CHINA. 



'309 



Ofcaracter 

 and 



Manner!. 



Vindictive 

 tesipcr. 



Licoticus- 



BCsS. 



jobriety. 



fruity. 



Cc^ctnoni- 

 u deport- 



difference, with which they Can look upon human beings 

 in situations of suffering and danger, without making 

 the smallest attempt to afford relief, Mr Barrow relates 

 the following specimen, which occurred during the pro- 

 gress of the British embassy down the Great Canal : 

 Several persons, who had crowded to the brink of the 

 canal, had posted themselves upon the high projecting 

 stern of an old vessel, which broke down with their 

 weight, and precipitated the whole groupe into the wa- 

 ter, at the moment when the yachts of the embassy were 

 passing. Though numbers of boats were sailing about 

 the place, not one was observed to go to the assistance 

 of the drowning creatures; but seemed even not to know 

 that such an accident had happened, nor to pay the least 

 attention to the shrieks of the boys, who were floating 

 around upon pieces of the wreck. 



The Chinese are described also as extremely vindic- 

 tive, and as indulging their fpite, by watching for op- 

 portunities of accusing their adversaries to the manda- 

 rins ; though it frequently happens, that the person ac- 

 cused, equally vigilant and crafty on his part, finds 

 means, by the help of bribery, to make the evil re- 

 bound upon the head of his prosecutor. Hence are ge- 

 nerated the most fatal feuds and lasting enmities, which 

 frequently terminate by the parties setting fire to etch 

 others habitations. The wealthier and liigner orders are 

 much addicted to secret licentiousness, and fond of in- 

 delicate compositions. Prevented by the restraints of 

 the sumptuary laws, and the dread of being pillaged by 

 those who are in authority, from displaying their riches 

 in expensive equipages and public amusements, they em- 

 ploy their wealth in the private pampering of their ap- 

 petite, and the secret indulgence of voluptuous inclina- 

 tions. As it is the law and custom of the country to 

 marry in early life, this sensual disposition seldom ap- 

 pears in licentious intercourse between the sexes, except 

 in the larger cities; but in a plurality of wives and con- 

 cubines. They are moreover addicted to still more de- 

 testable modes of gratifying their passions, without seem- 

 ing to attach any disgrace to such brutal practices; and 

 many of the officers of state are publicly attended by 

 handsome and well-dressed boys, in the character of 

 their pipe-bearers. 



They are of all people the most exempt from the vice 

 of drunkenness ; and, at least, are extremely cautious of 

 appearing before others in a state of intoxication. " I 

 have never met with one of them," says De Guignes, 

 " in this condition ; and if merely a little touched with 

 wine, so as to have a flushed and heated look, they ap- 

 pear embarrassed when noticed, and rarely, in such ca- 

 ees, shew themselves in the streets." 



They are remarkably full of national vanity ; and, in 

 all transactions with foreigners, their self-importance is 

 uniformly conspicuous. However notoriously they may 

 be indebted, in articles of daily use, to the superior skill 

 and science of Europeans, they obstinately persist in re- 

 garding all the nations upon the earth, as absolute bar- 

 barians in comparison with themselves ; and it is said, 

 that a Chinese merchant at Canton was actually subject- 

 ed to a fine, for attempting to construct a vessel after 

 the English model. 



Their exterior deportment to each other is so com- 

 pletely regulated by the court of ceremonies, and the 

 omission of the smallest point of etiquette regarded so 

 much in the light of a criminal offence, that even those 

 persons, who are most intimately acquainted with each 

 othi-r, observe, upon meeting, the most stiff and formal 

 behaviour, and perform the stated salutations with the 

 most studied ceremony. Between those, who are mem- 



bers of the same family, and most nearly related to each 

 other, a cold and ceremonious manner is uniformly ob- 

 served. Every one lives retired and apart as it were 

 from the rest ; and nothing, like the easy conversation 

 and unrestrained intercourse of European relatives, exists 

 among them. Even at school, the constrained and cere- 

 monious behaviour, which forms a principal part in the 

 education of their children, prevents them from ming- 

 ling freely with each other, subdues all their juvenile spi- 

 rit, and restrains the playful disposition of their age ; so 

 that a Chinese youth of the higher class is completely 

 inanimate, formal, and inactive, continually assuming the 

 gravity of age, and carefully observing all the establish- 

 ed rules of ceremony. 



Even the virtue of filial piety, in which they are re- Filial 

 presented as so pre-eminently exemplary, is rather a piety, 

 maxim of government, regulating the external conduct 

 of the people, than a moral sentiment influencing the 

 mind. Entire submission to the will of their parents is 

 the first principle, with which they are impressed ; and 

 it is universally inculcated as a positive law, that a father 

 has the same unlimited authority over the properties, 

 persons, and lives of his children, as the emperor pos- 

 sesses over his people ; but the whole system of domestic 

 life in China is not considered as greatly calculated to 

 render this civil submission the genuine result of dutiful 

 affection. 



It is only the prevailing character, which has been de- 

 scribed in the preceding sketch of the Chinese nation ; 

 and it may naturally be supposed, that among so numer- 

 ous a people there are not wanting (chough in smaller 

 proportion than in other countries,) individuals possessed 

 of real humanity, integrity, and disinterested minds. 

 Some of their officers of state, even, are represented by 

 the gentlemen of the British embassy, as distinguished 

 by a deportment at once dignified and engaging, and by 

 the most unaffected kindness and condescension ; and 

 while, in public, they were under the necessity of assum- 

 ing all the regulated ceremonious gravity of demeanour, 

 they were in general, in private society, affable, familiar, 

 talkative, and good humoured. 



Many of the most unfavourable features in the Chinese 

 character may justly be ascribed to the arbitrary nature 

 of their government, and their peculiar state of society ; 

 living in continual fear, and daily suffering the most de- 

 grading chastisements, anxious to acquire wealth, whicli 

 they find to be more powerful than justice or honour, 

 yet obliged to conceal it when acquired ; by such means, 

 a people naturally quiet and passive, have been rendered 

 habitually deceitful and unfeeling. 



One striking characteristic of Chinese manners, and of state of 

 the low degree of civilization, which they have yet at- women in 

 tained, is the degraded condition of the female sex, which China. 

 is affirmed to be much more humiliating and oppressive 

 than among the Greeks in ancient times, or the European 

 nations during the dark ages. It is accounted a species 

 of moral offence in a woman to be seen in the public 

 streets ; and when they do occasionally visit a relative or 

 a friend, they must be conveyed to the house in a close 

 chair ; while those of them, who cannot command such a 

 vehicle, are sometimes moved about in a covered wheel 

 barrow. They are permitted, indeed, without incurring 

 the charge of impropriety or vulgarity, to visit the 

 temples on certain occasions, to enquire into their desti- 

 nies ; and barren wives, particularly, are encouraged to 

 repair thither as often as possible, that, by rubbing the 

 bellies of the little copper idols, they may conceive and 

 bear children. Those of the lower class, are indeed, per- 

 mitted to go abroad with greater freedom, but only that 



