Intimate China: The Chinese as I Have Seen Them

by Mrs. Archibald Little

Here is a characteristic bit of Chinese advice:

"With regard to your walking, I observe that your manner is too animated. Are you more quiet now? Your utterance is also far too rapid for clearness of pronunciation. You should cultivate more repose of manner. Are you improving in these two respects? These two cautions you are to keep constantly in mind, and see if you cannot make a change for the better."

FORTRESS OF REFUGE, COUNTRY HOUSE, AND MEMORIAL ARCH.
By Mrs. Archibald Little.

One has constantly to remind oneself in China that the stolidity one sees around one is assumed in accordance with etiquette, and that in reality far more emotion is felt than shown in a land where only street arabs dare to be altogether natural and smile when they see one.

In all the throes of the revolution the busy statesman yet had time to think, like Mr. Gladstone, of la petite culture:

"I think it would be well for you to select several plots of land, and devote them exclusively to the raising of vegetables. At our cantonments I have turned many of our braves into gardeners. The land has been laid out in beds thirty feet by five, separated by paths and little water-ways, so that the vegetables should not be drowned after heavy rains. In the province of Szechuan I first saw gardening of this kind. The processes of irrigation are there carried to great perfection; and they seem certainly to have caught the ideas and practice of the ancients. In our region of the country very little land is set aside for the cultivation of vegetables. I wish my family to set the precedent of taking seemingly sterile tracts of mountainous land or wet, marshy places, and making them useful in raising fruit and vegetables. Though the cultivation of tea may yield greater profit in some of the valleys, yet I am convinced if my scheme is carried out no one need complain of poverty in all that region. All that is needed is to be judicious and persevering."

But his letter on hearing of his son's marriage is more striking. It will be observed there is no comment on either the looks or character of the new bride, no hope ever expressed that she may be such as to conduce to his son's happiness. Any such idea would be strange to a Chinaman:

"Your letter containing an account of your marriage has been duly received. It will be a great pleasure to your mother to have a daughter-in-law. I am also greatly rejoiced that the affair is so happily ended. Now that your household is established, it behoves you to follow the example of successful men in regulating your domestic affairs. One habit to be especially cultivated is that of early rising. In summer and winter alike in our family our ancestors were never in bed after four o'clock in the morning. My great-grandfather, Ching Hsi-kung, and grandfather, Hsing Kang-kung, usually arose before daylight in all seasons of the year. My father, Chu T`ing-kung, if he had any important business on hand, would often rise once or twice during the night, and begin operations often before dawn. You yourself can bear witness to that fact. I trust that these family habits, which have been conserved with such good effects these many generations, will not be discontinued. You should set an example of early rising, diligence in business, and perseverance before your wife, and thus lead her to cultivate the same virtues. Here, as in all things, practice makes perfect. As to myself, I have found that when I lacked in perseverance nothing was completed, and character as well as business suffered. This I consider disgraceful in the extreme. Afterwards, when appointed to military command, I made up my mind to execute my sovereign's will to the best of my abilities. However, even in this good purpose I regret that I have so often lagged, much to my shame and discomfiture.