The morning news., 1892-03-15
CHINA AND THE CHINESE.
REV. yam PEOU LEE TELLS OF A
STRANGE PEOPLE.

Trinity Church Not Big Enough 20
Hold the Crowd That Throngsd to
Hear the Young Preacher-Ihe Do
messlo Life of the Confucians and
It's Surroundings-The Peculiar Gus
toms and Habits of Chinese Lite.
Rev. Yam Phou Lee talked of China and
Chinese customs before !, 200 people at Trini-
~ church last night. The lecture was an
nounced to take place in the lecture room,
but that would not have held one-quarter
OF the audience. The church was packed
from the pulpit to the doors, and the
audience overfowsd into the vestibule. The
aisles were filed and people stood up
wherever there was room.
Rev. Yam Phou Lee, robed IN the dress of
Chiness scholar. with cap and queue,
spoke for an hour aud half of China and
Its people. The birth, marriage and death
or Chinese were the subjects oil the lecture
and from them the speaker dwelt upon the
peculiar customs and characteristics OF q
great and peculiar race.
THE Stages OF CHINESE LIFE.
In running talk he told of the surround
ings Of babyhood in China, the naming and
what In Christian countries would be the
baptism OF child. but which in China
consists In cutting the hair for the queue,
che early home training and the system OF
schools and higher education, the study of
ths language and its difficulties, the binding
OF the feet of the women, then the man
ner or a Chinese courtship and
the strange and, because they are un-Ameri-
can. seemingly senseless marriage rites. the
Chinese mode of living, their food and the
manner Of eating, and lastly the rites at
death and, after death, the forms and man.
ner Of burial.
In the lecture was vein Of humor that
kept the audience amused, as well as in
structed.
LEARNING MANY THINGS.
Those who heard the lecture knew far
more about China and the Chinese when
they left the church than they probably
ever knew before.
The growing of the queue, the bind
ing Of the feet Of the women
which is wholly a matter of fashion, and 10
not obligatory, as many suppose; the learn
ing OF the Chinese language and the food
and manner of eating were among the
most interesting topics Mr.. Lee touched
upon. In the course of his talk he took oc-
casion to correct a good many erroneous
ideas about China and the people. One of
them is the popular belief that the Chinese
is a rat eater.
FAMILY NAMES IN CHINA.
The family names in China Is an Interest,"
ing subject. There are, Mr. Lee said,
less than 100 family names In
the entire country, one Of the most
celebrated Of which is the Lee family,
dating back long before Christ, and which
included the rulers Of the empire for $50
years. A peculiarity OF Chinese literature
is its subjects aud the manner In which IL is
printed. Chinese books are read from the
last page toward the first, and from the
right Of the page to the left. There are in
the Chinese language about 40 900 charac-
ters, each representing an idea.
The original Chinese writing consisted of
l30 picture words. each word being made to
represent some object By a course Of de-
velopment a complicated language has
resulted. The original pictures have been
changed and added to. or combined with
eacn other so that the characters of
the language now number about 40,0OO.
Mr.. Lee explained, by the aid OF chart,
the construction and meaning of a number
Of characters In the most frequent use.
ooURTsHIP IN CHINA.
His description of the Chinese courtship
was most amusing. In China the bride and
groom seldom see each other until they
are married, the marriage be-
ing arranged by professional go-betweens
who make matchmaking their business.
The basis of marriage is a contract entered
into by the families of the bride and groom,
by which each agrees to furnish certain
amount Of worldly goods for the support of
the other
At the close of the lecture Mr. Lee sang
Chinese song and gave reading in Chinese.