The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-11-13
CHINESE ETIQUETTE.
THEIR EXCESSIVE PouTENEss SEEMS
RIDICULOUS.

Johns College. shanghai-The Qualities
Most Valued by tho Chinese-Their Grea,
Fault Is Lack of Practical knowledge.
When last in this country, the Rev, F.
L. H. Pott who Ii head master of St.
Johns college, Shanghai, gave to report
er an interesting account Of the way in
which he receives pupil. II gives one q
good idea of Chinese etiquette. Mr.. pott
said:
''You want to know how receive boy
into the oolleges Well the fathers of the
boys at st. Johns are usually politicians,
merchants or scholars. They Arc all Chi.
nese gentlemen. OF course have to
adapt myself to the etiquette of the Chi.
nese, and so when father arrives with
his boy I escort them to my Chinese reoep.
tion room, where the father and each
shake our own hands most heartily and
bow profoundly. then say 10 him:
What Is your honorable namei'
HE replies, MY mean, insignificant
name is Wong
"Then I say, Please be seated, and
point to q seat at the back of the room at
the left hand Of the table-the seat Of
greatest honor. He Immediately takes the
right hand seat. nearest the door--the post
OF least honor I urge him to go up
higher. He declares that he Is unworthy
Then catch hold of him to force him to
go higher, and he takes hold of me to pro.
vent it. We have quite vigorous strug-
gle, lasting some time. Finally he ao-
cepts compromise and takes a seat half
way up tho side Of the room. ait down
on the seat next lower.
Before beginning our conversation I
send for tea and the water pipe, and when
they arrive say, Please use tea
when he has taken some tea and puff
from the pipe we talk He asks innu.
merable polite questions about myself. A
Chinese gentleman never comes to business
for quarter or half an hour. Time never
troubles an oriental, He begins by ask
ing:
What is your honorable namef'
II OF course reply that my mean, insig-
nificant name is Pott. The next question
from him Isl
What is your honorable kingdomr
and am Obliged, much as dislike it, to
say:
The small, petty district from which
come is the United States of America
How many little stems have you
sproutedP he says. That is the way he
asks how old am. 4 have vainly spent
30 years, reply.
Asking after my father, he says, Is
the honorable and great man of the house.
hold livingr 1t is shocking, know, but
have to answer, The old man is we'll
Then comes, How many little pre-
cious ones have your l reply gravely, L
have two little dogs (The little dogs are
my children.) The last question is:
$50 How many children have you in this
-.
Il have 100 little brothers
Then he comes to business, and saws:
Venerable master, have brought my
little dog hero and worshipfully intrust
him to your charge Tho little fellow,
who has been standing In corner of tho
room, ut this comes forward, kneels down
before me, puts his hands on the ground
knocks his head on the floor and worships
me. raise him up and send him off to
school, and arrangements are made about
his dormitory, course Of study, etc.
The gentleman rises to take his leave.
i have tormented you exceedingly today
he remarks. oh, no, I answer. Il have
dishonored you As he goes toward the
door he keeps saying 4 am gone, am
gone, and / reply, Go slowly, go slowly
As l follow him to the gate in the garden
he says, Please restrain your golden foot
again shake our own hands, bow very rev.
erently to one another, and he is gone
Their politeness Is sometimes carried
to m extreme which seems amusing to u.s.
have seen five or six men haggle for five
minutes over who should first enter a door
at which they had CHANGED to meet. They
all urge each other to go in first. And this
acrimonious politeness is not confined to
the upper Glasses. II two wheelbarrow
men meet in narrow path and one has to
go to one side to let the other pass, the one
who kept the road will say, i have sinned
against you, and the other will reply,
Don't mention it But, while they are
exceedingly polite among themselves, they
are very rude, as rule, to "a foreigner
The reporter asked him II he would say
something more about the Chinese. He
then said:
The qualities the Chinese value most
OF all are diligence, economy, patience and
obedience. This will illustrate their econ
omy; A missionary once met an old wom-
an walking on road. She was SO feeble
that he asked her why she was not In the
house. She replied that she knew she was
going to die and was going home to die
there, so there would be less expense for
her coffin and burial. A lasting monu.
ment to their diligence is the great wall.
anu nOuOF 10 DdrGnI9, now
ever, is tho cardinal principle. A story Is
told OF boy whose mother was too poor
to have mosquito netting, SO tho good
boy sat on the bed and barred the upper
part of his body SO the mosquitoes could
least on him first. Another story Is that
poor boy who wanted to catch some fish
for his mother stripped himself and lay on
the frozen river until the warmth of his
body thawed the Ice and the fish jumped
out. These are some of the stories Chi
nese parents tell their children to teach
them what an excellent thing 1t is to honor
and obey their parents.
Il know for fact that 1t is no unusual
thing for boys to cut out pieces of their
flesh for medicine for their parents. For
medicine, do you sayf Yes, for the Chi
nese have the most ridiculous ideas about
medicine. They have no surgery. They
use snakeskins and other charms One
way they treat disease is to give nine
pills to person years old, 40 pills to
one 40 years old, and SO on.
Their great fault Is learning hardly
anything that Is practical. They only
study ethical books and are as ignorant
as children Of the sciences Their expiana-
ton of an earthquake is that the back of
the crocodile who passes his time holding
up the globe begins to Itch, and so when
the crpcoaile WrlHgles the earth begins to
shake. The ignorant people think that
an eclipse Is caused by huge monster
who comes into the sky and inconsiderate.
ly gobbles up the sun or moon, as the case
may be. They are afraid of thunder, but
not Of the lightning, and have no ideas, of
course, about the cause of them. They be-
lieye that the rainbow is composed of pol
Tonous gases. Boys are taught that II they
point their finger at rainbow they will
ave felon on it. Now York Tribune.