The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1908-07-10
Carroll COuntian in China
.churia the Cause of the War Between Russ;a
,od Japan-=-Its Customs, Tombs, Buildings. CHI
.,ste Scenery Agricultural Products, &c.---Letter
fom A. E. Shaeffer to His Parents at Hampstead.

To-Day. This has always been looked
UPON as badge OF servitude and is
inost dlstasteful to many Chinese. and
IL is the cause of so many uprisings
Ill oushout the empire about which
you READ In the home papers. I do
not necessarily mean that the queue
ltsell is the cause OF these disturb
ahces, Out rather the anti-dynastic
1eellng' as you must needs know the
Manchu and Chinese are two distinct
races. This is not universally under
stood, except to residents of the coun-
Try and students of history, neverthe-
less tbs true. The average traveller
cannot distinguish any difference be-
tween them except that the Manchus
are larger in stature and more intel
l1gent looking than the Chinese. They
are truly fine race OF people, with
good features and pleasant manners.
the women are robust, healthy, fair
and not untidy as whole; they also
nave big feet. l mean by that that
their feet are allowed to assume their
natural proportions and not stunted
and bound all out of shape like the
Chinese
This is truly a great country. The
soil is fertile and accordingly produc-
tive. Great quantities of beans and
other cereals are raised here. The
country is rolling land for the most
part, with mountain ranges as in
other parts of the world. The climate
is fine. The atmosphere is dry and
one feels the difference before he is
here many days. 1t is rather warm
here now, but not uncomfortable. 1t
gets dreadfully cold here in winter,
the ground freezing to a depth of
four and five feet, w tn the there
mometer registering as low as 25 de-
grees below zero, but it is that dry
cold,such as one experiences in places
like St. Paul, Mimi, for instance. Of
course it gets much colder farther
north, across the Russian border, in
Siberia. We are only days journey
from the Russian line, Hardin being
the station on the great Trans
Siberian Railway, directly north from
here.
| Moukden is the finest city I have
seen in China. 1t has great wide
streets, and it is laid out on system
enabling one to get around to better
advantage than in most Chinese cities.
They employ horses, mules, donkeys
and bullockS as means of transport
ing cargo, whereas in other China
cities most of it is done by coolies.
Of course, the wide streets account
for lot of this, as in other places it
it would be absolutely impossible to
drive a cart. Huge clumsy carts are
used extensively all through this part
of the country. They are built on
much the same principle as our dump
carts at home, except that they are
| H,rt nd
the trip stick. They pile great loads
on them and SO arrange to balance it
that one horse can steady a load
which it takes four and five others
to help pull The wheels do not
work on an axle like our carts, but
have revolving axles, so you can i'm
agine what they are like when turning
around, especially with a heavy load.
This sort of cart is used wholly for
carrying heavy loads. The lighter.
conveyance, better known as the Pek-
ing cart, has wooden axles and spind-
les, as we'll as wooden hubs which are
not pushed at all. These are all made
of hardwood, we'll seasoned, and when
freely creased wear for years without
cutting themselves up, as the axles
are not tapering but the same size all
the way through the hub.
1t is all very queer looking to one
who is not used to them, but so are
our vehicles queer looking to the
Chinese; they look upon our inven-
lions with quite as much surprise and
wonder as we view theirs. Then GUS
tom has so much to do with them.
They fully realize that they are an
older race than we are, and cannot
understand or see the feasibility OF
changing their mode of living, habits,
etc., for our so-called advanced civil
ization. If one carefully studies their
different implements, it is not difficult
to associate the origin of our up-to-
date inventions with the crude Chin
csc product. I mean the common
farming implements, carts, etc. And
when we stop to think that they have
been living and using these same
styled articles for centuries, it is truly
marvellous. Interesting, why there
is nothing more interesting in the
world than to travel through China
and study these things, if we come
unprejudiced and with a view to
learning and not of criticising. Des-
pite the fact that one often feels like
it, we should not grab hold of a native
we see using crude and ancient i'm
plement and tell him that he is behind
the times, and that the way he does
things is wrong, for there is nothing
more distasteful to the average native
than to try to change his mode of life.
The Chinese are the most cOntented
people in the world, and all they want
is to be left alone to their own en-
vironment, to live and die as their
fathers did.
Looking at it from some points OF
view it is not bad code, but our adj
vanced civilization rebels at such
thought We must go on spreading
terror, and even wrongdoing, through
out the oldest remaining empire, as
this is civilization. But I am not
moralist enough to discuss this all
important theme. I will, therefore,
revert to my description of surface
things, ''and will start in on the palace
of the emperor of Manchuria.
The palace was occupied by the
grandfather of the first Manchu en-
peror of the combined empires OF
China and Manchuria. This is the
grandson who succeeded in conquer
ing the Chinese, and who established
his court at Picking, to which place
the seat of government was transfer
red from this city, nearly four hun
dred years ago. The spacious grounds
in which are enclosed the palace
buildings contain many ancient relics
IF ctona heautifu1 and Enthusiastically