The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1888-09-06
IN CHINA.
A Queer old Country Of one Race, one
Religion and one Party.
atlanta Constitution,

SVftostStSutofss
"The merchants are missionaries, and
it is in China as it has been everywhere.
Commerce first and then civilization and
christianity"
The speaker was merchant himsell
Captain A. a. Benning, and one of those
restless, progressive people that be would
have you believe have made such excel.
lent missionaries in China.
The Captain is home again now, after
an absence of nineteen years. You
have plenty of time to think about all
that in nineteen years, and maybe the
captain was right about it. "Why, has
there been any great changer"
mo, not great change, but the be-
ginning of change. Already there are
telegraph lines all over the kingdom, and
a railroad from Tientsin to Pekin. Those
belong to the government, though, and
the government is an absolute monarchy,
30 you can imagine that the system is not
the most perfect in the world. But it is
noticeable fact that in the open paris
that is, where foreigners are allowed to
go-the natives are decidedly in advance
of those cut off from communication with
foreigners"
"What about the missionaries 2"
"They have done some good, of course.
OF all the denominations at work there,
I believe the Catholics have made by far
the most decided advance. A foreigner
is not allowed to travel over the empire,
but is confined to the open ports. The
missionaries are allowed a radius of one
hundred miles around those ports. A
half century or 80 ago when a coolie, or
day laborer, had more children than he
could support he drowned some of them.
The Catholics have stopped that by buy.
ing the children, paying one or two dol.
lars for them, and then bringing them up
as their own children. Those are the
only Cinnamon that are really converts.
If q Chinaman can get ajob by protesting
Christianity, he will profess Christianity.
They are, to q greater degree than any
other people, attached to the religion and
government of their forefathers. China
is the oldest nation on earth, and China.
men have beeh Chinamen too long to be
really converted by merely talking 10
them"
"Isn't there feeling against foreign
ers?"
"No, quite the contrary. The man
darins are the only ones that oppose. the
foreigners"
"Take Chinese city about as large as
Atlanta, what would it look like p
swell, in the first place, there would
be wall around it about twenty feet
high. The gates are opened at sunrise
and shut up at sunset. The houses have
only one story, and none of the roofs are
as high as the city wall. It's q queer
sight to stand on the wall and look over
the city. The streets are narrow, say six
to eight feet wide, and robbers move over
the city by going from roof to roof"
"Why don't they walk on the ground 2"
"No one is allowed to go on the streets
after nightfall, and if fellow is caught
going about, the supposition is that he is
q robber. There is watchman at every
street corner during the night, and the
head man in each block is responsible to
the mandarin for all disorder in that
block. So at night the streets are desert
ed, except by the watchmen, and all you
hear is the beating of the watchman's
going as they walk their beats. In the
daytime, though, the streets are crowded !;
you see bundles of merchandise carried
about on the backs of coolies, an occas.
ional OK cart, or wheelbarrow, or sedan
chair. The passenger wheelbarrows are
made pretty much as they are here Except
that the wheel is larger, and on each side
of the wheel is a seat Two passengers
make load. There are no women on
the streets. There are the shops, and
the markets, the warehouses, all one
story. The mandarin's house is two
story, and SO is literary mans, but that
is ALL"
"What about Chinaman's house?"
"The grandparents of the families are
the head people. A Chinaman's parents
are far more sacred to him than his
children are, and the worship of their
ancestors is part of their religion. A
Chinaman's frat wife is chosen for him
by his parents. The others are merely
concubines and be has IS many Of them
as be can buy and support. The first
wife has an authority over the others
When she dies the husband may choose
one of his concubines to be his wife, but
more often he chooses new one from
outside. When one of the concubines
has child it is Immediately taken from
her and given to the head wife. The
head wife has charge of all the children
and treats them exactly alike. The
children all respect her as mother, and
regard their real mother as merely 8
concubine Of their father. There is nc
public school system, but schools are
common and education of the masses hat
always been encouraged. The only rank
except that of king is mandarin, and the
mandarins are chosen by competitive
examinations in the provinces, and from
these the higher mandarins are chosen
in the same way. 1t is the heighth of &
Chinaman's ambitions TO be a mandar
in."
"What would you see around the
city?"
"Rice fields and sugar cane in the low
country, tea farms in the upper country
Then of course, they raise q great variety