Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A. Neville; J. Whymant
Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, Vol. 1, No. 4. (1920), pp.
145-166.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=1356-1898%281920%291%3A4%3C145%3ACCS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-4
Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London is currently published by School of Oriental and African
Studies.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained
prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in
the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/journals/soas.html.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.
The JSTOR Archive is a trusted digital repository providing for long-term preservation and access to leading academic
journals and scholarly literature from around the world. The Archive is supported by libraries, scholarly societies, publishers,
and foundations. It is an initiative of JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to help the scholarly community take
advantage of advances in technology. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
http://www.jstor.org
Mon Oct 22 08:12:10 2007
.C'HI,VESE C O O L I E SONGS
Taken down from the lips of Chinese Coolies with the B.E.F. in France,
and translated by A. NEVILLEJ. WHYMANT, late Lieutenant of the
Chinese Labour Corps. 1919.
[XOTE.-Some of these songs, under the title " Chinese Coolie Songs.
taken down from the lips of Chinese Coolies with the B.E.F. in France,
and translated by A. Neville J. Whymant, Ph.D., etc., late Lieutenant
of the Chinese Labour Corps ", have already appeared in To-day,edited
by Holbrook Jackson, to which periodical acknowledgments are made.]
FAIR attempt a t coolness invaded the autumn evening after
A the day, which had been hot enough for a Continental mid-
summer. I n Prance the climate can do these things and one gets
used to it ; and so in the evening of a late autumn day I was com-
fortable in tropical clothing, after a day worthy a country of a more
easterly situation on the map.
Indeed, it was not difficult to imagine oneself in a clime far removed
from the habitations of white races, for all around could be seen my
Chinese coolies engaged in the rather languid pastime of puffing
cigarette smoke into the equally languid atmosphere. I n doing this
they assumed various attitudes, none of which could be called positively
graceful, though one and all were decidedly comfortable. At all
times a Celestial is a connoisseur as regards comfort and self-indulgence,
and is a past master in the art of making himself a t home. His in-
clinations and habits being what they are, he is not as a general rule
particular as to hygienic surroundings or the beauty of the landscape.
Besides, the evening meal was over, the lucky ones were replete
and correspondingly happy, while others, whose abnormal appetites
craved yet more, were resigned to their fate in the certain knowledge
that by sleeping straight ahead they could comfortably fill in the time
before the next meal at any rate more pleasantly than by dwelling
on the undoubted fact that all good things (even meal-times) must
at last come to an end.
A Chinese is never a t a loss to know how to fill in spare time.
Smoking, eating, drinking, sleeping, talking (or rather chattering),
or, if there is half a chance, gambling, completes his list of the things
worth living for, although he may at times be found in an inventive
or pensive mood, and a new side of his nature presents itself in his
weird creations, concrete or purely mental. I n some such vein ran
my thoughts as I smoked a Caporal cigarette in the open field, with the
VOL. I. PART IV. 10
146 PAPERS CONTRIBUTED
his reply, and doubtless to him the whole was a compound indivisible.
" Very well, sing it slowly," I compromised, and as he sang
I translated to myself his verse.
By a stxeam and a hill is a little town
With na.rrow streets and small houses.
There are not many shops but I have bought cakes,
And one can buy wine at the New Year.
CHINESE COOLIE SONGS 147
2. Foreign Inventions
These strange things which barbarians have,
Have devil-bellies which make them go.
But we are a happier people,
they become more than sworn friends, and will defend each other,
if necessary, to the point of death. The original Chinese makes a
jingle not unpleasant to the ear.
5. Humble Origin
My poor name is LI.
At the Feast of Lanterns held last year
All prizes went to other names.
Some names win the high degrees a t the examinations,
But mine is too humble to appear in the list ;
Or perhaps the examiner cannot write it !
The point of this song lies in the fact that not only is Li one of
the commonest of Chinese names (cf, our Smith or Jones), but the
general name is written quite easily, being composed of two of the
simplest radicals. The gibe a t the examiner (being so ignorant as
not to be able to write this name) is highly amusing toea Chinese
acquainted with his written language.
6. A New Year Outburst
The New Year once again !
Congratulations ! Congratulations !
Respectful joy ! Peace and gladness !
May you get rich and grow fat !
New Year ! New Year !
The Chinese make a great deal of the New Year Festival. It is,
in fact, with them the pre-eminent one, which, considering the number
and character of the others, is saying much. The authorities (un-
speakably strict a t other times) even unbend so far as to allow or
wink a t gambling during the few succeeding days. I n fact, licence
and self-indulgence rule the Feast of New Year in China.
7 . Cherry Blossom
The garment and the flesh of the winter world
Are torn, and here and there amid the opened wounds
The blood comes bursting througd.
8. Childish Greed
I5. Inquisitiveness
What gives the colour to the butterfly ?
Hu-tieh, hu-tieh.
A thousand things I want to know,
Hu-tieh, hu-tieh,
But no one comes to tell me.
Hu-tieh is the Pekingese for " butterfly ", and is repeated in the
original not only for the sake of rhythm but also to pander to the
native love of repetition.
16. Nightmare
Last night I heard the voice of KUEI,
17. Illusion
Oh ! what a fright I had !
That awful shadow on the wall
Looked like a dragon come to life ;
But going closer I soon found
The shadow of a yawning dog !
18. Despair
Who says there is no sorrow in this world ?
Alas ! Alas !
I n the rains the river is not controlled,
Alas ! Alas !
Who says there is no sorrow in this world ?
Prom time immemorial the Yang-tse-kiang, by overflowing its
banks, has rendered homeless thousands of people, and has been
responsible for the death of tens of thousands of others. Little wonder
that i t is known by the name of " the bane of China " and many
other similar unattractive colloquialisms.
CHINESE COOLIE SOKGS
20. 'Curiosity
What is it in the big shops ?
2 I. Word-play Jingle
One, two, three, four, five,
This little jingle depends for its main effect on an amusing word-
play. In the present instance the pun is merely on sound, but in
some of those which follow it is on meaning as well. In order to make
the point clearer, the transliteration in Romanized Chinese is subjoined :
I , erh, san, ssti, wu
22. Vexation
The reeds I plaited yesterday
A mother lives.
2.4. Vignette
There near where the sun hangs high,
A flight of birds-so small they seem
Like tea-leaves on a twig.
25. A Buddhist Song
The fluttering leaves-alas !
26. Life
The mountain spring runs fast,
But eee how very, very slow
The river moves as it draws on
Towards its home, the sea.
27. Reproof
You greedy boy I
28. A Lullaby
Sleep, baby, sleep, baby !
Shui-chiao, shui-chiao,
30. A Definition
Tell me the difference, tell me the difference,
31. A Conceit
To-day the plum-trees bloom,
To be Heaven's tapastry.
33. Repentance
My head is sore to-day.
It hurries it along.
36. Presentiment
How soon is a leaf blown down from a tree,
This song was sung by my " boy " some few days before his sudden
death.
37. A Riddle
It is not the Feast cf Lanterns,
38. Jingle
Lou, IOU,!ou, IOU,
39. A Carouse
Last night I drank good wiae,
48. Propriety
Do not forget respect to age,
50. Prevision
What is to-morrow ? What will i t bring ?
One must take thought for this.
He who looks not forth to the morrow
Meets sorrow lurking outside.
51. Learn from Anyone
If I want to relieve my ignorance
What shall I do ?
If three men are walking together,
One of them can teach me something.
A quotation from the " Analects " of Confucius.
CHINESE COOLIE SOKGS
54. Self-respect
The Chinese " clan- " or " family-system " teaches the dependence
of the community upon the individual. By a long and well-reasoned
argument the success or failure of the clan is shown to be directly
traceable to the effort or defect of one of its members.
56. A Philosopher
I n a still pond no ripple is seen,
I n smooth water no current is observed ;
Thus does the peaceful man keep his mind,
And in his mouth is silence.
PAPERS COXTRIBUTED
jg. Excess
E a t too much-your digestion blames you.
65. Fate
Nothing rests with human choice,
66. A Phantasy
This is not summer-time.
The Ch'ien Tzu Wen or Thousand Character Classic is, as its narne
implies, a poem composed of exactly one thousand characters, but i t
is more remarkable for the fact that each cha.racter is used only
once. It is said that the writer had to complete his task in one night,
and that the effort turned his hair white. It is a book used in the early
stages of a Chinese boy's education.
The verses which owe their origin to the dwellers in the regions
bordering on the devastating Yang-tse-kiang are eit,her replete with
expressions of despair or. full of resignation. The fact of living, as
it were, on the edge of a volcano, is not conducive, even in the
philosophical Chinese, to a cheerful outlook on life.
75. Submission
If a man's nature is to be moulded
Like to that of Heaven's benevolence,
Then his desires must be curbed ;
He must be like the flowing stream,
Flowing along in its allotted place.
76. The Superior Man
Who is'the superior man ?
These are his qualities :
In disposition, loyal and forgiving ;
I n intention, fervent and sincere.
This is the teaching of experience.
PAPERS CON'l'RILlUTEI)
77. Disgust
How changing are the ways of this world !
The flower blooms only to wither ;
When your power and position are gone
Even those served you will hurry to insult you.
The trickling stream dries for want of rain,
The sea, which has too much, gains from mighty rivers.
78. Observation
Through the senses comes all knowledge ;
When you see with your eyes
Do not fail to perceive with your mind.
Where deep waters are, the movement is sluggish,
The profound man is slow of speech.
79. Forewarned
Do not use your present affluence as a staff,
Some day it may break and you will fall ;
If you are a support for your good fortune
Mayhap it will not fail.
80. Human Life and Nature
The camellia-head has dropped,
A silken string is all that's left ;
Such is the feeble thread whereby
Our life is held.
83. Loneliness
A crow on a far-off bough,
Outlined against the falling snow,
84. Apprehension
How deep is a man's misfortune !
85. Contentment
The peaceful man is like a well-worn pebble,
Which makes no moan as the water rubs by,
But becomes polished a i d smooth as the stream rushes on,
Making the song of the river.
87. Contentment
How shall one know real contentment ?
Do not think that those above you,
Having more, see Fortune's face ;
Rather ponder-those below you
Have much less and envy you.
89. Endurance
A day's hard journey will test the strongest horse ;
Great adversity will try the virtue of the superior man ;
Riding through a moon's space will show the weak points.