The highest honorary reward of this kind that can be given is an outer garment made of the same material as the umbrella, and also decorated with the names of the principal donors. This robe of honor is carried in procession, hung within a kind of pavilion that all may see it, and accompanied by a band of music. Such a robe is very seldom presented, and the recipient naturally values it very highly.
While treating of honorary rewards, one particular kind must be mentioned. If a man distinguishes himself greatly, and feels that he is under great obligation to some person who has no real claim on him, he will solicit some high title from the emperor, and then ask permission to transfer it to his benefactor. Thus it has frequently happened that a man, without any rank of his own, has taken upon himself the education of a young lad of promising abilities, and has been afterward rewarded by finding himself raised even to a higher rank than that of his protégé. Sometimes, when a man who has been thus educated is presented to a higher title, the emperor bestows on his benefactor the lower rank from which he has been raised. Thus it will be seen that in this country every incentive is employed to promote education among the people, and that not only the educated man obtains the reward which his powers have earned, but that those by whom he was educated have their share in his honors.
CHAPTER CLV.
CHINA—Continued.
SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS.
OPIUM SMOKING — SINGULAR RESULT OF THE HABIT — MODE OF USING THE OPIUM PIPE — TOBACCO SMOKING — THE WATER PIPE — WEIGHTS AND MEASURES — THE STEELYARD AND ITS USES — BOAT-LIFE IN CHINA — CORMORANT FISHING — FISH SPEARING — CATCHING FISH WITH THE FEET — THE DUCK BOATS — AGRICULTURE — MODE OF IRRIGATION — CHINESE MUSIC AND INSTRUMENTS — A SKILFUL VIOLINIST — CHINESE SINGING — ART IN CHINA — PORCELAIN — CARVING IN IVORY AND JADE — MAGIC MIRRORS — RESPECT TO AGE.
We will conclude this subject with a short account of the miscellaneous manners and customs of the Chinese.
Among the chief of their characteristic customs is opium smoking, a vice which is terribly prevalent, but which is not so universally injurious as is often stated. Of course, those who have allowed themselves to be enslaved by it become gradually debased, but the proportion of those who do so is very small, though, by the terrible sight which they present, they are brought prominently into notice. It seems, moreover, that the quantity consumed at a time is not of so much importance as the regularity of the habit.
Let a man once fall into the way of smoking opium, though it be but one pipe, at a certain hour of the day, that pipe will be an absolute necessity, and he takes it, not so much to procure pleasure, as to allay the horribly painful craving from which he suffers. In fact, a man destroys his health by opium smoking in China, much as a drunkard does in England, not so much by taking immoderate doses occasionally, but by making a habit of taking small doses repeatedly. From such a habit as this very few have the courage to break themselves, the powers of their mind being shattered as well as those of the body.
A confirmed opium smoker really cannot exist beyond a certain time without the deadly drug, and those who are forced to exert themselves are generally provided with some opium pills, which they take in order to give them strength until they can obtain the desired pipe. An anecdote illustrative of this practice is narrated by Mr. Cobbold in his “Pictures of the Chinese”:—
“A small salesman, or pedler, was seen toiling along with great difficulty through the gates of Ningpo, as if straining every nerve to reach some desired point. He was seen to stagger and fall, and his bundle flew from him out of his reach. While many pass by, some good Samaritan comes to him, lifts up his head, and asks what is the matter, and what he can do for him. He has just strength to whisper, ‘My good friend, please to untie that bundle; you will find a small box in the centre; give me two or three of the pills which are in it, and I shall be all right.’ It was soon done; the opium pills had their desired effect, and he was soon able to rise and pursue his journey to his inn.”
This most graphically describes the extreme state of exhaustion which comes on if the usual period of taking the pipe has passed by. The pedler thought, no doubt, he had strength just to reach his inn, where he would have thrown himself upon a bed and called for the opium pipe; but he miscalculated by a few minutes his power of endurance, and the pills (often resorted to in like cases of extremity), when supplied him by his friend, perhaps saved him from an untimely end. Very similar scenes have happened to foreigners travelling in sedan chairs through the country, the bearers having been obliged to stop and take a little of the opium, in order to prevent complete exhaustion. A long hour or more, in the middle of the day, has frequently to be allowed, nominally for the sake of dinner and rest, but really, in some instances, for the opium pipe.