There are some countries in the world where an insurance company would be ruined in a very short time, if it paid the insurance claims of men who kill themselves. In China, for instance, let a company start upon this basis, and it would do a flourishing business for a short time. Men in China are much more ready than others to die for the benefit of their families or themselves; and a Chinese who could make a good thing by killing himself would be sure to do it. A company doing business in the way I have just stated would find, some pleasant morning, that about half of its policy-holders were dead, and the other half were making their preparations for blotting themselves out of existence. The Chinese loves his family, and would think he was doing a nice stroke of business by insuring his life for their benefit, and then, quietly bidding them good by, “handing in his checks.” If he could effect an insurance for a thousand dollars, he would spend a hundred in having a glorious spree, and leave nine hundred dollars to his afflicted widow.
EXECUTION OF A CHINESE CRIMINAL.
CHINESE SUBSTITUTES.
The indifference of the Chinese to death may be well illustrated by an allusion to the substitute system, as practised in the Celestial Empire. Persons condemned to death for certain offences are allowed to die by a substitute. This would be utterly impossible in America, as one could nowhere buy a substitute who would be willing to die for a stipulated sum; but in the Celestial Empire it is easy enough to find a man who is ready to take the place of one accused of a crime and ordered to be executed. The real culprit sends a friend to make the negotiations. The broker can find a man for about six hundred dollars, half down, and the balance on the fulfilment of the contract. The cash is paid, and the time fixed for the execution, both of the contract and substitute. With the money in hand, the substitute assembles his friends, and they have a right royal spree. Everybody gets blind drunk on samshoo or opium, and when the money is all expended, the substitute bids farewell to his friends, and delivers himself up for sacrifice. He is led to the place of execution, where he drops on his knees. His head is bent forward, the executioner’s sword whizzes through the air, and the substitute is a head shorter by the operation. The culprit, who has thus satisfied the law by proxy, pays over the balance of the money to the widow of the departed; everything is lovely, and everybody is happy.
XXXIII.
RAILWAY TUNNELS.