Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-12-29

reunions The rivers are covered with
oiled paper, which Is set on fire, and the
harbors become flaming masses. Every
where there are shrines, with burning joss
sticks before them, and the people fairly
go wild.
Chinese New Year Calls.
All people receive visitors on New Year
day. and the relatives who call are taken
into the ancestral hall, and they worship
the ancestors of the family. After this the
young people go in and pay homage to
their parents and elder brothers, and then
go to their schoClmasters and teachers
The emperor has New Year reception in
Picking, and 1t may be that the foreigners
will be received this year, although they
nave not been In the past The emperor
sits on the dragon throne. and the princes
ana all the officers go In and get down on
their knees and bump their heads on the
GROUND before him The day after New
Year the officials all go to the temples to
worship, and fol- about ten days afterward
there are all sorts Of New Year ceremonies.
The second day IL called ladies' day, and
II the weather is good tho women go out
into the country to picnics. They dress In
the brightest Of silks. their faces are
painted in honor of the occasion and their
little feet are In costly shoes. They wear
a great many clothes. and 1t is wadded cot
China VAIN.
Winter in China.
The winter is now at Its worst in the
Chinese empire, and the whole northern
country is frozen up solid. This means a
great deal more there than 1t does here. The
rivers which form the only means of travel
outside Of dirt roads are frozen up. and
Picking, the capital. Is shut of from the
rest of the world for four months Of the
year. 1t Is reached by the winding Peiho
river. which flows into the Yellow sea near
the Taku forts Tien-Tsin Is fifty miles in
land, and this Is city Of a million people
Picking Is about eighty miles north of 1t,
and the only conveyances are rude Chinese
carts. Letters which go to Picking in the
winter have to travel overland several
hundred miles after they reach China, and
they first go to Shanghai. and are carried
by pony express.
Nation in Sheepslin.
Nearly all the northern Chinese dress in
sheepskin during the winter and coats of
this kind and jackets and pantaloons of
quilted cotton make up their clothes. the
colder 1t gets the more garments they put
on. and a girl. who, in the winter, looks
like the fat woman of the circus, may
slowly fade into the ethereal type Of the
living skeleton as she sheds Jacket after
jacket when the warm weather approach
es. Clothes of this kind cannot be washed
and those Of the poorer classes are dirty
in the extreme. The richer people wear
magnificent garments of wadded silk lined
with fur, and ! saw ono mans wardrobe
which contained at least $1,000 worth Of
costly fur garments. The furs used are of
all kinds. and you can get magnificent
cloaks of Thibetan goat. such as our ladies'
use for opera cloaks, for about $40 in gold.
They have fine sables, but they are costly.
and a number of Ii Hung Changs mobiles
had silk gowns lined with mink. The fur
markets of China are as fine as any in the
world. There are long streets In Tien-
Tsin which are filed with fur stores, and
there Is square In Picking which Is de-
voted to fur market. Every morning
about o'clock you may find there several
hundred wholesale fur dealers with their
goods spread out on the ground, and you
can buy all sorts Of skins from the cheap
est of squirrels to the finest of seals.
There are lots of secondhand fur stores,
and old furs are bought and cleaned and
resold.
Chinese Fuel.
The Chinese do not use fire to keep
warm. and 1t Is only In the rarest Of In
stances that you will find well-heated
houses. Fuel Is remarkably scarce, and
everything is carefully saved. 1 saw hun
dreds of women pulling up stubble and
gathering straw and old weeds in order to
make fires, and one Of the chief businesses
along the Yangtsee-Kiang is the cutting
the reeds which grow on the low Shores
and tying them up In bundles to be carried
into the cites for SALE 1 saw no iron
stoves in China, and the rooms which they
what are called hangs. These are lodges
or platforms of brick about two feet high,
which fill one side of the room. They are
heated by flues. and a fire of straw is
started under them, and Is kept burning
until the bricks are hot. The people sleep