Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1900-09-01

/ 1IlitFSt DliilOoOlIilCiS NNAC bhSs NOhT
| structing codes of ethics when Europe
knew no other law than that of might
! and Chinese engineers built the great
wall when European science was a
! thing unborn. Though they have re-
Verted from such high civilization to a
| condition of almost primeval barbarity,
| superstition and cruelty. 1t is well to
remember these facts and to weigh
them before judging the Chinese.
From the days of the earliest Euro
| pean the almost unanimous opinion Of
writers has been that the Chinaman
| does not think as we do. Our notions
of right and wrong do not fit Chinese
minds, while what to them is correct
| and moral appears to us entirely
wrong. 1t may help somewhat to ex-
plain Chinese animosity toward
foreigners to look at a few of our
salient points from a Chinese stand
point
To begin with, no people ON earth has
stronger home ties than the Chinese,
and they cannot understand foreign
love of travel. Their dearest pleasure
is to stay at home and worship at the
ancestral graves, and their highest aim
is to possess so high a degree of af-
fluenee as to render further exertion
unnecessary. They cannot, therefore,
understand the restlessness and cease
less activity of foreigners. Why do
not the foreign devils" stay at home,
where they belong? The ignorant
Chinaman is convinced that we have
no ancestors, else we would not leave
their graves to visit foreign lands. AL
though Cinnamon are driven by neces-
sity to gain their livelihood elsewhere,
ana are found in every land under the
sun, their dearest wish always remains
to get back to China. 1t may seem
grotesque TO Americans, and yet it is
an actual fact that many eXiled China
men, unfeeling as their exterior APP
pears, die of inconsistencies. They do
not, therefore, travel for pleasure, and
are content to reside where their an
ceStors abode.
Above all things, the foreign ladies'
who visit his land are incomprehensible
to a Chinaman. for very few Chinese
women ever leave the confines ofChina.
Foreign women are in many ways a
riddle to the Chinese. He thinks them
immodcst, because they do not wear
trousers, and considers their going
about with the men to inspect his home
a most indicate proceeding. 1t is not
safe for foreign women to 30 through
the native quarters of some Chinese
cities Canton, for instance. They are
pelted with refuse and continually in
suited by the low class natives. Their
animosty Is especially directed toward
women with blond hair, for these are
to them IA particularly dangerous class
of foreign devil"'
The Chinese are apt to consider us
most rude. because, either from diSre-
| gard or ignorance of the Chinese code
| of etiquette, we constantly violate his
/ dearest traditions. What we call
/ fraukness is To them rudeness, aud our
/ habit Of saying what we mean is
most disaGreeable. Cinnamon have
/ been called by foreigners liars by in
| stlnct; but this view is mild when we
| consider that Chinese contempt of
| foreigners is so great that they reserve
their most artistic lies for their com
patriots and treat us only to their
clumsiest
When one Chinaman detects another
I'm q lie, he is too diplomatic to tell him
SO directly; whereas we earn his CON
| tempt Of our stupidity and rudeness
! by bluntly exposing his falsehood. To
deal correctly With this phase Of inter
course with Cinnamon we must meet
him on his own ground ana not tell
him that We know him to be lying, but
gently insinuate that he has not sue
cecdcd in deceiving us.
The idea SO generally prevalent in
the United States that the Chinaman is
wanting in natural sense is a grieyous
mistake. He is as shrewd as Yankee.
as canny as a Scot in spite of his
Suptrstitions ana as suspicious as an
American Indian.
In All the efforts to convert him to
Christianity the main difficulty has
bcoH 10 convince him of the disiuterest-
clncss Of missionary effort lie
supply cannot be persuaded that the
Christian man or woman has left home