Cleveland High School - Beacon Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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ancestor spoken of as dead. On all feast days the family members send them, by fire, gifts symbolizing wishes for good fortune in Heaven. They are very much alive on the lips of their families. For sixty days after the departure of the deceased the family wears coarse cotton gowns, white shoes, and a white knot in the hair, while the deceased is on the road through Hades. After sixty days a gray gown is worn, black shoes and blue hair strings. The women may wear no orna- ments until the passing of one hundred days. Until three years have gone by they wear neither silk nor satin. No person who has passed on can dispose of any material thing he has accumulated, thus advancing the fortune of one relative over another, or preferring a friend above Family. The Family is a unit, and is heir to all the credits and all the liabilities of each and every member. If, on departure, the person wishes to be separately established, his earnings do not fall into the common fund, nor will his fortune ever be enlarged upon by any inheritance from the homestead. But if the person decides to continue of the homestead, then his dwelling place is kept ready to welcome him. One separately established has made a life decision and may not return. Much thought is given to the location of the graves and the ceme- teries. To be buried properly is the ambition of every Chinese. The possession of a handsome coffin is often the most desirable of assets, and is frequently a most acceptable present to elders or relatives. The dead are honored by banquets, and in the crises of life, ancestors are appealed to for help and direction. In ancient times human sacrifices were made at the graves of the dead. In social life there is a strict separation of the sexes. The prelimi- naries of marriage are taken charge of by the parents or professional match-makers, called go-betweens. Marriage is the most important act in life. A woman can demand that the Elders of her homestead negotiate a suitable marriage for her. Chinese cookery for the most part is wholesome. They have some peculiar dishes, however, such as soup made from a glutinous substance found in birds' nests, shark fins, deer sinews, and duck tongues. Their drink is brewed from rice and is a light amber in color, tasting somewhat like a mild beer. Liquor is drunk from tiny cups at mealtime. Tea is drunk before or after meals only, in cups that have no handles or saucers, but have covers which hold the draw. After partaking of a meal, the Chinese wipe their hands and faces with steaming hot towels. It is thought bad to put cold water in their stom- achs, so it is first boiled. The truth of the matter is that their water is not fit to be drunk without first killing the diseases which infest it. When a hostess lifts her teacup to her lips, the polite moment to say farewell has arrived, and then one should go no matter how much the hostess begs one to stay. 27

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individualism, as a means of attaining the greatest good. Many supersti- tions, having nothing to do with the doctrines of Lao-Tse, have crept into Taoism, and it is, today, little more than a degraded system of spirit worship. There are also many Mohammedans in China, especially in the northwest. Christianity was not introduced in China until the sixteenth century. However, today there are a growing number of Christians in China, reaching up into the millions. The reform of education is the greatest problem now before China. An enormous number of the adult population are illiterate. Only twenty- five per cent of China's children were attending schools when war with Japan broke out in 1937. The government, in 1903, appropriated commis- sioners for three high offices to study the whole question. The result was that a board of education was established in Peking to decide upon meth- ods of introducing Western education and a school system of different grades. For ages .there has been a special literary class which knew the lit- erature of their China. Examinations, confined chiefly to moral philosophy and literature, were held at frequent intervals in the chief city of each province, for the purpose of awarding degrees to scholars, in modern science schools, who wished to enter civil or military service. One imme- diate result was the establishment of the Peking University, a fiourishing institution before the war. At the present time only ten per cent of the populace of China are literate. There is such an insufficient number of teachers that older pupils must teach the younger ones. Many of the teachers are living on no wages, and find it necessary to earn their bread by peddling in the streets. Countless school rooms have been wrecked by bombings from the Japa- nese. Those that remain are dreary and dark and sometimes are nothing more than makeshift rooms built of mud. Many pupils have to stand outside at the window to get their lessons, and write on boards on the backs of their classmates. Books are scarce, outdated, and in very poor condition. Sometimes as many as twenty pupils must share one book! The Chinese are ruled more from the cemetery than from the Emper- or's palace. The care of their dead is often a more important duty than the sustenance of the living. Always the past is the Golden Age, and reverence for a man or thing is in proportion to age. When the body of a deceased has been dressed for the journey, it is comfortably placed in the coffin with changes of clothes, perhaps books to read, and the necessary passports and money conveniently near the hands. At intervals silver paper cash is thrown to the right and left of the coffin by the sons of the deceased, to bribe the devils who might be wandering about. Priests send Heavenly gifts made of papiermache to the sky by fire. Never is any recently deceased or 26

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The clothing worn by the Chinese is the best in the world from the standpoint of common sense. It varies in thickness and type of material with the different seasons of the year. Chinese men and women dress almost exactly alike. Their Wearing apparel differs only in their footgear and headdress. Blue is the tradi- tional color for civilians. Purple and yellow are colors of nobility, and red is worn on festivity days, expressing merriment and joy. Black is considered depressing. The Chinese girls of the upper class were still binding their feet only a few generations ago. Their feet were bound tightly in early childhood, so tight that they could not grow larger. After the long years of torture were over, the ladies with the lily feet tottered around as best they could. These Chinese girls rarely went out of the house, and heard of the outside world only from servants or visitors, contracting their circles of friends rather than enlarging upon them. The greatest holiday in China is New Year's Day, before which debts are paid and clothing bought. This is everyone's birthday, all the people dating their ages from this day. A child is considered one year old at birth. So, if a child is born twenty-four hours before New Year's Day, he is considered to be in his second year. , With China time flows on and on and on like a river-never starting, never stopping. There is never a yesterday, only a tomorrow. Today does not matter. All spend their daily lives planning for tomorrow. And so it has been since the remarkable civilization of China began. MILDRED WOLLSCHEIDT - TGTWL SGUGTL. 28