THE MODERN CHINESE

Hokitika Guardian, 13 November 1920, Page 4

THE MODERN CHINESE

(By 'Richard Oliver.) HONG KONG, Sept. 20. The Chinese are a most difficult peopie to understand because they seem to Europeans to possess so many contradictory characteristics. Some of the earliest scientific achievements originated in China. The Great Wall, the Grand Canal, and the famous irrigation systems, at the time of their completion, excelled anything in Europe. Printing and gunpowder were invented in China. The first newspaper was •tlie Peking Gazette. And yet, in the recent centuries, no great inventions have come from China, although in small details the Chinese are still remarkably ingenious. Every Briton who lives in tho Far East seems to like the Chinese, and ye' there still exists in the minds of the learned men of China, traces of that intellectual arrogance which made them, only a century ago, refer to the British traders at Canton las “outer barbarians.” They called the vessels of the old East India Company “devil’s ships.” Despite this intellectual arrogance, thousands of young Chinese are learning Western science to-day. But they sometimes seem to us to he eon- ! ecited because of tlicir sublime belief , in the value of their knowledge. The greatest ambition of any Chinese i man or woman is to have a son. But | in no country is there such a lack of forethought concerning posterity. While we of the West devote our deepest thoughts to and make great sacrifices for posterity, the Chinese impress upon their children the duty of ancestor worship. On my first Sunday in Hong-kong a Chinese coolie fell down under a blazing sun, in the road and lay like a log. A dozen companions dropped their loads and calmly sat on a wall waiting for him either to die or to pick up his burden again. They would not touch him. Despite the frantic expostulations of another Englishman- and myself they remained stationary and apparently callous. We carried the insensible man into tlie shade, administered brandy, and tried to revive him. He died in a few minutes. Even then his companions would not touch him, and Indian policemen had to be summoned in order to move the poor dead bddy- to tlie mortuary. And yet if that coolie has posterity and they could in any way manage to pay for a funeral his children and his children’s children will worship and pay deep homage at his grave. For all their seeming callousness, the Chinese arc often kind-hearted and generous. They will allow men to die of starvation by the roadside, but many of these, especially those affected hv the teachings' of Buddha, "ill not kill even body-lice. But although ti e great majority of Chinese seem to !k callous of human life, the Tung Wail Hospital, a great charity managed by the Chinese in Hong-Kong is probable tlie biggest organisation of its kind in the world. In no part of the world is economy of material carried to such a fine pitch as in China. The people, however,, seem almost incapable of economising time or labour. They originated wonderful structures, such as tlie Great Wall and the pagodas, hut they seldom or never repair. Machinery is allowed to smash and go to ruin for the want of just a little knowledge or atten- ! tion, and yet the Chinese mechanic: is perhaps- the most ingenious and industrious artisan in the world. The Chinese loathe fighting and despise tlie soldier, but they were the firjr people to practice passive resistance and the boycott. They have often beer, conquered, hut their victors have always been absorbed by the Chinese.