THE NERVELESS CHINAMAN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1062, 27 June 1912, Page 4

THE NERVELESS CHINAMAN.

“Men and Manners of Modern China” is the title of an interesting boolr, full of intimate details of everyday life in China. The author (Mr J. MacGowan) says : One advantage the Celestial has over the Occidental is what may be called his absence of nerves. The rush and race and competition of the West have never yet touched the East. The Orient is sober and measured and never in a hurry. An Englishman, were all other signs wanting, can easily be distinguished as he walks along the road by his rapid stride, the jerky movements of his arms, and the nervous poise of his head, all so different from the unemotional crowd around him, who seem to consider that they have an eternity before them in which to finish their walk, and so there is no need for hurrry. There is no doubt that this absence of nerves is a very important factor in enabling the Chinese to adapt himself so read I >' to any circumstances in which he may be placed. Take the matter of pain. He bears it with the composure ol a saint. The heroic never seems to come out so grandly as when be is enduring some awful suffering that only a martyr would be willing to bear. I have seen a man come into a hospital with a band one mass of inflammation, swollen and angrj'lookiug, that must have been giving him torture. His face was drawn, and its yellow hue had turned to a slightly livid colour, but there were no other signs that he was in agony. The surgeon drove his knife deep into the angry, inflamed mass, but only the sounds “Ai-ya,” uttered with a prolonged emphasis, and the twisting up of the muscles of one side of the face showed that he was conscious of any pain. An Occidental of the same class would most probably have howled, and perhaps a couple of assistants would have had to hold him whilst the doctor was operating.

It is this same spirit that enables the Chinese to bear suffering oi any kind with a patience and fortitude that is perfectly Spartan. He will live from one year’s end to another on tood that seems utterly inadequate lor human use. He will slave at the severest toil, with no Sunday to break its mouotonj' and no change to give the mind rest. He will see sorrow, inevitable, unappeasable, resting over his home, and yet he will go on with the duties ot life with a sturdy tread and a meditative, mystic look upon his face that reminds one ot those statues ot Buddha that one seesin the great temples and monasteries. It is but fair to state here that the women show no less strength of character than the men. They endure pain and sorrow with as uncomplaining a spirit as they do the toils and duties of life, and the hardships brought upon them by the misconduct of their husbands when they become gamblers or opium-smokers are borne with a spirit ot heroism that gives us a high idea of their fortitude and bravery. Another evidence of the strength of the Chinese is the calm and unruffled way in which he will submit to delay and wait the time of others, a thing that so ruffles the temper ot the Occidental. A man, for example, calls upon you tor some special purpose. He has something to ask you that is of the utmost importance to him. When he first addresses you he does not show this either in his face or his manner. You happen to be occupied at the time and you request him to be seated. He does so with the appearance that he has infinite leisure at his command and that he has just dropped in without having any special reason for doing so. Yon suddenly leave the room for a moment, and something engages your attention, so that you forget all about the man. An hour may elapse, and when you return he rises from his seal with a smile upon his face, and with a courteous bow, in either ot which there is not the slightest sign of temper. An Occidental would have fretted and turned, and received you with flaming eyes and a face clouded with indignation, and very likely you would have parted from each other in mutual disgust and displeasure. The absence of nerves and the slaying power that had kept him glued to his chair whilst you had forgotten his very existence are the forces that enable him to gain his purpose in the end. The Englishman would go off in a towering rage. He had been insulted and he eases his mind by a torcible expression of opinion about yourself that will render any further communication with you extremely improbable.