[SSU-YÜ, Teng, & FAIRBANK, John K. (1982).China's response to the West. A documentary Survey,1839-1923. Cambridge. Harvard University Press, pg. 184-185]
China
has all four seasons and the climate is proportionally distributed. In parts
of the West the heat and cold are unseasonable, the winter and summer change
their normal order, and there are spots that from ancient down to modern times
have never had frost or snow. . .
As to human affairs, China emphasizes human relationships
and honors benevolence and righteousness. In the West, on the contrary, a
son does not take care of his father, a minister cheats his emperor, a wife
is more honored than a husband; thus the bond of the three relationships is
broken. Because the proper relationship between husband and wife is not cultivated,
the marriage ceremony is neglected. As soon as a girl is twenty-one years
old she is permitted to find a husband whom she likes, and there are those
who make many selections or trials before they make a match. They do not consider
sexual relations preceding marriage as a shame. Beautiful young girls are
seeking for males everywhere; the hoary-headed and the widows can invite male
companions as they like. The customs are bad to such a degree! . . .
As to other customs, the residence of the emperor is the same as that of ordinary people except that it is a little larger, and it lacks an awe-inspiring appearance and dignity. The pictures of the emperor and empress are hung up at random in the markets for sale and people can purchase them as toys. Thus there is no distinction between the noble and the mean. . .
Speaking about official costumes, except in one country, Turkey, where the costume is strange, all other nations are the same. The noble and the mean use the same style, which makes it difficult to tell who is honorable and who is lowly. In summertime there is no linen or silk to make their bodies comfortable, and in winter there are rarely furs or padded coats to dress their bodies. They have to go to the trouble of taking a carriage or a horse, but do not have the comfort of sedan chairs. The skirts of their women are seven feet long, only good for sweeping dust. The bed curtain is hung ten feet high but it is hard to keep mosquitoes away.
As for food, there is no difference between winter and summer, they always sip cold water and juice. They cannot appreciate the culinary art, but like butter and mutton ribs. The amount of food served at meals is small, and they use many different kinds of utensils to cause servants a good deal of work. The kinds of soup are very limited. Delicious things are completely lacking.
In government, their taxes since antiquity have been unprecedently heavy and numerous. There is actually a levy of taxes of certain amounts according to the value of commodities. If smuggling is detected, the tax on the smuggled article is increased ten or a hundred times as a fine. In some places there is a land tax. Some have a poll tax, or property tax, or tax on trademarks. The government takes money from the people insatiably. How can the people bear it? Moreover, they worship their unorthodox religion and allow the Christian clergy to overrun the country, exhausting all the people's money in building churches, thus spending useful funds for a use-less purpose.
As for the law, it has no articles for punishing adultery; a wife can have a concubine [i.e., a lover] and can accuse her husband. This is even more ridiculous. Apart from these there are other things which they improperly turn upside down. Their prisons, for instance, are as comfortable as the Kingdom of Heaven. It is not very easy for people to maintain their living, because the cost of food and utensils is as high as that of precious jewels. The five relationships are not cultivated, the five kinds of grains are incom-plete, hundreds of herbs are unknown to them and hundreds of grasses or flowers are not fragrant.