The Chinese at Home and Abroad, Volume 1A. L. Bancroft, 1885 - 232 pages |
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Popular passages
Page 28 - They constitute the surface-level, and below them there are deeps on deeps of depravity so shocking and horrible that their character cannot even be hinted. There are some dark shadows in human nature which we naturally shrink from penetrating, and I made no attempt to collect information of this kind ; but there was enough in the things which I could not avoid seeing and hearing, — which are brought almost daily to the notice of every foreign resident,- — to inspire me with a powerful aversion...
Page 28 - ... which we naturally shrink from penetrating, and I made no attempt to collect information of this kind; but there was enough in the things which I could not avoid seeing and hearing — which are brought almost daily to the notice of every foreign resident — to inspire me with a powerful aversion to the Chinese race. Their touch is pollution, and, harsh as the opinion may seem, justice to our own race demands that they should not be allowed to settle on our soil.
Page 27 - Female infanticide in some parts openly confessed, and divested of all disgrace and penalties everywhere ; the dreadful prevalence of all the vices charged by the Apostle Paul upon the ancient heathen world...
Page 27 - ... of officers, and their thievery to the want of sufficient food or work. Hospitality is not a trait of their character ; on the contrary, the number and wretched condition of the beggars show that public and private charity is almost extinct ; yet here too the sweeping charge must be modified when we remember the efforts they make to sustain their relatives and families in so densely peopled a country. Their avarice is not so distinguishing a feature as their love of money, but the industry which...
Page 19 - The moral character of the Chinese is a book written in strange letters, which are more complex and difficult for one of another race, religion, and language to decipher than their own singularly compounded word-symbols. In the same individual virtues and vices, apparently incompatible, are placed side by side. Meekness, gentleness, docility, industry, contentment, cheerfulness, obedience to superiors, dutifulness to parents, and reverence for the aged, are in one and the same person, the companions...
Page 44 - These tribunals are formed by the several Chinese companies or guilds, and are recognized as legitimate authorities by the Chinese population. They levy taxes, command masses of men, intimidate interpreters and witnesses, enforce perjury, regulate trade, punish the refractory, remove witnesses beyond the reach of our courts, control liberty of action, and prevent the return of Chinese to their home in China without their consent.
Page 18 - This public and private servitude of women — a servitude that opinion, legislation, manners, have sealed with their triple seal — has become, in some measure, the corner-stone of Chinese society. The young girl lives shut up in the house where she was born, occupied exclusively with the cares of housekeeping, treated by everybody, and especially by her brothers, as a menial, from whom they have a right to demand the lowest and most painful services. The amusements and pleasures of her age are...
Page 38 - The clauses under Section i. in the Code describe the legal instruments of torture ; they consist of three boards with proper grooves for compressing the ankles, and five round sticks for squeezing the fingers, to which may be added the bamboo ; besides these no instruments of torture are legally allowed, though other ways of putting the question are so common as to give the impression that some of them at least are sanctioned. Pulling or twisting the ears with roughened...
Page 25 - More uneradicable than the sins of the flesh is the falsity of the Chinese, and its attendant sin of base ingratitude ; their disregard of truth has perhaps done more to lower their character than any other fault. They feel no shame at being detected in a lie (though they have not gone quite so far as not to- know when they do lie), nor do they fear any punishment from their gods for it.
Page 99 - The thirst and burning sensation in the throat which the wretched sufferer feels, only to be removed by a repetition of the dose, proves one of the strongest links in the chain which drags him to his ruin. At this stage of the habit his case is almost hopeless ; if the pipe be delayed too long, vertigo, complete prostration, and discharge of water from the eyes ensue ; if entirely withheld, coldness and aching pains are felt over the body, an obstinate diarrhoea supervenes, and death closes the scene.