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For sale by newsdealers everywhere, or sent by mail, postpaid by the publishers, on receipt of price. STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 238 WILLIAM ST., NEW YORK tj Z!? />6^ Reader ^ \X7^ *^^* *^^^ y^^ will be thor- ^^ ^ V V oughly satisfied with this book. <^ f|) During the long period of f|* ^ time that the publications of Street & ^ ^ Smith have been familiar to the reading ^ Y classes (somewhat more than half a Y ^ century) it has always been our aim to ^^ ^ give to the public the very best literary (^ f|) products, regardless of the expenditure f|> ^ involved. Our books and periodicals ^ # are today read and re-read in a major* ^ ^ ity of the homes of America, while ^ ^ but few of our original competitors are ^ '^ even known by name to the present ^ ^ generation. No special credit is due for ^ ^ antiquity, but we hold it to be a self- ^ # evident fact that long experience, ^ Y coupled with enterprise and the ability V I to maintain the front rank for so man, | ^ years, proves our right to the title of ^ f|) leaders. We solicit your further valued ^ ^ patronage. ^ ^1^ STREET & SMITH. ^ € t 43136 .W l-itot*»Fy of Corjar^^5f^ CHINA THE LAND OF CONTRADICTIONS BY A. D. HALL AUTHOt or 'VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS,'* * * CUBA, " ** PORTO RICO/ ** HAWAII," ETC. NEW YORK STREET & SMITH, Publishers 238 William Street 5 CONTENTS. I. -The Flowery Empire. II.— Chinese History. . ^11-— The Government of China. IV.— Manners and Customs. , v.— Trading In and With China. VI.— I^iterature, Science and Art. VII.— Religions and Superstitions. VIII.— Missionary Work in China. IX. — The Women of China^ X.— What the Chinese Eat. XI.— America in the Orient. XII.— The Boxers. • • • XIII.— The Empress Dowager. XIV.— What Will the Future Be.> 7 22 38 6o 82 99 114 143 151 t6o 171 184 202 CHINA. CHAPTER L THE FLOWERY EMPIRE. China, the fantastic, flowery empire, the land of topsy- turvydom, was until late years an unknown quantity to the outer ''barbarians,'' and even now, outside the seaports, much that is supposed to be known is purely a matter of conjecture. The beginning of an acquaintanceship between China and the Western world was only about fifty years ago, and for twenty years or more after, the acquaintanceship was very slight. Foreigners were allowed at only three or four seaports, and all travel into the interior was pro- hibited. It was not until the treaty of 1861 was signed at Tien- tsin that diplomatic representatives were allowed to re- side at the capital, and that foreigners of all classes were^ permitted to travel at their will through the empire. China has always been exclusive and has desired no ex- tension of her acquaintance in any direction. Moreover, there was, and is, an intense national conceit among the Chinese, and they regarded with contempt and abhor- rence all nations that had not had the benefit of their example. China claims to be the oldest nation in the worlds and with some semblance to truth. The Chinese themselves 8 The Flowery Empire. assign a fabulously rare origin to their nation. The spa- cious seat of Eastern civilization which we call China has always loomed up so vast to Western eyes and has seemed so far away that at different times it has been called by different names, according as it was reached by the south- ern sea route or by the northern land route traversing the longitude of Asia. In the former aspect the name has nearly always been some form of the name Lin, Chin, Linae, China. In the latter point of view the region was known to the ancients as the land of the Seres^ to the Middle Ages as the Empire of Cathay. The word China is never used by the Chinese them- selves. It is not quite certain what the origin of the word is, but it may be assumed that it dates from the time about 250 B. C, when the family of Tsin rose to power. Their province was the one most frequently vis- ited by foreigners, and as it was called by the name of the reigning family, it is a plausible supposition that the word Tsin or Chin came to be used to denote the whole empire. The Chinaman has a long list of names for his coun- try, and even goes so far as to coin a new name for each new dynasty. Cathay is a Persian name for China. It is derived from Kitah or Kitan, who ruled the north of the em- pire in the tenth century A. D. It is interesting to note that the Russians still call China, Khitai. The term ''Chung Kwoh Jin/' meaning ''Men of the Middle Kingdom," is used frequently to denote the Chi- nese themselves. It was customary, however, to call the people after the name of the reigning dynasty. The title "Han-lin" and "Han-tse" ("Men of Han" or "Sons of Han") is used also to denote the Chinese themselves. The present Tsing dynasty has never been able to im- The Flowery Empire. 9 pose its name upon the people, a sign of the enduring hatred of the nation for their Tartar conquerors. "Ta Tsing Kdoh," or ''Great Pure Kingdom/* is used of- ficially to designate the country, but is never hyphenated with the suffix ''jin" to denote the people. China, as the name is at present used, embraces within its boundaries the dependencies of Manchuria, Mongolia and Thibet, in addition to China Proper. This enormous empire extends from 18° 30' to 53° 25' north latitude and from 80° to 130° east longitude. It is bounded on the north by Asiatic Russia, along a frontier extending nearly 3,000 miles; on the east by those por- tions of the Pacific Ocean which are known in the north as the Sea of Japan, in the central portion as the Yellow Sea, and in the south as the China Sea; on the south and southwest by the China Sea, Cochin China and Bur- mah, and on the west by Kashmir and Eastern Turkestan, which province has within the last few years been wrested from China by the Ataligh Ghazee. The area of China proper is not more than one-half of the whole empire; it extends only as far north as 41° lat- itude, and as far west as 98° longitude. It is about 1,474 . miles in length, and its breadth is ajDout 1,355 miles. Its coast line measures about 2,500 miles; its land frontier is described as being 4,400 miles in length, and its area is said to contain 1,348,700 square miles. One of the most noticeable features in the surface of China is the immense delta plain in the northeastern por- tion of the empire, which, curving round the mountain- ous districts of Shan-tung, extends for about 700 miles in a southerly direction from Pekin, and varies from 150 to 500 miles in breadth. The greater part of this vast plain descends very gently to the sea, and generally below the level of the Yellow River, and also to some extent of the Yang-tsze-Kiang, and it is chiefly remarkable for its lo The Flowery Empire, semi-angular shape, within which it encloses the moun- tain districts of the province of Shan-tung. Owing to the great quantity of soil which is brought down by the waters of the Yellow River, this delta is rapidly decreas- ing, and the adjoining seas are as rapidly becoming shal- lower. The rest of the empire may be described as being either mountainous or hilly, many of the summits attaining an elevation of 10,000 to 16,000 feet. The rivers of China are very numerous, and, with the canals, form some of the most frequented highways in the empire. The two largest are the Yang-tsze-Kiang and Hwang-ho, or Yellow River. The latter is less known to fame for its commercial value than for the vast and destructive floods which, from time to time, have caused it to inundate the low-lying countries on either side of its banks. But the river most beloved by the Chinese is the Yang-tsze-Kiang, or "son of ocean" — ^more correctly translated, ''the son that spreads." The basin drained by it is estimated to be 750,000 square miles. Unlike the Yellow River, along the navigable portion of the Yang-tsze-Kiang are dotted many rich and populous cities, among the chief being Nankin, Gan-king, Kew- keang, Han-kow and T-chang. Among other important rivers are the Peiho^ Min and Pearl. Next in importance to the Yang-tsze-kiang as a water- way is the Yun-ho, or, as it is known in English, the Grand Canal, This magnificent artificial river connects Tien-tsin with Hang-chow. Its total length is about 650 miles. Miss Scidmore, who has recently been there, gives in her admirable "China, the Long-Lived Empire," the following picturesque description : "It was an ideal autumn morning as we trailed down the Grand Canal to Samen. The stone embankment, with its smooth granite curb, ran continuous for the six hun- The Flowery Empire. ii dred-odd miles of the Grand Canal. Three dynasties lavished their work along this imperial highway and river. China is pre-eminently the land of bridges, and this end of the Grand Canal once assembled such a col- lection of bridges, such a range of types and models as no other country of the w^orld could offer. Portions of those monumental carved gateways erected by imperial permission as memorials to some dutiful son or faithful widow are in such numbers now along the canal that they must once have stood along favored reaches like continu- ous rood screens in a cathedral. They are now battered and neglected, sagging, tottering, toppling into ruins, covered with moss and lichens, that kindly hid the rav- ages of their lace-work and filigree carvings.'' There are numerous lakes in the central provinces of China, the largest being Yung-ting Lake, in Hoo-nan, upwards of 266 miles in circumference. The Poyang Lake and the Tai Lake are also celebrated for their size and the beauty of their surroundings. The most famous among the minerals of China is jade, or the yu-stone, found chiefly in Yun-nan. Coal, lime- stone and porcelain clays are abundant. Precious stones are said to be met with in some districts. In Yun-nan gold is washed from the sands of the rivers, and in the same province silver mines are worked ; here, too, is ob- tained the celebrated pre-tung, or white copper. All the commoner metals are likewise found in China. Near the city of Ning-po are extensive stone quarries. A remarkable feature of the physical geography of China is the existence in the northern portion of the em- pire of a large region of loess. Loess is a solid but friable earth of a brownish yellow color. The loess is invalu- able to the inhabitants of the north of China. In its per- pendicular cliffs which are removed from the action of running water are dug out innumerable caves, in which ^2 The Flowery Empire. a large majority of the people live, while its surface yields abundant crops, requiring no application of manure and but slight expenditure of labor. China claims a greater variety of rare fruits and flow- ers than any other country in the world. Of course, but comparatively few can be mentioned here. The tea-plant IS naturally the most important vegetable production of Chma. The tallow tree, the varnish tree, the camphor tree, the Chmese pine, the Chinese banyan, the funereal cypress and the mulberry rank among the most important trees of China. Of the bamboo there are sixty-three prin- cipal varieties, and the various uses to which it is applied IS really astonishing. Fruits, both of the tropical and temperate zones, abound in China. China proper is divided into eighteen provinces The metropolitan province is Chih-li, in which is situated i^ekm, the capital of the empire. It contains eleven pre- fectural cities and occupies an area of 58,949 miles The population of the last census was 28,000,000 inhabitants The extremes of heat and cold in Chih-li are very great as can be seen from a record taken bv a self-registering thermometer (Fahrenheit) : Mak. Min. J?""^'-y 38 0.8 f,^b™^'-y 46 1.5 ^""'9^ 68 18.0 ^f:^ 87 35.0 T y 94 410 • X ' ••••107 53.0 •'"'-^ ••• =••.....108 61.0 ^"§^st 100 . 60.5 September 92 40.0 October -,-r Z^o November 42 1 7 e December .' .' .' 50 ^'^ China furnishes the principal supply of tea for the The Flowery Empire. 13 world, Japan and Assam being the only other countries where its production is at all important. The other chief exports of China are silk, straw goods and porcelain. Ethnologically, the Chinese belong to that variety of the human species distinguished by a Mongolian conforma- tion of the head and face. A tawny or parchment-colored skin, black hair, lank and coarse ; a thin beard, oblique eyes and high cheek bones are the principal characteristics of the race. The average height of the Chinaman is about equal to that of the European, though his muscular power is not so great; the women are disproportionately small, and have a broad upper face, low nose and linear eyes. Of the animals of China, very little is really known. Of the monkey tribe, the most remarkable is the Cochin monkey. A few of the more ferocious of the carniverous animals still linger in the jungles, but are unknown in the cultivated districts. Wildcats are common in the forests of the south and bears are still found in the hills of Shan- se. The musk deer^ the moose deer and a few other speci- mens of deer can be found. The gold and silver pheasant, the argus pheasant and other gallinaceous birds hold a prominent place in the or- nithology of China. There are also fly-catchers, thrushes, grackles and goat suckers, as well as several species of crows, magpies and jays. On the lakes and rivers are various kinds of waterfowl. China is famous for its fish, and, in fact, in this respect is said to be the richest country in the world. Something should certainly be said now of that world- famous structure, the Great Wall, called by the Chinese Wan-li-chang, "myriad-miled wall." This was built by the first emperor of the Tsin dynasty, about 220 B. C, as a protection against the Tartar tribes. It traverses the northern part of China, extending 35^° east to 15° west of Pekin. The length of this great wall is about 14 The Flowery Empire. twelve hundred miles. Including a parapet of five feet, the total height of the wall is twenty feet ; thickness of the base twenty-five feet, and at the top fifteen feet. Towers or bastions occur at intervals of about lOO yards. These are forty feet square at the base and thirty feet at the summit, which is thirty-seven feet and in some instances forty-eight or fifty feet from the ground. Earth enclosed in brick- work forms the mass of the wall ; but for more than half its length it is little more than a heap of gravel or rubbish. Taken altogether the Great Wall is really the world's greatest wonder. Many and many a time has it defended China proper from the invading wild hordes of Manchuria and Mongolia. It is picturesque in the extreme and as impressive and imagination-rousing as the ruins of Rome and Athens, but the Great Wall is still serviceable. At Chatao, the wall is in very good condition, and it is not difficult for the imagination to repeople it with the defenders against the savage hordes below. Of this great example of defensive warfare. General Wilson said that though ''laid out in total defiance of the rules of military engineering, yet the walls are so solid and inaccessible, and the gates so well arranged and de- fended, that it would puzzle a modern army with a first- class siege train to get through it, if any eflfort whatever were made for its defense.'' A short description of some of the principal cities of China does not seem to be out of place here. To begin with the capital. For the last nine centuries Pekin, under different names and under the domination of successive dynasties has, with some short intervals, remained an imperial city. The modern city consists of two parts, the nui ch'ing, or "inner city,'' commonly known to foreigners as the Tlie Flowery Empire. 15 "Tartar city," and the wai ch'ing or ''outer city," known in the same way as the ''Chinese city." UnUke the walls of most Chinese cities, the walls of Pekin are kept in perfect repair. The population of Pekin is reckoned to be about 1,000,- 000, a number which is out of all proportion to the im- mense area inclosed within the walls. This disparity is partly accounted for by the fact that large spaces, notably in the Chinese city, are not burlt over, and that the grounds surrounding the imperial palace, private resi- dences and temples ar^e very extensive. Americans, of course, are particularly interested in the legations, and we therefore give information furnished by the Rev. Isaac T. Headland, professor of mental and moral philosophy in the Methodist University at Pekin: "Nearly all the legations," said Mr. Headland, "except the British, are in Legation street and not far from one another. The legation compounds, as they are called, comprise anywhere from one to three or four acres of land, enclosed by high walls. Within the enclosures are the legation buildings, including the official residences, office buildings and quarters for the servants. All the buildings in each compound are of brick, and roofed with tile or sheet iron. This leads me to doubt that all the legation buildings have been burned. One building, or even two, in a legation compound might be fired, but it would be extremely difficult to fire all the buildings in one compound alone, to say nothing of burning all the legations. "The mission buildings are in compounds like the buildings of the legations. The mission compounds are scattered all over the city, most of them at a considerable distance from the legations, some of them as far as tw^o miles, so it doesn't of necessity follow that, because the legations are burned, if they are, that the buildings in the 1 6 The Flowery Empire. mission compounds have been injured or the missionaries attacked. Furthermore, all the missionaries have now taken up their residence in the Methodist compound, which is at the head of Legation street. The compound is surrounded by a wall about ten feet high and is fairly well adapted for defense. ''The nearest legation to our compound is the Italian, which is, perhaps, three hundreds yards away. The Ger- man legation is farther down on the south side of the street The American legation is nearer the German lega- tion, but on the opposite side of the street. Our execu- tive building is one of the few fine modern buildings in Pekin, and our compound covers about two acres. There is a fire department in Pekin — not a very good one, to be sure — but still of enough account to cope with a good- sized fire if not interfered with," Shanghai stands on the left or western bank of the Wang-per River, about twelve miles from the point where that river empties itself into the estuary of the Yang-tsze- Kiang. The walls which surround it are about three and one-half miles in circumference and are pierced by seven gates. In 1842, when the Nankin treaty was signed, Shanghai was included among the four new ports thrown open to commerce. The trade of the port has steadily advanced. The gov- ernment of the city is practically in the hands of foreign- ers, as these form the major and controlling portion of the population. The foreign trade is carried on (greatly in the order named) by British, Americans, Japanese, Germans, French, Russians and Danish. The confusion into which the customs system was thrown by the occupation of the rebels in 1855 led the Chinese officials to request the consuls of Great Britain, the United States and France to nominate three officers The Flowery Empire. 17 to superintend the collection of revenue. This plan was found to work so well that it was made permanent. Mr. H. N. Lay, of the British consular service, was appointed inspector of the Shanghai customs. His administration proved so satisfactory that in 1858 the Chinese gladly assented to the application of the same system to all the treaty ports. On the retirement of Mr. Lay, Sir Robert Hart was appointed to the post, and splendidly has he filled it. Canton is a large and populous commercial city, sit- uated on the eastern bank of the Peari River, in the pro- vince of Kwang-tu. The part of Canton inclosed by walls is about six miles in circumference, and has a partition wall running east and west and dividing the city into two unequal parts. The northern and large division is called the old, and the southern the new city. The foreign trade of Canton was materially damaged by the opening of Shanghai and other ports, but it is still of considerable value. There are two cities in which the worid is particulariy interested on account of the Boxer outbreak, and these are Chee-foo and Tien-tsin. They both deserve especial mention on this account. Che-foo, previously to the outbreak, was noted chiefly as being a part demanded by and granted to the English government as an offset to the advantage gained by Russia in her occupancy of Port Arthur. Some two thousand English soldiers were stationed there, and there were generally two or three war ships in the harbor. Che-foo was a favorite resort for Shanghai people. The climate and sea-bathing were both good. A long beach lies to the left of the bluff and on this are built some large hotels. There are also boarding-schools for giris and boys, the children of missionaries in the East. l8 The Flowery Empire. This part of Che-foo is very beautiful, but unfortunately the native city is quite the reverse, in fact a very Hades from the western point of view. No foreigner lingers long there. The smells are a thousand times worse than the traditional ones of Cologne. The city of Tien-tsin is the most important commercial city in North China. The English and French have ex- tensive connections. A correspondent of the New York Sun thus describes his arrival in the city : "Tien-tsin is reached after about an hour and a half in the train, and the visitor is likely to be astounded at the foreign portion of it. ''In the foreign settlement, however, there are beautiful houses and lovely streets, well paved and lined with shade trees. The buildings are massive and stately, of good architecture, and the result is finer in eflfect than any of the treaty ports of Japan. In fact, one would think that with such an object lesson before them in the shape of line buildings, space and clean streets, well lighted, and law and order everywhere, the Chinese would make some eiTort to change for the better their own municipal affairs. But the inertia of Chinese customs, of Chinese methods of living and gaining a livelihood, is so great, and the desire for change confined to so few, that any radical change of the Chinese in China seems almost hopeless. ''The native part of Tien-tsin, however, is an improve- ment on Che-foo, nor is it so dirty as Pekin. It is com- posed of a labyrinth of narrow streets, crowded with the jostling, noisy Chinese populace. The great compound which incloses the many houses composing the residence of Li Hung Chang is plainly seen on one of the banks.'' There are a good many fine buildings and warehouses in Tien-tsin. The most interesting thing to an American, however, would probably be a new woolen mill. In every The Flowery Empire. 19 respect this is thoroughly American. The machinery all came from the United States, and the manager is a Phila- delphian. The looms and all the machinery are run by electric moters, the electricity being generated by a West- inghouse dynamo, run by a hundred horse power Harris- burg high-speed engine. Most of the employees are, naturally, Chinese. The mill is owned by the Chinese government. And it is a source of pride to every American visitor to see here an up-to- date American woolen mill in successful operation. There are very few American goods in the stores of Tien-tsin, and these consist almost entirely of canned fruits from California, canned meats from Chicago and beer from Milwaukee. Wool cleaning and skin packing are among the prin- cipal industries of Tien-tsin. Much wool is exported to. America. It is of cheaper quality than American wool, and is used in making cheap carpets. One firm employs two thousand men and boys in the bristle industry. Hog's bristles are cleaned, sorted and sent to Boston for brushes. Tien-tsin has improved yearly, and when the present troubles are over and the railroads are in perfect opera- tion, it will doubtless become an important distributing point. Let us take now a brief look at what explorers have done, notwithstanding the greatness of the obstacles that have always existed to travel in China. Still, since the early part of the century many scientific explorers have traversed the length and breadth of the country. It is curious, also, to observe how tlie national- ities of the explorers and the parts of the country they passed through seem to be in consonance with the aims now attributed to the various powers who are manifesting particular interest in Chinese affairs. 20 The Flowery Empire. For instance, Southern China has been the special field for British explorers, while Russians have affected the north and northwestern provinces, and the Germans have paid special attention to the northeastern parts of the country. So far back as 1816 English explorers began their work in Southern China, for Amherst made a journey then along the banks of the Pekiang. It was not, how- ever, until the second part of this century, in the sixties, that a systematic exploration of that part of China was undertaken. During those ten years the southwestern and southern provinces were regularly quartered out by English explorers, among whom were Oxenham, Dick- son, Zarnier, Bickmore and Cooper. In the seventies and the following decades, the ex- ploration of China was developed on a large scale and became international in character, a sort of foreshadow- ing of events that have since begun to materialize. In the seventies, English curiosity spread to the valley of the Yang-tsze-Kiang. Barker, Gill, McCarthy, Moss and others penetrated into some of the most exclusive pro- vinces and made valuable commercial and military obser- vations. At the same time, the Russian, Pezjavlsky, made his first journey into northern Thibet and Kassuh. The northern provinces were also traversed by Protsof, Sczech, Fritsche, a German, and others. Elias, who was thought to be traveling in the interests of the British gov- ernment, made a journey through Mongolia and Shansi in 1872. In the eighties there was even greater activity. Pez- javlsky, Potanin and others continued their work in the northwestern provinces and into the province of Chih-li, in which Pekin is situated. The British were no less active in the south. Bourne, Ford, Parker and others went through the provinces of the Yang-tsze-Kiang, col- The Flowery Empire. 21 lecting data of a political and military nature, while Arch- ibald Little was making observations of great cornmercial value. In the early and middle part of the nineties, the explor- ing fever was intensified. In the north of China and Mongolia, Russian and German military and scientific men made minute and exhaustive studies of the topog- raphy and mineral resources of the country. The English explorations of the Upper Yang-tsze provinces also pro- ceeded with activity, and the French paid considerable attention to Yun-nan and Lechuen in view of their in- tention to make Yun-nan-fu the capital of the province. They also had explorations made elsewhere in the vicinity. It will be seen, therefore, that the governments more particularly interested in China have taken care to be fully and accurately informed as to the character and resources of those provinces in which they were more immediately concerned. This information will undoubtedly play a great part in the shaping of future events. CHAPTER II. CHINESE HISTORY. It is an ancient belief of Chinese writers that there ex- isted a period of 2,267,000 and odd years between the time when the power of Heaven and Earth combined to pro- duce man as the possessor of the soil of China, and the time of Confucius. It became necessar>^ for the early historians to invent long lines of dynastic rulers to fill up the gap between the creation and the period with which the ''Book of History'' commences. Accordingly we find a series of ten epochs designated as preceding the Chow dynasty. The events connected with most of these are purely fabulous, and it is not until we come down to the eighth period that we can trace any glimmer, however obscured, of history. Among the semi-mythical kings, the most famous was Fu-hi, who is said to have lived 115 years, to have sep- arated the people into classes or tribes, giving each a par- ticular name, discovered iron, appointed certain days to show their gratitude to heaven by oflfering the first fruits of the earth, and invented the eight diagrams of the Yih- king. To relate the entire history of China would take a large volume and would, moreover, prove a bore, so we shall limit ourselves to the events which are likely to prove of interest to the average reader. From the era of Confucius, sixth century B. C, dates become more trustworthy. This was during the reign of Leing-wang. China at that time was apparently divided into a number of independent states. Chinese History. ^3 But the kings of Tsin gradually gained the ascendancy, and at last one of them reduced the other states to sub- jection (247 B. C), and assumed the title of Hoang, or Emperor. To the Tsin dynasty succeeded the Han dynasty, when the empire was consolidated. Then followed a brilHant period, especially in literature, interrupted by Tartar at- tacks. We cannot enumerate the various dynasties nor the fre- quent divisions and reunions of the empire, varied by in- cursions and partial subjugations by the troublesome Tartars. The Mongols began to acquire power in Eastern Asia, and about the beginning of the twelfth century they in- vaded the northwestern border of China and the prin- cipality of Hea. To purchase the good will of these sub- jects of Jenghiz Khan, the ruler of Hea agreed to pay him a tribute and gave a princess in marriage to their ruler. Hitherto the Mongols had been vassals of the Kin Tartars, but the rapid growth of their power indisposed them to remain tributaries of any monarch, and in consequence of a dispute with the Emperor Wai-chaou Wang, Jenghiz Khan captured the capital city, after an unsuccessful in- vasion of China in 12 12. Jenghiz Khan renewed the at- tack in the following year, and completely defeated the Kins, other victories following. At the age of sixty-six the great General Jenghiz Khan died, his armies having triumphed over the whole of Cen- tral Asia, from the Caspian Sea and the Indus to Korea and the Yang-tsze-Kiang. At last the Mongols, or Western Tartars, became mas- ters of the whole country in 1279 ^^^ reigned over it until 1368, when they were repelled by the Chinese. They were succeeded by the Ming native dynasty, 24 Chinese History. which lasted 276 years, and fell at last by its own mis- government. A general of the last Ming Emperor, who was employed in keeping the Mantchus in check, made peace with them and obtained their assistance against the native usurper who had deposed his sovereign. The Mantchus estab- lished themselves in Pekin in 1644, and after a seven years' struggle acquired the sovereignty of the whole em- pire. Many of the conquering race now filled the highest offices of state, and held their position from birth alone. The empire attained a western extension during the eighteenth century. During the reign of Keen-lung, which ended in 1798, after a reign of sixty years, the relations of the East India Company with the government had been reverse of satis- factory. All kinds of unjust exactions were demanded from the merchants, and many acts of gross injustice were committed on the persons of Englishmen. So notorious at length did these matters become that the British gov- ernment 'determined to send an embassy to the court of Pekin, and Lord Macartney was selected to represent George III. on the occasion. On arriving at Jehol, where the court then was, Lord Macartney was received most graciously by the Emperor, and subsequently at Yuen- ming-yuen he was admitted into the imperial presence and was treated with every courtesy. But the concessions he sought for his countrymen were not accorded to him, and in this sense, but in this sense only, his mission was a failure. Taou-Kuang succeeded in 1820. Possessed in his early years of considerable energy, Taou-Kuang no sooner ascended the throne than he turned his powers, which should have been directed to the pacification of his empire, to the pursuit of pleasure a^'^^I amusement. The reforms which his subjects had been led Chinese History. 25 by his first manifestoes to believe would be introduced never seriously occupied his attention, a^d the discontent which had been lulled by hope soon became intensified by despair. The hardships inflicted on the English merchants at Canton became so unbearable that when, in 1834, the monopoly of the East India Company ceased, the English government determined to send out a messenger to super- intend the foreign trade at that port. Lord Napier was selected for the office; but so vexa- tious was the conduct of the Chinese authorities, and sq inadequately was he supported that the anxieties of his position brought on an attack of fever from which he died at Macas, after but a few months' residence in China. The chief cause of complaint adduced by the man- darins was the introduction of opium by the merchants, and for years they attempted by every means in their power, by stopping all foreign trade, by demands for the prohibition of the traffic in the foreign drug, and by vigi- lant protective measures, to put a stop to its importation. At length Captain Elliot, the superintendent of trade, in 1839, agreed that all the opium in the hands of English- men should be given up to the native authorities, and he exacted a pledge from the merchants that they would no longer deal in the drug. On the 3d of April, 20,283 cases of opium were handed over to the mandarins, and were by them destroyed, a sufficient proof that they were in earnest in their endeavors to suppress the traffic. This demand of Commissioner Lin was considered by the English gov- ernment to amount to a casus belli, and in 1840 war was declared, a war afterward known as the "opium war." In the same year the British fleet captured Chusan, and in the following year the Bogue forts fell, in consequence of which operations the Chinese agreed to cede Honp-- 26 Chinese History. kong to the victors and to pay them an indemnity of $6,000,000. As soon as the news reached Pekin, Ke Shen, who had succeeded Commissioner Lin, was dismissed from his post, and Yah- Shan, another Tartar, was appointed to his place. But before the new commissioner reached his post. Canton had fallen into the hands of Sir Hugh Cough, and shortly afterward Amoy, Ningpo, Tinghai, Chapoo, Shanghai and Chin-keang Foo shared the same fate, and a like evil would have happened to Nankin had not the Imperial Government, dreading the loss of the "Southern Capital,*' pro'posed terms of peace. After much discussion, Sir Henry Pottinger, who had succeeded Captain Elliot, concluded in 1842 a treaty with the imperial commissioners, by which the four additional ports of Amoy, Fuh-chow-Foo, Ningpo and .Shanghai were declared open to foreign trade, and an indemnity of $20,000,000 was to be paid to the English. Treaty ports were opened to the United States and France in 1844. In 1850 the famous Tae-ping rebellion broke out. Their leader was Hung-sew-tsuen, a man of humble origin and an unsuccessful candidate for official employ. He persuaded his followers that he had a divine mission to uproot idolatry, to overturn the Mantchu dynasty and set up a purely national dynasty to be called the ''Great Peace Dynasty." The disaffection was widespread, and for sev- eral years it appeared as if the leader had nailed the flag of victory to his mast, and the rebellion would probably have succeeded, the Mantchu dynasty been dethroned and a new state of affairs been produced had not Europe lent the Mantchus a capable general, who saved the imperial house. This general was Charles George Gordon, who in 1863 took command of a Chinese force against the Tae-pingi Chinese History. 27 rebels, and at the head of what was known as thh "ever- victorious army," put down the rebellion in thirty-three engagements. He resigned his command in 1864, receiv- ing from the emperor the yellow jacket and peacock feathers as mandarin of the first-class. From then until his most to be regretted death he was always known as '^Chinese Gordon/' An account of the belief professed by the Tae-ping rebels will be found in the chapter entitled "Religions and Superstitions." Before this, however, as if to add to the complications of the Chinese, another war broke out with Great Britain, which had France as an ally. England declared war in 1857 against the Tartar dynas- ty, in consequence of an outrage known as the "Arrow** affair. In December of the same year Canton was taken by an English force under Sir Michael Seymour and General Straubenzee,'and a still further 1)low w^as struck against the prestige of the ruling government by the detemiina- tion arrived at by Lord Elgin, who had been sent out as special ambassador to go to Pekin and communicate di- rectly with the emperor. In May, 1858, the Taku forts were taken, and the way having thus been cleared of obstacles. Lord Elgin went up the Peiho to Tien-tsin en route for the capital. At Tien- tsin, however, he was met by the imperial commissioners, who persuaded him so far to alter his plans as to conclude a treaty with them on the spot, which treaty ft was agreed should be ratified at Pekin in the following year. When, however, Sir Frederick Bruce, who had been in the mean- while appointed minister to the court of Pekin, attempted to pass Taku to carry out this part of the arrangement, the vessels escorting him were fired on from the forts with such precision and persistency that he was compelled 28 Chinese History. to return to Shanghai to await the arrival of a larger force than that which he had at his command. As soon as news of this defeat reached England, Lord Elgin was again sent out with full powers, and accompanied by a large force under the command of Sir Hoi>e Grant. The French, likewise, took part in the campaign, and on August I, i860, the allies landed without meeting with any opposition at Peh-tang, a village twelve miles north of Taku. A few days later the forts at that place, which had bid defiance to Sir Frederick Bruce twelve months previously, were taken, and from thence the allies marched to Pekin. Finding further resistance to be hopeless, the Chinese opened negotiations, and, as a guarantee of their good faith, surrendered the An-ting gate of the capital to the allies. On the 24th of October the treaty of 1858 was ratified by Prince King and Lord Elgin, and a con- vention was signed, under the terms of which the Chinese agreed to pay a war indemnity of 8,000,000 taels. It also stipulated that the Queen of Great Britain may appoint diplomatic agents to the court of Pekin, who shall be al- lowed to reside at the capital, where also Her Majesty may acquire a building site. The Christian religion shall be protected by the Chinese authorities. British subjects shall be allowed to travel for business or pleasure to all parts of the interior, under passports issued by their con- sul. British merchant ships shall trade upon the Great River (Yang-tsze-Kiang). The Emperor Heen-fung did not live long to see the results of the new relations with the hated foreigners, but died in the summer of the following year, leaving the throne to his son, Tung-she, a child five years old. There is an anecdote worth repeating that is told of this war in connection with British and American tars. ''Blood IS thicker than water," said Captain John Tat- nall, of the U. S. S- Powhatan, as he went to the assist- Chinese History. 29 ance of British seamen in Admiral Hope's fleet in 1859. The action will be remembered as long as the Stars and Stripes float in the New World and the Union Jack in the Old. Captain TatnalFs help saved the English navy from a disaster which promised to be one of the most appalling in the history of sea fights. His only excuse for inter- fering in a battle which was strictly an affair with which America was not concerned was the bluff remark: ''Blood's thicker than water, and Fll be damned if I can stand by and see white men butchered before my eyes.'' It was June 4, 1859, and an allied fleet of British and French war vessels, under Admiral Hope of the English Navy, were endeavoring to force a treaty from China. * The Taku forts then, as now, guarded the entrance to the Peiho, which flows past the gates of Tien-tsin and on to Pekin. Formidable fortifications had been erected on the banks and heavy barriers across the river itself. On the night of June 20, 1859, the English and French allies arrived off the mouth of the Peiho. On the outside the visit was friendly, although there is no doubt that trouble was expected. The Chinese preferred not to ne- gotiate a treaty. Along with the allied fleet was the steamer Toeywan and the U. S. S. Powhatan, commanded by Captain Tat- nalL The warship Powhatan was too bulky to cross the mouth of the river, and Captain Tatnall chartered the steamer Toeywan and transferred his flag to that. The only purpose of the American boat was to convey Min- ister John E. Ward and suite, who were to see that the treaty about to be negotiated between England, France and China was fair to the United States. As soon as the fleet arrived, Admiral Hope sent a boat ashore with the request that the commander of the fort remove the barriers. He had come on a friendly mission, he explained. The officer with the message was not per- 30 Chinese History. mitted to land, and was curtly informed that the barriers were up to stand. Hope then sent word to the Chinese commandant : "I give you until the 24th to remove the obstructions and allow my ships to pass. If they are not down by that time, I shall take them down myself." Captain Tatnall and Mr. Ward, the American minis- ter, held a consultation, and decided to move up the river with the Toeywan, as if they had received no inkling that the Chinese had refused the English and French to enter the Peiho. If the forts fired across his bow, the captain would anchor and hold a conference with the authorities. If they put a shot into the vessel, he w^ould retire. At II o'clock on the morning of June 20, 1859, the Toeyzvan pushed through the English and French squad- ron and steamed toward the barriers. Before she reached the iirst line of defense she was suddenly grounded on the treacherous bank of the river, receiving a tremendous jar and sitting down solidly on the sticky bottom of the stream. Admiral Hope sent the Plover, a gunboat, to the aid of the Toeywan, but, in attempting to tow the larger boat off, the cable parted. A second gunboat was dispatched, and meanwhile Ad- miral Hope sent Lieutenant Trenchard of his staff to say to the officers of the fort that the American minister v^as aboard the stranded steamer. Lieutenant Trenchard and some missionaries as interpreters delivered this message. Twenty ragged-looking Chinese, armed with spears and long knives, came down, headed by a mandarin, to hold a parley. They said again that the barriers were there for the protection of the empire and yould not be re- moved. Any attempt to take them up would be resisted, and the forts would open fire, Trenchard returned to the Toeyzvan w^ith his answer, and by that time the little steamer had been extricated and took up a position near the outer bar. Admiral Hope de- Chinese History. 31 termined to remove the barriers in the river by force. The only uneasiness in the squadron was caused by the fear that the Russian troops were in the vicinity and would assist the Chinese against the alHed fleet. On the night of June 24 three gunboats were sent up the river, and they succeeded in forcing a passage through the barrier of stakes and through the second obstruction , of iron cables. Captain Willes, who commanded the gun- boats, believed that these boats could not remove the rafts, and Admiral Hope decided to take the fleet up through the passage made by the gunboats. By 3.30 on the morning of the 25th all hands on the allied squadron were whistled to breakfast, and by 4 o'clock the gunboats were in position. The flood tide was running strong, and Admiral Hope believed that he might get his fleet in position while the water in the shallow mouth of the Peiho was at its height. In and around the forts a perfect calm was maintained. Some delay occurred, due to the grounding of the gun- boats and the narrowness of the channel, and it was not until 11.30 in the morning, at high tide, that the vessels were in position. . Finally at 2 o'clock Admiral Hope, with his flag on the gunboat Plover, signaled the Opossum to remove the iron pile to which she had been fastened. In half an hour the obstruction had been wrenched loose, the way cleared, and the whole fleet steamed triumphantly past the first barrier. They were then squarely under the guns of the fort, in point blank range of the grand battery. The Plover, full steam on, attempted to break through the second barrier, when a shot was discharged from the forts. In a moment all the mantelets masking the bat- teries fell, and forty pieces of artillery ,opened on the little craft. ^'Engage the enemy as closely as possible," signaled the 32 Chinese Histoty. Admiral, who was taken entirely by surprise. The gun- boats crowded up to the support of the flagship, but they were hopelessly at the mercy of the big Chinese battery. Within twenty minutes the Plover and Opossum had so many men killed and wounded that their guns were prac- tically disabled. . Sev^al of the officers were killed, and Admiral Hope was seriously injured in the thigh. The Chinese had plenty of reserve guns and ammunition. When a gun was dismantled by a shot from the fleet, in a few minutes a second gun had been run up in place, and began firing away from the same embrasure. Captain Tatnall and the Americans on the Toeyzmn observed the desperate straits of the British Admiral. Finally Tatnall exclaimed : ''Blood's thicker than water, and Fll be damned if FU stand by and see those men butchered before my eyes. No, sir, old Tatnall isn't that kind, sir. Is that boat ready ? Tell the men we won't need side arms." He sent to Colonel Lemon, offering the services of the Toeyzvan in towing back the gunboats, knowing that it would be impossible for the rest of the allied fleet to make head against the ebb tide and go to the relief of their brothers. Just at that moment a little boat shot out from the smoke of battle and came alongside the American steamer. A midshipman quickly handed to Captain Tatnall a note, smeared with blood and covered with powder stains. When the American commander read it he became greatly excited, and announced his intention of paying at once an official visit to the English Admiral. Over the harbor, in the golden sunshine of a day in the Orient, went a little American barge toward the black smoke that hung over the river's mouth. Close in her wake followed the British dispatch boat, and in a few min- Chinese History. 33 utes both disappeared in the darkness of the fight. As the American barge swung through the alHed. fleet, cheer after cheer went up from the crews. A shot passed through the American colors at the mast and left them a bunch of flying shreds. The men on board the deck of a disabled gunboat caught sight of this remnant of stars and stripes and yelled lustily. A second shot killed Cox- swain Hart and wounded Lieutenant Trenchard. A third knocked the barge almost to splinters, and with difficulty she was kept afloat until she reached the side of the British flagship. Aboard the Plover, Captain Tatnall found Admiral Hope desperately wounded, but still directing the fight. The boat's crew of the American barge promptly went forward and manned the British guns. Nearly every English gunner had been killed or wounded. A boy of twelve or thirteen years brought the powder from the hold, and for an hour the Americans kept up a rattling fire. At that time a boatload of men from another ship reached the Plover and relieved them. *'What have you been doing?'' asked Lieutenant Tren- chard, who sat on deck nursing a desperate wound. The faces of the American tars were covered with sweat and powder. ''Oh, nothin\ sir," said one, "except sort of lending a helping hand to those fellows forward." The Americans then boarded a little boat and returned to the Toeyzvan in safety. But by this time the position of the British on the gunboats was becoming more des- perate than before. A little distance away lay 600 reserves which they had no means of bringing into the battle. Tatnall grasped the situation^ took the junks in tow and brought them into action. A landing party was placed on shore and stormed the forts. The British rushed madly down the ditch, filled 34 Chinese History. with water and rendered almost impassable by sharp stakes. They drew their ladders across the second ditch, and the sailors continued to advance in spite of a terrible fire. Some of them were beginning to climb the breast- works, when suddenly there arose the cry, ''Russians!" The English supposed they had been fighting Chinese, but now they believed the fortifications were manned by Russians. This thoroughly discouraged the British, and, in spite of the efforts of their officers, they retired to the trench. It was a frightful moment, and here again Tatnall won the lasting gratitude of the English. He got his light- draught Toeyzvan close inshore and took the fugitives aboard, thus saving many lives. In this disastrous affair the allied forces, numbering i,ioo men, had 89 killed and 345 wounded. A year after that Captain TatnalFs warship, the Pow- hatan, went to Hongkong. As she steamed to her an- chorage she passed the British flagship Highflyer. '* Should auld acquaintance be forgot," struck up the British band. ''Run up the Stars and Stripes," signaled the High- flyer's commander, and the band boomed out with "Co- lumbia, the Gem of the Ocean." In a moment all the British ships in the harbor were flying the American colors, and the French and Russians in a moment fol- lowed suit. The Powhatan raised the English flag and saluted, and every gun in the harbor rang out a hearty answer. Perhaps this story is rather a long one to be incor- porated here, but we trust and believe that its interest will be excuse enough for doing so. When peace was restored after the Tai-ping rebellion, the country trade rapidly revived, and, with the exception of the province of Yun-nan, where the Mahometan rebels Chinese History. 35 under Suleiman still kept the imperial forces at bay, pros- perity was everywhere reawakened. Against these forces the government was careless to take active measures until in 1872 Prince Hassan, the adopted son of Suleiman, was sent on a mission to England, with the object of gaining the recognition of the Queen for his father's subjects. This step at once aroused the susceptibilities of the Im- perial government, and a large force was instantly or- ganized and dispatched to the scene of the rebelhon. The war was now pushed on with vigor, and before the fol- lowing year was out the Mohametan capital, Ta-le Foo, fell into the hands of the Imperialists, and the followers of Suleiman throughout the province were mercilessly ex- terminated. In the succeeding February, the Dowager Empresses who had governed the country since the death of Heen- fung resigned their powers into the hands of the Em- peror. This long-expected time was seized upon by the foreign ministers to urge their right of audience with the Em- peror, and on the 29th of June, 1873, the privilege of gazing on the "sacred countenance" of Tung-che was ac- corded to them. Tung-che died of smallpox on the 12th of January, 1875, and as he left no issue the succession to the throne, for the first time in the annals of the Tsin dynasty, passed out of the direct line and a cousin of the Emperor, a princeling, said to be not quite four years old, was chosen to reign in his place under the title of Kueng-sen, or ''Suc- cession of Glory/' Once more was the country doomed to suffer the incon- venience of a long imperial minority. Since 1861 many changes have taken place in the Imperial government, and a somewhat wiser policy has been pursued. Under the regency of Prince Kung there existed a more vigorous ad- 36 Chinese History. ministration of the laws and a more faithful observance of the treaties. Ports were opened to foreign commerce and foreign ministers permitted to instruct the people. A national flag was adopted, and a strong desire manifested by the Imperial government to become acquainted with international law. In 1866 arrangements were made for telegraphic communication between Pekin and all parts of the world. In 1867 Anson Burlingame, formerly minister of the United States to China, was selected as special ambassa- dor to the treaty powers by the Imperial government. In 1868-69 he visited the United States and European gov- ernments, and died at St. Petersburg in 1870. Neither the arms nor discipline of the Chinese enable them to stand before foreign forces. They, however, for a long time retained a full persuasion of their own su- periority to all outsiders, and a belief in their military strength continued to be held in Europe, which was based not only on their enormous population, giving them re- sources for the formation of armies that are practically in- exhaustible, but also on the fact that they succeeded in recovering vast tracts in Eastern Turkestan, which for a time they had lost, and which Russia seemed determmed to keep them out of. This belief was at last rudely shattered by the war with Japan in 1894-5, which revealed the complete rottenness of the military system, and, indeed, of the whole admin- istratfon. Disturbances in Korea, whither Chinese and Japanese troops were dispatched, led to the seizure of the Korean government by Japan, and war between that' country and China was declared July 31. The three chief battles of the war were Penang, Port Arthur and the naval battle on the Yellow River. In the first China obtained some slight success, but in the latter two Japan was overwhelm- Chinese History. 37 ingly victorious. In fact, the whole war resulted in the complete defeat of China, both by land and sea. A treaty of peace which included the payment of a heavy indem- nity by China, the cession of Formosa, the independence of Korea and other concessions was signed upon April 16, 1895. Some of the concessions made by China of later years are as follows : Port Arthur and Ta-Iien-wan were leased to Russia March 27, 1898, for 25 years, but the duration of the lease may be extended by mutual consent. Wei-hai-wei was leased to Great Britain July i, 1898, for as long a period as Russia shall remain in possession of Port Arthur. Kiau-chau was leased to Germany, January, 1898, for 99 years. Hongkong was ceded to Great Britain in 1841, a fur- ther concession on the mainland being made in 1861, and a lease for 99 years of an additional 200 square miles be- ing granted in July, 1898. Kwang-chau-wan was leased to France in April, 1898. The recent exclusive concession by Korea of a' site for a coal depot and a naval hospital at Masampho has given Russia control of the finest harbor in southern Korea. 'r -.^^^y^^ CHAPTER III. THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. The government of China is based upon the patriarchal idea of parental authority, and from this the entire gov- ernmental system has been developed. The family forms the type of power throughout the empire. To a student of political economy of any other country, the governmental process proves hopelessly puzzling. He ends by classifying it as an absolute despotism. But it really is not such an insolvable tangle when we take as our basis the statement made at the head of this chapter. Parental authority is the model on which the government of the country is based. The head figure of the whole system, of course, is the Emperor. In the centralized autocratic government the Emperor is absolute in the entire, the governor in the province, the magistrate in the district. The Emperor claims no hereditary divine right, and is not always the eldest son of the preceding monarch ; the oldest son is nominated, but his right to the throne as Tien-tze (son of Heaven) Fung-tien (divinely appointed) can only be established by good government in accord- ance with the principles laid down in the national sacred books. If, on the contrary, he violates these principles, the people firmly believe that Heaven signifies by unmis- takable signs that their ruler is not its chosen represen- tative. ''The rivers recede from their beds, the ground sullenly refuses its fruits, the plains tremble, the hills reel, and the typhoon rages over seas and coasts," all alike ut- The Government of China. 39 tering a "numbered, numbered, weighed and parted," that requires no interpretation, but is read in anxiety by the people, in dismay and terror by the prince, who seeks by repentance and a return to the true principles of govern- ment, to avert his doom. The Emperor is the father of all his people, and receives his authority direct from Heaven. He is absolute as legis- lator and administrator, but he must legislate in accord- ance with the general principles acknowledged in his country. He also constitutes in his own person the high- est criminal court. He is supposed to receive his authority direct from Heaven, and by Divine right is owner of every foot of land and every dollar of property in the whole country. To quote from a distmguished writer : "All the forces and wealth of the empire are his, and he may claim the services of all male subjects between the ages of^ sixteen and sixty. H^ has another, a sacer- dotal function, which adds largely to the reverence and semi-sacred character in which he is held by the people, and to which is due the seclusion in which he is kept He is the son of Heaven and, as such. Heaven's high priest. He alone can worship and ofSfer sacrifice on be- half of his people at the great altar of Heaven. In this service he has no recognized substitute or subordinate. He stands alone between his people and the Heaven which is to them the final power, the source of blessing and bane, the sentient and perfect judge, swift to reward virtue and punish vice. But he stands there as its son and servant, thus forming the connecting link between his children and Heaven, which is, in their eyes, his ancestor and theirs.'' In China, a parent has the most absolute authority over his or her child during life, and the Emperor is accordingly looked upon as the father of his people, with power to ex- 40 The Government of China. c rcise his control over them in exactly the same way that the father of a family does. On that foundation their sim- ple theory of government is based, and there is no deny- ing that it is an excellent theory, with the proviso, however, that the parent should never err, and have a constant oversight on the action of his children. But in China, as elsewhere, the Emperor in his parental authority does err, and those to whom he necessarily deputes his authority and oversight are as little free from errors of judgment as he is himself. Hence the system does not work altogether well in practice. Still it is a mistake to suppose the Chinese government to be a despotism unrelieved by good points. On the contrary, it is vastly superior in every respect to the despotism which, until lately, prevailed in Russia, and in many other European states ; or which does to this day in Turkey and numerous other of the similarly constituted Asiatic governments. Though the Chinese form of government is based on the parental type, it is to be feared that the parents' grim - but loving control is only a fiction now, and that little but the absolutism of that form of rule prevails. Yet in their ritual and criminal code the exact parallel between the parent and the Emperor is kept up. Crimes against the Emperor are punished in exactly the same way as crimes against the parent ; for both the Chinese mourns the same length of time and goes un- shaven for exactly the same period. It is a system which, if not calculated to give much liberty to the subject, is yet productive of peaceful obe- dience, order and quiet people, w^ho from their childhood upward have been bred into the idea of being good mem- bers oiAhe community on the same basis that they are good children to their parents. In the regulations for the conduct of the people that The Government of China. 41 are publicly read out by the principal magistrates on the days that correspond to the new and full moon, their theory is expressly enunciated, and cases could be quoted in abundance, in which the government has put in prac- tice the doctrine that domestic rebellion is exactly equiva- lent to treason. For instance the grandfather of a late Emperor pun- ished a man and his wife, who had ill used !he mother of the former, by first making the place where the crime took place accursed by placing anathemas upon it, and then putting the principal offenders to death. In addi- tion the mother of the wife was bastinadoed for her daughter's crime; the scholars of the district were not permitted for three years to attend- the public examina- tion, and their promotion was thereby stopped ; the magis- trates were deprived of office ; and, finally, the house in which the offender dw^elt was dug up from its founda- tions, and the edict ordering this signal punishment pro- claimed throughout the whole empire as a warning to all that the majesty of the ancient laws of the Flowery Em- pire was not to be infringed with impunity. Here is another instance : A man w^as found guilty of rifling the coffin in the tomb of a prince of some valuable ornaments. There was no evidence wdiatever that any relative of his was an accomplice, yet the entire family, thirteen persons, representing five generations, from a man of ninety to an infant of less than tw^o months, were put to death. The criminal and his parents were cut in pieces. Of the others, the men were beheaded and the women strangled. The descendants of the imperial family, who are now very numerous, are distinguished by wearing yellow and red girdles, and there are even certain hereditary titles, descending one step in rank through five generations; but, without personal merit, they are held in Tittle con- 42 The Government of China, sideration. Most of the minor scions of the imperial family have no lands, and, as they cannot all be pensioned by the Emperor, some of them live in great poverty. One writer even declared that he has had many a time in his employ a man who, as a blood relative of the Emperor, was entitled to- wear the imperial yellow girdle; but he was a hod-carrier and earned six cents a day. In the Irnperial House, there are twelve grades of rank, confined entirely to its members ; and five other grades are open to the civil and military employees of the state. But these are not true orders of nobility going from father to son ; and w^hen the Jesuit writers on China applied to them the relative terms of duke, marquis, earl, etc., they led their readers into error. The Emperor himself, as has been intimated, has no hereditary right to govern the country. The Emperor is assisted in governing by two councils. 1. The inner or privy council, composed of six high offi- cials, three of whom are Chinese and three Mantchus : also ten assistants. 2. The general or strategical council, which closely resembles the British cabinet, being com- posed of the most influential officers in the capital, who exercise high legislative and executive duties. The deci- sions of the Emperor in council are regularly published in the Pekin Ga::ette. There are besides in the capital six yamuns or public offices, each charged with a distinct department of government, and over all is the court of general inspection, or the Censorate, as it is called by foreigners. The mandarins composing this are the *'eyes and ears of the Emperor;" for it is their province to see that all officers of the government, provincial or metro- politan, are faithful in the discharge of their respective duties. The administrative machinery of the Chinese is very perfect in its organization, and demands an attentive con- The Govemment of China. 43 sideration for a right understanding of the people and the govemment. In each of the eighteen provinces is an imperial dele- gate or governor, who, besides being at the head of the civil jurisdiction, is commander in chi^f, and possesses the power of life or death for certain capital offenses. He is privileged to correspond wath the cabinet council and the Emperor. Under the governor are the superintendent of provin- cial finances, the provincial criminal judge and the pro- vincial educational examiner; each communicates with his special board in Pekin. The governor is also assisted by many other judicial and administrative officials. The governmental organization of each province is complete in itself, but, in a few instances, two provinces — Kwang-tung and Kwang-se for example — form a vice- royalty over which a ^vemor-general, in addition to the governors, exercise authority.- Every province is again subdivided into districts, departments and circuits. The average number of districts in a province is eighty. A civil functionary, sometimes called the district magistrate, presides over this division, and is assisted by several subordinate officers. A group of districts — six is the average number for the whole eighteen provinces — forms a department, and is ruled by a prefect, who resides in^ the fu, or departmental city. Three departments, on an average, constitute a circuit, of which an intendant (Taoutae) has the charge. The several grades of mandarins or Chinese govem- ment officials (Chinese name, Kwang-fu) are distin- guished chiefly by a different colored ball or button on the top of the cap. Education, as the higher road to official employment, to rank, wealth and influence, is eagerly sought by all classes. Literary proficiency commands everywhere re- 44 'The Government of China. spect and consideration, and primary instruction pene- trates to the remotest villages. Self-supporting day schools are universal, and the office of teacher is followed by a great number of literati. Government provides state examiners, but does not otherwise assist in the edu- cation of the people. The Chinese have a remarkable reverence for the written character. Waste printed paper is collected from house to house and burned to preserve it from profana- tion. The Chinese executive system is based on those note- worthy competitive examinations, which are intended to sift out from the millions of educated Chinese the best and ablest for the public service. By the result of these examinations every office in the country except that of emperor is determined. They are the source from whence emanate all rank distinction and power, and are accordingly of extreme interest. In order to obtain the first degree, three examinations must.be undergone; the preliminary one must take place in the chief town of the district of which the candidate is a native. Great numbers of candidates always present themselves, and judging from the numbers who fail the examinations must be very severe. One year, out of four thousand who competed in the two districts about Canton, it is stated that only thirteen in the one and fourteen in the other were successful. For fifteen to be successful out of five hundred is considered rather a remarkable feet. The next examination is held in the departmental city, and the number of candidates who present themselves are much fewer than at the previous examination, owing to the law that only those who have passed at that trial are admitted. After this departmental examination another sifting oc- The Government of China. 45 curs. Those who have passed have their names placarded as having gained a ''name in the department," just as at the previous examination they had gained a ''name in the village/' The next examination is much more severe than the former. It is held under the supervision of an im- perial examiner, who for this purpose visits every depart- ment twice in each triennial period. The "Bachelor de- gree," if one may use this term, is gained by this exam- ination, and is given only to a certain number of the suc- cessful candidates in proportion to the population of the respective district. Most men do not think of going beyond this degree, especially if they do not intend to seek official employment. The possession of it confers many privileges, among others the exemption from corporal punishment. The next examination is held every three years at the provincial capital in the month of September, and it is sometimes attended by as maiiy as ten thousand bachelors, anxious to compete for the degree of licentiate. It is con- ducted by two examiners from Pekin. xA.t Nankin, on one occasion, 20,000 men competed, and the degree of licen- tiate was awarded to less than 200. Out of seventy-three candidates, who on one occasion obtained this degree at Canton, five were under twenty-five years, eight between twenty and twenty-five, fifteen be- tween twenty-five and thirty, eighteen between thirty and thirty-five, nine between thirty-five and forty, twelve be- tween forty and forty-five, three between forty-five and fifty, while three were beyond fifty. It must be remembered, however, that these were not all fresh candidates; many are unsuccessful, and until ren- dered hopeless by being rejected year after year, will regu- larly as the examinations come round make another and another attempt to obtain the coveted distinction. Hence the great disparity in age of the candidates. Altogether, 46 The Government of Cliiiia. on an average, 1,200 to 1,700 may annually obtain the degree in the eighteen provinces. During the examination each candidate is locked up in a separate cell, measuring about three by four feet, for periods of three days and upward. He has to eat, sleep and write in this confined space, with one board to use as a seat and one as a table^ and is not allowed out on any pretext whatever. Food is passed in to him through a ^ole in the wall. Frequent cases have occurred in which candidates have died in their cells owing to excitement and discomfort. The third, or examination for the Doctor's degree, ia held in Pekin, and thither all the licentiates who wish to compete must go. These seldom exceed two or three hun- dred. The last and highest degree is that of Han-lin. It is also held at Pekin, and the few who attain it become members of the Han-lin College, and receive fixed salaries. The licentiates are on the high road for preferment as va- cancies occur ; the doctors are assured an immediate and important office, while from the select Han-lin College are chosen the emperor's ministers who are in immediate at- tendance upon him. At these examinations the greatest care is taken that they shall be fairly conducted. The examiners are brought from a distance, surrounded by troops, as much to keep them from being communi- cated with by any one as to do letters honor in the eyes of populace. They are not allowed to see the examination papers, but only copies made by official transcribers. It is not until they have passed a paper as satisfactory that they see the original, when it is compared with the copy. If all be satisfactory, the candidate's name is seen. Up to this date it has been unknown, having been pasted between two sheets of paper. With all the precautions introduced to make this system The Government of China. 47 of competitive examination, the fairest possible method of allotting the public employments, yet when such great things are staked upon its results, it can readily be believed that the ingenuity of the Chinese literati manages some- times to elude the most lynx-eyed of examiners. The American undergraduate who conveys into the examina- tion hall a series of notes on his shirt ^uffs and half a dozen problems of Euclid on his capacious palms is but a bungler compared with his Chinese brother, whose skill in this species of roguery is as much superior to the "West- ern Barbarians" as his civilization and "institutions" are older. The trick of employing a learned substitute — ^him*- self a graduate — ^to enter under the name of a candidate and perform all the exercises is a well-worn device in China. It will now and then happen that a friend within the building will learn the subject of the themes to be given out, write them in tiny characters on slips of paper and drop them inclosed in wax in the water which is sup- plied to the candidate whom he wishes to favor. But the most daring plan which the reminiscences of the Chinese Dons can recall was that of a candidate who engaged a friend to tunnel under the walls of the examination hall, and thus convey to him through the floor of his cell the documents and other information he required. Still, taken at its worst, the system must be allowed to be a superior one. The Chinese possess a carefully digested code of laws which is added to and modified from time to time by im- perial edicts. Their penal code commenced 2,000 years ago, and copies of it are sold at so cheap a rate as to be within reach of people of the humblest means. Death, which the Chinaman prefers to long confinement, is the penalty for a large number of offenses, and. in ordinary years, about 10,000 criminals are executed. There are three grades of capital punishment : First, 48 " The Government of China. strangulation ; second, decapitation, which is much feared from the idea that a person goes into the next world in the same state in which he left this one ; and third, for heinous crimes, such as treason, parricide, sacrilege, etc., the punishment which foreigners somewhat incorrectly style cutting into ten thousand pieces. This consists in the prisoner having his face and other parts of his body slashed before the final blow is struck, so that he expires not only headless, but with his skeleton partially divested of flesh. Crucifixion and sawing asunder are two of the other horrible modes by which criminals are executed, and, strange to say, the former means, with all its long, lingering torture, is often preferred to decapitation, sim- ply because the crucified man saves his head, in which he is anxious to figure before his ancestors in the next world. In all these punishments a rich man can usuajjy obtain a substitute, the great difficulty being, not in buying a man to take the real criminal's place, but simply to bribe all the officials whose business it is to see the sentence carried into execution ; or, indeed, primarily, the one who has to pronounce it. Chinese prisons are terribly severe in their discipline, so that to avoid these Tyo-yo, or Hellsf as they are popularly called, for long terms, ^eath is frequently preferred. Females are not usually confined in prisons, but are put in the custody of their relatives, who are responsible for them. If a womaruTias committed adultery or been guilty of a capital offense, then she is imprisoned in the common gaol. No relative of the imperial family can be tried without a special reference to the emperor, and any one over sev- enty and under fifteen years of age has always the option of a fine for any offense not capital. An accomplice in robbery is admitted as evidence for the crown, and^ if it be his first offense, is not only pardoned, but entitled to The Government of China. 49 the reward offered for the discovery of the thieves, if by his information they have been convicted. A slave is held in the eye of the law of much less im- portance than his master. If he, for instance, kills his master, the offense is punished as a minor form of treason ; while, if the master commits the same offense, it is looked upon as almost no crime at all. Robbery with premeditated violence is punishable with death, while the killing of a burglar in the act of commit- ting robbery is justifiable homicide. There are various modifications of the punishment for theft, as to whether it is from a stranger or from one's own family (in the latter case the punishment being lighter), and in regard to homicide in an affray or by accident. Parents have absolute control over the lives of their children. If a parent kills one intentionally, he is subject to only a year's imprisonmelit and the chastisement of the bamboo ; if he has previously been struck ; then no pun- ishment whatever is awarded. As was the case among the Hebrews, the penalty for striking parents or for curs- ing them is death. So tenacious are the Chinese of order that the fact of one person striking another with the hand or foot is looked upon not only as a private, but a public offense. Hence, the common spectacle of two Chinese quarreling, with endless gesticulations, but without ever coming to blows, and of the care which the surrounding crowd takes to see that the quarrel does not lead the disputants coming to closer quarters. This instinct has now become hereditary with the Chinese, for even in the foreign countries to which they have emigrated they carry this wholesome habit of allowing the tongue rather than the fist to act as a safety-valve for their ire. A debtor is allowed a reasonable time, fixed by law, for the discharge of his obligations, but if, after the expira- 50 The Government of China. tioii of these days of grace, he fails to pay, he is Hable to the punishment of the bamboo. A creditor sometimes quarters himself, with his family, upon a debtor, and though this is not recognized by the law, no one interferes, provided it be done without tumult or violence. Certain forms of torture are authorized by the criminal code. Some of these are taken from a description pub- lished in the New York World. The punishment most frequently inflicted is that of the pantze, or bastinado. This form of correction is used in every part of China for every kind of offense. The num- ber of blows is in proportion to the magnitude of the guilt. The culprit is usually brought to some public place, gen- erally outside the city walls. There, in the presenc'e of a mandarin and a guard of soldiers, he is beaten by slaves trained for that purpose. If the crime is a serious one the criminal is held down by one or more slaves. The chief iactor, the lictor, is furnished witlTn half bamboo six feet long and about two inches broad, and with this he casti- gates the offender on the back of the thighs. When a female is whipped with the bamboo in civil of- fices and courts of justice, she is simply made to kneel, and then the strokes are inflicted on her thighs or body — only her outer garments having been removed. Of a more serious nature is the punishment or torture of the tcha .or cangue. This torture is inflicted for of- fenses of a grave nature. The instrument itself is a heavy wooden frame, formed of two sections fastened at one end by a hinge and at the other by a lock or screw. The neck of the culprit passes through a hole in the centre of this frame and his hands through smaller apertures on each side. Sometimes the victim is allowed the freedom of one hand, which he uses in relieving the weight of the cangue from his galled The Government of China. 51 shoulders. The average weight of the cangue is from 60 to 200 pounds, and the condemned is compelled to wear it from one to six months. The efficacy of this species of punishment lies, to a great extent, in the ridicule it entails and the utter helplessness of the offender, who is daily brought out of prison by the officials and placed in the public streets. Squeezing the fingers is a torture used principally to extort confession. The victim is usually made to kneel down. He is then tied by his queue to an upright post. The fingers of each hand are then put between rods (a rod coming between two fingers) which are so arranged that by pulling a cord attached to these rods the fingers are remorselessly squeezed between them. Finally, the vic- tim is willing to confess anything which his accuser may desire, so dreadful is the pain suffered. In another form of torture the victim is made to kneel on the ground, his ankles placed in a frame consisting of three sticks or poles fastened near each other at one end. Each ankle comes between two sticks. By pulling on cords fastened to the top end of the sticks the ankles are squeezed by the sticks as the latter are made to approach each other. All kinds of torture are reported to for confession. They include dismembering, flogging in all its varieties, and kneeling on hot chains. These modes of torture, entirely unauthorized and unrecognized by the law, are frequently resorted to by the magistrates and jailers. An instrument of torture known as the flowery eyebrow is named after a bird which being tied to a frame by a short string, continually hops about or flies away to the length of the string and then returns. The instrument consists of an upright post and two crosspieces firmly fastened to it. The culprit kneels on the lower of the crosspieces with his back to the post. c2 The Government of China. His arms are then outstretched and fastened to the other crosspiece, which is placed several feet above the lov^er one. Across the calves of his legs is laid a stick several feet long. To the two ends of this stick are attached cords that pass through holes made in the ends of the crosspiece on which the victim kneels. By tightening these cords the pressure on the legs becomes unbearable. Kneeling of it- self would soon cause intolerable pain. To this is added the pain caused by pressing down the piece laid on the upper sides of his legs while he is in a kneeling posture. It is said that the wrists and arms are pressed at the same time and in a similar manner between the upper crosspiece and another stick placed on the upper side of the arms. A curious but uncoriifortable form of torture is called monkey grasping a peach, owing to the fancied resem- blance of the victim to a monkey grasping something in its paw. It is commonly used by mandarins to compel prisoners to confess their guilt. The victim is suspended by one arm over a horizontal stick, several feet from the ground, while the other arm is passed down under one or both legs. The hands are then tied securely together by t6e thumbs under or near the knees. Thus no part of the body is allowed to touch the floor, and the whole weight of the wretched victim's body comes under the armpit on the one arm passed over the stick. A common punishment is to make a victim stand on tip- toe in a cacre made of slats or bamboo through the top of which his head protrudes and from which position he is unable to move it. The only relief enjoyed by the victim is when he pulls up his legs, when, of course, the whole weight of his body is thrown on his neck. One of the most grewsome forms of torture is the hot- "^^m The Government of China. 53 water snake. Around the body and arms of the unfortu- nate victim are coiled snakes made of brass tubing. These fit the victim tightly. When the appointed moment ar- rives boiling water is poured down the mouths of the snakes. The torture endured by the victim is excruci- ating. The wire shirt punishment consists of a piece of iron netting, which is bound so tightly around the body as to cause the victim's flesh to protrude through the mesh. The sufferer is then shaved with a sharp knife, a;id it is on record that victims have subsequently had salt rubbed into their wounds. The above penalty is only imposed for crimes such as parricide and similar extreme villainies. Leaving aside the more serious rewards and penalties of promotion and dismissal, there is kept a record of every act of every official, and he receives merits or demerits, a system something like that in vogue in our public schools. The central government also gives rewards for special ability in public service. For instance, a peacock feather to be worn in the hat, and with one, two or three eyes, according to the favor desired to be shown. Then there is the permission to enter the outer gate of the palace on horseback. Again, a sable robe is given. But the greatest and most prized of all is a short jacket of imperial yel- low, the color sacred to his majesty. The last two are bestowed only upon officials of the highest rank. These gifts may be given or withdrawn* without in the least af- fecting the real position of him who receives or loses them. One great difficulty which the officials have to contend with are the riots which are constantly occurring in all parts of the country for any and every reason. There ought to be a new name coined for Chinese riots. They are not riots in the strict sense of the word. So far as the destruction of property and injury to person are 54 The Government of China. concerned, they are riots, but they are started after long reflection. This comes from the Chinese political system. "There are officials in China who are satisfied with the legal pay and their legal fees," says Miss Margherita A. Hamm in an article in the New York Sun, '*but they num- ber about I per cent, of that class ; the rest vary in their greed and dishonesty. The system has gone on so long in Chma that the operation is not known as robbing, but as 'squeezing.' It is a high compliment to refer to an official as a light and courteous squeezer. It simply means that he is less ravenous than his predecessor or his col- league in the next district. The amount of the squeezing may be judged from the fact that a Tao Tai is supposed to live upon his salary of $5,000 a year and his legitimate fees of $5,000 more, and yet no Tao Tai keeps in his em- ploy less than one hundred men or supports less than a hundred relatives and servants. ''iVccording to popular report, the squeezes are nine times the amount of the legitimate income. When an of- ficial confines his squeezing to a reasonable figure, the people of his district regard him as a good man. When he is very harsh and grasping, he is detested and quietly abused, but when he goes further and invents new modes of extortion, or is guilty of greater corruption than usual, then a riot of some sort takes place. The news of the riot travels to the provincial capital and then an investigation is had. The officials of the tribunal are likewise corrupt^ and generally extort from the accused personage a sum in proportion to what they think he has extracted from his subjects. The affair is then closed. This is the fate of nine riots out of ten. Sometimes, however, the news reaches Pekin. and an investigation is had there. Here the prices demanded are so high that the accused official is often unable to pay them, and is then degraded, dis- missed from the imperial service or even beheaded, which The Government of Cliina, 55 is, of course, just what the rioters wanted. Often he raises the sums necessary to obtain an acquittal and an honorary dischargee/' The government of the Chinese people is a tangle of ''ways that are dark and tricks that are vain/' Especially is this true in its intercourse with foreigners. The official class has never taken foreign relations seriously. When- ever there have been complications, the plan has been to promise everything, but do nothing which could possibly be avoided. Frequently have local officials instigated anti-foreign outbreaks which have led to murder or de- struction of property, and when the demands of the for- eign power could no longer be ignored, they have been degraded by the central government. But when the too- easily deceived foreigners had been satisfied, the same officials reappeared in positions of even greater impor- tance. In a proclamation, when referring to foreigners, the Empress Dowager said : ''The stupid' and ignorant people who circulate rumors and stir up strife, proceeding from light to grave differ- ences, are most truly to be detested. On the other hand, the officials who have not been able to properly instruct the people and prevent disturbances cannot be excused from censure.'' How sincere the Dowager was may be learned fromi a pamphlet, doubtless inspired at court, issued just before the Boxer outbreak by a magistrate named Chao, holding office in Hsia Chin County, Shan-tung ProVince. In this the following occurs : 'Their religion is such as Cliina never before had, and is antagonistic to the doc- trines of the sages, such as family relations, the laws of benevolence and righteousness. In this regard these re- ligions are inferior to Buddhism and Taoism. Western sciences have their ancient root in Chinese principles, 56 The Government of China. which have been stolen and secretly expanded. As to Oc- cidentals, their chaos has just begun to dissolve, and their savager}/ has not yet changed. They have no loyalty, no family ties, no true principles of sexual relations, no Ht- eratures and no truly civilized society. Because their land is narrow they have come to us searching the limits of the land for their own gain. In the matter of skillful search into the secrets of the earth they are far shrewder than we, but they do this simply for gain, and are bar- barians still, with all their industrial skill. They seek only gain from our country ; they aim to deceive our people, to surround our land, to disturb our national laws and customs." Truly an address calculated to quiet a turbulent popu- lace! Since the war with Japan, China has paid far more at- tention to her army and its arms than she did before, al- though she is still far behind other nations. China could to-day raise an army of 1,700,000 men, but they would be undisciplined and only one-third equipped. The Chinese soldier ranges from sixteen to sixty years of age, To become a soldier is a humilation in China. The magistrates outrank the military socially. The Chi- nese possess Mauser rifles and Nordenfeldt, Hotchkiss and Maxim guns. Eight million cartridges were taken into Pekin two years ago, and additions are constantly made. The Chinese have also thirty field batteries, with 180 Krupp and Armstrong guns. A favorite Chinese weapon is a native-made rifle of one-inch calibre, requir- ing two men to handle it. China has also^ new colleges in engineering, navigation, military tactics and electric science, presided over by European professors. Properly speaking, China has no navy, possessing only four cruis- ers and a few useless fighting vessels. The Government of China. 57 In July, 1900, the China Post contained the following editorial on the armament of China : ''The Powers profess to have been entirely ignorant of the extent to which China has supplied herself with Euro- pean-made guns and ammunition. Now, in the outburst of wisdom that follows the event, it is gravely supposed ^that the civilized nations of the world, which have brought to perfection the instruments of destruction, shall monopolize their use, and prohibit their sale to barbarians — meaning in this case those peoples of the earth less able to kill than we are. If Boers and Chinamen and Indians, Asiatic and American, can be kept from owning rifles and cannon, they will be less dangerous to the nations that want their trade or their land. But what are guns made for if not to sell? Has not German industry been reaping the benefit of the trade which all the Powers have been so anxious to de- velop with China? China did not wish it; we forced her ports, and she opened her country to us on any large scale, only after the war with Japan revealed both tO' her and to the outside world how hopeless would be any attempt at resistance. Strange that we should be surprised when, compelled at the cannon's mouth to buy, she elected to buy cannon ! The disconcerting prompt- ness of his choice shows how quick was the de- spised Celestial to strengthen the weakest poinj in his civilization. But if we had let him alone, he never would have bought Mausers. If we are to develop China, we must expect to see her armed. England, with her firm grip on India, has found it impossible to keep the barbar- ous mountain tribes of the remote interior from supply- ing themselves with modern rifles. No measures which the European governments can adopt will avail to keep China from buying of the manufacturers through third parties, as long as China remains an independent Power. Even if they could, Chinese workmen are skillful enough 58 The Government of China. to learn to make guns themselves when they have got our models. A civilized China means an armed China. It all goes together/' To return to the government of China, the people are apparently as well satisfied with it as they were hundreds of years ago. Not one of their uprisings has been against the system itself. There must be, therefore, in it some element which appeals to the better side of human nature. Mr. Meadows, the most philosophical of the writers on China, has entered very fully into what may be termed the philosophical side of Chinese government, which he sums up in the following doctrines and believes them to be deducible from the classic literature of the country, and the true causes of the wonderful duration of the Chinese Empire : i . That the nation must be governed by moral agency, in preference to physical force. 2. That the services of the wisest and ablest men in the nation arc indispensable to its good government. 3. That the peo- ple have a right to depose a sovereign who, either from active wickedness or vicious indolence, gives cause to oppressive and tyrannical rule. And to these he adds as an institution — the system of public service competitive examinations. But, on the other hand, these examinations by direct- ing the attention of students solely to the ancient litera- ture of the country, to the exclusion of the physical sciences and inductive philosophy, however efficient in producing that wonderful homogeneity for which the in- habitants of the Chinese Empire are famous, stunt and stereotype the rational mind, which, like the dwarfed tree the Chinaman delights to raise in a flower pot, or the feet of a Chinese girl, carf never fully expand. Whatever be the opinion of foreigners in regard to the Chinese, they, at all events, do not consider themselves ill-governed. The Government of China. 59 For instance, how complacently does Yienkeeshe, a native author, write in regard to his happiness ; *'I felicitate myself/' writes this Oriental optimist, '*that 1 was born in China. It constantly occurs to me, what if 1 had been born beyond the sea, in some remote part of the earth, where the cold freezes or the heat scorches; where the people are clothed with the leaves of plants, eat wood, dwell in the wilderness, lie in holes of the earth; are far from the converting maxims of ancient kings, and are ignorant of the domestic relations; though born as one of the generation of men I should not have been dif- ferent from a beast. But how happily I have been born in China ! I have a house to live in, have drink and food, and commodious furniture. I have clothing and caps and infinite blessing. Truly, the highest felicity is mine.'' Sir John Davis, one of the best of the writers on China, says of this effusion that truly a country cannot on the whole be very ill-governed when a subject writes in this style. CHAPTER IV. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. We must remember that an acquaintance to any extent between China and what are generally known as civilized nations began only about thirty years ago, and for an ac- quaintanceship between countries, that is a very short time indeed. Then, too, into a large portion of the Flow- ery Empire foreigners have never penetrated, and there- fore naturally much in regards to the manners and cus- toms, the home and social life of the Chinese must be unknown or a matter of conjecture. As Mr. Holcomb, who was for many years Secretary of the Legation and acting Minister of the United States at Pekin, says: "Then (at the signing of the treaty of peace of Tien- tsin in 1861) first in the history of humankind two great antipodal worlds of men stood face to face and looked into each other's faces. The progressive and aggressive Occidental, quick, eager and alert, met in the Oriental the very incarnation of conservatism, the embodiment of dignity and repose. Action met inertia. The age of steam, steet and electricity stood over against the age of Confucius. Imagine a modem, pushing man of business introduced to the Chinese sage, and the two left to be- come acquainted and each to gather his impressions of the other, then add to the picture the essential fact that the sage had a positive unwillingness to meet the business man, and you will have a sufficiently accurate idea of the situation." China, to be sure, had no especial objection to carrying 64 Manners and Customs. time for us to depart this world. But the Chinese have no such notions. They look on the coffins as a proof of the -love, respect and forethought of their children. Moreover, it assures them of a dignified, honorable fu- neral, which IS a matter of much moment with the Chi- nese. Death IS. in fact, looked upon by a Chinaman with the utmost unconcern, and suicide is resorted to as a means of freemg him from the most trifling worry and anxiety. Yet death is never spoken of directly in ordinary con- versation, but is alluded to in a roundabout fashion as die person "exists no more," "he has saluted the aee " ascended to the sky," etc. Banquets are offered to the dead and pathetic speeches addressed to them "To be happy on earth," say the Chinese, "one must be born in bu-chQw live in Canton and die in Leianchau," Su-chow being celebrated for the beauty of its women. Canton for .ts luxury and Leianchau for furnishing the best wood tor comns. "Honor thy 'father and thy mother" is a command which IS an integral part of every Chinaman. It is su.- tamed by public opinion, upheld ^nd enforced by law If a Chinaman should fail in this respect, even if he should escape punishment he would be completely ostracized by society. Sometimes this is carried too far, so that a man cannot exercise his own judgment until he is so far advanced in years that having been kept in subjection so ong It IS impossible for him to do so. At the same time Z. r^T^ ^'^' °"' ""^ '^^ pleasantest things to be seen IS the deference and respect shown to the elders. enl S -^""^ "^''''°" •" Chinese literature are endless Here is one: An old man of seventy dressed and behaved like a little child, so that his age^ plrents m.ght. when looking at him, not be reminled of he advanced years. Manners and Customs. 63 the unlearned rich man is held in respect. Among his own countrymen he is valued infinitely less than the poor- est scholar who -has taken a degree at the great competi- tive examinations of which we have spoken in another chapter. It is generally believed that the inhabitants of the sea- port towns are the most favorable specimens of the peo- ple. But, as a matter of fact, the inhabitants of the in- terior villages are much better types than the coolies with whom English merchants and seamen come in contact in Canton, Shanghai and Hongkong. Those who have lived among the Chinese and studied their character most carefully, while recognizing that they have many vices, cannot but acknowledge their hos- pitality and industry, and agree that gratitude — a primi- tive virtue, . perhaps — is by no means rare among the Chinese. Age is universally honored and filial piety car- ried to an extent quite unknown in other countries. Family festivals are held to celebrate each d^Tade of their parents' life, and are sometimes held after the parents' death. Among other gifts at these family festivals a hand- some coffin is thought to be a peculiarly acceptable pres- ent to make to an aged parent. Indeed, every China- man if he can at all afford it, takes care to purchase a coffin during his lifetime, just as in America some old people accumulate linen to make their shrouds in antici- pation of death. In Pekin and other cities it is by no means an uncommon thing to see coffins borne through the street with much pomp and bands of music. This by no means is a sign that the last sad rites are being per- formed. On the contrary, the coffin is being carried with much display to the home of some Chinaman and his wife as a token of affection from their children. To us it would be very distasteful and a hint that it was about 62 Manners and Customs. for hundreds of years and af tu^ vear or a h„„d"d ZTZoZ^rT""' ■"""'''"' '-' Tit- ?; -„ir£HH^^^^^^^^^^^ ^:rtr:a-=~H=^^ teeming race that covers the countr ., ' °^ ^'^^ fraud and c„„„i„/„Sl"t e fp t'rnrc.""'''''^' istics of this race. Pheasant character- Everywhere are age and learning held in resne.. a ^ even in veneration. Their regard fJ ^ ^ ^"** dary .0 ,heir respec. for Z7nTZ Sa^JX "^ " '.ecaus. a[, rata^Jl^-f ,-;'---« ^^^ '^ «■ . learning. Hence m,,r ^ L ^"""^ ''P""S '"-"m ■ and, /no, " ,Tng„"hTd bTa" T """"' >"= ™'^-' possessor of rich! s ™!s, , ' °," '"'^"'■"'' '^e mere , Who, V his own' L3e ;::„:"/:■- •" "■= -"^arin, HisHnction in ,he state n5„,'.t "'' '" "" ■"?'■'« ■ •■ in th, aLt^u"" ™P""'"' himself. Ft the Anglo-Chtnese or foreign community that Manners and Customs. 6i on trade with England and America. She simply wished to know no one outside of her own domains. There was an imperial decree which sentenced to death any Chinese who should travel into foreign parts if he should be so foolish as to return to his native land. That law has never been repealed, although for many years it has not been enforced. China is surrounded and bound by an old— an effetely old— civilization, which neither progresses nor retror grades, wearisome in its uniformity, palling on the intel- lect from the polished yet uncultured extent to which it has attained." It may be said here that they do things by contraries in this country of the Celestial, so much so that a foreigner gets so used to the unusual and unexpected that natural things appear no longer real. In the Canton districts the farm hands build hay ricks around a tree for central sup- port, but instead of building from the ground upward like ordinary mortals, they start at the top and build down- ward. Religious processions on reaching the temple face about and walk backward. Doctors charge their patients not for the time they are sick, but for the time they are well. Instead of shaking hands with each other, people shake hands with themselves. A native mechanic puts his file in a vice and rubs a lock across the file. In a carpen- ter shop artisans use modern planes in a backward fashion. And indeed such instances might be multiplied indefinitely. Still the Chinese are a wonderful race, and it would require volumes to do full justice to their various charac- teristics. , It is a very ancient civilization we have to deal with, if even we accept a very moderate estimate of the antiquity of Chinese history. But it is a civilization that has been almost ^ Manners and Customs. 65 In the Chinese disposition trickery and deceit are pre- dominant. TKey do not look upon insincerity and lying as dishonorable, but only as fair means of gaining an end, at least in their dealings with the ''foreign devil," who is always fair game for them. They will promise anything with the utmost readiness, and when the time comes to meet their obligation will invent a plausible excuse for not domg so. Cuotom is their ruler and has been for ages, though of late years they have been beginning to see that if they are to hold their own with the ''Western Barbarians," whose homes they represent to be in the desert, on the outskirts of the beautiful empire of China, they must change some of their ways of life and arts ; at all events, the policy of standing still is seen to be a retrograde one. "A Chinaman," writes Mr. Lawrence Oliphant, "has a wonderful command of feature; he generally looks pleased when he has least reason to be so ; and maintains an expression of imperturbable politeness and amiability when he is secretly regretting that he cannot bastinade you to death." To this early training in the control of their passions may be attributed the fact that robbery is seldom accom- panied by violence, yet they are very revengeful and will often take peculiar methods of wreaking it. Women will sometimes hajig or drown themselves merely to bring trouble on ti*ose with whom they have quarreled ; and, though quiet and submissive on ordinary occasions, will, when roused, rise en masse and massacre an obnoxious magistrate. If he escapes, woe betide him at Pekin. A Chinaman loves the land of his birth and the little village in which he was born ; and his hope is always to go back there, or at least for his bones to lie beside those of his own people, ii^ popular proverb says that "if he who attains to honors or wealth never returns to his 66 Manners and Customs. native place, he is like a finely-dressed person walking in the dark" — all is thrown away. Mr. Holcomb has this to say in regard to one of the Six Companies of San Francisco : *'A traveler in China will occasionally meet a coffin carried suspended between two long poles, and the ends of these poles fastened to the pack-saddles of two mules. Upon the head of the coffin is a wicker crate containing a white rooster. The coffin contains the body of some man who has died away from home, and is being thus carried, perhaps across the entire stretch of the empire, to its proper resting place. The rooster, which must be of spotless white, unblemished by a single black feather, is supposed to guide or lead the soul of the dead man in the long journey, or to persuade it to accomplany the material part. And the livelier the young rooster is, the more he struts about in his cage and crows, the more suc- cessful he is supposed to be in the performance of his function." Now, a few words as to the so-called ''ancestor worship." This is most certainly a form of idolatry and yet one cannot fail to have a certain sympathy with it, as dictated by a principle of filial piety. The rich have in their houses a chamber, a kind of domestic sanctuary, dedi- cated to their forefathers. Tablets representing the de- ceased persons and inscribed with their names are here carefully preserved, and at stated seasons prostrations and ceremonies are performed before them according to the Book of Rites. All Chinese worship from time to time at the tombs of their parents. There is no such ostentation and extravagance prac- ticed in the households of China as is to be found in lands with which we are better acquainted. A Chinese official, no matter how high his rank, lives for policy's Maimers and Customs. 67 sake in simple fashion, independently of the fact that simplicity of living is a fashion in itself. As he cannot exercise his office in his birthplace, to which he is sure to wish to return at the end of his official hfe, he has no motive to squander money on a fine residence, from which he is almost certain to be removed within three years if not sooner. In everything, therefore, but their habiliments, official people are generally very shabby. Even the offi.cial aristocracy attempt pomp only in the number rather than in the condition of their attendants. In the matter of dress the Chinaman shows his custom- ary practical sense, and varies the material according to the season, from cotton-wadded or fur-lined coats to the lightest silk, gauze or grass cloth. A tunic and a kind of loose jacket fitting close around the neck are his princi- pal garments. His shoes are made of silk or cotton with thick felt soles. The Chinese are apparently unacquainted w^ith the art of tanning leather thick enough to be used for soles ; the felt substitutes for leather are almost useless in wet weather. Their dresses of ceremony are rich and handsome ; for in China one can afiford to get a handsome dress that will last all his life through, and, perhaps, that_ of his son also, for fashion never changes. The mode of^ everything is prescribed by the Board of Rites and Cere- monies, and to make any innovations to the custorn or costumes is considered exceedingly bad taste, if not worse. Attached to the girdle are various appendages, such as the purse, chopsticks, etc. White is the color of mourning. The Chinese have little hair on the face, but the numerous barbers in every town find abundant employ- ment in shaving or shampooing the heads of the male population. A man is thought an innovator if he commences to wear a mustache before he is forty years of age, or a beard be- 68 Manners and Customs. fore he is sixty ; but, in both cases, in that of the beard es- pecially, the growth is scanty. The hair is always coarse, straight and jet black. The queue or pigtail is more than a badge marking the Chi- nese. It is the symbol of Chinese manhood. An infant or a child has its head either clean shaven^ or the hair is allowed to grow in patches, anywhere it listeth. It is only when the boy has reached the age of thirteen or fourteen that he is formally invested with the dignified queue of manhood. The Tartar tonsure and braided queue, however, is not of Chinese origin. It came in with the Mantchu conquest of the country, since which time i8o millions of men have the hair removed from their heads at short intervals. But this is about the only thing the Chinese adopted from the foreign Mantchus, and this was really forced upon them, but only after great excitement and bitter opposition. Mobs and riots followed, but the new Emperor was equal to the occasion. By skillful decrees, such as forbidding criminals to wear a queue and requiring his ofificers to cut off these append- ages from all such persons, and allowing them to shave their heads, he gained his end. Now the queue has become almost an object of supersti- tious reverence among the Chinese. It is now adopted by every one, and, if scanty, it is eked out by silk or false hair. All idea of ^a pigtail being a mark of degradation is now^ effaced, and a Chinaman would almost as soon have you kill him outright as to cut his queue off. Every once in a while there is an epidemic of queue cut- ting in Pekin, something like that of the rascals who slit ladies' dresses in our cities, and this, too, when the punish- ment, if the offender is caught, is very severe indeed, sometimes even death. Manners and Customs^ 69 There can be no greater mark of degradation for a Chinaman than to lack this coronal appendage. However, the Tae-pings, among other unnecessary re- forms, allowed the hair to grow and cut off their pigtails on the plea that such an appendage was a badge of servi- tude, and. they were determined to drive the Tartar out of the country. To tie two offenders together by their pigtails is ac- counted a disgrace. The sailor ties his hat on with his pigtail ; the schoolmaster will use it in place of his cane ; while, if life becomes troublesome to a Chinaman, he will contrive to suspend himself by making his pigtail serve the purpose of a rope. It is always let down in the pres- ence of a superior. It cannot be denied that this curious tail improves the appearance of the wearer. A Chinaman with his hair growing down on his forehead is a thievish looking indi- vidual ; with his head shaved, his pigtail nicely plaited and dressed, he is, on the contrary, rather intellectual-looking than otherwise. The fan is always an important part of a well-dressed Chinaman's "get up." It is made of all materials, and at all prices, from a few cents up to fifty dollars, some of them being neatly ornamented with pictures or maps of the large Chinese cities, embroidery, aphorisms from the works of Confucius 'and other favorite authors, or the au- tographs of friends who exchange fans with each other. A lantern may also be said to form the dress of a Chinese, for by law it is ordered that whoever goes out after dark must carry a lighted one with him. The Chinese idea of beauty, or rather of the figure which suits a person of fashion, is rather peculiar. A woman, for instance, should be extremely slender in ap- pearance, while a man should be corpulent, even obese. Both men and women of rank, or at all above the laboring 70 Manners and Customs. class, wear their finger nails long, as a sign that they are not compelled to stoop to manual labor, and to such an extent are the nails allowed to grow that cases of ivory, silver and even gold, ornamented with precious stones, are used to preserve them from being accidentally broken. Even servants will now and then attempt this bit of fop- pery, and to preserve them from being broken, splice them to thin slips of bamboo. The Chinaman is very sparing in his ablutions, and appears to be afflicted with a strange hydrophobia ; for cold water, either as a beverage or for washing his person, he holds in abomination. They are very fond of th-eir children, and you cannot please a Qiinaman better than by praising his sons, and though infanticide and the sale of children are not un- common among the more depraved of the poorer classes, yet it is erroneous to say that either, especially the first, is a national custom. Children will be found floating in the river wuth large gourds attached to their backs, but these are the children who have fallen out of the family boats, w^hich are to be seen in such numbers on the Can- ton River and elsewhere, and all of them have these gourds fastened to them to prevent them from drowning. Profligates in China are rare in proportion to the hon- est portion of the population. There are, of course, scoun- drels in abundance, and foreigners are apt to meet the very worst class in seaport towns. Gambling is common among these people, but the casual visitor who takes his ideas of the whole nation from the disreputable, opium- eating gamblers with whom he comes in. contact, will form a very false idea of the character of the people in general. Gambling may be practiced by the higher classes, but infamy attaches to any government official or any respectable person who is known to indulge in this vice ; there are even laws in regard to this, and it may be. said that the better classes in China are exempt from it. Manners and Customs. 71 Cock and quail fighting are amusements on which large sums are staked as bets. Card playing, dominoes, throw- ing dice and playing shuttlecock are among the other games. Juggling, kite flying and other amusements di- versify the leisure of the more opulent classes, and even the time Vvdiich the industrious laborer can snatch from his daily work. Some of the kites are wonderfully beauti- ful, being shaped like birds, butterflies, etc., and by a mechanical arrangement of the pieces give out a singing noise as they ascend. Theatrical performances are a common source of amuse- ment. The play, to our ideas, is insufferably tedious, usu- ally commencing with the birth of the hero or heroine, and following up the biographies until the scene is closed by death. Sometimes a play will last for years. A band of gongs make life a burden to the spectators vrho are not used to this dinning kind of music, the same scenery serves throughout, and the performers mask, so that the amusement is apt to degenerate into wearisome mjonotony. Somewhat in another strain, Miss Skidmore has this to say of the theatre : *'The Chinese theatre is well worth visiting, and, de- spite the absurd conventionalities and traditions, the Vv^ant of scenery, the din of the orchestra and the actors' high- pitched and falsetto voices, some excellent art is mani- fested there, and the costuming in the historic and legiti- mate drama is superb. All the topsy-turvy of Chinese logic is intensified, and the insane reversals of the cred- ible are p-iven rein in comedies, some of them so delight- fully farcical that China is a mine for exhausted authors and adapters of the Western dramatic world to draw upon. Lost 'face' is the supremely delicious situation, the hen-pecked husband is the favorite butt and victim, and the strong-minded wom^an is the dea ex inachina and pivot of action. In one favorite comedy a burglar prayed 72 Manners and Customs. to his joss, and when twice pulled back by a devil in black calico, cufifed the joss soundly, and then entered the rich man's house as the wife was about to hang herself. He cut the suicide down, and when the master rushed in to repel the burglar, he thanked him instead for his oppor- tune arrival, and the joss was used as a club to beat the discomfited devil. Gorgeous officials thanked the burglar, who tied his queue to the suicide's noose and swung in air for three whole minutes, and the air was rent with the ecstatic shouts of the audience." Here is also a description of a theatrical performance given in a letter to the New York Sun by an officer on board the Danish cruiser Valkyricn, off Shanghai : ''While this change of costume took place at the table, several startling changes took place on the stage of the improvised theatre erected in our honor in a corner of the hall. A show without beginning or end was going on. Actors with frightful masks tied to their faces, dressed out in the manner of dragons with horns and claws and twisting tails rushed hither and thither howling dismally, but doing no harm. There was an exasperating accom- paniment of war drums. Other people attended to the making of other noises, but we failed entirely in seeing the object of this consolidation of noises, and an object there is, say^ my learned friend, Onam, the mandarin. He tells me in tolerably intelligent French that the the- atre in China, contrary to the reports of our travelers, is not a historic institution. That means, in the Chinese sense, that it is not several thousand years old. Nothing is history in China that is not at least ten centuries old. 'T had heard that women were forbidden on the stage, as I believed for ethical reasons, but Onam, the mandarin, informs me, in his blandly despotic manner, that it is no such thing, the matter being a piece of Chinese State his- tory. The Emperor, Yung Tsching, married an actress at Manners and Customs. 73 the beginning of the eighteenth century, when women were allowed on the stage. The Emperor died, and the actress Empress Dowager ruled the country for her son, the Prince Kim Sung. To satisfy her vanity this shrewd and most pecuHar woman issued a decree in the year 1736 forbidding, under penalty of instant death by the sword of the executioner, any member of her sex to appear on the Chinese stage. 'After me, no one,' said the Empress Dowager, and since her day no woman within the reach of Chinese law has dared to test the strength of her de- cree, although I am told that women are quite common on the stages of Hongkong, it being a protectorate of the British crown. ''But Onam, the mandarin, has little taste for finance, and drops into history on every occasion. He tells me with a heavy heart that Chinese acting has declined dur- ing the last century, and from what I have seen of Celes- tial theatres I am inclined to think that he is right. He claims that nothing has been written for the stage for more than ten decades. The people prefer the classic repertoire, as if that could be the result of literary effort. The plays mostly represent national ghosts and devils of liistoric significance, and they sometimes go on for a week at a time. All the plays are graced by what the Chinese are pleased to call music, which is somewhat at variance with the ideals of our musicians, as it generally resembles the noise produced by a hotel dish-washing machine and a buzz-saw competing with a baggage smasher in activity of enterprise. Whenever Mozart and Beethoven have been tried in Shanghai, the Chinese listeners present have plugged their ears with their fingers. They find our music unbearable. "Every hamlet and settlem^ent in the empire has its theatre, which is almost always exceedingly well patron- ized. The stage settings are few and meagre, as the audi- 74 Manners and Customs. ence is supposed to imagine the nature of the scenery and surroundings by certain tangible indications and clevv^s. Thus, a small pyramid of stones is placed on the stage to represent a mountain. Two men come out and fight to the death around the 'mouiltain.' Two other men ap- pear, march over the dead bodies of the fighters to the foot of the 'mountain,' where they raise a shout of fierce triumph, all of which means, in the Chinese sense, that a strongly fortified place has been captured after 'unprece- dented loss of life/ The actors who performed for us at the feast of the Toatai were imported from Pekin — all first-rate artists, says Onam, the mandarin. They played no less than five one-act dramas while we were wrestling with our cold soups and frigid asparagus, but as one act dovetailed into another, it looked, to our inexperienced eyes, like a continuous performance. As we use the cur- tain to indicate the close and beginning of the acts, so, of course, Chinese theatres omit the curtain entirely, except to close the show. The first piece accompanied the des- sert, and concerned a monkey that, by some mistake, had gotten into heaven. Various dragons and horny spirits were contracted for by the Celestial powers to eject the monkey, and after a lively chase the monkey, seeing the finish of its Paradisal existence, made a jump from ^Eden' into the deep sea beyond — that is, it jumped from a box into a tub of water. But Chinese imagination at- tends to the rest ; space, Paradise, ocean, and monkey, are handled entirely with disregard. The action is the su- preme thing, understand, and when the monkey splashes in the tub every intelligent Chinaman knows by instinct that it has been turned out of heaven. "Onam, the mandarin, tells me that stagecraft in China is a very profitable and much respected profession. There are thousands of actors in the empire, and the good ones earn far more, proportionately, than our most sue- Manners and Customs. 75 cessful artists. A native actor of the first rank will earn upward of $1,800 annually, and while thi§ amount is small compared to the income of some of our ac- tors, it will procure comiorts and advantages in China which could not be had for fifty times the amount in our cities. There is a National Actors' Club having 30,000 life members, and the Chinese temples house a special actors' god, who is sup- posed to look after them in respect to their spiritual wel- fare. While I was out in the entry to capture my over- coat, I found time for a peep behind the scenes. The young men selected to play the feminine parts were busy attiring themselves in heavily embroidered silk dresses. They squeezed their feet into torturously small slippers, and they daubed their faces thickly with a paste that shone like grease. They had acquired female ways and coquetry to an astonishing degree of simulation. When on the stage they acted with the petrified decorum pecu- liar to the native women, and they w^ere to all appearances very 'ladylike.' 'Tt is not an easy matter to become an actor in the Chinese empire. The pupils must study three 3/ears as a super, and one year is spent in examining them and fin- ishing them ofif. During this period of apprenticeship they must learn some fifty-odd plays, and the rest of their life is devoted to the acting of these plays w^ithout any effort being made to learn new ones. An actor must never learn, which is only becoming to an apprentice, say the stage regulations, but an actor may condescend to teach worthy pupils." There are few holidays indulged in by the Chinese. The new year, hov/ever, is celebrated with great rejoic- ing. It is the fete dearest to the Chinese heart, and iust before there is feverish activity, house cleaning, the col- lecting and paying of debts. The shops, too, put forth 76 Manners and Customs. their best wares. The devout also repair to the temples to gain the favor of the gods. The first day of the year may, in one word, be reckoned as the birthday, of the whole people, for their ages are reckoned from it. Vis- iting is at the same time carried on to a great extent, while parents and teachers receive the prostrations and salutations of their children and pupils. Unbounded fes^ tivity prevails. There is the burning of many crackers, and entertainments are given by one family or one in- dividual to another. Everybody is in the gayest attire, and courtesy and etiquette are shown by all. They send large red cards of congratulation to each other. Betel nuts for chewing and tea for drinking are ready at every house and offered to all visitors. The festival of the dragon boats is held on the fifth day of tlie fifth month. This is when the water dragon must be bribed and frightened. The methods of doing the latter is by innumerable gongs, firecrackers and ear- splitting cries. The dragon boats scatter prayers, sham gold, bank notes and ingots. The crews race each other and end the day in free fights. High and low, intelligent and ignorant, believe in a real dragon, potent for evil, and deeply fear him. At the first full moon of the new year is celebrated the Feast of Lanterns. Great ingenuity and taste are dis- played in constructing these of silk, horn, paper or glass. On the night of the festival, lanterns illuminate each door, really wonderful in their variety of form and material. Though much of the merriment is in our eyes extremely childish, yet it is not the less hearty and exuberant. For once the Chinese gravity is laid aside, and the mandarin of the red button enjoys himself as much as the little boy, whose diminutive pigtail has to be eked out with scarlet silk. Altogether, in their diversions^ as in their character Manners and Customs. 77 generally, the Chinese exhibit strange contrasts, which ' would hardly be expected in so serious a people, and which are a mass of seeming contradictions. In the spring o-f the- year, "when the sun reaches the 15th day of Aquarius," the governor of every city issues forth in state to ''meet the Spring," in this case represented by a procession bearing a huge clay image of the water bullock or buffalo, which is used to drag their ploughs through the flooded rice-fields. Children, fancifully dressed and decorated with flowers, are borne in litters, and the whole is accompanied by a band of music. When the governor's house is reached, he delivers a speech in his capacity as Priest of Spring recommending husbandry; and, after he has struck the clay buffalo with a whip, the people fall upon it, break it in pieces, and scramble for the smaller images with which it is filled. About the same period the Emperor honors the ancient and all-important art of agriculture by going through the ceremony of holding a plough. Accompanied by the princes of the blood, he proceeds to a field surrounding the Temple of the Earth, which has been all properly pre- pared by regular husbandmen. Some grain preserved from the previous year's crop of this field is then sacri- ficed, and then the Cousin of the Sun and Moon ploughs a few furrows ; after which he is followed by the princes and ministers. The "five sorts of grain" are then sowed, and after the completion of his labors, the charge of the sacred field is committed to an officer whose business it is to collect and store the produce of it for the annual sacri- fice. In like manner the Empress gives encouragement to silk- weaving. Accompanied by her principal ladies, she pro- ceeds in the ninth moon to sacrifice at the altar of the in- ventor of silk weaving. This done, she collects a few mulberry leaves for feeding the imperial silk-worms, and 78 Manners and Cnstoms. goes through some of the processes of treating the silk cocoons in water, winding off the filament, etc. Although China is rich in undeveloped treasures and there are many very wealthy people among the Chinese, the poor, of whom there are many, indeed they form the masses of the population, are poor with a poverty which beggars all description. Poverty as it is called in Amer- ica and poverty as it exists in China are two very differ- ent things. In the latter country it means hunger and nakedness, if not, indeed, starvation. The wages are very low, skilled laborers earning on an average less than 20 cents a day ; unskilled laborers not more than seven. To an enormous number of people failure -to obtain work for one day means failure to obtain anything to eat. The difficulty lies in discovering how they live at all, in the opinion of Mr. Holcomb, who says that their daily food consists of rice steamed, cabbage boiled in an unneces- sarily large quantity of water, and, for a relish, a few bits of raw turnip, pickled in a strong brine. In summer they eat raw cucumbers, skin, prickles and all; raw car- rots or turnips, or, perhaps, a melon, not wasting the rind. In certain parts of the empire wheat flour, oats or cornmeal take the place of rice. And it must be remem- bered that this is the food of the great masses of the Chinese people, not the beggars or the very poor, but the common classes of industrious workingmen and their families. Their clothing is as poor and simple as is their diet. In the summer it consists of shoes and stockings^ both made of cotton cloth, and trousers of the same material. A jacket or blouse, also of cotton, completes the apparel, but this garment is frequently omitted if the tempera- ture will permit. In the spring and autumn the poor man wears, if he can afford them, garments of the same material, lined. In the winter, in a climate like that of Manners and Customs. 79 New York, his trousers are wadded, and his upper gar- ment is also wadded, or else a sheepskin, tanned with the wool on, which is worn next the skin. He has no knowl- edg'e of underclothing of any sort. One suit answers for all hours, since he sleeps in the same clothes in which he w^orks. The houses of the poor are wretched affairs, built of broken brick and mud. There is never more than one story to them, and they rarely consist of more than one room for a family of five or six. Beggars, of course, abound, and beggary is reduced to a system, many merchants paying a regular allowance agreed upon, in order not to be annoyed by supplica- tions. Drunkenness is not a national vice, but, unfortunately, this abstinence do€s not extend to opium. This drug seems to have an attraction for them greater than that for any people on earth. They take to it greedily, and the habit, once formed, is one not easily broken off. On the testimony of the Chinamen themselves, the effects of opium smoking must be regarded as injurious and de- structive to all the better parts of man's nature. Now to turn to an entitrely different subject, that of etiquette. Never was there a more elaborate code of etiquette than that of China. It may almost be said that with the Chinese etiquette is of more importance than morality. The observance of the rules of etiquette, rules which it has taken centuries to form, may be said to be universal. You can call a Chinaman a liar, and he will either take no notice of it, or accept it as a compliment, but if you accuse him of a breach of etiquette, it will be a deadly iiir suit and result in a quarrel. Etiquette controls all details of action and speech. Ont form is to exalt everything belonging to the man with 8o Manners and Customs. whom you are talking and depreciate all that is your own. For instance : '*Where is your noble mansion ?" ''The mud hovel in which I hide is in such and such a place." Among equals in China, it is a gross breach of courtesy to call a person by his given name, but superiors are ex- pected to do so. To foreigners, especially in official life, for Chinese officials are very tenacious of their dignity, blunders aris- ing from ignorance are often more serious than amusing. Much of the falsehood to which the Chinese are un- doubtedly addicted is'due to the demands of etiquette. A plain, frank ''no'' would be the height of impoliteness. Refusal must be softened and toned down until it almost amounts to acquiescence. A Chinaman will very seldom make an intentionally dis- agreeable or offensive remark. Their wishes are reached in a most roundabout way. This etiquette is by no means a Court etiquette, but one published by the state in the elaborate Book of Rites, pre- served through ages; an etiquette which is never altered by fashion — for fashion never changes — and which con- trols the everyday action of all the Chinese from the Em- peror to the coolie. Their prescribed ceremonial usages are three thousand in number. The most abject method of showing respect to a su- perior is by performing the ko-tow, and is that by which a vassal signifies his obedience to his superior. When an audience is about to be obtained of the Em- peror, this prostration is previously made before a yellow screen, and though it has been performed by some am- bassador, notably that of Holland, it has been always refused by the American, English and Russian ambassa- dors, and of late years has not been expected to be per- Manners and Customs. 8i formed by the representatives of any nation except such as owe vassalage to China. There are various grades of the ko-tow. For instance, standing and bending the head is less submissive than kneeling on one or both knees and putting the hands or forehead to the ground. Doing this once is not so humble an act of acknowledgment of inferiority as doing it three, six or nine times. Abject as it is, such is the innate filial obedience in China that the Emperor will perform it be- fore his own mother. Although only a comparatively small por-tion of the Chi- nese manners and customs could be given in the space allowed to it, enough has been shown to form an idea of how greatly they differ from our own, and, though there is much that is repulsive or hideous in them, still there is something that is not altogether unworthy of admiration. CHAPTER V. TRADING IN AND WITH CHINA. It has been recently said by an English writer that "the merchants and traders of China have gained the respect and admiration of all those who have been brought into contact with them." Not may years ago a manager of one of the largest banking houses in the most important commercial centre of the East remarked : **I have referred to the high commercial standing of the foreign community. The Chinese are in no way be- hind us in that respect. I know of no people in the world I would sooner trust than the Chinese merchant and banker. I may mention that for the last twenty-five years the bank has been doing a very large business with the Chinese amounting to hundreds of millions of taels (ounces of silver bullion) and we have never yet met with a defaulting Chinaman." This is very high praise, indeed, but-it is from one who knows of what he is speaking. The Chinese merchants are not classed very high in the social grade of China, but the fact remains that they are shrewd and sagacious, and, as a rule, upright and hon- orable. But they are also "possessing of the commercial instinct in a high degree, close, shrewd and far-sighted in their bargains, untiring in their efforts tO' get the best of those with whom they deal, and fertile to an astonishing degree in the *tricks of the trade.' " Many business houses in China have existed for a very long time, and this in a very large measure is due to the trade corporations, 6i which there are a vast number, some Trading In and With China. 83 dating back three centuries. The corporation fixes the minimum price of articles of sale, and has secret agents to watch that no house takes less. This limits competition and prevents the injurious depreciation of goods. The pubHc alone suffers from the existence of the minimum, but it does not seem to care anything about it, and the gov- ernment never interferes, except in regard to the price of grain. In short, the corporations adjust the general regulations of business transactions and defend the common interests of all those associated with them. In case a member be- comes involved in law, the corporation helps him with its credit and money. The corporations also watch the transactions of their members, and fight any fraud that might harm the good name of the association. For instance, the silversmiths will not allow one of their number to sell alloyed jewelry, even though the customer knows what it is. The corporations also keep on good terms with the gov- ernment by large contributions for charities and ceremon- ials. The merchants also contribute on their own account. Each corporation has its patron divinity which is the object of its special worship. The corporations have courts of arbitration and a com- mon treasurer, but they keep much of the operations of these in secret. Besides the merchants' corporations, there are also cor- porations of artisans. Embroiderers, makers of cloisonne, tanners and carpenters have theirs. Carriers, Boatmen,' barbers, chair-bearers, jinrikisha men all have their spe- cial associations. In fact, every city has its associations and corporations, which are not like those of the next city. The article in the Revue des Mondes, from which we have gleaned the foregoing, concludes as follows in the translation of M. Courant : 84 Trading In and With China, ''These details show by how great a variety of forms all the corporations assure the same result, the organization of labor. The Chinaman is, in fact, a social being, bound closely to his fellows of the family, province, trade or class, by every tie and in every sphere of life. He is never a man living by himself and for himself, and is not accus- tomed to independence. Hence the authority of the cor- porations ; instead of seeming strange, they are a necessity to him. Consequently, the corporation has a right, by uni- versal consent, to exact obedience from its members, and to compel those who would stay out to come in." The principal manufactures of the Chinese are silk, cotton, linen, and pottery, for which latter they are spe- cially celebrated. The skill of the Chinese in handicraft is astonishing. Their rich silks and satins, light gauzes, beautiful em- broidery, elaborate engraving on wood and stone, delicate filigree work in gold and silver, carving on ivory, fine lac- quered ware, antique vessels in bronze, and their brilliant coloring on the famous pith paper, command the world's admiration. There are many traveling merchants in China, who travel from province to province, carrying their wares with them. The unit of money in the Chinese Empire is an ounce of refined silver money. Copper, cash, and paper notes also pass current among the people, and Mexican dollars are considerably used in those parts of the country where there is foreign trade. Chinese coin is not minted, but cast in molds. It is recorded that the first cash was coined about 2300 B. C. They are of various shapes, the best known one being round, with a square hole in the middle, and it may be properly called the current coin of the realm. From the critical condition of affairs in China, which necessitated intervention of foreigners, the attention of Trading In and With China. 85 Americans was naturally attracted to the value and extent of the commercial interests they had at stake in that em- pire. It is generally known that within the last year (1899) American trade with China has increased to such an ex- tent that the United States necessarily becomes a factor along with Russia, Great Britain, and Germany, that must be respected in any future changes or complications in- volving the integrity of the kingdom. That our interests are much greater than is popularly supposed is evident from the report of China's import and export trade for 1899, recently forwarded to the State Department by Consul-General Goodnow from Shanghai. Notwithstanding the fact that we claim no particular sphere of influence, as do Great Britain, Russia, Germany and France, the United States leads all other nations in the sale of cotton goods and kerosene in China. In 1899 the imports of cotton drills from America were 1,607,710 pieces ; from England, 143,827 pieces ; from Holland, 29,- 490 pieces. During the year the imports from sheetings from America amounted to 3,960,197 pieces; from Eng- land, 856,336 pieces; from India, 42,192 pieces. While American kerosen-e still leads in China, our oil is being steadily crowded out by the Russian product. The condition of our kerosene trade in China is most graphically shown by the following table of imports foi- 1898 and 1899: 1898. 1899. American kerosene (gals.) ....43,335,950 27,628,418 Russian kerosene (gals.) 13,497,620 19,776,760 Dutch kerosene (gals.) 13,223,075 3,861,898 The net value of the import trade for the year is esti- mated at 204,748,456 haikwan taels ($188,103,778), being 86 Trading In and With China. an advance of 55,169,122 haikwan taels over the previous year, and double the figures for 1890. The trade in cotton goods, which had remained practi- cally stationary for three years, also made a great jump, the value having risen from 77,618,824 haikwan taels ($54,258,557) to 103,456,045 haikwan taels ($73,571.- 917^. Nearly every article mentioned in the table of imports, with the exception of English and Dutch jeans and Eng- lish yarn, was imported in much larger quantities than in 1898, The imports of flour used in the making of fancy cakes rose from 1,774,712 haikw^an taels to 3,189,497 haikwan taels, or $2,266,138. It is also interesting to note the marked increase in the imports of those articles which denote a desire for com- fort and luxury, such as cigars, watches, clocks, window glass, lamps, matches, needles, perfumery, sugar, and um- brellas, the bulk of which were supplied by England and the United States. Noticing watches and clocks in the above suggests that until very recently there were very few of either in the Chinese Empire. The Chinese had several other ways of telling time, one being the celebrated water clock at Can- ton, which is in a temple outside the walls. There are three big wooden jars on successive shelves, with a fourth one below with a wooden cover. The water falls in slow drops from one jar to the other, a brass scale floating on a board in the last jar telling the hour as the water rises. Every afternoon at five o'clock since 1321 A. D., the low- est jar has been emptied and the upper one filled, thus winding up the clock for another twenty-four hours. Boards with the hour inscribed upon it are set up on the outer wall, so that the city may know the time. The Chinese are also said to be very skillful in telling Trading In and With China. Sj the time of day by looking into a cat's eyes. When they want to know what o'clock it is, they run to the nearest cat, open Her eyes, and at once tell what time it is This they do by observing the size of the aperture of the pupil of the eye, which they have observed is of varying size at different hours of the day, being atfected by the position of the sun and the cliaracter of the light, even when the day is cloudy. Mr. A. Rothstein, a Russian financier and railway man who has been in this country promoting the interests of the two great banks with which he is connected, was asked, \^hen speaking about the strength of American goods in Chinese markets, how he thought the Chinese liked the Americans. He laughed. ^ "They do not do business with Americans," he said. "It is not their way. They go to the merchants at the ports and say that they want certain goods at certain times. Now, all that they care for is that they shall get the goods that are the cheapest. The American locomotive is clieaper than any other, it is furnished to them sooner The same is true of goods, of all sorts of machinery, and of cloth goods. It is not essential that the American and the Chinese should meet that they should do business to- gether with great profit to both." Among the trades which have been affected by the Chinese troubles is that in American ginseng. The de- mand comes almost entirely from China, and Hongkon- agents have cabled their principals here that it is useless to make further shipments. American exporters are there- fore left with the goods on their hands, and prices have fallen. The price in July, 1899, was $4 a pound, but a vear later it was $3 or $2.50. The fail due to the war was there- fore twenty-five per cent, and at the present writing it is likeiv to become still more. 88 Trading In and With China. The ginseng trade is one of the most extraordinary in the world. American doctors beHeve it to be practically valueless medicine, or at the most about as potent as licorice. The Chinese, on the other hand, hold it to be pre- eminently the greatest of all medicines. It is difficult to discover what are the particular virtues ascribed to it. The Chinese cannot be induced to give a precise answer. As far as can be gathered, however, they endow it both with ordinary medicinal qualities and certain miraculous virtues as well. Of the latter the most remarkable is the power of determining the sex of the children. They seem to believe that the eater of ginseng will have male pro- geny, the most desirable thing of all from the Chinese point of view. The exports of ginseng from this country run to about $1,000,000 a year, all to China. The root is to be found in the mountain districts of almost every State in the Union, The best quality comes from New York State, and the greatest quantity, though of an inferior grade, from Ken- tucky, West Virginia, and Maryland. The American ginseng is the ordinary article of com- merce. The quality of the Korean, however, is superior, and its price is often as high as $18 a pound. The Japan- ese, on the other hand, is not worth more than 25 cents a pound, while the Chinese fetches about $12. Tn an article in the New York Press, the Hon. John Fowler, United States Consul in Che-Foo, gives such an interesting account of our trade in China that we venture to quote it here. ''The gains made in China trade by the United States and Great Britain are apparently nearly the same, but in reality our gains are much greater, for we sent vast quan- tities of merchandise to China by way of London which are credited as imports from Great Britain, and this is also Trading In and With China. 89 the case to a great extent with Continental European ex- ports. *'In four years we have doubled our sales to China. Great Britain fell off 4,000,000 taels, and Japan's increase was twice as great as ours. In 1896 our sales exceeded Japan's by 361,182 taels; in 1899 Japan led us by 8,125,- 617 taels. On the other hand. Great Britain's best year was in 1896, and Japan and the United States reached their highest figures last year. *'Jn 1897 the value of our sales to China exceeded those of all Continental Europe, including all the Russias (Eu- ropean and Asiatic) by $320,281 ; in 1898 this excess had increased to $4,171,934, and in 1899 to $6,191,936. Great as this excess is, it is not all, for large quantities of our goods now come into North China by way of Japan and Hongkong. ''When on the customs jetty I counted eighty barrels of nails (8,000 pounds), all marked with the name of a New York manufacturer, and five large cases of cigar- ettes, each case containing 500 boxes, from Richmond,Va. There was tier after tier of cases of condensed milk. One firm now imports regularly 500 cases each month ; another recently imported 1,500 cases — four dozen tins in each case — and still another firm bought a carload. I savv can- ton flannel (twenty large boxes from Boston), several bicycles, cases of clocks, sewing -machines, household stores, canned provisions, and six windmills from Chi- cago. These goods, coming to Che-Foo in a British ship from the British colony of Hongkong, are credited to that flag. I frequently have mentioned this peculiar method of setting forth trade returns, and am glad to see that the American assocition has taken the matter up. *Tn 1895 Great Britain sold five times what we did; in 1898 only a little more than twice as much; in 1899 the proportion was still more favorable to us. 90 Trading In and With China. ''Chinese merchants buy American oil in Shanghai that has paid higher freight^rates to that port than the same oil pays to this port from New York, and sell it cheaper here than the company can sell the oil landed direct from New York. That is to say, American oil sent from New York to vShanghai at higher freights is bought of the Shanghai office, brought here and offered for sale, after paying additional freight to Che-Foo, at a cheaper figure than the same oil which comes direct to Che-Foo. ''Another thing that is hurting this trade is the adul- teration of kerosene. '*A merchant just in from Port Arthur says he knows that over $4,000,000 w^as expended by Russia for Ameri- can merchandise and material in 1899 ^^r that territory, and he adds that over $400,000 worth of lum.ber has been bought so far this year. For Kyao-Chou (German China), one American ship has come over with 50,000 cases of oil, two sailing ships and one steamer from Ore- gon with lumber, and another discharged part of a cargo of flour in that port. The value of all this must have been over $500,000. "In the northwestern part of this province and South- ern Chihli the natives are much excited over the rumor that American oil tins contain evil spirits, which bring destruction and disease upon the land. "The total value of cotton sold to China in 1899, accord- ing to the abstract, was as follows: Drills, $3,037,631; jeans, $196,513; sheetings, $6,924,570. Total, $10,158,- 714. "This also shows that the cotton goods trade represent- ed not only more than half of our entire exports to China, but that China bought more than half of our entire sales of cotton cloths to the whole world. But both estimates are under the mark, as neither includes the exports re- ceived by way of London and Hongkong, as well as Trading In and With China. 91 Japan. The United States Treasury Summary of Finance and Commerce, December, 1899, gives the value of our exports to Chma for the calendar year 1899 as $15 225 - 294, while the Chinese customs figures are $22,228 74q haikwan taels (at 72.05 cents this equals $16,059,0;!) While this exceeds our figures by $833,747, I have shown that only fives lines of import classified as American ex- ceeded the figures given for our entire trade by $1,081,- 745- •'The exports of tea to all countries was 217,079,500 pounds, showing that our country bought more than one- eighth of the whole. We bought more than half of the green tea, being by far the largest buyers of that kind while the Russians bought 55,488,391 pounds of the en- tire exportation (113,314,721 pounds) of black tea. •'I again urge our merchants to study the question of transportation. There is no reason why goods for North- ern China from the United States should travel thou- sands of miles unnecessarily. ^Merchants in the United States not knowing China should have on their desks a map of North America and Asia, with sailing routes- a directory of China, or, as it is called here, hong list (the one for all Asia, including China, Japan, Straits Settle- men s, Siam, Philippines, etc., is the chronicle and direc- tory) and the latest United States Postal Guide, with the page for 'Postal agency, Shanghai," marked for immedi- ate reference. With the aid of these they may know bet- ter than to send mail or goods to Che-Foo by way of Hongkong. •' "A firm in California wrote to me last year to help it engage in trade. After much correspondence a first-class house here cabled on February 22 for fifty tons of flour, according to sample, to be shipped by way of Kobe. Noth- mg was heard until a week ago, when I learned that the managers had sent 'something just as good, if not bet- 92 Trading In and With China. ter/ and gave rates of freight, etc., by way of Hongkong, at $9.50 gold a ton. The firm here had arranged for a freight rate to Kobe for $6 gold a ton, and not to exceed $2 gold a ton thence to Che-Foo direct. Half of the order also was sent on freight steamer, leaving the Che-Foo merchant to run the risk of losing his customers. *'At the same tim.e this firm sent another order to a dif- ferent house in California. Result : Plour sent according to order on mail steamer, finding that the Che-Foo parties are right in asking for transshipment at Kobe, as it is cheaper ; through freight, California to Che-Foo by way of Kobe, $7.75 a ton ; thus at last initiating a direct trade. "Many of our merchants, when filling orders, deliver the merchandise to others for forwarding. A Japanese barber bought two barber chairs in New York. He paid cash, $37, for the two, and had to meet a draft for $18.90 for brokerage and freight by way of Suez. Flad the manu- facturer himself taken the trouble to ship his chairs the barber would have saved at least $10 gold — a large item, for his monthly receipts do not, I suppose, exceed $20 Mexican. '^Another merchant showed to me an invoice of clocks ; the broker's bills made them cost as much again as the original price. ''A milk firm insisted on shipping from the Middle West by way of New York, although the merchant here begged him to send by way of California direct to Che- Foo. The rates were so high that nearly all the profit was lost, and California men entered the field and undersold him. *T have seen only one merchant steamer under our flag (and she had no right to it) since I came toi China, in February, 1890 — ten years ago — and it was seven years before T saw a sailer direct from the United States. "After urging our people for several years to introduce Trading In and With China. 93 corn into China, I succeeded in getting just two parties to M^ite to me from the United States. One of the parties offered to dehver corn to Kobe for 49 3-4 cents a bushel. 1 hgured that at that rate it would cost, dehvered here not more than 56 cents a bushel ; corn then was selling for about 65 cents gold a bushel. In December I received a cable dispatch asking for quotations, and after careful in- vestigation wired back 55 cents gold. This was under- stood to mclude all cWarges to the harbor. Two days later I got another dispatch, addressed 'United States Consul Fowler, Che-Foo." (I had written that my name and Che-Foo were sufficient; the words 'United States Consul' were superfluous, and cost the sender $10 gold. ) As rates do not fluctuate here so rapidly as at home, I did not reply at once, and next day received another dispatch, quoting 65 cents a bushel. This was too high. As the Chinese thought a poorer grade than No. i yellow would do I cabled on December 21 for samples. In due course I got a letter that our figures were too low, and if the market improved they would send a man out to investigate noth- ing being said about the samples. There was nothing to investigate; my friends had done all that— they wanted to buy corn, and were prepared to pay cash for it. On April 14,1 got by way of London a small package containing two samples of corn; freight paid, 3 shillings (73 cents). It required a customs permit to get it off the jetty. No let- ter of advice accompanied it, nor statement of prices One sample weighed i pound 8 ounces; the other, 2 pounds Had this firm possessed a United States Postal Guide it would have seen that these two packages could have been sent as samples to Che-Foo, by way of the United States postal agency at Shanghai, for i cent for two ounces, or 12 and 16 cents respectively, making a total of 28 cents and I would have got them (if sent on receipt of my 94 Trading In and Witli China. cable) about February i, instead. of having theni arrive too late to be of use. ''Every trade paper should publish the postal rates under 'Shanghai' for the benefit of its patrons. "I am glad to note that the National Association of Manufacturers of the United States has oj>ened a ware- house in Shanghai. "I am often asked what language must be used in send- ing out catalogues, etc. ; some firms offer them in German, but more in Spanish. The commercial language of China, so far as foreign trade is concerned, is English. One must know either English or Chinese or starve. In the ports the trading Chinese all speak 'pidgin' English, and most of them can read, and many write, our language. Ger- man, French, Russian — all must carry on their business either in English or Chinese. It is this that helps to keep up the prestige of Great Britain, for most Chinese imagine that Americans speak another tongue, and, like the Ger- mans, French, and others, must learn English. I have frequently been told by Chinese that they 'savee English ; no savee American.' " The most significant thing, however, of all our trade in China is the marvelous progress of railway building in the Mongolian kingdom. According to Mr. William -Barclay Parsons, the .chief engineer of the American Development Company, the Empire of China proper, w^hich alone is half as large as the United States, contains only 516 miles of railway all told. Japan, about as large as one Chinese province, be- gan its railway building as late as 1871, and has now a well built system, ramifying all over the mainland, aggre- gating 3,500 miles in length and almost exclusively under the management of native officials. In i88t the first tramway was begun in China to trans- port coal, and since that time has been built the 508.7 Trading In and With China. 95 miles of railway in the north and 8 miles of railway in the south. '^Recently," says Mr. Johnson in McClnre'Sy ''import- ant concessions have been made to foreigners. The first is for a railway from Pekin to Hankow to a Belgian syn- dicate, which will get a railway into the heart of the Yang- tz?e valley. The next concession was for a continuation of this road from. Hankow to Canton. This was given to an American syndicate. Each of these concessions is for about 700 miles of road, and the 1,400 miles of the two will connect North and South China, and divide the coun- try into approximately tw^o parts, east and west. A third concession is for a line from Shanghai, by w^ay of Su- chow, to Ching-Kiang, and so on to Nankin, with an extension crossing the river to Sin-yang. This is an Eng- lish concession, and has a great value in that it controls the approaches to wShanghai. An Anglo-German syndi- cate owns a concession for a line from Tien-tsin, through Shan-tung, along the line of the old Grand Canal to the Yang-tzse River ; so that a summary of the present rail- way situation in China sho'ws, besides the 516 miles built, 600 miles of the Belgian concession under construction, and five others either surveyed or under survey — the whole amounting to about 3,000 miles." In style of construction, Chinese railways are a com- promise between European and American lines. The only double track is that between Tien-tsin and Pekin. The locomotives are partly American and partly English, and the cars, both passenger and freight, are an adapta- tion of both American and English patterns. Mr. Parsons thinks there is no doubt that where the Chinaman gets his railroads he will use them. He cites the statistics of travel between Hongkong and Canton by steamer as nearly 1,000,000 passengers annually, besides the large travel by junks. He thinks there is no question 96 Trading In and With China. but that the Oriental will patronize liberally the better mode of conveyance. Although it is commonly suppK)sed that the building of the Chinese Eastern Railway is due to Russian enterprise, the work of the American and British engineers and manufacturers must not be forgotten. Mr. Alexander H. Ford, in the Engineering Magazine, writing of "Anglo-Saxon Enterprise in Asia," says : "It did not take the news .of the opening of the great territory long to reach America. Soon the finest business house in Vladivostock was erected by an American, the most spacious Chinese structure in Port Arthur was se- cured as an agencv, and the introduction of American tools and American locomotives was begun. American activity was abroad in the land, and while the Russian engineers at first laughed at the idea of American manu- facturers competing with Europe they were induced to give a few orders. To their astonishment, the goods ar- rived in less than three months, and proved the most dur- able and efficient tools up to that time imported into Man- churia. The Russian officials suddenly realized that just across the Pacific, not five thousand miles away, they could supply all the needs of the new railway, and all hurry calls were promptly cabled to America, whose mar- kets were some fifteen thousand miles nearer Eastern Si- beria than those of Europe. American engineers who could speak Russian fluently enough to converse in tech- nical railway terms with the Russian officials of the rail- way found that a golden stream flowed ^through their hands to the manufacturers in America. In the summer of 1899 the Chinese Eastern Railway went so far as to send over two of its engineers, as a committee, to visit and report on the outlook in the United States of procuring every kind of railway appliance. They reported that more than three-fourths of the material and equipment Trading In and With China. 97 still needed for the completion of the Trans-Siberan Rail- road, as well as the steel bridges, could be procured in America, of a better quality and more cheaply than in any European country. "Since then Russia's railway projects in the far East have been greatly augmented, and recently cablegrams were sent over for material for a branch line on to Pekin, so that now Russia is building with all speed from Pacific Ocean ports, Tien-tsin, Neu Chwang, Port Arthur, and Vladivostock, toward her great Trans-Siberian system, and tons on tons of machinery from the United States lie stacked upon the w^harves of these cities so adjacent to the western seaboard of the United States. Already the railroads extend for many miles into the interior from these ports, and, in fact, before spring navigation is opened, it is expected that they will be connected with Harbin on the Sungari River, which is the central point of meeting for the lines of Manchuria. "This city is not yet a year old, but it contains thou- sands of inhabitants, spacious office buildings, splendid machine shops, asphalted pavements laid down by Ameri- can steam rollers, and a Yankee electric-lighting plant. Harbin is also the winter quarters and general terminus for the line of English steamers and barges.'' Our country, perhaps more than any other, desires the preservation of China's integrity as an empire, and yet the disorder occurred in the very regions where our trade in- terests are largest. The custom-house jetty at Che-Foo is always piled high with American products, whose sales in Che-Foo, over $2,000,000 a year, exceed the entire value of our exports to some thirty countries. But the British were resisted and white men were killed in Che-Foo. Tien-tsin^ in a state of siege and temporarily cut off from all business re- lations, is, ordinarily, one of the largest- inlets for the cot- 98 Trading In and Witli Cliina. ton cloths and kerosene that form the bulk of our export trade to China. In a word, our trade is chiefly with Northeast China, where the revolt originated. Now, as to the ''open door,'' on which so much depends for all nations, and which only began a certain time ago, will certainly before long be accomplished. Russia may prove a stumbling-block, however. All the Powers, with the exception of Russia, agreed to make the declaration asked for by the United vStates, on the condition that a similar declaration was made by the other Powers con- cerned. But only Great Britain and Italy, at the present time, have expressly agreed to make it. The exact propo- sals m.ade by the United States were that each power should guarantee : 1. That it will in nov/ise interfere with any treaty port or any vested interest within any so-called ''sphere of in- terest" or leased territory it may have in China. 2. That the Chinese treaty tariff of the time being shall apply to all merchandise landed or shipped to all such ports as are within such "sphere of interest" (unless they be "free ports''), no matter to what nationality it may be- long, and that duties so leviable shall be collected by the Chinese Government. 3. That it will levy no higher harbor dues on vessels of another nationality frequenting any port in such "sphere'' than shall be levied on vessels of its own nationality — and no higher railroad charges over lines built, controlled or operated within its "sphere" on merchandise belonging to citizens or subjects or other nationalities transported through such "spheres" than shall be levied on similar merchandise belonging to its own rrationality transported over equal distances. CHAPTER VI. LITERATURE^ SCIENCE AND ART. In beginning this chapter, a few words as to* the lan- guage itself. The Chinese language belongs to those Asiatic lan- guages commonly called monosyllabic, because each word is uttered by a single movement of the organs of speech, and expresses in itself a complete idea or thing. Ail Chinese words end in either a vowel, a diphthong (m which, how^ever, a vowel sound is distinctly pronounced, making the word appear of more than one syllable), or a nasal. Of such simple words or roots there are about 450. But the emphasis or accent of m.any of these words may be varied by the speaker in four or five different ways, so as to produce a corresponding variety in their meaning, by which means the number of simple words or roots am.ounts to about 1200. There is no distinction of parts of speech, and no prin- ciples of inflection in the Chinese language, words being incapable of any modification of form. The relation of w^ords is ascertained by their position in a sentence ; hence Chinese grammar is solely syntax. The purest Chinese is spoken at Nankin, but the same idiom, called ''the language of the mandarins,'' is spoken by the educated in all parts of the empire. It will be easily understood that the mistakes and diffi- culties into which this intricate system of speech drives Chinese-speaking foreigners are often inconvenient and sometimes dangerous. Some years ago a petition in favor of a Chinese criminal was presented by a wealthy Chinese UflTC. ICK) Literature, Science and Art. merchant in person to the governor and council of Hong- kong. A well-known Chinese scholar began to interpret on the occasion, and the Chinaman began his speech with a reference to kwai kwok, or ''honorable kingdom," as he designated England. Now the syllable pronounced kwai, with the rising inflection, means ''devil," and used in com- bination with kwok is an abusive term not uncommonly applied to any foreign country. Unfortunately, the inter- preter confused the two tones, and, turning indignantly to the governor, he reported that, at the very outset, the petitioner had begun by speaking of England as "the devil kingdom." The just anger of the council knew no bounds and it was only after some minutes of wild con- fusion that an explanation followed which saved the Chinaman from sharing the cell of the man for whom he was pleading. To a Chinaman such a mistake v^uld be wellnigh impossible, for the tones form integral parts of the words, and to the ear of a native the difference be- tween kwai in the ascending tone and kwai in the descend- ing tone would be as great as between kwai and kwok. In Chinese the written character most generally does not indicate the word, but gives a hieroglyphic represen- tation of the thing to be expressed. Hence there must be as many characters as there are words to be expressed, but many of these are not in general use. In writing and printing, says a competent writer upon the subject, the characters are arranged in perpendicular columns which follow one another from right to left. In its origin Chinese writing is hieroglyphic or picture writ- ing, with the addition of a limited number of symbolic and conventional signs. The large number of Chinese characters are formed by the combination of hieroglyphs and signs. But as one such character by itself seldom de- termines the sound, an occasional word is conjoined for this purpose; so that the great mass of Chinese written Literature, Science and Art, loi words consists of an ideographic and a phonetic element. Native grammarians divide their characters into six classes. The first class comprises simply pictorial represen- tations of sensible objects, such as the sun, moon, moun- tains, and contains 608 characters. The second class in- cludes such characters as are formed by the combination of two or more simple hieroglyphics, which together con- vey, in a more or less intelligible manner, some other idea ; for example, the hieroglyph for sun, combined with that for mcron, convey the idea of light ; mouth and bird that of song, etc. ; of these there are 740. The third class em- braces those characters which indicate certain relations of position, as above, below, the numerals, etc. ; of these there are 107. The fourth class consists of characters which, by b^ing inverted, acquire an opposite signification, as right, left, standing, lying, etc., and contains 372. The characters of the fifth class are termed derived characters ; the meaning of the simple or compound characters used to express physical objects is transferred to mental objects or to other physical objects with which they are associat- ed; that is, the hieroglyph for a heart signifies a soul, that for a room signifies a wife, etc. ; of these there are 598. The characters of the sixth class include those which are composed, as above mentioned, of sign and sound. Almost all names of plants, fishes, birds, and many other objects, difficult to represent hieroglyphically, are described by the compound characters of the sixth class, which amount to 21,810 in number. As this class, however, consists merely of repetitions of the other five classes, this immense number of Chinese characters may be reduced to 2,425, and whoever knows these may be said to know them all. Owing to the nature of the characters that appeal to the eye, and not to the ear, oratory is scarcely possible in China ; it is even exceedingly difficult to read a book I02 Literature, Science and Art. aloud, so as to convey to the readers the meaning of the author. The Chinese hterature is certainly the most comprehen- sive and extensive in Asia. The printed catalogue of the Emperor's library is con- tained in 122 volumes, and it is said that a collection of the Chinese classics, with scholia and commentaries, com- prises 180,000 volumes. One of the earliest published works is the ^ Book of Changes, the first and most revered, because the least un- derstood, of the nine classics. In the year 1150 B. C. the author, Wan Wang, v^'as, we are told, imprisoned for some political offense, and sought to while away the tedium of his confinement by tracing out a system of general phil- osophy from the eight diagrams and their sixty-four com- binations invented by the Emperor Fu-he. Next come the works of Confucius, ''The Book of His- tory,'' "The Book of Odes," and the "Spring and Autumn Annals." "The Book of History" takes us back to about the time of Noah. It consists of a number of records of the Yu, Hea, Shang, and Chow dynasties, embracing the period from the middle of the 24th century B. C. to 721 B. C. These and a number of other manuscripts attracted the attention of Confucius when he was at the court of Chow, and selecting those which he deemed of value, he compiled them in a work which he called "Shoo-king," or "Book of History." This work, as Mr. Wells Williams says, contains the seeds of all things that are valuable in the estimation of the Chinese ; it is at once the foundation of their political system, their history, and their religions rites, the basis of their tactics, music, and astronomy. The songs which form the "Book of Odes" date back to a time long antecedent to the production of any works of which we have knowledge. In the words of the histor- ian Sze-ma Tseen, "he rejected those which were only Literature, Science^ and Art. 103 repetitions of others, and took great notice how m-uch they took with the people ; upon which he would, and certainly might, very well judge of their present dispositions and of the most proper way of applying them according to his purposes/' Though the style and diction of these songs are of the simplest description, yet through them runs a rich vein of sentiment, and in forming a judgment on them it is necessary to remember that they are not studied poems, but simply what they profess to be, songs of the people. ''The Spring and Autumn Annals," we are told, was given as a title to the book because its commendations were life-giving, like spring, and its censures life-wither- ing, like autumn. But how different is the book when we take it up ! In the words of Dr. Legge : ^'Instead of a his- tory of events w^oven artistically together, we find a con- geries of the briefest possible intimation of matters in which the court and state of Loo were more or less con- cerned, extending over 242 years, without the slightest tincture of literary ability in the composition or the slight- est indication of judicial ability on the part of the author.'' There is a book whose dicta have entered into the very marrow of Chinese life, namely ''The Book of Rites." This work is said to have been completed by the Duke of Chow in the 12th century B. C, since which tim-e it has ever been the guide and rule by which Chinamen have regulated all the actions and relations of their lives. No every-day ceremiOny is too insignificant to escape notice, and no social and domestic duty is considered to be beyond its scope. From the nature of its contents, therefore, it is the w^ork of all the classics which has left the most pal- pable impression on the manners and customs of the people. Its rules are minutely observed at the present day, and one of the six governing boards at Pekin — the I04 Literature, Science and Art. Board of Rites — is entirely concerned with seeing that its precepts are carried out throughout the empire. •Speaking of this work, Callery says with justice: "In ceremonial is summed up the whole soul of the Chinese, and to my mind this 'Book of Rites' is the most exact and complete monograph that this nation can give of itself to the rest of the world. Its affections, if it has any, are satisfied by ceremonial ; its duties are fulfilled by means of ceremonial ; its virtues and vices are recognized by cere- monial ; the natural relations of created beings are essen- tially connected with ceremonial ; in a word, for it cere- monial is man, the man moral, the man politic, and the man religious." There are also four books, which, with the five men- tioned, make up the nine classics. The first three, *'The Great Learning." ''The Doctrine of the Alean," and ''Con- fucian Analects" are by pupils and followers of the sage, while "The Works of Mencius" is by a disciple of that philosopher. All these, therefore, represent the views of Confucius, and if we ask what these views point to, we find that they may be summed up in the admonition, "Walk in the trodden paths." Lao-tse, who was the founder of a school of philosophy, wrote "The Book of Virtue." In addition to the classics, there are the codes of the law of China, a rich series of works on medicine, natural his- tory, agriculture, music, astronomy, etc., and numerous dictionaries. There are also several most valuable encyc- lopedias and geographical works, as well as a series of the national annals from the year B. C. 2698 to A. D. 1645, comprising 3,706 books. Poetry and the drama are also cultivated, and the Chinese have now so far thrown off their national pride as to have translated several of the best, English works on medicine, surgery, etc., into the Chinese language. Literature, Science and Art. 105 Booksellers are common in every town, and books can be bought cheaply. All classes read ; even the coolie, rest- ing on his burden for a minute or two, will pull out a book — it may be a romance or a book of popular songs — and commence reading. Good newspapers are printed in the treaty ports. But people in the interior of China rarely read newspapers. They get their ideas of foreigners and outside doings by gossip. It may be well to state here, what is generally known, that the Chinese were the inventors of printing. This was at the close of the sixth century, nearly nine hundred years before it was known in Europe. In 932 A. D. a printed imperial edition of the sacred books was pub- lished. There are several fine libraries in China, among others one at Kublai Khan, where on tall stone tablets all the nine classics are cut in permanent text ; another at Hang- chow, and another at Pekin, the imperial library, the chief treasure of China. A few Chinese proverbs may show the Chinese people and their trend of thought better than any description : A wise man adapts himself to circumstances, as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it. Misfortunes issue out where disease enters in — at the mouth. The poor are happy, the rich have many cares. Nine women in ten are jealous. The error of one moment becomes the sorrow of a life- time. Disease may be cured, but not destiny. Backbiting goes on from morning until night, but be wise and it will die. If your children are wise, money will corrupt them ; if foolish, it will magnify their vices. io6 Literature, Science and Art. A vacant mind is open to all suggestions, as the hollow mountain returns all sounds. He who pursues the stag regards not hares. Be friends with an official and you will get poor ; with a merchant and you will get rich; with a priest and you will get a subscription book. If the roots be left, the grass will grow again. (This is the reason given for exterminating a traitor's family.) The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor the man perfected without trials. Riches come better after poverty than poverty after riches. Keep down the temper of the moment and you will save a hundred days' anxiety. To the man who cares not for the future, troubles are nigh at hand. A bird can roost but on one branch. A horse can drink no more than its fill from a river. (Enough is as good as a feast.) When the port is dry, the fishes will be seen. (When the accounts are settled, the profits will appear.) Consider the past, and you will know the future. Riches spring from small beginnings, and poverty i:?- the result of unthriftiness. Who swallows quick can chew but little. (Applies to learning.) You cannot strip two skins ofif your cow. He who wishes to rise in the w^orld should veil his am- bition with the forms of humility. The gods cannot help a man who loses opportunities. Dig a well before you are thirsty. (Be prepared against contingencies.) The full stomach cannot comprehend the evil of hunger. Eggs are close things, but the chicks come out at last. (Murder will out.) Literature, Science and Art. 107 To add feet to a snake. (Superfluity in a discourse when the subject is altered.) Who aims at excellence will be above mediocrity ; who aims at mediocrity will fall below it. To win a cat and lose a cow. (Consequences of litiga- tion. ) I will not try my porcelain bowl. (Said in contempt.) There is no permanent feast on earth. He who toils with pain will eat with pleasure. Borrowed money makes the time short; working for others makes it long. Those who cannot sometimes be deaf are unfit to rule. Early preferment makes a lazy genius. Large fowls will not eat small grain. (Great mandarins are not content with little bribes.) The best thing is to be respected, the next is to be loved ; it is bad to be hated, but worse still to be despised. The poor cannot contend with the rich, nor the rich with the powerful. A man's words are like an arrow, straight to the mark ; a woman's are like a broken fan. One lash to a good horse ; one word to a wise man. Let every man sweep the snow^ from his own doors and not busy himself about the frost on his neighbor's tiles. Study is the highest pursuit a man can follow. Though the life of a man be short of a hundred years, he gives himself as much pain and anxiety as if he w^ere to live a thousand. The wise man is not talkative, nor the talker a sage. If your fields lie fallow, your granaries will be empty ; if your books are not studied, your children will be fools. By nature all men are alike, but by education widely different. Here are a few Chinese words which are in common us- age, and which it is convenient to know the meaning of: lo8 Literature, Science and Art. Hwang — Emperor ; yellow. Tsin — Prince. Tsin wang — Kindred prince; L c, prince of the blood; Tsung — Clan ; family. Nui Ko^ — Privy Council. Tsungtoh — Vice- roy, or ruler of more than one province. Footai — Gov- ernor of a province. Tituh — Major-general; chief mili- tary officer of a province. Taotai — Governor of a city. Shan-tung — Province east of the mountain. Shan — Hill or mountain. Shick- — Imperial. Yamen — Office (where official business is transacted). Fu— A prefecture. Go- down — A place for storing goods. Haikwan — Chinese maritime customs. Li — Chinese mile (one-third of an English mile). Squeeze — General term of extortion. Kiang or Ho — A river. Hu — A lake. Pei — North. Nan — South. Tung — East. Si — West. Sheng — A province. Hsiang — A village. Hsein — A district. People who look upon China as a heathen country, given up to degrading and ridiculous superstitions, would find in the old Chinese books much to modify their opin- ion. There is a large amount of sound morality and good instruction in the school-books of China that might well be taught to the children of the United States. Now to turn to science and art. Of the grand modern discoveries in the physical sci- ences the Chinese know little or nothing, and the study of nature is altogether neglected. The Chinaman objects to be wiser than his forefathers, but spends a lifetime in studying his classical literature and the sages of antiquity, and here is doubtless one great cause of the so-called homogenity of the race and the stereotyped nature of the Chinese mind. The sciences, therefore, are at a low ebb in China, al- though there exists an encyclopedia of human knowledge, according to Chinese ideas, in sixty-four volumes. They profess to set no value on abstract science ; utility is their immediate aim. Let a Chinese be shown the most beauti- Literature, Science and Art. 109 fill of chemical or other scientific experiments and he will look on with a stolid countenance, and if he finds that it has no immediate practical application he will tiirn away from the operator with contempt. Yet they have stumbled upon a surprisingly great num- ber of mechanical and other inventions, in spite of their ignorance of the scientific theory of their discoveries, which they have applied to useful purposes. Among others may be enumerated spectacles, which are made of enormous size. They have attempted imitations of European telescopes (which the Japanese have long made excellently) from models supplied them, but without success. The first kaleidoscope, however, to reach China was ex'^ensively copied, and scattered over the empire, under the appropriate name of the *'tube of ten thousand flames/' x\strology is too much believed in for the Chinese to possess much sound astronomy. Indeed, until the learned Jesuits taught them the elements of the science, as culti- vated in Europe, they knew little or nothing of it. Their medical knowledge is poor, though their materia medica contains an immense repertoire of what are in most cases absurdly useless remedies. Surgery stands on about the same level as medicine, nor can it be expected that in a land where anatomy is not studied and physicians are held in small consideration that the science of medi- cine, in any of its branches, can be at a high standard. As a specimen of their anatomical ideas, it is widely believed that the bones of women are white, while those of men are black. Tn the science of numbers and geometry, as well as me- chanics, the Chinese have nothing to teach us, ingenious though some of their machines for raising water and other purposes are. Calculations are made with great rapidity no Literature, Science and Art. by means of the suan-pan, a mechanical reckoner. It con- sists of an oblong box, having balls of wood or ivory- strung upon wires in separate columns. One column rep- resents units, with a decimal decrease and diminution to the left and right. Each ball above the longitudinal par- tition which divides the board in two represents five. This machine follows them all over the world, though in the large towns- they sometimes write down numbers in abbreviated marks, and place them in numerical order, as we do our Arabic figures. Agriculture is very extensively followed in China. It may be said that it is the most agricultural country in the world. The Chinese are great vegetable eaters. They care little for any of the European vegetables ; even the potato has made little progress among them. Rice is the great object of their tillage. Everything is economized for manure ; and, as utility is the first object of a China- man, in agriculture as in everything else, the fi.elds on either side of the highways send forth an odor anything but grateful to the nose of people of a less practical turn of mind than the industrious cultivators of the "Flowery Empire." Irrigation is practiced, and, indeed, it may be said that considering the appliances, and the almost en- tire use of manual labor in China, agriculture is at a re- spectable, if not a high, stage. The Chinese people are more imitative than original. It is said that a Chinese tailor on one occasion imitated all the rents and patches on a garment given him to take the measure from, on a new one which he was making. Yet we must remember that they invented gunpowder, that the use of the magnetic compass was first known in China, while printing, as is stated elsewhere, has been used from early times in the multiplication of books and other literary documents. Printing is done from fixed blocks in the same way Literature, Science and Art. iii that woodcuts are. For printing the Chinese character this method is indeed preferable to using movable types, more especially when there are so many impressions re- quired for the use of such a reading people as the Chinese. They do, however, use movable types in some cases — when the type is kept standing and slight changes are re- quired from time to time. In preparing blocks for print- ing, the "copy" is first written by a professional scribe on very thin transparent paper and laid on the wood blocks, which have been previously spread over with paste or size. The paper being subsequently rubbed over, an impression of the characters remain, but in an inverted position. The wood between these is chiseled out by the woodcutter, leaving the characters in relief. They are then inked and impressions taken on thin paper, which is printed on one side only. Gunpowder is a very ancient invention in China, having been used at a siege in 1273. The composition of the Chinese gunpowder has never much altered, and that in use at the present time is almost exactly the same as the American. Cannon w^ere also used from an early date, the most ancient being tubes of iron bound round with hoops. The mariner's compass has been known in China from a very early period, and it is rather remarkable that it should have been invented in a nation so little addicted to long voyages as the Chinese. It may be added, that not only did they know the use of the compass, but that they were acquainted with its variations; that is, its deviation from the true pole, a piece of know^ledge not acquired in Europe until long after the compass was in use on long voyages. Navigation as an art is likely to make rapid advances in China, but it has certainly retrograded from what it was in former times, when her sailors navigated as far as 112 Literature, Science and Art. India, while at present the Malay Islands form about the limit of their foreign voyages. Though not a seafaring people, they make many coasting voyages. The Chinese are good mechanicians and manufacture beautiful lacquered ware in the shape of cabinets, trays, etc., though as artists they have not the skill or taste of the Japanese. They have long had in use a machine for cleaning raw cotton, and their various kinds of wheels, etc., for raising water are very ingenious. They are, however, averse to machinery, on the plea that machines would save human labor, and, therefore, throw out of employment large numbers of the population. But there seems to be every likelihood that in time these ideas will disappear before the hard logic of facts. The silk and porcelain manufactures of China have long been world-famous. Indeed, so well known were they as porcelain makers that the name of the country has been given to some of the finer varieties of the manu- facture, known in every household as ''china." The Chinese candles and mirrors are also excellent : the latter especially are often of wonderful construction. Glass has long been known to them, but many of the houses have semi-transparent horn or mica for window panes, this being considered as better proof against the extreme of heat or cold. The ivory carvings of China are of great beauty, and many of them of the most intricate nature. A common Chinese puzzle consists of seven or eight ivory balls, one within the other. In reality there is no deception in the matter. They are actually cut one within the other, by means of sharp, crooked instruments, working through the numerous round holes with which the balls are per- forated, and which enable the workman to cut away the Literature, Science and Art. 113 substance between, and thus to detach the balls from one another, after which the surfaces are carved. They also cut ornaments, boxes, figures, etc., out of agate, rock crystal, soapstone, etc., in the most ingeniously beautiful manner. Their very tools prove their origi- nality. Their saw, for example, is a thin plate of steel, kept straight by a strip of bamboo running along the back of it, which also serves as a handle. Fine art has never made great advances in China. The Chinese have little idea of the arrangement of the figures in a painting, and no knowledge whatever of perspective or of light and shade. Yet they are exquisite colorists, and in some of their sketches display not a little humor. Though their gardens are rather artificially laid out, yet many of them display great taste and considerable ingenuity in producing picturesque effects, and their skill in the cultivation of plants has long been recognized. They have many musical instruments, among them lutes, guitars, flutes, a three-stringed fiddle, a sort of wired harmonicon, drums covered with snake skin, and many of them have a considerable taste for, and skill in, music. CHAPTER VIL RELIGIONS AND SUPERSTITIONS. The Chinese, odd and confusing in so many ways^ exhibit in the matter of reHgion their usual eccentricity. in China, ther€ are three great religions, if they can so be called — Confucianism, Taouism and Buddhism. The first two are indigenous ; the last is an importation from India. A struggle for ascendancy was long maintained bet\veen these religions, but it has now long ceased; in- deed, it is no unusual thing for the same persoia to prcy- fess all three, and as they supplement each other, it is not at all inconsistent. Between the follow^ers of the three national religions, there is not only a total absence of persecution and bitter feeling, but a very great indifference as to which of them one may belong. It arises probably from religious apathy ; still it is preferable to the fanatical zeal and cut- throat earnestness of the Moslem. Amongst the politer classes, when strangers meet, the question is asked : "To which sublime religion do you belong?'' and each one pronounces a eulogism, not on his own religion, but on that professed by the others, and concludes with the oft- repeated formula: ''Religions are many; reason is one; we are all brothers." The government is equally tolerant of religious diver- sity, except w^hen a political design is suspected. Buddhism was introduced from India during the first century of the Christian era, and thus coming at a time when the national mind had been prepared by the teach- ings of Confucius and the mysticism of Laou-tsze for the Religions and Superstitions. 115 reception of a religious system which should satisfy the requirements of its higher nature, the new faith spread rapidly through the country. While it is even now prev- alent all over the empire, and influences more or less the great mass of the people, it is fast losing its hold on them and has little of the power and authority it once pos- sessed. The northern form of Buddhism, which differs consid- erably from that of Ceylon and the Indo-Chinese Penin- sula, prevails in China. Its sacred books, in common with those of Nepaul and Thibet, are written in Sanscrit or are translations from that language. Amongst other additions to the creed are the Western Paradise and the Goddess of Mercy. ''Buddhism has manifestly taken on certain additional ideas, with their corresponding phrases and terms, by be- ing brought into contact and contrast with Christianity. Certain of the most important expressions in Buddhism, as taught to-day, are not to be found in the original theories of existences and of rewards and' punishments. Early Buddhism says nothing about heaven or hell, a personal devil, or a goddess of mercy. Such an image as a Buddhist priest treading Satan under his feet would not have been understood by primitive Buddhists, nor by Quan Yan, the Buddhist Madonna/' Temples are very numerous. There is no landscape that is not conspicuous by one of them. Most of them are wretched affairs, mud hovels, but some of them are very handsome and crowded with images. As a rule they are built and supported by private subscription, but some receive governm.ent aid, and these are distinguished by roofs of yellow, the imperial color. The many-storied tower takes the place of the bell-shaped dagoba or relic shrine of other Buddhist countries. The number of begging monks is large. He wears a Ii6 Religions and Superstitions. loose, yellow robe and yellow stockings ; at his back is a wallet in which to receive the contributions of the faith- ful ; and he gives notice of his approach by striking a sort of drum called the muh-yu. The priests, as a rule, are ignorant and vicious. Celi- bacy is prescribed for them, and not one in ten can read or write. Still they are treated with more or less respect by the common people. As in other countries we could mention, the men pay but little attention to religion in prosperous times. It is only in adversity that they turn to their gods. As a rule, women and children form the vast mass of the worshippers. There is no such thing as congregational worship. The temples are always open, day and night, and a priest is constantly in attendance. The usual form of worship is very simple and only oc- cupies a minute or two. A believer, either real or professed, enters the temple, and for a small sum of money purchases sticks of incense from the priest, who lights them at the wick of the sacred lamp. The worshipper then puts them in a bronze in- cense holder before the image of Buddha. He then pros- trates himself three times upon a rug in front of the image, each time beating his head upon the floor. The priest, meanwhile, beats a drum or rings a bell to attract the attention of the god. The worshipper then gets up and goes out ; his devotions have cost him but a small sum of money and taken but little time from his business or pleasure. Taouism w^as formulated by Laou-tsze, who was a con- temporary of Confucius. The Taouists are the rational- ists of China, though why they are called so might be a subject for dispute. Like Confucius, Laou-tsze held office at the court of Chow, and being disheartened at the want of success attending his efforts to reform the manners of Religions and Superstitions. 117 the age, he retired into private life and devoted himself to the composition of '*The Lutra of Reason and Virtue/' In this work he enumerated a scheme of philosophy, the leading point being the relation between something he calls Taou and the universe. The philosophical bearing of this system was, however, soon lost sight of, and his profound speculations were exchanged for the pursuit of immortality and the search of the philosopher's stone by his followers. Taouism has not more hold than Buddhism upon the literate Chinese. Its priests are generally ignorant, few of them teaching or understanding the real principles of their faith. They practice a mystic alchemy, prepare spells and incantations, and, like modern spiritualists, hold intercourse with the dead. When all other remedies have failed with a sick person, the Taouist priests are some- times sent for to exorcise the evil spirit that is supposed to afflict the patient; and they chant prayers from their mystic ritual amid the din of gongs, drums, fluted, etc. These mystics worship certain stars, which are supposed to influence human life, and also genii, devils and inferior spirits. They live in temples with their families and are known by their slate-colored robes. But while Buddhism and Taouism have their adherents among the common people, Confucianism is far and away the religion of the learned. The opinions and teachings of the sage are their constant study, and at stated periods they assemble in temples devoted to his honor to worship at the shrine of the "Throneless King." It is rather hard to understand how Confucius came to be regarded as the founder of a religious belief. He was a moral philosopher, not a religious leader. Still, Con- fucianism is the basis of the social life and political sys- tem of the Chinese. It has been professed by all their greatest men, and is still the sole belief of the educated Ii8 Religions and Superstitions. classes. As has been intimated, it Is less a religion than a philosophy, and does not pretend to speak of spiritual things. The questions to which Confucius replied were: *'How shall I do my duty to my neighbor?'' **How can I best discharge the duty of a virtuous citizen?" At the same time it must be remembered that Con- fucianism is also believed in by the masses. Time has obliterated the lines which originally separated the three religions, so that to-day the dogmas of Buddha and Laou- tsze and the teachings of Confucius may, as far as the masses are concerned, be treated as the foundations of a common faith. Confucius was born about 551 B. C. There is not space for a general account, of his doctrines, and, therefore, a few particulars in regard to him and his teachings must suffice for our purpose. He was the son of a statesman, and chief minister in his native kingdom — one of the many into which China was then divided. Despising the amusements and gaye- ties common to those of his age, he devoted himself to study and reflection in moral and political science ; but he investigated none of the branches of natural science, nor did he interfere with the common superstitions of the country. .His doctrines, therefore, form a. code of moral and political philosophy, and his followers are philoso- phers more than religious sectarians. He endeavored to correct the corruptions which had crept into the state, and to restore the maxims of the ancient kings, who are cele- brated in traditional history. Unswayed by personal ambition, he promulgated his doctrines with a singleness of purpose that, even in con- servative China, gained him. respect and a multitude of followers; and, after being employed in high office of state, he retired in the company of his chosen disciples to study philosophy, and to compile those collections of Religions and Superstitions. 119 philosophical maxims which have now become the sacred books of China. Nor can it be denied that, though erron- eous in some respects, they deserve much of the honor that has been paid to them. ''Treat others according to the treatment which they themselves would desire at their hands" and ''guard thy secret thoughts" were among his favorite maxims. Filial affection he taught, and even enjoined it to such an extent that he ordered that the slayer of a father should be put to death by the son ; that "he should not live under the same heaven" were the words in which he urged this application of lex talionis. He was modest in his demeanor, though this virtue has not descended with his doctrines to his modern disciples, who are self-sufficient and overbearing to all who do not profess the state religion of China, as Confucianism really is. After completing his last work, which was a history of the times in which he lived, the great sage died at the age of seventy-three, much regretted by the rulers of the states whose government and morals he had mainly con- tributed to elevate. Time has but added to the reputation he left behind him ; and he is now, at .the distance of more than 2,000 years, held in universal veneration throughout China by persons of all sects and persuasions, with shrines and temples erected to his worship. Of course, various prodigies are related as having oc- curred at his birth ; and, not content with knowing that his intellect was more than his contemporaries, his followers maintain that his stature overtopped all the men of that period also. We need not follow them into these by- paths of hero worship. It is enough for us to know that, though he inculcated great morality, he was like many others in similar circumstances — an indifferent observer of the common precepts which ought to govern men's I20 Religions and Superstitions/ actions. Among other breaches of good manners, it is related that without any sufficient reason even for a philosopher, he divorced his wife, and his sons and grand- sons followed his example sO' far as to divorce theirs also. Nevertheless, if for nothing else than the extraordinary influence that he has created in Chinese life and modes of thought, Confucius must incontestably be looked upon as a very great man. Though only a single grandson survived him, yet the succession has been continued up to the present time, through upwards of eighty generations, in the very dis- trict where their great ancestors lived. We have spoken of. the hereditary honors by which his family are to this day distinguished. In every city, down to those of the third order, is a temple dedicated to him; and the em- peror and all the learned men delight in doing him honor. Whoever a Chinese may sneer at, whatever he may be skeptical about, he takes^good care to honor Confucius, and to respect his doctrines, and his opinions, being merely those of a philosopher, do not come into violent contact with any religious system, and have, therefore, a better chance to live than if they formed the basis of a theo- logical sect. His works and the comments on them by his disciples fill many volumes, and are studied by all the educated classes of China, who, indeed, profess them as a kind of secondary religion. The temples dedicated to Confucius are solemn and funereal in character, and, though his image is not cm- ployed as an idol, sacrifices of oxen and sheep are made to him, and his tablet is worshipped. Mr. Chester Holcomb, in "The Real Chinaman," gives the followiiTg interesting account of a religious celebra- tion by the emperor: "The most elaborate and interesting of all religious Religions and Superstitions. 12 1 structures in China is the Temple of Heaven in Pekin. It has twO' high altars, the one covered and the other open. The most gorgeous and impressive ceremonial in the em- pire is that which takes place w^hen the emperor, as son and sole high-priest of Heaven, goes there tv/ice each year to worship. In his service he has neither assistant nor substitute. He prepares himself for this solemn duty by a period of retirement and fasting in a hall within the enclosure specially devoted to that purpose. Without going into the details of the rite, it may be said in pass- ing that it bears a most striking resemblance, both in its general features and detail, to the Mosaic ritual found in the Bible. One feature, however, is peculiar. Ranged in a circle about each altar are large iron crates, shaped like enormous baskets. In these are deposited, at the time of the winter sacrifice, slips of paper, each bearing the name, crime and other details of some Chinese of- fender whose life has been taken during the previous year for offenses against the laws. In this way the em- peror makes report to Heaven of the administration of affairs so far as it has involved the death penalty. "One peculiar feature of worship at this imperial struc- ture is worthy of nottce. Though men and women alike throughout the empire worship Heaven and Earth, no place is allowed to females in the grand pageant and solemn ceremonial referred to above. Not only are they excluded from all participation in it, but their presence on any part of the grounds at any time is held to be a pollution of the sanctuary. If one of the native guards of the temple should even carry a female infant in his arms into the beautiful park which surrounds and forms the outer inclosure to it, he would be most severely punished." When General Grant visited Pekin in 1871, this temple 122 Religions and Superstitions. was officially opened for his inspection. This was the first time in its history that such a thing was ever done. Besides these three religions there is, in addition, a state ritual worship which regards the emperor and court alone. It is a kind of philosophical pantheism., an adora- tion of certain natural objects, but is a mere ceremonial, and is associated with no theological doctrines. Three classes of objects are distinguished, to which the great medium and lesser sacrifices are offered. The first in- cludes the heaven and the earth. Equal to these, and likewise restricted to the worship of the emperor, is the Great Temple of Imperial Ancestors. The medium sac- rifices are offered to the sun and moon, the gods of the land and grain, genii and sages. In the third class are reckoned certain natural phenomena, as well as deceased statesmen and scholars. The emperor appears to acknowledge a Supreme Being as king of kings, the rewarder of virtue and the punisher of vice; but still Chinese philosophy, as fixed by Chu- tze, is authentical, and deduces **the development of the universe from one unintelligent and evilless principle.'' Hence, all educated Chinese are atheists^ at least theo- retically, as will be found by arguing with them; but when they speak of human affairs generally, and their own particular lot in life, they exhibit a behef in Tien as a supreme, intelligent and rewarding power. The Tae-pings, who a few years ago almost desolated China by an armed rebellion, and had it not been for the aid of the French and English, would have swept the present dynasty from the throne, attempted another revo- lution in religious opinion. Their creed was simply a corrupted Christianity, or Christianized Sinetic Judaism; and no doubt still the sect of God-worshippers, as they called themselves, has many followers who in secret are Religions and Superstitions. 123 attached to their doctrines, and who may yet be the nu- cleus of a further overthrow of the rehgion of China. There are millions of Mohammedans in the northern and northwestern provinces. They have twenty- four Mo- hammedan mosques in Pekin alone, and the Chinese do not trouble them. There is also in the very centre of China a single vil* lage of Jews who have preserved, without molestation, their ancient ritual. China is honeycombed with superstitions of all kinds and descriptions. 'They play an important part in the daily life of every Chinese, control his plans, whether of business or pleas- ure, further or thwart his wishes, affect the value of his property, determine whom and when he shall marry, inter- fere with his relations to his children, sometimes shorten his existence, and always regulate the time, place and manner of his burial. They pervade all classes, from the highest to the lowest, influence every act of life, control the reasoning faculties, and make mischief with logic. They are not merely potent in the domestic affairs oi pri- vate individuals ; grave questions of State, affecting the prosperity, if not the very existence of the empire, have in many an instance been decided by them." Nearly all of the Chinese are fatalists, believers in in- evitable destiny. These take no precautions against fire, even in towns built of wooden houses, and made up of narrow streets ; if the houses are to be burned, they say, they will be ; if--not, what is the use of taking any care to prevent what will never happen. The government has, however, established fire brigades, and punishes arson and even carelessness with extreme severity. They have great confidence in fortune tellers and "wise people," who, like their fraternity all over the world, promise good in an exact ratio to the amount of money 124 Religions and Superstitions. they get ; and as *'male progeny, official employment and long life" are the three greatest blessings a Chinese can possibly desire, these in varying degrees are the good for- tunes promised to the clairvoyant's dupes. Charms, talismans and such like are hung up in every house, and are firmly trusted in, especially by the Taou- ists, who are more superstitious than the -rest of their countrymen. They dread the wandering ghosts or spirits of people who come to a bad end. When the Europeans first came to China, mothers pointed them out as high-nosed, fair- haired demons who had wandered far from home. Hence the terms yet applied, though not with the same signifi!- cance as before, ''foreign devil," ''spirit" or "ghost." "Demoniacal possession" is related of many persons, the demons having entered into them, and made them play furious pranks on those whom they disliked. Long life is peculiarly desired by all Chinese; not so much from life being with them so happy that they wish to prolong it, but mainly owing to the respect paid to old age. Accordingly charms to secure longevity are in great demand. The greatest of all these is the word show (long life), written on a slip of paper by the emperor's own hand. Other written spells, consisting of mystical com- pounds of various words, in which the twenty-eight lunar mansions, the five planets, and other elements of as- trology are introduced, are often hung about the house to protect it from ill fortune and to secure it good luck. Sorpetimes the pajper on which these spells are written is burnt and t^e ashes drunk in w^ater or wine, the result being a very potent spell indeed. Rooks are unlucky birds, which prognosticate misfor- tune, such as unpleasant visits from mandarins. A kind of white-necked crow is, however, greatly valued by the Religions and Superstitions. 125 Chinese, owing to some essential service it had at one time rendered to the Chinese empire. Good or ill luck attaches to certain local situations or aspects, and accordingly before a house is built or a grave selected, geomancers have to be consulted as to the suitability of the spot. A fortunate place for the erection of a house exercises an influence over all the members of a family, but even the fact of a member of it being laid in a ''lucky grave" exerts foong-shuey or misfortune over all the family. The vast majority of the Chinese know nothing what- ever of the simplest facts of natural science. They believe the earth to be flat and the sun to pass around behind a mountain in moving from east to west. They worship the spirits, which are supposed to have their abode in and be the masters of spinning-wheels, hand-mills, wells, stables, tmanure heaps, street gates, and a host of other things. There was one man who is said to have wor- shipped thus over thirty spirits who were believed to re- side in various parts of his three-roomed hovel. Occultism and spiritism are rife. A writer in the Outlook, in speaking of the ^'Boxers/' says that they used this superstitious disposition for the furtherance of their own ends. They confidently asserted that those initiated properly into the mysteries of this cult, and whose *'kung fu" or exercise of its rules was per- fect, would by virtue of this practice become invulnerable against all bullets or knives. This was not left to test en- tirely. It is declared that advanced members of the society struck diiterent parts of their bodies with sharp knives and swords with no more effect upon the skin than is pro- duced by the wind. The members *of the society believe implicitly in this invulnerability, and the people at large are convinced that the claim is well founded. No difficulty is found in explaining the death of society members in 126 Religions and Superstitions. battle. In one instance, in the autumn of 1899, thirty or forty miles from Tsi-nan-in, ten or twelve Boxers were killed by Catholics whom they had attacked. It v/as then discovered that on the evening before or on the morning of the battle, these men had broken the rules of the society by eating certain proscribed articles of food. In this way their death but strengthened the faith of those remaining. It was proposed at first to use no fire-arm.s in the ex- termination of foreigners, but to trust to the sword alone. Great reliance was placed on certain calisthenic exercises and posturings, which were expected to hypnotize or ter- rorize the enemy. To sum up, it may be said that no Chinese, high or low, but is under the powerful influence of one or more super- stition.^^ !^P^ CHAPTER VIII. MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA. The follov/ing article was written for Ainslee's Maga- zine by John Fryer, Professor of Oriental Languages and Literature in the University of California, and is incor- porated here by permission. It is a very comprehensive review of the miissionary situation, giving a history of the zealous work which has been carried on in spite of pecu- liar and oftentimes disheartening difficulties : "A little investigation will show that the missionaries who go to Qiina may be divided into the tw^o classes of regular and irregular. The regular missionary is gener- ally a man of good common sense, sent otit by a well- established board, a gentleman and a scholar, whom the Chinese quickly learn to respect. He settles down to his work, learns the language and the customs of the people, and establishes churches, schools, and hospitals which the Chinese can appreciate. The irregular missionary is a sort of crank — a missionary tramp — with little education, but with a vast am.ount of conceit instead. He is sent out perhaps by a small Christian denomination or church, and is half paid or even self-supporting. He is so profoundly impressed with the im.portance of his task that he is abso- lutely deaf to considerations of hum.an prudence or poli- tical caution. Before he has been long in the country he finds himself involved in serious riots or other difficulties, and makes a passionate appeal to his consul for protec- tion. ''Many people among us are led to say we should reform the millions of ignorant and vicious citizens in our own land 128 Missionary Work in China. before commencing operations on the heathen Chinese. The Chinese also will point with scorn to the crowds of debauched American and other sailors who get leave to go on shore when their ships are in Chinese ports, and run in drunken riot among the harmless natives in a manner that is disgusting in the extreme. Even the well-to-do merchants and other representatives of our Western lands when in China too often live anything but moral lives, so that the Chinese are led to cry shame upon them. 'Attend to your own people first,' they say, 'and when you have lifted them up to the standard you preach to us, we will gladly listen to your words.' "The Chinese officials do not hate the average regular missionary as a man, but they dislike his teaching. The missionary's pure and upright life as an example for the Chinese people is a continual and unmistakable object les- son to the officials, making manifest by contrast their own cruel, grasping, evil lives. The corrupt official is better pleased with the depraved European or American mer- chant than he is with the missionary. He feels that the merchants and he have much in common^ are 'birds of a feather.' In theory, the Chinese classics hold that the officials are to be 'like parents to the people.' It is therefore their duty to aid and instruct the people on all points of morality and doctrine. This duty they not only do not perform themselves, but they very strenuously object to the sensible, self- denying missionary when he comes unasked to per- form it for them. The more the 'stupid common people,' as they are called, can be kept in ignorance, the more eas- ily can they be governed. Hence the attempt of the mis- sionary to uplift them is a conspiracy against one of the strongholds of officialdom. The misrepresentations of the object and the work of missionaries, and the many evil things attributed to them, as well as the riots stirred up Missionary Work in China, 129 by the officials, ending in the occasional murder of the more aggressive missionaries, are mostly due to-this cause. "Much of the difficulty that Christian missionaries have experienced in getting access to the hearts of the people is doubtless to be attributed to unwise or mistaken meth- ods in the early days of the missions. On the one hand, converts were spoiled because too much was done for them. They were made to feel entirely dependent. Well-furnished churches and chapels were given to them, high salaries were paid to their native pastors. Besides an excellent free education and board and lodging for their children were provided in the mission schools. On the other hand, the evangelistic teachings of the mission- aries were antagonistic and destructive, not recognizing in any way the many good features in the religious beliefs and practices of the Chinese. Even now many Christians try to exterminate every vestige of the time-honored teachings and practice^ of Confucius, Laou-tsze and Bud- dha, cutting them Sway root and branch, to make w^ay for the proper planting of Christianity. ''Now, these good missionaries overlook the fact that Christianity does not go to China to destroy the existing religions ; but as Christ came to fulfill the desire of the Jewish prohpets, so Christianity seeks the fulfillment of all the better aspirations of the Chinese sages and religious teachers. To regard any of these Oriental religious sys- tems as wholly false is now coming to be considered as a mistake of the past. As we grow into juster views and discriminations, we are beginning to see that, all the great historic religions of the world are only the products of seeking after God. As the same sun shone on China that shone on Judea, so. it was the same Spirit of God that moved the Chinese prophets and sages to wTite down what they believed God had inspired. Are we not told that Jesus Christ is the true light that lighteth every man 130 Missionary Work in China. that cometh into the world,' and that 'in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him?' The Jews erroneously supposed they had the monopoly of the Kingdom of God and the Spirit of God. Many Christians have imitated them in teaching that the Spirit of God can exist only in the Christian church. To suppose that the Chinese worthies were in any manner led by the same Spirit would be considered as rank blas- phemy. This has been the tendency of many mission- aries. They have not seen that all truth is divine, whether inside or outside of the Christian church. ''All that is good in the ethics of Confucius with regard to benevolence, righteousness, true religion, knowledge, filial piety, and integrity of character are parts of Chris- tianity. Some of the purest utterances of Taoism and Buddhism are also parts of Christianity. History re- cords noble and Christ-like deeds performed by the fol- low^ers of these religions. Should not the missionary therefore recognize and acknowledge all that is good among the Chinese beliefs and religious practices? Should he not make of them a foundation upon which the higher precepts of the Gospel of Christ should stand? Should he not remember that in God's great plan for the education of the world the different nations are not all in the same class ? There are nations in the kindergarten stage that believe theirs is the best system ; but the more advanced classes want something better ; while the higher students have still greater wants and higher ideals which must be satisfied. Is not the sacred literature of each na- tion like a mirror which reflects with more or less clear- ness the mind of God in proportion to its own purity and perfection? We have, therefore, to shift our standpoint from that of having the monopoly of truth to that of only possessing higher privileges than our Chinese brethren. With these privileges comes a higher responsibility, and a Missionary Work in China. 131 tender concern for those who are in the more elementary stages of learning. Is it not in this spirit that the Chinese must be approached and asked to give up in their relig- ious practices or beliefs what can be shown conclusively to be erroneous or inconsistent with the higher light and claims of Christianity? ''Missionaries acknowledge that they have met with many a heathen Chinaman whose whole life of kindness, honesty, industry and self-denial would do credit to the most exemplary Christian. Is it not possible to say that such Chinamen are very near the Kingdom of Heaven, if not already in it? Even here in California, compare the sober, hard-working Chinese shopkeeper, laundryman, vegetable man or domestic servant w^ith the average white man of the same class. Is not the comparison in many cases in favor of the heathen Chinaman? To preach 'hell- fire and brimstone' to such a race of people and to extend it to their ancestors and friends^ as some unwise mission- aries in China have done, is only to stir up needless ani- mosity among the better and the thinking part of the na- tion. It is to close up the avenues to hearts that other- wise might easily have opened to receive the higher bless- ings of Christianity. Fortunately, the Protestant mis- sionaries who preach and insist on such extreme doctrines are now few and far between. It is to be hoped they will soon disappear entirely. ''At present there are nearly a thousand American mis- sionaries in China, representing the different Protestant churches of the United States. They follow actively their various branches of the work in the different provinces of the empire. Many of them, in intellectual and spiritual gifts, are far above the average of our home-workers. In their doings with the natives they prove to be influenced by the highest principles of good-will and humanity as 132 Missionary Work in China. well as by Christian charity. They are men and women of whom America may well feel proud. '*' ''The home of the missionary is a centre of light for all the surrounding districts. The children of the mission schools and colleges see the home life of the missionary families, learn the meaning of the Stars and Stripes on the national flag, tmderstand their feeling of patriotism in its highest sense, and delight to learn the history of the country that has sent them so much help from purely philanthropic motives. It is the spirit of patriotism that the Chinese need next to the spirit of Christianity ; and it is the American missionary who is eminently qualified to teach it to chem even in the face of the corrupt govern- ment of China. *'Some who criticise the labor of missionaries depend only upon bare statistics. They reckon up the number of mission stations and church members with the number of years of work and take these as the measure of useful- ness. Such people do not realize the dififi'culties of the situation, which make the results beyond the reach of arithmetical computation. The religious beliefs, the cus- toms and prejudices of the Chinese are entrenched behind centuries upon centuries of superstition. It must be re- membered that China is the most ancient empire in the world. Before the Jews became a nation, say twenty- five centuries before Christ, China's civilization had al- ready reached a high standard. Her wealthy inhabitants wore silks and satins while the Israelites were in Egypt, and long centuries before Greece and Rome were thought' of. Her ethics, her law^s and administration of govern- ment have come down, almost unchanged through all those thousands of years. As far back as history goes the Chinese were governed by almost the same form of pa- ternal or patriarchal government that has stood unshaken amid the rise and fall of Western empires, and is still as Missionary Work in China. 133 influential in its strength and vigor. It is this antiquity which the Chinese fall back upon with so much pride that stands in the w^ay of their accepting anything so modern as Christianity. *'But in the consideration of the difficulties the mission- ary has to encounter, there is not only the antiquity, but also the enormous size of the nation and the extent of country. Out of a total of 5,000,000 square miles, the eighteen provinces, or China proper, contain 1,500,000 of square miles. In the middle of China is one of the great- est and most densely populated plains in the world, through which flow the Yellow River and the Yang-tsze. This one plain supports a population of 175,000,000, or nearly three times as many people as inhabit the United States. The Emperor of China rules over one-tenth of the surface of the habitable globe, and nearly half of the population of our planet. Both the land and the people are not only immense and overwhelming, but strange, unique and w^ithout analogy. The methods used for preaching the Gospel in our own lands or among uncivil- ized races have to be modified greatly, if not entirely changed, when applied to the civilization of China. The mass to be moved is enormous, and the power applied must be great in proportion. "Added to this difficulty of the size of the nation there is the complexity of the language. The old saying that 'thje devil invented the Chinese characters to keep Christianity out of China,' appears to have some show of reason when w^e find that in place of a Chinese alphabet there are tens of thousands of formidable hieroglyphics or pictorial characters, and that each constitutes a separate mono- syllabic w^ord. Furthermore, this written language is to be seen and not heard, to be read and not spoken. Then there is the official, or court language, used in the northern and central provinces, with hundreds of diflferent dialects 134 Missionary Work in China. spoken south of the Yang-tsze. The missionary there has therefore to learn the local dialect, the court language, and the written or classical language, before he can preach, read the translations of the Scriptures, and carry on oral and written intercourse with all the different classes of natives he meets. This alone is the work almost of a life- time. *'But when the missionary has overcome these diffi- culties, which few succeed in doing beyond a certain limit- ed extent, his task is only just begun. He has to learn all that the ordinary Chinese know from their classical and other books and teachers, in order to meet them on their own ground. Then he must begin to attack the senti- ments the Chinaman holds most dear, and which are hal- lowed by the earliest associations and parental love. These ancestral teachings and examples, with his methods of religious worship, are deeply imbedded in his inmost heart. Yet the missionary has to ask him to give up many or most of them, and accept untried foreign dogmas and methods in their place. Is it any wonder that the con- servative principle in Chinese human nature rebels, and that the Chinaman naturally is opposed to all missionary propagandism ? It is almost impossible to realize the im- mense sacrifice a Chinese, even of the lower class, has to make when, in the face of the opposition and the con- tempt of his 'family, his kinsmen, his whole clan and his friends, he determines to become a sincere Christian and to follow the teachings of uncouth-looking strangers from far-off lands who are popularly known as 'foreign devils !' "Another serious difficulty the missionary has to con- tend with is the complicated form of the religion of the Chinese. Instead of one system of doctrines and teach- ings, there are three great and separate religions, dwelling side by side, and with little, if any, friction or want of Missionary Work in China. 135 harmony. Although radically different in their origin, characteristics and general aims, each seems to be a com- plement of the other. A Chinaman may select and follow as much of all three as he pleases, without being incon- sistent. The missionary has therefore to study all three religions in their history, doctrines and practical influence upon the heart and every-day life of the people, before he can hope to meet them on their own ground and answer all their objections to Christianity. He has three sepa- rate citadels to attack instead of one. ''The writings of Confucius are the source whence the officials and literati derive their theories of government and social duties. The ethics of Confucius pervade and influence every phase of Chinese life. The doctrines taught by their 'most holy sage' are cited as the infallible criterion of uprightness and integrity in public and private life, and were disseminated several centuries before the coming of Christ. They were not original with Con- fucius, but rather the teachings of the ancient kings and sages, who flourished in the far-off Golden Agt of China, when the evils of bad government were unknown, and when the Chinese seem to have recognized and wor- shipped the true God. Confucius confessed to be only a reformer, a transmitter, and not the author of a new re- ligion. But it is almost impossible to estimate the enor- mous hold this system with its time-honored classics now has upon the educated and thinking men of China. Its teachings are of a high mofal order, yet they are as much disregarded in every-day affairs as Christ's teachings are disregarded among ourselves. The Chinese know what is right, but fail utterly to practice it. ''Then there is Taoism, the second form of religious faith and practice, originating with the philosopher Laou- tsze in the century when the Jews returned from Babylon. Its ancient classic, *the Tao-teh-king, comes nearer to the 136 Missionary Work in China. philosophy of our Old Testament te;achings than any other book in the world. Had this system remained in its orig- inal purity it would have served as an excellent basis for Christianity. Unfortunately the Taoists went astray, hunting for the Philosopher's Stone, the elixir of immor- tality with other vague conceptions, and then fell into the grossest superstitions and demonolatry. The evil in- fluences of modern Taoism upon Chinese society are tre- mendous, and it is a greater foe to the Christian mission- ary than Co-nfucianism. "These two great religions, Confucianism and Taoism, did not satisfy the longings of the soul of the Chinaman, nor did they afford comfort or solace in the many trou- bles and sorrows of life. To supply this want Buddhism came from India some time before the birth of Christ, but it was not till shortly after that event that the Emperor Ming-ti had his wonderful dream, and as a result sent messengers to India to invite Buddhist teachers. x\fter experiencing many vicissitudes, ^Buddhism became firmly established. The worship of Amida Buddha with the 'Goddess of Mercy' became prevalent, while temples and monasteries, priests and nuns were soon to be fovmd everywhere. The Western Paradise, the Buddhist Hells, the transmigration of souls, the vegetarian diet, the doc- trines of Karma and Nirvana, and the worship of the goddess Kwan-yin, who has power to save and to bestow sons upon her votaries, are all so firmly engrafted on the ordinary Chinese mind that it seems impossible that they should be modified, much less effaced by the teachings of Christianity. Yet the missionary is expected to go for- ward boldly to attack this giant also, in the name of the Lord, and armed only with his sling and his stone ! ''As if all these difficulties were not sufficient, Buddhism had hardly settled down harmoniously with its two sister religions, when Mohammedanism entered the empire Missionary Work in China. 137 pushing its way into imperial notice with great effect, and contesting with its monotheistic doctrine against the cor- rupt rehgious practices that had grown up in the other three reHgions. It came to stay in spite of numberless persecutions and rebellions in which millions of Moham- medans have been put to death. Most of the Moslem Chinese now occupy a very strong position in the whole of Northwest China. Others are scattered over the face of the empire, many of them being rich and enjoying official positions. Although opposed to the main features of Christianity, the Mohammedan faith is not entirely with- out its advantages to the work of the Christian missionary. The denunciation of all idolatry, the worship of the true God, the observance of the Mohammedan Sabbath, and the teaching of certain theological terms are all aids to Christian preaching. On the whole, however, most mis- sionaries who have come in contact with Mohammedans, would much rather work in places where they are not to be found. 'Terhaps the greatest difficulty of all is ancestral wor- ship, which may be called the national religion, and which will die the hardest. Space, however, will not permit of further remarks on the many obstacles that the Christian missionary has to overcome. Neither is it possible to en- ter upon the difficulties arising from a climate and soil to which the American physical constitution is unsuited. A great many missionaries break down after a few months', or a year's trial at the longest. Also the deadening effect upon the spiritual and intellectual faculties produced by long residence among the heathen Chinese militates against the success of the missionary, making it hard for him to be, as the Apostle says, 'Instant in season and out of season.' ''A brief view of the work the Christian church in all its branches has already done toward the conversion and 138 Missionary Work in China, evangelization of China may not prove unprofitable. Tra- dition says that St. Thomas first brought the Christian faith to the Chinese. At any rate, as early as the authors in the third century do we read of missionary endeavors by the Christian churches in the direction of China, and of their partial success. The first Christian movement of which we possess certain and full evidence was that of the Nestorian Church. Driven out'of the Roman empire for heresy on a small doctrinal point, the Nestorians settled in Western Asia. Thence they sent missionaries who pene- trated Qiina, and made a settlement under the imperial patronage. Their leader was Olopun, who arrived in the year 635. The Emperor Tai-Tsung received him gra- ciously at the capital, and becoming deeply impressed with the excellent features of his preaching, gave special or- ders for the dissemination of the Nestorian doctrines. A monastery was built to accommodate twenty-one priests, while a hundred cities had regular Nestorian worship in their churches. The Bible was translated into Chinese. But persecutions eventually arose, and the followers of Nestor, while suffering much, maintained a precarious footing in China during the time of the Yuan dynasty, al- though cut off from all help and intercourse from the mother church. A large stone tablet is all that remains to testify to their work in China for nearly 150 years. This tablet lay buried under the ground for several centuries. It was discovered by accident and shown to the Jesuit missionaries, who at once recognized its value as a most important historical monument. Rubbings from this stone containing inscriptions in Syriac as well as in Chinese, and giving a summary of the chief doctrines taught with a historical sketch of the Nestorian work in China are much prized, even by the Chinese lovers of an- tiquities who are not in sympathy with Christianity. It is supposed on good authority that the descendants of the Missionary Work in China. 139 Nestorians still exist in some of the secret sects which abound in the north of China. *'The failure of the Nestorians did not discourage the Roman Catholics from attempting to Christianize China. In the 'thirteenth century their missionaries began to enter -the countr}^ from the west, and at first were well received. The pioneer was John of Montecorveno, who arrived at the court of the great Emperor Kublai Khan in the year 1292. In spite of Nestorian opposition, he had as a result of eleven years' labor baptized nearly 6,000 persons, and had bought 150 children, whom he instructed in Greek and Latin at his headquarters in Pekin. It is said that at his death in 1298 he had converted more than 3,000 people. Subsequently St. Francis Xavier, the St. Paul of Roman missionaries, worked most energetically in the spread of his religion in China; but death cut short his labors prematurely. His successor, Valignani, exclaimed in sadnesss as he gazed on the mountains in China, *Oh, mighty fortress, when shall these impenetrable gates of thine be broken through!' They were at length broken by Mateo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit, who, by his learning, as well as by his friendly disposition, gradually worked his way to the imperial court and found favor with the em- peror. Thenceforward his life was nothing but success. His literary labors were immense. His colleagues and successors were also men of great intellectual caliber, and their Chinese converts were numerous. Yet eventually their continual quarrels, the commands of the Pope, and the jealousies of the different Roman Catholic orders, caused the Emperor Yung-Cheng to issue an edict in 1724 banishing all European priests from the empire, and strictly forbidding the propagation of Christianity The Roman Catholic influence, however, was kept alive se- cretly, and the Converts were wonderfully faithful in pre- serving their spiritual fathers, who had to disguise them- I40 Missionary Work in China. selves to avoid injury. When China was opened in 1842, after the first war with Great Britain, 400,000 converts were already enrolled in the church, and eighty foreign missionaries w^ere found ministering to the scattered flocks. Since then the Roman Catholics have more than recovered their lost ground in China. Their converts are upward of a million in China proper. Imposing cathe- drals, church edifices, schools, colleges, orphanages, found- ling hospitals and other buildings testify everywhere to their activity and prosperity. ''The Greek Church began its labors in Pekin in the year 1685, when a treaty made with Russia allowed the establishment of a church and college with an archiman- drite in. charge. In recent years this church has been w^orking with some earnestness, both in China and Japan. In the latter country it has made more converts than either Catholics or Protestants have made. In proportion as Russian influence increases in Pekin it is expected that the Greek Church influence will expand among the Chinese. *Tt will be noticed that all these Christian missionary labors extending over ten or more centuries were to a greater or less degree a preparation for the work of our Protestant missionaries. Yet their commence;ment of the task of spreading evangelistic doctrines nearly ninety years ago was much beset with difficulties, some of which were the results of the Roman Catholic mismanagement. The lives of Robert Morrison and other pioneers of the Protestant faith are well known. It is worthy of note that Morrison w^as refused a passage to China in the East In- dia Company's vessels, and had therefore first to make a voyage to New York. Thence he sailed to China on an American ship. He was nine months in reaching Macao, and there this devoted man— this first Anglo-Saxon mis- sionary — began his highly successful lifework. Missionary Work in China. 141 **What has been subsequently accomplished is told in the reports of the various missionary societies now work- ing in China. The work is well organized and the coun- try divided up among the various bodrds. The Evan- gelist, the Educationist and the Medical missionary each finds his suitable sphere of labor in ministering to the various needs of the people with whom each comes in con- tact. Thus each department of the work is now receiv- ing its full share of attention. 'The present distressed and unsettled state of China makes the people look for help and enlightenment to the missionaries in a way they have never done before. Fifty-three separate organizations are at work, having a total of about 2,500 missionaries, besides whom are over 5,000 native pastors and assistants. The Protestant con- verts now number nearly 100,000, while nearly 40,000 scholars are under instruction in mission schools and col- leges. Auxiliary societies are continually being added, such as Bible Societies, Tract Societies, Educational So- cieties, Mission Printing Offices, Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Asst)ciations, Christian Endeavor So- cieties, and others, all of which are vigorously pushing forward on their special lines the great cause whose watchword is, 'The Christianization of China.' "All these facts and figures are full of encouragement and hope. The mission hospitals, however, appear to im- press the Chinese most with the disinterestedness and ef- ficiency of missionary work. It is said that Li Hung Chang once remarked, 'We Chinese think we can take care of our souls well enough; but it is evident you can take care of our bodies better than we can ; so send us medical missionaries, as many as you like.' This sentiment is now shared generally by all intelligent Chinese. They may not understand our religious systems, but on seeing the re- sults of the medical work, they cannot fail to admire the 142 Missionary Work in China. philanthropy which establishes dispensaries and hospitals to do good to the bodies of suffering humanity, in the name and imitation of Christ. ''In the three branches of Religion, Education and Medicine, who can deny that the Christian missionaries have not already conferred benefits upon the Chinese be- yond all calculation? But they have done more. They have helped to awaken China from her lethargy, and to start her stagnant ideas into motion. Our civil engineers are surveying the vast territory of China for projected railways; but they are being aided by information fur- nished by the pioneer missionaries. Our merchants are closely following the missionary routes to open up lucra- tive trade. The flag of commerce always follows close behind the banner of the cross, and he who would check the progress of the bearer of that banner necessarily in- jures the interests of the flag of commerce. From the emperor downward the tocsin begins to be ^reform,' and when reform really occurs, will not much of the credit belong to the faithful laborers now at work in the various branches of missionary enterprise?*' CHAPTER IX. THE WOMEN OF CHINA. The influence of woman in China is much greater than is commonly supposed. The records of the Flowery Kingdom are full of examples of women famous for their learning, heroism and high principles, but these are all among the higher classes. With the lower classes women hold a very inferior position and are little better ttian slaves. Sometimes, however, women achieve absolute power over the household, for there is a popular saying, "She eats rice with her husband,'' which is used to describe the rule of the female tyrant. The most wonderful instance of feminine power to-day is, of course, the career of the Empress Dowager. As an instance of her power, it may be recalled that she deposed her strongest vizier, Prince Kung, in 1885, by a mere decree in the Pekin Gazette, be- cause he overrated his importance. Nevertheless, woman's lot in China, as we shall see presently, is not an enviable one. The Chinese women are, as a rule, short in stature. Many of them would be pretty, were it not for the daub- ing of their faces with paint. The hair of the women is not shaven, but additions are made to it, and it is skillfully dressed until it projects be- hind in a shape like an old-fashioned teapot. Mr. Flem- ing, in describing the hair-dress of the women of North- ern China, speaks of it as being dressed and gummed in the form of an ingot of Lycee silver, which is something in shape like a cream jug, or an oval cup, wide at the top 144 ^^^ Women of China. and narrow at the bottom, with a piece scooped out of the edge at both sides, and with bright colored flowers fast- ened by or stuck about with skewers or pins that stand out hke porcupine quills. Though their necks be ever so dirty, and their faces not much better, yet the hair must be as exquisitely trimmed and plastered, according to the local rage, as a wax model in a hairdresser's window. The small feet of the Chinese are one of their ideas of beauty, familiar to every one who has heard anything of the race. It is, however, only the Chinese ladies who adopt this method of improving upon nature. Most of the poorest women and the Tartar women do not adopt it, so that it must be a custom prior to the Tartan in- vasion. It is said, indeed, to date from about the be- ginning of the ninth century. It is produced in early childhood by cramping the feet artificially by means of bandages; and though it renders those thus mutilated incapable of walking, except by hold- ing on to walls, or by very skillfully tottering along, it is looked upon as being exceedingly ''genteel,'' probably from the idea of its being associated, like the correspond- ing case of long nails, with exemption from labor. The Chinese poets talk of such deformed feet as ''golden lilies,'' and the rocking of the women in attempting to walk as the ''waving of a willow." The muscles of the leg, from not being in use, dwindle away, so that the space from the ankle to the knee is not so thick as the wrist. Women who have not this deformity of the feet will walk as if they had it, and a woman will sometimes hobble along the street in a manner intended to deceive the ob- servers into believing that the fashionable foot is hers also. The costume of the women differs but little from the men, and their shoes, as might be expected from the above, are the most remarkable part of their toilet. A ladies' The Women of China. 145 shoe measures about three and a half inches from the toe to the heel. A female child is not received into the world with joy, and, as a rule, gets very little education. Some of the women of the higher classes, however, are taught to paint on silk, to embroider, and to acquire some skill in music, and though cases of learned ladies are not unknown, they are not, as a rule, studiously inclined. At twelve she is banished from all companionship to become "the young girl who sits in the house," until her marriage. The better class of women are modest in their de- meanor. To such an extent is this carried that it is ac- counted indecorous in a lady to show her hands, and ac- cordingly they are covered with long sleeves. When they have been shown pictures of the very decollete dress worn by fashionable Europeans, they have very naturally ex- pressed themselves much shocked at their immodest and even indecent costumes. In China, marriage is universal, and within the reach of all. Marriage is predestined, the Chinese believe, and early marriages are greatly encouraged. The Chinese, as has been stated elsewhere, look upon the possession of children, especially of sons, as the chief blessing of life, and consequently as soon as a young man comes of age, his parents look about to find him' a help- mate. The would-be bridegroom has very little to say in the matter. "The preliminaries are entirely arranged by a profes- sional 'go-between,' or 'matchmaker,' who makes it her duty to acquaint herself with all the marriageable young people of both sexes in the neighborhood. When em- ployed by the bridegroom's friends, she calls on the par- ents of some young ladies she considers would make a suitable wife for the future bridegroom, armed with a 146 The Women of China. card, on which are inscribed the ancestral name, and the eight symbols which denote the year, month, day and hour of the birth of the suitor. Should the lady's parents be inclined to accept the proposal, they consult a fortune teller as to the future prospects of such a union. If the answer is favorable, a return card is given to the go-be- tween, and this in turn is submitted to the scrutiny of a fortune teller employed by the man's parents. Should the oracles prophesy good concerning the match, the bride- groom prepares tw^o large cards on which are written the particulars of the engagement ; and on the outer side of the one which he keeps is pasted a paper dragon, and on the one w^hich is sent to the lady, a phoenix — emblems of con- jugal fidelity." Among other things, the wTiter from w^hom we have just quoted, says that, after the cards have been ex- changed, presents of more or less value, according to the wealth of the contracting parties, pass betw^een the two households and at last, when the happy day has arrived, the bride, surrounded by her friends, starts out from her father's house in a sedan chair for her future home. Half-way between the tw^o houses she is met by a party of the bridegroom's followers, who escort her the rest of the way. Oh alighting from the sedan chair, she is led, with her head covered, into the room where her future husband Vvaits her. As a rule, they have never seen or spoken to each other. Without exchanging a w^ord, they sit dowm side by side, and each tries to sit on a part of the dress of the other, it being considered that the one who succeeds in doing so will rule in the household. After this silent trial of skill, they adjourn to the reception hall, where stands the family altar, and there they w^orship Heaven and Earth and their ancestors. This done, they drink a glass of wine to- ^he Women of China* 147 gether, when, for the first time the bridegroom is allowed to see the face of his bride. Here the marriage ceremony ends, and the guests give themselves up to feasting and rejoicing. Invariably the young couple live with the bridegroom's parents, and the wife loses all connection with her own home and family. The lot of a young married woman is by 10) means enviable. In her new home she is nothing but an under servant. She must obey her husband and her mother-in-law^ ; she may not come into contact with men of the outer world, but she may, however, receive ladies and return their calls. The patriarchal system is so universal that the father is a despotic ruler over his family, and a married wom.an becomes so entirely a part of her husband's family that she has to yield obedience to her husband's parents, who frequently treat her more as a slave than a daughter-in-law. The doctrine inculcated in the Chinese classics is that a woman has three stages of obedience, first, to her father ; second, to her husband ; and third, if her husband dies, to her son when he reaches manhood. There is an old proverb which runs: **Men wish their boys to be like wolves, and fear lest they should be timid ; their girls they wish to be like mice, and fear lest they should have the boldness of the tiger." The laws established 2,300 years ago are in favor to- day, and among them no rules are stricter than those for keeping women in bondage. Chinese books of instruction for girls consist chiefly of exhortations to discharge their duties as daughters, wives, mothers and daughters-in-law. The '^Girls' Four Books/' to which two famous emperors wrote prefaces, describe how the female mind and character must be trained. Modesty, gentleness, self-sacrifice, wisdom, respect for el- 148 The Women of China. ders and a virtuous disposition must be a woman's equip- ment in life. There is no pressing need for intellectual education. ''There are three great acts of disobedience to parents, and to die without progeny is the chief/' says a Chinese maxim. A Chinese woman's whole end and aim in life is found in ^child-bearing. When she becomes a mother, espdiially if the child he a son, she is entitled to a considerable amount of respect. She is an autocrat with her children, and even when they are old men and have children of their own, she exacts and receives obedience from them. If she dies, her sons are required by law to remain un- shaven and wear mourning for one hundred days. Not so her husband, however. He would receive only ridicule and contempt from his friends if he should put on mourn- ing or manifest any sorrow at her loss. In a w^ord, as a wife a Chinese woman seems to have no influence whatever; but as a mother^ she is omnipotent. Polygamy is not, as is frequently stated, sanctioned by law. But a man is allow^ed to marry as many wives as he can support. The first, or real wife, seems, however, to take precedence over the others. In the eye of the law, the first wife is the man's equal. The ''handmaids," as the ''left-handed" wives are called, are, on the contrary, bought and looked upon in some respects as domestics. If the legitimate wife bears male children, for daugh- ters do not count, it is not considered reputable to take a handmaid, but if the wife has no sons, then it is ac- counted perfectly natural for a man to take a handmaid. The children of all are legitimate, and have an equal right to the inheritance of the property left by their father. This rule is alwavs carried out. For instance : The em- The Women of China. 149 peror usually marries four head wives and has besides some seventy-five to a hundred concubines. It is his duty to study the characters of all his sons by all his wives and concubines, and to select the one best fitted to govern at his demise. This not infrequently falls upon the son of some favorite concubine. No man is allowed to marry any woman with the same surname as himself, all people of the same surname being considered as related to each other. No government official can marry an actress. Not only is such a marriage, if contracted, void, but both parties are punishable with sixty blows ; though, if the official holds the degree of licentiate, this punishment must be remitted for one of corresponding severity, but in which corporal punishment does not enter. A man may divorce his wife for seven different rea- sons: I. Barrenness, though this is generally never taken as an excuse, as he has his remedy in concubinage. 2. Adultery. 3. Disobedience to the husband's parents. 4. Talkativeness. 5. Thieving. 6. Ill-temper. 7. Inveterate infirmities. Any of these, however, may be set aside by three cir- cumstances : The wife having mourned for her husbancf s parents ; the family having acquired wealth since the mar- riage; and the wife being without parents to receive her back. A man may marry as soon after the death of his wife as he sees fit ; but it is in all cases disreputable, and in some (as those of a particular rank), illegal, for a widow to marry again. Whenever a widow is herself unwilling, the law protects her; and should she act by the compul- sion of parents or other relatives, these are severely pun- ishable. Widows indeed, have a very powerful dissuasive against second wedlock in being absolute mistresses of ICO The Women of Chma. themselves and children so long as they remain in their existing condition. Lastly, we may mention that a Chinese maxim is, that "a married woman can commit no crime ; the responsibility rests with her husband." CHAPTER X. WHAT THE CHINESE EAT. The Chinaman in anything appertaining to eating and drinking, says Chamber's Journal, to which we are in- debted for considerable of the information contained in this chapter, is a person of peculiar taste and a born epi- cure. The delicacy of his palate and his love for the good things of this world must not be judged by the mechani- cal rice-swallowing of a poor coolie any more than in America the capabilities of a good cook can be gauged by the food of a cheap restaurant. Even the coolies, shov- eling down their throats bowl after bowl of boiled rice, show the rudiments, at least, of a palate, as they take a dip, after every twenty mouthfuls, into the little bowl of curry and chillies which stands as the common property of the company. If you stand near and listen to their conversation — provided, of course, you understand it — you will find that it chiefly consists of a heated discussion regarding the quality of the rice on the different estates and the flavor peculiar to each crop, and who shall say that a man who can detect a variety of flavor in boiled rice is not gifted with a delicate taste? Except on the occasion of the marriage of one of his children, or a birthday, it is unusual for a Chinese gen- tleman to give a dinner party at his own house. It is done by the middle classes, but in ''society'' the usual method is to give it at an hotel or one of the flower boats. Unlike their neighbors, the Japanese, they do not squat on the floor during meals, but understand the use and comfort of chairs. 152 What the Chinese Eat. Most of the dishes of which the dinner consists are placed beforehand on the table, which is necessarily large and which is not graced by a cloth. The meal generally commences with a drink, all round, followed by a sort of hors d'oemre, consisting not of dainty appetizing morsels, but of fruits and nuts, then comes soup ; followed by various stews and messes, as to the ingredients of which more hereafter. It is particularly noticeable that all the dishes are of a decidedly oily flavor, and indeed this appears indispensa- ble to the Chinese cook, who, by the way, never serves his meat roasted as we know it, but cut up into small pieces, and stewed or broiled. After each course it is common practice to smoke a few whiffs of tobacco from a pipe, to while away the interval. Like Europeans, the Chinese place especial stress upon the ceremony of taking wine with one another ; and it is considered as a particular compliment to your neighbor should you condescend to take up a morsel with your chopsticks and place it in his mouth. At the end of the meal, one of the waiters goes round with a forbidding-looking napkin, which he dips into a bowl of water and hands to each person ^n turn to wipe his mouth and hands with ; as may be imagined, the atten- tion is not much relished when it comes to the turn of the last person at the table. A few words as to the wine. It is not made from the grape, though this fruit is abufidant in the country, but from rice. There is first the weak wine or tsewo; but a strong spirit called sweechoo, of the strength and taste of Irish whisky, is also made from the same grain. Water is little used ; tea is the almost universal drink of all classes. But tea is not drank in anything like the What the Chinese Eat. 153 manner we are accustomed to. Such additions as milk and sugar would be considered abominations, and the tea, which the Chinese cooks infuse far more carefully than we are in the habit of doing, is drank by itself. Some kinds of teas which rarely find their way to foreign mar- ket are of a most delicious and delicate flavor, and are much sweeter and more syrupy than the ordinary tea as we know it. The word ^'chopsticks" and Chinamen have been insep- arably associated in one's mind from childhood. It is by means of these that they eat their food, and so adroitly does long practice enable them to do so that their name for the chopsticks, a term of foreign invention, is "kwai- tsze" or nimble lads. They are two little rods, about ten inches in length, of bone, wood, ivory, or even of silver. They are both held in the right hand. One is held sta- tionary between the tips of the second and third fingers, in much the same way as a pen is held, while the other works against it by being held lightly between the thumb and forefinger, like a pair of pincers. The adroitness with which a Chinaman will use these chopsticks in picking up pieces of meat, rice, etc., is sim- ply marvelous, though foreigners will frequently acquire, after a time, considerable skill with what look at first sight most inconvenient instruments to pick up food. As has been said, all the meat being brought to table ready carved, the use of a knife would be perfectly superfluous at a Chinese dinner unless it were to separate the pieces of meat which might adhere together. Accordingly, in the chops^ick case, which hangs from the girdle of all the better Chinese, there is generally a long, narrow knife. The Chinese gourmands seem to excel in inventing extra- ordinary dishes. Though some of these are pleasant to the American taste, and in a few cases even delicious/ the majority of the dishes are more or less repugnant to anv 154 What the Chinese Eat one who is not used to Chinese fare^ and often so nasty that consideration for the feelings of the host is of no aA^ail when one is called upon to eat them. A taste for the flesh of domestic animals is particularly prevalent among the Chinese of all classes. In nearly every city in China are to be found restaurants where dogs' and cats' flesh is made a special feature in the bill of fare. The meat is cut into small pieces over a slow fire. It is then fried with water-chestnuts, garlic and oil, and those who have tasted it say that it makes a very palatable dish. A particular species of dog is reared for the table. It is a small dog of a greyhound shape, with large tufts of hair in front of its ears, but with a muzzle much more elongated than in terriers. The skin is almost destitute of hair, with the exception of the tufts on the head already spoken of, and a large tuft on the tail. It is said that so long have these animals been bred for the purpose of being eaten that they have an hereditary aversion to butch- ers. The flesh of black dogs and cats is preferred to that of animals of another color, on account of the greater amount of nutriment it is supposed to possess. Dog hams are exported from the province of Shan- tung, and, at the commencement of summer a ceremony called a-chee — consisting of the eating of dog's flesh — is observed throughout the empire by all classes. Black cats' eyes are considered a special delicacy, and at an official dinner a hundred of them were used to make one dish. Their appearance in the plate was, as may be imagined, the reverse of appetizing. The pig is an animal universally reared and eaten. '*A scholar does not quit his books, or a poor man his pigs," is a Chinese proverb. In several towns in the Yang-tsze valley, the flesh of mules and horses is much eaten; and rats, which, by the What the Chinese Eat. 155 way, are very clean feeding animals naturally, are a favor- ite and common article of food. They are to be found hanging outside shops in a salted and dried state. By the way, large quantities of salted provisions are used; hence the government duty on salt is one of the most lucrative sources of inland revenue. Amongst other curious articles of food are preserved eggs. Boiled eggs, as we know them, are never eaten, but, in their preserved state are a very favorite article of diet. The eggs are first washed, and steeped' for an hour in water which has been rendered aromatic. They are then taken out, and the water is used for a paste of salt and lime. This paste is then turned into a tub and the eggs buried in it, after which it is hermetically sealed and kept so for at least a month. Often, however, eggs are kept for years in this state, and when very old are consid- ered a great delicacy. The eggs w^hen very old are quite black, and, to an American palate, almost tasteless and quite odorless. Ducks, fowls and geese are much eaten by the Chinese. The eggs are hatched, generally in large incubators, of a primitive though practical description ; and are sold in markets set apart especially for that purpose. In the case of ducks, every part is eaten or preserved, and indeed this absence of wastefulness is a peculiarity of Chinese cook- ing. The fov/ls are carefully dieted and nursed from their birth, and much pains is taken to keep the diflferent breeds true and distinct. Fish of all descriptions are appreciated in China. Oys- ters are never eaten raw, but fried, as the Chinese maintain it is bad for the body to chill it with cold food. All fish, both sea and river, are sold and cut up alive by the sales- men, who carry them through the streets in two large tubs, strung one at each end of a bamboo. One of the most remarkable of Chinese dishes consists 156 What the Chinese Eat. of young crabs thrown into a vessel of vinegar some time before dinner is served. The vinegar corrodes the deHcate shells, so that when the lid of the vessel in which they are contained is removed the lively young crabs scramble out and run all over the table until their career is cut short by each guest snatching up what he can, and in spite of occasional smart nips from their spiteful claws, putting the living tit-bits into his mouth. Ownng to the spread of Buddhism, beef is scarcely ever used, but dishes, other than those already mentioned, are glutinous birds' nests, soups, mutton, sharks' fins and deers' sinews. Fruit, of which there is every conceivable kind, always finds a place in the Chinese menu. All fruits known in America are grown in China, and the tropical ones as well. Among the fruits peculiar to the country are the li-chee — of delicious flavor — the carambolo and the nam- pee. Water chestnuts, which grow at the bottom of small rivers and brooks, are gathered by hand, and are very nice eating ; when baked and beaten, they are used as a kind of flour. Rice is, however, the universal food of China. Rice is what a Chinaman w^orks for, and he cannot understand how the benighted inhabitants of foreign countries have not died long ago for the want of it. The poor eat almost anything, but still rice is their staple food. We will conclude this chapter with an account by a Danish officer of a banquet given at Shanghai by the Governor, Taotai, to Prince Valdemar of Denmark and suite : ''The banquet came on, and we had our Chinese fare. We were thirty-five at the table, counting the Prince and his staflf of hardy Norse naval officers. The table was set in crescent shape, and each of us had an humble slave standing like a lamb behind our chairs, ready to get any- What the Chinese Eat. 157 thing we might call for, and unable to understand any- thing we said. Consequently nothing was called for, and for awhile we sat there with empty stomachs and plates At a gesture by the Taotai, however, the mob of servants began to pile up provender in front of us in such quanti- ties that the table, had it been less massive, might have crashed on our feet. There were nineteen courses, mind! and they were nineteen wonders to us. As all other peo- ple finish their meals with dessert, it was not only natural but imperative, that this formidable Chinese banquet should begin with dessert. There was tea and rice to overflowing with each course. Some roasts, some entres, some fish, some nameless and indefinable Celestial morsels, some soups, some puzzling fancy dishes, and the stately dmuer was over. It took a long time to get through. Due regard was shown for our Western habits in placing at our disposal fork and knife in addition to the usual chopstick of the Empire. Wines of European origin were served, but the Chinese present seemed to prefer the na- tive table wine, which was sipped from shallow metal bowls, and enjoyed, though it tasted to us like salt water to a suspicious degree. Of the native dishes, which we were able to define, swallow nests with inclosure of pig- eon's hard-boiled eggs proved a trifle too much for us to swallow. We took the egg and discoursed upon the nest, which was gray, jelly-like and forbidding. Prince Val- demar, however, on whom the watchful glance of many mandarins rested, was obliged, for courtesy's sake, to eat one nest with inclosure. He looked as pleased and serene as It IS possible in such a strait, therebv proving his inborn courage and right to bear the name of Prince of the Danes, and brother-in-law to the Prince of Wales. Shark- fins in style Celestial was another surprise, which we were very careful to avoid, of which the intrepid Prince found himself compelled to partake, together with his begoggled 158 What the Chinese Eat. mandarin entertainers — the Prince affecting a semblance of pleasure that was irresistible. Asparagus was brought forth with solemn pomp, the Chinese evidently consider- ing it a rare treat, and they expressed surprise when no one ate it — no one but the Prince. He had to, and he did eat one solitary asparagus. Instead of serving them hot and with sauce or butter as we do, these otherwise well- seasoned crops were parceled out among us in an almost frozen condition, resembling long, green icicles. A lieu- tenant at my side transferred one of these verdant icicles to his coat-tail pockets, remarking that he would try it for a black-jack. ''We were not half through this memorable feast be- fore every man in the party except the mandarins^was shivering with cold. The soup, the eatables, the 'unname- ables,' in fact the entire bill of fare, was cold. The hall of feasting was cold, and the Prince was responding to a toast in a few chattering syllables. 'How is this,' I ask. My learned friend, Onam, the mandarin, explains: 'Chi- nese eat cold, sit warm ; other people eat warm, sit cold.' Looking about I saw all the mandarins festively decked out in heavy, quilted garments, and by each comfortable Celestial a miserable member of my race fighting off chills in dress suit and starched front! We felt the temperature more and more, and under some pretense or other we all found our way to the entry, whence we reappeared attired in overcoats, carefully buttoned. We all had the benefit of this protection against barbaric Chinese table etiquette . — all of us except the Prince. He had to freeze for de- corum's sake, and he did freeze most dutifully. "The dinner is at an end — the first dinner given by an Imperial Chinese Taotai to the Prince of Denmark. The Taotai is toasting the Prince in a long Chinese speech, which the Prince does not understand, and the Prince re- taliates 'most graciously' by responding briefly in French, What the Chinese Eat. 159 w hich the Taotai does not understand. Nevertheless, the most kindly mutual feeling prevails ; the Taotai is charmed in the Prince, the Prince in the Taotai, all of which goes to show the superfluousness of an intelligible language for toast-making. *'With chattering teeth we left the palace of our host and walked back to Shanghai to circulate our blood. It was a great dinner and we all enjoyed avoiding the na- tive dishes ; all of us except the Prince, who found time to study the after effects from racing through a Chinese bill of fare in competition with trained native stomachs. He was reported 'indisposed' the following day, but he held out w^ell while the feast lasted as becomes the brother of the Princess of Wales and the Czarina Dowager of Russia." \ CHAPTER XL AMERICA IN THE ORIENT. The following article was written by Wu Ting Fang, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of China to the United States, and is printed here by per- mission of the publishers of Ainslee's Magazine, in which it first apf>eared. Perhaps a sketch of this noted diplomat's character and career by the Washington correspondent of the New York Post may prove' of interest here : "The Chinese troubles have brought into special prom- inence not onl3^ here^ but to a lesser extent throughout the civilized world, Mr. Wu Ting Fang, the Chinese Min- ister at this capital. He is recognized as one of the most remarkable men that China has ever produced. Not only is he unlike former Chinese Ministers here, but he is not at all typical of the Ministers now representing China at the European and other capitals. So famous has he be- come that the suggestion has been made in one newspaper — purporting to emanate from Assistant Secretary Mei- klejohn — that the present dynasty should be overthrown by the Powers and Wu Ting Fang established as ruler, with the police support of the Western nations. While this scheme is obviously chimerical, there is something in the conditions of Mr. Wu's appointment and his record here to make him a man whose career may w^ell be watched. "He represents not the China of tradition, but the ag- gressive, commercial elements. His appointment was a recognition *of these interests. He is one of the most cos- America in the Orient. l6i mopolitan of men. He was the first Chinese to take a full legal course in England and be admitted as a barrister there. He could put out his sign in London to-morrow and practice law^ with success. His command of the Eng- lish language is excellent, and he is almost as familiar with Western institutions as any native of the New World. It is said that Wu owes his appointment and promotion, while standing for the progressive element in Chinese aft'airs, to the favor of Li Hung Chang, who early discov- ered his abilities and decided to bring him to the front. Wu is a genuine Chinese, and not a Manchu, which makes his rise in politics all the more notable. He has no long line of mandarin ancestors, but, what is better, a Chinese family of sufficient means and intelligence to send him to Europe for an education. ''How successful Minister Wu would be as the trustee of Western civilization in the management of China could not be foretold. It is feared that his Western education and associations would make him persona non grata to the stolid Chinese element, but that this element will have much to say in the reorganization of Chinese affairs may be an open question. The next difficulty would be the rivalry between the Slav and the Saxon. It is unlikely that Russia would look with favor upon any man whom the two great English-speaking peoples expressed a will- ingness to support in this capacity. 'Tor Minister Wu everybody in Washington has the kindliest of feelings. He is genial and approachable at all times, and talks freely and intelligently upon the great public questions. At the same time he appears to love his native land, and to be keenly alive to its greatest needs." The article already mentioned of Minister Wu is as follows : •'America has a magnificent opportunity in the Orient if 1 62 America in tlie Orient. she will only reach out and take it. A people which has done so much and has taken advantage of so many chances will surely not fail to reap for its commerce the benefits which it has earned by its bravery. The possession of the Philippine Islands brings the United ^States close up to the greatest markets in the world — markets which have only just begun to be developed, but which have already shown a capacity for development that a great commercial people will understand. There are many millions of peo- ple in China, and they are ready to buy from other nations the things which they can use. Some in America seem to think that the Chinese now manufacture practically all that is sufficient for their own needs. Far from it. Of course, it is true that for centuries before China was open to foreign trade its people made the goods they used, and this seemed sufficient; but now China is open to foreign trade, and manufactured goods come from America and Europe. We buy them readily. America can sell us goods more cheaply than our people could manufacture them. This is true especially of cotton cloth. That which we manufacture ourselves we weave with our own hands, and it is very durable ; but the American product is ver}^ fine in comparison, and now it has come to be in common use with us. In some parts of the empire American and English cottons have taken almost entirely the place of our native manufacture. With finer dresses, silks, and that sort of thing, it is not yet true ; but with cheaper articles it is. *'China takes kindly to improvements. We have not only the railroad, but the telegraph and the telephone. Tlie telegraph lines extend throughout the length and breadth of China. There is not a province now without the tele- graph. The first cable in China was laid by the Danish Company,, and our principal telegraph company is now superintended by a Danish engineer. The first telegraph America in the Orient. 163 company was organized by an official named Sheng Hsuan Huai, commonly known as Sheng Taotai. He induced Chinese merchants to subscribe and built the line under government protection. The line extended from Tien-tsin for a short distance; then it was continued to Shanghai; then to Pekin, and so branched out from north to south, from east to west. This was twenty years ago, and the telegraph built by private enterprise under government control, with Danish operatives, in the main now covers a wide extent of territory. When it came to extending the system to more remote parts of the country the private commercial company did not like to undertake the con- struction, and so the government has built these lines it- self. Thus there are practically two systems, one semi- official, the other solely under government control. "The telephone has been introduced more recently. The first telephones were brought in by foreigners for their own convenience, and their use spread gradually. The first line was put up at Shanghai, and others followed in different treaty ports. They are all managed by different private companies. We have no long-distance telephone as yet, but that will come in time. With the railroad, the telegraph, the telephone, and a great population thickly settling a vast extent of territory, the future possibilities of the Chinese trade must appeal to the commercial in- stincts of the United States. With a foothold in the Phil- ippines, America will have a great advantage over other nations w^hich lack possessions in that part of the world. If Americans know how to turn this to good account, they will be able to do wonders. ''But it is of the greatest importance that America should sustain the friendliest relations with China and the Chinese people. There is an opportunity to develop the consular service. Thus far the American diplomatic and consular offices in China have done wonderfuUv well al- 164 America in tlie OrienU though they have labored under disadvantages. The men who go to China as consuls ought to be peculiarly fitted for their work. It would help them a good deal if they were able to understand something of the language of the people. It is not right that American consuls should be compelled to employ Chinese interpreters, as is now the case. They ought to have the;r own men, people of their own nation. It would be to their interest. The American consular service now does not hold out sufficient induce- ments for the right kind of men in China. Americans ought to be encouraged to enter the service, and, having entered, to remain there. It requires a peculiar kind of men to succeed. Young men ought to be sent to China who would like to learn the language, and who could look forward to a long period of service after they had once fitted themselves for it. In England, at Oxford and at Cambridge, they have Chinese professors to give elemen- tary training. Young men go out from there into the consular, diplomatic or merchant service, and what they have learned at the universities they supplement in the service. They have enthusiasm, because they realize that if they do good work they can find for themselves a ca- reer. I appreciate the fact that this is a democratic form of government, and that it may not be easy to bring about the change which I suggest. It is difficult to secure the necessary legislation, but I am sure that in view of the constantly increasing impwDrtance of the American com- mercial and political position in China it would be of in- estimable advantage if the consular service there could be marked by permanency of tenure and adequacy of train- ing. Merit should be rewarded by promotion, as is the rule now with most of the European governments which send young men to the East to learn the language and study the customs of the country. *'The English-speaking people have a great advantage America in the Orient. 165 in China now because their language is popular in Asia, and because it is more commonly used than any other for- eign tongue. It is a pity that this advantage cannot be followed up by making the language still more adaptable to the needs of the natives of the country. The present popularity is due to circumstances. The English con- trolled India. Their language was spoken there and in all the British colonies, and when the English found their way •into China ahead of other European nations they brought their language with them. But it is not an easy tongue to learn. The Chinese people are not slow in learning, but it does not seem right that unnecessary ob- stacles should be placed in their path. I am not partial to the English language, but it has evidently come to stay, and it may already be called the commercial language of the Orient. In all the treaty ports and important centers of the East it holds a place in the school and the counting- house which no other language can claim. It is spoken in the streets of Shanghai, it is taught in the- schools of Yokohama, and it has obtained such a vogue that merchants of all other nations resident in the East make use of it in their business and in their families. If there is to be an international language it will be Eng- lish, and therefore I say it ought to be improved upon so as to facilitate the learning of it and make it easier for those who are not English-born. A whole language can- not be suddenly reformed. Changes must be a matter of slow growth. But there is one respect in which improve- ment can be made without doing violence to the idiom or the construction. This is in spelling. If a phonetic spell- ing were to be adopted it would be a blessing to those of us with whom English has not become a habit, and who find ourselves continually tripping and stumbling over the words which do not sound as they appear to the eye, and it would be worth a little trouble for the people of the 1 66 America in the- Orient. United States to make the change. Americans, I find, ac- complish many results by meeting together and discussing questions. Why would it not be possible to hold a great convention, the object of which should be to bring the spelling of the English language more closely in conform- ity with its sound? "Another thing: The men who go from the United States to the Far East should learn to understand the peo- ple there. They ought to realize the fact that the Asiatic is not an Anglo-Saxon, that his habit of mind is different, and that he has customs and peculiarities of his own. What an American or European might do under certain conditions offers no standard for the Oriental, and in the same way it would be a grievous mistake to attempt to force the Asiatic to a compliance with American or Euro- pean ideas. A slight difference of conception, insignificant m itself, may lead to the most lamentable misunderstand- ings. Lawsuits and even wars have resulted from a failure on the part of foreigners to comprehend the atti- tude of mind of Asiatic peoples with whom they have come in contact. If Americano are to prosper in the Orient with peace and good will they must be ready to adapt them- selves to the conditions they find there, and they must study to understand the motives and the customs of the natives of the country. They must learn to judge them by another standard than that which prevails among Western nations, and this requires adaptability and tact. It is a mistake, I believe, to place men in control of affairs in the East who are not men of the world. Military offi- cers, accustomed by long habit to routine and iron-clad regulations, cannot, except in extraordinary instances, bring themselves to a delicate comprehension of the mo- tives of the people with whom they are surrounded. Men of broad sympathies and wide tolerance are needed, men who arc accustomed to deal with other men in all relations America in the Orient. 167 of life, and whose comprehension is elastic enough to bring them into sympathetic touch with people in whom the traditions of ages have implanted ideas and standards of their own. The nation which is to have the greatest success in the Orient will be the nation which conducts its commercial, social and diplomatic intercourse in this spirit. Disagreeable consequences will be avoided if those w^ho are unfamiliar with our ways will make it their object to learn to understand them, not superficially, but intimately — to put themselves as far as they can into the mental attitude of those with whom they are in contact. 'This brings me to a subject which is of the very great- est interest not only to America but to us in the East. The United ^States has gained a foothold in the Philippines. There will be an opportunity there for the American peo- ple to show their capacity for handling Asiatic people. I am pleased to see that strong and tactful men, civilians, have been intrusted with the responsibility of conducting American affairs in these new possessions. ''There is a great deal of talk about the presence of the Chinese in the Philippines, and there are those who say that this is a problem which may cause trouble. I do not see why there should be any difificulty. The Chinese have been there for centuries. Why should anybody wish to disturb the existing state of things ? It is said there is ill- feeling against the Chinese on the part of the natives, but this is by no means so great as it has been represented to be. It is exaggerated. Those who have discussed it make too much of it. This is a fundamental mistake. If the natives see that the Americans attach importance to it, they may magnify it themselves, but if Americans refuse to notice it there will be a difference. It is said that the natives have some feeling because the Chinese have suc- ceeded in business, monopolizing it in some instances. What if this be true? Is it not the fault of the natives 1 68 America in the Orient. themselves? If the Chinese learn to transact business, they have that advantage over foreigners, and the Chinese are naturally business men. But if the natives would apply themselves, why should they not control the business themselves? They certainly have every natural advantage over foreigners. If they will only work and seize the op- portunities, the natural consequence will be that the Chi- nese will cease going there. The thing will remedy itself. There is no necessity for resorting to forcible measures to exclude our people. It lies with the natives themselves if they are good for anything. Let them turn their talents to account. The fact that so many Chinese go to the Phil- ippines is only an evidence that the people there do not live up to their opportunities. If there were no opening for the Chinese, they certainly would not go there. Then it is said there is feeling against the Mestizos. Why should this be?. The very fact that they are Mestizos or half- breeds is evidence in itself of intimate association between the two races. One is as good as the other. If the ill- feeling against the Chinese were as strong as it has been represented to be, there certainly would not he so many Mestizos. The existence of the Mestizos shows that the natives like the Chinese. It seems to be that this is self- evident. It is true, of course, that the cleverest men in the Philippines are these same Chinese \J^estizos. Aguinaldo has Chinese blood, and this is the case with most of the leading Filipinos. The Mestizos get their best blood from the Chinese. Hence they are superior to the natives. '''Mr. Wildman, the A^merican consul at Hongkong, has said in his report that without Chinese labor the trade with the Philippines would be ruined, and all the indus- tries w^ould deteriorate. There would be no chance for development. He said this emphatically, and it is prob- ably true. The English people appreciate this. They would be very glad indeed to have the Chinese expelled America in the Orient. 169 ^liMLi ihe Philippines, because in that case there would be the less to fear from the competition of the Philippine trade, and because the Chinese when expelled would be inclined to go to the Straits Settlement, where they will be welcomed. The English government has always en- couraged the immigration of Chinese to the Straits. They recognize the value of this class of population in devel- oping the country. There are Chinese in Hongkong. They have recently established cotton factories there with Chinese labor, and the proprietors of these factories do not relish the pnospect of having similar factories estab- lished in the Philippines. If the Chinese were excluded from the Philippines there would be no danger of com- petition from this source, because the native Filipinos are not adapted to work of this kind. The English govern- ment welcomes the Chinese in the Straits Settlement and in all its colonies. They cannot do without them. They work them to advantage, and the result is always good. I am familiar with Singapore, and know something of the Malay natives there. Many of the Filipinos are of the same race. You cannot make anything out of them, and there is little chance for their development without the presence of the Chinese. ''I have raised the question whether it is not time for the United States to extend the Monroe Doctrine to Asia. There are those who say that this is too rapid. But is it not logical ? The possession of the Philippines brings the Lnited States within six hundred miles of Asia, nearer by far than some portions of South America to which the Monroe Doctrine is now held to apply. It is a measure of self -protection, founded on justice, and if the United States is to be an Asiatic power, I cannot see why, logi- cally, it will not find itself in time compelled to guard against the encroachments of European powers in that part of the world. It is true that the Monroe Doctrine 170 America in the Orient. was intended originally to apply to the American continent alone, but the principle is the same wherever foreign en- croachments might interfere with American interests. It will not be necessary to interfere with existing conditions. When President Monroe issued his caveat he intended it to apply to the future, not to that which already was. He did not go as far as to undertake to drive from the Ameri- can continent those European nations which were already there. To apply the same doctrine to Asia means simply that things are to be left as they are, and this will be for the interests of the United States as well as for the whole Asiatic continent. I may be a little ahead of time, but by and by the United States will come to this. The posses- sion of the Philippines is a new thing, but after awhile, perhaps in ten years, it will be seen that for self -protect ion and for the maintenance of peace it will be necessary to have all nations understand that no further encroachments on the Asiatic continent will be allowed. When that time comes there will be no more war. After the United States gets a firm hold on the Philippines, and begins to establish American commerce and to branch out in every direction, they will become more and more impressed with the ne- cessity of keeping things as they are. No man can tell how long the open door can be maintained in the East unless further aggressions are prevented.'* CHAPTER XII. THE BOXERS. -^ There are innumerable secret societies in China, and of these the Boxers is to-day by far the best known, most important and most influential. Though the society of the Boxers has but recently come into prominence, it is in point of fact but a new manifestation of a secret society which has existed throughout the whole Mantchu dy- nasty, a period covering over two hundred years. The probability is that it was formed by plotters against the Mantchu conquerors. It never succeeded in its object in overthrowing the dynasty, but still under one name or another and with one purpose or another, it has continued to exist until the present day. Not so long ago it was called "The White Lotus Society,'' and again "The Great Knife or Sword Society." The name of the society still varies, but perhaps Ho Ch' Wan is the most common of any. This is differently translated as "Righteous Fist Society" (hence the Boxers) and "League of Righteous Harmony." Oriental ideas may appreciate the righteousness better than our own. The Chinese newspaper Shen Poo gives the following account of the Boxers : "The robber chief, Tschu Leung Teng founded in May, 1899, i^ the province of Eh-hsien and Ping Yuen Hsuen, a sect which originally went by the names Hung Tong Tschan (Red Lamp Shade), Tschin Tschung Lehang (Veil of the Golden Bell), Lie Pu Schan (Shirt of Iron), and Tatahni (Sect of the Great Water). Soon the organ- ization extended operations to the province of Khan- 172 The Boxers. Hsien, and changed its name to Lin-Hu-Schuen (Willow Forest Fist). Government troops were sent to stoo the murders of its members and extinguish them, and they fled back to their first fields of work, the provirfces of En Husien and Ping-Yuen-Hsien, and again changed their name to J-Ho-Tschuen (The Fist of Patriotism and Peace). ''The Chinese are persuaded to join this sect by being told that the society controls many powerful and wonder- ful magic formulae, which makes the owner proof against sword or bullet. In a very short time the sect had grown immensely and spread over many provinces. The leaders even gave out that the members need not fear the shot from cannon. "The first murders were committed on Roman Catholic Christians, but by the middle of September, 1899, no dis- tinction was made between these and Protestant Chris- tians. After the missionaries had telegraphed to the Amer- ican Consul at Tien-tsin for help, and Governor Yu of Shang Tung had sent one hundred government soldiers out against the Boxers, they suddenly vanished.^ But on October 11 the leader again gathered nearly one thousand of the sect around him, and issued a proclamation signed with his full name, in which he says: 'The Fist of Pa- triotism and Peace' in the empire will elevate the Mant- chu dynasty and extinguish all foreigners. "Government troops sent out against them suffered de- feat constantly and the misdeeds of the rebels multiplied day by day. A battle was fought near Lin-Lo-Tien, be- tween the soldiers and the Boxers, who arranged special jubilee days to celebrate this event. "Since then the Boxers have become more and more daring in their attacks upon missionaries, and the sect is spreading constantly to all nearby districts. The European powers and the United States will have to undertake the The Boxers. 173 punishment of the rebels themselves on account of the in- ability of the Chinese Government to deal with the Boxers or the co-operation of part of the Chinese Government with the rebels." In regard to the connivance of the government with the Boxers all authorities seem to accept this as a fact. That Boxers do not represent a general uprising of the people is the opinion of the Rev. John N. B. Smith of Ningpo, China, and he has been nineteen years in China as a Presbyterian minister. The Boxers, he says, are the outcome of the reactionary measures, and whatever may have been the past history of the society, it has now col- lected its forces against the foreigners within the Chinese Empire. There has always been a strong anti-foreign feeling among the officials and literati (the scholars from whose ranks the officials are chosen), and they have stirred up the people and fomented disturbances whenever and wherever they have been able to do so. They despise for- eigners because they consider them to be an inferior race; they hate them because the latter will not submit to and acknowledge their superior wisdom. The Boxers is a local organization, collected and or- ganized by the literati, and encouraged by the officials, and it is an open secret that the edicts issued in answef to the appeal for the suppression of the Boxers have been really political manifestos approving the purpose while ap- parently condemning the excesses of the Boxers. The course followed by the mandarins, approved by the Dowager, and until recently acquiesced in by the minis- ters, has been one calculated to foster and encourage the growth of such an organization. Whatever may have been the genesis of the movement, it has been encouraged by the Empress with a hope that she could use it to carry out her own ends. She made no 174 The Boxers. adequate effort to prevent their march on Pekin, because she hoped under the guise of an insurrection to secure the deposition, if not the death, of the Emperor, and the ex- pulsion of the foreigners from Pekin, and subsequently from all China. There seems to be a well-organized reform i>arty ex- tending to all (or all but three) of the eighteen provinces of China. It was the product of these people that com- pelled the Dowager to withdraw from her proposed plan of putting another emperor on the throne of China. The rebellion in the Souths continues the Rev. Mr. -Smith, writing under the date of June i6, 1900, has no connection with the Boxers, but is an uprising of the peo- ple against the oppression of their rulers, an event of no uncommon occurrence in that particular region. It is either a continuation or a revival of a rebellion which was going on several months ago.. The events of the last few months have revealed, on the one hand, that the desire and intention of the Dowager and her party is the restoration or continuance of the old order of things and the expulsion of the foreigners. On the other hand, it has been shown that there is a large party in favor of reform, who do not acquiesce in the usurpations of the Dowager, and who are working for the £ull restoration of the Emperor to his lawful authority. The Boxers had got beyond the control of the authori- ties and were sufficiently numerous and ferocious to do incalculable damage before they were suppressed. If they succeeded, their success would encourage similar upris- ings all over the empire. If the powders should slacken their efforts, when once they took the matter in hand, and allow the Dowager to deceive them by pretended acquiescence and specious promises, they would certainly rue it. The Dowager con- sented to the presence of foreign troops because she could The Boxers. / D not prevent it and because she hoped by her seeming ac- quiescence in the efforts of the powers to put down the rebellion, to persuade them that she had had no hand in the uprising from which she had hoped so much and got so Httle. Men are still living in China who remember the time when the imperialists had to call in foreign powers to sup- press the Tae-ping rebellion, and some of them say that the assistance given to the imi>erialists put back progress in China fifty years. The powers have now put their hand to the plow and they ought not to turn back. They must not stop until this uprising is entirely suppressed and until they have secured adeqviate safeguards that such upris- ings will never occur again. To carry out this work, concludes Dr. Smith, they will need to assure the Empress Dowager that the Emperor's health is so far restored that he will be able, with the as- sistance of the powers, to manage the affairs of state and that in view of her increasing years and weakness she needs the rest and quiet which can only be obtained by a complete abandonment of all concern in public matters, and that she will be allowed to retire immediately to enjoy her well-earned repose. The retirement of the Dowager and the restoration of the Emperor will be a death-blow to the reactionaries and an assurance to the friends of progress that there is hope for China. Miss Anna Benjamin, a talented writer, who obtained her information on the spot in Pekin, is also of the opinion that the Empress Dowager could have nipped the whole Boxer movement in the bud with a few vigorous meas- ures, for she believes the valor of the Boxers to be of that order which does not thrive before a determined resis- tance. A number of arrests and a few decapitations of leaders might considerably lessen the force of that "right- 176 The Boxers. eons fist," and the ancient society be made again only a latent force in the Chinese Empire. Miss Benjamin also says that the slumbering society of Boxers was wakened to life by certain phases. of Roman Catholicism in China. There are more converts to that form of Christianity than any other, and there are several reasons for this. The Roman Catholics have worked longer in China than any Protestant sect, and they are not so careful about putting their converts on proba- tion, but accept all who come. Recently, through the great activity of the French Legation, especial privileges have been granted Roman Catholic subjects. This is due to the government's weakness, rather than any encouraging attitude toward Christianity. The Roman Catholic^ have achieved so much influence wnth the government that w^hen a native convert has any trouble with one of his neighbors and is subjected to law- suit or arrest, he applies immediately to the priest, who responds by sending his card to the local magistrate. This acts like magic and the convert is released or gains his point. Miss Benjamin does not for a moment consider that the priests have been lacking in conscientiousness. It is generally their zeal for their faith which has led them to make mistakes, and they have too often failed to investi- gate whether the supposed convert whom they were help- ing was right or wrong. It will be seen, therefore, that here was injustice, which the Chinese might naturally resent, although it was of a new variety, hardly of a dif- ferent nature, from that to which they had been accus- tomed. The wrath of the Boxers was at first, as has been said, directed toward the Roman Catholics and the injustice for which they were responsible, but as they grew more fanatical, less distinction was made between the various The Boxers, 177 bodies of Christians and all were more or less in danger. There was also a drought in North China for nine months, during which time there was only one rainfall, and a fearful famine was threatened. This dire state of affairs the Boxers laid to the foreigners in general, and soon all WTre included in their hatred. Another cause for the movements of the Boxers may have been the hatred the Germans aroused among the common people, and still another the defeats and disas- ters of the Chinese at the hands of foreign nations, espe- cially their reverses in the war with Japan. In a recent issue of the Philadelphia Press a prominent Chinaman is quoted as follows: ''Foreigners of every nation are objectionable to a large majority of China- men, and when they see Europeans and Americans getting valuable concessions and preparing to cut up the country with railroads, they fear the invasion will eventuate in the extinction of sacred customs and that the white man will rule the country.'' It may be said that this statement very fairly represents the average opinion of the Chinese people. It may be interesting to note from a letter received by the New York Siui^vom the capital of Chih-li, how the Boxers gained their present power. In any other country they would have been scotched and killed like a dangerous snake, but nothing is done in China as anywhere else. In 1899, ^^ the Pao-ting prefectories, about eight hun- dred Boxers secured a walled hamlet, and began to gather arms and ammunition. They sent out recruiting agents, who represented the rich loot that would be gained by any one who took service under them. They bought all the pistols they could find, as well as other arms, paying good prices for these weapons. Swords and spears were also gathered, and the raw recruits were drilled daily by men 178 The Boxers. who had enjoyed the training of German officers. In a few months the force was Hcked into shape, and, as it was made up of adventurers, who had everything to gain and nothing to lose, it was formidable, especially in a non- military country like China. During all these months warnings and appeals were constantly received by the magistrate at the capital. These letters came from native Christian villages near the Boxer headquarters. These people knew the intensely anti-Christian sentiments of the society, and they saw clearly if the Boxers were allowed to go on gaining strength, the association would soon be too powerful to check without calling out the imperial army. But the magistrate laughed at the warnings and ignored the ap- peals. Apparently he treated the new society as a band of cranks, who would never reach any prominence, and he never lifted a hand to prevent the recruiting or the gathering of arms and munitions. Finally the expected attack was made upon a Christian village, and it was so savage and shov/ed such organiza- tion among the Boxers that the magistrate was forced to appeal to Tien-tsin for aid to suppress the bandits. The leader of the Boxers then determined to assert himself. He gave notice that he would call on the follow- ing day on the magistrate. That official gathered about him several petty military officers, one hundred provincial troops and about seventy yamen runners and constables. They made quite an imposing appearance, but the mo- ment the Boxer leader entered the yamen with fifty well- armed followers it was plain to every one that the magis- trate was alarmed and wished to temporize. The magis- trate tried a bluflf game and demanded that the Boxers should agree not to interfere with Christians in his pre- The Boxers, 179 lecture, but he gave them full liberty to harm any Chris- tians or foreigners in other districts. The Boxer leader talked in a general way of the plunder that was to be gained by squeezing the Christians of the distiict until about four hundred more of his followers had crowded into the yamen yard, most of them with arms concealed under their blouses. Then he threw off all disguise and boldly told the trem- bling magistrate that unless he furnished a good amount of coin at once the Boxers would begin w^ork on his yamen and then loot the city. The military officers looked at the magistrate and saw- it w^as useless to attempt resistance. The magistrate ordered one thousand bags of rice from the city granary to be distributed to the Boxers, and gave the leader fifty taels for drink money. The money was wrapped in paper, and when it was untied, it was found to be half a tael short. At this the Boxer leader swore a fierce oath, and de- clared that he felt like cutting off the magistrate's head. He cast the money contemptuously on the floor. The magistrate became pale and speechless with fright, but one of his officers plucked up courage enough to ask what w^as wanted. 'Tour hundred taels,'' replied the leader. Despite protests that he had no such sum, the magis- trate was forced to bring out the money. He produced three hundred and fifty taels, and said that this, with the money first offered, would make up the lot. ^'Bring out another fifty taels," said the bandit leader, 'for the first coin I intend to use as drink money for my men." The bandits made a rush for the coin on the floor, and it disappeared in a moment. The chief then weighed the package of silver and after- i8o The Boxers. ward marched out of the courtyard with his men. They appeared to have entire contempt for the regular troops of the yamen. This is a fair specimen of the way the Boxers were al- lowed to gain strength at all prominent parts in North China, yntil they thought that they were invincible. In concluding this chapter, let us see what a Boxer himself has to say on the subject. There is living in Lon- don, holding a high position in a firm of Eastern mer- chants, a Chinese who has belonged for many years to the Boxers' Society. In an interview with a correspondent of the London Express, he said, speaking of the Boxers' Secret Society in China: ''You English look at Chinese matters only from your own point of view. xA.h! if you could only look at them from ours ! Western civilization is to us a mere mush- room. It is a thing of yesterday. Chinese civilization is unnumbered thousands of years old. We consider our- selves at least two thousand years ahead of you. ''There was a time when we had, like you, our 'struggle for life,' our race for wealth, our ambition for power, our Haste and hurry and worry. We, too, had your clever in- ventions — gunpowder, printing and the rest — but we have lived long enough to find out how essentially unnecessary all these things are. "We have also had our periods of doubt, fanaticism and dissension in matters of religion. We have had our mar- tyrs, our reformations, our non-conformists, our intoler- ance, and, finally, our toleration. Yes, thousands of years ago. "But, as I say, we have outgrown it all. From the ex- perience of past centuries we have learned wisdom ; from the mistakes and disasters of our ancestors we have The Boxers. i8i learned that none of the things for which we strove were really worth striving for. "Our passions and ambitions have settled down into a calm desire for happiness in this world ; our religion is reduced to a philosophy of life which the test of the last two thousand years has proved to be absolutely sound. "We believe that the best thing to pursue in this life is happiness, and we teach our children that their happi- ness can be secured only by the performance of duty, by the observance of moral and business obligations, and by surrounding one's self wijh a circle of equally happy friends and relatives. "If a Chinaman prospers beyond the lot which /alls to his kindred he finds his greatest happiness in sharing his good fortune with them. And in China we never cease to work. There is no such thing as 'retiring from busi- ness.' Work is part of our pleasure, because it is part of our duty. "We believe in making the best of this life, which is the only one we know anything about for certain. That is the be all and end all of Chinese philosophy. "All through China you will find the same level, uni- form spirit of content. You may think we live lives of ignorance and squalor and idleness, but I assure you it is not so. We are as well off as we want to be, and no man can improve on that. "Now, these being our circumstances, you of the West- em World come to us with what you call your new ideas. You bring us your religion, an infant of nineteen hundred years. You invite us to build railways so that we may fly from place to place at a speed which for us has neither ne- cessity nor charm. You want to build mills and factories so as to debase our beautiful arts and crafts, and produce tawdry finery in place of the beautiful textures and hues which we have evolved after ages of experiment. 1 8a The Boxers. "Against all this we protest. We want to be let alone. We want to be free to enjoy our beautiful country and the fruits of our centuries of experience. When we ask you to go away you refuse, and you even threaten us if we do not give you our harbors, our land, our towns. '*And now, having carefully considered the matter, we of the so-called Boxers' Society have decided that the only way to get rid of you is to kill you. We are not naturally bloodthirsty. We certainly are not thieves. But when persuasion and argument and appeals to your sense of jus- tice are of no avail, we find ourselves face to face with the fact that the only resource is to put you out of existence. "Consider your missionaries. They come, as I have said, with a new religion, upon the main principles of which they are divided bitterly among themselves. They tell us that unless we accept their doctrines we shall suffer eternal punishment. They frighten our children and the more weak-minded of our older people, and create all kinds of dissensions between families and individuals. No wonder that we will not tolerate them. 'Tf we wanted your railways and machines, we could, of course, buy them ; but we do not. We have no use for them. We have learned to do without them. Yet you say you will force us to buy them whether we will or no. Is that just? I say it is an impertinence — an outrage. ''A good deal is made of the fact that we are not sol- diers. Well, we have ceased to be soldiers because we have become civilized. War is a barbarism. The effect of our having arrived at our present stage of civilization is that we have increased and multiplied beyond every other race on the face of the earth. In spite of our great mortality (which seems to be very shocking to you, al- though we recognize in it only a wise provision of na- ture), the Chinese race is increasing at a greater rate than any other people in the world. The Boxers. 183 '*We could, if we chose, overwhelm the rest of mankind. That we do not do so is due to the perfection of our civil- ization, our philosophy and our morals. We number 400,- 000,000 human beings, and who could withstand us if we chose to assert our power ? Do you think we are uncon- scious of it ? On the contrary, we understand it only too well. Let the white races of the earth appreciate the fact that we and not they are its masters. ''There have been twenty so-called successful invasions of China. But what has happened? Have invaders dominated the Chinese? No. The conquered have ab- sorbed the conquerors. All have become Chinese. The very Jews who have come among us have been absorbed by our race—a thing which has never happened elsewhere. ''Let me repeat that all the forces which divide men in the West have practically no existence in China. Politics, religion, private ambitions, the necessity for expansion! land hunger, gold hunger— all these have no existence in China. You think that because the Chinaman is inert, careless and simple, he is a child. There never was a greater mistake. ''He has learned the secret of being happy. His life is placid, and nothing troubles him so long as his conscience is clear. "There you have our character in a sentence. Let us alone, and we will let you alone.'' y^cr^ CHAPTER XIIL THE EMPRESS DOWAGER. To-day the eyes of all the world are upon the Dowager Hmpress, Tsi-an, who may be said to be the most won- dt rful woman of the world. Indeed, she stands high among the most wonderful women who ever lived. Horn a slave, she is now the absolute potentate of four hundred millions of people, one-third of the whole popu- lation of the globe. Tsi-an, from earliest childhood, has been a person of absorbing ambition. She was born sixty-six years ago of good Mantchu stock, her grandfather being one of the leading literati. Her father was a refugee, being the victim of one of those uprisings which so frequently threaten China. His house was burned, his crops were ruined and what little property he had was confiscated. He wandered for weeks to the South with his wife and child, hoping for work with which to restore his lost pittance. Finally, becoming desperate, he stopped in a little town in the province of Honan, and begged for food for his little family. Tsi-an, however, was beautiful, and beauty in China is a great good fortune for its possessor. The young girl ^\ as tall and straight and handsome, with a skin the color of a yellow peach, yet black hair and eyes of sparkling black. Her feet were of their natural size, not deformed. v^he was, moreover, as witty and winsome as she was beautiful. On their journey southward many people told Tsi-an's The Empress Dowager. 185 parents that they ought to sell the child and live the rest of their lives in peace and abundance. The girl, hearing people speak of her beauty, asked her parents if it were true. When they answered that it was, she begged them to sell her so that she would not be a burden upon them, and they themselves might live in comfort. The parents, therefore, sought out the Viceroy of the town in which they happened to be stopping, and event- ually a bargain was made. Her father and mother bade the future Empress good- by, and with the money they had received for their beau- tiful daughter wended their way northward. The experience of Tsi-an in the Viceroy's household was a varied one. At first she was placed in the kitchen, and obhged to do the work of a sculHon. She scrubbed the floor and washed the cooking utensils ; but her gentle disposition, cleverness and beauty soon became known about the Viceroy's court, and she was summoned to the presence of the Viceroy and his chief wife. The old man had promised not to take any more concubines, so Tsi-an was made a court attendant to the Viceroy's wife. Her talent and wit soon charmed the Viceroy. He made her his adopted daughter and promised to grant any favor she might ask. Throwing herself at his feet, she begged him to give her a tutor, that she might become learned and wise, and thus be a better daughter to him^ The Viceroy granted her request, and she threw her- self with great ardor into her studies. At that time she could neither read nor write, but in a few years she be- came so talented that her wisdom was heralded far and wide, and great mandarins came to listen to her. One day a superb decoration was brought to her adopted father from the Emperor. The Viceroy could i86 The Empress Dowagen not understand why this new honor had been bestowed upon him. Finally one of the mandarins said : "When the beautiful Tsi-an leaves for Pekin, we will all come and send our presents also." The Viceroy understood now. The fame of his adopted daughter's beauty had reached the Emperor's ears and he desired her for his harem. ''What must be, must be/' a Chinaman reasons. Why hesitate then ? Tsi-an was put in the charge of a faithful servant and sent to Pekin, ''a present to the Emperor." No sooner was she presented to the Emperor than she conquered him with her coquetry and wit. When she first, entered the palace, she was only a sec- ondary wife. Within a short time she presented the Em- peror with a son, the first he had yet had, a boy who afterward became the Emperor Tung-che. This so de- lighted the Emperor that he raised her to the rank of Empress, giving her the title of the Western Empress to distinguish her from his first wife, who was known as the Eastern Empress. The two empresses had separate palaces, one at the east and the other at the west part of the Forbidden City. It was not long after this that the Emperor Hieng- Fung died. There was a rumor that Tsi-an had got tired of him and compassed his death, but this is hardly probable, as she was the favorite and the real power behind the throne. She had practically usurped the po- sition of precedence held by the Emperor's first wife. She was the recipient of palaces, diamonds, pearls and precious stones, the rarest and costliest of china ; a thou- sand women slaves, such as she had once been herself, waited upon her, and her robes were the handsomest Tlie Empress Dowager. 187 that could be bought. The wealth of the empire was laid at her feet. So skillful was she and so tactful that the greatest of all Chinamen since Confucius, Li Hung Chang, wor- shiped at her feet. This had all been accomplished in twelve years, for Tsi-an was but twenty-seven years old when the Em- peror died. She must now seek new captives, for power- ful enemies were seeking to overthrow her imperious reign. The guardianship of the baby Emperor had been left to a board of princely regents. With the aid of Prince Kung, Tsi-an overthrew this board and usurped the reins of government herself. She associated w4th herself in the regency the real Dowager Empress, Tsi Tshi, whose power, however, was practically nil. The two empresses were supposed to run the govern- ment, but all the edicts had to be approved by Prince Kung. Tsi-an did not like this at all. She could control the Eastern Empress, but Prince Kung was by far from being so malleable. She made up her mind to get rid of him, and she made her little boy issue an edict that Kung had been very disrespectful to him, the Emperor, and must be degraded. So the prince's titles were taken away from him and he was confined in one of the palaces. Three days afterw^ard the baby Emperor issued another edict that Kung had thrown himself at the foot of the throne, confessed his fault, and was therefore pardoned. His rank and offices were then given back to him, all but the share in the regency. From that time the Em- press Dowager was the undisputed ruler of China. As for Prince Kung, she sometimes favored, sometimes de- graded him, according to her humor or plans. At about this time China was threatened with war. 1 88 The Empress Dowager. The Yang-tsze valley was in a state of insurrection and the Mantchus on the north were restless. The Empress Tsi-an had been too busy to secure her position at Pekin to attend to anything else. It was fortunate for China, therefore, that there was a man equal to the occasion, and, curiously enough, he, like the Empress, had risen from the peasant classes. Had it not been for this man the Empress Tsi-an's career would have been short-lived. But Li Hung Chang was the salvation of the empire, and he upheld its name and preserved its purity. The Empress found Li Hung Chang indispensable to her ambitions, and Li became the willing tool of this now powerful woman. The Emperor Yung-che grew to manhood and mar- ried. But in 1875 he died of smallpox. Prince Kung was reinstated in his hereditary rank, and Tsi-an at once began a high-handed policy against her enemies. The Empress Ahlula, who was enceinte, was thrown into prison and died there before her child and heir to the throne was born. This removed one dis- agreeable possibility. The report sent out by the Empress was that Ahlula had ^'ascended upon the dragon to be a guest on high." The Dowager Empress has been called the Lucrezia Borgia of China, and there may be much truth in the appellation. At all events, it is astonishing how con- veniently her enemies have perished. The empresses then proclaimed as emperor a son of Prince Chung, under the name of Kwang Su. The new Emperor was only four years old and Tsi-an's power was again supreme. Despite her almost absolute power, there was always a thorn in the side of Tsi-an and that was the other Em- press, the widow of Hien-Fung, who, though the legal The Empress Dowager. 189 Dowager, had little or no power except to stir up dis- sension. In 1 88 1, therefore, Tsi-an had the mournful announce- ment^to issue telling of the serious illness of the rightful Dowager. Shortly after this the Empress Tsi-an was called upon to publish the sad news of her coadjutor's death. The illness was short and the death sudden, but it was not the first time such things had happened in the palace, and the people had no alternative but to accept the situation and mourn with the surviving Empress. No one has opposed Tsi-an's will and survived. Some one has said that she has "a tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's slan." All her rivals have died. Most of them have suffered from mysterious illnesses sug- gesting poison. A peculiarly strong essence of opium, said to be her own preparation, is reported to be used. When Kwang Su was eighteen he was allowed a wife. All the pretty girls of the Empire, numbering many thou- sands, were brought together and sorted and the best of them sent to Pekin, where they were brought before the Empress. *'This examination and weeding of candidates went on for nearly two years, narrowing down from nearly three hundred original entries to thirty picked beauties, then to ten, and last to Yehonola, queen rose in the Mantchu garden of roses and daughter of the Empress Regent's own brother; whereby the invincible Dowager showed her skill again and kept imperial affairs in the family despite Kwang Su's preference for another. The Dowager Empress is a great stickler for etiquette. She exacts the same reverence as the Emperor. None -nay look at her. All must kow-tow to her. When they come up to her, they must continue to grovel and not raise their eyes to her Celestial face. 190 The Empress Dowager. Li Hung Chang was once disgraced and banished for walking in a garden made sacred by Her Majesty's feet. The Empress Dowager retired avowedly from the regency on Kwang Su's coming of age in 1889, but her continued influence was repeatedly made manifest by edicts which the Emperor admitted having received her instructions to issue or indorse. It would be superfluous to record at length -the circum- .stances of the Emperor's revolt against that influence, nor need we attempt to ascertain the precise amount of his capacity and force. Tt may be said, en passant^ that Li Hung Chang was disgraced and deprived of his ^'ellow jacket and peacock feathers by Kw^ang Su, but after the Chinese war and its frightful disaster and loss to China, the Empress Dow- ager came out openly, took the bull by the horns, and reinstated Li and sent him to Japan to negotiate the terms of peace. Since that time the contentions in the palace have been bitter, and Kwang Su, in attempting to assert his authority, has lost it. What is certain is that the Emperor stood for reform and that the Empress Dowager stood for reaction. Li Hung Chang was removed from the scene and sent to Canton, where he was the Viceroy of the two Kwang provinces, but this concession only strengthened the power of the Empress. Kwang Su pitched his tent with the reformers, and by this act erected his own scaffold. He offended the ancient literati of China, and struck a blow at Confucian- ism that the scholars of the Flowery Empire could not condone. They went over in a body to the Empress. The last straw which broke the back of the Dowager's patience was a report that the Emperor had ordered her to be imprisoned in her palace and forbid her having The Empress Dowager. 191 anything to do with the government. It was then that she sent for Yung Li, her friend and head of the army, and the Emperor was seized and confined in August, 1898. He was afterward forced to sign an edict restor- ing the Empress to power. The arrangements for this coup were carried out with great ceremony. Kwang Su's principal crime, aside from his proclivity for reform, was his age. The Em- press had no use for an Emperor who was old enough to think. She therefore looked about for another puppet, a child, to keep under her regency. One was discovered in Pu-Ts'u-an, a nine-year-old boy, the son of the Duke Tsai-Lu. It did not matter that he could only speak Mantchu ; in fact, it would not have mattered if he had been deaf and dumb. The Empress' mode of procedure was worthy of her strategic ability. She forced Kwang Su to draw up a memorial addressed to herself to be allowed to resign his throne on account of chronic illness. It was then ar- ranged that the Empress should refuse to permit him to resign and ask him to reconsider for the good of the nation. He was then to reiterate his request and, after three times, the Empress was to accept with a great show of reluctance. On September 28, 1898, she openly seized the reins of power, in pursuance of an edict issued in His Majesty's name. Six of the men who had prominently supported him in his scheme of reform were put to death. In the same year, the Empress Dowager received Prince Henry of Prussia face to face, instead of listening behind a screen, as was usual. She even shook him by the hand, a thing heretofore unknowm in Chinese history. Prince Henry suggested that the Empress Dowager should receive the ladies of the diplomatic corps. There were many difficulties in the way, but they were finally 192 The Empress Dowager. overcome, and a reception was held that year, followed by another the next year. The young Empress Yehonola was not even heard of in the matter. The reception itself, however, was very interesting, as will be seen by the following account given by a lady who was in attendance and related by her to Mr. Frank G. Carpenter : ^ *'The reception was remarkable in that it was the first ever given to foreign ladies, and also in that we were the first foreign women Her Majesty had ever seen, as up to that time no foreign woman had ever been in the palace. *'The reception required a long time for its arrange- ment. There were no rules of procedure and the leading Chinese officials and their wives labored over it for weeks. They held many conferences with the foreign Ministers, but after a time all was satisfactorily arranged and the day for the call was set. It was decided that we should meet at the house of Lady McDonald, the wife of the British Minister, and that she as doyenne of the diplo- matic corps should lead the procession. ''The reception was held in the daytime. This w^as contrary to the usual custom of the palace, where the audiences are usually at night or about daybreak.- It was at ten o'clock when we assembled at ):he British Legation and we were taken from there to the Imperial City by a mounted escort of Chinese soldiers. Each of us rode in an official chair carried by four Chinamen in livery, and each was accompanied by two of the petty Chinese of- ficials, or mapoos, belonging to her legation. "There were seven ladies in all, and the procession made up of these chairs, those of the interpreters, and the regiment of Chinese cavalry w^as a long one. It took its way slowly through the wide streets of the Tartar City and on into the Imperial City to the gates of the Forbid- den City, the Holy of Holies of the Chinese Empire, and The Empress Dowager. 193 to the place in which the palaces of the Emperor and his Court are. We were taken through great walls, across moats, over bridges of marble, past many guards and officials of different rank. ''At the gate of the Forbidden City the chairs were halted and we all got out. Here we found the toy rail- road train given by the French to the Emperor waiting for us, with a crowd of eunuchs ready to push it over the track. There are several thousand of them employed about the palace. ''We entered the cars and were carried over a little railroad, through a vast extent of beautiful gardens, by lakes and wdnding streams, past one great palace after another, and at last stopped at what I might call the Hall of Audience. Here we found a large number of the ladies of the palace aw^aiting us. They were beautifully dressed in Mantchu costume and with them were many eunuchs. We were met by the ladies and conduc,ted by them up the stairs into a large room, at the back of which, on a platform with a little table in front of her, sat the Empress Dowager. "Her Majesty was dressed in a pale yellow silk gown, beautifully embroidered w^ith flowers and dragons of the same color. She wore the headdress commonly worn by elderly Chinese w^omen, her hair being fastened in a knot at the back just below the crown, the front of the head and a part of the forehead being concealed by a silk band heavily embroidered with pearls of large size. "I was struck with Her Majesty's youthful appearance. She was sixty-four, but she looked ten years younger. Her face was plump and free from wrinkles. She had a high forehead, elongated perhaps by the custom of the Chinese ladies of pulling out the hairs at the edge of the forehead with tweezers. She had a strong face and in youth must have been very pretty. During the audience 194 'Tlie Empress Dowager. she frequently smiled, and I could see no signs of that cruelty of disposition with which she has been charged. '^Beside the Empjess Dowager sat the Emperor, a pale, delicate-looking Chinese youth, and behind her were many young Mantchu princesses clad in gay cos- tumes, with their hair done up in the gorgeous butterfly fashion common to the Court. All of these waiting m.aids were delicately painted and powdered. The Em- press Dowager was not. ''Lady McDonald made the address in behalf of the foreign ladies. She spoke in English and her words were translated into Chinese by the interpreter of the British Legation. Her Majesty replied in an address which was- read by Prince Ching, the Premier of the Empire, and which was thereupon translated into English. In this address Her Majesty made us welcome to the palace and to China. She said she was glad indeed to receive us as foreigners, and that we should be friendly with one an- other, for were we not all of one family ? ''After this Prince Ching presented us each in turn to Her Majesty, and we were then taken into a great ban- quet hall, where the Empress Dowager and the score and more of princesses sat down to dinner. The banquet was fine, being made up of many courses and consisting of both Chinese and foreign dishes. Each lady was sup- plied with chop sticks and a knife and fork and could use which she pleased. "After the banquet the Empress Dowager again met informally with the ladies, drinking tea with each of them in turn, and in some cases throwing her arm abou^ o:ie and embracing her. "At this time she gave each lady a present of ?. he-Mri- ful gold ring set with a pearl as big as a marrov^^ 7 -a, three silk dresses from the royal looms aiv: ^ ~ ' ' o dozen combs. Throughout the whole audier as The Empress Dowager. 195 exceptionally gracious, and her manners were as polite and affable and at the same time as dignified and lady- like as could be those of any empress of Europe." Mile, de Giers is the daughter of the Russian Ambas- sador to China. She naturally has had many oppor- tunities of observing the Empress Dowager, and she gives a picture of her which may be, probably is, preju- diced, but which is decidedly pleasing. Mile de Giers says : *'The Empress Dow^ager is neither the monster nor the incomparable Semiramis which writers have alternately pictured her. Like other sovereigns I know, she has a natural aversion to being stared at, and avoids foreigners, who, she thinks, regard her as nothing more than a curi- ous or ferocious animal. European monarchs delight in popular applause. The Lords of the Middle Kingdom have got over this childish craving. The Regent, in particular, doesn't care for the handclaps and cheers of the multitude. She is a fatalist, a self-satisfied and self- sufficient Oriental to the backbone. Holding unham- pered sway over four hundred millions of people and an area of probably twice the size of Europe, the constitu- tional monarchs of the old world are but poor apologies for sovereignty in her eyes. ^'Personally the Dowager is charming. The many ab- surd portraits published of her made her look like a woman of thirty or forty — she is seventy if she is a day. That should suffice to silence those tales of a regime by favorites. I have seen Her Majesty twice officially, at her grand birthday reception in 1899 and at the last New Year's congratulation 'cour.' I have often met her in private. On these occasions she struck me as a grand dame of irreproachable manners, and as a wide-awake, active, and well-balanced business woman. "Our reception differed from those given at European 196 Tlie Empress Dowager. courts only in that it was more hearty and attended by greater generosity. On reaching the imperial apart- ments, each lady had three maids assigned to her, and pleasanter, more efficient abigails I never met with. They were very pretty girls, dainty of face and figure, and most becomingly dressed. One or two of the girls wore silk gowns of such exquisite beauty that our court dresses looked quite cheap beside them. "The Empress Dowager occupied the principal chair on the throne, the sickly, weak Emperor was seated to her left, a step lower down. Both were dressed almost alike in silken gowns, yellow in color, and richly em- broidered. The Empress is taller than the average Chinese woman, and well proportioned. Her face is strong, but kindly. I don't believe this woman capable of wanton cruelty. The ceremonial part being over, we were ushered into an adjoining apartment, where the 'wife of the reigning Emperor and the heir presumptive were introduced. ''The young Empress is about tw^enty. She w^as not at all embarrassed, but acted naturally. She cordially shook us by the hand, like a well-bred American or English girl. She is as dainty as a piece of royal Dresden ; her face is pretty, without denoting particular smartness. She, too, was dressed in the imperial color, yellow, and had beautiful diamonds in her black hair. ''The heir presumptive appeared to be a bright young fellow, though the presence of so many strange ladies seemed to dampen his spirits. He is healthy, which seems to me to be the main thing for a future Emperor. If the present incumbent of the imperial throne were not a physical wreck things might be quite different in China. "Presently the Dowager entered. The young Empress ran up and kissed her, the salutation being responded to in a motherly fashion. There seemed to be no restraint. The Empress Dowager. 197 If the elder woman governs the Emperor and his family with a rod of iron she doesn't show it. ''The Regent addressed the ladies with the aid of Eng- lish and French interpreters. She asked us about mat- ters of family, toilet, and woman's progress, and seemed singularly well informed on the latter subject, as far as Europe and America are concerned. 'All sorts of prejudices and economical conditions keep down the Chinese women,' she said, 'but reform in that respect is only a question of time. The Chinese woman must be gradually emancipated ; now she is nothing more than a drudge. At the age of eight she must be able to spin ; when she is ten she learns weaving, sewing, and embroid- ering. Numerous girls of that age make their own living and begin saving toward a marriage portion. " 'In many poor families,' continued the Empress, 'the wife must pay her own keep, besides furnishing her hus- band with clothes, shoes, etc. This is equality with a vengeance, is it not?' concluded Her Majesty — 'with us, women have full liberty to compete with men in the way of earning a living, but the advantage is all on the other side. Maybe your woman's rights advocates will learn a lesson from this, the lesson of not going to extremes.' "When we had drunk and eaten, the Empress sent word that she would like to take leave of us. We found her seated on the throne, a carved chair of exquisite work- manship, lacquered in red and partly covered with a sable rug. " 'I have been genuinely glad to renew your acquaint- ance,' she said, 'and hope that I will have the pleasure every little while. But if I do not invite you oftener, don't think yourself forgotten. I am uncommonly busy for a woman — Chinese women have to work hard., and the sovereign of this country is kept busier than the poor- est coolie. This was a festive day, it will be the source 198 The Empress Dowager. of pleasantest memories for a long while to come/ With these kindly words, the Empress stepped from the throne and embraced her guests, one after another." Professor Douglas, the leading English authority on Chinese affairs, whose knowledge of Pekin intrigues is said to be invaluable, speaks as follows : ''Every succeeding telegram from China tends to make more plain the fact that the evil in China is the Empress Dowager. But the one who is de jure ruler, still exists and has earned the good will of all true friends of China by his efforts, some undoubtedly hasty and ill-advised, to secure the well-being of his country. There can be no question which is the lawful sovereign. This being so, and since the de facto ruler has show^n such determined hostility to all foreigners, threatening collusion of arms, it would appear to be only common sense that the foreign powers should combine to restore the Emperor to full possession of the throne which he never w^holly relin- quished. "To do this it would of course be necessary to seize and hold the person of the Empress, a process which we at least are familiar with in the cases of Indian and other princes who have shown themselves implacably hostile to civilized rule, as she has done. *'The. forces at the disposal of the powers are amply sufficient for the purpose. As to the place of the Em- press' ultimate detention the island of Formosa might be suggested. It is within sight of China, though separated from it. The Japanese would doubtless make willing and careful guards. If this were done, it would then be quite possible, thanks to the advances which the edu- cated classes have made in knowledge since the Japanese war, to surround the restored sovereign with ministers \vho might be expected to avoid alike the anti-foreign The Empress Dowager. 199 policy of the Empress on the one hand, and the crude legislation of Kung-Yu-Wei on the other." One consideration might induce the Empress to desert the reactionary cause and throw her influences into die opposite scale. The probability is that she has gone further than she intended, as she had no idea of the forces that were at work. To endanger the dynasty is the last thing that she desires. If she could be induced to see that the present reactionary policy constitutes a peril for the dynasty and the Empire, she might yet be induced to halt and to support the Emperor in a policy of reform. In January, 1900, the following proclamation, dictated of course, if not signed, by the Empress Dowager, was issued in the Emperor's own name : ''While yet in our infancy we were by grace of the Em- peror Tung-che chosen to succeed him in the heavy re- sponsibilities of head of the whole Empire, and when His Majesty died we sought day and night to be deserving of such kindness by every energy and faithfulness to our duties. We were also indebted to the Empress Dowager, who taught and cherished us assiduously, and to her we owe our safety to the present day. Now be it also knovv n that when we were selected to the throne it was then agreed that if ever we should have a son, that son should be proclaimed heir to the throne. But ever since last year (1898) we have been constantly ill, and it was for that reason in the eighth month of that year (the date of the coup d'etat) the Empress Dowager graciously ac- ceded to our prayers, and took over the reins of govern- ment in order to instruct us in our duties. A year has now passed and still we find ourselves an invalid, but ever keeping in our mind that we do not belong to the direct line of succession, 2nd, for the sake of the safety of our ancestors, a legal heii should be selected to the throne, we again prayed the Empress Dowager to care- 200 The Empress Dowager. fully choose among the members of the imperial clan such a one, and this she has done in the person of Pu Chun, son of Tsai Yi, Prince Tuan. ''We hereby command accordingly that Pu Chun, the son of Tsai Yi, Prince Tuan, be made heir to the late Emperor Tung-che." To one who reads between the lines there is a deal of subtle irony in this document. The present advice of the Emperor's friends at Pekin to their partisans in the- provinces is said to be not to press the Empress Dowager too hard, but to let her escape, if she will, by the loophole w^hich the protests have left her in laying the blame on her advisers. The primary object is to save Kwang Su. The great fear of the reform party is that he may be made way with. So long as he is alive, they are contending for their rightful sovereign, but his death would undermine that standpoint to the Empress' regime. To oppO'Se her, if she were ruling legally as regent for a new Emperor, would be to rebel, and rebellion is as the sin of witch- craft ; the Chinese have it in superstitious dread. The Empress Dowager is as cunning an old lady as she w^as a cunning slave girl when she captured the Em- peror Hien-Fung. With rare tact and diplomacy, she shuffled her viceroys from province to'province, and kept them where they could secure the greatest possible mu- nitions of war and do the least possible harm to her and themselves. She put Li Hung Chang out of Chih-li, the great imperial province, lest he might become ambitious in his old age and seek to grasp the government. There is little or no doubt but that the shrewd old Empress anticipated, if she did not encourage, the Boxer uprising. Certainly, what added greatly to the strength of the Boxers was the im.perial edict, dated June 6, 1900, which The Empress Dowager. 20i discussed the whole trouble and cunningly refrained from any censure of the Boxers. Fanatics have taken the edict as the real expression of the Dowager Empress, and they boasted with imperial troops the latter would go over to them, an opinion which seems to have been well founded by more recent events. At the time that the Empress attained the age of sixty, in 1894, all the nations represented at Pekin vied with each other in doing her honor. Autograph letters were written her by all the mmisters and many handsome pres- ents were made to her. It would seem that this respect and esteem have changed to absolute hate and loathing. It is understood that the foreigners in China regard her as the ''anti-Christ/' the opponent of progress, the pros- pective murderer of the Emperor. An eminent American statesman, formerly minister to China, says of the Dowager: *'She is one of the great women of the world, and will go down to history as the compeer of Catharine, Elizabeth and Victoria.'' However true this may be, it is impossible to study her career without wonder and admiration. ''She is an Em- press who has ruled," says the New York Journal ''Great men have been her puppets. Li Hung Chang was an instrument in her career. She has outlived three right- ful heirs of the throne, and has ridden roughshod over all who assisted her power. Whether her reign is to China's ultimate glory or not, history must pass the final verdict. It at least has been the most eventful of its his- tory. It has been marked by the greatest wars, the greatest progress, and the greatest commercial success and religious activity." CHAPTER XIV. WHAT WILL THE FUTURE BE? It was in the spring of 1900 that the Boxers began their rioting, for in the beginning it was no more .than that, but very soon matters assumed a far more serious aspect. The mass of reports from Pekin is so divergent and contradictory that the undisputed or apparently estab- lished facts must be winnowed out and these examined in the light of an international situation. As we know, a hatred of the foreigners has long been prevalent in China, and outbreaks have been frequent where the local authorities were in sympathy with it. The repression of such disorders has hitherto been due rather to a lack of power than a lack of will on the part of the Imperial Government. 'Tt is a peculiarity of the present disturbances/' says an editorial in the New York Sun, ''that, according to the unanimous testimony of foreign observers, the 'Boxers have not been discouraged, but more or less openly fo- mented by the preponderant power at the Court of Pekin and by the Empress Dowager herself. Certain oflficial proclamations addressed to provincial governors seem explicable only on the theory that the uprising has been regarded with favor in high places. This probably ac- counts for the fact that the present movement, unlike previous organized rebellions, does not aim at the de- position of the Mantchu dynasty. Therein lies a funda- mental difference between the so-called Boxers and the What Will the Future Be? 203 Tac-pings of forty years ago. Apparently the leaders of the reactionary Mantchu party and the Empress Dow- ager herself are not alarmed at the growing power and aggressiveness of the Boxers, but would rather welcome the semblance of coercion at their hands as a pretext for the suspension of the concessions lately made to foreign powers and foreign individuals, in the matter of internal navigation, fiscal reforms and railway or mining privi- leges. That a belief in the success of such a policy should be widely entertained would be incredible were it not known that many of the Mantchu ruling class are as blind to China's weakness to-day as they were when they rushed heedlessly into a hopeless war with Japan. It is sheer stupidity that has prompted the impassive or irresolute attitude assumed by the Empress Dowager and her Mantchu advisers toward the outrages committed by the Boxers. The court of Pekin cannot be credited with the astuteness which on former occasions has led such men as Li Hung Chang to count upon the conflicting interests and the resultant discord of the Western powers." Now for a summary of what the Boxers have accom- plished at the present time of writing. On June 4, the American Minister to China, Mr. Conr- ger, telegraphed: ^'Outside Pekin the murders and perse- cutions of the Boxers seem to be on the increase. The Paoting Railway is temporarily abandoned. Work on the Pekin and Hangkow line is stopped. All foreign- ers have fled. The Chinese Government seems either unwilling or unable to suppress the trouble. The troops show no energy in attacking the Boxers.'' German, Austrian and Russian forces were sent to Pekin. Editorially, the London Times pointed out the ne- 204 What Will the Future Be ? cessity for Great Britain taking the lead in strong meas- ures, saying: ''We should rejoice to do this, i. e., take the lead, in company with our American kinsfolk, the only Western nation whose interests in the Far East are in most respects identical with our own ; but that, of course, is a matter for them to decide. In any case, we must assert our hegomony on penalty of forfeiting it, and we must assert it with energy and dispatch. Happily the Naval Brigade from our fleet in Chinese waters afifords us the means needed for this step at the briefest possible notice/' The Chinese officials had at first affected to laugh at the movement, but they were awakened — if awakening It really was — by the murder of Brigadier-General Yang, one of our ablest and most honest of Chinese generals. He had been ordered to investigate the outrages on Chris- tians at Kaoli. Evidently he fancied that the Boxers were like other malcontents whom he had suppressed in the past with troops or bribery, for he advanced to their headquarters at Laidhui with only thirty troopers. On his arrival there the Boxers sent him an invitation to visit their leader and hold a conference. Yung's troop- ers tried to dissuade him from going alone to this con- ference, but he was fearless, and, dismounting, walked up a hill toward the rebel camp under the guidance of the Boxer envoy. He disappeared over a hill, was led into a ravine, and there was speared in the back by the treacherous Boxers. As is usual with the Chinese, his body was horribly mutilated. On June 9 a cable dispatch came from Pekin saying that the situation in Northern China was appalling, and that frightful reports of butcheries of Christians came from the country. The native government had refused What Will tlie Future Be? 205 further aid to the foreigners, and in every instance the troops furnished by the native government had deserted to the Boxers. The foreign ministers now recognized, too late, that all previous Chinese promises and edicts had been deceptive. The dispatch ended with the following thrilling words: ''Arouse the Christian world immediately to our peril. Should this arrive too late, avenge us.'' Many more reports of the massacre of Christian mis- sionaries continued to come in. ^ Under date of Tongku, June 13, the following dispatch was received from Admiral Kempflf : ''Twenty-five hundred men are on the road to Pekin for the relief of the legations; one hundred are Ameri- cans. English and Russians in large majority; all na- tions here represented." Cablegrams were also received, stating that American lives and interests were seriously imperiled in North China, and urging the government to act promptly and vigorously with adequate force. On June 18, the Ninth Regiment of United States regulars was ordered from Manila to China. At the same time it was reported that the Pekin le- gations were taken, and fears were entertained for the safety of the ministers and their families. Tien-tsin was now in ruins, and anarchy seemed to prevail at Pekin. The Boxer movement was growing to be the sole power in the empire. The United States then ordered Admiral Remey to go with the Brooklyn to Taku, and to tender to General MacArthur conveyance of any army troops which the ^Brooklyn could carry. 2o6 What Will the Future Be? Admiral Seymour, who was commanding the Pekin rehef force, managed to estabUsh heliograph communica- tion on June 2.J. He said that he was hard pressed and sent urgent appeal for more forces. He also stated that the legations were safe. Seymour, however, failed to reach Pekin and after two weeks' hard fighting, was forced to retreat to Tien- tsin, which had been captured by the allies. On June 30, Admiral Kempff cabled: ''Ministers at Pekin were given twenty-four hours to leave on the 19th. They refused, and are still there.'' The Chinese Ambassador, Wu, at Washington, had advices to the same effect. On July I, there, came very serious news indeed. Baron von Ketteler, the German Ambassador, had been butchered on June 18. The minister was riding on Legation street when he was attacked by Chinese troops and Boxers, dragged from his horse and killed. His body was hacked to pieces with swords. The German legation and other buildings were burned, a number of legation servants killed, and their bodies thrown into the flames. A dispatch from Yu Lu, the viceroy of Chih-!i prov- ince, dated June 26, stated that the other ministers were safe that morning, but the situation was desperate, and he doubted whether the ministers could hold out twenty- four hours longer, as he and the Empress could no longer give protection. A modem crusade was now genuinely in progi'ess, and a larger, much larger, number of allies were com- bined against one power than had ever been known be- fore in the history of the world. What Will the Future Be ? 207 On July 2, Admiral Bruce reported that the foreign forces landed at Taku up to June 30 were: Officers. Men. United States 20 329 Great Britain 184 1 700 Germany = 44 i ,300 Austria 12 127 Italy 7 131 France 17 387 Russia 117 5>8i7 Japan 119 3,709 Total of allied forces o . . . . 520 13,500 Two secret imiperial decrees fell. about this time into the hands of the foreigners. The first, dated June 20, attributed the trouble to re- ligious fanaticism against Christians, leading to violent outbreaks which the government was unable to suppress; said that foreign troops were between Taku and Pekin, and the foreign relations had reached a desperate point, and called upon all the viceroys and governors to show their loyalty to the throne and to raise armies and funds in defense of Pekin and to defeat foreign dictation. The second, dated June 21, eulogized the Boxers as loyal and true men, who, though not soldiers, had de- feated the foreigners advancing on Pekin, and com- manded officials to co-operate heartily in the patriotic work. The American, Italian and Dutch legations vx^ere now burned. There were at this time (July 3) twenty thousand Chinese soldiers inside Pekin, and thirty thousand out- side. The greatest anxiety now prevailed as to the safety of the members of the legations, and it seemed almost cer- tain that all the members had been murdered. 2o8 What Will the Future Be ? Including the guards, about six hundred persons were connected with the legations, and there were two hun- dred other foreigners in the city beside the missionar- ies who had taken refuge there. Of course, the greatest excitement and fury prevailed in Berlin over the murder of Baron von Ketteler. The Kaiser at once dispatched four ships and many soldiers to China. He also did a clever thing in appealing to Chinese cupidity by offering a reward of a thousand dollars for every foreigner in Pekin delivered alive to a German magistrate. Addressing the detachment of German marines which sailed for China, the Kaiser said: ''I will not rest until the German flag, joined to those of the other powers, floats triumphantly over China's flag, and until it has been planted on the walls of Pekin to dictate peace to the Chinese. You will have to main- tain good comradeship with all the other troops that you will come in contact with over yonder. Russians, Brit- ish and French all alike, are fighting for one common cause — for civilization. We must bear in mind, too, something higher, namely, our religion, and the defense and protection of our brothers out there, some of whom stake their lives for the Saviour.'' Prince Tuan, the father of the heir apparent, was now at the head of the Chinese forces. He is rabidly anti- foreign, and to him is attributed an order to all viceroys to attack foreigners. He conferred honors and gave large sums of money and other presents to the leaders of the troops who drove back Admiral Seymour. On July 5 the naval forces of the nations in Chinese waters were as follows: , Battle- Armored Countries, ships, cruisers. United States... i i Great Britain... 3 3 Russia 3 5 France — — Germany .... — 2 Italy — — Austria — Gun- Destroy- Cruisers. boats . ers. Crews. I 5 — 3.500 6 16 5 7350 3 9 3 6730 4 3 2,800 6 I — 3.500 2 — — 150 • I — 150 What Will the Future Be? 209 Practically all of Japan's navy was in these waters, She has six battleships, three armored cruisers, ten coast- defense ships, fifteen gunboats and an extensive torpedo flotilla. China's navy consists of five cruisers of the modern type, sixteen gunboats and about twenty torpedo boats. On July 7 orders were issued at the War Depart- ment, in Washington, for the immediate dispatch of 6,254 regulars from the United States to the Far East. On the morning of July 9 the London Times printed the following: "We learn from a private message from Canton that I.i Hung Chang has telegraphed directly to the Chinese Minister in London, urging him to request the British Government to approach the United States Government with a view to a joint invitation to Japan to co-operate in the maintenance of the Chinese Empire and the estab- lishment of a strong government on a solid basis, the three then uniting in an appeal to all the other powers.'' With the military contingents then at sea, the allies would soon have 50,000 men ashore. It looked very much now as if there were to be civil war in China, Prince Ching standing out for the dynasty and the old order against Prince Tuan's inordinate am- bition. During the following month, there were reports and counter-reports, some of which were afterward denied and none of which could be verified. It is interesting, however, to print an interview which Frederick Palmer had with Li Hung Chang in Shanghai, July 28. He said : *'The members of the legations are still alive, but an ad- vance of the allied troops upon Pekin from Tien-tsin would probably be the death herald of every white man in Pekin. ''Then the conservative element would be entirely over- powered by the radicals. ''The causes of the present situation were the lack of backbone and a wrong policy on the part of the Chinese Government, while the drastic measures of the foreign powers aggravated the situation. "We thank the Americans for their friendship, which 2IO What Will the Future Be? we have always appreciated, and Admiral Kempff for his justice and forbearance in refusing to join in the bom- bardment of the Taku forts. '*We are trusting America to stand by the integrity of the Chinese empire. ''I will say that if the powers do attempt to partition China, then the southern and central provinces, which are now peaceful, will no longer be neutral, but all the Chinese of all classes will fight the foreigners with every means in their power. "With a strong hand to fight for the policy of the in- tegrity of the empire it can be maintained and efficient reforms can be made.'' Despite his extreme age, it is generally understood that Prince Li's ambition is to have a foreign army at his dis- posal to pacify the rebellious districts and maintain order throughout the empire after the present insurrection is suppressed. I asked him if he could restore order with twenty thou- sand white troops. "With less," he answered. "The Boxers are a rabble not to be considered. I would turn to my side the imperial troops, too, but the powers do not want them and would not permit it. ''I do not know when I shall go to Tien-tsin to take up my duties as Viceroy of the Metropolitan province of Chih-H." And now just a few words as to the attitude of Russia in the present situation. From the time that Li Hung Chang was appointed the representative of the Chinese throne at the coronation of the Russian Emperor, there has been more or less sus- picion among the other powers. It was about that time that Sir Nicholas O'Connor told Prince Kung in blunt language that unless he and his countrymen altered their methods and mended their ways, he should not be sur- prised if within five years he heard of Prince Kung being a beggar on the streets of Pekin. At that time many thought that there was a deep laid project under the ap- pointment of the great viceroy. By the way, the officials of Washington are beginning to share Europe's distrust of Li Hung Chang. His ac- What Will the Future Be? 211 tions and utterances are not regarded as in keeping with his protestations of affection and enhghtenment.- To return to Russia. Great Britain especially is in- clined to be feverishly 'suspicious of Muscovite designs, is inclined to imagine that the position taken by the Em- press Dowager may have been instigated by Russia. But, in our opinion, there is little or no reason for holding this belief. As a matter of fact, so far as the maintenance of order in China and the fulfillment of concessions are con- cerned, the interests of all the Western powers, including those of Russia, are, for the moment, identical. Ho Yow is the Chinese Consul General at San Fran- cisco. He is the most important Chinese official . in America, next to Minister Wu at Washington. His brother-in-law was Minister Wu's predecessor as envoy in thfs country. What he has to say, therefore, is of the greatest interest and importance, and fotr that reason we reprint here some remarks of his in regard to the present crisis; ''The powers would need an army of 250,000 men to subdue the one northern province in which fighting is now going on. ''Shantung province is notable for its men of fine physique and stature. That province could probably place in the field nearly 10,000,000 men closely approach- ing six feet in height. "Whatever China may have been in the past, she is no insignificant enemy to cope with to-day. The Chinamen are well armed and well supplied with weapons of the latest pattern, many of them manufactured in our own great arsenals. "I am positive from the dispatches I have received that it was the original intention of both the government and the Boxers to* respect the Pekin legations. Other- wise, it would have been easy to attack them before June 20. I am sure the government was putting forth every effort to protect them. "To-day I cannot speak so confidently. The bombard- ment of the Taku forts has changed the whole situation. As soon as the tidings of that act of hostility reached Pekin I fear the forces which up to that moment had been held in control by the government may have be- 212 What Will the Future Be? come frenzied and beyond control, for they would reason that they were to be punished anyway, and all reason for restraint would then have been gone. "It seems to have been a fatal mistake of the powers to take that aggressive step before landing forces enough to support it or follow it up. They stirred up a beehive when not in a position to accomplish anything. Instead of relieving the legations in Pekin, they aggravated the situation, stirring up an ignorant and maddened populace to frenzy. ''What effect a different policy would have had on the Chinese is, I think, exemplified in the attitude which Li Hung Chang, China's most progressive and influential statesman, has taken toward your Admiral Kempff, who refused to join in the bombardment. "Ia has invited the American admiral to accompany him on his mission to Pekin for the purpose of pacifying the Chinese, and has expressed the desire that the United States act as an int'ermediary in the settlement of the troubles. ''Admiral Kempff made a fine demonstration of wisdom in declining to join in f)recipitating hostilities at Taku, for his nation. "At the same time he showed good military judgment, for an act of aggression was as useless as it was danger- ous to the interests back of it. "The origin of the whole trouble is interference with our religion in China. Good missionaries merely waste their energies and incense the people." Now, when the alli'^d powers have conquered, as they undoubtedly will in the end, although there may be a long and desperate struggle before the question will un- doubtedly come up: What shall be done with the van- quished ? That eminent member of Parliament, Mr. James Bryce, answers the question very forcibly, from one point of view, when he says that the European powers have an artificial situation to deal with in China, and will find it extremely hard to set up any sovereign and to keep him on the throne when he is set up, with the assent of the people and with the support of the natural forces. The strongest of these natural forces is the traditional respect What Will tlie Future Be? 213 for the imperial office, which has a rehgious character, and which represents the national life of China. Will that respect attach to a monarch who owes his crown to the "outside barbarians?" Will he not be regarded as their puppet ? The other part of the task, continues Mr. Bryce, is at least as difficult, and in a certain sense more full of men- acing possibilities. The European powers are alt present in accord under the presstire of immediate danger. They have got to save the lives of their representatives and sub- jects at Pekin, and to prevent the attacks of the natives in the other cities where the Europeans dwell. But when this has been accomplished, their jealousies will re- vive, and the struggle between their respective schemes and interests, which has been going on for years past, may pass into a more acute phase. They will probably be obliged to choose some one to sit upon the throne, and the candidate favored by any one of them may be suspected by the others. If the monarch is personally insignificant, as is likely to be the case, they will have to choose advisers to rule in his name. Will they be able to agree in the choice of such advisers ? There is noth- ing in poHtics so difficult, nothing so prolific of misunder- standings and suspicions which may ultimately lead to war as the attempt of several mutually jealous powers to exert joint control over some other government or ter- ritory. And it is chiefly for this reason that those in Europe who look beyond the immediate business of res- cue and protection into the problems which the future may bring upon us, and bring before long, deem those problems to be among the hardest which statesmen in our day have been called upon to face. There is one thing upon which all are generally agreed, and that is that partition of China will not be tolerated. The division of China among the powers would be highway robbery, while the restoration of the Emperor to his lawful authority would be an act of justice. The partition of China among the powers would be resisted by the best of the Chinese and would invoke the natives in a universal war. The restoration of the Emperor under foreign protection would encourage all patriotic 214 What Will the Future Be? Chinamen, and would do more to promote peace than a dozen peace congresses. There seems, in short, to be one inference naturally to be dedvicted from the facts and the international situation, is the opinion of the New York Sun. All the foreign powers interested in China, including Russia, and not, of course, excluding Japan, will co-operate to compel the court of Pekin to protect Christian missionaries and to give adequate compensation for the wrongs already wrought. Should the Empress Dowager and her Mantchu favor- ites be recalcitrant or impotent, it will be needful for the powxrs to take concerted measures for the establishment at Pekin of a better disposed or stronger government. This probably could be effected by the relegation of the Empress Dowager to the retirement from which, ac- cording to precedent, she should not have emerged after the reigning Emperor attained his majority, and by the reinstatement in full authority of Kwang Su, supported by representatives of the progressive party which undoubt- edly exists in China. Now let us. consider the opinions of two very different men, and yet with some curious points of contact. The first consists of a letter written by Bishop Crans- ton, the eminent missionary bishop who has just returned from China, and who writes as follows : ''I regard it as the imperative duty of the United States to take prompt and effective measures to protect the lives and property of American citizens now in Pekin or else- where. The location of the legation property at Pekin, as well as the missionary compounds, is such as to make attack easy and destruction sure and complete if they are attacked in force either by the Chinese troops or mobs, unless it should so happen that part of the city wall is first possessed by foreign troops. "The news to date appears to be conflicting and unre- liable and affords no relief to our apprehensions. Un- derstanding the helplessness of foreigners living between Taku and Pekin we can understand that there is even greater peril to the small allied forces seeking to relieve Pekin. An enraged Chinese mob once victorious is no more likely to give quarter than a band of American In- What Will the Future Be? 215 dians. The Chinese people think they have many griev- ances against foreigners, and whenever and wherever they find an opportunity for revenge they may be ex- pected to take it with interest. It is the foreigners rather than the missionaries that the Chinese detest. The work of Protestant missionaries has tended to molHfy the bit- terness of their feeUngs. Considering all the circum- stances, it is remarkable how long and how safely they have conducted their work in the midst of such a people, who have been provoked to so many demonstrations of violence by the action of foreign governments. ''.It m.ust be remembered that the Chinese regard all outsiders as barbarians and their own government and social organization as perfect. Everything at variation therewith they regard not only as an innovation but as sacrilegious to the memory of their ancestors, from whom they think they inherited the best possible condition of society and the highest wisdom as well. It must further be taken into account that the concessions for railroad and mining enterprises w^hich have been granted from time to time have been exacted under pressure, and that such things are directly contrary to their superstitious beliefs. All mining operations or excavations for any purpose whatever are supposed to interfere with the busi- ness prosperity, health and even life of the Chinese. Their widespread belief that it is the policy of the nations to dismember the empire has produced a condition bor- dering on frenzy. "I do not know of any missionary or foreigner resident in China who has any respect or sympathy for the Em- press Dowager, but many thoughtful people have great sympathy for the Chinese, who are in the main frugal and industrious. I hope the joint action of all the powders w^ill place the young Emxperor on his throne, even if a protectorate is necessary. It is the obvious duty of the civilized world to make a strong demjonstration of force and use it, if necessary, to protect the helpless women and children who are now^ in the gravest peril. There should be no quibbling over governmental red tape and consid- eration for trer^ties should not stand in the way. 'T desire to see our governm.ent take its place by the side of the other nations of the world and demonstrate 2i6 What Will the Future Be? fully the boasted protection of the American flag. The American people will stand by the administration in the most vigorous measures it may take to suppress these outbreaks, and no price is too great to pay in such a cause. Politics and diplomacy should not be forgotten in the instant demand for the relief of the little bands that for the last two weeks have been tortured by the yells of bloodthirsty mobs if they have not actually fallen vic- tims to their ferocity. ''I do not hesitate to say that, whether considered from a commercial, governmental or humanitarian standpoint, China as a country is worth all that it may cost the na- tions to make her w^orthy of a place in the sisterhood of empires. She is a world problem as well as a coming force of mighty proportions. It is better to deal with her rationally and justly, even though it may be neces- sary to use great force, and even require that she be made the ward for the time being of all the other nations of the world.'' The other opinion is that of Chin Ging, a member of the Board of Directors of the Chinese Empire Reform Association, and an ardent admirer of the dethroned Emperor Kwang Su. Chin Ging says, among other things : ''Never before in the history of the Old World have matters looked so serious for China. Still, I am a strong believer in the somewhat ambiguous axiom that everything is for the best, and it seems to me quite within the possibilities that Qiina may emerge from this fire test rehabilitated, reformed and modernized by the severe lesson she must absorb. ''What, then, is to become of the innocent, law-abiding subjects of the ancient empire? In my opinion they have but one hope for salvation — and the remedy has al- ready been accepted by at least seventy per cent, of the people of Southern China — they must enroll under the banner of the allied powers ; be guided by them, and fight themselves out of this difficulty. This course was made feasible by the organization of the Chinese Empire Re- form Association, of w^hich the writer is proud to claim membership. Although this band of true patriots has .existed but two years, so rapid has been its progress that What Will the Future Be? 217 it now boasts a membership of at least 20,000,000, and its affairs are being managed by the wise heads who constituted the progressive minority of Emperor Kwang Su's Cabinet. These leaders have chosen the friendly cities of Singapore and Macao as their basis of opera- tions, and through their untiring efforts are daily in- creasing the membership of the association and adding strength and dignity to the cause; especially may this be said regarding the writings of Kang Yu-Wei, the most broad-minded Chinese scholar of this generation. It is the determination of this organization to join forces with the civilized nations of the world and march to the North, subduing all lawless marauders en route, until the capital is reached. When Pekin has been reached they ask that Kwang Su may be restored to his throne, to rule his people under a protectorate of the joint powers. 'T can see nothing unreasonable in the laudable desires of our association, and I feel convinced that all reason- ing men, Vv^ho are not victims of old-established preju- dices, will agree with me when I claim for our body the same sympathy that would be given to the people of any other nation under similar circumstances. ''Kwang Su, our suffering Emperor, is a wise, honest, progressive man. Why not restore him to his throne, thereby insuring reform and civilization for 400,000,000 human beings ?" Now, to take a rapid glance at the situation so far as the United States is concerned : Independent action by the United States against China in the present situation is regarded in Europe as abso- lutely impossible. Limited or partial American co-opera- tion in dealing with the crisis can be scarcely tolerated. The United States must use all its available resources in the Far East as freely as all the other powers will do, or keep aloof altogether from concerted action with the powers. Our ow^n country, on the other hand, and from the point of view in the United States, does well to act inde- pendently, so long as there is no distinct assurance that the powers mean to respect the integrity of the empire and the liberty of the people. 2i8 What Will the Future Be? Our attitude of independence will prevent a division of the empire, for China will not be divided if the United States of America refuses to permit it. It is to the in- terest of England to preserve the integrity of China as much as it is to our own, and England would welcome the assistance of the United States in preventing the dismem- berment of the country. Our independent attitude will serve to manifest our disinterestedness, and so our assent to a joint protectorate will be the assurance of success. The course of the United States is very simple, says the Outlook J entirely consistent, and has been followed so far with scrupulous care. The United States has no interest in China, except to protect the lives and property of its citizens ; in order to do this, it ought to be ready to make any sacrifices. The Administration has acted with courage and promptitude, and its action will receive the hearty in- dorsement of the whole country. The United States has exacted nothing from China and wishes to exact noth- ing, except those rights which are conceded to her citi- zens and their property under the treaties. She has also strongly urged and has succeeded in gaining recognition for the policy of equal trade privileges to all nations in China, and in securing this important concession the American Secretary of State was serving the Chinese quite as truly as he was serving the interests of Amer- ica. Beyond this, our government has a right, and per- haps a duty, to bend its influence to preserve the integrity of the empire. If it takes this attitude — and there is reason to believe that the Administration accepts this view of its responsibilities — it will be in a position to act as a mediator, and to aid both the Chinese and the powers in securing a satisfactory basis of settlement. Having nothing to gain in the way of territory, the United States will naturally possess an influence with the Chinese which no other power can exert. If it uses that influence to preserve the integrity of the empire on the one hand, and to open it to legitimate foreign in- influence, ideas, and trade, it will be doing its full duty to China, to the civilized world and to itself. The ideas expressed by Weng Tung Ho, tutor of the Emperor, Kwang Su, seem to us to be most sensible What Will the Future Be? 219 and the best of all methods out of the difficulty that we have seen expressed. We therefore, in conclusion, quote his opinions. Weng Tung Ho says : "His Majesty is convinced, through amply trustworthy sources, that the loyal support of many scores of mill- ions of Chinese will be accorded to his proposals to put an end to the state of anarchy brought about by the action of the Empress Tsi-an. '"The government of China being virtually non-exist- ent, the Emperor proposes that the foreign powers whose troops dominate the capital, shall remove his imperial person from the palace in which His Majesty is con- find a prisoner, shall declare Empress Tsi-an and her present ministers to be usurpers, and shall bring Em- peror Kwang Su to Nankin, Wuchang or Shanghai, whichever the said foreign powers deem to be the most suitable situation for the new capital of the Chinese Em- pire under the new conditions. It is proposed by His Majesty and his advisers that the foreign powers should declare a joint protectorate and undertake the task of governing the coantry through His. Majesty. "China is ripe for the change of tide which the reac- tionaries vainly seek to stem. If it should be, on the other hand, that the foreign powers seriously contemplate the dismemberment of the Chinese Empire, they have before them the huge task of facing dense millions, who, although lacking training and making but contemptible soldiers, possess boundless powers of passive resistance, and would be able to w^ear out the patience of any Euro- pean rulers seeking to govern them without regard to their prejudices." THE END. Messrs, Street & Smith desire to announce to the public that they have purchased the most valuable portion of the noted collection of book- plates formerly belonging to the American Publishers' Corporation. Their purchase represents a value of ov^ a half-million dollars, and includes the choicest copyrights and standards, covering a varied selection of the best efforts of nearly all the noted novelists, both English and American. They have also purchased, at a recent date, the majority of titles included in the Cassel Publishing Com- pany's list. These tw^o large and valuable collections of titles w^ill be gradually added to their already extensive and popular catalogue list. They will also continue, as heretofore, to issue the very latest and most popular works of the most successful writers of the day, in rapid succes- sion. These enormous additions to their list of plates give them the largest and best assortment of titles to be found in the English-speaking world, and the added fact may be noted that they have the largest and most completely equipped book -making plant in America. Under these conditions, the trade and the public may rest assured that the Street & Smith lines will continue to be at all times the leaders. The large aquisitions noted above will enable them to offer to the public at popular prices very many valuable works of fiction, which have heretofore been offered only in high-priced editions. Look at their Catalogues of the right books at the right price (lo cents), generally to be found in the last pages of their books. Free complete Catalogue on application. STREET & SMITH 238 William Street New York 84 The flair: Its Growth, Structure, Diseases, and How to MaKe it Beautiful. '^^ '^^ ^^^ In all parts of the civilized world the hair is re- garded as essential to beauty. Even the earliest A records of ancient history tell of the importance of the hair as an accessory to human beauty. No matter how perfect the fea- tures, if a good head of hair is lacking, the thought of beauty vanishes. On the other hand, when the features are far from B perfect a beautiful growth of hair at once draws the atten- tion, and all else is forgotten. If your hair is already beau- tiful, you should read these pages in order to know how best to keep it so ; and if it is too thin, or is falling out, or losing its natural color, or un- desirably affected in any way, then you certainly should learn [O how to correct these evils. A HAIfi. A hair consists of two parts. The root, which is * .^ 1. r. xxt. t. . situated in the skin, and the At the shaft of the hair pro- ^ ., ^ • ^ • . i fecting above the skin. B* oil Shaft, whlch prOJCCtS abOve it. glands. C, the lower end of YVip Tioir rpQfQ in n qqp from the sac in the center of which ^ "^^ ^^^^ rCStS in a SaC, irom 3s the hair bulb. which it is easily pulled. At the bottom of this sac is a little eminence called the hair bulb. A HAIR IN ITS SAC. ^ THE HAIR BULB. Here is the very seat of life for the hair. Here it begins its growtho Here the food' brought to it by the blood is changed into hair stn cture. Here is where health for the hair resides, and here is where disease begins. It is not strange, then, that we should study the hair with great ca^- . If we were asked the question, * What part of the hair does your Renewer most affect?'* we would quickly answer, ** THK HAIR BUIvBc'* It goes to the very seat of trouble, and corrects diseased conditions. It stimulates the parts to healthy action. It restores activities long at rest. In a word, our Renewer makes this hair bulb do precisely the work nature intended it to do. The illustration shows a minute blood-vessel entering and leaving a hair bulb. HalTs Hair Renewer in- creases the circulation of the blood j\^ in these minute vessels, and new life a hair buib, highly and vitality enter each hair. New magnified, a biood- ^ . . -^ . . vessel, A» IS seen en- hair IS formed again, by arousing the tering aud leaving sleeping powers, and the bald scalp ^^^ ^^^^' takes on a new growth of hair. There are a hundred things, any one of which will retard or destroy the activity of these bulbs. The principal reason, how- ever, why they cease to form good hair is want of proper nourishment. How can a child grow if it is not properly fed ? How can a plant prosper if it does not have water? And, in the same sense, how can hair be formed and grow unless it has food ? HalTs Vegetable Sicilian Hair Renewer contains just the vegetable remedies needed by the bulb for the forma- tion of the hair and for its continued life and vigor. When these are supplied the hair must grow; it must prosper. It cannot help doing so any more than a properly fed, healthy child can keep from growing. If there is any life remaining in the bulb, hair must t)e formed when our Renewer is used. But if all life is gone, then, of course, there is no hope. Often, however, there is a little spark of vitality left, which will kindle int full life under this treatment, A flower may wither and appear quite dead, and yet come into life again, when properly cared for. Hence no case of baldness need be so bad that a trial should not be made of our Renewer. SOFT FUZZY HAIR. In keeping with these facts, is it possible to cause a good healthy growth of hair in the place of soft fuzzy hair? Most certainly. This kind of hair shows that the hair bulb is not properly fed. There is enough life and food to form a small and fine hair 5, but not enough for a full, natural hair. Our Re- newer supplies the deficiency and nature does the rest. BALDNESS. How utterly foolish, then, for any one to say that ** baldness cannot be cured/' Just as reason- able to say that water will not quench thirst, or that fire will not burn ! Make the conditions correct and the result must come. No single fact is better estab- lished than that our Renewer will cure baldness. We have freely given you the scientific reasons for this ; and we have thousands of testimonials to prove that we are correct. Mrs. G. A. Matthews, of Weatherford, Texas, gives us the following strong testimonial : "As a testimonial to your Hall's Sicilian Hair Renewer, I want to say, when I was about 22 years old I lost my hair en- tirely ; I had the best medical treatment at home, and consulted physicians personally in St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Fort Worth with no success. By accident I got some of your medicine, and before I had used two bottles my hair began to grow, which now hangs below my waist, and is soft and healthy. My misfortune was so well known in Missouri, California, and Texas that, when it became known my hair had grown out after twelve years, my husband had numerous letters cf inquiry want- ing his receipt and offering to pay largely for 7t. We simply replied to all, *Hairs Vegetable Sicilian Hair R' newer did the work,' and I know of no case that it has failed to give the best results. You may use such parts of this as suits you best.'* Solon S. Good, of the ** Enquirer,'* Cincinnati, O., wrote us. May 25, 1897: **Many years ago, the writer, who had lost almost all his hair, had restored to him a luxuriant growth of hair by the asQ of ^Hall's Vegetable Sicilian Hair Renewer.' '* A. A. Harper, florist, of Pine Blufif, Ark., wrote as follows, March 31, 1896: "Some time since I had a hard case of fever and was sick for seven weeks. When I began to mend my hair came out and left me entirely bald. I used one bottle of Hall's Hair Renewer and my hair came back as thick as ever. I consider Hall's Hair Renewer the finest of hair preparations.'* Mr, Kesling, an aged farmer, near Warsaw, Ind., had scarcely any hair, what little remained being nearly white. One bottle of Hall's Hair Renewer produced a thick and luxuriant growth of hair, as brown and fresh as he had in youth. The case is well known and attracted much attention. FALUNS OF TRE HAID. This is no more than beginning baldness. It may cease before all the hair falls out or continue until complete baldness results. While there are many causes of this difficulty, yet, so far as we know, there is but one cure, Hall's Sicilian Hair Renewer. Its prompt use will check the hair from coming out, and you do not have to continue the remedy long. It is important that you should not neglect this symptom, or soon the hair bulbs will become dis- eased. Taken in time, it is easily cured, but if neglected the cure is not so prompt. One bottle of our Renewer at first will save the use of many bottles later on. No one need feel badly over this falling of tlie hair if within reach of our Renewer, as the cure is prompt and permanent. Mrs. Katie McNamara, of Corsicana, Texas, writes: '^ I wish to assure you that your P.enewer is worth its weight in gold to me. My hair was falling out so badly, and I liad tried so many different things, but without avail. I will now never tire in praising its merits.'* Mrs, A. T/Wall, of Greenfield, Cheshire, England, writes : **I have derived the greatest benefit from the use of Hall's Hair Renewer. It stimulated my scalp when the hair was fall- ing and produced new and vigorous growth.** Mrs. Hunsberry, 344 Franklin Avenue, Brooklyn, N. y., writes: "After a severe attack of erysipelas in the head, I lost ir; hair — already gray — so rapidly that I soon became quite bale One bottle of HalVs Vegetable Sicilian Hair Renewer produced a new growth of hair, as soft, brown, and thick as when I was a girl.** W. C. Hauser, of the firm of Wm. C. & J. G. Hauser, dealers in drugs, raedicines, etc., Wadley, Ga-,, writes us Nov. 27, 1896, as follov/s: *' I have used your Hair Renewer for tlie purpose of stopping tny hair from falling out and can state that I found it to be Th^ thing nee -led. About one year ago my hair began to fall out very badly. Having some of your Renewer in stock, I used a bottle, and since then have had no trouble on that line. I find, too, that your Renewer restores the liair to its natural color.** TO SESTORE COLOS. A word concerning the reason wh}^ our Renewer changes the color of the hair to its natural appearance. The color of the hair is deter- mined while it is yet in the skin. When the blood supply is wrong or the nerve action deficient, then no coloring matter v^^ill be furnished, and the hair turns gray or white. When the hair is first beginning to turn it imparts a most lifeless and altogether dis- agreeable expression to the whole countenance. Hairs Sicilian Hair Renewer goes to the root of the evil. IT fkkds th:^ hair bulbs, increases the BLOOD SUPPLY, and it stimulates nerve action. The coloring matter is depc^^ited, and the color of youth again appears in the hair. All this is thus easily understood when the crplanation is given. We have a vast number of test oionials on this point. We can only give a few of them here. ^^ Alfred Speer, of Passaic, N."'J.,'"says : "I am now 68 years old, and liave used your Renewer for 25 years with perfect success in keeping the hair natural in color, even when, fifteen years ago, my beard turned gray and of late years turned white by long neglecting to use the Renewer. Upon re-using it daily for only a week, the white color was dis- pelled and the natural brown brought back.'* William Kale, of Grand Rapids, Mich., writes as follows : "I have been using your Hair Renewer for about two weeks, and will say that it has done me more good than anything I have ever tried before. It has restored the white and gray hair to its natural color, and I think has already started the new hair to grow.'* Randolph W. Farley, Nashua, N. H., quite a young man, whose hair had become prematurely gray, applied our Renewer with perfect success. His hair is now a beautiful brown, and he reports the effects from the use of this preparation as truly marvelous. DANQDUFF. Hall's Hair Renewer removes all dan- druff and so treats the scalp that its formation is pre- vented. In time a positive cure is effected, and the Re- newer need not longer be used. Without doubt there is no other remedy in the whole world so effectual as this Renew^er in the treatment and permanent cure of dandruff. As dandruff is not only a sign of a diseased scalp, but also a forerunner of baldness, so the impor- tance of treating it is at once evident. • We offer yon a positive cure for it, and verify our statement with a few testimonials to that effect, although we might duplicate these a thousand times. R. M. Tucker, M.D., of Helena, Ala., writes us the following : "I have used Hall's Hair Renewer for the last thirty-£ve years and I know it will do all that it is recommended to do. It will restore the color, CURE dandruff, and prevent the hair from falling out. I believe I would today be bald-headed and gray if it had not been for the use of Hall's Hair Renewer. It will certainly restore the color and I don't hesitate to recom- mend it." A letter from J. A. Kelley, of Antoine, Ark., April i8, 1896, says: ** My hair began falling out very fast, and I believe I would have been perfectly bald, but I used two bottles of Hall's Hair Renewer, and it not only checked the falling out, but thickened the growth and clkanskb The SCAi.p OF dandruff. This was four years since, and I now have a good head of hair. I can cordially recommend it as a first-class hair dressing.'* In May, 1897, we received a letter from J. M. Ran- dolph, of Brookfield, Mo. The writer says: "I have been using your Hair Renewer for several months and find it one of run best cures for dandruff in exist- ence, and have caused a number of persons to try it.*' DOES NOT STAIN. One desirable feature of our Re- newer is that it does not discolor the skin, as so many preparations do. It would not make the permanent cures that it daily performs were this true. The skin is kept in its natural condition, and not in the slight- est degree colored. IS IT SAFE? No one should think for a moment of using any preparation on the hair without having- a sufficient guarantee that it is free from all caustic properties, protected from acid production, and composed of only the purest and best of materials. A few years ago we had cur preparation examined by the highest authority obtainable, and we give be- low the result. During all these years our formula has been unchanged; hence this analysis is as good today as when it was first issued. Wif^^:^^^ j&^fe^jfe^:^ ^^■^jt^^g'L.^^ yg STATE ASSAYER'S OFFICE 2© State Stritet, BOSTON. Ao A. HATES, M.D. 8. DANA HAYES. fJAIX S Siciiiaa getable Siciii I Hair Benewer We ha^e made a chemical analysis of this preparaiion, obtained from different sources, and ha is one of the books that will live." Bookseller^ Ne^csdealer and Stationer. — - " The soldiers that he depicts are not on dress parade, nor will they ever find a place in Sunday School books, but they are very real." Worcester Telegram, — "It has the merit of orginality and sustained interest, allied with truthfulness." Troy Press. — "Mr. Comfort has by this single work demonstrated that he is one of the most talented young writers in America." Omaha Bee. — " Here is a book with war as its theme; that is a decided novelty." Scranton Trihvne. — "A bunch of war stories which are the real thing." The Journalist. — •' Apiece of admirable work. Mr. Comfort is one of the most promising of our younger writers." 6C STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 238 wijiiam street York 11^! Ripans Tabules actually do much good* This is not a mere supposition, it is a fact* Thousands of just such plain, straightforward statements as the one given below from a Chi- cago, IIL, housekeeper prove ft. ^^ I was completely run down in health* My complexion was sallow, I had dark rings under my eyes and appetite was such that I became almost a skeleton* Tonics and women^s medicines did me no good, although expensive* Since taking Ripans Tabules my appetite has come back and I feel stronger and better than for five years.^^ WANIKD— A case of bad health that R-I-P-A-N-S will not benefit They banish pain and prolong life. One cives relief N'-te the word R-I-P-A-N-S on the pacUaL'e and accept no puhstitnte. ll-1-r-A-N-S. "^ for 5 cents, may be had at any drug store. Ten samiles and on'^ thousand testimonials will be mai.'cd to any addt». lor Sets., foi warded to the R;p«ns Chemical Co., No.lO Spruce et..N.Y, m « Rudyird Kipliogl The special attention of admirers of ^ this great author is called to the ^ fact that those of his works pub- % lished in the Arrow Library embrace a careful selection of the best, and that they are printed from new ^ plates, thereby producing much bet- ^ ter editions than can be found in ^ other low priced lines. We now % have ready the following, at I Tbe Rigbt Price, 1 Oc. I ^ No. 1. The Light that Failed ^ No. 12. The Phantom 'Riclcshaw M| No. 49. BaUads and Other Verses M No. 63. Plain Tales from the Hills ^ No. 65. Soldiers Three 9^ No. 70. Under the Deodars and the Story ^ of the Gadsbys. ^n No. 97. The Courting of Dinah Shadd ^ Be sure and get the Arrow Library Edition ^ G20 5TREET & 5A\ITH, Publijbery MEW YORK Beyond the City M 0< A. 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