Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-02-08
A Chinese Woman's Impression of
Yuan Shin kaj.

AN insight into the remarka Bile ner.
sohallty of Yuan Shi-Kai. not as an
eihPefor Vlceroy nor as the president
VI tue new Chinese republic but as a
man OF family and of individual charm
was given by DR.. Yamei Kin in an
interview yesterday
DIR. Yamei is a Chinese woman NH,
received her medical training here in
NC" FORK ana who on her return to
N'i,iid SIN years ago established there
RAINING school for nurses. She
speaks English with absolute facility
ana without trace of accent.
uan Shih- Kai is one of the rnost
remarkable men / have ever met ;,
SAID DR.. Yamei. HE is a military
man, not scholar; a man of action
ana of splendid executive ability Pit
ne is also one of the most courteoue
ana democratic men I ever knew 7
saw MIN daily in his own home for
three months and | became acquainted
WIN u side of his personality which
lew people see.
III was during his exile from court
When he was living on his estate in
the Honan province. His brother had
uileie' stroke of apoplexy, which
Ielt one side of his body naralvzea
uah was devoted to his brother and
sent all over the kingdom for the best
uoctors and treatment He secured
Two nurses from my school and / went
aaliy to see that they gave treatment
properly.
we were giving the patient electric
oathS and massage, which took an
honr or more each day. While thew
We're going on Yuan would sit bv his
brother and talk on every eonceiv-
apIe subject, to try to keen the in.
Nald Interested He was Kindness ~
sen. Ana in the course of those con-
NerSationS | came to have an inmenso
admiratlon for him.
lie had never been outside of bis
own country except when he was tho
oiilclai resident In Korea He does NOT
understand any language but his own
fet ne seemed to be thorouphJ,,
iofeast OIL outside progress. One. day
we We're talking of installing an cleo
tiical plant in his house to provide
the current for the baths, and he smoke
SO Iamillarly of volts and amperes and
tiie current which certain wires would
carry that asked him how he came tn
know so much of technical subject
On, he said, I have installed sew
efai electric plants in houses | have
occupied
HE seemed to know something
about everything. He had experiment.
ed with breeding horses to improve tho
native stock. He had employed the
enforced 1niCIIrn .tf
ing marvellous landscape garden on
ms estate. where he had gathered all
the trees and plants, native and for
eiSn. which could be made to grow
, there | asked him about improving
the quality of the cotton grown in the
province. He had experimental with
that too.
But when l suggested his trying to
heip ms district by getting better
seed for them and teaching them i'm
proved methods he said he would be
glad TO do it, but that he couldn't be-
cause any move of that sort was
frowned on by the Manchu dynasty
They accused him of trying to buy
the hearts of the people
His establishment was immense:
| the house, with it's qualifications, as
large as a village. OF course, his house.
hold had to be large, as he had about
eight wives and 25 children and grand
! children. That seems dreadful to the
occidental but he was not only strict
ly within Chinese law but also within
Chinese etiquet. Some Chinese mer
who have several wives go also t.
outside houses. Yuan Shih-kai never
/ did that.
! 1T is also considered very bad il
China for man to have a mistress
before he is married. The same purity
is expected of both the man and the
: girl according to Chinese ideals. AS fol