ABSTRACT
Chun Ti's festival is celebrated on the sixth day of the Third Moon, and his effigy usually carries eight arms and three faces, one of which is that of a pig.
BIRTHDAYS Foreigners are often surprised to find that Chinese conventions are
the exact opposite of their own, and form the opinion that they have dropped into a topsy-turvy world. There is, however, no right and wrong in such matters though there is sometimes a logical reason for adhering to one habit rather than another. The rule of the road, for instance, dates from the days when only the quality were mounted, and the hazards of travel were such that cavaliers preferred to pass a stranger sword hand to sword hand. \Vhen Mle methods of roadmaking advanced to such a stage tha1' wheeled traffic was possible, the driver was placed on the right of the vehicle so that the lash of his whip would not incommode the passengers behind him. Europeans, with close communications and considerable intercourse for his purposes of trade, had many opportunities of observing one another's mode of life and adopted foreign conventions if they found them more practical than their own. China, on the other hand, was surrounded by civilisation<; inferior to her own, and most of her neighbours were barbarians from whom she had nothing to learn. Though traffic kept to the left, until the influx of American cars altered an age old tradition, her women wore the trousers, and a horse was mounted on the off side. The principal guest was placed on the left instead of the right, and the finger was held down, instead of up, in beckoning.
