The Lady Celestial at Home.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 376, 12 June 1889, Page 4

The Lady Celestial at Home.

Gjsnerali Toiikng-Ki-Koug contributes a very interesting letter on the Blue Stockings of China to the Paris • Figaro,' in which he introduces what proves to be a valiant defence of the lady Celestials, by pointing out that, beside 3 the China as depicted by travellers, there ia ' a China which is not seen, because it hides itself modestly, but which it is not the less worth while for Europeans to study.' According to travellers' tales the Chinese woman is an illiterate slave. This is an enormous mistake, arising out of (he fact that Europeans, not being allowed to &cc Chinese women at home, write of them from hearsay or from their own imagination. The real lucts about the Chinese women are these: — 'Shut up in her house, she is never talked about, but she is theretoro all the busier. Silently she fulfils her duties as wife and ac mother, helps her husband and her son with her counsel, which is often more thoughtful, more wiso and more prudent than the decisions of the man. Oui Government knows how to appreciate the part played by the woman. It often recompenses her ! by giving her titles and honour.% and by ! even allowing her to wear a uniform. Moreover, in urgent cases, and during tho absence ot her husband, the wife ot the Chinese iunctionary has the right to take cases into her own hands and to decide upon them as she thinks fit. 1 But while the Chinese lady is thus emancipated, she does not allow her emancipation to be proclaimed abroad, for, c-ide by side with man, she holds a sufficiently I important place to have no need of demanding more than is given to her. ' Man on his part is only too happy to allow her whom ' [ he loves to partake in his honour and lor- ! tune, and woman, knowing full well that alone she cannot attain to her present prosperity, makes it her inte>es>t to bi ing her husband forvvai'd, to help him to advance. But, gitted as she is with many and great talents, her choicest ornament is still her I modesty.' Ever hinco the days ot old. China has celebrated its heroines, its lady historians, poets and authors, but never has there been known, among all the host of gioat women and good, a single female politician, and this General Tcheng-Ki-Tong considers to be a very good thing, by which woman herself can only gam — 'and we men also.' Since the days when Confucius wrote the 300 odes in his 'Book of Women,' which are duo to the inspiration of a youner girl, authoresses have always been honoured in China, and they have always been numerous, even to the present day, when the voices of many poetesses are listened to in the Far East. With regard to the subject generally chosen by modern Chinese poetesses the gallant Gcneial says: — 'Their favourite subjects are always flowers, the moon, birds, the zephyr music, and, in fact, all the graceful themes which strike the imagination, and the tenderness of which harmonises so well with the female character. It will always be a woman's tendency to turn towaids those delicately poetic regions where she feels at ease and where she is truly " at home." '