Nov. 29.
THE vogue of the semi-foreign produces curious phenomenal among the Chinese, who seeking oriental adaptation of things western, produce a hodge-podge. Who has not experienced the horrors of what some delight to call a "seamy-foreign" meal? From cocktail to puddings, thi dishes are the weirdest concoct tions of the potato-peeler turned cook. Soup is served which should have been the basis for a bechamel sauce; the maddest mixture of flour and water and shrimps disguises a most innocent fish. The roasts and stew: are amazing both in appearance jand taste, Yet, Chinese cuisine has given joy to many a connoissour who has discovered hitherto unknown possibilities in a Peking duck or a dish of noodles. The semi-foreign food is neither} Chinese nor foreign; nor does it even bear a resemblance to either. It is an inexperienced cook's imagination run riot. It is a foolhardy attempt to tell Chinese what foreigners like to eat without ever having tasted good foreign food.
Worse, from many standpoints, is Mei Long-fang's attempt to Produce a semi-foreign drama. The Chinese theatre is bad enough, with its mismanagement, its noise, its munching of apples and hawking of sweet-meats. Words, songs, even the raucous bang-bang of the musicians and the shrill shriek of the fiddlers can hardly be heard above the }din of conversation. One listens to a shout, wondering why the bearded Emperor should want his hat only to find that someone in the front row desires his apparel. But all this is not quite as bad as the effort of Mei Long-fang to produce a semi-foreign stage effect. On day night in "Yang Kuei-one missed much of the business of the property man, because the garden was done as ]some amateurs in Clapham might have worked it out with borrow-
Men of integrity and character with no trace of selfish interest in China, would be appointed to Positions of trust. Such men Lord Willingdon, for example. These men would analyze the national bias, for the really: great men of the world to-day' are not thinking nationally, but: rather are devoting their genius: ed scenery and a good carpenter. It was not quite a foreign den; yet it was surely not Chinese. The fact is that it was a garden without geography. Then came the great bath room scene. Not having seen how they did it in the real old Chinese theatre, it is difficult to draw comparisons, but when the lights
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.