Sidelights on Chinese Life

The Chinaman a puzzle--Oblique methods--Instances given--Mind turbid--Shrewd--A bundle of contradictions--No love of truth in the abstract--Hypnotizing power of the Chinese, in...

Chinese character studied in the home--How marriages are arranged in China--Love of husband and wife must be concealed--Daughters go out of clan, sons remain--Story of a famous...

Passion amongst the Chinese for sons--Rejoicings at the birth of a son--Sorrow at the birth of a girl--Birth of an heir to the throne--The Great Forgiveness--Polite phrase for a...

Chinese efforts to propitiate their gods--Figures of men on roofs of houses--Stone tiger--Fung-Shuy--The "Mountain City"--The county of "Peaceful Streams"--Density of population...

General character of servants--The duties and perquisites of the cook--Taking account with cook--His oblique ideas of morality--The boy, his duties, etc.--The way that small thi...

The strength of the Chinaman lies in his power to adapt himself to the circumstances in which he may be situated. Place him in a northern climate where the sun's rays have lost...

The Chinese are a laughter-loving people, and their broad, unæsthetic-looking faces seem to have been made with a wide and generous area, in order to allow their latent humour t...

Society divided into four classes--Farmers stand high in the estimation of the nation--Poverty of the Chinese--Money lending and borrowing--Small farms--Cause of poverty--Sell d...

Peculiarities of a Chinese town--Narrow streets--Smells--Mean-looking buildings--One storey--Description of a silk shop--Uncleanness the rule--Sights on the streets--Itinerant k...

Death a great problem that has been studied by the Chinese--Attempts to solve the mystery--Conception of the Dark World--A counterpart of China--Story of the scholar--Other life...

The geomancer--Description of--Instances of his profession--Fung-Shuy--Laws of geomancy--The quack--His methods--Instances given--Disreputable character of the story-teller--Exa...

Chinese passionately fond of education--Reverence for printed or written words--State makes no laws for the education of the people--The school-house and the school-master--Syst...

Mandarins' great power--Ambition of every father that son should be a mandarin--A famous Prime Minister--Description of a mandarin of a county--His three titles--Clever method o...

The Chinese thrifty--Nothing wasted--Besides regular shopkeepers, there are itinerant dealers--The "candy man"--His various kinds of sweets--The "sweets and sours man"--The clot...

Some of the moral aspects of the Chinese--Their religion takes no cognizance of men's lives--Heaven looks after great moral questions--Objectionable features of Chinese society-...

Preparations for the journey--Headman of sedan--chair shop--Fares settled--Morning scene--Chinese disregard of time--Start on journey--Scenery--Rice-fields--Great roads and smal...