December 9, 1896.1:
W88克
being that it was simply marked "private" by Mr. CHATER. While the facts above stated dispose of any supposition that the Government desired to bind the unofficial members to secrecy, they in no way alter the pinion previously expressed in this column to its being a mistaken policy on the part of the Government to seek to elicit from the unofficial members beforehand an expression opinion on subjects which are subse quently to be disposed of in Council. Such a course is calculated to either curtail or altogether destroy the discussion of the questions in public and to reduce the function of the Legislative Council to merely registering decisions already arrived
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT, to failure. Is it likely that so conservative a Government as that of China would listen
3
can be paid to a Chinama him of this appendage.
deprive
be reformers, and Chinaman, ever anxious to be freed from its yoke, can ven ture to make himself singular by its nunciation. There are of course one or two exceptions, but they are so rare as to most strikingly prove the rule.
CLEANLINESS AMONGST THE
CHINESE.
arked * confidential" and that he ot aware whether it was 80 ked by the Government or not; the fact to the petition of a few foreign ladies on ciation is forgotten except by
such a question as the fashion of foot gear? What would Lord SALISBURY say if he were suddenly made the recipient of a petition from the women of China for pre- sentation to Her Majesty the QUEEN on the subject of the dress of the British woman? The Chinese women would no doubt descant on what they consider the immodesty of the low-necked dress of English ladies, the danger to health involved in the exposure of the chest and lungs; and might comment at length on the deleterious effects of tight lacing in compressing the vital organs and injuring the pelvis. The British Premier would probably respond very much in the manner of the Tsung-li Yamen. While recognising the undoubted evils attending the present fashions, he would not fail to With respect to the communication from point out they came under no law, and the Government to the unofficial members though the QUEEN might perhaps set a of Council, the reference thereto at the fashion she could not as readily abolish one. meeting of Council on Thursday, and His lordship might add, if he liked, that the remarks made in this column yester- Her Majesty, being a great stickler for the day, the Hon Ho KAI writes us low-necked dress as Court costume would "It appears Mr. CHATER gave an explana-hardly be likely to take any initiative "tion to the unofficial members at the towards the abolition of what is a per- meeting, but I was late in attendance. I uicious and, when carrried to extreme, a "did not hear it and as a matter of fact- did not very modest fashion. The noble "not know who had marked the cover lord might, also, further respond by asking confidential, and therefore when. I stated the women of China to remove the beam of "that I did not know who had marked it I footbinding from their own eye before cla- was quite correct. At the time of the mouring for the removal of the mote from meeting and for some time afterwards I the Occidental eye. The Tsung-li Yamen "was in ignorance as to who had marked it might equally have made use of the tu "and the reason why it was so marked." quoque, but they preferred to be pleasant over the matter, and spared the memorialists
(8th December.)
FOOTBINDING.
+
Misfortunes, it has been well said; often prove blessings in disguise. The outbreaks. of plague in this colony, though they caused a serious increase in the death rate forta time and a great temporary loss of trade while they necessitated a large outlay in cleansing and disinfecting, were not un- mixed evils. They aroused, as no advice and no warnings could have done, attention to the insanitary conditions rapidly growing up in the Chinese quarters of the city of Victoria and led to the adoption of measures for the purification of the slums, the im- provement of the drainage, and the preven tion of overcrowding. The enforcement of this sanitary legislation was not accomplished without inflicting some hardship, putting property owners to great expense, and coming into collision with the prejudices of the Chinese. A chorus of opposition was therefore raised, which, had not the peril of the plague been so pressing, might again have arrested the progress of sani- tary legislation and laid up a still more terrible day of reckoning for the teeming thousands who in Taipingshan were daily violating nature's laws. Dirt would have gone aware that one of the strong on accumulating until, as in Chinese cities, arguments against the practice of foot the whole surface soil would have been binding is that it necessitates the torture of saturated with poison, a nidus for every form young and helpless female children who are of malaria and the development of bacteria
There is no not free agents in the matter.
of every sort. The slums have been cleansed doubt that the poor children endure a and disinfected, masses of festering filth re- good deal of pain during the earlier pro-moved, and the overcrowding, which was so growing an evil, has been legislated ngainst and rendered difficult if not impossible in the future.
the retort.
We are
▾
When the memorial to the Emperor KWANG SU on the subject of Footbinding was being promoted among foreigners in China doubts were expressed as to whether the petition would even be received. The result has fully justified those doubts. Mr. DENBY, the Doyen of the Diplocesses of binding the feet, and it is equally matic Corps, through whom the me- certain that the result is a hideous and re- morial was transmitted to the Tsung-li volting disfigurement which renders the Yamén, has received
a despatch in sufferer a cripple for life, incapacitating her reply, dated the 30th October, which, though for many duties and pleasures and handi- perfectly civil, and fully recognising the capping her in the struggle for a livelihood. good intentions of the memorialists, gives a But the parents are fettered by custom and very decided negative to the request that fashion; it cannot be supposed that they the memorial should be laid before the take pleasure in the torture of their little EMPRESS DOWAGER and the EMPEROR. The ones; and they no doubt bind their feet in the Board, in conveying this decision, say :- belief that they are thus rendering them "In reply, we beg to state that the memorial eligible for inarriage with persous in their "of the said societies [the Tien Tsu Hui and own or a higher station of life. The revo- "International Women's Union] evidences lution in fashion must come from within; the fact that the object in view is to do it cannot be effected from without. So long good. But the usages and customs pre- as the Chinese male delights in seeing his "vailing in China are different from those spouse tottering about on these malformations of Western countries. The binding of it is not likely parents will discontinue the feet is a practice that has been in vogue practice. The first step towards the aboli- - for a very long time. Those who opposetion of the custom is to disgust the coming effect, dirt in the house and dirt on the
"the binding of their children's feet are not compelled to do so, while on the other hand those who wish to carry out the "practice cannot be prevented from doing SO. Custom has made the practice. Those in high authority cannot but allow the people to do as they are inclined in the matter of binding the feet of their
"
"
young men with the disfigurement. That may not be an easy task among the millions, but it may perhaps be effected gradually as young China comes more and more in con- tact with Western civilisation. But the process will be slow, as slow probably as the growth of public opinion in Europe in favour of the abolition of tight lacing and low cut
Nor is this all. The Chinese have become acquainted with the virtues of disinfectants, the saving powers of a coat of limewash, and the absolute necessity of occasionally clearing out accumulations of garbage and rubbish. This is surely something gained with a race who for forty centuries have lived in a state of dirt hardly describable. All over the vast empire of China dirt is the normal condition. The testimony of travellers who have journeyed through the various provinces and had experience of the inns, of the missionaries who have lived in the interior and penetrated into the houses, and of those who have been received in the official yamens is all to the same persons of the people. The Rev. A. ELWIN, a missionary, speaking at one of the meetings of the Educational Associa tion of China during a discussion on the training of preachers, when referring to the education of girls and the want of clean- liness said it was simply impossible for a... girl to keep a Chinese
clean, and in the floor of one
children; they cannot be restrained by bodices. It must be remembered that a ¦ illustration stated YOUR
law." The Board go on to remark that for the reasons above given they find it difficult to grant Mr. DENBY'S request and present the memorial to the EMPRESS DOWAGER and EMPEROR, but they add, for the consolation of the two societies who got up the memorial, that they will preserve it in the archives of the Yamen.
Such a fate might easily have been pre- dicted for the memorial. It was foredoomed
fashion takes firmer hold of the people in China than it does among Western peoples. For instance, the queue, introduced by the Manchus as a badge of servitude, is now, after the lapse of centuries, worn as the national and distinguishing feature, and every Chinaman clings to it with the greatest tenacity, although it is inconvenient and un- comfortable, and places him at the mercy of a queueless opponent. No greater indignity
house in which he often slept had not according to the testimony of the natives been washed for four hundred years. Another speaker said that after repeated lessons in cleanliness Chinese girls would wder and dirt ̈ on the powder still rub powder on the 1 until often there was such a coating that they could not perspire. The Chinese even in their New Year cleanings, if surface polish as their premises then er
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.