The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1870-12-31
New Years Day in China.

A Hong Kong correspondent Of 1Te
| Giraffe gives the following description Of
popular Chinese holiday, and partly explains
why the manufacture of fire crackers is 50
largely carried on by the Celcstials. '.Tlc
| Chinaman's wants are few says IL"
writer, ''but one is imperative. lie VIII
work from the beginning of the year to
the end, or very nearly, without intenis-
sion; he will live on the most ridiculousy
inexpensive diet, dress in yard of calico
in summer and superintendent covering
of rags in winter, but he must have one
holiday, and on that day he must satisfy
one inextinguishable longing of his nature.
His holiday is New Year'sDay: the craving
of his passionate soul on thai solemn occa-
sion is crackers The British Governmcut
has made a great compromise with its
Chinese subjects in Hong Kong. The
| Chinaman abstains from the use of crack
ers as n rule, and in return is allowed 10
indulge himself to his heart content in
that delirious luxury on the great festival
of the China New Year. Not only in Tie
China town, but all over the colony crack
ers are sanctioned by the law during this
fearful period. The streets become red
with the exploded paper-cases, which cover
the ground like leaves in autumn; the air
is filled with sulphureous fumes, the Euro
Pe" ie"'.' IL ehO coi"iiJ 'Iilo a. - ny
would split; but unintcrruptcdly, for two
days and nights, the detonations continue.
Crackers on New Years Day constitute an
old, or, in Pidgin English, an 'olo custum.'
If the governor of Hong Kong werc 10
require the native population to adore his
sedan chair on their knees wien he passed,
or where to execute a few of them every
Sunday morning, pour passer 's Temps that
might be borne, but TO FORBID the use OF
crackers on New rear Lay would cfeatc
revolution IN TINS Island
40 call them crackers, though they
cannot be called anything else, Is to convey
feeble idea of their nature to European
readers. A Chinese cracker is a slab ct
explosive fireworks about an inch thick,
four inches wide, and of any length You
please. 1t goes off in succession of eN-
plosions, each of which is quite as lond rs
the report of muskct, and hops about
from one side OF the street to the other
during the brief climax OF It's existence,
flying ten or twelve yards III unforeseen
directions at every bang, IN manner winch
thrills Chinese breast with n JOY beyond
expression. At every other doorway, while
the New Year festival lasts, there stands
group of Cinnamon wholly devoted to the
task of letting off these diabolcal prCpagd-
tons. They have risen, most OF them, ut
about four IN the morning, to begin tie
delightful day on which crackers my
lawfully be used. How they can reconcile
their economical and saving consciences 70
the idea OF spending SO much OF their suo-
| stance on tieeting pleasure is problem
impossible to solve; but In the matter OF
crackers m1ser IN China would be eXtraY-
agant. What is the end OF wealth il 1t
cannot in some way or other be made to
subserve enjoyment? Doubtless the sagcS
have left moral maxims in abundance for
the purpose Of justifying SO national q
taste. There 1t is the custom OF the couH-
try to write up-up and down, we might
say, considering the perpendicular chaIac-
ter OF Chinese caligraphy-on strips OF
pepper, which are suspended for the edit
cation OF beholders about the shops and
rooms. The preparation OF these by &c
complished scholars, who have imbiLcj
the wisdom of the great classic writers, is
quite business by ITSELF
"The WEAKNESS of soul which comes
! over the European mind IN Cough Street,
after twenty-four hours of the New Year
pandemonlum, can hardly be conceived t.
ears familiar with no worse noises than the
gentle buzz of life in Cheapside, or the
cheerful activity of boiler manufactory.
Every Chinaman who is not engaged in let
ting off crackers employs his time i'll bras-
ing gong; and when myriadS of these a.o
giving tongue all over a town at once,
nothing but crackers could be heard above
the din. 1t all seems to be an nndiluted
qualification to Chinese ears 'beautfn! rs
songs of the immortals, celestial melodies
of love- like those of which Longlellow
dreams. The tympana of the Chinese
must be made OF different stuff from ours;
their whole nervous system indeed must he
unlike that OF Europeans, and their pecrII-
arities in this respect might form an inter-
esting study on the border-land between
physiology and psychology. Their won
derful callousness to death, and the stoiclSm
they often exhibit under torture, would
perhaps be found to spring from causes
not entirely disSimilar to those which