Big People and Little People of Other Lands — John Shaqi
Big People and Little People of Other LandsShaw, Edward R. (Edward Richard)
General
Big People and Little People of Other Lands
Shaw, Edward R. (Edward Richard)
Children's literature; Readers -- Geography
Between the houses are narrow streets without sidewalks. There are no
wagons. If a lady goes to make a call, she sends for a sort of covered
chair. This has long poles on each side. The chair is set on the
ground before her door. After she gets in, men lift the poles to their
shoulders. In this way they carry her. Baggage and heavy articles are
also carried on the shoulders of men.
[Illustration: Covered Chair with Poles.]
But perhaps the most wonderful thing in China is the Great Wall. It
was built by kings a long time ago. They wanted to keep savage people
from coming into the country. The wall is built very high and very
wide. It is so wide in some places that eight horses can be driven on
top of it side by side. It is hundreds of miles long. The people of
China think it is very wonderful. They think there is nothing so
wonderful in all the rest of the world.
[Illustration: The Great Wall.]
China seems a curious country. Boys shout out loud in school. They
read and write backward. Men fly kites, like boys. Women have feet as
small as babies' feet. At dinner nuts and fruits are eaten first. Men
work like animals. There are many ways in which the Chinese are
different from the people in our country.
JAPAN
[Illustration: Japanese Children.]
How would you like to ride in a wagon drawn by a man instead of a
horse? That is the way people ride in Japan. Japan is a country a
long way off, near China. You would think that a man could not run
very fast drawing a wagon. But in Japan some men can run as fast as
horses. The wagon is like a buggy, but it has only two wheels. They
call this wagon a jin-rik'i-sha.
[Illustration: A Jinrikisha.]
The streets in Japan have no sidewalks. The houses are only one or two
stories high. They are built of wood. They have no windows or doors.
Strange houses, you will think. The walls outside and inside are made
like sliding doors. They slide back so that the people can go in and
out, and from one room to another.
The Japanese have very little furniture in their houses. They have no
chairs. They do not need any, for they sit on cushions on the floor.
They also sleep on the floor. When it is time to go to bed, they
spread soft quilts on the floor, one over the other. The last quilt on
the top is the cover. These beds are very nice. But you could never
guess what kind of pillows they have. The pillows are blocks of wood
the size of a brick. You would not think them nice at all. But the
Japanese seem to sleep very well on their wood pillows.
[Illustration: A Japanese Bed.]
Many of the things in the houses in Japan are made of paper, They have
paper fans, paper lanterns, paper hats, paper cups, paper umbrellas,
paper napkins, and paper screens.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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