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Does Sixth Aunt Have an Alternative? Sixth Aunt is about to marry a man she has never met. Unappealing and fond of gambling, this man is by no means an ideal husband. Does Sixth Aunt have an alternative? She is supposed to have. Growing up in the Pearl River Delta region, she could have chosen to become a “zishunu.” Women had formed sisterhoods with other female companions and taken vows not to marry. She could also have chosen to practice buluojia by not cohabiting with her husband after marriage.1 Nonetheless, Sixth Aunt is not free to decide her fate because she is merely a fictitious character portrayed in a Cantonese ballad muyushu. She is bound by the narrative and textual structure to submit to the arranged marriage. She is obliged to speak and sing in the prescribed text compiled by others. Sixth Aunt (Liugu) is the major female character of a Cantonese muyushu (literally, wooden-fish book). It is one among many booklets for chanting, written in a verse style of seven-character lines in colloquial Cantonese and entitled Liugu huimen (Sixth Aunt returning to her natal home). In the story, Sixth Aunt is the cherished sixth daughter of a certain “What Alternative Do You Have, Sixth Aunt?” — Women and Marriage in Cantonese Ballads* May-bo Ching 3 * An earlier version of this chapter was originally presented at the Conference on Merchants and Local Cultures, organized by the Division of Humanities, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in August 1994, entitled “Does Sixth Aunt have an alternative? – Women and marriage in the late Qing and early Republican Cantonese ballads.” It has had subsequent revisions. May-bo Ching 60 Hu family. She is engaged to an undesirable man, Li Guanwang. Her mother has been misled by a matchmaker who claims that Li is from a well-to-do family. The unfortunate match is portrayed as “the Goddess of Mercy soon to be paired with a lowly spirit!”2 On the eve of her wedding, like many Cantonese brides in real life, Sixth Aunt sorrowfully sings her bridal laments. The muyushu text, on this occasion, is interwoven with a series of bridal laments. The musical and textual characters of a different genre of muyushu would have been easily identified by local readers. The story continues with a rather established plot. Immediately after their marriage, Guanwang pawns all of Sixth Aunt’s fine clothing and jewelry for money to satisfy his gambling habit. As expected, he loses all the money. Without a single set of decent clothes to wear, Sixth Aunt is too ashamed to perform the huimen rituals of returning to her natal home on the third day of her wedding celebration. She is able to pay a visit only two months later, after she has borrowed a fine, yet unfit dress from another woman. Appreciating Sixth Aunt’s sorrow, her mother and her best female friend dissuade Sixth Aunt from returning to her husband’s home. Noticing that Sixth Aunt has already stayed at her natal home for a while, Guanwang is encouraged by his stepmother to pay his in-laws a visit. He puts on the clothes left by his ancestors, but his apparent poverty invites only scorn and ridicule. Guanwang is so angry that he considers taking a concubine and ignoring his wife. However, he is cautioned by his stepmother who encourages him to improve his circumstances to win back Sixth Aunt. Despite the grim prospects, Sixth Aunt feels that she has to return to her husband’s house because she is “his woman in life and his ghost in death.”3 At that juncture, the story line twists dramatically. When Sixth Aunt arrives at her husband’s house, she has a pleasant surprise and a change of fate. Guanwang has unexpectedly acquired some wealth in a rather short time through gambling, ridiculous as it seems. The Liugu huimen thus guarantees a happy ending. Sixth Aunt and her family change their attitude towards Guanwang. She gives birth to several children, and they live happily ever after. A muyushu bearing a similar title — Sangu huimen (Third Aunt returning to her natal home), presents a simpler and happier story than Liugu huimen. With the introduction of a matchmaker, the Qiu family delivers their beloved third daughter, Third Aunt, to a marriage with the son of the Wang family. The matchmaker has assured them that the Wang family is wealthy, and the fiancé of Third Aunt, a diligent student, is...

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