Los Angeles herald., 1891-06-09
CHINESE URBANITY.
ciRcuMLocuTioN THEY DISPLAY IN
LETTER WRITING.

Correspondence.
It has probably fallen to the lot of
most of us to have met people who,
without the excuse of an unconscious
habit, have the knack of asserting un-
pleasant truths, and who value the un-
gracious practice as sign of honesty.
There are others, such as the Quakers of
bygone days, who regard every express
sion which may not be in strict accord
ance with absolute truth as sin against
their consciences. To such people the
idea of subscribing themselves "Yours
truly" or of beginning letter to
casual acquaintance, "Dear So and So"
is abhorrent. But public opinion has
been too strong for them, and we con-
tinue, and shall continue so long as So
ciety holds together, to address one an
other in terms of endearment and respect
which are not required to correspond
with our sentiments.
Orientals have surpassed us in this re-
gard as much as the brilliant sunshine
to which they are accustomed excels the
murky atmosphere of Europe. The de-
scriptions Of ourselves and of our CORE
spondents pale before the glowing ex-
pressions of objective admiration and
subjective self abasement which adorn
eastern epistles. We are content to con-
fine our wishes and compliments to the
present life; but such a limit is far too
narrow for an Asiatic, who delights in
wishing that his friends may live for
ever and ever, and that the ancestors of
his enemies may be condemned to ever
lasting disgrace.
We are satisfied to speak of "I" and
"You," but an oriental loves to heap ad-
jectives of contempt upon himself and
Of glorifcation upon his correspondents.
ELEvATrNG AND DENIEANING SMILES.
In all cases he avoids the use of the
personal pronouns. By system of cir
cumlocution necessitated by this omis-
sion, he describes himself as 'eYour
younger brother" the character repre-
senting his expression being written
small, and partly at the side of the col
umns of words, and he designates him
self and others conjointly as 1--WE ants"
But the person he is addressing figures
as "Your excellency," "My benevolent
elder brother" or "Your honor" liter
ally, "You who are at the steps of the
council chamber" His own house is ga
mean dwelling" or, as the parts of the
character signify, ga stricken and broken
dwelling;;" but he is unable to think of
his correspondents habitation as any
thing but "an honorable" literally
"basket-of-pearls palace" In the same
spirit of self abasement he feels obliged
to wind up his epistle with the phrase,
"Your stupid younger brother, So-and-
So, bows his head to the ground" The
character for ''stupid" is drawn for us
by two hieroglyphics, meaning .'mon-
key hearted" To bow to his friends is
also pictorially expressed by colloca-
ton of s'a head" and "turf," suggesting
the act Of bowling the head to the earth.
If his correspondent proposes to call
upon him he hastens to assure him that
cat the appointed hour, with bowling
hands, he will await the time when his
excellency shall abase himself by driving
his chariot to his Office" His friends
letter is "the revelation of his hand"
and he takes pains to make him aware
that holding it "with washed hands he
had chanted" its contents.
On expressions of thanks particular
emphasis is laid by the Chinese, and
with true Oriental instinct, in their effort
after hyperbole, they are accustomed to
give physical Interpretation to their
mental feelings.
POWERFUL HYPERBOLE.
For instance, a correspondent who
wishes to say that he is profoundly CRATE
full, writes, "Your kindness is very deeply
engraved and enveined in my heart" If
he hears of the illness of friend che
cannot help being hung up in suspense"
and the symbol he uses shows to the eyes
the heart of the writer tied up, while at
the same time he urges him ''to take care
of his person as a pearl" And on the
receipt Of better news he breaks out,
"How shall bear the joy and pleasurew
Having finished expressing the object Of
his letter, he winds up by "availing him
self of the opportunity to wish his CORE
spondent all the blessings of the season,
and," if he is on the road to honor, ''all
the promotion he deserves"
But, if not ferocious, a sufficient lati-
tude still remains to Chinaman for the
development of much plain speaking. It
is as possible to 'slit the thin spun life"
with stiletto as with broadsword, and
in the most finished periods a Chinaman
finds himself quite able to express either
whitening contempt or remorseless hate.
But he has other ways also Of giving
vent to his i'll humors. The very pune
tilious rules of letter writing enable him
to convey his dislike by omission as well
as by commission.
I Chinese is, it may be explained, writ
ten in vertical columns, beginning on
the top right hand corner of the page.
In ordinary circumstances each column
is completed to the bottom of the page;
but long usage has established the Gus
tom that, if the name or attributes of the
person addressed occurs, the column is
cut short, and the characters representing
these subjects of honor begin the next
column at an elevation Of the space of
one or two characters, as the case may
be, above the general level of the text.
It will now be seen what ready weapon
lies to the hand of Chinese letter writer.
To write s.Your Excellency" or the name
of the correspondents country or sover-
eign in the body of the column is to in
f1ict dire insult upon him, and is equiva-
1art tn tha axnraseiou Of the hitfprpat