Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1900-09-06
WIFE OF 4 MANDARIN.

WIFE OF MANDARIN.
prominent Boxer chief. she has o
most intense and jealous hatred Of the
dowager empress and. it is believed,
would like to make herself the next
''old woman of China" She Is her hus-
bands chief adviser, and it Is she who
has urged on the Boxer outrnges from
the beginning.
But, while there are rare Instances
where Chinese women have won pow
err and prominence. 1t is the general
sentiment In CHM that women are Of
inferior clay and are TO be treated more
as vassals than as equals. In spite OF
all this the feminine ideal Is high In
China, but 1t ls one of the characteris-
tics of this inscrutable race that their
theories are often at variance with
their practices.
From her very birth the Chinese wo-
man has an unenviable lot. At her
first appearance In the world she meets
a disappointed and angry father. AS
a girl she is given the most rudimenta-
ny education. At - she Is banished
from all companionship to become sthe
young girl who sits In the house" until
her marriage, when she Is apt TO mar
~ some one she has never seen. Then
she must obey her husband and her
mother-in
The doctrine incuicated In the Chi
nese classics is that woman has
three stages Of obedience first, to her
En- <s< hrN
third, If her husband dies, to her son
when he reaches manhood The prov
erb reads Men wish their boys to be
like wolves and fear lest they should
be timid. Their girls they wish to be
like mice and fear lest they should
have the holiness of the tiger" The
laws established 1890 years ago are In
force today. and among them are no
rules stricter than those for keeping
the women In bondage.
Chinese books of instruction for girls
consist chiefly of exhortations to dis
charge their duties as daughters,
wives, mothers and daughters IN law.
'The Girls Fair Books" TO which two
famous emperors wrote prefaces, de-
scribe how the female mind and char
acter must be trained Modesty, gen
tleness, self sacrifice, wisdom. respect
for elders and a virtuous disposition
must be a womans equipment in life
There is no pressing need for intellec-
tual education.
About 100 women In every 10000.
however. read books Of philosophy, 1T
avo 4 .t..f,
cratic classes men of letters have even
been known to teach their wives and
daughters not only to read, but to
write, and they have as well published
literary works By them. The standard
book OF etiquette In China was written
by Lady Che 2,T00 years since. She
was the widow Of a distinguished lit
erary man of north China and after
his death was faithful to his memory.
Her husbands brother was historian
of that dynasty, but when his work
was half completed he lost his sight
The emperor sent a message to him
asking who could finish the book, and
the reply was returned that only his
brothers widow was capable Of doing
It. The emperor sent for Lady Che,
and she was conducted In the greatest
Of state to the palace. There she COM
pieted her brofhers-in-law work SO
satisfactorily that it Is impossible TO
tell where she took up her task
1t vas not until less than two years
ago that the gates Of the Forbidden
City were opened to let In women from
the foreign legation. or this occasion,
when the exclusiveness of centuries
was broken down for the time being
and the FIRST foreign women were per-
mitted to see the glories Of the dragon
throne, Mrs Conger, wife OF our Chi
nese minister, sent home to some Of
her personal friends most interesting
accounts. These letters have recently
been made public on account OF the
widespread interest In the writer and
In her subject.
The ladies entered the Imperial City
with Lady Macdonald wife Of the
British minister, as doyenne. Prince
Ching, who is now reported to be be-
friending the foreigners, acted as mas
ter of ceremonies. The party having
cHteEcu tuc pdldSSs o1IS. 1OnScE uo-
Bcribes what followed fhus:
Our heavy garments were taken,
and we were ushered into the presence
of the emperor and empress dowager.
Our first interpreter presented each
lady TO Prince Ching and. in turn,
presented us to the empress dowager.
Then Lady Macdonald read little
speech In behalf OF the ladies'. The
empress dowagcr responded through
Prince Ching; another bow on our
part then each lady was escorted to
the throne. where she bowed and eour-
tested to the emperor. who reached out
his hand 10 each; then o bow and
courtesy TO the empress dowager.
She reached ont both hands. and we
stepped forward to her. She took both
OF ours. then placed upon the finger Of
each lady beautiful heavy chased
gold Chinese ring set with very
large, fine pearl After thanking her
we backed from the throne and took
our places below. as before.
From here we were escorted by
many richly dressed. highly painted,
decorated young Chinese women and
Chinese officials to the banquet hall.
where a large table was filed TO over.
flowing with Chinese and European
food Fringe Cling, Princess Ching
and nse ether pripcessee sat al the