Arthur W. Hummel Sr., notebooks, Fenchow, China 1914-1924

crop watchers - day and night camp or then helps

Night watchmen must beat sticks to let a man know he is awake

Students must study aloud, how else could teacher know they were really waking

Student must "lock his book" to keep from looking on teacher's book when [?].

Send note must have chit before write answer receipt.

Send letters cross stamp.

Must not adjust hat in orchard, unlace shoe in melon patch.

Carter constantly asks the way to get the word of many people.

Think of money spent for gatekeepers and for walls.

See Deweys article - in part is my red pocket notebook on Chinese mind:

as late as Taiping Rebellion of 60 years ago urgent dispatches were carried by poney express here Chinkiang to Peking 800 miles in less than three days - Putnam Weale in Transpacific Magazine Sept. 1919

Fosdick says missionary enterprises is Christian campaign for international good will. Canon Barnett warden of Toynbee Hall East End warden said at close of his life: The progress of the whole world depends on how Christianity is presented to the Chinese

Water-rates are established in a city but even a low water rate is beyond the means of the great majority. The company languishes. Then a great genius hits upon a plan of making this alone-thecommon-standard-of-living invention into the framework of society. Each hydrant is made a rule office; that is you buy water then the water-carrier's guilds, who contract to take so many hundred buckets a day, a sufficiently renumerative pledge to have a hydrant controller set beside the hydrant the livelong day. Then gradually as the standard rises, people have the water run into their houses. It takes from 12 to 15 years to accomplish this result, but it in evitably comes. It has been the same with a thing like the gramophone. After the first push to buy, sales dropped; everybody who could afford to have one had bought. Then somebody hit upon the plan of itinerant gramophone players, men who would go round from home to home and play to order. For eight copper cents, say an American nickel, you can have ten tunes played. The industry is so firmly established that there are enormous numbers of men in the trade. It has worked its way down to the low standard of living and got in among the vast, unnumbered masses._ Putnam Weale in Trans Pacific Magazine Sept 1919

China will certainly at some time during the present century have a population of more than 1,000,000,000 persons.. Not only can she feed this mass easily, but she will have plenty for export - Ibid

Ten years ago there were a couple of thousand ramshackle iron-tired rickshas in Peking - the major traffic being still by the old fashioned Peking cart. To-day there are now 25,000 rubber-tired vehicles in Peking, which give employment to 40,000 men. The numbers of wheeled vehicles (mainly junk-rickshas) driving in and out of the great central gateway, the Chienmen [?] nearly 50,000 every 24 hours

At the busy hour rickshaws pass in and out at the rate of 3,500 an hour in one ceaseless amazing stream - Ibid.

China must be rebuilt, a foreign architect engaged on a large work in the capital has calculated the rebuilding of the housing accomodation will give indefinite employment to 7,000,000 men in the building trade alone. As it is how China is chiefly built out of old half-bricks of former ages.

The hard-surfacing of the roads will require £40,000,000 and canal improvements the same sum. - Ibid.

A young Japanese engineer in the South Manchuria slopes said of the Chinese to Mr. Frederic Coleman ("The Far East Unveiled") :Undoubtedly the Chinese are better workmen than the Japanese. There can be no two opinions on that head. To begin with, the Chinese, man for man, is far stronger than the Japanese. He applies himself much better. When I pan through the water and a hammer-blow falls behind me I can tell without turning to look at the striker whether he is Chinese or Japanese. It is easy to tell from the sound of the blow. Besides the Chinese keep at their work better. The Japanese talk too much. To be fair the Japanese are not in the same class as the Chinese as workmen.

Where one was a boy will herd are sheep a are ox all day long.

Pye herd alternative in West Road of Ming[?] a man to carry a load for 200 each. or a donkey for 2000

Chinese herd sheep in pairs or threes - several men always to keep company and escape loneliness. U.S. law makes it unlawful for one man to herd sheep

Chinese indirection

Part of the love for dramatics, says Arthur H. Smith.

Explain "loss of face" -

You hire a servant, he meets his friend on the street, who asks how it is he no longer works for the foreign teacher. He then goes off on a long explanation of how the foreigner's disposition was so bad, his house was dirty, etc. His friend nods his head in agreement, all the time knowing that both are merely acting out there a little drama. They part, the face of each has been saved and each knows the exact facts without stating them.

A Chinese comes to Mr. Pye with a long story. Mr. Pye listens carefully. The Chinese then asks "Do you understand my meaning fully?". Mr. Pye then repeats word for word all that he has heard to make sure that he has understood it all. When he has finished the repetition the Chinese cries out, No I didn't mean that. He says this, but he wants you to infer that, and you are a stupid fellow if you want to take his words literally.

A Chinese has been waiting for you a month and when the time comes to pay him he will suddenly come to tell you that his mother has died or is ill and he must go home. If you accepted his word and let him off from his job he would be mortified. All he wants is a dollar a month more than you are giving him, and you are stupid if you can't see that.

This indirection is probably most difficult

things new-comers must learn to tolerate.

A student who has been in mischief writes to apologize or make the matter right with you. To avoid a direct apology he says, "someone told me that you said the other day I was in that plot I was exceedingly sorry to hear that because I really wasn't in it at all". He can then get you to say that you never said such a thing at all to any one and that if he wasn't in it, it is all very well.

Foreign words in Chinese :- 葡萄 p'u t'ao grapes from Greek Βo'τρus? 司馬遷 in 91 BC. says that grapes and horses were introduced from Fergana & Arabia

西瓜 water melon is from Greek σik'va

蘿蔔 lo-po radish is from Greek ρa'ϕn

Japanese word for incense is 安息香 Ansoku ko The above word in China means Parthia

Pomegranate in China is "the Parthian fruit" or 安息榴

獅 shih lion is said to come from Persian "shir" The Persian word "[Yesumbord?] 耀森文 was adopted in the Chinese trans. of Indian [books?] on astronomy in the 8th cent.

The words 婆彈 Satan, and 彌尸訶 Messiah appear in two or three differt forms in Chinese writings of the T'ang era.

The Hebrew and Shedek (攝提格) appeared in Chinese works on astronomy

The Japanese word Maru (丸 or 麻呂) once used in sense of "Master" "God" "Saint" now used as name of a ship is traced to [?] "Mar", Mars or Mari meaning "Master" "God". In China the characters 摩 or 麻囉 is used for 麻呂 玻璃 poli glass, first manufactured in China 424 AD comes from Turkish billur, cf. polish