ent
comes in; and it is not too much to say that more homes are broken
up, and more misery caused by this truly national vice than can be
attributed to any other cause.

For pleasure pure and simple, independent of gains and losses, the
theatre occupies the warmest place in every Chinaman's heart. If
gambling is a national vice in China, the drama must be set off as the
national recreation. Life would be unthinkable to the vast majority
if its monotony were not broken by the periodical performance of
stage-plays. It is from this source that a certain familiarity with the
great historical episodes of the past may be pleasantly picked up over
a pipe and a cup of tea; while the farce, occasionally perhaps erring on
the side of breadth, affords plenty of merriment to the laughter-loving
crowd.

Ability to make Chinamen laugh is a great asset; and a foreigner who
carries this about with him will find it stand him in much better stead
than a revolver. When, many years ago, a vessel was wrecked on the coast
of Formosa, the crew and passengers were at once seized, and confined
for some time in a building, where traces of their inscriptions could be
seen up to quite a recent date. At length, they were all taken out for
execution; but before the ghastly order was carried out, one of the
number so amused everybody by cutting capers and turning head over
heels, that the presiding mandarin said he was a funny fellow, and
positively allowed him to escape.

With regard to the farce itself, it is not so much the actual wit of
the dialogue which carries away the audience as the refined skill of the
actor, who has to pass through many trials before he is considered to be
fit for the stage. Beginning as quite a boy, in addition to committing
to memory a large number of plays--not merely his own part, but the
whole play--he has to undergo a severe physical training, part of which
consists in standing for an hour every day with his mouth wide open, to
inhale the morning air. He is taught to sing, to walk, to strut, and to
perform a variety of gymnastic exercises, such as standing on his head,
or turning somersaults. His first classification is as male or female
actor, no women having been allowed to perform since the days of the
Emperor Ch'ien Lung (A.D. 1736-1796), whose mother was an actress, just
as in Shakespeare's time the parts for women were always taken by young
men or boys. When once this is settled, it only remains to enrol him