Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-05-16

tons of how the construction Of the
jail in all branches was being pushed
At the end of three years the otficia!
made his final report setting out low
all contracts had been fulfilled to the
letter and the prison finished. The
government sent down to Canton half
dozen high muck-a-muckS, Manda-
rims and the like, to inspect the new
prison and report. The MandarinS
were received in great state by the
ine officials of Canton.
They had a confidential conference
with the government inspectors. re-
turned and made an elaborate report
highly eXtolling the beauty and gram
deur Of the new prison. When the
people Of Canton saw this report pub
lished. they rubbed their eyes in Won
der. and asked each other what under
heaven it could mean. for the old
rotten decaying prison still stood
where it always stood. and nowhere in
Canton could a new prison building
be found. AS a matter of fact the
million dollars had been absolutely
bodied pocketed by the officials and
no building at all erected. The goyernlJ
ment had been hoodwinked beauti-
fully by its own inspectors. who. of
coU Sc. stood in on the deal with the
Niceroy of Canton.
These are but samples of the cor
rupuon which exists in Chinese Off
cial circles, and saps the government
from top to bottom.
Next to the bOOdleism of the gov
eminent. the absurd approximations of
the people. created and fostered by
the scheming, willy priesthood, is the
most perniciOuS thing in the body
polite in China. 1t is. perhaps, more
ruinous to the people as a whole. and
had, perhaps, as much to do with
their inability to cope with the Jap
anese in the late war. The greatest
curse to China i'll the form of super
stititiOn is that known as Fengtchu.
The superstition of Fengtchui per-
meates all classes. and dominates the
public and private acts of the entire
people, with the exception of the
priesthood. 1t affects the very exis-
tence and shapes the life of John
Chinaman. The Fengtchui is a peculiar
superstition and can he best explained
by illustration. Observe closely a
Chinaman as he walks down one of
our streets here in Chicago, and YOU
will find that after he takes twenty
five steps he makes a hop instead of
stride at the twenty-SiXth. He
makes that hop because he fears that
II he took a step at the end of the
twentieth the devil or evil one would
catch him by the leg. You will find
a splendid thorOughfare in China, a
grand, straight boulevard as it We're,
and suddenly at a certain point you
will find an extraordinary and alto
gether meXplicable twist in it. You
ask the engineers who constructed
that road the reason for this extra
ordinary twist. and they will tell
YOU that under the Fengtchui theory
they had ascertained that the devil
would catch the wayfarer at that par
straight ahead. and so it was twisted
at right angles in order that Old Nick
might be given the go by.
"A big river near Canton burst its
bounds. sweeping away great dams
and inundating a large territory some
years ago. causing a great loss Of life
and property. A request was sent to
the government for 1000 Iaborers to
rebuild the dam and repair all in
juries as far as possible, but instead
100 priests were sent who built a
pagOda and carried on lot Of absurd
rites and ceremonies under the Fengt
chui scheme for the purpose of out
whiting and undOing the work of the
devil.
ITO illustrate more fully what this
absurd and perniciOus superstition is,
| will relate and incident that occurred
in connection with the British EN-
bassy at Pekin in 1889. A number of
employees died in that
building Of some sort of pest. All the
remainder of the Cinnamon, several
hundred in number, went out of the
building, and could not be induced to
return. The officials at the British
embassy were in despair, and at
length consulted a priest as to how
they could get out of the dilemma.
The priest consulted a few of his
fellows, and they reported that a GER
tain big yellow chimney ON q build
ing across the way had caused the
mortaliay among the Cinnamon at the
embassy and it must be torn down
under the Fengtchui theory before the
men would come back. Nothing would
do but that the straight yellow chin
ney must come down. The English
ambassador tried to get the chimney
pulled down, but the owners of the
building would not hear of it, so
ultimately and as a last resort the
ambassador had to purchase the en-
tire property in order to get the
chimney pulled down. 1t was the
only way of avoiding a most disas-
trOus boycott
Notwithstanding ali these things,
still think that the Chinese, as
people, are superior to the japanese.
They have greater stability of char
acter are more sincere and trust
worthy. 1t must be remembered that
in this country we see the best of
the japanese and the worst Of the
Chinese. In connection with recent
events il is well to consider that China
is governed, and has been for 300
years, by a foreign race.
THE reigning family is Of a race
of Tartars. as are most of the high