"THINGS CHINESE"

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2262, 23 September 1914, Page 3

"THINGS CHINESE"

- —. —s_ . ■ ADDRESS BY REV. W. E. A. SOUTAR. Some interesting details of Chinese life wero given-by tho K«v. W. E. A. Soutar,. Chinese missionary, in an address delivered in St. John's Hall last night. The Hon. J. G. W. Aitken presided, and, thero was a largo attendance. . ~' ' ' : The title of the address was "Thinge Chinese," and the lecturer had many excellent coloured lantern slides to illustrate it. Mr. Soutar's work took him 1800 miles up tho Yangtse-Kiang River, and tho last 900 miles of that journey had to be taken in a Chinese river boat, "or junk. While the 6cenery in the upper reaches of the Yang'tse was magnificent, many dangerous rapids had to be traversed in the gorges, and the journey was one of great danger. The native boatmen, however, were men of great skill and daring, and usually pulled the boats safely- past the danger spots. Mr.' Soutar said that he always liked to show his gratitude to the rivermeu, so when dangerous places' were safely passed he gave them a feast, with extra vegetables, and some delicacy, such as snails, "for snails, well roasted, were a delicacy not to be despised." (Laughter.) The industrial scenes in the teeming cities of China v/ere particularly interesting.' Chinese barbers plaiting queues is still.a common sight in China, for it is a mistaken belief that the queue has gone out of fashion amongst the denizens of China; they are too conservative to allow a long established oustom to lightly drop out of existence. A great advance in the crusade against the opium traffic has l>eeii: made in four years, and the missionary said that throughout the whole of Central { China it would bo almost impossible ko discover an opium den. Drastic punishment is handed out to oifenders, and the Chinese are by no means backward in devising means for punishing criminals. A slide was shown of one custom, which happily is going out of use. A criminal aoout to he hung is placed upright in a cage, much resembling a wooden tree guard. His head projects through the top, with ■a ring close round his throat. For two or three days he is exhibited like this in public, his feet resting on a large stone. Then,' when public interest has slackened off, tho- stone is kicked ajvay, and the man is allowed t« slowly hang. It is distinctly an Oriental method of-disposing of criminals. A hearty vote of thanks was accorded the lecturer afc the conclusion of his address.