The herald., 1896-07-06
THE COMING CHINESE FAIR
Opens in October snd VIII Be a Big
Thing in Many Ways
Preparations Now Being Made-The huge New
Dragon Ordered for the Occasion.
What Il Costs

Externally Chinatown is quiet, and
little seems to be doing, but under the
surface there is much preparation for
a forthcoming great event, the greatest
in the Chinese calendar. On October
18th, the next religious festival, which
is only held once in three years, will be
is eagerly looking forward to the open
ing day, when for three days and nights
all the celestials will give themselves
up to the performance of their religious
duties and to pleasure.
A committee of twenty of the leading
merchants has the matter in hand and
are now going ahead with the raising
of funds to defray the expenses of the
festival. With them the date of opening
will be in the latter part of September,
as in the Chinese calendar there are
still four more days in May before the
1St of June. A special building or joss
house will be prepared. and in it will
be displayed the wonderful adornments
with which they decorate their temples.
All the trappings this year will be new
and of the most gorgeous description,
being imported direct from China for
the occasion. The celebration includes
a street parade through the principal
thoroughfares, which will be of the most
gorgeous description. An order has al
ready gone back for a dragon larger
and finer than the one shown here dur
ing fiesta which will be on hand in due
time The cost of this monstrous crea-
ton of embroidered silk will be fully
$1,000 in China, and the costumes for the
attendants, all of the richest descrip-
tion, will come to fully $2500 more. Such
an outfit if made in this country at the
ruling prices of labor would cost round
$4,000.
There the work of embroidering the
heavy silk with gold and silver thread
is done by women who receive the mu-
nificent sum of fifteen cents day. All
the different Chinese companies. or
rongs, during the festival supply
number of men, pro rata according to
their size and ability, who work for
nothing and do the heavy labor required.
No expense will be spared this year to
outdo all previous efforts, and fully $1,000
will be raised and disbursed for the three
days show. At the last fair $500 was
expended. all raised among the mer-
chants and tongs of Chinatown. One
meeting of the directors has already
been held and the preparatory steps
I taken.
| Special bands ard priests will come
! down from San Francisco for the occa-
sion, and from the moment of opening
| there will not be minute night or day
| when services are not in progress. The
| Chinese theater will also probably re-
! open with a good troupe, and there Will
| be feasting and jollity galore. The sights
| in the joss house are well worth visit
| and as this year they will be on such a
| huge scale there will undoubtedly be
| hundreds of European callers.
| In front of the joss house are reared
| huge paper figures of josses with the
| most horrible of countenances, which
on the last night of the fair are pub
| licly burned in front of the temple. These
! figures represent some great colonel or
| commodore who lived 5000 or more years
ago. when men were all his size, twen-
| ty feet high or more. One day he was
| suddenly transfgured and snatched up
| into the sky, where he has since re-
mained. The figures are pictures of him
| labeled with his name, and he is sup
posed to linger around during the cele-
| bration.
| When the josses are burned his spirit
once more ascends to the clouds with
| the smoke and flames. not to return until
| the next festival. With him he takes
| the prayers and requests of good China
/ men. who have written them out and
| consign them to the flames of the burn
| ing image. There are also other incan-
! tations and services to drive the devils
| away and cause a streak of good luck
| to come to all for the next three years.
| All in all. the fair will be a big thing, not
only for the celestials, but as curiosity
| not often seen in American cities.