Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1858-01-27
STAUNTON, VIRGINIA, WEDNESDAY,, JANUARY 27 1855
Pictures Of China.
The following paragraphs are extracted from
the London Times Shanghai letter:

Pictures Of China.
The following paragraphs are extracted from
the London Times Shanghai letter:
THE SHOPS OF SHANGHAI.
Some of the best shops of Shangai city open
upon the tea-gardens; some resound with the
buzz of imprisoned insects and song OF Gagged
birds: there are ''curio" shops, where are to be
seen antiquities of dynasties long anterior to the
Christian era, carefully wrought by living hands
there are carvings in bamboo, very inferior to
Canton: there are shops for fans, and embrold-
cries and silks, decidedly inferior to Ningpo.-
There is also the studio of a portrait painter
not probably dangerous rival OF Lamqua, OF Ma
Gao. There is loud talking in that studio. A
Yankee captain is inspecting portrait OF him.
SELF which has been painted at contract price
of some $40 The Yankee is man about forty,
with streaks of gray in his bushy hair and beard
with slight defect in one eye, large nose, and
pock-marked face Yet, withal, thanks to his
afiuence of hair and an expression of jauhty
determination and devil-may care go-aheadness,
he is manly looking fellow. He is looking
ruefully, however, at this counterfeit present
ment of himself which is togo the girl of his
heart at New York. 1t Is Almost laughter-mov-
ing carcature of all the salient points of bis
physiogomy. The Yankee swears that it is nc
more ike him than hickory nuts are like tbun-
der. The artist has produced small looking
glass, which he places beside the portrait, and
pointing to the grey hair and squirting eye and
and the pock marks of the portrait, and then to
the present originals from which they were cop
led, says triumphanty at each verihcation,
"Hab got2 Hab gota Hab gotf How can
make handsome man s'pose no got handsome
face 2" Let us leave these parties, for there
seems likelihood of hot dispute and, arlning
ourselves with another cheroot as defense a.
gainst bad SMELLS retrace our steps through the
city, and out at the east gate.
FUNERAL PROCESSION.
There is sound of gongs, and a crepitation OF
small crackers at the north end Of the bund, and
the coolies leaving their work to look on. AS
it is day for sightseeing and as thisis our bus
mess, let US follow the crowd.
1t is burial procession. The mother of a
Chinese opium broker is going to her last home.
She carries with her all her little comforts and
necessaries where-with to begin life in the next
world Many palanquins appear at unequal dis
tance, preceded and followed by coolies march
JOSS houses, and basins holding fruits, and sweet
| meats, anu utuu CdhtS, anu OLucT oILnOuOA
Buddhist comeStibles. There is q good store
also of silvered and gided paper made to re-
semble solid ingots OF gold and silver. This is
the wealth wherewth she is to appear in the
land of ghosts as q respectable well-to-do ma
tron, But if this bullion pass current among
ghosts, they have lost the qualities which must
distinguish them in the flesh. In life China
man can distinguish the exact ineness of piece
of silver by the touch, so much so that the word
touch" is used as technical term to indicate
the quality of each description of bullion; it
must be very narrowing to the ghosts of q Chi
nese comprador to find himself obliged to deal
in these shadowy ingots. On marches the pro-
cessou. There are little boys blowing shrill
trumpets and other stranger wind instruments,
men excruciating our ears with cymbas and
gongs, and grave adults exploding strings OF
| crackers Then comes the coffin strong wood
en- case carved like the trunk of tree. 1t is
half covered by draperies, and borne by twelve
coolies. 1t is Theoretically sealed with tenacious
plaster, the Chinese call "chunam." 1t will be
| borne to joss-house in the city, and thence to
a spot in one of the sons fields Here it will
rest Oh the surface Of the ground. After the
time of mourning is past, few spades-full of
earth will be shoveled upon it, then year after
year a few more, till mound arises, and rank
grass and Chinese lilies spring up, and this old
lady's habitation adds another unit to the myri
ads of sacred burrows which cumber the rich
soil, and serve no purpose but harbor for the
pheasants when the crops are cut. Our Eng
iish books upon China say that only hills are SET
apart for this purpose.
sMALL-FooTED LADIES.
There are small footed ladies at Hong Kong
who gain very fair livelihood by exhibiting
their pedal extremties to sea captains and Other
curious Europeans, at dollar head; but, as
SO superficial an examination of this national pc
cularity did not satisfy me, | had recourse tc
some of my good friends among the missionaries
By their aid | obtained that some poor Chinese
women should bring me a complete gamut Of
little girls from the missionary schools. Many
of these female children probably owed theil
lives TO the persuasion (aided by the opportune
donation of rice) of my missionary friend and
his lady, but their influence had been powerles:
to prevent the torture of their feet. On the ap
pointed dav they were all seated in q row il
my friends library, and their feet, which sus
: Facet had undergone preparatory washing, were
upbouru-DS, their mammas The first was {
child of two years DID, Her pennance had JUS
commenced. When the bandage of blue cottoI
was taken off, | found that the great toe hat
been left untouched, but the other four had beer
forced down under the ball of the foot, anc
closely bound in that position. The child, there
fore, walked upon the knuckle joints of her -four
toes. The toes looked inflamed, and the liga
lures cacsed evident pain. In the next three
children (all of ages advancing at small inter
vals.) the preparation was only TO the same ex
tent it was confined to the four toes, gradually
however, the four toes, ceding to the continua
pressure lost their articulations and their ident
ty as limbs, and became amalgamated with the
sole of the foot. In the eldest of the four the
redness and inflammation had entirely dlsap-
peared, as though the four toes had been cut OF
by knife. The foot was now somewhat the
shape of trowel.
THE MYSTERY OF SMALL FEET EXPLAINED.
In the fifth girl saw the commencement Of
the second operation-a torture under which
sickly children frequently die. The sole of the
foot was now curved into the shape of bow the
great toe and heel being brought together a:
near as possible. Take jujube and double i,
till two points Of the lozenge nearly meet and
you will see what | mean. This is done very
gradually. The bandage is never slackened-
month by month it is drawn tighter-the foot
inhames and swells, but the tender mamma per-
severes-as the bones and the tendons accommo
date themselves to The position constrained by
the bandage, so it is drawn tighter At last the
ball of the natural foot fits into the hollow of the
sole, the root of the great toe is brought into
contact with the heel. The foot is a shapeless
lump. The instep is where the ankle was, and
alb that is left to go into the slipper and tread
the ground is the ball of the great toe and heel.
This is the small foot of the Chinese woman-a
bit of toe and a bit of heel, with mark, like a
cicatrice left after huge cut, running up be
tween them. Two of the girls were yet suffer-
ing great pain, and their feet were hot and in
famed, but in the eldest the operation was COM
i L L. LII IL. u