SOME FACTS ABOUT THE CHINESE.
By Congregationalist
THERE is no caste in China such as exists in India. The people, as a whole, are homogeneous, not merely in the sense of being one race, but as to their rights and privileges. The highest positions are open to aspirants from all classes, and instances are given of men rising from the lowest walks of life to fill the highest offices in the land. Their life is somewhat on the plan of the old patriarchal system. They live in clans, and the family lines are very distinctly drawn. Each family has an organization that centers in the ancestral hall, where the tablets of the deceased fathers are placed. A reunion is held at least once a year, about Easter, which is the time for worshiping in the tombs, when, among other things, roast pork is divided among the members as a recognition of their standing. The threat to deprive a man of his piece of pork means that he will be expelled from the clan. At this time arrangements are made for repairing the grave and offering annual sacrifices at the tombs. The management of the village affairs is usually intrusted to a few men, who, by wealth or literary distinction, have obtained prominence. They are known as the gentry, and it is only through their mediation that obscure members of the clan can bring their suits before the officials or receive redress of injuries. It is also a principle of Chinese law to hold relatives of a criminal in some degree responsible for his crime, so that the whole family is concerned in the conduct of its individual members. A case recently occurred revealing this, among other remarkable facts. A man in a fit of insanity killed his mother. He imagined he saw a mad dog rush into the house, and, snatching up a hatchet, struck it dead. It was his mother. He was arrested; all his property was confiscated, and his family reduced to beggary. After his trial he was executed. Not only was his own immediate family involved in the disaster, but the teacher who first instructed him was so keenly affected by the blight it brought upon him that he committed suicide by taking opium, the theory being that he must have given an evil bent to the young mind intrusted to his care. Chinese family life is not such as to promote domestic comfort or improve the social side of men. Its one redeeming feature is the respect shown to the aged, but this is carried to such an absurd extreme, and magnified to such a degree, that all other duties are overshadowed. It is of equal importance that the elder should watch over and guard the younger, especially in the time of helpless infancy. The separation of men and women is a permanent barrier to all true social intercourse. Where circumstances permit, the women are secluded. In the houses of the wealthier people they have their own apartments, into which the men may not enter. Here they spend their time, often in listless idleness, or, if inclined to exertion, in superintending the details of household work, in sewing or embroidering, in dressing their hair and beautifying their countenances, or in cultivating long finger-nails, which they are careful to protect with silver sheathes at night. The eating of water-melon seeds while they gossip is one of the great pastimes of Chinese ladies. What hours have been consumed in this way it would be difficult to compute, but the wearing away and premature decay of two particular teeth on the right side of the mouth so frequently observed, shows how constantly they have been employed for this purpose. Few of them can read, so that their ideas are almost as narrow as the confines of their own apartments. When a man receives calls from his most intimate friends, his wife and daughters never appear; they may be behind the curtains listening, but remain invisible. When a gentleman invites his friends to dine with him, he hires a room in some eating-house, or engages a boat on the river, where the feast is spread; but such a thing as a party where ladies and gentlemen sit down together would shock their sense of propriety beyond recovery. Their absurd, strict, and stilted ideas of propriety breed an artificial prudery, deprive the men of what they most need,—the refining influence of good female society. The whole system is based upon a low and utterly unworthy estimate of woman. She is regarded as weak and erring, and must be hedged in by these restrictions lest she bring dishonor upon the family. The crucial test of any civilization is found in its estimate and treatment of women; and, judged by the high standard with which we are familiar, China falls wofolly short of the mark.—Congregationalist.