Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-03-23
From TEE STARS Travelling Commissioner.
PEKING 25th November 100


EXCITING ADVENTURE WITH MOB OF MONKS
From TEE STARS Travelling Commissioner.
PEKISG 25th November 1883.
To learn what the Chinaman really thinks
about the foreigner you must come to Picking.
no other city in China will serve. And the dis
cOvery will be far from fattering to your ma
tional pride. Picking is the first place / have
ever visited where the mere fact of being a
foreigner, a stranger in speech. dress and man
ners, did not of itself secure one a certain
amount of consideration or at any rate make
one the object of useful interest. Here the
precise opposite is the case. The ..foreign
devil is despised at sight-not merely hated
but regarded with sincere and profound con-
tempt IF the Tsung-E Yamen we're abolished"
said Peking diplomat to me. ''our lives would
not be safe here for twenty-four
hours. The people just refrain from actually
molesting US because they have learned that
they will be very severely punished if they do"
AT home We cherisHthe belief that We are well
come IN China; that the Chinese are pleased to
learn of our western civilization: that they
gradually and gladly assimiating our habits
and views. and that the wall OF prejudice is
gradually breaking down. 1t would hardly be
possible to be more grossly and painfully mis-
taken. The people to a man detest and despise
US am speaking. of course. of the real Chi
nese. not of the anglicised Chinese of Hong
ocean of Celestial humanity and as for the
rulers, il will not be far from the truth to say
that the better they know us the less they like
rs.
MORNING PRowL.
Let us say that you start out in the morning
for prowl in Peking. What are your relations
with the people you meet? First of all, of
course, they crowd round you whenever you
stop. and in a minute Won are the center of a
aCfa0 hmm. it, uhfa -
BILE stuff. which is covered with vermin. which
smells worse than words. and which is quite
likely to have smallpox about it. As for tax
ing photograph IN the streets. II Is out OF the
question The only way l could manage this
was to place my camera on the edge of
bridge. where they could not get in front of
the lens, and then l was in imminent danger
of being pushed into the canal as the bridges
have no rail or pGrapet. The crowd
jOstles you. feels of your clothes with its
dirty hands, pOkeS its nose in your face, keep
ing up all the time Il was generally with
friend who understood Chinese) a string of i'll
sulting and obscene remarks. with accompany
ing roars of laughter. BY and by the novelty
and fun of this wears off and you get first impa-
tient and then savage. But beware above all
things of striking or even laying finger on
one of these dirty wretches. That would be
probably fatal mistake. They will do nothing
but talk and push. but if you should hit one of
them you would be more than likely not TO get
away alive or at least without bad injuries.
INSULTS FROM THE CHILDREN.
But suppose that You talk steadily and I'M
per;urbably on? The pedestrian you meet
treats you with much less consideration than
one of his own coUntrymen; the children run to
the door to cry Observation-Disclosures at YOU:
they have other indescribable and worse WAYS
of insulting you; and few weeks ago when a
member of the British legation was riding
underneath the wall a brick dropped upon
him from the top. 1t just missed his head and
struck the horse behind the saddle. fatally in
juring il. l believe. The Chinese children
again. have an original way of amusing them
selves at the expense of the foreign devils.
child will provide itself with big fire-cracker
and then sit patiently at the door till he sees
you in the distance coming along on your pony.
Then Re will run out. drop the cracker in the
road. light the SLOW match with a
nre-stick and retire to safe place
10 watch events With devilish precocity he
generally manages TO cause it to explode just
under your pOny's nose. and if you lucky
enough TO keep your seat and pull up mile or
90 In the direction yOu don't want to GO he
doubtless considers that his experiment has
only been a moderate success. If you should
break your neck and be left there dead i'll the
road, that would confer imperishable luster
upon his family and neighborhood. When this
has happened TO yOu once or twice you learn
TO jog Gbou: the Celestial city with short reins
and your knees stuck well into your saddle.
ready for developments at any moment. / am
told. too. that Lady Walshams chair was
actually stopped IN the open street short
time ago and she herself grossly insulted. that
member of our consular service was nearly
killed outside the Llama temple. and there are
few foreigners who have not had some
unpleasant experience or other. No doubt it
Is sometimes the foreigners own fault. but our
dear old friend Chesson himself would have
failed 10 get on smoothly at all times.
PECULIAR IDEAS OF REVENGE.
This is certainly most extraordinary peo-
pie, and next to nothing of them is known at
far fa,,-
that have picked up. A foreign resident of
Picking who speaks Chinese well was riding
along the other day and came to an excited
crowd. Drawing near he discovered circle of
people quietly watching man desperately at
tempting 10 commit suicide by dashing his
head against a wall. He dismOunted re-
strained the man. harangued the bystanders.
and learned that this was a coolie who claimed
that his payment for a certain pOrter's job was
short by ten cash-less than penny-and as the
employer refused to pay more he was
proceeding to take revenge by killing
himself on the spot, knowing. by so
doing. he would get the other into
considerable trouble On another occasion a
threw himself into the canal. but was
dragged ont. SO he simply sat down on the
edge and starved himself TO death. to be revenged
against somebody who had cheated him. Again.
one day a man was found murdered on a bridge
near the British legation. The law of China
prescribes that a murdered body must not be
removed till the murderer is caught. There
fore IL covered with a mat and left DAYS
passed and month. and still the rotting body
lay there. till at last the minister. who had to
pass il every day vigorously protested and it
was taken of the bridge and placed a little
further away.
REMARKABLE STORY.
And Chinese newspaper is responsible for
this story. which, indeed. has nothing what
ever incredible about it. One day a SOW be-
longing TO Mrs. Feng happening to knock
down and slightly injure the front door of a
Mrs. Wang. the latter at once proceeded to
claim damages. which were refused. Where
upon a fierce alteration ensued which termi-
mated in Mrs. Wang's threatening to take her
own life. Mrs. Feng. upon hearing of this dire
tul threat. resolved at once TO take time BY the
forelock and steal a march upon her enemy by
taking her own life. and thus turn the tables
upon her. She accordingly threw herself into
the canal. And friend with whom i rode a
good deal in Picking told me that the other day.
hearing screams OF laughter from his stable ne
went to investigate. There he discovered that
his groom and boy" had caught big rat
nailed Its front paws to a board, soaked il in
kerosene, set hre to il. and were enjoying the
spectacle. But this is not so bad as one of the
tricks Of the professional kidnapper who will
catch child in the street. carry il off to an
other town. blind it, and then sell il for a pro-
fessional beggar. Bat shall have sometime