"THE MAN IN THE STREET" IN CHINA 



411 



foreigner and his 

 ways; the others are 

 not. 



Lack of self -con- 

 sciousness is a Chi- 

 nese characteristic. 

 And yet this state- 

 ment is relative. The 

 upbringing of the Ori- 

 ental and that of his 

 neighbors is identical 

 and has been stand- 

 ardized for centuries. 

 Consequently in his 

 own familiar environ- 

 ment from day to day 

 there is nothing to 

 startle him ; all that 

 life has to offer he has 

 experienced. But were 

 he forced unexpect- 

 edly to don Western 

 clothes, including 

 morning coat and silk 

 hat, and set about his 

 duties, his discomfi- 

 ture would be just as 

 great as would be ours 

 attending to our af- 

 fairs in coolie garb. 



Changing social con- 

 ditions sometimes 

 catch us unawares. 

 In the Orient such an 

 occurrence heretofore 

 has been unknown. In 

 peering below the sur- 

 face it is seen that 

 generalizations be- 

 tween Orient and Occident are mostly su 

 perficial, and the differences, being more 



Photograph by Guy ^lagee, Jr. 



WHERE THE PARENTS CAN AFFORD IT, CHINESE CHILDREN 

 ARE WEEE NURTURED" 



The stolidness of these several expres- 

 sions would suggest a Manchu strain; 

 apparent than real, disappear with fuller the physiques suggest the racial mixture 

 understanding of the East. It is a truism 

 that "human nature is much the same the 

 world over." 



of the Yangtze Valley. The apparel is 



and 



THE CHINESE ARE BOUEEVARDIERS 



In large measure the Chinese are as 

 much boulevardiers as the Parisians ; in 

 fact, they outvie the Parisians by having 

 their entire meal in full view of the pass- 

 ing crowds. Of the faces turned our 

 way in the illustration on page 420 even 

 the most casual tourist would hardly 

 term them so deficient in individuality as 

 to "all look alike" to him. 



not different from that of clerks 

 coolies employed in small shops. 



Notice the frowns here as compared 

 with the smiles of our railroad employees. 

 "The intrusion is resented, but being 

 powerless to prevent it, we will, with 

 bad grace, submit" ; so we interpret the 

 thought behind the expressions in this 

 and in several other illustrations — un- 

 gracious but not dangerous, the ill will 

 of un familiarity. 



Of the two coolies shown in the illus- 

 tration on page 412 the one to the right, 



