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Story
June 8, 1889
The Indianapolis Journal
Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana
What is this article about?
Wong Chin Foo shares humorous anecdotes of his first impressions in America, mistaking telegraph poles for Christian crosses and assuming Americans drown female infants after seeing a body in a creek, highlighting cultural misunderstandings.
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CHINAMAN'S IMPRESSIONS
Thought Telegraph Poles Religious Emblems, and that We Drowned Female Infants
Washington Post
Wong Chin Foo, the Chinaman who is rapidly making a place for himself among American literators, once told the writer how he was deceived by what he saw on his first visit to this country, whither he was sent by his government to become a student at Columbia College. He had heard that this was a Christian country, and he knew that the cross was the symbol of Christianity. When he had ridden a few miles on the Union Pacific railroad he made an entry to the following effect in his journal: "I did not know the Americans were so religious. They never lose sight of the cross. In their cities and along their railroads these crosses stand so close together that it is only a few steps from one to the other. They are so tall that nobody can reach up to deface them, and they are held up by several wires fastened to the tops of them, so that nobody can push them over." He had, of course, never seen a telegraph line in his own country.
When his train was crossing Iowa it stopped at a little bridge over a small creek. The trainmen and several of the passengers, Wong among them, went down to the water's edge. There, lodged in a little eddy, was the naked body of an infant. The trainmen and passengers did not remove the body. What they actually did was to go on to the next station and send a report to the coroner. What Wong thought they did was recorded in a letter which he wrote home, saying: "In this country they drown their surplus female infants. Our train stopped at a creek to-day, and the people went down to the water to look at a drowned infant there. As soon as they saw it was a female they turned away and left it there, without even giving it burial."
In later years, since he has become more familiar with our customs, Wong has told the writer that he now understands how easy it is for Americans and Englishmen to visit his country and send home the most outrageously false reports of the practices of the people there.
Thought Telegraph Poles Religious Emblems, and that We Drowned Female Infants
Washington Post
Wong Chin Foo, the Chinaman who is rapidly making a place for himself among American literators, once told the writer how he was deceived by what he saw on his first visit to this country, whither he was sent by his government to become a student at Columbia College. He had heard that this was a Christian country, and he knew that the cross was the symbol of Christianity. When he had ridden a few miles on the Union Pacific railroad he made an entry to the following effect in his journal: "I did not know the Americans were so religious. They never lose sight of the cross. In their cities and along their railroads these crosses stand so close together that it is only a few steps from one to the other. They are so tall that nobody can reach up to deface them, and they are held up by several wires fastened to the tops of them, so that nobody can push them over." He had, of course, never seen a telegraph line in his own country.
When his train was crossing Iowa it stopped at a little bridge over a small creek. The trainmen and several of the passengers, Wong among them, went down to the water's edge. There, lodged in a little eddy, was the naked body of an infant. The trainmen and passengers did not remove the body. What they actually did was to go on to the next station and send a report to the coroner. What Wong thought they did was recorded in a letter which he wrote home, saying: "In this country they drown their surplus female infants. Our train stopped at a creek to-day, and the people went down to the water to look at a drowned infant there. As soon as they saw it was a female they turned away and left it there, without even giving it burial."
In later years, since he has become more familiar with our customs, Wong has told the writer that he now understands how easy it is for Americans and Englishmen to visit his country and send home the most outrageously false reports of the practices of the people there.
What sub-type of article is it?
Biography
Curiosity
What themes does it cover?
Deception
Social Manners
What keywords are associated?
Cultural Misunderstanding
Telegraph Poles
Drowned Infant
Wong Chin Foo
Christian Symbols
What entities or persons were involved?
Wong Chin Foo
Where did it happen?
Union Pacific Railroad, Iowa
Story Details
Key Persons
Wong Chin Foo
Location
Union Pacific Railroad, Iowa
Story Details
Wong Chin Foo recounts his initial misconceptions upon arriving in America: mistaking telegraph poles for religious crosses and believing Americans drown female infants after seeing a body in a creek.