The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1907-07-29

Life or Ossth--The hristoerstic I'm.
perisl Psuper.
In china beggars at once attract q
strangers attention. Around every
corner. along canals and creeks, ia
market places. at the city gates. both
outside aud inside. and especially IN
the temple yards there are teggars
here. beggars there and heggars every
where. and a more pit!ahle sight one
cannot meet Many of them are Grip
pied or afflicted with leprousy and all
are dressed literally 60 rngs.
| made q trip ln a hou-et,oat 10 500
chow, moving through the numerous
canals IN the city and stopping when
wished % take a yicw. landed by
a clean. fresh painted large yamen,
sIotfossly white. with blue black tiles
on the roof aud placed my camera
against the wall a. photograph big
pagodA on the other side ~ the canal
The usual chinese crowd soon came
around me and not a few beggars. |
asked an intelligent young Chinaman
through my Interpreter who lived In
this fine big mansion, 80 unusually
well kept for Chinese house. I was
not a little astonished when | was told
the heggnr chief ~ Sooch.w
This led me To make inquiry about
the system ~ begging IN China, which
Il wonderfully well organized under "A
scheme That works admirably and Il
81 course very ancient. Ike all other
I Institutions IN the Middle Kingdom.
/ The chief has fine residence. concu-
/ bines by the half dozen and very fine
/ clothing. ana he X seen IN the best Of
society but ouiy where he X not
/ known. As a mark Of his dignity he
moves about with long stick. which
X allowed him by the city authorities
He also has the power ~ life and
death over his beggnrly subjects and
punishes all offcnses committed by
them
The beggnr chief IL regular at
tcndant at the marriage ceremonies
md funeral professions Of private fam
ilics. in order 10 get his pay for keep
ing away his hungry crowd ~ beggars.
who otherwise would hinder the festi-
val or procession In disagreeablc,
noisy way | was told that the beggar
chief Of Soochow has an Income ~
about $1,000 yenr The billet OF the
one In Shanghai city Is worth about
5000 Most storckeepers have an
agreement with the beggnr chief "a
keep his stan away They pay about
3 81 year each, and In return for this
. rf.,t
ed receipt 20 the storek"epcr, which
the latter pastes on his door, 10 the 81
feet that he has paid his tax and Is
exempt from the demands OF beggars.
There are different kinds Of beggars
Imperial bcggnrs, or lao yen ting thC
- words mean "old mans button'l hav,
b probably no parallel IN the world. as
some ~ them are descendants Of th'
ancient Ming dynasty or distinctly re
lated TO the present reignlng imperia
house They are scattered all over IN,
country. are said 90 number upward o
a 10000 and are specially numerous II
rckiug Imperial bcggars arr easily
> recognized because they are nllowc,
10 wear garments of the imperial vel
low of different shades Characters ar'
painted In black on the back and from
i Of their robes 10 denote their profes
r sion They wear either a straw hat q
8. velvet cap ornamented with bras
button
When first saw them | took then
10 bc old degraded officials. for thor,
are hundreds of them In Soochow
l. They carry woodcn he'll In thcl
hands to announce their arrival As
F; rule they are Owe sixty years OF ag
and have no IA fly IA support them
and they nrc all allowed 20 beg 10
morr money than the ordinary Graf
aud are furnished with n license fron
the magistrate. They nrc, ot course
too arlstoorntlc 10 be under the rule o
the ordinary bcggar chief.
u| In NnukIn there In quite II select CON
pnny ~ them, the order having bee
, Instituted ~ far back ms the Min
dynasty Hung WI the founder of IN
Ming dynasty was once bcggar hiu
self The rise from beggar TO empero
probably beats the record Of any dy
nasty I'm Europe In pious remembrance
p of his former profession Hung Wu In
( sttutcd this order. At present the
I'D live In certain caves or rcccsses tina
are made In the city wall The larges
OF these rcccss,'S II forty feet long b.
twenty feet wide, the inmates are yer
comfortably lodged and are decent
dressed. but they are addicted I
X opium smoking.
, Besides seeking aims these imperla
] I.. -
tain livelihood 10y swearing falls
. oaths In court Their onths are con
sldered M binding ana sacred, so the
arc often much sought after becaus
for few tacls one can get such
heggar 10 swear 10 an oath which al
y ways decides the case. The mHgi-
{. trntcs arr liable 10 pay the imperia
, bcggurs an allowance every year, bu
II Is said they often forget II, ns the.
know well that these heggars are no