Farmers of Forty Centuries; Or, Permanent Agriculture in China, Korea, and JapanKing, F. H. (Franklin Hiram)
Science
Farmers of Forty Centuries; Or, Permanent Agriculture in China, Korea, and Japan
King, F. H. (Franklin Hiram)
Agriculture -- China; Agriculture -- Japan; Agriculture -- Korea
He would accept no compensation, and yet I was an entire stranger,
without introduction of any kind. Everywhere we went in China, the
laboring people appeared generally happy and contented if they have
something to do, and showed clearly that they were well nourished.
The industrial classes are thoroughly organized, having had their
guilds or labor unions for centuries and it is not at all uncommon
for a laborer who is known to have violated the rules of his guild
to be summarily dealt with or even to disappear without questions
being asked. In going among the people, away from the lines of
tourist travel, one gets the impression that everybody is busy or is
in the harness ready to be busy. Tramps of our hobo type have few
opportunities here and we doubt if one exists in either of these
countries. There are people physically disabled who are asking alms
and there are organized charities to help them, but in proportion to
the total population these appear to be fewer than in America or
Europe. The gathering of unfortunates and habitual beggars about
public places frequented by people of leisure and means naturally
leads tourists to a wrong judgment regarding the extent of these
social conditions. Nowhere among these densely crowded people,
either Chinese, Japanese or Korean, did we see one intoxicated, but
among Americans and Europeans many instances were observed. All
classes and both sexes use tobacco and the British-American Tobacco
Company does a business in China amounting to millions of dollars
annually.
During five months among these people we saw but two children in a
quarrel. The two little boys were having their trouble on Nanking
road, Shanghai, where, grasping each other's pigtails, they tussled
with a vengeance until the mother of one came and parted their ways.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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