BY THE SAME AUTHOR The Imperial History of China Being the History of the Empire as compiled by the Chinese Historians SECOND EDITION NOW READY Enlarged and brought up to date. Royal 8vo, half calf. £1 1s. net. To be obtained of KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & Co., Limited, Dryden House, 43 Gerrard Street, London, W.   GOLDEN ISLAND (ON THE YANG-TSE). SIDELIGHTS ON CHINESE LIFE BY Rev. J. MACGOWAN London Missionary Society AUTHOR OF “THE IMPERIAL HISTORY OF CHINA,” “A DICTIONARY OF AMOY

THE CHINAMAN The Chinaman a puzzle—Oblique methods—Instances given—Mind turbid—Shrewd—A bundle of contradictions—No love of truth in the abstract—Hypnotizing power of the Chinese, in business, in foreign official life—Full of human nature—Inability to be thorough. The Chinaman’s mind is a profound and inexplicable puzzle that many have vainly endeavoured to solve. He is a mystery not simply to the foreigner, who has been trained to more open methods of thought, but also to his own countrymen, wh

FAMILY LIFE Chinese character studied in the home—How marriages are arranged in China—Love of husband and wife must be concealed—Daughters go out of clan, sons remain—Story of a famous community in former days—Solidarity of family—Story of general accused of treason—Disposal of sons—Occupation of women in homes—Wife-beating—Suicides of wives—Women treated as inferior—Filial piety, views on—The famous book describing the twenty filial sons—Filial piety not extensively carried out by the Chinese.

CHILD LIFE Passion amongst the Chinese for sons—Rejoicings at the birth of a son—Sorrow at the birth of a girl—Birth of an heir to the throne—The Great Forgiveness—Polite phrase for a girl—Amusements of childhood—Home training to lie and swear—Going to school of the boys—Books they read—Binding of girls’ feet—Origin of this custom—Evils connected with it—Chinese love for home. There is no nation that is fonder of children than the Chinese. They have a perfect passion for them, and it is, very ra

RELIGIOUS FORCES IN CHINA Chinese efforts to propitiate their gods—Figures of men on roofs of houses—Stone tiger—Fung-Shuy—The “Mountain City”—The county of “Peaceful Streams”—Density of population—The “dead hand”—Ancestral worship—Idolatry—Koan-Yin—Heaven—Description of a scene in a popular temple. The Chinese are an exceedingly superstitious people, but they are capable of being intelligently religious when they become acquainted with the truths of the Gospel. Until then all their offerings an

SERVANTS General character of servants—The duties and perquisites of the cook—Taking account with cook—His oblique ideas of morality—The boy, his duties, etc.—The way that small things mysteriously disappear in a house—Percentages—The servant question. The general experience of Englishmen in China with regard to the servants is, taking it all in all, a pleasant one. The average intelligence of the class of men and women that are employed is a fairly good one. They consequently learn their work e

THE ADAPTABILITY AND TENACITY OF PURPOSE OF THE CHINESE Can live and thrive in any climate—Absence of nerves—Bear pain heroically—Great staying power—A long ride through the country—Dogged inflexibility of ordinary Chinese—Contempt for other countries. The strength of the Chinaman lies in his power to adapt himself to the circumstances in which he may be situated. Place him in a northern climate where the sun’s rays have lost their fire, and where the snow falls thickly and the ice lays its wint

AMUSEMENTS Chinese a laughter-loving people—Fond of society—Sources of amusements few—No seaside outings or holidays—New Year’s time—Dragon boat festival—Feast of Tombs—Theatricals—Battledore and shuttlecock—Kites—Punch and Judy. The Chinese are a laughter-loving people, and their broad, unæsthetic-looking faces seem to have been made with a wide and generous area, in order to allow their latent humour to have plenty of scope for its expansion. No matter what a Chinaman does, there always seems

THE FARMER Society divided into four classes—Farmers stand high in the estimation of the nation—Poverty of the Chinese—Money lending and borrowing—Small farms—Cause of poverty—Sell daughters to meet debts—Farmers have to engage in various occupations to meet the necessities of life—Some become coolies—Some chair-bearers—Some emigrate—Chinese farmer second to none in the world—Implements few—His knowledge of manures—Description of rice culture—Tried by droughts—System of tenant farming—Method of

A RAMBLE THROUGH A CHINESE CITY Peculiarities of a Chinese town—Narrow streets—Smells—Mean-looking buildings—One storey—Description of a silk shop—Uncleanness the rule—Sights on the streets—Itinerant kitchen—Crowds on the streets—No rows—A mandarin and his retinue—Beggars—Fish market—Shoe street—No public-houses—An opium den. The sight of a Chinese city is something that one never forgets, for there are so many features about it that are absolutely new, that our minds are so impressed by what we

HADES, OR THE LAND OF SHADOWS Death a great problem that has been studied by the Chinese—Attempts to solve the mystery—Conception of the Dark World—A counterpart of China—Story of the scholar—Other life a continuation of this—Doctrine of retribution—Metempsychosis—Modifications of this great doctrine possible—The stories of the witch—Happiness of the dead influenced by the condition of the graves—No babies in the Land of Shadows. The great problem of death is one that has oppressed the Chinese p

SCHOOLS, SCHOOL-MASTERS, AND SCHOOL-BOOKS Chinese passionately fond of education—Reverence for printed or written words—State makes no laws for the education of the people—The school-house and the school-master—System of teaching—Boys first learn sound of words—After years of study learn the meaning of each character—Small percentage of readers in China—One set of school-books in every school in the Empire—The Three Word Classic —The “Four Books” and the “Five Classics,” with analyses. There is

THE MANDARIN Mandarins’ great power—Ambition of every father that son should be a mandarin—A famous Prime Minister—Description of a mandarin of a county—His three titles—Clever method of squeezing complainant and defendant—A typical case—Crime not noticed until officially brought before the notice of the mandarin—Violations of law by mandarins for the purpose of squeezing—Methods of judicial procedure—Torture used to cause confession—Mandarins allowed large discretionary powers in their decision

PEDDLER LIFE IN CHINA The Chinese thrifty—Nothing wasted—Besides regular shopkeepers, there are itinerant dealers—The “candy man”—His various kinds of sweets—The “sweets and sours man”—The cloth peddler—Describe him minutely—The pork peddler—The jewellery peddler—The fortune-teller. The Chinese are a thrifty race. Stern necessity and a widespread poverty that has placed vast masses of them on the very borderland of starvation, have compelled the nation to exercise economies such as are absolutel

THE SEAMY SIDE OF CHINESE LIFE Some of the moral aspects of the Chinese—Their religion takes no cognizance of men’s lives—Heaven looks after great moral questions—Objectionable features of Chinese society—Unchaste—Foul-mouthed—Passion for gambling—Instances given—Lawless classes numerous—Opium vice—Evil results. The comparatively elevated moral condition of Chinese society is very often a source of pleasure and at the same time of perplexity to strangers who have lived long amongst them, and who