Chin-Chin; Or, The Chinaman at Home

There are perhaps in China alone more philosophers than could be found in all the rest of the world put together. To give an idea of the ways of thinking of these thinkers, who...

So many dreadful things have been said about Chinese cooking, that I think it indispensable to devote a chapter to the rehabilitation of our culinary art. I do not pretend to ma...

From break of day, which is saluted in every house with formidable detonations of crackers, all the functionaries of the capital betake themselves to the Imperial Temple to pres...

A rather curious coincidence exists in the two antipodes of the globe. In France, when a man retires from business or from official life, he says, “I am going to plant cabbages....

There are no theatres in China, like the Egyptian Hall in London, that is to say, conjuring theatres. The conjurer has to perform in public, in the squares, and places like his...

The districts in China most favoured by nature are, without doubt, Hang-Tcheou and Sou-Tcheou. The first possesses the lake of Sou-Hou, rich in beautiful surroundings. The river...

It is on the eighth day of the fourth moon—which corresponds to the month of May of the Gregorian calendar—that the great ceremony of the ordination of the Buddhist priests, als...

In no country, so much as in China, has the belief in phrenologists and chiromancists been so general. According to these men of science, every mark on the face and body has its...

In China the Taoists alone have religious processions, which is logical enough, as it is their custom to represent their gods in human figures. To mention only the principal cer...

I remember reading in Mr. Paleologue’s clever book, “L’Art Chinois,” the statement “that China never had but one single style of architecture, throughout all the periods of its...

When a child in China reaches the age of five or six years, his parents, no matter what their position may be, begin to think about giving him a master, so that his education ma...

China has had its great art epochs, but for the last few centuries, education having been a purely literary one, art seems to have lost ground to a certain extent. However, it m...

It is terribly hot, forty degrees in the shade, and summer has only just begun. It is the fifth day of the fifth moon, the date on which the Fête of the Dragon is celebrated.

Our card games are more complicated than those played in Europe. One of the reasons of this is the number of cards in the Chinese pack, which contains 120, subdivided into four...

We have no official lottery, and, unless I am greatly mistaken, we never did have one. The private lottery, however, which is generally very advantageous to its promoters, does...

The Feast of Lanterns comes almost directly after that of the New Year. It may almost be said that one is the complement of the other, as the latter in date takes place from the...

One is none the less a woman for being a Chinese woman. Woman is the same everywhere. It is she who charms us—not to say who rules us. And no matter in what part of the globe, i...

In literary circles in China, the most popular amusement is to make verses. Instead of shooting, or playing lawn-tennis, or croquet, or of indulging in any of the many pleasures...

That tea is our favourite drink is very generally known, but people may perhaps ignore the considerable part that it plays in our lives. I will not speak here either about its c...

This game differs very much from the one played in Europe, and which is the delight of the _habitués_ of the European chess clubs. In our game there are three hundred and sixty-...

The holidays begin ten days before the end of the year, so that everybody may have time to prepare for this great solemnity. For in China there are no legal holidays, and busy p...

Wine was first manufactured in China by a functionary named I-Ti, under the reign of Emperor U (22,000 years before Christ), from fermented rice. The sovereign was the first to...

This fête is celebrated in the eighth month of the year. It lasts six days, beginning on the 10th and ending on the 15th, with the full moon. It is thought that on that night th...

Beautiful women are called in China flowers, or jade jewels, or still better, the destroyers of the empire, or the destroyers of cities. The latter nicknames originated in a poe...

I say fans in the plural, because we have two kinds, the folding fan and the round fan. We use the former during the mild seasons, and the latter during the very hot weather. Th...

The theatre in China is always a private institution. We have no State-supported theatres, but, on the other hand, many rich people have theatres in their houses. In the north o...

A number of people believe in spirits, and make it a pleasure to summon them into their presence by way of pastime. A cylindrical box, containing a number of little sticks, each...

According to the Book of Rites, the host at a dinner party had to offer these arrows to his guests, and it was their duty to refuse them at first, but after some pressing to acc...

If a certain number of men of letters take refuge in the pleasures of gardening, fishing also has its number of votaries. The bulk of these are men who, having lost all the illu...

Although our chopsticks may have some resemblance to magic wands, the purpose they fulfil is a much more prosaic one, and, at the same time, a much more useful one. They are the...

The two stars, called Niou-Lang, the Shepherd, and Tsi-Nu, the Weaver, are situated, the first on the eastern shore of the Milky Way—the Tien-Ho, as we call it, or River of Heav...

According to the Book of Rites, the Emperor and the Royal Princes had to go to the chase whenever politics allowed them any leisure. As for the people, the chase was a military...

There was a tropical heat that day, not a breath of wind stirring, and not a shady corner to be found anywhere. It was one of those stifling and suffocating days of our Chinese...

Our forefathers used to say that to find pleasure it must be sought for either on the mountains or on the water, and it is quite true that if you want to enjoy fine weather, you...

China never knew those horrible arena fights which were the passing pleasures, and will be the eternal shame, of ancient Rome. We never gave for the amusement of our refined fol...

This feast falls on the fifteenth day of the second moon, but is, in practice, prolonged until the end of spring. It is also called “the feast of mild warmth.” This is the best...

Kite-flying, which since the earliest ages has been popular in China, is, without possible contradiction, the game which best exercises the bodies of children. The boy runs back...