UPSIDE-DOWN LAND

[nzbc]

UPSIDE-DOWN LAND.

QUAINT CHINESE CUSTOMS. METHODS OF TRADING. FEASTS AND FUNERALS. 'By WANDERER.) British travellers in China cannot Help being struck with the many quaint customs which obtain there A friend 01 mine who was a resident near Foo-i-ftow for »umc years, has many interesting experiences to relate. < Imui is commonly known as upsidedown land, for so many things are done there in an exactly opposite way to what we are accustomed; for instance, nooks are read from the end of the volume instead of the. beginning, men "ear hats, but women do not, fans are earned by men as well ; W women. Ulinese always stand up and offer two I hands to receive or proffer anything. I They never shake hands nor kiss, but j welcome guests with profound salutations. In trading they will produce : everything they have before the thing "anted, and men going on 11 long journey will take oil' their boots and carry them. Travellers in China always take their owu bedding with them, the beds provided only consisting of live boards on trestles, over which a. mat is thrown, and women travel in >>edun chairs with lovers on, which take three coolies to i carry. No such luxuries as carts arc obtainable, so that all household requisites, even to furniture, are conveyed by human curriers, and much is packed into huge baskets suspended on cither end of a bamboo pole. My friend, being young and inexperienced in foreign ways, was much interested in the formalities pertaining to a Chinese feast, though the dishes were not exactly appetising or attractive to the palate of a European visitor. The tables were square and of bare bourtls, seating four or eight persons, with narrow benches without backs, suitable for seating two persons at each side of the table. Men and women do I not dine together—the men occupy the i front hall and the women some back apartment, most probably the kitchen. Twelve bowls of side dishes are placed on each table, and a space left in the centre for one hot dish brought in separately at each course. The side dishes perhaps contain mandarin oranges, peeled and quartered, dried melon seeds, pieces of pomolo (a sort of large orange), fried white fish and fried red fish, raw meat, minced rabbit, olives and sugar cane. Chop sticks are the only means provided for taking up the food, and there are no plates or suchlike receptacles, so that each diner dips his chopsticks into the various dishes as he pleases, and if a stranger seems unable to manage the use of chopsticks successfully, some kindlydisposed person will pick out a dainty morsel with his chopsticks and endeavour to pop it into the visitor's mouth. To refuse anything is considered extremely polite, so that to do so never offends. At all feasts there is always the übiquitous dog present under the. table I eager and ready to snap up any bones ur refuse that is commonly thrown on the floor. A sixteen course dinner, which lasted for two or three hours, consisted of the following: Duck eggs in gelatine, goat cooked with turnips, fowl and rice, duck and Chinese cabbage (like silver beet), fish balls with meat stuffing, bamboo shoots and fishes' stomachs, rice with pigs' fat on top. mixtures of meat, cabbage and dried manikins; fish, pork fat fried in rioe flour: cakes to eat with this; stewed vermicelli, onions, celery leaves and 'bamboo, pigs' skin in broth, octopus idevil fish) 'and cabbage, and pork with cabbage and celery. Rice Thrice a Day. The staple food, of course, is rice, and the poorer classes have this served three times a day for their meals. Tea is drunk before or after meals, served in hnndless cups without saucers, and at certain feasts excellent native wine is I also provided. At all festi%-als thousands I of decorated lanterns covered with picIturesque scenes in gorgeous colours are much affected. The Chinese also attach enormous 'importance to funeral rites. When a .■heathen is about to die and there is I no chance of recovery, he is not allowed ! to die in his bedroom, but is carried down to the front hall, and when lie passes away lie is attired in new clothes, I a t lea&t five suits, and sometime* as ■ many as twenty, for fear of his being cold in the spirit world. The corpse is also well supplied with paper money and paper representations of all he may [require while on his journey. After [death a lucky day must be found to pneoffin the 'body, which is left on the bed in which he died, and guarded day and night until the priest has discovered the favourable day. Bowls of rice and a cup of tea are placed with the body three times a day for the space of fortynine days. "When the lucky day is eventually found the body is placed in the coffin, which is really a hollowed ]o", and must again await the finding of another lucky day for burial. These rofiins are cemented over and frequently left in the halls of the deceased's home or in specially erected coflin houses, or maybe in rough sheds on the hillsides for weeks, months, or vpar?. until the favourable opportunity ocrirs. My friend frequently saw several of these cemented coffins lying: in the one house on visiting the occupiers, and on one occasion was horrified to discover five coffins on boards overhead whilst sleeping in the room beneath. All relations attending the burial ceremonies are robed in white (the mourning colour), which cloth is generally presented by the bereaved family, also white hat? and white waist sashes. The chief mourners are attired in sackcloth very roiHily made, depicting the fact that they had no heart to make the garments well. The coflin is corded on to Ion" poles and carried by from six to twe'ntv relatives and friends. The women of the family also attend the funeral obsequies, tnit are carried in chair*. wailing tremendously the whole time. j and are frequently accompanied by a. band playing characteristic musio. Sometimes the women do not go all the way. but when they reach a certain point they =lip off their white coverings and display brilliant coloured festive garments T>oneath, and, leaving all signs of mourning 'behind, return home iv jovial mood. The visiting curio dealers were found to be a great attraction. They brought round their goods in huge sheets of cloth and large baskets on poles, and spread everything out in the ■ most attractive fashion on the verandah o> the house they visited. They generally arranged to arrive about breakfast time. patiently awaiting an opportunity to catch the <\ve or attention of the house dwellers whenever anyone happened to

pass by the long windows opening on to the garden, inviting them, with ingratiating smiles to come out and look. and. buy. Even though one refused to buy that day, the vendor still remained for an liour or more in the hope that his persistence would carry the day. If however, no 'business was done, he returned again the next day with his wares, and perchance several more times unless purchases were made. His stock usually included brasses of various kinds, china, pewter ornaments, old embroideries, beads and richly embroidered Chinese garments, for all of which lie would ask at least three times as much as lie expected to fret for them. On the contrary, if one was really desirous of making certain purchases which perhaps one had noticed in some shop during a walk abroad, a servant was sent to politely invite the trader to call at the house and bring his wares for display, which he was only willing , to do. ■All Chinese believe in evil spirits. Jt a man should cut down a tree in which it was discovered a devil lurked, and who resented being disturbed, that evil would lie said to follow the man home and take possession of him or someone in his household, which frequently meant, their death warrant, and the person was always spoken of as being devil-possessed. The Chinese people are greatly scared of death, even of the word itself, so they offer fea-sts to the idols in the temples to propitiate the evij spirit. Idol shrines are found even in isolated parts of the mountains and in various places on the roadside where heathen passers by offer homage by burning incense sticks. Every household has a kitchen god—a. piece of Ted paper about double the eize of a sheet of foolscap covered over with Chinese lettering, which may be bought for a few cash (a thousand cash equalling our penny). This is set up in the kitchen on the fourth day of the Chinese new year, and this god watches over the household till the 24th day of the twelfth month, on which day he ascends to the spirit world to render an account of good and bad done during the year, also all people hold feasts that day to get the kitchen god in a good temper before leaving, so that he may carry a good report. There are three day* in each year that heathen go to temples and graves of ancestors and spread elaborate feasts, and there wild duck, fowl, Chinese rice dumplings, fruit, wine, seeds, fish and rice are all spread, and the idols invited to partake of these offerings to the strains of a tom-tom band. The providers then depart, but after a certain time return again and eat up the feast themselves, believing that the idols in the meantime have extracted the essence. Even though a Chinese "has been converted and taught to give up the worship of idols, he still holds to his belief in evil spirits.




AUCKLAND STAR, VOLUME LVI, ISSUE 8, 10 JANUARY 1925, paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19250110.2.81?items_per_page=10&page=10&query=chinese+diner&snippet=true