Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-08-20

PERTH AMBOY EVENING NEWS,
became troublesome. Diplomats and business
men wished to cut off the queue and to wear
western clothes. Many petitions were presented
TO the emperor. Then, the republic was estab-
lished I'm 1911 and the new constitution of China
said that all queues must be cut. In one prov
ince, Mr.. Chan remembers, 1O,OOO,O0O queues
were reported cut in one day.
Helped The Hat Business.
1t caused some amusing situations. The men
CT China had worn no hats as the queue bound
about the head was sufficient protection against
cold and the sun. Now, with short hair, they
must have hats. They did not know what was
to be the proper style in head coverings FOR men,
but in the emergency they crowded into Ameri-
can merchandise shops to buy anything-straW
hats, caps. even women's hats.
AT first a few old men wished to retain their
uueues,' MI. Chan recollected with a smile. 80
they wrapped the queue around the head and
picious, and make any suspects take off the
caps. If the queue is there, the policeman pulls
out a big knife and gives the man a free mar
cut"
Foot-binding is another fashion as passe in
China as the wasp waist is in America. the
small feet" girl in China now has difficulty in
getting a husband. The young men want large
feet wives. Nor can a Small feet girl go to
the public or mission schools. She Is as unpop-
ular as the girl with unbound feet was a Few
years ago.
Binding the women's feet, according to Mr..
Chan, is an even more ancient practice in China
than wearing the hair in a queue. There are
two stories of its origin. One says that one
thousand years ago an eA Gee u dsformitv of
her feet. To hide this defect from the notice OF
the king, she bound her feet tightly and pre-,
tended that she wished them to be very small
as a mark of beauty, even though it kept her
from walking. The other women of the court,
all eager for the honor fo of f being {b ehG nsm As sasS zion,
to achieve beauty. And so foot-blndlng spread
over China.
The other theory is that the Chinese men long
ago found out that the best way to keep a wom-
an in the home was to render her helpless.
There would then be nothing to distract hen
from her home duties and she would look up 10
her husband as Knowing so much more ABOUT
the outside world than she knew. Thus the per.
feet wife was created in China, and by the most
efficient method possible-making it the fashion
for a woman to cripple her feet.
For ten centuries this unwritten style heid tne
Chinese women in its wise. The large feet glll
could not get married. She was socially a parlah.
Fifteen years ago, half a dozen Christian naive
women met at Annoy and formed an antl-foot-
binding society. China was awakening to the
outside world and PROCESS, and the society easl-
ly stirred up. public opinion: fetitlons Weru
presented to the Queen Dowager, and she nnaliy
issued an edict to abolish the old custom.
My sisters feet says Mr.. Chan, were only
her children have large feet. The older women
could not benefit by the new style. After thirty
years of age. the bones are set IN the craihpea
condition and cannot relax. So now, small Ieet
are rarely found except on the old women Oh
China and the women of far inland provinces
where customs take years to penetrate.
1.-THE new fashion made it possible Tor Chlnese
women to become more active in aflalrs. Ihey
entered business, and even politics. There Were
women in the first parliament of the fepupic III
1912. In the most progressive province kuang-
tung, woman suffrage has been estapilshed,
Nurses and telephone girls have always been
men in China, but recently girls in Canton have
taken over this work. And they are even ticket
agents and conductors on steam trains.
Short Skirts Taboo.
Canton, however, is taking some precautions
too conscientious copying of western progress.
There is a municipal ordinance in Canton that
no western short skirts or short sleeve dresses
shall ha worn in the Streets"
Two other changes Mr.. Chan mentioned as
having been especially important in helping 10
awaken China from her lethargy.
One is the determined struggle against OPIUM
which has led the government to prohioit tne
poppy being grown. If a farmer raises a small
patch of peoples in his garden the farm will be
confiscated by the government. And in one rep
resentative province the penalty Tor smoklns
opium is a fine Tor the first oftense lmprlson-
ment for the second, and the third time the Of
fender is cured-he is executed.
The difficulty in the drug situation is that
japan smuggles opii:ci ana morphine through
Shantung. China claims that that is one reason
why Japan wants to hold the province, and TINS
smuggling hampers the government in Its ell
bforts entirely to stamp out the drug habit.
The other big advance is the new alphabet
which replaces the old 1900 characters OF the
Chinese written language. Mr.. Chan points out
that this written language was like the OLD
Egyptian hieroglyphics, and that a sign ike Two
legs running represents a man. Another IKE a
figure with arms that seems to be sitting down
is the symbol for a woman-she could not run.
The sign for q COW looks like two horns and a
tail; and a flatback, long tail, four legs, repre-
sents a horse.
1t was so hard to master the classics in this
difficult language that scholars sometimes spent
all their lives in the attempt. the common peo-
pe more often than not were unable to read or
write. But in 1912, the minister of education
announced the new national phonetic system OF
forty-nine letters, and now women who have
never been to school are able to learn to read
and write in less than two months. Public
school books, magazines, and newspapers are
being printed in the new system.
This alphabet was a body blow to the old Chi
oSa froditinn of raNpranpp for the WAYS OF one s
ancestors. The flial Chinese had always ac-
copied the tradition that one must not disgrace
these ancestors by improving on the mode OF
life bequeathed by them. But ancestors, like
everything else, are beginning to be regarded
from a twentieth century standpoint in China.