Seattle's Chinese New Year: Fireworks, Debt Settling, and a Tartar Emperor

Last night at 12 o'clock the Chinese of this city began celebrating their new year, and the celebration, according to the custom among the Mongolians in the United States, will last about a week, but in China fireworks and festivities will continue without cessation for twenty days. The term 'Chinese New Year' is something of a misnomer, for in reality it is nothing more than a celebration of the Chinese emperor's birthday, the date of the 'new year' changing upon the accession to the throne of a new emperor. The celebration which begins today is in honor of the twenty-first year of the reign of the present emperor, Quong Luie. The monarch took up the reins of government when 5 years old and, following the custom of his predecessors, became the despot of the most numerous nation under the sun, holding in his hands the lives of 400,000,000 people. Quong Luie is 29 years old.

In Seattle the celebration of the new year promises to be quite enthusiastic, notwithstanding the fact that the emperor, being a Tartar, is bitterly opposed by the local Chinese. The Tartar dynasty was wise in establishing the new celebration, for no matter how unpopular an emperor may be, his birthday will always be observed with great pomp, and the reason is easily explained.

According to the custom and law of China, merchants can demand a settlement of all outstanding amounts for the twelve previous months on the first day of the new year, and any unfortunate who is short of cash and unable to pay his debts on the new year will find his credit ruined and his friends missing. The custom of yearly settlements is closely observed by the local Chinese merchants, and the more pomp, fireworks and energy displayed in a celebration, the more readily is payment obtained from slow debtors.

Woo Gen, manager for the Wa Chong Company in this city, is bitterly opposed to the Tartar dynasty, and especially to the present young emperor, but that will in no wise deter him from celebrating royally. Concerning the emperor and his relation to his subjects Woo Gen said last evening:

'Quong Luie is not a Chinaman, he is a Tartar. All the Chinamen in the United States came from the west, from Hongkong, state of Canton. I have never seen but one Tartar in America in my life. They never leave China. We Chinamen want Quong Luie overthrown; he is not a good ruler and has never done anything to help the people. He holds the people down, and allows them no liberty; he is absolute. He has kept the country back, and, with a Chinese emperor and the experience which the war with Japan has taught the nation, the country will come to the front and become westernized. Railroads will be built throughout the empire, lines of steamers will be operated and the nation will become progressive and the people prosperous and patriotic.

'The Tartars do not look like Chinamen. They do not know as much as the Chinamen of the west and south, and they have big faces and are not as pretty as the true Chinaman. The Tartar women are nice-looking, but do not compare in beauty with the women of the Chinese. The Tartars, from the emperor down to the most humble subject of his race, are not in touch with the masses of the people, and the overthrow of the dynasty can only be a matter of a short period.'