Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1875-09-08
AN EDUCATED CHINAMAN'S ACCOUNT OF

AN EDUCATED CHINAMAN's ACCOUNT OF
THE EARLY HISTORY AND LANGUAGE OF
CHINA Wong Chiutoo, the educated China
uau who has been lecturiDg in Pennsylvania
aud other States, is reported as follows: Our
history teaches Us that Ut Que time the country
which is now called the Chinese empire was
wholly submerged by water, and every person
but the members of one family drowned.
There Was one old man in this family. How
many old women we arc not lniormed. This
old man was saved from drowning by taking
refuge Oh the peak of high mountain. When
the waters subsidized he came dOwn from the
mountain aud assumed the reius of govern
m@nt, aod be was the first emperor OF China.
Nbe hundred years atterward began our litera
ture. We had 10 paper then. We wrote Oh
the bark Of trees by the use Of pictures For
instance, ii We wished to write of horse we
drew a picture that resembled that animal,
and so Tor all other animate aud lDaDimate Ob
iects Our system of written commuuica-
tlons was afterward reduced to characters.
ln the Euglish language there are twenty
six characters. We do not understand how
you can communicate your ideas intelIigi-
bly, with such limited number. We employ
5000 characters, and each character is sup
posed to represent al object. When first
entered an American school, the professor
wrote the word horse" for me. | looked
all through the book to see an illustration of
q horse. could not understand why the
ietters horse should spell HORSE" and not
something else. We represent small objects
by small characters. 1t is different in the Eng
lish language. For little insect, the mosquito,
you use large word, and for horse large
word ''moon" when speaking of that large
planet, while We represent it by large semi
circle. So in the use of adjectves and verbs.
! uu might think it difficult to obtain I'D object
which would fully illustrate the simple adjec-
tive good, yet We represent it easily. 1t is
u common sentiment among christians that it
is not good Tor man to be alone. We think
differently. We think it is not good for wo-
man TO be alone, hence, when We express our
idea of " hat is good We place the picture OF
woman along side that OF man. When you
see tea boxes, Dotce whether the picture of q
man and womaa appears on the box. IT 80, it
Is good tea. Another common belief 10 other
countries but ours is that the brain lies in the
head. We do not think SO. We think the
head far too small to hold such large thing
as We imagine the brain to be, hence We tbiuk
it Is IN the body, and the man who has large
corporation laughter is considered an in
atelIectual man, especially is this the case 10 ho.
'tSio oso pooiiS phaSoo nuSlc mcu Will IdISc
brain room are attended to with every mark
of respect. In China We have no grammar. We
do not need it, as our language is very easily
learned and learned correctly. Inillustratiug
verb we also use objects. For instance, the
verb fetch" we illustrate it by characters
representing hands and feet. 1t is difficult at
first for foreigners to learn our language so as
TO speak it, on account of the peculiar pronun-
clation; but when they have learned about four
thousand Of our characters it is easy for them
to make themselves understood by writing or
drawing them. lo China but little attention is
paid to mathematics, as it is considered too
triAipg study to occupy valuable time, and
our system is so simple that it is quite easily
acquired when the more difficult braoches have
been mastered. Our best mathematician are
found among the laboring people. Two or
thre months are all that are required to master
our system Of mathematics.