AFTERNOON CALLS IN CHINA.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10630, 6 December 1910, Page 1

AFTERNOON CALLS IN CHINA.

FEMIMXH ETIQUETTE IN HIE CITY.

(By Maiy Moore.)

At the invitation of Chinese lady, X.wont, early the other afternoon, to return her call. - "Wen goo niang zi slj,\a?" I inquired of the*'sleepy individual who came to my friend's'door struggling into Ids skirt. '(Paper," was his reply. i Had I not bpen caught in a similar ' manner on a former occasion J ehoujd have been nonplussed 1o produce tbv countersign. As it was, J knew it simply meant, "Your card, please." For though -\ou have been invited to tea, you are "expected to give your hostess time to add a few additional touches of color to her ahead\ ovei-linted lips and cheeks, and you have, therefore, t to .send in jour caid while \on wait outside in vour rickshaw. The man took my eaid, and in a few minutes leturned, having put a few touches to. his toiJet,in his absence. "Wo passed' .through' t.ho bare outer yard,ijuto aii,6thej- beyond that was full ,bf s'maU' tree's .'ati,d,flow;ers,iij,,'pot-s i .. On cach',.side a lo,wv-Inu,lt ho^usci-which, oh., the filter .which',is said ,tb cbllc.ct during thc„r£ii>y season, was raised a couple, of jSJ.ejis ,from, the levci of the ' v'aul, ,'Lifting ■ a repel,, screen hung befor'kvoi-ie.of. 'the, doors,, the man motioned mV to .. , ,^,,,.' r Originally,the room.,had,,.been two very small ones',,but the thin partition between' thpm ,b,ad, been removed, and the room now furnished,,m "purely European'style," as .my | little friend confided ,to' me ( later .on., On the walls was a.paper., whoso stimy,'.arrangcd, impossible rod' roses held the; eye m spite of all efforts "Jo.,.desert tliem. On the the. floor a'brilliant blue and red .carpet vied'with the,',roses on'the ,w;all in hold--in'g the attention. ' The. windows of gauze and paper were not made v open, and the. only air was that whicli found its way through the reed screen or closely netted gauze. At, regular intervals' lound the room were placed black wood, uarrow-sea,te l d, low-backed chairs —the acme of discomfort —for unless vou .have long legs or sit at the extreme edge you are forced to dangle. A couple of small round tables with mats and Chinese vases, and one or two photographs of Chinese students abroad, completed the "European" furnishing. ' ■ I. had just completed a survey of the room and selected the least uncomfortable of the chairs when my friend came noiselessly into the room, followed by a black Pekingese poodle, who, after making a great deal of noise and spending several minutes in closely examining my claims to enter into such intimate' relations with his master's family, retired to his mistress' feet and dozed. 11l spite of her three years' education abroad and her pronounced American accent, outwardly 1 could see no difference between my friend and every other Chinese girl. She wore her fine, glossy black hair plastered to her head and fastened with raanv ornamental pins into a, bird's tail shape at the nape of her neck. She looked such a child, notwithstanding a self-contained, dignified manner, that I was amazed when, with Chinese politeness, I inquired her age at our f'urst meeting, and she informed me that she was "yerv old, very old, and not yet married, though lam .going to be shortly. lam twenty-nine." Now, as I looked at her clear, sallow •skin, small, squashed nose, and bright, black eves, I could still hardly believe that she was so "very old." She wore i, short black, sleeveless jacket, showing the colored sleeves of an undershirt, while the high, stand-up collars of both garments gaped open at the neck. A skirt of finest transparent black silk gauze showed the tight light silk trousers underneath, and below them the black satin shoes and wiiite stockings worn on all occasions. On her heels came a servant bearing tea, which I was told she had carefully made herself by putting a few leaves into each cup with a couple of orange blossoms, then pouring on boiling water. I found the drinking of it no casv matter, partly from inexperience and partly from the length of my nose. However," my little friend did not

laugh at my awkwardness, but showed me how it should be done. Taking the cup off its silver stand, she placed her first finger on the inverted saucer that "served as a lid and also to keep back the leaves, then tipping the cup slightly she got only the liquid. . As the- first servant retired, another came in with dishes of cakes, sweets, chocolates and dates. He placed them silently on a table near us and withdrew, only to return in a moment with ice-cream' in little china* bowls. All these things my hostess told me weie foreign, and though she had often longed for some real Chinese chow when ' over in America, she had learned to like some of their dishes, and her Chiiieoe friends were beginning to like them too. '

When i saw another servant appealing with a tray I began to wonder what other innovation we were to have next. But it proved to be only a huge red visiting card. Excusing herself to me, my friend went out, returning shortly with some one whom I at first took to be "Charley's Aunt from Brazil where, the nuts come from," or Dan Leno come to life masquerading as Aladdin s mother. I think I was never, more sur-

prised than when the stumpy, squarefaced woman, brilliantly painted and heavily powdered, was introduced to me as a Manchu Princess. In contrast to my Chinese friend, iik« every other Manchu, she wore her bandragged up high over a cross-board at the" back and decorated with many sprays of pink and yellow flowers. Her long coat was of gauzy, cream-colored silk edged with black, and she carried a gigantic white ostrich fan. - - She paid such a lengthy visit that 1 was beginning to wonder whether I could withdraw without committing an unpardonable breach of etiquette. _ But she, fortunately, saved me from any such calamity by rising., and taking leave of us. A few minutes later JL, too, said good-bye to my little friend, and as she accompanied me to the outer yard she asked if she might come and sec mo again, for she said: "Chinese ladies have nothing to say to each other; when they go calling they sit smoking and eating melon seeds. .But ' Europeans - are different.. J hey talK and have something ,to; sa)y- v .And perhaps one day Chinese girls will be diiferent, too." - . v. , •-'..