According to Mr. Milne, “The sacred regard which Chinese pay to the claims of kindred secures to the patriarchs of respectable families ample support in the advanced and helpless stage of their pilgrimage; and charity often relieves poor septuagenarians whose relations may be unable to supply them with comforts or necessaries at their mature age. In China one’s feelings are not harrowed with the sad spectacle of an aged parent discarded by his children, and left to perish, unattended and unnursed, under a scorching sun, or on the banks of a rolling river. But you will see the tottering senior, man or woman, who has not the means to hire a sedan, led through the alleys and streets by a son or a grandchild, commanding the spontaneous respect of each passer-by, the homage of every junior.
“The deference of the polloi to the extreme sections of old age is manifest likewise from the tablets and monuments you may any day stumble upon, that have been erected by public subscription to the memory of octogenarians, nonagenarians, and centenarians. Nor is the government backward in encouraging this, but the reverse. Hence I have often seen very aged men and women in the streets, arrayed in yellow, i. e. imperial, robes, the gift of the emperor, in mark of honor, and out of respect to their gray hairs.” The reader will remember that an honorary degree is given to competitors who have reached an advanced age.
On one occasion, the emperor called together about four thousand old men at his palace, entertained them with a banquet, at which they were served by his own children and grandchildren, presented each of them with money and a yellow robe, and conferred upon the oldest of the assembly, a man aged one hundred and eleven years, the rank and dress of a mandarin.
Family festivals are held, something like the silver and golden wedding of the Germans, to celebrate each decade of life; and so important do the Chinese consider these festivals that they are often held by children even after the death of their parents, the only difference being that they have somewhat of a funeral cast, white, the color of mourning, being substituted for red, the color of joy. On those occasions the children offer gifts, and no present is thought to be more grateful to the recipient than a very handsome coffin. All Chinese who can afford it purchase during their lifetime a coffin as handsome as their means will permit, and so, should they not have been able to purchase this their last resting-place, their children think themselves honored by taking the purchase into their own hands. These coffins are nearly square, are made of immense thickness, and are so carefully cemented that the body may be kept in them without needing burial.
Filial respect is inculcated into the Chinese with their earliest breath, and their youthful minds are filled with legends of pious children. For example: Wu Mang was the son of parents who were too poor to possess mosquito curtains. So at night Wu Mang used to allow the mosquitoes to feed upon him, hoping that they would prefer a young boy to aged people. Wang Liang lost his mother, and had a step-mother who disliked him. Still he behaved to her as though she had been his own mother, and once, when she wished for some fresh fish and the river was frozen, Wang Liang went to the river, took off his clothes, and lay on the ice, hoping to melt it. Suddenly, in reward for his filial conduct, the ice opened, and out leaped two fine carp, which he took to his step-mother. Again, Lae, when he was seventy years of age, dressed and behaved like a child, in order that his parents should not be troubled, when looking at him, with the idea of their own age.
In every town or village, the oldest persons are treated with the greatest consideration, not on account of their rank or wealth, but of their age. Every one gives way to them, they have the best places in the theatres, are brought forward at every public spectacle, and are indulged in every possible way. Such has been the custom from time immemorial in this great nation, which was civilized when the inhabitants of England were naked savages. The oldest civilized nation in the world, they have honored their fathers and their mothers, and their days have been long in the land.
CHAPTER CLVI.
JAPAN.
DRESS—ART—AMUSEMENTS.
POSITION AND NAME OF JAPAN — APPEARANCE OF THE JAPANESE — DRESS OF THE MEN — USE OF SLEEVES — HAIR-DRESSING — COURT DRESS — THE TATTOO AND ITS USES — A STREET SCENE IN JAPAN — DRESS OF THE WOMEN — ARRANGEMENT OF THE HAIR — THE ANCIENT HAIR-PINS — USE OF PAINT — BLACKENING TEETH AND PULLING OUT EYEBROWS — MR. OLIPHANT’S OPINION UPON THE CUSTOM — DISREGARD OF CLOTHING — THE PUBLIC BATHS — HOMERIC SIMPLICITY — JAPANESE DRAWINGS — TRAVELLING IN JAPAN — A LADY ON HORSEBACK — JAPANESE RIDERS — THE GAME OF MALL — HORSE ACCOUTREMENTS — A SINGULAR HORSESHOE — THE NORIMON, OR PALANQUIN — FASHION OF THE POLE — THE CANGO, OR CHAIR — A NOBLE IN HIS NORIMON — ATHLETIC POWERS OF THE JAPANESE — THE LADDER BALANCING, TOP SPINNING, AND BUTTERFLY TRICK.
The Empire of Japan extends over a vast cluster of Islands, of different sizes, situated on the north eastern coast of Asia. There are nearly four thousand of these islands, but the kingdom practically consists of three chief Islands, Niphon, Kiou-siou, or Kew-sew, and Sikok, or Sitkokf. The first of these islands gives its name to the entire empire, our word Japan not having even a Japanese origin, but being a corruption of the Chinese rendering of the word Niphon, i. e. Land of the Sunrise. As might be inferred, it is within the island of Niphon that the capital, Jeddo or Yedo, is placed.
The complexion of the Japanese is yellowish, with a little brown, and in many cases is no darker than that of a Portuguese or southern Italian. The eyes are small, and not so much sunk in the head as those of the Chinese; the hair is black, straight, and coarse, and the nose, though thick, is well formed. Their stature is about equal to that of ordinary Europeans, and their limbs, though not large, are often very powerful, a slightly-made Japanese being able to lift easily a weight which a stalwart Englishman would find a heavy burden.