Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1883-08-22
HOW THE HEATHEN SEES US.
American and Chinese Customs
Contrasted-Wah Hing says
the Chinese are not IdOla-
terS--the MiSSiOnary'S
Game.

the Chinese are not Idola-
ters--the MisSionary's
Game.
From the Chicago Herald.
A Herald representative lately rode
from Chicago to ST. Louis in company
with Wah Hing, a Chinese student,
who is en- route from an eastern college
to his oriental home, the orient being
west nowadays. Mr.. Wah is de-
lightful little gentleman, who per-
mitted the reporter to give his curiosity
full swing and answered his questions
with a gravity that made him feel
somewhat abashed.
How do you Cinnamon tell each
other apart? You all look alike to me. +"
'Ah, that is not strange. When |
first came to America / could not get
acquainted with many, for everybody
looked like everybody else. Especially
did the women bother me. / suppose
it was because the general appearance
of their dress was more similar than
that of the men. But | had trouble in
identifying men. l think, perhaps,
the same is true of all people. Ne
groes still look like each other to me !;
and l am almost sure l never could
learn to tell Indians apart. Don't you
think it takes good: while for per-
son to overcome the tendency to look
at new things in too general way !?
Now, babes all look alike to me, even
those of my own nationality. l think
when you have become acquainted
with few Chinese persons you will
cease to look at their yellow skins and
almond eyes and long hair as the only
features worth SEEING
Tell me, Mr.. Wah, or Mr.. Hing,
which is your family name?'
'Wah is my family name. Hing is
my given name-what you would call
my Christian name
why do you Chinese have your
names upside DOWN.
I'VE don't; it is you whose name is
backward What was your name when
you were born p
Blunt
well, when did you get your other
name p
About three months afterward, |
suppose
Then why do you place the one got
last ahead of the one you got first p
Gracious mentally calculated the
reporter, ARE the heathens coming over
here to give US reason for everything
they do? If they are l don't wish to
argue these cases with them p
Yes, continued Mr. Wah, you
Americans are sort of wrong-end-up
people in more ways than one, judged
from Chinese point of view. When
it is day in China it is night here.
When we are walking about with our
heads up you are sticking to the under
side of the earth like flies on ceiling.
Nature seems to have intended to have
us in direct contrast with you, and
so 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 on. Here you have abomi-
nably hot dinners 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 q bare-headed
Chinaman he will cover his head as
quickly as possible. When you salute
friend here you shake his hand and
squeeze it, perhaps, until it hurts him.
| don't wonder your handicraftsmen
are not as cunning with their fingers as
the Chinese; they have all the delicacy
squeezed out of them by shaking hands
in this barbarous fashion of yours. In
China we salute friend by shaking
one of our own hands in the other, and
we are very careful not to squeeze it
until the fingers stick together, as you
Amer leans sometimes do. In your
art, too, notice that you think only
of perspective; in Chinese art there is
hardly thought of perspective. We
make figures without distance, you
make distance without figures
is there any such thing as music in
China p
'Oh, yes, we have some excellent
music but you could not appreciate it
until you had learned our language.
There is very close connection be-
tween language and music. Before l
learned your language your music was
simply jumbling of deafening noise
in my ears. The first piano | heard
in San Francisco nearly drove out my
wits, and when heard brass band |
wondered that the law suffered such
an unmusical mob to walk in the
streets. Now that know the language,
like the music of this country and
Europe and can play little on the
piano. But still Chinese orchestra
is better, | think, though you would
probably think it made only a very
poor quality of racket
Are the Chinese idolaters p
Certainly not. The Buddhistic re.
ligion is very much like the Christian,
except that it is good deal older and
has suffered the priests to ring in few
more superstitions. The Confucian re-
lgion is really only code of morals.
BY the way, Confucius lived five CEN
turies before Christ, and taught just
about the same things. Might 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 gol-
den rule of Confucius-'Wha hatsoever ye
would not that men do unto you do
We not so unto them Take out the
mot and you have the Christian text.
Now, as for idolatry, l can tell you
where that idea came from. In almost
every house in China there hangs o
picture of an old man and q young child.
I The one national wish of China is to
be as wise as age and as innocent as
infancy. Instead of the morning
prayers that Christian families have,