SOCIAL LIFE IN CHINA.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5554, 16 January 1879, Page 3

SOCIAL LIFE IN CHINA.

One of the English papers published in China gives regularly a translation of the Pc- ■ kin.-Gazettes as they are issued. This gazette is the oldest newspaper in the world, files of it being in existence to a date anterior to the birth of Christ. It is printed on silk, and some of the announcements in it give a strange insight into the peculiar customs of the Chinese. On the 11th of July last the following amusing account is given of the laches of a Mr. Kai Chao, who is reported by an official for that he, “ Kai Chao, an assistant secretary of a board at Moukden, temporarily in retirement while mourning for his father, purchased land under an assumed name, and refused to pay the taxes upon it, cruelly maltreating the magistrate’s underlings, who were sent to demand the money. He now proposes, the man’s guilt having been clearly established, to inflict a hundred blows upon him. Having already been cashiered, the question of his dismissal from the public service need not of course be considered. Referred to the Board of Punishments.”

On the 12tn July it is announced that : “The Court of Sacrificial Worship reminds his Majesty that on the 10th August, the birthday of the Senior Empress, certain sacrificial rites have to be performed in the inner chamber of the T’ai Miao, or Hall of Imperial Ancestry,” and has received the Imperial command, “Let She Yi , perform the necessary observances.”

An unfortunate commissioner got into hot water over this fete day, for another decree says : —“ The financial commissioner of Kweichow, when it recently became his duty to present a memorial of birthday congratulations, erroneously offered them to the Senior Empress Dowager. This is a gross piece of carelessness, and we command that Wu Te be handed over to the board for the determination of a penalty.” The Emperor’s birthday fell on the 27th July, and poor Wu Te mistook the one for the other.

Another amusing announcement is the case of a Prefect, or Mandarin, at Kiausu, who was falsely accused of having been a common servant once to an official in another part of the empire. His Majesty was so shocked that the order was at once issued to degrade one who was only earthenware, but he was fine porcelain after all, the Gazette saying, “ As Liu Wen is found to be of respectable origin, and not to have served in the menial position of an underling, We restore him to his rank and status.” It is a matter of conjecture whether Liu Wen got a Koyal Commission for compensation, like certain persons in this enlightened land, but we doubt if he did. A “Taotai”—whatever that is—has his biography published officially as an example to all the subjects of the Brother of the Sun and Lord of the Moon, for the following reasons :—“ The GovernorGeneral reports that the deceased officer, having relinquished his official duties and gone on a distant journey, died from the effects of the fatigue endured in bearing back his father’s remains from so great a distance. His filial piety is indeed commendable, and We sanction the compilation of his official biography.” But though there is much to smile at, there are other decrees far differently worded. The following notice, the last we give, is unpleasant :—Fu Chung-hin and two others quarrelled with some persons and killed three of them. It appears by the official, report that the murdered persons “ took advantage of their official position to levy, excessive exactions, destroyed records and demanded taxes over and over again from the same individual,” Fu Chung-hin being one of the victims of their extortion. From him, as he refused to pay, they took a piece of land and farmed it themselves, treating. his demand for restitution of the property with contempt and indolence. “Fu Chung-hin, with rage and hatred in his heart, swore that he would lull them, and, to this end prepared a feast to which he invited those who, like himself, had been the victims of his enemies’ greed and avarice. He imparted his plans to them, and: some agreed to aid him. The murderer fled, after the deed, but Fu Chung-hin, however, seeing it was impossible to evade the grasp of the law, soon gave himself up, and admitted that he was. the chief offender. His companions were shortly arrested, and a trial held, at which the above facts were elicited. The law lays down-that whosoever shall be guilty; of slaying three persons of one family, provided that these have, not committed crimes punishable by death, shall be executed by a slow and painful process. Fu Chung-hin, in accordance with this law, has been led forth, bound, to a.public place, and slowly sliced to death.” ; His ' Imperial Majesty might have' exercised his royal clemency on this occasion, which happened on the 13th July last.