The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-01-09

= .E.(.I.EsI.Xsf.sEss. X.x.io.I.E.XsX.K.X.I. &c
For the past ten years the Chinese
government has busted itself with send
ing out men TO study the customs OF all
countries from the Ural Mountains TO
the Golden Gate. The fact that some
of the students sent to the United
States were recalled, for fear that they
might learn too much, is in itself sug-
gestive. The last delegation which
passed through Honolulu few days
since was sent by imperial command.
1t Will be interesting to note what they
will report. Correspondence of Chinese
given TO the public. The general tenor
of these documents have been favora-
bic, but in most of them are a number
"of stars where sense of delicacy
has suggested the omission of passages
that might give offense to foreign
readers.
Two of the earliest narratives Of
Chinese travel in the West-one by
Lin of Annoy, written about forty
years ago, the other by Pin of Picking,
written 1S66-are in a form of verse.
The travellers saw so much that was
new and strange that they naturally
rushed into heroics. Their poetry is
not, however, all praise; III more than
one place their laudatory stanzas be-
tray an undercurrent of satire. Since
those dates communication has becoms
SO frequent that Chinese readers are
growing familiar with the phases of
our western life, and Chinese writers
are accustomed to handle US without
the white gloves of poetry.
''Your superior skill in mathematical
and mechanical arts we are ready to
one of the legation
said to me, ''but you must concede to
us the palm in philosophy and letters
This estimate is the prevailing one
among educated Chinese, as they COM
pare our civilization with their own.
1t may be modified and doubtless will
be by further acquaintance; but 1t |
shows that thew are not to be imposed |
upon by the glitter of wealth or by |
The noise of machinery. The material
progress on which we pride ourselves
weighs little in their scales when
poised against moral principles and
aesthetic culture. Steam and electric
ty are admirable as accessories; but
he Chinese are not disposed to under
Talue the wisdom of their ancestors
Who were unacquainted with either.
Nothing proves more conclusively that
he Chinese government is waking up
md striving to overtake this age of
'rogress than the dispatch of such a
commission as enjoyed the hospitality
f Honolulu few days since. The
of questions by which they
we're to be guided in their researches
elated chiefly to the armies and ma
les of western powers, to their mining
nd manufacturing industries, and to
rnder each of these heads except the
lst, they will have many marveis to
aport, and not a few things to recon-
tend for adoption, but 1t is safe to
ny that in our social institutions they
i'll find much to censure-nor would
heir censure be without a show of
eason.
First, let us see what they think of
1r newspapers: Wherever Chinese !
,avelers go they are logged by re-
Drters ana compelled to submit to the
levitable interview. They long for "a ,
ngitude in which they shall be per-
tilted to keep their opinions to them !
lives, or to impart them only to those +
no have "a right to know them. +
mericans, they perceive, are very /
ain OF their periodical press. The e
hinese are struck with fact that each +
our great journals claims to have a
.rger circulation than any other, and
exert a leading influence in the s
of public opinion. The infu-
ace of the press they do not deny, +
ut its character appears to them to
3 mixed. Our newspapers, as it
,ems to our visitors, not merely I'M .
ask the bad; they too often ruin the r
tir fame of good men. Committed to
lie interests of party, like sharp-shoot- I
IS they have but one object, and that I
to bring down the enemy. Nothing /
'uId be worse for public morals. They t
rive up unfortunately accidents Y
1d crimes for the daily fare of their :
'aders, whose tastes become so per- +
arted that they can hardly enjoy a t
reakfast without chapter of hor I
'rs to quicken the appetite. The O
mount OF worthless matter thus @
reed on their attention, of necessity, $
-StIuutS the feaulng OF classic au- r
lors So detestabIe are some of these /
lpers that a Chinese reader scarcely 7
'grets to see them trampIed in the +
ire of the street, although in his t
'untry every morsel of paper is held 1
icred, and no one is so brutal as to q
3use one, because by respecting let a
rs the Chinese show respect to those L
ON whom they derive tneir civiliza v
on. If the commissioners should rec T
nmend the Introduction of newspa +
rs into China, it would certainly be t
it'll the condition that they be placed s
lder the restraints of judicious s
nsorship.
The Chinese are often asked whether t
ey continue to approve what the a
mericans are pleased to call the 'Ori- +
tai seclusion of the weaker sex, o
d they always answer in the affirm n
IL