"THE MAN JX THE STREET" TX CHINA 



415 



In the illustration on page 409, acci- 

 dent brought together a greater variety 

 of features than long search and studied 

 arrangement could have done. In the 

 child, native curiosity has outweighed the 

 instinctive dislike for the foreigner ; the 

 photographer was so hemmed in that he 

 scarcely had room to manipulate his 

 camera. 



a glance: at the children 



The little fat boy, with bulging cheeks 

 and pug nose, occupying the greater part 

 of the foreground, is typical of the sons 

 of well-to-do tradesmen in hundreds 

 of the Yangtze Valley cities. Where the 

 parents can afford it,' Chinese children 

 are well nurtured. They also have a pre- 

 disposition to fatness — a happy condition 

 for the children, but provoking to the 

 ethnologist to be baffled by a chubbiness 

 common alike to north, south, and middle 

 China. 



Were it not for the fact that his is the 

 most intelligent face in the group, one 

 might hazard the guess that the fat boy's 

 descent is largely Manchu. As "the child 

 is father to the man,'' the man in his case 

 gives promise of being large-boned and 

 full-bodied. 



The little chap to the left, wearing a 

 foreign cap, might be a brother of the fat 

 boy, own or half, or as the Chinese subtly 

 put it, having in mind plural marriage, 

 "same mother" or "same father.'' His 

 features, except for the thick underlip, 

 are more suggestive of the southern type 

 in childhood. 



The three nondescripts on the extreme 

 left show individuality, if not character. 

 They will serve as well as any other three 

 to represent the "young man in the 

 street" — household servants, clerks, cool- 

 ies for light work, artisans, etc. Al- 

 though receiving but scant notice, he is 

 the backbone of his class and of prime 

 importance to the foreigner of commerce. 



The coolie in the central background 

 is noticed only to insult him. Observe 

 the sly, suspicious, bigoted expression of 

 more mature years. 



The face to the right and rear of the 

 fat boy. the one standing out so distinctly 

 and recalling the grotesque middle-ages 

 sculptures adorning Xotre Dame, is 

 somewhat remarkable in its composition. 

 It is typical of the so-called slave girls, 



and though no two of them look exactly 

 alike, each individual has its prototype in 

 this face — a master-key of expression, a 

 real "yellow kid" as opposed to the car- 

 toonist's imaginary creation of some 

 years ago. 



Probably born on a small boat, of par- 

 ents with no land abode, this unfortunate, 

 to provide room or more food for a fa- 

 vored son, was spared drowning only to 

 be sold into slavery. The drawn features 

 in one so young and the almost idiotic 

 expression attest a childhood of want and 

 ill treatment, an overworked and under- 

 nourished body. 



Occasionally these little slaves are ac- 

 corded better treatment, but, to China's 

 disgrace, such is the exception rather 

 than the rule. To speculate upon racial 

 strains in a body and features so dis- 

 torted by "man's inhumanity to man" is 

 futile. 



WOMEN AN ECONOMIC ENCUMBRANCE IN 

 CHINA 



The density of population in China has 

 for centuries brought home to the people 

 a knowledge that "survival of the fittest" 

 is more than a theory, that it is a stern 

 reality. In the struggle for existence the 

 superfluous female members of the fam- 

 ily are felt to be an encumbrance : hence 

 it is purely from an economic point of 

 view that girls are regarded by the lower 

 classes with disfavor bordering on hos- 

 tility. 



According to the Chinese social sys- 

 tem, a daughter and son, as family assets, 

 have no basis of comparison ; at the same 

 time there is no animosity toward the 

 female just because there happens to be 

 a distinction called sex. However, it 

 does not help the poor little slave's hard 

 lot to know herself to be the victim of 

 oppressive economic conditions that have 

 warped the better nature of her perse- 

 cutors. 



The coarse, protruding, thick-lipped 

 mouth so clearly shown behind the little 

 slave girl, also evident in the latter and 

 in the coolie in the center, seems to be a 

 mark of privation, acquired or hered- 

 itary, frequently seen in the country 

 where famine is current and living con- 

 ditions are hard. 



The accompanying drooping jaw is 

 often associated with lack of intellect. 



