure—these factors work together to equalize land holdings (XI–6).
Before the birth of a child, the mother has already definite obligations toward it. During pregnancy, the mother must abstain from violent emotion, from looking at abhorrent things, and from eating certain types of food. There is an idea that the foetus needs education. Good behaviour by the mother is expected to affect the future personality of the child. No special obligations are, however, incurred by the father, except perhaps abstaining from sex relations with his wife, since this is considered unfavourable to the physiological development of the child and may lead to its early death.
杀害女婴就更为经常。父系传代及从父居婚姻影响了妇女的社会地位。在父母亲的眼中，女孩的价值是较低的，因为她不能承继“香火”，同时，她一旦长成，就要离开父母。结果0～5岁年龄组的性比例是：100个女孩比135个男孩（第二章第五节）。只在131家中，即占总数37%的家中，有16岁以下的女孩（不包括“小媳妇”），只在14家中，有一个以上的女孩。
正因为人口控制是为了预防贫穷，一些有着较大产业的家庭就不受限制地有更多的子女。他们对自己有为数众多的子女感到自豪，而在人们的眼中，又视之为富裕的象征。有后嗣的愿望、厌恶杀婴与流产及经济上的压力等等，这些因素同时发生作用使土地的拥有量趋向平均化（第十一章第六节）。