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Foreign Correspondence

Foreign Correspondence image
Parent Issue
Day
4
Month
November
Year
1885
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Tai Kü Huanhb, { China, Sopt. 1, 1885. i Kditor Covrikr : Inacopy oí your paper rcceutly rcceived, I noticc a few cxracts from a letter addressed from Tiensin: So, perhapa a few words, frountime 0 time, concerning this oíd country and ts strange customs, may not prove uninteresting to some of jour readers. The route of travel from Tientsin for liis interior city, fivc hundred miles from he coast, lies on river, plata and mountain. One on leaving Tientsin fortlie interior Uves la what is cailed a "house boat," mauned by four or five natives, und equal in capacity to a suiíill canal boat. The Interior of the craft 8 usually Jividtd into two or three small room, vith no íurnlture except the indispensa le kang bed oí China, made wholly of rieks or boards, usually of the fonner, and no softer tlian those material are in America. The rooms are moist efflciently ventilated by that cheapestof methods- eaving a broaJ crack between cvcry two boards. But with plenty of blankets and 1 small stove, one Ciin take a good deal of comfort in these crazy affaire, even in winter. The first one hundred and flfty miles ook six days time brought us to Paoting Fu, the capital of fie piovince of Caili, and the head of river nuvigation. This jroved to be oue of tbe most enjoyable mits of our journey. Here at Paoting Fu cTcrytliing ws translterretl to pack animáis and we started across the plain towards the distant southwestern mountains. Our party consisted of fivefoieigners and a dozon or more natives with the pack train. Some oí us rode horses, sorue donkeys and the ladies occupied litters carried on the backs of mules, tandem. A night carne on we met our first experience in Chinese iüns. What are they like ? Nothing but personal experience In the real institution itself would give one a correct Idea of it. Can you imagine souielhing half barn and hall' shed, witl stone íloor and brick bed, and bcgriuiec with the smoke. dust and grease of cen turies? Now you have only the frame work of the true couception. Fill it U] with vermin of all sorts and descriptious and you have a faint idea of a Chinese Ion. However, with plenty of our owi bedding and food, and the fatigue of trav el upon us we were 6oon is happy a though quartered in souie commodiou hotel at home. Travel on the plain grew monotonous but the mountains seemed al the more beautiful. Three weeks from the day wc left Tien tsin we were greeted by our friends ii Tai Ku. This is certainly one of the finest citie in China. The buildings, botli piivat and public surpass by far any we saw ii the east, i. e. on the coast. Most of th native buildings of Shanghai, Tient-in and all the cities we passed through com ing inland, are of one story, and most o tliem were mud huts. Here the house are of brick and many two storles higl All are built in oriental style around a open court which, although out of door and your only yard, is as private as a room A most excellent arrangement in sueh country as this. Nothing but temples ar left to the scrutiny and freedom of every body. All private residences, and nianv business houses, are built with an ope court. Nearly all the buildings are cov ered with tile roofs, rendering them nearly tiie-proof. The houses we now occup; are over one hundred years olil but are ii good repair and as comfortable as one could wisli. The country about the city is really To the southeast a half dozen miles lies raneof very pretty toot lullsaml beyoni i.niT t.".i..., lOLi.ti iinvniu nr vegeta tlon most of the year; but, sincethe rain; season, covered with green. On the wes of the plain, some twenty-five miles dis tant, is another range of mountains. Bu so diatinctly do their rock-ribs stand ou that they seern not more than five mile away. Tliis plain, at this point, Is at an ilt tude of four or five thousand feet, and s dear is the atinus, heic that distance seen is almost annihilated-, and one iuexper enced is likeiy to far under-rate it. Afte traveling, witliout seeming progress, to towardsome point wellin view one come to teel with Mark Twain, that lie ma have to swim the next little brook in hi pathway, so deceptiye is siglir. j. nis great piain üeiweeu tlic abov mentioDi'd mountains is covered wit beautiful farms. Small, but Innuincrnble and in a high degree of cultivation. Th Chinese have agricultura reduced to a se ence. The crops are abont the game i raised in Michigan and Ohio, and, mos of tliem quite as good. Some of the f ruil as apricots, plums, etc , are eqlifil in siz and richnes9of flavor to the California va rieties. They produce good grapes anc delicious inelons, but tlie apples, witli th exceptlon of one or two kinds, are poor. Labor saving machines are not used 119 would tliey be welcomed. AU agrlcu tural tools are very rude, and the peopl aim to multiply labor ratlier than reduc it. A day's wages is about fifteen ceuts aud men fairly swarm at that. The people as a rule, are better clothei than In Japan. The curse of tlils province, and indeed of ttiis whole land ia opium. Almosi every man, woman and child cats, drink sinokes or breathes opium or some of it! preparatloQ. Really, this is not over st;itiuj; the cae la this province. O: rive liundred of our adult outpatients both men and women, at least four hun dred and flfty are addicted to the opim habit. Probablj' this is an understate ment, for upon questioning nearly ever; one has admitted the habit. The quan tity of opium taken per day is enormou in some cases. Patlents confess to eatin as high as two-liths of an ounce anc otliers to smoking as much as two ounce per day. In the month of June, when the popp; is in blossom, the whole landscape look like an immense flower garden. Th flowers, as y ou know, are very show; and the poppy fields seem to occupy a much ground as do the wheat fields, bu of courie they do not. The opium i gathered in J une and July and the grount cleared and some other erop put in it place. Thus the farmers are able to ge two crops from the same ground eac year. Besides the enormus quantity o opium raised here mticli is imported from India aud consumed in this proviuce Many commit suicide by taking opium and the calis to attend such are very fre quent. You somotimes hear people speak o the model educational system oi' Chin and the admirable civil service. In re gard to educatlon, 'tis not universal, by any means, tor we have visited village where not more than two or three oí th whole population were able to read o write. Theoretically, the offices of th government stand open to eyery asplnn sou, however poor and low in parentage Practlcally, they are sold to the hlghcs bidder, altliough the government does re quire a certain literary degree for certii high offices. The worst feature about th whole service is that many of the official a 1 miüht alrnost say all, get a large part o their salaries by taking dishonest advan tages of those beneatli them. This pi in clple, tcchnically knowu here as "equee inr,'' pervades Chinese society from th hlffhMt to the lowcst. Likc the povernor of Michigan, th magistrale of Tientsin getsasmall salaij but the magistrate {tets immensely rich i a few years while the governor, if de peiident on his salary alone, goes to th poor house. The above mentloned mag lstrate of Tientsin gets a salary of on thousand "taels" a year. He has thre secretarle!: the ñrst he pays 1 ,000 taclí the second 800 tacls, and the'thinl a goo( salary alt out out of thi's 1.000 taels h gèta foi the office, and gets rich too. TIn is Chinese arlthmetlc.

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Subjects
Ann Arbor Courier
Old News