PERFECT COURTESY.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17769, 22 May 1923, Page 6

PERFECT COURTESY.

CHINAMEN IN THE DOMINIONS.

THE PHILOSOPHY OP CONFUCIUS.

Our vegetable "John" has just passed out at the gate. He has been at the back door depositing the carrots or cauliflower we are sure to meet later at dinner. He is a quaint looking figure. Yet he is decidedly, if quietly, popular.

A "white Australia" is a slogan that sounds all right at political meetings. But if, in our street, a ballot was taken on thef? question, our vegetable John would not be sent home to China; and strong feeling would bo displayed against anyone who labelled him an undesirable alien, or indeed, any kind of alien, says a writer in the Melbourne "Age." John is more angel than alien. Admittedly his appearance is unfavourable to the angelic theory. At first sight it is difficult to guess the secret of his. popularity. It simply cannot be his beauty. In saying that we do not wish to hurt his feelings, a thing more easily done v than many people seem to imagine. And, to his credit be it said, John is the last person in the world who would willingly hurt ours. For John, in his own person and as a symbol of his nation, is the apex of all human politeness. There are few things about which people are so touchy as about their breeding; they invariably consider their manners of excellent quality. No feature in another nation is so quickly seized upon for criticism. The average x )erson takes scant account of Leagues of Nations, but he can usually attach a descriptive tag to the manners of nations. The English are boorish, the American aggressive, the. Trench artificial. Whatever tho adjective employed the manners are all by implication inferior to those of the nation of the adjudicator. Now, the importance of manners cannot be over-stressed. The wise men in every generation have urged their diligent cultivation. But in this school, as in ovory kind of school, some are more apt pupils than others. And, as Australians, we may as well admit straight off that, in the matter of manners, we are hopelessly outclassed. by the nation of which our humble vegu- , table John is the emblem. We needn't assume any penitential sheet on accowut of it, for all the other peoples of the earth are equally outclassed. You need to have only a very slight experience of the Chinese in their own land to realise that in the matter of politeness.they have us all beaten, not merely on the post, but from the starting pistol. Of course, their phuosophy of lire allows room for them being polite. We are sometimes amused at, their, calm J they are always amazed at our hustle. Confucius is their philosophical,father, and his writings are largely concerned with details of etiquette. He was less worried about their destiny in future than about their immediate behaviour. And the proof of his greatness as a teacher is"found in the fact that he produced an entire nation possessed of. exquisite manners and perfect courtesy. . , TT Certainly Confucius got in early. He was teaching 500 years B.C. By the time Christ was born the Confucian philosophy, was part of China's mental make up. And the politeness practised is by no means conventional; it can be relied on in all circumstances. Nor is it confined to any class; you are as sure'of it from the coolie as from the mandarin. .. ' The Chinese think Westerns barbarians, and sometimes not unnaturally. After 'having themselves practised courtesy for two thousand * years, they found their country invaded a century ago by groups of aggressive Westerns feverishly demanding territorial arfl other concessions. These fortunehunters were often shockingly rudo without intending it; just as c.ften they did intend it. And, of course, the bluffing and' bullying these get-rich-quick gentry thought it paid to practice did not give the Chinese a high impression' of foreign politeness. To get the Chinaman's point of view you have to invert many of your own fixed standards. Most of ., our social actions he performs in an exactly contrary fashion: Wlien you and I meet ■to shake hands with each other, the Chinaman shakes his own two 'hands together; the left, not the right, is the position of honour; when in mourning we wear black, he wears white; when in perplexity we scratch our head, he scratches the base of his spine. There is a touch" of that contrariety in all his etiquette. For instance, when we talk to a gentleman who is our elder we don't take off our spectacles, if we happen to wear them; the Chinaman will keep his off all the while the conversation lasts. We look our magistrates, and even more important oihcials, straight in the eye; the Chinaman considers that churlish effrontery. We should look at their chest, not their face. The way in which we use paper' bearing printed matter is conclusive proof of our barbarism. We use it for wrapping up. all manner of things; the humble*fish and potato supper is served up on printed papers. To the Chinaman that seems sacrilege. Then it is quite unworthy of a gentleman to heseen carrying a parcel, however neat. Even the burglar, when he is found making up a bundle, is treated with courtesy. The night watchman does i not an;est him, he merely politely reI quests him to go and '/make his fortune" in another part of the town. Western whiskers, too, are unseemly. Whiskers and moustaches happen to be "out" just at present in Australia; but when they are "in we decorate the male face in conformity with the prevailing fashion If we feel dis r posed to, we grow moustaches before we are fifty, beards before we are sixty. Yet in China these adornments must await these appropriate dates. Besides all that, it is a violation of the most elementary canon of filial decency to grow hair on your face while your father is still alive. The way we use and pbtrude our legs and arms offends the Chinese sense of propriety. When standing we fidget with our arms instead of letting them hang straight down; when sitting, we cross our legs instead of keeping both feet neatly on the ground. When walking we swing our arms, hold high our head, glancing in the passing at all that interests us. The "Chinaman lets his arms 1 hang limply as if they were broken, and stares straight ahead of him. _ f . When any of our friends are officials, even of high degree, we greet them when they heave ■ in sight with an affable nod, and are done with them. The Chinaman does not dispose of the matter' so lightly. When a Chinese official meets another the very minimum of "politeness requires that the sedan chairs be halted; the occupants climb out and exchange ceremonial greetings. Even in China it becomes a bit of a nuisance when it happens too often, so it, is an understood arrangement that , when two choirs are approaching, servants carrying huge fins run forward iind srreen their respective masters. By this nr-ans a-fornrl recognition and the ordained ceremonies ara of juvenile strategy, hut we have social practices even more silly in the W<"st. "When, we happen to be in one of our rapidly extending suburbs, and are in

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a quandary as.-to the position of our friend's residence, we enquire-in casual fashion of the first passer-by. Certainly you are an exceptional brand of Australian if-you first of all bow low, place your hands submissively on your breast, mid begin your brief question with. "Venerable sir." Yet the Chinaman always does it so. When you have occasion to pass to some other person in a room a or the matches, or any odd thing that may be asked far, you never consider yourself boorish when you,do it with one hand. The Chinaman thinks you ought to know better. You should always use both hands unless you wish to insinuate that the other fellow is' your social inferior. Wh m some house in your vicinity is burned down, probably your first .emotion is one of wonder a.s to "how much Brown will be able to knock out of tho insurance." When there is a similar oeccrrece in China each neighbour hastens to send the a pre-' sent so may have something with which to resume housekeeping. "Saving the face" is the supreme consideration in Chinese social life. Evr rv one has a certain amount of face and that is the last thing to be lost, there are humiliations you may not impose even on tbe humblest becgar if you have any aspiration to bo de me'd p litAnd it will save muoh mental contusion if wo grasp clearly the fact'that the Chinese is not ahva.ys_.hen.then; his ways are not always dark. His desire to be polite may occasionally conflict with Ins duty to be sincere. But after an overdose of the boasted "honest bluntness of the West the atmosphere of Cninese urbanity is very restful T n deed' a larger admixture of' it'in «»* Australian-dally life would be viry T