Ki-tong Tcheng - Chin-Chin; Or, The Chinaman at Home

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CHIN-CHIN

---

CHIN-CHIN
OR
THE CHINAMAN AT HOME

BY
TCHENG-KI-TONG
( Late of the Imperial Chinese Legation )

TRANSLATED BY
R. H. SHERARD

Published by A. P. MARSDEN
27 Southampton Street, Covent
Garden, London. Mdcccxcv

Note. The price at which this book is supplied to the Trade will not permit of its being sold at a discount.

---

PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR

The friendly welcome accorded by the English Public to my Chinese Painted by Themselves has encouraged me to publish this translation of my last work.

Old Epicurus summed up his philosophy in pleasures well understood. The peoples of the world, all epicureans in a certain measure, amused themselves before him, and have amused themselves since, each after his own fashion.

I do not think I shall displease the people of the Country often called Merry England in bringing to their notice The Chinaman at Home.

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INTRODUCTORY

Our pleasures are not such as to shock modesty; they are simple and honest, as becomes an ancient nation, which has left the age of youthful follies long behind it, has due self-respect, and knows how to amuse itself decently.

In my book, Chinese Tales, I endeavoured to show the minor details of the life of my compatriots, whose political and social customs I have described in my other book, The Chinese Painted by Themselves. The object of this new book is to give a picture of our private amusements and of our small public ftes. It belongs, accordingly, to anthropological literature, describing as it does a series of ethnological phenomena, games, ceremonies, and ftes, which, however much they may resemble those to be seen in all other countries, have, nevertheless, a special character in each country. This character depends largely on the national conceptions of the people under consideration.

Everybody amuses himself as he thinks best. This affirmation is as true for nations as it is for individuals. Our joys and our ways of manifesting them are they not the expression of our individuality? And when a whole people rejoices in a certain manner, does not that mean that it offers in its ftes a kind of picture of its inner life, a synthesis of its dearest aspirations and desires? Our pleasures are determined by our moral and philosophical, political, and social views. Religion has much also to do in fashioning them according to her likeness. The character of a nation is never better shown than in its enjoymentsits ftes; in one word, in its pleasures. Tell me how you amuse yourself, and I will tell you what you are.

In the task I have laid upon myself of revealing the Asiatic East to the European West, it seems to me that this new chapter will not be out of place. In any case, the author will be sufficiently rewarded if the readeralbeit only for a momentfinds some pleasure in turning over the leaves of the book he has written.

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CONTENTS

CHAP.	PAGE
I.	THE CHINESE HOME
II.	RELIGIOUS AND NATIONAL FTES
III.	THE FTE OF THE MOON
IV.	THE FEAST OF LANTERNS
V.	THE FEAST OF THE TWO STARS
VI.	THE FEAST OF FLOWERS
VII.	NEW YEARS DAY
VIII.	THE END OF THE YEAR
IX.	PROCESSIONS
X.	A BUDDHIST SOLEMNITY
XI.	RUSTIC PLEASURESWALKS AND PILGRIMAGES
XII.	BATHING
XIII.	KITE-FLYING
XIV.	THE ILLUMINATED BOATS
XV.	GARDENING
XVI.	THE CHASE
XVII.	FISHING
XVIII.	CHARMING WOMANCOQUETRY
XIX.	FANS
XX.	CELEBRATED BEAUTIES
XXI.	SYSTEM OF EDUCATIONTHE STUDENT
XXII.	POETICAL COMPETITIONS
XXIII.	PAINTERS
XXIV.	CHESS
XXV.	AT TABLETHE PLEASURE OF DRINKING
XXVI.	TEA-DRINKING
XXVII.	CHOPSTICKS
XXVIII.	CHINESE COOKING
XXIX.	GAMES OF SKILL: CONJURING
XXX.	THE EVOCATION OF SPIRITS
XXXI.	PHRENOLOGY AND CHIROMANCY
XXXII.	DIFFERENT GAMESORIENTAL SHOOTING MATCHESTHE CANDLESTICKSHUTTLECOCKSTHE COIN GAME
XXXIII.	GAMES OF CHANCECARD GAMESFIRST GAME: AWAITING THE CARDSECOND GAME: FISHINGTHIRD GAME: THE PECKING GAME
XXXIV.	LOTTERIES
XXXV.	PUBLIC PLEASURESTHE THEATRES
XXXVI.	ANIMAL FIGHTSI. CRICKET FIGHTSII. QUAIL FIGHTS
XXXVII.	CONCLUSIONTHE PLEASURES OF A PHILOSOPHER

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CHIN-CHIN;
OR,
THE CHINAMAN AT HOME

---

CHAPTER I
THE CHINESE HOME

I remember reading in Mr. Paleologues clever book, LArt Chinois, the statement that China never had but one single style of architecture, throughout all the periods of its history, for her public and private, civic, or ecclesiastical buildings.

Now, a close observer will notice in our buildings a great variety of styles, the fineness of which naturally is lost upon those who do not take the trouble to examine them carefully. It is just like a passer-by looking at some of the new streets in Paris, where all the houses are built by one and the same building company, and resemble one another externally; or at the grand avenues in New York City, or the long strassen in Karlsruhe, spread out round a central square in the shape of a fan. At first sight one cannot help the exclamation that these buildings produce a desperately monotonous impression.

But should you pay the architect a visit and examine the plans of these various constructions, you cannot fail to notice that not one interior resembles another. The difference is as slight as the physiognomies of different people, who have the same features but have different faces.

It is true that long ago there was little variety in our architectural styles, but in spite of that it can be asserted that each of our cities has a special character, and presents, as far as its buildings are concerned, distinctive features.

There are many reasons for this want of variety. In the first place, those foreign elements, which so often so profoundly modified European architecture, have been almost completely wanting in China. Then it must be remembered that official prescriptions regulate the style of houses for different functionaries, a custom which must necessarily limit architectural originality and fancy; and then there is tradition, which is so powerful in our country, and which did not allow of any modification of the pure Chinese style, which had been consecrated by the use of centuries.

Let us now examine the different kinds of Chinese houses.

In the northern districts, less favoured by Nature, buildings are generally constructed of earth. It is only the palaces and the houses of rich people of which the framework is of wood. In spite of the severity of the climate and the quantities of dust which are brought by the wind from the sandy regions, these houses have, generally speaking, two stories, in which they differ considerably from the houses in the south, which have rarely more than one. The walls are low, with but a very slight curve at the top, whereas in the south this curve, which we style the saddle, is very pronounced. These walls are called fire-walls, because they are intended to protect the house against fire.

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