LIFE INSURANCE METHODS IN CHINA.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12901, 12 February 1906, Page 2

LIFE INSURANCE METHODS IN CHINA.

The business of soliciting life insurance in China is about as queer as everything else in that country. " The Policy-holder," of Manchester, England, prints a "lively letter from the agent of an English company •in a Chinese-port: ' " One of my agents," he writes, " cdrr-es m and says: 'Please, master, wantchee you come city .side talkee one womaD. Can talkee insure pidgin.' To which I reply,: 'More better you talkee mississee come my side, catchee chow (take dinner).' This being arranged, the lady arrives in her chair, accompanied by two maid servants and her body servant. I have to go out and shake" hands violently with xriyselfi'theh -walk backwards over the •gang-plank.-.Vvhile her nmid helps ber along.: Her -feet : pre'-perhaps'2J; inches : iomr. <& progress is''slow.' /'-•" '■" "• *"•■''-.

" '/Chinese ladies-' love to be asked how much everything- costs, which is really jtf nice- fashion:" 1 as they' wear lovely stuff. She had gold -bracelets up to the middle of her. forearm valued' at £I2OO, and pearls all over her hair : worth £3OOO. Her coat of lovely' light cherry-coloured silk took five months to weave, and cost a trifle of £BO. She tells me she is No. 2 wife, her husband having four altogether. We have a dinner of fourteen courses. She smoke* cigarettes all the time. : and I have to hand her every dish myself, and she has to rise and bow. She drinks port, sherry, beer champagne fat Is 6d a bottle), and fherl 'ui';Lwa .igar. Af'.e: dk.r.e: fa t $

; [gives her a silver basin and'ber powder : box and combs, and she docs her hair ■ ii»iA 1 iake her to the theatre. and \ui tat nuis. oranges, and biscuits. "The next siage is t3iat I acc«mp,,nv her to a Chinese festival at a temple u"n the river. After seeing »pi occasion of 2000 bats, we eat and drink from solid silver dishes and cups, and with gold ch«p- ---! .-ricks. Tb*re are 86 courses {believe ii :f yon can.'), and they include Mark's fin. bird s nest, dove's eggs, and other luxuries. He dnnk native wuac and tea. Another houseiiMt arrives alongside conJainin- her husband and three singing gij3 s , OISe 0 f wnnm he will probably buy as Xo. 5. " I ask Xo. 2 if she '*. jealous, and s?ie says, ' Xo, not a bit/ and asks me if Xo. sis really pretty in my judgment. It is -.il the queerest mixture of -jr.ra!: an<i manners. Up u, now we have not C v--:s mentioned bnsintss. but after about air<>? weeks" palavering she will evenu'ally insui?'.'l I; is a queer business. #i»d onc'rctjjjiu-s j the patience of Job and a castiron digestion." j