The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-11-16
The Globes s Ssms.:''aay
The Storm Center Of the k)orld
BY DR.. H. WARREN coNAMT.

Oii ioI uHuulnDereQ centuries. III Wet
weather the roadway is deep mire of
this richness. in dry the same is blown
into your face by the furious Winds Here
is state of things to which a decent
white man can never become reconciled,
but the Chinese seem to thrive on 1t and
to like it..
They eat greedily of the prepared foods
exposed for sale in public places, unterri-
fed by the knowledge that it has been
well peppered by the dust of their dad
dies. This would seem like carrying the
worship of ancestors to an extreme
To do the yellow heather justice. rice
and oats are not their staple foods. as
many people suppose. Rice is used much
III Southern China, but little by the Pc
kInese and rats never except in times of
famine as last resort. There is a large
submerged portion of the population
which leads miserable hand-to-mouth
existence, always on the ragged edge and
easily pushed over by any unfavorable
conditions Dirty, ignorant, childish fan
atIcai and conceited to the last degree
they form ever ready tools for the
schemes of demagogues. A knowledge of
this fact helps us to understand the sud
den and violent uprisings of the Chinese
populace, which furnish close parallel
to those in ancient Rome, when the con-
ditions were similar.
The common foods of the Pekinese are
beans, sweet potatoes corn and wheat
flour, and macaroni in inordinate quantf-
ties Bread in our sense they have not
only heavy steamed dumplings of wheat
-four. Peddlers with small portable ovens
are everywhere. offering all kinds of
cooked foods at infinitesinaal prices, and
the Chinaman is poor, indeed who cannot
find the price of filing himself up.
The names of their streets are often as
absurd and inappropriate as many of our
own. The street which especially re-
sounds with the sF1rin cries of peddlers
and the wrangling of bargainers is named
the Street of Perpetual Repose! Then
there Is Happy Sparrow street, named
for the little feathered fellows who are
as much at home in Pekin as in New
York. Also Monkey street and Barbarian
street; the latter in fine scorn of our
selves.
But even if their streets were scraped
with fine-toothed combs and sDrinkled
with eau de cologne, there is nothing in
them to invite a second visit. They are
lined by tawdry little shops. which are
mere holes in the wall the small stock
OF goods spread out on the sidewalk so
as to impede seriously the movement of
the crowd in many places, and fit to eX-
cite the acute envy of certain Chicago
firms But the Chinese care for none of
these things, no more than the Chicago
police do.
Along with their general lack of Gull
ture goes, of course. an absence of de-
cency. man who is buying a pair OF
breaches thinks nothing of trying them
OH in the street in front of the shop sur
rounded by group Of highly interested
observers. all offering their opinion and
advice free and untrammeIed by any false
medesty.
But whatever they do, and wherever
they are, there is enc thing which tho
Chinese common people never fail to do,
viz, to chatter like monkeys. On oc-
casion, especially under the pleasing ex-
element of haggling over a tenth of
cent. their voices screech and rasp like
so many filed saws, while the ferocity
of their gestures demands nothing less
than blood. OF course the language used
Is the superior brand of billingsgate pc
culiar to Celestials, fit to bring blush
to the cheek of even a London slum
yirago.
If now we enter the Purple or Forbid
den City, We shall see the other extreme
OF Pekin That would have been impos-
sible before the allied forces captured it.
but now We may judge for ourselves of
the wonders which travellers have re-
ported for centuries. On every hand
abound the palaces, halls and temples,
whose yellow porcelain roof tiles we saw
cleaning like gold among the trees when
we were standing on the city wall yell
low is the royal color and common folks
are not allowed to use it. There is the
Hall of Highest Peace, superb marble
building, ITO feet high, and standing on
a terrace of 20 feet The gilded statue
of Buddha is 60 feet high and has 1OI
arms.
The Chinese fairly revel in poetical,
Aigh-sounding titles. There is in the
Forbidden City beautiful white marble
gateway, which they call the Gate OF
Everlasting Peace, and the Empress
dwelling is named the Palace of the
Earths Repose. Considering that the
latter has been the center and source of
such worldwide unrest, there seems to
be a fine sarcastic fitness in it's name.
Around and between all these beautiful
buildings are the royal gardens and
parks, Astounding in artificial lakes,
streams and hills, with gorgeous flowers
of every possible variety.
The sacred inner city is regarded by
the common people with a superstitious
awe and reverence, which the govern
ment is careful to encourage by every
device. 1t Is strongly guarded from in
trusion, and few except Manchu mobiles
have ever been allowed to enter it. On
the rare occasions when it has been I'M
avodable to admit white men, the gov
eminent has cunningly turned the Lumil-
iation to its own advantage by proclaim
ing that the foreign devils have come
to do homage and pay tribute. Here
lives the unfortunate king of Heaven
with his wives, concubnes and eunuchs,
his sisters, his cousins and his aunts.
Copyright, 1902