The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1848-11-08
China and the Chinese.

China and the Chinese.
The MONARCHY, GOVERNMENT, LANGUAGE, AND CHAR
| AcTERIsTIc QUALITIES OF THE CHINESE
! The Chinese Monarchy being absolute, without
the slightest check the punishnents Of the empire
are most cruel, and il-proportioned TO the crimes
! for which they are severally inflicted for the
slightest offence, mandarin IS degraded, banshed,
and deprived of all property. 1t frequently hap
pens that the Emperor not only visits the sins of the
father upon his children, but extends his wrath to
| the collateral branches of the family, inflictng
| upon them the same punishment pronounced upon
| the offender The abominahe system ofespionage
was never carried to a greater extent either IN
France or Austria, than that which is pFaetced IN
| China; the smallest expression, which may be
construed into reflection upon the Emperor, Is re-
| ported TO him, and the culprit's punishment IS
| death. The Emperor, when he condemns an old
| favorlte, as a mark Of favor, sends him sword,
with an intimaton that he may take away his own
life; his death is frequently followed by the execu-
ton Of his children, and nearest relations, THEFT
| is punished with the bastinado, and torture. Man
| slaughter and homicide are classed with murder,
| and capitally punished; this makes the Chinese
even hesitate to approach dead body, or give IN
formation if they have seen one, least they should
! be accused of the deed. There are various modes
| of inhieting capital puRishInents; sometimes the
cuprt is beheaded, or strangled by the bowstriDg
at others, that most cruel practice of hewIng the
| living victim to pieces is resOrted to- The ex-
tremties are first severed from the trunk, vital
| parts being carefully avoided in order TO prolong
the pain and suffering Of the victim. Flial dis
obedience is considered crime next IN atroclty to
MURDER and is punished by the bastinado, and Sc
we're beating with bamboos of various Sizes When
a man becomes rich, and. in bis folly, OF through
parsiIpony, negeets to present offerings, or, IN
other words 10 bride the mandarin Of his district,
he is invariably accused Of some offence, seized,
| and tortured, to extract some of his wealth. The
| modes Of torture are various-but those generally
adopted are, the rack, and gradual roasting before
a slow fire.
Traffic in opium is most severely punished;
man detected in smoking opium, Is put to the tor
ture, until he gives up the name Of the person from
whom he bought the poison-and each person,
through whose hands it is traced, is similarly dealt
with, until the smuggler is discovered. The Offend
ers are punished by the bastinado pillory, banisl-
ment and forfeiture Of property. This punishment
has often been extended to the and brothers OF
the smuggler. The reason that punishmenis for
| smoking and smuggling opium are rarely heard OF,
| is owing to the presents and brides which are
heaped upon the mandarins by those who are guilty
| of practcing those offences. A mandarin, when
he discovers an offender, is able to carry on most
profitable trade, by holding the accusation IN ter
ToruH over him, till he has squeezed all he can out
of him. Bribery and corruption are carried on TO
an enormous extent throughout the whole state ana
and are IN great measure countenaneed by tne
| emperor, If not the immediate result OF MS Will
| He remunerates his viceroys, mandarins and other
servants, with salaries absurdly low, as to be
quite inadequate to the support of their respect
| i've stations There are no Judges, properly speak
| ing to administer the laws, but each mandarin
exercises the Office of judge over all beneath him,
including even the mandarins who are his interiors
in rank All important cases. however, are referred
| TO the emperor in person.
| There are considerable differences of opinion
relative to the population Of China, the estimated
account varying from three hundred TO three hum
/ dred and sixty-five mlions-whe the population
of Canton alone is computed by some at one million
| two hundred and thirty-siX thousand, by others
even higher. When we take into consideration the
vast multitude who reside upon the river Canton,
| the numbers who reside III each boat, and the
| dense manner in which these boats are congregated
/ together the immense population residing in the
streets of the city and its suburhs-one house,
| among the lower and poorer classes, being often
inhabited by three or four generations-it Is Tar
| from incredible that the whole population on the
river in the city and without, the wall may amount
| to 1856 900 All the villages, towns and cities OF
| China, with the rivers in their vicnites, are
crowded apparently TO the same extent, and 1t must
/ be remembered that the aquatic population possess
no habitatons upon the land. Where these facts
are considered with the vast extent of the empire,
whose inhabitants rarely, if ever, mgrate-lt
/ would by no means, be astonishing to find as the
result of an accurate census, that Its total popua-
ton even exceeded the laTgerestmate OF 365 0OO0O0
The sound of the spoken language IS exceedingly
disagreeable to unaccustomed ear, from the pecu-
liarity of its monosylabic pronunciation, which Il
uttered in a measured tone. Although the written
| language is universally understood throughout
China yet the spoken language of one province Is
unintegble to the inhabitants of another, and they
are constantly obliged TO express their ideas by the
formation of Characters and they may be frequently
seen doing So by of their fore-hnger, writing
| them as il were, in the air. In the written IAN
guage they say, there are GOO characters OF Nero
| glvnhics each of which stands fT a word. The
difficulty, them of acquiring perfect knowledge OF
the written language must be apparent to al put
it has one great and evident advantage, that OF az,
ways remaining the same the character or symbol
will always represent the object or thing orgInay
intended to be represented unliable to variation,
which is not the case in a spoken language alpha
beticaly written, which is constantly subject to va
riations in the sound photography, arising from
fashion or caprice. The Europeans who have stu
died the Chinese language, usually divide II INTO
four distinct dialects-namely, the Koa-Ou- en-,
which is not used at present, except by philosophers
and suges who are much enamored OF It Ou-en-
ie-hang, which is used for its sublimty and adapted
TO complimentary compositions and hlgh-fOwn Hat
terry. This language or dialect, Is held next IN es-
limaton, by the iterati, to the hou-ou-en; Inc
KOu-ha-n0, or court language, is that which is n
yariaby used by courters in all official coTespon-
dsnce and by literary characters. Is considered
to be possessed Of greater variety of expressions
whose signfcations slightly differ, and 70 be more
adapted for the purposes general intercourse tan
anv other dialect. The Hi-an-tang is the Chinese
rafos the variations are innumerable, each pro-
vince snd district having It's peculiar patios, used
| nv the lower orders. The mandarins and wealthy
persons throughout the empire use the KOu-ha-na
. or court language, in their intercourse win one
another and those only can Tise 70 emlnence IN the
state who are proieients in il There are obvious
reasons for this; all ancient inscriptions, ancient
records and the official correspondence Of the pre-
sent day are in this language L is presumed to o
the original and unoltered language Of the empire
The Hi-dn-taHg or paiios, can, after as oe on
considered as various coTruptons OF the n olL-aitd
Ths eharasteristic rood qualities Of the Chipss'