New Orleans 1885: Chinese Government Exhibit.....

The Chinese Government's interesting and educational exhibit was located in the northern portion of the New Orleans exposition's Main Building. The central feature of the display was a large yellow-roofed pagoda, decorated with lanterns of glass and silk. Within the pagoda were numerous life-size mannequins, representing the various customs and industries of China. Among the figures were a Buddhist priest, a mandarin, a bride, a widow, children, a street-peddler, and an accountant. China, assuming that the exposition was to be purely a cotton show, sent extensive exhibits relating to the Chinese cotton industry. Various forms of cotton machinery were shown, with figures of people at work.....a cotton gin, flocking-bow, spinning machine, loom, and a machine for reeling thread. Cotton was also displayed in many forms and varieties, from raw boll to finished fabrics. A screen at an entrance to the pagoda read: "As from far beyond the clouds in spring, the moon, with liquid refulgence, shines, so the luster of a proper observance of what is right is reflected upon our country and our literature, causing both to flourish".