The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1926-03-13

Recently / attended a lecture
on China and, owing to my having
spent some time in that country,
u listened with much interest to
the competent and interesting
speaker, however there was very
little said in this lecture about
the manner of living, the mental
awakening and the view of life of
the Chinese people 1.-THE strangest
racial people on earth).
Lecturers speaking on China
have impressed me as being too
eager to dwell on China's politics
and revolutions. The various
groups of political adventures
and predatory chieftains, amongst
whom at the present time stand
out conspicuously Marshal Chang
Tso-Lin, the Manchurian war lord,
and Marshal Wu-Pie-Fu, who was
ousted from control of the central
governments armies during the
fall Of 1924, and the so-called
christian General (Feng) who
played a prominent part in the
overthrow of Marshal Wu-Pie-Fu
by leaving his sector at the front
during the Civil war of 1924 and
marching his troops into Peking
and taking over the capital while
his superior and commander-in-
chief (Marchal Wu-Pie-Fu) was
directing the government forces at
the front, near Chinwangtae, and
the model Tuchun of Shansi, have
taken up major part Of every
talk on China that / have heard re-
Gently.
Many Questions
/ suppose from time to time
there have been dozen or more
people asked me what thought
about China. But do they ever
consider the extent of what they
ask? There are oyer four hundred
million people residing in China
and, taking them from North to
South and from East to West, they
present as many perplexing con.
trasts as that number of any Other
race may be supposed to. It Il
true that I was stationed at the
capital city, but the fact was 8
handicap rather than an advantage
in studying the Chinese. There
the type is more uniform and les:
pronounced. There is less of the
wildly picturesque or quantity
primitive and more Of the stand
ardized type. Whether this makes
for a more nearly composite and
representative species / do moi
know. To start with: What is il
that most sharply differentiate!
one from another? His clothes
his manners, and his customs fol
one part; and for the other part
his mental makeup and his view
| of life. The latter, of course, is
mainly the difference, the former
| is merely its outward expressions.
Lacking the training of a spec
ialist on psychology, how can ! pro-
ject myself into the national mind
/ of China and then portray it for
you? In the classic phrase of a
u. S. marine 1T can't be did,
can only give the impression ]
have formed through a thousand
little personal contacts, expert
ences and guesses.
Lack Sentiment
The Chinese, believe, are the
most materialistic people in the
world. They are almost entirely
lacking.in sentiment, except Of the
rarest, instructive kind. They like
fine scenery and music (of their
own weird sortl. They are inter-
ested in each other; a play or a
picture interests them; they are
fond Of their children, and young
husbands feel warmly interested
in their brides. Extreme cases
may be prevalent where brides feel
tenderly toward their husbands,
but for passionate feeling, for
stirring and ealf-forvnttinp. ex-