CHINA.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XXIII, 26 May 1922, Page 8

CHINA.

The Rev. C. McDouall, who has been engaged for many years in Mission work in China, delivered an interesting lantern

lecture in 9t. John’s Church School-room on Monday night. The various lantern pictures shown, and Mr McDouallls explanations of them, were most instructive. A number of general views in and around Peking, in North China, were first shown. Of these the most interesting provided glimpses inside the grounds of the Emperor’s amazing summer palace, with its buildings of quaint and ornamental

Chinese architecture, and its statuary of grotesque and fanciful design. Most of the figures were exquisitely wrought in bronze and white marble, marvellously carved and chased. Many were hundreds of years old, said the lecturer, and yet such treasurers as great bronze bowls and other antique works of art of priceless value to the connoisseur were to be .seen all over the palace grounds. Going further inland, the China of thousands of years ago was revealed unchanged. Methods of transport by road and river (for trains were unknown up country), were still in their crudest stages, and the tiller of the soil still went forth to his labours with oxen and the primitive plough. The first thing that forced itself upon the traveller’s notice in China was the intensive cultivation that was carried on everywhere. It was a matter of grim necessity for China could not, nor ever would be, able to produce food enough to feed its four hundred millions of mouths. Not an inch of land was wasted. Along the roadsides, even in between the graves in a cemetery, corn was grown. How large families of ten or a dozen managed to subsist

on the miserable .living they obtained from an acre or two of poor ground was a matter for wonder. .The extreme poverty of such people could not be conceived by those who enjoyed the prosperity of the average colonial. Yet the Chinese were a happy people, always ready to smile in the face of adversity. Nearly all dressed in blue, and it was a happy chance that had led them to select blue as their national colour, as it blended so well with

their yellow skins. The lecturer then touched upon a few aspects of Chinese life and customs. With the aid of lantern slides, he discoursed on the curious pageantry of a Chinese funeral procession, bright with Oriental colourings, and in striking contrast to the rather dismal solemnity of :a Christian burial. Practically every Chinese family had its private burial ground, ho said, there being no public cemeteries with the probable exception of those ior paupers in the big cities. Over many of the graves elaborately carved and inscribed headstones were erected, and usually there was also the representation of a tortoise, regarded by the Chinese, as a sign of immortality. Many curious ceremonies were regularly observed in connection with a Chinese burial. One was the burning on the grave of quantities of paper money, articles of clothing, etc., the prevailing belief being that the departed spirit would require money and clothing beyond the grave just as they were essential to him during his material existence. This led the lecturer to comment on the appalling superstition of the Chinese. They believed, he said, that the air from about three feet above the ground was crammed full of devils. The devils always travelled in straight lines, so that if a man desired to prevent them from entering his home, all he had to do was to build a wall a few feet from his door, and the devils coming his way would butt into it, and be stopped from gaining admittance. At the entrances to the Buddhist temples, and in all sorts of places within the precincts of the temples, hideous figures were placed on guard, to ensure that the quiet of the inner temple, where the of Buddha was enthroned, should not be disturbed by evil spirits. These as a rule were fantastic, repulsive figures, and usually startled the visitor who came upon them unawares. As one

not accustomed to visiting the temples of Buddha, however, one became familiar with the places containing such horrors, and learned to avoid them.

So'me of* Mr McDouall’s most interesting pictures dealt with the dress of the people, and their weird (to the European, at least) ideas of physical beauty. Amongst the scholars the long finger nails were still commonly seen. A Chinese scholar did no manual labour of any kind, so his long nails, usually carefully safeguarded from injury by silver shields, became the sign of his caling. The custom of wear-

ing long nails, and also of the pigtail, was gradually dying out, owing to the steady introduction of Europedft ideas. One of the practices that the missionary societies were fighting strenuously was that of binding the feet. Tiny feet, to the Chinese women, were the hall mark of beauty. No woman could hope to attract a man and become' a wife who did not have bound feet. Facial beauty did not count As a matter of fact, the bridegroom never saw the face of his bride till after the

marriage ceremony. Up till that time she would remain veiled. The binding of the et was commenced very young, and the P '.mful process was continued till the feet were hopelessly deformed and cramped info the average length of from 5j- to 6 inches. The ideal foot was from 21- inches to 3 inches in length, but such “perfec- |

tion” was seldom seen. The eSect of the binding, with the consequent restriction of blood circulation, was apparent upon the whole system. The Heavenly Foot Society, as the anti-binding society was called, was slowly achieving good results. No girl witn bound feet was admitted to the Mission Schools, a fact which in itself was acting as a deterrent. Mr Mc®ouall's lecture was followed with rapt interest, and at ita conclusion the hearty thanks of his auditors were conveyed to him by the Rev. Mr Lush, Vicar of St. Johns, who also expressed appreciation of Mr W. A. McCaw’s willingness to attend and assist with his lantern.