THE CHINESE.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 11 September 1934, Page 3

THE CHINESE.

AN AMERICAN’S VIEW. .Mr, Ralph Townsend went as American Vice-Consul to Shanghai in 1931, nd his book, “Ways That Ar Dark” gives the impressions he has gained. His duties took him into the interior and he implies that the teeming millions outside Peking, Shanghai, Hong Kong and other cities make the real China.

The average Chinese do not understand the Occidental “No,” says Mr Townsend.

An applicant who is told that he cannot enter a school, or a Chinese wanting a visa, will come back day after day, week after week, sitting and waiting and blinking, hearing the same verdict over again a hundred times and pretending each time that he does not quite understand. They have an enormous advantage over us in their absence of impatience. Either in pursuing what they, wish or in evading what they prefer not to do, they have no sense of finality.

Peculiarly a. Chinese is about the most difficult "thing alive against which to maintain a consistent anger. You may know that a certain individual is a thorough rascal. He will disgust you with his supplication at one time, at another with his insolence. But he is the most talented being in creation in soothing wrath that has become too hot for comfort.

It is nearly impossible, Mr. Townsend adds for people without residence in China to appreciate the extent to vrhich tears, plaints and all sorts of sympathy-winning actions can be stimulated by Chinese in the most coldblooded spirit of gaining an end. For every Chinese, from highest to lowest, all the acts of life are concentrated upon extracting, from those who mean nothing to him, what he can for the ’benefit of himself and his clan.

TICKING OFF THE GUESTS AT A WEDDING.

When it comes to money we should recognise that the Chinese are as hard as rocks. The gracious manner that Americans aspoeialtte with generosity is often conspicuous in the- Chinese and as hosts they are generous in their hospitality. But as for generosity of attitude toward money in the sense of subordinating it to anything else, the Chinese are out of our ken altogether. The evidences of this are abundant.

For example, at a Chinese wedding there is always a ; bookkeeper at the door to take presents. He enf'rs in a book the amount of a guest’s present, if it is cash, or an exact itemisation and appraisal of it if it is in goods. A “spotter” something like those employed in American quick-time restaurants, roams about to make note of anybody who squeezes in with out giving anything, in case the throng is too great for the bookkeeper to do the spotting.

This System is intended to measure the exact degree of .obligation incurred by the family towards all comers. Should one of the guests later have a wedding, he will get a present of

exactly the same value as he gave, not a penny more. To an American it .sounds jarring’ to hear “Five dollars, “ or “Ten dollars ” called aloud as his envelope of red tisue paper is torn open and the amount swiftly counted as he passes inside to accept the hospitality tendered in phrases of elaborate humility upon the invitation he has received. The system is a very sinuous graceful Chinese way of “facing'* the guest into giving a fair sum. WITHIN HEARING OF THE GUEBTb..

It is a first-rate device, particularly with the Chinese, who are keenly sensitive to public 'criticism. No one wants to hear a miserably small sum called after his name within hearing of all the other guests. Mr. Townsend has a good deal to say about China and Japan and of China’s relations with the rest of the world. With regard to trade the author is of opinion that its relative value is exaggerated by the average American, and while his experience is of short duration compared wtih others who have known China for many years, yet this contribution of an alert and shrewd man of affairs will receive consideration.