The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1898-12-08
THE EMPIRE OF CHINA.
WHERE INTERNATIONAL. IN
TERESTS MAY CLASH.
The Native II Absurdly Simple-A
Journey Through the Country Is as
the Passage OF Critic Through =
Fairy Tale. 0 ATT

To travel through China, even as
China is today, is as the passing of a
critic through fairy tale. There are
uses for the pruning knife, but the sub
!. tie delicacy of the local spirit impreg-
mates the mind in such way as to
render excision impossible. There is
/ infinite wealth Of color in the gorgeous
background, and infinite disappoint-
ment. The people in the phantasms
which the idea Of China has conjured
to the mind have been endowed with
such vitality that comparison estab-
(, fishes an impossible travesty. The
Chinese are hopeless, but their signal
state originates a genuine fascination.
They meander across scenes that are
replete with personal interest, and they
show no comprehension. They do not
care, they do not think. The China
man is content when he exists. He is
/ Indifferent to Americans and Euro
peans because he finds no use for them,
save where they are disturbing factors
lin his life and then he hates them.
I His cupidity is only the cunning Of q
mind that never exerts itself unless to
fsuit purpose Of it's own. It is Gus
/ tomary to consider the character Of a
| Chinaman complex, whereas it is alb
surdly simple. He mistrusts where he
does not understand, and he dissimu-
/ lates because the sentiment of the one
/ is the initiative of the other.
The Chinaman in China has little re-
semblance to the cross breeds that are
found in America, Australia, New Zea-
!! land or anywhere. The Chinese SER
want abroad eliminates the pictur-
| esuueness from his character for the
deleterious substitution Of the con-
glomerated vices of civilization. He
IS an. admirable laundryman in Amer
lea, a painstaking market gardener in
Australasia and an expert thief every
where. In China, il his objections are
removed, he makes an industrious but
dirty retainer. Treated decently, his
character registers a vague probity
which exerts itself to the benefit Of his
master against the crowd.
The untutored native in China, more
particularly where foreigners are
! scarce. takes himself very seriously.
He assumes matrimony with laborious
intensity. and even his babies are
prodigies Of gravity; SO much depends
upon their smile thatsit Is attended all
most with serious consequences. A
Chinese baby, as such, never frivols
that is permitted only when she has
achieved that pinnacle Of immortality
which is the distinguishing feature of
the dancing girl The dancing girl
sfrivols, and her frivolity is but the thin
disguise of those women who. while
not of easy virtue, are not difficult to
approach. At the inn, when traveller
arrives, she is pushed forward, but her.
beauty is unhappily not of that high
order which pays q compliment by rea-.
son Of its presence. From Pekin, where
the smells come from, to Si-An-Fu.
whence they spread themselves over
Europe, from the new order back to
the old, the pity is that the morality OF.
a self-sufhciency about these particles
of Chinese life that is singularly hui
man. The soldier, with his length Of
gas pipe, is the embed iment Of that
dignity which considers itself the pro-
tector Of an empire. These martial
ciphers are merely emblematic, and,
for practical purposes, they have been
too long in idleness, II they were.
properly drilled and equipped, there is
scope in their physical develo pment for
obtaining the nucleus OF an army.
Whatever power protects China event
.ually, the military rab bible throughout
It's empire will provide her with an inn