WORK AND SONG.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume L, Issue 16348, 4 February 1924, Page 11

WORK AND SONG.

CHO.RAU INDUSTRY IN CHINA. It is hard to mako up one's mind (says si writer in the Nineteenth Con-' tury) whether or not to call the Chinese'excitable. Any kind of public discussion (and what discussion is not public in China'J) takes the form of ;i shouting contest, he who cun best make his voice hoard above, the din ! winning the argument. If n cart is upset on the "road," or a railway, waggon is derailed, or obstreperous ponies are to be lauded on to a ferry, each member of the lnrgc crowd which at once collects from nowhere at nil (the usual relations of time and space, ' not applying to the formal ion of Chinese crowds) proceeds to.,give his, views at. once: then everybody catches hold of whatever lias to be pulled, upon, and applies to it the requisite, rhythmic heaves, all working in perfect unison and taking their time by] joining in a solemn chant, led by one of them who sings the solo portions, j The, tune, but not the words, which ' arc usually improvised, is always the same, and (lie time cannot bo varied whatever the nature of the work. Piledriving and the alignment of railway lines with crowbars are among the modern engineering operations which lend themselves particularly well to this choral treatment. But it is more in the case of an impromptu perform-, nnco, such as the righting of some mishap on the road, that, the transition from the highly excited discussion op ways and -means to the montonous chant becomes apparent. [