The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-07-28
HOW SEE Us.
An Educated ChiramRu Thinks
Our Customs Upside Down
and Our Religion but a
PIaQ.arism--NO Such
Thing as IGOIa.1y
in China

Thing as IGoia.y
in China
A Chicago Herald representative
la.ely rode from Chicago to St Louis
IN company with Wan Hing, a
gbineze student. who Is en- ruute
from an Eastern college 70 MS orr
entail home, the orient being West
nowadays. Mr.. Wan is a delight
fui little gentleman who permitted
the reporter to give his curiosity fEi:
swing and answered his questions
with a gravity that made him feel
somewhat, abashed.~
How do yon Chfaamen tell each
other ayaltes You all iook alike to
me-"
"Ah, that is not strange. When I
first came to America 1 could not get
acquainted with many, fo- every
body looked like everybody else.
Especially did the women bother me.
/ suppose it was because the general
appearance of their dress wa. more
similar than that of the Gen Put l
bad trouble in Identifying men. 1
think, perhaps, the same is true o fa!l
people. Negroes still look ike each
other to me, and l anu almost sure I
never could Iearn TO tell Indians
apart. Don't you think it takes a
good while for persons to overcome
the tendency to look a. sew things
in q too general way? Now, babies
all look alike to me, even those Of
my own nationality. think when
you have become acquainted with q
few Chinese persons you will cease
to look at their yellow skins aud al
mend eyes aud long hair as the only
features worth SEEING"
Tell me, Mr.. Wab, OF Ar. Hing,
which il your family name??"
"Wah Is my family name. Hing
is my given Dame-what you would
call my Christian nane??"
"Why do you Chinese have your
names uI<ide DOWN."
I'VE don't. 1t is ysu whose Damc
is backward. What was your name
when you were born"
Blunt"
"WelI, when did you get your
other name::"
about three months after, 1 sup
pose"
"Then why do you place the one
you got last ahead Of the one you got
fritz"
Gra~ioss, mentally calculated the
reporter, are the heatbens coming
rvn hnpn f. rvfxyn rn n pn0ann fne
everything they do? If they are /
don't wish to argue these CASES with
them.
"Yes," continued Mr.. Wah, "you
Americans are a sort of wrong-end-
up people in more ways than enc,
judging from a Chinese point Of
view. When it is day in China it i.
night here. When we are walking
about with Il heads you are stick
ing TO the under side of the earth
like flies on a ceiling. Nature seems
to have intended to have US in direct
contrast with you, and 80 most Of our
customs are reversed. Your boys do
all the playing and your old men are
quiet and sedate. In China the old
men fly the kites and play the games
and the boys stand and look Oh.
Here you have abominably hot din
ners and freezing cold wines. At
home our wines are served hot and
our big dinners cold. When you
meet an American he takes off his
hat. When you meet a barehead-d
Chinaman he will cover his head as
quickly as possible. When you
salute a friend here you shake his
hand and squeeze it perhaps until it
hurts him. / don't wonder your
handicra tsmen are not as cunning
with their fingers az the Chinese;
they have all the delicacy squeezed
out of them by shaking hands in
this barbarOus fashion Of yours. In
China we salute q friend by shaking
one Of our hands in the other and we
are very careful not to squeeze it IN
til the fingers stick together, as you
Americans sometimes do. In your
art, too, 1 notice that you think only
of perspective. In Chinese art tn ere
is hardly a thought of perspective.
We make figures without distance.
you make distance without figures"
us there any such thing as music
in China?"
"Oh, yes, we have some excellent
music; but ytu could not appreciate
it until you had learned our
language. There is a very close con-
nection between language and music.
Before / learned your language your
music was simply a tumble of deafen-
inc nninn IN vnu IL Thr r rut
piano I heard in San Francisco near
ly drove out my wit-, and when |
heard a brass band l wondered that
the law suffered such an unmus;cal
mob to walk in the streets. Now
that l know the language, I like the
music Of this country and Europe,
and can play a little on the piano.
But still a Chinese orchestra is bet.
ter, / think, though you would prob
ably think it made only a very poor
quality of racket"
Are the Chinese idolators?"
"Certainly not. The Bnddhistic
religion is much like the Christian,
except that it is a good deal older,
and has suffered the priests to ring in
a few more superstitiops. The Con-
fucian religion is really only a code
of morals. by the way, Confucius
lived five centuries before Christ,
and taught just about the same
things. Night not some of the
Christian ministers defend their
plagiaristic practices by referring to
Christ's golden rule which was al
most identical to the word with the
golden rule Of Observation-Disclosures
We would not that man do unto
you do we not unto them Take out
the not and yon have the Christian
text. Now, az for idolatry, I ran tell
you where that idea came from. In
almost every house in China there
hangs a picture Of an old man and a
young child. The one national
wish Of China il to be a, wise as age
and as innocent as infancy. Instead
or the morning prayer-, that Christ
ian families have, TIE Chinese bow
before these pictures and renew their
resolutions for another day. Mis-