The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1925-01-27
Crude Methods of Growing and
Harvesting Cotton. How ARMS
tice Is Celebrated. Superstitions
OF the People. Many Are Being
Cbristianized by Missionaries.

&C E. the young son of Mr.. and
Mrs c. E. Lockett who is in the
o.yv on the steamship Blackhawk, has
,,~;tten an interesting letter to Mr..
NJ n. Harper from Shanghai, China,
=. which he tells of conditions i'll that
country and the customs and superstl-
cons OF the people. He requested that
.be letter be given to The Dawson
News. because l want you people at
home to know a few facts about the
curious Orient and its people"
"Out here in China" he says, many
, GREAT day have l spent i'll riding
donkevs into the country sightseeing.
THE Chinese are a very cunning, Graf
Fl, and superstitious race. One of the
sroerstitions is that if a Chinaman
walks under a tree and the evil spirits
are stronger than the good spirits
aver him the tree will fall on him. So
very few Cinnamon who worship
Rnddha walk under trees. Another SUI
derstition is this: A Chinese fisher
man will deliberately sail his ship
Isam pam in Chinese) across the bow
n bio ship as close as he can be-
cause he believes if the big ship misses
him he is free from the evil spirit Tor
long time.
Spectacular Armistice Celebration.
"Now a most interesting thing in
reoard to Chinese superstition. Ar
mi,tice day was celebrated by the
Chinese at night by sailing big junk
hin ont into the middle OF the 4angtz
river about a mile from where my
shin IS anchored and began to throw
big balls OF cotton fiber saturated
with some kind of chemical that burn
Cd on water into the river, and every
ball made a different colored flame.
On NV ship the officers saw the are
and called fifty men to man the boats
and 90 to the fire as rescue party.
We'll. of course, we didn't know but
that it was a big fire disaster ana SO
went to help save the ship and crew.
When we arrived on the scene we
fonnd A hundred or more Cinnamon on
the old Junk praying to Buddha, and
one Chinaman who could speak Eng
Gsh told us that it was not tre but
sacrifice to the Chinese god OF the
river to ward off the evil spirit,
THE Chinese will let man drown
in the river when he falls over the
side OF a ship, because they believe II
thew rescue him that Buddha Will
descend upon them and burn out their
eves There are many more such SUI
nqrstitions. but l can't tell them all at
once and give the rest OF my story
Having told of the beliefs OF the
rreducated Buddhists | will tell OF the
Ligher class OF Chinese. Many OF the
Chinese are not like those mentioned
above because many are Christians
and are very good citizens. This class
N Chinese have woke up so to speak
Due to the great work OF the Aliiel-
lean mission forces in China there are
now many great universities sprihghg
IN in which the Chinese boys ana
Girls are being educated IN knghsni
As well as their native tongue. One OF
these is Boone University, erected at
Woo Sang. 800 miles north OF Shang-
hail. on the Yangtse river. Fifteen
hundred boys are being educated each
wear in this great university Last year
29 OF the graduates went to England
and the states for professional courses
Farming in China.
There are very few things grown
in China. The crops mainly are Vege-
n tables and rice and the poppy plant
& Along the Woo Lung river there are
thousands and thousands OF acres OF
poDpies. from which the sickly drug
opium is made, and the same NUMBER
of acres of rice for food. Cinnamon
like the Philippine, eat no bread, us
inc rice instead. The Chinese farmer
raises a little cotton, but the farmers
Of Terrell county will laugh at MI
Chinaman when | tell how he grows
it. He p1ows the soil up into great
beds about a foot high and SIX teet
y wide and sometimes a mile long. men
he sows the seed like you sow oats;
and goes back home and sits around
until autumn comes and the cotton IS
killed bv frost. Then he cuts all the
stalks heaps them into great PIE
Fl in the center of his farm and his W1fe
end children pick the few locks OF
lint and haul it away. Alter his
family finishes picking the Int MI
Chinaman stores his stalks in straw
huts for caraboa feed The caraboa IS
like COW, of course, and IS USED III
tilling the soil. Now that he has
gathered his crop he has enough stalks
to iced hall the caraboa in CHINA I'M u,
Fl til next summer, and just enough INT
cotton to stuff one mattress. | nave
asked many questions in regard 10
this crude way of growing cotton ana
my reason for the pndeveloped cotton
Industry is that cotton is used IN such
lew ways in China. Some OF the rev
things made of cotton are ropes nsh-
ing nets and garments OF clothing
and mainly sails for the fishing BOATS
Vow boats bring to mind an IN
teresting thing. In China there mas
been superstitious belief for centuries
and centuries that if ship has no
eyes it cannot see its way at nlgnt.
When you ask water rat, as the
his boat has eyes he will always an
s"er by saying, Ship no got eye no
can see velly dark Mite