Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-05-12


tempt to exclude foreigners from
Canton. and to commit other works
of quasi hostility which were destined
ultimately to end in war.
Nor is the craftsmanship of the
Chinese displayed in u less degree
Ill their home policy. Every Chin
ese male is registered, and he can
depart to no corner of the earth but
his place and locality are known,
and the idea of fealty to his native
land kept before him as a governing
principle. He belongs 10 his coun-
try during life, and his country in
dicates his burial place when life
has departed. The system of es-
pionage extends even to business re-
lations, and its thoroughnsss and
accuracy are sometimes surprisingly
displayed. When, in 1889, the
opium was delivered up by the Brit
ish at the Bogue forts, the Chinese
commissioner, Lin, was aware, be
fore any account had been rendered
Of the exact number of chests of the
drug on board the several vessels in
the harbor. The paternal character
of the government, as we'll az the
rugged craftsmanship of the Chinese,
is further illustrated by the fact that
this opium, upwards of twenty thou
sand chests, and having an actual
value of six millions of dollars, vas
totally destroyed. The ferocity with
which their laws are executed, to
which allusion has already been
made. is also further illustrated by
the fact that q miserable creature
who attempted to carry off some
small pieces from the general de-
struction, was, on detection, immedi-
ately put to death.
Such is the Chinese nationality;
such are its rulers. 1t only remains
for the completion of our analysis OF
this people, to consider their purely
physical condition, as we have al
ready considered their industrial,
political and moral nature.
The Chinese are children of the
temperate zone, and have developed
under the influence of a climate suf-
ficiently cold and variable to insure
considerable strength together with
great endurance and elasticity to the
physical frame, and yet warm enough
to yield in abundance the staple food
of more tropical lands. Rice, in the
larger part of the kingdom, has been
from time immemorial the principle
sustenance of tho people, and the fact
that they have not deteriorated to a
greater extent under the influence of
a crowded population and, with
many classes, OF a comparative in.
sufficiency of food, is doubtless be-
cause this grain contains a larger
proportion of phosphates than any
other, and thus renders possible the
full development of brain and bone
even when ordinary nutrition is d.
minished. Physiologically consid,
cred, the organization of the Chin
csc is coarse, as is indicated, for ex.
ample, by the hair ordinarily so
thick and strong that they, by COM
parisou, liken that of Europeans to
soft and downy fur. This coarse.
ness of physical fibre has, however,
for them, one great advantage, for
as is the case with animals, they 70.
cover from all kinds OF accidents,
wounds and bruises with much
greater rapidity and, as one writer
has stated, =" with fewer symptoms oil
any kind of danger, than is the case
with Caucasians. As concerns abil.
ity for labor, they may be considered
as possessed Of great endurance rath-
or than of great bodily strength. II
was calculated that, of those en-
ployed in the construction of the
Pacific Railway, it required five
Chinese lsborers to do the work OF
four of those of our own country;
aud / was informed in Nevada that
while they we're admirably fitted for
lighter work. they were unable to
perform the heavy labor in the mines.
Yet the number of occupations in
which their strength is inadequate to
the greatest performance possible
with laboring men is comparatively
small. 1t should be kept in mind
that, both in civil and military pur-
suits, the value of physical strength,
pure and simple, has been constant
ly diminishing for more than two
hundred years. What gunpowder
and improvements in firearms have
done to degrade the value of physical
prowess in war, improvements in i'm
plements aud machinery have done
to debase the value of physical
strength in arts and industries.
The Chinese marry young, for the
reason that the male children he.
come at an early age . source OF
profit to their parents, and the mar.
ria.es are usually prolific. Such
being the reason-instead of early
maturity, as in tropical or semi-trop.
ical climate-there is not that pre-
mature old age among them which
one would otherwise expect; for al.
though the proportion who reach
seventy years is less than in Europe
or America, probably the number
that are capable of severe labor at
the age of sixty is equal to that oil
any other country. In the eastern
provinces especially, the largest and
most populous of the Empire. con-
tanning nearly two hundred millions
of Inhabitants, the people are hale
and hearty, and have well been
characterized by close observer as
"a great and healthy mass of human
beings, athletic and industrious. and
capable of the most enormous and
unwearisd industry" That life in
China has reached certain balance,
an equilibrium between the infiu-