Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1895 — Chinese Boat Dwellers. [ARTICLE]

Chinese Boat Dwellers.

The swarming inhabitants of these floating tenements have their only homes upon the waters of the noble Peking river. The miles of closely crowded boats moving restlessly up and down stream between'the green fields resemble a huge metropolis of vast squares and avenues, riverrocked cradles where the drama of life is enacted by the thousands who glean but a scanty livelihood. As soon as a boy born to one of these river denizens can stand upon his little feet he is strapped to a scull or oar, and begins to go through the motions of propelling the boat, earning his living at least in theory from the earliest age. Whenever his hair is sufficiently long to plait into a respectable tail he begins to manipulate chopsticks, to hate foreigners, to understand the ring of money, and in time to paddle his own small wherry and carry a foreign devil up and down the river. If he wishes to see a little of the world he may ship upon a traveling junk, not to venture, however, outside of Chinese waters, and after accumulating a few dollars he takes unto himself a wife and establishes his home among the river population—the Paris of China.