420 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by Guy Magee, Jr. 



LIKE THE PARISIANS, THE CHINESE FREQUENTLY 



TAKE THEIR MEALS IN VIEW OF THE 



PASSING CROWDS 



The stolidness of their expressions suggests a Manchu 

 strain, while the physiques of the diners in public are 

 indicative of the racial mixture to be found in the 

 Yangtze Valley (see text, page 411). 



For centuries occupation, not 

 wealth, personality, or family, 

 determined the social position ; so 

 that the non-creative group, con- 

 taining many barred from public 

 office, even from the privilege of 

 owning land, in time came to be 

 despised. All who could do so 

 sought other, more respected 

 livelihoods ; so that association 

 with a non-creative occupation 

 was looked upon as a sign of 

 mental or physical inferiority. 



WHY THE CHINESE POLICEMAN IS 

 A WEAKLING 



There probably was a long 

 period in Chinese history in 

 which ethical culture was real 

 and guided men in their daily 

 intercourse to such a degree that 

 organized police were unneces- 

 sary. That day has passed, but 

 the social system adapted to such 

 an ideal state does not admit it ; 

 hence, to maintain law and order, 

 to cope with evil-doers mentally 

 and physically capable, only those 

 mentally and physically unfit are 

 available. In a group on the 

 street in a treaty port it not infre- 

 quently happens that the weak- 

 est physique and the least in- 

 tellectual face belongs to the 

 policeman. 



In the "closed" cities the police 

 force is in an even more de- 

 plorable condition, being scarcely 

 uniformed and having hardly the 

 authority of coolies and no means 

 of enforcing that little. 



things being equal, the former have de- 

 cided preference over the latter. 



AGRICULTURE STANDS FIRST AMONG THE 

 CREATIVE OCCUPATIONS 



First in the list of the creative group 

 stands agriculture. Theoretically, the 



On the other hand, the Sikh 

 policeman, frequently seen in 

 China on the streets of the for- 

 eign concessions, is wonderfully efficient, 

 without being brutal, in his control of the 

 natives. The Sikh suggests efficiency 

 nurtured on law and order; the native 

 policeman suggests inefficiency caused by 

 lack of legal regulation and by a defective 

 social system. The two policemen are 



farmer takes precedence over all others, typical of the difference between Orient 



and Occident, the Sikh having had the 

 advantage of British army training. 



A nation in which the upholding of law 

 and order is left to the most inefficient is 

 archaic. 



literati excepted. Then follow the vari- 

 ous trades — cook, carpenter, mason, 

 smith, etc. 



On the other side are the military, 

 actors, barbers, police, etc. 



