CHIN-CHIN
CHIN-CHIN
OR
THE CHINAMAN AT HOME
BY
TCHENG-KI-TONG
(Late of the Imperial Chinese Legation)
TRANSLATED BY
R. H. SHERARD
Published by A. P. MARSDEN
27 Southampton Street, Covent
Garden, London. Mdcccxcv
Note.—The price at which this book issupplied to the Trade will not permitof its being sold at a discount.
PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR
The friendly welcome accorded bythe English Public to my “ChinesePainted by Themselves” has encouragedme to publish this translation ofmy last work.
Old Epicurus summed up his philosophy inpleasures well understood. The peoples ofthe world, all epicureans in a certain measure,amused themselves before him, and haveamused themselves since, each after his ownfashion.
I do not think I shall displease the peopleof the Country often called “Merry England”in bringing to their notice “The Chinamanat Home.”
INTRODUCTORY
Our pleasures are not such as toshock modesty; they are simpleand honest, as becomes an ancientnation, which has left the age of youthfulfollies long behind it, has due self-respect,and knows how to amuse itself decently.
In my book, “Chinese Tales,” I endeavouredto show the minor details of the lifeof my compatriots, whose political and socialcustoms I have described in my other book,“The Chinese Painted by Themselves.”The object of this new book is to give apicture of our private amusements and of oursmall public fêtes. It belongs, accordingly,[viii]to anthropological literature, describing as itdoes a series of ethnological phenomena,games, ceremonies, and fêtes, which, howevermuch they may resemble those to be seenin all other countries, have, nevertheless, aspecial character in each country. Thischaracter depends largely on the nationalconceptions of the people under consideration.
Everybody amuses himself as he thinksb