The Detroit tribune. (Detroit, Mich.) 1935-1966, 1936-12-12

- : 80 MRS.
Schuyler Says.
China Changes

And My People" (Reynal & Hitch
cock publishers). He has not spar
ed China's faults and he cherishes
her virtues. He is that best OF all
patriots, an honest one.
The Chinese represent the worlds
| Oldest continuous civilization. They
have tried and discarded many
ideas which still occupy us and
which we consider very new and
daring. Thousands of years ago
they began writing poetry, painting
exquisite porcelain and philoso-
phizing. They arrived at an econo-
mic Interpretation Of history long
before Russia, but they applied 1t
differently. They are such an ex-
tremely practical people that reli-
gion with them never became what
it is in the West When people tell
you that morality Is impossible
without a belief in hereafter
and rewarding God, they don't
/ hIlOW lilt ShihtoCs
them is a code of conduct which
has nothing whatever to do with
supernaturalism This largest ma
ton of people In the world con-
cluded millenniums ago that Man
should try to do good because II is
the human. decent thing to do, not
because of some threatened punish
ment in the hereafter. Mans right
to happiness Is considered by them
the greatest right, the solo aim of
life and the only meaning Of exis-
tence. Along with this extremely
sane attitude went other qualities
not so desirable. The Chinese way
of life was so satisfying. so COM
plete that they forgot to keep up
with. the rest of the world. They
became over cultivated, over arts
tic, too exquisite. j.,
Though they had paper and
books when the English were still
skipping around in wolf skins, and
first invented gun powder. they
were rudely awakened from their
elegant dreams by an English gun
boat during the last Century. Be-
fore they knew what was happen
ing the white man had seized their
best ports, imposed taxes on them,
taken over their opium trade and
was calling them inferior yellow
savages."
Sell Doubt
China was at first unbelieving.
then amazed, and after she was
firmly in chains she seethed with
fury. She suffered a prOtracted
period of extreme self-doubt, when
she was Disguised with everything
Chinese and adulatd the superb
cialities of the West. But the World
War showed her the weaknesses Of
Western culture. She took courage
and became critical and rebellious.
Then for a time everything Wes-
tern became bad" and even the
most outworn, nonsensical Chinese
custom was considered sacred.
Girls who curled their hair, la
West, or wore French hooiS- wore
cried down. Returning students
from American Universities rushed
to don the ancient pajamas and en-
brace Confuscianism. This period
is now passing, too. The New
China is becoming industrialized
and modern. There is no other way
for her to meet the West.
Women In China
Family life was, and still is, the
hub of Chinese Civilization. In the
past mother and wife were wor-
shipped. They were also secluded.
uneducated, and made the play
things of their men. Sometimes.
when they got old and had daugh-
-in-law, they ruled them and
their sons with an iron hand thus
getting back little of their own
Though the Sing-Song girls were
allowed more freedom, for the men
had to- have female companions In
| their pleasures, they never de-
veloped any individuality. So much
was. this the case, that when the
French eourtezan arrived on the
scene, she had the Chinese roues
at her feet in no time.
Binding the feet so that the lady
| could flutter instead of walk was
the ancient Chinese lords idea of
extreme sensuality. He had be-
come so fat and sedentary that he
could not hut resent a woman who
could run So the three inch FOOT"
or little golden lilies" as the
poets called them; became the IA
shion. At any cost the male must
remain superior. With female weak
ened, too feminized, the nation be-
came flabby, fell like an over-ripe
peach into the greedy, muscular,
hungry hands of. Westerpers.
Bound Feet versus Nudity
The Machine Age doomed all
Il is elegant. nonsense. Scholars
began to desert their lum blossoms
aid poetry for scientific treatises
OF sanitation. Philosophy Is fall
il 2 before the, onslaught Of nudist
Gifts, and CONTIGUOUS is finding
RStF Marx stimulating company.
@. igpfeee., bathing suits force the
c linese girl to, go in for sports to
p reserve her figure and her babies
Will be stronger for It,. b.
N24''' Janan And china