I bade him good-bye,
exchanged cards with me. He, I learned, is a Christian minister and
is the pastor of a Chinese church in Los Angeles. His literary
attainments and business capacity peculiarly fit him for his work
on the Chinese paper, and he is held in high esteem by Chinamen
generally. He is a man about four feet five inches in stature, and
possibly forty years old. It is hard, however, to tell a Chinaman's
age, and so he may be five or ten years older. He is what you would
call a handsome man, with a fine head and a beaming countenance. He
showed great warmth in his greeting--and this was the more remarkable
as the Chinaman is generally cool and impassive. He was dressed in the
Chinese fashion with the traditional queue hanging down behind. He
presented altogether a striking appearance, and you would single
him out from a crowd as a man of more than ordinary cultivation and
ability. He talked English fluently, and it was a pleasure to listen
to him. He has well defined views regarding China and other countries.
When questioned about the Flowery Kingdom, he said that the people
were very conservative, that they do not wish for change, and that
Chinese women dress as they did thousands of years ago. He remarked,
however, that there is a younger generation of Chinamen who long for
a change and for reform in methods, I suppose after the manner of the
so-called "Young Turks" in the Sultan's dominions. They would like the
improvements of European and American life, and would shake off the
trammels of the past to a large extent, just as Japan has shaken off
the sleep of centuries and is marching towards greatness among the
strong nations of the world. With the modern appliances and advances
in civilisation and armies well drilled like those of England or the
United States of America, and with great war-ships well manned, they
would be able to meet the world and to defend themselves and repel
every invader from their country. He says the Chinese have good
memories, that they will never forget the manner in which opium came
to them, and the opium war of 1839. When he was a child he was taught
to pray to a wooden god, and he had to rise as early as 3:30 A.M. to
go to school to study the teachings of Confucius. As the custom is to
go so early in the morning to school, the children sometimes drop to
sleep by the way as they are hastening on. Chinamen will tell you that
they have the religion which is best for them. This is th