The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-08-27
Domestic Habits Of the chinese.

New York Herald
China is the country of long tresses and short
feet; country where tea is drunk without milk
sugar, and where two little ivory sticks, skill
fully handled between the finger and thumb, re
place the fork and spoon; country where you
call the first man you meet your elder brother;
where, to ask boot-m maker his address, it is
necessary to inquire '.what noble palace" he in
habits; acountry where a creditor has a rightto
make an insolvent debtor pay his bill with
piece of his flesh, and where the debtor, by way
of revenge, hangs himself at his creditors door;
a country where the son ruins himself to buy
coffin for his dead father and, covered with a
hempen garment, walks backward, as he follows
his sumptuous funeral; a country whore the
people work for their rice instead of working
for their bread but which is of earth and not of
lacquer-work and porcelain, and where, as in
other countries, the husband loves his wife and
the orange-colored mother loves her slant-eyed
children.
It is country. moreover, where the bride at
taches great Importance to the personal appear
ance of the bridegroom, and the bridegroom
equal Importance to the moral qualities of the
bride; and the basis Of many Chinese dramas, as
of dramas in other parts of the world, is the pas
sion of love. Women have been forbidden to ap-l
pear on the stage since the days when cele-
brated actress inspired the emperor with fatal
caprice. The men, who undertake female
we'll as male parts, play with good EXPRESSION,
and use superabundance of gestures some of
which, though derived from the observation of
reality, have at last acquired purely conyen-
tional value. An actor who, pivoting on his left
foot, makes circular movement with his right,
is understood to be getting on horseback. To
cut the air with a riding whip is to indicate,
through the connection of cause with effect a
galloping pace. The exhibition of pieces of gold
cloth with wheels painted on them has almost an
arbitrary meaning, and signifies that the empe-
ror is coming.
Etiquette is rigidly observed A young girl
walking in the street must not turn her head
round; nor at home is she to glance slyly at Wis
itors. She is to remember, moreover, that girls
who are always laughing and talking are not es-
teemed, and that virtuous women have been
honored from the earliest times. The philos-
opher Mendz grieved when he saw his mother
break her shuttle; the woman Tsoun threw her
self on to a sword in order to save her husbands
life; the mother of 40, being poor that she
could not buy writing materials, taught her son
to read by tracing characters in she sand. Wo-
men should be able to read, write and use the
counting machine, SO as to be in position to
drect household They should read books of
action, while avoiding love poetry, songs
and anecdotes. Women should be reserved;
and they are cruelty enjoined never to occupy
themselves with other peoples affairs Men
ought never to talk of domestic matters, while
women should never talk of anything else.
When a visitor is in the drawing room the lady
of the house should not be heard raising her
voice in the kitchen Women are not to paint
their faces and wear striking colors, for the in
sufficient reason that if they do men will look at
them. Young women, we'll as young men, are
to be dutiful to their parents, and always in
good humor, even when their father and mother
are not.
China is, in short, a country of primitive man
ners and primitive morals, very simple, tranquil
and picturesque