Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-02-10

Ancestor worship and overpopulation
are the twin curses OF China The Tor
mer is responsible for the latter ana the
two together breed such evil offsprings
as debased women. murdered girl babies
high death rate, poverty and famine
Affect reverence OF dead fOrbears and
chain lightning breeding of descendants
are responsible for China's ills. Whatever
good there may be in the care the Chmest
devote to old people and the way they
deify the dead is made Valueless by the
evil results in the train of their customs
China is a great land and the Chinese
are a great people. but until ancestor
worship becomes sane and the bearing OF
chile rem becomes humane China will not
take its place in the worlds affairs to
which its inherent worth entities it. Less
worship of the dead and more attention
to the living should be China's slogan
Until this is done the country's adoption
of republican form of government and
other western customs will be only OF
relative value.
In the first place ancestor worship in
China is due to misguided self-interest
humbly before the tablets of his fore
fathers and offers up tokens before them
on certain days in order that the gods
may reward his goodness. He jealousy
brings children into the world not sc
much out Of love for them. but because
they will be duty bound to support him
in his old age. Going a step further in
his pure materialism, he will murder his
own girl babies because they marry early.
and in thus transferring their filial piety
to another family are of no use to him.
*
A Chinaman's sons in his old age take
the place of an endowment policy and a
small block Of gov
Value of Sons eminent bonds. This
L. ~ o, plan Of providing a
W IAo OAAiAeSo' haven against old
age is also more certain than the western
way A westerner may never own Few
bonds and might fail to keep up his an
nual insurance payments. But Chinese
will always have sons. If his own wife
cannot bear at least one son. he is ex-
pected to take a secondary wife" in
order to bring about the desired result.
The number of "secondaries" is limited
only by the mans purse. and their babies
are considered legitimate. Should even
these auxiliary spouseS fail to bring forth
the yearned-for male support in his old
age, lHe IIldlt duOplS soiiIc vi d IVY
perhaps, whose entire family had been
wiped out by disease or famine.
In the meantime the wife and concu-
bines may be hearing girl ba bies with
reckless rapidity What becomes of
them? The baby towers which arc seen in
every part of China or the muddy streams
can tell you. The baby tower is hole
in the ground from which rises a round
tower of mud brick about five feet high.
1t is open at the top with board across.
The unwelcome female infant is left on
the board. Here it may die of starvation
or exposure Usually however, another
parent intent on doing away with his
daughter comes along with his awful bur-
den and pushing the first baby off the
board, puts his own in it's place and
leaves it to receive like treatment from
the next murderer. By this procedure
the Chinese coddle themselves into be-
lieving that they do not really kill their
girl babies are rescued by foreign and
native mission workers who skulk near
the death towers.
Little girls so rescued are reared and
trained in the various founding homes
and schools. 1t is
Method of Rearing an encouraging
nr. fact that more
"o"" ~AAA'' and more fathers
are disposing of their superfluous girls in
this way. and some even promise to take
them back later If they are ever able to
do So An increasing number are impelled
nowadays to keep them anyway, even