If there is found in the provinces a son who is pious to an heroic degree, an attentive grandson, a just husband, a widow, chaste and endowed with filial piety, a young girl devoted to her parents, a wife of invincible virtue, who deserves to be distinguished by the emperor in order to perpetuate his (her) memory, the viceroy or the governor, in agreement with the provincial examiner for the baccalaureate . . . will propose them to the emperor. If the emperor receives the proposal, after confirmation by the Supreme Tribunal of Rites, the local mandarin will give thirty ounces of silver for each, that their families may erect a triumphal arch, P’ai-fang. Their names shall be engraved on a stone stela, Pei, erected in the Temple of Faithful and Just Men, Tschong-i-se, or in the Temple of Chaste and Pious Women, Tsié-hiao-se, which are found in all the prefects and subprefects. Their tablets, P’ai-wei, shall be erected in these temples, and every year, in the spring and autumn, the local mandarin shall offer a sacrifice to them. . . .
If a woman whose parents have neither son nor grandson devotes herself heroically to them during her whole life and for this reason renounces marriage she shall receive an imperial decoration in the same manner as a son who has behaved with heroic piety toward his parents. A sum of money will be given to erect a P’ai-fang, her name will be engraved on a stone stela, Pei, her tablet will be placed in the temple, Tsié-hiao-se, and sacrifice will be offered her. . . .
In the case of a widow, legitimate wife, or concubine, who shall have begun to preserve her widowhood before the age of thirty years, who shall have shown heroic devotion toward her father-in-faw and mother-in-law, just toward others and enduring a hard life, if she passed the age of fifty years or if she died after at least six years of widowhood, she shall receive an imperial decoration to perpetuate her memory, money will be given to erect a P’ai-fang, her tablet will be placed in the temple and sacrifices will be offered to her. . . .
If a widow has merely complied with her obligations and preserved her widowhood as prescribed above [without a life of misery] she shall receive as a mark of approbation an imperial inscription composed of these four characters, Ts’ing-piao-t’ongkoan ("chaste widow of perpetual memory"), her name shall be engraved on a stone stela [and her family is permitted to erect a triumphal arch]. . . .
If a young girl betrothed but not yet married preserves her virginity after the death of her fiancé, either in the home of her own family or in that of her fiancé, she shall receive as in the case of a widow [who does not remarry] an imperial decoration to perpetuate the memory of it.
If a young woman betrothed but not yet married vows to guard her continence after the death of her fiancé and dies of hunger, she shall receive an imperial decoration for the perpetuation of her memory.1
1Hoang, P.n/an/an/an/an/a, , 243–250 (Imprimerie de la Mission Catholique. By permissson).