《中国人的性格》第二十二章 社会风波

《中国人的性格》是美国传教士阿瑟·史密斯（明恩溥）基于1872年赴华传教期间的社会观察撰写的著作，首版英文名《Chinese Characteristics》于19世纪末问世，。作者在华生活逾五十年，书中融合人类学视角与传教士立场，记录了晚清民众的性格特征与文化形态。

全书以27个主题章节剖析中国人行为模式，包含“保全面子”“省吃俭用”等生活哲学，以及“漠视精确”“因循守旧”等社会现象。通过对比西方工业文明，着重探讨东方特有的生存韧性，如环境适应力与疼痛耐受性。书中案例多源自山东乡村生活经历，涉及衣食住行、孝悌观念等主题，部分结论因宗教立场存在视角争议。该著作开创西方研究中国国民性先河，被译成多国文字，成为近代中西文化互鉴的重要文本。

第二十二章 社会风波

在人口异常稠密的中国，一个大家庭拥挤地住在一起，难免会发生口角。你问邻居：“你家有多少人？”他会回答：“十好几口吧。”你问：“所有的东西都是公有吗？”最普通的回答是：“是的。”十五或二十口人的大家庭，大概有三、四代，全靠一个商号或一块土地生活，收入都归家庭公有，所有家庭成员的消费也由公共财产满足。兄弟们为大家庭奋力劳作，而作为家庭重要成员的妯娌们，却很难团结在一起。她们年长的欺压年幼的，年幼的嫉恨年长的。每一个都竭力想使自己的丈夫觉得，他在大家庭里是最吃亏的。

家庭不和睦总是由年轻一代引起的。哪个社会能承受得起这种生活条件的压力呢？西方秩序良好的家庭也不足完全没有这种矛盾，更何况复杂严密的中国家庭呢？人与人之间存在着大量的分歧，就像人们的动机与兴趣一样。金钱、食物、衣服、孩子，以及他们往日的口角、鸡零狗碎的小事，都可能导致纠缠不清的争吵。

汉语中有个极不可思议的词，通常表示发火的意思。英语中委婉地译为“愤怒的物质”，这个词就是“气”。在中国的哲学与现实生活中，它是最重要的概念之一。一个人愤怒了，气就产生了。中国人认为，“愤怒的物质”和人体系统之间有着十分紧密的联系，强烈的愤怒会导致各种疾病与不适，如失明、心脏功能衰退等等。中国大夫问病人的第一个问题通常是：“什么事又惹你生气了？”在中国，富有经验的西方医生也乐于相信，气的确会导致中国人所说的那些疾病，下面的例子非常能说明问题：山东中部山区里的一个人，他有个老婆和几个孩子，其中两个还很小，１８８９年１０月，他的老婆死了。这使他感到非常生气，他自己解释说，这并非因为他特别依附老婆，而是因为不知道如何照管孩子。一气之下，他抓起一把剃头刀，在自己的肚子上狠戳了三个大口子。他的朋友用棉线把伤口缝了起来。六大后，他再次生气，又把口子撕开了。不过，他那可怕的伤口居然愈合了。六个月之后，他已能够步行几百里到一家外国医院去接受治疗。伤口大部分已经长好，只剩下一个小瘘管，然而肠子的功能已经紊乱。前面我们说过，中国人富有生命力，这也是个典型的例证。

中国人喜欢大声喊叫地命令或批评别人，这一习惯已经根深蒂固，似乎难以彻底改变。对中国人来说，用正常的语调规劝别人，不时停下来，听一听对方的回答，从心理上几乎不可能接受，他不能不喊叫，不能不插嘴，毫不客气，如同一条兴奋的狗，非叫不可。

在东方，中国人的辱骂艺术已发展到登峰造极的境界。争吵一开始，骂人的话就像污水一样喷涌而出，在这方面，英语望尘莫及，其刻毒与持久，令人不由想起伦敦毕令奇街的卖鱼妇。哪怕最细微的摩擦，都会引来滔滔不绝的辱骂，就像两根电线一碰，马上就会产生电火花。无论何时何地，无论男人女人，无论哪一社会阶层，情况都一样。人们普遍抱怨女人骂人比男人更恶毒，更持久。俗话说：女人不裹脚，舌头利如刀。父母常在孩子呀呀学语时，教他们用土话骂人，并把自己被孩子骂当成最大的乐趣。骂人己成为中国人的第二天性，广泛地存在于社会各阶层中。文人及各级政府官员，甚至最高层官员被激怒时，都会像他们自己手下的苦力一样随意骂人。普通百姓在街上相遇，甚至以骂人的活来打招呼，这可以表明他们之间关系的亲密。

西方人的咒骂，声音不高，但能令对方痛人肺腑。中国人的咒骂若声音不高就毫无意义。英语中的诅咒是带翅的飞弹，中国人的诅咒是肮脏的皮球。他们骂人的话大部分被视为一种咒语。一个人发现自家田里的谷穗被人掐了，就会在村子里高声喊骂那未知的贼——尽管经常有怀疑对象。人们认为，这样做有两种作用：第一，可以告诉众人，他已恼怒了。骂人能让他发泄一下。第二，骂人还可以防止再次被偷。偷东西的人在暗处，（理论上）听着对他的可怕的诅咒，虽然一般不会被发觉，可他毕竟不能保证。被偷的人可能很清楚是谁干的，但他更乐意在大庭广众之中谩骂，作为对偷东西人的正式警告：他已被发觉或被怀疑，以后最好不要再做。假如被偷的人过于被激怒，这显然就是在声明：他要报复。这就是中国的骂街论。不过，他们坦率承认，这样做不仅不能防止被偷，而且也不能防止再次被偷。因为在众多的人当中，小偷不一定知道自己被骂了。

女人比男人喜欢骂人，她们经常爬到平房顶上，扯着嗓子叫骂，一连几个小时，有时直到嗓子嘶哑，方才罢休。在一个有社会地位的家庭中，倘能制止，是不会出现这种行为的。但是中国与其他地方一样，妇女一旦被激怒，是最难约束的。一般情况下，骂街很少有人注意，或者没人理睬。有时会在巷口遇到一个男人，或在屋顶上发现一个女人，已骂得面红耳赤，周围却一个人影也没有。如果天气较热，他（她）拼命叫骂一阵之后，会挥着扇子休息一下，再继续叫骂。

中国人吵架吵到一定程度，不动手就不能收场。在欧洲南部旅行的英国人发现，他们打架时将拳头从肩膀处击出的习惯，令拉丁民族十分惊奇。中国人和他们一样，从未受过拳击训练，即便学过，也是不伦不类。他们怒不可遏时，首先是抓住对手的辫子，尽力扯他的头发，这也是他们最主要的手段。倘没有第三者加入，双方又都没有其他武器，这样的“战斗”十之八九，仅仅是一场扯辫子比赛而已。

中国人的争吵，也是对骂比赛。比赛声音的高低，结果除了嗓子喊破之外，没什么严重伤害。中国极少有人对交战双方火上浇油。我们只见过“战斗”发生时，很快有人挺身而出，充当和事佬——这也是我们一直期望的，他们通常有两、三个。他们将叫骂的人拉开，好言相劝。但叫骂的人一旦发现自己处在和事佬的安全保护之下，就会骂得更凶，可他心里却很谨慎，对方有人准备僵旗息鼓时，他也明智地逐渐收敛，这无疑对双方都没有坏处。中国人即使在最愤怒时，仍非常理智，不管在理论上，还是在实践中，都不会忘记这一点。谁见过吵架的人转而扭住劝架的人，责怪他多管闲事呢？那可是紧要关头。中国人愤怒时，仍渴望和平——在抽象的意义上——只不过在自己的具体事情上，难以实现罢了。和事佬劝解他们，几乎总是扯走好斗的一方，后者则边撤边骂，表示对对方恶毒的蔑视。

中国人骂人，非常令人难以理解，他们并不揭露对手实际的过错，而勿宁污辱他的祖先，嘲笑他卑贱的出身。被骂的人则认为这是对自己尊严的严重伤害，其原因不在于是当着别人的面，甚至不在于自己被骂，而在于骂他的那些话令他太丢）“面子”了。骂人者感到自己做得不对，也不是认为自己的行为不光彩，有失身份，而是认为自己不该在那个时候、用那种话骂对方。

幸亏中国人没有随身携带武器的习惯，假如他们随身带着手枪，或像从前日本的武士，佩着剑，真不知他们发起火来，会酿制多少惨剧。

中国人一旦觉得自己受了莫大委屈，会马上气得暴跳如雷，失去控制，据说有个人，请求一位有经验的老传教士为他施洗，遭到了委婉的拒绝。于是，他就拿着刀子，逼迫老传教士为他举行仪式。幸好大多数初做修士的人对这种凭暴力进入天国的方式不感兴趣，可是这条原则普遍地存在于中国的社会生活中。一位乞讨的老太婆，遭到了拒绝，会躺倒在你的马车前。要是被你的车轧了，她就要谢天谢地了，因为现在她有理由要你永远赡养她，为她养老送终。笔者住的那个村子里，有个老泼妇，尽管邻居们乐于帮助她，可她总不满足，经常以自杀相威胁。有一次，她终于跳进了池塘里，想淹死自己，却发现水只能没到她的脖子，她怎么也不能一直把头没在水里，结果恼羞成怒，对全村人破口大骂。不过，她第二次跳的时候，村民们答应给她更大的帮助。

中国人有冤无处诉时，常常私了。比如婆婆过分虐待儿媳妇，法律管不着，社会习俗又认可，就要靠儿媳妇的娘家去讨公道。这时，若遭拒绝，肯定会发生一场战斗。如果没遭拒绝，但施虐者逃之夭夭，娘家的人就把她屋子里一切能打碎的东西，全部打碎，像镜子、水罐之类的。出完气之后，扬长而去。假如婆家人事先知道了风声，就会先把那些东西搬到邻居家里。据中国的一家报纸说，北京曾发生过这么一件事：一个小伙子和一个漂亮的姑娘订了婚，结婚时，却发现娶来的是个又老又丑的姑娘，而且还是个秃子。失望的新郎勃然大怒，狠狠地打了媒人一顿，大骂那些骗于，并砸毁了新娘的所有嫁妆。在这种情况下，任何一个中国人，只要有胆量，都会这样做。“怒气爆发，总会平息，这就要看“和事佬”的了——他们在中国社会生活中的作用可非同小可。这些重要的人物都热衷于和平，即使事不关己，也会主动出面，两边劝慰，促使双方互相谦让，协调一致。

社会纠纷不能用普通的方式解决时，或者说当事人怒气太盛，无法发泄时，就要打官司了。在中国，打官司是件大事。极度的愤怒会使人失去控制，大吵大闹，最终决定将冒犯者告官，以求“法办”，在西方，这是鲁莽的做法，在中国，完全是发疯。中国有些格言，明确表明，宁死也不愿打官司。狗被别人打死，乃小事一桩，我们会笑置之。可一位中国移民的狗被打死之后，却声明要告到法院。他的朋友问他：“一条狗能值几个钱？”他说：“狗系（是）不及（值）钱，可那家伙太狠了，他要赔我全价。”西方的法庭宁愿以高价拒绝受理，可在中国，它会导致两败俱伤，并结下世仇。不过，双方通常都会找些说情的人。这种人无处不在，价值也无可估量。他们的参与使成千上万的案子在审判前就了结了。我知道一个小村子，住着上千户人家，已经几十年没人打过官司了，究其原因，原来是当地衙门中一位有地位的人物一直在制约着他们。

＊据来自北京的报告，现在的皇帝并不喜欢为他选择的妻子。太后作出的选择常常与皇帝的意愿相违背，令他很不满意据人们私下里说，宫庭中的婚礼情况与民间相似，“上行下效”嘛。

一个复杂如中国的社会机器一定会经常咯咯作响，在巨大的压力下扭曲变形，可中国社会却一直安然无恙。这些压力并没有使中国社会破产、毁灭。中国的政治机体也像人的身体一样，存在着大量的润滑液囊，在最需要时。最需要处，往往会及时渗出一滴来，加以润滑。爱好和平的品质使每个中国人都成为有价值的社会分子。他们热爱秩序，尊重法律，甚至在不值得如此时仍惜守不渝。所有支那民族中，中国人是最容易统治的，只要统治方式符合他们的习惯。当然，其他文明，在很多方面或大多数方面，都优于中国。不过，能像中国社会这样承受如此之巨大压力者，大概寥寥无几，其中，最为功不可没者，当数那些和事佬。

英文原版：

XXII. sOCI AL TYPHOONS

In China,where families often of great size are crowded together in narrow quarters,it is impossible that occasions for quarrels should not be all-pervasive.“How many are there in your family?"you inquire of your neighbour.“Between ten and twenty mouths,"he replies. “And do you have everything in common?"you ask."Yes,"is the most common reply.Here,then,are fifteen or twenty human beings, probably representing three,if not four,generations,who live from the income of the same business or farm,an income which is all put into a common stock;and the wants of all the members of the family are to be met solely from this common property.The brothers each contribute their time and strength to the common fund,but the sisters-in-law are an element of capital importance,and very difficult it is to harmonise them.The elder sister-in-law enjoys tyrannising somewhat over the younger,and the younger ones are naturally jealous of the prerogatives of the elder. Each strives to make her husband feel that in this community of property he is the one who is worsted.

The younger generation of children furnish a prolific source of domestic unpleasantness. Where is the society capable of withstanding the strain to which it must be subjected under conditions such as these?Troubles of this nature are far from being uncommon in well-ordered homes in Western lands;how much more in the complex and compact life of the Chinese! The occasions for differences are as numerous as the objects and interests with which human beings have to do.Money, food,clothes,children and their squabbles,a dog,a chicken, anything or nothing,will serve as the first loop on which will be knit a complicated tangle of quarrel.

One of the most enigmatical characters in the Chinese lan- guage is that which is used to denote the rise of passion,and which has been euphemistically translated“wrath-matter.” The word“chi”is a most important one in all kinds of Chinese philosophy and in practical life. Ch‘i is generated when a man becomes very angry,and the Chinese believe that there is some deadly connection between this developed “wrath-matter”and the human system generally,so that a violent passion is constantly named as the exciting cause of all varieties of diseases and ailments,such as blindness,failure of the heart,etc.O ne of the first questions which a Chinese doctor asks his patient is,"What was it that threw you into a passion?”Foreign physicians in China of wide experience are ready to believe that Chinese ch‘i is capable of producing all that is claimed for it by the Chinese themselves.Of this the following case is a striking illustration:A man living in the mountains in central Shantung had a wife and several children,two of them of tender age.In October,I88g,the wife died. This made the husband very angry,not,as he explained,in answer to a question,because he was specially attached to his wife,but because he could not see how he was to manage the small children. In a paroxysm of fury he seized a Chinese razor,and made three deep cuts in his abdo- men. Some of his friends afterwards sewed up the wound with cotton thread.Six days later the man had another acces- sion of ch'i, and ripped open the wound. On each occasion he was afterwards unable to remember what he had done. From these fearful injuries he nevertheless recovered,to such an extent that six months later he was able to walk several hundred miles to a foreign hospital for treatment.The ab- dominal wound had partly closed,leaving only a small fistula, but the normal action of the bowels was interrupted.He is a striking exemplification of that plhysical vitality to which atten- tion has been already directed.

The habit of yelling to enforce command or criticism is in- grained in the Chinese,and appears to be ineradicable.To expostulate with another in an ordinary tone of voice,paus- ing at times to listen to his opponent's reply,is to a Chinese almost a psychological impossibility.He must shout,he must interrupt,by a necessity as inexorable as that which leads a dog labouring under great excitement to bark.

The Chinese have carried to a degree of perfection known only among Orientals the art of reviling.The moment that a quarrel begins abusive words of this sort are poured forth in a filthy stream to which nothing in the English language offers any parallel,and with a virulence and pertinacity suggestive of the fish-women of Billingsgate. The merest contact is often sufficient to elicit a torrent of this invective,as a touch induces the electric spark,and it is in constant and almost universal use by all classes and both sexes,always and every- where.It is a common complaint that women use even viler language than men,and that they continue it longer,justify- ing the aphorism that what Chinese women have lost in the compression of their feet seems to have been made up in the volubility of their tongues.Children just beginning to talk learn this abusive dialect from their parents and often em- ploy it towards them,which is regarded as extremely amusing. The use of this language has become to the Chinese a kind of second nature.It is confined to no class of society.Literary graduates and officials of all ranks up to the very highest, when provoked,employ it as freely as their coolies.It is even used by common people on the street as a kind of ban- tering salutation,and as such is returned in kind.

Occidental curses are sometimes not loud but deep,but Chinese maledictions are nothing if not loud.An English oath is a winged bullet;Chinese abuse is a ball of filth. Much of this abusive language is regarded as a sort of spell or curse. A man who has had the heads removed from his field of millet stands at the entrance of the alley which leads to his dwelling,and pours forth volleys of abuse upon the unknown (though often not unsuspected)offender. This proceeding is regarded as having a double value:first,as a means of notifying the public of his loss and of his consequent fury,thus freeing his mind;and second,as a prophylactic, tending to secure him against the repetition of the offence. The culprit is (theoretically)in ambush,listening with some- thing like awe to the frightful imprecations levelled at him. He cannot,of course,be sure that he is not detected,which is often the case. Perhaps the loser knows perfectly well who it was who stole his goods,but contents himself with a public reviling,as a formal notice that the culprit is either known or suspected,and will do well to avoid the repetition of his act. If provoked too far the loser will,it is thus tacitly proclaimed, retaliate.This is the Chinese theory of public reviling.They frankly admit that it not only does not stop theft,but that it has no necessary tendency to prevent its repetition,since among a large population the thief or other offender is by no means certain to know that he has been reviled.

The practice of“reviling the street”is often indulged in by women,who mount the flat roof of the house and shriek away for hours at a time,or until their voices fail.A re- spectable family would not allow such a performance if they could prevent it,but in China,as elsewhere,an enraged woman is a being difficult to restrain.Abuse delivered in this way,on general principles,attracts little or no attention,and one some- times comes upon a man at the head of an alley,or a woman on the roof,screeching themselves red in the face,with not a single auditor in sight.If the day is a hot one the reviler bawls as long as he (or she)has breath,then proceeds to re- fresh himself by a season of fanning,and afterwards returns to the attack with renewed fury.

If a Chinese quarrel be at all violent,it is next to impossi- ble that it should be concluded without more or less personal vilification.English travellers in the south of Europe have noted the astonishment of the Latin races at the invariable habit of the inhabitant of the British Isles to strike out from the shoulder if he gets into a fight.The Chinese,like the Italians,have seldom learned to box,or if they have learned it is not scientific boxing.The first and chief resource of Chinese when matters come to extremities is to seize the cue of their opponent,endeavouring to pull out as much hair as possible. In nine fights out of ten,where only two parties are concerned,and where neither party can lay hold of any weapon,the“fight”resolves itself simply into a hair-pulling match.

A Chinese quarrel is also a reviling match,low language and high words.But an infinitesinal fraction of the partici- pants in Chinese fights is seriously disabled in other respects than that by incessant bawling they have become hoarse. We should be surprised to hear that any one ever saw a Chinese crowd egg on combatants. What we have seen,what we al- ways expect to see.is the instant and spontaneous appearance on the scene of the peace-maker.He is double,perhaps quadruple. Each of the peace-makers seizes a roaring bellig- erent,and tranquillises him with good advice.As soon as he finds himself safely in charge of the peace-maker,the principal in the fight becomes doubly furious.He has judiciously post- poned losing control of himself until there is some one else ready to take that control,and then he gives way to spasms of apparent fury,unquestionably innocuous both to himself and to others. In his most furious moments a Chinese is ame- nable to"reason,"for which he has not only a theoretical,but a very practical,respect.Who ever saw a belligerent turn and rend the officious peace-maker,who is holding him from flying at his foe ?This is the crucial point in the struggle. Even in his fury the Chinese recognises the desirableness of peace—in the abstract—only he thinks that in his concrete case peace is inapplicable.The peace-maker judges differ- ently,and nearly always drags away the bellicose reviler,who yells back to his opponent malignant defiance as he goes.

It is a curious feature of the universal Chinese practice of reviling that it is not considered“good form”in hurling this abuse at another to touch upon his actual faults,but rather to impute to him the most ignoble origin,and to heap contempt upon his ancestors.The employment of this language towards another is justly regarded as a great indignity and a grave offence,but the point of the insult consists not in the use of such language in the presence of another,nor even principally in its application to him,but in the loss of"face"which this application of such terms implies.The proper apology for the commission of this offence is not that the person who has been guilty of it has demeaned himself,and has done a dis- graceful act,but that he was wrong in applying those terms to that person at that time.

It is fortunate for the Chinese that they have not the habit of carrying weapons about them,for if they had revolvers or swords,like the former samurai class of Japan,it would not be possible to predict the amount of mischief which the daily evolution of ch'i would produce.

When any Chinese is once seized of the idea that he has been deeply wronged,there is no power on earth which can prevent the sudden and often utterly ungovernable de- velopment of a certain amount of ch‘i,or rather of a very un- certain amount of it.We have heard of a man who applied for baptism to an old and experienced missionary and was very properly refused,whereupon he got a knife and threatened to attack the missionary to prove by ordeal of battle the claim to the rite of initiation. Happily this method of taking the kingdom of heaven by violence does not commend itself to most novitiates,but the underlying principle is one that is constantly acted upon in all varieties of Chinese social life. An old woman who will not take“no”for an answer asks for fnancial assistance,and throws herself on the ground in front of your carter's mules. If she is run over so much the better for her,for she is thus reasonably sure of a support for an in- definite period.An old vixen living in the same village as the writer was constantly threatening to commit suicide,but though .all her neighbours were willing to lend their aid,she never seemed to accomplish her purpose.At last she threw herself into one of the village mudholes with intent to drown,but found to her disgust that the water was only up to her neck. She lacked that versatility of invention which would have en- abled her to put her head under water and hold it there,but contented herself with reviling the whole village at the top of her voice for her contretemps.The next time she was more successful.

If a wrong has been committed for which there is no legal redress,such as abuse of a married daughter beyond the point which custom warrants,a party of the injured friends will visit the house of the mother-in-law,and if they are resisted,will engage in a pitched battle. If they are not resisted,and the offending persons have fled,the assailants will proceed to smash all the crockery in the house,the mirrors,the water-jars, and whatever else is frangible,and having thus allowed their ch'i to escape,they depart.If their coming is known in ad- vance,the very first step is to remove all these articles to the house of some neighbour.One of the Chinese newspapers mentioned a case which occurred in Peking,where a man had arranged for a wedding with a beautiful woman,who turned out to be ugly,bald-headed,and elderly.The disappointed bridegroom became greatly enraged,struck the go-betweens, reviled the whole company,and smashed the bride's wedding- outfit.Any Chinese would have acted in the same way,if he was in such relations to his environment that he dared to do so.It is after the preliminary paroxysms of ch‘i have had opportunity to subside,that the work of the“peace-talker” —that useful factor in Chinese social life—is accomplished. Sometimes these most essential individuals are so deeply im- pressed with the necessity of peace,that even when the matter is not one which concerns them personally,they are willing to go from one to the other making prostrations now to this side and now to that,in the interests of harmony.

Whenever social storms prove incapable of adjustment by the ordinary processes—in other words,when there is such a preponderance of ch'i that it cannot be dispersed without an explosion—there is the beginning of the lawsuit,a term in China of fateful significance. The same blind rage which leads a person to lose all control of himself in a quarrel leads him,after the first stages of the outbreak have passed,to de- termine to take the offender before a magistrate,in order"to have the law on him."This proceeding in Western lands is generally injudicious,but in China it is sheer madness.There is sound sense in the proverb which praises the man who will suffer himself to be imposed upon to the death before he will go to the law,which will often be worse than death.We smile at the fury of the immigrant whose dog had been shot by a neighbour,and who was remonstrated with by a friend when the resolution to go to law was declared.“What was the value of the dog?”“Ze dog vas vort nottings,but since he vas so mean as to kill him,he shall pay ze full value of him.”In an Occidental land such a suit would be dismissed with costs,and there it would end.In China it might go on to the ruin of both parties,and be a cause of feud for gen- erations yet to come.But generally speaking,every Chinese lawsuit calls out upon each side the omnipresent peace-talker, whose services are invaluable. Millions of lawsuits are thus strangled before they reach the fatal stage.In a village num- bering a thousand families,the writer was informed that forcries more than a generation there had not been a single lawsuit, owing to the restraining influence of a leading man who had a position in the yamen of the District Magistrate.

A social machinery so complicated as that of China must often creak,and sometimes under extreme pressure bend,yet it seldom actually breaks beneath the strain,for,like the human body,the Chinese body politic is provided,as we see,with little sacs of lubricating fluid,distilled,a drop at a time,exactly when and where they are most needed.It is the peaceable quality of the Chinese which makes him a valuable social unit. He loves order and respects law,even when it is not in itself respectable.Of all Asiatic peoples,the Chinese are probably most easily governed,when governed on lines to which they are accustomed. Doubtless there are other forms of civil- isation which are in many or in most respects superior to that of China,but perhaps there are few which would sustain the tension to which Chinese society has for ages been sub- ject,and it may be that there is none better entitled to claim the benediction once pronounced upon the peace-makers.

It was reported in Peking that the present Emperor was not pleased with the choice of a wife which was made for him.He had been so often crossed in his wishes by the Empress Dowager that any selection which was made by her would have been distasteful.It was also whispered that scenes occurred in the palace not remotely unlike those mentioned as taking place at the wedding of one of his subjects."When those above act, those below will imitate."