Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 January 1912 — HOME LIFE IN CHINA [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOME LIFE IN CHINA

HOME, as in all civilized countries, forms the very > heart and center of the life or China. Population being so much greater there than in any other” country, it follows that the average home must occupy very limited quarters. But the natives of China have learned to make a real abiding place in the smallest possible space, so that a single room with mud floor and sometimes a low attic overhead, where the children sleep, forms the extent of great numbers of homes among the respectable people of that country. In any 'small village or hamlet In central China you will find the one or two streets lined on either side with long rows of one-storied buildings, with roofs of thatch or tiles. There may be a half dozen houses under one long roof, but partitions extending the whole width of the building separate them from one another. China is full of villages, as the farmers group their dwellings close together for safety. A square hole half-way up the front wall, covered with light paper or else transparent oyster shells, answers of a window. This, with the front door, which usually stands open, in pleasant weather, admits the light and air into the abode. The house Itself Is very poorly constructed, as it is made of a single layer of adobe bricks piled up on their thin edges and plastered over on the outside. There are very few really substantial buildings in the whfele of China except an occasional temple. But such are the homes where are born and reared large families of children and where parents and grandparents live from one generation to another. Perhaps the ancestors of the grandfather have lived In this very spot for hundreds of years! The house may have been , torn down and rebuilt many times, but the sacredriess of home has never been removed from it. It Is very likely, too, that some of these small, one or two roomed abodes have been the of some of the renowned meh of China. It Is just here that class distinction, for which China is noted, makes a break And does not recognize caste. There may be a low lean-to at the back of this dwelling, and In it you will see piles of sticks, dried leaves and bundles of cotton stalks. This Is the fuel stored up for the winter months and is sufficient to furnish fire for all the cooking in that large family. Fuel is scarce in China, and every possible material that cannot be used for anything else is utilized for It You will learn on this visit that of all people on the face of the earth the Chinese take the prize for real practical economy. The stove ts made of a .few fire bricks so arranged with a hole in the top that a large copper pan can be placed directly over the fuel, and very close to it so that not any of the heat is lost, and the stew, or rice, is almost instantly simmering, and before you are aware the meal is ready for the table. At the table each one’s place is not marked by» knives, forks, plates, spoons, and so forth, but there is only a pair of chop-sticks and a small porcelain spoon for each member of the family. A large dish of steaming stew, in which there are plenty of pieces of pork and different kinds of vegetables, is place in the mjddle of each of the square tables, for there are usually several of these, 'according to the number of the household. Perhaps some dried fish is also there, and before the meal is finished each person Is supplied with a heaping bowl of steaming rice. This is held close to -the mouth and is literally pushed into it with the chopsticks. All eat with the regularity of clockwork except now and then a hand is reached out to take a spoonful of the stew or a nibble at the dried fish to make the rice go down better. In a corner of the room the visitor will see a pile of pigskin covered boxes or trunks, which perhaps reach nearly to the celling. Tn these boxes are most carefully folded and packed away all the best clothing as well as the treasures and heirlooms ofth'e family. : ± It is in these boxes that all the wedding outfit of the bride is kept. All (he jewels, and Whatever ot worth or beauty the family possesses art found i here; these things are only brought

-raSgg,' ...J - - out on special occasions, for instance* at weddings or at the New Year’s time or on other holidays.' It is remarkable how much these people can stow away in the smallest space and yet not give the appearance of things being crowded. This khaclf of filling up space always seemed to me as a special gift—an inheritance from a long line of ancestral training; else it could never have been so- perfectly developed as is seen in China. In addition to the numbers in the family we are talking of, there may be seen dogs, cats, and perhaps a family hen 1 or two, walking about in the same room ts unconcernedly as the others. ‘ Among the very low, a pig or two in the houses Is not an uncommon sight, but in our visit today the members of the swine family are in a box or kept in a hole just outside There may also be a few birds in cages hanging about to cheer the family with their sweet music. These homes are anything but neat and comely, but you will be made'welcome when you call, although perhaps the chair upon which you are to sit must be wiped off before you dare occupy it. , There will be excuses for the untidiness, the woman perhaps saying that they are too poor to keep clean! But you are there either to see how the other half lives or else to carry some message of teaching them how to better their conditions or perhaps to bring cheer to some forlom. heart, so do not see to much, or notice, the unsavory odors that float in from every direction! ... Before -going to China I had supposed that it was only the rich and well-to-do- families who’ had their daughters* feet cramped, but I soon found that the custom was very general throughout all of central China. In the country as well as in cities, this horrid custom was carried out with nearly all the women. In the province :df Canton, however, this has never been as generajamong the poor as in other parts, bence thls is why you here see only an occasional woman with bound, feet. (Nearly all the Chinese here are from the province of Canton.) Farther north the custom is almost universal. For thousands, of years the Chinese have valued education more than anything else. Every little hamlet and village all over that great empire has had its schools where their literature has been taught to boys whose parents have been unable to employe private teachers in the house, The system is not governmental, but schools are subscribed for from private funds. Very often this provision for schools for those unable to pay for an education has beefi frontpurely philanthropic motives,. In other cases It has been kept up men of, means from a religious standpoint, thinking that by so doing they-stay gaki merit , in the next stage of -exlstensdis.-Al-any rate the sons of the poor ad well as of the rich have had more-or less of a chance to gain an education. The prime idea of study *iththe Chinese is to make as many of the five senses as possible aid in forming the impression of the name and written character upon - the mind of the child. The understanding is a matter of a later period and will develop of itself at the proper time.- The eye* see the proportions and outline ot the character, the mouth or voice is used in repeating its name, and the ear Hears the voice and so adds its quota in the brain impression. These characters when first taught to children are always written upon small squares of paper and • are ; felt and handled continually while at study. 80 that the brain Jg aided by seeipg. voloipg, bearing and feeling, all thus helping the mind to receive its gift of material which it wM hold till the intellect is ready to make use of.it The little fellow may hot tor years Income knpw the meaning'« a single character he learns to T'epeat with perfect accuracy, but whaf he has learned can never be effaced from Ms memory. It is his pw session as long as life "lasts. Jn after yeafs. he begins to read books, and his faculties develop, these same characters'* will largely explain themselves fcr their dren will open and expand in • mor* veious manner, . - . •■.WW-yak. ."hk-cw