10/30 Bride and bridegroom must kneel down and call God to witness; they also pledge each other in wine from two cups joined together by a red string. Red is the colour for joy, as white is the colour for mourning. Chinese note-paper is always ruled with red lines or stamped with a red picture. One Chinese official who gave a dinner-party in foreign style, even went so far as to paste a piece of red paper on to each dinner-napkin, in order to counteract the unpropitious influence of white. In addition to the Yangtsze and the Yellow River or Hoang ho (pronounced _Hwong haw_), two of the most important rivers in the world, China is covered with a network of minor streams, which in southern China form the chief lines of transport. |