Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-09-13

AtaA
nlots and the scenery are extremely sim
ple. The actors are mostly mere servants,
not attached TO any company, but OF the
Inherent class, going wherever wanted
and travelling with their great bags o.
costumes, like troops of gipsies, on all
the rivers of China. They are generally
hired by the mandarins, or rich men, for
a certain number of days, or are engaged
bv associations in the towns and villages.
The lower classes are always admitted TO
the theaters free, and som theater or
other is always open at all hours of the
day and nightin the greatcities. Women
are forbidden to appear on the stage,
their parts being played by young men,
who initiate the feminine voice and dress
Applause and kissing are alike unknown.
Suicide is even more commhn in China
than it has lately come to be IN this
country. The extreme readiness with
which Cinnamon take their W lives is
remarkable. A word OF mere trlhe
causes some of them TO hang themselves
or to lump to the bottom of a we'll. The
custom Of taking vengeance upon an
enemy by killing, not him, but ones self,
seems to be common to the Chinese and
with the inhabitants of Japan. The
chief reasons for this are that Chinese
law makes responsibility for a suicide
fall upon the cause or occasion OF 1t, n
the family of the suicide also procures,
in such cases, heavy damages. Whereas,
if a man kills his enemy, and not him
self, he is punished and disgraced by the
loss of funeral honors, which is a point
concerning which Chinese constituencies
is something wonderful. Suicide is not
only respectable, but public opinion, so
far from condemning it, counts it a high
honor and glory,
The physical character of the Chinese
is far superior TO that of the surrounding
nations of Asia. The freedom of their
dress, especially of the men, gives the
best possible development to the limbs,
and no nation furnishes a finer shaped
or more powerful race of people. The
low average temperature Of the Empire,
its thorough cultivation and drainage,
and the active, Industrious habits OF a
majority of the people, account, IN a
great measure, for this. Europeans and
Americans have all acquired a false and
distorted idea of the Chinese physique
from the figures represented on those
specimens of manufacture imported from
China. These are commonly in a style
of broad caracature, and no more to be
trusted, as conveying a true idea of the
Chinaman, than the drawings of CRUIK-
SHANK, or the pictures in Punch, could
be trusted by a Chinese as photographs
of actual Englishmen. The character
of levity and farce associated with them
is entirely erroneous. They are among
the most steady, c~onsiderate and matter
of-faet people in the world.
Polygamy is not sanctioned by CHI
nese law, though concubinage is permit
ted. 4 Chinese can have but n wife,
properly so called, and sheis distinguish
ed by a title, espoused with ceremonies,
and chosen from a totally different rank
in life from the TSie, or landmarks, OF
whom he may have as many OF as few as
he pleases. The offspring Of these last
rank after the children of the wife the
handmade, or concubine instead of being
espoused. is bought with the husbands
money, and treated like any other do
nestle. The Chinese wife and the
Chinese handmade stand in precisely the
same relation to each other as the SARAH
and HAGAR of the Old Testament, in the
household of the patriarch ABRAHAM.
The religion of the better class OF
Chinese is a well-bred indifferentism.
The rival doctrines of the various sects
which once enlisted Jealous ~partisanship
have long since lost all authority, and
the ceremonies of religion, though still
kept up with a parade of BONES priests
and pagodas, have a hollow and unreal
aspect, significant Of their very slender
hold upon the national mind. Religious
discussions have entirely ceased, and the
constantly-repeated formula that have
taken the place Of them is this; "All
the religions are but one The learned
class have a profound admiration for the
classical books and moral precepts OF
CoNFUcIUs, the great Chinese philoso-
pher and saint, whose ethical mRxims
are in every body's mouth. Nothing
more clearly marks the universal skeptr-
cism as to doctrinal creeds than the
formula of politeness exchanged between
strangers on first meeting. 1t is customs
~ to ask, "TO what sublime religion
do YOU belong p" One will call himself
a Confueionist, another a Buddhist, q
third a Mohametan; and they all end in
repeating, as if in chorus, Religion"
are msny-reason Is me-; We are q ]
brothers.n There is no established r.
ljgion, and the government, the learned
classes and the men Of affairs alike regard
all religions as things futile and without
interest.