Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-06-09

YOU all to please remember that am not
here in my Official capacity, but rather as
a Heather Chinaman.'
Mr.. WI evidently was not Gained by the
| assurances that Senator Teller was not
| going to roast him any more.
THE subject selected for me to discuss
is a comparison Of the old and the new
civilization, which. suppose, means chi
| ma and this great country. Now Cnina'
as YOU know. has shut herself up for
hundreds of years. She built great wall
about her kingdom, over thousand years
ago, and her people stayed inside OF TINS
enclosure and worked out their own civil.
ization Within the past hundred years.
the ports of China have been opened up,
and people can come and go through the
country, but with all this there are few,
II any. foreigners, who know anything
about my country.
There are three classes Of people who
nrofess to know all about China. One
~ these classes read a few books about
China and then profess to know all the
manners and customs Of my people. An
other class. who are fond of travelling,
take a flying trip to few OF the ports OF
China and are then ready to give lectures
about China. We Of the east call them
globe trotters.' Now these globe trotters
nav a flying trip TO China and then they
are authorities on China and Chinese Gus
toms. manners and morals.
"srhen there is the third class, the
traders and missionaries who i've lot
MANY years within our cities. the TRAD
ers rarely ever learn our language, trao-
ing through the medium OF their mead
servants. or compradores. The mission
aries, however learn our language ana
our customs They are close observers.
But even they know little about the man
ners and customs of China. In the north
ern and central parts of China an entire
ly different language is spoken from what
we of the south use. The manners and
customs are different I am from the
Canton province, in the southern part OF
| China In the central part of China l
! had to learn an entirely different IAN
guage, and on going into the north OF
| China still another The difference be-
tween the language of South China and
North China is as different as the Ian
| guage of France and America. The people
| living in one city rearely ever go to an
other city. so you see II is hard for one
to learn the manners and customs OF our
/ people. The missionaries know more than
any other foreigners. but in their books
| they forget TO make the qualification that
| what is contained in their books Is only
what they know of one district of China
and is not what is really true of all
| China.
"Of course. in China we have many
! things which you do not have in America,
| and we do things in a different way |
notice many of your ladies tonight attired
in white When your brides go to the
| altar they dress in white. the symbol OF
| purity But we of China think white is a
bad color. When we have festive occas-
ions, and when a girl marries we never use
whitehall is a symbol of mourning. We
wear red on festive occasions.
You consider us very slow. According
! 20 your habits, we are slow We think
| you go too fast. When we see your bust
ness men in such hurry, as we see them
| IN Wall street. in New York, hurrying
along as if they were fleeing for their
very lives. we are afraid, like an engine,
! something will break.
Perhaps you would like me to say
something about our religion. In China
we do not look upon religion in the same
way that you do. If you ask any China
man what is his religion, he will tell you
he follows the doctrines of Confucius; In
America you would call him Confucion-
ist But you will find II somewhat diff
ferent-peculiar you would call tiff a
man falls sick When he is sick, his fami-
ly will call in the priests Of Buddah to
pray for him, even though the man was
| never in a temple of Buddah: but If the
man died his family would have tie prizes {
of Taou say prayers for his soul. Why,
you ask, do we do this? We of China are a
practical people, and we think that If one
religion will not save a man, we will try
all three and thereby save his soul and
send 1t to heaven.
II know an American, a man OF great
prominence, who was raised in the Bap-
list faith. He married a girl of the Chris
tan Science faith and their children were
raised in the Catholic converts. If you
ask that man what is his religion he Will
! tell you he is a member of the Salvation
Army. So you see your religion is nearly
like ours in its changes"
Mr.. WI then urged that Chinese be al
lowed to come into America. in order that
! Americans might learn from the Chinese
i those customs which were better thar
her own, and that China might learn from
America her good customs.
In conclusion he said:
mo nation has a monopoly of all thai
| is good. 1 believe that the meeting OF
our two civilizations would not be like the
meeting Of two armies. which would ami
hilate each other In my opinion. It would
resemble the meeting of two streams
whose Joined waters would fertilize botf
banks of the river. Ladies and gentle
men, 1 hope the day is not far distant
when the peoples of the earth will learn tc
respect the rights of each other. wher
we will be more liberal-minded and more
generous in our treatment OF other peo
Piles. II that day should ever come, We
will be happy, with no more war, bu
with perpetual peace.