SCHOOL LIFE IN CHINA.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 3038, 21 February 1899, Page 3

SCHOOL LIFE IN CHINA.

As a rule, girls in China never •;«» to : school, unless they h:ive ricli parents. The list day of the. school year each scholar bring.-s :i little money, and a feast is prepared, t" ; which the, parents are invited, and the idol is set up. Tins idol is a long and narrow piece of red paper, upon which the U-;.chor puts the name, of the wise man who is to be worshipped during the year. One of the rules of a Chinese school is tliatthesr-hohirrt must come to class before daylight in the morning, study aloud for two hours, and then recite their lessons. After this they go home to breakfast, but it anyoii" ha^'failed to recite the lesson no breakfast oar. be had until it is learned. Having had their breakfast, the scholar* study again until it is time for dinner, after wlni-li they return ;i":i.in to the school and study lessons for the following day. Ky this time it is rii.rht. This goes on seven days oi the week, i\iT there, is no Saturday holiday, and, of course, no Sunday. At night, before leaving school, each pupil walks up to the idol which hangs on the wall and bows down to it. On the last day of school before the summer vacation a cake, made of sugarcane, is offered to the idol, which is then taken down and burnt, because the next year will be a new one.