THE REAL CHINA

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 191, 22 November 1910, Page 3

THE REAL CHINA

CHINES]-] WOMEN. SOME LIGHTS OX CHINESE CUSTOMS-. By James Thorpe, C'.E. (Written for the Taranaki Daily News.) No. 3, A woman in China is 'simply a thing like a chair, stool, table or cow. She is only p. possession, to be transferred for a price. Call the price a present to the parents if you like; all the same, a price. And she has no say in the matter at all. as in the case of a table or a eo'.v. An ordinary village woman i.s worth about 200 dollars (Is Od— C I*7 10s). One of my carpenters ran off with the wife of one of my No. 1 coolies on the Yingtak bridge work. They wove caught by the police, and, while he paid his way out of the clutches of the police, lie left her to be brought back, and handed back to the tender mercies of her busband. According to Chinese custom he could chop her to pieces if he liked. I sent him word that if there was ■to be any chopping it must bo done away from the works, out of my sight and hearing, otherwise, there would'be shooting from my end. The Divisional Engineer and I later agreed to buy her for 200 dollars, the price I found out bv fossicking, rather than that she should be turned into mince-meat. Finally my No. 1 coolie was swayed by better feelings than the usual (perhaps it was policy, for I also out of policy helped him all I could and sho\yed him marked favour), and he simply tied her up in her sampan, and the coolies used to jeer at her from outside. She wtfs there for weeks before regaining her liberty. On top of the last flood there passed by at Yingtak, opposite my camp, a pair, man and woman, tied nicely together and nicely drowned. They had evidently tried to run away, been caught and generously sent away on their journey again., * MY PROPERTY.

Now I have tried to find out the why and wherefore of things, and on this woman question witli the Chinese, a man objects to anyone running oft' with his wife, not because she is his wife but because she is l»is property as much as liis table and his cow. He paid so many dollars for her, just as he did for the cow, and it is death to the man who would rob him-of his dollars and death to her, at his option, for trying to cheat, him of his water-carrier, carrier of wood, clothes washer, and cook. I said "at his option," because, as far as I could see, our friend the magistrate does nothing whatever Pekin paper laws mav say,' but simply goes along by the line of least resistance and cloaking his neglect, if neglect it be, with the good oltl excuse, "It is the custom." " "IT IS THE CUSTOM."'

And here I may say lies the kernel of Chjnese government from highest to lowest, and' Chinese conduct in every grade of life—"lt is the custom." The authority\n China is not the Pekin government, the edicts signed with the Vermillion pencil, the laws that lie thick and pretty on the statute book, and with which to throw dust in the eyes of tour-ist-route travelling foreigners, but "It is •the custom," and as every district and even valley and village has its own variations, wliy then there is much to learn. China, as I said before, is governed not according to paper laws that give China the semblance of being civilised, but simply according to custom, and 1 have given you a peep at some of them already. Here is another. Kidnapping of little girls is rampant. These girls are, of course, fed up as you would feed ordinary stock for use. When nicely grown they are either sold to buyers, sometimes foreigners, or disposed ol otherwise. CHINESE MOTHERS.

While on this woman subject I must say that the women yearn for children, and she reckons herself blest indeed whose "quiver is full of them" and curst who has none. The latter will spend many a wax taper and pay many a visit to the temple dedicated to the gods of procreation; slie will prostrate herself, weep bitter tears, cry aloud in her shame and pray for the glorious gift of a baby boy. If she is childless she is relegated to the lowest position. But the woman who bears many children, and especially if they be males, is blest indeed. The mother of many male children is honoured with much honour by her people, and rightly so. I say this to the credit side of China. What is the New Zealand girls' attitude on this baby question? Not much to their credit, I think. Our existence as a nation depends upon our powers of defence, and i I don't suppose there is anyone to contradict me when I say that our power i for defence depends upon our numbers. We must have population at once, even of by introducing 20 millions now by immigration.