Daily News from New York, New York • 12

a. (Chin to iw Still Bows to Tourists And Ancestors IJkird cf a series of articles on New fork's colorful By PHILIP SANTORA Chinatown is a refreshing little oasis where juvenile delinquency is unknown, where crime of any description is a rarity and where more than 7,000 Chinese lhe serenely at peace with the daily influx of tourists, with each other and with the ancestors to wJiom they pay their worshipful -'-r CX w- Jl 1 1 I V. -4 (NEWS foto by Al PuccU as Chinatown guide to a group of students from Industrial Arts High. Jt is a place where the "inscrutable Oriental" next to you at the bar is a laughing1 extrovert who was on the; Columbia fencing team, where the hatcheck girl is working to rut her son through Ohio State. It is a place where high-1 hool girls can walk safely through the twisted, narrow streets in search of a Cantonese meal.

Chinatown's 7" restaurants cater to the palates. Its score of curio fdiops cater to the wallet. Jt is a delightful Mend Tif the old and the new, with cocktail bar rubbing el-1'iiws with ornate joss house. WHY OUR CHINATOWN NEVER LOSES CHARM We saw Chinatown on this latest visit, not only through the eyes a city tourist but those of a French tounst, J. M.

Fave, a regional Mayor cf Pari. It was Fave's first visit to the V. S. and he and his wife. Marguei ite, followed the o-iial practice of paying a visit to Sliavey Ie, Chinatown's cherubic "inavor." prayers to Buddha and to his ancestors," carefully explained Ong.

Food offerings are brought for Buddha. "Food is more sensible than flowers, we think." said Ong. When praying to ancestors, the ever economic-minded Chinese burns gold papers so that his ancestor will have a nice nest egg waiting for his descendant when he reaches heaven. GIRL'S TOUGH LUCK IF HE WAS A CREEP There are also two marriage canopies. Ong smiled and said that has the kitchen gods.

We thought this was curious in the home of a Christian, but Mae Sue Lee, who is working her boy through Ohio State, said that "they're handy just in case the other gods don't work." The name most heard in Chinatown is not that of a Chinese it is that of Mary E. Banta, a missionary who will celebrate 50 years of service to Chinatown's children on May 9 Mother's Day. Miss Banta is revered. "I sat on her lap when I was a kid of says Shavey Lee. "She has done more for this area than any other living person.

We're going to have a big celebration for her and all cf Chinatown is going to turn out." "All of Chinatown" also means the 10,000 or so Chinese who visit Chinatown each weekena. They come from all over the metropolitan area to visit friends and to pick up their mail for once having lived in M. Fave was impressed with the 1 weren allowed to see each other ai 'U-ciied riM and smacked his faces before the Big Day, the mar-bps style over the butterfly iajre having been arranged by hi imp. Later, he admitted to a their families. disappointment because the Chi- "Jt was the girl's tough luck if served tea instead of French the groom turned out to be a wines with their meals.

It seems creep," said Ong. with a lapse into sive dinner took us to the Port Arthur for won-ton soup, to the Tai Yat Low for egg rolls, to the curiously-named Chinese Rathskeller for barbecued ribs and Shavey Lee's for the butterfly shrimp. This was washed down with pots of hot tea. It was after we were floating waist-deep in tea that we discovered the Chinese may serve it, but don't drink it as much as they do coffee. There are coffee houses every few feet where you can have a cup of delicious coffee with the Chinese version of pastry sausages encased in hot rolls, curried pork in- crumbling pastry shells, egg tarts and other delicacies.

Be sure to ask for your coffee- dark or you'll get half and half. GAMBLING IS AN OLD WEAKNESS OF CHINESE Some Chinese have a curious reluctance to pose for pictures. Mrs. Alice Moy, visiting here from Chicago, said it was because a Chinese believes his luck may change for the worse if he has his photo snapped. An age-old Chinese weakness is gambling.

Pete Lee, a clever young man who heads the Tiffin Tea Co. i at 17 Baxter said the fan-tan games have vanished. The Chinese still play card games for high stakes, but these take place behind the carefully covered windows of private apartments. They also love to play the horses. Wherever we went, Shavey Lee was asked.

"Ni go yung sung yat?" We thought this was a friendly greeting until Shavey grinned and said, "They want to know what won the daily double. The typical Chinese home still IS' iul The Rev. Clarence V. Howell acts wiping out juvenile delinquency," he said, "but the truth is there isn't any. there never was any and it's not through any crusading on my part or on the part of any other clergyman.

The reason lies in the Chinese family itself. JUST A SMALL COG IN THE FAMILY WHEEL "A Chinese youngster is given all the rope in the world until he's about 5. Then the rope shortens. He is taught that to bring shame upon his family name in any manner is to cause a loss of face that is irreparable. He is taught that he is only a small cog in the family wheel." This obedience to elders was evidenced just around the corner on Ioyer St.

A youngster-pushed a little girl and a Chinese business man promptly spoke a few words of reproof. I The boy hung his head and I looked at his feet, thoroughly em-j barrassed. Attorney Tommy Lee said, "No, the man isn't a relative but he's older and the boy knows that he is wiser and that he is to be obeyed and respected." At 10 Doyer just across from the "Bloody Angle" where the On Leong and Hip Sing tongs settled their differences with hatchets, knives and guns decades ago, is the curio shop of Lily Chu. The On Leongs and Hip Sings are fast friends now, she told us. They invite each other to various functions during the holidays and are generally on the best of terms.

Lily is a court interpreter most of the She is also a symbol of the modern trend. Women used to stay at home and care for the children and went out into the streets only to do occasional shopping. Now Lily and others like her run thriving shops which are packed with tourists several times a day. SYMBOL OF FERTILITY IS 5,000 YEARS OLD There are still taboos. A woman cannot belong to a toiig.

Neither can she enter a joss house to worship. But Chinatown's women don't seem to have any neuroses because of these restraints. Helen Moy" Lee runs another curio shop at 'J Pell St. That's where we found out that the swastika, which Hitler made so infamous, is a symbol of fertility 5.000 years old. The swastika was carved on the chest of Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy a porcelain figure Helen will sell to anvone who has $2,300.

There was also a nine-foot rifle dating back to the Tai Ping rebellion of 1S4. Anyone who can write a check for can try to lift this niamoth weapon and cart it home. A Chinese grocery is a fascinating place with its Chinese lettuce, its mustard cabbage, snow peas, bitter melons, dried sea horses, lotus roots, ginger root, taro roots and even the traditional shajk fins ami bird nests two items used in luxury soups during the holidays. The Chinese, of course, do wonders with these things. A progres in the old days the bride and groom modern slang, if the girl wasn pretty well, the groom could try and try again until he got the kind of a bride he wanted." This was duly translated for Mine.

Fave, who uttered a little squeal of dismay. On her way out, she strtick a temple drum three times which insures a happy marriage. Kven some of the Christians still cling to these old customs," said Shavey Lee, "probably because it is a matter of family even more than relitrion: in fact the relisrion of the Chinese is imbedded in their families and ancestors." This respect for parents and ancestors and family is the reason for Chinatown's non-existent juvenile delinquency. The Rev. Louis F.uckheimer has been at the True Light Lutheran Church at Woith St.

for over 20 years. He has 400 children in his Sunday School classes. There are 1,200 Chinese in his congregation. "I would like to claim credit for 1 I 'iO1 1 -WS that M. Fave owns a few hundred acres of choice vineyards in Alfort-ville.

The charm of Chinatown is partly in the fact that you can step from the 20th century into the ageless atmosphere of a joss house a transition that is immediate. Sam Ong. past president of the Hip Sing Association, took us into a red-lacquered room where low benches faced an ornate altar of larved teak wood. This was the Wah Yan Miie at Ifi Fell used onlv bv Chinese ride and ho come to bow to Buddha' to their departed ancestors, i The elder first strikes a gong with a felt-covered hammer to drive away the evil spirits. Then he places three joss sticks into each if the two urns on the altar am! lights them.

He has already piepared prayers led papers red is the Chinese cood-lui color. He kowtows three times as the red papers go up into mitike. "lie i.e!ieves-that the smoke ji.s no ti heaven and conveys his ft i i Chinatown, your mail will keep go-! ing there for a decade or more and the storekeeper in the block has a mail rack where letters for non residents are held. There is a Catholic church where the sermon ia in Chinese. There is a funeral parlor that will contract to get your bones back eventually to China if you were born there although shipments haven't been made in several years because of the Communist regime.

Not. a single pigtail, not a single quote from Confucious, not a chirp from Ling Po that's Chinatown today. (Tomorrow: A night-time tour of the Greenwich Village area' been there lately? with James McGlincy lir-ii i ii in ii nun il i nil TirK aBfti -v o-JLki '5 Si If -i -IjT. tXKWS fot Al I'll i Sha-y Lee. Majnr of Chinatown, shows M.

Fave. district ma.yr of l'ati. how to handle chopsticks. t.h; loto Al film; Alice Moy buys Chinese lettuce from grocer Chin H. Yung..