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,-7 
 
 ANNALS ^ MEMOIRS OF 
 THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
Mummy-Statue at T'ien-T'ai ssu^ commonly held 
 
 TO BE that of the Emperor Shun Chih. 
 
 {By the courtesy of Dr. Perceval Yetts.) 
 
ANNALS & MEMOIRS OF 
 THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 (FROM THE 16th TO THE 20th CENTURY) 
 
 BY 
 
 E. BACKHOUSE and J. O. P. BLAND 
 
 AUTHORS OF 
 "CHINA UNDER THE EMPRESS DOWAGER," ETC. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 
 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 
 1914 
 
11S73S 
 
 Fringed in England 
 
 -^-^eiAf 
 
 f 
 
NOTE 
 
 The thanks of the authors are hereby gratefully- 
 expressed to Mr. Charles L. Freer, of Detroit, U.S.A., 
 for photographs of four masterpieces in his unrivalled 
 collection of Chinese paintings ; to Mr. Laurence 
 Binyon and to the Trustees of the British Museum 
 for permission to reproduce several pictures from the 
 Museum collection ; and to Dr. Perceval Yetts for his 
 interesting photograph of the Mummy-Priest of the 
 temple at T'ien T'ai-ssii. 
 
 Londoji, December 1913. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL PERSONS HEREINAFTER NAMED . 1 
 
 j^/ilraRODUCTION .... 9 
 
 Part I 
 THE MING DYNASTY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 A CHINESE HAROUN AL RASCHID 23 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 AN INFAMOUS EUNUCH 46 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 LI TZ&-Ch'eNG's REBELLION AND THE FALL OF PEKING ... 86 
 
 CHAPTER lY 
 
 WU SAN-KUEI . . . . .118 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE MANCHU dynasty ESTABLISHED . 138 
 
 CHAPTER YI 
 
 THE MINGS AT NANKING . . . . . . . . .166 
 
 CHAPTER YII 
 
 THE SACK OF YANG CHOU-FU 185 
 
 CHAPTER YIII 
 
 THE LAST OF THE MINGS . ,213 
 
 vii 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Part II 
 THE MANCHU DYNASTY 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 PAOK 
 
 THE EMPEROR SHUN CHIH 229 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 k'ang hsi as a father 239 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE TRIBULATIONS OP YUNG CHENG ....... 269 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 YUNG CHENG DISPENSES JUSTICE 289 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 HIS MAJESTY Ch'iEN LUNG ......... 310 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE DOWNFALL OF HO SHEN ........ 347 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 CHIA CH'iNG : THE BEGINNING OF TUB END ..... 372 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 TAO KUANG. THE IMPACT OF THE WEST ...... 390 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 HSIEN FENG AND t'uNG CHIH : THE FACILE DESCENT .... 405 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 ■j THE SORROWS OF HIS MAJESTY KUANG HSU ...... 429 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE BOXER YEAR (1900) ....... 442 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 ^^NCERNING THE OLD BUDDHA 466 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE COURT UNDER THE LAST REGENCY . . . . . . 493 
 
 CONCLUSION ........... 513 
 
 INDEX ........ .... 523 
 
 viii 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 To fact page 
 MCMMY-STATUE AT t'iEN-t'aI SSU, COMMONLY HELD TO BE THAT OP THE 
 
 EMPEROR SHUN CHiH ...... Frontispiece 
 
 PORTRAIT OF A CHINESE OFFICIAL. BY WU TAO-TZl? (EIGHTH CENTURY) 24 
 
 RUINS OF THE " SHRINE OF THE MOST HIGH " AT THE SHENG WU GATE, NEAR 
 THE COAL HILL ......... 
 
 SCENES OF COURT LIFE : PREPARING TEA FOR HIS MAJESTY . 
 
 SCENES OF COURT LIFE. BY CHIU YING (FIFTEENTH CENTURY) 
 
 THE IMPERIAL PAVILION NEAR THE COAL HILL, WHERE THE LAST MING 
 EMPEROR HANGED HIMSELF ..... 
 
 SCENE PROM THE LIFE OF THE COURT .... 
 SCENES OF COURT LIFE : LADIES OF THE PALACE . 
 
 A BANQUET GIVEN TO THE OFFICERS OF THE ARMY AT THE " HALL OP PURPLE 
 light" IN THE LAKE PALACE ENCLOSURE 
 
 KUNG SHUN, A MANDARIN OP THE HAN DYNASTY . 
 
 A WAR JUNK AT THE TIME OF LORD MACARTNEY'S MISSION 
 
 AN IMPERIAL JOURNEY UNDER THE SUNG DYNASTY 
 
 KUNG KWANG, GRANDSON OF KUNG SHUN 
 
 PANORAMIC VIEW OF THE FORBIDDEN CITY AND THE IMPERIAL CITY PROM 
 THE COAL HILL 
 
 PORTRAIT OF HIS MAJESTY CH lEN LUNG ..... 
 
 LORD macartney's EMBASSY AT A HAUL-OVER ON THE TUNGCHOU CANAL 
 SUBMISSION OF THE TUNGUS TRIBKS ...... 
 
 THE CAMP AT ALCHUR ........ 
 
 THE RETURN FROM THE WILDERNESS. THE PRINCESS IMPERIAL'S SEDAN 
 
 ix 
 
 44 
 60 
 84 
 
 104 
 120 
 150 
 
 170 
 190 
 210 
 230 
 260 
 
 286 
 310 
 334 
 376 
 392 
 420 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 To face page 
 
 the'eeturn from the wilderness, insignia bearers following the 
 
 rearguard. peking, january 7, 1902 ..... 444 7 
 
 ladies of the court working at embroidery ..... 470 v 
 
 the return of the court from exile. head of the imperial 
 
 procession. peking, january 7, 1902 486 >^ 
 
 the return from the wilderness. the sedan chair of his majesty 
 
 kuang hsij. peking, january 7, 1902 ..... 502' 
 
 marble bridge in the imperial palace, at the time of the occupation 
 
 by the allies in 1900 ........ 510 v 
 
 the eastern entrance to the lake palace, after the flight of the 
 
 COURT IN 1900 520'' 
 
ERRATA 
 
 p. 76, 1. 33, for His read Hsi, 
 
 p. 94, 1. 32, for him read the Emperor. 
 
 p. Ill, 1. 14<,for 4th read 3rd. 
 
 p. 180, 1. 10, for prestiges read auguries. 
 
 p. 208, 1. 8, for 25th of the 5th to the 5th of 
 the 4th read 25th of the 4th to the 5th 
 of the 5th. 
 
 p. 240, 1. 9,fof Visdelon read Visdelou. 
 
 p. 256, 1. 4:, for T'ui ho read T'ai ho. 
 
 p. 256, 1. 34, /or Khorchia read Khorchin. 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 To face page 
 
 the'eeturn from the wilderness, insignia bearers following the 
 
 rearguard. peking, january 7, 1902 . . . . . 444^ 
 
 ladies of the court working at embroidery ..... 470 
 
 the return of the court from e.yile. head of the imperial 
 
 procession. peking, january 7, 1902 ..... 486 
 
 the return from the wilderness. the sedan chair of his majesty 
 
 kuang hsij. peking, january 7, 1902 502 
 
 marble bridge in the imperial palace, at the time of the occupation 
 
 by the allies in 1900 ........ 510 
 
 the eastern entrance to the lake palace, after the plight of the 
 
 COURT IN 1900 520 
 
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL 
 PERSONS HEREINAFTER NAMED 
 
 Abtai, elder bi'other of Emperor T'ai Tsung. 
 
 An Te-iiai, Tzti Hsi's favourite eunuch during the first Regency. 
 
 Ac Pai, regent during K'ang Hsi's minority. 
 
 Ac Pag, Grand Secretary under Ch'ien Lung, 
 
 BoRjiKiN, Mongol consort of Shunchih and Empress Dowager of 
 K'ang Hsi. 
 
 Chang Chih-tung, scholar and statesman of Kuang Hsii's reign. 
 Chang Chih-wan, Grand Councillor in Kuang Hsii's reign. 
 Ch'ang Fu, son of Emperor Wan Li ; Prince of Kueiyang. 
 Chang Hsien-chung, Li Tzu-ch'eng's chief rebel colleague. 
 Ch'ang Hsun, Prince Fu, son of Wan Li, slain by Li Tzu-ch'eng. 
 Chang Kuo-chi, adopted father of Hsi Tsung's Empress. 
 Ch'ang Lo, or Kuang Tsung, son of Wan Li, reigned one month. 
 Chang Pei-lun, one of the " Puritans," under Tzu Hsi; son-in-law to 
 
 Li Hung-chang. 
 Chang T'ing-yu, 1670-1756, great scholar under Ch'ien Lung. 
 Chang Yin-huan, friend of Kuang Hsii, banished by Tzii Hsi in 
 
 1898, and executed by Prince Tuan's order in 1900. 
 Chang Ylfan-fu, eunuch favourite of Lung Yii, commonly called Hsiao 
 
 Chang. He is believed to have stolen her pearl shoes before the 
 
 breath was out of her body. 
 Chad Ch'i-lin, a famous censor under Tzu Hsi. 
 Chao Shu-ch'iao, allowed to commit suicide in 1900 for supposed 
 
 an ti -foreign proclivities. 
 Chao Erh-hsun, ex- Viceroy of Manchuria and opponent of the 
 
 Republic. 
 Chad Hui, a Manchu General of Ch'ien Lung. 
 Ch'^^.n, Lady, the mistress of Wu San-kuei. 
 
 Cheng, Lady, favourite concubine of Wan Li and mother of Prince Fu. 
 n 1 
 
PRINCIPAL PERSONS NAMED 
 
 Cheng, Prince, one of the conspiring Regents, 1861. 
 
 Cheng Te, reign title of Wu Tsung, Emperor from 1506 to 1522. 
 
 Ch'eng Te, a Manehu who attempted to slay the Emperor Chia Ch'ing. 
 
 Chen Hsin-chia, Ch'mig Chen's Minister of War. 
 
 Cii'en Pi, corrupt Minister under Hsiian T'ung, now adviser to the 
 
 President, Yuan Shih-k'ai. 
 Chen Pao-chen, one of the " Puritan " part}^ later tutor to Emperor 
 
 Hsiian T'ung. 
 Chia Ch'ing, reign title of Jen Tsung, who succeeded Ch'icn Lung. 
 Ch'i Chun-tsao, Grand Councillor under Tao Kuang. 
 Cii'i Hsiu, Boxer leader, decapitated in 1901. 
 Ching Lin, decapitated by Old Buddha for cowardice. 
 Ch'in, Madame, Li Tzu-ch'eng's personal attendant. 
 Chin, Prince, a descendant of Yung Lo. 
 Ch'ing Yi-k'uang, Prince, Prime Minister under Tzti Hsi for six 
 
 years, and later under the Regent. 
 Chin Kuei, a traitor famous in history. 
 Ch'i Shan, or Kishan, Viceroy of Canton in 1841. 
 Chou, Empress, wife of Ch'ung Chen. 
 Chou Kuei, a statesman in the last days of the Mings. 
 Ciiu Chih-feng, Governor of Hsiian Hua under Ch'ung Chen. 
 Chu Hsien, leader of White Lily sect. 
 ChIj Hung-chi, rival to Prince Ch'ing from 1903 to 1907, enemy of 
 
 Yuan Shih-k'ai and ally of Ts'en Ch'un-hsiian. 
 Chu Kuei, tutor and valued servant of Chia Ch'ing. 
 Ch'un, Princess, mother of Kuang Hsii and sister of Tzti Hsi. 
 Ch'ung Chen, last of the Ming Emperors at Peking. 
 Ch'ung Ch'i, father of A Lu-te, consort of Emperor T'ung Chih, friend 
 
 of Jung Lu, slew himself in Paotingfu. 
 Ch'ung Hou, signed the Treaty of Livadia in 1878. 
 Ch'ung Hua, Manehu official in Formosa in 1812. 
 Ch'ung Li, Commander of Peking gendarmerie in 1900 and pro-Boxer. 
 Chu Shih, Grand Secretary of Ch'ien Lung. 
 Chu YtJAN-CHANG, canonised as T'ai Tsu or the Exalted Ancestor, 
 
 founder of the Ming dynasty. 
 
 Deportment Concubine, one of Hsi Tsung's consorts, a tool of Madame 
 
 K'o. 
 DoRGUN, Prince Jui, brother of Manehu dynasty's founder and Regent 
 
 to Shun Chih. 
 
 Fan Ching-wen, Ch'ung Chen's Grand Secretary. 
 Fan Wen-cheng, high official under T'ai Tsung. 
 Fang Ts'ung-che, Grand Secretary of Wan Li. 
 
 2 
 
PRINCIPAL PERSONS NAMED 
 
 Feng Hsiu, friend of Jung Lu and father of the Yii Fei, or " Gem " 
 
 Concubine, at first known as Hui Fei. 
 Fu Ch'ang-an, protege of Ho Shen. 
 Fu K'ang-an, a prominent General under Ch'ien Lung and rival of 
 
 Ho Shen. 
 
 Ho Lin, brother of Grand Secretary Ho Shen, under Ch'ien Lung. 
 Ho Shen, or Ho K'un, the all-powerful Minister of Ch'ien Lung, put 
 
 to death by his successor Chia Ch'ing. 
 Ho Shih-tai, official deputed to receive the Amherst Mission. 
 Hsiao Chen, Tzu An, Tzu Hsi's colleague, Empress of the Eastern 
 
 Palace. 
 Hsiao Te, Empress, wife of Hsien Feng, who died before he became 
 
 Emperor; canonised as his chief Consort. 
 Hsu Ch'eng-yu, son of Hsii T'ung, decapitated by the Allies in 1901. 
 Hsu Shih-ch'ang, Viceroy and Grand Councillor, formerly Yuan Shih- 
 
 k'ai's protege. When his patron was dismissed, Hsii character- 
 istically did nothing to help him. 
 Hsu Shu-ming, a partisan of the Old Buddha in 1898. 
 Hsu T'ung, Boxer leader, enemj'' of Kuang Hsti, slew himself in 1900 
 
 on fall of Peking. 
 HuAi T'a-pu, kinsman of Old Buddha and of Jung Lu. 
 Hung Kuang nominated successor to the last Ming Emperor Ch'ung 
 
 Chen at Nanking in 1644. 
 Huang Sou-lan, Vice-President of Board of War in 1900. 
 Huang T'ien-pa, a well-known theatrical hero. 
 Hung Hsiu-ch'Ijan, the " heavenly king," a Tai Ping leader. 
 Hu Yu-fen, high official in Peking under Kuang Hsii, and friendly 
 
 to foreigners. 
 
 I-Chiang-a, Governor of Shantung and protege of Ho Shen. 
 
 Jirhalang, or Chierhalang, first cousin of T'ai Tsung, Prince 
 
 Cheng. 
 Jul Ch'eng, Viceroy of Wuchang in 1911, grandson of Ch'i Shan. 
 Jung Lu, kinsman of Tzii Hsi, devoted adherent and patriotic Manchu. 
 
 K'ang, Prince, cousin to K'ang Hsi. 
 
 K'ang Yu-wei, reformer, loathed by Tzii Hsi. 
 
 Kao T'ien-te, and Kou Wen-ming, leaders of the White Lily 
 
 rebels in Ch'ien Lung's and Chia Ch'ing's reigns. 
 K'o, Madame, Hsi Tsung's wet nurse, the " Lady of Divine Worship," 
 
 who resided in what is now the Naitzti-fu, or "Foster-mother's 
 
 Palace." 
 
 3 
 
I'RINCIPAL PERSONS NAMED 
 
 K'o, Prince, descended from Nurhachi's second son. 
 
 K'ou Lien-ts'ai, a eunuch decapitated by the Old Buddha. 
 
 KuANG Hui, official deputed to receive the Amherst Mission. 
 
 K'uEi Chun, a chamberlain to the Court under Tzu Hsi and Lung Yti. 
 
 KuEi HsiANG, father of Lung Yii and younger brother of Tzti Hsi. 
 
 KuNG, Prince, senior, died 1898. 
 
 KuNG, Prince, junior; P'u Wei, haughty and hostile to House of 
 Ch'un, Opposed the abdication; thought he should have suc- 
 ceeded KuangHsu. Recently hved in Tsingtau, leading the Tsung- 
 shetang or Restoration Society. 
 
 Lai Pag, commander of Peking gendarmerie under Ch'ien Lung. 
 
 Li, Concubine, favourite Consort of Kuang Tsung. 
 
 Li Chia-chu, Manchu bannerman of Canton, sometime Speaker of the 
 Senate. 
 
 Li Chih, personal name of Kao Tsung, Emperor of T'ang dynasty, 
 A.D. 655. 
 
 Li Chien-t'ai, Grand Secretary under Ch'ung Chen ; the richest man 
 in Peking of that time. 
 
 Li Ching-shu, eldest son of Li Hung-chang. 
 
 Li Hsi-chang, Prefect of Peking under Li Tzu-ch'eng. 
 
 Li Hsiu-ch'eng, the leader of the Taiping rebellion. 
 
 Li Hung-chang, the famous Viceroy of Chihh. 
 
 Li K'o-yung, a General at close of T'ang dynasty, who afterwards 
 usurped the Throne. 
 
 Li Kuo-p'u, a Grand Secretary of Hsi Tsung. 
 
 Li Lien-ying, ame damnee and Chief Eunuch of Tzti Hsi. 
 
 Li Ping-heng, anti-foreign and Boxer leader. 
 
 Li Shih-min, the ideal^ ruler, second Emperor of the T'ang dynasty, 
 seventh century a.d. 
 
 Li Ting-kuo, brigand chief, supporter of Yung Li, fugitive Ming- 
 Sovereign. 
 
 Li Tzu-ch'eng, rebel leader and usurping Emperor. 
 
 Li Yen, one of Li Tztl-ch'eng's Generals. 
 
 Li Yu-heng, Commander-in-chief of Szechuan under Tzii Hsi. 
 
 Liang Ch'i-ch'ao, one of the leading reformers in 1898; subsequently 
 a refugee in Japan. Appointed to the Cabinet by Yuan Shih-k'ai. 
 
 Liang K'uei, adopted son and heir of Jung Lu. 
 
 LiAO Shou-heng, Minister on Grand Council under Tzti Hsi, and anti- 
 Boxer. 
 
 Lien Wen-chung, clerk in Grand Council who drafted decree of 20th 
 June 1900 declaring war against the Powers. 
 
 Lien Yuan, Manchu and anti-Boxer, decapitated in 1900. 
 
 4 
 
PRINCIPAL PERSONS NAMED 
 
 Lin Hsij, reformer under Kuang Hsli, put to death by Tzu Hsi. 
 
 Lin TsE-HsiJ, Viceroy of Canton, who burned the opium and defied 
 
 Great Britain, thus precipitating the first China War. 
 Liu CH't;AN-CHiH, Chia Ch'ing's Grand Secretar5^ 
 Liu Chu-hsuan, Prefect of Peking under Hsi Tsung. 
 Liu Kuang-fu, Censor under Wan Li. 
 Liu K'un-yi, Viceroy of Nanking under TzCi Hsi. 
 Liu Lin, alias Liu Ch'ing, leader of Palace conspiracy in 1813. 
 Liu Te-ts'ai, eunuch implicated in Chia Ch'ing's Palace conspiracy. 
 Liu Tsung-min, a rebel General under Li Tztt-ch'eng. 
 Lo Pag, Manchu General under Chia Ch'ing. 
 Lu, Prince, cousin of Yung Li, the last of the Mings. 
 Lu Ch'uan-lin, a patriotic statesman at the close of the Manchu 
 
 regime. 
 Lung K'o-to, maternal uncle of Emperor Yimg Cheng. 
 Lung Wu, successor to Hung Kuang, slain at Foochow. 
 Lu Yuan-ting, taotai of Shanghai under Kuang Hsu. 
 
 Ma Shao-yu, Ming Peace Commissioner to Manchus. 
 Meng Ch'uan-chin, a censor who impeached Po Sui. 
 Mien En, Prince Ting, nephew of Chia Ch'ing. 
 Mien K'ai, third son of Chia Ch'ing. 
 Mu Ch'ang-a, Chief Minister under Tao Kuang. 
 
 NiEii Ch'i-kuei, Provincial Judge under Tzii Hsi. 
 
 Nien Keng-yao, a famous General, ordered to commit suicide by 
 
 Yung Cheng. 
 NiNG, Prince, rebelled against the Ming Emperor Cheng Te. 
 NuRHACHi, founder of the Manchu dynasty. 
 
 Pan Shih-tsu, Grand Councillor under Tao Kuang. 
 
 Pao Ning, Governor- General of Hi. 
 
 Pag Tai, Resident at Lhasa under Ch'ien Lung. 
 
 Pag YtJN, Grand Secretary under Tzii Hsi. 
 
 Po Sui, Grand Secretary, executed by Hsien Feng. 
 
 P'u An, father of Na T'ung, decapitated for improper conduct whilst 
 
 serving on an examination commission. 
 P'u Shan, an Imperial Duke, flogged by Lung Yii's eunuchs. 
 
 San Kuniang, Ch'ien Lung's literary courtesan. 
 
 Shen Kuei-fen, Grand Councillor during Kuang Hsii's minority. 
 
 Shen Liu-t'ing, one of Lung Yii's eunuchs. 
 
PRINCIPAL PERSONS NAMED 
 
 Shih Hsy, Grand Councillor under Tzil Hsi, afterwards chief guardian 
 
 to Emperor on Manchu downfall. 
 Shih K'o-fa, patriotic Grand Secretary of the Ming Emperor Hung 
 
 Kuang. 
 Shou Fu, an Imperial Clansman of Kuang Hsii's party, son-in-law of 
 
 Lien Yiian. 
 Shun Chih, first Manchu Emperor, said to have taken vows as a bonze 
 
 and to have lived to extreme old age. 
 SuLiNGA, father-in-law of Ho Lin, Grand Secretary under Ch'ien Lung. 
 Sun Chia-nai, Kuang Hsii's tutor. 
 Sung Yun, resident at Lhasa under Ch'ien Lung. 
 Sun Shih-yi, Envoy to Burmah under Ch'ien Lung. 
 Sun Ti-a, poet of the T'ang dynasty. 
 Sun Tzu-shou, one of Kuang Hsu's tutors. 
 Sun YiJ-WEN, Grand Councillor under Tzu Hsi. 
 Su, Prince, an anti-republican Manchu. 
 Su Shun, President of Board of Revenue and Grand Councillor, Imperial 
 
 Clansman and boon companion of Hsien Feng, put to death by the 
 
 two Empress-Regents for treason, in 1861. 
 
 Tax Hung-tzu, first Cantonese to enter Grand Council, died 1910. 
 T'an Chiao-t'ien-erh, the most famous actor in China under Tzti Hsi. 
 Tao Kuang, reign title of Mien Ning, canonised as Hsiian Tsung, or 
 
 Distinguished Ancestor. 
 Teng Ch'eng-hsiu, a Puritan party man of the Reformers of 1898. 
 T'lEH Pag, famous scholar under Ch'ien Lung. 
 Tien Wen-ching, favourite Minister of Yung Cheng. 
 TsAi Chen, son of Prince Ch'ing, and Envoy to the Coronation of 
 
 George V; he complained at not being given a higher precedence, 
 
 and had photographs published of himself as Crown Prince, which 
 
 he was not, and could not be. 
 TsAi Feng, Prince Ch'un, the ex-Regent. 
 TsAi HsiJN, Prince Chuang, Boxer leader. 
 TsAi Lan, Boxer leader and brother of Prince Tuan. 
 TsAi Lien, son of Prince Tun, implicated in the Boxer rising. 
 Ts'ai Mou-te, defender of the city of Tai Yuan against Li Tzu-ch'eng. 
 TsAi YiNG, son of Prince Kung, implicated in Boxer movement. 
 TsAi Yuan, one of the conspiring Regents, 1861. 
 Ts'ao Pin-chou, tutor to Hsien Feng. 
 
 Tseng Kuo-fan, statesman and soldier who overcame the Taipings. 
 Tso Tsung-t'ang, General and statesman under Tza Hsi. 
 Tuan Ch'i-jui, a favourite and protege of Yuan Shih-k'ai. 
 
 6 
 
PRINCIPAL PERSONS NAMED 
 
 TuAN Fang, Viceroy and amateur in curios, decapitated in Szechuan 
 
 by his troops. 
 Tu HstJN, eunuch who betrayed Peking to Li Tzu-ch'eng. 
 Tun, Prince, fifth son of Tao Kuang {vide Manchu genealogical tree). 
 Tung Chia, Empress, mother of K'ang Hsi. 
 Tung Fu-hsiang, Boxer leader, who falsely claimed until his death 
 
 that he was obeying Jung Lu's orders in attacking the legations. 
 Tung T'u-lai, prominent Chinese supporter of Manchu Emperor T'ai 
 
 Tsung. 
 Tu Shou-t'ien, tutor of Tao Kuang. 
 Tztj Hsi, the Empress Dowager, Old Buddha, or Western Empress. 
 
 Wang Ch'eng-en, eunuch Commander-in-chief of Peking, who died 
 
 with his master, the Emperor Ch'ung Chen. 
 Wang P'eng-yun, a censor under Kuang Hsii. 
 Wang Wen-shao, favourite of Tzii Hsi and sometime Viceroy of Chihli. 
 
 Grand Councillor under Tzu Hsi. 
 Wan Li, reign title of Shen Tsung, died 1620. 
 Wei Chung-hsien, originally called Wei Chin-chung, an infamous 
 
 eunuch under the late Mings. 
 Weng T'ung-ho, famous scholar and tutor to Kuang Hsii, Avho was 
 
 dismissed by Tzu Hsi in 1898 for alleged hostility to herself. 
 Wu Chao-ping, a Canton merchant who traded with the barbarians 
 
 under Ch'ien Lung. 
 Wu HsiANG, father of Wu San-kuei. 
 
 Wu HsiUNG-KUANG, promoted to be Grand Councillor by Ch'ien Lung. 
 Wu San-kuei, made a Prince by the Manchus, afterwards adopted 
 
 reign title of his own and rebelled against them. 
 
 Yang Hsiao-lou, palace actor under Lung Yii. 
 
 Yang Hsiu-ch'ing, famous General of the Taiping rebellion. 
 
 Yang Jui-lien, a famous scholar under Yung Cheng and Ch'ien Lung. 
 
 Yang Lien, loyal official who impeached the eunuch Wei Chung-hsien. 
 
 Yen Hsiu, Manchu President of Board of Ceremonies in 1886. 
 
 Yi YuAN-LU, high officer who slew himself at the fall of Peking in 1644. 
 
 Yuan Ciiia-san, grandfather of Yuan Shih-k'ai. 
 
 Yuan Ch'ung-huan, patriotic Ming General, and ancestor of Yuan 
 
 Shih-k'ai. 
 Yuan Shih-k'ai, born in 1859 of old official family. Viceroy of Chihli, 
 
 now President of the Republic. 
 Yij Hsien, Manchu Governor of Shansi who massacred the missionaries. 
 Yij, Prince (son of T'ai Tsung), Manchu Commander-in-chief at siege 
 
 of Yang Chou-fu in 1643. 
 
 7 
 
PRINCIPAL PERSONS NAMED 
 
 Yu Te, Grand Secretary under the Old Buddha. 
 
 Yij Lu, Viceroy of Tientsin in 1900. 
 
 YiJN CniH, eldest son of K'ang Hsi by a lower concubine. 
 
 Yung Cheng, son of K'ang Hsi and successor to that Monarch. 
 
 Yung Kuei, Grand Secretary under Ch'ien Lung. 
 
 Yung Li, reign title of last Ming Prince, grandson of Wan Li, who 
 
 leigned in the south from 1645 to 1659. 
 Yung Lo, fourth son of first Ming Emperor, who usurped the throne 
 
 from his nephew. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The enduring interest displayed by many readers in 
 the character of China's great Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi, 
 and the generous appreciation accorded to our work 
 on her hfe and reign, ^ have prompted the behef that 
 the present work, covering a wider stretch of space 
 and time, should prove interesting, and of some value, 
 to those who desire to study the causes, immediate 
 and remote, of recent and current events in the Far ' 
 East. Until we understand something of the main^] 
 springs of thought and action which determine the I 
 governance and daily life of a people — something of their 
 atavistic memories and instincts, of their social, religious 
 and economic systems, it is not possible to sympathise 
 with them in their perils and crises of change, or to render 
 them the assistance which appreciation of their motives 
 and intelligent anticipation of their needs might supply. 
 And to see the Chinese world steadily and see it whole, 
 to trace cause and effect back to the deeply buried founda- 
 tions of their philosophy and civilisation, it is necessary 
 to look at things from their point of view, to hear them 
 speaking, amongst themselves, of many things which 
 the West has forgotten, but which are still part of the 
 very soul of the East. It is for this reason that, in the 
 present work, as in the life of Tzu Hsi, we have thought 
 it best to reproduce the actual form and substance of 
 the words in which China's Sovereigns, annalists, com- 
 mentators and despatch- writers have recorded the events 
 
 1 China under the Empress Dotvager, 1910. (Heincmann.) 
 
 9 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 of contemporary history, hoping thus to create in the 
 mind of the European reader something of the atmosphere 
 in which they hved and moved. 
 
 The purpose of the present work is to present a faith- 
 ful picture of Hfe at the Court of Peking, beginning with 
 the period at which the dechne of the Ming dynasty had 
 definitely set in and the rise of the Manchu power had 
 begun — that is to say, from the middle of the sixteenth 
 century down to the passing of the Manchus, to the chaos 
 of degeneration and disruption, which obtains in China 
 to-day under the name of a Republic. We have not 
 attempted to construct a consecutive chronological record 
 of the Empire's internal history or foreign relations, 
 but only to present a series of impressions, taken from 
 life, serving to illustrate the personal and domestic rela- 
 tions of China's rulers with their Court, and of the Court 
 itself with the government of the country; to trace 
 in these relations (vitally important under China's 
 patriarchal system) alternating causes of national growth 
 and decay; to watch, during the space of a few genera- 
 tions, the sowing of the seeds, and the reaping of the 
 harvests, of good and evil. 
 
 Our object being to reproduce as fully and as truthfully 
 as possible the atmosphere of the Court of Peking, through- 
 out the period which has culminated in the present 
 paroxysin of demoralisation, we have allowed the narra- 
 tives of Chinese writers to stand, as a rule, without 
 attempting to amend or curtail them to meet the con- 
 ventions of reticence imposed, in certain directions, 
 upon European writers. Here and there (notably in 
 the narrative of the sack of Yang Chou-fu) we have 
 thought it advisable to omit some of the worst details 
 of horrors inseparable from the orgies of bloodshed and 
 lust which mark the rise and fall of power in China. As 
 a whole, however, we have assumed that the student of 
 history prefers to see things as they are, rather than as 
 
 10 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 the moralist would prefer them to be; that he can, and 
 will, approach this study of Eastern life, described by 
 Orientals, in the same spirit of detachment, with the 
 same recognition of fundamental humanities and moralities, 
 as that with which we approach the brutal frankness 
 of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel — things written 
 for our learning. 
 
 There exists a small and happily diminishing class 
 of moralists who would rather not look upon the mirror 
 of history, or face the unpleasant realities of life, lest 
 perchance they be disturbed from their comfortable 
 fireside conceptions of the universe. One such there was 
 — the manager of an American agency for supplying 
 improving literature for the home circle — who recentlj^ 
 asked us for a series of articles on China and the Chinese ; 
 but he stipulated, amongst other conditions calculated 
 to preserve the moral dignity of his subscribers, that 
 " they should contain no reference to concubines, secon- 
 dary wives or other forms of immorality." The present 
 Annals and Memoirs of the Chinese Court are no more 
 suitable to the libraries of these dwellers in the walled 
 garden of cherished illusions than Job, fresh from his 
 place amongst the ashes and scraping himself with a 
 potsherd, would be fit company for their drawing-rooms. 
 Nevertheless, Job, his affiictions and philosophy, remain 
 to this day commonplaces of existence in the Far East, 
 and he who would truthfully depict the life of this people 
 must take them into account. As it was in the beginning, 
 so it is now; while men speak glibly of parliaments and 
 representative institutions, the " stupid people " are 
 " born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward," because 
 of an ancient social system not to be uprooted by any 
 philanthropic devices of the West. Within the last 
 few months, many a walled city of China has known once 
 more the abomination of desolation, has heard again 
 the familiar voice of Rachel mourning for her children. 
 
 11 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Railways, telephones, forts and ships — all the parapher- 
 nalia of Europe's material civilisation, have availed 
 nothing to save the citizens of Nanking from the hand 
 of the destroyers, men of their own race. As it was in 
 the time of the Sabeans and the Chaldeans, so it remains 
 to-day in the East; the sons of Han "are far from 
 safety; they are crushed in the gate, neither is there 
 any to deliver them : whose harvest the hungry eateth 
 up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber 
 swalloweth up their substance." To these hereditary 
 victims of an outworn patriarchal system, the words of 
 Job are everyday truths. " Terrors make them afraid 
 on every side. Their strength is hunger-bitten, and 
 destruction stands ever ready at their side. The king 
 of terrors dwells in their tabernacles and brimstone is 
 scattered upon their habitations." 
 
 The annals and memoirs used in compiling the present 
 work have been selected as typically representative of 
 the Oriental outlook on life and death, and the business 
 of government. We have not sought by any means to 
 emphasise the brutalities, debaucheries and cruelties 
 of the Forbidden City; we have not looked for horrors, 
 nor reproduced anything which the Chinese themselves 
 would consider to be outside the range of common experi- 
 ence. We have aimed simply at reproducing from Chinese 
 sources a series of impressions true to life — ^not life as the 
 sentimental humanitarian prefers to imagine it, but life 
 as it was yesterday, and will be to-morrow, in the light 
 that beat upon the Dragon Throne, and in the dark 
 shadows behind it. To do this, we have endeavoured 
 to steer a middle course between the Scylla of the Chinese 
 chroniclers' brutal realism and the Charybdis of our 
 conventional and often priu'ient reticences. 
 
 The reader will best appreciate the historical value 
 and the significance of these Chinese records, who, in 
 studying them, is able to detach himself for a while from 
 
 12 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Western modes of thought and standards oi' actions; 
 who, clearing his mind of conventions and cant, endeavours 
 to understand the fundamental differences between the 
 moralities of East and West, and to weigh their results 
 without prejudice or passion. It is impossible, for 
 instance, for any one who regards polygamy as a form 
 of " immorality " to study Chinese history with intelli- 
 gent sympathy ; or even to appreciate the motives which 
 chiefly influence individuals and determine policies 
 amongst the ruling class at this moment. To get the 
 correct point of view, we must, in fact, assume for the 
 study of China's institutions and history the frame of 
 mind in which we approach the lives of the Hebraic 
 patriarchs and rulers; cheerfully accepting for them 
 customs which we, the heirs of all the ages, have decided 
 to modify or to reject. Better still if, in adopting this 
 attitude of detachment, we can bring ourselves to recog- 
 nition of the truth that the Western World's convictions 
 and conventions concerning the moralities are neither 
 final nor necessarily superior, as a whole, to those of the 
 East. Beneath the cruelties and rapacities of life, the 
 brooding soul of the East preserves, with its infinite 
 capacity for suffering, the dignity of a philosophy and 
 the beauty of ideals which the West has never equalled, 
 and from which it has derived many of its noblest inspira- 
 tions and religions. Inferior to the European in many 
 things that make for intellectual and material progress, 
 the Oriental in general, and the Chinese in particular, 
 can claim superiority in this, that in remaining nearer to 
 nature, he has escaped the shameful hypocrisies and con- 
 ventional falsehoods, which play so large a part in the 
 social systems of the Western World. Admitted, that the 
 East's immemorial acceptance of polygamy, with all its 
 multitudinous paternity and chaotic domesticity, repre- 
 sents a lower ideal than that which finds expression in the 
 monogamous West; admitted, that, as practised by the 
 
 13 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 rulers of China, it lias been the cause of many and great 
 evils; yet, so soon as we regard the question dispassion- 
 ately and without reference to our own standard of con- 
 duct, we are compelled to admit that polygamy, with all 
 its evils, has preserved the Chinese from many things which 
 they justly condemn and despise in our social system — 
 from the terrible human traffic of our streets, from the 
 unsexed or superfluous woman and the militant Suffra- 
 gette, from the network of sordid sex problems and intrigues 
 which honeycomb European society and reflect themselves 
 in its literature and drama. The East is by tradition 
 and temperament tolerant, reluctant to discuss the im- 
 mortal Gods, and, for the rest, judging the tree by its 
 fruits ; willing to see good in every creed which preaches 
 benevolence and gentleness ; yet even the Chinese cannot 
 avoid comparing some of the results of Christianity's 
 civilisation with their own, and realising with satisfaction 
 that the daily records of our divorce and police courts 
 have no parallels in the East. And again, although we 
 may disagree with the principles and practice of ancestor 
 worship, we cannot deny that it has inculcated reverence 
 for parents, with definite ideals of duty, and produced 
 a race of women which instinctively prefers death to 
 dishonour. The Chinese, with no desire to argue about 
 worlds unseen or the road thereto, would be more than 
 human if they took no comfort from comparing these 
 results of the Confucian philosophy with those of our 
 European systems; if they failed to perceive the un- 
 deniable fact that (as de Tocqueville observed in America) 
 democracy affords neither time nor place for that profit- 
 able meditation which makes for the peace of a man's, 
 or a nation's, soul. In studying Chinese history it is well 
 to remember these things. 
 
 One of the most conspicuous results of the Chinese 
 educational and philosophical systems confronts us in 
 the family likeness impressed by classical traditions upon 
 
 14 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 the seven ages of their hterature. All the annalists of 
 the Mings, like their forbears under the Sung dynasty, 
 and their descendants under the Manchus, use the same 
 stock phrases, metaphors and arguments, derived one 
 and all from the classical authors of antiquity. Age can 
 never wither, nor custom stale, the perennial vitality of 
 their venerable quotations. The more remote their 
 ancientry, the better do they become in the eyes of a race 
 of scholars who : 
 
 " Though they wrote in all by rote, 
 Could never write it right." 
 
 All Chinese literature is sicklied o'er by the pale cast 
 of the Confucian tradition; therefore it is, that in the 
 Ming chroniclers of the sixteenth century, as in those of 
 the T'ang dynasty, we find the same set phrases, the same 
 artificial gestures and ready-made emotions, as we find 
 in the presidential mandates of Yuan Shih-k'ai to-day. 
 Throughout the whole course of Chinese history, events, 
 as recorded by the Hanlin annalist, become stereotyped 
 in fixed groves and rigid patterns. The Confucian 
 scholar sees and interprets the Avhole human comedy in 
 rigid terms of classical allusions. For him there is, indeed, 
 no new thing under the sun ; nothing in heaven or earth, 
 concerning which the Four Books and the Five Classics 
 have not said the first and last word. In the fifteenth 
 century, a somewhat similar attitude obtained amongst 
 the rank and file of European scholars; indeed there 
 is reason to believe that it survives, to this day, in certain 
 slumbering backwaters of our universities. The mind 
 which lives for and by Latin odes or Greek elegiacs at 
 Oxford is surely the same, in its causes and effects, as that 
 which rejoices in the production of antithetical couplets 
 at Peking ; fortunately for itself, however, it has to deal 
 with a different public. The absence of a healthy spirit 
 of criticism, due to the Middle Kingdom's splendid 
 
 15 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 isolation and self-sufficiency, gradually evolved a type of 
 scholarship amongst the Chinese which displays all the 
 erudition of a Montaigne, a Bacon or a Burton, but lacks 
 their saving graces of humour and humanity. Thus it 
 is that the mandarin scholar, century after century, has 
 seen and described men and events in a dull monotone 
 of conventional platitudes. Borne down by the weight 
 of the classical tradition, all things in heaven and earth 
 are associated in his mind with the odes of Confucius, 
 the stilted periods of some Sung philosopher, or the 
 poems of Li Tai-po. It is not surprising, therefore, that 
 we find official annalists of the present day using precisely 
 the same expressions as those which were in vogue 
 amongst the writers of the Ming period ; or that, through- 
 out the dynastic annals, we find evidence of a tendency, 
 on the part of the chroniclers, to make history conform, 
 as far as possible, to the precedents established by the 
 old times before them. 
 
 Judged in the light of its achievements, and even of 
 its avowed aims. Young China stands at present condemned 
 of futility. With a fair field and much favour, it has failed 
 to seize its splendid opportunities; it has been weighed 
 in the balance and found wanting. But even whilst 
 we recognise that its shrill-voiced iconoclasm and loud 
 beating of imported drums present but little justification 
 for optimism, yet this, at least, must be placed to its credit, 
 that its fervour of zeal for Western learning has been, 
 and is, an intelligent protest — a conscious reaction — 
 against the petrefaction of the Confucian system, against 
 '' the letter which killeth " ; a wholesome breeze of dawn, 
 stirring the dead bones in the dark valleys of Chinese 
 tradition. The lamp which they have lighted can 
 never again be extinguished; the old order must pass, 
 giving place to the new. It will be well for China and 
 for the world if, in destroying the fetters of the past, the 
 leaders of the people find grace and wisdom to seek once 
 
 16 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 more the pure well of moral philosophy from which the 
 early sages drew their sweetness and their light. 
 
 Amongst such morals and conclusions as the reader may 
 draw from study of these three centuries of Chinese history, 
 one of the most obvious is to be found in the persistent 
 coincidence of periods of demoralisation in the State 
 with the ascendancy of eunuchs at Court. The Chinese 
 have always realised the truth of this matter; scholars, 
 historians and moralists never fail to declare that the 
 Empire's crisis of private corruption and public disorder, 
 the decline and fall of dynasties, have been caused or 
 greatly hastened by the interference and intrigues of these 
 Court menials in affairs of State. The first Manchu 
 rulers perceived clearly the evils of a eunuch-ridden 
 Court, and took wise precautions against them. In the 
 fate of the Mings, the lesson was writ plain for them to 
 learn, adding one more to the many warnings of history 
 against the insidious dangers of the Court's excessive 
 polygamy and the atmosphere of debauchery and enerva- 
 tion thereby created. They could see for themselves 
 to what a pitiful state the Throne and Court had been 
 brought by the tyrannous cruelty, treachery and greed 
 of the eunuchs who infested the Forbidden City and 
 projected the " poisonous miasma " of their influence to 
 the farthest frontiers of the Empire. It is noteworthy 
 that, amongst the many emasculated Palace officials who 
 rose to place and power under the Mings and again under 
 the latter Manchus, few displayed the fidelity and the 
 civic virtues which seem to have distinguished those of 
 the Court of Babylon, or those which Herodotus attributes 
 to the eunuch magnates of Persia. Fidelity to the person 
 of the Emperor we find, indeed (though none too fre- 
 quently), combined with literary and histrionic talents 
 of a high order and great intellectual vigour; but the 
 history of China, during the period with which we are 
 dealing, produces no eunuch general or statesman com- 
 c 17 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 parable to that Hermias, Governor of Atarnea, to whose 
 manes Aristotle offered sacrifice and sincere reverence. 
 
 If we compare the condition of China's civil service and 
 military organisation of to-day with that which obtained 
 in the reign of Ch'ien Lung, we are compelled to seek 
 for specific causes to account for so complete a demoralisa- 
 tion of the ruling caste and so swift decay of the nation's 
 civic and patriotic instincts. A century and a half ago, 
 Chinese armies, organised under the rigorous military 
 system of the Manchus, w^re steadily fighting one success- 
 ful war after another, thereby extending the frontiers 
 of the Empire and the benefits of its well-ordered adminis- 
 tration to independent Tartary, Thibet, Nepal, Burmah 
 and Sungaria. Studying the history of this great Monarch's 
 long reign, and that of his immediate successors, we per- 
 ceive that the chief cause of the swift decline and fall of 
 the Manchu power, and of the consequent demoralisation 
 of the whole system of government, lay (as Tzu Hsi 
 admitted on her deathbed) in the corruption of public 
 and private morals which set in, so soon as the " rats and 
 foxes " of the Court were permitted to interfere in affairs 
 of State. So long as the Palace eunuchs were kept in 
 the place wisely assigned to them by Shun Chih, and de- 
 barred from all high offices, the Court retained its virile 
 dignity and the public service its efficiency. The luxury^^ 
 nepotism and venality introduced during the regime of 
 Ch'ien Lung's favourite, the Grand Secretary, Ho Shen, 
 restored to the Palace eunuchs opportunities which they 
 had not enjoyed since the overthrow of the Ming dynasty. 
 Fifty years later, their ascendancy at Court was com- 
 pletely established. Henceforward, they were able to 
 exercise once more their traditional functions as the 
 tempters of youth, the debauchers of age, in the profound 
 seclusion of the Forbidden City, until gradually the Son 
 of Heaven on his Throne became a defenceless puppet in 
 their supple bloodstained hands. Steep is the ascent 
 
 18 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 ofj01yTQp.uSj rapid the descent to Avernus ; the structural 
 character of a people moves onward and upward only 
 by slow processes of evolution, but its destruction is often 
 brought about by swift and direct factory of demoralisa- 
 tion. Seldom is this truth thrown into relief so clear as 
 that in which we see it against the background of China's 
 history, during the periods immediately preceding the 
 downfall of the Ming and Manchu dynasties. 
 
 19 
 
PART I 
 THE MING DYNASTY 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 A CHINESE HAROUN AL RASCHID 
 
 When, in 1368, Chu Yiian-chang, Buddhist priest, 
 administrator and fighter, estabhshed the Ming dynasty 
 by his successful rebeUion against the degenerate descend- 
 ants of Kublai Khan, and thus shattered the last remnants 
 of the great Mongol Empire, he laid down certain principles 
 for the government of China which proved him to be a 
 statesman of the first order. He realised clearly that 
 the rulers of the Celestial Empire must govern rather by 
 moral than material force, and that the consent of the 
 governed will always be withdrawn from those who lack 
 the moral qualities which the people reverence and expect 
 in their rulers. During his reign and that of his illustrious 
 nephew, Yung Lo, literature, education, arts, industries 
 and commerce were systematically encouraged, with 
 results that conferred great glory on the dynasty and 
 prosperity on the people. The founder of the great Ming 
 dynasty, whose throne was established by the sword, 
 knew that the pen is a mightier weapon against the 
 vicissitudes of Time — by its aid he hoped to revive a 
 patriotic spirit and the instincts of nationalism, long dor- 
 mant in the Chinese people. He therefore reorganised the 
 whole system of the public service and competitive exami- 
 nations, revised the penal code, regulated taxation, and 
 introduced a national currency. More important than all, 
 as has since been repeatedly proved, he forbade the oificial 
 employment of eunuchs at the capital. 
 
 23 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 In subsequent chapters, dealing with the decHne and 
 fall of the Ming dynasty, the rebellion of Li Tzu-ch'eng, 
 and the establishment of the Manchu power, the reader 
 will perceive that the Ming rulers' failure to observe this 
 fundamental principle of government (upon which the 
 great Tzu Hsi insisted as she lay dying in 1908) was 
 the chief cause of their final overthrow and of countless 
 calamities to the nation at large. It was in the year 
 1430, that the Emperor Hsiian Tsung, grandson of Yung 
 Lo, adopted the well-meant but disastrous course of 
 raising the status of the Palace menials, and giving them 
 the advantages of a first- class literary education. During 
 the reign of his successor, the power of the eunuchs and 
 their interference in affairs of State steadily increased, and 
 from this time the decline of the great Ming dynasty may 
 be said to have commenced. 
 
 Before proceeding to describe, from contemporary annals 
 and State papers, the dark days of anarchy and bloodshed 
 which preceded the subjugation of China by the Manchus, 
 let us narrate the following episodes from the life of the 
 Ming Emperor Chang Te, who reigned from 1506 to 1522. 
 The story is taken from a contemporary memoir, now 
 very scarce; it throws instructive light on the life and 
 manners of the Court of those days, before the energies of 
 the Mings had been sapped to the extent of making the 
 Emperor little better than a puppet in his gilded prison 
 of the Forbidden City. 
 
 The Emperor Chang Te (a reign title, meaning " Ortho- 
 dox Virtue ") is described by Chinese historians as a 
 sensual and thriftless monarch. He may have been ; but 
 he would seem at least to have been superior to many 
 of his successors in possessing a will of his own, a sense 
 of humour, a taste for adventure, and other redeeming 
 qualities, as shown by the following incidents of his reign. 
 
 In the year 1508, the graduate- doctors of the lowest 
 degree, or Hanlin bachelors, were undergoing a test exami- 
 
 24 
 
Portrait of a Chinese Official. By Wu Tao-tzu (Eighth Century). 
 {From the collsction of Charles L. Freer, Esq. at Detroit.) 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 nation before a Commission in the Palace to qualify 
 for metropolitan or provincial posts. The Emperor him- 
 self was present and took an active part in the examination. 
 
 One of the candidates, a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, 
 named Lin Chi-shih, a native of Fuhkien Province, was 
 addicted to the use of arbitrary or archaic forms in the 
 writing of characters. When the essays were handed in, 
 His Majesty objected to Lin's style of writing and asked 
 what was his authority for such affectations. Lin replied 
 that they were archaisms. At this, the Emperor wrote 
 out a spurious character of his own invention and asked 
 him to give it a name. Lin said he did not know it, 
 whereupon His Majesty observed : "If one character 
 may be written topsy-turvy, why not another? You 
 are evidently not a scholar of the standard required in 
 the Hanlin Academy. I order that you return to your 
 native place to study for three years, at the end of which 
 time you may come to Peking and compete again at the 
 examinations." 
 
 Lin thanked the Emperor and withdrew. His friends 
 and relations all looked upon him as a victim of Imperial 
 displeasure, and refused to have any further dealings with 
 him. Being very poor, he could not afford to pay 
 the cost of the journey back to Fuhkien, and no official 
 in Peking would give him employment as tutor, owing to 
 his having incurred Imperial censure. He therefore pro- 
 ceeded to earn his livelihood by writing scrolls at a stand 
 in the street just outside the Ch'ien Men, the main gate 
 of the Tartar city, leading to the Palace. 
 
 As his writing was admirable, he attracted much atten- 
 tion from literary men. One day, about a year later, 
 the Emperor, walking about as he loved to do, incognito, 
 was passing the scribe's stand, when his curiosity was 
 aroused by the large crowd of scholars, who were pressing 
 round and uttering admiring comments. 
 
 Anxious to learn the cause of the commotion, the 
 
 25 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Emperor made his way through the crowd and observed 
 a young man wielding his pen with extraordinary rapidity 
 and skill. His caligraphy and the style of his composition 
 showed plainly that he was a master of the literary language, 
 and the Emperor (no bad judge) was delighted with 
 his work. He had forgotten the man's face, being at 
 that time completely absorbed in the charms of the 
 latest favourite in his harem. 
 
 So, coming nearer, he said to the writer : "I perceive 
 that your caligraphy and composition are alike excellent; 
 why do you not compete at the examinations, instead 
 of wasting your talents in this humble occupation? " 
 Lin looked up and failed to recognise His Majesty, but 
 perceived at once that it was no common person who thus 
 addressed him; so, rising from his place, he bowed low 
 and invited him to be seated. " My name," said he, " is 
 Lin : I, all unworthy, passed for the Hanlin Bachelor- 
 ship." The Emperor replied : " It is not fitting that a 
 member of so honourable a body as the Hanlin Academy 
 should engage in what is really a form of street hawking." 
 " At the Court examination held last year for conferring 
 official appointments upon Hanlin bachelors," said Lin, 
 " I failed to recognise a character written by His 
 Majesty, and was by him commanded to return home to 
 Fuhkien and study." " Why, then, have you disobeyed 
 the order and remained in the capital?" "Because," 
 said Lin, " I come of a very poor family and could not 
 afford to pay for my journey home. My present employ- 
 ment was the only livelihood left to me." The Emperor 
 asked why he did not seek a position as tutor. Lin 
 answered : " All the world knows that I am in disgrace, 
 and so no one dares engage my services." The Emperor 
 then said : "I will recommend you for a post as secretary 
 in a neighbouring province, which will at least be an 
 improvement on your present vocation." 
 
 Lin gratefully bowed his thanks and asked the Emperor's 
 
 2a 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 title and address, in order that he might call and return 
 thanks for his kindness. " Never mind that," said His 
 Majesty, " wait here to-morrow for a messenger from me." 
 With that he turned away. None of the spectators had 
 recognised him, though all were surprised at his kindness 
 to Lin. Next day, a eunuch from the Palace arrived 
 bearing a sealed yellow envelope and a hundred taels. 
 These he handed to Lin, saying : " Yesterday an official 
 personage told me to hand these to you, sir, and to direct 
 you to follow the instructions written on this envelope. 
 On no account are you to open it, lest evil befall you. 
 This money is for your travelling expenses." The eunuch 
 then took his departure, leaving no name. Lin examined 
 the envelope and read the inscription writ large : "To 
 be delivered in person to the Governor of Shantung and 
 to be opened by him." 
 
 Lin joyfully closed his stand, hired a cart and proceeded 
 with his former servant to Chi-nan fu. At that time the 
 substantive post of Governor was vacant, and was tem- 
 porarily filled by the Treasurer. Arrived at the provincial 
 capital, Lin took up his quarters at an inn, changed his 
 clothes and proceeded with his servant to the Governor's 
 yamen. The Acting Governor had a high reputation as 
 an honest official and a strict disciplinarian; his under- 
 lings dared not accept bribes, so it was no easy matter 
 togainaccess to his presence. For three days in succession 
 Lin tried unsuccessfully to send in his card, and at last 
 said reproachfully to one of the gate-keepers : "I have 
 a secret message from Peking which I must deliver in 
 person. Why do you obstruct me like this ? " The 
 underling then informed the official in charge of the gate, 
 who ordered Lin to approach, but, on observing his 
 somewhat common raiment, came to the conclusion that 
 he was merely a suppliant for favour. Therefore he shook 
 his head contemptuously, saying : " My master is Acting 
 Governor of this province and far too busy to see any 
 
 27 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 former friend of his less prosperous days. Any letter 
 you may have for him I will deliver ; meanwhile, get you 
 to your lodging and wait until you hear from me." Lin 
 was obliged to hand him the yellow envelope and went 
 sorrowfully back to the inn. 
 
 Scarcely had he reached his room, when the landlord 
 came rushing in and made obeisance before him. " I 
 did not recognise Your Excellency," he said, " and have 
 failed in respect to your attendants. I deserve to die a 
 thousand deaths." Indignantly Lin answered : " "Why 
 do you mock my poverty ? " The landlord was about 
 to explain, when a great commotion was heard outside 
 the inn ; gongs were beaten and crackers fired. An aide- 
 de-camp from the Governor had arrived, attended by a large 
 retinue, and was kneeling reverently at the inn door. When 
 the ceremony was completed, he rose and addressed Lin : 
 " The provincial Treasurer bids us invite Your Excellencj'^ 
 the Imperial Commissioner to proceed to his office." 
 
 Lin, completely dumbfoundered, felt as if he were 
 walking on air. However, he was assisted, almost by 
 force, into a sedan-chair borne by eight men. Preceded 
 by a long line of insignia bearers and followed by troops 
 of horsemen, he was carried into the yamen, just outside 
 the main hall of audience. Here, the provincial Treasurer 
 (that was Acting Governor) was awaiting him in full dress. 
 Alighting from the sedan he observed an altar upon which 
 incense was burning ; on it lay the yellow envelope which 
 had been entrusted to him for delivery. The Treasurer 
 knelt before the altar and saluted His Sacred Majesty's 
 communication; then, bowing to Lin, he said: "Will 
 Your Excellency the Imperial Commissioner be pleased 
 to read aloud the sacred decree?" Lin opened the 
 envelope and read: "The Governorship of Shantung 
 is at present vacant. We command Lin Chi-shih to act 
 as Governor." Realising that it was the Emperor himself 
 who had befriended him, he kotowed nine times in the 
 
 28 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 direction of the Forbidden City. The Treasurer then 
 came forward with his congratulations, apologising for 
 not having met him at some distance from the city. So 
 Lin became Governor of Shantung and, as in duty bound, 
 drafted a memorial of thanks to His Majesty and requested 
 an audience. Not long after he received the Imperial 
 rescript : " We saw that you possessed capacity and we 
 therefore conferred this appointment upon you. Do your 
 duty diligently in all things, so as to do credit to Our 
 choice. In three years' time return to Peking and give 
 an account of your Governorship." 
 
 At the expiry of the appointed time Lin returned to the 
 capital and had audience with the Emperor, who said : 
 " You have now acquired a literary efficiency : we 
 appoint you Hanlin compiler. Study three years more 
 at the Academy, and we shall then see what higher 
 appointment you may deserve." 
 
 On another occasion, the Emperor entered the quarters 
 in the Palace where the Grand Secretaries were wont to 
 transact business after audience, and found all the officials 
 there assembled at breakfast. They rose at his entrance, 
 and the Emperor said : " Come all of you to my private 
 apartments, after you have finished, that we may talk." 
 In due course they joined His Majesty, who bade them be 
 seated. "You have all been eating rice," said he; "do 
 you know anything about the method of its cultivation 
 and the difficulty of producing a crop ? Before I succeeded 
 to the Throne, I used to fancy that cereals were produced 
 like weeds, that they grew of themselves without any 
 trouble being bestowed on them. However, now that I 
 often roam about the country and have seen with my own 
 eyes the hardships which the peasants endure, I realise 
 the truth of the old saying : ' Every grain of the rice 
 on your plate is won by the sweat of the brow.' You, 
 my ministers, come from various parts of the Empire, 
 
 29 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and the customs of North and South differ greatly* I 
 desire now to extend my knowledge, and I therefore request 
 that each of you will state fully for my information the 
 methods of sowing, weeding and harvesting rice in your 
 respective parts of the Empire." It so happened that 
 most of the Ministers of the day had begun life as farmers' 
 sons and peasants, so they were able to supply the Emperor 
 with the information he desired. But there was one 
 president of a Board, by name Chang Chin, of an ancient 
 and aristocratic family, who was quite ignorant of the 
 subject. To him His Majesty scornfully said : " How 
 can you perform the functions of your office if you are 
 so grossly ignorant about the production of the very food 
 you eat? Can you possibly attend to the daily business 
 of your Board without committing some serious blunder 
 or dereliction of duty ? " 
 
 The President was so much alarmed that he could only 
 kotow, and then in his confusion he mumbled : " I am 
 Chief of the Ministry of Civil Appointments ; this morning 
 I attended office, and the last business we dealt with was 
 the filling of a vacancy in Kiangsu Province for the post 
 of Deputy Assistant District Magistrate (the lowest post 
 in the Empire carrying official rank). My ministry has 
 the right to nominate for this post on this occasion, as on 
 the last occasion the Governor of the Province conferred 
 the appointment." ^ 
 
 His Majesty roared with laughter : " Is this wretched 
 piece of routine business all you can cite in answer to my 
 question? " With that he shook his sleeve, dismissing 
 the ministers. The President's colleagues asked him why 
 he had made such a stupid reply. " I was so greatly 
 bewildered," said he, " that my mind refused to think of 
 anything else." 
 
 ^ Posts below a certain rank in the provinces are filled alternately 
 on the invitation of the Peking Ministry and of the provincial 
 authorities. 
 
 30 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 A few days later a decree was issued : " The post of 
 Deputy Assistant District Magistrate at T'ai-hu in Kiangsu 
 is hereby given to President Chang Chin ! " On reading 
 the decree he was greatly distressed. Turning to his 
 colleagues, he said : " What can it mean and what shall 
 I do ? The lowest post in the official list is given me ; 
 naturally I must proceed to take up my new duties, but 
 would it be right for me to ask for a farewell audience 
 before leaving Peking? " His colleagues, greatly tickled 
 at the Imperial jest, replied : " What right has an official 
 of the lowest rank to demand an audience ? All you can 
 do is to prostrate yourself at the Gate of Mid-day,^ and 
 thank His Majesty. There they will give you the warrant 
 authorising you to take over the post. But as the decree 
 says nothing about your being cashiered or reduced in 
 rank, you will have to go on wearing your first-class button 
 and official robes." 
 
 On arrival at the provincial capital, he found the Gover- 
 nor and all the local officials awaiting to greet him in the 
 suburbs as a mark of respect. But he begged them to 
 desist and go home, while he proceeded on foot to pay his 
 respects to the various officials, presenting to each his 
 visiting card, drawn up in the humblest form like that of a 
 petitioner. This made all the officials rather uncomfort- 
 able, as he was superior in rank to them all, so they begged 
 him to remain in residence at the provincial capital and 
 not to trouble about taking up his post. He replied : 
 "How dare I disobey the Imperial mandate? I shall 
 proceed thither on the first auspicious day." Thereupon 
 the Prefect and Magistrate of T'ai-hu decided in all haste 
 to decorate and alter his official residence, so as to make it 
 resemble as closely as possible, and so far as size would 
 allow, the yamen of a governor. Outside they mustered 
 a great number of lictors and runners, with a forest of 
 
 1 The southern gate of the Forbidden City. 
 31 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 insignia and bands of musicians, and they placed chevaux 
 de jrise in front of the main entrance. 
 
 On his arrival, the President-Magistrate observed that 
 his new residence was surrounded on three sides by rice- 
 fields, and thus it came to him that His Majesty desired 
 him to learn by practical experience the hardships of a 
 farmer's life. So he dismissed all his underlings and 
 retinue, and thereafter made it his daily business to go, 
 simply dressed, amongst the people, visiting the adjoining 
 villages and chatting with the elders concerning the 
 condition of the peasantry. He made careful study of 
 their grievances, and took note of wrongs that might 
 be put right. Five years he lived amongst them, acting 
 as mediator and arbitrator in their disputes, so that he 
 earned the respect of all men and their goodwill. 
 
 When, in 1519, Prince Ning, a kinsman of the Emperor, 
 rebelled. His Majesty came South in person to chastise 
 him, and arrived in due course at Soochow, the provincial 
 capital of Kiangsu Province. The ex-President, hearing 
 of his impending arrival, hurried to Soochow and said to 
 the Governor : " I who have held one of the highest posts 
 in the Empire am in duty bound to wait upon His Majesty 
 when he arrives here, but official etiquette forbids that 
 one who holds so humble a post as that of Deputy Assist- 
 ant District Magistrate should proceed to the provincial 
 capital and absent himself from his duties. What do you 
 advise me to do ? " 
 
 The Governor and his colleagues replied : " As regards 
 official duties you are, it is true, our subordinate, but in 
 rank you are our superior. You should, therefore, go to 
 meet His Majesty, wearing your robes and insignia of the 
 highest rank, but you should take up a position in our 
 rear." To this the President agreed. As the Imperial 
 cortege drew near. His Majesty, who was on horseback, 
 recognised him from a distance, and bade him approach. 
 " Do you now understand," said he, " the hardships of a 
 
 32 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 farmer's life ? " The President kotowed and thanked the 
 Emperor for the lesson he had given him. His Majesty 
 bade him join the Imperial party at the travelling lodge, 
 and there questioned him concerning the fulfilment of 
 his charge. The President gave him full details of the 
 various reforms he had initiated, which so pleased His 
 Majesty that he promoted him to a rank even higher 
 than that which he had previously enjoyed, namely, to be 
 Assistant Grand Secretary. 
 
 During this same expedition against Prince Ning, while 
 the Imperial barge was moored one day at Ch'ing-ho on 
 the Grand Canal, in Kiangsu, His Majesty went incognito 
 and afoot to an adjacent teashop, desiring to hear some- 
 thing of the local gossip. As he sat there, he heard many 
 grievous complaints concerning the squeezing and bare- 
 faced robbery which travellers were suffering at the hands 
 of certain military officers and their underlings. Every 
 boat passing up and down the canal at this point, whether 
 laden with merchandise or personal baggage, was liable 
 to detention until it paid their extortionate charges, and 
 if the " squeeze " was not promptly forthcoming, all the 
 contents of the boat were confiscated and the boat itself 
 often smashed to pieces. Travellers and traders were 
 loud in their helpless wrath at this state of affairs, and 
 many expressed their hope that the rebel prince would 
 defeat the Imperialist forces, for any change must be for 
 the better. 
 
 The Emperor made up his mind to look into these 
 matters for himself, so he bought a small boat, dressed 
 himself as a trader, and with only one body- servant and 
 a young eunuch, proceeded down the canal. On reaching 
 the Customs station which lies outside the important 
 city of Yang Chou-fu, close to the Yangtsze, the Emperor 
 saw hundreds of boats drawn up in rows, which were being 
 searched by the river police and petty Customs officers. 
 D 33 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 A large Customs barge was moored to the bank where the 
 tolls were fixed and protests heard. From each boat 
 heavy payment was being exacted in the name of the 
 Emperor and ostensibly for the purpose of providing funds 
 to suppress the rebellion. All the merchants meekly paid 
 "squeeze" to the underlings, who were rapidly making 
 their fortunes. When the time came for the Emperor's 
 boat to be searched, His Majesty lay prone in the stern 
 and when summoned to rise paid no attention. The 
 runners, therefore, seized him roughly and brought him to 
 the Customs barge, where he saw an official in full robes 
 surrounded by lictors and seated at a table, as if he were 
 presiding at a court. As the Emperor approached, this 
 official began angrily to upbraid him : " What manner of 
 man are you who dare interfere with His Majesty's ser- 
 vants in the execution of their duty? Has the law no 
 terrors for you ? do you not fear the heavier bamboo ? " 
 At this the Emperor smiled contemptuously, so the official 
 bade his lictors strip him and apply the heavy bamboo 
 to his person. Happily His Majesty's body-servant was 
 a particularly lusty fellow, and he succeeded in putting 
 fear into the myrmidons for the time being, so that the 
 Emperor suffered no insult. But the official grew angrier 
 than ever. He shouted : " This is evidently some notori- 
 ous river pirate or cut- throat. Go and arrest his boatman." 
 They did so, and flogged him cruelly to make him confess 
 that he knew the Emperor to be a robber. 
 
 Meanwhile, His Majesty had drawn from his breast a 
 tablet of jade and told the eunuch to take it to the Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor of the province (who at that time resided 
 at Yang Chou) and bid him come quickly. Very soon, in 
 obedience to the Imperial command, the Governor came 
 hurrying up in a panic of nervous fear. On seeing him 
 approach, the Customs official knelt at the gangway to 
 receive him, and was just beginning to tell him how he had 
 captured a notorious pirate, when the Governor perceived 
 
 34 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 the Emperor standing near the main mast. Reverently 
 he fell upon his knees, and prostrated himself in the dust, 
 imploring forgiveness. 
 
 The Emperor remained silent, but made signs to his 
 body-servant to remove the offending official's hat and 
 button. These he presented to the boatman, who thus 
 attained to official rank. Said he : " This hat is to com- 
 pensate you for the pain you have suffered." Next he 
 ordered that the official be arrested and made to disgorge 
 his ill-gotten gains, after which he was duly decapitated. 
 All the higher officials of the town were punished for having 
 failed to put a stop to these exactions, and from this time 
 forward the boats of travellers were allowed to pass in peace. 
 
 On the last night of the year after the Emperor's return 
 to Peking from the expedition against Prince Ning, he 
 left the Forbidden City to make a round of the various 
 government offices, for he knew that they would then be 
 practically deserted, as the officials would be seeing the old 
 year out at their own homes. But when he reached the 
 Board of Appointments (Li pu) he heard sounds of cheerful 
 song proceeding from the main hall, as if a large party of 
 revellers were gathered together. The song was of the 
 South. 
 
 The Emperor entered and, to his astonishment, found 
 only one petty official, who was singing to himself, with a 
 plate of meat before him and a wine-kettle. This man rose 
 as the visitor entered, and politely offering him a seat, 
 proffered a cup of wine. The Emperor asked him : 
 " What is your official rank and why are you here all 
 alone ? " He replied : " I am a native of Chekiang and 
 am on duty at this Board as a clerk. The seals being- 
 locked up for the New Year holiday, all the officials are 
 away at their homes, drinking and feasting with their 
 families. I thought it wrong and dangerous that such a 
 mass of official documents and archives should remain 
 
 35 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 unguarded, so I have remained here on watch and will 
 not desert my post." The Monarch said : " Very good. I 
 shall see you to-morrow." With that he departed, the 
 clerk attended him to the door, and then resumed his 
 solitary vigil. 
 
 Next morning, when the whole Court and the chief 
 metropolitan officials proceeded to the main Palace hall 
 to offer their New Year congratulations, the Emperor 
 turned to the President of the Board of Appointments 
 (the same man who had just returned from learning the 
 hardships of a farmer's life in the T'ai hu magistracy), 
 and asked : " What is the name of the clerk who was on 
 watch at your Board last night? Let him attend our 
 audience at once." 
 
 The President promptly dispatched a Board secretary 
 to command the clerk's presence. So he came to the 
 Throne Hall, and after making the nine obeisances, looked 
 up and perceived in the Emperor his guest of the previous 
 evening. He trembled all over, but His Majesty reassured 
 him. "Be not alarmed. Your diligent performance of 
 duty and faithfulness to the trust imposed upon you, are 
 worthy of the highest praise. What is the highest pro- 
 motion to which you would be entitled at the end of your 
 present term of office ? " The clerk answered : " If my 
 conduct has been ' blameless for five years and no black 
 marks are recorded against me, the most I could expect 
 would be to be eligible for selection as an official of the 
 secondary ninth rank."^ His Majesty said : " What post 
 do you covet? " " What your unworthy servant covets 
 is the post of Deputy Assistant District Magistrate at 
 T'ai hu in Kiangsu, because it has been temporarily held 
 of late by the President of my Board. It would be an 
 extraordinary honour to obtain it, because recent events 
 have caused it to loom large in the public eye. But as my 
 
 1 This is the lowest rank entitling the holder to be classed as an 
 " official." 
 
 36 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 time of duty at my present post is still unexpired, it would 
 be contrary to precedent." 
 
 His Majesty smiled : " If we command you to proceed, 
 what has precedent to do with the case ? " The clerk, 
 overcome with joy, exclaimed : " Wan Sui ! " (Ten thousand 
 years) " May Your Majesty live for ever ! " So the Emperor 
 bade the President prepare the necessary papers and 
 arrange for the clerk's immediate departure to take up 
 his new post. 
 
 In 1517, the Emperor, whose eccentricities and excur- 
 sions were the despair of the Court, took it upon himself to 
 proceed incognito to Hsiian-Hua fu (about 120 miles 
 north of Peking). The fairest damsel in that city was 
 " Sister Phoenix," then in her seventeenth year; she was 
 the daughter of a wine-distiller named Li, and she kept 
 his shop. One day, when her father was out, the Emperor, 
 passing by on one of his walks, observed her dazzling 
 and queenly beauty. At the charm of a glance, sufficient 
 of itself to overthrow a kingdom. His Majesty felt as if 
 he were losing control of his senses. He entered and called 
 for wine. The maiden brought it, and the Emperor, 
 supposing her to be an ordinary courtesan, seized her in 
 his arms and bore her to the inner chamber. She was 
 shouting for help, when His Majesty placed his hand over 
 her mouth and said : " We are the Son of Heaven. Trust 
 yourself to Us, and wealth and power are yours from this 
 day forward." 
 
 Now it so happened that Sister Phoenix had recently 
 dreamed more than once that she was changed into a 
 white pearl and carried off by a divine dragon. But 
 there the dream had always stopped. She now under- 
 stood its meaning, and believing the Emperor's word, 
 submitted to his august wishes. His Majesty was en- 
 raptured to know that she was no courtesan, but a 
 pure maiden. 
 
 37 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 When, in response to her first cry for help, her father 
 had come upon the scene, he found the door fast bolted, 
 and as her cries had ceased he believed that his beloved 
 daughter had been the victim of a cruel outrage. He ran, 
 therefore, to summon the guard; but as they came 
 rushing up the Emperor opened the door and came out. 
 He revealed his identity to the excited Li, whereupon 
 all present made humble obeisance. His Majesty then 
 bade them conduct Sister Phoenix to the quarters 
 occupied by his concubines. To her father he gave a 
 thousand ounces of gold and raised him to the rank of 
 a high official. It was his wish to bestow upon Sister 
 Phoenix the rank of an Imperial Concubine of the second 
 grade, were she so inclined. Humbly she declined the 
 honour. " Your maidservant," said she, " has but a 
 little measure of good fortune to expect : she is not long 
 for this world. Were I to accept the rank which Your 
 Majesty's divine goodness would bestow upon me, it 
 would hasten my death. Have I not had the im- 
 measurable honour of finding favour in the sight of the 
 ' World Honoured One ' ? Is not that a sufficient reward 
 for my humble merits ? In all humility I would beseech 
 Your Majesty to consider your duty to your people and 
 to return speedily to the capital. By so doing you will 
 give me far greater 'happiness than by conferring honours 
 upon me." 
 
 The Emperor realised that her simple peasant's attire 
 served only to enhance her radiant beauty, and so he did 
 not urge her to exchange it for the robes of a concubine. 
 She was ever at his side in those days, serving him at table 
 and sharing his couch. But she never ceased to beg him 
 to return to Peking, and at last, won by her gentle 
 entreaties, he consented to fix the day for his departure. 
 
 Sister Phoenix travelled by his side until the cortege 
 reached the Great Wall (forty miles from Peking). Here 
 a terrible storm broke upon them, and the party took 
 
 38 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 shelter at a house just inside the gate of Chii-Yung kuan. 
 Suddenly Sister Phoenix saw that the images of the Four 
 Heavenly Kings, or Defenders of Buddhism, which stand 
 guarding the entrance, seemed to be endowed with life, 
 and that they turned angry glances in her direction. At 
 the sight she fainted and fell to the ground. Gently the 
 Emperor raised her and had her borne to a temple outside 
 the barrier. He watched by her bedside until she re- 
 covered consciousness, when she said : " Your handmaid 
 knew full well that she was not destined long to enjoy the 
 sweets of life, or to wait upon Your Majesty in the For- 
 bidden City. Let me now leave you and return to my 
 home." The Emperor answered : "I cannot grant 
 that prayer, for I would rather abandon my Empire 
 than be deprived of your sweet and gracious person." 
 Sadly she gazed at him, and then, Avith a deep sigh, 
 expired. 
 
 His Majesty mourned long and deeply over the death 
 of his favourite, and commanded that she be buried with 
 Imperial honours at the summit of the pass. So they 
 built a huge mound of yellow earth over her tomb, but, to 
 the amazement of all, in one night the yellow earth became 
 white; so powerful her virtuous will, even after death. 
 The Emperor pondered long over her advice concerning 
 his duty to attend to State affairs. Said he : "If even a 
 maiden could realise the responsibility of the head of the 
 State towards his people, surely I should profit by her 
 advice." With that he returned straightway to Peking. 
 The historians record that the Emperor had paid no heed 
 to the repeated entreaties of his officials, that he should 
 be pleased to leave Hsiian-Hua and resume his place at 
 the capital : how strange, they say, that a humble peasant 
 girl should have been able to persuade him to return to 
 the path of duty ! Is it not an example of what the 
 Canon of History calls " The softness of the feminine 
 nature overcoming a strong man's will " ? 
 
 39 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 In the year 1508 the triennial autumn examination 
 took place in Peking for the Masters' degree. As usual, 
 thousands of scholars from all parts of the provinces had 
 assembled in the metropolis. The soothsayers and fortune- 
 tellers were all busily plying their trade in booths just 
 outside the Ch'ien Men; one of them attracted particular 
 attention by proclaiming, in a well- written notice exhibited 
 outside his booth, that he challenged comparison with the 
 most famous magicians known to history. He boasted 
 that he could tell at once the rank and antecedents of 
 any official who might come to him incognito, and that he 
 had never made a mistake. As the days went by his 
 fame increased, and there was always a crowd around his 
 booth. Soon His Majesty came to hear of him, and 
 passing by his booth one day, joined the crowd and watched 
 him at his trade. The time was 11 a.m. on the 8th day 
 of the 8th moon. Suddenly there was noise and com- 
 motion. The crowd swayed and parted, and through it 
 there came rushing a scholar who seized hold of the fortune- 
 teller and shouted : " You have ruined my career for good 
 and all. Either you or I shall die for it." The spectators 
 tried to separate the combatants, but without success. 
 The Emperor motioned to his attendant, a man of power- 
 ful physique, to separate them, and proceeded to inquire 
 what all the excitehient was about. 
 
 The soothsayer replied : "A few days ago this man 
 came here to consult me with regard to his prospects in 
 the impending examination, and I promised that he would 
 win the first place. Now, having failed to take his place 
 in the examination hall, he comes here forsooth and blames 
 me for his own unpunctuality. Much learning has made 
 him mad." 
 
 At this, the scholar broke in and said : " Because you 
 foretold that I should come out at the head of the list, my 
 friends gave me a banquet, at which I became very drunk. 
 When at last my servant managed to arouse me, I got up 
 
 40 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 and hurried to the examination hall, but the gates were 
 already barred.^ Did you ever hear of a non-competitor 
 coming out at the head of the list ? Are you not, then, the 
 sole cause of my undoing? " 
 
 The two men continued loudly disputing, until the 
 Emperor said to the soothsayer : " Cease your brawling ! 
 Supposing I get this scholar admitted to the examination 
 hall and he fails to come out at the head of the list, to what 
 punishment will you submit? " 
 
 The soothsayer replied : " You may gouge out one eye." 
 " All right," said the Emperor, " that's a bargain." He 
 then took up pen and paper from the table, wrote a few 
 words, and sealed the document with a small seal which 
 he wore at his girdle. He then bade his attendant go 
 with the scholar and deliver the paper. To the sooth- 
 sayer he said, " Farewell : I shall return in a fortnight 
 to prove your words." The soothsayer guessed that 
 it was the Emperor, and promptly folded his tent and 
 departed. 
 
 Meantime, the attendant and the scholar proceeded 
 to the examination hall, some two miles away. The Im- 
 perial messenger then commanded the drums to be beaten, 
 as a signal that he was the bearer of a decree from His 
 Sacred Majesty. The seals upon the gates were speedily 
 removed and the locks opened, whereupon the officials 
 on duty outside the hall sounded a gong. This brought 
 an usher from within, who escorted the attendant and the 
 scholar up to the main hall, where the Imperial examiners 
 were seated. As the Imperial messenger approached 
 they all knelt : he strode to the dais and there, facing 
 South, read the decree. Having done so he left to report 
 the fulfilment of his mission. 
 
 A censor and an inspector then conducted the scholar 
 
 ^ A competitor was excluded from participation once the gates 
 had been closed, as they could not be re-opened until after the 
 examination. 
 
 41 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to one of the vacant cells. Examiners and candidates 
 alike marvelled that the Emperor should thus send a 
 protege of his to take part in the examination. Naturally, 
 the chief examiners paid particular attention to his papers, 
 and finding that his composition was quite good and his 
 principles sound, they said one to another : " This candi- 
 date having been specially recommended by the present 
 occupant of the Throne, it would be disrespectful to His 
 Majesty if we were to place any other name ahead of his on 
 the class lists." So they passed him at the top of his year, 
 and in reporting the fact to the Emperor, warmly praised 
 the excellence of his style and his exceptional gifts. They 
 seized the occasion to congratulate the Emperor on being 
 so good a judge of talent. 
 
 The Emperor laughed loudly : " This is surely Fate," 
 said he. As a matter of fact he had originally intended 
 that the scholar should be ploughed, in order that he 
 might triumph over the soothsayer, but, as luck would 
 have it, he had been so much engrossed in dalliance with 
 the latest favourite of his harem, that the whole thing had 
 escaped his memory, and he had forgotten to send word to 
 the chief examiner. Now that the scholar had come out 
 at the head of the list, he was deeply impressed with the 
 soothsayer's prophetic skill and desired to engage his 
 services for the Court. So, after sending messengers in 
 vain, he set out in state, at the head of a large retinue, to 
 look for him; but the soothsayer had vanished and was 
 never seen again. 
 
 Early one spring morning, the Emperor had just left 
 the harem, and was taking a drive in the city before holding 
 his daily audience in the Palace, when he met a bridal 
 procession on its way to the bridegroom's house. The 
 insignia were borne by an army of attendants, and the 
 magnificence of the equipages and of the escort showed that 
 the bridegroom was of a distinguished family. Much 
 
 42 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 impressed, the Emperor stopped his cart and, standing by 
 the roadside, watched the long cavalcade go by. Just as 
 the bride's chair drew near, he saw a black giant, twenty 
 feet high, standing in front of it as if to bar her way. His 
 features were cruel and repulsive in the extreme; he was 
 clad in armour and wielded a huge club. Insolently he 
 stood there, until suddenly he perceived the Emperor, 
 when he seemed to hesitate, and finally hurried away to 
 the head of the cortege. The Emperor's cart- driver 
 had seen nothing of this monstrous apparition. Greatly 
 wondering. His Majesty bade the man drive on, following 
 in rear of the procession, until they came to the bride- 
 groom's house, which he perceived to be the stately mansion 
 of some ancient and respected family. The Emperor 
 alighted and went in towards the main hall. The black 
 giant had preceded the bride's chair and was standing 
 in the courtyard, but when he saw the Son of Heaven 
 approach, he covered his face and vanished. His Majesty 
 then remembered that this particular day was unlucky, 
 owing to the power therein of the Spirit of Disaster; no 
 doubt it was this spirit which had so strangely crossed his 
 path. He thought that whoever had chosen such an 
 unlucky day for a marriage was greatly to blame, and 
 determined to find out who was responsible for so 
 disastrous a selection. 
 
 So he waited, while the bride descended from her chair 
 and the newly wedded pair made obeisance to heaven and 
 earth in the inner chamber. After the bride had been 
 duly conducted to the nuptial apartment the banquet was 
 served, and the host came forward to invite the wedding 
 guests to take their seats. In all sixteen tables were 
 prepared, and the guests sat down in their order of seniority 
 and precedence. The host could see that the Emperor 
 was no ordinary visitor, so invited him to the seat of honour 
 at the central table, and himself came and sat beside him. 
 As he did so, his limbs trembled as if he were in the 
 
 43 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 presence of some divine being ; he dared not even ask his 
 guest's honourable name. 
 
 The Emperor asked him who the person was who had 
 selected this day for the wedding. The host pointed to 
 a venerable man at the second table, and said : " He was 
 formerly a director at the Court of Astronomy, now 
 retired. He is a past master of his art ; any family wishing 
 to fijc a date for an auspicious event invariably secures 
 his services. He has never yet been known to fail." 
 
 " Ask him to come here," said the Emperor, who thus 
 addressed the astrologer : "I am told that you are an 
 expert in selecting auspicious days. What made you 
 invoke disaster to-day by your cabalistic arts ? " The 
 old man replied : " Not so : it is quite true that between 
 the hours of three and five this morning the black Spirit of 
 Disaster, the so-called ' Ruler of the Evil Stars,' was due 
 to descend into the world, but at the same hour the 
 Fortunate Star of Good Omen was also destined to appear 
 among mortals. His benign influence routed the forces 
 of evil, and has made the occasion auspicious in the extreme. 
 So far from portending ruin, the event is the harbinger 
 of much future prosperity." 
 
 The Emperor could think of no way of refuting his 
 words, so he said : " I have just composed the first verse 
 of an antithetical* couplet ; if you can supply me with the 
 second half, matching mine exactly, I will forgive you the 
 punishment which you deserve, if only for bandying 
 words so plausibly. Here is my verse : 
 
 " The ruler of the evil stars hath encountered the ruler of all mcrlal 
 men." 
 
 The old man asked to be excused on the plea of his great 
 age and failing faculties. " Will you permit the bride- 
 groom to try his skill in my stead?" The Emperor 
 agreed, so the bridegroom was summoned. On hearing 
 the first verse, he replied without a moment's hesitation : 
 
 44 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 " The bright Star of Good Omen^ has shone upon the fortunate bride- 
 groom ! " 
 
 The Emperor was delighted at the prompt and fitting 
 antithesis and said to the assembled company : " Some 
 day he will become a doctor of the Hanlin Academy." 
 The old man then bade the bridegroom prostrate himself 
 on the ground and thank His Majesty, who, seeing that 
 his identity had been discovered, mounted his carriage and 
 departed. 
 
 The bridegroom had already attained his Master's 
 degree; after passing the next year for the doctorate, he 
 attended at Court, together with the other successful 
 competitors, to be presented. The Emperor recognised 
 him, and appointed him to be a Hanlin compiler, saying : 
 " We were an intruder at your wedding banquet : this, 
 though belated, is Our wedding present." 
 
 ^ The star thus named is often used as a figurative appellation of the 
 Son of Heaven. 
 
 45 
 
CHAPTER II 
 AN INFAMOUS EUNUCH 
 
 Readers of China under the Empress Dowager may 
 remember how, when the great Tzu Hsi lay dying, the 
 watchers by her bedside asked her, in accordance with 
 ancient custom, to pronounce her last words. " Never 
 again," she said, " allow any woman to hold the supreme 
 power in the State. It is against the house-law of our 
 dynasty and should be strictly forbidden. Be careful 
 not to allow eunuchs to meddle in Government matters. 
 The Ming dynasty was brought to ruin by eunuchs, and 
 its fate should be a warning to my people." 
 
 Tzu Hsi knew well the law, though she observed it not 
 herself. She was deeply read in the history of China, but 
 in the matter of the eunuchs' power at Court, she failed 
 to benefit by its teaching. Although her edicts fre- 
 quently denounced the corrupt and demoralising influence 
 of the " rats and foxes " who infested her Palace, de- 
 scribing them as " fawning sycophants " and " artful 
 minions," against whom the Throne must ever be sternly 
 vigilant, she nevertheless allowed her favourites, An 
 Te-hai and Li Lien-ying, to wield an authority only little 
 inferior to her own. She knew that, not only under the 
 Mings but under the Han and Tang dynasties, the authority 
 of the Sovereign had been usurped and degraded by these 
 myrmidons, to the ruin of the State. Yet she took no 
 steps to rid her own Court of evils which all her best 
 advisers denounced and which, under her successor, Lung 
 
 46 
 
 I 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Yii, became no small factor in the final decline and fall 
 of the Manchu power. 
 
 When Tzti Hsi spoke of the ruin of the Ming dynasty 
 by the eunuchs, she had in mind the history of the Emperor 
 Wan Li and his three successors, the last of the Mings, 
 and that of the infamous Chief Eunuch Wei Chung-hsien, 
 whose memory is universally execrated to this day by 
 the Chinese people. The tale of this foul creature's evil 
 deeds and of the calamities which he brought upon the 
 Throne and people of China, sheds no little light on the 
 dark places of life in the Forbidden City, where, beneath 
 the dignities and splendours prescribed by venerable 
 tradition, lie grim shadows of death- dealing intrigue, of 
 cold-blooded cruelty and lust and greed; where, close to 
 the polished surface of Sacred Edicts and Confucian 
 philosophy, lurk the elemental passions and insatiable 
 ambitions of Oriental despotism. The life story of Wei 
 Chung-hsien reveals the seamy side of China's imperial 
 tapestry of state-craft. It serves to remind us, firstly, 
 that it is the human equation, the impulses and instincts 
 of dominant individuals which, far more than any theories 
 of government, shape the destinies of peoples; secondly, 
 that the human equation, predetermined in its essentials 
 by climatic and economic environment, remains unchanged, 
 and to a great extent unchangeable, beneath the surface 
 of national life. 
 
 The Emperor Wan Li ascended the Throne in 1573 as 
 a child, and being educated under the influence of the 
 women and eunuchs of the Palace, remained under that 
 influence all his days. During the last twenty years of 
 his reign he refused to transact affairs of State through 
 the proper officials, conducting all the business of Govern- 
 ment through his principal eunuchs, and through the 
 Imperial Concubine Cheng, who was the mother of his 
 favourite son. Prince Fu. 
 
 Wan Li's eldest son, Ch'ang Lo, was a Prince of high 
 
 47 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 promise, of strong and virtuous disposition, but the evil 
 influence of Lady Cheng and the eunuchs poisoned the 
 Emperor's mind against him, so that the two rarely saw 
 each other. Eventually, in 1615, when Ch'ang Lo was 
 thirty-four years of age, the Lady Cheng, desiring to 
 secure the succession for her dissolute son. Prince Fu, 
 conspired with her brother Cheng Kuo-tai and two 
 eunuchs, named Pang Pao and Liu Ch'eng, to have the 
 Heir Apparent murdered. Their plans were laid with 
 great care and subtlety, but they failed, owing to the 
 stupidity of their hired assassins and to the courage of 
 Ch'ang Lo's personal attendants. This attempt on the 
 life of the Heir Apparent created a profound impression 
 on the public mind, not only at Peking but in the pro- 
 vinces ; it revealed to the nation the true state of affairs 
 in the Palace, and laid the foundations of that distrust 
 and disrespect for the dynasty which were subsequently 
 manifested in Li Tzii-ch'eng's rebellion. Shortly before 
 sunset of an evening in June 1615, a man, armed with a 
 stout cudgel of jujube wood, forced his way into the 
 residence of the Heir Apparent, the Palace of Benevolent 
 Blessings, and having felled the eunuch on guard at the 
 outer door, made his way to Ch'ang Lo's private apart- 
 ments; but there, hesitating, he was overpowered and 
 disarmed. Cast into prison, at first he feigned madness, 
 but subsequently attempted to explain his action. His 
 name, he said, was Chang Ch'ai, and he lived in a small 
 village not far from the Imperial Eastern Mausolea. The 
 Lady Cheng had sent some of her eunuchs to build a shrine 
 near to the tombs, and these men had made a brick kiln 
 there, close by a pile of brushwood which he had collected 
 for fuel. Some one had set fire to the brushwood. En- 
 raged at the loss, he had come to Peking to lodge a com- 
 plaint at the Palace, and on entering the Forbidden City 
 had met a man who told him that he must carry a cudgel 
 as a sign that he was bearing a petition. On reaching 
 
 48 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 the Heir Apparent's residence he had been angered by 
 the eunuch, but meant no harm to the Prince. 
 
 Complying with the Heir Apparent's request, the 
 Emperor ordered a formal inquiry into the case. The 
 officials entrusted with the examination of the prisoner, 
 shrewdly suspecting that the Lady Cheng and her brother 
 were at the bottom of the affair, endeavoured to hush it 
 up and to treat it as the work of a lunatic. One member 
 of the Court of Inquiry refused, however, to agree with 
 the rest, who wished to have Chang Ch'ai beheaded with- 
 out further ado. He insisted on a thorough investigation, 
 and examined the prisoner in private. Eventually a con- 
 fession was extracted; the attempt at murder had been 
 instigated by one of the eunuchs, with promise of rich 
 reward. 
 
 This evidence being reported to the Court, a new 
 Commission was appointed, which, after applying torture, 
 elicited a further confession. The instigators of the crime 
 were declared to be the eunuch Pang Pao and another 
 named Liu Ch'eng, both henchmen of the Lady Cheng. 
 Chang admitted that he had been in their pay for three 
 years, and that they had told him if he succeeded in killing 
 the Prince he should never want for meat and drink. 
 
 At this stage of the case public indignation began to 
 be displayed in the capital, and a Censor was emboldened 
 to accuse the Lady Cheng's brother of connivance in the 
 crime. In a plain-spoken memorial he urged that the 
 Emperor should order the immediate arrest of the two 
 men named by the prisoner and, if implicated, the Imperial 
 Concubine's brother ; and it would be her duty to request 
 the Emperor to have him decapitated. If the prisoner 
 Chang were nov/ put out of the way, and the case hushed 
 up, the world would know that the Lady Cheng and her 
 brother were guilty. 
 
 The Emperor was greatly disturbed by this memorial. 
 Being himself of a lazily gentle disposition, he had no 
 E 49 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 conception of the depths of cruelty and villainy about 
 him, and would have wished to avoid the further inquiries 
 that threatened to involve the good name of his favourite 
 consort. But the officials and Censorate continued to 
 urge that the case must be thoroughly investigated; the 
 city was in a ferment of excitement, and the Palace gates 
 were closed. A Censor now asked that the market days 
 of the Forbidden City should be temporarily suspended, 
 and that a strict watch of police be maintained at the 
 Palace gates, to guard against further attacks. The 
 Court declined to close the market, but ordered that for 
 the time being no metal utensils or weapons be sold 
 therein.^ 
 
 At this juncture, the Grand Secretary Fang Tsung-che 
 intervened, and bluntly warned the Emperor that any 
 further hesitation in regard to the open trial of Chang 
 Ch'ai could not fail to produce a bad impression and 
 probably dangerous consequences. He reminded the 
 Sovereign that one of the conspirators, Liu Ch'eng, had 
 already been accused of witchcraft against His Majesty. 
 Wan Li was so greatly impressed by this, that he turned 
 against his favourite concubine and angrily bade her 
 " look out for herself." Terrified at the turn affairs were 
 taking, the Lady Cheng sought out the Heir Apparent and 
 begged his forgiveness and help. The Prince magnani- 
 mously forgave her. 
 
 On the following morning. His Majesty went to the 
 Heir Apparent's Palace and held an audience of the entire 
 Court. In the presence of all, he took his son by the 
 hand and said : " You all see this dutiful son of mine. 
 Know that I love him dearly. Had I intended to kill 
 him, I should have done so long ago. Why do you all 
 try to create discord between father and son? " Then 
 
 ^ Under the Ming dynabty, the gates of the Palace were always 
 opened on tliese Ko-called market-days, to alloAv of the removal of 
 refuse accuumlatcd iu the Forbidden City. 
 
 50 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 he called the Chamberlain to summon the Heir Apparent' s 
 three sons, who were conducted to the dais by the 
 Emperor's side. He bade the Court look well at them. 
 " These three grandsons of mine are now grown lads," 
 he exclaimed; "what nonsense is this that you talk?" 
 He asked Ch'ang Lo whether there was anything he wished 
 to say : " Tell me the whole truth and conceal nought." 
 The Heir replied : " This wretched lunatic Chang Ch'ai 
 ought to be put to death at once, and so let the matter 
 end." Then, turning to the Court, the Prince went on : 
 " All of you can see the affection which exists between my 
 father and me. These nonsensical rumours which you have 
 been spreading make you to appear as disloyal Ministers 
 and me as an unfeeling son." Wan Li called out : " Do 
 you hear what the Prince has said ? " He repeated these 
 words thrice, and the whole Court made obeisance. 
 
 Next day the wretched Chang Ch'ai was decapitated 
 and, at the intercession of Ch'ang Lo, the instigators of 
 his crime were pardoned. Dearly was the magnanimous 
 Prince to pay for this act of short-sighted clemency. For 
 the time being, the eunuchs conspired no more against his 
 life, content with the power they enjoyed under his father; 
 but their enmity against him brooded, biding its time, in 
 the dark places of the Forbidden City. 
 
 Li 1620, Wan Li lay upon his death-bed, but by order 
 of the Lady Cheng his Ministers of State and the Heir 
 Apparent were not permitted to enter the Presence. Once 
 more rumour flew, trumpet-tongued, through Peking, and 
 a brave Censor, named Yang Lien, urged the Grand 
 Secretaries to do their duty and to insist upon admission. 
 The Grand Secretary Fang, after much persuasion, pro- 
 ceeded, at the head of his colleagues, to the Emperor's 
 bedchamber. His Majesty was evidently moribund. 
 Yang Lien and another honest Censor, Tso Kuang-tou, 
 seeing this, insisted that the Heir Apparent, who was 
 anxiously waiting without, should be summoned to re- 
 
 51 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ceive his father's last commands, to tend him at the last, 
 and to " taste his medicine." He was brought in just as 
 Wan Li expired. 
 
 Ch'ang Lo, known in history by the dynastic title of 
 Kuang Tsung (Glorious Ancestor), might have saved the 
 dynasty had he been able to protect himself against the 
 murderous hatred of the Lady Cheng and her eunuch 
 confederates, but his life lasted less than two months 
 from the date of his accession. He died of slow poison- 
 ing by arsenic, undoubtedly administered by his eunuch 
 attendants. 
 
 The Lady Cheng, as usual, played craftily for safety, 
 whilst steadily pursuing her ambitious designs. Shortly 
 after the new Emperor's accession, she sent him gifts of 
 great price, jade and pearls and eight beautiful maidens; 
 at the same time she made friends with his favourite concu- 
 bine, the Lady Li, and urged her to persuade the Emperor 
 to confer upon herself the title of Empress Dowager, a 
 suggestion which evoked immediate and unanimous 
 opposition from the Board of Ceremonies. 
 
 The Emperor's illness rapidly increased; it was aggra- 
 vated shortly before his death by one of the eunuchs 
 (Tsui Wen-sheng) administering an extremely violent 
 purgative. The Court became seriously alarmed, whilst 
 in the city the report was spread that the Son of Heaven 
 was being done to death by the Imperial Concubines. 
 Once more the brave Censors Yang Lien and Tso Kuang- 
 tou came forward, demanding that, in conformity with 
 inviolable tradition, the Lady Cheng be compelled to 
 depart from the Palace of Celestial Purity (in which Wan 
 Li had died) where no female is allowed to sleep. The 
 Lady Cheng at first refused to move, but eventually, 
 fearful of popular clamour, she complied. 
 
 Yang Lien next proceeded to impeach the eunuch who 
 had administered the purgative to His Majesty. " This 
 villain is no physician," he said, " and ought not to be 
 
 52 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 allowed to conduct his wanton experiments upon the 
 divine person. If he knew anything about medicine, he 
 must be aware that tonics, and not purgatives, are needed 
 in a weakening complaint. What the Emperor requires 
 is strengthening physic, at a time when he is naturally 
 suffering from the shock of his sire's death and is also 
 overworked with State affairs. It is at such a time that 
 the eunuch gives an aperient. Rumours declare that the 
 Emperor is not in good hands, and that there are designs 
 against his life. Tsui Wen-sheng excuses himself on the 
 ground that the Emperor's weakness is due to debauchery, 
 but the truth is that he calumniates His Majesty's morals 
 as well as increasing his sickness. Such a man deserves 
 to be eaten. Why does Your Majesty allow such traitors 
 at your elbows ? " Another Censor urged the Grand 
 Secretary to take more care of the Emperor's sacred 
 person, and added that a wrong prescription had evidently 
 been given. 
 
 The Court officials were all summoned to the Imperial 
 bedchamber, a side apartment in the Palace of Celestial 
 Purity. A special decree had previously ordered Yang 
 Lien to repair thither for audience. The courtiers grouped 
 themselves about the Emperor's bedside. The dying 
 Monarch looked closely at Yang Lien as if he meant to 
 consign his sons to his protection. He then addressed the 
 Court : " I am glad to see you all," he said. The Grand 
 Secretary replied : " Pray, Sire, be more careful about the 
 medicine you are receiving." The Monarch rejoined : 
 " I have taken none for ten days." He then appointed 
 the concubine Li to be secondary Consort. The lady there- 
 upon sent for the Heir Apparent, and in the presence of 
 the Court asked him to demand for her the title of Empress. 
 He did so, but his father refused to grant the request and 
 closed the audience. The Court was greatly astonished at 
 her audacity. 
 
 The Emperor lingered on, growing daily worse. Five 
 
 53 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 days later the last agony had begun, and once more he 
 summoned his Ministers to a farewell audience. As they 
 pressed him to nominate his successor, he pointed to his 
 eldest son, and said : " Help him to be a good man." 
 Then he spoke of the Imperial tomb. The courtiers pre- 
 tended to misunderstand, and asked if he referred to his 
 father's tomb north of Peking. " No, I mean my own." 
 They answered : " May Your Majesty live for ever; why 
 speak of this now ? " The Emperor then asked : " Where 
 is the official from the Court of Banquets who was to give 
 me some medicine?" The Grand Secretary replied: 
 " The Secretary Li K'o-shao claims that he possesses a 
 marvellous remedy, but we dare not recommend it." 
 The Emperor bade him be sent for, to feel his pulse. He 
 was ushered in, gave a very fluent diagnosis of the disease, 
 and suggested his remedy. The Emperor was pleased, 
 and agreed to take the drug. Li was told to discuss the 
 matter with the doctors and the Ministers, but they came 
 to no decision. The Grand Secretary Liu Yi-ching re- 
 marked that this particular remedy had been taken by two 
 men in his native place : one had recovered and the other 
 had died, so it could not be called an infallible prescription. 
 The Board of Rites thought it would be dangerous to ad- 
 minister it, but while they were still discussing they were 
 again summoned to the Emperor's presence. Li K'o-shao 
 then hastily compounded the medicine, the famous red 
 pill, and gave it to the Emperor, who swallowed it. He 
 gasped slightly and exclaimed : " My loyal servants ! " 
 
 After taking the medicine, the Emperor dismissed his 
 Ministers, who waited in an ante-chamber. In a short 
 time a decree was brought out to them, which said : 
 " Our person is much better." At sunset Li K'o-shao 
 was permitted to administer another red pill, and at dawn 
 next day the Monarch " ascended on the dragon," aged 
 tliirty-nine. 
 
 Upon the Emperor's death, his would-be Empress, the 
 
 54 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 concubine Li, threw off all disguise and came boldly to 
 the front with her chief henchman, the eunuch Wei Chin- 
 shang (who subsequently received from the new Emperor 
 the name of Wei Chung-hsien, meaning, Wei, the loyal 
 and good). These two and their troop of eunuchs now 
 held the Palace against all comers, kept close watch on 
 the Heir to the Throne, and issued orders forbidding the 
 usual mourning of Ministers at the deceased Sovereign's 
 bier. Once more the Censor Yang Lien braved the powers 
 of darkness in high places. Forcing his way through the 
 eunuchs, he demanded to see the Heir Apparent. The 
 concubine Li sent word that the young Emperor had left 
 the Palace, but that he would soon return. She then 
 actually endeavoured to smuggle him out of the For- 
 bidden City, but his movements were discovered, and he 
 was conducted back to his Palace. Under the direction 
 of Yang Lien he ascended the palanquin and received the 
 obeisances of the Court. It was proposed that he should 
 formally ascend the Throne without delay, but Yang Lien 
 deprecated unceremonious haste, since the succession was 
 not contested. At the same time he took vigorous steps 
 to preserve law and order in Peking. 
 
 The young Emperor T'ien Ch'i (known in history as 
 Hsi Tsung) was but fifteen years of age when called to 
 ascend the Dragon Throne ; a weakly lad, of small stature, 
 and utterly lacking in strength of character. From the 
 date of his accession, the power of the eunuchs, hitherto 
 kept in check by the firmness and moral dignity which his 
 grandfather. Wan Li, had always displayed at critical 
 moments, increased beyond all bounds, until their leader, 
 Wei Chung-hsien, became the autocratic ruler of the 
 Empire. With the death of Kuang Tsung, the Lady 
 Cheng could no longer hope to secure the Throne for 
 her son, the dissolute Prince Fu, so that graduallj?- her 
 influence and her interest in Palace politics became less 
 personal and less aggressive. 
 
 55 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Immediately upon the death of Kuang Tsung, a struggle 
 for supreme power began between the concubine Li and 
 the new Emperor's foster-mother, the fascinating and 
 notoriously wicked woman known to history as Madame 
 K'o. The Emperor's mother having died years before, 
 it was the ambition of Lady Li, through her influence over 
 him and by the power of the eunuchs, to arrogate to 
 herself the position of an Empress Dowager, and to rule 
 the Empire. To this end she began by ignoring the 
 dynastic law which required her to remove from the 
 Palace of her late lord, announcing her intention of re- 
 siding there with the young Emperor, and she was able to 
 enlist on her side the sympathies of the Grand Secretary 
 Fang Tsung-che. But the Censor Yang Lien and his 
 colleague Tso Kuang-tou, backed by an honest eunuch 
 named Wang An, were not disposed to acquiesce in such 
 irregularities. They protested most energetically, and 
 put in a joint memorial demanding that the concubine Li 
 should forthwith take her departure from the Central 
 Palace to that of the Whirring Phoenixes. Tso pointed 
 out that an Emperor of fifteen required no mother to 
 attend him, and that if such a breach of custom were 
 permitted, China might be afflicted by another usurpation 
 of power like that of the Empress Wu in the T'ang 
 dynasty. 
 
 At this the Lady Li was very wroth, and sent a eunuch 
 to summon Tso to her presence ; but he declined, saying : 
 " I am the servant of the Son of Heaven; his orders only 
 will I obey." Yang Lien, discussing the matter angrily 
 with the Grand Secretary, observed : " Even if the 
 Emperor's own mother were alive, he must take pre- 
 cedence over her. What manner of woman is the concu- 
 bine Li that she dares thus insult the dignity of the 
 Throne?" 
 
 As some of the eunuchs showed signs of a desire to support 
 Lady Li's action, Yang announced his intention of re- 
 
 56 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 maining in the Palace until she had moved out. To those 
 who sided with the Grand Secretary he said : " Let the 
 woman Li go to the Temple of Ancestors and state her 
 demands before the sacred shrines. Are you all in her 
 pay ? Let her kill me if she can. I will not move until 
 she does." 
 
 Faced with this crisis, on a clear issue where public 
 opinion and the law were all against her, the Lady Li 
 made a virtue of necessity and evacuated the Palace, but 
 not before her retainers had looted much of its store of 
 gold ingots. The chroniclers report that Yang's hair and 
 moustache turned completely white during these days of 
 danger. But he had won the day, and from this point the 
 influence and activities of Lady Li waned rapidly at Court. 
 Certain of the eunuchs of her immediate following en- 
 deavoured to enlist for her the sympathies of the high 
 officials of the Court, by spreading rumours that it was 
 her intention to commit suicide in order to escape further 
 persecution. Hereupon a Censor demanded that the 
 Emperor should definitely communicate to the Grand 
 Secretariat his decision in regard to her, in order to allay 
 these unseemly rumours of the eunuchs. There is every 
 reason to believe that this action of the Censor's was in- 
 spired not, like Yang Lien's, by pure motives of loyalty 
 to the Throne, but by the party of the eunuch Wei Chung- 
 hsien, who now abandoned the cause of Lady Li and 
 became the close confederate of Madame K'o, the foster- 
 mother. Beyond all doubt feminine jealousy and the 
 hand of Madame K'o were behind the decree which the 
 boy Emperor proceeded to issue in reply to the Censor's 
 memorial. It said : 
 
 " When I was a boy the Lady Li used so to bully my 
 sacred mother that she fell sick and died. To the end of 
 my days I shall bear her ill-will for this. Also, when my 
 father lay dying, she laid violent hands on my person and 
 demanded to be made Empress Consort. At that time I 
 
 57 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 was living in the Palace of Benevolent Blessings; every- 
 day she would send her two Chief Eunuchs to compel me 
 to submit all State papers for her perusal. I have now 
 transferred her to the Palace of Whirring Phoenixes, in 
 filial remembrance of the love my father bore to her. I 
 do not propose to involve her in the punishment which 
 will be meted out to her satellites for stealing valuables 
 from the Palace." 
 
 A little later and the Lady Li's downfall was complete. 
 Another decree of the Emperor deprived her of her rank 
 as concubine, " in order to comfort his mother in heaven," 
 while continuing her maintenance grant, " in order to 
 show honour to his father," a typical Chinese " face- 
 saving " solution. From this moment Wei Chung-hsien 
 and his confederate Madame K'o stand forth in absolute 
 and almost undisputed authority. Under Wan Li, the 
 Chief Eunuch had ruled the capital and chastised the 
 Court with whips; he now proceeded to chastise it with 
 scorpions. 
 
 The first noteworthy indication of their vengeful and 
 bloodthirsty power was given when they did to death the 
 loyal eunuch Wang An, who had dared to support the 
 Censor Yang Lien in his fight for clean government. Wei 
 Chung-hsien forged and uttered an Imperial decree con- 
 demning Wang to death, and in order to prevent any 
 chance of his being reprieved, had him murdered in 
 prison. Yang Lien, who might have saved this honest 
 man, had already left Peking, and gone into retirement 
 at his home. In applying for permission to resign, he 
 had boldly told the young Emperor that, having done his 
 duty in cleansing the Palace of the usurping concubine, 
 he desired only to leave the capital, for his straightforward 
 nature could not brook the sycophants and traitors who 
 surrounded the Throne. He was to pay dearly for his 
 courage. 
 
 The young Emperor was only too willing to allow all 
 
 58 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 the business of the State to pass into the hands of the 
 masterful eunuch and of the woman K'o, who exercised 
 so baneful an influence over him. He devoted himself 
 continually to his hobby of carpentry, which Wei Chung- 
 hsien encouraged. The eunuch would wait until he was 
 busy with plane and saw and then go to him asking for 
 instructions concerning some routine question of govern- 
 ment or one of the day's memorials. Hsi Tsung, hating 
 to be disturbed, would tell him to settle the business as 
 he thought fit; and thus, little by little, the eunuch 
 usurped all the functions of the Sovereign. The Emperor 
 Ch'ien Lung, commenting on the causes of the Ming 
 dynasty's ruin, ascribed it partly to " Hsi Tsung's infatuate 
 interest in mean and cunning handicrafts, which brought 
 him into competition with workmen. Eunuchs," he wrote, 
 " have always tried to engage their Sovereign's attention 
 in ignoble pursuits, so that they might freely pursue their 
 ambitious designs. In all ages, bad men are the same in 
 their ways; the pity is that Sovereigns should be so blind 
 as to fall into the snares prepared for them." 
 
 During the seven years of his calamitous reign, one good 
 influence, and one only, saved the young Emperor from 
 utter degradation, and led good men occasionally to hope 
 that he might in time cast off his bondage and assert the 
 Imperial dignity of his Throne. This was the influence 
 of his consort, the " Precious Pearl," in whom dignity, 
 virtue and high courage were combined to a degree which 
 make her one of the most admirable women in China's 
 history, and indeed in the history of the world. Her 
 gentle and steadfast character shines brightly to this day 
 against the dark background of those evil times, her lofty 
 ideals, patience and loyalty smell sweet and blossom, 
 even now, amidst the dust and ruins of a degenerate 
 age. Seldom indeed has history recorded a nobler life, or 
 a more pathetic death. We make no apology for digressing 
 at this point, to tell the romantic story of her youth and 
 
 59 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of her selection to be the Empress Consort of China's weak 
 and dissolute Monarch. 
 
 In the winter of the year 1612, a student of K'ai Feng-fvi, 
 named Chang Kuo-chi, found lying by the roadside a little 
 girl, aged six, and taking her to his home, adopted her as 
 his daughter, by the name of Chang Yen. Her " style " 
 was " Precious Pearl." He attended carefully to her 
 education and she proved remarkably intelligent and dili- 
 gent in study. Chang Kuo-chi had intended her to marry 
 his son, but was dissuaded from this course by a Buddhist 
 priest who, after casting her horoscope, foretold for her a 
 far more exalted position. In 1620, the year of the death 
 of Wan Li, the dissolute Prince Fu (son of Lady Cheng) 
 came to take up his fief of Honan, and forthwith sent 
 eunuchs to search through the city of Kaifeng for damsels 
 worthy to enter his harem. One of the eunuchs came to 
 Chang's house, and seeing " Precious Pearl," then aged 
 fourteen, bade her accompany him to the Prince's Palace, 
 but the girl indignantly repelled him, threatening that if 
 he laid a hand upon her she would commit suicide. 
 
 In the year (1621) following the death of the Emperor 
 Wan Li and his unfortunate son, the Emperor Kuang 
 Tsung, the young Emperor Hsi Tsung, then aged sixteen, 
 proclaimed his intention of solemnising his marriage. The 
 whole Empire was ngtified that comely maidens between 
 the ages of thirteen and sixteen were eligible; after which 
 the eunuchs made an eliminating inspection. Those whose 
 height or figure failed to reach the required standard were 
 weeded out, until the number was reduced to 4000. On the 
 following day a much more careful scrutiny was conducted 
 by the two head eunuchs, who made copious notes of each 
 damsel's features, size of nose, colour of hair, shape of waist 
 and length of foot. Each maiden was required to state 
 clearly her name, lineage and age ; if the timbre of the voice 
 did not satisfy the eunuchs, she was at once rejected. 
 Stammering or thickness of speech was regarded as an 
 
 60 
 
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THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 insuperable defect. As a result of this scrutiny, only 
 2000 remained eligible, and on the following day further 
 physical measurements were made, in addition to which 
 each candidate was required to walk a hundred paces, in 
 order that her deportment might be observed. Any 
 slovenliness of gait or lack of dignity disqualified the 
 candidate; after this test only 1000 remained. These 
 were then taken into the Inner Palace where they were 
 subjected to a searching scrutiny by discreet and elderly 
 women of the Palace, who compelled them to strip so that 
 their persons might be scanned from head to foot. Three 
 hundred were ultimately chosen to undergo a month's 
 probation as Palace handmaidens. Those amongst them 
 who showed signs of stubbornness or of frivolous dis- 
 position were weeded out, until at the end of the month 
 only fifty remained, all of whom were appointed to be 
 Imperial concubines. 
 
 The Chief Eunuch in charge of the Ceremonial Depart-" 
 ment was greatly impressed by " Precious Pearl's " beauty, 
 and placed her at the head of the list to be presented to 
 the Senior Concubine, Lady Chao, who had been one of 
 the Emperor Wan Li's chief wives, and was at present acting 
 as Empress Dowager. This lady, an accomplished scholar, 
 tested each candidate in caligraphy and other accomplish- 
 ments. Finally three were chosen as candidates for the 
 position of Empress, of whom "Precious Pearl " was one; 
 the other two young ladies were named Wang and Tuan. 
 
 In accordance with ancient custom, the Lady Chao 
 enveloped the heads of the three chosen ones in turbans 
 of black crape, and fastened the arms of each with a 
 bracelet of jade and gold. They were then taken into an 
 inner chamber for a final examination by the women of 
 the Palace, to make sure that they were without spot or 
 blemish. 
 
 In due course their report was submitted. The official 
 chronicler gives from it a detailed list of the future 
 
 61 
 
^ 
 
 ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Empress's charms, some of which is unprintable. Her 
 complexion was as the dawn, her eyes like autumn waves, 
 her lips like cherries; her teeth, numbering thirty-eight 
 in all, were perfect, her chin ample, and she was free of 
 birthmarks. 
 
 Lady Chao hastened to report to His Majesty, and con- 
 ducted the three maidens to his apartments, where his 
 foster-mother, the evil Madame K'o, was waiting to help 
 the Emperor to make a final choice. At this time, K'o 
 was about thirty-three, a woman of great physical beauty 
 and charm. The Emperor had already bestowed upon her 
 the title of the " Holy Lady of Ch'in." i 
 
 Madame K'o took an immediate and instinctive dislike 
 to " Precious Pearl " and began to criticise her. " For 
 a girl of fifteen," she said, " her figure is too stout; she 
 won't improve as she gets older. She is good-looking after 
 a fashion, but quite unworthy to be your Consort." Point- 
 ing to Miss Wang, she exclaimed, " That's the wife for 
 you." The Emperor, however, was evidently attracted 
 by " Precious Pearl," but following the prescribed custom, 
 he asked the Lady Chao's advice. She replied : " All 
 three are exceptionally comely, but Miss Chang ('Precious 
 Pearl') surpasses the others in dignity of demeanour." 
 
 Thereupon, nothing loth. His Majesty chose " Precious 
 Pearl" for his Consort. Miss Wang was given the title 
 of " Virtuous Concubine " and Miss Tuan that of " Pure 
 Concubine." The eighth day of the fourth Moon follow- 
 ing was fixed by the astronomers as auspicious for the 
 Emperor to ascend his nuptial couch; and three weeks 
 later the new Empress received her patents. The Emperor 
 asked her many questions about her family and past life. 
 Her replies greatly pleased him, and she speedily acquired 
 
 1 Ch'in, the classical name of the province of Shensi, of which she 
 was a native. The ruins of Madame K'o's private residence are still 
 visible just outside the Tung An Gate of Peking, and the site is 
 popularly known as the "Foster-Mother's Palace." 
 
 62 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 over him that influence for good which became the one 
 redeeming featm-e of his weak nature. Her father (by 
 adoption), Chang Kuo-chi, was ennobled as an "Earl of 
 exalted strength," and other members of her family 
 received suitable honours. 
 
 A few days after the marriage, Hsi Tsung and his 
 Consort proceeded to the Ancestral Temple, where Her 
 Majesty performed obeisance before the Imperial shrine. 
 Hsi Tsung was at this time only sixteen and of very 
 diminutive stature; his Consort towered above him. As 
 the Empress's influence increased, Madame K'o showed 
 unmistakable signs of jealousy and wrath; nevertheless, 
 she continued to visit His Majesty daily in the Palace of 
 Heavenly Purity. 
 
 In spite of the Emperor's devotion to his beautiful 
 bx'ide, it was evident to all the Court that he was becoming 
 more and more subject to the influence of the Chief Eunuch, 
 Wei Chung-hsien, who had attended him since early 
 infancy. This man and Madame K'o gradually estab- 
 lished their authority as the real rulers of China, and 
 maintained it throughout his reign. Completely domin- 
 ated in regard to affairs of State by the eunuch, Hsi Tsung 
 showered honours upon him; meritorious officials were 
 tortured and executed to gratify his lightest whim. 
 Wholesale proscriptions were made by Wei against those 
 who had criticised him, so that it came to pass that even 
 the great Viceroys vied with each other in currying favour 
 with the all-powerful eunuch. In nearly every province 
 shrines were erected to him during his lifetime and he 
 was worshipped as a deity. In Kiangsi a temple which 
 had been built centuries before, in honour of one of the 
 most eminent disciples of Confucius, was dismantled, and 
 Wei Chung-hsien' s tablet was set up in its central hall. 
 He was likened to the Sage for virtue and learning : nay, 
 his merits were even exalted beyond those of the Sage, 
 and he was accorded the highest place in the national 
 
 63 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Pantheon. The Governor of Shantung gravely informed 
 the Throne that a chilin ^ had been captured in Confucius' 
 native province, near to the Sage's grave, an auspicious 
 event which he attributed to the fact that near to the 
 Throne there stood a person of Wei Chung-hsien's con- 
 summate virtue. (The chilin^s rare appearances, Hke 
 angels' visits, only occur when the Empire is governed 
 by a perfect ruler.) The eunuch was called Lord of 
 9000 years, and the Emperor's decrees, which Wei in- 
 variably drafted, began with the words : " We and Oue 
 eunuch Minister, decree as follows ..." 
 
 In all things the infatuated Monarch submitted to the 
 will of Wei Chung-hsien, except only when the eunuch 
 and Madame K'o endeavoured to poison his mind against 
 his beloved Consort, to whom he remained devotedly 
 faithful all his life. Whenever the Emperor, under her 
 good influence, showed signs of wishing to devote himself 
 to study or serious pursuits, K'o and Wei would lure him 
 back into paths of sensual dissipation. The Empress 
 feared and disliked them both, but she could not persuade 
 Hsi Tsung to free himself from their control. 
 
 Shortly after His Majesty's marriage, certain Censors 
 began to send in outspoken memorials against Madame 
 K'o, urging that she should not be permitted to spend so 
 much of her time in-the Forbidden City in close attendance 
 upon the Sovereign ; it being contrary to etiquette that a 
 woman should be allowed to enter the Palace of Heavenly 
 Purity. The Emperor, in reply to these memorials, de- 
 clared that his wife's extreme youth required the guiding 
 hand of a foster-mother. The Censors returned to the 
 charge, pointing out that a woman of K'o's low ante- 
 cedents was unfit to minister to a person so virtuous as 
 the Empress. " How," said one of them, " can this 
 woman be permitted to usurp the authority which belongs 
 
 1 A fabulous animal, of origin probably similar to our unicorn. 
 
 64 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 of right to Your Majesty's Consort ? " K'o was eventually 
 compelled to leave the Palace, and for a time she remained 
 at her own residence, but the weakling Emperor felt her 
 absence so deeply that he lost his appetite and became 
 greatly dejected. In spite of the remonstrances of the 
 Censors, he soon recalled her, and thereafter her influence 
 grew greater than before. Waxing proud, she began openly 
 to ill-treat those of the concubines who were not on her 
 side, and supported by Wei Chung-hsien, dared to show 
 open contempt for the Empress. Shortly after her return, 
 the Emperor celebrated her birthday with royal splendour. 
 Proceeding in person to her residence, he burned incense 
 before her tablet and offered up prayers for her long life. 
 iVll the eunuchs and concubines of the Court were ordered 
 to prostrate themselves in obeisance before her. Sump- 
 tuous theatricals were held in her honour for three 
 days, and the best musicians in the capital were specially 
 engaged. In the following month the Empress's birth- 
 day occurred, but no entertainments were given in the 
 Palace, nor were any promotions conferred. Even in 
 the tea-houses, men knew where lay the power behind the 
 Throne. 
 
 Thus things went on, from bad to worse. K'o and 
 Wei were served with the richest viands from the Imperial 
 kitchens, while the Empress was frequently kept waiting 
 for her simple meals. She fully realised the dangers that 
 threatened the decadent dynasty at the hands of these 
 evil-doers, and frequently remonstrated with the Emperor 
 against his flagrant violation of the dynastic laws. K'o 
 and Wei now tried to lay snares for the Empress, and set 
 one of their eunuch minions, Ch'en Ti-jun, to spy upon 
 her in her Palace of Feminine Tranquillity, endeavouring 
 all the time to turn the Emperor against her. But she, 
 blameless and pure of heart, paid no heed. She spent 
 most of her time in reading and in penmanship, wherein 
 she was highly expert; to the more intelligent of the 
 F 65 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Palace concubines'^she gave lessons in history and philo- 
 sophy. A devout Buddhist, she spent many hours in 
 prayer before the altar of the Goddess of Mercy. Fre- 
 quently she attired herself as a nun and gave herself over 
 to pious meditation. She knew full well that her enemies 
 were plotting against her, but she relied upon her gentle 
 influence over the Emperor, which never failed to hold 
 him, although she used no feminine arts to win his favour. 
 Her Lord the Emperor being without an heir, she would 
 recommend various concubines to his notice, but usually 
 excused herself from receiving his conjugal attentions on 
 the plea of ill-health. The Emperor was wont to say to 
 her : " Your influence over me is wonderful : you are so 
 brave, so good. If I but look at you I feel a different 
 man. Your face seems to say that you should easily be 
 won. How comes it, then, that I find it so difficult to woo 
 you?" 
 
 At times he would invite her to a boating excursion 
 upon the lake adjoining the Forbidden City; His Majesty 
 himself rowing and endeavouring to please her by good- 
 humoured badinage. But she would use these occasions 
 to remonstrate with him for his wild life, urging him to 
 study State papers and to give daily audiences to his 
 Ministers. " You ought to make friends with scholars 
 and attend lectureswon the classics," she would way, "in- 
 stead of dallying with these sycophants." For a time 
 the Emperor would obey her advice, but he speedily re- 
 lapsed into evil ways. Madame K'o supplied him with 
 drugs to stimulate his passions ; whilst " Precious Pearl " 
 warned him against all forms of indulgence, and would 
 throw the drugs down the well. Wei Chung-hsien arranged 
 lewd theatrical performances for His Majesty's amusement, 
 but whenever the play was indelicate, the Empress would 
 rise from her place and leave the theatre in disgust. 
 
 In the hope of securing her deposition, Wei and K'o 
 bribed a man named Sun-erh, a Honanese^ who was lying 
 
 66 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 under sentence of death in the Board of Punishments, to 
 say that the Empress was his child and that he had given 
 her to her father by adoption, Chang Kuo-chi. To the 
 Emperor they said that a criminal's daughter ought not 
 to be his Consort and that she should be deposed, Chang- 
 Kuo-chi receiving the punishment he merited. The 
 Emperor was impressed by the story, and went straight 
 to his Consort's apartment to ask her about it. But at 
 sight of her tranquil beauty he was abashed, and could 
 only say in an embarrassed way : " Are you really the 
 daughter of that wretched villain Sun-erh?" The 
 Empress blushed slightly and paused before replying. 
 Then she said : "If Your Majesty believes such foolish 
 rumours, why should I continue to defile the Palace with 
 my presence ? Pray let me be deposed and make room 
 for another more worthy." The Emperor thereupon 
 hurriedly apologised and made amends, all doubt having 
 been dispelled from his mind. That night he supped with 
 the Empress and next day warned Wei Chung-hsien 
 against uttering idle reports. 
 
 Many were the wiles and stratagems by which these 
 two evil conspirators endeavoured to injure the Empress 
 in the eyes of her lord, and at times — so weak a nature was 
 Hsi Tsung's — they seemed to be on the verge of success. 
 On one occasion, the Chief Eunuch devised a crafty plot, 
 supported by lying witnesses, against Her Majesty's 
 adopted father, and induced the Emperor to issue a 
 decree reprimanding him and ordering the Empress to 
 meditate for three days on his conduct. Later, Madame 
 K'o introduced into the harem a creature of her own, 
 named Jen, of bad character but pleasing appearance, 
 and persuaded the Emperor to grant her high rank 
 amongst the Imperial concubines. Here again they 
 were nearly successful, for Hsi Tsung became infatuated 
 with the woman; yet she did not succeed in completely 
 supplanting "Precious Pearl" in his affections. 
 
 67 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 In 1624, the Chief Eunuch was at the height of his 
 insolence; none were safe from his rapacious and vindic- 
 tive power. It was at this time that he took a fearful 
 revenge upon the Censor Yang Lien and the others who 
 had denounced him and his former confederate, the 
 concubine Li. 
 
 Yang Lien, it will be remembered, had retired from the 
 Court to his native place in 1622, shortly after the death 
 of Wan Li. In 1624 he returned to Peking and, moved 
 to righteous indignation by the evil deeds of Wei and his 
 accomplices, he handed in the denunciatory memorial 
 which eventually cost him his life. This famous impeach- 
 ment of the notorious eunuch is too long to quote in full, 
 but it reveals so clearly the condition of the Court, and 
 the power wielded by these " rats and foxes," and their 
 effect on the government of the country, that we must 
 reproduce its most important clauses. 
 
 The memorial begins thus : " The founder of our 
 dynasty desired that eunuchs should not interfere in 
 governmental affairs, and that evil-doing should not be 
 condoned. But the eunuch Comptroller General of the 
 Eastern Court ^ behaves with overweaning arrogance, and 
 treats the dynastic ordinances with contempt. I venture 
 to set forth his chief crimes as follows : 
 
 "1. He is a lewd fellow of common extraction who, after 
 being emasculated in middle life, won a position in the 
 Palace by sheer intrigue. He wheedled his way into 
 Imperial favour by displaying zeal in trivial matters, and 
 thereafter developed into a most consummate traitor and 
 villain, until he has become practically a dictator, even 
 issuing his own decrees, whereby the Government has 
 often been thrown into utter confusion. Ancestral tra- 
 dition requires that the Grand Secretaries shall issue all 
 
 1 A bureau under eunuchs which had become virtually the Supreme 
 Court of the Empire, which drew up decrees, and completely superseded 
 the Grand Secretariat. 
 
 68 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 decrees; but since Wei Chimg-hsien's assumption of 
 dictatorship, he has either issued Imperial edicts verbally 
 or has himself appended the vermilion rescript. Thus 
 are the traditions of two centuries defied. 
 
 "2. When His late Majesty lay dying, Liu Yi-ching and 
 Chou Chia-mo were the recipients of his last testament, 
 but Wei was able to secure their abrupt dismissal, be- 
 cause he feared that they might clip his power. In this 
 way Your Majesty was made to act undutifully in the 
 removal of your august predecessor's faithful servants. 
 
 " 3. Wei dismissed Sun Shen-hsing and Tsou Yuan-piao, 
 honest patriots both, who had drawn public attention to 
 the poisoning of the late Emperor by eunuchs. He 
 bestowed a dragon robe on the henchman of the concu- 
 bine Li, the man who administered the dose of red pills 
 which killed His Majesty. He is a friend to traitors, and 
 the foe of good and loyal men. 
 
 *' 4. He has removed all honest officials from your Court, 
 until not a soul is left who dares to warn Your Majesty. 
 He has prevented you from employing worthy men lest 
 they frustrate his schemes. 
 
 "5. It is a common saying in Peking that Your Majesty, 
 the Son of Heaven, can be easily appeased, but that the 
 wrath of Wei Chung-hsien cannot be placated. At a 
 word from him you dismiss every one who incurs his 
 displeasure. 
 
 "6. Thus far I have referred only to officials. Last 
 year it was stated that one of the lower concubines 
 (' honourable persons ') had won your favour by her 
 purity and virtue. Wei became jealous and fearful that 
 she should undermine his influence and expose his in- 
 famies; she died, therefore, of a sudden and mysterious 
 sickness. Your Majesty is unable to protect even your 
 cherished favourites. 
 
 "7. Thus far I have spoken only of concubines of lowly 
 rank. Lately the senior concubine ' Abundant ' was 
 
 69 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 expecting her confinement, and every one hoped that 
 Your Majesty was about to be blessed with an heir. Wei 
 hated her because she was not of his party. He issued 
 a forged decree which brought about her suicide. Your 
 Majesty is powerless to protect even ladies of exalted 
 position in your Palace. 
 
 " 8. Thus far I have referred to consorts, but there are 
 worse crimes. Your Empress had given birth to a son, 
 but it died straightway, as the result of Wei's plottings. 
 It is common knowledge that Wei and Madame K'o 
 brought about this death. You cannot even protect 
 your own son. 
 
 "9. During the forty years in which your father was 
 Heir Apparent his position was one of grave peril, but 
 he had one faithful henchman, the eunuch Wang An. 
 When your father died mysteriously of the fatal red pills 
 it was Wang An who saw to your protection and helped 
 to secure your safe succession to the Throne. This man 
 deserved well of Your Majesty, but Wei issued a forged 
 decree and had him beheaded in the Hunting Park. And 
 not only did Wang An suffer, but hundreds of your father's 
 attendants have been slain or banished. 
 
 "10. Each day sees him rejoicing in fresh honours : 
 shrines are built in his honour at which he, a living man, 
 is to be worshipped. . There is no limit to his evil influence 
 with Your Majesty. In conferring distinctions on such 
 a man the words of the Emperor are defiled. At his native 
 place of Ho Chien-fu he has erected triumphal arches in 
 his own honour, on which are carved Imperial dragons 
 and heaven-soaring phoenixes. His sepulchre in the 
 Western hills is built on the scale of an Imperial mauso- 
 leum and covered with a yellow roof. 
 
 "11. He fills official posts with youths still smelling of 
 their mothers' milk, or with illiterate members of his own 
 family, like Wei Liang-pi, Wei Liang-tsai and Wei Liang- 
 cihng.' 
 
 70 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 "12. He has inflicted humiliating punishment on the 
 fathers of Imperial concubines and beheaded their servants 
 by scores. He has done his best to ruin the Empress's 
 father and to shake even Her Majesty's position. Had it 
 not been for the courageous opposition of one of the 
 Grand Secretaries, Her Majesty's father would have 
 perished on the scaffold. 
 
 " 13. The ' Eastern Court ' was established for the 
 purpose of protecting the Throne from treason, but in 
 Wei Chung-hsien's hands it has become a deadly machine 
 for the removal of rivals by general proscription. He 
 keeps a box there into which anonymous accusations may 
 be dropped, and traps are set night and day to betray 
 those who oppose him. Let but a word be whispered 
 against his doings and forthwith a warrant is issued and 
 the offender is dragged to trial at the T'ung Wen-kuan. 
 
 "14. Dynastic ordinance forbids that eunuchs should 
 form bands of soldiers as bodyguards to the Sovereign. 
 For this enactment there are urgent reasons, but Wei has 
 got together a troop of his own creatures, who are drilled 
 in the Palace. To this band drift naturally all dangerous 
 and desperate characters; what is to prevent an assassin 
 being found amongst them who would attempt Your 
 Majesty's life? 
 
 "15. When Wei was sent to perform sacrifice at 
 Chochin, the road was cleared for him, as for an Imperial 
 progress. Heralds announced his advance and yellow 
 earth was spread upon the highway, so that the people 
 believed that he was the Emperor himself. On his Eastern 
 journey he was borne in a chariot drawn by four horses, 
 Imperial banners and insignia were carried in the pro- 
 cession. His bodyguard surrounded him on both sides 
 to screen his sacred person from the vulgar gaze. In 
 every respect his passing resembled a progress of Your 
 Majesty ! Numbers of persons offered their petitions to 
 him or made offerings of tribute, prostrating themselves 
 
 71 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 in the dust. What manner of man does this Wei fancy 
 himself to be? 
 
 "16. It is well known that, if too much royal favour be 
 shown, conceit is thereby engendered, and that excess of 
 Imperial grace usually breeds resentment in its recipient 
 against the giver. Thus it came to pass that this spring 
 Wei dared to ride on horseback in front of Your Majesty. 
 Amazed at his effrontery. Your Majesty shot the horse 
 dead; Wei's offence was speedily pardoned. He showed 
 no contrition, but carried himself the more haughtily in 
 your presence and, outside the Palace, spoke despisingly 
 of you. He has now surrounded himself with armed 
 men, prepared to resist in case of his arrest. Traitors 
 and rebels desire only to attain the goal of their nefarious 
 ambitions, and nothing stops them until they have gained 
 it. Why should you nourish a tiger to work his evil will 
 at your very elbows ? Even if Wei's carcase were hacked 
 into mincemeat, his sins would remain unexpiated. 
 
 " The tale of his crimes and treasonable designs is 
 blazoned abroad in all men's eyes; yet none of your 
 courtiers dare speak against him, lest they incur doom. 
 Their tongues are tied; not one dare memorialise you. 
 Should, perchance, any have the courage to reveal Wei's 
 treasons, the ' Lady of Divine Worship,' Madame K'o, 
 stands at Your Majesty's side to gloss over his guilt. 
 These two are sworn allies ; each aids and abets the other, 
 if one calls, the other comes to the rescue. 
 
 " Humbly I implore Your Majesty now to display the 
 might of your high displeasure and to appoint a commis- 
 sion of the ablest nobles and highest officials, with power 
 to subject Wei to relentless examination, in order that the 
 law of the land may be vindicated. Also, I beg you to 
 have the ' Lady of Divine Worship ' removed from out 
 the precincts of the Forbidden City, in order to guard 
 you from further danger. Then, though your servant 
 die, yet shall he live." 
 
 72 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Wei was greatly alarmed at the revelations of this bold 
 memorial and begged the Grand Secretary Han K'uang 
 to defend him. Han refused, so Wei hurried to the 
 Emperor's presence and abjectly asked to be allowed to 
 resign the Comptrollership of the Eastern Court. Madame 
 K'o then used all her wiles, imploring the Emperor not to 
 give his ear to calumny, while one of the Grand Secretaries 
 was found to intercede for the eunuch. For a moment Wei's 
 fate hung in the balance, but in the end the unfortunate 
 Emperor, in his purblind folly, listened to Madame K'o, 
 and issued a complimentary decree retaining Wei at his 
 post. On the following morning he issued another edict 
 sternly rebuking Yang Lien for his temerity. It had 
 been the latter's intention to see the Emperor at the 
 morning audience and to recount the eunuch's crimes in 
 the Monarch's presence, but Wei induced his master to 
 suspend the Court for that day. Baulked of this oppor- 
 tunity, and realising the danger of further delay, Yang 
 handed in a second memorial at the Gate of Supreme 
 Unity. This Wei suppressed, and though Yang sent in 
 a third memorial it never reached the Throne. For three 
 days no audiences were held, and when finally the Monarch 
 emerged he was surrounded by a guard of several hundred 
 eunuchs, all of whom had weapons concealed on their 
 persons. Orders were issued that no memorials would be 
 received from Yang, who was compelled to desist. 
 
 Nevertheless, other memorials of impeachment poured 
 in; the Censor Huang Tsun-su asked : " Can a Govern- 
 ment be pure with eunuchs at its head, who usurp the 
 authority of the Throne? Can Your Majesty employ as 
 your right-hand man a creature whose flesh the whole 
 Empire desires to eat? You think him loyal, but you 
 stand alone and in a perilous position. All upright men 
 have left your side, while you lean upon this eunuch as 
 on a pillar. Unless you now act swiftly, Wei Chung- 
 hsien will never cleanse his heart. He began by destroy- 
 
 73 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ing officials and scholars, but now he aims at higher quarry. 
 If his position is allowed to become stronger not even 
 armed force will dislodge him." 
 
 Next, Wei Ta-chung put in a pregnant memorial : 
 " When honest men advise the Throne at risk of their 
 lives and their words remain unheeded the situation is 
 parlous indeed. Yang Lien has not shrunk from the 
 peril of dismemberment, concerned only with the dangers 
 that threaten the State, and hoping to arouse Your Majesty 
 to a knowledge of the truth. Your Majesty has just 
 issued a decree assuming to yourself all the misdeeds with 
 which he is charged, but I fear the author of this laudatory 
 edict is not Your Majesty but Wei himself. It has come 
 to this, that you, the Son of Heaven, have surrendered 
 yourself and your consorts to the keeping of Wei and 
 K'o. The peril of our State makes my blood run cold. 
 Those who surround the Throne are tools and creatures of 
 Wei and K'o and no true servants of Your Majesty. You 
 are become like unto an orphan in a friendless world." 
 
 Another impeachment, endorsed by over a thousand 
 academy students, accused Wei of suppressing all attacks 
 upon himself, of inducing the Emperor to ignore the word 
 of the officials who, kneeling at the gate, had begged for 
 Wei's dismissal, and of designs on the Throne itself. 
 Finally, a Board Secretary named Wan Ching denounced 
 the Chief Eunuch fiercely. This official had charge of the 
 building and equipment of the late Emperor's mauso- 
 leum; a large amount of copper was needed for its sacri- 
 ficial vessels, and as there were vast supplies of the metal 
 lying unused in the Imperial precincts, he asked the 
 eunuch Comptroller to issue what he needed for the tomb. 
 This Wei not only refused to do, but he issued a forged 
 decree concerning the application. 
 
 Hereat Wan, greatly enraged, impeached Wei. He 
 wrote : " Sovereign power cannot be delegated, and least 
 of all to an emasculated minion. This Wei is practically 
 
 74 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 become Emperor and the fountain of all honour; his 
 friends secure well-feathered nests, whilst the bodies of 
 his enemies are covered with boils and sores. At his 
 asking, hereditary titles are granted; his household 
 servants receive bribes in thousands of taels. Your 
 Majesty favours him with unbounded confidence for that 
 he served your father; yet he refuses to issue copper for 
 your father's shrine. His own grave at Pi Yiin-ssii, in 
 the Western hills, is as large as an Imperial mausoleum; 
 in the provinces, stately shrines have been erected in his 
 honour, emblazoned with inscriptions and gaudy orna- 
 ments. On his own tomb he has spent a million taels, 
 while His late Majesty's sepulchre is denied even the 
 necessary fittings. Your Majesty's existence is ignored ; 
 Wei Chung-hsien fills all men's minds." 
 
 Wei, having recovered from his alarm and made sure 
 that the Emperor's favour would not be taken from him, 
 now determined to make an example of Wan, so as to 
 put fear into his other enemies. He forged a decree 
 sentencing him to a flogging of one hundred strokes in the 
 Palace, but first he sent a number of eunuchs to Wan's 
 own house and had him unmercifully beaten there. When 
 the wretched man was brought to the Palace he was still 
 alive, but during the official flogging he became uncon- 
 scious. The eunuchs then kicked and trampled on him 
 so that he died next day. A Censor had the courage to 
 protest against this outrage and to speak well of Wan, 
 who " had perished by the hands of this abominable and 
 sharp-fanged eunuch." The incident, said he, would be 
 recorded in history for all time, and would cover the 
 Emperor's name with eternal discredit. But the besotted 
 Monarch, having made his fatal choice of evil friends, 
 paid no heed to these remonstrances and warnings, so 
 that Wei hardened his heart and became more reckless 
 than ever in his crimes and bloodthirsty revenges. 
 
 The brave Censor, Yang Lien, was now thrown into the 
 
 75 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Imperial prison, and with him Tso Kuang-tou and Wei 
 Ta-chung, who had joined him in denouncing the Chief 
 Eunuch. This prison was separate and distinct from the 
 Board of Punishments; tortures were freely practised 
 there. Wei issued a decree that these three men were 
 to be tortured every fifth day, and not to be handed over 
 to the Board of Punishments until all their money had 
 been extorted. All three were tortured most horribly, 
 but none of them would confess to having obtained money 
 wrongfully by taking bribes. Finally Tso Kuang-tou, 
 unable to endure his misery, said to his fellow prisoners : 
 " Either they will torture us to death for not confessing, 
 or else they will hire one of the gaolers to kill us. If 
 now we confess, they must hand us to the Board of 
 Punishments for formal trial, and we may then escape." 
 His companions agreed, and they all confessed to false 
 charges of having taken bribes. But the tiger would 
 not release his prey; Wei issued a decree that they were 
 not yet to be taken to the public prison, and the torturing 
 went on. Yang Lien was eventually killed under a torture 
 which consisted of piling great sacks of earth upon his 
 belly and driving nails into his ears. When at last the 
 bodies of the three victims were handed over to their 
 relatives, they were so mutilated as to be unrecognisable. 
 The arrest of Yang Lien created much public indignation ; 
 thousands of scholars and respectable people lined the 
 road by which he had to pass, burning incense in his 
 honour and praying for his safe return. Wei's minions 
 seized all his property, but it amounted to less than a 
 thousand taels, for he was as poor as he was honest. 
 Had not the neighbours come to their rescue, his wife 
 and sons would have been reduced to beggary. 
 
 Let us now return to tell of the life and death of His 
 Tsung's noble Empress. The facts recited in Yang Lien's 
 memorial, above quoted, give some idea of the grievous 
 wrongs and indignities which, through the miserable 
 
 76 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 weakness of the Emperor, she suffered at the hands of 
 the Chief Eunuch and Madame K'o. 
 
 It was in the year 1623 that the Empress became 
 enceinte, to the great satisfaction of Hsi Tsung. But the 
 Chief Eunuch and Madame K'o had no desire to see Her 
 Majesty's influence over him and her authority at Court 
 increased by the birth of an heir to the Throne. Two of 
 the Empress's favourite and most faithful serving-maids 
 were, therefore, put to death by means of forged decrees 
 on false charges, and all her other personal attendants 
 were dismissed, except those upon whom Madame K'o 
 could rely. Their places were taken by women selected 
 by the Chief Eunuch, one of whom, employed as a mas- 
 seuse, so mishandled the Empress that her child was 
 born dead. Shortly afterwards, Her Majesty, goaded to 
 desperation by the Emperor's crass folly, determined 
 on an attempt to rid the Court at last of the woman whose 
 deplorable influence was the chief cause of its wickedness 
 and shame. Taking her seat on the dais of the Main Hall 
 in the Palace of Feminine Tranquillity, with a number of 
 armed retainers on either side, she summoned Madame 
 K'o to her presence. When the woman came, suspecting 
 nothing serious, the Empress launched straightway into 
 a recital of all her sins and wickedness, and ended by 
 bidding her prepare to die. K'o knelt at her feet and 
 prayed for mercy; meanwhile a eunuch had gone swiftly 
 to inform the Emperor, busy at his carpentering, of what 
 was taking place. He arrived upon the scene just in time 
 to save his foster-mother's life. From this time forward 
 the Chief Eunuch and Madame K'o endeavoured by all 
 possible means to poison the Emperor's mind against 
 his Consort and to deprive her of his protection. She on. 
 her side sought strength and consolation in prayer, chant- 
 ing Buddhist masses daily for the repose of the souls of 
 the murdered Censors and her faithful attendants. She 
 hoped thus to move her husband to remorse. Especially 
 
 77 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 did she reproach him for allowing the murder of Yang 
 Lien. 
 
 Wei Chung-hsien made repeated attempts to ruin the 
 Empress in the eyes of the Court and country by securing 
 the disgrace of her adopted father Chang Kuo-chi, against 
 whom he brought criminal charges backed by the false 
 evidence of his creatures. He produced memorials accusing 
 him of plotting against the Emperor's life, of taking bribes, 
 and of a secret liaison with a lady of the Court, but Hsi 
 Tsung, weak as he was in all other matters, remained 
 strongly attached to his beautiful and virtuous wife, and 
 the Empress found another loyal defender in the Grand 
 Secretary Li Kuo-p'u, who succeeded in checking some 
 of the Chief Eunuch's bloodthirsty schemes and in frighten- 
 ing the woman, his accomplice. Finally, in the spring of 
 1627, upon a false impeachment, the Emperor was in- 
 duced to deprive the " Earl of Exalted Strength " of all 
 his titles and emoluments and order him into retirement. 
 This he did, weary of the importunities of Madame K'o, 
 but still he would hear no word against his Consort. 
 When she heard of her adopted father's disgrace, the 
 Empress stripped off all her ornaments, and dressing 
 herself as a mourner, without head covering, sought the 
 Emperor's presence, where, on her knees, she thanked him 
 for his clemency. 
 
 Shortly after this episode, in the summer of 1627, the 
 Emperor fell sick of an illness from which he never re- 
 covered. As his state became worse, his affection for his 
 loyal and devoted wife increased. At this juncture, Wei 
 Chung-hsien had the effrontery to propose to Her Majesty 
 that she should become his confederate in a scheme of 
 treason and dishonour. This devil incarnate had no 
 belief in the constancy of any sort of virtue — in his world 
 all were bought and sold, loyalty being merely a question 
 of price and opportunity. He and Madame K'o had much 
 to fear from the death of the Emperor, the weakling whose 
 
 78 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 name and authority were necessary to their evil purposes. 
 Wei could not hope to wield the power of the Throne un- 
 less it were filled by a puppet or by an ally. He therefore 
 proposed to Her Majesty that, upon her husband's death, 
 she should become Chief Regent, accepting as Regent 
 Assessor (practically co-Regent) a creature named Wei 
 Liang-ch'ing, one of the eunuch's adherents. At the 
 same time he desired that the Empress should give out 
 that she was enceinte, with the intention of passing off a 
 son of Wei Liang-ch'ing as her own child after the 
 Emperor's death. In this way the house of Wei would 
 attain to the Throne. 
 
 This Wei Liang-ch'ing was merely a tool in the hands 
 of the Chief Eunuch, without political ambition of his 
 own. He was a wine-bibber and a profligate, whose one 
 thought, in accepting the role assigned to him, was to 
 obtain possession of the beautiful Empress. To his friends 
 he declared, " I care not a jot for the Dragon Throne, 
 but to enjoy the society of such a woman as the Goddess 
 Chang, 1 that were bliss indeed." The Empress knew 
 that, upon Hsi Tsung's passing, it must come to a life- 
 and-death struggle between the eunuch and herself, but 
 she held her head high and showed no signs of fear. " For 
 many years," she said to him, " I have made me ready 
 for death. If now I obey you, you will kill me sooner or 
 later; if I refuse, you will kill me only a little sooner. 
 But if I die resisting you to the utmost, I can face un- 
 ashamed the souls of the departed Emperors in the other 
 world." 
 
 As the Emperor's end approached, Her Majesty begged 
 him to name as his successor his brother, the Prince Hsin. 
 " But," said the dying Monarch, " Wei Chung-hsien 
 assures me that two of my concubines are with child. If 
 an heir should be born to one of them, he will become our 
 son and should surely succeed to the Throne." Upon 
 ^ Thus was the Empress familiarly known in the Palace. 
 
 79 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 this,1theJEmpress spoke to him most earnestly; the 
 attendants never knew what words passed between them, 
 but the Emperor nodded consent, and summoned his 
 brother to receive his dying behests. Prince Hsin was 
 about to plead his incompetency, but his sister-in-law, 
 attired as a widow, hurriedly emerged from behind an 
 alcove and pleaded with him, saying : " My brother, do 
 your duty, obey His Majesty. The situation is desperate, 
 and I fear a rising in the Palace. Thank His Majesty and 
 do as he desires." Prince Hsin then fell upon his knees, 
 and the Monarch bade him govern the Empire wisely, 
 avoiding the errors which he himself had committed. 
 But, blind to the last, he added : " Wei Chung-hsien fully 
 deserves your trust and may be given the highest office 
 with absolute confidence." Finally, he commended the 
 Empress to his brother's tender care. " See to her 
 welfare; she has been a faithful Consort to me these 
 seven years; much do I owe her. Often has she ad- 
 monished me and urged me to better things. Her influence 
 has ever been for good. She deserves all your pity; a 
 widow, and so young. To your care I commend her." 
 Prince Hsin left the Presence, and the Empress concealed 
 him in an inner apartment of the Palace, for fear lest Wei 
 should assassinate him. The Emperor passed away at 
 3 p.m. on the 22nd of the 8th Moon. Thereupon the 
 Empress issued his valedictory decree, and commanded 
 the hereditary Duke Chang Wei-hsien and other officials 
 to escort the new Emperor to the Main Hall of Audience, 
 where he should receive obeisance. Wei Chung-hsien was 
 persuaded to bide his time and to refrain from challenging 
 the authority of this decree by setting up a puppet of his 
 own at once. (The eunuchs, as a body, always preferred 
 intrigue and assassination to open defiance of dynastic 
 law.) The dead Emperor was dressed in his robes of 
 longevity, and his widow, weeping at his bier, so exhausted 
 herself by excess of grief that she fainted away. 
 
 80 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 On recovering consciousness her first thought was to 
 warn the new Emperor against the danger of poison; 
 she begged him to touch no food prepared in the Palace 
 kitchen. She herself dispatched a confidential chamber- 
 lain to the market for victuals which she cooked with her 
 own hands. The Emperor thanked her, and as a sign of 
 his gratitude for her devotion, recalled her adopted father 
 to Peking and restored all his honours. He was allowed 
 to enter the Palace and return thanks to his daughter. 
 The Emperor conferred upon her the title of Empress 
 Senior,^ of Feminine Virtue and Tranquillity, and gave 
 her the Palace of Motherly Peace and of Motherly 
 Blessings for her abode. 
 
 The new Emperor had abstained from all participation 
 in Palace politics during his brother's occupancy of the 
 Throne, but he soon showed himself to be a man of strong 
 character and noble disposition. The Chief Eunuch's 
 position now became one of great danger, for his crimes 
 had made him many enemies, who all combined and 
 turned against him. Also, Madame K'o had been sincerely 
 attached to her foster son, though she had abused his 
 confidence, and at his death, stricken with remorse, she 
 ceased to be useful for treasonable purposes. The power 
 of the evil confederacy which had wrought so many 
 and great evils was now broken. Before the late Emperor's 
 coffin, Madame K'o penitently burned pathetic relics of 
 his childhood, which she had treasured — his first tooth, 
 some locks of baby hair, a few broken toys, and the scabs 
 which had peeled off him after smallpox. But her time 
 had come. Shortly afterwards she was arrested, accused 
 of countless crimes on overwhelming evidence, and 
 sentenced to death by the slicing process, every member 
 of her family and household being also condemned to 
 execution. At her death the people rejoiced as at a 
 festival. In her quarters at the Palace there were found 
 1 To be distinguished from Empress Dowager. 
 ^^ 81 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 six Imperial concubines, all with child, and it was proved 
 that she had intended to poison the new Emperor and to 
 make one of these infants of unknown paternity heir to 
 the Throne. All these wretched women were condemned 
 to death, victims of another's evil ambition. 
 
 The tide had now turned strongly against Wei Chung- 
 hsien, and realising that his position was desperate, he 
 escaped from the Palace and fled to Shantung. Out- 
 lawed, and abandoned by all his followers, he committed 
 suicide near the grave of Confucius, but by order of the 
 Throne his body was subsequently dismembered and the 
 head exhibited at his native city (Ho Chien-fu), a,nd many 
 scores of his adherents, especially those who had conspired 
 against the Empress, were put to death. 
 
 Throughout the troublous reign of the new Emperor 
 Ch'ung-chen (1627-1644) the Senior Empress lived on 
 tei'ms of happy intimacy and affection with him and with 
 his Consort, respected and beloved of the populace. In 
 1642, upon the marriage of the Heir Apparent, she took 
 up her residence, as custom prescribed, in the Palace of 
 Benevolent Old Age. 
 
 Her death was as meritorious as her life had been. In 
 1644, when Peking had fallen into the hands of the rebel 
 Li Tzu-ch'eng and the city was being ravaged and burned 
 by his troops, the Emperor sent her a message bidding her 
 commit suicide, but in the tumult and confusion the 
 messenger failed to reach her. When she heard that 
 Li Tzii-ch'eng was battering at the gates of the Forbidden 
 City, she called for a sword, but was unable to deal herself 
 a fatal blow, and her attendants endeavoured to dissuade 
 her from seeking death. Failing with the sword, she 
 hanged herself with her girdle, but was cut down by her 
 servants and urged to seek safety in flight. Angrily she 
 stamped her foot, saying : " You have disgraced me," 
 and ran to a side room, where again she tried to hang 
 herself, but some of Li Tzu-ch'eng's men arrived just in 
 
 82 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 time to cut her down. As she came to her senses the rebels 
 gathered around her, praising her beauty. One of them, 
 who seemed to be a leader, exclaimed : " We are now in 
 the Palace of the late Emperor's widow; this must be 
 she. Never have I seen so beautiful a face. Let no one 
 lay hands on her. She must await our Chief's orders." 
 But some declared that this was not the Goddess Chang 
 — that she had fled in disguise and escaped — whilst others 
 said she was dead. 
 
 The rebels were still disputing as to her identity, while 
 she sat silent, when some eunuchs entered with an elderly 
 woman who was Li's personal attendant and who had 
 been ordered by him to arrange the Palace concubines in 
 batches, according to their age and beauty, for his in- 
 spection. The eunuchs pointed out the Empress, saying : 
 " That is the Goddess Chang, wife of the late Emperor." 
 She was placed in the care of attendants, who tried to 
 console her. " Lady Chang, do not be afraid," they 
 said. " You are so beautiful that when our great Prince 
 inspects the concubines to-morrow he will surely choose 
 you for his Empress." 
 
 In her grief and despair, the Empress felt as if her 
 breast were being pierced by a myriad arrows, and she 
 was wondering how she could contrive to kill herself, when 
 a loud voice called out from the courtyard : " Where is 
 the Empress Dowager, Goddess Chang? " This was one 
 of the chief commanders of the rebels, named Li Yen. 
 Before Peking had fallen, some of the eunuchs had gone 
 over to the rebels, and had informed them of the where- 
 abouts of the most beautiful women, whom they divided 
 into three classes. 
 
 Li Tzu-ch'eng had promised thirty concubines to each 
 of his Generals, and a list of all the women in the Palace 
 had been placed in Li Yen's hands. Li Yen was a licen- 
 tiate of Honan Province who had joined the rebellion, a 
 fluent expounder of moral philosophy. Seeing that the 
 
 83 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Senior Empress's name was at the head of the Hst of 
 women, he sighed deeply and said : " How dare these 
 wretched eunuchs desecrate Her Majesty's name in this 
 way? She stands too high for such disgrace. I, who 
 come from her own province, must save her from this 
 outrage." 
 
 So he hurried into the Palace, and on finding her, bade 
 two handmaidens lead her to one of the Throne rooms, 
 where he assisted her to mount the dais. Li Yen then 
 dressed himself in Court robes and made obeisance before 
 her nine times. Placing her in the charge of attendants, 
 he hurried away to find Li Tzu-ch'eng. That same evening 
 she succeeded in killing herself. When they found her 
 body, she was attired in black silk with gold embroidery 
 and full sleeves ; her face was veiled with yellow crape and 
 her hair neatly dressed; she looked like a woman of 
 thirty. Those who saw the serenity of her face felt as if 
 some heavenly visitant hovered near them, so happy 
 was she in her death. 
 
 Li Yen buried her in the courtyard of her Palace and 
 did homage at her obsequies. Meanwhile, Li Tzu-ch'eng 
 had given orders that the late Emperor and his Consort 
 should be buried, but made no public announcement 
 concerning the death of the Senior Empress. It was 
 freely rumoured that she had been taken alive by one of 
 the rebels. On the same day the concubine Jen ^ sur- 
 rendered to Li Tzii-ch'eng, and to increase her own im- 
 portance told him that she was the Senior Empress, the 
 wife of Hsi Tsung. Li Tzu-ch'eng believed her, and later, 
 on his retreat before the Manchus, took her with him. 
 Thus it came to pass that in the Court of the fugitive 
 Mings at Nanking calumnious tongues insulted this noble 
 woman's memory, and it was noised abroad that she had 
 become the mistress of the rebel Chief. 
 
 There were still eunuchs and women at that Court who 
 ^ Vide supra, p. 67. 
 84 
 
CJ 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 had been of the faction of Wei Chung-hsien and who were 
 only too eager to besmirch her spotless reputation. The 
 new Ming Emperor, Prince Fu, was in the hands of evil 
 advisers and believed these cruel falsehoods, so that no 
 canonisation was conferred upon her until the following 
 year, when her death was undeniably confirmed. A 
 eunuch eye-witness of her death described it to the 
 Manchu Regent, Prince Jui, who gave orders that she 
 should be buried beside her husband, at his mausoleum 
 to the north of Peking. So came she to her honourable 
 rest. 
 
 After the dispersion of Li Tzii-ch'eng's force by the 
 Manchus, the Jen concubine, who had accumulated great 
 store of treasure from the Palace, moved to Wu T'ai 
 Mountain, west of Peking, and her abode became the 
 resort of many lawless characters. She still claimed to 
 be the Empress Consort of Hsi Tsung, and in that capacity 
 extorted money from the common people. Eventually 
 complaints were lodged at Court, and she was arrested 
 and brought to Peking. On her arrival there she declared 
 she was indeed the Empress, and some there were who 
 believed her. But the eunuchs of the Court had no 
 difficulty in proving her to be a base pretender. The 
 romantic chroniclers aver that she was compelled to try 
 on one of the Goddess Chang's tiny shoes, before which 
 test she failed ignominiously. Be this as it may, she was 
 allowed to commit suicide, and thereafter the memory of 
 " Precious Pearl," the illustrious and virtuous Empress, 
 has shone undimmed throughout the centuries. 
 
 85 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 LI TZtJ-CH'ENG'S REBELLION AND THE FALL 
 
 OF PEKING 
 
 The swift decline and pitiful end of the Ming dynasty 
 was primarily due to the corruption and incompetence 
 of its later Monarchs and to the licentiousness of their 
 Court, which gave high office and the direction of State 
 affairs to eunuchs. Its doom was plain- writ upon the 
 wall for many years before the great rebellion of Li Tzu- 
 ch'eng ended triumphantly in the Throne Hall of the 
 Forbidden City, because, as one historian has put it, 
 " the ruling house had ceased to display those moral 
 qualities without which no power will long be tolerated 
 by a people like the Chinese." 
 
 There had been serious uprisings in various parts of 
 the Empire — notably in Kueichou and Shantung — since 
 the beginning of the seventeenth century; in 1622 the 
 Dutch had appeared upon the scene, seizing the Pes- 
 cadores and adding new terrors to the life of Chinese 
 officials. In 1625, the rising power of Nurhachi and his 
 Manchu armies had been signalised by the establish- 
 ment of his capital at Moukden. But the position of the 
 dynasty only became desperate Avhen, in 1641, Li Tzu- 
 ch'eng's rebellion (which had been fitfully active for some 
 ten years) assumed formidable proportions and, sweeping 
 northwards, carried all before it. 
 
 Li Tzii-ch'eng himself stands out as a picturesque 
 
 86 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 figure against the lurid background of those days, a 
 great soldier and something of a politician. Cruel, with 
 all the ruthless ferocity of the Oriental, unscrupulous in 
 love and war, full of the lust of power and wealth, he 
 possessed, nevertheless, certain redeeming qualities — 
 courage, and a capacity for sudden impulses of gener- 
 osity. His most notable characteristic, common amongst 
 fighting men of humble origin who have risen to the 
 purple, was his belief in auguries, omens and portents. 
 Many of the most momentous decisions of his career were 
 the outcome of his superstitious beliefs and fears. 
 
 He was born in Shensi, about the year 1606. Historians 
 declare that in his early youth he had fore-knowledge of 
 his great destiny. One of them narrates the following 
 story. As a young man he was addicted to hunting and 
 hawking, and would wander far afield with congenial 
 spirits. One day, in the depth of winter, he found him- 
 self with two intimate friends in a remote country district. 
 As evening fell they sat under a tree to rest, and refreshed 
 themselves with deep draughts of wine. A dust storm 
 was raging. Suddenly Li turned to his friends and said : 
 " Listen ! If the Imperial Throne is destined to be mine, 
 a sign will be given us to-night in the shape of a heavy 
 snowstorm." With this, he planted an arrow in the 
 ground and added : "If Heaven is on my side let the 
 snow be level with the top of this arrow." His friends 
 replied : "If you become the Son of Heaven we are 
 your men till death." Soon after, the sky began to 
 darken and the wind fell. Snow began to fall gently, 
 and gradually increased, until by midnight the top of 
 the arrow could just be seen. Li and his friends, greatly 
 impressed, walked home through the snow, and from that 
 day his mind was fixed on the ambition to overturn the 
 Ming dynasty. He turned brigand, and after eleven years 
 of perilous adventures found himself at the head of a 
 large army. 
 
 87 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 To give another instance of the superstitions which 
 continually influenced this born leader of men : in an 
 engagement near the strategic pass at T'ung Kuan his 
 left eye was pierced by an arrow. An ancient prophecy 
 had predicted that the Empire would be conquered 
 by a one-eyed man, and Li was therefore greatly 
 elated at receiving this auspicious wound; indeed, the 
 incident, widely discussed, brought many ncAV followers 
 to his flag. 
 
 And again, after the fall of Peking in 1644, Li Tzii-ch'eng 
 entered the Forbidden City by the Southern, or Dynastic, 
 Gate. On arriving at the main entrance, the " Gate of 
 Heaven's Grace," as it was then called, he stopped and 
 aimed an arrow at the character signifying " heaven," 
 painted over the gateway, the conviction having suddenly 
 seized him that if his shot were successful in hitting the 
 mark, it would mean that Heaven approved of his 
 mounting the Throne. His arrow lodged just below the 
 character, and he and those with him took it for an 
 omen that he had been rejected by the Most High, and 
 that his victorious course was run. 
 
 In 1641 Li Tzii-ch'eng, victoriously advancing, laid 
 siege to Honan-fu. When his troops had completely 
 invested the city, Prince Fu, the Emperor's uncle, whose 
 fief was the province of Honan, summoned his generals 
 to a banquet at his Palace, and they arranged to raise a 
 force of a thousand volunteers, who would let themselves 
 down by ropes from the city wall and make a successful 
 night sortie. Dissolute and drunken as he was, the 
 favourite son of Wan Li made a brave defence, until Li 
 Tzu-ch'eng dehvered a surprise attack from the north, 
 and overpowering the guards, took the city by assault. 
 When all was confusion. Prince Fu had himself let down 
 from the city wall and escaped in disguise to a neigh- 
 bouring temple, but he was discovered and brought into 
 the presence of Li Tzu-ch'eng. As he entered the camp 
 
 88 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 he perceived the Commander of the city garrison in 
 chains, who called to him and said : " Prince, a man in 
 your exalted station has a duty to the State to fulfil; 
 he must die bravely. Let not Your Highness bend the 
 knee in submission to these dogs of rebels." Prince Fu 
 made no reply, but when led before Li Tzu-ch'eng, refused 
 to speak and was promptly dispatched. After killing 
 him, Li mixed a cupful of his blood in a dish of hashed 
 venison, and called it the " Red pottage of fortune and 
 blessing," this being a pun on the Prince's name, which 
 means " good fortune." He was ever a grim jester. 
 
 His chief associate and fellow-rebel, almost as famous 
 a guerrilla leader as Li himself, was Chang Hsien-chung, a 
 Shensi Mahomedan, also a grim jester in his way. While 
 Li was besieging Honan-fu, Chang possessed himself of 
 the rich city of Hsiang-Yang, in Hupei. He won it by 
 covering a hundred miles with a small force of cavalry 
 in twenty-four hours, and surprising the garrison, whose 
 scouts had reported the country free of rebels. Having 
 taken possession of the city and burned the Prefect's 
 yamen, he seized the person of Prince Hsiang, a cousin 
 of the Emperor, and over-lord of Hupei. He brought 
 him into the audience hall of his own Palace, and setting 
 a beaker of wine before him, said : " I have no grudge 
 against Your Highness, and you are a harmless person 
 enough, but I have a fierce longing to see the head of 
 General Yang separated from his body.^ But alas, Yang 
 is not available at the moment, being far from here; and 
 so I propose to make use of Your Highness's head instead. 
 For if I now remove it, the Emperor, wrath at the killing 
 of one of his own kinsmen, may see fit to order the death 
 of Yang, who should have been able to prevent this 
 abominable murder. Will Your Highness drink as much 
 of the wine as you can carry? " He then put him to 
 
 ^ Yang Ssu-ch'ang was the Ming Commander-in-chief in Hupei, 
 who had defeated Chang on more than one occasion. 
 
 89 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 death and burned the body. The same ruffian is alleged 
 by Chinese historians to have made a dish of a wife who 
 had ceased to please him, putting into practice the 
 proverb which says, " The favourite of to-day is served 
 up at to-morrow's banquet." 
 
 The news of the fall of Hsiang-Yang created dismay at 
 Court. As Chang had foreseen, the Censors, trembling 
 at the prospect of the approaching cataclysm, ordered 
 that General Yang be put to death for failing to stem 
 the rebellion, but he saved them the trouble by committing 
 suicide. 
 
 In the same year, 1641, Li Tzu-ch'eng laid siege to the 
 great city of K'ai Feng-f u in Honan ; but its garrison made 
 such a stout defence, and its fifty-feet wall was so im- 
 pervious to his mining and artillery, that he was obliged 
 to desist from the attempt. Early in 1643, having sub- 
 jugated all the surrounding country, he made a close 
 investment of the city, determined to take it at all costs. 
 The siege lasted until September, and the garrison, being 
 well supplied with food, showed no signs of yielding to 
 the rebels. When at last the city fell, it brought no rich 
 reward of booty to the conquerors, but only a harvest of 
 death. Enraged by its stubborn resistance, and fearing 
 the advance of a relieving force from Shensi, Li Tzii-ch'eng 
 determined to flood the city by cutting the banks of the 
 Yellow River. Curiously enough, the Commander of the 
 garrison had conceived a similar plan for flooding the 
 rebel camp, and had begun to sap the river's embank- 
 ment at a spot favourable for that purpose. Li Tzii- 
 ch'eng's spies warned him of the danger, upon which he 
 moved his camp to higher ground and made large provision 
 of boats and rafts for his army. Having done this, he 
 compelled the country people for miles around to cut away 
 the embankments at Nia Chia-k'ou. Over a hundred 
 thousand of these unfortunates perished when the river, 
 swollen by heavy rains, finally burst its banks, and so 
 
 90 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 fierce was the flood that ten thousand of the rebels were 
 drowned. It entered K'ai Feng-fu by the northern gate 
 and carried swift destruction throughout the city. Of a 
 population estimated at over a million, scarcely a tenth 
 escaped. The Governor and some of the higher officials 
 saved themselves in boats, and several Princes with their 
 wives and concubines took refuge in a tower on the wall, 
 where they nearly died of starvation before rescuing 
 parties reached them. When Li Tzii-ch'eng entered the 
 city in a boat, he found no opportunity for plunder or 
 reprisals. 
 
 From Honan, Li marched into Shensi, regaling his 
 troops Vvdth three days of looting and rapine at Hsi-an. 
 Here, clad in Imperial dragon robes, he reviewed his 
 forces, while the citizens knelt at his passing. Thence 
 he proceeded to his native place and offered sacrifice at 
 his ancestral tombs, which had been desecrated by the 
 Imperial authorities. On the first day of the new year 
 (1644) he assumed the Imperial title of Yung Ch'ang, as 
 the founder of the " Great Obedient " dynasty; he also 
 canonised his ancestors for four generations as Emperors 
 in the realms above. He would have taken this step at 
 a much earlier date had it not been that he had doubts 
 as to the possible rivalry of his old colleague and fellow- 
 rebel, Chang, who was believed to cherish schemes of 
 establishing a kingdom of his own. But Chang now sent 
 rich gifts to Li and a letter acknowledging him as Emperor. 
 So Li took heart of grace and proceeded to make for 
 himself a new nobility and a Court; he appointed six 
 ministries, with presidents and their staffs, and created 
 nine marquises, seventy-two earls, thirty viscounts and 
 fifty-five barons. At this time his army consisted of 
 600,000 cavalry and 400,000 infantry. He sent Imperial 
 mandates throughout the country denouncing the Ming 
 Emperor, in these terms : " His Majesty, the present 
 Emperor, cannot be called an utter fool. He stands 
 
 91 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 alone, but the oppression of his officials is like unto the 
 heat of a burning fiery furnace. His Ministers serve only 
 their own selfish ends and form conspiracies among them- 
 selves. Loyal men are few and far between. The prisons 
 are full of unfortunate captives, and the officials are devoid 
 of gratitude for favours received. The people are so 
 oppressed by their exactions, that in their misery they 
 abandon their homes." 
 
 New Year's Day 1644 in Peking dawned darkly under 
 a fierce dust-storm, and an earthquake occurred at Feng 
 Yang in Anhui, near to the birthplace of the founder of 
 the dynasty. The Court was in despair. The Grand 
 Secretary Li Chien-ta'i, a native of Shansi, who had made 
 an enormous fortune as owner of the well-known Ssii Tu- 
 heng banking-house (which still exists), came forward at 
 audience and proposed to place his wealth at the service 
 of the Throne and to lead an army in person against the 
 rebels in his native province. The news of Li Tzu-ch'eng's 
 assumption of the Imperial title had come as a great 
 shock to the Monarch, who sorrowfully remarked to Li 
 Chien-t'ai : " My conscience is clear. I have not deserved 
 to forfeit the mandate of Heaven; nevertheless, ruin 
 confronts me on all sides, and the Empire is slipping from 
 me. The inheritance which my ancestors won, after being 
 ' combed by the wind and bathed in the rain,' is rapidly 
 being lost. How can I bear to face them in the next 
 world? Gladly would I march to battle at the head of 
 my army and perish on the sandy plain. How can I 
 ever close my eyes in peaceful death while the Empire 
 is in a ferment? " At this the Monarch burst into tears. 
 Thereupon all the Grand Secretaries present asked to be 
 allowed to lead the army into battle in his place (a task 
 which they were no more fitted to undertake than the 
 Sovereign). The Emperor refused, whereupon Li Chien- 
 t'ai again kotowed and said : " I am ready to pay all the 
 expenses of the army and to march on the rebels." 
 
 92 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Ch'ung-chen thanked him warmly : " I myself shall see 
 you off on your journey, as ancient custom prescribes." 
 He bestowed upon him an Imperial sword and full powers 
 in the field. 
 
 After a few days of preparation, the Emperor repaired 
 to the Temple of Ancestors and informed the august shades 
 of his decision ; then he ascended to the top of the tower 
 at the Ch'ien Men facing the Palace. The troops made a 
 brave show, drawn up in line extending from the entrance 
 to the Forbidden City as far as the Temple of Heaven. 
 The whole Court was in attendance and the musicians 
 played martial airs. His Majesty gave a banquet after 
 the review, at which he presided, and passed the wine 
 round seven times. Thrice he pledged the health of Li 
 Chien-ta'i in a golden beaker, and handed to him a 
 patent inscribed : " Acting as Generalissimo on Our 
 Imperial behalf." 
 
 The troops then marched off, and the Emperor watched 
 them leave the city. A little way beyond the city gates 
 Li Chien-t'ai's sedan-chair pole broke, which was regarded 
 as an evil omen. The expedition was a dismal failure. 
 Long before it had reached Shansi the rebels had captured 
 Li's native city and had looted most of his family treasure. 
 Many of his troops died of starvation on the way. 
 
 Meanwhile, Li Tzii-ch'eng was marching northwards 
 through Shansi, had crossed the Yellow River without 
 opposition, and laid siege to T'ai Yuan-fu. The Governor 
 made a gallant resistance, but the city was betrayed to 
 the rebels by one of his staff. 
 
 Li Tzu-ch'eng entered Prince Chin's Palace and cap- 
 tured the wretched Prince (a descendant of Yung lo). 
 Him he slew, together with forty-six high officials. On 
 hearing the news, the Emperor issued a pitiful decree 
 deploring the calamities inflicted on his people by the 
 rebellion, as well as the inefficiency of his officials and 
 his own lack of virtue in governing. " In the watches 
 
 93 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of the night," he said, " I mourn over these things and 
 my self-abasement knows no hmit. From this time forth 
 I am determined to turn over a new leaf and to avert the 
 consequences of my errors. I mean to strengthen our 
 resources by employing able men in office, and by adher- 
 ence to time-honoured tradition to depart from evil. By 
 merciful forbearance I intend to win my subjects' love, 
 and by remitting unjust taxation to make good their lack 
 of funds. I command that lists be drawn up of all 
 worth}^ and honest men who in the past may have been 
 dismissed from office, so that they may be reinstated. 
 To any member of the local gentry who shall re-capture 
 a city from the rebels I will grant hereditary rank. To 
 all who return to their allegiance and repent them of 
 their sins I promise pardon and high rank ; while any one 
 who may capture the rebels Li Tzii-ch'eng and Chang 
 Hsien-chung will receive from me a marquisate and 
 corresponding official rank." 
 
 " The Devil was sick," but the time for issuing such 
 decrees was past; nothing could now save the doomed 
 dynasty. When a first detachment of rebels entered 
 Chihli and captured Ho Chien-fu the Court dispatched 
 the eunuch Tu Hsiin to the Chihli frontier at Hsiian-hua 
 to stop their advance from that side. This was a fatal 
 step, for Tu was a c6ward and a traitor. He had already 
 advised the Emperor to surrender, saying : " You had 
 better abdicate, you and I will have plenty to live upon 
 in retirement." With this powerful eunuch at the head 
 of military affairs, interfering in matters of which he was 
 profoundly ignorant, the situation was desperate, but 
 none dared to oppose him. 
 
 A Censor now advised him to send the Heir Apparent 
 to Nanking, and to place his other two sons, the Princes 
 Ting and Yung, in charge of the defence of Ning-kuo and 
 Tai-ping in Anhui, near the birthplace of the ancestors 
 of the dynasty. While perusing this memorial the 
 
 94 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Emperor walked nervously round the Palace grounds, 
 sighing and muttering to himself. He had made up his 
 mind to agree, when one of the Grand Secretaries told 
 him that the scheme was bruited abroad and was creating 
 a bad impression. The wretched Emperor again hesitated, 
 and finally said : "It is the duty of the Sovereign and 
 his family to die for the State. I shall order the Princes 
 to remain in Peking." Urgent messages were sent to 
 Wu San-kuei to defend Shan Hai-kuan and to dispatch 
 all the troops he could spare to the metropolis. 
 
 On arrival at Ning Wu-fu, a city of Shansi situated just 
 inside the Great Wall, Li Tzu-ch'eng sent forward a herald 
 to announce that all its inhabitants would be put to the 
 sword unless the city surrendered within five days. 
 General Chou Yii-chi, who had retreated hither from 
 Ping Yang, made use of cannon which had been cast 
 by the Jesuit priests, and did great execution amongst 
 the rebels. When his gunpowder was almost exhausted, 
 and the assault continued with undiminished vigour, his 
 men tried to persuade him to surrender. The old General 
 angrily replied : " Why such cowards ? If you win the 
 day you will gain great glory, as brave and loyal men. 
 When you find you can hold out no longer, all you have 
 to do is to bind me and hand me over to the rebels. You 
 can blame me for holding out so long." His troops were 
 ashamed and proceeded to lay an ambush for the rebels 
 by posting a few men at certain gates and then opening 
 them to the enemy. In marched the rebels, whereupon 
 the defenders closed the barriers at the end of certain 
 streets, caught them in a trap, and slaughtered them in 
 thousands. But Li Tzu-ch'eng continued to bombard 
 the city walls with cannon; as one portion collapsed, the 
 breach was hurriedly repaired by the defenders. Four 
 of Li Tzii-ch'eng's bravest lieutenants were slain, and Li 
 had almost made up his mind to retreat, when his aide- 
 de-camp protested, saying : " We outnumber them by a 
 
 95 
 
 ..L 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 hundred to one ; if we persist, in spite of our losses, victory 
 is certain. It would be so even if the odds were only ten 
 to one." 
 
 Li Tzu-ch'eng was only too willing, and urged his men 
 on. As one company was wiped out another pressed 
 forward to take its place. When the corpses were piled 
 ten feet high the garrison was exhausted and the city 
 fell. General Chou Yii-chi refused to yield; he directed 
 the street fighting until his horse was killed, whereupon 
 he rushed headlong among the rebels, killing several 
 before they captured him, pierced through and through 
 with arrows as numerous as the quills on the porcupine. 
 Still he resisted them, so Li Tzii-ch'eng had him tied to 
 a lofty beam and shot at with arrows until he died, after 
 which his corpse was decapitated. His wife and hand- 
 maidens fled to a small guard house on the Great Wall 
 and from there shot arrows at the rebels, who set fire to 
 the building. All of them perished in the flames. No 
 one in the city surrendered : all were put to death. 
 
 When Li appeared before the gates of Ta T'ung-fu, 
 General Chiang Hsiung and the treacherous eunuch 
 Commander-in-chief, Tu Hsiin, agreed to surrender, though 
 the Governor, Wei Ching-yuan, and his army had taken 
 a solemn oath, consecrated, in accordance with ancient 
 custom, by the blood of a sheep smeared on the lips, 
 that they would hold out to the death. When the rebels 
 arrived, Chiang Hsiung' s men, some of whom were posted 
 at each gate, treacherously surrendered the city. Governor 
 Wei on horseback rushed forward, but seeing that he had 
 been betrayed allowed himself to be taken. They led 
 him to Li Tzu-ch'eng, who offered him official rank. Wei 
 sat down instead of kneeling in his presence, and called 
 out : " May the Emperor live for ever ! " Then he wept. 
 Li praised his loyalty, saying : " I will never slay so brave 
 a man." Governor Wei then rose and dashed his head 
 against the stone balustrade. The blood poured forth, 
 
 96 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 and the rebels took him away. Meeting the traitor, 
 General Chiang, he reviled him, saying : " Accursed rebel, 
 you have violated the solemn oath which you took before 
 the Almighty; God will reward you according to your 
 crime." Then the rebels brought in his mother, who was 
 over eighty years of age, to induce him to yield. He said : 
 " Mother, you are very old and must do as you think 
 best. I, your son, am a Minister of State, and death is 
 the only way for me." His mother was led away, and 
 he said to the bystanders : " I will curse the rebels no 
 more, in the hope that they will spare my mother's life." 
 He hanged himself in a Buddhist shrine, and the rebels 
 praised his loyal courage. They provided shelter for his 
 wife and family and bade his mother join them. Then 
 they put to death all of the Imperial family who were in 
 the city. 
 
 When the news reached Peking, Li Chien-t'ai (who had 
 returned from his inglorious expedition) advised the 
 Emperor to flee to Nanking. Ch'ung Chen called his 
 Ministers to an audience on the Palace terrace, and after 
 telling them of this advice said : " The Sovereign must 
 die for the Altars of the Tutelary Deities; whither should 
 I flee?" 
 
 One of the most loyal and upright of his Ministers was 
 the Grand Secretary Chiang Te-ying. In the early stages 
 of the rebellion he had advised an active policy against 
 Li, and had remonstrated with the Emperor for taxing 
 the people so heavily to provide funds for a non-existent 
 army. 
 
 At the audience on the terrace, Chiang again advised 
 that the Heir Apparent should be sent to Nanking, and 
 recommended that a decree be issued, beginning as follows : 
 " Of late, evil-minded persons have been collecting unjust 
 taxes on the pretext of providing army fimds, so that 
 our subjects have been cruelly oppressed and the interests 
 of our State have been placed in jeopardy." When the 
 u 97 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Emperor heard this preamble, he became very angry and 
 said : " I have only raised these taxes in order to pay 
 my troops and not for my own benefit." Chiang replied : 
 " I am aware of this, Your Majesty, but the taxation is 
 very heavy, and I venture to ask you, is the proportionate 
 number of men and horses forthcoming? The Viceroy 
 of Chichou should have 45,000 troops; he has only 
 25,000. The Viceroy of Pao Ting-fu should have 30,000; 
 he has 2,000. And so it is with the garrisons around 
 the capital; the money has all been wasted and misap- 
 propriated." 
 
 The Emperor was very wrath, and accused Chiang of 
 conspiring against him, so the Minister tendered his 
 resignation. Ch'ung chen intended to punish him, but 
 he escaped when the city fell. Hoping against hope, the 
 Emperor now conferred an earldom on Wu San-kuei and 
 bade him hurry to the defence of the capital. The eunuch 
 Wang Ch'eng-en was made Commander-in-chief of Peking 
 and placed in charge of its defences. 
 
 The Governor of Hsiian-hua, Chu Chih-feng, an Imperial 
 clansman, had prepared to defend the city; but the 
 eunuch Tu Hsiin and General Wang Ch'eng-yiin sent him 
 word to surrender. Tu went in person to call on Chu 
 Chih-feng and advised him to submit, but Chu refused 
 to listen to him. When the rebels appeared, Tu Hsiin 
 donned his Court robes and dragon jacket and went out 
 to meet Li Tzu-ch'eng ten miles beyond the city. The 
 garrison dispersed, whereupon Chu mounted the city wall, 
 accompanied only by a few retainers. The rebels entered 
 the gates, which had been opened by the eunuchs. Li 
 had issued notices that no one was to be massacred, and 
 promised remission of taxation and corvees, so the people 
 were in high spirits. The streets were decked with bunting 
 and festooned arches had been erected to welcome the 
 conquerors. Incense was burnt as Li Tzii-ch'eng entered. 
 
 General Chu's servants endeavoured to persuade him 
 
 98 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 to seek a place of safety, but he upbraided them and 
 prostrated himself in the direction of Peking in obeisance 
 to the Emperor. Then he hastily wrote out a valedictory 
 memorial, in which he implored His Majesty to stimulate 
 his subjects to patriotism and loyalty; after which he 
 hanged himself on a beam. The rebels flung his corpse 
 into a ditch, but though the dogs devoured the other 
 dead bodies, they left his untouched. 
 
 Six days later Chii Yen-kuan was taken by the rebels, 
 and that long-guarded frontier was successfully passed. 
 Li Tzu-ch'eng had now entered the plain north of Peking, 
 and was only thirty miles from the capital. He proceeded 
 to the sacred enclosure containing the ancestral mausolea, 
 plundered their contents, and set many of the stately halls 
 on fire. His spies were all over Peking, and many mer- 
 chants and officials in his pay sent him daily word of the 
 Ming preparations. Some of his confidential agents were 
 actually serving on the Board of War, and every decision 
 of the Throne was at once communicated to him by 
 special courier. On the other hand, the spies sent out 
 by the Board of War were captured by Li's patrols and 
 none returned to Peking. Thus Li's advance guard 
 reached the central West Gate of the capital before his 
 approach was even suspected. 
 
 The Emperor summoned his Council; all were silent 
 and some wept. The bombardment began. Three regi- 
 ments which had been placed outside the gate fled at the 
 rebels' approach, only a few guards remained to man the 
 walls. Li Tzii-ch'eng moved to the Chang-yi Gate, about 
 a mile and a half further South, and established his 
 quarters just outside the enceinte. Here he was attended 
 by the eunuch traitor Tu Hsiin ; the latter shot a message 
 in a quill on to the city wall, where it was picked up by 
 the guard. It was a letter to the Emperor, stating that 
 the rebels must win, and advising His Majesty to commit 
 suicide. This was handed to Ch'ung Chen, who thereupon 
 
 99 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 issued a penitential decree and again decreed that all 
 extra taxation should cease forthwith. He then ordered 
 his son-in-law, Kung Yung-ku, to send a body of retainers 
 with the Heir Apparent to Nanking. Kung kotowed 
 and said : " It is the rule that relations of the Emperor 
 should keep no arms in their residence; alas ! I have 
 no retainers for the mission." The two men wept together. 
 
 The rebels scaled the wall of the Southern city with 
 ladders, and took possession of the quarter inside the 
 Chang-yi Gate. Other detachments bombarded the three 
 gates of the Tartar city. The guard fled, and the eunuchs 
 in command cravenly surrendered to the rebels. At this 
 critical moment the folly of trusting to these myrmidons 
 was fully proved, and the wisdom justified of the founder 
 of the dynasty who forbade that they should be allowed 
 to meddle in affairs of State. There were between three 
 and four thousand of them in the Forbidden City, osten- 
 sibly charged with the duty of defending it and the 
 Emperor, but of these one only, the eunuch Wang Ch'eng- 
 en, was faithful even unto death. The rest spent the last 
 days before the coming of the rebels either in rioting and 
 feasting or in burying their treasures and making ready 
 for flight. On the very day that Li Tzii-ch'eng captured 
 the first gate of the outer city, one of the Chief Eunuchs 
 was giving a theatrical entertainment at his residence 
 just outside the Ch'ien Men. As for the officials, the 
 loyal and the good were, for the most part, so indignant 
 at the eunuchs' supremacy in the counsels of the Emperor, 
 and so certain of disaster, that they prepared to perish 
 with the dynasty, as the Confucian traditions prescribe. 
 The licentious and ignoble continued their feastings as 
 before. 
 
 On the 4th day of the 3rd Moon, the Court of As- 
 tronomers had handed in a memorial, saying that the 
 Emperor's star was being displaced, and His Majesty 
 issued one of his futile decrees, calling upon his officials 
 
 100 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 to repent them of evil. Yet he took not the brave and 
 loyal into his favour and confidence, the men who later 
 died for him at the post of duty. The spirit of his degen- 
 erate Court was fittingly displayed in the words of a 
 couplet which some one wrote upon the Palace wall. "If 
 this dynasty's star has waned, let us hitch our fortunes 
 on to its successor." 
 
 The Emperor now realised that the position was hope- 
 less, and that it was too late to strengthen the city's 
 defences. On the 17th of the 3rd Moon, the rebels at- 
 tacked the North- West Gate. The Palace officials came 
 to report to His Majesty, who summoned all the Grand 
 Council to a secret audience at the Terrace Pavilion. 
 The Emperor asked the advice of Wu Tsao-te, who could 
 make no reply, but hung his head in forlorn silence. See- 
 ing them all helpless, the Emperor, in a rage, flung his 
 dragon chair to the ground and left the Pavilion. He 
 went from the Palace on to the Coal Hill. It was now 
 evening, and the smoke of the rebels' beacon fires was 
 visible on all sides of the city. For a long while the 
 wretched Monarch stood there, lamenting his peoples' 
 sufferings and his own. 
 
 Next morning, long before dawn, the rebels attacked the 
 Western Gate of the Southern city, and the eunuch Tsao, 
 who was in charge, surrendered it to the enemy. The 
 rebels poured in, speedily captured the Ch'ien Men, and 
 advanced upon the Forbidden City. 
 
 The Emperor ordered that the Heir Apparent and his 
 younger brother be removed to a place of safety. When 
 they came to take leave of their father they were dressed 
 in their usual Court attire. Sorrowfully the Emperor 
 regarded them : " How is it that at a time like this you 
 are arrayed in robes of luxury? " Then he commanded 
 a eunuch to bring two suits of old and shabby clothes, 
 and with his own hands assisted his sons to tie their 
 girdles. " To-day," said he to the elder, " you are Heir 
 
 101 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to the Throne; to-morrow you will be one of the people, 
 homeless, and a wanderer on the face of the earth. Reveal 
 not your names and dissemble as best you may. Address 
 your elders with respect as " good sir," and call strangers 
 " uncle " or " kind cousin." If, perchance, your lives 
 should be spared, remember in time to come to 
 avenge the wrongs which your parents have suffered. 
 Forget not these my words." He ended, and the lads 
 were led away. 
 
 He then commanded them to bring wine, of which he 
 drank a considerable quantity. Summoning his Empress 
 Consort (who was of the Chou family) and the concubines, 
 he addressed them, saying : " All is over. It is time for 
 you to die." The senior concubine, Lady Yiian, on 
 hearing these words, rose in terror from her knees and 
 tried to escape, but His Majesty pursued her with a 
 sword. Shouting : " You too must die," he wounded 
 her in the shoulder. She continued to run, but the 
 Emperor thrust at her a second time, whereat she fell, 
 weltering in blood. The Empress Consort fled to her 
 Palace of Feminine Tranquillity, and there hanged herself. 
 
 Next, the Emperor summoned the Princess Imperial 
 from the Palace of Peaceful Old Age. She was only just 
 fifteen years of age. Wildly he glared at her, saying : 
 " By what evil fortune were you born into our ill-starred 
 house ? " Seizing his sword, he hacked off her right 
 arm, and she sank dying to the floor. He then went to 
 the pavilion of Charity Made Manifest and there killed 
 his second daughter, the Princess of Feminine Propriety. 
 Finally, he sent eunuchs to greet in his name the Empress 
 Consort, and to the senior concubines of his late brother, 
 Hsi Tsung, strongly advising both to commit suicide.^ 
 Entering the Palace of Feminine Tranquillity, he saw his 
 Consort hanging dead from the rafters, whereat he cried 
 aloud : " Death is best, the only way for us all." 
 
 ^ Vide supra, p. 82. 
 102 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 It was now nearly 5 a.m. and the dawn was breaking. 
 The Emperor changed his apparel and removed his long 
 Imperial robe. The bell rang in the Palace for the 
 morning audience, but none attended. The Emperor 
 donned a short dragon- embroidered tunic and a robe of 
 purple and yellow, and his left foot was bare. Accom- 
 panied by the faithful eunuch Wang Ch'eng-en, he left 
 the Palace by the Gate of Divine Military Prowess, and 
 entered the Coal Hill enclosure. Gazing sorrowfully 
 upon the city, he wrote, on the lapel of his robe, a 
 valedictory decree : " I, feeble and of small virtue, have 
 offended against Heaven; the rebels have seized my 
 capital because my Ministers deceived me. Ashamed 
 to face my ancestors, I die. Removing my Imperial cap 
 and with my hair dishevelled about my face, I leave to 
 the rebels the dismemberment of my body. Let them 
 not harm my people ! " Then he strangled himself in 
 the pavilion known as the " Imperial Hat and Girdle 
 Department," and the faithful eunuch did likewise. ^ 
 
 Before the Emperor had committed suicide, most of 
 the concubines had fled from out the Palace. One of 
 them, the Lady Wei, on reaching the Imperial Canal, 
 cried out : " All who are not cowards will follow my 
 example," and jumped in. Some two hundred women 
 of the Palace committed suicide. A certain handmaiden, 
 named Fei, jumped into a disused well which was dry. 
 The rebels pulled her out, and seeing that she was fair 
 to look upon tried to take her. Haughtily she said : 
 " I am the Princess Imperial." Awed by her words they 
 desisted, and led her to Li Tzu-ch'eng. The latter ordered 
 the eunuchs to identify her. As they all said that she 
 was not the Princess, Li presented her to one of his 
 captains, named Lo. Fei had the whip hand of him 
 
 ^ The usual account that he hanged himself to a tree is certainly 
 incorrect, though until quite recently the chain which he is supposed 
 to have used was suspended there. 
 
 103 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 also, saying : " Really and truly I am of Imperial lineage, 
 and too high in rank to enter into an illegal or temporary 
 union with you. Your Excellency must espouse me in 
 lawful wedlock. I beg you to select an auspicious date 
 for the ceremony." Lo was only too delighted, and set 
 wine before her, of which he himself drank heartily. Fei 
 waited until he was completely intoxicated, then took a 
 stiletto and stabbed him fatally in the throat. As he 
 lay dying, she cried out : "I, a weak woman, have slain 
 a rebel leader. I am content." With that she cut her 
 throat, and when Li heard of the deed he ordered that 
 she should have honourable burial. 
 
 Meanwhile, Li Tzu-ch'eng had entered the Palace. By 
 his order two door panels were brought, and the Emperor's 
 body, with that of his attendant, was carried to a shop 
 inside the Tung-hua Gate. Here the remains were laid 
 for three days, after which eunuchs were ordered to 
 array the Emperor in Imperial robes and to dress his 
 hair, before laying him in his coffin. The people were 
 allowed to pay their respects, and many did so, but few 
 of the official class ventured to do obeisance to their old 
 master, for fear of attracting Li Tzii-ch'eng's suspicions. 
 In fact, many made a long detour on their way to the 
 Palace in order to avoid passing the coffin. 
 
 On the 3rd of the 4th Moon, the Emperor and his 
 Consort were temporarily buried in the grave of the T'ien 
 concubine, but only eunuchs and peasants witnessed the 
 burial. Later, when Li Tzu-ch'eng had been defeated 
 and the Manchus had entered Peking, their Regent, the 
 Prince Jui, ordered the building of an Imperial mausoleum 
 and prescribed three days of general mourning. But, for 
 the present, the last of the Ming Emperors went to his 
 eternal rest unhonoured. An account of the burial 
 ceremony was subsequently made to the Manchu Regent 
 by the minor official who carried it out under orders from 
 the rebel Prefect of Peking, as follows : 
 
 104 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 " On the 25th of the 3rd Moon ^ I received orders from 
 Li Hsi-chang, styHng himself Prefect of the city, that we 
 were to inter their late Majesties in the grave chamber 
 of the late concubine, the Lady T'ien, and that I was to 
 engage labourers to open up the passage leading thereto, 
 whose wages would be paid out of public funds. On the 
 1st day of the 4th Moon I therefore engaged thirty 
 bearers for the Imperial coffin and sixteen for that of 
 the Empress, and arranged for their conveyance to 
 Ch'ang P'ing-chou. The preliminary obsequies were 
 fixed for three days later, and the actual interment took 
 place on the 5th. The departmental treasury was quite 
 empty, and as the Secretary of Li Tzu-ch'eng's Board of 
 Ceremonies (responsible for the due performance of the 
 ceremony) refused to provide any funds, I was obliged 
 to collect subscriptions from charitable persons. Thanks 
 to the generosity of two worthies, I obtained the sum of 
 340 tiao.^ So I set to work to open up the grave-tunnel, 
 which was 135 feet long by 20 feet wide and 35 feet high. 
 We worked for three days and nights, and early on the 
 morning of the fourth day we came upon the stone gate 
 opening into a grave ante-chamber. The workmen were 
 obliged to force the lock before we could enter. Inside 
 we found a lofty hall containing sacrificial vessels and 
 many ornaments. In the centre was a stone vessel, 
 whereon stood enormous candles of walrus fat.^ 
 
 " Next, we opened the central tunnel gate, and found 
 ourselves within a much larger hall, in the centre of which 
 stood a stone couch 1 foot 5 inches high and 10 feet 
 broad. On it lay the coffin of the Lady T'ien, covered 
 with silk drapery. 
 
 *' At 3 p.m., the coffins of their Majesties arrived at the 
 entrance to the mausoleum, and were sheltered for the 
 
 ^ That is, seven days after the capture of Peking. 
 
 - At that time about £6. 
 
 2 The so-called " everlasting lamps." 
 
 105 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 night in a temporary mat-shed which I had erected. 
 We offered sacrifice of a bullock, gold and silver paper, 
 grain and fruits. At the head of the few officials present 
 I proceeded to pay homage to our departed Sovereign, 
 and we wept bitterly at the foot of the Imperial biers. 
 
 " Next day, the two coffins were borne through the tunnel 
 and into the grave chamber. We placed them on the 
 stone couch, from which we had first removed the coffin 
 of Lady T'ien. We then deposited the coffin of the 
 Empress on the left of the couch, the Lady T'ien's remains 
 were replaced on the right, and lastly, His Majesty's coffin 
 was lifted into the central place. The Lady T'ien's death 
 had occurred at a time of peace, and her coffin had con- 
 sequently been provided with the customary outer shell, 
 but there had been no means of preparing one in the 
 present case for His Majesty. So I had the shell of the 
 Lady T'ien's coffin removed and used to cover that of 
 the Emperor. 
 
 "The obsequies having ended, we refilled the tunnel, 
 banking up the earth so as to conceal the approach to 
 the door leading into the grave chamber. On the following 
 morning, the 6th, we offered libations of wine, and I had 
 a mound erected over the grave by the peasants from 
 neighbouring hamlets, besides building a clay wall five 
 feet high round th6 enclosure." 
 
 Thus passed the last Ming Sovereign from the Dragon 
 Throne. On the morning of his death (the 19th), just 
 before noon, Li Tzu-ch'eng, mounted on a piebald horse, 
 rode in through the Gate of Obedience to Heaven, attended 
 by his Grand Secretary, the rebel Niu Chin-hsing, and 
 Sung Ch'i-chiao, President of the Ministry of Civil Offices. 
 The Chief Eunuchs with a large following had met him 
 outside the city gate and escorted him into the Palace. 
 He took his seat on the Throne in the Hall of Imperial 
 Supremacy, and bade search be made for their Majesties, 
 the news of their death not having yet reached him. 
 
 106 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Some of the eunuchs brought forward the Heir Apparent 
 and his two brothers, the Princes Yung and Ting, who 
 had been found concealed with the family of the Lady 
 T'ien. Li announced that on the 21st he would hold a 
 Court reception, at which all the highest Ming officials 
 must attend; on the 20th he busied himself in super- 
 intending the provision of quarters for his troops. 
 
 At daybreak on the 21st, the Imperial Duke Chu 
 Shun-ch'en (in whom the late Emperor had placed his 
 trust) and the Grand Secretaries Wei Tsao-te and Ch'en 
 Yen led a melancholy procession of officials to the space 
 in front of the Throne Hall. All were wearing their 
 civilian clothes, not daring to don Court dress. Li 
 Tzu-ch'eng did not condescend even to notice their 
 congratulations. The rebels crowded round them and 
 jeered, some prodding them playfully in the back with 
 swords, while others made them kneel, and kicked them 
 in the neck or pulled off their hats. The wretched 
 officials dared not protest or resist, and tamely submitted 
 to these insults in silence. The Grand Secretary Ch'en 
 Yen then sought to curry favour by inviting Li Tzii-ch'eng 
 to ascend the Imperial Throne.^ 
 
 Li proceeded without delay to establish his authority 
 and reorganise the Government. He gave to the Heir 
 Apparent the title of Prince Sung, released all officials 
 who had been imprisoned by the Mings, and promulgated 
 a new official system. He changed the six Boards into 
 Ministries, altered the constitution of the Censorate, and 
 converted the Hanlin Academy into the " Institution of 
 Elegant Literature." The old name for a Governor of 
 Province was restored, and the division of the provincial 
 administration into prefectures, departments and coun- 
 ties was simplified. All the changes which he made 
 revealedjpractical wisdom. 
 
 ^ He had assumed the Imperial title at Hsi-an, but could not con- 
 sider himself Emperor de jure until he had been enthroned at Peking. 
 
 107 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Thereafter he condescended to receive the Ming officials. 
 Sitting with his face to the South, and attended by his two 
 Chief Lieutenants, he bade each advance in answer to the 
 roll call. He divided them into three classes; all the 
 lower officials gladly accepted their new ranks. In the 
 higher ranks, only Hou Hsiin was permitted to retain 
 his former position of Vice-president; all the rest were 
 degraded one or more steps. All alike knelt in anxious 
 expectation, eager to receive employment from their new 
 master. He was now to show them something of his 
 quality. 
 
 First, he promulgated a code of regulations ordering 
 that every family in Peking should board and lodge one 
 rebel. There was nothing said against looting and rape, 
 so that for the next few days the rebels indulged in a 
 carnival of slaughter, and thousands of the defenceless 
 citizens committed suicide. 
 
 Next, he appointed ninety-two of the renegade Ming 
 officials to serve under his henchman Sung Ch'i-chiao, in 
 the Ministry of Civil Offices. But scarcely had they 
 placed themselves at Sung's disposition than they were 
 compelled to give effect to a decree ordering the arrest 
 and imprisonment of eight hundred officials, including 
 members of the late Imperial family and many who had 
 tendered their submission. These unfortunate wretches 
 were sent in batches to the camp of Li's Commander-in- 
 chief, Liu Tsung-min, to undergo torture by the squeezing 
 board and to be severely beaten, until they disclosed the 
 hiding-places of their wealth. One of the proscribed, a 
 libationer of the Confucian Academy, was lying on a bed 
 of sickness, but he was bound in chains and beaten till 
 he died. The squeezing apparatus was then applied to 
 his wife until her fingers were broken. She confessed 
 where their money had been buried; 7000 taels were dug 
 up and handed to Li Tzii-ch'eng. He was much impressed 
 by the largeness of the amount and exclaimed : " Fancy 
 
 108 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 a humble literary man being so well-to-do ! " The 
 result of the torturing in this case caused him to issue 
 a decree ordering that all these officials should be 
 tortured. The ransoms, which he extracted from the 
 proscribed, were fixed at Tls. 100,000 for a Grand Secre- 
 tary; Tls. 70,000 for high officers of the Household; 
 Tls. 50,000 from Supervising Censors; Tls. 20,000 for 
 Hanlin Doctors, and so on down the scale to the lowest 
 mandarins. Members of the Imperial family were 
 squeezed of the uttermost farthing and then put to death. 
 
 But not all the Ministers and courtiers of the wretched 
 Ch'ung-Chen were cowards and renegades ; helpless though 
 they were to serve or to save him, there were many 
 officials and scholars, even in those degenerate times, 
 who loyally upheld the stoic tradition of the Confucian 
 philosophy, and preferred death to dishonour. Many 
 instances might be cited of their splendid courage and 
 dignity in misfortune, but we must content ourselves 
 with selecting two or three of those which chiefly appeal 
 to the admiration of their countrymen.^ 
 
 On hearing of the death of the Emperor, the Board 
 President Yi Yuan-lu, a native of Chekiang, hastened to 
 the Palace in full Court dress and wrote on a desk the 
 following : " The capital should be removed to Nanking; 
 my duty is to die. Do not wrap me in grave clothes; 
 let my corpse be exposed. Those who understand will 
 pity." Then, sitting with his face to the South, he strangled 
 himself with his girdle. Thirteen members of his family 
 committed suicide on that day. 
 
 The President of the Censorate, Li Pang-hua, ascended 
 the city wall with some other Censors, but the eunuchs 
 
 ^ It is interesting to reflect that the Japanese samurai's hara-kiri, 
 with all its noble traditions of chivalry, loyalty, high courage, and 
 solemn ceremonial, owes its origin to the canons of the Chinese Sages, 
 in whose philosophy lies the very soul of the East, and which can still 
 inspire moral heroism in a race generally unwarlike and devoid of 
 loyalty. 
 
 109 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 drove them back. Hearing that the outer city had 
 fallen he repaired to the shrine of the Patriots of the 
 Dynasty, and when the rebels had entered the inner city 
 he bowed before the tablets of those enshrined in the 
 temple, saying : " In the hour of my country's disaster 
 I here commit suicide, asking permission to attend to 
 you, worthy gentlemen, at the Nine Springs." Then he 
 wrote out some valedictory verses and hanged himself. 
 
 Ling Yi-ch'ii, a Director of the Court of Revision, 
 hearing that the Emperor was dead, burst into loud 
 lamentation and dashed his head against a pillar. The 
 blood poured from his wounded face, and a disciple 
 came to urge him that his duty was to live. Ling reproved 
 the young man : " You ought to give me the kind of 
 advice that an honest man might follow. How can you 
 wish me to prolong existence? " He motioned to him 
 to depart ; then, gathering round him his favourite books, 
 he burnt them all, saying : '^ You at least shall not 
 be defiled by the rebels." He dressed himself in his 
 Court robes, put on his badge of office, wrote a last letter 
 to his father, and committed suicide. 
 
 The Director of the Court of Sacrificial Worship, Wu 
 Len-cheng, was on duty at the Hsi-chih Gate; a party 
 of rebels advanced and sought admittance, pretending 
 that they were loyal troops. The eunuch commander 
 was for opening the gate, but Wu refused to allow it. 
 He barricaded the enceinte with stones and earth, and 
 at night descended from the wail with a party of volun- 
 teers, dealing destruction in the rebel ranks. When the 
 city fell he entered a shrine and wrote to his family, 
 bidding them use a common black cloth to cover his 
 remains, and hanged himself. Wu had always advised 
 the Emperor to recall Wu San-kuei from Ning Yiian, 
 as the danger from the rebels was more pressing than 
 from the Manchus. When too late, Ch'ung Chen regretted 
 that he had not followed this good advice. 
 
 110 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 The Censor, Ch'en Liang-mi, a Ningpo man, was 
 childless, but a concubine whom he had bought only 
 six months before was enceinte. He called her to him 
 and said : " I am about to die, but you will soon give 
 birth to a child; get you to your parents' house." The 
 concubine, weeping, made answer : "If you mean to die, 
 is it not my bounden duty to join you in death? At a 
 time like this it were better that my child should not be 
 born." Her husband rejoined : " Must it be so? " The 
 concubine, aged eighteen, then hanged herself, and he 
 followed her. 
 
 The Marquis Liu Wen-ping, a nephew of the Empress 
 Dowager, had had a last audience of the Emperor on the 
 evening of the 11th day of the 4th Moon, and he promised 
 the Emperor that he would die. On leaving the Presence, 
 he went with a party of retainers to the Hata Gate and 
 slew several rebels. Thence he returned home and found 
 that his mother, wife and sisters were already dead. They 
 had hanged themselves after setting fire to the house; 
 the fire was still raging, so that he could not enter the 
 chamber. His uncle, second in command at the Palace, 
 returned at this moment from his duties there, and met 
 Liu Wen-ping in his garden. He proposed that both 
 should throw themselves down the well, but his nephew 
 stopped him, saying : " It is not respectful to the Emperor, 
 whom you will shortly meet in Hades, that you should 
 wear a military uniform. Put on your civilian dress." 
 His uncle did so, and then, shouting : " Long live His 
 Majesty," they died together. 
 
 Wu Su, President of the Board of Ceremonies, was a 
 renegade. He accepted office under the rebels, and bade 
 his old servant prepare robes of ceremony that he might 
 proceed to pay his congratulations to Li Tzu-ch'eng. 
 The man replied : " The Son of Heaven is dead, and 
 instead of hurrying to do obeisance before his bier you 
 would actually kneel before the usurper ! Death is a 
 
 111 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 small thing, but loss of honour is a great thing. Please, 
 sir, reconsider this matter." With these words he kotowed 
 until blood flowed from his temples. Wu Su angrily bade 
 him begone; but again the old servant answered and 
 said : " Your Excellency hankers now after wealth and 
 position. You may disregard my words to-day, but the 
 time is at hand when you will regret it. This rebel Li 
 Tzii-ch'eng is treacherous and greedy. Your conduct 
 will displease Heaven, and you will be reviled of men. 
 Surely you have not long to live. As for me, I cannot 
 bear to see one whom I have served all these years 
 losing both life and reputation." So he killed himself; 
 and his words came true, for Li made Wu Su hand over 
 all his treasure, which was very large, and then had him 
 beheaded. 
 
 To return to Li Tzuch'eng, now undisputed ruler of 
 Peking. On the 28th day of the 3rd Moon the President 
 of the Ministry of Rites issued a circular notice, calling 
 on all the officials and elders of the people to memoralise 
 Li Tzii-ch'eng and invite him formally to ascend the 
 Imperial Throne. This was done, and Li, graciously 
 assenting, decreed that an auspicious day be appointed for 
 the great ceremony. He intended that the occasion should 
 be celebrated with all possible pomp and circumstance. 
 
 But the auguries of evil were not to be gainsaid; the 
 rebel Emperor's star had begun to decline from the 
 moment he assumed the Imperial title at Peking. The 
 magnificent ceremonies which he had planned for his 
 formal installation on the Dragon Throne were never to 
 take place, and in a little while he, the pursuer and 
 plunderer, was to be pursued and plundered. 
 
 It will be remembered that a few days before the fall 
 of Peking the Emperor had sent an urgent summons to 
 General Wu San-kuei (who was then holding Ning Yiian, 
 the last of the Ming strongholds, against the Manchus), 
 bidding him come with all speed to Peking. Wu San- 
 
 112 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 kuei started at once, but he had scarcely got beyond the 
 Great Wall when word was brought to him of the fall of 
 Peking and the death of the Emperor. His army of 
 seasoned veterans was evidently a weighty factor in the 
 situation, especially as his evacuation of Ning Yuan had 
 left the road open for the Manchus to march upon Peking. 
 Wu San-kuei's father, General Wu Hsiang, had gone over 
 to the rebels, and for his own safety's sake was most 
 anxious that his son should tender his allegiance to Li 
 Tzu-ch'eng. Wu San-kuei would undoubtedly have done 
 so but for the matter of a certain singing-girl, which 
 will be dealt with hereafter. For the present, suffice it 
 to say that Li's overtures to him proved fruitless. He 
 halted his army at Feng-Yiin, near the Great Wall, and 
 while keeping up pourparlers with Li, began negotiations 
 with Prince Jui (Dorgun), suggesting a combination of 
 forces against the rebel Emperor. 
 
 On the 29th of the 3rd Moon, eleven days after the 
 fall of Peking, Li Tzu-ch'eng, fully aware that, with the 
 Manchus behind him, Wu San-kuei would be a formidable 
 foe, sent him a present of Tls. 40,000 for his troops, and 
 addressed to him the following somewhat tactless letter : 
 
 " You have been indeed favoured by fortune in rising to 
 so high a position, since you have never rendered any 
 pre-eminent military service to your Sovereign. But as 
 the country was threatened by powerful enemies, the 
 only way to keep you from going over to the other side 
 was to shower rewards upon you. The principle is a 
 sound one, and was originally enunciated by the philo- 
 sopher Kuan Tzii as a reason for bestowing honours on 
 doubtful loyalty ; it was also exemplified by the founder 
 of the Han dynasty, in his employment of Han Hsin. 
 
 " At present you have a large army under you, but it 
 
 has only a spectacular value. If my troops swoop down 
 
 upon you, you have neither the will to repel their onset 
 
 nor the available force to defeat them. This is your last 
 
 I 113 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 opportunity to join me. Your Emperor is dead and may 
 soon be followed to the grave by your own sire. My 
 advice, therefore, to you, if you wish to combine loyalty 
 with filial duty, is to surrender to me and gain the honours 
 which I promise you. If, however, you persist in over- 
 weening self-confidence, your army is not strong enough 
 for victory, and will be destroyed in a single morning. 
 Your innocent father will be decapitated, and you will 
 have lost both Sovereign and father. The proverb says : 
 ' It's only the father who knows his own son.' A pressing 
 message." 
 
 To this Wu, still temporising and with an eye to the 
 future, replied by requesting that Li Tzii-ch'eng should 
 send him the Heir Apparent, the son of the late Ming Em- 
 peror. Instead of so doing, Li sent two renegade Ming 
 Generals with a force of 20,000 men to attack him; but 
 Wu, too wise to waste his forces in this way, beat a 
 hurried retreat, and laid siege to the stronghold of Shan 
 Hai-kuan, then held by a rebel garrison of 8,000 men. 
 He took the city after a fierce assault, whereupon Li Tzu- 
 ch'eng, realising that his Throne could never be secure with 
 this enemy on his borders, left Peking with a force of over 
 100,000 men to attack him. How Wu San-kuei, aided by 
 the Manchus, defeated Li, will be told in a later chapter. 
 
 After his defeat, Li Tzii-ch'eng entered into a treaty 
 of alliance with Wu San-kuei for the division of the 
 Empire, and handed over to him the person of the Heir 
 Apparent. By this Treaty, Li was to be Emperor and 
 ruler of Shansi, Shensi and all to the West of those provinces. 
 He then hastened back with the remnant of his army to 
 Peking. He re-entered the capital on the 26th day of 
 the 4th Moon, and two days later solemnly assumed the 
 Imperial title in the Wu Yung Palace Hall. He pro- 
 claimed his Consort Kao as Empress, and conferred upon 
 his ancestors for seven generations the posthumous title 
 of Emperor. The ceremony of his enthronement was 
 
 114 
 
 i 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 shorn of the magnificence which he had intended; the 
 gold Imperial seal was not ready and the coinage bearing 
 his reign title had not been struck. Nevertheless, he had 
 his hour of triumph — he wore the Dragon robe, and the 
 whole Court made obeisance before him, while his accession 
 was reverently announced at the altars of the Temples 
 of Heaven and Earth. The chroniclers aver that, while 
 he was receiving the congratulations of the Court, the 
 dragon woven on the carpet of the Imperial dais " seemed 
 to glare at him angrily." No doubt but that Li himself 
 felt that the auguries were unfavourable. Having been 
 acclaimed Emperor and left his name on that high roll 
 of fame, he returned, with undiminished vigour, to the 
 congenial role of plunderer. No sooner were the cere- 
 monies at an end, than he set fire to the main halls of 
 the Palace and to the towers on the city wall. Then he 
 took all the gold vessels of the Palace and melted them 
 down into flat " cakes," each weighing about a thousand 
 ounces, suitable for transport. He loaded some ten 
 thousand of these " cakes " on to his transport mules, 
 and prepared to take the long trail towards his new 
 Empire in the South. 
 
 Before leaving, however, he proceeded to administer 
 retributive justice to the Palace eunuchs, to the traitors 
 who had betrayed their Sovereign and the Empire to 
 save their purses and their skins. Collecting them all 
 together, he first compelled them to give up all their pearls 
 and valuables; they were then driven out of the Palace 
 with cudgels. Not one was spared; even the eunuch Tu 
 Hsiin, who had advised the surrender of the city, reaped 
 the just reward of his treachery, and was forced to dis- 
 gorge all his ill-gotten gains. After having been stripped 
 of all portable valuables, they were led outside the Gate 
 of Perpetual Peace and bidden to disclose where their 
 other treasure was hidden. Those who refused either 
 had their legs cut off below the knee or underwent the 
 
 115 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 roasting torture. In some cases those who had given 
 up all their worldly goods were made to endure the 
 finger- squeezing torture, and after that were beheaded. 
 
 The Earl Li Kuo-chen, who had been amongst the first 
 to surrender, had not handed over enough plunder to 
 satisfy Li Tzu-ch'eng, so he was tortured until both his 
 ankles were broken, after which he was allowed to hang 
 himself. His wife was stripped stark naked by the 
 rebels and placed on a horse, amidst much ribaldry. 
 The Grand Secretary Chen Yen had also surrendered, and 
 had made his peace by paying a toll of Tls. 40,000, but 
 Li thought he might possibly give trouble later on, so 
 put him to death before leaving Peking, as well as Lo 
 Yang-tsing, a Minister of the Household who had paid 
 Tls. 30,000. 
 
 With the subsequent fortunes of Li Tzu-ch'eng, Emperor 
 of a day, we are not here concerned ; they are recorded in 
 many volumes of history. But the time and manner of his 
 death are still invested with the romantic quality which 
 distinguished his eventful life. According to the official 
 Manchu historians, he met an ignoble end at the hands 
 of peasants at T'ung Ch'eng in Hupei, but this story 
 would seem to have originated in the natural desire of 
 the country's new rulers to have it believed that he was 
 dead, if only because, so long as he remained alive, he 
 must continue to be a cause of unrest. It is recorded that 
 a corpse, supposed to be his, was officially exhumed and de- 
 capitated, but the truth seems to be that, after the fitful 
 fever of his adventurous career, he ended his days in 
 peaceful seclusion, not without dignity, as a Buddhist 
 priest. There are, at least, good grounds for this belief. 
 After the capture of Wu ch'ang by the Manchus (1646), 
 which Li had held against them for some time, he appears 
 to have fled into Hunan, accompanied by a remnant of 
 about thirty followers, and sought refuge at a place called 
 Ching Hua. Thence he retreated to Buffalo Mountain 
 
 116 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 in the An fu district, and there, bidding his retinue leave 
 him, he proceeded alone to Mount Chia. Near the town 
 of Shih men (Stony Gate) he found a temple, in which 
 he took refuge, shaving his head and donning the robes 
 of a priest. In the priests' burial ground of that temple 
 there still stands the dagoba in which Li is said to be 
 buried. Its inscription runs : " The Buddhist priest 
 whose religious designation was the ' Jewel ^ of Heaven's 
 Grace.' " In front of the tomb is a tablet, on which is 
 written : " None can tell the family name or origin of 
 the priest who lies buried here." When Li first became a 
 rebel he had styled himself, " By Heaven's grace leader 
 of righteousness and supreme commander." Subsequently 
 he assumed the title, " Emperor of the Great Obedient 
 Dynasty." 
 
 In the reign of K'ang Hsi (about 1695) an old priest 
 of this temple told a scholar of Ch'angsha that he remem- 
 bered Li's arrival in 1646; he had refused to say from 
 whence he came, but his accent was that of a Shensi 
 man. He seemed to be well read in the Buddhist Works 
 on Ecclesiastical Discipline. Some years later he was 
 joined by another priest, named Yeh Fu, who had formerly 
 been his disciple, and who attended him with the greatest 
 devotion for the rest of his life. He died in the Chia Yin 
 year of K'ang Hsi (1674), when about seventy years of 
 age, after delivering a valedictory message to his disciple 
 Yeh Fu, in which he described himself as an Emperor 
 who had renounced the pomps and vanities of this world. 
 His picture was preserved in the temple, and the priest 
 who told the storj?- produced it for the scholar's inspection. 
 There could be no doubt that it was the portrait of Li 
 Tzu-ch'eng : apart from the loss of one eye, his high 
 forehead and sunken jaw were unmistakable. His re- 
 maining eye was large and lustrous (so that he was often 
 called " Owl-eyed "), and his nose was strongly aquiline. 
 1 In reference to the Imperial patrimony. 
 117 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 WU SAN-KUEI 
 
 Chinese historians, as a rule, are given to describing 
 the characters and deeds of their great men with a some- 
 what crude and uncompromising finahty; they are either 
 good or bad, strong or weak, and every succeeding genera- 
 tion of scholars accepts and confirms verdicts which were 
 often rendered in the first instance upon insufficient 
 or false evidence. Classical Chinese history, on the 
 whole, is strangely indifferent to the changing moods and 
 motives of men; it contents itself with recording results, 
 painting the picture of the past without the light and 
 shade of humanity's mutable purposes and irresponsible 
 impulses. And Chinese historians, being generally scholars 
 anxious for official employment or preferment, are wont 
 to describe men and events in a manner conforming either 
 to constituted authority and the political opinions of 
 the day or to their own preconceived prejudices. 
 
 Thus it is, no doubt, that Wu San-kuei, the Chinese 
 General who first broke the power of Li Tzu-ch'eng, and 
 finally drove him back, repeatedly defeated, beyond the 
 Yangtsze, stands in history to-day as a great soldier, a 
 statesman and a scholar. Great soldier he certainly 
 was : for several years his military genius had held in 
 check the Manchus, and his brilliant defence of Ning 
 Yiian had earned for him the admiration of those good 
 fighting men. But of his principles and patriotism, the 
 less said the better. 
 
 118 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 After the fall of Peking and the death of the Emperor 
 his army,^ standing between the forces of the rebel 
 Monarch and those of the Manchu invaders, was in a 
 position to command the situation and to determine the 
 destinies of China, in so far as these depended upon the 
 occupancy of the Throne. It is certain that if he had 
 obeyed his father's wishes and given his adherence to 
 Li Tzii-ch'eng, the Manchus would not have been able to 
 establish their rule upon the ruins of the Ming dynasty. 
 If Wu had observed the terms of the treaty of alliance 
 against the Manchus, which Li Tzii-ch'eng made with 
 him after the latter's first great defeat near Shan Hai- 
 kuan, the Mings might have continued to rule at Peking. 
 His final decision, to throw in his lot with the Manchus 
 against the rebels and violate his avowed allegiance to 
 the Ming Heir Apparent, was due, not to love of his 
 country, but to his passion for a certain singing-girl, of 
 whom, after the fall of Peking, Li Tzii-ch'eng had deprived 
 him. 
 
 The following facts of Wu San-kuei's career at this 
 juncture, critical in determining the subsequent history 
 of China, are taken from a diary written at Peking by 
 one of the Palace eunuchs named Wang Yung-chang, 
 who was an eye-witness of the fall of Peking and a close 
 observer of subsequent events. In this diary are tran- 
 scribed several letters written by Wu San-kuei to his 
 father. General Wu Hsiang, who had sworn allegiance to 
 the usurping Emperor. They prove beyond all doubt that 
 Wu San-kuei's policy was originally influenced by personal 
 ambition, for he was quite ready to serve under either 
 banner; but that, at the critical moment, his actions 
 were determined solely by his desire to regain possession 
 of his favourite concubine. The Manchus owed their 
 dynasty, under Heaven, to the little singing-girl known 
 
 ^ The Manchu records state that Wu San-kuei's army at Ning-Yiian 
 consisted of 130,000 infantry and 40,000 cavahy. 
 
 119 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to contemporary chroniclers as Lady Ch'en, the Round- 
 faced Beauty.^ 
 
 Four days after the fall of Peking, that is to say on 
 the 22nd of the 3rd Moon (1644), Wu San-kuei wrote from 
 his camp at Feng-Yiin to his father in the Palace a letter 
 which the latter handed over to Li Tzu-ch'eng. In it he 
 said : " It is rumoured here that Peking has fallen, but of 
 this we have no definite news. No doubt the city is being 
 besieged. If you can manage to escape, do not bring much 
 money with you, but bury your treasure as best you can. 
 Please tell my favourite mistress, the Lady Ch'en, that 
 I am in good health, and bid her keep up her courage." 
 
 Another letter followed, saying : " I have now received 
 definite news of the fall of Peking, and propose to move 
 with my forces to a position outside Shan Hai-kuan. 
 If you cannot possibly escape from Peking, try to send 
 me a line by special courier. If all our women have been 
 seized by Li Tzii-ch'eng you will be acting wisely in 
 surrendering to him. I am most anxious about the 
 Lady Ch'en." 
 
 A third letter is dated the 25th day of the 3rd Moon : 
 " I have your letter of the 20th and note that you have 
 surrendered to the new Emperor (Li Tzii-ch'eng). Under 
 the circumstances, it was the only thing to do, so as to 
 save our women frcrm the hands of the rebels. The truly 
 great man will always frame his actions with careful 
 regard for the exigencies of the moment, and trim his 
 sail to the favouring breeze. But your letter goes on 
 to say that the Lady Ch'en has left Peking on horseback 
 on her way to my camp. I have seen and heard nothing 
 of her. Oh, father ! how could you thus recklessly allow 
 a delicate girl of her age to start out on so perilous an 
 adventure ? I had moved my troops to Shan Hai-kuan, 
 
 ^ This romantic personage had originally been a slave-girl in the 
 household of Earl Chou K'uei. Wu San-kuei met her there at a wine- 
 party, and loved her at first sight. 
 
 120 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 and was seriously thinking of submitting to Li Tzii-ch'eng. 
 But this news has greatly upset me." 
 
 A fourth letter is dated the 27th day of the 3rd Moon : 
 " Yesterday I heard definitely that the rebel General 
 Liu Tsung-min has seized the Lady Ch'en. Woe is me ! 
 I shall never see her again in this life. I could never 
 have believed that you, father, would have been guilty 
 of such folly. Yesterday I bombarded Shan Hai-kuan 
 and caught the rebels unawares. I had planned to make 
 use of some of the Manchu forces and to march straight 
 on Peking, but hesitated to do so because of the possible 
 consequences to the Lady Ch'en. If she is back again in 
 Peking, and the rebels ascertain that she is my concubine, 
 they will probably spare her life, hoping thereby to induce 
 me to surrender. But if once I move my troops they 
 will certainly kill her. Hence, I send you this by special 
 courier, in order that I may learn how matters stand." 
 
 The fifth, and last, letter reads : " I have your letter, 
 in which you tell me that the Lady Ch'en has been 
 appointed a concubine in the Palace, and am glad to 
 hear that she is being kindly treated. But you write as 
 if you were not very positive of your facts; who is your 
 informant? You also say that the Ming Heir Apparent, 
 son of the late Emperor, is in the Palace; have you seen 
 him or not ? Now that you have submitted to the Shun 
 dynasty ^ you should memorialise the new Emperor in 
 audience and tell him what I say. All I ask is that he 
 hand over to me the Heir Apparent and Lady Ch'en. 
 Let him do this and I will loyally submit to his dynasty 
 at once." 
 
 This correspondence proves the absurdity of the gene- 
 rally accepted version of the story, which describes Wu's 
 loyal indignation at Li Tzii-ch'eng's capture of Peking 
 as " making his hair to stand on end, so that his hat was 
 lifted from his head." 
 
 1 The title chosen by Li Tzu-ch'eng for his new hne. 
 
 121 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 In demanding the person of the Heir Apparent, Wu 
 San-kuei's first intention, as subsequent events proved, 
 was to proclaim him Emperor — a puppet Monarch — 
 for his own purposes. He went so far as to adopt for him 
 a reign title, and dated his official proclamations and 
 despatches " the first year of Yi-Hsing," or " Manifesta- 
 tion of Righteousness." But he abandoned the plan 
 when, to his intense wrath, he heard that his concubine, 
 the " Round-faced Beauty," had been given to the 
 Heir Apparent. This all-important fact is not 
 mentioned either in the official records or in private 
 memoirs, but the statements in Wang Yung-chang's 
 diary, the account of an eye-witness, are fully confirmed 
 by circumstantial evidence, and fit in with all the other 
 known facts of the situation. They may, therefore, be 
 accepted as true. Witness the following extract : " On 
 the day after the fall of Peking the rebels discovered 
 the Heir Apparent concealed in the house of the father 
 of T'ien, the Imperial Concubine. He and his brother. 
 Prince Ting, were handed over to the rebel Emperor, 
 who conferred upon the Heir Apparent the title of Prince 
 Sung and on his brother that of " Duke of Peaceful 
 Abode." On the 6th of the 4th Moon, Li Tzu-ch'eng, 
 in truculent mood, wrote to Wu San-kuei as follows : 
 " The Heir Apparent is safely ensconced in the Palace, 
 so you may abandon all hope of using him for the further- 
 ance of your schemes. We have given him a princedom, 
 and WE have made over to him your wife and women 
 for him to dally with as he pleases." 
 
 Three days later, Li Tzii-ch'eng issued a decree proclaim- 
 ing a punitive expedition against Wu San-kuei; he left 
 Peking on the 12th of the 4th Moon with an advance 
 force of over 100,000 men. In his suite were the Heir 
 Apparent, his brother, three other Ming Princes, Wu 
 San-kuei's wife and two sisters, and a number of Palace 
 concubines, amongst whom was the " Round-faced 
 
 122 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Beauty." A fortnight later the armies met at a spot 
 known as the " Stony Valley." Li was utterly defeated, 
 and fled into Shan Hai-kuan. Thence, hoping to come to 
 terms with Wu San-kuei, he sent to his camp the Heir 
 Apparent and the " Round-faced Beauty." Wu, still 
 uncertain as to the future, and wavering in his allegiance 
 to the Mings, agreed next day with Li Tzii-ch'eng, and 
 signed with him an offensive and defensive alliance against 
 the Manchus. It read : " The Emperor Yi-Hsing,^ of 
 the great Ming dynasty, hereby deputes Wu San-kuei, 
 his Regent and Grand Secretary, Prince Pacificator of 
 the West, and the General commanding. Earl Tang 
 T'ung; and the Emperor Yung ch'ang,^ of the Great 
 Obedient Dynasty, deputes the President of his War 
 Department, Wang Tse-yao, acting with Chang Jo-ch'i, to 
 enter upon a sworn treaty of alliance at Shan Hai-kuan — 
 on this 22nd day of the 4th Moon of the Chia Shen year. 
 
 " From the date of this agreement each party shall 
 keep its respective territories, and neither shall invade 
 the other. The Great Obedient Dynasty is now in pos- 
 session of Peking, but hereby agrees to evacuate and 
 restore it to the Great Ming Dynasty on the 1st day 
 of the 5th Moon, to belong to the Mings for ever. The 
 treasure and valuables seized at the sack of Peking are 
 recognised as the property of the Great Obedient Dynasty. 
 It shall be optional for its inhabitants to become subjects 
 of the Great Obedient Dynasty or to remain under the 
 Ming Dynasty. To the Great Obedient Dynasty shall 
 belong the provinces of Shansi and Shensi and all to the 
 West thereof. If the Manchu troops invade China, both 
 parties to this alliance shall unite against them; their 
 mutual relations shall be those of sympathetic allies, 
 for weal or woe. Whoso breaks this treaty, may Heaven 
 and earth combine to destroy him." 
 
 1 The reign title given to the Heir Apparent by Wu San-kuei. 
 
 2 Li Tzu-ch'eng's reign title. 
 
 123 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 After signing this treaty, Li Tzii-eh'eng marched back 
 to Peking, where he arrived on the 29th. He was not 
 left long in doubt as to the loyalty of his new ally, for 
 even before he reached the capital, couriers brought him 
 two proclamations which Wu San-kuei had issued; one 
 in his capacity of the " Regent and Grand Secretary, 
 Prince Pacificator of the West," dated the 1st year, 
 4th Moon, 24th day of the Ming Emperor Yi-Hsing, 
 the other as " Prince of the first rank. Pacificator of the 
 West," hfeaded with the Manchu date of the reign of 
 Shun Chih. After reading the latter proclamation, Li 
 exclaimed : " If I am victorious, this double-faced villain 
 will be on my side; if the Manchus win, he will join them. 
 Having got the Heir Apparent and the women Ch'en 
 into his hands, he breaks without compunction our 
 solemn treaty. Such a creature is more brute than man." 
 
 With that he decapitated Wu's father and sixteen 
 female members of his family. 
 
 On the 1st day of the 5th Moon a decree was received 
 in the Palace from the Ming Heir Apparent, that he 
 would enter the city within three days and proceed to 
 perform the funeral rites of the late Emperor and his 
 Consort. At the end of this decree he affixed the date 
 of his own year title, " Yi Hsing," proving that he regarded 
 himself as Emperor and trusted to the loyalty of Wu 
 San-kuei. Memorials of welcome were accordingly pre- 
 pared, and in due course the news reached the Palace 
 that His Majesty had arrived at the Western Gate, so 
 Wang Te-hua made ready the Imperial sedan-chair and 
 the insignia prescribed for an Imperial progress and 
 went forth to meet him at the head of a large body of 
 officials. The eunuchs were very busy with preparations 
 inside the Palace. 
 
 The foregoing details of Wu San-kuei's career are taken 
 from the diary of the eunuch Wang Yung-chang. At this 
 point it ends. There are certain discrepancies in matters 
 
 124 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 of detail between the narrative and other accounts of 
 the period, notably in regard to the time and place at 
 which was signed the treaty of alliance for the division 
 of the Empire and the date at which Wu's father was put 
 to death by the vindictive Li. But the main facts and 
 the documents quoted may be taken as reliable. 
 
 Wu San-kuei's lack of filial piety, in putting his " Round- 
 faced Beauty " before his father, has been condoned by 
 historians, who quote with approval his own saying: " A 
 disloyal Minister must expect to have an unfilial son." 
 Wu San-kuei himself, evidently with an eye to the verdict 
 of posterity, justified his action in the last letter which 
 he addressed to his undutiful parent. The following 
 extract from this document is interesting : " Your unfilial 
 son, San-kuei, weeps tears of blood and offers his duty 
 at your knee, father mine. Since childhood I have bene- 
 fited by your teaching, and have striven night and day 
 to perform my duty on the field, in the hope of repaying 
 something of my Emperor's favours. After the loss of 
 Ning Yiian, the key to Peking, I was determined to recover 
 it at all costs, when to my dismay I learned that the 
 capital itself had fallen, owing to the lack of courage 
 displayed by its defenders. You, father mine, were one 
 of the military commanders and had a large force at your 
 disposal. How comes it that you surrendered so quickly 
 and failed to make the stout resistance which duty 
 required? A mighty city like Peking should not have 
 fallen after a single day's siege. I have learned with 
 shame of His Majesty's death and of the massacre of 
 his subjects. You, my father, have enjoyed a reputation 
 for loyalty; if you could not repel the invader, surely it 
 behoved you to cut your throat at the Palace gates and 
 thus to die for your country ? Then I should have 
 hastened, in garb of mourning, to avenge your fate or 
 to perish in the attempt. How now can you bear to pro- 
 long your disgraceful existence in the rebel ranks ? Wang 
 
 125 
 
) 
 
 ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Ling's mother committed suicide rather than allow her 
 son to surrender to Hsiang Chi. Chao Pao was the 
 cause of his mother's death, because the barbarians 
 placed her in front of their battle line when he attacked 
 them. You used to tell me of these ancient heroines, 
 but your own behaviour suffers sadly in comparison with 
 that of these noble women. You have failed to act as 
 a loyal Minister; why should I be a filial son? Hence- 
 forward I disown you. Even though the rebels place you 
 on the sacrificial altar, so as to make me submit, I shall 
 ignore your fate. Respectful greetings from your son." 
 
 From all the evidences of contemporary documents 
 and tradition there is reason to believe that, for a time 
 at least, Wu San-kuei meant to support the Heir Apparent 
 in his claims to the Throne at Peking and, possibly, to 
 allow Li Tzu-ch'eng to retain dominion over Shansi and 
 the West. According to the generally accepted records, 
 it was from Yung P'ing-fu, after the rout at Shan Hai- 
 kuan, that Li made overtures to treat with Wu for the 
 division of the Empire and sent him the person of the 
 Heir Apparent. It is certain that at this point Wu 
 desisted from pursuing Li's beaten army, and issued 
 proclamations announcing his intention to enter Peking 
 for the restoration of the Ming dynasty at an early date. 
 One of these proclamations, dated the 30th of the 4th 
 Moon, reached Peking on the morning that Li Tzu- 
 ch'eng and his loot-laden army left the city. It announced 
 the approach of the Heir Apparent, and directed the 
 people to wear mourning for His late Majesty. 
 
 It was at this juncture that the Manchus showed their 
 hand clearly and gave Wu San-kuei no option but to 
 throw in his lot with them, abandoning the Mings, or 
 to fight against hopeless odds. Wu had hoped to be 
 able to keep the Manchus busy with pourparlers while 
 he carried out his plans and took stock of the situation 
 at Peking, but Prince Jui, the Manchu Regent, suspicious 
 
 126 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 of his intentions, hurried on from Shan Hai-kuan to Chin- 
 chou. There, hearing of Wu's proclamations, he sent 
 him an urgent message forbidding him to enter Peking 
 in state and saying that no Ming Sovereign would be 
 acknowledged. Wu made his choice, and the Ming 
 dynasty's chances of restoration went with it. 
 
 On the morning of the 3rd day of the 5th Moon, the 
 Peking officials assembled outside the Western Gate to 
 meet, as they expected, their new Ming Emperor. But 
 when the palanquin arrived, its occupant was seen to be the 
 Manchu Regent, and Wu San-kuei was with him. Their 
 entry was received in dead silence. At the Tung Hua 
 Gate of the Palace some eunuchs came forward with the 
 Imperial sedan and invited the Regent to enter it. For 
 some time he demurred, but yielding at length proceeded 
 in it to the Palace. As the Court knelt, he said : "I 
 wish to follow the precedent of Duke Chou in acting as 
 Regent for the infant Emperor. I ought not to ride in 
 the Imperial chair." He then entered the Wu-ying Hall 
 and received the Ming officials, bidding them all remain 
 at their former posts. A memorial was handed to him 
 inviting him to ascend the Throne, but his Grand Secre- 
 tary, Fan Wen-ch'eng, rebuked the memorialists, saying : 
 " We have a young Emperor already who succeeded to 
 the Throne last year at Moukden; the Prince Regent 
 cannot possibly accede to your proposal." 
 
 The politic Regent, rightly judging that the atmo- 
 sphere of Peking at this juncture might have a bad effect 
 upon Wu San-kuei and his army, sent him in pursuit of 
 Li Tzu-ch'eng. Wu, well knowing that Li's forces were 
 staggering under the weight of their accumulated plunder, 
 accepted the mission, which he carried out with his usual 
 vigour and success. The treaty of alliance cast to the 
 winds, he routed Li in several fierce engagements, relieved 
 him of his ill-gotten booty, and finally drove him into 
 Shansi. From the date of his entry into Peking by the 
 
 127 
 
J 
 
 ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Regent's side, until in 1674 he rebelled in his turn, he was 
 the Manchus' man and a solid pillar of their State. They 
 rewarded his services with a Princedom, giving him 
 command over the provinces of Kuei chou and Yunnan. 
 
 The correspondence which passed between Wu and 
 the Manchu Regent, before their combined forces defeated 
 Li Tzu-ch'eng, is not without historical importance, and 
 may fittingly be referred to here. It was when Li Tzu- 
 ch'eng's " punitive expedition " had started from Peking, 
 on the 12th of the 3rd Moon, that Wu made up his mind 
 at Ning Yiian to seek an alliance with the Manchus. 
 Accordingly, he wrote to the Regent, who had made 
 overtures to him some time before. After referring to 
 the invasion of Peking by the rebel host of " pilfering 
 dogs," he invoked the assistance of the Manchus to 
 chastise the rebels, in the following terms : 
 
 " The accumulated virtues of our dynastic line have 
 inspired feelings of loyal love and devotion in our people ; 
 volunteers are flocking to our standard against the foul 
 invaders, and I, who have received such favours from the 
 Throne, have endeavoured to raise an avenging host which 
 shall attain the decisive victory that all men desire. But 
 I regret to say that my forces are insufficient, and there- 
 fore, weeping tears of blood, I implore your assistance. 
 For two centuries our States have been allies, and now 
 that we have met with this catastrophe surely it behoves 
 your dynasty to pity us. Surely you will never suffer 
 these bandit traitors to work their evil will ? Your duty 
 to Heaven requires you to exterminate these evil-doers; 
 charity to your fellow men must impel you to rescue the 
 distressed and to save them from utter ruin; generosity 
 and justice call upon you to rescue the people from this 
 scourge of fire and flood; you will gain real glory by 
 restoring a fallen State and renewing an extinct lineage; 
 thus shall you display the prestige of your arms and gain 
 new territories. 
 
 128 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 " Your Highness is endowed with heroic qualities, 
 and the present offers a splendid opportunity to strike 
 home. I beseech you to pay heed to this loyal entreaty 
 of the orphaned servant of a ruined dynasty, and to send 
 your picked troops to invade China, placing them in the 
 centre and right wing, whilst I march with my forces 
 on the left wing. You should move at once on the capital, 
 expel the rebels from the Palace which they profane, 
 and thus prove your magnanimity to the Middle Empire. 
 What limit can there be to the gratitude which it will 
 be our bounden duty to display ? By rights I should 
 address His Majesty directly, but being ignorant of the 
 correct etiquette I have not ventured lightly to intrude 
 upon his sacred intelligence with my entreaties. Will 
 Your Highness graciously memorialise him in my stead ? " 
 
 On receipt of the above letter, the Regent Dorgun 
 (Prince Jui) at once sent Balaikun to Chin-chou to bring 
 up more cannon. He moved his camp on to Tin Valley, 
 and from there sent the following reply to Wu San-kuei : 
 
 " We have repeatedly wished to make peace with the 
 Mings and have sent letters offering to negotiate, but 
 the Ming Sovereign and Ministers did not condescend to 
 reply, being blind to the ruin which threatened their 
 dynasty. For this reason we have twice approached 
 their capital with our armies, so as to read a useful lesson 
 to the Ming Emperor, to induce him to make peace with 
 our nation, and to prove our good intentions to his people. 
 To-day the position has completely changed, and our 
 present purpose is to establish the fortunes of your State 
 and to take your people under our protection. The 
 tidings of the capture of Peking and the lamentable 
 death of the Ming Sovereign have caused my hair to stand 
 on end with horror. Therefore, I am now leading an 
 avenging army, which is resolved to succeed or perish 
 in achieving the deliverance of your people. We shall 
 never desist from our task until the rebels are vanquished. 
 K 129 
 
^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Your letter has greatly gratified me, and I am advancing 
 to the attack forthwith. In refusing to live under the 
 same sky with the usurper you are fulfilling the duty of 
 a loyal Minister; let not any thoughts of past hostility 
 between us cloud your mind with doubt or suspicion. 
 Did not the ruler of the Ch'i State, Duke Hsian, confer 
 high office on his former enemy, Kuan Chung, and thus 
 attained to supremacy over the feudal states ? If you 
 will join our army with your troops I will bestow upon 
 you the rank of a feudal Prince, so that on the one hand 
 you will avenge your master's disgrace, and on the other 
 hand you will assure your own fortunes and those of 
 your posterity for all time. Honours and fortunes will 
 be lavished upon you, and your house will stand for ever, 
 immutable as the hills and the Yellow River." 
 
 Dorgun moved on to Lien Shan, and there received a 
 further letter from Wu San-kuei : "I am in receipt of 
 your letter and note that your troops are advancing. 
 Your righteous action will bring you eternal fame. My 
 reason for assisting you is solely due to my veneration 
 for His late Majesty Ch'ung Chen, and considerations of 
 personal aggrandisement move me not at all. In obedi- 
 ence to your behests I am occupying all strategic points 
 West of Shan Hai-kuan with my picked men, hoping to 
 decoy the rebels to advance. At present they are in 
 full force around Yung-t'ing, as numerous as ants. Of 
 a surety Heaven intends that they shall dig a pit for their 
 own destruction. I am arranging that a large portion 
 of my army shall co-operate with yours. Let Your High- 
 ness dispatch your tiger-like levies towards Shan Hai-kuan, 
 that we may attack the rebels in front and rear. They 
 will fall into our hands, so that Peking and all the region 
 round about will soon know the blessings of peace. One 
 word more : an army such as yours, inspired with the 
 loftiest of motives, must desire above all things to win 
 the confidence of the people. You should, therefore, issue 
 
 130 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 stringent orders against looting, and by so doing both 
 territory and all which it contains will be yours. The 
 Empire is won ! " 
 
 Next day the Regent was within three miles of Shan 
 Hai-kuan. Li Tzii-ch'eng's force had been reinforced 
 and now numbered 200,000 men. With him were the 
 Heir Apparent of the Mings, his two brothers and many 
 Ming Princes of the Imperial family, as well as Wu 
 San-kuei's father. He sent a final summons to Wu to 
 surrender, but the message was ignored, so Li advanced 
 to bombard Shan Hai-kuan. Wu sent despatch riders 
 to inform the Manchus, and Prince Jui, the Regent, 
 dispatched a force which met and defeated the rebel 
 General at Yi-pien-shih. On the following morning, Wu 
 and his men came out of Shan Hai-kuan to welcome the 
 Manchus. The Regent warmly welcomed him, gave him 
 a ceremonial reception, and proceeded with him to per- 
 form joint obeisance to Heaven. Wu then introduced 
 his officers, and the Regent bade him return and order 
 his troops to fasten white badges on their shoulders, 
 so as to avoid confusion between them and the rebels. 
 Li Tzii-ch'eng's forces were drawn up in line between 
 the mountains and the sea, awaiting the order to attack. 
 A furious dust storm was raging; they could hardly see 
 a yard in front of their position. The Manchu troops 
 were drawn up some distance away, and received instruc- 
 tions from the Regent to bide their time and await order, 
 as any premature movement might mean disaster. " If 
 every man does his best," said he, " the Empire is 
 ours." 
 
 Wu San-kuei threw his right wing against Li Tzu- 
 ch'eng. With a mighty shout they rushed at the rebel 
 lines, but their first onslaught was repulsed. The wind 
 dropped and both sides engaged in a furious melee. 
 The Manchus supported the attack with an irresistible 
 charge. The rebel ranks broke, and the day ended in 
 
 131 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 their complete rout, a scene of hopeless confusion and 
 great slaughter. 
 
 On the following day the inhabitants of Shan Hai-kuan 
 shaved their heads, in obedience to a proclamation by 
 the Regent. The Manchu Princes had hesitated to 
 believe in Wu San-kuei's assurances, but they were 
 reassured when he appeared in their camp with shaven 
 head. The Regent thereupon conferred upon him a 
 Princedom of the first class, together with the robes and 
 emoluments of his rank. His father received the " happy 
 despatch " at the hands of Li Tzii-ch'eng on the same day. 
 
 With the next thirty years of Wu San-kuei's successful 
 career, spent first in breaking up the forces of Li Tzii- 
 ch'eng and later in hunting down the last fugitive claimants 
 to the Throne of the Mings, we are not at present con- 
 cerned. When the Manchus' dominion had been definitely 
 established over the whole Empire, Wu was rewarded 
 with a satrapy, giving him command over the provinces 
 of Kuei-chou and Yunnan. At his palace in Yiinnan-fu 
 he maintained Imperial state. It was built and furnished 
 in regal style, decorated with splendid halls and pavilions. 
 He spent large revenues in beautifying the city, erecting 
 a pleasure house on an island of the lake which he called 
 " Beside the Crystal Wave," and planted a garden in the 
 western suburb known as the " Park of Peaceful Pros- 
 perity," in which he kept his large library. But his 
 prosperity was not destined to be permanently peaceful. 
 In 1674, incensed at the Emperor K'ang Hsi's decision 
 to reduce his semi-independent authority, he, the queller 
 of rebellions, raised the standard of revolt against the 
 Manchus, proclaimed the establishment of a new (Chou) 
 dynasty, and fought with all his pristine vigour and success, 
 until, in October 1678, a stroke of paralysis ended his 
 tumultuous career. His proud spirit, accustomed to 
 command, would not brook the thought of exchanging 
 his vassal state for the position of a subject. 
 
 132 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Long before his open declaration of revolt, he had been 
 planning to throw off his allegiance on this far-flung 
 frontier of the Empire, and would sit for hours brooding 
 over his grievances and plotting his revenge. He made 
 his preparations carefully, as was his wont, and laid in 
 large stores of provisions and munitions of war. Whilst 
 he was thus engaged, trouble occurred in his menage. A 
 younger brother of his favourite concubine had given him 
 offence, and Wu threatened to behead him. The offender 
 fled from Yunnan, made his way to Peking, and informed 
 the Emperor of Wu's treasonable designs. K'ang Hsi, 
 who had but recently taken over the Government from 
 his Regent (1667) refused to believe the story. Never- 
 theless, he dispatched a secret messenger to Yiinnan-fu 
 to ascertain the truth. Wu had spies of his own in all 
 the inns of the city, who reported to him at once the 
 arrival of any strangers from Peking. He soon heard of 
 K'ang Hsi's agent and realised that the Emperor suspected 
 him. Desiring to ease the Monarch's mind, and thus to 
 prevent the arrival of Imperialist troops before his plans 
 were completed, he hastily restored on official documents 
 the year title K'ang Hsi (for which he had substituted 
 a new dynastic appellation of his own), and hung outside 
 the gate of his Palace a new pair of scrolls, proclaiming 
 his allegiance to the Manchus : 
 
 " How much mightier is the Emperor than I ! " 
 " The Minister dreads lest his loyalty be doubted." 
 
 The envoy remained a month in the city, but could find 
 no proofs of Wu's intention to rebel. He copied the 
 scrolls above quoted and on returning to Peking handed 
 them to the Emperor. The latter laughed heartily, 
 saying : " My old servant is innocent of rebellious plottings 
 and has been the victim of calumny." 
 
 When eventually news reached him that Wu had 
 actually rebelled, K'ang Hsi, who was at his ablutions 
 
 133 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 at the time, was greatly enraged, and threw the ewer 
 he was using to the ground, shouting : " How that scurvy 
 rogue has fooled me ! " 
 
 When the decree reached Yunnan by which K'ang Hsi 
 abolished the three semi-independent vassaldoms and re- 
 placed them by provincial administration, Wu invited his 
 officials and secretaries to discuss the situation. They 
 proposed various schemes, all of which Wu rejected. He 
 had already made up his mind to rebel, and would hear of 
 no compromise. One of his staff, however, a Ch^kiang 
 man, named Hu, sat in a corner, silently smiling with a 
 contemptuous expression, as if he guessed what was in 
 Wu's mind. Next day, Wu invited all the staff to a 
 banquet and selected Hu for special honour by handing 
 him a cup of wine, in which was a large dose of poison. 
 Hu died in great agony. 
 
 Wu San-kuei had the physical traits which the 
 Chinese associate with intellectual greatness — conspicu- 
 ously large and long ears and a fierce aquiline nose. He 
 went clean-shaven, and the expression of his face was 
 stern and forbidding. Himself a hard worker, he exacted 
 industry from others, and was a strict disciplinarian. 
 Men feared his wrath; luckily for those who served him 
 there was a danger signal on his face that never failed, 
 for on the bridge of his nose (which was misshapen) 
 there was a black birthmark which would swell and turn 
 purple when an outburst of rage was impending. Also, 
 just before the explosion, he was wont to give out ominous 
 snorts, which served to remind those about him that 
 they had engagements elsewhere. 
 
 As we have shown in his correspondence with Prince 
 Jui, Wu had a neat and effective literary style, but scholars 
 admire him chiefly for his proclamations and addresses 
 to his troops, in which he displayed much originality 
 and power of invective. His exhortation to the army 
 to exterminate Li Tzu-ch'eng is one of his masterpieces 
 
 134 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 in this style of composition. " That puny hobgoblin," 
 it runs, " that petty traitor, Li Tzu-ch'eng, has befouled 
 our sacred capital. The light of the sun is obscured, and 
 his poisonous miasma reeks to Heaven. Wolves and 
 jackals infest our citadel, dogs and swine squat in our 
 Palace halls. They have been guilty of the death of 
 their Majesties; they have put to the sword our scholars 
 and our principal men. They have massacred our people 
 and sacked our chief city. High Heaven resounds with 
 the bitter plaint of our dynasty's illustrious ancestors. 
 The Halls of Hades bear witness to the tears of blood 
 shed by our bravest and our best. But Heaven's man- 
 date to the dynasty is not exhausted; the memory of its 
 virtue still lives in every heart. Patriotic sincerity 
 requires its restoration, this traitor must flee before 
 our loyal resolution. Let volunteers arise and smite 
 him, so shall ten thousand be put to flight by one. Yet 
 a little while and we shall see China faithful to her old 
 rulers and the house of Chu ^ restored to power." 
 
 Like most of his contemporaries, Wu displayed a 
 tendency (which the Emperor K'ang Hsi was wont to 
 deplore in his elder statesmen) to allow his everyday 
 actions and his decisions at moments of crisis to be guided 
 by the advice of fortune-tellers and astrologers — " by 
 dreams and by Urim and by prophets." This power 
 of seers and soothsayers has ever been a very vital factor 
 in shaping the destinies of the Chinese, as it has been 
 with all the peoples of the Orient, whose instincts and 
 traditions fit them to hear the voices that Europe has 
 silenced with materialism. 
 
 Just before raising his standard of rebellion against the 
 Manchus in 1674, Wu San-kuei decided to consult a 
 certain Taoist priest, famous throughout the province 
 for his uncanny skill in foretelling destiny by the study 
 of physiognomy. Wu invited him to attend at the Palace, 
 
 1 Chu Yiian-chang, founder of the Ming dynasty. 
 135 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 but the priest refused. Then Wu went, incognito, to 
 visit him and asked to be shown the future. After 
 gazing at him for a long time, the priest said : " Your face 
 is that of a man who will attain to great power, but there 
 are lines on your chin which tell me that your posterity 
 will be overtaken by disaster and your family become 
 extinct." 
 
 Wu said nothing; but after returning to the Palace 
 and brooding over this prophecy of evil he decided to 
 send one of his trusty servants and put the priest to death. 
 The priest, however, had recognised his visitor, and, being 
 a judge of physiognomy, had left the neighbourhood 
 and was not to be found. 
 
 In early manhood, as a relief from the monotony of a 
 military life, which consisted largely of long sieges, Wu 
 San-kuei became an excellent amateur actor, and at 
 one time trained a company of players and singers known 
 as " The Swallows," who brought him no little kudos. 
 Chroniclers relate the following story, which throws a 
 pleasing Kaiser-light on this versatile genius. He was 
 travelling incognito in Kiangsu and had reached the town 
 of Huai-an. Happening upon the residence of a wealthy 
 merchant, where theatricals were in progress, he sent in 
 a card under an assumed name, and was invited to come 
 in. The performance was extremely poor; nevertheless, 
 both host and guests applauded it loudly. Wu sadly 
 and silently shook his head. Thereat the host indignantly 
 jeered at him : " How should a rustic boor like yourself 
 appreciate such acting as this ? " Wu replied : " I don't 
 profess to be an expert, but I have been a lover of the 
 play for over a generation." This reply only incensed 
 the merchant the more, but one of the guests, seeking an 
 opportunity to insult the stranger, invited Wu to give 
 them a taste of his own quality. Wu, delighted at such 
 an opportunity of displaying his skill, wasted no time 
 in polite refusals, and sang the whole of a well-known 
 
 136 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 piece called " A Journey Eastward." The audience were 
 struck speechless with wonder and admiration. When he 
 had finished, Wu waited until the musicians had ceased 
 playing and quietly withdrew. His identity was never 
 suspected, but he himself always spoke of this adventure 
 as the greatest triumph of his career. 
 
 Wu San-kuei was no incorruptible patriot, but he was 
 undoubtedly one of the bravest men of those stirring 
 days, and an extremely picturesque figure. We shall 
 have occasion to refer to him again in narrating the 
 final scene in the history of the last of the Mings, whom 
 Wu San-kuei pursued into Burmah. 
 
 137 
 
CHAPTER V 
 THE MANCHU DYNASTY ESTABLISHED 
 
 It is not within the scope of the present work to trace 
 the origins and ramifications of the Manchu clans back 
 to the prehistoric period when they made love and war in 
 their ancestral homes, which lay between the Long White 
 Mountain and the Amur River. Their early history en- 
 gaged the scholarly attention of the Emperor Ch'ien Lung, 
 who dealt with it in several of his voluminous works; it 
 goes back to the time of the Sushen tribe which, according 
 to the annals, brought tribute to the Court of the Emperor 
 Shun (2230 B.C.) in the form of bows and arrows. 
 
 For the purposes of the present narrative, which describes 
 the establishment of the Manchu dynasty in China after 
 the decline and fall of the Mings, it is unnecessary to go 
 further back than the days of Nurhachi (known in history 
 as Tai-tsu, the exalted founder), born in 1559, of the 
 Sukosuhu Clan of "the Manchu branch of the Nuchens. 
 At an early period in his career Nurhachi's father and 
 grandfather had been treacherously put to death by the 
 Chinese (Ming) noble who was warden of the marches. 
 Nurhachi, enraged at this outrage, collected his forces 
 and demanded reparation from the Mings and the return 
 of the bodies for burial. The Mings, already in difficulties, 
 agreed with their adversary quickly, apologised, and sent 
 presents of horses and silk, besides conferring on Nurhachi 
 the title of " Dragon and Tiger General " and Warden of 
 the Marches of Chien Chou. But Nurhachi's wrath was 
 not appeased. He demanded the surrender of the tribes- 
 
 138 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 men who had done the deed. This was refused, and from 
 that time forward all his energies were concentrated on 
 revenge. For years he worked, consolidating his forces 
 and organising the tribes to a pitch of military efficiency 
 hitherto unknown, so that he became a constant and 
 serious menace on China's northern frontiers. In 1586 
 he had become the recognised ruler of the five Manchu 
 tribes, and the Court of China had agreed to pay him an 
 annual " subsidy " of 800 ounces of silver and fifteen 
 dragon robes, besides allowing him freedom of trade at 
 Fushun and other marts. 
 
 From 1593 to 1597 Nurhachi's energies were fully 
 engaged in extending his dominion over the Yeho tribe ^ 
 and their allies from Mongolia and the Long White Moun- 
 tain territory. This inter-tribal warfare, complicated by 
 breaches of neutrality by the Mings, continued until 1618, 
 when Nurhachi finally invaded the Yeho territory, took 
 over twenty of their strongholds by assault, and subjugated 
 the entire country between the mouth of the Amur and the 
 Tumen River. After this campaign he organised the 
 united tribes under four banners, yellow, red, blue and 
 white. ^ His armies were drilled and maintained under a 
 system of rigid discipline. In the front of each banner 
 corps (7500 men) were the armour-clad spearmen; the 
 bowmen were in the rear. Each company, of 300 men, 
 carried two scaling ladders and twenty siege catapults. 
 In storming a city each company was required to advance 
 as a compact unit; individual initiative was discouraged 
 and personal bravery unrewarded. The company which 
 entered the city first received rewards and promotion. 
 In judging between the claims of the several companies 
 the Princes of the Blood were constituted a Court of 
 Appeal, with Nurhachi as final arbiter. 
 
 ^ Afterwards famous as the Yehonala Manchu Clan. The Nalas were 
 another tribe, conquered by the Yehos. 
 
 2 The four striped banners Avere created later. 
 
 139 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 In 1616 Nurhachi assumed the reign title of T'ien Ming, 
 or " Heaven appointed," and the dynastic name of Manchu. 
 Being then about to deUver his last combined assault on 
 the Yeho tribe, which alone continued to deny his supre- 
 macy, he sent an envoy to the Mings, demanding that 
 China should maintain strict neutrality. This the Mings 
 refused. Accordingly, in 1618, having dealt with the 
 Yehos, Nurhachi declared war upon China, taking a solemn 
 oath in the presence of his army that he would exact full 
 reparation for the wrongs and indignities put upon him. 
 These he stated categorically, as follows : 
 
 1. The wanton murder of his father and grandfather; 
 
 2. Violations of treaty in crossing the frontier and 
 
 assisting the Yeho tribe; 
 
 3. Illegal acts by Chinese subjects, who had crossed the 
 
 frontier to steal ginseng and timber; 
 
 and several other grievances of a similar nature. 
 
 In 1619 the Mings made a determined attempt to crush 
 the power growing on their northern frontiers, and sent 
 a large army, with orders to concentrate at Moukden, and 
 thence advance from both sides on Hsing Ching, Nurhachi 's 
 capital. The story of that splendid campaign is well told 
 in the annals of the dynasty, but cannot be given here; 
 nor have we space to recount the desultory frontier 
 warfare of the next seventeen years. It was during these 
 years that Nurhachi perfected his famous left wing as an 
 invincible fighting force, certainly the finest the East had 
 seen for many centuries, hardy veterans, war-seasoned, and 
 moving as one man. Nurhachi himself displayed all the 
 qualities of a great leader and of a strategist, and became 
 the idol of his troops. In the campaign of 1619, with 
 forces numbering less than 50,000 men, he defeated and 
 scattered in rapid succession the four armies of the Mings, 
 which, with their Korean levies, numbered over 400,000. 
 He took 30,000 prisoners and much booty, and finally 
 
 140 
 
 J 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 established his supremacy, not only over the Yeho tribe, 
 but throughout the frontier lands previously held by 
 China. Here, then, were laid the firm foundations of the 
 Manchu power. 
 
 Such fluctuating successes as fell to the Mings during 
 the next few years were ascribed by Nurhachi himself 
 partly to the superior artillery (foreign cannon which 
 the Mings had received from the Portuguese by the aid 
 of the Jesuits at their Court) and partly to the principles 
 which the best amongst the Chinese Generals had imbibed 
 from the teaching of the Sages. But most of all he attri- 
 buted his own triumphs and the impending doom of the 
 Chinese dynasty to the eunuch-ridden Court and the 
 pernicious interference of its intriguing officials with its 
 Generals in the field. The best of these were under no 
 illusions as to the cause of their repeated defeats and 
 persistent disorganisation; witness the following pathetic 
 defence offered before the Throne by General Hsiung, one 
 of the ablest and bravest commanders of the Ming forces. 
 
 " None of the officials who surround Your Majesty," 
 he said, " has any knowledge of the art of war. If they 
 hear that the enemy is retreating or even delaying his 
 attack they all proceed to clamour against me for not 
 advancing, whether I am ready to do so or not. If, then, 
 in obedience to the Throne, I reluctantly engage the 
 enemy and am defeated, not one of them recalls the fact 
 that the disaster is principally due to his own advice. 
 When, again, after a time, I have rallied and reorganised 
 my forces, the cry goes up at Court for drastic measures, 
 and they blame me for procrastination. I am quite strong 
 enough to hold for Your Majesty the whole of the Liao 
 Tung peninsula, but I am not able to silence the foolish 
 and envious tongues of my detractors. No sooner do I 
 leave Your Majesty's presence and the capital, than the 
 voice of calumny is raised against me. If you do not 
 actually clog and hamper my movements by appointing 
 
 141 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 some incompetent person to watch and advise me, you 
 permit my plans to be ruined by the interference of arm- 
 chair critics." 
 
 Another brave and successful commander of the Ming 
 armies, General Sun, was even more outspoken. " Your 
 Majesty's forces," he observed, " have lately been de- 
 prived of their necessary training and often of their pay. 
 Instead of leaving the command in the hands of competent 
 military officers, you dispatch ignorant civilians to train 
 the troops. In battle the supreme command devolves 
 upon some high civil functionary, supported by a large 
 and quite useless staff of literary men. The tactics which 
 your armies are to adopt in the field are discussed at 
 supper by your courtiers, or decided by a party of eunuchs 
 in the intervals of their debauches." 
 
 Many were the heart-sick patriots and valiant soldiers 
 on the Chinese side who perished, like General Yuan at the 
 fall of Liao Yang,^ cursing the besotted folly of their 
 Sovereign and the name of the infamous Chief Eunuch, 
 Wei Chung-hsien. A Commander-in-chief like General 
 Hsiung, who refused to placate this notorious favourite, 
 was foredoomed to failure and defeat. 
 
 In April 1625, Nurhachi, steadily advancing in strength, 
 established his capital at Moukden, choosing that city 
 because, as he said, " it is a position from which the Liao 
 river may speedily be crossed in the event of trouble 
 arising on the Chinese frontier; the road to Korea lies 
 conveniently near, and if we wish to invade Mongolia, it 
 is within two days' march." At this period General Sun 
 (above referred to) had been given a fairly free hand for 
 two or three years, and had succeeded in recovering from 
 Nurhachi's forces practically all China's territory west of 
 
 ^ This brave man, seeing that the city was lost, hanged himself in 
 the city tower, from which he had directed the defence, with his sword 
 bvickled on and in his hand the seal of his office. The Censor Chang 
 Ch'iian and many other officers followed his example. 
 
 142 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 the Liao. But^Wei^Chung-hsien, failing to secure largesse 
 from Sun, persuaded the Emperor to supersede him. 
 His successor, Kao Ti, evacuated all the important 
 strategic points which Sun had held beyond the Great 
 Wall, and fell back on Shan Hai-kuan. 
 
 In 1626, Nurhachi, rightly despising Kao Ti, decided to 
 cross the Liao and invade China and attack the stronghold 
 of Ning Yiian. Kao Ti was for abandoning the place, 
 but General Yiian, in command of the garrison, wrote 
 with his own blood an oath, to which his officers sub- 
 scribed, that they would defend it to the end. Yiian did 
 deadly execution with his European artillery, and for the 
 first time in his forty years of warfare Nurhachi was 
 repulsed. He returned to Moukden, much chagrined 
 and shaken by this reverse ; and on the 30th of September 
 this warrior-monarch died, in the sixty-eighth year of his 
 age, and Huang Taiki, his fourth son, reigned in his stead. 
 
 Huang Taiki reigned under the title of T'ien Tsung 
 ("Heaven-obeying") and was posthumously canonised as 
 T'ai Tsung, " the Illustrious Ancestor." A great soldier 
 and an empire builder like his father, he was also a far- 
 seeing statesman. Looking forward with certainty to the 
 day when his forces would be able to seize the Throne of 
 the degenerate Mings, he perceived the political and strategic 
 necessity of establishing his dominion over Korea on his 
 eastern, and Mongolia on his north-western, borders, since 
 the rulers of both countries were feudatories of China. 
 Therefore, after the death of his father, he welcomed the 
 overtures made by General Yiian, who sent priests to 
 Moukden to present condolences and incidentally to dis- 
 cuss the preliminaries for a treaty of peace. Neither side 
 desired peace, but both wished to gain time ; T'ai Tsung 
 for his conquest of Korea, and the Chinese General for the 
 rebuilding of the fortresses at Chin-chou, Ta Ling-ho and 
 other points west of the Liao. The treaty negotiations 
 were interesting but abortive. 
 
 143 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 The Manchu expedition to Korea, under Prince Amin, 
 was completely successful, but the final conquest of the 
 country was not undertaken at this period, because, 
 after the conclusion of a treaty which fixed the frontier 
 at the Yalu river, T'ai Tsung ordered the army to return. 
 Hearing that General Yuan was making rapid progress 
 with the rebuilding of his fortresses, he desired to take the 
 field against him in force. The army from Korea returned 
 in triumph in May 1627, and a month later T'ai Tsung 
 once more crossed the Liao river; but again the garrison 
 of Ning Yiian, making good use of their cannon, repelled 
 the invaders. Once more, for several years, the tide of 
 war ebbed and flowed over a region which seems destined 
 ever to be the cockpit of furthest Asia. Despairing of 
 taking the city so long as General Yiian was in command 
 of its defences, the Manchus planned and executed a 
 successful raid through Mongolia into Chihli, when the 
 future conquerors of China first set eyes upon the yellow 
 roofs of the Forbidden City. T'ai Tsung led his raiders 
 in force from the North- West Gate of the capital round 
 to the Hunting Park on the South, where he encamped. 
 Here, coming up by forced marches in response to the 
 Court's urgent summons. General Yiian found him; at 
 this juncture the Mings might have recovered their 
 territory and their prestige had the wretched Ch'ung Chen 
 but trusted the ablest and bravest defender of his Empire. 
 T'ai Tsung saw himself caught in a tight place, and, while 
 avoiding a decisive battle, bethought him of a stratagem 
 which he had learned from Chinese history, a ruse which 
 seems to have been applied frequently with success to the 
 undoing of a Court infested with cowardly traitors. He 
 arranged that two of the Palace eunuchs, who were 
 captives in his camp, should overhear a conversation 
 between his Generals and himself in which they spoke of 
 Yiian as a traitor about to come over to the Manchu 
 side. Next day the eunuchs were allowed to escape, and 
 
 144. 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 hastened to Court with their evil tidings. The scheme 
 worked. Yiian was arrested and thrown into prison, and 
 the General appointed to his command was routed by T'ai 
 Tsung after a battle fought outside the Yung- Ting Gate 
 of the city. After this victory, as Peking lay paralysed 
 with terror before the invaders, T'ai Tsung's brothers and 
 his son, Prince Su, begged him to finish his work then and 
 there by seizing the capital and the Throne of the Mings. 
 But T'ai Tsung was a far-seeing and prudent ruler. " To 
 take the city would be easy enough," he replied, " but the 
 time is not yet. Their outlying defences are still untaken, 
 we have established no terror in the heart of China proper. 
 If we took Peking to-day we should not be strong enough 
 to hold it. It will take some years to dissipate the 
 remaining forces of the Mings. No; let us return to our 
 own place and prepare for the hour of destiny, when God 
 shall deliver the whole Empire into our hands." So the 
 Manchu army withdrew, fighting several rearguard actions 
 on their homeward way, and returned to Moukden. There 
 the Emperor gave serious attention to the manufacture 
 of cannon of the European type, and engaged the services 
 of several experts to manufacture guns of the kind which 
 the Red Barbarians (Portuguese) had supplied in large 
 numbers to the Mings. The first of these, known as the 
 " Great General," was cast at Moukden in 1631. 
 
 In 1633 T'ai Tsung took Port Arthur and the islands 
 off the Liao-tung coast. In the same year he decided on 
 opening up a new path of invasion into China by the 
 subjugation of the Chahar Mongols. This he did, and 
 henceforward the road to Peking lay open through the 
 pass of Kalgan. By this road his cavalry made fre- 
 quent raids into Shansi and Chihli, until the name and 
 fame of the Manchus were known beyond the Yellow 
 River. 
 
 The subjugation of the Chahar Mongols was followed 
 in 1635 by the submission of all the remaining tribes 
 L 145 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 south of the Gobi, whose chief Eje,^ handed over to 
 T'ai Tsung the great State-seal of China, which had 
 formerly been that of the Mongol (Yiian) dynasty 
 (1206-1333). In commemoration of this great event, 
 the Prince of the Khorchin Mongols came, at the head 
 of all the tribes which inhabit the region South of the 
 Gobi desert, and begged T'ai Tsung to assume the Imperial 
 title. From this time forward the dynasty was established 
 under the title of Ta Ching (" Great Pure "). In return 
 for their allegiance, the Manchu Emperor conferred upon 
 the leading Mongol Khans princely rank and dignities 
 in the Manchu hierarchy. Also, he appointed chieftains 
 over their banners and guaranteed them annual sub- 
 sidies for war service. Thenceforward the Khorchin and 
 other tribes intermarried freely with the Manchus. 
 
 Meanwhile, Korea, believing T'ai Tsung's hands to be 
 full with the Mongols and the Mings, refused to recognise 
 the new Empire, and treated its envoys with truculent 
 rudeness. Desiring to consolidate his Empire on its 
 eastern borders before proceeding to the conquest of 
 China, T'ai Tsung determined to chastise the ruler of the 
 hermit kingdom. But first, in order to keep the attention 
 of the Mings engaged within their own borders, he organ- 
 ised a raiding expedition into China, which started in the 
 winter of 1635. It revealed the utter defencelessness of the 
 Chinese provinces, and created a thirst for loot amongst 
 the Manchus and their Mongol levies which was to bear 
 bitter fruit in days to come. Thirteen cities in Chihli 
 were taken and sacked before the raiders, staggering under 
 their booty, returned to Manchuria. 
 
 In January 1637, the Mongol Princes with their levies 
 assembled at Moiikden to follow T'ai Tsung in the in- 
 vasion of Korea. The Emperor led his main force in 
 person ; commanding the famous left wing was his brother 
 
 1 Ej e was a direct descendant of Dayeri, whose ancestor was the last 
 Mongol Emperor. 
 
 146 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Dorgun (Prince Jui), while to another brother, Prince Yii, 
 he gave command of a picked body of cavalry whose orders 
 were to make straight for Seoul. When this force drew 
 rein at the gates of his capital and demanded its surrender, 
 the Korean King, an arrant coward, forgot his truculence, 
 and sent a herald expressing his hope that the invaders 
 were not tired after their long journey. Thereafter he 
 fied to a refuge in the neighbouring hills, whence he sent 
 abject apologies to T'ai Tsung, without avail. By the end 
 of February T'ai Tsung and his army were encamped 
 close to Seoul. The Emperor declined to discuss con- 
 ditions, and sternly bade the wretched King come down 
 and present himself for audience at the camp. Even- 
 tually, his followers having dispersed, he came in, made 
 obeisance, and handed over to T'ai Tsung the patent of 
 kingship, which he had received from the Mings. His 
 two sons were taken as hostages to Moukden, and he was 
 permitted to retain the Throne as a vassal of the Manchu 
 Empire, in which condition the Kings of Korea remained, 
 more or less loyally, until 1894, when the Manchu power 
 was challenged and upset by Japan. 
 
 After his return from Korea in 1638, T'ai Tsung sent 
 an army under Dorgun to make another raid upon China. 
 The Ming Throne was visibly tottering; but its forces 
 were gathered to resist the invasion and might have 
 succeeded had it not been for the intrigues of the Court 
 against General Lu, the Commander-in-chief. The 
 Manchus, marching southwards and east, took city after 
 city, from the neighbourhood of Peking to Chi-Nan fu, 
 the capital of Shantung, where they got much plunder 
 and captured Prince Te, a cousin of the Ming Emperor, 
 who was taken in triumph to Moukden. 
 
 But none of these military operations were intended to 
 effect a permanent occupation of Chinese territory, nor 
 could Peking itself be safely held so long as the Chinese 
 armies continued to hold the various fortresses and walled 
 
 147 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 cities along the Liao River. The operations against 
 Chinchou, Sungshan, Shan Hai-kuan, and Ning Yiian 
 had been dragging on, amidst more or less desultory war- 
 fare, for several years, and still three of China's most 
 capable soldiers (of whom one was Wu San-kuei) con- 
 tinued to hold their own. Early in 1641, Prince Cheng, 
 T'ai Tsung's first cousin, took command of the Manchu 
 forces in this region and put heart into their attacks. 
 By the spring of 1642 only Ning Yiian, defended by Wu 
 San-kuei, remained untaken. 
 
 The Ming dynasty was now nearing the end of its 
 resources. The military operations against the Manchus 
 were draining the impoverished treasury of more than 
 17,000,000 taels a year, more than half the military 
 purposes' taxation of the Empire. Nevertheless, despite 
 the increasing urgency of the danger created by Li Tzu- 
 ch'eng's rebellion, the eunuchs and household officials 
 were all for an aggressive policy against the Manchus 
 and half-hearted operations against the rebels. The war 
 party at Peking had induced the vacillating Emperor to put 
 to death two high officials who had advised him to make 
 peace with T'ai Tsung, and the latter' s despatch to Ch'ung 
 Chen, suggesting friendly negotiations, had been suppressed. 
 
 Nevertheless, when the situation at Shan Hai-kuan was 
 becoming desperate, the President of the Board of War 
 in Peking succeeded in persuading Ch'ung Chen to sanction 
 the sending of emissaries to Moukden with a letter asking 
 for a cessation of hostilities. But even now the arrogant 
 folly of the intractable mandarins ruined a wise policy. 
 The Emperor's letter was written in the form of a decree, 
 and couched accordingly in haughty terms. " A Decree 
 to Our Minister of War, Ch'en Hsin-chia. You inform Us 
 that a wish prevails in Moukden to put an end to the 
 calamities of war. We have hesitated to believe this 
 report, inasmuch as Our provincial authorities have said 
 nothing on the subject to Us, but since you assure Us of 
 
 148 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 its absolute accuracy, and guarantee that the Manchus 
 are acting in good faith, We feel that, so far as We are 
 concerned, there need be no difficulty in agreeing thereto, 
 animated as We are by feelings of indulgence towards all 
 strangers from afar. We shall thus be acting in respectful 
 accordance with the merciful principles of the Almighty, 
 and shall restore the immemorial relations of generous 
 condescension shown by Our ancestors towards the 
 Manchu tribes. We empower you to dispatch duly 
 qualified persons to notify Our wishes in the matter, and 
 you are to report to Us on receipt of definite information 
 in regard thereto." 
 
 On receipt of this communication the Emperor T'ai 
 Tsung issued the following decree in reply : " The letter 
 brought me by your envoys is not satisfactory in form. 
 If it is meant to be a communication to Us, why does your 
 Sovereign call it a Decree to Ch'en Hsin-chia? If it is 
 a decree from your Sovereign to Ch'en Hsin-chia, why 
 does he seal it with the Imperial seal ? Besides, the shape 
 of the seal is oblong and not, as custom requires, square. 
 In a matter of this kind it is impossible to sanction any 
 deviation from usage. It is clear to me from the shape of 
 the seal that the letter is not genuine or, if genuine, that 
 it is sealed in this way for purposes of subsequent repudia- 
 tion. The letter fails to suggest to my mind any sincere 
 desire for peace. The sentence, ' Animated as we are by 
 feelings of indulgence towards strangers from afar,' and 
 that which ends with the words ' generous condescen- 
 sion . . . towards the Manchu tribes,' betray a spirit 
 of haughty contempt for my nation which contradicts 
 the idea of a desire for peace on the part of the Mings. 
 Disregarding these cunning evasions, I will now set forth 
 the plain facts of the case : Hostilities were originally 
 commenced by my people with extreme reluctance, caused 
 solely by the unbearable insults heaped upon us by you 
 Mings, and by your flagrant disregard of right and wrong. 
 
 149 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Whenever I have made overtures of peace you have 
 flouted them. To-day, it would seem, you Mings are 
 anxious for peace, but it is impossible to be sure of your 
 bona fides. In any case, desirous as I am for peace, I am 
 not to be coerced into making it. By the abundant favour 
 of the Almighty, I now possess all the territory which 
 formerly belonged to the Chin Tartars; the descendants 
 of the Yiian dynasty and Korea have accepted my 
 suzerainty. Several millions of Ming subjects have sub- 
 mitted to me; everywhere my arms have triumphed. 
 In the interests of the people of both nations I desire 
 peace, but only on a footing of absolute equality between 
 the contracting parties. There must be no question of 
 ' central ' and ' outside ' nations, nor of great and small 
 kingdoms. Trade shall be conducted on equal terms 
 between our respective subjects, and each nation shall 
 make annual gifts to the other. In this way great happi- 
 ness may accrue both to rulers and ruled, and we shall 
 enjoy the blessings of peace. My dynasty, in spite of its 
 martial prowess and the prosperity which it enjoys, longs 
 ardently for peace, but you Mings ignore my communica- 
 tions, and your Sovereign, in the fond. belief that he is the 
 Son of Heaven, displays contemptuous arrogance towards 
 his equals, and indulges in vain boasting ; surely his desire 
 for peace can only be skin-deep. Know you that Heaven 
 has no favourites; the Almighty giveth dominion to the 
 just and overwhelmeth the evil-doer. Look you now : 
 has China been governed by one and the same dynasty 
 from time immemorial ? Are you not aware that none 
 has ever enjoyed a perpetual mandate from on high? 
 But you Mings, Emperor and Ministers together, reck not 
 of these things. You, Emperor and Ministers, are guilty 
 of the deaths of millions of your subjects; at your hands 
 have they perished, because you have persisted in warring 
 against me. What I now tell you is the truth, and I desire 
 that it be transmitted to your Emperor." 
 
 150 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 At this juncture a Censor,^ Tsu Ko-fa, advised T'ai Tsung 
 to make a proposal to the Mings for the partition of the 
 Empire, with the Yellow River (which at that time 
 entered the sea in Kiangsu) as boundary, on condition 
 that the Mings should send annual tribute to the Manchus. 
 T'ai Tsung declined the suggestion, and gave a final audience 
 to the Ming representatives, at which he presented them 
 with sables and silver ingots, and ordered that a banquet 
 be given in their honour. He commanded that they 
 should be safely escorted over the frontier, and handed to 
 them the following autograph letter for their Sovereign, 
 which shows that he was sincerely desirous of peace with 
 honour. 
 
 " The first cause of my war against your nation lay in 
 the unprovoked murder of my two ancestors by you 
 Mings, but my Imperial father, while always ready to 
 defend his frontiers, was ever desirous of keeping the 
 peace. He would have kept it, but that you Mings com- 
 mitted acts of wanton violence and interfered in our 
 country's affairs. You demanded that we should restore 
 the territory which we had wrested from the Hata tribe 
 in battle, and you sent troops to garrison against us strong 
 places in the Yeho region. You have violated our terri- 
 tory, interfered with our business of husbandry, burned 
 our villages, and scattered their inhabitants. For these 
 reasons my father found it necessary to establish supre- 
 macy over the various tribes, and solemnly declared to 
 Heaven and earth his purpose to make war upon you 
 Mings. 
 
 " Frequently he attempted to negotiate with you, but 
 you ignored his letters. Thanks to the mistakes com- 
 mitted by your predecessor and his Ministers, matters 
 have now dragged on for years without hope of settle- 
 
 ^ One of the numerous Chinese who already then had gone over to 
 the winning side, and who, after the conquest became " tribute-eating " 
 bannermen. 
 
 151 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ment. I do not blame Your Majesty for these things; I 
 am merely stating the plain rights of the case. 
 
 " If now I am prepared to make peace, it is of my own 
 free will, no man coercing me. Since my accession to 
 the Throne Heaven has plentifully blessed my endeavours, 
 and all the territory of the coast has been won by my 
 arms. The population of the northern regions is nomadic, 
 and not addicted to husbandry. Their domestic animals 
 are the dog and the deer; their occupations, hunting and 
 fishing. All North Manchuria has submitted to me ; nay, 
 even the descendants of the Mongol Emperors and Korea 
 have owned my supremacy. 
 
 " In response to the request of my Mongol vassals and 
 of the Princes of my family I have announced to Heaven 
 and earth that We have assumed the dynastic title of 
 Ta Ching, ' Great Pure,' and changed my reign title to 
 that of ' Consummate Virtue.' 
 
 " We have vanquished your troops on every occasion 
 that we have invaded your territory. There would not 
 be the slightest difficulty in advancing still further and 
 in making our occupation permanent. At our approach 
 your cities fall; your battle line breaks in disarray. 
 
 " But, in the interests of our subjects, my mind is still 
 set on peace. Sooner or later, retribution is visited by 
 Heaven on him who lusts after conquest, while the 
 humane receive their just reward. If our two States can 
 only realise where true happiness lies, and establish 
 relations of cordial and confident friendship, all the ill- 
 feeling of the past may easily be buried in oblivion. 
 What cause is there for either party to arrogate to itself 
 superiority over the other ? The adage says : ' To under- 
 stand everything is to forgive, but a lack of comprehension 
 breeds hatred.' 
 
 " I am ready to receive your embassies in audience, and 
 it behoves you to grant equal favours to mine. In this 
 way peace between us may be perpetual. But should 
 
 152 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 you persist in asserting these exaggerated ideas of your 
 own importance, and refuse to meet my envoys face to 
 face, as if they were unworthy to enter your sacred 
 presence, it is useless to hope for any good understanding 
 between us, and nothing but disaster will accrue to your 
 State. 
 
 " Do you imagine, forsooth, that your majestic dignity 
 is in any way enhanced by a discourteous refusal to 
 receive my envoys ? Have not our peoples always been 
 wont to exchange ambassadorial visits on occasions of 
 ceremony or Court mourning, to convey congratulations 
 or condolences, and has it not been your custom to send 
 us annual gifts, 10,000 taels of gold, 100,000 of silver, in 
 exchange for which we have presented to you 1000 lbs. 
 of ginseng and 1000 sable skins ? In future, should any 
 fugitives from our justice, Manchu, Mongol, Chinese or 
 Korean, escape into your territory, it shall be your duty 
 to hand them over to us ; we for our part will do the same 
 with your fugitives. Your boundary shall be the range 
 of mountains between Ning Yiian and Shuang-shu p'i, 
 while our frontier shall be Pagoda Mountain. Lien Shan 
 Bay shall be neutral territory, and subjects of both nations 
 shall be permitted to trade there. Any one violating 
 these respective boundaries shall be punished with death. 
 Coastal fishing shall be similarly confined within certain 
 boundaries to Manchus and Chinese respectively. If you 
 approve of the above conditions and are ready to make 
 peace, we can either proceed ourselves in person to an- 
 nounce the solemn compact to the Most High or depute 
 officials to represent us and exchange the respective 
 treaties. If you refuse peace on these terms, pray send us 
 no more envoys, and hereafter whatsoever misfortunes 
 may befall your people will be no fault of mine. I now 
 hand this letter to your emissaries, and have arranged 
 for their safe convoy through my territory, past my out- 
 posts at Chinchou, as far as Lien Shan." 
 
 153 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 The Ming envoys knelt once and kotowed thrice on 
 entering and leaving the Presence; they handed in a 
 further decree from the Ming Emperor addressed, like the 
 last, to his Board of War, in which the Monarch asked for 
 news of the negotiations, and gave the mission full powers 
 to enter into a treaty at Moukden, but there was still no 
 direct communication from Ch'ung Chen to his brother 
 Sovereign. 
 
 Unfortunately for the possible success of this mission, 
 the Ming Emperor's instructions to keep its results strictly 
 secret were disregarded. When the envoys returned to 
 Peking they handed in T'ai Tsung's letter and the other 
 documents to Ch'en Hsin-chia, the President of the Board 
 of War, who was proceeding to draft a favourable report 
 to the Throne when, through the error (possibly inten- 
 tional) of a servant, copies of the Ming Emperor's decrees 
 and a full account of the negotiations were published in 
 the official Peking Gazette. Ch'ung Chen had specially 
 enjoined Ch'en to maintain rigid secrecy, and was, there- 
 fore, exceedingly wrath at these disclosures. As he had 
 expected, the Censors poured in violent memorials of 
 impeachment, denouncing Ch'en as a traitor for endeavour- 
 ing to make peace with the Manchus. Ch'ung Chen issued 
 a decree ordering Ch'en to explain his action; but the 
 Minister declined to' accept any blame for his conduct, 
 and sent in a memorial asserting boldly that by these 
 negotiations he had rendered a great service to the 
 Throne. Ch'ung Chen felt that he had lost much face, 
 and as usual recovered it by ordering the luckless 
 Minister's public decapitation. So the mission was a 
 failure, and the war went on. Quos Deus vult perdere 
 prius dementat. 
 
 An interesting memorial by one of the Manchu Court's 
 Censors at this date observed, " Wu San-kuei is still 
 holding out at Ning Yiian, but the garrison are in piteous 
 straits and the city must soon fall. Wu is exceedingly 
 
 154 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 suspicious of our intentions, it therefore behoves Your 
 Majesty to capture him by strategy. Once Ning Yiian 
 and Shan Hai-kuan have fallen, Peking is ours. The 
 Court will flee to Nanking, and the Manchus will be masters 
 of China." 
 
 Another Chinese adherent of the Manchus memorialised, 
 advising T'ai Tsung to march on Peking through Mongolia, 
 leaving Shan Hai-kuan isolated. To this he replied : 
 " The capture of Peking may be likened to the cutting 
 down of a great tree. First dig up all the wide- spreading 
 roots and the trunk will fall of itself. Each day lessens 
 the power of the Mings and increases ours. Before long 
 Peking will fall like a ripe apple into our lap." 
 
 The apple was ripening fast. T'ai Tsung, to hasten the 
 inevitable end, now dispatched a large army into China 
 under his elder brother. Prince Abtai. In an address to 
 this force he said : " We are no lovers of prolonged war, 
 but our attempts to secure peace have been brought to 
 nought by the purblind obstinacy of the Mings. We 
 now, therefore, command you to invade China and smite 
 them hip and thigh. Take no innocent life, carry off no 
 man's wife and family, nor any wearing apparel. Loot 
 not to excess. Plunder no stores of grain except when it 
 is needed for your use. During the last expedition to 
 Shantung there were instances of people being beaten to 
 death in order to make them give up treasure. Such 
 atrocities are a violation of the humane principles by 
 which we are inspired. Bring back all your captives 
 uninjured, that they may join our ranks." The Emperor 
 accompanied the army as far as the suburbs of Moukden 
 and then bade it farewell. In a few parting words he 
 warned them against the pride which precedes a fall, and 
 advised that if they should fall in with any of the forces 
 of the rebels, then approaching Peking, they should en- 
 deavour by soft words to win them over to the Manchu 
 side. 
 
 155 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 He handed to Abtai his seal of office. Three salvoes 
 of artillery were fired, and the army, in three divisions, 
 set forth. This was in November 1642. The expedition 
 proved a brilliant success. The invaders broke through 
 the Great Wall near the spot where now stand the Manchu 
 dynasty's Eastern Tombs, ^ and from Chichou marched 
 southwards. In South Chihli and Shantung they cap- 
 tured eighty-eight walled cities, and advanced as far as 
 Yenchou-fu in Southern Shantung. In March of the 
 following year they re-entered Chihli. T'ai Tsung's orders 
 about looting had not been taken too literally, for their 
 train of camels and baggage wagons extended over a 
 length of near a hundred miles. To cut them off from 
 Manchuria a large body of Ming troops had collected at 
 Tien-chen under the Grand Secretary Chou Yen-ju, but 
 he feared to give battle, contenting himself with dispatching 
 to Peking bombastic reports of a glorious victory. The 
 only engagement which took place was at Shell Mountain, 
 some thirty miles north of Peking, where the Mings, under 
 the Viceroy of Chihli and Liaotung, were badly defeated. 
 At this time the Mings had no fewer than four Viceroys 
 in command of their territory surrounding the Great Wall, 
 six Governors, eight Generals-in-chief, not to mention a 
 eunuch Commander-in-chief, who tried to concentrate all 
 authority in his oVn hands and tyrannised over his 
 colleagues. There was thus no attempt at co-ordination, 
 and Li Tzii-ch'eng's rebels were daily advancing nearer 
 to Peking. 
 
 In July 1643, the Manchu armies returned to Moukden, 
 where they were cordially welcomed by T'ai Tsung, who 
 went to meet them beyond the walls. The expedition 
 had put to death the Ming Prince Lu and five other Princes 
 of the Imperial family, as well as a thousand of the 
 Imperial clan. They had taken possession of three 
 prefectures, eighteen departments and sixty-seven district 
 
 ^ Where K'anghsi, Ch'ien Lung and Tzu Hsi lie buried. 
 
 156 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 cities, and routed the enemy in thirty-seven engagements. 
 They had secured booty to the amount of 12,250 ounces 
 of gold, 12,250,277 ounces of silver, 4,440 ounces of pearls, 
 52,234 rolls of satin and silks, 33,720 suits of raiment. 111 
 fur coats, 500 sable skins, 1,600 deer horns, and had taken 
 369,000 captives, besides 551,312 beasts of burden, camels 
 and oxen. One-third of this booty was divided among the 
 officers and men; immense quantities of private loot 
 were also secreted by individuals. 
 
 The Emperor T'ai Tsung sacrificed at his father's tomb 
 on the Buddhist All Souls' Day (the 15th of the 7th Moon), 
 when the Mongol Tushetu Khan came to present his 
 congratulations at the head of his tribe. He then went 
 on a hunting trip, on returning from which he had to 
 undergo a long and fatiguing day of audiences in the 
 Moukden Palace. At 11 p.m. on the 9th of the 8th Moon 
 (Sept. 21, 1643) he repaired to his bed-chamber, and 
 there, sitting bolt upright in his chair of state, expired 
 without a word, doubtless from heart failure. He was 
 then in his fifty-first year. He had prepared no vale- 
 dictory decree nor any instructions regarding the succes- 
 sion. By the laws of the dynasty his eldest son, Meng Ko, 
 Prince Su, then in his twenty-ninth year, should have 
 succeeded him, but this would have thwarted the ambi- 
 tions of the surviving sons of Nurhachi, especially those 
 of his fourteenth son Dorgun (Prince Jui), who had 
 designs on the Regency, since he could not legally aspire 
 to the Throne. T'ai Tsung's eldest surviving brother, 
 Taishan (Prince Li), was crippled with rheumatism, and 
 was, therefore, incapable of advancing his claims. So T'ai 
 Tsung's ninth son, Fu Lin, a child of five and a half years, 
 was placed on the Throne by his ambitious uncle, Prince 
 Jui, who, secure in the Regency, could look forward to 
 many years of power. 
 
 Although T'ai Tsung's other brothers were jealous of 
 Dorgun' s assumption of the Regency, his claims as a 
 
 157 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 military leader were indisputable, and their assertion was 
 justified by the approval of the bannermen. The young 
 Emperor was a child of splendid physique; he had de- 
 lighted his father by his promise of athletic prowess, and 
 had accompanied him on the hunting expedition of the 
 previous spring. His mother, a Mongol Princess of the 
 Khorchin tribe, was a very remarkable woman, and 
 exercised great influence over her son, and later in life 
 over her grandson, K'ang Hsi. It was thought strange 
 at the time that she acquiesced so readily in Dorgun's 
 usurpation of power during the Emperor's minority, but 
 she decided, no doubt, that the consolidation and ex- 
 tension of the Empire were more important than any 
 internal or domestic questions. 
 
 The new reign opened auspiciously : the King of Korea 
 sent a mission with tribute, and received in reply a graci- 
 ously condescending message. Prince Cheng, Co-Regent 
 with Dorgun, was dispatched from Moukden to attack 
 the Ming stronghold at Chung Hou-so. He took with 
 him a large number of European guns which had been 
 captured from the Mings. The city was bombarded 
 and taken by assault, some 4,000 men being killed 
 and as many captured. The Manchus now held every 
 important point, except Ning Yiian, outside the Great 
 Wall. The expedition returned into winter quarters at 
 Moukden, and spent that season in casting a number of 
 guns for the next campaign in China. 
 
 By the spring of 1644 all was ready for the final over- 
 throw of the Mings ; Prince Jui appointed himself General- 
 issimo of the army, and no doubt cherished ambitions of 
 eventually securing the Throne after the fall of Peking. 
 Suddenly news reached Moukden that Wu San-kuei had 
 evacuated Ning Yiian, which had so long defied all 
 attacks, and that his force was retreating towards the 
 capital. The Manchus were unaware that Li Tzu-ch'eng 
 and his rebel hordes were already at Peking, and that the 
 
 158 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 dynasty had collapsed. The Regent was urged to march 
 without delay upon the capital and to effect its permanent 
 occupation. His Grand Secretary, Fan Wen-ch'eng, 
 pointed out that the Manchus had frequently overrun 
 Chihli; thrice already they had put to the sword the 
 inhabitants of Yung-ping, and had evacuated Tsun-hua 
 after holding it for several months. Such tactics created 
 an impression that they were merely raiders and marauders 
 of the marches. They should now establish strict discip- 
 line and forbid all looting; the Ming officials should be 
 retained in their posts, so as to mark clearly the difference 
 between Manchu rule and the brigandage of Li Tzii-ch'eng. 
 The rebels would assuredly consolidate their power unless 
 the Manchus struck promptly. If they could but secure 
 the region north of the Yellow River, all China must be 
 theirs, sooner or later. Before the army left, a solemn 
 sacrifice was offered to the manes of Nurhachi and his son ; 
 thereafter the boy Emperor himself presented Dorgun 
 with the seal and patent of his office. The edict issued 
 on this occasion declared, in the best classical manner, 
 that while Korea and Mongolia had acknowledged his 
 dynasty's sovereignty, the Chinese still remained stubborn. 
 His Majesty, unfortunately, was too young to lead his 
 armies in person and had, therefore, entrusted this duty to 
 his uncle, on whom he now bestowed a canopy of Imperial 
 yellow, two dragon banners, a cap of fox- skin, sable robes, 
 a sable rug and dragon robes. The Throne — which meant 
 the power of the pens behind it — retained its prerogatives 
 as regards directing the conduct of the campaign. The 
 edict concluded : " Let there be complete harmony 
 among you, so that success may be achieved, and the 
 august Shades of the mighty dead be comforted. Be 
 reverent." 
 
 Prince Jui bowed the knee thrice and kotowed nine 
 times. His army, which was to establish the Manchu 
 rulers upon the Dragon Throne, comprised two-thirds of 
 
 159 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the Manchu and Mongol banners; ^ and all the Chinese 
 (Hanchiin) levies. The other third of the Manchus and 
 Mongols remained to guard the young Emperor and his 
 capital. 
 
 The rest of the story has already been told. As soon 
 as Wu San-kuei had been dispatched by the Regent to 
 occupy and exhaust his formidable army in the congenial 
 task of pursuing the booty-laden rebels, the Regent settled 
 down to consolidate the Manchu power against all possible 
 attacks, and to re-organise the Government upon just and 
 liberal principles. With the courage of a great soldier 
 and the skill of a great statesman he laid the foundations 
 of the dynastic rule, which the young Emperor Shun 
 Chih and his immediate descendants were destined to 
 carry to an eminence of fame rarely equalled in the history 
 of China. 
 
 We have thought it advisable to narrate thus fully the 
 origin and history of the warlike clansmen who replaced 
 the Mings, and thereafter ruled over the world's largest 
 Empire for 270 years, because some knowledge of the 
 antecedents and traditions of the Imperial Clans is neces- 
 sary to a proper appreciation of many later events in the 
 
 1 The Manchu dynasty instituted three superior and five inferior 
 banners, to one of whj,ch every Manchu belonged, as well as all the 
 Mongols and Chinese who had assisted in the conquest of China. The 
 three superior banners are : Bordered yellow, plain yellow, and plain 
 white. The five inferior : Bordered white, plain red, bordered red, 
 plain blue and bordered blue. After the conquest, the inner city of 
 Peking was assigned to the several banners by districts, starting from 
 the North. The colours were supposed to represent the five elements : 
 earth, metal, wood, fire and water. The yellow banners, which were 
 quartered in the North of the city, represented earth, supposed by the 
 Chinese to subdue the element of water. The white banners held the 
 North-East and North-West of the city, immediately to the South of 
 the yellow banners ; they represented metal, which is supposed to 
 subdue the element of wood. The red banners occupied the quarter 
 in the centre, from the Ch'i hua Gate to the " P'ing tse " Gate ; they 
 represented the element fire, which subdues metal. Lastly, the blue 
 banners were stationed at the extreme South of the Tartar City ; they 
 represented water, which subdues fire. 
 
 160 
 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 history of the dynasty, and of the causes of its subsequent 
 falling away from the grace that distinguished Nurhachi 
 and his immediate posterity. For the same reason the 
 following genealogical tree should be of interest, even 
 though to-day that interest has become chiefly historical 
 and academic. 
 
 GENEALOGY OF THE HOUSE OF GIORO 
 
 (Founder of the Manchu Dynasty in China) 
 TakosM : killed by officers of the Ming Emperor Wanli in 1583. 
 
 His issue : 
 
 1. MurhacM. 
 
 2. Shurhachi : whose son Chirhalang (Prince Cheng) was Co- 
 
 Regent with Prince Jui at Peking in 1643. Founder of the 
 hereditary princedom of Cheng. 
 
 3. Nurhachi: whose mother was Sitala; born 1559, died 1626. 
 
 Known in history as Taitsu, " Exalted Founder." Nurhachi 
 married a daughter of Prince Yangkunu, Yehonala, who was 
 the mother of T'ai Tsung, his successor. She died in 1603. 
 
 Nurhachi had issue : 
 
 1. Arhhatutumen : sentenced to death in 1615; his son, Prince 
 
 Chingchin, was a distinguished soldier, who died about 1650. 
 
 2. Taishan : Prince Li, founder of the senior princely house of 
 
 Li; died in 1648. (The title of Sun was taken by the 
 successors of Prince Li for five generations, after which the 
 present title of Li was resumed.) 
 
 3. Abai : ennobled as Duke. 
 
 4. Tangkutai. 
 
 5. Mangkurtai : allowed to commit suicide in 1633. 
 
 6. Tapai. 
 
 7. Ahtai : Prince Jaoyii, who died in 1646. 
 
 8. Huangtaiki : who succeeded his father as Emperor. 
 
 9. Baptai. 
 
 10. Deklei : cashiered and removed from the Imperial Clan. 
 
 11. Babuhai. 
 
 12. Achiko : Prince Ying, who was privileged to commit suicide 
 
 by Imperial order in 1651. 
 
 13. Laimpu. 
 
 14. Dorgun : Prince Jui, the Regent; founder of the House of 
 
 Jui. Died in 1650, aged 39. Posthumously accused of 
 rebellion against the State, and name removed from the 
 
 M 161 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Imperial Clan. In 1778 his honours were restored to him, 
 when he was given the posthumous name of " Loyal," and his 
 descendants were allowed to resume their former title. 
 15. Toto : Prince Yii, own brother of Dorgun, and founder of the 
 House of Yii. Died in 1649. His son, Toni, succeeded as 
 Prince Hsin. 
 
 Huangtaiki : known in history as T'ai Tsung or the Illustrious Ancestor. 
 Born in 1592. Married Bochito, daughter of the Khorchin 
 Prince Sesang, mother of Shunchih, Kang Hsi's Empress 
 Grand Dowager, who died in 1688. Succeeded in 1626. 
 In 1636 adopted the title of Ta Ch'ing, " Great Pure," for his 
 dynasty. Died in 1643. 
 
 His issue were : 
 
 2. Mengko : Prince Su, ancestor of the princely family of Su. 
 Imprisoned on a charge of treason in 1648 by the Regent. 
 Posthumously canonised with restoration of all his honours 
 and titles. 
 
 2. Shosai : Prince Ch'eng Tse ; his son Bokoto was the founder 
 
 of the princely family of Chuang, and ancestor of the Boxer 
 Prince of that name who committed suicide. 
 
 3. Kaosai, 
 
 4. Fulin : reigned as Shunchih. 
 
 5. Bomubokorh : Prince Hsiang; died in 1656. 
 
 Emperor Shunchih : born 1638 ; succeeded 1643 ; assumed government 
 in 1651, and died in 1661. Married (1) Borchichin of the 
 Khorchin Mongol tribe in 1651. She disagreed with her 
 sovereign lord, and was reduced to the position of concubine 
 of the third rank by the Empress Dowager. (2) A daughter 
 of Prince Chorji of the Khorchins, K'ang Hsi's Empress 
 Dowager, died in 1718. 
 
 Shun Chih had issue : 
 
 1. Fuchuan : Prince Yu ; died 1703. Referred to by the first 
 
 Russian ambassador to the Court of Peking as the most 
 prominent subject of K'ang Hsi. 
 
 2. Hsuanyeh : who became Emperor with reign title of K'ang Hsi. 
 
 3. Changning : Prince Kung; died 1703. His son, Mantuhu, 
 
 joined the rebellious brothers of Yung Cheng. 
 
 K'angHsi : born 1654; assvimed the government in 1667; died 1722. 
 His first Empress was a daughter of Gobla of the Hashli 
 Clan, who died in 1674. His second was of the Niuhulu 
 Clan, a daughter of Duke Obilung — died 1678. His third 
 was of the Tungchia Clan — died in 1689. His fourth was 
 of the Wuya Clan ; she was the mother of Yung Cheng and 
 by him exalted to the rank of Empress on his accession 
 to the Throne.^ 
 
 ^ K'ang Hsi's sons are enumerated elsewhere : vide pp. 245-247. 
 
 162 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Yung Cheng : born 1678 ; died 1735 ; married the Lady Niuhulu, who 
 became the mother of Ch'ien Lung and Empress Dowager 
 during his reign. A woman of great strength of character; 
 she accompanied her son in many of his journeys all over 
 China. Died in 1777, aged 88, the possessor of eighteen 
 honorific characters in her title. 
 
 Yung Cheng had issue : 
 
 1. Hungli : who succeeded his father as Ch'ien Lung. During 
 
 his father's lifetime known as Prince Jewel. 
 
 2. Hung-chou : or Prince Ho ; died 1770. 
 
 3. Hungchan : Prince Kuo. As a lad he was called Yuanming- 
 
 yuan or Round Bright Garden (the name of the Summer 
 Palace). Was reduced to the rank of Beileh, or Prince of 
 the third order, but Ch'ien Lung visited him on his death-bed, 
 restored his original princedom, and had him canonised. 
 Died in 1765. 
 
 ChHen Lung : born in 1711 ; abdicated in 1796 ; died February 7, 
 1799. His first Empress was of the Fucha Clan ; the second 
 of the Yehonala Clan. The latter accompanied her husband 
 and mother-in-law on an excursion to the South in 1765. 
 She misbehaved herself during this journey, treating her 
 mother-in-law with flagrant disrespect and flippancy, and 
 was sent back in disgrace to Peking from Hangchou, shut up 
 in the " Cold Palace," and subsequently deposed. 
 
 Ch'ien Lung had issue : 
 
 1. Yunghuang f Prince Ting, son of a concubine, and ancestor 
 
 of Prince Jii Lang, one of Tzti Hsi's Grand Councillors. This 
 Prince Ting was debarred from the succession, owing to his 
 being the son of a subordinate concubine. 
 
 2. Yung Lien : created Heir Apparent, but died in 1738, aged 13. 
 
 3. Yung Chang : Prince Hsun, died 1760. 
 
 4. Yung CKeng : Prince Li, who became heir to his uncle, Yun 
 
 Tao, one of Yung Cheng's rebellious brothers. Died in 1777. 
 
 5. Yung ChH : Prince Jung. The Emperor intended him to be 
 
 Heir Apparent on the death of the seventh son, Prince Che. 
 He died in 1766, aged 25. 
 
 6. Yung Jung : Prince Chih, made heir to his uncle. Prince Yun 
 
 Hsi. Died in 1790, aged 46. 
 
 7. Yung Tsung : Prince Che. Died 1748, aged 3. 
 
 8. Yung Hsiian : Prince Yi ; held many Government posts as 
 
 adviser to his brother, the Emperor Chia Ch'ing. Died in 
 ( ?) 1832, aged 86. His son. Mien Chih, succeeded to the Prince- 
 dom of Yi which was, however, reduced by one grade. Yi 
 Tsai, son of Mien Chih, was declared heir to Prince Ching, 
 but was afterwards deprived of the title when the succession 
 to the house of Ch'ing went to Mien Ti, adopted father of 
 the present Prince Ch'ing. 
 
 163 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 9. Yung Hsing : Prince Ch'eng, a great scholar, and one of the 
 most famous caligraphists of the dynasty. Was adviser to 
 his brother Chia Ch'ing. Died in 1823, aged 71. Great 
 grandfather of Prince Tsai Hsiao. 
 
 10. Yung ChH : died in 1776, aged 25. 
 
 11. Yung Yen : succeeded his father as the Emperor Chia Ch'ing. 
 
 12. Yung Lin : Prince Ch'ing, died 1820, aged 53. Grandfather 
 
 (by adoption) of Yi Kuang, the present Prince Ch'ing, who 
 was originally an impoverished Imperial clansman, adopted 
 into the nearer branch of the Imperial family. 
 
 Emperor Chia Ch'ing : born 1760 ; created Prince Chia (Admirable) ; 
 took over the reins of government in February 1796 ; killed 
 by lightning near Jehol, September 1820. Married Hsitala, 
 daughter of Horchingo, the mother of Tao kuang, who died 
 in 1797, and, en secondes noces, the Lady Niuhulu, who was 
 promoted to be Empress shortly after Ch'ien Lung's death. 
 She was Taokuang's Empress Dowager, and died in 1850, 
 pre-deceasing Taokuang by one month. 
 
 Chia Ch'ing had issue : 
 
 1. Mienning : succeeded his father as Emperor Taokuang. 
 
 2. Mienkai : Prince Tun, died 1839. 
 
 3. Mien Hsin : Prince Huai, died 1828 ; succeeded by Yi Yo, or 
 
 Yichih, as he was subsequently named. Yichih died in 1850, 
 and Prince Tuan, the Boxer Prince, was adopted as his heir. 
 
 4. Mien YiX : Prince Hui, died in 1865. His sons were : Yihsiang, 
 
 Yihstin and Yimo. Yihsiin was father of the Duke Tsai Tse, 
 Finance Minister towards the end of Tzii Hsi's reign. 
 
 Taokuang : born 1782, succeeded 1820 and died 1850. Married (1) the 
 Lady Niuhulu, who died before his accession but was posthu- 
 mously made Empress ; (2) Lady Tungchia, who died in 
 1833, and (3) Lady Niuhulu, daughter of Yiling, mother of 
 the Emperor Hsien Feng; created Empress in 1834, died in 
 1840 ; (4) Lady Borjikit, who was instrumental in selecting 
 Tzii Hsi for the Palace. She was elevated to be Empress 
 Dowager a week before she died, in 1855. 
 
 Taokuang had issue : 
 
 1. Yiwei : son of the concubine Yehonala ; born 1808, died 1831. 
 
 Tasichung (or Tsai Chih, as he was afterwards called), son of 
 an Imperial clansman, was adopted as his heir. Tsai Chih's 
 son is P'ulun, who very nearly became Emperor in 1875. 
 
 2. Yikang : died in infancy. 
 
 3. Yichi : died in infancy. 
 
 4 Yichu : who reigned as Hsien Feng. 
 
 5 Yitsung : Prince Tun, was adopted as heir to Mienkai (see 
 
 above). His sons were : (a) Tsai Lien, born 1856, one of 
 the Boxer Princes. (6) Tsai Yi, Prince Tuan, born December 
 
 164 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 1856. His son, P'uchiin, was the Boxer Heir Apparent (whom 
 Tzii Hsi spanked). He married a daughter of the Mongol 
 Prince Lo. (c) Tsailan, the Boxer Prince, exiled to Urumchi ; 
 born in 1857. (d) Tsaiying. (e) Tsaiching. (/) Tsaihao. 
 
 6. Yihsin: Prince Kung, born 1833, died in 1898. His eldest 
 
 son (a) Tsaich'eng, born in 1857, predeceased his father; 
 (b) Tsai Ying, born in 1861, adopted as heir to his uncle, 
 Prince Chung, the eighth Prince. P'uwei, the present Prince 
 Kung, is his son. P'uwei considers he was wrongfully 
 ousted from the Throne on the death of Kuang Hsii. 
 
 7. Yihuan : Prince Ch'un, born 1840, died 1891. Married 
 
 Yehonala, sister of Tzii Hsi, by whom he had issue : (1) Tsai 
 Han. (2) Tsai Tien, Emperor Kuang Hsii (some Chinese 
 assert that Tzii Hsi was really the mother of Kuang Hsii). 
 By another wife of low origin, named Tsui (she was the 
 daughter of a groom), he also had issue ; Tsai Feng, the 
 Ex-Regent, born 1882, married a daughter of Jung Lu; 
 father of the Emperor Hsiian Tung (Pu'yi), born 1906, and 
 Pukuang. By the same concubine Tsai Tao was born; his 
 elder brother, Tsai Hsiin, is by another concubine. 
 
 8. Yiho : Prince Chung, born 1844, died 1868. 
 
 9. Yihui : Prince Fu, married a niece of Tzii Hsi, and was dismissed 
 
 by her from office in 1898 because of his sympathy towards 
 Kuanghsii. He was pardoned in January 1909, on the day 
 of Yuan Shih-k'ai's dismissal. 
 
 Hsien Feng : born in 1831, died in 1861. Married (1) Sakota, daughter 
 of Muyanga, in 1848, who died in 1850, one month before 
 his accession. She was posthumously raised to the rank of 
 Empress, and was the " centre " of the three Empresses, 
 Tzu An being the " eastern " and Tzii Hsi the " western." 
 (2) Niuhulu, also daughter of Muyanga, who was made 
 concubine in 1852; afterwards Empress Dowager; died 
 April 1881. (3) Yehonala, afterwards Tzii Hsi. 
 
 Hsien Feng had issue : 
 
 1. Tsai Ch'un, born 1856, died 1875, reigned as Tung Chih. 
 
 2. An infant son, who died a few days after birth. 
 
 Tung Chih : married Alute, daughter of Chungchi, who died in 1875. 
 Kuang HsU : born August 1871 ; married Yehonala 1899, died 
 
 November 22, 1908. Was practically deposed by Tzii Hsi, 
 
 after the coup d'etat of September 1898. 
 Hsiian Tung : (P'uyi) son of Tsai Feng, succeeded November 1908, 
 
 abdicated Februarv 12, 1912. 
 
 165 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE MINGS AT NANKING 
 
 Debauched and cowardly as they were, the Princes 
 and courtiers of the Mings were not disposed to rehnquish 
 without a struggle their rights to the Dragon Throne, or 
 their claims to the long-suffering allegiance of the Chinese 
 people. After the fall of Peking and the desecration of 
 its high places by the rebel hordes of Li Tzu-ch'eng, for 
 a time there was nothing but a sauve qui peut, without 
 purpose or direction; but when they saw their fierce 
 harrier ^ himself driven forth by new conquerors and 
 pursued by one who, until then, had been their dynasty's 
 mainstay against the Manchus, small wonder that the 
 more energetic members of the Imperial family took heart 
 of grace and endeavoured to rally their scattered forces 
 upon a new centre.^ The sybarite retains to the end his 
 
 1 Li Tzii-ch'eng's nickname was " Prince Harrier." 
 
 2 An initial cause of their disorganisation lay in the fact that the 
 Heir Apparent had disappeared after the fall of the city, and that none 
 knew if he were alive or dead. Several months after the Manchu 
 Emperor had been proclaimed in Peking this Prince's whereabouts 
 were unknown, but eventually he was brought secretly by a eunuch 
 to the house of one who had had high office under the Mings, and with 
 whom the Ming Princess Imperial was residing. The meeting between 
 brother and sister was most affecting; he had been in hiding at a 
 Buddhist monastery since his escape from the city, but was weary 
 of the suspense and grief of his existence, and came to seek his relatives. 
 The Princess and his host begged him to change his name and adopt 
 a disguise, but he refused. Shortly afterwards he was recognised by 
 several renegade officials and eunuchs and thrown into prison by order 
 of the Regent. The merchants and gentry of Peking petitioned that 
 his young life might be spared, but the Regent had no desire to leave 
 a rallying point for the conspiracies of legitimists, and the unfortunate 
 youth was put to death by poison in the Board of Punishments. 
 
 166 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 habits and ambitions of luxury, and with the degenerate 
 Mings the lust of perquisites and power, of pomp and 
 circumstance, was not killed by their cataclysmic disasters. 
 For eighteen years, harried from one short-lived capital 
 to another, four successive claimants to the Throne of 
 their dynasty retained some semblance of their regal 
 state and a place in the minds, if not the hearts, of their 
 people. During these years there were times when, had 
 there been a strong man amongst them, their dominion 
 might well have been restored and the Manchus driven 
 back, for the Confucian virtues of faithfulness and loyal 
 devotion (which have generally characterised the relations 
 between the literati and their Sovereign in Chinese history) 
 were not lacking at this period; many a brave soldier, 
 many a stoic philosopher of the mandarins, upheld the 
 proud traditions of their caste, and died rather than 
 submit to the rule of the alien, and many millions of the 
 " stupid people " went bravely to their graves because 
 of that loyalty to the central idea of the Confucian doctrine. 
 But the Mings were all unworthy, even in adversity. As 
 they had been before the threatening storm, so they re- 
 mained when its passing had left their dynasty a tempest- 
 driven wreck — ^invertebrate, irresolute to the end. Four 
 years after the flight from Peking, when the adherents of 
 Kuei Wang, the last of the Mings, were making a successful 
 stand in the Kuang provinces, when Coxinja was begin- 
 ning to organise new forces of resistance to the Manchus, 
 and when several rebel forces had taken the field on their 
 own account, a little statesmanship, a little courage, might 
 have won the day. But it was not to be. The little Court 
 in exile kept up its tinsel state, grateful to its loyal 
 adherents only so long as they replenished the Privy 
 purse which paid for its revels; leaving its armies un- 
 victualled whilst it rehearsed some new play,^ or sent the 
 
 1 It is recorded of Hung Kuang, the first of the fugitive Emperors 
 of the Mings, that on a certain occasion, while the Regent's forces 
 
 167 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 eunuchs through the country in search of new favourites 
 for the harem of the " Palace," that was now a moving 
 tent. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the wretched end of the 
 Ming claimants, pursued and slain each in his turn, does 
 not excite our sympathies so much as the calamities which 
 the miserable people were doomed to bear because of the 
 Mings' last struggle for the Throne. History, as usual, says 
 but little of the widespread and awful devastation created 
 by that struggle, of the pitiful sufferings of the masses; 
 that tale was told (as it is being told again in China to-day) 
 by cities of the dead, by roofless villages and homeless 
 wanderers throughout all the land. In the next chapter, 
 which narrates the sack of Yang Chou-fu, the reader will 
 find a plain, dispassionate account by an eye-witness of 
 the fate which overtook one city because a gallant soldier 
 refused to renounce his principles and his allegiance. 
 That soldier was General Shih K'o-fa, a staunch loyalist, 
 a distinguished scholar, and a man of bravery so rare 
 that it won for him the sincere respect and goodwill of 
 the Manchu Regent. When the Mings had gathered at 
 Nanking and established there, under a grandson of Wan 
 Li, the semblance of a Government and a Court, it was to 
 Shih K'o-fa that the eyes of all men were turned to prevent 
 the Manchu invasion from coming South. 
 
 Had he not been handicapped by the jealous intrigues 
 of his rivals at Court, led by one Ma Shih-ying (who had 
 been one of the faction of the notorious eunuch Wei 
 Chung-hsien), Shih K'o-fa might have been able to hold 
 the Manchus in check at the Huai River. Before the 
 Regent's forces began their advance towards the Yangtsze 
 he had collected and organised an effective army of 60,000 
 
 were advancing to the siege of Yang Chou-fu, his eunuchs, seeing him 
 greatly depressed, inquired the cause of his grief. " Wliat distresses 
 me," he replied, " is that there is not in all my Court an actor worthy 
 of the name." 
 
 168 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Shensi troops. Besides these, the Mings had four divisions, 
 of about 10,000 men each, encamped at strategic points 
 in the provinces of Anhui and Kiangsu. Shih asked only 
 to be given a free hand and independent control over 
 these forces, to be relieved of all vexatious interference 
 by the courtiers and civil officials at Nanking; but the 
 new Emperor, foredoomed to vacillation and folly, gave 
 ear to the counsels of Ma Shih-ying, and ordered that the 
 Commander-in-chief should act only upon orders from 
 Nanking. Meanwhile, he continued to squander money on 
 revels and banquets, while the troops in the field were 
 left insufficiently fed and clad. 
 
 In the spring of 1645, the dissensions between the rival 
 parties at Court prevented the Commander-in-chief from 
 carrying out any definite plan of campaign. In an 
 eloquent and plain-spoken memorial he placed the facts 
 before the Emperor. " Whilst Your Majesty is banqueting 
 on choice viands," he wrote, " and quaffing wine from 
 beakers of jade, it behoves you to remember your starving 
 servants in the North. If, in spite of all his efforts, the late 
 Emperor was unable to ward off disaster, how much more 
 should you, inferior to him in ability, tremble as one who 
 stands on the brink of a precipice. If you perform your 
 duties with zeal and vigilance, it may be that your an- 
 cestors' spirits in Heaven will intercede with the Almighty 
 on your behalf, and that your heritage may be regained. 
 But if you remain in idle dalliance in Nanking, lavishing 
 favours on sycophants and forgetful of the welfare of your 
 troops, if you proclaim our secret plans from the housetops 
 and fail to distinguish between loyal devotion and treason, 
 if you show yourself so lacking in dignity that the worthy 
 men about you are constrained to retire from official life, 
 and the brave hesitate to serve you, then assuredly your 
 ancestors will regard you as unworthy of their aid, and 
 destruction, inevitable and final, will come upon you." 
 
 Just at this critical juncture the Court received word 
 
 169 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 that the people of Honan and Shantung had risen against 
 the officials placed over them by Li Tzu-ch'eng, and were 
 sending deputies to beg the Mings to restore their authority. 
 Once more Shih pleaded with the Emperor : " Send now 
 a message of sympathy to your subjects," he said, " that 
 they may know that there is still a ruler in China. The 
 people will then turn to you, and in time you will recover 
 the lost North." The Emperor was pleased to follow this 
 advice, and as a result General Yi, at the head of the Shensi 
 troops, marched into Honan and recovered K'ai Feng-fu 
 and Kuei Te-fu for the Mings. But the cabal against 
 Shih, fearing to see him attain to power through such 
 successes, were able, by their evil intrigues, to cut off his 
 supplies. His supporters at Nanking were actively per- 
 secuted by Ma Shih-ying's party, and many were beheaded 
 or banished, while the General's memorials were sup- 
 pressed. Meanwhile, the Manchus were pressing down 
 through Shantung, under the command of Prince Yii, 
 a younger brother of the Regent and uncle of the boy 
 Emperor Shun-chih. 
 
 Anxiously Shih K'o-fa waited, on the banks of the Huai, 
 for the provisions and munitions of war which never came. 
 At last, in despair, he sent a final memorial : " Since the 
 catastrophe of last spring (1664) your ancestors' graves 
 have been left unteAded, and chaos reigns throughout your 
 Empire. Not a blow has Your Majesty struck in its 
 defence. You forget that Nanking is but a temporary 
 capital, and that it should be regarded only as a base 
 from which to direct far-reaching operations against the 
 Manchus. It is absurd to suppose that unless you take 
 the offensive you will be suffered to remain there in peace. 
 When you came to the Throne your troops were filled 
 with martial spirit, but to-day all is changed. The army 
 is starved, while your Court revels in luxury. Of a surety 
 doom awaits you. My spies report that the flower of the 
 Manchu army is advancing and that their fleets are 
 
 170 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 speeding down the Grand Canal. All North of the Yellow 
 River has been irrevocably lost, and here I sit by the Huai, 
 disabled for want of provisions. Is our avenging army 
 not to move a step ? Will you leave the chastisement of 
 the rebels to the Manchus? The Manchu Prince has 
 dared to insult you, branding you with the name of 
 usurper. He has treated your envoys with contumely. 
 Between these invaders and us there can be no peace; 
 we must meet them on the field of battle. I doubt 
 whether we should be certain of victory even if we were to 
 sink our ships in the stream and destroy our camps, deter- 
 mined to crush the foe or die in the attempt. How much 
 more, then, is our case hopeless when those who should 
 lead us stand idly by ? A Sovereign must show resolution 
 if the army is to show spirit. Let the Sovereign be lacking 
 in decision and the army must needs be lacking in 
 courage. Let not the flatterers who surround Your Majesty 
 delude you further with fair words. It behoves you to 
 issue orders that the troops shall be properly equipped 
 for a long campaign, and that for bravery high rewards 
 will be bestowed. Is this a time for lavishing honours 
 on unworthy favourites, who should count themselves 
 lucky that they have escaped execution? Fawning 
 eunuchs intrigue to secure high office for themselves and 
 for their proteges, while good men and true are forced out 
 into obscurity. 
 
 " How can we march without food ? You cannot stimu- 
 late men to brave deeds by words alone. Let the money 
 in your treasury be now devoted to your army, and let 
 your Palace festivities cease. Refuse all gifts of tribute 
 and exercise thrift, even in your sacrificial rites. Until 
 you have regained your capital, dalliance in the seraglio 
 and at the banquet will bring no contentment to your 
 jaded appetite. Our Manchu foes are watching your 
 every action ; if you amend not your ways the allegiance 
 of your subjects will surely be forfeited. You should 
 
 171 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 rise early and not till late seek rest, mindful ever of your 
 forbears' achievements, and eager to avenge your pre- 
 decessor's death. Only summon good men around you, 
 and Heaven, relenting, may yet aid your cause. I, as 
 a soldier, have no right to meddle in Court affairs, but 
 where the Court is not pure, the army will surely fail in 
 its duty." 
 
 This protest proved as unavailing as the rest ; Ma Shih- 
 ying's party was too busy persecuting and slaying its 
 opponents to give heed to the dangers of the military 
 situation. Feasts and theatricals were still the order of 
 the day at Court; the Emperor abandoned himself to 
 drinking and profligacy. The Manchu armies advanced 
 in four divisions, and in April 1645 only the Yellow River 
 separated their advance guard from Shih K'o-fa's out- 
 posts. His ablest lieutenant. General Yi, was treacherously 
 murdered by a brother officer who deserted to the enemy ; 
 on all sides the Manchus were harrying the country. 
 When at last the Throne gave Shih a free hand, it was too 
 late. Then, as a rising broke out in Nanking itself, Shih 
 was hurriedly summoned to come back to the rescue. 
 He obeyed, leaving the road open to the Manchus to enter 
 Kiangsu and Anhui. 
 
 So swiftly moved the Manchu cavalry that Shih had 
 only just time to return from Nanking and Sochow and 
 prepare Yang Chou-fu (the key to Nanking) against a 
 siege. No sooner were his dispositions complete than 
 Prince Yii's forces appeared upon the scene. A herald 
 from the Prince came to demand his surrender. Shih 
 cursed the messenger from the city wall. The envoy 
 replied : " The fame of Your Excellency's loyal and 
 eminent services is spread throughout China, yet the Ming 
 Emperor does not give you his confidence. Why, then, 
 not gain a name and a reward by joining the Manchus ? " 
 Shih angrily drew a bow upon him, but the shot missed 
 its aim. Prince Yii was most sincerely anxious that so 
 
 172 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 brave a man should not die in so bad a cause; he there- 
 fore delayed the bombardment of the city and made 
 repeated efforts to get him to parley. All his efforts having 
 proved futile, he ordered the assault. 
 
 Shih, foreseeing the inevitable end, gave orders that his 
 body should be buried near to the mausoleum of the founder 
 of the dynasty at Nanking. For eight days he maintained 
 a splendid defence, doing great execution amongst the 
 Manchus with his superior artillery of Jesuit manufacture. 
 Finally the Manchus effected a breach in the north-west 
 wall of the city and all was over. Shih called one of his 
 officers and said : " The city is lost. Take, I pray you, 
 your sword and kill me." This officer (named Chuang) 
 obeyed, but his heart failed him, and the blow miscarried, 
 so Shih seized the weapon and wounded himself with it 
 in the throat. Here some of his men forcibly intervened, 
 and, putting him on a horse, tried to escape with him by 
 the South Gate of the city. On reaching it they met a 
 party of Manchus. Shih K'o-fa shouted : "I am the 
 Grand Secretary Shih. Lead me to your Commander- 
 in-chief." He was brought before Prince Yii, who said : 
 " You have made a gallant defence. Before the siege 
 I sent several letters to Your Excellency and you refused 
 to negotiate. Now that you have done all that duty 
 could dictate I would be glad to give you a high post. 
 You shall be our Imperial Commissioner for the pacifica- 
 tion of Nanking Province." Shih replied : "I ask of you 
 no favour except death." The Prince persevered : " Do 
 not you see," he said, " your former colleague, the Grand 
 Secretary Hung Ch'eng-chou? He made his peace with 
 us and now stands high in our councils." Shih answered 
 with a smile : " Howsoever well you may treat Hung 
 Ch'eng-chou, your kindness cannot outweigh the favours 
 which he received from his late Emperor and mine. In 
 failing to die with his master and in serving a new one 
 he has proved himself disloyal. Such a man will never 
 
 173 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 be loyal to any cause he serves. How can you expect me 
 to imitate his behaviour ? Sooner or later he will betray 
 you." 
 
 Sadly the Prince bade them lead him away, to hold in 
 custody. Repeated efforts were made to induce him to 
 give in, but as he firmly refused, Prince Yii ordered his 
 decapitation on the third day. He was hurriedly coffined 
 by General Yi, but to this day no one knows the place of 
 his burial. The story was current for many years amongst 
 the dwindling remnants of the Mings that Shih was not 
 beheaded, and that another was put to death in his place. 
 Many years afterwards it was rumoured that he had 
 taken the field against the Manchus in Anhui, but there 
 was no truth in this. 
 
 Thus, faithful to the traditions of his caste, died a great 
 soldier and an honest man. How strong were the tempta- 
 tions held out to him to betray his unworthy Sovereign, 
 how many the arguments, which must even have appealed 
 to him, against continuance of the struggle, may be 
 gathered from the correspondence which took place 
 between the Manchu Regent and General Shih in the 
 autumn of the previous year, four months after the fall 
 of Peking. 
 
 The Regent's first letter was as follows : " Long ago, 
 at Moukden, I had heard of your high reputation in Peking 
 as a scholar,^ and since our victories over the rebels I 
 have taken occasion to find out all about you in the 
 literary circles of the metropolis. Some little time ago I 
 sent you a letter of kindly inquiry and sympathy by the 
 hand of your brother, but I know not if you received it. 
 Reports have now reached us that the Ming dynasty has 
 re-established itself at Nanking, and that a new Emperor 
 has been chosen. Now, we are taught that a man may 
 not live under the same sky with the murderer of his father 
 or Sovereign. Furthermore, the " Spring and Autumn 
 1 Shih was a native of Peking. 
 174 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Annals " state that a Sovereign's obsequies may not be 
 recorded so long as his murderer remains unpunished, 
 neither can the new ruler's accession be considered to have 
 taken place. The principle involved is vital, since its 
 object is to minimise the frequency of rebellions. 
 
 " That traitor, Li Tzu-ch'eng, the ' Prince Harrier,' 
 captured Peking and caused the death of your Emperor 
 and of his kinsmen, whilst scarcely one of his Chinese 
 subjects ventured to draw bow in his defence. One man 
 alone, Wu San-kuei, on your eastern boundary, came in 
 loyal indignation to entreat our succour. In recognition 
 of long- subsisting friendship between our States, and 
 regardless of outstanding differences, we arrayed a host 
 of gallant warriors, and the rebel horde of dogs and rats 
 was swept before us in a panic-stricken rout. 
 
 " After capturing Peking we proceeded forthwith to 
 canonise your late Sovereigns, and arranged for their 
 burial in due accordance with the rites of ceremonial 
 observance. We left to your surviving Princes and high 
 officials their original ranks, treating them all with the 
 utmost commiseration and generosity. Our troops were 
 not allowed to loot ; the markets remained open as usual, 
 and the husbandman continued to till his fields in peace. 
 
 " We had planned, now that the cool weather of autumn 
 has come upon us, to send a punitive expedition, composed 
 of levies from all parts, to pursue Li Tzii-ch'eng into his 
 western retreat, and to pay off your accumulated grudges 
 against him — thus displaying our dynasty's magnanimity. 
 Who could have dreamed that you, worthy gentleman, 
 should be so short-sighted as to seek the temporary con- 
 tinuance of your dynasty in Nanking ? I greatly deplore 
 that you should be thus blind to visible dangers, and permit 
 yourself to cherish vain and deceptive illusions. 
 
 "When our dynasty captured Peking it was not the 
 Ming dynasty which was defeated by our armies, but the 
 rebel Prince Li Tzu-ch'eng, who had violated your ances- 
 
 175 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 tral temple and desecrated your Emperor's remiains. To 
 avenge your disgrace we spared no expense, and even 
 imposed heavy taxes on our own subjects. Surely it 
 behoves all good men and true to be grateful and repay 
 this our benevolence ! Nevertheless, you have taken 
 advantage of the respite which we have granted to our 
 war- weary hosts, before continuing the pursuit of the rebels, 
 to establish your forces at Nanking. No doubt you hope 
 to follow the example of the fisherman in the fable, who, 
 seeing the oyster- catcher with the oyster fastened on its 
 beak, rushed forward, hoping to seize both bird and oyster. 
 Can such conduct be deemed reasonable or just? Per- 
 chance, forsooth, you fondly imagine that the Yangtsze 
 is a natural barrier which will prove insuperable to our 
 forces ; you hope that we shall not succeed in ' stemming 
 its current, even though we block it with our whips.' ^ 
 The rebel ' Prince Harrier ' had given no offence to our 
 dynasty ; it was the Ming dynasty which he had scourged 
 and overthrown. When we smote him it was because of 
 our sense of humanity and our natural longing to avenge 
 a universal wrong. 
 
 " But if to-day a rival Emperor enthrones himself at 
 Nanking, there will be two suns in the firmament. This 
 must not be. Do you not see, moreover, that you are 
 playing into ' Prince Harrier's ' hands ? Is it not clear 
 that we shall have to recall our levies from their expedition 
 against him and dispatch them instead against yourselves ? 
 In this way he will escape his well-deserved chastisement, 
 while you will become the victims of our wrath. 
 
 " It needs no diviner's skill in augury to foretell that the 
 destruction of your poor remnant by the hands of our 
 victorious armies is sure and inevitable, seeing that, whilst 
 still masters of China, you were forced to bow the knee 
 before a rebel horde. You should face the situation and 
 
 1 A classical reference to Fu Chien, who in the fourth century a.d. 
 uttered a bombastic boast to this effect. 
 
 176 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 yield to the fortune of war. Your best way of showing 
 loyalty to your late master and devotion to the Prince 
 his successor is to advise the latter to renounce his 
 Imperial title, and, as Prince of the Ming blood royal, 
 continue to enjoy our perpetual favour. Our dynasty 
 proposes to assign to him suitable revenues and residence, 
 and will treat him as an honoured descendant of the dis- 
 possessed dynasty. I undertake that the highest honours 
 shall be lavished upon him bj^^ our Imperial bounty, that 
 precedence shall be accorded to him over all Princes at 
 our Court, and that his posterity shall be accorded similar 
 hereditary privileges until the Yellow River shrinks to 
 the width of a girdle and Mount T'ai to the size of a 
 whetstone. Our dynasty desires to be faithful to the 
 motive which inspired us in subduing the rebels, and to act 
 in harmony with the spirit which saves the fallen from 
 destruction and renews a lineage extinct. 
 
 " As for yourself and other distinguished worthies of the 
 South, if you will repair to our Court and do obeisance 
 before the Manchu Throne you will be rewarded with 
 the highest hereditary ranks and rich fiefs. Is not our 
 treatment of Wu San-kuei an earnest of our good inten- 
 tions towards you ? 
 
 "Only let Your Excellency consider wherein lies the way 
 of advantage. Now-a-days, many scholars and statesmen 
 are apt to forget their duty to the people in their desire 
 to win for themselves fame as men of unwavering prin- 
 ciples. Wlien a catastrophe occurs they are paralysed, 
 and resemble the man who sought to build a house by 
 asking the casual advice of unknown passers-by. Re- 
 member the example of the Sung dynasty, whose rulers 
 were busy arguing academic points even when the Mongol 
 invaders had crossed the Yangtsze and were knocking 
 at the gates of their capital. You, Sir, are the wisest of 
 your contemporaries and must know full well in what 
 direction the dictates of prudence should lead you. 
 N 177 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Rather than allow yourself to be carried away by the 
 current, or influenced by those who trim their sails to the 
 passing breeze, surely you will determine on a consistent 
 and statesmanlike course, and then stick to it without 
 swerving a hair's breadth. 
 
 " Our troops are ready to march against you if needs 
 must be; everything now depends on your decision. I 
 hope that you will share my desire to complete the 
 destruction of Li Tzii-ch'eng, and that you will not cling 
 stubbornly to the fleeting emoluments which you now 
 enjoy, so as to involve your old dynasty in irretrievable 
 disaster. I beseech you to avoid becoming the laughing- 
 stock of rebels and traitors. This is my earnest prayer. 
 In the Book of Rites it is written : ' Only the superior 
 man can fully appreciate good advice.' Therefore I lay 
 bare my inmost heart and respectfully await your decision. 
 Across the Yangtsze's flood I turn in spirit to Your 
 Excellency and entreat your early reply. There is still 
 much which remains unsaid." 
 
 To this dignified appeal Shih K'o-fa replied, in words no 
 less eloquent, as follows : " Shih K'o-fa, Commander-in- 
 chief of the great Ming dynasty, President of the Board 
 of War and a Grand Secretary of the Eastern Throne-hall, 
 prostrating himself respectfully before Your Highness, the 
 Regent of the great Manchu dynasty, has the honour to 
 reply as follows : On receipt of your valued favour, I sent 
 it at once to General Wu in order that I might take his 
 opinion. I hesitated to indite an immediate reply, not 
 because I failed to appreciate your kindness in writing 
 to me, but out of regard for the principle enunciated in 
 the ' Spring and Autumn ' classic, that a Minister of one 
 State ought not to carry on secret correspondence with 
 the representative of another. 
 
 " At a time of urgent military preparation like the present, 
 your elegantly worded composition is indeed a godsend, 
 and I have perused it again and again, full of admiration 
 
 178 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 for the sentiments which it conveys. It fills me with 
 gratitude and at the same time with shame that your 
 great nation should have occasion to deplore the delays 
 which have occurred in destroying that parricide and rebel, 
 Li Tzii-ch'eng. But I desire to make a few remarks 
 regarding your lightly-uttered statement that we, officials 
 and people of the great Ming dynasty, are forgetful of 
 the outrages inflicted on the late Emperor, and have sinned 
 against his memory in proclaiming His present Majesty at 
 our ' temporary retreat,' south of the Yangtsze. 
 
 *' His departed Majesty was a wise and just ruler who 
 obeyed Heaven and followed the behests of his ancestors, 
 in constant affection for his subjects and in the faithful 
 performance of his duty. The disaster of the 19th day 
 of the 3rd Moon, when Peking fell, was due to the infatuate 
 errors of his Ministers, and I was too far away at my post 
 in the south to bring up reinforcements to his succour. 
 The sorrowful tidings of his death reached me at my camp 
 on the Huai, whilst I was hurrying north. Heaven was 
 rent and the earth shaken by this monstrous catastrophe ; 
 the waves of the sea wept in unison, and the trees withered 
 on the hills. Breathes there the man who does not love 
 his Sovereign ? Though my body were hacked to pieces 
 in the market place, still, because of this disaster, my soul 
 must bear its heavy burden of guilt, and never can I dare 
 to look His late Majesty in the face in the realms below. 
 
 '* The grief of his officials and people in the South was like 
 that of orphans mourning for their parents, and we burned 
 to avenge our Emperor by drawing sword against the 
 traitor who had caused his death. But it seemed good 
 to our eldest and wisest statesman to place a new Emperor 
 on the Throne, not only for the sake of the ancestral 
 shrines and the tutelary deities, but to satisfy the desire 
 of the nation. His present Majesty is the grandson of 
 Wan Li, the nephew of that Monarch's successor, and cousin 
 to His late Majesty. He is of the direct line, his accession 
 
 179 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 is meet and proper, and he has found favour with Heaven 
 and with his people. When he entered Nanking, on the 
 1st of the 5th Moon, his subjects hned the roads and 
 welcomed the Imperial chariot with thunderous acclaim. 
 His Ministers besought him to mount the Imperial Throne, 
 but he hesitated at first to comply, and assumed the title 
 of Regent. It was only in response to repeated petitions 
 from his subjects that at last he declared himself Emperor. 
 On that eventful day nature wore a garb of joy, and 
 prestiges were not wanting of an auspicious reign. As the 
 smoke of the incense ascended to Heaven at the ancestral 
 sacrifice the worshippers felt that the Almighty had 
 vouchsafed His approval. 
 
 " A few days after His Majesty's accession he bade me 
 take up my command North of the Yangtsze and prepare 
 to march against Li Tzii-ch'eng. It was then that the 
 tidings reached us that our Generalissimo, Wu San-kuei, 
 had borrowed aid from your great nation, and that the 
 rebel host had been completely routed. We learned that 
 you had given fitting burial to the remains of Their 
 Majesties, and that you had purged the Palace of the 
 polluting presence of the usurper. By pacifying the 
 people's alarms and by cancelling the edict which had 
 enjoined the shaving of the head ^ you showed a respect 
 for our dynastic usages, and your generosity will be en- 
 shrined for all time in our history. Not a subject of the 
 great Ming dynasty but kneels in gratitude, rendering 
 willing obeisance from a full heart for this kind deed. 
 Surely your letter errs grievously when you remind us of 
 our duty ' to cherish gratitude, and thus to repay your 
 benevolence.' 
 
 " So little do we need this reminder that on the 8th Moon 
 
 of this year I dispatched an envoy bearing a number of 
 
 trifling gifts to be distributed as largesse to your victorious 
 
 forces, and I directed him to submit to you proposals for 
 
 ^ This cancellation was only tempora^3^ 
 
 180 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 a joint expedition westward against the rebels. I waited 
 with my troops on the banks of the River Huai, solely 
 because I wished to learn your intentions in the 
 matter. 
 
 " The letter which I have had the honour to receive 
 takes me to task for violating the principles laid down by 
 Confucius concerning succession to the Throne. I admire 
 the aptness of your allusion, but Confucius was only 
 referring to the deaths of feudal Princes who had perished 
 by assassination. In such cases it was deemed unseemly 
 for the son and successor to announce his accession, either 
 to his suzerain or to his fellow Princes, until his father's 
 murder had been avenged. But the Sage never meant 
 this to apply to a case in which the Sovereign Lord of the 
 whole Empire had committed suicide for the sake of the 
 altars of his gods, his family having already come to a 
 cruel end. In such a case, slavish adherence to the letter 
 of the principle in question would show callous indifference 
 to the interests of the Empire as a whole, and would 
 assuredly plunge our ancient State in the horrors of anarchy 
 and civil war. For a supreme ruler is needed to inspire 
 the nation with courage and patriotism; without one 
 no national spirit could exist, nor could the army be 
 rallied to fresh efforts. Historical instances of the truth 
 of this will readily occur to Your Highness ; I need scarcely 
 quote them here. When the Sung Emperor Ch'en Tsung 
 (a.d. 1126) was carried into captivity by the Chen Tartars, 
 together with his father, the ex-Emperor, his brother was 
 at once elected to the Throne, because it was felt that it 
 could not safely stand empty for a single day. History 
 has approved of this principle, and has recognised 
 that in no other way can the fortunes of the State be 
 preserved. 
 
 " The sixteen Emperors of our Ming dynasty have, 
 each in his turn, exercised a civilising influence, and have 
 enabled the remotest nations to benefit by their self- 
 
 181 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 sacrificing magnanimity. They have restored princedoms 
 and treated their vassals with unfaiUng generosity. You 
 Manchus, who have for generations figured on the roll of 
 our feudatories, can scarcely fail to be aware of these facts, 
 since you, too, have been nurtured by our Throne's wide- 
 embracing and enfolding protection. The fact that our 
 two nations had been at enmity for a generation was 
 brought about by wicked plotters, whom His late Majesty 
 visited with condign punishment. 
 
 " You may well be proud of your action in hastening so 
 loyally to suppress the rebel invasion, and in coming to the 
 rescue of our dynasty. It has been worthy of the prin- 
 ciples of Confucius, and deserves to be remembered for all 
 time. 
 
 " In olden days, when the Ketans made peace with the 
 Sungs, annual gifts of gold and silks were sent by the 
 latter, but that did not mean that the Ketans acquired 
 any territorial advantages from the Sungs. How much 
 more, then, should this be the case with your great nation, 
 which has loudly proclaimed its altruistic intentions, and 
 which has moved with troops to our succour simply and 
 solely (for so you have assured us) out of regard for the 
 friendly feeling existing between our States from time 
 immemorial. 
 
 '* If now, taking advantage of our misfortunes, you covet 
 our territory and hope to benefit yourselves by annexing 
 portions of our dominions, you will be open to the reproach 
 that your good intentions were but transient, and that 
 your actions, which began in good feeling, have ended in 
 unrighteous cupidity. Then may the rebels even despise 
 you, as being no better than themselves ! I am reluctant 
 to believe this of you Manchus. 
 
 '' His late Majesty was far too tender-hearted in dealing 
 with the rebellion; he could not bear to employ drastic 
 methods in suppressing it. It is because of his adoption 
 of this lenient policy that the Mings have been brought 
 
 182 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 to their present evil pass. The present Emperor's one 
 thought is to avenge the wrongs of his predecessor, and all 
 our statesmen are of the same mind, while thousands of 
 volunteers have rallied to the flag, burning to wipe out 
 this national disgrace. 
 
 " It is my confident hope that ' Prince Harrier's ' tether 
 is a short one. The proverb says : ' Let your good 
 actions breed successors, but pull up evil by the root.' 
 At this moment, however, the traitor has escaped to his 
 Shensi lair and still awaits Heaven-sent retribution. Nay, 
 my spies tell me that he still hopes to regain the territory 
 he has lost, and is even now preparing to strike a fresh blow. 
 This is not only a disgrace to our dynasty, but is scarcely 
 calculated to give your nation satisfaction, since your 
 efforts have only met with partial success. 
 
 " I beg, therefore, that you will now complete what you 
 have so well begun, and arrange with us plans for a joint 
 punitive campaign into Shensi, where we may have the 
 joy of seeing the traitor's head roll in the dust. In this 
 way you Manchus will have set the crowning achieve- 
 ment on your glorious work, and we shall do what in us 
 lies to reward you. Hereafter, our two nations shall 
 dwell together as neighbours, in perpetual amity. How 
 splendid to think that peace can never again be broken 
 between Chinese and Manchu ! 
 
 " Our dynasty's ambassador is now on his way, and should 
 soon reach Peking, where the terms of a treaty may be 
 negotiated at leisure. Looking northward towards the 
 mausolea of our mighty ancestors my eyes can weep no 
 more, for lack of tears, and I feel that I deserve to die the 
 death. My only reason for not following my late master 
 to the other world was that I still hoped to render some 
 service to the State. It is written : ' Strain every energy 
 for your country whilst life lasts; be loyal and fear not.' 
 My one desire is to be privileged to lose my life in the 
 performance of my duty. May this aspiration be fulfilled. 
 
 183 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 I would beg Your Highness to be pleased to peruse the 
 above. Hung Kuang,^ 9th Moon, 15th day. 
 
 " Postscriptum. — If I do not hear from you, I intend to 
 cross the Huai with my whole force and expel the rebel 
 horde of dogs and rats from their lairs, that the glories 
 of old may be restored to our Empire, and that the benefits 
 bestowed upon me by His late Majesty, now in Heaven, 
 may in some measure be requited. Finally, I would 
 observe that it is unseemly for the Minister of one State 
 to have private intercourse with the ruler of another, and 
 I treat with the contempt of silence your ignoble endeavour 
 to lure me with promises of rewards and dignities." 
 
 This correspondence between the Manchu Regent and 
 the loyalist General is cited to this day by Chinese scholars 
 as a model of the best classical traditions ; even for those 
 who read it in another language it carries conviction and 
 an irresistible appeal, telling its own story of the dignity 
 and wisdom which underlie the weather-beaten but un- 
 conquered philosophy of China's Sages. 
 
 But for the humanitarian, admiration of this stoic 
 philosophy halts before its consequences, as we see them 
 reflected in the unspeakable misery of the masses. The 
 Regent's shrewd indictment of Shih K'o-fa's attitude was 
 justified by every humane instinct, when he said that 
 " scholars and statesmen were apt to forget their duty 
 to the people in their desire to win for themselves fame 
 as men of unswerving principles." Both he and Shih 
 K'o-fa were sincerely anxious for peace, anxious to avert 
 from the innocent community of toilers the awful calam- 
 ities of war; but neither was prepared to buy immunity 
 for the people by the surrender of his own rigid principles. 
 Let us turn now from the arguments of the leaders to 
 contemplate the consequences of their differences as 
 reflected in the lives and deaths of the " stupid people." 
 
 1 The Ming dynastic title of the new Emperor, " Distinguished 
 Glory." 
 
 184 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 THE SACK OF YANG CHOU-FU 
 
 The history of China, ancient and modern, is a series 
 of paroxysms; its keynote is bloodshed and famine, 
 periods of peace and prosperity purchased by the slaughter 
 of countless innocents. Its splendid civilisation, based 
 on an unassailable moral philosophy and the canons of 
 the Sages, has ever proved powerless against the inexorable 
 laws of nature, against the pitiless cruelty of the struggle 
 for life, intensified by a social system which inculcates 
 procreative recklessness and passive fatalism. Under 
 Mongols, Mings and Manchus the stern retributive law 
 and its fulfilment have ever been the same, history always 
 repeating itself, at the passing of dynasties, with fearful 
 monotony of wholesale massacres. 
 
 The following narrative of the sack of Yang Chou-fu 
 by the Manchus in 1645 was written by one (his name is 
 unknown) who was himself a victim and an eye-witness 
 of those fearful days of slaughter, and of events which may 
 be taken as normal at times of conquest and civil strife 
 in Far Eastern lands. The blood lust of the victorious 
 Manchus was no more fierce than that of the Mongols 
 before them, or, for that matter, of the Chinese of to-day. 
 Throughout all the recorded history of the Empire, these 
 ruthless massacres of non-combatants have been an 
 accepted feature of the sorry scheme of things ; a deliber- 
 ate, cold-blooded, almost instinctive fulfilment of the 
 law which prescribes the survival of the fittest, amongst 
 a people with whom the problem of daily bread is ever 
 insistently insoluble. Compared with the most merciless 
 
 185 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 butcheries of ancient and modern times in Europe, with 
 the worst excesses of " Kirke's lambs " or Alva's butchers, 
 the slaughter of Orientals by Orientals lacks the factors 
 of religious and political hatred which often explain 
 the extermination of whole communities. Yet another 
 feature, common to these pitiful records of Chinese cities 
 left desolate, is the complete lack of resistance on the part 
 of their inhabitants — a few thousands of savage soldiery 
 let loose, without discipline or military cohesion, upon a 
 walled city of a million inhabitants, will convert it almost 
 methodically into a shambles, their terror-stricken victims 
 awaiting death with abject helplessness. 
 
 Yang Chou-fu, on the Grand Canal in Kiangsu, has 
 always been an important city. Strategically, before the 
 days of railways, it was the gate of the southern capital, 
 Nanking, for invaders from the north. ^ Its ancient walls 
 are some four miles in circumference, and in olden days, 
 when the Grand Canal was the great artery of trade 
 between the Yangtsze and North China, it boasted great 
 wealth and a large population. Before the Manchu 
 invasion, it had suffered, as all Central China had suffered, 
 from the disorders of Li Tzu-ch'eng's rebellion and the 
 general unrest brought about by the chaotic condition 
 of affairs in Pekipg; but until 1644 the tide of civil war 
 had flowed northwards, and though the cities of the plain 
 had paid for it in silver, there had been but little bloodshed 
 in their streets. After the fall of Peking and the collapse 
 of the Mings before the rebel forces of Li Tzu-ch'eng, 
 came the swift turning of the tide; Li's great army, 
 routed by Wu San-kuei and the Manchus, fled southwards 
 and west, while the fugitive Mings established their Court 
 at Nanking, and gathered together their shattered forces 
 to prevent the Manchus crossing the Yangtsze. 
 
 In 1644, when the Manchu armies began their invasion 
 
 1 In 1282 Kublai Khan conferred upon Marco Polo the governorship 
 of the city. 
 
 186 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 and subjugation of the South, the population of Yang 
 Chou-fu was estimated at over a milHon. Lying on the 
 direct route of the invaders to Nanking, it was held for 
 the Mings by their ablest General, Shih K'o-fa, and gar- 
 risoned with an army of about 40,000 men. If Prince 
 Fu, heir to the throne of the Mings, had not been hopelessly 
 dissolute and incapable, if he and his advisers at the Court 
 of Nanking had given General Shih the loyal support he 
 deserved, the Manchus would probably never have reached 
 the Yangtsze. But (as we have shown elsewhere) the 
 Court was wholly engrossed in licentious pleasures, its 
 scanty revenues wasted in wine-bibbing and play acting, 
 its forces in the field unprovided with the necessaries 
 of life and materials of war. Shih K'o-fa had been obliged 
 to detach part of the garrison of Yang Chou-fu at a most 
 critical moment to protect a store of ammunition and 
 equipment, which he had been compelled to leave behind 
 him on his forced march from Soochow. Even so, he 
 might have destroyed the army of the invaders before 
 the investment of the city, had he been willing to cut the 
 banks of the Huai River and flood the country. But Shih 
 was a scholar and a humane man, and preferred the risks 
 of war to the infliction of enduring misery on vast numbers 
 of his fellow countrymen. He might have saved himself, 
 his army and the city had he been willing to entertain 
 the advances made to him by the Manchu Regent and 
 forsake the cause of the Mings. But hoping against hope 
 for reinforcements and final victory he remained at his 
 post, and met with a dignified refusal the Regent's offers 
 to confer wealth and honour upon him as the price of 
 disloyalty. He took a terrible responsibility, and he paid 
 the price of high failure, and with him more than half 
 a million men, women and children, " went to their graves 
 like beds." 
 
 The diary from which the following narrative is taken 
 is dated the 4th Moon of the " Yi Yu " year (1645) : 
 
 187 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " On the 14th day of the Yi Yu year it was reported 
 to General Shih K'o-fa, the Commander-in-chief, by 
 his staff, that Yang Ho (on the Huai River) had fallen, and 
 our garrison prepared for a siege. Soldiers were quartered 
 in every house ; a certain Colonel Yang and his men were 
 billeted on me. Their discipline was very bad; we had 
 to supply them with everything, and their keep cost us 
 several strings of cash per day. As their demands became 
 ever more importunate, I invited Colonel Yang to a 
 banquet, and seized the opportunity to beg him to keep 
 his men in better order. After this we were somewhat 
 less disturbed. The Colonel enjoyed listening to the flute, 
 and we called in some singing-girls to entertain his men. 
 
 " There was fierce fighting on the walls and around the 
 city for ten days and nights,^ and we all hoped that the 
 garrison would repel the enemy. But one evening, while 
 we were having quite a lively party at our house, orders 
 from the Commander-in-chief were suddenly brought to 
 Colonel Yang. He read the note, turned deathly pale 
 and hurried out on to the city wall. Our party broke up, 
 every one wondering what evil tidings were in store for us. 
 Next morning all the walls of the city were placarded with 
 a proclamation from General Shih K'o-fa, saying : ' I 
 alone will bear the brunt; none of you blameless people 
 shall pay the penalty.' 
 
 " I felt quite reassured and touched by these good words. 
 Later in the day every one's spirits rose, for news came 
 in that our men had been victorious in a heavy skirmish 
 outside the city. That afternoon my married cousin 
 came in from Kua-chou in order to escape from the law- 
 lessness of General Li's dispersed troops. My wife was 
 delighted to see her, and the two women were chatting 
 away, when suddenly rumours began to circulate that the 
 Manchus were in the city. I made immediate inquiries, 
 and at first came to the conclusion that the troops who had 
 ^ Other chronicles say that the siege lasted seven days. 
 
 188 
 
 i 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 come in were those of the Marqms Huang Te-kung, our 
 own General, the more so as our guards on the city wall 
 showed no signs of panic. On reaching the main street, 
 however, I met crowds of men, women and children, 
 many of them barefooted and half naked, all rushing 
 wildly along. To my inquiries they could make no clear 
 replies, all muttering and gibbering incoherently. Next 
 I observed a small party of horsemen desperately galloping 
 towards the South Gate of the city. They passed like a 
 torrent in flood, but I had time to notice that the person 
 they were escorting was none other than General Shih 
 K'o-fa himself. They had tried to leave by the East 
 Gate, but finding that the Manchus held it already outside, 
 were hoping to escape by the South. The General was 
 wounded,^ and had been forced to leave by his bodyguard. 
 " Next I saw another of the Ming Generals riding 
 northwards, evidently intending to surrender to the enemy. 
 His face wore a look of misery such as I never wish to 
 behold again. By this time the troops on the wall 
 had begun to throw away their weapons and were tearing 
 off the badges from their uniforms. Many of them were 
 severely hurt in the crush and confusion as they rushed 
 from the wall; soon the section adjoining my house was 
 quite deserted. General Shih had erected gun-platforms 
 on a level with the wall, because it was too narrow for 
 artillery purposes; these platforms were reached from 
 the roofs below by a sloping gangway of planks lashed 
 together. The Manchus gained the wall near the North 
 Gate, and came rushing along it, sword in hand, driving 
 our men before them. On reaching the gun- platform 
 adjoining my house, crowds of them, pursuers and pursued, 
 came down it helter-skelter; the gangway collapsed 
 beneath them, and a score or more were killed. Those who 
 succeeded in reaching the roofs engaged in fierce hand- 
 to-hand fighting, making a din most terrifying to the 
 
 ^ Vide supra, p. 173. 
 189 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 occupants of the house, cowering in the rooms beneath. 
 My courtyard was filled with routed soldiery and panic- 
 stricken refugees, who listened in terror to the fierce yells 
 of the Manchus. I had no means of preventing these 
 fugitives from entering my premises; even the women's 
 quarters were full of them. From a window at the back 
 of my house I observed a body of troops marching towards 
 the south-west of the city. They seemed well disciplined, 
 and at first I hoped they were some of our own men. 
 At this moment there came a sound of knocking at my 
 gate. A few neighbours had come to suggest that we 
 should join them in preparing a welcome to the Manchu 
 invaders, and that we should burn incense in token of 
 allegiance to our new Emperor. As matters stood I 
 dared not refuse to join in these preparations, so hurriedly 
 we put on our ceremonial robes and shaved our heads in 
 the Manchu fashion. This done, we waited a long while, 
 but no Manchu Prince put in an appearance. The fight 
 in my courtyard was now over, and about a dozen soldiers 
 lay dead upon the ground. The Manchus had passed on 
 to other parts of the city. 
 
 " As I looked out from my window I saw a few soldiers 
 coming and going; in a little while there came a troop 
 of them escorting a bevy of gaudily clad women — ^women 
 belonging to this city, of evil repute. At the spectacle 
 a sudden thought struck me, and I went to my women-folk 
 and said : ' The city has fallen ; you must be ready 
 to commit suicide and thus escape outrage.' All the 
 women agreed, and handed me their ornaments and their 
 money, saying : ' Keep them ; we don't expect to live 
 more than a few hours at most.' 
 
 " Next I saw a small party of horsemen riding slowly 
 from the North; every person whom they met they 
 stopped, demanding money. These men were not extrava- 
 gant in their demands, and if they were refused they would 
 prod their captive with swords, but not so as to hurt him 
 
 190 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 seriously. (I heard afterwards that a Yang-chou man had 
 treacherously conducted this party to the house of a 
 rich merchant, who had paid ten thousand taels as ransom, 
 but had nevertheless been murdered.) 
 
 " When they came near to my house one of the horsemen 
 pointed to me (I had come out and was standing in the 
 court) ; ' Search that fellow in the blue gown,' he 
 shouted to one of his comrades, who at once dismounted ; 
 but I was too quick for him and rushed inside. The men 
 rode away laughing. I wondered why they should wish 
 to search me, as I was clad in the garments of a rustic. 
 At this moment my two brothers came up and, discussing 
 the point, we concluded that, as this part of the city was 
 chiefly inhabited by wealthy merchants, they had suspected 
 my disguise. I therefore decided to remove all the family 
 from my house and take refuge in that of my second eldest 
 brother. My two brothers and the women all made their 
 way thither by unfrequented alleys. Just at the back of 
 my brother's house were some of the slums of the city, 
 a quarter known as the ' Graveyard of the Ho family.' 
 Meantime, I remained behind in my own house to see what 
 would happen. All of a sudden my eldest brother came 
 running back to tell me that the main street was running 
 with blood, and that if I stayed where I was I should 
 surely be murdered. ' Come with us ; we can at least 
 all die together in our brother's house.' At that, I took 
 the ancestral tablets from their shrine and went with my 
 brother. We were all together in his house, a party of ten ; 
 four of us brothers (two older and one younger than myself), 
 my wife and little son, my sister-in-law, my nephew and 
 my wife's brother and sister. 
 
 " As evening drew on we could hear more and more 
 clearly the shouts of the Manchus at their hellish work of 
 butchery. It was pouring with rain, but that did not stop 
 them. Hoping to escape detection we all lay out on 
 the flat roof of an outhouse imder the heavy rain, covered 
 
 191 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 with a large felt plaid, which soon became soaked. The 
 death- cries of wounded and dying men, of women and 
 children, rang in our ears and made our blood run cold. 
 Not till midnight did we dare to come from our hiding- 
 place and make for the kitchen, where we managed to kindle 
 a fire and boil a little rice. By this time flames were 
 bursting out all over the city ; several of our neighbours' 
 houses had been burnt to the ground; the total number 
 thus destroyed must have run into thousands. The night 
 was as light as day; the tumult and the shouting were 
 incessant. Every now and then we could hear curses 
 in Manchu, blended with some woman's frantic appeal 
 for mercy. We tried to eat, but our chopsticks refused 
 to carry the food to our mouths. We could think of no 
 way of escape; my wife took some ingots of silver and 
 divided them amongst us four brothers. We hid them in 
 our top-knots, in our boots and loin-cloths. My wife also 
 found for me an old robe and a pair of frayed shoes, 
 which she bade me wear. 
 
 " All night we sat desperate, awaiting the end, and dared 
 not close our eyes. A bird in the room sang without 
 ceasing; its notes sounded like a clarion. Close at hand 
 I heard a child sobbing, but could not locate it. As dawn 
 broke, the conflagrations seemed to die down. I mounted 
 a ladder and concealed myself in the loft. We all crouched 
 on some boards by the ceiling, when suddenly, from the 
 eastern side, a man's head appeared. He climbed in 
 by one ladder and rushed down another, but the Manchu 
 trooper who followed him, paused when he saw us and gave 
 over his pursuit, coming towards me instead. In my 
 terror I too rushed down the ladder and out into the street, 
 followed by my two brothers. We ran at least a hundred 
 yards, but stopped on finding we were not being pursued. 
 For the time being I lost sight of my wife, and knew not 
 whether she lived or died. 
 
 " The cruel soldiery, to save themselves the trouble 
 
 192 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 of hunting for their victims, posted notices teUing the 
 people that if they surrendered they would be given badges 
 guaranteeing them their lives, but if they hid themselves 
 and were caught they would be killed. Many people 
 gave themselves up in consequence. As my brother and 
 I were standing in the street we saw a group of fifty or 
 sixty persons, half of them women, a little further on, 
 and my brother said : ' If we hide and are discovered we 
 shall certainly be killed. We are only four helpless men, 
 so we had better surrender and join that group over there. 
 By so doing we may possibly find a means of escape, and 
 if not, at least we shall have the satisfaction of perishing 
 in a general massacre.' 
 
 " I was far too terrified to suggest any better course, 
 so we went and joined the group, expecting to receive our 
 badges of safety. The Manchus searched my brothers 
 and took away all their money, but oddly enough they 
 left me alone. At this moment some women came up, 
 and one of them spoke to me. I recognised her at once ; 
 the second concubine of my old friend Chu Shu, but I 
 begged her not to draw attention to me. She was in a 
 pitiable condition, her hair all dishevelled, her breasts 
 exposed, and her legs besmeared to the knees with mud. 
 Another concubine had a girl baby in arms, but the troops 
 first flogged her and then threw her down in the mud. 
 Then some more soldiers came forward, collected the women 
 and began tying them together at the knees, like a string 
 of pearls. We were then marched off in a body, one man 
 with a sword leading the way and another on either side 
 to prevent any one escaping, just as if they were driving 
 sheep to market. At every step we took we saw dead 
 bodies lying in agonised attitudes, babies who had been 
 crushed to shapelessness beneath the hoofs of horses, 
 women with their new-born babes by the roadside all 
 beaten to a pulp. The streets reeked like a shambles, 
 here and there one heard the groans of a few dying 
 o 193 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 wretches. Arms and legs protruded from every ditch, 
 inextricably mingled. 
 
 " We were taken to the house of Colonel Yao Yung-yen, 
 entering it by the back door. Every room that I saw was 
 full of corpses, and I said to myself that mine would surely 
 be added to their number. However, there were no Manchu 
 butchers at work there for the time being, and after passing 
 through several courtyards we were brought out through 
 the front of the building. Thence we were led to the house 
 of a Shansi merchant, one Ch'iao Cheng-wang, the head- 
 quarters of the men who were our captors. As we entered 
 I noticed a soldier mounting guard over three comely 
 females. The floor was strewn deep with valuable silks 
 and furs. Our three guards laughed loudly at the sight 
 and then drove us, a party of fifty, into the back room, 
 while they placed the women in an inner apartment. 
 In the room into which we were driven three seamstresses 
 \vere sitting at work. One of them was about thirty-five, 
 and very smartly dressed. She was a native of Yang-chou, 
 and seemed perfectly happy, chaffing the soldiers merrily. 
 Her behaviour was wanton in the extreme ; as I watched 
 her making eyes at the men I heard one of the Manchus 
 say : 'During the Korean campaign hardly a woman 
 bought her life at. the price of her virtue. Who would 
 have believed that the inhabitants of this great Empire of 
 China could be as shameless as this wench ? ' 
 
 " Then the soldiers began undressing the women who 
 had accompanied us; they stripped them of their wet 
 apparel and made them stand up stark naked before us 
 all. The seamstress was called in and told to measure 
 them for fresh clothes. The women were too much afraid 
 of the soldiers to attempt to hide their nakedness with 
 their hands. When they had all been dressed in new 
 clothes they were supplied with meat and drink, and the 
 soldiers began making love to them. Most of them yielded 
 readily enough to the solicitations of their captors. 
 
 194 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 " Next one of the Manchus began brandishing his 
 sword and shouted : ' Come here, you Chinese savages.' 
 They then bound all of us who were in the front row with 
 cords, including my eldest brother. My second brother 
 called out to me : ' It's all up with us ; what's the use 
 of talking ? ' He seized my hand and led me forward ; 
 my younger brother followed. We were bound, some 
 fifty of us in all, and the Manchus led us out into the court- 
 yard, yelling like savages. Then the butchery began : 
 Every one was struck dumb with terror, and I stood there 
 and watched it for a few moments, awaiting my turn. 
 At first I looked forward to death calmly enough, but 
 suddenly I felt as if aid had been vouchsafed to me from 
 some supernatural power. Bound as I was, I managed 
 to creep away unnoticed, and reached one of the back 
 rooms of the house, where I freed myself from my bonds. 
 I found that I was in the women's quarters, where there 
 were still some of the older women who had been unable 
 to escape. 
 
 "At the back of this part of the house the Manchu 
 horses and pack camels were stabled, completely blocking 
 all chance of egress. Creeping on hands and knees, 
 I managed to crawl under the beasts, any one of which 
 might have trampled me to a jelly. After getting past 
 them I found the walls too high for escape in that direction, 
 but to my left there was a passage leading to a postern 
 door. This door — half way down the passage — was 
 nailed securely, so I went some distance up the passage, 
 where I could distinctly hear the groans of my dying 
 comrades and the shouts of their executioners. Passing 
 the kitchen, I saw four men at work there. They had been 
 pressed into the job by the Manchus, and I implored them 
 to let me join them as hewer of wood or drawer of water. 
 They angrily refused, saying : ' We four have been 
 specially assigned to this duty; if the Manchus find an 
 extra hand here they will suspect us of conspiracy, and 
 
 195 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 we shall all be killed.' As I continued to beseech them 
 they pushed me out, driving me forth with a carving 
 knife. 
 
 " I then rushed back to the door leading out of the 
 passage and pulled at it with all my might. I seized 
 the support in the socket of which the door was inserted, 
 and with a stupendous effort managed to pull it out. 
 With bleeding fingers I tried to push the door open, but 
 it was still effectually closed from the outside by a heavy 
 beam. The long spell of wet weather had caused it to 
 stick fast in its socket, and I could not move it. But as 
 I pushed and pulled, by great good luck the top hinge 
 of the door gave way, and it fell outwards with a heavy 
 crash. 
 
 " Again some unseen power seemed to aid me, and I 
 was through the postern door in a flash. The spot at 
 which I emerged was at the foot of the city wall, and some 
 scouts made signs to me to advance no further, so I made 
 my way into a house just beyond the one I had left. 
 Every room in it was full of refugees in hiding, except the 
 gate-house, which looked out on to the main street, and 
 which was so often visited by soldiers that no one had 
 ventured to go there. 
 
 " There was a corner in this gate-house behind a very 
 high cupboard, into which I managed to climb. As I 
 waited, scarcely daring to breathe, I heard an agonised 
 voice, which I recognised all too well, the voice of my 
 younger brother begging for mercy. A sound of blows 
 followed, and then I heard my second eldest brother cry : 
 ' I have money buried in my cellar at home. Let me go 
 and I will bring it to you.' After that all was silence, 
 and my heart seemed to cease beating. I felt as if my brain 
 were on fire; the tears refused to well from my eyes, 
 and my bowels were rent asunder. My tongue clove to my 
 mouth, and I think I lost consciousness. Shortly after- 
 wards a soldier came in, dragging a woman with him. 
 
 196 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 He ordered her to lie with him on the couch; when she 
 refused, he forced her until she was compelled to yield. 
 
 " My own position was now one of extreme peril. 
 Seizing the first opportunity, I managed to climb from the 
 cupboard, which was open at the top, on to the cross-beam 
 of the loft above. It was as black as pitch up there; 
 and every now and then soldiers passing by would look 
 in and prod the loft matting above their heads with their 
 long spears. Hearing no sound, they concluded it was 
 empty. I lay up there all that day; during that time 
 about a score of persons were murdered in the room beneath 
 me. Out in the street I could hear sounds of horsemen 
 riding by, with shrieking women in their train. There was 
 no rain that day, but the sky was overcast. 
 
 " As the day drew to its close there were fewer soldiers 
 about, but the wailing of homeless refugees served to 
 remind me of my two brothers' pitiful deaths. I wondered 
 if my wife and son still lived, and if so, where they might 
 be hiding. As the night fell I crept down from my loft 
 and went out into the street. The road was full of people 
 crouching in attitudes of despair, some stooping over 
 corpses and calling them by name. Seeing torches moving 
 towards me, I hurriedly made down a side lane towards 
 the city wall. Here the piles of corpses made progress 
 difficult, and I stumbled over them again and again. 
 It took me three hours, from eight o'clock to eleven, to 
 reach my eldest brother's house. He, with my wife and 
 child, were there before me ; I could not bear to tell them 
 of the death of our two brothers. 
 
 " I asked my wife how she had escaped. She replied : 
 ' When the soldiers were driving us along, I was ahead 
 of the rest and somehow or other escaped attention. 
 Carrying Peng'rh in my arms I got away and hid myself 
 in a cellar. My sister could not come with me; she 
 had sprained her ankle, and a soldier was carrying her 
 in his arms. My hiding-place was soon discovered, 
 
 197 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and we were taken to a room in which there were some 
 thirty or forty men and women, all bound. My captor 
 gave me into the charge of one of the women jailers. 
 In the meantime, my sister had been carried away and 
 I saw her no more. After a while, as the soldiers did not 
 come back, I persuaded the women jailers to allow me 
 to escape. They did so, and outside I met Mrs. Hung 
 (a relative of her brother), who brought me here.' 
 
 " I then told them my experiences. While I was speak- 
 ing Mrs. Hung came in and brought some rice, but none 
 of us could eat. Fires were again breaking out all over 
 the city ; by their light one could see a long distance. At 
 the back of the Ho family's graveyard there were groups 
 of people lying under the trees, and the sound of wailing 
 mothers and children was most pitiful to hear. My wife 
 said she wished to kill herself; we talked together all 
 through the night, and I dissuaded her for the present. 
 In the morning she led me to the end of a winding passage, 
 where there was a room full of coffins awaiting burial. 
 Here I crouched down in some straw and hid, after placing 
 the child in one of the coffins and covering him with 
 matting. My wife concealed herself in front. I dared 
 not move hand or foot, and soon my limbs were com- 
 pletely numbed. AH day we could hear the voices of 
 soldiers cursing, and the pitiful entreaties of their victims. 
 A southerner before a Manchu was like a sheep in the 
 hands of the butcher; hardly any attempted even to 
 escape. Towards evening I peeped out and counted over 
 a hundred dead bodies in that one courtyard. 
 
 " Little Peng'rh slept on the top of the coffin right 
 through that terrible day, and never stirred but once, 
 when I wetted his lips with water which I brought in a 
 hollow tile from the ditch outside. As evening came on 
 Mrs. Hung came again, and with her we returned to the 
 room in which we had passed the night. She told me that 
 my sister-in-law had been carried off, together with my 
 
 198 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 little nephew, an infant in arms. We counted them both 
 for dead, which made four deaths in my family in two days. 
 
 " I tried to procure a little rice, but without success. 
 My brother and I talked together all that night. Thrice 
 my wife attempted suicide, but each time Mrs. Hung 
 prevented her. Then my brother said : ' We are not 
 all likely to survive another day. I am still unhurt. 
 Give me the child now and let me try to escape with him.' 
 I agreed, and my brother left us. 
 
 " Mrs. Hung advised my wife to hide in her cupboard, 
 proposing to change places with her. However, we went 
 back to our coffin room. A party of Manchu soldiers 
 entered the house shortly afterwards, and discovering 
 Mrs. Hung's hiding-place they beat her cruelly; but she 
 told them nothing of our whereabouts, thereby earning 
 my undying gratitude. Then more troops appeared on 
 the scene, but as soon as they saw the coffins came no 
 further in our direction. At last a party of ten ruffianly- 
 looking Manchus entered the room, and one of them seized 
 a pole and began poking at my feet. I rose and showed 
 myself. Their guide was a Yang-chou man whom I 
 knew by sight, and I begged him to ask them to spare me. 
 They asked for money, and I gave them some. One of 
 the soldiers shouted : ' Let's spare this fellow's life 
 for the present,' and they all went away. Then a young 
 fellow in red clothes with a long sword entered, and began 
 brandishing it in my direction. He, too, wanted money, 
 and I gave him some. He was not satisfied, and pointed 
 at my wife. She was expecting her confinement very 
 shortly, and now lay motionless on the ground. I deceived 
 him by telling him that she had been injured : ' My wife 
 is near her time,' I said, ' and yesterday she fell from a 
 roof and injured herself. She cannot sit up, and has to 
 remain lying down.' The red-clothed man did not believe 
 me, but pulled open my wife's dress to examine her person. 
 He noticed that her lower garments were caked in blood 
 
 199 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 (she had previously daubed it on), and so believed my story. 
 He had with him a young woman and two little children ; 
 one of them, a boy, cried to his mother for food. This 
 enraged the soldier, who brained the poor child on the 
 stone floor. He then departed with the mother and her 
 little girl. 
 
 " After this I made for a neighbour's house, and im- 
 plored him to let us take shelter there. He said he had 
 no room. My wife again begged to commit suicide, and 
 as I felt there was no longer any hope I agreed; so we 
 proceeded to hang ourselves with one rope to the rafter. 
 But the noose had been clumsily adjusted, and we both 
 fell with a crash to the ground. More soldiers entered 
 the premises, but they marched straight through and went 
 their ways. My wife rushed out from the chamber into 
 an outhouse, which was full of straw; here there were 
 a number of country women, who allowed her to enter, 
 but they had no room for me. I ran as quickly as I 
 could towards some straw which was piled in a heap in 
 the southern corner, climbed up to the top of the stack, 
 and covered myself completely with the straw. I thought 
 I should be safe there, but in a little while there came a 
 soldier, who jumped up and began poking about with a 
 long spear. I came^ forth from the straw and offered him 
 money to spare my life. He searched about and discovered 
 several other refugees, who all escaped by likewise tender- 
 ing him silver. After he had withdrawn we all crept 
 back into our hiding-place. Down in the middle of the 
 straw I noticed a couple of long tables, which seemed to 
 offer an excellent refuge for several persons. Unfortu- 
 nately for my idea, part of the adjoining wall had collapsed, 
 and there was a wide chink, through which our movements 
 could be seen from without. I had not noticed this, and 
 had just lain down when a soldier began prodding at me 
 with a spear; he succeeded in wounding me and my 
 companions in misery. The lower part of my back 
 
 200 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 received a nasty gash. We all scrambled out as best we 
 could, and again I went to my wife's new quarters. All 
 the women there were crouching on piles of firewood; 
 they had smeared their faces and hair with blood and 
 mud and cinders, so that they looked more like demons 
 than women, and I only recognised my wife by her voice. 
 
 " I implored them to allow me to get in amongst them, 
 and they managed to find me a place right at the bottom 
 of the straw, with the women all lying on top of me. 
 I was nearly stifled, but my wife procured a long hollow 
 bamboo, which I placed in my mouth, and through it 
 inhaled a little fresh air from above. A soldier came to 
 the door, murdered two women whom he had dragged 
 thither, and then went off. 
 
 " The day wore on; it grew dark, and the women got 
 up. I then came out of my hiding-place, soaking with 
 perspiration, and my wife and I went back to the Hung's 
 house, where we found not only Mrs. Hung and her husband 
 but also my brother and little Peng'rh. He said he had 
 been forced by some Manchus to load carts all day, but 
 they had been kind to little Peng'rh. They had given 
 him a string of cash at the end of his day's work besides 
 a safe conduct flag. The streets were piled high with 
 corpses and all the ditches choked with blood. A report 
 was current that a certain Colonel Wang Shao-yang, on 
 good terms with the Manchus, was providing relief for 
 the homeless and destitute, and that his intercession 
 had saved many from being murdered. In spite of all 
 our misery I slept soundly that night; when morning 
 broke we had entered upon our ninth day of tribulation. 
 
 " So far we had marvellously escaped, but rumours 
 were being noised abroad that all the survivors were to 
 be massacred that day, so that many, at the risk of their 
 lives, fled from the city by means of ropes let down from 
 the wall. Meantime, outlaws and cut-throats from the 
 country had begun to make their way into the city, 
 
 201 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 plundering whatever was left, or else, lying in wait outside, 
 they would intercept the escaping town people and despoil 
 them. Under these circumstances I dared not make the 
 attempt to quit Yang-chou, and my brother was unwilling 
 to start forth alone. So that evening I concealed myself 
 again under some straw; my wife and the child lay on 
 top. Many times did my wife owe her safety to her 
 advanced pregnancy. Soldiers often came in, but we 
 were able to buy them off with bribes . Finally a wolf -eyed, 
 lantern-faced Manchu entered and glared at my wife 
 ferociously. He pulled her about violently, but she lay 
 still, and told him the same story about having fallen 
 from a height. He did not believe her, and compelled 
 her to rise. She sank again immediately, whereupon the 
 soldier took his sword and cut at her back, blood gushing 
 from each stroke. My wife had previously begged me not 
 to betray my presence, even to save her life, as there was 
 a chance of their sparing the child even if they killed her, 
 and if I discovered myself the child would surely starve, for 
 both its parents would be dead. So I remained hidden in 
 the straw and said nothing, expecting that each moment 
 would be my wife's last. The soldier finally caught her 
 by the hair, twisted her long tresses round his arm and 
 brutally pulled her ^ along, belabouring her all the while. 
 He dragged her from the pile of straw down the street 
 for about fifty yards, pausing after every few paces to 
 slash at her with his sword. At this moment a party 
 of cavalry came up, and one of the horsemen spoke to the 
 soldier in Manchu. He at once desisted, and left my wife, 
 who managed to crawl back, bleeding in seven or eight 
 places, and covered with the marks of her terrible ill- 
 treatment. She continued moaning all the rest of that 
 day. 
 
 " More fires were started and several stacks of straw in 
 the Hos' graveyard blazed up. It is impossible to estimate 
 the number of those who were either burned to death that 
 
 202 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 night or, escaping from the flames, were butchered in 
 the streets. The safest course, which we adopted, was to 
 lie by the roadside concealed amongst the festering 
 corpses, but even then there was no certainty of escaping 
 destruction. 
 
 " Towards dawn we crept out and lay awhile at the back 
 of a grave-mound. We were caked all over with mud 
 and excrement, and looked like any thing but human beings. 
 A fire close by spread to the trees by the graveside, and, 
 what with the roaring of the flames and the howling of 
 the wind, we felt as if we were already in the infernal 
 regions. Ghastly was the spectacle as the dawn broke 
 and a pallid sun appeared. On all sides we beheld gaunt 
 fleeting spectres of men and women, our fellow countrymen, 
 while the Manchus, like so many Rakchas,^ chased them 
 up and down as if they were already denizens of the nether- 
 most hell. If we closed our eyes our fevered brains 
 conjured up visions of tortures worse than those we had 
 already undergone. Suddenly I heard the sound of 
 rushing feet. Looking up, I was horrified to see that my 
 brother had been seized by a Manchu soldier and was 
 making desperate efforts to escape from his hold. At 
 last he broke away, but the soldier was after him. For 
 a few breathless moments I gazed in horror; in the end 
 my brother came tottering back, stark naked and with 
 dishevelled hair, in the firm grasp of the Manchu. He 
 implored me to offer the man money to save his life. 
 I had only one silver ingot left, and this I offered to the man, 
 but he seized his sword furiously and stabbed my brother 
 in the neck. He fell to earth, blood gushing from his 
 wounds. Poor little Peng'rh (aged five years) seized 
 the soldier's knees and begged him with tears to spare 
 his uncle's life. The soldier calmly wiped his blade on 
 Peng'rh's coat and then stabbed my brother again, this 
 time in the head, and as it seemed to me, mortally. Then 
 1 Demons of the Buddhist inferno, which devour men. 
 203 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 he caught me by the hair and demanded money, belabour- 
 ing me the while with the blunt side of his sword. 
 
 " I told him that my money was all gone, but offered 
 to get him other articles. So he dragged me to the Hungs' 
 house, where I showed him my wife's silk clothes and 
 jewellery, which we had hidden in two water-jars. Every- 
 thing was turned out on the doorstep, and he helped him- 
 self to whatever took his fancy. He removed all the pearls 
 and gold ornaments, made a selection of the best clothes, 
 and observing that little Peng'rh had a silver locket round 
 his neck, wrenched it off with his knife. Then he turned 
 to me and said : ' I won't kill you, but don't rejoice 
 too soon; others will kill you before very long.' This 
 showed me that a general massacre was afoot, and I felt 
 that our last hour had come. But my wife and I hurried 
 back to see how it fared with our brother. The woimd 
 in his neck was fearful — a gaping hole, several inches 
 deep — and from the gash in his head a portion of the 
 brain was protruding. He had also a terrible wound 
 in the breast. We took him to the Hungs' house and asked 
 how he felt. ' No pain,' he replied, ' just drowsy. I 
 want to sleep.' He was only half conscious when we 
 left him there to go and hide ourselves close to a neigh- 
 bour's house amidst a pile of corpses. As we lay there, 
 suddenly we heard a voice cry : ' The general massacre 
 is fixed for to-morrow. All who can escape had better 
 do so.' 
 
 " My wife urged me to fly the city, but I reflected that 
 my brother was desperately wounded, and could not find 
 it in my heart to leave him. Besides, we had now no 
 money, and if we left the city we should only be facing 
 the certainty of death from starvation. We discussed 
 our position miserably for a long time. By this time the 
 fires had burned themselves out, and we could hear the 
 booming of distant guns. There were not so many 
 soldiers about, so I moved with my wife and child to an 
 
 204 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 outhouse, in which dry dung was kept. Mrs. Hung soon 
 joined us. 
 
 " As we sat there some Manchus came by with five 
 women, two of whom were stricken with years. The 
 youngest one laughed gaily and seemed quite happy. 
 Two more soldiers came up and tried to snatch the younger 
 women away. A fight ensued, and one of the original 
 party, speaking in Manchu, pleaded with the newcomers 
 to desist. The last two men managed, however, to carry 
 off the youngest woman, and bore her underneath a large 
 tree, where they assaulted her, while their comrades did 
 the same with the other females. The older women 
 pleaded for mercy, but the younger did not seem in the 
 least ashamed. Later on I saw that the youngest woman 
 was in a state of collapse. I recognised her as the wife of 
 an acquaintance named Chia, and thought that her wanton 
 behaviour had met with its just reward. Frailty in a 
 woman is paid for, sooner or later. 
 
 " At this moment a young man of about thirty, wearing 
 a Manchu hat, clad in red clothes and wearing black satin 
 boots, came riding by. He had a breastplate of the 
 finest mail; his steed was beautifully caparisoned and 
 he was attended by a large suite. His features, though 
 Tartar, were exceedingly handsome; he had a long 
 protruding chin and a lofty forehead. Amongst his 
 retinue there were many Yang-chou people. This was 
 Prince Yii, the Manchu Commander-in-chief, and uncle 
 of their Emperor. 
 
 " He looked closely at me, saying : ' You don't look 
 like a common person; who and what are you? ' I 
 reflected that some of our people had escaped by saying 
 that they were scholars by profession, while others of the 
 literati had been murdered on suspicion of anti-Manchu 
 proclivities. I did not, therefore, reveal my identit}^ 
 but concocted a plausible story. Then he asked about 
 my wife, and I told him the truth. He then said : ' I have 
 
 205 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 given orders that all killing shall cease from to-morrow, 
 so you will be quite safe.' He bade some of his retinue give 
 me clothes and an ingot of silver. ' How long,' he asked, 
 ' is it since you have had a good meal ? ' I answered : 
 ' Five days.' He commanded us to follow him; my wife 
 and I dared not disobey, though suspicious of his inten- 
 tions. We reached a mansion where preparations for a 
 banquet were laid out on a most lavish scale. Victuals 
 of all kinds were there in abundance. He called a woman, 
 saying : ' Treat these people well,' and then departed. 
 It was now twilight. My wife's younger brother had been 
 carried off and we knew nothing of his fate ; my wife 
 was very sad at his loss. The woman soon came out 
 with bowls of fish and rice, and as this mansion was quite 
 near to the Hungs' house, I carried some food to my 
 brother; but he could not eat it. I combed his hair 
 and washed away the blood from his face, feeling all the 
 time as though a sword were at my own heart. People's 
 minds were more composed on hearing that the massacres 
 were to cease. 
 
 "Next day was the 1st of the 5th Moon; although 
 the situation was much improved, looting and murder 
 did not cease entirely. All the well-to-do families had 
 been stripped bare ^ of everything; hardly any females 
 over ten years of age had escaped violation. To-day one 
 of the Manchu Generals, the Earl of Established Peace, 
 re-entered Yang-chou and distributed some food to the 
 people, over which they fought like ravenous tigers. 
 On the second day proclamations were issued that the 
 Manchus had established local officials in Yang-chou 
 and the surrounding districts. The magistrates were 
 sending out runners to tranquillise the people. The 
 Buddhist temples received orders to burn all corpses; 
 there were still many women hiding in their shrines, and 
 many had died there of starvation. According to the 
 official records of bodies found, the total number of persons 
 
 206 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 who perished during these days was eight hundred thousand, 
 but this does not include those who perished in the flames 
 or who drowned themselves in the river. 
 
 " On the third day a notice was circulated that relief 
 offices were distributing grain and rice. I went with 
 Mrs. Hung to the place, which was the former commissariat 
 department of General Shih K'o-fa. There were tons of 
 rice and grain stored in bins, but in a very short space of 
 time the whole of it had been distributed to the famishing 
 crowd. They presented a pitiful spectacle, most of them 
 with maimed limbs and broken heads, and all in filthy 
 apparel. But when the grain was distributed each and 
 all fought like wolves; children even forgot to consider 
 their parents, and struggled only for themselves. Many 
 aged and infirm persons waited all day without securing 
 a mouthful. 
 
 " On the fourth day the sky cleared and the heat of 
 the sun was great. The stench of the corpses was over- 
 powering, and thousands were burned during the day. A 
 mighty smoke was raised, and the smell of the burning 
 bodies filled the air, tainting it for miles around. I 
 burned some cotton wool and human bone, and with 
 the calcined ashes prepared ointment for my brother's 
 wounds. He accepted it gratefully, but could not utter 
 a word. 
 
 " On the fifth day many people who had remained in 
 hiding began to come forth; people's hearts were too 
 full for speech. We five, including the Hungs, were still 
 alive, but as yet we did not dare to spend the day in our 
 own house. After breakfast we went out and sat by the 
 roadside. No one dared to wash or dress his hair, for 
 there were still robbers about, but these were only common 
 footpads ; they had no swords, only cudgels, with which 
 they frightened people into giving them money. But 
 even so they beat several people to death and outraged 
 many women. We could not tell if these wretches were 
 
 207 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Manchus or Chinese soldiers or merely local ruffians. 
 To-day my brother died of his grievous wounds, which 
 had mortified. My loss is not to be described. At the 
 beginning of the trouble we were a party of eight brothers 
 and sisters and their issue; now only three remained, I, 
 my wife and Peng'rh. 
 
 " In all I have described the events of ten days, from 
 the 25th of the 5th to the 5th of the 4th Moon. I 
 have only told of my own experiences and the things of 
 which I have been an eye-witness. In all my story there 
 is not one word of hearsay or rumour, and I have refrained 
 from mentioning events which did not come under my own 
 observation. Hence I know that this record is true. 
 Perchance posterity, born in a happier age, may be 
 interested in perusing this diary, and it may serve to point 
 a moral for the unreflecting. It may even cause vindictive 
 and cruel-minded men to reflect on the error of their ways, 
 and thus be of some value, as a solemn warning." 
 
 Thus it was in China in the year 1645. For 265 years 
 thereafter the Manchus ruled over the Empire which they 
 had won by the sword. Under the wise government of 
 their earlier Emperors the country rapidly recovered, 
 as it always does^ from the abomination of desolation 
 wrought first by Li Tzu-cheng's rebellion and then by the 
 Manchus' ruthless war of conquest. New cities sprang 
 up where no stone had been left upon another to tell the 
 story of the dead ; once more the wilderness was made to 
 blossom as the rose, until, in the fulness of time, the 
 Manchus' course of Empire was run and, as they lost 
 their prestige as rulers, rebellion and anarchy once more 
 laid waste the land. 
 
 In the events which have marked the passing of this 
 once Imperial race, none display more vividly the pitiless 
 irony of Fate and the innate savagery of Orientals in 
 their crises of battle and sudden death than the slaughter 
 
 208 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 of the Manchu garrisons at cities like Sianfii during the 
 recent revolution. Describing the sack of the Tartar 
 city at Sianfu in October 1911, one who passed through 
 it shortly afterwards wrote : ^ 
 
 " Once the Chinese set about this business of destruction, 
 the lust of blood, the madness of killing, possessed them. 
 Old and young, men and women, little children, were alike 
 butchered. The Tartar General, old, hopeless, cut off 
 from his people at the critical juncture, was unable to 
 face the situation. The safety he had won for the moment 
 he felt not worth the keeping ; he ended his life by throw- 
 ing himself down a well. Houses were plundered and then 
 burnt; those who would fain have laid hidden till the 
 storm was past were forced to come out into the open. 
 The revolutionaries, protected by a parapet of the wall, 
 poured a heavy, unceasing, relentless fire into the doomed 
 Tartar city. Those who tried to escape thence into the 
 Chinese city were cut down as they emerged from the 
 gates. At the western gates the Mohammedans cynically 
 received them for their own purpose. In the darkness some 
 managed to scale the city wall, and descend the other side, 
 wade through the moat and escape to the open country. 
 But not all who attempted this succeeded. The wall is 
 thirty-six feet in height and at the top is some sixteen 
 yards wide, and on it at various points clustered the 
 Chinese soldiers. The fugitives to escape had to slip 
 between these, avoid the flashing lanterns and find a means 
 of affixing their ropes safely before descending. Some 
 possibly escaped by venturing to leap from the height. 
 
 " In despair, many Manchus themselves set fire to their 
 houses ; at least they might cheat their murderers of the 
 loot they sought. Into the English Hospital, days after- 
 wards, when the first fury was passed, men were brought 
 in a shocking condition ; men who had attempted to cut 
 
 ^ The Passing of the Dragon. By J. C. Keyte. (Hodder and 
 Stoughton.) 1913. 
 
 p 209 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 their throats. Asked why they had done so they answered 
 simply : ' The wells were full.' And the Shensi wells 
 are not the shallow ones of some parts of China; they 
 are thirty-six feet deep. There is such a man in that 
 hospital to-day. All his family, wife, daughters, sons, were 
 slain or destroyed themselves ; he lives because the well 
 was choked with dead or dying, and he failed in his 
 attempt to end his life by other means. 
 
 " There were many Manchus in the Chinese city at the 
 time of the outbreak. Some escaped for the moment 
 through taking shelter with friends. But even twenty days 
 after the outbreak, a Manchu detected on the street would 
 be dragged off to instant execution. Hundreds were 
 thus hunted through the streets and lanes of the city. 
 They were known by their clothing, by their cast of 
 countenance, by their speech. . . . 
 
 " When the Manchus found that further resistance was 
 useless, they in many cases knelt on the ground, laying 
 down their weapons and begged the soldiers for life. They 
 were shot as they knelt. Sometimes there was a whole 
 line of them. In one doorway a group of between ten 
 and twenty were thus killed in cold blood. 
 
 *' A girl came down the street; a girl of twenty, with 
 hands bound. She had been hastily dragged before the 
 ' judges ! ' in the Magazine, temporary headquarters 
 of the Revolution, and was now being taken out a hundred 
 yards or so to be beheaded. And in her face was that 
 which once seen — by the passer-by at least — ^was never 
 to be forgotten. It was not despair. Ah no ! That 
 anodyne had had no time in which to reach her. It 
 was the full young life cheated of its days, going out into 
 the dark, the path before her littered by fearful reminders of 
 the fate in front. From the pallid lips no sound issued; 
 they were held, as the girl's whole being was held, by utter 
 terror. The shaking limbs, the stumbling gait, proclaimed 
 
 210 
 
A War Junk at the Time of Lord Macartney's Mission. 
 
 (From a painting by W, Alexander in the British Museum.) 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 it, but more than all the awful haunting eyes. Along 
 the route where the reek of blood made the very air bitter, 
 acrid in the brilliant sunshine, where curses and sobs 
 mingled with groans and derisive raucous cries rent the 
 air, they went. A woman, a very girl, caught within the 
 enemy's gates, not dying with her own people, not able 
 to save herself with them if only in a death she saw and 
 chose; but hurried along thus, as to a shambles. And 
 her crime ? Her birth. A Manchu. The soldier muttered 
 impatiently. He had other affairs to attend to when 
 this was over. Time meant money, meant sport, in those 
 days. He stalked along behind her with naked sword 
 held up. ' Hurry,' he snarled, ' Hurry.' 
 
 " Days after the outbreak an Englishman, passing down 
 a side street, heard groans, heard the cry of pain, coming 
 up with hollow sound from the depths. At the mouth 
 of a well stood some Chinese. It was their day. The 
 pitiful cries went on, the feeble moaning varied with the 
 sharp cries. A Manchu, who had thrown himself, or 
 been thrown down this well, had lain there with broken 
 limbs ; lay there in agony, appealing almost unconsciously 
 for pity. 
 
 *' The men at the well mouth picked up lumps of earth, 
 stones, picked up what came to hand. There came up 
 from the well's depths the thud of missiles on human flesh." 
 
 And so the whirligig of Time brings in its merciless 
 revenges; the butchers of to-day are the victims of to- 
 morrow. Europe, with its reserves of inherited wealth, 
 with outlets overseas for its surplus millions, its organised 
 philanthropy and scientific economics, has no conception 
 of the realities of life in furthest Asia, the same now as 
 they were in the days when " the Lord commanded Moses 
 to war against the Midianites, and they slew all the males, 
 and burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt." It is not 
 possible for us, in our well-ordered materialism, to sym- 
 
 211 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 pathise with the forces of atavism, the instinctive terrors 
 and cruelties that dwell for ever in the soul of this people. 
 The sack of Yang Chou-fu and that of the Tartar city at 
 Sianfu are in reality insignificant incidents, normal features 
 in the life history of a race which since the beginning of 
 recorded time has learned " to eat its bread with quaking 
 and to drink its water with trembling." 
 
 212 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE LAST OF THE MINGS 
 
 KuEi Wang (Prince Kuei), the last and the longest-Hved 
 of the four fugitive claimants to the Dragon Throne, 
 kept up a semblance of sovereignty from 1646 (when 
 his predecessor was executed by the Manchus at Foochow) 
 till 1659, when he was compelled to flee over the Yunnan 
 frontier into Burmah. When he succeeded to the Great 
 Inheritance, under the reign title of " Yung Li," the 
 harried Court of the Mings, shorn now of all its regal pomp 
 and revenues, was in Kuangtung, but in the following 
 year, closely pursued by the ever- victorious Manchus, it 
 fled into Kuangsi. There a stand was made, and for a 
 time the fortunes of the Mings seemed to be in the 
 ascendant. In 1648 three provinces owned their allegi- 
 ance, and a force of over 200,000 men still held in check 
 the alien invaders. The death of the Regent, Prince Jui, 
 (1649) put new heart into the cause, and the serious 
 rebellions which broke out against the Manchus in Hunan, 
 Chekiang and other provinces, all justified the Mings 
 in hoping for a restoration of their House. But it was 
 not to be. By the year 1650, the rank and file of the 
 Mings' adherents consisted chiefly of freebooters and 
 recruits drawn from Li Tzii-ch'eng's scattered armies, 
 and the small remnant of respectable men who continued 
 to follow their fallen fortunes were influenced as much 
 by hopes of perquisites and power as by patriotic dislike 
 of a foreign ruler. Gradually the flag of the old dynasty 
 
 213 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 became nothing more than a rallying point for political 
 adventurers, and the Court a cave of Adullam, to which 
 gathered themselves all those that were in distress or 
 debt or bitterness of soul. In 1651 the wretched Yung 
 Li had been forced to flee further and further West, until 
 at last we find him, a refugee and a pensioner, under the 
 protection of a leader of desperadoes, one who had taken 
 an active part in Li Tzu-ch'eng's rebellion, and who now 
 used the Ming claimant and his few faithful Ministers to 
 give to his own ambitious schemes a reasonable pretext 
 and some semblance of patriotism. From 1655 to 1659 
 Kuei Wang, with a remnant of troops commanded by 
 another famous freebooter named Li Ting-kuo, was 
 closely pursued by the Manchu forces, which then stamped 
 out the flickering flames of rebellion in Kueichow and 
 Yunnan. Finally, his last battle fought and lost, he fled 
 for his life, with a poor handful of followers, across the 
 Burmese frontier, near Teng-yueh; there, for a time, he 
 found a refuge from the fierce pursuit of Wu San-kuei. 
 This General, now all-powerful ruler of two provinces 
 under the Manchus, but once the chief hope and defence 
 of the Mings at Peking, showed himself brutally pitiless 
 in his treatment of the unfortunate Kuei Wang, a broken 
 fugitive who could no longer threaten the power of the 
 Ta Ching dynasty. The pathetic figure of the last of 
 the Mings in exile was, indeed, something to arouse 
 sympathy in the mind of any magnanimous man, and 
 Wu's implacable cruelty towards him is only explained 
 and condoned by Chinese scholars by the fact that his 
 education was not that of a literary man. A military 
 training, they declare, does not inculcate the canons of 
 the Sages. 
 
 From his retreat in Burmah the last of the Mings wrote 
 to Wu San-kuei, endeavouring to placate him, or at least 
 to dissuade him from further relentless pursuing. The 
 letter was written in December 1662. 
 
 214 
 
 I 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 *' Your Excellency has deserved right well of the present 
 dynasty, but once you were a bulwark of our own. Under 
 it you received hereditary rank and a provincial satrapy, 
 so that His late Majesty Ch'ung Chen may be said to 
 have conferred exceptional favours on Your Excellency. 
 
 " Unhappily, our dynasty fell upon evil days ; the 
 rebel bandit, Li Tzu-ch'eng, laid waste the land and 
 marched on our capital. Our tutelary altars were de- 
 stroyed, so that His late Majesty felt that suicide was his 
 duty, and thousands of our subjects were put to the sword. 
 
 " At that time Your Excellency had not lost all right 
 and natural feeling; you wept at the thought of the 
 dynasty's plight, and marched to its aid clad in mourning, 
 at the head of an avenging host. 
 
 " How comes it then that, since that day, you have 
 staked your fortunes upon those of the Manchus, like 
 the fox which relied on the prestige of the tiger to lord 
 it over the beasts of the forest? You pretended a 
 loyal desire to wreak vengeance on our enemies, and all 
 the time you were the very humble and obedient servant 
 of the new dynasty. 
 
 " Since then, Li Tzu-ch'eng's rebellion has been sup- 
 pressed and its leader has met with the fate he deserved, 
 but our dynasty had already lost the whole of the northern 
 portion of the Empire. Our Ministers in the South could 
 not bear to see the dynastic altars bare and untended, 
 so they raised up the Emperor Hung Kuang at Nanking 
 to succeed Ch'ung Chen. Was it to be expected or be- 
 lieved that even then the attacks of the Manchus would 
 continue, unrelenting and unceasing? Hung Kuang 
 perished in battle, and his successor, Lung Wu, was put 
 to death at Foochow. Facing these swift-footed disasters, 
 I, all unworthy, had but little desire to live ; what thought 
 had I to spare for our dynastic altars? Nevertheless, 
 my Ministers forced the Throne upon me, and I was 
 reluctantly induced to take up the burden of inheritance. 
 
 215 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " Since then fifteen years have passed; the first cam- 
 paign of my reign lost us Hupei, and after that, further 
 disasters followed in Kuangtung. Again and again have 
 I had to flee, in panic-stricken confusion, before the 
 advancing Manchus. Fortunately, at a moment of great 
 peril, Li Ting-kuo came to my aid in Kuei-chou and brought 
 me safe to Nan-an in Yunnan. There I had hoped to be 
 left in peace by my ruthless enemies, to be allowed to 
 remain in possession of that remote and worthless corner 
 of my ancestors' patrimony. 
 
 " But Your Excellency has forgotten the benefits 
 which my ancestors bestowed upon you; evidently you 
 hope to go down to history as one of the founders of this 
 new dynasty. You led your armies into Yunnan, destroy- 
 ing my nest of peaceful retreat. Again I had to cross a 
 desert barrier, and now I look for my protection to Burmese 
 hospitality. In this remote region joy and I have long 
 been strangers; tears are my daily meat and drink. 
 Although I have lost the glorious heritage, won by my 
 ancestors at the cost of so many and great hardships, 
 no doubt but that I should count myself lucky in that I 
 still draw the breath of pain among these people of the 
 barbarian South ! 
 
 " But Your Excellency, not to be appeased, desists 
 not from pursuing me to the end. You have now asked 
 your Sovereign's permission to invade Burmah at the 
 head of a mighty army, in order ruthlessly to hunt me 
 down, me, a sad and solitary dweller in the land. Is 
 not the whole Empire wide enough for your ambitions? 
 Is there then to be no resting-place for me, 'neath 
 heaven's vault upon the bosom of earth? Or is it, 
 perchance, that your insatiate ambition is not content 
 with the princedom which you have received, and that 
 you seek my destruction in order that you may be crowned 
 with fresh honours? Is it that you are jealous of our 
 founder, T'ai Tsu, who won the Empire by deeds of 
 
 216 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 glorious merit, after being ' combed by the wind and 
 bathed in the sun,' and that you feel it hard that you 
 have not been left one inch of ground which you could 
 boast of having won by yourself ? In despite, you must 
 needs first destroy our ancestral altars, and now follow 
 up that brave deed by slaughtering T'ai Tsu's descendants ! 
 Can you, I wonder, bear to peruse the ode, ' Oh ! owl, 
 oh ! owl, you have robbed me of my young; destroy not 
 also my nest; with love and care I nurtured them; 
 truly I deserve to be pitied without shame ' ? 
 
 " Your Excellency's ancestors won a glorious place 
 in our annals ; it may be that you refuse to show to me 
 an atom of pity, but can it be that you are lost to all 
 remembrance of His late Majesty, who gave you high 
 rank? Even if you reck nothing for him, surely you 
 cannot forget the merits of my great ancestor T'ai Tsu 
 and of his son Yung Lo (Cheng Tsu) and their successors ! 
 It may be that you have also forgotten their names; 
 but even so, you cannot be so devoid of filial piety as 
 to forget the example of your own forefathers ! 
 
 " What has the Great Pure Manchu dynasty done for 
 Your Excellency to win such loyal devotion and service 
 at your hands ? What crime, what act of unjust oppression, 
 have I committed towards Your Excellency that you 
 thus evilly intreat me? Thinking to be wise, you are 
 become as a fool; believing yourself loyal to your new 
 masters, you are at heart a traitor both to old and new. 
 Ten thousand generations hence, what name will Your 
 Excellency leave in history? what manner of man will 
 posterity call you? To-day I make appeal to Your Ex- 
 cellency. I am left with scarcely a soldier to defend me ; 
 I stand alone, like one bereft of his parents, against a 
 hostile world. My life, humble and worthless, is in Your 
 Excellency's hands. If you must have my head, it is 
 forfeit to you. I shrink not from death, though the 
 undergrowth be soaked with my blood and my scattered 
 
 217 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 bones lie whitening the plain. Far be it from me to 
 expect Your Excellency to spare my life, or to plead with 
 you to grant me a narrow plot of ground on which I, 
 the descendant of the glorious Ming dynasty, may still 
 eke out an existence. Yet why should you not allow 
 me to benefit by the nurturing protection of the Manchu 
 dynasty, under which even the grass of the field is watered 
 by timely dew and rain from above ? If I had a million 
 men-at-arms, cheerfully would I place them all under 
 your banner. It is now for Your Excellency to decide. 
 Faithful servant of the new dynasty though you be, it 
 remains for Your Excellency to show that you have not 
 forgotten past benefits heaped upon you by His late 
 Majesty, and that you still cherish the memory of my 
 predecessors' glorious achievements. I must leave Your 
 Excellency to think out and decide this matter for 
 yourself." 
 
 To this pathetic letter Wu San-kuei made no reply, 
 but proceeded to threaten the Burmese King with dire 
 penalties unless the fugitive were promptly surrendered. 
 
 About three months after Yung Li's vain attempt to 
 placate Wu San-kuei, the Burmese invited the remnant 
 of the Emperor's Court to meet one of their chieftains on 
 a small island for tjie purpose of arranging the terms of 
 a treaty. Here they treacherously seized them all, and 
 slew Prince Sung with forty-two high officials. Many 
 women of the Imperial and princely households committed 
 suicide. Only a few of the Emperor's followers escaped, 
 among them a General named Teng. He subsequently 
 declared that the Burmese would have killed the Emperor 
 also, but a message arrived from the Burmese King (who 
 had just succeeded to the Throne) that he was to be held 
 as a prisoner and handed over to Wu San-kuei. Early 
 in the 12th Moon the Manchus arrived upon the scene 
 and carried off Yung Li to Yiinnan. 
 
 A certain Chi T'an-jan, native of Nanking, and his 
 
 218 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 father accompanied the escort which brought the ex- 
 Emperor back to China. The following account is in 
 Chi T'an-jan's own words, as recorded in a contemporary 
 memoir : " When His Majesty crossed the Yunnan 
 boundary he was met by Wu San-kuei, who had prepared 
 a sedan-chair for his use. All along the route the people 
 crowded to see him, saying : ' This is the former Son of 
 Heaven,' and hardly a man but shed tears as he gazed 
 on so pitiful a sight. The Emperor was round of coun- 
 tenance, with a protuberant forehead ; his beard was long 
 and full, and he looked every inch a King. A number of 
 the Manchu bodyguard joined in a plot to rescue and 
 defend him, so moved were they at the thought of his 
 wrongs and so wrath with Wu San-kuei for his treachery. 
 But the plot miscarried, and over forty of them were 
 executed. I myself witnessed their deaths ; one of them 
 was of immense stature, nigh seven feet in height, and 
 broad in proportion. It was said that he was the cham- 
 pion archer and rider in the Manchu army, as well as a 
 great wrestler." 
 
 This conspiracy made Yung Li's plight all the more 
 desperate. Wu San-kuei sent couriers to Peking for 
 instructions, and in the 8rd Moon of the following year, 
 1663, he received a secret decree from the Regent Ao Pai, 
 in the name of the Emperor K'ang Hsi, ordering him to 
 put Yung Li to death. So Wu invited the ex-Emperor 
 to a chess tourney at the Treasury building, just outside 
 the northern gate of Yiinnan-fu, and there had him 
 strangled. A Chinese author, himself a descendant of 
 the Mings, has the following note on Yung Li's death : 
 " No one knew that his death had been decided upon for 
 that day, but, at about the eleventh hour, the sky, which 
 had been clear and calm, became suddenly overcast, and 
 there arose a terrible storm, darkening the air with dust. 
 Peasants at work near the Temple of Buddhist Conversion, 
 close to the Chin-chih lake, half-a-mile from the city, 
 
 219 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 beheld a shooting star fall from Heaven, and it was after- 
 wards found that the hour at which they saw it was 
 that in which Yung Li was murdered. His remains were 
 buried in Yiinnan-fu. His wife and mother were both 
 sent to Peking, where they were kindly treated, but soon 
 afterwards the ex-Empress Dowager committed suicide. 
 Yung Li was thirty-eight years of age at the time of his 
 death. He resembled the Emperor Wan Li, his grand- 
 father, in face, and also in his hatred of extravagance. 
 He was a man of simple tastes, and drank but little wine. 
 Although not a great scholar, he was a keen reader, an 
 eager student of the classics. Great grief and indignation 
 were felt in Yiinnan at his cruel death. Surely, a happier 
 day is dawning; let us hope that China may soon see the 
 descendants of her old hero, Chu Yiian-chang,^ restored 
 once more to their own, and the alien barbarians driven 
 back to their Gobi desert." 
 
 One of Yung Li's most devoted adherents was Kung Yi, 
 who was President of his Board of Rites; he followed his 
 master to Yunnan, and when that province was lost fled 
 with him to Burmah. Here he set to work to induce the 
 local tribesmen to rally to his succour, but before he had 
 had time to achieve any results, Yung Li was treacherously 
 captured by the Burmese, who handed him over to Wu 
 San-kuei. Kung Yi followed the captive to Yiinnan-fu. 
 One day soon after his arrival he prepared food and wine 
 and bore them to the place where Yung Li was confined. 
 The guards sought to prevent him from entering, but he 
 persisted, saying : " Your prisoner is our Chinese Emperor, 
 and I am his Minister ; all I ask is to be allowed to see him 
 once more. Why do you prevent me ? " So the guards 
 reported the matter to Wu San-kuei, who permitted Kung 
 Yi to enter. He prepared his little feast in the main room, 
 and then invited the Emperor to take his place facing the 
 South in the seat of honour on the dais, as if he were 
 ^ The founder of the Ming dynasty. 
 220 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 presiding at a Court banquet, while he knelt dutifully 
 below. 
 
 Having made obeisance, he presented the wine. The 
 Emperor wept bitterly and put the cup down untouched. 
 Kung Yi prostrated himself in the dust, utterly overcome 
 with grief. Once more he besought His Majesty to drink, 
 and Yung Li forced himself at last to swallow a little. 
 Then the Emperor handed a cup to Kung Yi, who drank 
 it, and in a few moments he expired. The Emperor 
 raised him in his arms and wept bitterly when he saw 
 that his faithful servant was dead. Not long after this 
 Yung Li was strangled, as above stated, and with him 
 ended the last attempt of the Mings to recover their 
 Throne. Two centuries later the Taiping rebels raised the 
 cry, "Restore the Mings," but it was a battle-cry only, 
 just as much lacking in political significance and genuine 
 loyalty to the departed dynasty as Sun Yat-sen's melo- 
 dramatic performance at the shrine of Chu Yiian-chang 
 on the 15th of February, 1912. 
 
 An interesting and little-known result of the tribulations 
 and vicissitudes of the fugitive Ming Court, was that 
 many of the Imperial clanswomen sought consolation, 
 and probably hoped to find practical benefits of European 
 intervention, from the practice of the Roman Catholic 
 religion. When we remember how great had been the 
 influence of the Jesuit fathers (Schall, Ricci, Verbiest 
 and others) under the last of the Ming Emperors at Peking 
 — an influence which made itself felt, as we have seen, in 
 secular and military matters — it is not remarkable that 
 their immediate posterity should have founded some hopes 
 on a continuance of cordial relations with the Roman 
 Catholic priests, who at that time were zealously propa- 
 gating their faith, not only at Peking, but in the southern 
 provinces. The Portuguese colony of Macao was a very 
 important headquarters of Jesuit missionary work, and 
 during the earlier years of Yung Li's struggle for the 
 
 221 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 recovery of the Throne, while his forces were endeavouring 
 to hold Kuangtung, a German Jesuit, named Andrew 
 Xavier Kofiier, was attached to the Ming Court. As the 
 result of the labours of this earnest worker in a truly 
 grateful soil, Yung Li's wife and mother embraced, and 
 openly professed, the faith, and their example was followed 
 not only by many of the secondary consorts, but by 
 several eunuchs, by over a hundred members of the Im- 
 perial Clan and forty high officials. All these, as was duly 
 reported to the Vatican, were baptised. Yung Li's titular 
 Empress Dowager received the baptismal name of Helen, 
 the Heir Apparent that of Constantine, the Empress 
 Mother that of Mary, and his Consort that of Anne. Yung 
 Li himself never became a convert, because, like his 
 ancestors, he was a confirmed polygamist, and could not 
 be persuaded to give up his harem. 
 
 In the year 1649, the Empress Helen, acting upon the 
 advice of Father Koffler and her Chief Eunuch, " P'an 
 Achilles " (who appears to have been a sincerely devout 
 Catholic), sent an envoy to the head of the Church at 
 Macao desiring that a special mass should be celebrated 
 in thanksgiving for the restoration to health of the Heir 
 Apparent, and incidentally to pray for the restoration of 
 the Ming dynasty. On this interesting occasion the 
 Governor of Macao gave a banquet in honour of the 
 Imperial envoy and made him a present, useful and 
 significant, of a hundred muskets. 
 
 In November of the following year it was decided to 
 send a mission via Goa to the Vatican. The Empress 
 Helen addressed a letter to Pope Innocent X in her own 
 very indifferent handwriting, announcing her conversion 
 to the true faith and that of the mother and wife of 
 the Emperor. The text of this interesting document 
 was first published in a work by the Jesuit Athanasius 
 Kirchner at Amsterdam in 1666. (China monumentis, 
 qiui sacriSf qua profaniSy etc.) Father Dominic and 
 
 222 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 another Jesuit priest and two Chinese Christians were 
 entrusted with this mission to the Vatican ; they also bore 
 letters addressed to the Society of Jesus at Rome. Owing 
 to many difficulties and delays they did not reach Italy, 
 travelling overland via Persia and the Levant, until the 
 summer of 1652. In Rome, too, they met with unex- 
 pected obstacles, and it was not until 1655, that Pope 
 Alexander VII consented to receive the mission in audience 
 and gave them replies in the form of letters addressed to 
 the Empress Helen and the eunuch P'an. With these 
 the envoys returned in due course to China. The Em- 
 press's letter to Pope Innocent and another from the 
 eunuch are still preserved in the archives at the Vatican.^ 
 
 The Empress Helen's letter contains little beyond general 
 expressions of piety and goodwill, but that of P'an 
 Achilles records the interesting fact that this eunuch, 
 then sixty-two years of age, was in command of all the 
 land and sea forces of the Mings in the provinces of Fukhien 
 and Kuangtung ; commander also of the Imperial Guard, 
 with full powers over the financial and commissariat 
 departments. Master of the Ceremonies, and Guardian of 
 the State Seal. Which proves that the last of the Mings 
 had learned little wisdom from adversity. 
 
 With the death of Yung Li, bowstringed at the furthest 
 frontiers of the Empire, the Manchu dynasty's rights to 
 rule China were no longer disputed by any legitimate 
 claimant, and the splendid recuperative powers of the 
 Chinese people, fostered and guided by the wise govern- 
 ment of the Emperor K'ang Hsi, speedily brought about 
 an era of great prosperity and a widespread revival of art, 
 literature and commerce. We shall now proceed to 
 consider some of the most notable events and principal 
 motive forces in the lives of the Manchu Sovereigns, 
 elucidating as far as possible the causes of the dynasty's 
 
 ^ An English translation of both documents was pubUshed by 
 Mr. E. H. Parker in the Contemporary Review of January 1912. 
 
 223 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 gradual decline in virility and statesmanship; endeav- 
 ouring, by means of the documents at our disposal, to 
 throw new light on the personal relations, human equa- 
 tions and domestic affairs which affected the policies of 
 China's rulers in the first instance, and eventually the 
 destinies of the nation. 
 
 But before concluding this review of the last years of 
 the Ming dynasty, we would refer once again to the part 
 which the superstitious belief of the Chinese in prophecies 
 and omens has always played, and still plays, in every 
 national crisis. A proverb or a prophecy, current in the 
 market places and tea-shops of the provinces, carries far 
 greater weight than Imperial edicts in determining the 
 popular attitude in any great emergency. For this reason 
 certain prophecies which foretold long ago, in language 
 very similar to that of Old Moore, the collapse of the Ming 
 dynasty and the destinies of the Manchus, have always 
 stirred the popular imagination, and affected public 
 opinion, to a degree which Europeans of the present day 
 can hardly imagine. 
 
 One of the most widely spread of these prophecies has 
 long been known in China as " The Song of the Cakes." 
 It is generally believed to have been composed by Chu 
 Yiian-chang, the founder of the Ming dynasty, shortly 
 after his accession to the Throne, and it is supposed 
 to foretell the fate of the dynasty, the coming of the 
 eight Manchu banners, and the final overthrow of the 
 Manchu power. The last lines of this effusion run as 
 follows : 
 
 " Ten-mouthed women,^ with grass on their heads, once 
 more carry a babe in their arms to be lord over the Empire. 
 
 " The eight banner flags find it hard to escape from the 
 Japanese devils. 
 
 1 Ten-mouthed women : i. e.Yehonala — (meaning Tzii Hsi and Lung 
 Yii). The first character of the name Yehonala has the sign for 
 " grass " at the top, and below it the signs for " ten " and " a mouth." 
 
 224 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 " In the provinces of Hunan-Hupei, a wondrous being 
 shall arise. 
 
 " A red pear tree, with a round hole in the middle of 
 its fruit, shall startle the slave-son's descendants. 
 
 " A monkey shall stand in the central place and drive 
 forth the little child. 
 
 " A woman shall enter the room, bearing a son in her 
 arms ; another woman shall leave the room, bearing a son 
 in her arms. 
 
 " The grandson's reign shall be brief. In the sky a 
 yellow star shall shine." 
 
 To understand the manner in which such prophecies 
 appeal to the Chinese, scholars and common people alike, 
 it is necessary to possess a knowledge of the written 
 language, for all the hidden meanings of such utterances, 
 actual or alleged, depend upon an ingenious and often 
 far-fetched play upon words. The pundits, who claim 
 that the above prophecy refers to the overthrow of the 
 Manchus by the recent revolutionary movement, aver, 
 for instance, that the " red pear tree with the round hole 
 in the middle of the fruit," etc., can only refer to Li 
 Yuan-hung, the present Vice-president of the Republic, 
 because the " Li " in his name is identical in sound with 
 the word " Li " for a pear, while Hung is " red " and 
 Yuan is identical in sound with " round." And the 
 slave-son is Nurhachi, because the first two Chinese 
 characters in his name (nu erh) mean " slave-son." To 
 Western minds this sort of thing may seem fantastic 
 gibberish, but to the Chinese it is extraordinarily con- 
 vincing. For a similar reason " a monkey " is Yuan Shih- 
 k'ai ; the " driving out of the infant " refers to the Manchu 
 abdication; the " grandson " is Sun Yat-sen, the " yellow 
 star " is Huang Hsing, and " the woman leaving the room " 
 is the Empress Lung Yii with the baby Hsiian T'ung, 
 the woman entering the room being Shun Chili's mother.^ 
 1 Cf. Dr. Arthur Smith't; Chinese Proverbs, new edition, p. 325. 
 Q 225 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 The importance of prophecies Uke this Hes not in the 
 interpretation which scholars or journaUsts may choose 
 to give to them, but to the indisputable fact that the 
 common people know and vaguely believe in them. If, 
 on the authority of " The Song of the Cakes," the man in 
 the street persuades himself that Huang Hsing's appearance 
 on the scene is an event fraught with vast issues, that 
 unscrupulous adventurer starts with an advantage which 
 neither wealth nor personal merit could confer. Readers 
 of China under the Empress Dowager may remember 
 that Tzu Hsi herself often displayed superstition as gross 
 as that of the commonest coolie in the land, and that many 
 a vital step in her career was determined upon the advice 
 of charlatan soothsayers and astrologers. In studying 
 the Uves of China's rulers, whether Ming or Manchu, it is 
 necessary to bear in mind this deep-rooted characteristic 
 of the race. 
 
 END OF PART I 
 
 226 
 
PART II 
 THE MANCHU DYNASTY 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE EMPEROR SHUN CHIH 
 
 There is comparatively little material in contemporary 
 annals and memoirs which bears upon the life of the 
 Sovereign and his Court during the first reign of the Manchu 
 dynasty, that of the Emperor Shun Chih. The fact is 
 readily explicable in several ways. In the first place, 
 although the history of Shun Chih's reign covers a period 
 of seventeen years from the date of his accession to the 
 Throne of China, he was only twenty-three years of age 
 when he passed from the scene. During the Regency of 
 his uncle. Prince Jui, and until the latter's death in 
 December 1650, the Lord of Heaven was only a little 
 lad, interested in hunting and in hearing the day's news 
 of the Manchu army's victorious progress through the 
 central and southern provinces, carefully tended by his 
 mother and the Imperial tutors. When, three months 
 after the death of the Regent, he assumed nominal control 
 of the business of the State, he was an intelligent youth of 
 twelve, but the high spirits which had marked his child- 
 hood had already given place to the contemplative and 
 serious temperament which became intensified with each 
 succeeding year. One of his first edicts, after assuming 
 the actual direction of the Government, prescribed certain 
 regulations for controlling admission to the priesthood and 
 supervising the training of candidates. He concerned 
 himself actively, too, with public education and the 
 revision of the system of examinations for degrees. The 
 
 229 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Court was eminently respectable, and perhaps even a little 
 dull, under the first of the Manchus, but no doubt the 
 citizens of Peking were glad enough to be rid of the wild 
 extravagance and debauches which had disgraced it under 
 the Mings. 
 
 An essay, published since the abdication of the Manchu 
 dynasty by a Chinese historical writer who signs himself 
 " Born out of time," sets out to prove that Shun Chih 
 was illegitimate, and that the rulers of the House of Gioro, 
 beginning with Shun Chih and ending with Kuang Hsii, 
 had no better claim to pure blood than those of the House 
 of Romanov. He asserts that the father of Shun Chih 
 was not the Emperor T'ai Tsung, but a Chinese hunter, 
 named Wang. The evidence with which he supports 
 this statement can scarcely be called even circumstantial. 
 The writings of " Born out of time " prove him to be one 
 of those typical products of Young China, in whom self- 
 interest and an emotional kind of patriotism combine to 
 produce a blind hatred of the Manchus. His work is marked 
 by the same quality of reckless vituperation as that of 
 Wen Ch'ing and K'ang Yu-wei, and contains more evidence 
 of constructive memory than of historical research. Never- 
 theless, the fact is important that many Chinese Avrite 
 and many more believe, fantastic legends of the kind upon 
 Avhich " Born out of time " bases his assertion that the 
 Emperors Shun Chih, Yung Cheng, Ch'ien Lung and 
 Kuang Hsii were all illegitimate, and born of Chinese 
 fathers. We reproduce his account of the birth of Shun 
 Chih not, as the Imperial edicts say, "for purposes of 
 historical accuracy," but as an illustration of Young 
 China's historical methods. 
 
 " Shortly after the capture of Moukden by the Manchus," 
 he says, " there arrived in the thinly populated district 
 of Fu Chou a family of settlers named Wang, driven from 
 their native province of Shantung by poverty. Their 
 son Wang Kao became a mighty hunter. One day, in 
 
 280 
 
>< >4 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 1637, the Lady Borjikitu, a favourite concubine of T'ai 
 Tsung, was with her maids in the forest, hunting the 
 stag; hke most Mongol women, she was an expert horse- 
 woman and huntress. She had shot three times at a 
 magnificent stag and missed, when Wang Kao appeared 
 upon the scene, and with him a comrade called Teng, 
 nicknamed the ' large- thighed.' The deer rushed 
 through the forest straight towards Wang, who promptly- 
 shot it dead. When Lady Borjikitu reached the spot 
 she was greatly impressed by Wang's fine figure and 
 pleasing features and, after asking him a few questions 
 as to his origin, engaged both him and ' Large-thighed ' 
 Teng, and took them back with her to Moukden, appoint- 
 ing them to her special bodyguard. Thereafter Wang 
 was her constant attendant on hunting expeditions. 
 Soon an intimacy sprang up between them, and when 
 in March of the following year she gave birth to Fulin 
 (who reigned later as Shun Chih) most people believed 
 that Wang was the father. Shun Chih was an exception- 
 ally robust youngster, and could lift heavy weights when 
 only four years old. T'ai Tsung, well aware of his origin, 
 had Teng assassinated for fear of his betraying the secret. 
 He was murdered by hired bravos on the road leading 
 out of Moukden towards Liao yang. To this day there 
 is a popular phrase in Moukden which refers to the murder 
 of Teng. They say to ' send Large-thighed Teng about 
 his business,' meaning to get rid of any kind of incubus 
 by giving it the ' happy dispatch.' A little later Wang 
 Kao himself was assassinated by T'ai Tsung' s order, and 
 legend avers that his ghost walked in the Moukden Palace 
 until appeased by the young Prince Fulin kneeling before 
 his coffin and acknowledging him as his father. After 
 this filial recognition, they say, T'ai Tsung was troubled 
 no more. He gave orders for Wang Kao's burial in the 
 family mausoleum of Nurhachi, and the saying goes that 
 he is included to this day among the family heroes 
 
 231 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 worshipped in the Manchu dynasty's private ^ shrine at 
 Peking, where the Emperor used to make obeisance on 
 the morning of the second day of the year. Common 
 rumour also alleges that on the occasion of Imperial 
 visits to the Moukden mausolea, where Nurhachi and his 
 son are buried, a special sacrifice has always been offered 
 to the memory of Wang Kao. An adage in Moukden 
 itself says : ' The Emperor first pays obeisance to Wang 
 Kao and then to the Imperial tombs.' On the Long 
 White Mountain there is a memorial tablet recounting 
 Wang's history, though naturally it contains no reference 
 to his relations with the proud house of Gioro." 
 
 So much for the latest annalists. Nevertheless, the 
 fact remains that there is nothing in contemporary history 
 or literature which gives colour to these attempts to 
 besmirch the founders of the dynasty, and that the 
 reign of Shun Chih himself was singularly free from all 
 sorts of chroniques scandaleuses and evil report. 
 
 The personal character of the Emperor and his youth 
 go far to account for the absence of scandal and intrigue 
 at Peking during the reign of Shun Chih, but the factor 
 which undoubtedly contributed more than all others to 
 give the Court its happy immunity from treasons, strata- 
 gems and spoils, lay in the relegation of the Palace eunuchs 
 to their proper position as menials, and in the dynastic 
 house-laws, instituted by the Regent shortly after the 
 Manchu accession, which sternly forbade their employ- 
 ment in any official capacity. After the fall of Peking, 
 many of the " rats and foxes " who had debauched and 
 degraded the Court of the Mings, and battened on the 
 vices of the licentious Clansmen, had either fled to their 
 homes at Ho Chien-fu, or had followed the fortunes 
 of the Chinese dynasty to Nanking and further South. 
 Those who remained, to take service under the new 
 
 ^ The site of the shrine has been occupied since 1900 by the Italian 
 Legation. 
 
 232 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 rigime, found their influence and their perquisites lament- 
 ably reduced; and with them vanished the intrigues 
 and the insolences which had distinguished the followers 
 of Wei Chung-hsien. For a breathing space the For- 
 bidden City was cleansed of its chief source of evil. 
 
 The Regent, Prince Jui, fourteenth son of Nurhachi, 
 died, as we have shown, in December 1650, killed, near 
 Kalgan, by an accident whilst engaged in his favourite 
 sport of hunting, at the early age of thirty-nine. The bo}'^ 
 Emperor was sincerely grieved at the loss of his uncle, 
 who for seven years had been the guiding spirit in the 
 counsels of the Manchus. He issued an edict, in which 
 the many virtues of the deceased were eloquently re- 
 corded, and went out to meet the body when it was 
 brought back to Peking. But no sooner was the masterful 
 Prince dead, than certain of the Manchu Princes and 
 nobles, who had always been opposed to his usurpation 
 of the Regency, denounced him on charges amounting 
 to high treason, and demanded the rescindment of the 
 posthumous honours conferred upon him by the Throne. 
 They accused him, not only of having habitually assumed 
 Imperial prerogatives, but of having plotted with his 
 immediate followers to depose his nephew-ward and 
 to seize the Throne for himself. Later on, further accusa- 
 tions were brought against him; he was charged with 
 having appropriated rich jewels belonging to the Throne, 
 and it was said that a certain necklace which had belonged 
 to Nurhachi had been buried with him, by his orders. 
 Upon formal investigation these grave charges proved 
 to be substantially true, and the young Emperor was 
 compelled, much to his regret, to record a solemn decree 
 of censure and degradation against his illustrious relative. 
 The name of Prince Jui and that of his mother, the Concu- 
 bine Wala-nala, were removed from the roll of the Imperial 
 clans, and all their titles and dignities were posthumously 
 cancelled. Thus early came the canker of personal 
 
 233 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ambition to breed disruption in the fine flower of the 
 Manchu aristocracy. The disgrace that fell upon the 
 Regent's memory was keenly felt, not only by his con- 
 temporaries, but by the descendants of Nurhachi, so much 
 so, that more than a hundred years afterwards we find 
 the Emperor Ch'ien Lung taking steps to restore Prince 
 Jui's name and fame. In the forty-third year of his 
 reign (1778) this Monarch issued an edict intended "to 
 attain historical accuracy," much in the same way as 
 the great Tzii Hsi attained it, by retrospectively cancelling 
 all her Boxer edicts, in February 1901. Ch'ien Lung 
 came to the conclusion, after carefully considering the 
 case, that Prince Jui had been unjustly accused, and he 
 therefore made full restitution of his honours and dignities, 
 restored his tablet to its place in the temple of ancestors 
 and re-established the Princedom of Jui in the person of 
 Ch'un Ying, his descendant in the fifth generation. This 
 princedom is now the second in rank of the hereditary nobles . ^ 
 Shun Chih was married at the age of fifteen to the 
 Empress Tung Chia, mother of K'ang Hsi, who died two 
 years after her son's accession. Of this lady's virtues 
 or failings the chroniclers record little that is of interest. 
 This may be due to the fact that, during the few years 
 of the Sovereign's. married life, he was completely under 
 the influence of his favourite concubine, the Lady Tung, 
 a woman who seems to have combined unusual physical 
 attractions with literary accomplishments of a high 
 order and a very masterful disposition. A Chinese 
 commentator goes so far as to describe her as meddlesome 
 (which he considers a peculiarly feminine failing), and 
 declares that she was wont to admonish the whole Court 
 on festive occasions to spare the drink, to dine wisely 
 and not too well. She considered it her duty to keep 
 
 ^ The present holder of the title is a typically degenerate specimen 
 of the latter day Manchu aristocracy, whose opium-smoking pro- 
 clivities recently formed the subject of official investigation. 
 
 234 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 the Emperor up to the mark in his pubhc and private 
 life; she insisted upon his reading the whole text of 
 routine business memorials without skipping, and the 
 Emperor himself recorded (in an epitaph which partakes 
 of the nature of a full obituary notice) that she was 
 accustomed, before retiring for the night, to see for 
 herself that the Imperial bedchamber was not overheated. 
 The Lady Tung was evidently good, and she died 
 young, in the autumn of 1661. Her death affected Shun 
 Chih with uncontrollable grief, from which he never 
 recovered. The chronicler above mentioned naively re- 
 marks that His Majesty's regret for her loss seems to 
 have been perfectly genuine, whereby he is greatly dis- 
 tinguished amongst Imperial husbands, " who generally 
 rejoice at the death of their consorts." In the epitaph 
 to which we have referred, Shun Chih indicates the 
 breadth and depth of his lady's virtue by citing the fact 
 that she invariably declined his invitations to supper, but 
 would urge him to allow his chief Ministers to join him 
 at the table ; a statement which tends to show that the 
 Court etiquette of the Manchus in those days was far 
 less strict than it became at a later period, when they had 
 assimilated the punctilious formalities of the classical 
 Chinese code of manners. 
 
 According to the official annals of the dynasty. Shun 
 Chih died and was buried in the winter of 1661, that is 
 to say, only a few months before the last of the Mings 
 was bowstringed at Yiinnan-fu. The Lady Tung had 
 " gone before " in the autumn of that year. But there 
 appears to be good reason for doubting the dynastic 
 annals in this matter of his death, and for sharing the 
 belief, widely held by Chinese scholars, that the young 
 Emperor, pining for his lost mistress and weary of the 
 dull routine of statecraft, voluntarily handed over the 
 Government to four of his Ministers (acting as joint 
 Regents for his youthful son, K'ang Hsi) and retired to 
 
 235 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the contemplative life of the priesthood. This story, 
 naturally enough, is not to be found in the dynastic 
 records, since the priesthood is held in little reverence 
 by the literati, and its admission would have cast a slur 
 on the Emperor and the Imperial Clan ; but the circum- 
 stantial evidence which supports it, in the writings of 
 contemporary poets and others, is very strong. One, 
 who is frequently quoted, wrote, " He threw away the 
 Empire as one who casts away a worn-out shoe; he 
 rejected the sovereignty thrust upon him in this incarna- 
 tion, and, following the example of the Lord Buddha, 
 preferred to seek the mystic solitudes." There is no 
 doubt that the Emperor became imbued in his early 
 youth with strong leanings towards the Buddhistic ideal 
 of renunciation, and that he is known to have written, 
 amongst other things, the following antithetical couplets : 
 " The future is as dark to me as the past out of which 
 I have come; 
 
 " Vainly have I lived through one existence in this 
 world of men; 
 
 " I have yearned to become a devoted follower of the 
 Lord Buddha; 
 
 " Why, then, do I still hanker after the vanities of 
 the Imperial Throne ? " 
 
 It is also recorded that, shortly before his disappearance 
 from the scene, he told Ao Pai, one of the four Ministers 
 subsequently appointed to act as Regents for his successor, 
 that he hoped to kneel amongst the crowd which should 
 witness the ceremonial procession of the new Emperor, 
 his son ; much in the same way that Alexander I of Russia 
 told his sister-in-law, the wife of his successor, Nicholas I, 
 that he hoped, after his abdication and taking of religious 
 vows, to witness their coronation procession in Moscow.^ 
 
 ^ Vide The Legend concerning the decease of Alexander I, in Siberia, 
 in the guise of the monk Theodore. By the Grand Duke Nicholas. 
 (Petersburg, 1907.) 
 
 236 
 
I 
 
 THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 It is certainly the common belief amongst Chinese 
 students of history that the Emperor Shun Chih did 
 not die in 1661, as the annals have it, but that he arranged 
 with his Ministers that he should vacate the Throne 
 and conceal his identity in that of the Abbot of the T'ien 
 T'ai temple, which lies amongst the hills, fourteen miles 
 to the west of Peking. It was said by contemporary 
 writers that the Abbot bore an extraordinary resemblance 
 to the Emperor, and to this day the temple contains a 
 life-sized gilt mummy statue of a priest, some thirty years 
 of age, whose features are unmistakably of the Manchu 
 type. 
 
 The illustration on the opposite page is from a photo- 
 graph of this statue. It differs from the ordinary 
 mummies of Buddhist bonzes in that it is clad in yellow 
 Dragon robes instead of the usual red Kachaya vestments. 
 It is alleged by tradition that the Dragon robes were sent 
 by K'ang Hsi. The priests of the shrine also show the 
 large vat in which the body was dried. The features of 
 this mummy are covered with dark brown lacquer, 
 whereas the usual procedure is to gild them. Finally, 
 tradition declares that the Emperor K'ang Hsi visited 
 the temple on three occasions, and paid his respects 
 to the Abbot, who did not kneel to the Sovereign as 
 custom would have required in the case of an ordinary 
 priest. When, in 1670, the Abbot passed away, K'ang 
 Hsi had a life-sized presentment of him cast in bronze, 
 and sent presents of pearls and jewels to be buried in 
 his tomb. 
 
 The stone dagoba under which he is said to lie is still 
 standing, and every year the temple is opened to the 
 faithful, who come to prostrate themselves at the shrine 
 in the full belief that here a Lord of Heaven lies buried. 
 Those who have compared the image of the Abbot of 
 T'ien T'ai-ssii with the picture of Shun Chih in the collec- 
 tion of dynastic portraits in the Hall of Imperial Longevity 
 
 237 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 (which adjoins the Coal Hill of the Forbidden City) have 
 testified to the remarkable resemblance. 
 
 But whether he departed this life or not Shun Chih 
 vacated the Throne at the age of twenty- three, leaving 
 his son, a boy of seven, to the care of four of his 
 Ministers. This child was destined to reign over China 
 for sixty-one years, and to confer enduring fame on the 
 Manchu dynasty. 
 
 238 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 K'ANG HSI AS A FATHER 
 
 The character of this famous Emperor, his wise govern- 
 ment, his prowess in war and sport, his deep learning, 
 multitudinous paternity and kind heart, all these have 
 been described in the works of the Jesuit fathers, who 
 until towards the end of his reign, held positions of dignity 
 and influence at the Court of Peking. Naturally enough, 
 many of these descriptions suffer from the theological 
 bias of class, but, generally speaking, they are the work 
 of broad-minded and sympathetic men, and show the 
 Emperor K'ang Hsi in a kindlier light than that which 
 usually beats upon a Throne. Indeed, kindness of heart 
 seems to have been his most prominent quality, combined 
 with a very clear perception of the truth that China's 
 ruler must be firm. From the account of five voyages 
 into Tartary,^ on which the French Jesuit Gerbillon 
 (mandarin of the third class) travelled in the suite of the 
 Emperor between the years 1691 and 1697, the student 
 of history may gather much to explain the revival of art 
 and literature which distinguished this period, and learn 
 to admire, at close range, the character of a Monarch 
 truly great. Jean Frangois Gerbillon, mathematician and 
 writer, shared with the Portuguese, Anthoine Pereira, a 
 degree of Imperial favour as high as that which His 
 Majesty had previously given to Verbiest, the astronomer 
 
 ^ See Histoire Generale de la Chine, par le Pere Mailla dc la Societe 
 de Jesus, Vol. XI. (Paris, 1780.) 
 
 239 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and reviser of the calendar. In 1693, they had introduced 
 quinine to the notice of the Court physicians, when K'ang 
 Hsi was dangerously ill of a fever, and he had shown his 
 gratitude by granting them permission and money to 
 build a church, and had given them a house inside the 
 Palace enclosure. Even before this, however, greatly 
 impressed by the virtue and learning of priests like 
 Philippe Grimaldi, Jean de Fontaney, Joachim Bouvet, 
 Louis le Comte and Claude de Visdelon, he had issued his 
 famous Edict of Toleration (1692), which gave so great an 
 impetus to the spread of Christianity in China, until the 
 internal dissensions between the Jesuits and Dominicans 
 led him to rescind it and to withdraw his favour from the 
 missionaries. 
 
 The efforts of the Jesuits to convert K'ang Hsi and the 
 Heir Apparent were discreet but unceasing. They en- 
 deavoured to convince him and to win him to the true 
 faith by appeals to his intelligence, by continual demonstra- 
 tion of the Europeans' superiority in the arts and sciences ; 
 and for a time it seemed as if they might eventually be 
 successful. In 1693, we find Father Fontaney sending a 
 letter to his Abbe by the hand of Father Bouvet, in which 
 he describes K'ang Hsi as " ce merveilleux Prince, a qui 
 rien ne manque que d'etre Chretien pour etre un des plus 
 accomplis monarques de la terre." ^ He adds the follow- 
 ing significant reference to the Heir Apparent : " Le 
 Prince Heritier, que nous appelons ici Hoang-Tai-Tie, 
 age de 21 ans, nous a marque aussi qu'il desiroit quelque 
 bel horloge de France,^ qui sonne les heures et les quarts. 
 
 ^ Lettres sur les Progres de la Religion a la Chine. (Paris, 1698.) 
 2 Many clocks, watches and musical-boxes of French manufacture, 
 decorated with ormulu and Limoges enamel, found their way to 
 Peking in the seventeenth century, after the first specimens had been 
 presented to the Throne and Court by the Jesuit fathers. Many of 
 them were brought back to Europe, after the looting of the Summer 
 Palace by the British and French armies in 1860, and more again after 
 the looting of the city in 1900. 
 
 240 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Ce Prince regnera un jour, et il est deja bien intentionne 
 pour nous; et il est important de le gagner tout a fait." 
 
 News of this kind, sent to Europe from the Court of 
 Peking, was Hkely to create hopes of the ultimate con- 
 version of the Emperor and his heir, and rumours to that 
 effect were widely circulated shortly after the issue of the 
 Edict of Toleration. In 1697, however, a letter from 
 Peking ^ expresses doubts on this subject : " Je ne S9ay 
 si le bruit de la conversion de I'Empereur de la Chine au 
 Christianisme, qui se repandit il y a quelque temps, 
 parvint jusqu'a vous, mais je S9ay bien que je ne voulus 
 pas vous en ecrire parce que je n'en etois pas fort per- 
 suade." Other letters, written in 1695, had announced 
 the conversion and baptism of a Prince at the Court, 
 " whose mother was a sister of the late Empress," and 
 again of another Prince, aged thirteen. But the Imperial 
 author of the " Sacred Edict," for all his tolerant goodwill 
 towards them, was not likely to take anything from the 
 Christian missionaries which could shake his own implicit 
 faith in the Canons of the Sages. His subsequent perse- 
 cution of Christianity in China was directly due to the 
 excessive zeal of the Jesuit fathers, who presumed upon 
 the place they had won in the confidence of this liberal- 
 minded Emperor. 
 
 With the history of K'ang Hsi's wars, of the revival 
 of literature and learning under his direction, and the 
 political relations of China with her neighbours and vassals 
 during his long reign, the present work does not profess 
 to deal. We have referred to the writings and other 
 activities of the Jesuit fathers at Peking for the reason 
 that students of history will find in them much that is of 
 interest and importance. 
 
 For five years after his succession to the Throne, in 
 1662, the lad K'ang Hsi was under the charge of the Board 
 
 ^ Quatrieme lettre historique de Hollande, imprimee a la Haye au 
 mois Fevrier de I'annee 1697. 
 
 B 241 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of Regents appointed by his father to administer the 
 Government, but from the outset he was influenced 
 against them (and particularly against Duke Ao Pai, the 
 most masterful of the four) by his grandmother, the 
 strong-minded Mongol Empress of T'ai Tsung, and by Shun 
 Chih's Empress, Borjikin. The Regents also incurred his 
 youthful displeasure by their harsh treatment of the 
 Roman Catholic fathers, — ^towards whom Shun Chih had 
 shown himself well and kindly disposed — and particularly 
 by their imprisonment of Adam Schaal, who had been 
 appointed special tutor to K'ang Hsi. It was largely 
 because of this persecution of the worthy Father Adam ^ 
 and other Christians that, in 1667, the young Monarch, 
 aided and abetted by his grandmother and the moral 
 support of his Court, dismissed the Regents and assumed 
 control of the Government at the age of thirteen. 
 
 It is interesting, at this point, to observe that the whole 
 history of the Manchu dynasty illustrates the quality 
 which Mill has described as peculiarly characteristic of 
 Orientals, the quality of inveterate jealousy, which 
 successive Emperors and their advisers displayed towards 
 high officials who had attained to influence in the councils 
 of their predecessors. Thus, in Shun Chih's reign, we 
 have the posthumous deposition of the Regent, Prince 
 Jui; K'ang Hsi dismisses his Board of Regents; Chia 
 Ch'ing orders the death of his father's chief favourite; 
 Tao Kuang dismisses his father's all-powerful eunuch; 
 Hsien Feng orders Mu Yang-a into retirement; T'ung 
 Chih (under the influence of Tzu Hsi) rids himself of the 
 usurping Regents; and finally, to come to our own day, 
 the Empress Lung Yii, in the name of His Majesty Hsiian 
 T'ung, dismisses Yiian Shih-k'ai. 
 
 To return to K'ang Hsi. After his assumption of the 
 Government, the Regents, who retained office as Ministers, 
 
 ^ Vide Du Halde, Description de V Empire de la Chine et de la Tartare 
 Chinoise, 1735, Vol. IV, p. 286. 
 
 242 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 continued for some time to be a thorn in his side; the 
 Duke Ao Pai, in particular, treating him with studied 
 arrogance, which his proud spirit could ill brook. But 
 the ex-Regents commanded a powerful following, and 
 the old Empress Dowager therefore advised the young 
 Monarch to go warily. The following account of the way 
 in which these Ministers were finally removed, is interesting, 
 if only because it reveals in the aged consort of T'ai Tsung 
 the naive credulity and superstition which, to the end, 
 remained characteristic of the notable women of the 
 dynasty. 
 
 On New Year's DayLjL669, the Duke Ao Pai appeared 
 as usual, at the head oTThe Court, to offer the season's 
 congratulations. He wore an Imperial state-robe, the 
 only difference between his attire and that of the Sovereign 
 being that, instead of the great Imperial pearl, which tha 
 Emperor wore on the front of his official hat, he contented 
 himself with a knot of red velvet. K'ang Hsi made no 
 comment at the time, but on returning to his private 
 apartments asked his grandmother to advise him by 
 what means they could get rid of the haughty Minister.; 
 At that moment the old lady's favourite eunuch was byi 
 her side, throwing dice out of a cup for luck. In throwing 
 Chinese dice, of which there are usually six, the best throw 
 occurs when the six different numbers all turn up. K'ang 
 Hsi seized the cup, paused an instant as if invoking super- 
 natural aid, and made a cast. The numbers came out 
 all different, whereupon the Empress Grand Dowager, 
 delighted, exclaimed : " You need not be afraid of him 
 any longer " (referring to Ao Pai). A few days later, a 
 decree was issued by the Emperor dismissing the ex- 
 Regents from their offices, and inviting his Princes and 
 Ministers to consider their offences and advise as to the 
 proper penalty. They recommended that Ao Pai should 
 be sentenced to the lingering death, but as the Empress 
 Grand Dowager did not consider it expedient to take 
 
 243 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 such extreme measures, the sentence was commuted to 
 permission to commit suicide and the forfeiture of his 
 estates and titles, except the hereditary dukedom. Before 
 the sentence could be carried out, a Buku (palace wrestler), 
 strangled him in prison. 
 
 In commemoration of this happy release, K'ang Hsi 
 subsequently issued a decree establishing as a house-law, 
 to be observed by his posterity, that, on every New Year's 
 Day, the Emperor should throw the dice, to learn the 
 omens for the coming year. And so, until the abdication 
 of the dynasty, it was done; but, like all good uses, it 
 became corrupted in later years at the hands of the 
 eunuchs. On New Year's Day, after the Court had done 
 obeisance and the Emperor had retired to his apartments, 
 it was the invariable custom for the Chief Eunuch to hand 
 him a golden plate with six dice on it. The eunuch would 
 kneel while the Emperor cast the dice. Invariably they 
 turned up all different, and the eunuch, congratulating 
 the Sovereign on the continued favour of Heaven, would 
 then hurriedly remove them. But Heaven had nothing 
 to say to this invariably auspicious result, because these 
 Imperial dice were carefully made, so as to ensure favour- 
 able omens, with a different number, and one only, on 
 each.^ 
 
 Concerning Ao Pai, the chroniclers also aver that a 
 
 week before his dismissal, he had applied for sick leave, 
 
 and the Emperor went to pay him a visit. He found him 
 
 lying on the stove-bed, covered with a sable robe. While 
 
 K'ang Hsi was talking to him, one of the suite suddenly 
 
 drew the sable robe slightly aside, and a dagger was dis- 
 
 1 In the record of Father Gerbillon's first journey in the suite of 
 K'ang Hsi to Tartary (1691), he states that the Emperor (then thirty- 
 seven years of age), discussing with him affairs connected with the 
 Board of Astronomy, expressed the utmost contempt for those who 
 superstitiously beheved in good and evil hours and auspicious days. 
 Not only did he regard these beliefs as false and vain, but he held that 
 they did great injury to the State, when the rulers of the country are 
 obsessed by them. 
 
 244 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 covered. It is treason for a subject to have arms on his 
 person in the presence of the Emperor, but K'ang Hsi only 
 smiled at the sight and said : " Ao Pai is indeed a true 
 Manchu warrior ; he keeps his weapon ready by his side, 
 even when on a bed of sickness, that he may rise at any 
 moment to defend his Emperor." From these words the 
 courtiers knew that the days of Ao Pai's power were 
 numbered. 
 
 ToAvards the end of his long reign, K'ang Hsi's life was 
 made a burden to him and his health undermined by the 
 undutiful and lawless conduct of several of his sons. He 
 was a great ruler and a wise man, but he resembled many 
 other great men in the history of the East, from Solomon 
 down to the statesmen and scholars of to-day, in that his 
 philosophy was not proof against the vicissitudes of 
 polygamy and the penalties of excessive paternity. His 
 sons, like the sons of Eli, dealt evilly with the people, and 
 brought their father's grey hairs in sorrow to the grave, 
 a result by no means uncommon under China's patriarchal 
 system. K'ang Hsi's edicts and exhortations concerning 
 his domestic broils reveal the fact that, firmly convinced 
 of his own virtues and intelligence, he took pride in his 
 procreative capacity, and hoped to confer on his dynasty 
 and on China an abundant posterity, imbued with his own 
 moral and intellectual qualities. In this, he was grievously 
 disappointed, and the incessant broils created by his sons 
 when they had reached years of discretion embittered his 
 declining years and dimmed the prestige of his reign. 
 
 K'ang Hsi had thirty-five sons; of these twenty-four 
 attained to manhood. The following is a list of those who 
 by good or evil report, figured prominently in the annals 
 of his reign and that of his successor, Yung Cheng : 
 
 *Yun Ch'ih : born in 1672, son of the concubine Hui, who 
 was of rank too low to permit of her offspring being 
 
 245 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 eligible to the Throne. He was created Prince Chih 
 (Upright), and was cashiered and confined to his 
 residence in 1708. Obiit 1734. 
 YUn Jeng : Prince Li (Principled), son of the senior 
 Empress Consort Hoshli, who died in 1674. He was 
 made Heir Apparent when two years old; deprived 
 of his title and confined to one of the palaces in the 
 rear of the Coal Hill in October 1708, reinstated in 
 April 1709, again degraded and imprisoned in October 
 1712. Died in prison in the second year of Yung 
 Cheng's reign, 1725. 
 
 *Ylin Chih : Prince Ch'eng (Sincere). Born in 1677, 
 imprisoned by his brother Yung Cheng in 1730 at the 
 Coal Hill, and poisoned (officially stated to have died 
 of a sudden disease) in July 1732. 
 Yin Chen : created Prince Yung (Just), succeeded his 
 father as Emperor Yung Cheng. Born 1678, died 
 1735. 
 Yun CWi : Prince Heng (Steadfast), born 1680, died 1732. 
 Yun Yu : Prince Shun (Pure), born 1680, died 1730. 
 
 "^YiXn Ssii : Prince Lien (Conscientious), usually called 
 the eighth Prince. Born of " a woman of poor origin, 
 named Hinyeku," in 1681, deprived of his title and 
 imprisoned by Yung Cheng in 1726. Expelled from 
 the Imperial Clan and given the opprobrious title 
 of " That unspeakable person." Died (poisoned) 
 six months later. Posthumously restored to the 
 Imperial Clan in 1778 by the Emperor Ch'ien 
 Lung. 
 
 *YiXn T^ang : born in 1680, deprived of his title and name 
 erased from the Imperial Clan in June 1726. Given 
 the name of " Black-hearted Monster." His death 
 (in prison at Pao Ting-fu in September 1726) 
 occurred within a few days of that of the eighth 
 Prince, Yiin Ssu. 
 
 *Yun : born in 1683, given the title of Prince Tun 
 
 246 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 (Solid) in 1709; imprisoned by his brother Yung 
 
 Cheng in 1726 ; set free by Ch'ien Lung. 
 Yun T'ao : Prince " Walking in Righteousness," born 
 
 1685, died 1763. 
 Yiln Hsiang : Prince Yi (Harmonious), born 1686, died 
 
 1730. Ancestor of Tsai Yuan, the usurping Regent 
 
 of T'ung Chih's reign. 
 Yun Ti : Prince Trustworthy, born in 1688, imprisoned 
 
 in 1726 in a side court of the Palace of Imperial 
 
 Longevity, where his father's coffin had reposed. 
 
 Restored to liberty by Ch'ien Lung. 
 Yun Lu : Prince Chuang (Sedate), born in 1695. K'ang 
 
 Hsi's favourite son; a friend of the Jesuit fathers 
 
 and a good astronomer and mathematician. Died 
 
 in 1767. 
 
 Of these the five marked (*) conspired to have the Heir 
 Apparent, Yiin Jeng, put aside and to set Yiin Ssii on the 
 Throne. The latter was undoubtedly an able man, but 
 became an object of suspicion at Court, owing to the 
 general belief that he had become a Christian. K'ang 
 Hsi had originally been very well disposed towards the 
 Roman Catholics, but, weary of their disputes, turned 
 against them in later years and opposed his sons' intimacy 
 with the Jesuit fathers. The objections of the five Princes 
 to the Heir Apparent were not entirely unreasonable 
 (though their methods were unfilial), as Yiin Jeng was 
 certainly possessed of an evil spirit. 
 
 In the autumn of 1708, K'ang Hsi went on a hunting 
 trip to the country around Jehol. He was sick at heart, 
 for the unseemly conduct of his sons had latterly given 
 extreme offence to the Ministers of his Court. News of 
 their continued misdeeds reached the Emperor at his 
 hunting, whereupon he addressed his Court Chamberlain 
 as follows : "I hear that my sons frequently assault and 
 insult the Mmisters of my Court and the Imperial body- 
 
 247 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 guard, besides picking quarrels with other Princes of my 
 house and ill-treating them. Now I wish it to be clearly- 
 understood that my sons are only authorised to inflict 
 summary chastisement on their own servants; in all 
 other cases they are bound to report to me and await my 
 decision. How can they be permitted to run riot and flog 
 whomsoever they please ? I am the lord of the world, 
 and I myself conform in all things to correct principles. 
 Every innocent man is by right exempt from punishment. 
 There can only be one Head of the State, and my daily 
 prayer is to secure universal happiness and peace. The 
 rule which forbids summary decapitation or strangling, 
 without due reference to me, by nobles or high officials, 
 was framed in the interests of the State, and not solely 
 for the protection of the individual. It is an insult to 
 my dignity that my sons should treat officials, high and 
 low, with outrageous contumely, and these practices 
 must be stopped. If they break the law of the land by 
 abusing their power and putting my officials in terror of 
 their lives, they are guilty of usurping Imperial pre- 
 rogatives, which belong to me alone. Are they not 
 aware that sovereign authority cannot be delegated to 
 another ? There is but one ruler — myself. Not even my 
 brothers, the Princes Yii and Kung, would venture to 
 take such a liberty as to flog my Ministers and members 
 of my bodyguard ! However guilty any of these might 
 have been, I would never have allowed my brothers 
 to take the law into their own hands and to put my 
 officials to death. In any case, however, they never 
 perpetrated any such offences, and my sons cannot be 
 allowed to commit them. 
 
 " The founder of my dynasty and his son issued wise 
 precepts concerning these matters, expressly forbidding 
 that the Princes of the Imperial house should scourge or 
 maltreat their inferiors, and I never could have believed 
 that such unlawful practices would sully my reign. If, 
 
 248 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 in future, my sons disregard my injunctions and flog or 
 insult any Minister of the Court, the injured parties are 
 hereby specially enjoined to report the facts to me with 
 full details. I shall not fail to hear the case and to give 
 impartial judgment, without visiting any punishment 
 on the plaintiff. If things continue in their present 
 course, the next thing will be massacres perpetrated 
 without my knowledge. If this my mandate be not 
 transmitted verbatim I shall order the decapitation of 
 those responsible for its due transmission." 
 
 A few days later, at Bur-hastai, the Emperor bade the 
 Court assemble and order the Heir Apparent (Yun Jeng) 
 to kneel before him. With tears in his eyes he addressed 
 him as follows : " It is now forty-eight years since I 
 received the Great Inheritance ; during the whole of that 
 time I have aspired to rule over a contented people 
 with compassionate affection. But my son, Yiin Jeng, 
 constantly violates the ancestral precepts and my own 
 admonitions. His wanton cruelty and vindictive oppres- 
 sion have been allowed to continue unreproved, and I 
 have borne with him for the past twenty years. His 
 wickedness has waxed more and more flagrant; he has 
 insulted or beaten the Princes and Ministers of the Court ; 
 he has presumed on his position to collect a lawless band 
 around him for the purpose of keeping watch on my 
 movements and of reporting to him my every action.^ 
 
 " As I see it, the Empire can only have one ruler; by 
 what right, then, does Yiin Jeng ill-treat and beat my 
 Princes and Ministers ? Prince P'ing and the Beileh Hai- 
 shan have both been flogged by his orders, and few of my 
 officials, few even of my bodyguard and personal servants, 
 have escaped his wrath. 
 
 " I am fully aware of all that has been going on. If 
 any official reports his conduct to me, Yiin Jeng regards 
 him as a mortal enemy and treats him with cruel vindic- 
 * K'ang Hsi suspected his son of a design to assassinate him. 
 
 249 
 
ANNAIvS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 tiveness. Knowing this, I have refrained from making 
 inquiries from my Court as to his behaviour. In the 
 course of my numerous journeys in the provinces of the 
 Empire, by road or river, I myself have never transgressed 
 the path of decorum by a single step, nor injured any of 
 my subjects. But Yiin Jeng and his band of ruffians 
 stop at nothing; they violate every right principle. His 
 behaviour makes me blush; I am ashamed to speak of 
 it. When the Mongol Princes sent tribute horses to me 
 as a present, Yiin Jeng dispatched his servants to seize 
 them on the road to Peking, and kept them for his own 
 use. The Mongols naturally resented this and they 
 blamed me. 
 
 " His misdeeds are innumerable, but I have kept on 
 hoping that he would repent him of his errors and return 
 to the right way. So I have borne with him in silence 
 and shown foolish leniency until to-day. I was well 
 aware long ago of Yiin Jeng's extravagant habits and, 
 with the object of meeting his exorbitant requirements, 
 I made his foster-mother's husband. Ling P'u, Comp- 
 troller of the Imperial Household, so as to give him every 
 opportunity. To my amazement, I find that Ling P'u 
 is even more corrupt and greedy than Yiin Jeng, and the 
 consequence is that the retainers of my household all hate 
 him. When Yiin Jeng was a child, I used to teach him 
 that the needs of my privy purse are provided out of the 
 people's life-blood, and that wise economy was essential 
 to good government. But he has disregarded my teaching, 
 and has given the rein to his shameless extravagance and 
 savage violence. If he continues in this way he will surely 
 end by killing off all his brothers. 
 
 " A few days ago, when my eighteenth son was mortally 
 sick, every one sympathised with me in this grief, afflicting 
 my old age. But Yiin Jeng was quite callously indifferent 
 to his brother's fate and, when I reproved him, had the 
 audacity to lose his temper. Stranger still, his foster- 
 
 250 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 mother incited him to tear a hole in the cloth of the 
 travelling pavilion in which I had retired for the night, 
 and to peep through at me with insolent scrutiny. 
 
 " On a previous occasion So-e-tu aided and abetted him 
 in a conspiracy against my life. I discovered the plot 
 and put So-e-tu to death. In revenge for this, Yiin Jeng 
 has now collected a band of desperate villains, planning 
 to put an end to me. At times they seek to poison my 
 food, and again they plot to assassinate me. I have to 
 be perpetually on guard and never enjoy a peaceful 
 moment. 
 
 " How can I permit such a man to succeed to the august 
 Inheritance? Let us not forget also that Yiin Jeng's 
 mother, the late Empress, died in giving birth to him. 
 The ancients always regarded such conduct as unfilial. 
 Ever since my accession I have practised scrupulous 
 parsimony; my bed quilt is shabby and my hose are 
 made of commonest cloth. Yiin Jeng's household is on 
 a scale infinitely grander than mine. Yet still he is not 
 satisfied and must needs appropriate money from the 
 Imperial Treasury, besides interfering in State affairs. 
 Unless prompt measures are taken, the result will be disaster 
 to the State and ruin to my subjects. If I allow so unfilial 
 a son and so evil a man to become Emperor, how shall I 
 face my ancestors, and how will it fare with their heritage ? " 
 
 At this point the Emperor paused and burst into a 
 paroxysm of noisy sobbing. He collapsed and grovelled 
 on the ground, from which undignified posture he was 
 raised by his Ministers. 
 
 With an effort he proceeded : "I cannot allow such a 
 man to succeed to the inheritance won by my ancestors 
 and consolidated by myself. On my return to Peking I 
 shall announce my decision to the Almighty and the spirits 
 of my ancestors, and inform them of Yiin Jeng's deposition. 
 
 " On a previous occasion I bade my eldest son, Yiin 
 Ch'ih, to give good heed to my personal safety, but I 
 
 251 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 never contemplated making him Heir Apparent. He is 
 quite impossible, being of excitable temperament and 
 obstinate in the extreme. 
 
 " I shall inflict no punishment on such of Yiin's Jeng's 
 followers as were forced through fear into joining him. 
 I hereby order the immediate decapitation of So-e-tu's 
 sons and of Erh-ko-su-erh and Te-ha-shih-t'ai. This 
 matter vitally concerns the whole Empire. I have taken 
 care to deal with it while still in the enjoyment of good 
 health and in the possession of all my faculties. Yiin 
 Jeng is to be placed under arrest at once, and the Princes, 
 Ministers and common people are all at liberty to memorial- 
 ise me on the subject, giving their views as to the justice 
 of my sentence." 
 
 The Court kotowed and burst into lamentations. The 
 Ministers replied : " Your Majesty is indeed sage and 
 enlightened. Every word you have uttered about Yiin 
 Jeng is true. There is no need for us to memorialise in 
 reply." 
 
 To the Ministers of the Presence, K'ang Hsi delivered 
 a separate homily : " When Yiin Jeng was Heir Apparent 
 you naturally had to obey his orders, but I suspect that 
 some among you were guilty of intrigue and flattery. 
 Now that you have. been witnesses of his deposition I can 
 imagine that you are passing days and nights of abject 
 terror lest I should discover your relations with Yiin 
 Jeng and punish you with decapitation. Yiin Jeng's 
 wicked behaviour has forced me to take this action in 
 his regard, but if I began instituting a wholesale proscrip- 
 tion of all his faction, not one of my Court would escape 
 punishment. I should be left to reign in solitary state. 
 I have already dealt out a measure of punishment to the 
 guilty, and there let the matter rest. Even if you are 
 denounced I shall ignore the impeachment, so pray you, 
 be at ease. 
 
 " My reason for summoning my third son, Yiin Chih, 
 
 252 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 to private audience to-day was due to his great intimacy 
 with Yiin Jeng, and I had certain questions to put to him. 
 It is not my intention to order his arrest, since, notwith- 
 standing his close relations with his elder brother, he has 
 not encouraged or abetted his pernicious designs. In 
 fact, he assures me that he has frequently admonished 
 the ex-Heir Apparent to forbear, but without success. 
 I believe he is telling the truth, and I am fully acquainted 
 with the facts. I have been greatly upset by these events, 
 and my heart is disquieted within me ; hence my omission 
 in the previous decree to reassure your panic-stricken 
 minds and to bid you be at peace for the future." 
 
 On the following morning K'ang Hsi, who was now on 
 his way back to the capital, summoned his Court and the 
 Manchu Grand Secretaries to his travelling tent, and thus 
 addressed them : "I have always been guided by my 
 historical studies and the lessons which past dynasties 
 afford, and have refused to allow pretty women to have 
 free access to the Palace. In the same way I have never 
 allowed good-looking youths to minister to my wants and 
 attend my table, because I wished there to be no flaw in 
 the jade of my good name, and to keep my body in sub- 
 jection. Among my hearers at this moment are Kuan 
 Pao and Wu Shih, both of whom have attended me since 
 my childhood ; they know all my goings out and comings 
 in, and are aware that what I say is true. But this 
 business of the ex-Heir Apparent has come as a terrible 
 blow, and I have not slept for six nights." At this point 
 the Emperor burst into loud weeping, and the courtiers, 
 affecting an equal distress, responded : " Pray control 
 yourself and be pleased to consider the sacred duty Your 
 Majesty owes to the State and to your ancestors. It is 
 essential that you take care of your health." 
 
 K'ang Hsi then proceeded : "I have now reigned for 
 nigh fifty years, and have won many new territories for 
 my Empire. I brought the Eleuths to their knees, 
 
 253 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 although they had never before acknowledged allegiance. 
 I may be getting old, but if I may say so without boasting, 
 I am still thoroughly capable of ruling with a statesman- 
 like mien. Your love and loyalty for my person are, I 
 am convinced, sincere ; I have always treated my officials 
 with kindness and have never unjustly inflicted corporal 
 punishment on my attendants. 
 
 " But this year I have had to deplore the loss by death 
 of many trusted officials. You do not know of the tears 
 which I have shed in secret. Now you beg me to take 
 care of my health, and I naturally feel bound to comply 
 with your request. Ever since the beginning of the year I 
 have had an apprehension of coming calamity, and I have 
 mentioned my fears to the ex-Heir Apparent. When the 
 incident of the mad priest, who claimed to have found the 
 Ming descendant, occurred the other day, Yiin Jeng re- 
 marked that my prophecy had come true. But at the 
 time I told him that there was further trouble ahead, 
 though I never anticipated the present misfortune. 
 
 " You remember when my grandfather defeated the 
 Ming armies, in the third year of T'ien Ts-ang (1629), and 
 appeared in person outside the gates of Peking? His 
 Generals then urged him to seize his opportunity and take 
 the city. ' Now is your time,' said they, ' to found a 
 dynasty. The city'is yours; why not take it at once? ' 
 My grandsire replied : ' Peking, it is true, can easily be 
 captured, but it behoves us to wait for the mandate of 
 Heaven. The time is not yet ripe.' Fifteen years later, 
 as you know, the capital fell into the hands of rebels, and 
 the Princes and clansmen captured it for my father 
 without trouble. The Empire became ours and in due 
 course descended to me. Our dynasty has now ruled for 
 two generations, and if the people are at peace it is due 
 to my obedience to ancestral tradition and my ceaseless 
 labours. 
 
 " On occasions of drought I have fasted three days in 
 
 254 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 the Palace, burning incense and praying to the Almighty 
 without ceasing. As soon as I proceeded to the Temple 
 of Heaven to sacrifice, my prayers were heard and abun- 
 dant rain fell. Does not this prove that I have found 
 favour in the sight of Heaven ? But I have never indulged 
 in vain boasting nor fancied that Heaven was bound to 
 hearken to my prayers. Henceforth it is your duty to 
 help me and to labour more earnestly." 
 
 Yiin Jeng went with the Court on the return journey to 
 Peking, and K'ang Hsi observed him closely. The result 
 of his diagnosis was given to his Ministers, as follows : 
 " Yiin Jeng is not a normal being. He sleeps the livelong 
 day and breaks his fast at midnight. He indulges in 
 deep potations, and can carry thirty or forty cups of strong 
 spirit without becoming intoxicated. When I used to 
 send him to perform sacrifice, he would become very 
 nervous on reaching the altar and fail in the performance 
 of the ceremonial. He is in terror of thunder and lightning, 
 and even heavy rain alarms him. His behaviour is most 
 eccentric, and he talks a lunatic gibberish. There can 
 be no doubt that he is mad and sore vexed by demoniac 
 possession. I have come to the conclusion that the 
 Palace in Peking occupied by Yiin Jeng, that of ' Picked 
 Fragrance,' is haunted. Its situation is low and unhealthy, 
 and many deaths have occurred there. Through constant 
 residence there Yiin Jeng has fallen a victim to an evil 
 spirit, which has taken up its habitation in his body. It 
 is a most extraordinary circumstance, but his conduct can 
 only be due to demoniacal influence." 
 
 On the following day the cortege reached Peking; 
 during the journey the ex-Heir Apparent had been in 
 the custody of his elder brother, Yiin Ch'ih. On reaching 
 the city, K'ang Hsi ordered a felt tent to be prepared for 
 his reception in the Imperial equipage department, and 
 placed Yiin Jeng in charge of Yiin Ch'ih and of his foiu'th 
 brother (who reigned later as Yung Cheng). 
 
 255 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 The first thing to be done was to inform the Empress 
 Dowager.^ After Her Majesty had signified her approval 
 of the ex-Heir Apparent's deposition, K'ang Hsi ascended 
 the Throne of the T'ui ho (Exalted Peace) Palace and 
 read his decree : 
 
 " The position of heir to the Throne is of the greatest 
 importance to the State, and I, who am a keen student 
 of history, could never regard the question of succession 
 with indifference. During Yiin Jeng's childhood I taught 
 him myself, and afterwards nominated competent pre- 
 ceptors to instruct him in philosophy. It cannot be said 
 that he did not show progress in his studies, while in 
 horsemanship, archery, caligraphy and composition he 
 was quite up to the average. But lately his mind has 
 become clouded through demoniac possession : he fidgets 
 incessantly, and talks and acts in the most peculiar 
 fashion. He is always seeing visions; his sleeping and 
 waking hours are full of terror. He keeps changing his 
 abode, and will devour seven or eight bowls of rice at a 
 meal without satisfying his appetite. He can carry 
 thirty beakers of wine without inconvenience. 
 
 " My inquiries have elicited several other interesting 
 and surprising facts : of all his multitude of attendants 
 not one speaks well of him. This is proof conclusive that 
 his mind is deranged. I had intended to wait until my 
 '•rrival in Peking before putting him under arrest, but 
 circumstances rendered prompt action necessary. What 
 is your opinion of his case ? " The Court remained on its 
 knees, and Prince K'ang, the senior Prince present, 
 answered : " Your Majesty nurtured the Heir Apparent 
 with benevolence and trained him in the path of duty. 
 But of late years he has become demented, and is possessed 
 
 ^ The consort of Shun Chih, by name Borjikin, a daughter of Duke 
 Chorchi, of the Mongol Khorehia tribe. Now in her seventy-third 
 year, she was a remarkable old lady, who took an active part in the 
 Government. K'ang Hsi was devoted to her. She died in 1718, 
 aged eighty-three. 
 
 256 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 by a devil. Your decision to disinherit him is warranted 
 by circumstances; our opinion is unanimous." 
 
 K'ang Hsi rephed : " I have made up my mind, and 
 shall inform Heaven and earth and the Temple of An- 
 cestors. The Heir Apparent is sentenced to confinement 
 in prison. He was son of my Empress Consort, and has 
 received the most loving care at my hands. I used to 
 teach him that he must obey the precepts of our ancestors, 
 and would point the moral which the classics and history 
 teach — how that the success or ruin of a dynasty depends 
 upon its retention of the confidence of the people. How- 
 ever ignorant he may be, surely he must be aware that 
 no one can afford to forfeit the people's trust. But, in 
 spite of the careful training which he has received, his 
 conduct has left him without a single friend. Can it be 
 doubted that he is a victim to demoniac possession, 
 irresponsible for his actions ? 
 
 " Yiin Jeng's case is disposed of. If my other sons 
 make it a pretext for forming cabals and for endeavouring 
 to ruin Yiin Jeng's former partisans, I shall show them no 
 mercy. 
 
 " My great grandfather, our founder, decapitated his 
 eldest son Ch'u Yen on charges brought against him by 
 the other Princes; my grandsire visited punishment on 
 one of the Princesses in connection with the charge against 
 Prince Mang-ku-erh-tai ; in my father's time Prince Li 
 accused his son Sheto and his grandson At-a-li of breaking 
 the law, and both were beheaded; the former Regent, 
 my uncle, Prince Jui, put Princes to death for flattery and 
 intrigue; in my own childhood, soon after my accession, 
 Ao Pai paid off grudges against his colleague in the 
 Regency, Su-ko-sa-ha, by exterminating him and all his 
 family, in spite of my remonstrances. Such cases are 
 common, and in our family it seems inevitable that these 
 fratricidal quarrels should occur, owing to its inveterate 
 tendency to form cabals. Will not this be a warning to 
 s 257 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 you all? I have now reigned forty-eight years, a period 
 longer than all (save a few exceptions) of my predecessors 
 in history. This is a sure sign that the Almighty regards 
 me with affection, and in return am I not bound to do my 
 best for the Empire and my subjects ? " 
 
 Upon the deposition of the Heir Apparent, two high 
 officials of the Court, partisans of the eighth Prince, Yiin 
 Ssii, hoping to gain credit and the succession for their 
 patron, circulated fresh charges against Yiin Jeng for 
 the purpose of poisoning the Emperor's mind and inducing 
 him to have the wretched Yiin Jeng put to death. On 
 perusing the memorial which they put in the Emperor was 
 very wrath, and decided to order his son's execution. 
 But he was turned from this purpose by Lou Te-na, a 
 Chamberlain of the Presence, an aged official who had 
 great influence over him. He had fixed on the day of his 
 return to the Palace from the western hills to issue his 
 death decree, but before the cortege started for the city 
 Lou asked for audience. After speaking of routine details 
 he said : "A strange thing has happened : the command- 
 ant of the guards at the city gate, who used to be excessively 
 fat, has been suddenly smitten with sickness, and is now 
 as thin as a lathe." When K'ang Hsi reached Peking, 
 he saw the commandant standing at the head of his men, 
 and noticed that he was as fat as usual, whereupon he 
 rebuked Lou with making a false report. Lou laughingly 
 answered : " This may show Your Majesty how un- 
 reliable are these reports about the former Heir Apparent. 
 If false rumours can get about concerning your com- 
 mandant's loss of flesh, how much more so in the case of a 
 Prince who is naturally a target for the calumnies of 
 jealous persons ! " K'ang Hsi nodded and tore up the 
 decree which would have consigned his son to the scaffold. 
 
 The Hanlin Academy drew up a form of liturgy for the 
 Emperor to use in informing Heaven, earth, the tutelary 
 deities, and the ancestral spirits of the Heir Apparent 's 
 
 258 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 deposition. But its form was not modest enough to 
 please K'ang Hsi, who substituted one of his own, and 
 ordered that it be rendered into Manchu without the 
 alteration of a character, " to show the depth of his 
 sincerity." On the translation being completed the 
 Emperor was still dissatisfied, and administered the 
 following rebuke to all concerned. " In my draft of the 
 proposed service I used the words : ' Bending my body 
 and exhausting my energies, ceasing only with death.' 
 I was quoting the words of Chu-ko Liang (a famous 
 General) in his memorial on taking the field. You are, 
 no doubt, under the impression that such language can 
 only be appropriately used by a Minister, and should not 
 proceed from the Sovereign. You therefore altered the 
 meaning in the Manchu version. Now I consider that 
 these words are worthy of a loyal and good Minister like 
 Chu-ko Liang, but if such devotion be fitting in the states- 
 man, how much more is it so in the Sovereign? Let 
 me explain my meaning to you Ministers. The statesman 
 can always lay the blame for his mistakes on the Sovereign, 
 but on whom is the Sovereign to shuffle off his responsi- 
 bility ? It is his bounden duty to ' bend his body and 
 exhaust his energies ' in reverence to God and diligent 
 care for the people. I am the son of Almighty God, and 
 God is my only stay; the Heir Apparent was formerly 
 the object on which my hope and trust centred. But his 
 conduct has rendered his deposition inevitable ; how, then, 
 could I omit to inform God Almighty ? The ceremony is 
 fixed for to-morrow." 
 
 The Heir Apparent had intrigued with the various 
 Ministries and frequently interfered in Government ap- 
 pointments, doubtless for a tangible consideration. K'ang 
 Hsi ordered an investigation, as the result of which the 
 Cabinet reported that there was no proof of his having 
 actually altered or cancelled any orders issued by the 
 Throne. K'ang Hsi replied : " Naturally he would not 
 
 259 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 have had the effrontery to make changes in rescripts and 
 decrees issued by my vermihon pencil; nevertheless, he 
 was always seeking to usurp the supreme power. It is 
 certain that in many instances he secured the shelving 
 of measures of which he disapproved, and conversely 
 the expediting of those in which he was interested, 
 besides having exerted illicit influence for venal objects. 
 I hereby command that every appointment or measure 
 which has been recently promulgated, and about which 
 there is the least taint of suspicion, shall be cancelled 
 forthwith." 
 
 The following is the text of his Decree to the Nation : 
 " By God's grace I succeeded to my ancestors' patrimony, 
 forty- eight years ago. Throughout my reign I have 
 reverenced the Almighty and striven to meet my subjects' 
 wishes. I do not forget that God created the people, and 
 appointed a ruler to govern them in order that their needs 
 might be studied. I have ever made careful inquiries 
 as to the condition of my subjects all over the Empire; 
 in no single instance have I shown slackness ; I have made 
 grants from my privy purse amounting to scores of 
 millions of taels. I have relieved their distress by re- 
 ducing the land tax, and have saved thousands of lives 
 by amnesties to. offenders, because it is the duty of a 
 Sovereign to cherish his people, and this principle was 
 inculcated by my ancestors as a behest to their posterity. 
 " But in spite of all my careful training, the Heir 
 Apparent, Yiin Jeng, is vicious by nature, and has dis- 
 obeyed my instructions. Although his conduct steadily 
 deteriorated, I was in hopes of his amendment, and allowed 
 him to accompany me on my numerous journeys to the 
 southern and western provinces, in the hope that he might 
 thus acquire a knowledge of local conditions and of the 
 people over whom he would one day rule. 
 
 " But he blackmailed the Viceroys and Governors, and 
 extorted bribes from local officials. His retinue was 
 
 260 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 composed of bad characters, who levied tribute on the 
 countryside and committed acts of violence and robbery. 
 I would often urge him to be more economical, as it is the 
 people who have to provide for all our requirements, but 
 he gave full play to his wicked lusts, and showed no signs 
 of amendment. He has made away with articles of 
 tribute which were destined for my use, and has appro- 
 priated huge sums from the Imperial treasury. There 
 are no bounds to his oppression of the people. Of late 
 his fiendish cruelty and unholy lust have become still 
 more flagrant; the Princes and Ministers have all been 
 victims of his overbearing insults, and have even suffered 
 beatings at his hands. When I found out that So-e-tu 
 and Ch'ang-t'ai were plotting against me on his initiative 
 I put them to death at once; in consequence of which 
 Yiin Jeng has harboured resentment against me, and has 
 even dared to spy on my movements in the privacy of the 
 Imperial tent. Beyond all doubt, he intended to assassi- 
 nate me, and his whole behaviour indicates demoniac 
 possession. The Classic of History says : ' Heaven sees 
 as my people see; Heaven hears as my people hear. 
 Heaven will surely detest the man whom the people 
 hate.' 
 
 " How can such a man be permitted to perform the 
 ancestral sacrifice or worship the tutelary deities as 
 Emperor? I have given most careful thought to this 
 matter, and feel that my bounden duty leaves no alter- 
 native. I have received the gracious orders of the 
 Empress Dowager to announce Yiin Jeng's deposition 
 and arrest at the several shrines, in order to propitiate 
 the ancestral spirits and to comfort my people. 
 
 " I have now stated all the circumstances, and as a 
 special grace bestow exemption on my subjects in re- 
 mitting taxation, out of sympathy for the exactions which 
 they have endured at Yiin Jeng's hands. By purifying 
 the fountain of national life, the stability of my dynasty 
 
 261 
 
ANNAI.S AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 will be enhanced; by this act of clemency the bounty of 
 the Throne will everywhere be manifested." 
 
 On the following morning K'ang Hsi thus addressed his 
 sons : "At the time of Yiin Jeng's arrest, my eldest son, 
 Yiin Ch'ih, said to me : ' Yiin Jeng's behaviour is utterly 
 base and abominable, he is scarcely to be called a human 
 being. Not long ago a fortune-teller named Chang 
 Ming-ti examined Yiin Ssii (the eighth son's) physiognomy, 
 and declared that he would eventually inherit the Throne. 
 If you desire Yiin Jeng's death it can be arranged by us, 
 and there is no need for Your Majesty, my father, to lay 
 hands on him.' When I heard the above speech I was 
 completely dumbfoundered. I am well aware that my 
 eldest son is violent by nature and of a besotted ignorance, 
 for whom duty and principle mean nothing. If he and 
 his brother, Yiin Ssii, were really hatching a plot to assassi- 
 nate Yiin Jeng they are quite capable of carrying it out, 
 regardless of the possible consequences to myself. Such 
 men are no better than traitors or parricides, since they 
 transgress every tie of loyalty and filial duty. They will 
 reap their reward either in the judgment of Heaven or the 
 punishment of man." 
 
 K'ang Hsi compelled his eldest son, Yiin Ch'ih, to hand 
 over the physiognomist Chang Ming-ti (who had foretold 
 that his eighth son would be Emperor), and commanded 
 his trial by a commission. The Emperor remarked : "I 
 am acquainted with the circumstances of the case, which 
 are most grave and involve a large number of persons. 
 This man, Chang Ming-ti, has been sending notices round 
 to many officials, but he alone is to be punished, and no 
 general proscription will be permitted." 
 
 By this time K'ang Hsi was thoroughly uneasy about 
 his domestic affairs, and evidently in abject terror of 
 assassination. Again he summoned his sons to the Palace, 
 and thus addressed them : " You must really keep your 
 retainers in better order and prevent them from creating 
 
 262 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 disturbances. The husbands of your foster-nurses are of 
 thoroughly disreputable antecedents ; indeed, your house- 
 holds are mainly composed of scheming and illiterate 
 persons who misbehave and ill-treat the people. Take 
 Yiin Ch'ih's four eunuchs, for example, or his two body- 
 servants. They are always spying on my movements 
 and endeavouring to get hold of Palace gossip. I know 
 all about the origin of these men, in fact I have had to 
 banish several of Yiin Ch'ih's servants before now, while 
 others have been killed in brawls. You, Yiin Ch'ih, 
 really ought to have some little self-respect. I have not 
 spared Yiin Jeng, and shall certainly not be more lenient 
 with the rest of you. When, on a previous occasion, I 
 called you all to my presence, Yiin Ch'ih replied as 
 follows : ' Hereafter all of us brothers will dwell together 
 in unity. We shall spend our days happily in the light 
 of your presence, O Imperial father.' 
 
 " Now, I regard the above remark as far from satis- 
 factory : suppose that among your number there be one 
 bad character, who conducts himself lawlessly, are all 
 you brothers going to ' dwell together in unity ' with him ? 
 Besides, Yiin Ch'ih's own record is very bad; he uttered 
 slanders against the ex-Heir Apparent and tried to 
 induce me to put him to death. Who can believe a word 
 he says, when he talks so glibly about unity in future ? 
 In the past Yiin Ch'ih has had the effrontery to lay violent 
 hands on my guardsmen and major-domos; these men 
 can be produced as witnesses. When Yiin Jeng was in 
 his custody he carried off several of the workmen and 
 labourers at his brother's residence and had them cruelly 
 flogged. The result was that some committed suicide 
 and others ran away. No wonder that every one thinks 
 badly of you, Yiin Ch'ih. 
 
 " My troubles come thick and fast : first my eighteenth 
 son died suddenly, and now I have had to bear Yiin Jeng's 
 deposition. You ought to consider your poor father a 
 
 263 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 little and conduct yourselves with decency. Does not 
 the classic say : ' He who loves his father will never dare 
 to incur the hatred of others; he who respects his father 
 will never allow himself to deserve contempt ' ? You set 
 a bad example and are breaking my heart; how can you 
 have the heart to treat me so ? Kindly inform your 
 respective households of this decree." 
 
 Yiin Ssu was at this time Comptroller of the Household, 
 and had been ordered to assess the value of a disgraced 
 ofhcial's property, who was an ex-Comptroller. The 
 amount was far less than the Emperor had anticipated, 
 as the official in question was noted for his vast wealth. 
 K'ang Hsi, enraged at this, summoned Yiin Ssii to his 
 Palace : " Your report is inaccurate," he said. " If you 
 try to hoodwink me like this, I shall cut your head off. 
 You are always trying to make a good impression on 
 people by pretending to be lenient and generous. The 
 result is that you assume all the credit for my acts of 
 generosity and clemency. Every one praises you, while 
 I am blamed for severity. The fact is you are following 
 in the wake of Yiin Jeng; hereafter, if any one says a 
 word in your favour to me I shall decapitate him. How 
 can I allow my sovereign authority to be delegated to 
 such as you? " 
 
 K'ang Hsi's rages were fast becoming hysterical. His 
 sons were kept in constant attendance. Again he ad- 
 dressed them : " When I deposed Yiin Jeng, I made it 
 quite clear to all of you that if you intrigued for the 
 position of Heir Apparent you would be treated as rebels 
 against the State, and would be subject to decapitation 
 without further warning. How can the succession to 
 the jewelled Inheritance be made the object of your vulgar 
 scheming and intrigues? I am well aware that Yiin 
 Ssu is cunning and treacherous, and that he cherishes 
 ambitions for the Throne. In the past he and his parti- 
 sans have tried to assassinate Yiin Jeng. Their plot now 
 
 264 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 stands revealed. I command that Yiin Ssii be placed 
 under arrest at once, and that he be examined by the 
 Council of Government. When I deposed Yiin Jeng, my 
 eldest son Yiin Ch'ih dared to say : ' Yiin Ssii is a good 
 man.' Now it is a principle laid down in the Spring and 
 Autumn Annals that when a subject plans treason the 
 Sovereign is bound to put him to death." 
 
 At this point Yiin T'ang, the ninth Prince, interposed, 
 and, disregarding their sire's presence, rudely shouted 
 out to his younger brother, Yiin Ti : " If we don't speak 
 now we shall never have a better opportunity." Yiin 
 Ti then loudly exclaimed : " The eighth prince, Yiin Ssii, 
 never plotted against Yiin Jeng; my brother and I will 
 guarantee his innocence." 
 
 At this K'ang Hsi burst into one of his frantic rages (he 
 was subject to epilepsy), and seized the sword which he 
 was wearing with the intention of slaying Yiin Ti there 
 and then. But the fifth prince, Yiin Ch'i, knelt and 
 implored mercy, while the remainder kotowed, K'ang 
 Hsi became calmer, and ordered the other Princes to 
 administer a sound whipping on Yiin Ti's person, after 
 which Yiin Ti and Yiin T'ang were forcibly expelled from 
 the Palace. 
 
 After this serio-comic episode, the commissioners 
 presented their report of the examination of the physiog- 
 nomist. They said : " The physiognomist, Chang Ming-ti, 
 under examination, has confessed that he was recom- 
 mended by Prince Shun's major-domo to Prince Chih 
 (Yiin Ssii). He says : ' I had the audacity to speak 
 random words, and ventured to accuse the Heir Apparent 
 of committing cruel deeds. I even said I would slay 
 him if I got the chance. I also made a vague boast that 
 I was endowed with supernatural power. I gained access 
 to the Prince, Yiin Ssii, and tempted him, in order to 
 make money. When I was presented to him and told his 
 fortune I said : ' Your Highness is highly intellectual, 
 
 265 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 kind-hearted and brilliant; you will have a long life, 
 enjoy high honours, and, indeed, your face is that of a 
 future Emperor.' This is the whole truth." The Com- 
 mission recommended his decapitation. 
 
 This report did not serve to improve the Emperor's 
 temper; he summoned the whole Court to audience, and 
 said : " Yiin Ssu is a traitor. I shall not permit you to 
 ask for any remission of his punishment on the ground 
 that he is my son or that he has been the tool of others. 
 Heaven is above me and I am just in all things ; how could 
 I show favouritism to my sons ? My father ascended the 
 Throne at five years of age, and I at eight. We both 
 had to depend on our officials' assistance. Regarding my 
 successor, I have made up my mind long ago, but do not 
 choose to make the selection public. When the time 
 comes, do you all conform to my wishes." 
 
 Referring to the physiognomist Chang Ming-ti, the 
 Emperor issued the following decree : " Before the 
 deposition of the Heir Apparent, Chang Ming-ti planned 
 to assassinate both him and myself. He declared that he 
 was able to summon at will sixteen magicians who could 
 fly, and that two of these had already arrived. But all 
 the good men and true in the Empire were now drawing 
 the Emperor's pay, and success would be impossible unless 
 one or two of these could be enticed from their allegiance. 
 Pie also said that nothing could be accomplished until 
 at least half of the young Princes had been won over. 
 Language of this kind is indeed revolutionary. It is 
 fortunate for me that my personal bodyguard is composed 
 of men of determined loyalty, who refused to listen to his 
 insidious suggestions. My eldest son heard of the plot 
 and informed me, but Prince Shun and others were 
 responsible for the physiognomist's introduction at Court, 
 and are extremely guilty. Yiin Ssu knew of the design, 
 yet he never said a word to me. Is this fitting conduct in 
 a son or Minister of State ? Supposing Chang Ming-ti 
 
 266 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 had only told Yiin Ssu's fortune and made no treasonable 
 proposals, what made him speak to his two younger 
 brothers about the conspiracy? Yiin Ssii is now in 
 custody; Prince Shun is also to be arrested. As to 
 Chang Ming-ti, his guilt is too great for simple decapita- 
 tion; he is sentenced to dismemberment." 
 
 At the examination Prince Shun confessed that Chang 
 Ming-ti had tried to induce him to join his plot against 
 the Heir Apparent, but that he had at once informed the 
 eldest Prince. The two younger Princes, Yiin T'ang and 
 Yiin Ti declared under examination that they had re- 
 monstrated with the physiognomist for his mad sugges- 
 tions and refused to have any dealings with him. Yiin Ssu 
 admitted having told his younger brothers of the physiog- 
 nomist's wild remarks. K'ang Hsi accordingly degraded 
 Yiin Ssii to the rank of an unemployed Imperial Clansman, 
 and ordered all the parties concerned in the case to be 
 present at Chang Ming-ti's dismemberment. All these 
 troubles were affecting the Emperor's health, and his 
 Court begged him to take more care. In reply he issued 
 a long decree recounting his sorrow at his sons' unfilial 
 behaviour. Now that his years were advancing, he was 
 more than ever afraid of making a false step, lest he should 
 dim the glory of his reign and diminish the veneration with 
 which the Empire regarded him. 
 
 The Emperor's refusal to make any announcement 
 concerning the succession was undoubtedly due to his 
 fear of creating fresh dissensions and precipitating a crisis 
 in the Palace. There was, in fact, not one of his sons in 
 whom he could place absolute confidence, not one to 
 whom he had transmitted the qualities of wisdom and 
 virtue on which he so frankly prided himself. The sheep 
 in his domestic flock were all black, and the son upon 
 whom, on his deathbed, he conferred the Throne, in the 
 belief that he came nearest to the paternal model, was 
 little better, though more prudent, than the rest. K'ang 
 
 267 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Hsi enlarged the borders and increased the prosperity 
 and culture of his Empire, but he left to China in his un- 
 righteous posterity a legacy of evil that was destined to 
 create increasing trouble with every generation, and 
 eventually to bring about the downfall of the dynasty. 
 The only important difference between the sons of K'ang 
 Hsi and the dissolute Princes of the Imperial Clan of the 
 present day, lies in the fact that the former were com- 
 paratively virile and physically active, and that they were 
 not subject, like their effete descendants, to the domina- 
 tions of Palace eunuchs, the last and most powerful of the 
 enervating influences which finally demoralised the Court 
 of Peking. 
 
 268 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE TRIBULATIONS OF YUNG CHENG 
 
 In December 1722, being then in his sixty-eighth year, 
 the Emperor K'ang Hsi was seized of a sudden illness 
 whilst engaged in a hunting expedition in the Imperial 
 Park to the south of Peking. He made haste to return 
 to his favourite retreat, the Garden of Bright Spring, 
 close to the Yuan-Ming-yuan Palace. At first he seemed 
 to be getting better, but was unable to perform the winter 
 solstice sacrifice at the Temple of Heaven, and therefore 
 deputed his son Yin Chen (Prince Yung) to officiate in 
 his stead. The Prince proceeded to the Hall of Fasting 
 to prepare for the solemn ceremony, but had scarcely 
 arrived there when there came urgent messengers to inform 
 him that the Emperor was dying, and that he must hasten 
 to his bedside. When he came to his father's presence, 
 he found there assembled, by the Emperor's command, 
 seven of his brothers, and K'ang Hsi's brother-in-law. 
 Lung Ko-to. The dying Monarch, without wasting many 
 words, communicated to them his last mandate, that 
 Prince Yung was to succeed to the Throne. " My fourth 
 son is very like me," he said, " and ought to make a good 
 Emperor." At these words, Yiin Ssii (unquestionably 
 the ablest of all K'ang Hsi's sons), who until then had 
 never abandoned hope of securing the Throne, was so 
 overcome with mortification and wrath, that, simulating 
 intense grief, he left the bedchamber. The Heir-designate 
 proceeded, as custom required, to array his dying father 
 
 269 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 in his " robes of longevity," and after witnessing his 
 decease (20th December, 1722) accompanied the remains 
 to the Forbidden City, where they were temporarily laid 
 to rest in the Chien-Ching-kung. 
 
 It was no bed of roses to which the new Emperor 
 succeeded. He was then forty-four years of age, and had 
 distinguished himself chiefly amongst his turbulent and 
 treasonable brethren by prudently abstaining from their 
 plots against the first Heir Apparent and against K'ang 
 Hsi himself. But judged in the light of his own record 
 as Emperor, and of his writings and decrees, his only 
 claim to the admiration of posterity lies in his literary 
 attainments and in his painstaking attention to the routine 
 business of government. In his domestic life, as in his 
 relations with his Ministers and Court, he has written 
 himself down, beyond all possibility of doubt, as a suspi- 
 cious, querulous and savagely vindictive individual. In- 
 deed, the dynastic annals of his reign are so burdened 
 with the long-winded homilies and lachrymose complain- 
 ings of his domestic infelicities, that, were they the only 
 sources of our knowledge of the period, one might be led 
 to the belief that the discussion and settlement of the 
 Imperial Clan's unseemly wranglings constituted the 
 entire business of government. Nevertheless, these edicts 
 and homilies of Yung Cheng (to give him his reign-title) 
 are replete with a deep human interest, and help greatly 
 to explain the causes of the Manchu decline, which 
 (though arrested during the sixty years of Ch'ien Lung's 
 reign) may be said to have commenced with the sons of 
 K'ang Hsi. We have thought it advisable to reproduce 
 the most important of these documents, because, taken 
 as a whole, they afford a very striking indictment of the 
 results of polygamy, as practised by Oriental Courts, and 
 partially explain the failure of the East's patriarchal 
 system as an integrating social force. 
 
 Yung Cheng ascended the Throne with the unpleasant 
 
 270 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 certainty in his mind that all his brothers, with the one 
 exception of Yiin Hsiang,^ were hostile to him. His 
 first act was characteristic of the Oriental diplomat. He 
 appointed a council of four to administer the government, 
 so as to leave him free to observe the ceremonial ritual of 
 mourning for the full three years enjoined by the Sage. 
 This Council consisted of his two brothers, Yiin Ssu and 
 Yiin Hsiang (the bad boy of the family and the good) 
 together with the Grand Secretary Ma Chi and his uncle 
 Lung Ko-to. His object in appointing Yiin Ssii, whom he 
 feared and hated, to this responsible post, was to keep 
 him under his eye, as he knew him for an arch plotter, and 
 believed that none of his other brothers were strong 
 enough to carry out a successful conspiracy without the 
 masterful Yiin Ssii's directions. At the same time, as the 
 rebellion in the north-west was causing much anxiety, 
 the Emperor took an early opportunity to recall Yiin 
 Ti (K'ang Hsi's fourteenth son), then in supreme 
 command of the Imperial forces, for the reason that this 
 Prince was one of Yiin Ssii's party, and Yung Cheng 
 feared that he might be induced to proclaim Yun Ssu 
 Emperor, and support him with his army. 
 
 Yiin Ssii showed plainly enough his dislike and distrust 
 of his brother, the Emperor; when congratulated on his 
 own new title, he remarked that the Emperor evidently 
 meant to have his head, so that condolences would be 
 more in order. This was duly reported to Yung Cheng 
 by eunuch spies; not an auspicious opening. 
 
 Yung Cheng, following in his father's footsteps, began 
 early to administer vapid and verbose homilies to 
 his family and Court; a habit which seems to have been 
 inveterate in all the Emperors and, for that matter, the 
 
 ^ For whom the grateful Emperor created the Yi princedom. A 
 direct descendant of the house of Yi, in the person of Tsai yuan, con- 
 spired against the Old Buddha in 1861 (vide China under the Empress 
 Dowager). 
 
 271 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Empresses, of the Manchu dynasty. Only in the case of 
 the Old Buddha were these Pecksniffian utterances re- 
 deemed by the saving grace of humour ; even when dealing 
 out unctuous platitudes with a lavish hand, that great 
 woman always gave the impression that, in performing this 
 congenial duty, she was chuckling to herself. As a speci- 
 men of one of Yung Cheng's earlier efforts the following 
 tirade is worth quoting : " The habit of forming cabals 
 and parties is thoroughly objectionable. It prevailed to 
 an appalling extent under the Ming dynasty and, alas, it 
 still continues. The late Emperor erred ever on the side 
 of leniency and was loth to put any offenders to death. 
 Even you, members of my own family, it seems, are not 
 above this abominable tendency, but if you imagine that 
 you are going to enjoy the same immunity as you enjoyed 
 during my father's lifetime, you do err most grievously. 
 Human nature is always the same ; those in office naturally 
 desire to retain the right to make private friends whereso- 
 ever they will. But the business of State requires that 
 all personal predilections must be rigorously set aside. 
 You all remember when I was a Prince and went about 
 among you. When did I ever try to promote my own 
 interests or to intrigue on behalf of my ^proteges ? You 
 never knew me to pay clandestine visits for unlawful 
 purposes ; my father recognised my unswerving rectitude, 
 and therefore made me his heir. Since then, it seems to 
 me that I have displayed an admirable leniency in not 
 venting past grudges on those who are against me. It is 
 my earnest hope that if any of you are in the habit of 
 fomenting conspiracies, you will now desist. If I err in 
 thus accusing you, see to it that you never merit charges 
 of the kind in future." 
 
 As may be supposed, this sort of thing was not calcu- 
 lated to induce brotherly love, and the plots continued as 
 before. It was unfortunate for the reputation and in- 
 fluence of the Roman Catholic Church that several of the 
 
 272 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 conspiring Princes were known to be on friendly terms with 
 the fathers at Court, and some, it was beheved, had even 
 been baptised into the faith. 
 
 In the first year of Yung Cheng's reign it was decided 
 by the Board of Rites, upon a memorial of the provincial 
 literati, that the foreign priests should be excluded from 
 all parts of China (except Peking) and that their churches 
 should be destroyed. The priests were accordingly com- 
 pelled to leave their then flourishing missions in the interior 
 and seek refuge at Macao and Canton. Over three hundred 
 churches were destroyed. The intrigues of the fathers at 
 Peking and their interference in the domestic broils of the 
 Court were no doubt to some extent responsible for the 
 attitude of the Emperor ; but the trouble had been brewing 
 all through the later years of K'ang Hsi. 
 
 Yiin Ssii's principal aiders and abettors were the Princes 
 Yiin O and Yiin T'ang, but all the brothers, except Prince 
 Yi, were more or less implicated. Yung Cheng decided to 
 get Yiin O out of the way for a time by sending him on a 
 mission to Mongolia, but he refused to proceed any fur- 
 ther than Kalgan, and threatened to return thence without 
 leave. Yung Cheng met this insubordination with char- 
 acteristic Manchu wiliness by ordering his brother, the chief 
 plotter, Yiin Ssii, to recommend a suitable penalty for the 
 offence. Yiin Ssii cheerfully proposed that Yiin O be 
 deprived of his princedom, shorn of his estates and confined 
 for all time in the Court of the Imperial Clan. Thereupon 
 Yung Cheng issued the following decree : 
 
 " Yiin O is a mean and contemptible person, whose 
 conduct is that of a wild and insensate fool. Although he 
 had the benefit of my father's training, both in literary 
 pursuits and martial exercises, for over thirty years, yet 
 he has completely failed to derive any profit therefrom. 
 His conduct was a constant source of grief to His late 
 Majesty. So infatuate is he, and so bereft of reason, that 
 he does not realise his own utter stupidity and worthless- 
 T 273 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ness ; instead of retiring into private life and thinking over 
 his misdeeds, he lets his evil designs be noised abroad. 
 Yiin Ssu's recommendations in this matter meet the case. 
 All the world knows that I have displayed the fullest 
 measure of frank sympathy for my brothers all these 
 thirty years. All the world likewise knows how they have 
 requited my father and me. I shall now be glad to be 
 favoured with the candid opinion of my Court in regard 
 to Yiin O's case; but I warn you all not to imitate Yiin 
 Ssu in uttering high-sounding but specious catchwords, 
 for in so doing you would not only be doing yourselves 
 an injustice, but would insult the memory of your late 
 Sovereign. It is, of course, conceivable that Yiin Ssii, in 
 giving his decision, has spoken from honest conviction, 
 concealing no sinister motive; but of this I have grave 
 doubts." 
 
 The Princes and courtiers debated the case, and finally 
 advised that Yiin O should be cashiered and imprisoned, 
 as Yiin Ssii had recommended. To their memorial Yung- 
 Cheng replied : " When first I handed over Yiin O's case 
 to Yiin Ssii, I was curious to see how he would deal with it. 
 It is to be borne in mind, that Yiin O, Yun T'ang and Yiin Ti 
 have always been entirely under the influence of Yiin Ssii, 
 whose duty it was to train them in the right way. Far 
 from so doing, he has invariably encouraged them to 
 disobey my mandates. And now, behold, he urges me 
 to inflict a severe penalty on an offender who has acted 
 at his instigation, in the hope that, if I adopt his advice, 
 public opinion may blame me for excessive cruelty to my 
 brother. He does not appear to realise that no penalty, 
 however severe, could be excessive in a case of such 
 flagrant disobedience to the orders of a Sovereign and an 
 elder brother. Leniency would be misapplied in Yiin O's 
 case, because he would fail to appreciate it ; admonitions 
 have no effect on one who fears not the law. You will, 
 therefore, prepare for me a full report of Yiin O's past and 
 
 274 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 present record. I myself have no thought of sparing my 
 brother, but you are at Uberty to recommend either a 
 milder or a severer penalty than that advised by Yiin 
 Ssii, as you may think fit." This inquiry, as was to be 
 expected, resulted in Yiin O's being stripped of his 
 princedom and sentenced to imprisonment for life. 
 
 In 1724, Yiin T'ang, another of the disloyal brothers, 
 incited by Yiin Ssii, was impeached for having specu- 
 lated in land belonging to nomad Mongols while on a 
 mission to Hsining, and for having caused the people in 
 that region to rebel by flagrant abuse of power. He was 
 deprived of his princedom, and the Emperor, whose 
 morbid fear of a plot against his life increased with every 
 fresh evidence of his brothers' evil doings, seized the 
 occasion to deliver himself of the following irrelevant 
 remarks : " Yiin Ssii hates me because I will not allow 
 myself to be influenced by personal prejudices. He 
 endeavours to excite my wrath and to induce me to embark 
 on a general proscription against my enemies. In this 
 way he hopes to make me hated by my people and to 
 bring about a rebellion. But his wish will never be 
 gratified. The ancient adage has it : ' Any one is at 
 liberty to slay a rebellious Minister and a bad son.' My 
 father often quoted this wise saying with special reference 
 to Yiin Ssii." 
 
 Yung Cheng even took the trouble to compose a long- 
 winded pamphlet setting forth the evil results of parties 
 in the State working against the Throne's advisers, and 
 denouncing the conduct of certain of the Princes who 
 had bestowed parting gifts upon one of Yiin Ssii's party, 
 condemned to banishment at the post roads. " Yiin 
 Ssii," he wrote, " is a traitor ever conspiring against me, 
 who, since my accession, has always tried to counteract 
 my orders. I have had occasion to refer his conduct to the 
 Court of the Imperial Clan on more than a score of counts, 
 but have hitherto refrained from punishing him as he 
 
 275 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 deserves. In spite of this leniency many of my courtiers 
 blame me for undue severity towards him ; the fact being 
 that Yiin Ssu has befooled them. I can read in their 
 faces their resentment, yet how many Ministers have 
 suffered punishment for Yiin Ssii's misdeeds while he has 
 gone scot-free ! But no cabal can be formed by one man, 
 and unless Yiin Ssii found sympathisers he would be 
 powerless. He wins adherents by a fictitious display of 
 generosity, which is meant as a foil to my meanness. He 
 gains a cheap reputation at my expense, but his motives 
 are plain enough. It seems perfectly hopeless to expect 
 any amendment from Yiin Ssii, but I repeat my solemn 
 warnings to the Princes and Ministers." 
 
 Yiin Ssii certainly displayed great ingenuity in winning 
 popularity; he managed to obtain credit for all the 
 Emperor's acts of generosity and to place him in a bad 
 light. When head of the Li Fan-pu, he disallowed, on 
 behalf of the Throne, the Khorchin Princes' travelling 
 allowance after their yearly appearance at Court. As head 
 of the Board of Works he granted exemption from certain 
 dues without reference to the Emperor, and so on. 
 
 Yiin Jeng, the former Heir Apparent, whom K'ang Hsi 
 had deprived of all his titles and imprisoned for life, was 
 reported to be dying in his prison at the Coal Hill. Yung 
 Cheng sent physicians to attend him, but they pronounced 
 his case hopeless. The Emperor dispensed with the 
 formality of paying the sick man a personal visit, on the 
 ground that the patient would be obliged to make obei- 
 sance before his Sovereign, which was contrary to etiquette, 
 as he was the elder brother. Accordingly, he sent a message 
 to say that, instead of seeing him, he would perform liba- 
 tions to his spirit after decease, which was doubtless very 
 gratifying to Yiin Jeng. His title of Prince Li was formally 
 restored to him. 
 
 On the completion of the orthodox twenty-seven months 
 of mourning for K'ang Hsi, the Emperor excused his 
 
 276 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Council of Four from further duties and bestowed rewards 
 on Yiin Hsiang. Of Yiin Ssii he said : " Ever since I 
 bestowed this appointment upon him he has neglected all 
 his duties and shifted responsibility on to his colleagues. 
 He has never spoken a helpful word nor performed one 
 useful act. He has done his utmost to poison men's 
 minds against me, to put obstacles in my path and to 
 confuse my judgment. For instance, when head of the 
 Board of Works he was responsible for the arrangements at 
 my father's obsequies. Custom required that twenty thou- 
 sand bearers should be engaged to convey the catafalque 
 to its last resting-place (ninety miles away) at the Eastern 
 Tombs. He actually dared to memorialise me, saying 
 that, on the ground of expense, the number might well be 
 reduced by one half. Unaware of the established pre- 
 cedents, I weakly agreed. Had not the Grand Secretaries 
 come to my rescue and explained the demands of etiquette, 
 a terrible blunder would have been committed. Also, in 
 his capacity as head of the Mongolian Superintendency, he 
 tried to prevent the Mongol Princes from coming to Peking 
 to pay their respects to my father's coffin, on the plea of 
 unnecessary expenditure ; they were moved to tears in the 
 extremity of their grief, and had the matter not been 
 brought to my notice, their loyalty to my House might have 
 been seriously affected. He took it upon himself to weed 
 out more than half the horses in the Imperial stables, 
 pretending to economise, but his real object was to call 
 attention to my father's extravagance in maintaining so 
 large a stud. The result was that there were not horses 
 enough for my needs. He was wont to use dirty bits of 
 the commonest paper on which to memorialise the Throne. 
 When it fell to him to prepare the pavilion adjoining the 
 sacrificial temples, where I changed my robes in the 
 intervals of the liturgy, the smell of new paint on the 
 various utensils was so nauseating that while robing I could 
 scarcely breathe. The tables were all in a very rickety 
 
 277 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 condition, and it was unsafe to sit on the chairs. He 
 showed gross disrespect in the arrangements made for 
 reciting the prayers at this solemn ceremony. Every 
 one knows the levity of his behaviour. I have no time to 
 recount all the instances of his careless sloth and male- 
 volent vulgarity. Yet have I borne with them all ! Yiin 
 Ssu is no fool, and knows full well what he is about. Who 
 can guess his motives ? In connection with the supplj^ 
 of red earth required at Moukden for the mausoleum of 
 our great founder, Yiin Ssii had the effrontery to purchase 
 all the supplies available and then to sell it to the depart- 
 ment concerned at a handsome profit to himself. He 
 deserves my sternest censure, and I must decline to bestow 
 any reward or honour upon him for his work on my 
 Council." 
 
 Next came the case of Yiin T'ang. At a conclave of all the 
 courtiers Yung Cheng delivered himself of a characteristic 
 sermon : " Owing to the abominable conduct of Yiin 
 T'ang, I sent him to Hsining. There he connived at the 
 lawless acts of his personal staff, and arrogated to himself 
 rank higher than he possessed. Accordingly, I sent 
 General Ch'u Tsung to remonstrate with him and to urge 
 him to amend his ways. Ch'u now informs me that 
 Yiin T'ang did not take the trouble to come from his 
 residence to meet him with the respect due to an Imperial 
 envoy; he omitted to bend the knee, and when at last 
 he did condescend to summon Ch'u to his presence he 
 showed no signs of shame or regret. On the contrary, 
 he seemed thoroughly self-satisfied and displayed con- 
 tumelious arrogance. Ch'u's report says ; ' Your servant 
 commanded him to come out into the courtyard and to 
 kneel while I read to him your Imperial mandate. He 
 came out, but flatly declined to kotow, rose rudely from his 
 knees after hearing your decree and remarked : *' What the 
 Emperor says is no doubt true enough; what need for me 
 to answer ? I shall take the vows of the Buddhist priest- 
 
 278 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 hood. When I am become a bonze, perhaps His Majesty 
 will believe that I no longer am a rebel against the Throne." 
 Even his servants seemed quite callous and undisturbed.' 
 My object in sending Ch'u to Hsining was simply that 
 he might tell my brother to keep his people in order. I 
 fully expected him to amend his ways and lead a new life. 
 It was surely to his own interest to obey the law, but his 
 nature is both base and proud, and he knows not the respect 
 due to a Sovereign from a subject. When he talks of 
 intending to become a bonze and to forsake the world, 
 does he really imagine that if he did so it would be the 
 end of his duty to his elder brother, and that thenceforth 
 he would part company from his Emperor? These are 
 wild and wanton words indeed. During my father's 
 lifetime these brothers of mine, Yiin Ssu, Yiin Chih, Yiin 
 T'ang, Yiin O and Yiin Ti, by their wicked behaviour and 
 heartless conspiracies, made His Majesty's life a burden 
 to him, so that he never knew a moment's peace. After 
 he had passed away, Yiin T'ang, on arriving here from the 
 west, did not even take the trouble to salute the Empress 
 Dowager or myself. Instead of proceeding at once to 
 the Palace to inquire after my health, he wrote to the 
 Board of Ceremonies and asked them to inform him of 
 the prescribed etiquette. On entering the Palace of 
 Imperial Longevity to do obeisance before his father's 
 coffin, he saw that I was kneeling before it in worship, but 
 he kept carefully out of my way, and his face showed no 
 signs of sorrow, nor of affection for myself. When I went 
 forward to meet him, he remained unmoved. La Hsi, 
 who was standing by his side, pulled him forward towards 
 me. Yiin T'ang turned and reviled La Hsi, after which 
 he advanced in my direction, saying : ' I was trying to 
 show you all possible respect, when La Hsi began dragging 
 me forward. I am the Emperor's own brother, yet this 
 fellow La Hsi treats me like a menial. If I have mis- 
 behaved, let Your Majesty punish me. If I have done no 
 
 279 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 wrong, then you ought to behead La Hsi in order to 
 vindicate the law.' He had lost his temper and behaved 
 in my presence like a common brawler. I could hardly 
 believe my eyes. 
 
 " On the occasion of my father's funeral Yiin Ti also 
 showed gross disrespect for the solemn ceremonial and 
 engaged in altercations with La Hsi and Fo Lun. On 
 my issuing a decree to rebuke him Yiin Ssii came forward 
 from out the tent and called out : ' Kneel down there,' 
 showing plainly that Yiin Ti obeyed Yiin Ssii in all things, 
 and that his word was law. 
 
 " As for Yiin O, he had received an Imperial mission to 
 proceed to Urga with a message from me to the Taranatha 
 pontiff; on reaching Kalgan he feigned sickness and 
 declined to proceed. To Yiin T'ang he sent private letters 
 with a gift of horses. Yiin T'ang wrote in reply : ' Alas ! 
 the opportunity has gone by, and we can now only regret 
 that we have missed the chance.' What could this be 
 but treason ? Moreover, I know that Yiin O has uttered 
 incantations against my life. 
 
 "Yiin Ssii's conduct is quite incorrigible; he and his 
 brothers wilfully persist in treasonable and perfidious 
 conduct. If I were to subject them all to a criminal 
 trial death would be the only possible penalty. But I 
 am too tender-heart'ed to adopt such a course; I desire 
 my brothers to continue to draw the breath of life, so I 
 shall not proceed further, in deference to what my father's 
 wishes would have been." 
 
 It seems certain that Yiin Ssii, aided by his brothers, 
 came within an ace of seizing the person of Yung Cheng 
 and the Throne. Yung Cheng feared to take any strong 
 measures against the conspirators, because he felt that 
 there was much discontent against his rule. A vigorous 
 political campaign was being carried on in the south by 
 Yiin Ssii's party, and it was not leniency which led the 
 Emperor to spare his brother. A little later Yiin Ssii was 
 
 280 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 again impeached for not repairing the ancestral temple in 
 a seemly manner, and for not constructing the ancestral 
 tablet of K'ang Hsi with due reverence. On this occa- 
 sion Yung Cheng hysterically complained that these cares 
 were rapidly driving him to distraction. He followed up 
 this complaint with a decree attributing the inclemency 
 of the weather to Heaven's dissatisfaction with his erring 
 brethren. 
 
 Yung Cheng now learned that his Commander-in-chief, 
 Nien Keng-yao, who had deserved well of the State for 
 his many victories over the Eleuths, was conspiring in the 
 interests of Yiin Ssii. Gratitude was never characteristic 
 of the Manchu rulers, except possibly in the case of the 
 Old Buddha. The Emperor, greatly perturbed, decided 
 that Nien Keng-yao must be removed at all costs. He was 
 therefore charged with " indulging in wicked behaviour," 
 with having ill-treated the inhabitants of Kokonor, and 
 suppressed all reference to a famine which had raged 
 there; he had shown " excessive zeal in slaughtering," and 
 generally misled the Throne. Yung Cheng first trans- 
 ferred him to the sinecure of Tartar General at Hangchow, 
 but every one knew this step was merely preliminary, and 
 that his final despatch was only delayed because the 
 Emperor feared to act precipitately, lest he should bring 
 about a revolt of the troops. But the wretched Commander 
 lost nothing by waiting, and, meanwhile, the fact that the 
 armour of his troops was reported to be falling to pieces, 
 afforded an opportunity for more criticism of the unlucky 
 Yiin Ssii, who, as head of the Board of Works, was respon- 
 sible for its condition. " It is only too plain," wrote the 
 Emperor, " that Yiin Ssii acts deliberately in not providing 
 my army with proper armour. Our relations are like 
 those of fire and water, or like two countries at war. His 
 fixed idea is to be in the right himself and to put me in the 
 wrong. My father knew his real nature as well as I do. 
 When his foster-mother's husband, Yachi-pu, was beheaded 
 
 281 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 for flagrant misconduct, my father issued a decree to all 
 of us brothers, in which he said : ' Henceforward I disown 
 Yiin Ssii, let him no more be called my son.' At that 
 time Yiin Ssii appealed to me to stop the publication 
 of the decree, saying that he would ' lose face ' if people 
 knew our father's opinion of him. Accordingly, I put it 
 away under seal, so as to spare my brother's feelings. 
 But he is a monster utterly incapable of gratitude." 
 
 On receiving the Imperial mandate, Nien Keng-yao 
 flatly declined to leave his former post. " I am informed," 
 says His Majesty, " that he consented to have his luggage 
 sent on ahead, but has refused to depart himself, although 
 the people were delighted on hearing of their persecutor's 
 impending removal. He is now trying to pose as a 
 meritorious officer and thus to make me appear in an 
 unbecoming light for unjustifiably dismissing my old 
 advisers. Let him hand over his charge to his successor 
 forthwith." 
 
 Yung Cheng's maternal uncle. Lung Ko-to, was also 
 dismissed at this time for being concerned in the conspiracy. 
 " I have treated both Nien Keng-yao and Lung Ko-to 
 with absolute trust and regarded them as my right-hand 
 men. But they have harboured rebellious thoughts and 
 have rewarded my favour by conspiring against me, and 
 have besides attacked my reputation. I refrain from 
 inflicting the severest penalties because I feel that I 
 myself am to blame for having been over trustful." 
 
 With the contemptible meanness and lack of generosity 
 which seems inseparable from Chinese mandarins in the 
 mass, the Board of Appointments memorialised the 
 Emperor as follows concerning Nien Keng-yao's case : 
 " Your Majesty has shown this wicked sinner all possible 
 benevolence, but the measure of his offences is full to the 
 brim. Instead of proceeding straight to his new post 
 he has had the effrontery to linger at Yi Cheng-hsien in 
 Kiangsu, on the ground that ' its situation is central,' 
 
 282 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 and he has dared to address you, saying : ' I shall await 
 your further instructions here.' It is dilEficult to guess his 
 real motives, but his abominable wickedness awakens 
 universal detestation and exposes him to the sudden 
 visitation of Heaven. We ask that he be cashiered, 
 deprived of the Dragon robes and decorations conferred 
 upon him in times past, and of the purple reins. ^ We 
 request that he be summarily arrested and brought to 
 Peking in chains, there to undergo the severest examina- 
 tion (under torture) and then to be decapitated, as a 
 warning to disloyal and ungrateful Ministers." To this 
 the Emperor made reply : "I previously asked Nien 
 Keng-yao for an explanation of his outrageous conduct, 
 and his answer was : ' I have acted in everything in 
 accordance with precedent and with my position as 
 Commander-in-chief.' In times past, various Princes of 
 my house have held this post, but, with the exception of 
 Yiin Ti (who is a bad example to follow), none of them has 
 ever dared to act with the lawless arrogance displayed 
 by Nien Keng-yao. He has even gone beyond Yiin Ti's 
 atrocities, and has slaughtered vast numbers of people. 
 He ventures to adduce Yiin Ti as a precedent, as if Yiin 
 Ti's treasonable conduct were justifiable. I now order 
 Nien Keng-yao immediately to send in proper replies to 
 my previous questions. Why is he delaying at Yi Cheng- 
 hsien and neglecting his duties in this perfunctory way? 
 On the receipt of his explicit reply I shall proceed to issue 
 a decree in reply to the request of my Ministers for his 
 arrest and decapitation." 
 
 Nien Keng-yao had enjoyed almost unlimited power in 
 the provinces, and his proteges held the most important 
 posts throughout the country. All of these were now 
 removed from their lucrative offices and their places 
 taken by nominees of the opposing factions. It was ever 
 thus with the Manchu dynasty; each reign witnessed the 
 ^ Usually bestowed only on Princes. 
 283 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 downfall of its predecessor's favourites; and the Court, 
 anxious to share in the plunder of their estates, invariably- 
 acquiesced. 
 
 Yung Cheng was very sensitive to public opinion and 
 did not wish it to be said that " the bow was put away in 
 obscurity after the birds had been shot," or, in other words, 
 that he was ungrateful for services rendered to the State. 
 Accordingly, he invited the high provincial authorities to 
 memorialise as to what penalty should be inflicted on 
 Nien; and he was careful to ask them to treat the case 
 with complete impartiality. 
 
 Still hesitating to deal with Yiin Ssii, for fear of precipi- 
 tating a rebellion, it was Yung Cheng's policy gradually 
 to rid himself of his brother's most prominent confederates. 
 Two of his first cousins, sons of Prince Kung (a younger 
 brother of K'ang Hsi), were sentenced to imprisonment, 
 one for abetting Yiin Ssu and the other nominally for 
 " making rude noises " in the Emperor's presence on the 
 steps of the Palace of " the Peaceful Mean." In the same 
 manner, Yung Cheng dealt with Yiin T'ang's case, on the 
 pretext that one of his servants had beaten a graduate in 
 Shansi. " During my father's lifetime," said the Emperor, 
 " Yun T'ang was often admonished for unfilial conduct, and 
 once he had the effrontery to reply : ' The worst you can do 
 to me is to strip me of my paltry fourth class princedom.' 
 Whenever he was given any fatiguing duty to perform 
 he would say to my father : ' If you would only put me in 
 prison in the company of my two eldest brothers, I should 
 have a much easier life than I lead at present.' We were 
 all shocked to hear such language from his lips. When the 
 late Emperor died there was no vestige of tears in Yiin 
 T'ang's eyes. Since my accession he has behaved with 
 incurable haughtiness, and has always disobeyed my 
 orders. From Hsining he sent a letter to Yiin O, couched 
 in treasonable language. When I sent a messenger with a 
 decree to rebuke him, he showed no fear and had the 
 
 284 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 insolence to receive my envoy in his bedchamber, instead 
 of kneehng to greet him in the outer court. He has 
 squandered huge sums in Hsining, hoping to make friends 
 for his treasonable designs; the people call him the ninth 
 Prince of the blood, although he is not entitled to any such 
 rank, being only a Beitze. I order, therefore, that he be 
 stripped at once of his title and emoluments, and give 
 warning that any one addressing him hereafter as Prince 
 will do so at his peril." 
 
 Lung Ko-to, Yung Cheng's maternal uncle, was the 
 next victim ; all the Imperial gifts and honours were taken 
 from him, which he had received from K'ang Hsi and from 
 Yung Cheng himself. 
 
 The chief conspirator against Yung Cheng's authority, 
 his brother Yiin Ssu, appears to have been convinced that 
 the Emperor would not dare to take extreme measures 
 against him, for notwithstanding His Majesty's outspoken 
 complaints and warnings, he continued to go his own 
 unlawful ways. His next move was to send in a memorial 
 recommending that the pay and allowances of the Imperial 
 bannermen, and more particularly those of the three 
 superior banners, should be raised, his evident object 
 being to ingratiate himself with the Manchus nearest to 
 the Throne. His Majesty's chief cause of complaint on this 
 occasion was that Yiin Ssu, in private audience, had 
 advised against increasing their emoluments. The Im- 
 perial edict referring to this matter plaintively observes : 
 " All the disorderly and disreputable members of the 
 Household Banner Corps recently assembled at Yiin Ssu's 
 house and started a most unseemly brawl. Yet Yiin Ssu 
 never reported the occurrence, and it was only on the 
 following day that I heard of it from my Ministers of the 
 Household. Forthwith I issued a decree stating that no 
 strangers could be permitted to enter this part of the 
 Palace where an Imperial concubine resides (Yiin Ssii's 
 mother lived with him, by special permission of the 
 
 285 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Emperor). Furthermore, Yiin Ssu, on one of his drunken 
 bouts, recently put to death one of his body-guard and 
 failed to report the incident. The family of the murdered 
 man brought complaint, but Yiin Ssii sent a eunuch to 
 bid them hush the matter up. When I cross-questioned 
 him about it he prevaricated, and it was only after con- 
 fronting him with the facts that he hung his head and 
 ceased to argue. This incident clearly reveals the man's 
 hypocritical nature and his inveterate desire to earn 
 golden opinions from every one while perpetrating acts of 
 cold-blooded cruelty. I command the Court to recommend 
 an appropriate penalty." The Court recommended that 
 Yiin Ssii be deprived of his Imperial princedom and reduced 
 to the level of a Mongol Prince; but for the moment 
 Yung Cheng took no action on this advice. 
 
 The Board of Punishments now brought in its final 
 memorial respecting Nien Keng-yao, who had been brought 
 in chains to Peking. They declared that the number of 
 accusations against him made a pile higher than Mount 
 Tai, while his offences reached depths lower than ever 
 plummet sounded. He had committed five distinct 
 acts of treason and sixteen acts of usurpation, one of 
 which was to have the roads sprinkled with yellow earth 
 in his honour and to have the streets cleared as for an 
 Imperial procession. He had allowed the green audience 
 tally (which is only used in the presence of the Son of 
 Heaven) to be employed by officials seeking an interview 
 v/ith him. He had the audacity to seat himself before the 
 dragon tablet of the Emperor, instead of meekly kneeling 
 upon his knees. He had worn the Dragon robes and 
 seated himself in the position of the Emperor, facing 
 south, when receiving the congratulations of his subordi- 
 nates, who were made to kneel and prostrate themselves 
 in the dust. He had committed thirteen distinct offences 
 of gross presumption (one of which was the omission to 
 publish an Imperial amnesty) and eighteen of greedy 
 
 286 
 
^- 
 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 covetousness. There were twelve cases of arbitrary action, 
 fifteen of appropriating Government funds ; nine cases of 
 deceiving his Imperial master; six cases of unjust suspicion 
 of subordinates, and five of wanton cruelty. The penalty 
 for the gravest of these offences, committed singly, was the 
 lingering death, and decapitation for many of the others. 
 The memorial asked for his immediate execution by 
 dismemberment; his father, brothers, sons, grandsons, 
 uncles, nephews and cousins above the age of sixteen to 
 be decapitated. All below that age, and all the female 
 members of the family, to be given as slaves to the families 
 of meritorious officers. The whole of his property to be 
 confiscate to the Throne and his crimes published for 
 the information of all men, as a solemn warning for ages 
 to come, so that traitors and disloyal Ministers should 
 hesitate to abuse their master's confidence and display 
 atrocious cruelty. 
 
 To this bloodthirsty indictment the Emperor replied : 
 " Nien Keng-yao's treason is manifest to all men; it is 
 the inevitable consequence of a nature made up of reckless 
 presumption and gross depravity. But I call to mind his 
 earlier services to my House during the Kokonor campaign, 
 and am loth to inflict upon him the extreme penalty. I 
 command that he be given over to the charge of Achitii, 
 Prefect of the city, and be allowed to commit suicide. I 
 have long been aware of his obstinate disposition and evil 
 hardness of heart. He has always ignored his father's 
 admonitions and treated him and his elder brother with 
 callous contempt. I content myself with cashiering his 
 father and brothers. The various Imperial gifts bestowed 
 upon the family are to be returned to me. His sons 
 are very numerous; one of them, Nien Fu, resembles 
 his father in character and deeds ; let him be decapitated 
 forthwith. Let the rest of his sons over fifteen years of 
 age be banished for life to a malarious region on the 
 remotest frontiers of Yunnan. His wife was a member of 
 
 287 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 the Imperial Clan; let her be sent back to her father's 
 household. The million or more of his confiscated wealth 
 is to be handed to the Viceroy of Hsian to cover the sums 
 which Nien has embezzled from time to time. Property 
 belonging to the remainder of his family is hereby exempted 
 from confiscation, as an act of grace. Every member of 
 his clan now holding office is to be cashiered, and as each 
 of his sons or grandsons reaches the age of fifteen years 
 he shall be banished for life and be exempt from all benefits 
 of Imperial amnesties. Any one privily adopting one of 
 his sons or grandsons shall be subject to the same penalty 
 as Nien has incurred. His accomplice Tsou Lu is to be 
 beheaded, and his family banished as slaves to the Amur." 
 Having persuaded and frightened the Imperial Clan 
 Court into a state of subservience and removed from 
 his path the most powerful adherents of the rebellious 
 brothers who had incurred his bitter enmity, the Emperor 
 now proceeded to take his long-cherished vengeance upon 
 Yiin Ssii. At the same time, he continued to keep a 
 watchful eye upon public opinion in Peking and in the 
 provinces, ever careful to put upon his actions a gloss of 
 the utmost orthodoxy and flawless justice, to go down to 
 posterity as the Superior Man. Before administering 
 his justice, therefore, he proceeded to put a good com- 
 plexion on his actions in advance and to prepare the public 
 mind. 
 
 288 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 YUNG CHENG DISPENSES JUSTICE 
 
 The Imperial Clan Court, having been purged of all 
 injudicious sympathy for the Emperor's seditious brethren, 
 dutifully memorialised him with a request that he should 
 punish Yiin T'ang, "as a warning to all unfilial and 
 disloyal persons." Yung Cheng, ingenuously enough, 
 adopted his usual tactics for killing two birds with one 
 stone, and ordered Yiin Ssii and Yiin Ti to consider the 
 case of their accused brother and to recommend a suitable 
 penalty for his offences. Their report was naturally not 
 of a nature to satisfy the Court (which understood full 
 well what was expected of it), and it proceeded to urge 
 the Emperor to sentence Yiin Ssii to death by decapita- 
 tion. Its members were, no doubt, anxious to make an 
 end of these eternal wranglings and inquiries in a matter 
 which, as they knew, could only end with the legal 
 murder of the Emperor's brothers. 
 
 On receiving this latest memorial of the Court, Yung 
 Cheng delivered himself of a typical address to an audience 
 convened at the Lake Palace, at which Yiin Ssii was 
 present : 
 
 " If, on your demand, I put Yiin Ssu to death," said 
 he, " and he should hereafter be proved to have been 
 innocent, you will by your act have murdered a descendant 
 of our founder and thus place me in the position of an 
 unjust Sovereign. If any of you feel in his heart that 
 this man does not deserve death, let him now step out 
 u 289 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 from his place and kneel on my right hand." Naturally 
 enough, no one was anxious to accept this invitation, and 
 all shouted unanimously : " He deserves to die." Yung 
 Cheng then continued: "I fully endorse your opinion; 
 the guilt of Yiin Ssu makes him worthy of death; 
 nevertheless, I have no intention of beheading him. I 
 remove him from my Clan because of the imprecations 
 which he dared to utter in the presence of the whole 
 Court, when he said that he hoped that I and my family 
 would come to a bad end. I may deal with his wife on a 
 further occasion." 
 
 If the Emperor was sincere about lenient measures, he 
 soon had cause to change his mind; it came to light that 
 a Prince of the clan, named Lu Pin, had been a member 
 of Yiin Ti's party at Hsining and had been employed by 
 that Prince to convey certain letters to Yiin Ssu at 
 Peking. These letters spoke definitely of a plot for the 
 killing of Yung Cheng, and added disrespectful references 
 to the Emperor's alleged illegitimacy, respecting which 
 matter Yung Cheng was peculiarly sensitive. Worse than 
 all, when Yung Cheng demanded an explanation, Lu Pin 
 spoke gratefully of Yiin Ssii as his benefactor. The 
 result was perpetual imprisonment for Lu Pin, while Yiin 
 Ssu was confined hi the Forbidden City in a high- walled 
 courtyard, two " respectable eunuchs " being told off to 
 guard him. 
 
 At this point of the tragic business, Yung Cheng dis- 
 played his vindictiveness in a form so derogatory to the 
 dynasty of a great State that his edicts read like the 
 utterances of a petulant child reviling its playmates, 
 rather than the decrees of the world's most ancient Throne. 
 First of all, he formally prescribed for Yiin Ssu and Yiin 
 T'ang titles of reproach, by which they were to be known 
 officially, namely, " That disreputable person " for the 
 one, and " Black-hearted monster " for the other. As 
 for Yiin Ti, the third and least serious offender, he was 
 
 290 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 dealt with at once, to clear the ground for the principal 
 culprits, in the following decree : 
 
 " Recently I sent Yiin Ti to live near my father's 
 sepulchre in the fond hope that the contemplation of 
 that holy spot might move him to remorse. But he 
 has shown no contrite spirit ; on the contrary he becomes 
 daily more incorrigible. Lately an attempt at rebellion 
 has been fomented in the neighbourhood of the Imperial 
 tombs, and most abominable statements have been cir- 
 culated about my moral character. I therefore order 
 that Yiin Ti be sent back at once to Peking. He will 
 hereafter be confined in the Palace at the back of the 
 Coal Hill, close to the hall of Imperial Longevity, where 
 rest the portraits of my parents. Perchance he may be 
 moved to repentance by their august proximity. His 
 son Pai Chi is thoroughly evil and will be imprisoned with 
 his father." 
 
 The Emperor goes on : " ' That disreputable person ' 
 and ' Black-hearted monster,' with Yiin Ti, have been 
 wont to form friendships with the lowest classes of society 
 in the fomenting of their conspiracy against me; they 
 consorted with bonzes, lamas, physicians, soothsayers, 
 astrologers, physiognomists and even with mimes, barbers 
 and Europeans. The bond-slaves of the highest officials 
 were invited into their houses and treated as honoured 
 guests, to be used as auxiliaries to their malevolent 
 designs. If they wanted to ruin any member of the 
 opposite party they would invent the most wicked and 
 preposterous stories about him, and have them circulated 
 by these creatures. In this way they expected to mislead 
 the foolish and unthinking mob. My father was exposed 
 to their calumnies and had always to be on his guard 
 against their base plots. On my accession a common 
 tea-house report was in circulation to the effect that I 
 was a confirmed drunkard. I was accused of habitually 
 passing the livelong night in carousing with Lung K'o-to, 
 
 291 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 our revels ending with both of us completely in our cups. 
 As the result of our alleged orgies, Lung K'o-to was said 
 to be reduced to such a state of blind intoxication as to 
 require bearers to carry him out from the Forbidden City. 
 It was even alleged that he was so completely oblivious 
 to decorum as to refuse to quit my Palace, and that he 
 and I, both tipsy, would indulge in common brawls. I 
 was accused of sleeping off my debauch in my clothes on 
 the spot where I finally collapsed. When Tsai Ting came 
 to Peking from Szechuan and was summoned to audience 
 he soon perceived me to be a man of most temperate 
 habits. One day, naively enough, he memorialised me 
 as follows : ' In Szechuan it was common gossip that 
 Your Majesty was usually intoxicated, but since I have 
 come to Peking I have observed, after constant attendance 
 on Your Majesty's person day and night, that you never 
 touch a drop of liquor.' So, too, Li Chen-yang on 
 arriving here was received in audience several times ; 
 before finally taking leave he said to me : ' I have re- 
 peatedly heard that since your accession you have indulged 
 habitually in Bacchanalian orgies; but after having had 
 several opportunities of seeing you at audience, I notice 
 that Your Majesty is always at work and your breath 
 betrays no indication of the liquor habit.' Many other 
 officials have written or spoken in the same sense, the 
 fact, of course, being that ' That disreputable person ' and 
 his brother were habitual wine-bibbers themselves and 
 have been often reproved by me for their shameless 
 drunkenness. Therefore they callously invented this 
 accusation, and caused it to be rumoured and believed 
 all over the Empire that I was a hopeless drunkard. 
 The whole of my Court knows well that I cannot stomach 
 wine at all.^ Of a truth, men who will invent such false- 
 hoods about me are capable of anything. 
 
 ^ Nevertheless, the charge was true enough; Yung Cheng was 
 addicted to drinking bouts, as was K'ang Hsi before him. 
 
 292 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 " In yesterday's Court Gazette I note the following : 
 * On the occasion of the Dragon Festival the Princes and 
 Court all paid their respects to His Majesty at Yuan 
 Ming-yuan, after which the Emperor left the Palace and 
 entered the Dragon barge, while the Court followed him 
 in thirty other boats. Music was played and His Majesty 
 presented every one with " rush wine " in honour of the 
 festival. After an excursion lasting some hours the 
 Emperor returned.' 
 
 " Now, if the Lord of the Universe, who receives tribute 
 from every region under Heaven, were pleased to take a 
 boating excursion on a holiday and to invite his Court to 
 partake of wine, it would only be the perpetuation of an 
 ancient ceremony and in accordance with the example 
 set by sage Sovereigns of antiquity. But, as it happens, 
 I issued special instructions that none of my Court were 
 to come out from Peking to pay their respects, and I 
 confined myself to receiving the Princes actually resident 
 at the Summer Palace. It is highly improper of the 
 Gazette to insert such false news, and I direct the Board 
 of Punishments to investigate the matter and to find 
 out whence the statement emanated. It is necessary to 
 issue this as a warning to those who calumniate their 
 Emperor." 
 
 The time v/as now come for less " lenient " measures. 
 Yung Cheng therefore proceeded to address his servile 
 Court in a long and bitter harangue recounting his brothers' 
 misdeeds, evidently intended as a preliminary to their 
 happy despatch. The report of this speech is too long 
 to give in full, but a few of its choicest passages will 
 serve to show the ingenuous puerilities in which the 
 Son of Heaven saw fit to indulge. " None of you know 
 my brothers' characters as I do," he said; " I have had 
 the misfortune to live with them for thirty years. By 
 bribery and corruption they have built up around them- 
 selves a solid phalanx of debauched and treacherous 
 
 293 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 criminals. There was not a depraved priest, physician, 
 soothsayer, rowdy, actor or European, who was not of 
 their gang. There is no doubt at all that these wicked 
 minions shortened my father's life by their misdeeds, 
 and for this ' That disreputable person ' and his brothers 
 are chiefly to blame. ... It is very certain that if such 
 a man were to ascend the Throne he would involve the 
 ancestral shrines in dire peril. As for the ' Black-hearted 
 monster,' he is only a fat fool, who combines fiabbiness 
 with clumsy forms of deceit and a shameless wallowing 
 in debauch. His late Majesty regarded him as more 
 brute than man, while all of us, his brothers, looked upon 
 him as a buffoon and a common butt. No one realised 
 more clearly his blear-eyed stupidity than ' That dis- 
 reputable person ' ; nevertheless, he used him persistently 
 to forward his evil designs. 
 
 " These things being so, how came it about that, in 
 my father's lifetime, the people all acclaimed ' That 
 disreputable person ' as a Buddha, when he took no 
 part in Government affairs and had earned no title to 
 fame ? It was because his evil associates never wearied 
 of singing his praises and thus induced the unthinking 
 mob to make an idol of him. If he were really a good 
 man, no words of mine could affect the popular judgment. 
 My criticism would be wasted. Now that I have exposed 
 his real character I shall be much interested to hear 
 what resemblance any of you can trace between him and 
 the Buddha ! In my father's reign it would have been 
 an easy matter for me to have gained popularity by cheap 
 displays of patronage; I preferred, however, to remain 
 in honourable obscurity and to minister to my father's 
 wants. I never schemed for the Throne, and whenever 
 any of my brothers offended my father I always inter- 
 vened to shield the culprit. This was not so much in 
 the interest of my brothers, as because I dreaded the 
 effect of excessive wrath on my venerable parent. Had 
 
 294 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 I ever coveted the Throne there would have been no 
 occasion for me to cherish resentment against my brothers, 
 once my ambition had been gratified and I had become 
 the Sovereign. My quarrel with them rests on other 
 and broader grounds. During my father's reign lavish 
 fortune emptied her horn upon me, and it would have 
 been beneath my dignity to associate, still less to quarrel, 
 with men of my brothers' low type. 
 
 " If they have hoped to turn me from my duty and to 
 make me cease from my merciless campaign against 
 corruption in high places they must indeed take me 
 for a coward. When the people presume to call ' That 
 disreputable person ' a Buddha, which of his devilish 
 qualities, I wonder, appeals to their imagination? Is a 
 monster of impiety and disloyalty worthy of the title of 
 saint? If he be a Buddha, he is the first of the type in 
 history ! Why is it that baseless rumours are circulated 
 of the nation's hatred towards me? Am I to suppose 
 it is because I have punished those who plot against 
 my life and Throne ? 
 
 " Our Manchu house has now held its Imperial sway 
 for a century, and the clans have basked in the benevolence 
 of my four predecessors. In due course I succeeded to 
 this goodly heritage, and even as one sun reigns in Heaven, 
 so only one Sovereign may rule the Empire. It is incre- 
 dible that my loyal Manchus should swerve from their 
 devotion to their sovereign lord and allow themselves 
 to be misled by the seditious arguments of evil traitors 
 and fratricidal monsters. I am convinced that my present 
 decree will come to them as a great shock, and that the 
 wickedness of ' That disreputable person ' and his brothers 
 will be like the revelation of a lightning flash. 
 
 " The former memorial of the Princes and Court, which 
 urged the immediate decapitation of my three pernicious 
 brothers, was absolutely warranted by the facts. Death 
 is the penalty which they merit, and if I decide to execute 
 
 295 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 them no one can possibly blame me. But for the present, 
 I am willing that they should draw the breath of life yet 
 a while longer." 
 
 The Court next advised that the two offending Princes 
 should be dismembered and that the whole of their 
 estates be confiscated. It recounted the crimes of " That 
 disreputable person " under forty headings, of which 
 two may be quoted as fair samples : 
 
 *' (1) On the occasion of his mother's death he showed 
 disgraceful disregard of etiquette, by affecting excess of 
 grief; even after the hundred days of mourning were 
 over, he needed to be assisted as he walked. At the 
 same time, while professing to observe thrifty simplicity 
 in his diet, he was having luxurious fare brought him 
 privily to his chamber (which adjoined his mother's 
 cofhn), through the connivance of his brothers. On this 
 he regaled himself in epicurean style, his table groaning 
 under its weight of viands. When the days of mourning 
 were over he had actually put on weight, and his face 
 indicated every symptom of gross living. (2) His wife 
 has always behaved in a most unwomanlike manner, and 
 the late Emperor issued orders that she was to betake 
 herself back to her own family. One of Yiin Ssii's con- 
 cubines recommended him to apologise to the Emperor 
 on her behalf, but he angrily replied : ' I am her husband. 
 Who ever heard of a husband interceding with another 
 man about his own womenkind ? ' This same concubine 
 was so greatly distressed by his habitual and gross 
 debauchery that she hanged herself." 
 
 After preferring a number of equally puerile charges 
 against the " Black-hearted monster " and Yiin Ti, and 
 quoting the dictum of K'ang Hsi that rebellious sons 
 deserved death as public enemies, the Court requested 
 Yung Cheng to order the decapitation of the three offend- 
 ing Princes, " as a warning to traitors for ten thousand 
 generations." To this the Emperor replied that he found 
 
 296 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 himself in a position of extreme embarrassment ; evidently, 
 brothers like these were not to be moved by advice nor 
 to be reformed by example. Many details had been 
 omitted in the memorial, and their conduct was even 
 blacker than his Court was aware. If he refrained from 
 putting them to death he would be guilty of irreverence 
 to his ancestors. He could not allow any pain he might 
 feel to prevent him from carrying out a disagreeable duty. 
 Yiin Ti's guilt was less than that of his brothers', and 
 perhaps he might yet repent if granted a reprieve. As 
 to the other two, he was in an awkward position and needed 
 time for further reflection. He hoped that the Empire 
 would appreciate the difficulties under which he laboured, 
 and would believe that he was acting solely so as to 
 secure law and order for the country and the tranquillity 
 of the ancestral shrines and tutelary deities. 
 
 No one knew better than Yung Cheng that a public 
 execution of his brothers would create a strong public 
 opinion against him; he knew full well the strength of 
 their party, and had to be wary, if he wished to avoid 
 a rebellion. His illegitimacy ^ was matter of common 
 report, and he was hated for his tyranny and greed, so 
 
 ^ The Chinese annahst " Born out of Time," already referred to 
 {vide supra, p. 230), gives the following explanation of the much- 
 discussed illegitimacy of Yung Cheng. The Emperor K'ang Hsi, not 
 content v/ith the multitudinous domesticity of the Palace, had a 
 roving eye and a highly susceptible nature. In one of his excursions 
 to a temple fair, he was struck by the beauty of a young married 
 woman, and having sent a eunuch to discover her identity, invited the 
 lady to take up her residence in the Palace, and conferred upon her 
 husband (named Wei) a lucrative post. Six months after her installa- 
 tion as an Imperial concubine of the fifth rank, the Lady Wuya (as 
 she was called) gave birth to a son, who was recognised as K'ang Hsi's 
 fourth born, but who (as His Majesty well knew) was no son of his. 
 The Monarch remained devoted to Lady Wuya, and eventually con- 
 ferred the succession upon her son, who became the Emperor Yung 
 Cheng. The conspiracy of Yung Cheng's brothers against him is 
 explained and justified by this annalist, on the grounds of his illegitimacy 
 and usurpation, but his narrative contains much internal evidence to 
 show that he relies upon a fertile imagination for most of his facts. 
 
 297 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 he hastened slowly. About two months after the issue 
 of his decree postponing judgment in his brother's case, 
 the Viceroy of Chihli sent word from Pao Ting-fu, where 
 " Black-hearted monster " was imprisoned, that the 
 Prince had died of dysentery. The fact was that he 
 had been strangled by the Emperor's order. In his 
 decree, rejoicing over the victim's death as a judgment 
 of offended Heaven, he alludes again to the tale of his 
 offences : " Many years ago there was a disreputable and 
 impecunious native of Shansi in Peking, who became 
 ' Black-hearted monster's ' chosen friend. This man 
 had received presents of money from the Prince and 
 was so grateful that, when his patron was banished to 
 Hsining, he, too, proceeded thither and handed him a 
 letter in which he had written : ' I should like to devote 
 myself to the cause of a virtuous Emperor, and do not 
 wish to be the subject of a cruel and unjust Sovereign. 
 I mean to stir up rebellion among the troops and people 
 of Shansi and Ssuch'uan in order to overthrow the present 
 Emperor and to deliver my good master from bondage.' 
 Yet when ' Black-hearted monster ' heard these terrible 
 utterances of rankest treason, he merely remarked : 
 ' Oh ! we brothers cannot expect to secure the Throne.' 
 Then, too, when he was at Hsining, he sent back some 
 of his eunuch staff to Peking and gave them as parting 
 gifts expensive articles, such as European watches and 
 other curios. It was plain that he wished to curry 
 favour so as to further his designs on the Throne. When 
 I heard of his sickness some time ago I ordered the 
 officials to send a competent physician to treat the 
 dysentery from which he was suffering. 
 
 " But the cup of his offences was full to the very brim ; 
 Heaven and my ancestors, against whom he had so 
 grievously sinned, were about to visit him with death. 
 Truly, the way of the wicked does not prosper; the 
 wages of sin is as certain as death, or as the reverberations 
 
 298 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 of an echo. He has escaped punishment at the hands 
 of man, but was not fated to escape the wrath of offended 
 Heaven. The Viceroy is to arrange for his burial, and 
 his family is to be brought back from Hsining. I am 
 to be informed when their arrival may be expected. 
 When I summoned ' Black-hearted monster ' here from 
 Hsining, I was much astonished to learn that he had 
 been placed in shackles, although I had given no orders 
 to this effect. The persons who adjusted the shackles 
 fastened them very loosely, so that he was able to remove 
 them from his limbs. I said nothing about this infor- 
 mality at the time, because I did not wish it to be thought 
 that I was dealing over harshly with my brother. But 
 the offence is unpardonable, and the parties responsible 
 are to be placed in chains and subjected to severe 
 examination." 
 
 One brother having died, Yung Cheng thought to 
 deceive posterity (his own Court were too well aware of 
 the facts to be thus hoodwinked) by asking the Ministers 
 whether they thought he could safely pardon " Disre- 
 putable person " now that one of the conspirators was 
 dead. Officials from all parts of the Empire were asked 
 to report on this delicate question. 
 
 Yung Cheng next ordered the arrest and trial of Ch'u 
 Tsung, the Viceroy of Kan-su and former gaoler of his 
 dead brother, on the ground that he had not reported 
 " Black-hearted monster's " dealings with the European 
 Mu Ching-yuan, and had even memorialised the Emperor, 
 saying that the Prince's popularity was a source of 
 danger to the Throne, and that it would be best to bring 
 him back to Peking, where he could be more carefully 
 guarded. The Emperor observed that the Viceroy was 
 evidently trying to frighten him with empty threats. 
 " Knowing that he was guilty of gross disrespect in thus 
 memorialising, he has tried to cover up his fault in a 
 cheap attempt to win my favour by placing my brother 
 
 299 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 in shackles on the journey from Kansu. His conduct 
 was calculated to turn public opinion against me for 
 undue cruelty, and if he meant the man to be in shackles 
 he should at least have seen that they were not loosely 
 fastened." 
 
 A month later " That disreputable person " was re- 
 ported to be dying of blood-spitting in his prison at the 
 Coal Hill, near the Palace. He, too, was put to death by 
 the Emperor's orders. The Court asked that his corpse 
 might be decapitated, a punishment which the merciful 
 Monarch graciously remitted. 
 
 Of the third brother, Yiin Ti, who was still confined 
 near " the august portraits of his father and mother," 
 in the Hall of Imperial Longevity, Yung Cheng said : 
 " Yiin Ti's guilt is less than that of the two prime offenders. 
 On a previous occasion he was furious with my father 
 for placing Yiin Ssii under arrest, and even threatened 
 me for not pleading on his behalf. It was then that he 
 expressed a desire to die. I am, therefore, sending to ask 
 if he is still of the same mind." The message was 
 " When our father was living you said you would like 
 to die with Yiin Ssii ; now he is dead, aiid if you so desire, 
 you are welcome to take a look at his remains. You are 
 also at liberty to .kill yourself by his side if you see fit." 
 To this Yiin Ti replied : "I was befooled by ' That 
 disreputable person,' and have no desire whatever to 
 see him again, now that Heaven has punished him as 
 he deserved." On this the Emperor observed : " The 
 above reply would indicate that Yiin Ti is inclining towards 
 a better mind, but it is not improbable that he only 
 adopts this attitude in order to save his neck, and still 
 hopes to be revenged against me by and by. It is hard 
 to say, but for the moment I commute his sentence of 
 decapitation, and shall watch him carefully in future. 
 If he does not amend, the sentence will be duly carried 
 out. As to my brother Yiin O, he is only half-witted, 
 
 300 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 and it would be unfair to sentence him to the same 
 penalty as the two chief criminals. He will be confined 
 in prison for life, and for him the extreme penalty is 
 hereby remitted." 
 
 Some years later the Emperor imprisoned his third 
 elder brother, Yiin Chih, Prince Ch'eng, on the Coal Hill 
 (that favourite site for princely offenders), and he, too, 
 died by violence. The eldest brother, Yiin Ch'ih, was 
 still confined in his own residence, and died in 1734. 
 On Ch'ien Lung's accession the surviving Princes were 
 all released and their titles were restored to them. In 
 1778, that Sovereign re-opened the process against Yiin Ssii 
 and Yiin T'ang, and posthumously restored their original 
 titles, replacing them on the Imperial Clan register. 
 
 The remainder of Yung Cheng's reign was disturbed 
 by sedition all over the Empire, notably in Hunan and 
 Ssiichuan. Repressive measures of the sternest kind 
 were carried out and many thousands were beheaded; 
 nevertheless, scholars and patriots wrote violently against 
 the Manchu dynasty, pointing out that the clan' s internal 
 dissensions and the Emperor's vindictive policy were a 
 source of unrest to the whole country. Hundreds of 
 seditious pamphlets were seized by the authorities, but 
 they served their purpose in sowing in the minds of the 
 people seeds of distrust, forerunners of rebellion against 
 the Tartar rule. The Emperor, who had a keen sense 
 of the need of moral qualities on the Throne and the 
 value of popular endorsement of its government, issued 
 many long explanations intended to reassure the public 
 mind concerning the death of his brothers. Edicts, in 
 the form of apologice for the Manchu dynasty, were 
 promulgated throughout all the land; they ran into 
 hundreds of thousands of words. Yung Cheng realised 
 that the people, and especially the literati^ who had 
 prospered and rejoiced under the wise and dignified rule 
 of K'ang Hsi, were already becoming restive under his 
 
 301 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 own, and that the ominous word " aUen " was again in 
 men's mouths. He made it, therefore, his special business 
 to defend the Manchu's ahen origin, quoting Mencius to 
 show that some of the best Monarchs of China's revered 
 antiquity (such as the sage Emperor Shun) had come 
 of a foreign stock.^ But the fact was patent that his 
 misrule was rapidly undermining the prestige of the 
 house of Nurhachi, and it may safely be said that, had 
 it continued, the dynasty would soon have gone under. 
 His death came as a great relief to Peking and to the 
 provinces alike. 
 
 A modern Chinese commentator, referring to the 
 cruelty and base ingratitude of the treatment meted 
 out to General Men Keng-yao by his Sovereign,^ observes : 
 " How can a dynasty which produces Emperors of this 
 type hope to retain the mandate of Heaven ? and where, 
 throughout all its annals, do we find instances of loyalty 
 and generous sympathy for those who have sacrificed all 
 in its cause ? All the Sovereigns of the dynasty — K'ang 
 Hsi, Yung Cheng, Chia Ch'ing and the rest — are alike in 
 this respect. Only in the edicts and actions of the 
 great Tzii Hsi do we find occasional gleams of nobler 
 impulses, qualities of generosity and loyalty which evoke 
 the more admiration when we compare them with the 
 record of her predecessors, face-saving hypocrites and 
 literary humbugs all." 
 
 ^ Precisely the same arguments were used by the last Regent, when 
 terrified by the advance of the revolutionary movement in 1911. 
 
 2 At the conclusion of a long and very literary farewell message to 
 this old and trusted servant of the State, when conveying to him the 
 Throne's permission to commit suicide, Yung Cheng observed : " As 
 I peruse the State paper, I weep bitterly ; but as Lord of the universe, 
 I am bound to display unswerving justice in the matter of rewards and 
 punishments. I remit the penalty of decapitation and grant you the 
 privilege of suicide. With lavish generosity and merciful forbearance 
 I have spared the lives of the rest of your family, with one exception. 
 You must be stock or stone, if, even at the moment of death, you fail 
 to shed tears of joy and gratitude for the benefits conferred upon you 
 by the Imperial master whom you have so foully betrayed. 
 
 302 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Nevertheless, beyond the turbid atmosphere of his 
 domestic circle and fratricidal activities, Yung Cheng- 
 was a painstaking and earnest worker, with a good 
 literary style and scholarly ambition, virtues which have 
 done much to preserve his memory from utter contempt. 
 He had a marked penchant for writing annotations on 
 memorials and impromptu rescripts, and to do him justice 
 he did it very well. Yung Cheng's rescripts were pub- 
 lished by his successor, the Emperor Ch'ien Lung ; together 
 with the memorials to which they were appended, they 
 fill some sixty large volumes, a monumental witness to 
 His Majesty's industry.^ In certain cases he was wont 
 to append caustic or ironical comments; in others he 
 would dismiss the memorialist's statement with a laconic 
 " Ridiculous " or " Quite absurd." In one instance his 
 marginal note says : " You evidently take me for a fool, 
 but you forget that I was over forty when I came to the 
 Throne, and that I know quite well how my officials 
 make their money. Before I came to the Throne I had 
 heard your name connected with a discreditable case of 
 bribery. In fact, if I mistake not, you then endeavoured 
 to secure my influence with His late Majesty by offering 
 me presents. Have a care; my eye is upon you." To 
 another memorialist he writes : " I do not know you by 
 sight, but your reputation is well known to me, and 
 I admire the efforts you are making to govern your 
 
 ^ The Regent, Prince Ch'un (appointed by Tzu Hsi in November 1908, 
 to administer the Government during the minority of the child Emperor, 
 his son, Hslian T'ung) imitated this example during the brief period 
 of his singularly ineffective Regency. A remarkably stupid man, 
 and timid withal, he realised the Chinese people's innate reverence for 
 a scholar, and so endeavoured to gain fame from literary rescripts to 
 memorials. But having no scholarship of his own, he took the wise 
 precaution of getting these written by Chang Chih-tung, the ablest 
 pen in the Empire, and hoped for some share of the credit for their 
 excellence. Unfortunately, Chang Chih-tung died, and thereafter 
 the Regent abandoned his habit of literary rescripts, contenting him- 
 self with an occasional " Good," in an infantine hand, as a marginal 
 note to some platitude which pleased his fancy. 
 
 303 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 province." Again, a certain official, on being rebuked by 
 Yung Cheng, replied that shame and fear had combined 
 in his mind, so that he knew not how to bear his remorse. 
 Yung Cheng replied : " I fully believe in your fears, but 
 I have my doubts as to your shame and remorse. Of 
 these I shall judge by your future conduct rather than 
 by your present protestations." In criminal cases he 
 was apt to assume the role of counsel for the defence, or 
 rather of a friendly judge of appeal. In one instance the 
 provincial authorities recommended decapitation for a 
 wife who had murdered her husband. After reviewing 
 the evidence, as presented in the memorial, Yung Cheng 
 observed : " I have no doubt but that this woman mur- 
 dered her husband for proposing to her that she should 
 earn money for him by prostitution; her conduct was 
 wholly admirable, and deserves no punishment whatsoever. 
 On the contrary, I order that a memorial arch be erected 
 in her honour." In all cases where he suspected 
 treasonable writing, he showed great harshness. Scholars 
 frequently criticised his unpopular government by in- 
 nuendo, and on them he invariably inflicted the death 
 penalty. For instance, when a certain poet wrote : 
 " To-morrow at dawn I shall enter the bright capital " 
 (Ming chao ju ohing tu), the Emperor's attention was 
 drawn to the verses and to the fact that these characters 
 might also mean (and probably were intended to mean) 
 " The Ming dynasty enters the Ching, or Manchu, capital." 
 At any rate, this was the interpretation which Yung Cheng 
 chose to place on the line, and the poet expiated his 
 double-entendre on the scaffold. 
 
 Yung Cheng was by nature suspicious and inconstant; 
 but certain of his favourite Ministers enjoyed his goodwill 
 to the end, and it is possible that, but for his unfortunate 
 family troubles, he might have left a better record. 
 Despite his persecution of the Christian religion, more 
 than one of the Roman Catholic fathers then living at 
 
 304 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Peking has Avritten of his pubHc and private Hfe in terms 
 that imply certain good quaUties in his character. ^ Also 
 his handling of affairs, outside those of his family circle, 
 seems to indicate a certain sense of humour. For in- 
 stance, one of his favourite Ministers, named T'ien Wen- 
 ching, was a good administrator, but a poor scholar. 
 T'ien, aware of his own shortcomings, relied for the 
 performance of the literary part of his duties on the 
 services of a notable scholar, named Wu, whose work 
 is quoted and admired to this day. When T'ien was 
 serving as Director-General of the Yellow River Con- 
 servancy, it was Wu who advised him to impeach Yung 
 Cheng's uncle, the Duke Lung K'o-to, brother of the 
 Empress Dowager, an act which secured for him high 
 promotion and Imperial favour. Mr. Secretary Wu, who 
 had sources of private information about the Court, had 
 learned that His Majesty was growing weary of his 
 uncle's presence and patronising ways,^ and therefore 
 advised his employer to indite this memorial of impeach- 
 ment, at a moment when the Emperor was seeking a 
 pretext for ridding himself of his uncle. T'ien's fortune 
 was made, but he failed to display the kind of gratitude 
 that his secretary expected, and Wu, greatly offended, 
 resigned from his service. From that day, T'ien's me- 
 morials and despatches lost the literary quality which Yung 
 Cheng expected in his high officials, and drew from the 
 fastidious Monarch sarcastic rescripts and criticisms as 
 to their contents and style. Finally, T'ien was compelled 
 to implore Wu to return to him, which the secretary 
 consented to do only on condition that he was to be 
 paid a " shoe " of silver (50 taels) every morning before 
 the day's work began. By his aid, T'ien recovered and 
 
 ^ Vide Uistoire Generale de la Chine, Mailla, Vol. XI, p. 370. 
 
 2 Liing K'o-to had been very intimate with Yung Cheng before his 
 accession, and had been instrumental in persuading K'ang Hsi to 
 appoint him to the Throne. 
 
 X 305 
 
ANNALSfAND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 retained the Imperial favour; but Yung Cheng was well 
 aware of the authorship of the literary gems in T'ien's 
 official documents, for on one occasion, when the Minister 
 had sent in a memorial inquiring after his health, the 
 Emperor's rescript read : " Our health is good ; how goes 
 that of Mr. Secretary Wu? " Eventually, after T'ien's 
 death, the Emperor engaged Wu's services for the Palace. 
 Whatever Yung Cheng's defects, however bad his rule, 
 he was, at least, not guilty of the ignominious folly which 
 led a later generation of his dynasty to give their con- 
 fidence, and delegate their authority, to the eunuch 
 servants of the Palace, that crime against the State to 
 which Tzu Hsi (guilty of it herself) ascribed the downfall 
 of the Manchu power. Yung Cheng kept his eunuchs 
 in their proper place, employing them as servants and 
 actors, but allowing them no voice in the administration 
 of the Government nor any recognised opportunities for 
 levying blackmail on the official class. Of his attitude 
 towards the eunuchs of his own household it is recorded 
 that, on a certain occasion, one of them, an admirable 
 actor and raconteur, had delighted the Court by an 
 unusually excellent performance. Upon the conclusion 
 of the play the Emperor summoned the man to his own 
 table, gave him fgod and wine, and ordered him to tell 
 some theatrical stories. Elated by his master's favour 
 the eunuch chatted away, and eventually made allusion 
 to the part of Cheng Tan, which he had just been playing 
 (in a famous piece called " Cheng Tan slaying his son "). 
 At last he made bold to remark : "In olden times this 
 Cheng Tan was Department Magistrate of Ch'ang Chou-fu 
 in Kiangsu. Can Your Majesty ^ tell me who is now 
 the Department Magistrate at Ch'ang Chou?" (This 
 he meant as a delicate hint that the Emperor should 
 bestow upon him the post of magistrate, a thing strictly 
 
 ^ He used the colloquial expression " Yeh " (Master) employed by 
 eunuchs in addressing the Emperor. 
 
 306 
 
[THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 forbidden by the dynastic house-law.) The Emperor's 
 countenance darkened, says the chronicler, till it became 
 black as thunder. " How dare you, a eunuch minion, 
 ask Us about Our officials? What have you to do with 
 such matters ? " He then called to his bodyguard : " Have 
 the creature beaten with the heavy bamboo here and now ; 
 We will witness his chastisement." The eunuch whined 
 for mercy, but Yung Cheng was obdurate. After a few 
 strokes of the bamboo the culprit fainted; the Emperor 
 then ordered that he be ejected from the Palace and 
 banished to a pestilential part of Yunnan, as a slave to 
 the Manchu garrison troops of that frontier province. 
 
 Despite his proscription of the Roman Catholic mission 
 and the expulsion of the priests to Macao and Canton, 
 Yung Cheng's attitude towards the head of this religion 
 was courteous and even friendly. ^ This may have been 
 due to recollection of the benefits derived by his father's 
 and grandfather's intercourse with the Jesuit fathers, or 
 to a vague sense that the spiritual Chief of men, so devoted 
 and so learned, deserved the respect of scholars, even 
 though, for political reasons, the activities of the missions 
 had to be suppressed throughout his Empire. At all 
 events, the annals of his reign record more than one 
 instance of a courteous and conciliatory attitude towards 
 the Vatican. Witness the following letter addressed to 
 Pope Benedict XIII in the year 1725. 
 
 " A decree to the religious Prince of the West. I have 
 perused your memorial and have examined the tribute 
 which you have forwarded. Your evident sincerity 
 pleases me. His Majesty the late Emperor showered 
 
 ^ Cliinese chroniclers aver that many letters wT-itten to each other by 
 the conspiring Princes were in the Portuguese language, which they 
 had learned from the priests at Court. One of Yung Cheng's decrees 
 refers to letters written to Yun T'ang by " his secretary, Maotai tungpao," 
 and found sewed into the socks of a groom-messenger, which were 
 " amazingly like the European characters," but which none of the 
 Europeans then in Peking could (or would) recognise. 
 
 307 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 his bountiful protection on all alike; his love knew no 
 limits. At his death every one was smitten with un- 
 speakable grief. On my accession to the Great Inherit- 
 ance I strove earnestly to follow my father's good 
 example in all things. You, oh Prince, reside in a far 
 land; nevertheless, you have sent your special envoy 
 with a memorial expressing gratitude for the late Em- 
 peror's benefits and with best wishes for my own prosperity. 
 Your language betokens a dutiful sincerity and respect. 
 I highly applaud your devotion and have shown every 
 courtesy to your envoy. Regarding the Europeans 
 resident in China, I fully recognise that all mankind are 
 members of one family and have frequently told them 
 that if they behave themselves with becoming circum- 
 spection, practising a wise aloofness and virtue, and 
 obeying the laws of the land, I shall ever bestow upon 
 them my compassionate favour. In addition to con- 
 ferring this decree upon yourself, I am forwarding by the 
 hand of your envoy sundry gifts of silks and rolls of satin. 
 Do you, oh Prince, receive them reverently and appreciate 
 my friendliness towards you." 
 
 And again, when the Pope wrote asking for the release 
 of two priests who had been imprisoned at Canton for 
 several years. His Majesty replied, graciously enough, 
 that, after investigation of their cases, he found they 
 were not too serious to benefit by the general amnesty 
 published in honour of his accession to the Throne. He 
 therefore willingly acceded to the Pope's request, and 
 added that, even if His Holiness had taken no steps in 
 the matter, he would have set the prisoners free " to 
 give proof of his sense of the common brotherhood of 
 the human race and of his own far-reaching compassion." 
 
 There is no doubt that this fussy, terror-ridden Monarch 
 often meant well enough. One of his favourite Ministers 
 has left it on record that in his youth he made for himself 
 two rules (which fittingly illustrate the nature and value 
 
 308 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 of his " far-reaching compassion "). One was, always 
 to avoid stepping on the shadow of anybody's head, 
 since that would bring misfortune to the substance. 
 The other, never to tread upon an insect. 
 
 According to many Chinese chroniclers, Yung Cheng 
 was murdered by the widow of a Hunanese named Lu, 
 who had been dismembered on a charge of treasonable 
 conspiracy. The story, which finds no place in the 
 dynastic annals, goes to show that this woman succeeded 
 in getting access to the pleasure-garden at Yuan-Ming-yuan 
 and, concealing herself there, lay in wait for the Emperor 
 and stabbed him to the heart ; after which she committed 
 suicide. 
 
 309 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 HIS MAJESTY CH'IEN LUNG 
 
 Ch'ien Lung ascended the Dragon Throne at the age 
 of twenty-five, in 1736^ and reigned over China for sixty 
 years, at the end of which cycle he abdicated in favour of 
 his son Chia Ch'ing. Judged by the verdict of his con- 
 temporaries and of posterity in his own country, as well 
 as by the evidence of European observers, he was beyond 
 question the ablest administrator and the wisest ruler 
 that China had known for several centuries. By his good 
 government, as well as by his successful wars in Sungaria, 
 Central Asia, Burmah and Tibet, he completely restored 
 the prestige of the Manchus, which his predecessor had 
 seriously undermined. In his private life, he appears to 
 have been distinguished by qualities of sincerity, broad- 
 mindedness and courage which alone suffice to raise him 
 far above the level of his predecessors and successors. 
 He was impulsive, it is true ; intolerant of failure in those 
 upon whom he conferred high authority, especially in 
 military affairs; superstitious and naturally ignorant of 
 China's relative place and power amongst the nations; 
 but gifted nevertheless with clear insight, sweet reason- 
 ableness and a highly sympathetic nature. He combined 
 in his person, to a high degree, the best qualities of the 
 soldier and the statesman, but was besides a scholar, a 
 historian and a poet. In his domestic life also he was 
 successful in maintaining his parental authority, while 
 preserving the respect of his sons and grandsons; a 
 
 310 
 
Portrait of His Majesty Ch'ien Lung. 
 (By W. Alexander, painter attached to Lord Macartney's Embassy.) 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 polygamous autocrat in his relations with women, he 
 was neither uxorious nor luxurious. After a reign of 
 unexampled success, he left the Empire stronger and 
 more prosperous than it had been for several centuries. 
 
 For Englishmen, the reign of this great Emperor is 
 particularly memorable, in that it witnessed the first 
 Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Court 
 of China — that of the Earl of Macartney, in 1795, under- 
 taken with the object of improving commercial relations 
 between the Chinese authorities and British merchants 
 at Canton. Sir George Staunton's " authentic account " 
 of that Embassy (London 1797) affords instructive 
 reading to this day, besides giving a most interesting 
 and sympathetic description of the aged Monarch and 
 his Court at Jehol and a valuable, because impartial, 
 impression of the personality of the Grand Secretary 
 Ho Shen, to whose hands, for many years, was delegated 
 much of the Sovereign's power, and who was destined, 
 under Chia Ch'ing, to meet the common fate of Imperial 
 favourites. 
 
 At the time of Lord Macartney's Embassy the Emperor 
 was eighty-four years of age, and of his numerous sons, 
 only four were then living, namely the eighth, eleventh, 
 fifteenth and seventeenth. (The eleventh son, at that 
 time Governor of Peking, subsequently succeeded to the 
 Throne under the title of Chia Ch'ing). Some years 
 before, in 1784, the question of the succession had been 
 raised, and His Majesty had been urged to appoint his 
 Heir, because several members of the Imperial Clan 
 were afraid of the growing power and ambitions of Ho 
 Shen, to whose son the Emperor had given one of his 
 daughters in marriage. The Imperial Clan were jealous 
 of the powerful favourite, and the orthodox were anxious 
 to prevent a possible breach of the laws of succession. 
 But Ch'ien Lung was not the man to accept advice on 
 such a subject; the zealous memorialist paid for his 
 
 311 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 temerity with his head, the Emperor firmly dedining 
 to announce his intentions. In November 1784, he issued 
 a decree carefully explaining his reasons for this decision, 
 a document which reveals much of the character of the 
 Sovereign, and shows that he had read, marked, learned 
 and inwardly digested the lessons taught by the domestic 
 tribulations of his predecessor. Incidentally it throws 
 valuable light on the manners and customs of the Court. 
 The following is a translation of this decree : 
 " I have perused the compilation entitled History of 
 Official Ranks, prepared under my orders by a Com- 
 mission of Princes and Ministers, and I observe, in the 
 section : ' Supervisorate of Instruction for the Heir 
 Apparent ' the following note : ' The staff of this office 
 consists of officials ministering to the Heir Apparent, 
 but our dynasty has promulgated a house-law, which 
 is to last for all time, that no Emperor shall nominate 
 an Heir Apparent until the close of his reign. The 
 Supervisorate of Instruction is thus retained merely to 
 provide Academy doctors with stepping-stones for pro- 
 motion.' 
 
 "This note is obviously based on my previous decree, 
 in which I explicitly stated the reasons against a formal 
 selection of an Heir Apparent. The Commission has 
 adopted my identical words, but has omitted to quote 
 their context. The narrow pedantry of a scholar natur- 
 ally fails to appreciate the larger issues of State, so that 
 my intention has been misconstrued. But should this 
 history be read by later generations, it is probable that 
 the Commission will be calumniated in the belief that 
 they must have acted upon some treasonable motive in 
 drawing up such a note. It therefore behoves me to 
 issue an explicit pronouncement on the subject. Now, 
 in remote antiquity we find the Emperor Yao transmitting 
 the Throne to Shun, a precedent which was followed by 
 his successors. Unfortunately times degenerated, so that 
 
 312 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 under the Han dynasty the nomination of an Heir 
 Apparent frequently resulted in fratricidal strife and 
 civil war. You will recall that the founder of the T'ang 
 dynasty (a.d. 618) selected his eldest son as Heir, with 
 the result that he was murdered by his younger brother, 
 Li Shih-min. In the same way, during the reign of the 
 Ming Emperor Wan Li (circa 1600) the Court begged him 
 to select an Heir, and dire confusion of parties ensued, 
 each official endeavouring to further his own future 
 interests by securing the favour of the probable successor. 
 In Wan Li's reign, when an attempt was made on the 
 Heir Apparent's life by armed men who entered the 
 Forbidden City, the Emperor received his son in audience 
 and tearfully reproached the Court for supposing that 
 he had desired his Heir's death. Such a scene between 
 father and son is enough to make one despair of the State. 
 
 *' These examples show the evil results of a formal 
 nomination of an Heir Apparent. As regards my own 
 dynasty, my grandfather K'ang Hsi selected Prince Li 
 as Heir Apparent. He was placed under the tutorship 
 of T'ang Pin, an upright man, but his conduct degenerated 
 so woefully after his selection that even T'ang Pin was 
 unable to check and control him. Mean schemers and 
 sycophants implanted seeds of discord in the Prince's 
 mind : endless troubles resulted, and my grandfather's 
 peace of mind was so much disturbed thereby, that he 
 finally cancelled the appointment. But even had Prince 
 Li been a model Heir, his early death would only have 
 given him two years on the Throne. In due course his 
 son Yung Hsi would have succeeded, but he, too, was a 
 reprobate of the worst type and was not destined for a 
 long life. Within a few years there would thus have 
 been two vacancies to the Throne, a result fraught with 
 danger to the destinies of our dynasty and to the welfare 
 of our subjects. 
 
 " My grandfather realised this and made no further 
 
 313 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 public nomination of an Heir. On his demise the Throne 
 passed to my father Yung Ch'eng, and for thirteen years 
 that sage Emperor administered the Government and 
 gave peace to the Empire. In obedience to the precedent 
 estabUshed by K'ang Hsi, he made no pubhc choice of 
 an Heir Apparent, although naturally he came to an 
 early decision on the question of the succession, which 
 affects the fortunes of our dynasty. In the first year 
 of his reign he wrote my name and placed it in a sealed 
 casket which he secreted at the back of the Imperial 
 tablet, ' Grandly upright and gloriously bright,' in the 
 main hall of the Palace. He also wrote my name on a 
 paper that he put in a pouch which he always wore. 
 
 " When my father departed on his distant journey (in 
 1735), I reverently opened the casket, in the presence 
 of his Ministers, and we found the mandate which ap- 
 pointed me to the Throne. On our comparing the seal 
 impression on the document with the other half, which 
 had been secreted in the Imperial household, the two 
 portions tallied exactly. The Empire then gave me its 
 allegiance, as is well known to all my subjects. Early 
 in my reign, in accordance with dynastic house-law, I 
 selected my second son as my Heir, both because he was 
 born to my Empress Consort (and not to a concubine) 
 and because of his keen intelligence and correct behaviour. 
 In obedience to my father's example I wrote his name, 
 placed it in the casket, and secreted it behind the tablet 
 of my Palace hall. But the fates were unkind, for he 
 soon left this world. I then commanded my two Grand 
 Secretaries, 0-erh-t'ai and Chang T'ing-yii, to remove 
 and destroy the document in the casket, and I bestowed 
 on my deceased son the posthumous appellation of 
 ' Orthodox and Discerning.' 
 
 " Thus you will see that I duly nominated the child 
 of my Empress Consort to be Heir to the Throne, but 
 refrained from announcing my choice to the world. 
 
 314 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 After his death, my seventh son, Prince Che, also born 
 to the Empress, was very dear to me, because of his 
 sincerity and strength of character, but in a Httle while 
 I had to mourn his untimely death. Thereafter, of all 
 my children, it was my fifth son. Prince Jung, who stood 
 highest in my affection. He was well versed in Chinese 
 literature, could speak both Manchu and Mongol, and 
 was skilled in horsemanship, archery and mathematics. 
 I was strongly inclined to select him as Heir Apparent, 
 but never formally recorded his name. He too is dead, 
 so that, if I had adopted the narrow pedantic view, 
 and following ancient custom publicly declared an Heir, 
 we should have seen three Heir Apparents within a space 
 of thirty years, a state of affairs utterly subversive of 
 dignity ! In the thirty- seventh year of my reign (1773) 
 I wrote out the name of my proposed Heir and since 
 then have always carried the document on my person. 
 On the occasion of the New Year sacrifice at the Temple 
 of Heaven this year, I bade all my sons attend me during 
 the ceremony, in the course of which I informed the 
 Almighty of my choice, and reverently prayed, that He 
 might be pleased to shed Divine grace upon my Heir 
 and to regard him with benevolent protection, so that if 
 he found favour in the Divine sight he might reach a 
 good old age. But if he whom I had chosen were dis- 
 pleasing to the Almighty, then might He speedily visit 
 him with destruction, so that I might select another 
 successor, and that the dignity of our dynastic altars 
 and the fortunes of our State might be duly protected. 
 
 " Early this year, I made a pilgrimage to the tomb of 
 the founder of my dynasty and that of his son. There, 
 in the presence of my glorious ancestors, I besought their 
 august protection. Think not that I do not love my son ! 
 But I love even more the interests of the State. It will 
 be to the eternal happiness of our Manchu dynasty if 
 in this matter my successors will follow my example. 
 
 315 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " I have summoned my sons and the members of the 
 Grand Council to audience this day and have made known 
 to them this, my mandate. It corresponds exactly with 
 the words which I uttered in the presence of my ancestors, 
 where no falsehood could find a place. Day and night I 
 toil, performing the heavy duties of the Government, 
 exhausting myself in manifold directions. How then, 
 think you, that I could possibly have failed to make long 
 ago all necessary arrangements in a matter of such 
 importance as the succession to the Throne ? 
 
 " Last autumn, at Jehol, I was shooting duck by the 
 riverside, when my foot slipped, I fell into the water, 
 and my clothes were wet through. Not only did the 
 Princes and Chamberlains hasten to my assistance with 
 eager inquiries as to my condition, but even the Chinese 
 Grand Councillors came hurrying to the spot. I treated 
 the accident as of no moment, and walked back with 
 them to the Palace, chatting and smiling all the way. 
 No eunuch ventured to stop them from entering the 
 forbidden precincts. In the same way, supposing that I 
 were smitten with a sudden illness, any of you Ministers 
 would be at liberty to make his way even into my bed- 
 chamber, because I have ever treated you as members 
 of my family, and held daily converse with each of you. 
 In my reign, there could be no possibility of happenings 
 such as former dynasties have witnessed, when a eunuch 
 would rush out from the Palace at dead of night, bearing 
 a slip of paper in which the demise of the Throne and 
 the appointment of a successor were mysteriously recorded. 
 He who fears such an event to-day is like the man of the 
 Ch'i State who feared that the sky was going to fall and 
 crush him ! 
 
 " In short, although the formal selection and investiture 
 of an Heir Apparent must be definitely avoided, my 
 reverent announcement to the Almighty and to my 
 ancestors, in all humility and sincerity of heart, provides 
 
 316 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 for all emergencies. In this matter, I have avoided 
 following the example of past dynasties, which incurred 
 disasters by their strict observance of the letter of the 
 law. And thus it comes to pass that the staff of the 
 existing ' Super visorate of Instruction for the Heir 
 Apparent ' is maintained in accordance with ancient 
 custom, but has no duties to perform, the office being 
 retained as a stepping-stone to promotion for doctors 
 of the Academy. 
 
 " I do hereby solemnly promulgate this my decree, in 
 the earnest hope that my descendants will faithfully 
 observe it for all time, because thereby, in my judgment, 
 the fortunes of our dynasty will be established for genera- 
 tions to come. Lastly, I claim no infallibility for my 
 words : I may be mistaken, and therefore refrain from 
 expressly forbidding my descendants to follow the ancient 
 practice which sanctioned the appointment of an Heir 
 Apparent. But perchance, if they do follow it, and if, 
 as a result, strife shall arise between father and son, and 
 fratricidal dissensions culminate in dire disaster to our 
 dynasty, then will posterity remember the words I have 
 uttered to-day. Let the Commission duly record this 
 decree as a preface to their History of Official Ranks, 
 so that my Imperial wishes may be made known to the 
 whole Empire for time everlasting. The words of the 
 Emperor ! " 
 
 How different this lucid and straightforward utterance 
 of Ch'ien Lung from the insincere phrases and machine- 
 made platitudes of his predecessor ! All the recorded 
 writings of Ch'ien Lung are distinguished by the same 
 quality of intellectual independence and disregard for 
 empty or harmful conventions. Take, for example, the 
 edict in which he declares his intention of vacating the 
 Throne upon the completion of sixty years of reign, 
 issued in the 8th Moon of the 59th year of his reign 
 (1795) : 
 
 317 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " I have now reigned for fifty-nine years. By the 
 favour of high Heaven and the protection of my ancestors, 
 peace prevails throughout my dominions, and new terri- 
 tories have come to share the blessings of China's civilisa- 
 tion. During all these years, I have striven to alleviate 
 my people's lot and to show myself worthy of Heaven's 
 blessings. Again and again have I granted exemptions 
 of land tax in times of flood and famine and bestowed 
 upon the sufferers over ten million taels from my privy 
 purse. 
 
 " Next year will witness the sixtieth anniversary of 
 my succession to this goodly heritage of the Throne : 
 few, indeed, of my predecessors in this and other dynasties, 
 have completed a sixty-year cycle. Those among them 
 who have reigned over sixty years came to the Throne 
 in early childhood, whereas I was twenty-five years of 
 age at my accession. To-day I am eighty-four, and my 
 natural strength is not abated. I rejoice in the possession 
 of perfect health, and my descendants to the fourth 
 generation surround me. Immeasurably thankful as I 
 am to the Almighty for His protection, I feel encouraged 
 to yet further endeavour. On New Year's Day of my 
 sixtieth year an eclipse of the sun is due, and on the 
 Festival of LantQj*ns (1st Moon, 15th day) there will be 
 a lunar eclipse. Heaven sends these portents as warnings, 
 but a Sovereign's duty is to be guided by his conscience 
 and to be aware of his shortcomings at all times, so that 
 an eclipse is not needed to awaken him to a sense of duty. 
 To find favour in the sight of Heaven he must regulate 
 his conduct. There is no need for empty catchwords 
 and platitudes on the occasion of such natural events. 
 
 " During the course of next year, I shall prepare for 
 my impending abdication, and the new Emperor will 
 mount the Throne on New Year's Day of the year follow- 
 ing. In recognition of the warning conveyed by these 
 eclipses, I purpose to hold no New Year's Court next year, 
 
 318 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 and the customary banquet to the Princes will be omitted. 
 During the period of the eclipses, I shall array myself in 
 every day raiment and doff my Imperial robes of ceremony. 
 
 " These phenomena can be foretold, as Mencius says, 
 a thousand years before they occur, but in the present 
 case, the coincidence of two eclipses is a fresh indication 
 of the favour of Heaven towards me, for had this pheno- 
 menon taken place in the following year, it would have 
 signified an inauspicious opening for my son's reign. I 
 feel profoundly grateful to Heaven for its favour, and in 
 return I hereby cancel all birthday celebrations in the 
 capital for next year, and shall content myself with 
 receiving the congratulations of my Court at Jehol." 
 
 Ch'ien Lung's instinctive reverence towards Heaven 
 and his ancestors, the good example of his temperate 
 and industrious life, all his precautions of statecraft and 
 military activities, were directed towards the consolida- 
 tion of the Manchu power and of a government which 
 should confer prosperity upon the Chinese people. Never- 
 theless, and despite the sincerity of his good intentions, 
 he had established beside the Throne, in the person of 
 his favourite Minister, the Grand Secretary Ho Shen, a 
 source of demoralisation, an initiative of wickedness and 
 greed in high places, which was destined (as we shall 
 show) to destroy the very foundations of the State. 
 Amongst Chinese historians and scholars there is a 
 common saying : " A cycle of virtuous rule was brought 
 to nought by Ho Shen : the disastrous century of rebellion 
 and decline which followed was due to him and to him 
 alone." 
 
 We shall have occasion later to relate the dramatic 
 story of this all-powerful satrap, to whom (as Staunton 
 says) the people looked as to a second Emperor. For 
 the present, suffice it to say that Ch'ien Lung's personal 
 devotion to the highest ideals of government was greatly 
 prejudiced, even during his reign, by his blind belief in 
 
 319 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Ho Shen. It was the example of extravagant luxury set 
 by this great Vizier, which led to the rapid deterioration 
 of the Manchu Court's old simple style of living; his 
 nepotism and venality, displayed in the employment of 
 corrupt officials, were fundamental factors in the rebellions 
 which broke out in the reign of Chia Ch'ing. But Ch'ien 
 Lung's devotion to his chief Minister knew no wavering; 
 during the last twenty years of his reign, he allowed Ho 
 Shen to exercise despotic power and to amass a huge 
 fortune. To his son, he gave an Imperial Princess for 
 wife, and to his brother. Ho Lin,^ he entrusted the com- 
 mand of the Imperial forces and the administration 
 of Tibetan affairs. 
 
 This Ho Lin was directly concerned in the affairs of 
 Lord Macartney's Embassy, for in 1790 he was summoned 
 by the Emperor to return from Lhasa to Peking, in antici- 
 pation of the British Envoy's probable intention of 
 discussing Great Britain's interests in India, affected by 
 China's successful campaign of the previous year against 
 the marauding Ghoorkas of Nepal. The Emperor's edict 
 concerning China's suzerainty over Tibet and the relations 
 of the Imperial Resident at Lhasa with the Dalai Lama, 
 is of permanent interest. 
 
 " We are informed," he wrote, " by Cheng Te, who has 
 just arrived from Lhasa, that Ho Lin is displaying great 
 skill in the management of Tibetan affairs, and does not 
 kneel or kotow to the Dalai Lama, who obeys every 
 order that he may give. We are the more delighted 
 to hear that Ho Lin is thus conscious of the dignity 
 of the State, because of late years Tibet has been steadily 
 sinking into depths of barbarism and its government 
 has degenerated into hopeless inefficiency. Now that Ho 
 Lin has set things on a more stable basis, it will be easier 
 to enforce our control over the country, and the real 
 
 ^ Whose attitude towards the British Envoy and his suite is described 
 by Staunton as " formal and repulsive." 
 
 320 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 power will be vested in our hands. We are now sending 
 Sung Yiin to be our Resident at Lhasa : he is a Mongol 
 and is therefore a devout believer in the Buddhism of 
 the Lamas. Should he fail to show due regard for his 
 own dignity, the Dalai will surely put fresh obstacles in 
 his way. We therefore command that he be instructed 
 not to perform any degrading ceremony of obeisance to 
 the Dalai Lama. If he wishes to display his individual 
 respect to the head of his religion, let him wait until 
 his term of office has expired : then, before leaving Lhasa, 
 he may, if he thinks fit, ask the Dalai for his blessing." 
 
 Ho Lin returned to Peking and was present at the 
 Emperor's reception of the British Embassy at Jehol. 
 Staunton relates ^ that although Earl Macartney was at 
 pains to reassure the Grand Secretary, Ho Shen, that 
 Great Britain had no intention of interfering in the 
 contests of the countries neighbouring on India, and that 
 the dissolution of the Great Mogul's Empire involved no 
 new dangers to China, nevertheless. Ho Lin accompanied 
 Ho Shen at all his meetings with the Ambassador, " as 
 if fearful that any explanation, relative to the Tibet war, 
 might take place between them." He made no attempt 
 to conceal " the violent prepossession which he had 
 imbibed against the English," both in Tibet and earlier 
 at Canton. Doubtless the influence of this cantankerous 
 individual was to some extent reflected in the attitude 
 of certain members of the Court, but Ho Shen himself 
 took a broad view of the Embassy's objects in coming 
 to China, and remembering the friendly services rendered 
 by the British at the end of the Nepalese campaign, 
 was instrumental in persuading the Emperor to waive 
 the ceremony of the kotow, upon which the more con- 
 servative officials and courtiers were disposed to insist. 
 
 Ho Lin's influence and advice were undoubtedly factors 
 in the Emperor's refusal to accede to Earl Macartney's 
 ^ Macartney's Embassy to China, Vol. II, p. 241. 
 Y 321 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 requests for the establishment of a British representative 
 and a trading centre at Peking ; for the extension of ship- 
 ping facihties, and a regular Customs tariff applicable 
 to British traders at Chusan, Ningpo and Tientsin; and 
 for the authorisation of missionary labours in China. It 
 was common report at the time that Ho Shen had advised 
 the Emperor to grant some, at least, of the Ambassador's 
 requests, but that the aged Sovereign was finally dis- 
 suaded from this course by his sons, and especially by 
 the opinions of him who subsequently became the Emperor 
 Chia Ch'ing. 
 
 The Imperial " mandate " to King George III, issued 
 by His Majesty a few days after his reception of the 
 British Embassy at Jehol makes strange reading to- 
 day. How swift and complete has been the process of 
 the Great Celestial Empire's decline and humiliation, 
 since its Sovereign could describe himself in all sincerity, 
 as " swaying the wide world." In those days, only a 
 brief century ago, China's ignorance of the outer world 
 was bliss indeed. 
 
 The following is the text of this historic document : 
 
 " You, O King, live beyond the confines of many seas, 
 nevertheless, impelled by your humble desire to partake 
 of the benefits of our civilisation, you have dispatched a 
 mission respectfully bearing your memorial. Your Envoy 
 has crossed the seas and paid his respects at my Court 
 on the anniversary of my birthday. To show your 
 devotion, you have also sent offerings of your country's 
 produce. 
 
 '* I have perused your memorial : the earnest terms in 
 which it is couched reveal a respectful humility on your 
 part, which is highly praiseworthy. In consideration of 
 the fact that your Ambassador and his deputy have 
 come a long way with your memorial and tribute, I have 
 shown them high favour and have allowed them to be 
 introduced into my presence. To manifest my indulgence, 
 
 322 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 I have entertained them at a banquet and made them 
 numerous gifts. I have also caused presents to be for- 
 warded to the Naval Commander and six hundred of his 
 officers and men, although they did not come to Peking, 
 so that they too may share in my all-embracing kindness. 
 
 " As to your entreaty to send one of your nationals to be 
 accredited to my Celestial Court and to be in control of 
 your country's trade with China, this request is contrary 
 to all usage of my dynasty and cannot possibly be enter- 
 tained. It is true that Europeans, in the service of the 
 dynasty, have been permitted to live at Peking, but they 
 are compelled to adopt Chinese dress, they are strictly 
 confined to their own precincts and are never permitted 
 to return home. You are presumably familiar with our 
 dynastic regulations. Your proposed Envoy to my Court 
 could not be placed in a position similar to that of Euro- 
 pean officials in Peking who are forbidden to leave China, 
 nor could he, on the other hand, be allowed liberty of 
 movement and the privilege of corresponding with his 
 own country; so that you v>^ould gain nothing by his 
 residence in our midst. 
 
 " Moreover, our Celestial dynasty possesses vast terri- 
 tories, and tribute missions from the dependencies are 
 provided for by the Department for Tributary States, 
 which ministers to their wants and exercises strict control 
 over their movements. It would be quite impossible to 
 leave them to their own devices. Supposing that your 
 Envoy should come to our Court, his language and 
 national dress differ from that of our people, and there 
 would be no place in which to bestow him. It may 
 be suggested that he might imitate the Europeans per- 
 manently resident in Peking and adopt the dress and 
 customs of China, but, it has never been our dynasty's 
 wish to force people to do things unseemly and incon- 
 venient. Besides, supposing I sent an Ambassador to 
 reside in your country, how could you possibly make 
 
 323 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 for him the requisite arrangements? Europe consists 
 of many other nations besides your own : if each and all 
 demanded to be represented at our Court, how could we 
 possibly consent? The thing is utterly impracticable. 
 How can our dynasty alter its whole procedure and system 
 of etiquette, established for more than a century, in 
 order to meet your individual views? If it be said that 
 your object is to exercise control over your country's 
 trade, your nationals have had full liberty to trade at 
 Canton for many a year, and have received the greatest 
 consideration at our hands. Missions have been sent by 
 Portugal and Italy, preferring similar requests. The 
 Throne appreciated their sincerity and loaded them with 
 favours, besides authorising measures to facilitate their 
 trade with China. You are no doubt aware that, when 
 my Canton merchant, Wu Chao-ping, was in debt to the 
 foreign ships, I made the Viceroy advance the monies 
 due, out of the provincial treasury, and ordered him to 
 punish the culprit severely. Why then should foreign 
 nations advance this utterly unreasonable request to be 
 represented at my Court ? Peking is nearly two thousand 
 miles from Canton, and at such a distance what possible 
 control could any British representative exercise ? 
 
 " If you assert that your reverence for Our Celestial 
 dynasty fills you with a desire to acquire our civilisation, 
 our ceremonies and code of laws differ so completely 
 from your own that, even if your Envoy were able to 
 acquire the rudiments of our civilisation, you could not 
 possibly transplant our manners and customs to your 
 alien soil. Therefore, however adept the Envoy might 
 become, nothing would be gained thereby. 
 
 " Swaying the wide world, I have but one aim in 
 view, namely, to maintain a perfect governance and to 
 fulfil the duties of the State : strange and costly objects 
 do not interest me. If I have commanded that the tribute 
 offerings sent by you, O King, are to be accepted, 
 
 324 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 this was solely in consideration for the spirit which 
 prompted you to dispatch them from afar. Our dynasty's 
 majestic virtue has penetrated unto every country under 
 Heaven, and Kings of all nations have offered their costly 
 tribute by land and sea. As your Ambassador can see 
 for himself, we possess all things. I set no value on objects 
 strange or ingenious, and have no use for your country's 
 manufactures. This then is my answer to your request 
 to appoint a representative at my Court, a request con- 
 trary to our dynastic usage, which would only result in 
 inconvenience to yourself. I have expounded my wishes 
 in detail and have commanded your tribute Envoys to 
 leave in peace on their homeward journey. It behoves 
 you, O King, to respect my sentiments and to display 
 even greater devotion and loyalty in future, so that, by 
 perpetual submission to our Throne, you may secure 
 peace and prosperity for your country hereafter. Besides 
 making gifts (of which I enclose an inventory) to each 
 member of your Mission, I confer upon you, O King, 
 valuable presents in excess of the number usually be- 
 stowed on such occasions, including silks and curios — 
 a list of which is likewise enclosed. Do you reverently 
 receive them and take note of my tender goodwill towards 
 you ! A special mandate." "^'^ 
 
 A further mandate to King George III dealt in detail 
 with the British Ambassador's proposals and the Emperor's 
 reasons for declining them : " You, O King, from afar 
 have yearned after the blessings of our civilisation, and 
 in your eagerness to come into touch with our converting 
 influence have sent an Embassy across the sea bearing a 
 memorial. I have already taken note of your respectful 
 spirit of submission, have treated your mission with 
 extreme favour and loaded it with gifts, besides issuing 
 a mandate to you, O King, and honouring you with the 
 bestowal of valuable presents. Thus has my indulgence 
 been manifested. 
 
 325 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " Yesterday your Ambassador petitioned my Ministers 
 to memorialise me regarding your trade with China, 
 but his proposal is not consistent with our dynastic 
 usage and cannot be entertained. Hitherto, all European 
 nations, including your own country's barbarian mer- 
 chants, have carried on their trade with our Celestial 
 Empire at Canton. Such has been the procedure for 
 many years, although our Celestial Empire possesses all 
 things in prolific abundance and lacks no product within 
 its own borders. There was therefore no need to import 
 the manufactures of outside barbarians in exchange for 
 our own produce. But as the tea, silk and porcelain 
 which the Celestial Empire produces, are absolute neces- 
 sities to European nations and to yourselves, we have 
 permitted, as a signal mark of favour, that foreign hongs 
 should be established at Canton, so that your wants 
 might be supplied and your country thus participate in 
 our beneficence. But your Ambassador has now put 
 forward new requests which completely fail to recognise 
 the Throne's principle to ' treat strangers from afar with 
 indulgence,' and to exercise a pacifying control over 
 barbarian tribes, the world over. Moreover, our dynasty, 
 swaying the myriad races of the globe, extends the same 
 benevolence towards all. Your England is not the only 
 nation trading at Canton. If other nations, following 
 your bad example, wrongfully importune my ear with 
 further impossible requests, how will it be possible for 
 me to treat them with easy indulgence? Nevertheless, 
 I do not forget the lonely remoteness of your island, cut 
 off from the world by intervening wastes of sea,^ nor do 
 I overlook your excusable ignorance of the usages of our 
 Celestial Empire. I have consequently commanded my 
 Ministers to enlighten your Ambassador on the subject, 
 and have ordered the departure of the mission. But I 
 have doubts that, after your Envoy's return he may fail 
 * Cf. " Toto divisos orbe Britannos." 
 326 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 to acquaint you with my view in detail or that he may 
 be lacking in lucidity, so that I shall now proceed to take 
 your requests seriatim and to issue my mandate on each 
 question separately. In this way you will, I trust, 
 comprehend my meaning. 
 
 " (1) Your Ambassador requests facilities for ships of 
 your nation to call at Ningpo, Chusan, Tientsin and other 
 places for purposes of trade. Until now trade with 
 European nations has always been conducted at Aomen, 
 where the foreign hongs are established to store and sell 
 foreign merchandise. Your nation has obediently com- 
 plied with this regulation for years past without raising 
 any objection. In none of the other ports named have 
 hongs been established, so that even if your vessels were 
 to proceed thither, they would have no means of disposing 
 of their cargoes. Furthermore, no interpreters are avail- 
 able, so you would have no means of explaining your 
 wants, and nothing but general inconvenience would 
 result. For the future, as in the past, I decree that your 
 request is refused and that the trade shall be limited to 
 Aomen. 
 
 " (2) The request that your merchants may establish 
 a repository in the capital of my Empire for the storing 
 and sale of your produce, in accordance with the precedent 
 granted to Russia, is even more impracticable than the 
 last. My capital is the hub and centre about which all 
 quarters of the globe revolve. Its ordinances are most 
 august and its laws are strict in the extreme. The sub- 
 jects of our dependencies have never been allowed to 
 open places of business in Peking. Foreign trade has 
 hitherto been conducted at Aomen, because it is con- 
 veniently near to the sea, and therefore an important 
 gathering place for the ships of all nations sailing to and 
 fro. If warehouses were established in Peking, the 
 remoteness of your country, lying far to the north-west 
 of my capital, would render transport extremely difficult. 
 
 327 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Before Kiakhta was opened, the Russians were permitted 
 to trade at Peking, but the accommodation furnished to 
 them was only temporary. As soon as Kiakhta was 
 available, they were compelled to withdraw from Peking, 
 which has been closed to their trade these many years. 
 Their frontier trade at Kiakhta is on all fours with your 
 trade at Aomen. Possessing facilities at the latter place, 
 you now ask for further privileges at Peking, although 
 our dynasty observes the severest restrictions respecting 
 the admission of foreigners within its boundaries, and 
 has never permitted the subjects of dependencies to cross 
 the Empire's barriers and settle at will amongst the 
 Chinese people. This request is also refused. 
 
 " (3) Your request for a small island near Chusan, where 
 your merchants may reside and goods be warehoused, 
 arises from your desire to develop trade. As there are 
 neither foreign hongs nor interpreters in or near Chusan, 
 where none of your ships have ever called, such an island 
 would be utterly useless for your purposes. Every inch 
 of the territory of our Empire is marked on the map and 
 the strictest vigilance is exercised over it all : even tiny 
 islets and far-lying sand-banks are clearly defined as part 
 of the provinces to which they belong. Consider, moreover, 
 that England is not the only barbarian land which wishes 
 to establish relations with our civilisation and trade with 
 our Empire : supposing that other nations were all to 
 imitate your evil example and beseech me to present 
 them each and all with a site for trading purposes, how 
 could I possibly comply ? This also is a flagrant infringe- 
 ment of the usage of my Empire and cannot possibly be 
 entertained. 
 
 " (4) The next request, for a small site in the vicinity 
 of Canton city, where your barbarian merchants may lodge 
 or, alternatively, that there be no longer any restrictions 
 over their movements at Aomen, has arisen from the 
 following causes. Hitherto, the barbarian merchants of 
 
 328 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Europe have had a definite locahty assigned to them at 
 Aomen for residence and trade, and have been forbidden 
 to encroach an inch beyond the hmits assigned to that 
 locahty. Barbarian merchants having business with the 
 hongs have never been allowed to enter the city of Canton ; 
 by these measures, disputes between Chinese and barbarians 
 are prevented, and a firm barrier is raised between my 
 subjects and those of other nations. The present request 
 is quite contrary to precedent; furthermore, European 
 nations have been trading with Canton for a number of 
 years and, as they make large profits, the number of traders 
 is constantly increasing. How would it be possible to 
 grant such a site to each country? The merchants of 
 the foreign hongs are responsible to the local officials for 
 the proceedings of barbarian merchants and they carry 
 out periodical inspections. If these restrictions were 
 withdrawn, friction would inevitably occur between the 
 Chinese and your barbarian subjects, and the results would 
 militate against the benevolent regard that I feel towards 
 you. From every point of view, therefore, it is best that 
 the regulations now in force should continue unchanged. 
 
 " (5) Regarding your request for remission or reduction 
 of duties on merchandise discharged by your British bar- 
 barian merchants at Aomen and distributed throughout 
 the interior, there is a regular tariff in force for barbarian 
 merchants' goods, which applies equally to all European 
 nations. It would be as wrong to increase the duty im- 
 posed on your nation's merchandise on the ground that the 
 bulk of foreign trade is in your hands, as to make an 
 exception in your case in the shape of specially reduced 
 duties. In future, duties shall be levied equitably without 
 discrimination between your nation and any other, and, 
 in order to manifest my regard, your barbarian merchants 
 shall continue to be shown every consideration at Aomen. 
 
 " (6) As to your request that your ships shall pay the 
 duties leviable by tariff, there are regular rules in force at 
 
 329 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the Canton Custom house respecting the amounts payable, 
 and since I have refused your request to be allowed to 
 trade at other ports, this duty will naturally continue 
 to be paid at Canton as heretofore. 
 
 " (7) Regarding your nation's worship of the Lord of 
 Heaven, it is the same religion as that of other Euro- 
 pean nations. Ever since the beginning of history, sage 
 Emperors and wise rulers have bestowed on China a moral 
 system and inculcated a code, which from time immemorial 
 has been religiously observed by the myriads of my 
 subjects. There has been no hankering after heterodox 
 doctrines. Even the European (missionary) officials in 
 my capital are forbidden to hold intercourse with Chinese 
 subjects; they are restricted within the limits of their 
 appointed residences, and may not go about propagating 
 their religion. The distinction between Chinese and 
 barbarian is most strict, and your Ambassador's request 
 that barbarians shall be given full liberty to disseminate 
 their religion is utterly unreasonable. 
 
 " It may be, O King, that the above proposals have 
 been wantonly made by your Ambassador on his own 
 responsibility, or peradventure you yourself are ignorant 
 of our dynastic regulations and had no intention of trans- 
 gressing them when you expressed these wild ideas and 
 hopes. I have ever shown the greatest condescension 
 to the tribute missions of all States which sincerely yearn 
 after the blessings of civilisation, so as to manifest my 
 kindly indulgence. I have even gone out of my way to 
 grant any requests which were in any way consistent 
 with Chinese usage. Above all, upon you, who live in a 
 remote and inaccessible region, far across the spaces of 
 ocean, but who have shown your submissive loyalty by 
 sending this tribute mission, I have heaped benefits far 
 in excess of those accorded to other nations. But the 
 demands presented by your Embassy are not only a 
 contravention of dynastic tradition, but would be utterly 
 
 330 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 unproductive of good result to yourself, besides being quite 
 impracticable. I have accordingly stated the facts to 
 you in detail, and it is your bounden duty reverently to 
 appreciate my feelings and to obey these instructions 
 henceforward for all time, so that you may enjoy the 
 blessings of perpetual peace. If, after the receipt of this 
 explicit decree, you lightly give ear to the representations 
 of your subordinates and allow your barbarian merchants 
 to proceed to Chekiang and Tientsin, with the object of 
 landing and trading there, the ordinances of my Celestial 
 Empire are strict in the extreme, and the local officials, 
 both civil and military, are bound reverently to obey the 
 law of the land. Should your vessels touch the shore, your 
 merchants will assuredly never be permitted to land or 
 to reside there, but will be subject to instant expulsion. 
 In that event your barbarian merchants will have had a 
 long journey for nothing. Do not say that you were not 
 warned in due time ! Tremblingly obey and show no 
 negligence ! A special mandate ! " 
 
 As is well known, the ceremony of the kotow was 
 waived by Ch'ien Lung in deference to Earl Macartney's 
 objections, but the Manchus subsequently declared, and 
 to this day affect to believe, that, when the Ambassador 
 entered His Majesty's presence, he was so overcome with 
 awe and nervousness, that his legs gave way under him, 
 so that he grovelled abjectly on the ground, thus to all 
 intents and purposes performing an involuntary kotow. 
 
 Finally, two days before his abdication, in 1796, the 
 Emperor addressed the following letter to King George 
 III: 
 
 " Chu Kuei (Viceroy of Canton) memorialises Us that 
 the King of England has forwarded a memorial with 
 tribute. Two years ago, on the occasion of the tribute 
 mission from the King coming to Peking, We conferred 
 upon him many valuable presents, so he has now dispatched 
 a further memorial with offerings of tribute, thus indicat- 
 
 331 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ing his loyal sincerity. We raise absolutely no objection 
 to the fact of his having omitted to send a mission on 
 this occasion, and are graciously pleased to accept his 
 offerings. In addition, We bestow upon him the following 
 mandate : Your nation is inaccessible, lying far beyond 
 the dividing seas, but you sent a mission with a memorial 
 and tribute to pay homage at our Court, and We, in recog- 
 nition of your loyal sincerity, conferred upon you our 
 mandate and valuable gifts, as evidence of our satisfaction. 
 Now, O King, you have again prepared a memorial and 
 offerings, which have been conveyed by your barbarian 
 vessels to Canton and transmitted to Us. Your reverent 
 submission to Our person is manifest. Our Celestial 
 dynasty, which sways the wide world, attaches no value 
 to the costly presents which are offered at Our Court : 
 what We appreciate is the humble spirit of the offerers. 
 We have commanded Our Viceroy to accept your tribute 
 in order that your reverence may be duly recognised. 
 
 " As regarding Our sending of a punitive expedition 
 to Nepal, Our Commander-in-chief marched at the head 
 of a great army into that country, occupied the chief 
 strategic points, and terrified the Ghoorkas into grovel- 
 ling submission to Our majestic Empire. Our Com- 
 mander-in-chief duly memorialised Us, and We, whose 
 Imperial clemency is world-wide, embracing Chinese and 
 foreigners alike, could not endure the thought of exter- 
 minating the entire population of the country. Accord- 
 ingly We accepted their surrender. At that time Our 
 Commander-in-chief duly informed Us of your having 
 dispatched a mission into Tibet, with a petition to Our 
 Resident, stating that you had advised the Nepalese to 
 surrender. But at the time of your petition Our troops 
 had already gained a complete victory and the desired 
 end had been attained.^ We were not obliged to trouble 
 
 1 The Chinese expedition against Nepal was commanded by Fu 
 K'ang-an, Ch'ien Lung's ablest General. It started from Kokonor in 
 
 332 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 your troops to render assistance. You allude to this 
 matter in your present memorial, but are doubtless ignorant 
 of the precise course of events in Nepal, as your tribute 
 mission was on its way to Peking at the time of these 
 occurrences. Nevertheless, O King, you entertained a 
 clear perception of your duty towards Us, and your reverent 
 acknowledgment of Our dynasty's supremacy is highly 
 praiseworthy. 
 
 " We therefore now bestow upon you various costly 
 gifts. Do you, O King, display even more energetic 
 loyalty in future and endeavour to deserve for ever Our 
 
 the 2nd Moon of the Emperor's 57th year (1793), and entered Tibet 
 via the Tant-la Pass (cf. Abbe Hue's Travels in Tibet), where a fierce 
 wind usually blows, but Fu K'ang-an reported that on the occasion 
 of his troops crossing the pass the Aveather was bright and there was 
 no wind. In gratitude to the spirit of this mountain for having vouch- 
 safed such good weather to the expedition, Ch'ien Lung ordered that 
 the Tant-la should be included amongst the mountains of the Empire 
 which are entitled to receive an Imperial sacrifice. 
 
 In July of that year the Chinese forces marched into Nepal, invading 
 it from three sides. The Ghoorkas sent a mission to seek aid from Great 
 Britain, whereupon Cornwallis dispatched an officer to Khatmandu 
 to act as peacemaker. But by the 7th Moon the Imperial troops 
 had defeated Nepal in six battles, and when they Avere only one day's 
 march from Khatmandu the Nepalese tendered an abject submission. 
 The Chinese did not linger in Nepal, the season being far advanced, 
 but returned to Tibet in the 8th Moon, after exacting an undertaking 
 to bring tribute to Peking once in every five years in the form of tame 
 elephants, horses and musical instruments. The Nepalese had invaded 
 Tibet at the request of the Red Priesthood two years previously (1791) 
 ostensibly on the ground that the duties imposed on salt at the Nepalese 
 frontier were excessive, and that the commodity was adulterated vnth. 
 earth. On this occasion the Commander of the Chinese forces, Pa 
 Chung, had declined battle, and had induced the Tibetans to promise 
 the Nepalese an annual subsidy of 15,000 ounces of silver if they would 
 withdraw. At the same time he reported to the Throne that he had 
 defeated the Nepalese and that they had accepted Manchu suzerainty. 
 In the following year, 1792, the promised subsidy of 15,000 taels not 
 being forthcoming, the Nepalese again invaded Tibet. Pao Tai, the 
 Resident at Lhasa, made no preparations to resist them, but conveyed 
 the Panshen Lama to Lhasa, abandoning Hon Tsang to the invaders, 
 who sacked the sacred city of Tashilhunpo and conveyed its treasures 
 back to Nepal, at the same time leaving a strong force inside the 
 Tibetan frontier. 
 
 333 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 gracious affection, so that we may conform to Our earnest 
 resolve to pacify distant tribes and to manifest Our Imperial 
 clemency. 
 
 " Chu Kuei is to hand this mandate to your Agent, for 
 transmission to yourself, in order that you may be encour- 
 aged to display still greater gratitude and reverent sub- 
 mission hereafter, in acknowledgment of Our indulgence. 
 
 "It is contrary to Our dynastic ordinances for Our 
 officials to enter into social relations with barbarians, 
 and Chu Kuei acted therefore quite properly in returning 
 the presents which were sent to the former Viceroy and 
 Superintendent of Customs at Canton." 
 
 In his private life, and in the administration of his 
 household, Ch'ien Lung combined a high sense of his 
 Imperial dignity with frugal habits. Throughout his long 
 life he retained his devotion to the chase, for the wilds of 
 Manchuria and Mongolia, for the simple, open-air life 
 which had made his forefathers the hardy men they were. 
 It would be interesting to study the coincidence of the 
 decay of the Imperial hunting parks, the decline of manly 
 exercises amongst the Manchu aristocracy, with the gradual 
 ascendancy of the eunuchs that begins definitely to assert 
 itself in the reign of Ch'ien Lung's successor. 
 
 As the head of his family and of the Palace household, 
 Ch'ien Lung exercised a very strict supervision over his 
 domestic affairs until old age and the increasing cares of 
 State combined to relax his energies in this direction. 
 In private as in public life, the secret of his success lay in 
 personal attention to detail, indefatigable energy, a broad 
 mind, and a personality in which a strong sense of order 
 and discipline combined with many sympathetic qualities. 
 Ch'ien Lung was essentially a statesman ; but he was also 
 a good sportsman, with a touch of the poetic temperament. 
 As the traveller gazes to-day on the melancholy ruins of 
 Yuan Ming-yiian, or the hunting parks at Jehol and 
 Peking, he cannot but wonder that a race which could 
 
 334 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 produce so wise and so virile a ruler, and send its armies 
 half across Asia, should to-day be represented only by the 
 besotted and effeminate creatures who walk so delicately 
 and so uselessly as Manchu Princes. 
 
 Ch'ien Lung hated extravagance, and until the close of 
 his reign, when the contagion of Ho Shen's purple and fine 
 linen had begun to breed luxury in the Imperial house- 
 hold, he set the example of thrift and simple fare. At 
 the same time, there was nothing of the Puritan about 
 him, nor of the total abstainer ; he loved a pretty woman 
 and a good dinner, but held the Oriental faith, that both 
 were gifts of the gods, not to be easily won, nor lightly 
 esteemed. Throughout his sixty years' reign he never 
 once omitted the custom of offering sacrifice of propitiation 
 to the kitchen god, who on the 23rd day of the 10th Moon 
 proceeds heavenwards, to make his annual report on the 
 family's behaviour during the year. The Palace in which 
 the sacrifice used to be performed is the K'un Ning-kang 
 (" Earthly Repose "), and the ceremony took place on a 
 brick platform or Wang, in the centre of the hall. Drums 
 were placed in readiness, and it was the custom for the 
 Empress first to proceed thither and await the Emperor's 
 arrival. He himself then beat the drum and sang the ditty 
 known as : " The Emperor's search for worthy officials." 
 The household were drawn up in lines, and on the con- 
 clusion of the song, crackers were fired to start the kitchen 
 god on his mission. The custom was discontinued by Chia 
 Ch'ing. 
 
 Ch'ien Lung was no ascetic kill- joy. To the east of the 
 Lake of Happiness, at the Summer Palace of Yiian Ming- 
 yiian, in a garden called the " Park of Universal Joy," 
 he was fond of giving theatrical entertainments to his 
 Court. At the New Year he used to have booths erected 
 along the main road of the garden and there organised a 
 market fair for the amusement of the Court. There were 
 curio and porcelain stores, embroidery shops, dealers in 
 
 335 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 silks, as well as restaurants, wine- taverns and tea-houses. 
 Even pedlars and hawkers were allowed to come and ply 
 their trade. The shops were managed by eunuchs, and the 
 jade and other articles were supplied from the large estab- 
 lishments in Peking, under arrangements made by the 
 Supervisor of the Octroi, who selected what goods should 
 be sent.^ High officials and their wives were admitted 
 to this fair, and allowed to make purchases or to order 
 food or tea at the restaurants, just as they pleased. Every- 
 thing was done exactly as at a real market fair : waiters 
 and shop attendants were brought from the chief restaur- 
 ants in the city, care being taken to select only those of 
 good appearance and clear pronunciation. As His Majesty 
 passed down the line of booths, the waiters would shout 
 out their menus for the day, the hawkers would cry their 
 goods, and the clerks would be busy calling out the figures 
 which they were entering on the day-books. The bustle 
 and animation of this scene used to delight the Emperor. 
 The fair continued daily till the end of the 1st Moon, 
 when the booths were taken down. This pleasant custom 
 was also abandoned by Chia Ch'ing, whose temperament 
 was morose and opposed to all forms of gaiety. 
 
 According to the annalists, Ch'ien Lung displayed in 
 his domestic affairs the same thrifty virtues which dis- 
 tinguished the great Tzii Hsi, and some of the same little 
 weaknesses. He was fond of certain dainties, and on his 
 travels loved to experiment with new dishes; for rich, 
 greasy ones he had a particular liking. It is recorded in 
 one of several old diaries in the possession of a Manchu, 
 whose family has held high positions at Peking for several 
 generations, that on one occasion, while journeying through 
 the Yangtsze provinces. His Majesty desired to try a famous 
 Yangchou recipe for beancurd. Finding it to his taste, 
 
 1 Tzii Hsi instituted a similar custom at the Summer Palace during 
 the period (before the coup d'etat of 1898) of her retirement from State 
 affairs. 
 
 336 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 he asked the cost, and on being told that it was only 
 thirty cash (about a penny) directed that this cheap and 
 excellent fare be added to the menus of the Palace at 
 Peking. After returning to the capital, he discovered, 
 however, that the eunuchs entered the dish in the house- 
 hold kitchen account at twelve taels (then £3). When 
 he asked the reason they informed him that " southern 
 delicacies are not easily prepared in the north." 
 
 These housekeeping " squeezes " were a frequent source 
 of worry to Ch'ien Lung, as they were later to Tzu Hsi. 
 They contributed to make posts in the Imperial Household 
 amongst the most coveted in the Empire. Such posts 
 were only open to Manchus; in recent years the annual 
 income of a senior Secretary of the Household was esti- 
 mated at over a million taels. Any attempts to cut down 
 the perquisites of these offices (such as were made by the 
 parsimonious Tao Kuang) naturally made the Emperor 
 unpopular with the Imperial clansmen, many of whom 
 were directly or indirectly beneficiaries in these Palace 
 squeezes. 
 
 It is recorded that one cold winter's day, receiving 
 an official named Wang Yu-tun in audience, Ch'ien Lung 
 asked him whether he had had anything to eat before attend- 
 ing Court at dawn, to which Wang replied, " We are 
 very poor. All the breakfast that I can afford consists 
 of two or three eggs." At this the Emperor exclaimed : 
 " You dare to tell me you are poor, yet you confess to 
 eating three eggs at a time ! Eggs cost me 75 cents a-piece 
 — I should never dream of ordering three." Wang did 
 not dare to tell the Emperor the true price of eggs, so he 
 said : " I was speaking of an inferior type of egg, not the 
 sort which would be suitable for Your Majesty's table. 
 My sort can be bought for about a cash apiece." The 
 Emperor understood and gave orders that the Palace eggs 
 were henceforward to be charged at a more reasonable 
 figure. 
 
 z 337 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Where women were concerned, Ch'ien Lung was, natur- 
 ally, polygamous and patriarchal, after the Oriental 
 manner, but ever mindful of the proprieties and jealous 
 of his Consort's dignity, and for the rest, courteous and 
 gentle, and generous. His domestic life was free from 
 bickerings and scandals and his children were well brought 
 up, for he knew how to combine the suaviter in modo with 
 the fortiter in re. According to the annalists. His Majesty 
 was wont, in the moments perdus of his manifold official 
 and domestic duties, to indulge occasionally in emotional 
 adventures and even escapades. There were entr'actes 
 in the dignified drama of his public life. The following 
 story, for instance, is one of several — not necessarily true, 
 but certainly believed at the time. 
 
 In the earlier years of his reign the fame of a certain 
 literary courtesan, named San Ku-niang, had penetrated 
 even to the Palace. Her gate was thronged with Princes 
 and high officials : a word from her was esteemed as a high 
 honour. So great was her influence that she was able 
 on more than one occasion to intercede successfully on 
 behalf of scholars and officials who had incurred the 
 Emperor's displeasure. 
 
 One night the Commandant of the Peking Gendarmerie 
 summoned one of his Lieutenants and handed him an arrow 
 (the sign of authority for summary arrest), bidding him 
 convey San Ku-niang to prison. The Lieutenant was 
 much alarmed, but dared not disobey. Having effected 
 an entrance to the lady's house, he proceeded upstairs to 
 her bedchamber. At the door he found a handmaid, to 
 whom he communicated his orders. Soon a soft voice 
 was heard from within, saying : " Sir, you are my 
 honoured guest : it would not be seemly for me to appear 
 before you, except clad in my gayest raiment. Pray 
 wait a few minutes whilst I change my dress, and I shall 
 be happy to welcome you." 
 
 After a considerable time had elapsed, the Lieutenant 
 
 338 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 began to fear that the lady had made good her escape 
 by a back door. So he called out, to make sure, whereupon 
 she answered : " Whoever heard of a prisoner escaping 
 from the clutches of the Commandant of Gendarmerie ? 
 Wait but a little longer and I shall be ready to go with 
 you." 
 
 At last San Ku-niang came forth, and handed to the 
 Lieutenant a pearl in a casket. This he politely declined. 
 She then gave him a small box, covered with Imperial 
 yellow silk. " Take this," she said, " and present it to 
 your chief. It will perhaps make my presence unneces- 
 sary." The Lieutenant looked uncomfortable, not know- 
 ing what to do, but the lady reassured him. " You can 
 but try; if the Commandant is not satisfied, come back 
 for me. There is plenty of time. This box has travelled 
 all over the Empire " (it was one of the kind used for 
 forwarding Imperial decrees) ; " there is really no deception 
 about it." The Lieutenant took the box and wrapped it 
 up carefully. " Might I ask," he inquired, " if you had 
 a visitor just now? " "Yes," was the reply, "he was 
 a person of high position, but he has left the house by an 
 underground passage which runs beneath my boudoir." 
 The Lieutenant trembled and turned pale. He returned 
 to the Commandant, gave him the box and told him what 
 had passed. 
 
 Next morning, the Commandant was summoned to 
 audience. The Emperor said to him : " I know that you 
 are a zealous official, but you should look at things from 
 a broader aspect and refrain from doing petty detective 
 work. Such behaviour lacks dignity and will get you 
 into trouble." 
 
 The Commandant kotowed and expressed his contrition. 
 From that time forward the Peking police refrained from 
 displaying too much zeal in the matter of domiciliary visits. 
 
 Travellers who have visited Peking may remember the 
 
 339 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 beautiful ruins of the Mahomedan Mosque which until 
 last year stood just outside the south wall of the Lake 
 Palace of the Forbidden City. Until five years ago services 
 were still held in this Mosque by a Chinese Mahomedan 
 who had made the pilgrimage to Mecca, an aged man, 
 supported in his ruined shrine, by a handful of the faithful ; 
 but he died in 1908, and thereafter, the inner wall and 
 pillars fell in, so that the place — still beautiful in the last 
 stage of ruin — became a pathetic monument to the splen- 
 dours of a by-gone day. It was pulled down in May last, 
 by order of President Yuan Shih-k'ai, ostensibly because 
 it had become unsafe and because the site was required 
 for the erection of barracks, but really because its upper 
 storey dominated the Palace enclosure at the point where 
 the President's residence is located, and might have been 
 used, by mutinous troops, for " sniping " purposes. The 
 history of the building of this Mosque, by the Emperor 
 Ch'ien Lung, is as pathetic in its way as was the ruined 
 shrine, and it has this merit that its main facts are 
 unquestionably true. 
 
 During the first campaign in Sungaria, Ch'ien Lung 
 heard rumours of the remarkable beauty of the wife of 
 one of the tribal chiefs, a Mahomedan named Ali Arslan, 
 then in arms against him. She was known all over 
 the western frontier-land as the " Model Beauty " ; and 
 celebrated for the softness of her skin, upon which she 
 never used cosmetics. At a farewell audience given to 
 his Commander-in-chief, Chao Hui, Ch'ien Lung casually 
 told him of the reports he had heard of this lady and bade 
 him do his best to secure her for his Court. After the 
 successful end of the war, when the Prince, her husband, 
 had committed suicide, Chao Hui took her prisoner and 
 brought her to Peking. He sent couriers ahead to inform 
 the Emperor of his success. Ch'ien Lung, greatly pleased, 
 gave orders that special honours should be shown to her en 
 route, and that every care be taken lest the hardships of 
 
 340 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 the journey should impair her beauty. Besides this, he 
 ordered Chao Hui to see to it that she did not commit 
 suicide. 
 
 On arrival at Peking she was quartered in the western 
 Palace by the southern lake.^ She was officially known as 
 the Hsiang (Fragrant) Concubine, but more commonly 
 referred to as the Stranger (K'o) Concubine. At first she 
 seemed quite contented, indifferent to her former husband's 
 death and the ruin of her tribe. But when Ch'ien Lung 
 approached her, she remained coldly silent, refusing to 
 utter a word in reply to his questions. 
 
 Ch'ien Lung bade some of his concubines, in whose 
 powers of persuasion he had confidence, to tell her of the 
 high destinies which awaited her. Her only reply was to 
 draw a dagger from her sleeve. Asked what this meant, 
 she replied : " My tribe is destroyed and my husband is 
 dead. Long since I have resolved on death, but when I 
 die, it shall not be alone, like any meek peasant girl perish- 
 ing by the roadside. I mean to avenge my lord's memory 
 by slaying his enemy. If the Emperor forces me to become 
 his concubine, I shall kill him and myself too." The 
 Palace women, horrified, bade her attendants take the 
 dagger from her. She smiled : " Whatever you may do, 
 I shall find a way. As for you, if you do not cease from 
 troubling me, I shall kill one of you first." 
 
 Despairing of persuading her, they reported what she 
 had said to the Emperor. He saw that for the moment 
 it was hopeless to try to win her, but he often visited 
 her apartments and sat for a short time in her company, 
 believing that time would heal her wound and that she 
 would ultimately come to regard him with favour. At 
 the same time he had her carefully guarded, to prevent 
 her from making any attempt on his life. When she 
 
 ^ The building in which she Uved and mourned is now the main 
 gate-hall of the President's Palace, known as the Hsin Hua-men, or 
 Gate of New China. 
 
 341 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 found that she was continually watched, she seemed to 
 abandon the idea of suicide : but one day after she had 
 been in the Palace about two years, her attendants reported 
 that on the occasion of the Moslem New Year, she had 
 been found weeping bitterly. It was then that Ch'ien 
 Lung gave orders for a mosque to be built just outside the 
 Lake Palace, on the south side, which she would be able 
 to see from her residence, the Tower of the Jewelled Moon. 
 Houses and shops were built there exactly like those of 
 her native Sungaria, in the hope of giving comfort to her 
 wounded spirit. The spot was known as the Moslem 
 Encampment. 
 
 Now the Empress Dowager, then in her eightieth year, 
 had great influence over her son. She was sorely distressed 
 at Ch'ien Lung's infatuation, and feared for him the risk 
 of assassination. So she said to him : "As the woman is 
 obstinately resolved not to yield to your advances, and 
 as she is sick of life — why not put her to death? Or at 
 least send her back to her own home, and trouble yourself 
 no more about her." But the Emperor could not bear 
 the idea of losing her, so, hoping against hope, he continued 
 to wait. At last, on the day of the winter solstice, when 
 he was due to be absent from the Palace and to spend 
 the night in the Hall of Fasting at the Temple of Heaven, 
 the Empress Dowager determined to act. 
 
 She waited until the Emperor had quitted the Palace, 
 and then sent a messenger to bid the " Model Beauty " 
 attend her at the Palace of Motherly Tranquillity. 
 When she had come into the presence, the outer gates of the 
 Palace were made fast. " I hear that you will not submit 
 to His Majesty," said the Empress sternly. " What is 
 it that you propose to do? " She replied, " I mean to 
 die." " So be it ! I am ready to grant you the privilege 
 of committing suicide, here and now." The unhappy 
 woman expressed her gratitude by kotowing several times. 
 " Your Majesty the Empress Dowager is showing me 
 
 342 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 undeserved kindness in thus meeting my wishes. I 
 submitted to the ignominy of being compelled to make 
 this long journey under escort, in the hope that I should 
 not die alone, that I might be able to avenge my husband's 
 memory by a deed which would stagger the Empire. 
 But this cannot be, for I am too closely guarded. What 
 then is the use of my continuing this useless and aimless 
 existence? Is it not far better that I should re-join my 
 late lord in the other world and close my eyes, satisfied, 
 in death? I thank Your Majesty for your grace in 
 acceding to my wishes, and, in the realms of Hades, 
 shall not forget your benevolence," As she made an 
 end of speaking the tears welled from her eyes. The 
 Empress, greatly touched, bade a eunuch convey her 
 immediately to a room in one of the wings of the Palace, 
 where she hanged herself to a beam. 
 
 The Emperor was at the Hall of Fasting, but a confi- 
 dential eunuch came running to tell him that his beloved 
 concubine had been summoned to the presence of the 
 Empress Dowager. Fearing the worst, in great distress 
 of mind, he set out in all haste for the Palace, although 
 in so doing he violated the rule which required him to 
 remain in the Hall of Fasting till the morrow. On his 
 arrival, finding the doors of the Empress Dowager's Palace 
 barred, he stood there weeping, till the gates were opened 
 and a eunuch said : " Her Majesty desires that you will 
 repair to her presence." He entered, and the Empress 
 took him to the side room where the concubine was 
 hanging from the rafter, quite dead. There was no sign 
 of pain or struggle on her beautiful and placid face. 
 Ch'ien Lung was greatly grieved at her death, and had 
 her buried with the honours of a concubine of the first 
 rank. 
 
 During the last decade of Ch'ien Lung's reign, the 
 Government of China was practically concentrated in 
 
 343 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the hands of the Grand Secretary, Ho Shen, and of his 
 proteges and partisans in the provinces. As his power 
 increased, so did his ambition. During the three years 
 which elapsed between the Emperor's abdication and his 
 death (1796-99) his word was law in the land, and his 
 fortune grew to an extent unparalleled in the history of 
 China. He levied a fixed percentage on the pay of the 
 troops and instituted a regular tariff for the sale of offices, 
 so that it was said of him (as of Prince Ch'ing under 
 Kuang Hsii) that his back door was a market-place for 
 peacocks' feathers and buttons. His private residence 
 was far more magnificent in its furnishings than the 
 Emperor's Palace, and he had amassed a wealth of jade 
 and jewels greater than all the Imperial treasure. It 
 was inevitable that in a land where money is the beginning 
 and end of politics, this man's vast fortune should expose 
 him to the gravest dangers so soon as the protection of 
 the Emperor was withdrawn. 
 
 Ho Shen's origin was a humble one, though he showed 
 no signs of it, his education and manners being sufficiently 
 good to impress and charm Lord Macartney and his staff 
 at Jehol. He was originally a sergeant of the Palace 
 guards, and being strong and handsome in appearance, 
 was specially selected to escort the Imperial sedan. 
 From one of the diaries of the Manchu clansmen, above 
 referred to, we take the following description of the manner 
 in which he first won Ch'ien Lung's favour. When the 
 Emperor was about fifty years of age, it happened one 
 day that he was leaving the eastern gate of the Forbidden 
 City in his chair, and as he was carried along, he was 
 reading a memorial which had just reached him regarding 
 an outbreak of rebellion in Ssu-ch'uan. The Everlasting 
 Lord's face was clouded as he read, and his bearers over- 
 heard him saying : "If the tiger or the rhinoceros escapes 
 from its cage, if the gem be injured in the casket, who is 
 to blame ? " This well-known quotation, from the Dis- 
 
 344 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 courses of Confucius, means that the party responsible 
 for a misfortune must expect to bear the blame. None 
 of the bearers understood the allusion, but Ho Shen 
 who was riding alongside said to them : " ' Yeh ' (the 
 Master) means that officials holding responsible posts 
 must be made accountable for every dereliction of duty." 
 
 Ch'ien Lung heard this reply, and was pleased at the 
 man's quick intelligence. He called to Ho Shen : "You 
 are only a sergeant, but you have evidently read your 
 Four Books to some purpose. Attend for audience 
 after Our return to the Palace." The Emperor was so 
 greatly delighted with his conversation at the audience 
 which followed, that he gave him unparalleled promotion. 
 His ready wit and prompt replies to Ch'ien Lung's epi- 
 grams, which he capped with a pointed antithesis, appealed 
 to the Emperor's literary tastes. He rose to be Viceroy, 
 President of a Board and Grand Councillor, until at the 
 last his power was supreme in the Empire. His educa- 
 tion, from the scholar's point of view, was superficial, 
 but he concealed his lack of learning under a remarkable 
 talent for epigrams. He was appointed tutor to Prince 
 Chia, who succeeded Ch'ien Lung on the Throne. Ho 
 Shen disliked the young Prince, whose character was 
 surly and generally unsympathetic, and did his best to 
 dissuade Ch'ien Lung from selecting him as his Heir. 
 It is recorded that on one occasion he lost his temper 
 with his pupil and kicked him slightly. The insult was 
 never forgotten or forgiven by Chia Ch'ing, and Ho 
 Shen lived to regret that he had not adopted a more 
 conciliatory attitude towards the Heir to the Throne. 
 
 Until the death of Ch'ien Lung, however, it was Ho 
 Shen, and not the future Emperor, who dominated the 
 situation. After his abdication, Ch'ien Lung adopted 
 the title of " Tai Shang-huang," or " Exalted Emperor 
 who has vacated the Throne," but he continued to take 
 an active part in State affairs, and for the remaining 
 
 345 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 three years of his Hfe was always present at Imperial 
 audiences, besides giving his decision on all decrees. At 
 audience he sat in the Imperial seat, facing the south, 
 while his son, Chia Ch'ing, sat on a small stool facing the 
 west. It is recorded in the diary above mentioned, that 
 one morning. Ho Shen, as doyen of the Council, came in 
 as usual for audience, and knelt in waiting for a long 
 time. His Majesty, the ex-Emperor, sat with closed 
 eyes, as if in deep slumber, but all the while he could be 
 heard muttering to himself. 
 
 The Emperor Chia Ch'ing listened intently, but could 
 not catch a word. At last Ch'ien Lung opened his eyes, 
 saying : " What are the names of those men ? " Ho Shen 
 promptly replied : " Kao T'ien-te and Kou Wen-ming." 
 Ch'ien Lung closed his eyes again and repeated the names 
 several times, after which he motioned to Ho Shen to 
 leave the hall and not another word was uttered. No 
 other audience was held on that day. 
 
 Chia Ch'ing was greatly astonished, and a few days 
 later summoned Ho to secret audience. " What was His 
 Majesty saying to himself the other day, and what did 
 those six syllables mean which you uttered in reply ? " 
 Ho answered ; " His Majesty was reciting a famous 
 Tibetan mystic spell, which means death to the person 
 against whom it is uttered, at what ever distance he may 
 be, even though he be perfectly well at the time. Your 
 slave heard His Majesty uttering this incantation, and 
 knew that the persons whom His Majesty wished to ban 
 were the leaders in the White Lily conspiracy : therefore 
 in answering him, I spoke their names." Chia Ch'ing 
 laid this incident to heart, for Ho's proficiency in Budd- 
 histic arts of incantation struck him as dangerous. After 
 Ch'ien Lung's demise, two years later, this was one of 
 the things which he remembered against Ho Shen. 
 
 346 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 THE DOWNFALL OF HO SHEN 
 
 As already stated, the old Emperor Ch'ien Lung con- 
 tinued after his abdication to supervise all important 
 business of State, and showed no signs of failing health 
 until the autumn of 1798, when he was attacked by 
 paralysis. He lingered on until February 7, 1799, 
 when he died, at 8 a.m., on the third day of the Chinese 
 new year, in the Hall of Mind Nurture. 
 
 The opening of Chia Ch'ing's reign had not been 
 auspicious; it seemed as if the zenith of prosperity had 
 been reached in the sixtieth year of Ch'ien Lung (1795), 
 and with that Monarch's abdication a period of decline 
 set in. Rebellions had broken out in Hunan, Hupei 
 and Kueichou, and the White Lily sect had become a 
 power in the land. Ch'ien Lung had the mortification 
 of feeling that he was leaving a disturbed Empire to his 
 son, who was now in his thirty -ninth year, a man without 
 natural ability, of suspicious and vindictive temperament. 
 
 On the day after his father's death, Chia Ch'ing issued 
 a decree complaining that the military operations against 
 the rebels were being dragged on without appreciable 
 result. With good cause he observed: "The Com- 
 manders-in-chief do not seem to be in the least anxious 
 to put down the rebellion, since they are able to enrich 
 themselves and wax fat at the expense of the disturbed 
 districts. They report mythical victories, and are lost 
 to all sense of shame. Manchu bodyguardsmen and 
 
 347 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 secretaries are all only too glad to proceed to the seat of 
 trouble, but their zeal is not due to any patriotic motive. 
 Penniless officials come back from service at the front 
 with amply lined pockets. On their return to Peking 
 they apply at once for leave to revisit their family tombs, 
 not from a sense of filial respect, but in order to invest their 
 ill-gotten gains in the purchase of land. All this money 
 comes ultimately from the unfortunate people, plundered 
 to satisfy their insatiable greed. No wonder, then, that 
 more and more recruits join the rebels, and that none can 
 foresee an end to the troubles. Not only are the rebels' 
 numbers as great as ever, but their ranks are steadily 
 increasing. 
 
 *' My late father lost both sleep and appetite because of 
 his anxiety at the spread of the rebellion, and with his 
 last breath he asked whether there were any news of a 
 victory at the front. In his valedictory mandate he left 
 behind no instructions concerning other matters, pre- 
 sumably because he left me with full authority to deal 
 with them in my discretion. Until these lawless sects 
 have been suppressed I shall feel myself unfilial towards 
 my late father's memory. If my Grand Councillors and 
 Generals in the field are all disloyal to the Throne, how 
 can I comfort the soul of my father in Heaven? Is it 
 the fact that they are indifferent to the fate which is 
 about to visit them, and are content to be disloyal them- 
 selves, as well as making their Emperor unfilial? 
 
 " I cannot allow further leakages of funds to enrich the 
 official class. Taxation cannot be increased, and the 
 Government revenues should be ample for all needs. 
 My father in his extreme old age became too lenient 
 and bestowed high rewards upon the least report of a 
 success. In the case of a reverse he would merely ad- 
 minister a mild rebuke, and reinstate the offender so soon 
 as he had retrieved his error. During the last few years 
 Yung Pao alone was sent to prison for cowardice, and even 
 
 348 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 he was promptly released. It is very certain that Yung 
 Pao is not the only coward in our ranks ! Every trifling 
 success is exaggerated and serious defeats are glossed 
 over. Possibly the idea was to save my father distress, 
 which at his age would have followed upon evil tidings, 
 but in military matters accuracy is essential. There were 
 always reports of terrible carnage on the rebels' side, but 
 the figures were a tissue of falsehoods. 
 
 " These abuses cannot be allowed to continue. I insist 
 that I be informed of the true state of affairs. What good 
 can come of representing a disgraceful defeat as a glorious 
 victory? I am Lord of the Empire, and I require the 
 truth above everything. All I care about is peace and 
 plenty, absence of rebellion, and the contentment of my 
 subjects. I shall show no mercy for misconduct in the 
 field ; all my commanders will do well, therefore, to purge 
 themselves of error and to clear their minds of cant. Let 
 them exert themselves to restore the halcyon days of peace, 
 otherwise they will be dealt with by martial law. My 
 words will be followed up by action ; do not imagine that 
 your new Sovereign can be hoodwinked ! " 
 
 The above decree was specially directed at Ho Shen 
 and his party, which included the majority of high officials, 
 both civil and military. Four days later a decree was 
 issued, in response to memorials from the ever servile 
 Censorate, which stripped Ho Shen of all his offices and 
 commanded his imprisonment in the Board of Punish- 
 ments, together with Fu Ch'ang-an, the President of the 
 Board of Revenue. Ho Shen was Comptroller-General 
 of two boards, and held a plurality of offices. Chia Ch'ing 
 placed his elder brother. Prince Ch'eng, on the Council 
 and made him Comptroller of a Board, although this was 
 contrary to dynastic house-law. Further sweeping 
 changes were made, and many of Ch'ien Lung's trusted 
 Ministers were summarily dismissed before he had been 
 dead a week. Such hasty action, while the Court was in 
 
 349 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 deep mourning, was regarded by the orthodox as ex- 
 tremely unfiKal. Chia Ch'ing endeavoured to justify his 
 action on the ground that, had his father been ahve, he 
 would have cordially endorsed the curt dismissal of those 
 whom he had delighted to honour. We have already 
 alluded to the frequency with which, under the Manchus, 
 the favourites of the old regime have been dismissed by the 
 new, but Chia Ch'ing acted with almost indecent haste.^ 
 
 Two days later, on the 9th, he issued the following 
 decree concerning Ho Shen's offences : " Ho Shen re- 
 ceived extraordinary favours from His departed Majesty, 
 and was promoted from the low position of Imperial 
 guardsman to the highest offices, which he has held for 
 nigh on twenty years. He has been steeped in the lavish 
 bounty of my late father to an extent unparalleled in the 
 history of the Court. The arduous duties of Government 
 have now devolved on me by inheritance, and my father's 
 demise finds me ' sleeping on a straw mat and pillowed 
 on a clod.' ^ My thoughts dwell ever on the Confucian 
 precept : ' For three years after a parent's death none of 
 his former surroundings should be changed.' But all 
 within and without the wide seas realise my late sire's 
 reverence for Heaven, his obedience to ancestral tradition, 
 his diligence in government, and affection for his people. 
 His example stands out as a shining light for my house 
 and dynasty to follow for all time; how, then, should a 
 period of three years suffice for obedience to his behests ? 
 I could not find it in my heart to dismiss from office any 
 of my father's Ministers, even were they guilty of offences. 
 I should take into consideration any extenuating circum- 
 stances to mitigate their punishment. I am sure that 
 His Sacred Majesty is at this moment fully conscious of 
 my sincerity and concurs in my sentiments. 
 
 ^ When Chia Ch'ing died, struck by lightning, the orthodox regarded 
 it as Heaven's chastisement for his lack of filial piety. 
 2 A classical metaphor for a son's mourning. 
 
 350 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 " But as regards Ho Shen, his crimes are too grave to 
 admit of possible pardon, for he has been impeached on 
 many counts by the Censorate. I therefore placed him 
 under arrest two days ago, and shall now proceed to 
 state his offences seriatim for general information. 
 
 " On the 3rd day of the 9th Moon of the 60th year of 
 Ch'ien Lung, Ho Shen presented me with a jade sceptre, 
 intending thereby to signify that I had been nominated 
 successor to the Throne. He thus betrayed a State 
 secret, in the hope that I should consider myself beholden 
 to him for advancing my claims with the late Emperor. 
 
 " In the spring of last year the late Emperor was at 
 the Summer Palace, and summoned Ho Shen to audience. 
 He actually presumed to ride on horseback through the 
 central gate, past the main Imperial Hall, right up to the 
 entrance of my father's apartments. Could any action 
 equal this in base presumption, as if he had forgotten 
 what was due to his Sovereign and father ! Pleading an 
 affection of the leg, he would enter the Forbidden City in 
 a chair borne by bearers. He was the observed of all 
 observers as he passed calmly in and out of the Gate of 
 Divine Military Prowess, without the smallest vestige of 
 shame or compunction. 
 
 " He even dared to appropriate to his own use, as 
 secondary wives, women who had been employed as 
 handmaidens in the Palace. 
 
 " After the outbreak of the Hupei and Ssu-ch'uan re- 
 bellion, propagated by seditious sects, my father used 
 eagerly to await news from the front, sitting up until late 
 into the night, taking neither food nor sleep. But Ho 
 Shen deceived him, deliberately suppressing and even 
 falsifying reports from the field, so that the operations 
 have dragged on and on. 
 
 " My father appointed him Comptroller-General of the 
 Board of Civil Offices and Punishments, and at the same 
 time, because of his knowledge of finance, appointed him 
 
 351 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to supervise and direct the proceedings of the Board of 
 Revenue. The result of this was the estabUshment of 
 a one-man power; soon none dared oppose him. 
 
 " Last winter my father's health was bad, so that his 
 handwriting on rescripts was sometimes illegible. Ho 
 Shen actually presumed on one occasion to say : ' Better 
 tear off that rescript and use one that I have written 
 instead.' 
 
 " Last month Ho Shen suppressed an official report from 
 Kokonor concerning robbery under arms by bands of 
 Mahomedans, who had murdered two Tibetan merchants, 
 in the employ of the Dalai Lama. He returned the 
 memorial to the sender and made no report to the Throne. 
 
 " After my late father's death I gave orders that any 
 Mongol Princes and Dukes who had not had the small- 
 pox should be excused from coming to Peking. Ho Shen 
 disregarded these orders, and stopped all Mongol Princes 
 from coming, whether they had had smallpox or not. 
 In so doing, he violated the Throne's policy of showing 
 courtesy to vassals. His motives defy conjecture. 
 
 " The Grand Secretary Su-ling-a was stone deaf, far 
 gone in senile dotage. He was, however, the father-in- 
 law of Ho Lin, Ho Shen's brother, and for this reason the 
 Throne was never advised of his utter incapacity. Wu 
 Sheng-lan, the Vice-president, and Li Kuang-yiin, Director 
 of the Imperial stud, were originally tutors at Ho Shen's 
 private residence, which alone accounts for their ex- 
 traordinary advancement. In fact. Ho Shen was a dictator, 
 and did not hesitate to dismiss secretaries on the Grand 
 Council at his own sweet will. 
 
 " Ho Shen's property has just been examined. It 
 appears that he has built himself a mansion of Imperial 
 cedar wood, the use of which constitutes Use majeste on 
 the part of a subject; the style of architecture is in exact 
 imitation of the late Emperor's Palace of Imperial Longe- 
 vity in the Forbidden City, whilst the pleasure gardens 
 
 352 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 and pavilions are copied from the scheme of decoration 
 used in the ' Terrace of the Fortunate Isles ' at the 
 Summer Palace. Into his motives in this matter let us 
 not inquire too closely ! 
 
 " Amongst his jewels and precious stones he has collected 
 two hundred pearl necklaces, a number greatly exceeding 
 those in the Imperial Palace. He possesses one particular 
 pearl far superior, both in size and lustre, to that worn by 
 me in the Imperial hat of State. ^ In his collection there are 
 jewels which were meant exclusively for the Emperor's 
 use and to which he had no right ; the number of his uncut 
 stones is legion, far surpassing those of the Imperial house- 
 hold. The inventory of his hoard of bullion is incomplete, 
 but the amount is certainly several million ounces. 
 
 " Such a career of venality and corruption may be 
 called unique. Ho Shen has acknowledged the truth of 
 each separate count of the above indictment, after under- 
 going a severe examination ^ at the hands of the Princes 
 and Ministers. 
 
 " The fact now stands clearly revealed that Ho Shen is 
 a deep-dyed traitor, lost to all moral sense, who has be- 
 trayed his Sovereign and jeopardised the State. As self- 
 constituted dictator he has usurped supreme authority. 
 
 ^ The famous pearl worn in the Imperial hat was known as the K'ang 
 Lung Chiao Tzu (" The azure dragon instructing posterity "). The pearl 
 in Ho Shen's collection here referred to was even more famous. It 
 was called the Cheng Ta Kuang ming (" Of glorious good omen"), and had 
 been brought to the Ming Emperor Yung-Lo from Ceylon by one of his 
 eunuch envoys in the 15th century. It disappeared from the Palace, 
 stolen by the eunuch Wei Chung- hsien, in 1625, and remained in the 
 South till 1781, when it was sent as tribute to Ch'ien Lung from Chekiang 
 and appropriated by Ho Shen. There was an ancient prophecy con- 
 cerning it, that its loss would always mean ruin to the dynasty. After 
 Chia Ch'ing had confiscated it from Ho Shen's estate, he referred to this 
 prophecy. The last occasion on which it was seen at Court was at the 
 Empress Lung Yii's reception to the ladies of the Diplomatic Body in 
 1911, when the child Emperor Hsiian T'ung wore it in his cap. Rumour 
 declares that it was stolen in August 1911 by a eunuch named Shen 
 Lo-t'ing. 
 
 2 Under torture. 
 
 AA 353 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 He has lent himself to the most flagrant abuses, but his 
 venal greed and insatiate lust for lucre are comparatively 
 light crimes as compared with the depths of his treason. 
 
 " To my father, who lavished favours upon him, he was 
 guilty of most wanton ingratitude. Had any of his 
 colleagues impeached him years ago, my father, in his 
 divine wisdom, would surely have decreed his immediate 
 decapitation, but not a word was ever breathed against 
 him. My officials may now pretend that their silence was 
 due to a loyal desire to avoid causing distress to my aged 
 father, but I know all too well that the real reason lay in 
 their fear of Ho Shen's power. That alone kept their lips 
 sealed. 
 
 " Ho Shen's offences against my father are innumerable, 
 exceeding in number the hairs of the head. If I condone 
 them, how can I comfort the soul of my father in Heaven ? 
 The necessity for painful measures is forced upon me; I 
 shall be glad to know the opinion of my Viceroys and 
 Governors in the matter. My metropolitan officials have 
 already been ordered to advise as to the sentence to be 
 inflicted; Viceroys and Governors are hereby ordered 
 to submit their views, together with any further details of 
 Ho Shen's crimes that may be within their knowledge." 
 
 When the Great Man falls in China he brings down 
 many in his ruin. Chia Ch'ing's blood was up; he com- 
 menced a general proscription against the proteges of Ho 
 Shen in high places, making careful selection of those with 
 squeezable estates. The first victim was the Manchu 
 Governor of Shantung. The decree concerning him said : 
 " Amongst the memorials received by Imperial courier 
 to-day from I-chiang-a, Governor of Shantung, I find a 
 private letter addressed to Ho Shen, which states that 
 the Governor had learned that the late Emperor had 
 ' become a guest on high,' and goes on to exhort Ho Shen 
 to subdue his grief and devote himself to his duties. He 
 ignores me entirely, saying nothing about the awful loss 
 
 354 
 
THEJ COURT OF PEKING 
 
 which I have sustained, though even the ordinary social 
 relations of private life and common politeness require 
 that a line of sympathy and condolence be addressed to 
 a son who had just lost a father. I-chiang-a, in fact, sets 
 himself to console Ho Shen, bidding him moderate his 
 grief, but to me he sends only a routine memorial asking 
 after my health, after which he proceeds to report on the 
 affairs of his province, as if nothing unusual had occurred. 
 The Provincial Treasurer, Wu Hsiian-kuang, is a Chinese, 
 and not a Manchu like I-chiang-a, but he has had the 
 grace and good feeling to send me a memorial expressive 
 of the deepest sympathy and couched in most touching 
 terms. Immediately on hearing of the late Emperor's 
 death he wrote beseeching me to take comfort, writing, 
 in fact, as a Minister should write to his Sovereign. 
 I-chiang-a, a Manchu and the son of a Grand Secretary, 
 cannot plead ignorance of etiquette, especially as he 
 served for many years as Secretary of the Grand Council. 
 He treats my father's death with callous hardness, and 
 by thus tactfully condoling with Ho Shen, shows all too 
 plainly that my father was nothing to him in the past 
 and that I am nothing to him in the present. It is Ho 
 Shen whom he worships and flatters. He is a monster 
 of black ingratitude, and I transmit to him hereby my 
 stern rebuke, besides demanding an explanation and 
 referring his case to the proper Ministry for the determina- 
 tion of a penalty." 
 
 In due course I-chiang-a forwarded an explanatory 
 memorial, but it failed to appease the Emperor. " He 
 now puts forward the cunning quibble that the official 
 intimation of my father's death had not reached him. 
 He adds that he has never had any personal relations 
 with Ho Shen, and wrote merely to express the hope 
 that this national loss would inspire Ho Shen to display 
 zeal and devotion for the State. All this is simply 
 ridiculous ; what devotion to the State could be expected 
 
 355 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 from a man like Ho Shen, whose crimes have now been 
 made manifest to the world, and whose whole career is 
 one long record of self-seeking corruption ? If I-chiang-a 
 were really unacquainted with Ho Shen, will he kindly 
 inform me into whose pocket went the extra receipts under 
 the heading of tribute rice, in regard to which matter 
 he has already been denounced? I-chiang-a has been 
 guilty of grave offences. He is hereby cashiered and 
 ordered to Peking to await my further pleasure." 
 
 Referring to the tribute from the provinces, Chia Ch'ing 
 declared that Ho Shen had retained nine-tenths of it, 
 and that Ch'ien Lung had been disgracefully cheated. 
 He issued a decree forbidding any further remittances 
 of tribute in kind from the provinces, excepting only 
 medicines, sables and pearls from Manchuria, ginseng and 
 porcelain. He particularly objected to the annual pre- 
 sentation of Ju-i ("As you like it ") sceptres from each 
 province to the Throne, and remarked that to him these 
 articles were anything but pleasing, inasmuch as the 
 people were taxed to provide them. 
 
 At the Emperor's word, Ho Shen's friends and followers 
 now began to fall away from him. The Viceroy of Chihli, 
 Hu Chi-t'ang, who owed all he had to Ho Shen, turned, 
 after the manneivof the mandarin, on his patron in dis- 
 grace, and thus memorialised the Throne : " Ho Shen is 
 bereft of moral sense ; he cannot be regarded as a human 
 being. His dastardly treason to the Throne and cruel 
 oppression of the people have put him on a level with the 
 rebels in the west. Infatuate in his madness, he knows 
 no law, human or divine ; basely ungrateful, he wallows 
 in crime. I beg to recommend that he be sentenced to 
 the lingering death. I have also ascertained that in his 
 usurping arrogance he has built himself a lordly sepulchre 
 at Chi-chou, as magnificent as the Imperial tombs." 
 
 After receiving these thoroughly impartial views from 
 the Viceroys and Governors, Chia Ch'ing (whose talent 
 
 356 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 for long-winded reiteration exceeded even that of Yung 
 Cheng) proceeded once more to recapitulate the list of 
 Ho Shen's crimes. He recited twenty of them with 
 much wealth of detail, and observed that there were more 
 behind, though the whole Court was well aware that the 
 fallen Minister's one vital crime was his enormous wealth. 
 Once more, playing to the gallery and posterity, the 
 indignant Monarch asks the Court to deliberate upon an 
 adequate sentence. 
 
 Of Ho Shen's fellow- victim and offender, Fu Ch'ang-an, 
 he observes : " Fu Ch'ang-an's grandsire, sire, uncle, and 
 brothers all received hereditary honours from the Throne. 
 Fu Ch'ang-an himself served for years on the Grand 
 Council ; his daily relations with Ho Shen were of the very 
 closest kind. He knew full well the nature of Ho Shen's 
 disgraceful greed; moreover, as he was constantly in 
 intimate attendance on my late father, privileged to have 
 access to his presence when alone, he could, had he so 
 wished, have informed His late Majesty of Ho Shen's 
 treasonable and ambitious designs, and my father would 
 have realised that such a warning, based on intimate 
 knowledge, was worthy of confidence and serious attention. 
 In that case, there can be no doubt that Ho Shen would 
 long ago have suffered the penalty of death, and the 
 State would not then have had to deplore the present 
 disastrous condition of affairs. 
 
 *' If he really thought that the shock of such a revelation 
 would have been dangerous to my aged father, why did 
 not Fu Ch'ang-an report the matter to myself? But 
 during the three years that have elapsed since my acces- 
 sion, not a syllable has he ever uttered about Ho Shen's 
 guilt; his silence proves him to have been an accomplice 
 and abettor. Had he even hinted to me of Ho Shen's 
 crimes, I should have spared him to-day. As it is, the 
 schedule of his confiscated property, though vastly less 
 than that of Ho Shen, discloses total assets considerably 
 
 357 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 exceeding ten million taels, which must surely be regarded 
 as excessive for a man in his position. His remorseless 
 greed is second only to that of the chief culprit. I com- 
 mand, therefore, that the two cases be treated identically, 
 and a report submitted accordingly." 
 
 On the 17th, a fortnight after the death of the old 
 Emperor, the Grand Secretaries and Ministers submitted 
 their report. Many of them owed their advancement 
 in life to Ho Shen, but the ship was sinking and the rats 
 made haste to leave it. The fallen Minister's friends 
 fell from him — none so poor to do him reverence. They 
 advised the Throne to inflict the lingering death on Ho 
 Shen and decapitation on Fu Ch'ang-an, the former being 
 found guilty of high treason and the latter of having been 
 an accomplice before the fact. Ho Shen's usurpation of 
 supreme power constituted, they declared, a capital 
 offence, excluding him from all hope of mercy at the 
 hands of the law. 
 
 Chia Ch'ing had now observed the usual hypocritical 
 decencies, and saved his face in the orthodox manner by 
 placing on his Court the nominal responsibility for the 
 official murdering of Ho Shen and the plundering of his 
 vast estate. His object being to possess himself of the 
 wretched Minister's ill-gotten wealth, he could afford to 
 dispense with the lingering death, so long as death in some 
 form were inflicted. His next decree, therefore, took into 
 gracious consideration " the undesirability of executing 
 the chief Minister of State like a common felon in the 
 public square, and, because the Court was in mourning, 
 allowed him the privilege of committing suicide, as a 
 mark of high favour, and out of regard to the dignity of 
 the nation." As to Fu Ch'ang-an, " as his property does 
 not amount to a tenth of that illegally amassed by Ho 
 Shen, his punishment is commuted to confinement pend- 
 ing decapitation." ^ As a refinement of clemency, the 
 ^ A sentence equivalent to imprisonment for life. 
 358 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Emperor ordered that Fu Ch'ang-an was to be taken 
 under guard to Ho Shen's place of confinement and there 
 compelled, on his knees, to witness his late chief's suicide, 
 after which he was to be escorted back to prison. 
 
 Ho Shen's brother, Ho Lin, had received an hereditary 
 dukedom from His Majesty Ch'ien Lung in recognition 
 of his meritorious services in Tibet, and his name had 
 been inscribed amongst those of the heroes of the dynasty 
 in a side-shrine of the Temple of Ancestors. Chia Ch'ing, 
 after contemptuous references to Ho Lin's capacity and 
 career, ordered that his dukedom be taken from him and 
 that his shrine in the august company of the nation's 
 heroes be dismantled and overthrown.^ 
 
 One of Ho Shen's sons had married an Imperial Princess, 
 Chia Ch'ing's sister, and as it would have been incon- 
 sistent with the dignity of the Imperial family to reduce 
 him to the rank of a plebeian, he was permitted to retain 
 an hereditary earldom, on the understanding that he was 
 to be confined to his own premises and behave himself 
 circumspectly. Other members of the family were de- 
 graded, and the whole clan was removed from the highest 
 Manchu banner — to which Ch'ien Lung had promoted it — 
 and ordered to revert to the Plain Red division. 
 
 Ho Shen met his end with the calm dignity of a brave 
 man and a philosopher. He was commanded to kneel 
 and listen to Chia Ch'ing's long-winded decree ordering 
 him to commit suicide. On its conclusion, he said : " His 
 Majesty is most gracious; I thank him for his clemency." 
 Then, after kotowing in the direction of the Palace, he 
 addressed his son and Fu Ch'ang-an. To the latter he 
 said: "We two have served our old master together; 
 it is in accordance with ancient practice that the Minister 
 
 ^ In the eyes of the orthodox, Chia Ch'ing by this act reached the 
 lowest depths of filial impiety, and became a criminal in the sight of 
 God and men. This sin was sufficient in itself to accoimt for the 
 subsequent visitation of Heaven's wrath upon him. 
 
 359 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 should follow his lord to the Nine Springs. I shall now 
 attend His sainted Majesty, as of old, and receive his wise 
 counsel. The present Emperor has loyal servants about 
 him and is well rid of men such as you and I." 
 
 Then he mounted the dais and hanged himself, tying 
 the noose without assistance. His last words were : " His 
 late Majesty will feel indignant wrath in the Halls of 
 Hades." This was at 1 p.m. In a minute or two life 
 was extinct. When the news of his death was brought 
 in haste to the mean-spirited Chia Ch'ing, they found him 
 kneeling before his father's coffin offering propitiatory 
 libations of wine. 
 
 Peking was greatly excited, and the official world went 
 in terror of a wholesale proscription, such as took place 
 when the eunuch Wei Chung-hsien held sway at the end 
 of the Ming dynasty. Chia Ch'ing was urged by his two 
 elder brothers to issue a reassuring decree. Knowing 
 himself to be extremely unpopular, and fearful of assassina- 
 tion, he followed this advice. He said, in his best manner : 
 " Ho Shen is dead. Unless the Empire's chief cause of evil 
 were pulled up by the roots, how could my Government be 
 purified and officialdom purged of its corroding influence ? 
 His case is concluded, but he held at his disposal many 
 of the highest posts, and his partisans in Peking are legion. 
 The provinces swarm with the sycophants who fawned at 
 his gate and bribed their unlawful way into his favour. 
 Should I proceed to investigate every case I would have 
 to indite at least seventy per cent, of the higher officials, 
 which is clearly impracticable, for there would be no 
 means of making the punishment fit the crime. The times 
 are out of joint. So many and great abuses exist in our 
 Government that time fails me to recapitulate them, I 
 have mentioned the worst in my decrees regarding Ho Shen. 
 But if my officials misconstrue my motives and begin 
 denouncing their private enemies to me on trivial grounds, 
 inventing plausible evidence for the wreaking of old 
 
 360 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 grudges, there will be no end to the reign of terror and no 
 one will be safe. I have no desire to be at the head of a 
 party, nor to allow my Government to be divided into 
 opposing groups, each animated by vindictive feelings 
 towards the other. 
 
 " I dealt severely with Ho Shen because his usurping 
 ambition jeopardised the safety of the State; his venal 
 corruption and subterraneous trafficking were compara- 
 tively trivial offences. After I decided to strike I struck 
 promptly and without mercy. But if only warning be 
 taken for the future, I am ready to let bygones be bygones. 
 I trust, therefore, that none of you will harbour nervous 
 fears. Most of you are men of second-rate abilities, but 
 if you will exert yourselves conscientiously in the service 
 of the State, there is no reason why you should not im- 
 prove in course of time. Some of you in your haste have 
 gone astray; you must now cleanse your hearts and 
 purge yourselves of error in the hope of becoming respect- 
 able members of society and not mere wastrels and en- 
 cumbrances. Trembling obey this my mandate ; let the 
 whetstone of conscience make you keen to conform to my 
 desire for the dawn of a better day ! " (With many more 
 platitudes to the same effect.) 
 
 Chia Ch'ing's decrees are sufficient in themselves to 
 show that his first idea, upon the death of his father, was 
 to deprive Ho Shen of his power and his fortune, and this 
 from purely vindictive and avaricious motives. But be- 
 cause " face-saving " traditions and the elaborate parade 
 of elementary justice retained with him and with his 
 Court an atavistic force of instinct, the judicial murder 
 of his Chief Minister and the plundering of his worldly 
 goods had to be carried out with due observance of time- 
 honoured formalities and retributive justice. There could 
 be no doubt that he and his immediate adherents, jealous 
 of Ho Shen's wealth and power, had long since planned the 
 impeachment and destruction of Ch'ien Lung's favourite, 
 
 361 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 but when the time came, they were careful to cover the 
 infamy of their proceedings with a fine texture of plausible 
 justification. The Emperor's sole motives were jealousy 
 and greed, but he compelled his victim, under torture, to 
 invest them with the virtue of righteous indignation. 
 
 In the ransacked and chaotic jumble of the Grand 
 Council's archives, a portion of the original report sub- 
 mitted by the Council on the indictment of Ho Shen has 
 recently been found. Unfortunately, most of this docu- 
 ment is missing, but what remains is extremely interesting. 
 The first portion is a memorandum of His Majesty's orders, 
 verbally communicated, concerning the several matters 
 on which the Imperial Commissioners were directed to 
 cross-examine the prisoner, under torture if necessary. 
 It is unnecessary to reproduce the whole of this dossier, 
 but the Emperor's first two questions may be quoted as 
 proof of his grasping and thoroughly sordid intentions. 
 
 The first question was : " Amongst the mass of 
 property seized in your various residences I find a quantity 
 of ceilings and panellings of Imperial cedar wood, the use 
 of which by a subject is tantamount to gross Use majeste. 
 All the furniture and fittings of this woodwork are an 
 exact reproduction of those in the Palace of Tranquil 
 Longevity. What was your motive in committing these 
 acts of treason ? Did you aspire to the Throne ? 
 
 Ho Shen's reply (real or alleged) amounted, as did all 
 the rest of his statements under " cross-examination," to 
 an unqualified and humble confession of guilt. There can 
 be no doubt that if he made the statements recorded 
 against him, he did so because he knew that his doom was 
 sealed, and wished to save himself and his persecutors 
 further trouble. His answer to the above question is set 
 down as follows : 
 
 " Your slave had no right to have in his private residence 
 ceilings and panellings of Imperial cedar, with screens 
 and woodwork in imitation of those in the Palace. The 
 
 362 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 fact is, I sent a eunuch named Hu to the Palace to have 
 the fittings copied. The cedar wood I purchased myself, 
 but it is true that I took from the Palace several pillars 
 of crystal and glass. For this your slave deserves to die 
 the death." 
 
 The second question was : " Amongst the great assort- 
 ment of pearls and jewels which were seized yesterday at 
 your residences and handed over to me for inspection, I 
 find over two hundred exquisite Court necklaces of pearls. 
 I, the Emperor, only possess about eighty Court necklaces, 
 including those formerly worn by my grandfather and 
 great-grandfather. Your necklaces outnumber mine three 
 to one. Amongst your large single pearls there is one 
 much larger than the one I wear in my official hat. You 
 have no right to wear such a pearl. How did you acquire 
 this immense collection ? Besides, you have innumerable 
 quantities of other gems, more lustrous and larger than any 
 I possess. Is not this of itself convincing proof of your 
 covetous wickedness ? " 
 
 To this Ho Shen replied giving the names of the various 
 officials from whom he had received presents of pearls 
 and other jewels, chiefly military commanders. 
 
 For the rest, the wretched man either confessed, or 
 was reported to have confessed, that all the other charges 
 against him, as set forth in the Emperor's indictment, 
 were true. He had " appropriated Imperial handmaidens 
 of exceptional comeliness for his own purposes " ; he 
 had ridden on horseback in the Forbidden City; he had 
 revealed State secrets and suppressed despatches from 
 the seat of rebellion; he had prevented the Mongol 
 mission from coming to Peking, and done many other 
 evil things, for all of which, " he deserved to die a thousand 
 deaths." 
 
 But all these interesting formalities, in the case of a 
 man irretrievably condemned before this farce of an 
 " inquiry " began, were nothing more than by-play, as 
 
 363 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the Court was well aware; an empty parade of legality 
 intended to serve the purposes of " historical accuracy " 
 in the dynastic records. The real object of the inquiry 
 was to elicit from Ho Shen the total amount of his property 
 and the places in which it was to be found. In this matter 
 he was less frankly communicative ; after three " examina- 
 tions," the list of his possessions included 60 million 
 ounces of silver; 27,000 ounces of gold; 56 necklaces 
 and bracelets of pearls; 456 rubies and 113 sapphires. 
 The large Court necklaces were not included in the 
 official schedule, because the Emperor had confiscated 
 them for his own use on the day that they were handed 
 to him for inspection. (The famous pearl-embroidered 
 jacket, frequently worn by the Empress Dowager 
 Tzu Hsi, was similarly confiscated from Ho Shen's 
 collection.) 
 
 Ho Shen had to be repeatedly and severely beaten 
 before he declared the total amount and the hiding-places 
 of his wealth. Eventually, after the Eighth Prince and 
 two Grand Secretaries had personally superintended the 
 " inquiry " and the application of severe torture, Ho Shen 
 disclosed the fact that most of his treasure was buried in 
 his garden outside the city. Prince Ting, a grandson of 
 Ch'ien Lung, was sent to dig it up, whilst the Eleventh 
 Prince, with two other Grand Secretaries, made a thorough 
 search of all the victim's city residences. The Court was 
 hot on the scent for loot. 
 
 Eight days later the treasure-hunters sent in their 
 report. Ho Shen's property was classified under 109 
 schedules, 26 of which showed a total value of 223 millions 
 of taels (roughly at that time, 70 millions sterling). These 
 figures, the result of an official valuation, were quoted 
 in an Imperial decree, and may be regarded as approxi- 
 mately correct. His entire estate, roughly calculated on 
 the same basis, must have been worth about 900 millions 
 of taels. The bullion confiscated was handed over to the 
 
 364 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Board of Revenue, ostensibly for the campaign against 
 the rebels in Ssu-ch'uan and Hupei. 
 
 The official inventory, under the first 26 schedules 
 of Ho Shen's estate, deals principally with his main 
 residence, which Chia Ch'ing, in his disinterested zeal for 
 the purity of the State, presented to his younger brother, 
 Prince Ch'ing.^ The gardens to the east of it, adjoining 
 the Lake of the Ten Pagodas (Shih ch'a hai), were given 
 to another of his brothers. Prince Ch'eng, and until quite 
 recently belonged to his descendant, the " Beileh" Hsiao. 
 
 The flower garden, presented to Ho Shen by Ch'ien 
 Lung himself, was one of the wonders of the capital. It 
 contained sixty-four pavilions, some of them decorated 
 with Imperial yellow tiles, and had high towers at its four 
 corners, after the design of the Palace precincts, which 
 was undoubtedly inviting disaster. In these towers Ho 
 Shen kept a considerable force of night watchmen under 
 arms to protect his vast wealth ; there were 420 altogether 
 in the pleasure garden. 
 
 Ho Shen's wealth was indeed sufficient to excite the 
 jealous cupidity of a small-minded man like Chia Ch'ing. 
 To be very rich is always dangerous under an Oriental 
 Court, but the hoarding instinct is usually stronger than 
 the fear of death itself in a race with which the horror 
 of poverty seems, through ages of the fiercest life-struggle, 
 to have accumulated the blind force of unreasoning 
 instinct. The manner in which the Great Man invested 
 and concealed his riches was typical of his class, and not 
 without interest as illustrating the economic conditions 
 then obtaining. To-day, the much-looted modern man- 
 darin has discovered new and safer means of investing 
 his money — ^in the fixed deposits of European banks and 
 
 ^ The western half of Ho Shen's residence is now the property of his 
 grandson by adoption, the venal Prince Ch'ing, whose corrupt practices 
 were notorious throughout the latter part of the reign of Tzu Hsi. The 
 eastern half, divided from it by a street, is the Palace of Prince Hsiao. 
 
 365 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 real estate at the Treaty Ports; but until 1900, the 
 methods adopted by Ho Shen were those common to the 
 wealthy official class. 
 
 According to the 26 schedules above mentioned, Ho 
 Shen was the owner of 75 pawnshops, 13 curio-shops, 
 two storehouses of white jade and two of silk. In his 
 fur treasury there were 1907 rare fox skins and 67,000 
 other pelts. He had a separate storehouse for sables 
 and fur coats, in which were found 1417 fine sable robes 
 and over 4000 other fur garments, together with large 
 quantities of sable-lined boots and hats. His wood 
 treasury was a building of 22 rooms, containing 8640 
 pieces of the choicest woods. The contents of the pawnshops 
 and curio-shops alone were valued at 60 millions of taels. 
 
 His private residences were furnished with a magnificence 
 which the China of to-day knows only by tradition, the 
 magnificence of art treasures accumulated through long 
 centuries, but which, looted in successive rebellions, 
 or sold by their impoverished owners, have gradually 
 found their way into the hands of foreigners and left 
 the country for ever. The list of curios found in Ho 
 Shen's principal residence included amongst others the 
 following objects : 
 
 11 bronze tripods of the Han dynasty. 
 
 18 jade tripods. 
 711 antique ink slabs (some of the Sung dynasty). 
 
 28 Imperial gongs, of jade. 
 
 10 ancient Japanese swords. 
 
 38 European clocks, inlaid with gems. 
 140 gold and enamel watches. 
 226 pearl bracelets. 
 288 large rubies, 4070 sapphires. 
 
 10 trees of coral, 3 feet 8 inches high. 
 
 22 statues, in white jade, representing the Goddess 
 of Mercy, the Lohans, etc. 
 366 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 18 solid gold Lohans, 2 feet 4 inches high. 
 9000 sceptres " Ju-i " of solid gold, each weighing 
 forty-eight ounces. 
 507 jade sceptres, several of them engraved upon the 
 handle with original verses by the Emperor 
 Ch'ien Lung. 
 3411 small jade sceptres. 
 500 pairs of chopsticks, ivory and gold. 
 
 A gold table service of 4288 pieces; another 
 similar service of silver. 
 99 large soup-bowls of topaz; 154 of jade. 
 124 wine beakers of white jade. 
 18 plates of jade and eighteen of topaz, forty inches 
 in diameter. 
 2390 snuff -bottles of jade, cornelian and topaz. 
 
 1 solid rock of jade, carved and engraved with poems 
 of the Ming Emperor Yung Lo and His Majesty 
 Ch'ien Lung, about 8 feet long.^ 
 
 Even the wash-basins, spittoons, and chamber utensils 
 of the great man's house were of solid gold, or jade — 
 only a few were of silver. Of small screens he had 23 of 
 solid gold, and 40 of gold and lacquer; 24 large lacquer 
 screens; 144 couches decorated with gold work and 
 lacquer, inlaid with gems. Finally, in the treasury of this 
 house alone and in the garden caches they found gold 
 bars to the value of 35 million taels, besides 28,000 articles 
 of jewellery, large and small. ^ 
 
 ^ This ohjet de vertu is now in the Metropolitan Museum at 
 New York; it was taken from Tzu Hsi's apartments at the Summer 
 Palace by an officer of the allied forces in 1900, and sold by him to an 
 American connoisseur and diplomat. The Old Buddha was very 
 fond of this curio, and was much distressed, on her return from exile to 
 Peking in January 1902, to find that it had been looted. 
 
 ' It is interesting to observe that the valuation placed on Ho Shen's 
 property under these 26 schedules — ^roughly a quarter of his estate — 
 taken at the rate of exchange at that period, would suffice to pay off 
 the whole Boxer indemnity. 
 
 367 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Small wonder if the Court officials were zealous in the 
 work of compiling these interesting schedules, and small 
 wonder if His Majesty Chia Ch'ing placed his own brothers 
 (under the watchful eyes of Grand Secretaries) to make a 
 full record of such splendid plunder. Once the work of 
 the Imperial looters had been done, His Majesty depre- 
 cated any further references to the matter, or to the 
 ultimate disposal of Ho Shen's property. Nevertheless, 
 some four months after his death, a certain Lieutenant- 
 General of a Banner Corps, named Sa, ventured to 
 memorialise, saying that a good deal of leakage had 
 occurred in compiling the official returns of the various 
 properties, that there was still much treasure hidden, and 
 that a good deal more had found its way, as hush money, 
 into the pockets of the Imperial Commissioners who 
 " tried the case." To this the Emperor replied in an 
 edict, assuring the memorialist that he must be mis- 
 taken (Chia Ch'ing had no intention of muzzling the ox 
 that trod out such good corn). Once more the tactless 
 Bannerman returned to the charge, evidently hoping 
 to be well rewarded for his zeal. He declared that Ho 
 Shen's treasury accounts had been in the hands of four 
 female secretaries, and that a cross-examination of these 
 women would bring many things to light. But Chia 
 Ch'ing needed no further light on this subject. His decree 
 rebuking the unfortunate Sa is interesting reading. The 
 following is taken from its concluding paragraphs : 
 
 " Yesterday We appointed Prince Ch'eng, in company 
 with the memorialist, to summon the four female secre- 
 taries to an investigation, so as to clear up the matter at 
 once. The result is, as We expected, that they all deny 
 the existence of any more treasure. Our original surmise 
 as to the completely fictitious nature of Sa Pin-tu's 
 information has thus been amply justified. 
 
 " None of the Princes or Ministers have ever suggested 
 in Our presence that portions of Ho Shen's hoard had 
 
 368 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 been secreted or removed. It was left for Sa Pin-tu to 
 deliver himself of these wild surmises, which clearly 
 indicate his belief that We are animated by avaricious 
 motives, and that We desire to accumulate vast wealth 
 during Our reign. In his folly he has imagined that he 
 would greatly interest and please Us with his stories about 
 further hoards of treasure to be found. 
 
 " Now be it known that the only object in confiscating 
 a Minister's property is to provide a solemn warning for 
 the guidance of grasping officials. There is not the 
 faintest idea of Our starting a wholesale proscription, so 
 as to divert other ill-gotten gains into the Imperial coffers. 
 The actual amount of Ho Shen's treasure is a matter of 
 supreme indifference to Us; We are concerned only to 
 vindicate the principle of official honesty. Even sup- 
 posing for a moment that much of Ho Shen's property 
 still remains unaccounted for, and has been wrongfully 
 diverted to the possession of other private persons, We 
 would make the obvious retort that its hiding-place 
 cannot be very distant and that, no matter who has 
 acquired it, it remains accessible if need be. Its present 
 owners cannot conceal it indefinitely nor spirit it away.^ 
 
 " Why, then, should We trouble ourselves about making 
 too meticulous an inventory, or permit further ramifica- 
 tion of this inquiry, which would convey an impression of 
 covetous extortion ? " 
 
 So Ho Shen died, because of his great wealth, and all 
 his treasure was scattered. Chia Ch'ing did his work 
 thoroughly. A month after the proscription and punish- 
 ment of the deceased Minister's family, when he was busy 
 with the counting of the spoils, one of his brothers, Prince 
 Ting,^ discovered another magnificent Court necklace of 
 
 ^ The meaning of this was plain ; it conveyed an indirect intimation 
 to those concerned, that His Majesty had his suspicions concerning 
 the division of the spoils and that he wanted a larger share of the 
 bullion, which was forthcoming. 
 
 2 Eldest grandson of Ch'ien Lung. 
 BB 369 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 pearls of which no mention had been made in the cross- 
 examination of Ho Shen. It was his favourite and par- 
 ticular treasure, the apple of his eye. Whilst unable to 
 conceal his delight at the find, Chia Ch'ing deals a spiteful 
 final blow at Ho Shen's son, his brother-in-law, for not 
 having declared the existence of this necklace. His edict 
 reveals almost incredible depths of meanness, and may 
 fittingly be cited as the last word in the history of Ho 
 Shen : 
 
 " After the exposure of Ho Shen's abominable crimes 
 and corrupt practices, We ordered Prince Ting to make 
 a further inventory of his property. Mien En now informs 
 Us that he and his fellow Commissioners have discovered 
 an Imperial Court necklace of pearls, which he has sub- 
 mitted for Our inspection. When contemplating this 
 article We are simply astounded, inasmuch as a Court 
 necklace of pearls may only be worn by an Emperor, and 
 no subject of the Throne is even entitled to own one. If 
 it be now suggested that Ho Shen might have intended to 
 present this necklace as tribute. Our reply is that in that 
 case the pearls would not have been strung on dark 
 yellow braid. We are thoroughly convinced that he had 
 retained it for his own use. 
 
 " We therefore bade Prince Ting institute inquiries in 
 the Ho Shen household, several members of which have 
 now stated that although Ho Shen never wore this neck- 
 lace by daylight, he would often put it on at night, when 
 no strangers were present, and would then stand before 
 the mirror contemplating himself with evident satisfac- 
 tion. He would assume various attitudes, smile and 
 mutter to himself, and walk up and down the apartment, 
 assuming the gait of His late Majesty and even imitating 
 his sacred voice. His words were generally indistinct, 
 but the witnesses declare that they could hear the word 
 ' Chen ' (the Imperial ' We '), as if, indeed, he believed 
 himself to be the Emperor. 
 
 370 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 " It is, in Our opinion, perfectly plain that he enter- 
 tained designs of usurping the Throne. Had these facts 
 come to Our knowledge before the 18th day of the 1st 
 Moon, We should assuredly have decreed Ho Shen's 
 decapitation, even if We had spared him the lingering 
 death and dismemberment. 
 
 " However, he has already been permitted to commit 
 suicide, and thus luckily escaped the extreme penalty of 
 public execution. We do not, therefore, insist on his 
 corpse being hacked to pieces. 
 
 "As to his son, Fengshenyinte, the husband of an 
 Imperial Princess, had he known of the existence of this 
 necklace and had refrained from informing Us, We should 
 have ordered his dismemberment as an accessory before 
 the fact. But a most rigorous cross-examination has 
 elicited from him naught but repeated denials of all know- 
 ledge of its existence, and of Our grace We are pleased 
 to order that no further investigation of the matter is 
 required. Nevertheless, We cannot allow him to retain 
 his hereditary rank, and We therefore deprive him of his 
 ancestral earldom, merely allowing him to hold brevet 
 rank as a Supernumerary Minister of the Presence. Prince 
 Ting has shown much energy in the investigation of Ho 
 Shen's property, and is to be referred to the Ministry 
 concerned to determine a suitable reward." 
 
 371 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 CHIA CH'ING: THE BEGINNING OF THEiEND 
 
 The example and results of Ho Shen's venal practices, 
 and the presence at the provincial capitals of many of 
 those who had studied the art of Government under his 
 patronage and direction, speedily produced unmistakable 
 symptoms of demoralisation throughout the public service, 
 which, in its turn, resulted in widespread disaffection 
 and unrest amongst the people. The mandarins who 
 administered the Government under Chia Ch'ing were 
 conspicuously inferior, in efficiency and moral character, 
 to those who had held high offices under Ch'ien Lung. In 
 China, more than in any other country in the world, 
 because of the solidity of the patriarchal traditions of 
 Government, the thoughts and deeds of the masses reflect 
 in a high degree the moral qualities of the official class. 
 The Chinese people are like the rest of humanity in that 
 they cannot be made moral by Acts of Parliament, or 
 wise by the inauguration of a Republic; but as regards 
 the maintenance of public order and the pursuit of industry 
 in preference to predatory activities, they are very greatly 
 influenced by the moral qualities or defects of those placed 
 in authority over them. If Chia Ch'ing had been a man 
 of the same stamp as his father; had he pursued and 
 despoiled Ho Shen and other offenders from a sense of 
 duty and for the purification of the State, the public 
 service would, no doubt, have recovered from the poison 
 of corruption and gross living with which Ch'ien Lung, in 
 
 372 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 his old age, had allowed Ho Shen to infect it. But, except 
 in matters of personal revenge and covetous greed, 
 Chia Ch'ing displayed neither initiative nor intelligence. 
 Grasping, suspicious and thoroughly insincere, he lacked 
 the quality of firmness and the sense of justice requisite 
 to make a successful ruler of China; and his officials 
 faithfully reflected their Sovereign's methods in their 
 administration of the provinces. As a result, the spirit 
 of rebellion, ever latent in the struggling mass of China's 
 congested population, which manifested itself at the 
 beginning of his reign, continued to grow and spread, until 
 it became a chronic ailment of the body politic and an 
 unmistakable indication of the approaching end of the 
 Manchu power. Officials, civil and military, whom Ch'ien 
 Lung would have recalled and executed for their failure 
 to suppress local risings, were allowed by Chia Ch'ing to 
 sow fresh seeds of disaffection, by wholesale and indis- 
 criminating proscriptions of the wealthy, wherever an 
 insurrection afforded them some pretext for filling their 
 own pockets. And Chia Ch'ing shared this plunder, whilst 
 bemoaning the evil destinies of his country in platitudinous 
 decrees. 
 
 The insurrection of the White Lily society resulted 
 in the devastation of four provinces before the new Em- 
 peror, after eight years of anxious struggle, felt himself 
 secure upon the Throne. It eventually subsided in 1807, 
 after wholesale extermination in suspected districts; but 
 in 1812 an attempt was made upon the life of the Emperor 
 at Peking, which revealed the existence of another wide- 
 spread anti-Manchu organisation, and prepared the 
 Government for the serious outbreak which the " Heavenly 
 Reason " secret society was already planning in Honan. 
 
 The would-be assassin was a Manchu, named Ch'eng 
 Te, employed as cook to the Imperial Household. Waiting 
 for the Emperor on his way to the Summer Palace, he 
 suddenly rushed towards the palanquin, sword in hand. 
 
 373 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 The bearers, seeing him, dropped the sedan and fled, the 
 bodyguard seemed paralysed with fear, and the terrified 
 Monarch collapsed in a fainting condition. He would 
 undoubtedly have been slain had it not been for an officer 
 of the guard, who galloped to his side just in time to over- 
 power his assailant. 
 
 Chia Ch'ing, suspecting that the assassin had been 
 hired by kinsmen of the late Grand Secretary, Ho Shen, 
 had him examined with every refinement of lingering 
 torture, but could extract nothing from him to prove the 
 existence of an organised plot. All the man would say 
 was : "If my plans had succeeded none of you would be 
 where you are now." He was finally put to death by the 
 slow slicing process, after his two sons had been beheaded 
 before his eyes. 
 
 The annals of the dynasty contain no explanation of 
 this attempt on the life of the Emperor; nevertheless, 
 there is evidence to show that Ch'eng Te was one of a 
 band of conspirators who, in the following year, made a 
 determined attempt to seize the Palace and to overthrow 
 the dynasty. The facts were made known to the Governor 
 of Shantung, through a report forwarded to him by the 
 District Magistrate of that province, who had arrested 
 one of the leaders of the conspiracy, and elicited from him 
 the information that the man Ch'eng Te had been a 
 member of his band. The Governor thought it best to 
 preserve a discreet silence on this matter, lest Chia Ch'ing 
 should punish him for not having discovered and nipped 
 the conspiracy in the bud. It was undoubtedly organised 
 by some of Ho Shen's faction, acting in concert with the 
 anti-dynastic societies in the provinces. 
 
 It was on the 15th day of the 9th Moon in the year 1813 
 that a considerable force of armed men suddenly forced 
 their way into the Palace, and for a time actually held 
 its gates. Their plans for gaining access to the Forbidden 
 City were well laid, but, as usually happens with Chinese 
 
 374 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 risings, they had no capable leader, and once inside the 
 Imperial precincts there was no definite plan of concerted 
 attack. Chia Ch'ing was absent at the time, on his way 
 to perform sacrifice at his father's tomb. His subsequent 
 decree on the subject states the main facts accurately 
 enough, as follows : 
 
 " Without warning, at noon of the 15th day of the 9th 
 Moon, a band of rebels dared to enter the Palace by the 
 Gate of Azure Thunder, where they were successfully 
 stopped by eunuchs. An hour later another party 
 climbed over the inner wall of the Forbidden City and 
 entered the Palace, where my son. Mien Ning,i was at his 
 studies. Seeing that the situation was dangerous the 
 Prince picked up a fowling-piece and drew his sword. He 
 picked off the rebel leader, who, with a white flag in his 
 hand, was directing operations. My son pleads guilty 
 to rash presumption in having fired, but adds that the 
 situation was desperate. He acted with true courage 
 and commonsense, most remarkable in a young Prince 
 still engaged in his studies.^ No sooner had the alarm 
 been given than he rushed out and killed two more rebels, 
 and by his prompt action caused the band to scatter in 
 alarm. In spite of this, my son apologises for his pre- 
 sumption in words which display admirable good taste 
 and modesty. I can hardly guide my pencil as I write, 
 for my eyes are blurred with tears, so deep is the gratifica- 
 tion which I feel at his conduct. The sacred enclosure 
 of the Forbidden City contains the spirit tablets of my 
 ancestors and of my late father, and the Empress Consort 
 is living there now. My son has bravely defended its 
 sanctity and has acquitted himself with rare loyalty and 
 filial duty. I confer upon him the title of Prince of the 
 
 ^ Who subsequently reigned as the Emperor Tao Kuang. 
 
 2 The Prince was then thirty-one years of age. Chia Ch'ing kept him 
 and his brothers in tutelage much longer than was usual, warned by the 
 example of K'ang Hsi's rebellious family. Though married at the age 
 of fourteen, he did not set up an independent establishment till 1816. 
 
 375 
 
 A 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 First Order, with the title of ' Wise,' and double his 
 emoluments, raising them to T. 12,000 per annum. My 
 third son, Mien K'ai, deserves praise also for the help he 
 rendered. If my Ministers display merit I reward them 
 as a matter of course. Naturally, therefore, if my own 
 sons display courage and loyalty, I can hardly refrain from 
 suitably recognising their deserts. This is only common 
 fairness, and I trust that my Ministers will realise this 
 and be inspired to equal bravery. 
 
 " A further memorial from my brother. Prince Yi, and 
 others reports that the attack was suppressed by 3 p.m., 
 the number of rebels taken alive being altogether two 
 hundred. I would observe, however, that the list of their 
 names only mentions thirty-one persons, and I should 
 be glad to know what has become of the other hundred 
 and sixty-nine. This memorial is sadly lacking in 
 lucidity. 
 
 " My brother. Prince Ch'eng, after cross-examining 
 several rebels, learns that there is still a band of some five 
 hundred of them outside the Imperial City, but he does 
 not state whether these took any part in the disturbances 
 or how their presence came to be revealed. I desire 
 information on this matter. On the occasion of so sudden 
 an irruption of desperadoes, who have dared to enter the 
 sacred precincts and lurk in the Imperial kitchen, the 
 Princes and Ministers have shown remarkable courage. 
 Those who made arrests in the inner enclosure of the 
 Palace deserve the highest praise; next in merit are the 
 defenders of the outer precincts. In the bestowal of 
 rewards and honours those who were slain in repelling 
 the attack are to be included under the first class; the 
 severely wounded under the second class, and those 
 slightly wounded under the third class. All names must 
 be given irrespective of rank, and no favouritism shown. 
 Upon my arrival, my second son is to meet me inside the 
 gate of the Palace, and to prostrate himself in obeisance 
 
 376 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 for the honour I have bestowed upon him. He is excused 
 from awaiting the cortege outside the city." 
 
 Chia Ch'ing countermanded his visit to the tombs and 
 hurried back to Peking. In the course of a characteristic 
 penitential decree he made the following remarks on the 
 causes of national demoralisation : 
 
 " My dynasty has now ruled over this Empire for one 
 hundred and seventy years ; my glorious predecessors have, 
 each in his turn, displayed a bountiful affection for their 
 subjects, treating them ever as beloved children. No pen 
 can describe their sage virtue and justice. Although I may 
 have failed in reaching their standard of perfection I have 
 not been a cruel or grasping ruler. This sudden disaster is 
 quite inexplicable to me ; it is, I suppose, a proof of my 
 own scanty merit and a punishment for my many offences. 
 The revolution broke out suddenly, but it must have been 
 long in preparation. The besetting sin amongst my 
 officials may be summed up in two words : ' Incurable 
 procrastination.' I keep warning you all till my lips are 
 sore and my tongue is dry, but you take no notice, and 
 continue to govern in the old casual way. Because of 
 this a calamity has befallen us, unparalleled under this 
 or any other dynasty, infinitely worse than the episode 
 which occurred under the Mings, when a man armed with 
 a cudgel made an attempt on the life of the Heir Apparent 
 of Wan Li.^ I cannot bear to speak of this thing any 
 more. All I can do is to repent me of my errors and to 
 purify my heart, in order, on the one hand, to show my 
 gratitude to high Heaven and, on the other, to lessen my 
 subjects' disaffection towards their ruler. 
 
 " If you, my officials, desire truly and loyally to serve 
 my great Manchu dynasty, then must you become as 
 little children and toil zealously for the State, in order to 
 redeem my errors and to reform the habits of the people. 
 If, however, it please you better to remain sunken in 
 
 ^ Vide supra, p. 48. 
 377 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 degeneracy, then you had better hang up your official 
 hats and seek refuge in retirement for the remainder of this 
 existence. Cease from placidly accepting the emoluments 
 and sweets of office, like the mourner who takes the place 
 of the corpse and presides at the funeral feast, in dignified 
 nonchalance, for thus you will only enhance your Emperor's 
 guilt. I have written so far, but tears gush forth and 
 blot the paper. Let this be made known everywhere." 
 
 The name of the leading conspirator was Lin Ch'ing, 
 whose influence over his numerous adherents of the 
 Heavenly Principles Society seems to have been (like 
 that of the Boxer leaders in 1900) largely mystical and 
 religious. His avowed aim was the foundation of a new 
 dynasty, with himself as the Heaven-sent ruler of China. 
 Preparations were being made for a general rising on the 
 15th day of the intercalary 8th Moon,^ but the plot was 
 discovered, in April 1812, by the Manchu Prefect at Tamsui 
 in Formosa, who happened to arrest one of its moving 
 spirits, engaged there in spreading anti-dynastic sedition. 
 This man disclosed the aims of the secret society, and named 
 Lin Ch'ing as its leader. The Prefect informed the 
 Governor of the conspiracy, but the Governor took no 
 steps to warn Peking, for fear of getting into trouble 
 himself. • 
 
 On the day before the attack on the Palace, a Police 
 Inspector at Lu K'ou-ch'iao, six miles south-west of 
 Peking, sent an urgent message to the Governor of the 
 city informing him that Lin Ch'ing had given orders to his 
 men to enter the capital next morning. Again, the 
 Governor, fearing to be the bearer of alarmist news, took 
 no action in the matter. 
 
 As the result of the investigation held and the evidence 
 of the prisoners, it transpired that several of the Palace 
 eunuchs had taken part in the conspiracy. Chia Ch'ing's 
 
 ^ Intercalary 8th Moons seem to be especially selected by the 
 astrologers of secret societies for the outbreak of rebellions. 
 
 378 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 decree on the subject is interesting, inasmuch as it reveals 
 the increasing demorahsation of the Imperial Household. 
 It reads as follows : 
 
 " Before the attack on the Palace certain seditious 
 characters had been arrested in Shantung and Honan 
 on charges of murdering officials. They confessed under 
 examination that they belonged to the Heavenly Prin- 
 ciples Society, and that their leader, Lin, was hiding in 
 Peking. I was about to give orders for his arrest, when 
 the Forbidden City was invaded by armed rebels, all of 
 whom have been captured. It was learned that their 
 leader, the aforesaid Lin Ch'ing, was in hiding at a village 
 near Peking, and his capture was effected. He admits 
 that he was the originator and organiser of the con- 
 spiracy. He propagated treasonable doctrines and 
 planned to have me assassinated; his guilt is heinous in 
 the extreme. I am deeply grateful to the protection of 
 Heaven and of my ancestors for frustrating his designs, 
 and command that he be punished with the utmost rigour 
 of the law. I am greatly astounded to learn that several 
 eunuchs, Lin Te-ts'ai and others, belonged to this heretic 
 sect. That minions in the service of the Palace should 
 dare to join a society so pernicious and abet its treasonable 
 designs by opening the Palace gates to the rebels, reveals 
 an unprecedented degree of guilt. The eunuchs under 
 arrest must be examined separately under torture, and 
 the whole truth extracted, without evasions or false 
 witness. These guilty eunuchs must all be sentenced to 
 dismemberment, of course, and their families will share 
 their fate. The eunuch ringleader, Lin Te-ts'ai, is to be 
 held until my return to the Palace, when I shall examine 
 him myself, together with his chief accomplice. When 
 I have rigorously cross-examined them, they will be duly 
 punished by the lingering death." 
 
 On the following morning Chia Ch'ing re-entered 
 Peking, taking the opportunity of exhibiting himself to 
 
 379 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the people by riding on horseback instead of being borne 
 in the Imperial palanquin. He immediately set himself 
 to the congenial task of examining the culprits under 
 torture. The names of other ringleaders were revealed 
 and the objects of the society, which was frankly anti- 
 Manchu, disclosed. It was originally called the Eight 
 Diagrams Sect, and had a great number of adherents in 
 the northern provinces. In some respects its methods 
 and ritual resembled those of the Boxers of 1900. 
 
 After ordering the dismemberment of the leading 
 criminals, the Emperor recorded his further views on the 
 eunuch question, as follows : 
 
 " I have personally examined the guilty eunuchs, who 
 assure me that they had no accomplices in their crimes. 
 There are seven of them in all. There are several grades 
 of eunuchs; all those in attendance on my person are 
 extremely well behaved. These who are now under 
 sentence have only been employed about the Palace in 
 the humblest duties and have never had access to my 
 presence. Their names are unknown to me and they have 
 never formed part of my suite at the Summer Palace. 
 Nevertheless, the Chief Eunuchs are greatly to blame for 
 not exercising a more vigilant control. When I asked 
 the culprits why they had plotted treason, all hung their 
 heads and were silent. Then I asked whether I had ever 
 ill-treated them, to which they replied : ' Your divine 
 bounty is limitless, how could we harbour any ill-feelings 
 against you ? ' They kept on saying : ' Lord Buddha,' 
 (meaning me), ' save us.' It is, indeed, sad that they 
 should have allowed themselves to be corrupted by evil 
 influences outside the Palace. In future no eunuchs 
 are to be allowed outside except for a limited number of 
 hours, and in no case except in groups of three or four. 
 By this means I hope to prevent subterranean intrigue 
 and visits to the residences of officials. I am glad to think 
 that the guilt of these owl-like monsters is confined to a 
 
 380 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 very few. The other eunuchs ought to be grateful for 
 their master's bounty and refrain from harbouring un- 
 worthy fears and suspicions. I shall never punish the 
 innocent. Let this decree be inserted in my Palace 
 annals. 
 
 " The 6th day of next Moon is the anniversary of my 
 birth, but I have lost face by recent events and have now 
 no heart to receive congratulations. Rebellions are 
 raging and seditious sects flourish; what heart could I 
 have for revelry? It would be the shadow without the 
 substance. It has been your custom to present me with 
 jade sceptres of good luck, which I have invariably 
 returned to the donors. The recent conspiracy certainly 
 does not denote ' good luck,' and I beg that my officials 
 will offer me no more such ' luck ' tokens. I grieve to 
 think that you still desire to celebrate my birthday, but 
 feel that I must sanction your request. In the mean- 
 while, I hope that each of you will commune with his 
 heart in the night watches, asking himself what manner 
 of man he desires to become, and what ambitions he 
 cherishes. Do not jeopardise your careers ! I have lost 
 face by these events and am aweary of these perpetual 
 admonitions." 
 
 [There is evidence in contemporary writings that 
 the Court was equally weary, and that Chia Ch'ing 
 had by this time written himself down as a complete 
 failure.] 
 
 The demoralisation of the Court and the Emperor's 
 lack of statesmanship were signally demonstrated in 
 connection with the special embassy, under Lord Amherst, 
 sent by Great Britain in the summer of 1816, for the 
 purpose of arranging at Peking for improved trade 
 relations and facilities at Canton, where serious differences 
 had arisen between the East India Company's agents and 
 the Chinese authorities. The history of that mission, 
 and the reasons which led to its failure, have been fully 
 
 381 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 described in Ellis's Journal (London, 1817) and other 
 works. Suffice it to say that the breadth of vision which 
 led Ch'ien Lung to dispense with the ceremony of the 
 kotow in the case of Lord Macartney's Embassy was 
 lacking in his ignorant and arrogant successor. China's 
 military strength had greatly deteriorated in the twenty 
 years that had elapsed since Lord Macartney's day, but 
 the self-sufficient conceit of her ruling class had increased 
 with their corruption and inefficiency. The truth of this 
 statement is sufficiently revealed by Chia Ch'ing's edicts 
 in regard to Lord Amherst's mission. 
 
 In the 7th Moon (end of August) 1816, the official 
 Chinese point of view was thus recorded in an Imperial 
 decree : 
 
 " Imperial mandate to the King of England : Whereas 
 your country, though lying far beyond the wide seas, 
 was sincerely desirous of attaining the blessings of civilisa- 
 tion, in the fifty-eighth year of Ch'ien Lung, when my 
 sainted father was on the Throne, you sent a special 
 mission to pay homage. At that time your Ambassador 
 performed the ceremony required of him with the greatest 
 respect and committed no breach of decorum or etiquette.^ 
 It was his high privilege, therefore, reverently to receive 
 the gracious kindness of His late Majesty. He was ad- 
 mitted into his presence and was given a banquet and 
 many presents. 
 
 " You have now sent another mission bearing a memorial 
 and offerings of your produce. Your respectful homage 
 has met with my appreciation, and I was glad of the coming 
 of your mission. I examined into the details of the cere- 
 monial adopted on the previous occasion, and bade my 
 Court arrange for your Envoy's reception by myself, 
 
 ^ This is a deliberate perversion of the facts. The ceremony of the 
 kotow was definitely waived by Ch'ien Lung after repeated, but futile, 
 attempts on the part of his Ministers to induce Lord Macartney to 
 perform it. 
 
 382 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 and to provide a banquet and presents, in exact accordance 
 with the ceremonial prescribed by His late Majesty. On 
 the mission's arrival at Tientsin, I ordered that a banquet 
 should be given there in my name. To my great surprise 
 your Ambassador, on returning thanks, failed to conform 
 with the prescribed etiquette. Nevertheless, I bore in 
 mind that a lowly official of a distant nation could hardly 
 be expected to show familiarity with our ceremonial 
 usage, and I was pleased to pardon his remissness. 
 
 *' I commanded my officials to inform your Envoy, on 
 his approaching the metropolis, that his predecessor, your 
 former Ambassador, in the fifty-eighth year of Ch'ien 
 Lung, did duly perform the whole prescribed ceremony, 
 including the genuflexion and kotow. How, then, could 
 any deviation from this course be permitted on the present 
 occasion ? Your Envoy replied to my Minister that he 
 would certainly perform both genuflexion and kotow at 
 the time of his audience, and promised that there should 
 be no violation of etiquette.^ My Ministers duly informed 
 me, whereupon I issued a decree commanding your 
 Ambassador to attend for audience on the 7th day of the 
 7th Moon. On the 8th day I arranged for a banquet in 
 the Hall of Perfect Rectitude and Enlightenment, when 
 the bestowal of presents was to take place, after which he 
 was to be regaled with a further entertainment in the 
 Garden of Universal Joy. On the day following, the 9th, 
 he was to be received in farewell audience and to be taken 
 over the grounds of the Summer Palace. On the 11th 
 he was to proceed to the gate of the Main Hall of the 
 Forbidden City, there to receive my mandate and gifts 
 for presentation to yourself, after which he was to be 
 entertained at a banquet by my Board of Ceremonies. 
 
 ^ Vide Ellis's Journal, p. 172. On the 27th of August a note was 
 addressed to Chia Ch'ing's Ministers, stating Lord Amherst's final and 
 irrevocable determination not to perform the kotow, a determination 
 in accordance with all his previous declarations. 
 
 383 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 On the 13th he was to be ordered to take his 
 departure. 
 
 " My Minister informed your Ambassador of the dates 
 and details of the above programme. On the 7th, the 
 date fixed for audience, the mission had reached my Palace 
 gate, and I was about to take my seat on the Imperial 
 Throne, when your Chief Ambassador suddenly announced 
 that he had been attacked by a sudden illness and was 
 unable to move. Admitting that this might possibly be 
 the case, I merely commanded the presence of the two 
 subordinate Envoys, but they also simultaneously excused 
 themselves on the plea of sickness. Such gross discourtesy 
 is utterly unprecedented; nevertheless, I administered no 
 severe reproof, but confined myself to ordering their 
 immediate departure from Peking. As the mission was 
 not received in audience, your memorial, strictly speaking, 
 should not have been presented, but I remembered that 
 your country is afar off, and that the feelings were praise- 
 worthy which led you to memorialise Us and send tribute. 
 Your Envoys are alone to blame for their gross breach of 
 respect ; I fully recognise the spirit of reverent submission 
 which animated you. I have consequently accepted the 
 whole of your tribute, including maps, pictures, and 
 portraits, and I duly acknowledge your devotion. More- 
 over, in my turn, 1 confer upon you a white jade and a 
 green jade sceptre, a Court necklace, two pairs of large 
 pouches to be worn at the girdle and eight small ones, 
 that my bounty may be made manifest. 
 
 " You live at such a great distance from the Middle 
 Kingdom that these Embassies must cause you consider- 
 able inconvenience. Your Envoys, moreover, are wholly 
 ignorant of Chinese ceremonial procedure, and the bicker- 
 ing which follows their arrival is highly displeasing to my 
 ear. My dynasty attaches no value to products from 
 abroad; your nation's cunningly wrought and strange 
 
 384 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 wares do not appeal to me in the least, nor do they interest 
 me. For the future, O King, if you will keep your 
 subjects in order and strengthen your national defences, 
 I shall hold you in high esteem, notwithstanding your 
 remoteness. Henceforward, pray do not trouble to 
 dispatch missions all this distance ; they are merely a 
 waste of time and have their journey for nothing. If 
 you loyally accept our sovereignty and show dutiful 
 submission, there is really no need for these yearly 
 appearances at our Court to prove that you are indeed our 
 vassal. We issue this mandate to the end that you may 
 perpetually comply therewith." 
 
 England in 1816 was busy with matters weightier even 
 than the indignities offered to Lord Amherst's Embassy 
 and the grievances of the East India Company at Canton, 
 but China lost nothing by waiting for the day of reckoning 
 which the arrogance and bad faith of the mandarins had 
 now rendered inevitable. It was clear that the dignity 
 of Great Britain could not tolerate indefinitely the ignorant 
 presumption of the Chinese, nor the ill-treatment of British 
 subjects at their hands. With the abolition of the East 
 India Company's charter, seventeen years after Lord 
 Amherst's ignominious dismissal from Peking, Lord Napier 
 appeared at the gates of Canton; on that day began the 
 long and painful process of disillusion, which, through 
 bloodshed and humiliation, was to convince the rulers of 
 China that their attitude of complacent superiority and 
 over-lordship of the world was untenable. 
 
 If the Emperor Chia Ch'ing's decrees on the subject of 
 the Amherst Mission are compared with the British records 
 of what actually occurred at Peking, the fact stands out 
 clearly that both the Emperor and the British Envoy 
 were deliberately hoodwinked and misled by the Chinese 
 and Manchu officials deputed to arrange with Lord 
 Amherst the details of the presentation ceremony. The 
 cc 385 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 purblind mandarins, who had advised the Throne to insist 
 on the performance of the kotow, were afraid to " lose 
 face " by having to confess that they were unable to 
 persuade the British Envoy to accept it ; ^ they therefore 
 lied to the Emperor about the Mission's attitude, and to 
 the Mission about the Emperor's, until at the last, in 
 order to extricate themselves, they were compelled to get 
 rid of the foreigners at all costs. This they did by making 
 it appear that the Envoy had been disrespectful to His 
 Majesty, and by taking steps that the Mission should be 
 illtreated and insulted. 
 
 Notwithstanding the wording of his mandate to the 
 King of England, Chia Ch'ing felt that he had been griev- 
 ously ill-used, and that by the departure of the Mission he 
 had lost much face. He proceeded, therefore, as usual, to 
 scold his Ministers, in the following querulous decree : 
 
 " On the occasion of the tribute Mission from England 
 landing at the port of Tientsin, I commanded Su-leng-e 
 and Kuang Hui to give a banquet in my name and to 
 compel the members of the Mission to return thanks for 
 the same by the three genuliexions and the nine prostra- 
 tions. If these obeisances were duly performed the 
 Mission was to be conducted to Peking, but in the event 
 of any failure to observe the proper ceremonial, or if it 
 were clumsily rehearsed, the officials above named were 
 to memorialise and await my further commands. The 
 Embassy's ships were not to be permitted to leave, so 
 that they might be available to take the Mission back by 
 the way it had come. 
 
 " My orders have been wilfully disregarded. The 
 Mission has been allowed to come up to Peking, and the 
 ships have taken their departure without leave from me. 
 
 ^ Vide Ellis^s Journal, p. 173. It is interesting at this date to recall 
 the fact that had it not been for the presence and firmness of Sir 
 George Staunton, who had been a member of Lord Macartney's suite 
 at Jehol, Lord Amherst would have yielded to the Chinese and kotowed. 
 
 386 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Herein lies a gross dereliction of duty on the part of these 
 two officials. 
 
 " Furthermore, I commanded Ho Shih-t'ai and Muk- 
 denga to proceed to T'ungchou, where they were to direct 
 the Mission to rehearse the ceremony. For this I gave 
 them till the 6th day of the 7th Moon, by which time, if 
 the Mission had acquired proficiency in the requisite 
 etiquette, they were to be brought on to the capital; if 
 not, the tribute Mission was to be denounced and my 
 decision requested forthwith. On the 5th instant I 
 received a vaguely worded memorial from Ho Shih-t'ai 
 and his colleagues, and on the 6th the Mission was escorted 
 into Peking. At 1.30 p.m. on that day I took my seat 
 on the Throne in the Hall of Diligent Government and 
 summoned Ho Shih-t'ai and Mukdenga to an audience. 
 First I inquired as to the rehearsal of the ceremony at 
 T'ungchou. Hereupon the two officials removed their 
 hats and with repeated kotows confessed that no rehearsal 
 had taken place at all ! I asked them why, this being the 
 case, they had not carried out my instructions and 
 denounced the Mission to the Throne. Ho Shih-t'ai 
 answered : ^ ' When the audience takes place to-morrow 
 I will guarantee that the ceremonial will be performed in 
 full.' For this blundering they are responsible, and just 
 as much to blame as the first two officials. On the morning 
 of the 7th I partook of breakfast, and at 6.30 a.m. issued 
 a decree saying I was about to proceed to the Throne 
 Hall, where I would receive the Mission in audience. To 
 this Ho Shih-t'ai at first replied : * The Mission is delayed 
 on the road ; so soon as it reaches the Palace gates I will 
 inform Your Majesty.' In a little while he reported 
 further, saying : ' The Chief Ambassador has had a severe 
 gastric attack; it will be necessary to postpone the 
 
 ^ On the same day, Kuang Hui reassured Lord Amherst saying that 
 " the affair was settled, and he might be perfectly easy. The ceremony 
 would not be mentioned again." 
 
 387 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 audience, giving him time to recover.' At last he reported : 
 ' The Ambassador is too sick to appear at audience at all.' 
 
 " I directed that the Ambassador be taken back to his 
 lodging, and supplied at once with medical aid, after which 
 I desired the immediate attendance of the Deputy Am- 
 bassador. To this Ho Shih-t'ai replied that the Deputy 
 Ambassador had also been attacked by sickness, and 
 that both would attend together on the Chief Ambassador's 
 recovery. 
 
 " China is lord and sovereign of the world ; was it 
 possible for Us to submit calmly to such a wanton display 
 of irreverent arrogance? Therefore I issued a decree, 
 commanding the expulsion of the Mission from China. 
 Nevertheless, I inflicted no punishment upon the Am- 
 bassadors ; I bade Kuang Hui escort them back to Canton 
 and see to it that they set sail from there. It has only 
 now been reported to me by the Grand Council that the 
 Mission had had an all night's journey from T'ungchou to 
 the ante-chamber of the Imperial Palace at Yiian Ming- 
 yiian, and that the Ambassador, whose Court dress had 
 not arrived, had strongly protested at the idea of appearing 
 before His Imperial Majesty the Emperor in travelling 
 clothes. Why did Ho Shih-t'ai not inform me of these 
 facts? If it was because he overlooked them at the 
 moment, he could easily have asked for another audience 
 that evening or the next day. He did nothing of the 
 sort, and allowed me to remain in ignorance until I 
 was proceeding to take my seat on the Imperial Throne. 
 The guilt of Ho Shih-t'ai and his colleague greatly 
 exceeds the errors of the other two. Had they informed 
 me of the true state of the case I should have post- 
 poned the ceremony to a later date. I am astounded at 
 the way in which my stupid officials have mismanaged 
 this business, and I feel that I have completely lost ' face ' 
 in the eyes of my Court. All I can do is frankly to 
 acknowledge my mistakes. 
 
 388 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 " I shall deal with the four officials' punishment ^ after 
 the Board of Civil Office has recommended an appropriate 
 penalty. In the meantime, I record the facts for the 
 information of my officials throughout the Empire and the 
 Mongol Princes." 
 
 It was months before Chia Ch'ing recovered from this 
 loss of face. 
 
 ^ One was deprived of his post of Board President; another was 
 reduced from the rank of Comptroller-General of the Household to 
 that of an official writer of the eighth rank. The other two, highly- 
 placed Manchus both, were cashiered. 
 
 889 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 TAO KUANG. THE IMPACT OF THE WEST 
 
 When Chia Ch'ing died, struck by lightning, in 1821, 
 he left to his son, Tao Kuang, an Empire from which the 
 glory of his father's reign had departed. No more vic- 
 torious armies would march, under Manchu leaders, to 
 wars of conquest in Central Asia. For the future, China 
 was to be harassed by rebellions within and by attacks 
 from without, but the Manchu' s power of ruling the 
 country was steadily waning. The canker worm of 
 effeminacy had already eaten deep into the heart of the 
 Manchu military organisation; its garrisons in the pro- 
 vinces were fast losing the virility of Nurhachi's days and 
 with it the respect of the Chinese. In the public service, 
 as we have shown, corruption and cowardice were rapidly 
 doing their work of demoralisation : and all the while, 
 new forces and new foes were preparing to destroy the 
 splendid self-sufficiency of the Middle Kingdom. Until 
 now, China had settled her affairs, and paid the price of 
 her rulers' sins, within her own borders : if she had had 
 invaders and suffered the domination of aliens, at least 
 they had been Asiatics, and the sons of Han had even- 
 tually conquered the conqueror by the moral force of 
 their superior civilisation. But now, new conquerors 
 were advancing who, in addition to material strength of 
 a kind undreamt of in China's star-gazing philosophy, 
 were to dispute even the moral superiority of the Canons 
 
 390 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 of the Sages, and finally to take from China her great 
 inheritance, her contempt for the outer barbarians, her 
 false pride and pinchbeck supremacy, fast set in its 
 massive frame of complacent ignorance. 
 
 When Tao Kuang came to the Throne, in his thirty- 
 ninth year, it seemed at first as if he might fulfil the 
 promise of courage and decision which he had given at 
 the time of the rebel attack on the Palace in 1813. As a 
 youth, he had shown energy and much fondness for sports ; 
 it was recorded in the Palace annals that in the year 1790, 
 being then a boy of nine,^ he accompanied his grandfather 
 Ch'ien Lung on a hunting trip to Jehol and so delighted 
 the Emperor with his skill at an archery competition that 
 the aged monarch presented him with a Yellow Jacket 
 and allowed him to wear it. But the process of degenera- 
 tion, at Peking and in the provinces, had gone too far 
 to be checked by the single-handed efforts of any Sovereign, 
 and the men about Tao Kuang' s Throne were remarkable 
 neither for virtue nor for statesmanship. He reigned, 
 tant hien que mal, for thirty years, but after the first ten, 
 he displayed little energy in State affairs, gradually 
 relegating them to his two principal advisers, the Manchu 
 Grand Secretary Mu Ch'ang-a and the Imperial Tutor, 
 Tu Shou-t'ien. At the close of his reign, when the pride 
 of the Dragon Throne had been humbled by the British 
 barbarians at Canton and Nanking ; when the widespread 
 elements of unrest and discontent were about to blaze 
 out into the great Taiping rebellion (from which the 
 Manchu power would never have emerged had not the 
 " barbarians " upheld it) ; when the Empire was visibly 
 tottering to its ruin — Tao Kuang's mind was chiefly 
 concerned with two matters, first : how to keep down the 
 " squeezes " of the eunuchs in his Imperial Household 
 accounts; secondly, how to prevent the Censorate from 
 
 ^ By the Chinese reckoning of age, which makes a child a year old 
 at birth. Tao Kuang was born in 1782. 
 
 391 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 wearying him with their long-winded and futile denuncia- 
 tions of abuses which he was powerless to check. 
 
 It was Tu, the Imperial Tutor, who devised the method 
 / y for muzzling the Censor ate which Tao Kuang adopted, 
 
 I with results satisfactory to his own comfort but injurious 
 
 (nyt^'JA 'f^'' to the State. The Emperor had asked him to suggest a 
 
 ^v^ way of punishing a certain Censor who persisted in pvo- 
 
 jit^U^^ pounding questions displeasing to His Majesty. Tu 
 r^^*^ replied : " That is not a difficult matter. Whatever the 
 ^subject of the memorial may be, let Your Majesty issue 
 a decree finding fault with some particular mode of 
 expression or error in its wording, and order that the 
 writer be handed over to the Civil Office for the deter- 
 mination of a penalty. The Censorate will realise that 
 if Your Majesty is not prepared to overlook triffing errors 
 in composition and caligraphy, your displeasure is likely 
 to be seriously visited on those memorialists who venture 
 to deal with high questions of State ! Nobody will be able 
 to suggest that Your Majesty is opposed to criticism, 
 but in future criticism will automatically cease." 
 
 Tao Kuang was pleased to follow this advice, and in a 
 little while the Censorate ceased to urge its views upon 
 the Emperor. This suited his chief advisers, who were 
 able to handle affairs in their own way and without daily 
 denunciations. The Emperor never suspected that the 
 advice was given with this motive, being himself of a 
 trusting and straightforward disposition. When Tu died, 
 Tao Kuang lavished posthumous honours upon him, 
 frankly confessing that his advice had become more or 
 less indispensable. It was Tu who also set the fashion 
 of " ploughing " literary degree candidates for blemishes 
 in caligraphy, irrespective of the merits of their composi- 
 tions. In this way he degraded the standard of learning 
 and scholarship and with it the general standard of 
 intelligence and efficiency in the public service. 
 
 As illustrating the tone of the public service towards 
 
 392 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 the end of this well-meaning but unfortunate monarch's 
 reign, the following verses, sent by an anonymous wit to 
 the Grand Secretary Ts'ao Chen-yung are interesting : 
 
 " If you wish to intrigue successfully and to rise in the 
 world, make you friends at Court, by occasional gifts of 
 money ; 
 
 " If you would be reckoned a hero, avoid all reference to 
 vexed questions, be noncommittal and invariably humble ; 
 
 " The key to success in a high official is to take things 
 easily, neither asserting merit nor protesting loyalty; 
 
 " In all your duties be plausibly evasive ; never criticise 
 adversely and never condemn; 
 
 " Just as in the country a peaceful district enjoys good 
 harvests, even so, an absence of friction conduces to 
 official advancement; 
 
 " In dealing with your colleagues, be yielding and 
 soft-spoken; cover up their defects, but avoid praising 
 their virtues; 
 
 " By so doing you may comfortably rise to be a Grand 
 Secretary : your wife will receive a patent of honour and 
 your son a sinecure ; 
 
 *' You will leave behind you a fragrant memory im- 
 perishable ; and if you are not canonised as ' Learned 
 and Loyal,' you will at least go down to history as 
 ' Learned and Polite.' " 
 
 It was the same Grand Secretary Ts'ao who, when 
 asked to advise an aspirant to office on the best means 
 of securing preferment, cynically replied : " It is really 
 quite simple; just go on kotowing, and never commit 
 yourself to any final opinion on any subject." Ts'ao 
 indulged in cynicism because, though he could no nothing 
 to stem the tide of decadence, he himself was honest and 
 patriotic, as the times went. His family made a large 
 fortune from the salt trade of Anhui, much of which 
 escaped payment of the Government's dues; but when 
 the Viceroy of Nanking, hard put to it for funds, required 
 
 393 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to subdue the rebellion, drew his attention to these leakages 
 he replied : " Institute your reforms, by all means, and 
 pay no heed to my family's means of livelihood. I have 
 never heard of a Grand Secretary dying of starvation." 
 
 If the annals speak truly, Tao Kuang's most marked 
 characteristic was his housewifely thrift, which in his old 
 age verged on parsimony. Although, like most of his 
 house, he was fond of the pleasures of the table, the best 
 dinner was unpalatable to him if he thought that he was 
 paying too much for it. He had all the frugality and 
 fussiness which subsequently distinguished the Empress 
 Dowager, Tzu Hsi, but without her genial bonhomie. 
 He gradually cut down his domestic expenditure in the 
 Palace to about 200,000 taels (say £60,000) a year, so 
 that the Secretaries, Chamberlains and eunuchs of the 
 household were hard put to it to make a bare living. 
 Some of their manoeuvres were as determined as the 
 Sovereign's stinginess. It is recorded that on one occasion 
 His Majesty desired to have some macaroni soup, made 
 in a special way, and gave orders accordingly. Next day 
 the household humbly reported that it would be necessary 
 to build a special kitchen for the preparation of this dish 
 and to place an official in charge of it. For this they 
 submitted estimates amounting to over 600,000 taels, 
 as well as a yearly expenditure of 15,000 taels. The 
 Emperor frowned : " Never mind about it : I know a 
 good eating-house, outside the Ch'ien Men, where they 
 make this soup excellently, you can buy it for forty 
 cash a bowl. I shall send a eunuch every day to buy 
 some there." 
 
 A few days later the Minister of the household came 
 again and reported that this particular eating-house had 
 closed its doors. The Emperor sighed : " I have always 
 refused to waste a cash on my food," he said, " but it 
 does seem hard that I, the Son of Heaven, cannot be 
 allowed to procure any little delicacy I want." 
 
 394 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Tao Kuang was not destined, as was his son, to see 
 his capital invaded and his Palace burned by the outer 
 barbarians; but his father's fatuous arrogance, and his 
 own incapacity to realise the seriousness of the new 
 dangers that threatened his Empire, cost him and his 
 advisers a first heavy instalment of humiliation by 
 loss of territory and of " face." The events which led 
 up to the Treaty of Nanking and the cession of Hongkong 
 to Great Britain do not come within the scope of the 
 present work. It may be observed, however, now that 
 the opium question in China has become a question of 
 religious and sentimental polemics in England, that the 
 action taken by the Viceroy Lin at Canton in destroying 
 the British merchants' opium was due, not to moral 
 considerations, but to his uncompromising contempt for 
 the foreigner and all his works. Our first war with China 
 has been persistently described as an " opium war " by 
 persons vocationally identified with opium abolition as a 
 prominent plank in the missionary platform ; nevertheless, 
 the fact remains, clearly demonstrable to all who are 
 not carried away by their prejudices, that neither the 
 Peking Government nor the Viceroy at Canton regarded 
 the opium question from any point of view other than 
 the political, fiscal and economic. One party at Peking, 
 under Mu Ch'ang-a, was in favour of legalising the drug 
 (as Sir H. Pottinger advised) just as it was in favour of 
 granting many other reasonable trade facilities to the 
 foreigner. The other party, the irreconcilable conser- 
 vatives and chauvinists, were all for excluding it, on 
 precisely the same grounds as they opposed the opening 
 of new ports to trade. Lin Tse-hsii, the Viceroy of 
 Canton, was the real cause of the war, because his attitude 
 of contemptuous insolence and his methods of barbarism 
 were not such as any self-respecting nation could tolerate. 
 The following extract from a letter addressed directly 
 to Queen Victoria by this stiff-necked patriot of the 
 
 395 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 old school, contains, in a few lines, the whole pitiful 
 tragedy of China's collapse before the impact of the 
 West. 
 
 " You savages of the further seas have waxed so bold, 
 it seems, as to defy and insult our mighty Empire. Of a 
 truth it is high time for you to ' flay the face and cleanse 
 the heart,' and to amend your ways. If you submit 
 humbly to the Celestial dynasty and tender your alle- 
 giance, it may give you a chance to purge yourselves of 
 your past sins. But if you persist and continue in your 
 path of obstinate delusion, your three islands (sic) will 
 be laid waste and your people pounded into mincemeat, 
 so soon as the armies of his Divine Majesty set foot upon 
 your shores." 
 
 Lin addressed this dispatch to the Queen of England 
 in the style which Chinese officials habitually use in ad- 
 dressing their equals, and not in the form of a memorial 
 to a crowned head. It was not a wise policy for one to 
 adopt who proposed to destroy the British fleets with 
 stinkpots. 
 
 At Peking, counsels were sharply divided between 
 making peace on the terms demanded by the British and 
 war a outrance. The rabid conservatives were then, as 
 they are to-day even in Young China, all bombast and 
 bravado, and they fiercely denounced Mu Ch'ang-a and 
 his policy of truckling to the barbarians. There were 
 amongst them, as there are to-day, sincere patriots who 
 sinned in ignorance, and there were brave men, like the 
 Manchu commander of the Tartar garrison at Chinkiang, 
 who fought valiantly and died for their blind faith in the 
 invincible supremacy of the Middle Kingdom. In the 
 beginning of 1841, the Emperor's opinions, after several 
 vacillations, were identical with, and probably inspired, 
 those of the Canton authorities. In January he issued 
 a decree (similar to those of Tzu Hsi in 1900), ordering 
 his faithful people to drive the hated foreigner into the 
 
 396 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 sea. But within a few months, after Chusan and Ningpo 
 had fallen into the hands of the British, wiser counsels 
 began to prevail. 
 
 A typical example of the Chinese patriot of those days 
 was Wang Ting-lin, Grand Secretary and Grand Coun- 
 cillor. With all the strength of a masterful and sincere 
 nature, he opposed Mu Ch'ang-a's peace policy and advo- 
 cated war at all costs. He impeached Mu at audience, 
 comparing him to the historic traitor Ch'in Kuei of the 
 Sung dynasty;^ and protesting against the signing of any 
 treaty of peace with the barbarians. He criticised severely 
 the Emperor's action in cashiering the Viceroy Lin Tse- 
 hsii, and frankly expressed his opinion that Mu Ch'ang-a 
 was working for his private ends, actuated by personal 
 grudges. The Emperor refused to listen to him, and, 
 shaking his sleeve in token of dismissal, rose from the 
 Throne. Wang, moved to the point where etiquette is 
 forgotten, clung to the Emperor's robe and continued to 
 pour out impassioned words. Tao Kuang looked away 
 and left him, without reply. Wang Ting-lin thereupon 
 went straightway to his own house, indited a valedictory 
 memorial impeaching Mu, begged the Emperor to behead 
 him in order to satisfy the national conscience, and hanged 
 himself. 
 
 So died a sincere but misguided patriot. But the 
 sequel was equally significant, illustrating the cross- 
 currents and inscrutable depths of life in the Forbidden 
 City. On the morning after Wang's suicide an official 
 named Ch'en, one of Mu's partisans and a Secretary of 
 the Grand Council, noticed that Wang did not appear 
 as usual for audience. As soon as his routine duties 
 were ended, he hurried to Wang's house to ascertain the 
 cause of his absence. There, in the main hall, he found 
 the body still hanging, it being the unwritten law that 
 
 ^ Who weakly advocated making peace with the Ch'in Tartars. 
 His statue is still spat upon by the vulgar in the temple where it stands. 
 
 397 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 when a member of the Council commits suicide (no in- 
 frequent penalty of greatness in China) the body must 
 not be cut down until the Emperor has been informed 
 and issued his further orders in the matter. 
 
 Wang's son showed the valedictory memorial to Ch'en, 
 who read it and said : " The Emperor was very angry 
 with His Excellency your father yesterday. If you 
 present this memorial, your father will obtain no post- 
 humous honours and your own career will be ruined. 
 You had better suppress it." A fellow-provincial of 
 Wang's, also of Mu's party, came in at this moment and 
 concurred in the advice which Ch'en had given. Wang's 
 family thereupon begged Ch'en to indite and substitute 
 another memorial; Ch'en did so, adding that Wang had 
 died suddenly of heart failure. Tao Kuang, greatly 
 grieved and full of remorse for what had happened, con- 
 ferred high posthumous honours on his faithful servant. 
 Afterwards, when Ch'en showed the valedictory memorial 
 to Mu, he was much startled and expressed deep gratitude 
 for what Ch'en had done. His gratitude was genuine and 
 resulted in Ch'en's rapid promotion. In ten years he rose 
 to be President of a Board. 
 
 The Chinese, firm believers in the Asiatic doctrine which 
 visits the sins of the father upon the children, even unto 
 the third and fourth generation, point to the fact that 
 Mu Ch'ang-a's descendants have fallen upon evil days. 
 Mu's son was a superintendent of the Imperial Granaries 
 — ^the Bannermen's Tribute Rice Intendency — but his 
 grandson is a well-known actor of more than doubtful 
 reputation, who plays female parts and is known in the 
 tea-houses by the nickname of the " Virtuous Young 
 Gentleman " — a Chinese Charmides. The moral sense 
 of the literati considers this a fitting sequel to the career 
 of Mu Ch'ang-a, whose only proved offence was that he 
 advised making peace with enemies whom he knew to 
 be stronger than anything that China could bring to bear 
 
 398 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 against them. Wang's sons were greatly blamed for 
 suppressing their father's patriotic memorial. 
 
 The Treaty of Nanking was Mu Ch'ang-a's work, and it 
 served beyond all doubt to postpone for a time the 
 appearance of a British force at the gates of Peking. 
 After the suicide of Wang Ting-lin, there was only one 
 of the Grand Council who opposed Mu's policy, and this 
 in a half-hearted manner. 
 
 When the draft of the proposed Treaty of Peace was 
 handed in by Mu, the Emperor took it away with him 
 from the Council. He spent the rest of that day and 
 most of the night in pacing up and down the corridor 
 of his Palace, deep in anxious thought. Several times 
 he was heard to mutter " impossible " and to sigh deeply. 
 At last, at 3 a.m., he stamped his foot and proceeded to 
 the audience chamber, where he affixed the " vermilion 
 pencil " to the draft. This done, he sealed it securely in 
 an envelope and sent it by the hand of a eunuch to the 
 office of the Grand Council. " The Councillors have not 
 arrived," said the eunuch, " the Palace gates are still 
 closed." " Wait there," repUed Tao Kuang, " until Mu 
 Ch'ang-a arrives. Give him this envelope but don't let 
 any one else see it." The document sanctioned the sig- 
 nature of the Peace Treaty, but it was only with great 
 reluctance and bitterness of soul that Tao Kuang accepted 
 it. Such was the effect of the first serious impact of the 
 West on the Dragon Throne. 
 
 It was in the summer of 1840 that the British fleet 
 first blockaded Canton and, sailing northwards, seized the 
 island of Chusan, which led to the degradation of Lin 
 Tse-hsii and to the appointment of the Manchu Ch'i Shan^ 
 to be Imperial Commissioner at Canton. It was Ch'i 
 Shan who agreed to the cession of Hongkong (occupied 
 
 ^ Commonly known in contemporary writings {vide Hue's Tibet) as 
 Ki shan or Ki shen (Boulger). He was the grandfather of Jiii Ch'eng, 
 who surrendered Wu Ch'ang to the rebels in October 1911. 
 
 399 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 by the British on 26th January, 1841) in exchange for 
 the rendition of Chusan. This surrender so enraged Tao 
 Kuang, at that time under the influence of the war party, 
 that he deprived Ch'i Shan of his Grand Secretaryship 
 and refused to recognise his negotiations. The Throne 
 (as above stated) insisted on war to the knife and the 
 extermination of the barbarians. Ch'i Shan, according 
 to the Chinese chroniclers, did his best to retrieve the 
 situation by a characteristically Oriental acte de guerre. 
 He sent privily to the British Commissioner (Elliott) 
 offering him a beautiful concubine and curios, in the 
 hope of cancelling his territorial negotiations; but the 
 barbarians were not amenable to reason in this form, 
 for they proceeded to bombard Bocca Tigris. It was at 
 this stage that Ch'i Shan memorialised the Throne, frankly 
 stating his opinion that further fighting would only make 
 matters worse. " We possess no impregnable defences," 
 said he, " and our military equipment is utterly useless. 
 Our troops are feeble and our subjects disloyal. If we 
 engage in hostilities, disaster will overtake us. For the 
 present, wisdom dictates the adoption of measures of 
 expediency." 
 
 Subsequent events and their results, as embodied in 
 the Treaty of Nanking (August 1842) justified Ch'i Shan. 
 
 Towards the end of Tao Kuang' s reign, a great soldier 
 and statesman made his appearance on the scene, who 
 was to achieve fame in years to come and to assist the 
 great Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi in restoring, for a time, 
 the prestige of the Manchu dynasty. This was Tseng 
 Kuo-fan.^ Concerning him an interesting story is told 
 by the Chinese annalists, illustrating the inveterate faith 
 in omens, which Tao Kuang shared with all the Sovereigns 
 of the Manchu dynasty. 
 
 One night, greatly troubled by tidings of internal 
 rebellion and the persistent truculence of the British, 
 1 Vide China under the Empress Dowager, p. 64 et seq. 
 
 400 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 he dreamed that the Forbidden City was invaded by a 
 band of ruffians : armed with staves and swords, they 
 pressed upon the Imperial Throne and overturned it. 
 It seemed to him, in his dream, that he stood there, 
 alone, confronting the rebels and helpless to resist them. 
 He called for help, but all his attendants had fled. He 
 was just about to fly from the Palace in hopeless shame 
 and confusion, when a man rushed forward, dispersed 
 the rebels, and replaced the Throne in its former position. 
 The Emperor, overjoyed, was on the point of thanking 
 his rescuer, when he awoke. He never spoke of this 
 dream, but often thought of it, and his deliverer's features 
 were clearly impressed on his memory. Two years after- 
 wards, when a batch of newly elected Hanlin doctors was 
 presented at Court, he recognised in one of them the 
 hero of the dream. This was Tseng Kuo-fan, whose 
 rapid promotion was from that moment assured. 
 
 Another story, told by the Chinese to account for 
 Tseng Kuo-fan's meteoric advancement, may, or may 
 not be true, but in any case it throws some light on the 
 relations existing between the Sovereign and his chief 
 advisers and on the secret of Mu Ch'ang-a's great influence 
 at Court. 
 
 Mu, knowing Tseng Kuo-fan as a member of the Hanlin 
 Academy, had a high opinion of his talents. One day 
 when the Emperor was discussing with him the literary 
 ability of the Academicians, Mu replied : " There is 
 literary talent in abundance, but Tseng Kuo-fan is almost 
 the only one worthy of high office. He has remarkable 
 knowledge of State affairs and never fails to notice every- 
 thing." Mu subsequently told Tseng what he had said, 
 and a few days later there came an order from the Emperor 
 for Tseng to attend for audience. He went out to the 
 Summer Palace and was given the menu for the day, 
 which by prescribed custom, officials received at special 
 audience must take with them to the audience chamber 
 
 DD 401 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and formally present to the Emperor. He was escorted 
 by a eunuch to a small chamber and directed to await 
 the Imperial summons. 
 
 The day wore on to sunset, but no summons came. At 
 last a message was brought, ordering him to present himself 
 again on the following morning. Tseng, quite at a loss, 
 hurried to Mu's residence, to ask him the meaning of the 
 procedure. For a while Mu was perplexed, but suddenly 
 a light seemed to flash upon him. " Were there any 
 scrolls or books in the room in which you waited ? " he 
 asked. " Yes, the walls w^ere covered with scrolls, but 
 I was so nervous about my audience that I never noticed 
 them." 
 
 Mu stamped his foot : " That's bad," said he. He then 
 summoned his confidential servant and handed him a 
 bank note for 400 taels. " Take that to the Palace and 
 find out into which room Tseng tajen was shown to-day. 
 Then bribe the eunuch in charge to allow you to copy 
 every one of the scrolls on the wall. Come back as soon 
 as possible." 
 
 Turning to Tseng, he said : " You had better stay here 
 to-night ; we will go to the Palace together in the morning." 
 About midnight the messenger returned and handed a 
 copy of the scrolls on the wall to Mu. They were all 
 autograph homilies by the last three Emperors, advice 
 on the art of government and admonitions to officials. 
 They contained allusions to various events and to many 
 officials of the three reigns. Only a man possessed of 
 exceptional knowledge of Chinese political history could 
 explain these allusions. His Majesty had wished to test 
 Tseng's abilities and to ascertain if Mu's commendation 
 of him was fully warranted. Mu handed the document 
 to Tseng ; " Study this carefully," he said ; " you will find 
 it a ladder to promotion." 
 
 Next day, when the hour of audience arrived, the 
 Emperor questioned Tseng for nearly an hour concerning 
 
 402 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 the various matters recorded on the scrolls, and was 
 greatly pleased by Tseng's apt answers. 
 
 Tao Kuang's successor, his fourth son, who misgoverned 
 the Empire under the reign-title of Hsien Feng, was the 
 worst example of debauched degeneracy in the history 
 of the dynasty. Here again the Chinese chroniclers tell 
 a tale which, if true, shows how the wit of one man, 
 intelligently applied to things apparently trivial, may 
 upset the counsels of kings and affect the destinies of 
 millions. 
 
 Towards the end of his reign, Tao Kuang, concerned 
 as to the succession, had practically decided to confer it 
 upon his sixth, and favourite, son. Prince Kung, a young 
 man infinitely superior in character and intelligence to 
 him who eventually became Heir to the Throne. It 
 happened, however, that the latter's tutor, Ts'ao Chen- 
 yung, knew of the Emperor's predilection, and, naturally, 
 desiring to enhance his own position, cast about for some 
 means of inducing the Sovereign to change his mind and 
 to confer the succession upon his pupil. In this he was 
 successful. 
 
 The Emperor, following the dynastic tradition, had 
 given orders one day that his sons should go hunting in 
 the Southern Park. Etiquette required that a Prince 
 who had not completed his studies should ask his tutor 
 for permission to absent himself for the day. The fourth 
 Prince therefore attended at the lecture room in the 
 Palace, and found his tutor there alone. The Prince went 
 up, and making the bow which ceremony requires, asked 
 for leave. Ts'ao asked for what purpose, and he an- 
 swered : " The Emperor wishes me to take a day's 
 shooting." Ts'ao whispered to him : " A-ko,^ take my 
 advice : when you reach the park, sit you and watch the 
 others shooting. Do not fire a shot, and give orders to 
 
 1 The Manchu word used in addressing or speaking of Princes, 
 meaning literally " Elder Brother," 
 
 403 
 
THE COURT OF [PEKING 
 
 your huntsmen not to set any traps. If the Emperor asks 
 you for your reason for this, at the end of the day, tell 
 him that at this spring season it is not right to take life, 
 because both beasts and birds have their young to take 
 care of, and such slaughter is a violation of natural har- 
 mony. Take care not to quarrel with your brothers but 
 do not endeavour to emulate them. If you, A-ko, will 
 only remember this, you are certain to win His Majesty's 
 approval, for I know his disposition. On this hinges 
 your whole future, either one of glory or comparative 
 obscurity. Be careful; do not forget." 
 
 The Prince carried out these instructions, and Prince 
 Kung secured the largest bag. He was elated, and seeing 
 his brother's beaters standing empty-handed around him, 
 chaffed him on having taken no part in the chase. He 
 then asked him his reasons for not shooting. " Oh, for 
 no particular reason. I am not very well and did not 
 feel like violent exercise." 
 
 When the Princes returned in the evening, and reported 
 to their father, only Hsien Feng had an empty bag. To 
 Tao Kuang's questions he replied exactly as his tutor 
 had told him to do. The Emperor was greatly delighted, 
 and said : " This is the conduct of a superior man," and 
 from that day decided to make him his heir. 
 
 In later years, when Tao Kuang had passed away, Hsien 
 Feng raised his tutor to the rank of Assistant Grand 
 Secretary, but he died before attaining to still higher 
 honours. The Emperor wept bitterly and proceeded in 
 person to offer a sacrifice to his remains, besides conferring 
 upon him the highest posthumous honours given to a 
 Chinese during the last century. 
 
 So Hsien Feng, winning his father's favour after the 
 manner of Jacob, reigned in his stead and hastened the 
 swift decline of the Manchu dynasty. 
 
 404 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 HSIEN FENG AND TUNG CHIH : 
 THE FACILE DESCENT 
 
 The inner history of the Court and Government of 
 China, from the accession of Hsien Feng in 1851 down to 
 the death of the Empress Tzu Hsi in 1908, has ah^eady 
 been told in China Under the Empress Dowager. The 
 following chapters are supplementary to that work, and 
 intended only to throw some additional light on the men 
 and chief events of that period, and particularly on the life 
 of the Court. 
 
 In the persons of the two Emperors, Hsien Feng and 
 T'ung Chill, father and son, the tree of demoralisation 
 brought forth its predestined fruits, whose evil savour 
 was to infect the Forbidden City henceforth until the 
 passing of the dynasty. Hsien Feng came to the Throne, 
 at the age of nineteen, a thoroughly dissolute and depraved 
 specimen of humanity, physically and morally con- 
 temptible. He lived to see his Empire ravaged by the 
 Taiping rebellion and preserved only by the timely help 
 of the despised European. He died, a fugitive from 
 Peking, his capital desecrated for the first time in the 
 history of the Manchus by the presence of invaders, his 
 Palace burned and his treasures looted. Peking, that for 
 over two hundred years had known security under the 
 Manchu rule, learned under Hsien Feng the first of many 
 bitter lessons, receiving in the mild visitation of the 
 
 405 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Anglo-French armies a warning and a foretaste of the 
 grievous calamities that have now left it a city of the 
 destitute. 
 
 Before two years had passed of the ten years of his ill- 
 starred reign, Hsien Feng's Throne was tottering under 
 the repeated blows struck at it by the triumphant forces 
 of the Taipings; the rebel chief had proclaimed himself 
 Emperor and established his capital at Nanking. What- 
 ever was left of virility and patriotism at Peking gnashed 
 its teeth in impotent rage, not so much because of the 
 imminence of the danger, as because of the hopeless 
 depravity of the Sovereign and the men whom he delighted 
 to honour. Rome was burning whilst China's Nero not 
 only fiddled, but danced obscenely to his own music. 
 Whilst province after province passed through fire and 
 sword to acknowledge the sway of the Rebel Emperor, 
 the Lord of Heaven busied himself with the provision of 
 new lights for his harem or joined his evil genius, the 
 notorious Minister Su Shun, in orgies of unspeakable 
 debauch in the low haunts of the Chinese quarter. 
 
 The following well-authenticated story illustrates the 
 frame of mind in which the Emperor and the Court 
 of the Great Pure Dynasty prepared to meet the most 
 serious crisis of the Taiping Rebellion, at the moment 
 of the fall of Nanking (March 1853). It recalls vividly 
 to mind the attitude of the eunuch-ridden Mings, eating, 
 drinking and making merry when Li Tzfi-ch'eng and his 
 army were at the very gates of the capital. The parallel 
 is completed by the fact that, thanks to the evil influence 
 of men like Ho Shen and Su Shun, the eunuchs' power 
 in the Palace had been slowly but surely increasing since 
 the death of Ch'ien Lung, and was now a conspicuous 
 factor in the corruption of a Court sunken in luxury and 
 gross living. 
 
 The spring of 1853 had been appointed for the selection 
 of handmaidens of Manchu stock to enter the Palace. 
 
 406 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 The Court Chamberlains and eunuchs had hsted and 
 collected a large number of nominees for the harem, and 
 on the day after that which brought the news of the fall 
 of Nanking, a long line of these young women stood 
 waiting, at dawn, outside the gate of the Palace of Femi- 
 nine Repose. Amongst these girls was one, the daughter 
 of a retired Manchu lieutenant, named Tuan, who wept 
 bitterly at being compelled to leave her father, now a 
 widower, sixty years of age and very poor. She had been 
 able to supply him with the necessaries of life by giving 
 lessons and by needlework, and now she feared he would 
 die of sheer want, for he had no sons or brothers to help 
 him. But there was no way of escaping from her present 
 position : her name had been included in the list of 
 handmaidens eligible, and the captain of her Banner was 
 responsible for her appearance. 
 
 The news of the fall of Nanking naturally and forcibly 
 disturbed the even tenour of Hsien Feng's day, and 
 compelled him to discuss with the Grand Council a situa- 
 tion so fraught with danger to his Government and House. 
 Even Su Shun himself was greatly disturbed, the Censorate 
 buzzing like a wasps' nest and memorials pouring in. 
 The moment was unpropitious for dalliance; audiences 
 must be held and orders given. It was nearly sunset 
 before the business of the day was done and Hsien Feng 
 could give a thought to the bevy of women expectant at 
 his gates. They had stood about waiting patiently all 
 day, many without food and all very nervous ; by evening 
 most of them were completely exhausted and many were 
 in tears. 
 
 One of the eunuchs in charge rebuked them for weeping, 
 and said : " His Majesty will soon be coming to inspect 
 you. How dare you behave in this unseemly way? 
 Has the whip no terrors for you ? " On hearing this they 
 all trembled and wept the more, and none dared reply to 
 the eunuch except the motherless maiden, who answered 
 
 407 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 him in a clear, firm voice, saying : ^' I have been forced 
 to leave my home and to enter the Palace. If I am 
 selected for service here, it means that I shall be imprisoned 
 for the rest of my days and never see my father again. 
 In life we shall be separated ; in death divided. Can you 
 wonder if I weep? Any one with a heart must do so. 
 I am not afraid to die, and care nought for your threatened 
 punishment ! Have not the Taipings seized the Yangtsze 
 Valley, and now that Nanking has fallen, is not half of 
 the Empire as good as lost? Yet the Son of Heaven is 
 not concerned to find competent generals to take the field 
 and repel the invader, so that his Empire may be saved; 
 his time is given to the selection of women who may 
 minister to his pleasures. He drags the daughters of the 
 people from their homes and imprisons them in his Palace, 
 where they will never breathe again the air of freedom, 
 so that he may enjoy himself for a brief space ! Little he 
 recks of the impending fate of his ancestral altars and the 
 tutelary gods ! The Taiping host will soon be knocking 
 at his Palace gates, and then the nine spirits of his ances- 
 tors will lack their burnt offerings and worship of ap- 
 pointed days. I do not fear death : and for your threats 
 of the whip I care nought at all." 
 
 At this outburst, spoken in a loud voice, the eunuch 
 endeavoured to quifet her by putting his hand over her 
 mouth, but at that moment the Emperor, in his chair, ap- 
 peared upon the scene. The eunuch bound her hands and 
 led her to the presence, bidding her kneel. But she 
 refused to do obeisance and looked defiantly at the Em- 
 peror. Now His Majesty had heard the last few words 
 of her speech, and good-naturedly asked what all the 
 trouble was about, whereupon she deliberately repeated 
 what she had said. Hsien Feng was delighted with her 
 spirit : " You are a true heroine," said he; " untie her 
 hands and lead her to see the Empress." The Chinese 
 chroniclers, who like to make such stories end happily 
 
 408 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 and with a good moral, aver that Hsien Feng gave this 
 outspoken maiden in marriage to one of the Imperial 
 Princes who had just lost his wife (it being the custom 
 for the Emperor to decide the matrimonial affairs of the 
 Imperial Clan), and in this position she was able to 
 support her father in his old age. 
 
 At the beginning of Hsien Feng's reign there were, as 
 usual, two parties about the Throne, the one honest and 
 patriotic according to its lights, the other utterly corrupt. 
 The acknowledged leader of the powers of evil in high 
 places was the Imperial Clansman Su Shun, who set 
 himself to debauch the body and soul of the young 
 Emperor by every kind of wickedness. Not that Hsien 
 Feng required much enticing in that direction, for his 
 tendencies were those of a vicious sensualist from his 
 youth up. Su Shun merely supplied the match of experi- 
 ence and suggestion to a brand all ready for the burning. 
 Before long he became the ante damnee of the depraved 
 monarch, whose physical condition bore testimony to his 
 way of living ; often, after a night of prolonged orgies, his 
 legs tottered under him at the hour of audience and on 
 one occasion he was unable properly to perform the 
 sacrificial rites at the Temple of Heaven. 
 
 The only official who bravely tried to counteract the 
 evil influence of Su Shun at Court was the Grand Secretary, 
 Po Sui; ^ an honest, straightforward man, whose blunt 
 speech and fearless criticisms gradually came to offend 
 the Emperor. Su Shun conspired with the Princes Yi 
 and Cheng (who later, upon Hsien Feng's death, joined 
 him in usurping the Regency) to get rid of their un- 
 compromising and plain-spoken opponent, and, judging 
 by documentary and circumstantial evidence, there 
 appears to be good reason for believing that Hsien Feng 
 was a party to the plot. It ended in Po Sui's decapitation 
 
 1 Vide China under the Empress Dowager, p. 81, where, by a clerical 
 error, his name is wrongly given as Po Chun. 
 
 409 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 on the public execution ground, and the complete su- 
 premacy of Su Shun and his party from 1859 until the death 
 of Hsien Feng, and Tzu Hsi's successful couy d'etat against 
 the usurping Regents. 
 
 The scheme which Su Shun initiated for the undoing 
 and judicial murdering of Po Sui is worth describing, 
 because it reveals something of the depths of subterranean 
 intrigue that lay behind the gilded splendour of the 
 Dragon Throne; at the same time it illustrates and 
 explains the complicated machinery by which the instinct 
 of Chinese rulers has always fairly safeguarded the road 
 to public office — ^that is, the road to wealth — from the worst 
 abuses of venality and nepotism. The system of public 
 service examinations, with all its elaborate (and, on the 
 whole, effective) precautions against chicanery and fraud, 
 has probably contributed more than any other factor to 
 the permanent stability of China's civilisation. It is 
 surely a striking testimony to the intuitive wisdom of 
 that civilisation and to its binding force, that, even in 
 times of chaos and corruption, China's worst rulers have 
 usually realised the all-importance of honesty and fair 
 play in the examinations for the literary degrees, 
 whereby the humblest subject could rise to the highest 
 offices in the land. Even the Taipings established a 
 similar competitive system, at their Court of a day, in 
 Nanking. 
 
 At the examinations held for the Metropolitan degree, 
 in the autumn of 1858, Po Sui was Chief Examiner. 
 Thoroughly honest and incapable of favouritism himself, 
 he seems to have suffered from the failing, common 
 enough amongst high officials, of taking too much for 
 granted in his subordinates. The position of Chief 
 Examiner, at all times one of great dignity, was then one 
 of peculiar and dangerous responsibility, because for some 
 time past there had been ugly rumours of bribery and 
 impersonation in connection with other examinations. 
 
 410 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 It is doubtful whether these had come to the ears of Po 
 Sui, whose character was easy-going and trustful; in any 
 case, contemporarj^ opinions and posterity alike have 
 acquitted him of all suspicion in reference to the cases 
 which, thanks to the malevolence of Su Shun, cost him 
 his life. 
 
 Po Sui had a confidential servant (of the type of Gehazi) 
 named Chin Hsiang, who saw and seized opportunities 
 for himself in his master's high office. To him there came 
 secretly a Manchu named P'ing Ling, a man of good 
 family but disreputable habits, who made a living by 
 singing at banquets in woman's attire with his face 
 powdered. Being young and good-looking, this ne'er-do- 
 weel cherished ambitions to enter the public service. He 
 therefore bribed Chin Hsiang with a thousand taels to 
 secure for him a high place at the examination. Chin 
 Hsiang arranged for a substitute to enter in Ping's name, 
 whose essay was awarded the seventh place on the list. 
 
 Another rich but illiterate candidate, a native of Canton, 
 named Lo, also bribed Chin Hsiang, who in this case went 
 so far, with the help of the assistant examiner, as to 
 tamper with the order of the successful papers, including 
 Lo's amongst them, after it had been relegated to the 
 supplementary list by the examiners. When the revising 
 examiner came to inspect Lo's essay, he saw at once that 
 an irregularity had been committed, but, thinking that 
 it must have occurred with Po Sui's knowledge, made no 
 comment at the time. It is possible that he foresaw an 
 opportunity of making friends of the mammon of un- 
 righteousness and gaining the favour of the powerful Su 
 Shun. In any case, he informed one of the Censors, 
 named Meng, of Lo's case, and Meng prepared a memorial 
 impeaching the whole staff of examiners, with Po Sui as 
 their responsible chief. 
 
 Before handing in the memorial, Meng happened to be 
 dining one evening at the Restaurant of Abundant 
 
 411 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Blessings in the Coal Market Street, when he overheard 
 a conversation between P'ing Ling and a couple of actors 
 who were dining with him. P'ing Ling was in his cups 
 and was talking in a loud voice. The Censor did not 
 know him by sight, but pricked up his ears at the following 
 remark : " Not long ago I was no better off than either 
 of you; people looked down upon me as the scum of 
 society. But now I have taken a high place at the 
 examination and that is all over. If you like I can help 
 you fellows to attain success by the same means, when 
 the next examination takes place. It is only a matter 
 of paying big squeezes, and there's no reason at all why 
 you shouldn't come out near the top of the list." 
 
 Upon this the Censor made inquiries, and ascertained 
 P'ing Ling's name. Waiting until the actors had become 
 thoroughly fuddled with wine, he proceeded to introduce 
 himself to P'ing as an old family acquaintance. Telling 
 him that he was one of the unsuccessful candidates from 
 Nanking, he asked how he could arrange to be successful 
 at the next attempt. P'ing, too drunk to be suspicious, 
 told him the whole story. Next day the Censor, adding 
 this new material to his memorial, laid the whole plot 
 before the Throne. Hsien Feng was greatly incensed and 
 bade the Board of Rites bring for his inspection the 
 successful essays of P'ing Ling and Lo, which, in accord- 
 ance with custom, had been filed in the archives. After 
 perusing the essays, the Emperor ordered that these two 
 candidates should forthwith undergo a special examination 
 in the Imperial library. The Emperor himself selected 
 the themes, the prose essay being " In what does happiness 
 consist? " and the verse theme, " A wise man hesitates 
 to talk in front of a parrot." Prince Cheng and Su Shun 
 were appointed supervisors of this examination. As both 
 the candidates were illiterate, the result, as may be 
 imagined, was laughable enough, except for those con- 
 cerned. Their names were erased from the list of successful 
 
 412 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 candidates; Lo committed suicide, and P'ing Ling died 
 in prison. The examiners were then handed over to the 
 Board of Punishments. 
 
 At this stage Su Shun appeared upon the scene. Fate 
 had dehvered his adversary into his hand, for he, Su Shun, 
 was President of the Board of Punishments. When first 
 the Board reported on Po Sui's case, Hsien Feng was 
 reluctant to impose the death penalty, upon which Su 
 Shun and his confederates (the Princes Yi and Cheng) 
 insisted, but Su was able to persuade the weak and 
 dissolute young monarch to adopt stern measures. Hsien 
 Feng knew that Po Sui was a just man and rightly popular, 
 even as he knew that Su Shun was detested for his avarice 
 and cruelty; he knew that Po Sui had deserved well of 
 the State and that his offence in the present instance was 
 one of carelessness at most; he therefore hesitated and 
 summoned the Grand Council to discuss the matter. 
 Finally he was persuaded to issue the decree which con- 
 demned Po Sui to death, and appointed Su Shun and Chao 
 Kuang to superintend the execution. This decree reads : 
 " Prince Yi and his colleagues have memorialised Us in 
 regard to the examination abuses case of last autumn, and 
 submitted their proposals as to the penalties to be imposed. 
 We have carefully perused and considered their report. 
 There are certain points in it to which We desire to call 
 the attention of Our Ministers. The examination system 
 is intended for the selection of candidates for government 
 service, and severe penalties are imposed for malpractices 
 and favouritism on the part of the examiners. So far, 
 during Our dynasty, there has been no case of a member 
 of the Commission endangering his life by conniving at 
 malpractices. But now, to Our sorrow and surprise, the 
 Grand Secretary, Po Sui, has gone so far as to defy the 
 law and to forget the benefits bestowed upon him. As a 
 Grand Secretary and Minister of the Presence for many 
 years, besides having held office as Grand Councillor and 
 
 413 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Comptroller of the Plousehold, how could Po Sui have 
 been ignorant of the law, especially as his own career began 
 at a public examination ? He acceded to the proposal of 
 his servant, Chin Hsiang, to be allowed to substitute a 
 revised essay for that of one of the candidates. If Chin 
 Hsiang were still alive, there would be no difficulty in 
 establishing the facts before the Tribunal of Justice. We 
 have precedents to guide Our decision in the dynastic 
 laws, and are by no means straining a point to serve the 
 ends of justice. All We are now considering is the evidence 
 of Po Sui himself, to which We have given careful considera- 
 tion, as We find that although there are certain extenuating 
 circumstances, the law must be allowed to take its course. 
 " At this point We pause and the tears flow dov/n Our 
 cheeks.^ In accordance with the advice of my Princes 
 and Ministers, We command that Po Sui be summarily 
 decapitated and that Su Shun and Chao Kuang shall duly 
 superintend his execution in the public square. The 
 examination secretaries, P'u An, Lo Hung-yi and Li 
 Hung-ling, are also to be decapitated, that the law may 
 be vindicated. The assistant examiner, Chu Feng-piao, 
 is to be cashiered, for We cannot believe that he actually 
 connived at his colleagues' misconduct ; otherwise, he, too, 
 would have been, severely punished. The Hanlin Com- 
 piler, Tsou Shih-lin, who, in his capacity as junior examiner, 
 amended the composition of the successful candidate 
 (P'ing Ling), since cashiered, is henceforth and for ever 
 debarred from official employment. Twelve of the suc- 
 cessful candidates are to be brought up for further in- 
 quiries, and the Ministry of Rites is to report on the 
 penalties to be imposed on the remainder of the examiners. 
 The proctors who were on duty during the examination 
 are to report, explaining how two characters in one of the 
 essays came to be altered during the process of collecting 
 
 ^ In reading Imperial decrees of this type one is frequently reminded 
 of Mr. Pecksniff and " the dutj'^ he owed to society." 
 
 414 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 the papers. Three of the candidates, Hsieh Sen-chih, 
 Hsiang Yiian-p'ei and Li Tan-hiia are to be sent under 
 escort from their native places for trial at Peking. 
 
 " Henceforward, the examiners at all all-important 
 public examinations, must cleanse their hearts and rid 
 themselves of every sort of prejudice, so that no candidate 
 shall enter the Government service by unfair means. 
 The candidates are each and all to pay more heed to their 
 moral character and to inculcate self-respect; let them 
 refrain from intrigue and from base attempts to win 
 favour, taking warning from the present example. Thus 
 will Our object be attained, which is to raise the standard 
 of morals among the scholars of the Empire : wdth this 
 ideal before Us, We have not shrunk from administering 
 exemplary punishment as the law demands. Surely you. 
 Our Ministers, will sympathise with Our ideas, and appre- 
 ciate the motive which animates Us." 
 
 So Su Shun and the powers of evil triumphed. On the 
 day fixed for Po Sui's decapitation, he and the other con- 
 demned officials were conveyed in carts to the place of 
 execution, known as the Western Market, where they 
 were to await the arrival of the Palace decree finally 
 confirming the order. Po Sui wore the costume which 
 custom requires in the case of high officials condemned to 
 be beheaded; he was dressed in plain black silk and his 
 official hat was shorn of its red tassel — a sign of mourning. 
 On arrival at the place of execution he prostrated himself 
 in the direction of the Palace and gave thanks for favours 
 received in the past. After this he turned to his son, 
 Chung Lien, saying : " The Emperor will surely spare my 
 life; he is sending me to the execution ground as a 
 warning, but at the last moment I feel sure that he will 
 grant a reprieve. AVlien it arrives, I shall go to the 
 Temple of the ' Evening Ray ' and wait there until 
 arrangements are made for me to set off to my place of 
 banishment. Do you return home and prepare the 
 
 415 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 various things which I shall need on the journey." (When 
 high officials are sentenced to death, the Throne frequently 
 commutes the capital penalty at the last moment to one 
 of perpetual banishment. Po fully expected to be sent 
 to Turkestan or to the post roads.) 
 
 He had scarcely finished speaking, when Chao Kuang, 
 the second official supervising the execution and one of 
 Po Sui's oldest friends, arrived in his chair. His eyes were 
 red with weeping. He had been waiting at the Palace 
 for the final confirmation or modification of the sentence. 
 As soon as Po Sui saw him, he said : " It's all over. Left 
 to himself, the Emperor would never have been so pitiless : 
 Su Shun has been my evil genius from first to last. It is 
 he who has hardened His Majesty's heart. After all, 
 what does my death matter? The day is close at hand 
 when Su Shun will share my fate. You must look forward 
 to that day." 
 
 With that, he beckoned to the headsman, who came 
 forward and fell on one knee, saying : "If Your Excellency 
 the Grand Secretary will be pleased to kneel down, I will 
 give you a reverent send-off to the next world." Po Sui 
 did so, and the executioner, with knee bent in respect, 
 deftly cut off his head at the first stroke. 
 
 Before signing the fatal order, Hsien Feng had sum- 
 moned Chao Kuang to the presence. The Emperor was 
 seated on the Throne with the vermilion pencil in his hand 
 but seemed reluctant to sign the death warrant. For a 
 long time he hesitated, repeatedly exclaiming : " Although 
 legally his crime deserves death, there are extenuating 
 circumstances." Su Shun replied : " Whatever the cir- 
 cumstances, this is no case for your clemency. Your 
 Majesty has admitted as much." 
 
 The weak monarch still hesitated to sign. Finally, in 
 desperation, he handed the pencil to Su Shun, who promptly 
 marked against Po Sui's name the fatal hook. Chao Kuang 
 burst into tears and departed for the place of execution. 
 
 416 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 After Po Sui's death, one of his proteges presented the 
 following pair of memorial scrolls, which were much ad- 
 mired as an example of skill in dealing with a delicate 
 subject : 
 
 " In life he attained to high honours, in death he was 
 unfortunate. Come bounteous dew and rain, or come the 
 thunder bolt of wrath, all proceed alike from the Imperial 
 will." 
 
 " The Minister's gate may have been like a market,^ 
 but the Minister's heart was pure as water. Do you, 
 majestic Heaven and divine earth, look down on him with 
 pity, loyal and forsaken." 
 
 Two years afterwards, when the masterful statecraft of 
 Tzu Hsi had defeated all the plots of the usurping Regents, 
 Su Shun met his death on the same spot which had wit- 
 nessed the execution of his victim, Po Sui.^ But whereas 
 Po Sui's death was universally deplored, that of Su Shun 
 was welcomed by the populace of Peking with general 
 rejoicings. He went to his doom, clad in a long white 
 robe of sackcloth. As he emerged from the Shunchih gate 
 of the inner city on his way to the execution ground, it 
 was noticed that his face was covered with dust, for a high 
 wind was blowing. Arriving at the Western Market, he 
 alighted somewhat feebly from the open cart in which the 
 condemned are conveyed, and began to say a few words 
 of farewell to Prince Jui, who had been commanded by 
 Tzu Hsi to superintend the execution. He was not given 
 time to finish, but was dragged forward, made to kneel, 
 and in a moment his head fell, his death being greeted by 
 loud applause from the crowd. The same headsman 
 officiated who had dispatched Po Sui two years before. 
 Not one of Su Shun's family was present to see the last 
 of him : his sons had gone to the gate of the prison, but 
 
 ^ This in allusion to the train of clients attending on an influential 
 personage. 
 
 2 Vide China under the Empress Dowager, pp. 47, 48. 
 EE 417 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 had been driven away by the gatekeepers with whips. 
 Rarely had any high official achieved Su Shun's measure 
 of unpopularity with the people of Peking. 
 
 When officials of high rank are unfortunate enough to 
 suffer the fate of public decapitation, it is the custom that 
 the executioner, in exchange for a heavy fee, stabs his 
 victim to the heart before severing his head, the idea 
 being that by this means little or no blood would be shed. 
 On coming forward, the executioner is presented with a 
 basin and towel wherewith to perform ablutions. In Su 
 Shun's case, however, all these delicate attentions were 
 omitted. It is also the custom that after the execution 
 the headsman shall immediately sew the head on again, 
 almost as soon as it falls to the ground : for this a fee of 
 1000 taels is usually claimed.^ But Su Shun's body was 
 left where it fell, and the dogs came and licked up his blood. 
 His head was hung for many days in the public square. 
 
 Su Shun's confederates, the usurping Regents, the 
 Princes Yi and Cheng, shared his fate in 1861, by order of 
 Tzii Hsi. Both met death with philosophic calm. Prince 
 Yi's family were permitted to be present in the Court of 
 the Imperial Clan, and he gave them elaborate instructions 
 as to his funeral and the division of his property. He 
 desired to be clad in white silk robes and particularly 
 asked that his portrait (which is always painted after 
 death and has a semi-sacred significance in connection with 
 the rites of ancestral worship) should also be mounted on 
 plain silk. Prince Cheng showed signs of agitation, and 
 his last utterances were indistinct, but in his case, too, the 
 family was present. 
 
 The nooses used for both were covered with delicate 
 silken material. Two low tea tables were placed in the 
 " empty chamber " of the Clan Court, ^ and the two 
 
 ^ This was done in the case of Ch'i Hsiu, who was decapitated in 
 1901 in the presence of the alHed troops. 
 
 2 The name is euphemistic, in the sense that the room was never 
 to be tenanted except by Princes or Clansmen under sentence. 
 
 418 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Princes were then invited to mount the tables and adjust 
 the nooses on their necks amidst the lamentations of their 
 respective families. Prince Yi had no sooner complied, 
 and the table been drawn away, than he expired. Prince 
 Cheng was less fortunate. He was a man of enormous 
 weight, and no sooner had he placed the noose around his 
 neck than the rope broke and he fell heavily to the ground. 
 At the second attempt he was successful. The underlings 
 at the Clan Court naturally availed themselves of the 
 opportunity to squeeze the unfortunate families of the 
 once all-powerful Princes. Their relatives had to pay 
 out over one hundred thousand taels before being allowed 
 to remove the bodies and arrange for their honourable 
 burial. 
 
 In August 1861, Hsien Feng died, a fugitive and a 
 physical wreck, at Jehol, in his thirtieth year, leaving the 
 Throne to his only son, the Emperor T'ung Chih, then a 
 child of six. During his minority, under the Regency of 
 Tzu Hsi and her colleague the Empress Tzu An, the tide 
 of disintegration was temporarily checked, the Government 
 being largely in the hands of wise and liberal statesmen of 
 the type of Prince Kung and Wen Hsiang, and the Imperial 
 armies led by capable generals, like Tseng Kuo-fan and 
 Tso Tsung-t'ang. 
 
 Of T'ung Chih's reign and his personal influence on the 
 destinies of the Empire, it is unnecessary to say much, for 
 he attained his majority and assumed nominal control of 
 the Government in February 1873, and died in January 
 1875. That he was never intended to live and to deprive 
 Tzu Hsi of her undisputed authority, is certain. Equally 
 certain that she encouraged, or took no steps to restrain, 
 the vicious tendencies which were matters of notoriety 
 in Peking, and which eventually led to his death from a 
 disease contracted in the low haunts of the Chinese city.^ 
 But the following notes, taken from the reminiscences of 
 ^ Vide China under the Empress Dowager, pp. 119, 120. 
 419 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 an aged eunuch, retired from the Palace after the death of 
 Tzii Hsi in 1908, afford instructive information regarding 
 certain details of the inner history of the Court at that 
 period, and notably on T'ung Chih's marriage to the 
 virtuous and pathetically unfortunate A-lu-te. 
 
 Before his marriage, says this eunuch's diary, the young 
 Emperor was in the habit of visiting the theatres and 
 brothels of the Ch'ien Men quarter in the company of a 
 eunuch named Chou, for which purpose (as the Palace 
 gates were closed) he had an opening made in the wall just 
 outside the Western Gate of Perpetual Peace. At this 
 point Chou's cart, drawn by a fast-pacing mule, would 
 await him, and it became matter of common gossip in the 
 capital that the Son of Heaven was frequently mixed up 
 in drunken and disreputable brawls, and would often 
 return to the Palace, even after he had attained his 
 majority, long after the hour fixed for audiences. In the 
 day time he would frequent, incognito, the book and 
 picture shops of the Liu Li-ch'ang to purchase lewd 
 carvings and paintings of the kind to which the dissolute 
 patricians of Peking have always been partial. 
 
 T'ung Chih hated and feared his mother's favourite 
 Chief Eunuch, the notorious An Te-hai — who, if the 
 common report of the Palace spoke truly, was no eunuch. 
 He also disliked Su Shun, who used to bully and tease the 
 boy. 
 
 When the time arrived, in the autumn of 1872, for 
 
 arranging the young Emperor's marriage, which took 
 
 place early in the following year, the two maidens selected 
 
 from the large number of eligible candidates were A-Lu-te, 
 
 (the daughter of Ch'ung Ch'i), and a daughter of Feng Hsia, 
 
 the friend of Jung Lu. Tzii Hsi preferred the latter, 
 
 whilst her colleague, the Empress of the Eastern Palace, 
 
 preferred A-Lu-te. As the Co-Regent Empresses could 
 
 not agree, Tzu Hsi finally proposed that T'ung Chih 
 
 should be left to make his own choice : " Let him see 
 
 420 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 both girls ^ and he can select the one he prefers." Tzu 
 Hsi felt no doubt that T'ung Chih would be guided by her ^ 
 wishes, and she was therefore much displeased when the 
 Emperor, on being ushered in, and having the position 
 explained to him, replied without hesitation : "I choose 
 A-Lu-te as my Empress." Tzii Hsi could not very well 
 say more at the moment, so A-Lu-te became Senior Con- 
 sort, and the Discerning Concubine, as Lady Feng was now 
 called,^ became Senior Secondary Consort. 
 
 After the marriage, Tzu Hsi used often to scold and 
 revile her son for his foolish choice. " You ought to have 
 done as I bade you and chosen the Discerning Concubine. 
 I find her intelligent and dutiful, whilst A-Lu-te is a 
 feather-head, who knows nothing about Court etiquette. 
 Unless she amends I shall have to consider her deposition. 
 In any case, I must ask you to cease dallying about her 
 Palace, instead of attending to Government business." 
 She would also frequently instruct the eunuch Li Lien-ying 
 to convey the " Discerning Concubine " at night to the 
 monarch's bedchamber, in the hope that she might 
 present him with an heir to the Throne, and thus secure 
 for herself (Tzii Hsi) a long and undisputed tenure of the 
 Regency. As etiquette prescribes, Li would carry the 
 Discerning Concubine on his back, with only a cloak 
 thrown over her person, and leave her at the lower end 
 of the Dragon couch, from which position it was her duty 
 to raise herself gradually till she reached the level of the 
 Imperial pillow. 
 
 But T'ung Chih cared nought for the lady and avoided 
 her as much as possible. Worried by his mother's inter- 
 
 1 An unusual proceeding, which custom prohibits before the marriage 
 ceremony, as the bridegroom has nothing to do with the selection of 
 his wife. 
 
 2 This lady caused trouble in 1909, by insisting on remaining, in 
 resentment which simulated mourning, at the Eastern Mausolea after 
 the Old Buddha's interment, but the Empress Lung Yii tempted her 
 back to Peking by means of certain concessions as to her precedence 
 and emoluments. 
 
 421 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ference in his domestic affairs, he sought distraction in the 
 haunts of the Chinese city, and when he did happen to 
 pass a night in the Forbidden City, he would frequently 
 leave the Discerning One to undisputed possession of the 
 Dragon couch, and take up his quarters in the Palace of 
 Heavenly Purity. 
 
 When he fell sick, Tzu Hsi pretended to put the blame 
 on A-Lu-te, and soundly rated her for having seduced 
 the Emperor from his mother's influence. His death was 
 a sore blow to his unhappy widow, whose eyes were 
 swollen with weeping. One day her father, a time-serving 
 wretch, came in to see her, and subsequently reported to 
 Tzu Hsi as follows : "If the Empress is so melancholy the 
 best thing she can do, for every one's sake, is to follow 
 His Sainted Majesty to the tomb as speedily as possible." 
 
 Two hours later she died, and the uncharitable say that 
 Ch'ung Ch'i, anticipating Tzii Hsi's wishes, gave her the 
 opium which enabled her to commit suicide, because he 
 foresaw trouble ahead if she gave birth to an heir, and 
 realised that his own position would then be compromised 
 with Tzu Hsi. A large and influential party at Court 
 would demand the heir's elevation to the Throne, and un- 
 less they succeeded in depriving her of power (which was 
 not likely) Tzu Hsi would surely wreak vengeance on 
 A-Lu-te's family. So, like a wise man, he took precaution- 
 ary measures. 
 
 After the death of Hsien Feng in 1861, the vigorous and 
 intelligent policy of his young widow (Tzii Hsi), loyally 
 backed by Generals of the stamp of Tseng Kuo-fan and 
 Tso Tsung-t'ang, succeeded in stamping out the Taiping 
 rebellion — greatly assisted, it is true, by Chinese Gordon's 
 " ever -victorious army." It had lasted for thirteen years — 
 devastating nine provinces and bringing death and desolation 
 to untold millions. Since 1855, the first high incentive and 
 semi -religious character of the movement had completely 
 
 422 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 disappeared ; it had become a vast and ruthless horde of 
 undisciphned bandits which Hved, au jour le jour, upon 
 the country. As it is to-day, so it was then; China's 
 rebels could fight and could take cities, but they had no 
 system and no cohesion to offer in place of that which 
 they had contrived to overthrow. As it is to-day, so it 
 was then ; the plunder lust, the insatiable frenzy of loot, 
 demoralised both rebels and Imperialists; so that, until 
 the arrival on the scene of General Gordon and new 
 military ideals, hostilities dragged on almost aimlessly, to 
 the ever-increasing distress of non-combatants. 
 
 Nevertheless, it is well to remember that the Taiping 
 rebellion, like all other great risings in China against an 
 unpopular dynasty, represented originally a genuine 
 intention on the part of its leaders to put an end to very 
 real grievances and to replace the Manchu dynasty by 
 something more efficient and more righteous. The annals 
 of the time prove that, even at the last, the movement 
 retained a remnant of leaders who kept their first high 
 ideals and endeavoured to restrain their lawless forces. 
 The following brief extracts from contemporary chronicles 
 relate to the last days of Li Hsiu-ch'eng, with whose 
 death, after the fall of Nanking (July 1864), the rebellion 
 was practically ended. ^ 
 
 To this man, known far and wide throughout Kiangsu 
 as the " Patriotic Prince," the Taiping rebellion owed 
 much of its original success, and whatever semblance of 
 orderly government it had been able to evolve at the Court 
 of the " Heavenly King." His military genius was 
 undeniable, and his personal character entirely admirable ; 
 so much so, that not only was he idolised by his soldiers, 
 but by the people, whom he protected, so far as in him 
 lay, against oppression. He was a strict disciplinarian, 
 insisted on the regular payment of the troops under his 
 
 1 For an account of his death at the hands of Tseng Kuo-fan, vide 
 the latter's memorial, China under the Empress Dowager, p. 73. 
 
 423 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 command, and punished rape with decapitation. He 
 combined the qualities of a good fighting man with a 
 gentle and pious nature; a conscientious observer of the 
 rites of his Buddhistic faith, he gave liberal allowances to 
 the families of those who had fallen in battle, and instituted 
 an annual service of commemorative masses on the Bud- 
 dhist All Souls' Day, at which he was wont to appear in 
 person, burning incense and joining in the litany for the 
 dead. A brave fighter and a gentleman.^ 
 
 It was Li Hsiu-ch'eng who held Soochow against 
 Gordon's army in the winter of 1863. Just before the 
 fall of the city, in December, the rebel garrison and the 
 populace were in desperate straits. The troops had had 
 no regular meals for days; nevertheless, the example of 
 Li's indomitable courage kept up their spirits. He 
 dispatched one of his officers with a letter, asking for help, 
 addressed to Hung, the " Heavenly King," at Nanking. 
 His messenger was captured and killed by the Imperialists, 
 and his letter was preserved by the officer into whose 
 hands it fell, who subsequently — admiring Li's splendid 
 courage — sent copies of it to his friends. The letter was 
 written in a fine running hand, and shows not only a 
 brave spirit but every evidence of deep scholarship : 
 
 " From this beleaguered city," it reads, " I indite these 
 lines. Our provisions are exhausted; in the camp, the 
 cooking pots are empty. The stove is cold and there is 
 no drug that can allay the pangs of hunger. Corpses are 
 
 ^ It is interesting to note that President Yuan Shih-k'ai gave orders 
 last year, to the office for conferring Patents of distinction, to make in- 
 quiry concerning the descendants, now surviving, of the Taiping leaders. 
 The Office reported that the eldest son of Li Hsiu-ch'eng, named 
 Li Cheng-hsiang, is now in his fifty-sixth year. He has forwarded to 
 the Patent Office a record of the Taiping rebellion, written by his father, 
 which is to be incorporated in the official history of China. Posthumous 
 honours will probably be conferred upon Li Hsiu-ch'eng. From this it 
 will be seen that no man's words or deeds are ever finally condemned 
 in Chinese history. The filial piety of his descendants, and other 
 things, may serve in time to rehabilitate his character for posterity. 
 
 424 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 carved in pieces and mothers sell their sons for food. For 
 many days past we have been shouting ' Dinner is ready ' 
 at meal times, so as to deceive the enemy concerning our 
 lack of provisions. Our plight is grievous, resembling 
 that of the turtle in the tureen : our danger is as that of 
 the tiger at bay upon the mountain precipice. Your 
 Majesty has founded a new Empire, but if its roots be 
 shaken, the branches are agitated. Soochow is your 
 Majesty's lower jaw : if the lips perish, the teeth must 
 speedily decay. As soon as you have been able to force 
 a way through the beleaguering armies which invest 
 Nanking, it behoves you to dispatch troops to our assist- 
 ance. I send these few lines beseeching you to take care 
 of your health. Interrupting the whetting of my spear, 
 I write this message, earnestly praying for your welfare." 
 
 Li escaped from Soochow, that city of dire carnage, 
 and lived to take part in the final act of the great drama 
 when, at the fall of Nanking in the following July, the 
 " Heavenly King " met his fate. Li escaped from Nan- 
 king, accompanied only by two lads. One of them was 
 the second son of the " Heavenly King," Hung Fu-tien, 
 and the other was Li's own page. Hung could not ride, 
 and soon got separated from his companions (he was subse- 
 quently captured by the Imperialists). Li and his page 
 hurried on in the darkness and finally lost their way. 
 They were resting at daybreak on a wooded hill when eight 
 woodcutters came up. One of them recognised Li and 
 addressed him as the Patriotic Prince. Li begged them not 
 to betray him. " If you can find a way of taking me safely 
 to Huchou in Chekiang, I will give you 30,000 taels." 
 The men, moved to tears at his plight, agreed to do so. 
 
 At evening they descended the hill and came to their 
 hamlet of Chien Hsi— " West of the Ravine." Their 
 movements were hampered because Li and his page were 
 burdened with a quantity of jewels, besides having a pack 
 mule loaded with gold bars and pearls. The woodcutters 
 
 425 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 hid them in an inner room, and advised Li to disguise him- 
 self by shaving his head.^ He refused, saying : " I am 
 the subject of the Taiping dynasty; our Empire is 
 overthrown and our Sovereign dead. If I am captured 
 and brought before the Manchu Commander, my fate is 
 sealed, I know. But were I to escape capture by shaving 
 my head, I should be false to the principles which made 
 me a rebel." 
 
 One of the woodcutters, a man named T'ao, cunning 
 and greedy by nature, longed to secure the large reward 
 offered for Li by betraying him, but he feared his com- 
 panions, who were loyal to Li. So he found a pretext to 
 go out, and sought acquaintance in the Manchu camp of 
 General Hsiao, whose advice he asked. This man natur- 
 ally informed one of the General's bodyguard of Li's 
 presence in the neighbouring village, and the General, 
 on hearing the story, detained T'ao, entertaining him with 
 food and wine, and hurriedly dispatched a troop of horse- 
 men to arrest Li. They brought him back, and with him 
 his treasure, which the General seized. Hoping to keep 
 the matter quiet, he then gave orders to have T'ao be- 
 headed, but the man had fled; he subsequently fell a 
 victim to the wrath of his companions, who killed him 
 for his treachery. The General received high hereditary 
 rank for his capture of Li and his treasure, but several of 
 his men were slain by the woodcutters, who, after slaugh- 
 tering them, made sacrifice to Li's spirit. Tseng Kuo-fan 
 heard of their doing so and had them brought to his head- 
 quarters. Boldly and frankly they confessed the truth. 
 Tseng, who greatly admired the rebel leader, praised their 
 loyalty and made them presents, which they reluctantly 
 accepted. Chinese chroniclers deplore the fact that the 
 names of these worthy woodcutters have not been recorded. 
 
 The following story describing the manner in which the 
 
 ^ The Taipings discarded the tonsure in token of rebelhon against 
 the Manchu dynasty. 
 
 426 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Imperialists finally took Nanking, goes to show that there 
 was love as well as war in the rebel capital. When the 
 city was completely invested by Tseng Kuo-fan's forces, the 
 key to the position lay at the " Islet of Nine Eddies," and 
 there Hung Hsiu-ch'iian, the rebel king, had stationed a 
 large force. As soon as the Imperialist forces had cap- 
 tured this islet, Nanking was practically at their mercy. 
 Tseng Kuo-fan is usually credited with this exploit, but 
 the fact is that one of the rebels betrayed the secret of the 
 distribution of their forces and this enabled the Imperialist 
 attack to concentrate on the weakest spot. 
 
 During the reign of the " Heavenly King " at Nanking, 
 two civil service examinations were held, at the second 
 of which a Kiangsi scholar named Pu Ying-ch'i was third 
 on the list. He was an unusually handsome man and used 
 to call himself a second Ch'en Ping, after a certain beau 
 who played a prominent part in the foundation of the Han 
 dynasty in the second century B.C. 
 
 While the Palace examination was proceeding, the 
 " Heavenly King's " younger sister, Hsuan Chiao, watched 
 the candidates from behind a curtain, and was much taken 
 with Pu's good looks. It was she who induced her brother 
 to place him third on the list. When, in due course, he 
 appeared at Court to return thanks, Hung said to him : 
 " You ought really to thank the Divine Sister," and bade 
 a eunuch take him to her presence. Pu knelt before her, 
 and the Divine Sister held out her hand to him, saying : 
 " We shall often meet, for I intend to secure you a good 
 post at Court." 
 
 A few days later he was made Chamberlain, and before 
 long his relations with the Divine Sister became something 
 more than brotherly. The Divine Sister had a husband, 
 Li Shao-shen, who was greatly distressed, but feared to 
 interfere in her intrigue. 
 
 Now it happened that the " Prince of the East," Yang 
 Hsin-ch'eng, like all the other rebel princes, maintained 
 
 427 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 a staff of ladies who served him as majors domo, ushers, 
 and in other capacities. One of these women, the daughter 
 of a Hterary man, possessed great skill with her pen, and 
 besides this was superior to the Divine Sister in the matter 
 of good looks. She, too, became infatuated with the 
 handsome Pu, and was for ever inviting him to her 
 boudoir. As this liaison developed, the Divine Sister 
 became exceedingly jealous, but had to endure it, as the 
 " Heavenly King " could not afford to quarrel with the 
 " Prince of the East." For a time Pu played the Don 
 Juan with both fair ladies, but gradually became tired of 
 their charms, and, realising that the Taipings were nearing 
 the end of their tether, he decided to quit Nanking by 
 stealth, and to try to return to his home in Kiangsi. 
 
 In this attempt he was captured by General Fu Ssu's 
 men and, hoping to save his life, said : "I have a secret 
 to communicate." Ushered into the General's presence, 
 he said : " The rebels depend on the Islet of Nine Eddies 
 for their supplies ; for all their reinforcements come in by 
 that route. This alone has enabled them to hold out so 
 long. You will never take Nanking until you capture the 
 islet. I have with me a plan, upon which you will see 
 marked the disposition of their forces and the emplace- 
 ments of their guns. One side is practically impregnable, 
 but there is one Spot which is open to attack. Take them 
 unawares from that side and you will capture the position 
 as easily as spitting on your fingers. Once the islet is in 
 your possession, their communications are cut and they 
 will be like rats in a trap." 
 
 The Imperialists acted on this information and Nanking 
 fell. Pu Ying-ch'i was rewarded with a lieutenant- 
 colonelcy, but Chinese chroniclers, who seem, as a class, 
 disposed to sympathise with rebels of all kinds, condemn 
 his action, unkindly observing of him that he served two 
 dynasties, one in a civil, and the other in a militarj^ 
 capacity. 
 
 428 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE SORROWS OF HIS MAJESTY KUANG HSU 
 
 The personality of His Majesty Kuang Hsii was 
 always so overshadowed and dominated by that of the 
 masterful Tzu Hsi, even during the years (1889-1898) 
 when he was theoretically in control of the Government, 
 that his individual abilities and aspirations had little 
 scope to shape themselves to any good purpose ; and the 
 dynastic annals, compiled under the direction of the 
 " Old Buddha," treat him, generally speaking, as a 
 negligible quantity. For although during her years of 
 nominal retirement, Tzii Hsi divested herself of the out- 
 ward symbols of supreme power, the Emperor himself 
 and all his Court were well aware that the final arbiter 
 of all important questions was still the autocrat who 
 watched events from her retreat at the Summer Palace, 
 whose confidential agents and partisans constituted the 
 dominant party in the metropolitan and provincial 
 Yamens. At no time did she surrender to the Emperor 
 the fundamental authority to which the official world 
 looked for rewards and punishments; in her hands re- 
 mained the appointment to all high offices, by which means 
 she created and strengthened ties of personal loyalty to 
 herself. The Emperor on his Throne was a cipher in 
 the inner councils of the State, which drew their inspira- 
 tion from the fountain head of all favours; of far less 
 account, in the estimation of the mandarinate, than the 
 Chief Eunuch, Li Lien-ying. Except during the hundred 
 
 429 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 days of Reform, which precipitated Tzii Hsi's coup d'etat 
 in 1898 and her return to full and undisguised supremacy, 
 the unfortunate monarch was never able to muster 
 courage or supporters sufficient to enable him to assert 
 himself. 
 
 There were, it is true, occasions when he endeavoured to 
 throw off the yoke and to claim rights of independent 
 initiative, especially during the short time when he relied 
 upon the influential support of Chang Yin-huan and the 
 reform leaders at Peking; but his attempts were ever 
 doomed to spend themselves in futility against the solid 
 wall of vested interests and privileges with which the 
 genius of Tzu Hsi had surrounded him. 
 
 In January 1894, before the outbreak of war with 
 Japan, His Majesty's mind was much exercised at the 
 increasing demoralisation of the public service, brought 
 about by the Chief Eunuch's shameless trafficking in 
 Government appointments of all sorts. In this matter 
 he felt sure of the sympathies of the best men in the 
 public service, whose sense of decency was undoubtedly 
 violated by the outrageous proceedings of Tzu Hsi's 
 favourite, and whose interests were thereby imperilled. 
 The literati generally and the bulk of conservative official- 
 dom were becoming scandalised by the flagrant venality 
 which sold offices without regard to the qualifications of 
 the buyer, so that Kuang Hsii was emboldened to assert 
 himself. The following instance of a case in which he did 
 so, without evoking a display of the " Benevolent Mother's 
 divine wrath," is instructive. 
 
 When the Shanghai Taot'ai-ship fell vacant, on Nieh 
 Ch'i-kuei's promotion to a judgeship, in January 1894, 
 the Grand Councillors handed Kuang Hsii a list of the 
 Taot'ais eligible for preferment and asked His Majesty 
 to make a selection. The Emperor said nothing, but 
 produced a slip of paper from his sleeve, on which was 
 written the name " Lu Po-yang." With a frown he 
 
 430 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 handed it to the Council, and told them to report as to 
 the man's previous career and record. The Councillors 
 retired and investigated their files, but found no such 
 name on any of their lists. They reported accordingly, 
 whereupon Kuang Hsii ordered that the Presidents 
 of the Boards of Civil Office and Revenue be summoned, 
 and instructed to examine into the matter. The Council- 
 lors saw that the Emperor had received a hint from Tzu 
 Hsi to appoint Lu Po-yang, whatever his record, so they 
 tactfully replied : "If Your Majesty knows the man, it 
 would be best to appoint him without further investi- 
 gation. It is possible that his name is neither on the 
 Board of Revenue's list nor on that of the Civil Office. 
 And it would not look well to give him the post, after we 
 had inquired and ascertained that he had no claims." 
 Kuang Hsii sighed, and made the appointment. 
 
 Not very long afterwards occurred the more flagrant 
 case of Yii Ming. This man was a Manchu attached to 
 the Imperial Household : he had never held any official 
 post, was the head manager of a large firm of building 
 contractors at Peking, and had purchased the brevet 
 rank of Sub-prefect. The lucrative post of Taot-ai in 
 charge of the Tea and Salt industries in Ssu-ch'uan fell 
 vacant, and Yii Ming, under pressure from Tzii Hsi, was 
 given the position. 
 
 In due course he appeared before the Emperor in 
 audience to return thanks. Kuang Hsii said to him : " In 
 which of the Government Boards have you served?" 
 He replied : " Your slave has always been attached to 
 Kuang Shun." (Kuang Shun is the name of the very 
 wealthy firm of contractors above referred to.) The 
 Emperor did not understand him and repeated the 
 question. Yii Ming replied : " Has Your Majesty never 
 heard of the Kuang Shun firm? They are the biggest 
 contractors in the West city. Your slave has been 
 manager there for a long time." The Emperor smiled : 
 
 431 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " Oh ! I see : you mean that you have always been in 
 trade. Well ! To be manager of a big firm of con- 
 tractors is a highly lucrative post. Why do you want 
 to exchange it for an official career? " The answer came 
 glibly : " Because I have heard that the perquisites to 
 be made out of this Tea and Salt Taot'ai-ship are worth 
 at least ten times as much as I can make out of business." 
 
 By this time Kuang Hsii was greatly incensed at the 
 man's effrontery, but suppressed his wrath for the 
 moment. " Can you write or speak Manchu ? " said he. 
 " No, Your Majesty." " Can you write Chinese ? " Yii 
 Ming hesitated for a long time and then stammered out : 
 " Yes." The Emperor then threw some paper and a pencil 
 on the ground and directed the eunuch in attendance to 
 take Yii Ming outside. " Go and write out a statement 
 of your official career on the steps outside the hall, where 
 I can see you." 
 
 After a very long interval Yii Ming re-entered the hall 
 of audience and handed the paper to the Emperor. All 
 he had written was : " Your slave, Yii Ming, Manchu of 
 the striped Yellow Banner." The characters were the 
 size of tea cups (etiquette requires that for presentation 
 to the Throne they should be small and exquisitely formed 
 in round hand). Yii Ming's writing sprawled all over 
 the page, was hardly legible, and one of the two simple 
 characters comprising his name was wrong. 
 
 At this the Emperor flew into a passion : " You may 
 keep your former brevet as Sub-prefect," he said, "and 
 await your turn for promotion." (This meant that he 
 was relegated from the high position of Taot'ai-elect to 
 that of an expectant of low rank, who would most likely 
 never get a position at all.) "I hereby appoint Chang 
 Yuan-p'u to the post : let the Council report immedi- 
 ately." Thus did Kuang Hsii for once defy Tzu Hsi. 
 
 The chronicler relates that Yii Ming returned to his 
 business as a contractor and, with the help of Li Lien- 
 
 432 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 ying, made a great deal of money out of a contract for the 
 building of a shrine in memory of Prince Ch'un, Kuang 
 Hsii's father. Having " squeezed " large profits out of 
 this lucrative work, he proceeded to bribe the eunuchs 
 in the employ of the young Prince Ch'un (subsequently 
 the Regent) to steal and sell to him jewels and curios 
 from the Prince's residence. He was found out, and the 
 Emperor ordered his arrest, but he contrived to escape by 
 shaving his head and becoming a priest. He found shelter 
 at a temple of the Western hills, and was well known to 
 several foreigners there some years ago. Eventually he 
 was ejected from the priesthood on account of a scandal 
 in connection with a lady of high degree at Peking. As 
 for Lu Po-yang, the Taot'ai-elect of Shanghai, the in- 
 corruptible Nanking Viceroy, Liu K'un-yi, who knew of 
 his disreputable antecedents, refused to allow him to take 
 up the post, and impeached him on a charge of bribery. 
 He was dismissed from office, and the 700,000 taels which 
 he had paid to Li Lien-ying (to be divided between the 
 eunuch and his Imperial mistress) were money wasted, 
 for he never occupied the post. In disgust with public 
 life, he too became a Taoist priest. So that Kuang Hsii's 
 firm stand was justified by results, and Tzu Hsi gave no 
 sign of disapproval. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that his unfortunate Majesty 
 was entirely without friends and counsellors : there were 
 many at Court who hated, while they feared, the regime 
 of the grasping Chief Eunuch and his imperious mistress. 
 But her hand lay heavy upon them, and though the atmo- 
 sphere of the metropolis does occasionally breed heroism 
 in the orthodox mandarin, it is usually of the valedictory 
 death-scene order rather than the kind which displays 
 itself steadily in every- day routine. Those whose sym- 
 pathies were with the Emperor, and those who regarded 
 the Empress Dowager's continued usurpation of the 
 supreme power as dangerous to the Empire, endeavoured 
 FF 433 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 (timorously enough) to persuade the Old Buddha by 
 constitutional procedure to relax something of iier firm 
 grip upon State affairs. 
 
 To give one instance. Early in 1896, when the Empress 
 Dowager was en retraite at the Summer Palace, the 
 Censor Wang P'eng-yiin put in a memorial of remon- 
 strance against the Emperor's repeated visits to the 
 Summer Palace to pay his respects to Tzii Hsi. He said : 
 " These journeys to and fro waste most of the day and 
 distract His Majesty's attention from State affairs. 
 Every few days he leaves the Palace before dawn and does 
 not return to Peking till dusk. Should the Emperor 
 contract an illness from chill or fatigue, no one would be 
 more sorry than the kindly Mother. I therefore venture 
 to recommend that the Emperor should attend to his 
 duties and not waste time in these ceremonial excursions." 
 The real meaning of this memorial was that the Emperor 
 was far too much under Tzu Hsi's control and afraid to 
 take any important step without her approval; in other 
 words, Wang desired to see Kuang Hsii emancipated from 
 petticoat government. As it happened, the Old Buddha 
 was at the time in one of her good-humoured and lenient 
 moods; had she not been so, this memorial might well 
 have cost the Censor dear. Only a month before, a 
 eunuch named K'ou had been summarily beheaded for 
 venturing to advise the Emperor to select his own staff 
 of personal attendants, so as to avoid the constant espion- 
 age of the Empress Dowager. Since then the Grand 
 Council had gone in daily terror for fear that some Censor 
 should denounce this execution or impeach the Old 
 Buddha; when therefore, Wang P'eng-yiin's memorial 
 reached them, they were much perturbed. Prince Kung 
 and Li Hung-tsao discussed it anxiously. Li remarked : 
 " Truly, we should be thoroughly ashamed of ourselves, 
 when a small official ventures to speak out thus openly 
 against the Old Buddha, while none of us have dared to 
 
 434 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 criticise her in any way. Let us try, at least, to shield 
 him from any serious consequences. When Your High- 
 ness is received in audience by His Majesty, you must 
 think of some way whereby the Emperor may pacify Her 
 Majesty or else suppress the memorial." Prince Kung 
 agreed, but observed that the suppression of the memorial 
 would be difficult. When summoned to audience he 
 handed up the memorial to Kuang Hsii, who after 
 perusing it said : " Her Majesty will certainly demand his 
 execution. What do you advise ? " Kung repeated what 
 Li had said. " That's all very well," replied the Emperor, 
 " but do you forget that K'ou was decapitated the other 
 day for criticism far less outspoken?" Prince Kung 
 answered : "A eunuch has no right to memorialise at all 
 nor to interfere in affairs of State. In putting him to death 
 Her Majesty was only acting in accordance with dynastic 
 house-law. But a Censor is entitled to criticise without 
 restriction and his person is — or should be — ^inviolable." 
 
 Kuang Hsii sighed : " Do not think that I wish to 
 restrict their criticisms, but you know how I stand. I 
 fear that Her Sacred Majesty will be greatly incensed when 
 she sees this document. Present it I must, for if I did 
 not she would surely hear about it. I think that you had 
 best discuss the situation again with Li Hung-tsao. At 
 least you can stop the presentation of any further 
 memorials of this kind." 
 
 Prince Kung retired and, with Li's help, drafted a 
 memorial in which the following passage occurred : " The 
 Censor is greatly daring when he raises such questions, 
 but his action is actuated by a misguided sense of loyalty 
 and not by any radically evil propensities. We have 
 carefully perused his memorial and find therein no treason- 
 able matter nor anything derogatory to Your Majesty's 
 beneficent virtue. We therefore implore Your Majesty 
 to forgive him." Kuang Hsii then left for audience at 
 the Summer Palace, taking the two memorials, which 
 
 435 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 he submitted, meekly kneeling, to Tzu Hsi. The Old Bud- 
 dha, who was in a particularly good temper that morning, 
 read the documents and then said with a smile : " You 
 seem dreadfully nervous about this effusion, but there is 
 really not the slightest reason for you to fear that I should 
 be displeased. I welcome criticism from the Censors : 
 that is what they exist for." 
 
 On returning to the Forbidden City, Kuang Hsii said 
 to Prince Kung : " On this occasion Her Majesty has taken 
 a lenient view, but I am sure that if the subject ever comes 
 up again in a memorial, not only will its author be be- 
 headed, but Wang, who now escapes, thanks to the Old 
 Buddha's good humour, will also suffer death." 
 
 Nevertheless Tzu Hsi took the hint which, after all, 
 was reasonable enough, and thereafter required fewer visits 
 from the Emperor, besides which she arranged matters 
 so that he could get back to Peking at an earlier hour. 
 
 At the time of the coup d^etat, many of the friends of 
 the Reformers wondered how the Old Buddha had so 
 swiftly possessed herself of all the details of K'ang Yu-wei's 
 plot and the names of his confederates. The explanation 
 is as follows : For some days before Tzii Hsi's coup 
 d'etat the Emperor, realising the hostility of the reaction- 
 aries to K'ang Yu-wei, had ceased from calling him to 
 audience. Instead he made use of the reformer Lin Hsii, 
 who transmitted messages to and from K'ang. He spoke 
 with such a strong Fukhien accent that the Emperor had 
 difficulty in following him, and therefore directed him to 
 write down everything of importance and leave the 
 memoranda with him for subsequent perusal. 
 
 A week before the fatal 5th day of the 8th Moon, the 
 Old Buddha suddenly came in, unannounced, from the 
 Summer Palace to pay the Emperor a surprise visit, and 
 see what he was about. It was only when she had 
 actually reached the West Gate of the city that an out- 
 rider was sent on ahead to inform the Emperor, so that 
 
 436 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 he might hasten to the entrance of the Western Palace 
 and welcome Her Majesty, as usual, on his knees. 
 
 Kuang Hsii and Lin Hsii were discussing matters in the 
 Palace of Heavenly Purity, when a eunuch rushed in and 
 said : " The Old Buddha will be here in twenty minutes. 
 I have ordered your chair for you to go and meet her." 
 The Emperor hurriedly bade Lin Hsii gather up his papers 
 and leave the Palace, while he himself proceeded to meet 
 the Empress. Unfortunately Lin Hsii, in a great state 
 of nervousness and fear, was so anxious to get away before 
 the Empress's eunuchs should see him, that in his haste 
 he accidentally dropped the most important of all his 
 documents, one in which he had outlined the plan for 
 surrounding the Summer Palace and seizing the person 
 of Tzii Hsi. This paper was picked up by one of Li 
 Lien-ying's henchmen and handed by the Chief Eunuch 
 to Her Majesty. It was the death warrant of the 
 Reformers. 
 
 For the next two years, Kuang Hsii was virtually a 
 prisoner and treated by the Old Buddha and Li Lien-ying 
 with studied rudeness and neglect. He became afflicted 
 with a deep, chronic melancholy, fully aware, during the 
 period of his solitary confinement, that his life hung upon 
 a thread, at the mercy of the Old Buddha's cold-blooded 
 policies and vengeful moods. After the coup d'etat, Tzii 
 Hsi used frequently to visit her wretched nephew in his 
 lonely pavilion prison on the " Ocean Terrace," and 
 would calmly announce to him the arrangements she 
 proposed to make after his decease, which, as he well 
 knew, was being planned with all due regard to precedent 
 and decorum.^ Knowing his proudly sensitive nature, 
 she would taunt him with the illegality of his succession 
 to the Throne (her own doing) and declare that his reign 
 would be recorded in the dynastic annals as an inter- 
 regnum, as was done in the case of a similarly unfortunate 
 ^ Vide China under the Empress Dowager, p, 212. 
 437 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 monarch, named Ching Tai, of the Ming dynasty (1450- 
 1457). 
 
 Kuang Hsii took a melancholy interest in the history 
 of his prototype, on which he used to meditate for hours. 
 There were indeed many curious features of resemblance 
 between the Ming Emperor's destiny and his own. Ching 
 Tai had been placed upon the Throne by command of 
 the Empress Dowager of that day, in the place of his 
 elder brother, who had been carried into captivity by the 
 Mongols. He was treacherously murdered by eunuchs, 
 whilst performing sacrifice. His reign was expunged from 
 the dynastic annals (though eventually restored), and his 
 body was buried, not in the Imperial mausolea to the 
 north of Peking, but in a comparatively humble grave at 
 a site adjoining the Summer Palace. 
 
 After his release from solitary confinement, and when 
 the Old Buddha's heart had been somewhat softened to- 
 wards him by their common misfortunes after the flight 
 from Peking in 1900, Kuang Hsii maintained his melan- 
 choly devotion to the memory of Ching Tai. From a 
 window of the Summer Palace he could see the grave of 
 his luckless predecessor, and lamenting its neglected state, 
 he persuaded one of his eunuchs to plant new pine trees 
 about it and to* repair the pillars of the main hall of 
 sacrifice. But he bade the eunuch take care that the 
 Old Buddha should not know by whose orders these things 
 were done. If she knew it was the Emperor's doing, she 
 would, no doubt, be angry : if discovered, the eunuch 
 was to say he was " acquiring merit " at his own expense, 
 and Tzu Hsi would probably praise his virtuous conduct. 
 But every one at Court knew of Kuang Hsii's pathetic 
 interest in the fate of Ching Tai, so much so, that after 
 his death in 1908, Chang Chih-tung cynically proposed to 
 the Regent to give him the posthumous title of Ching 
 (Illustrious) in commemoration of this interesting affinity. 
 
 Towards the end of Kuang Hsii's mysterious and fatal 
 
 438 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 illness, in November 1908, he suddenly displayed an 
 unusual initiative and independence of mind. On the 
 11th of November, two days before his death, he arose 
 from his couch and expressed his intention of presenting 
 himself at Tzu Hsi's bedside, to inquire after her health. 
 The dynastic annals record his pious solicitude for Her 
 Sacred Majesty, but the real incentive was probably his 
 desire to verify for himself the fact that his relentless 
 oppressor was mortally stricken. The effort, whatever 
 its motive, was too much for him, and he collapsed after 
 walking a few steps. His eunuchs carried him to a couch 
 on the south side of his bedroom, from which he never 
 rose again. 
 
 On the 10th of November, when Dr. Chou was sum- 
 moned to advise on the state of His Majesty's health, he 
 was amazed at the evidences of neglect which he found 
 in the mean equipment and general squalor of His 
 Majesty's apartment. It was heated by means of one 
 of the common white-clay stoves which are to be found 
 in the poorest houses in North China, things that cost a 
 few pence and emit noxious fumes of charcoal gas. His 
 bedding was meagre and coarse, of the kind a shop 
 apprentice might use. There were a few historical books 
 by his bedside, but no ornaments or comforts of any 
 kind; the yellow tablecloth was dirty and had evidently 
 not been changed for months. When, after his death, 
 his coffin was borne to the Western tombs, to be deposited 
 in a temporary shelter pending the building of his mauso- 
 leum, the articles which he had had in daily use were 
 carried, as custom requires, in the funeral procession, and 
 it was observed by the populace that they were no better 
 than those of the ordinary shopkeeper's household. There 
 was no money wasted on the Son of Heaven under the 
 administration of the insolent Chief Eunuch, Li Lien-ying. 
 From his death-bed, the Emperor addressed a last 
 request to the Old Buddha, which showed how vividly 
 
 439 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the tragic events of 1900 had impressed themselves upon 
 his mind, and how steadfastly he cherished the memory 
 of the one woman who had cheered his unhappy life 
 with affection and loyalty. This was the " Pearl Concu- 
 bine," murdered by order of the Empress Dowager on the 
 morning of the flight from the Palace, after the entry of 
 the allied armies into Peking. The hand that sent this 
 loyal soul to her doom was the hand of Li Lien-ying, who 
 threw her into the well, but the man who had poisoned 
 the Empress's mind against her, and who was therefore 
 chiefly responsible for her death, was a eunuch named 
 Tsui. This wretch had hurled stones down the well upon 
 the victim of his malignant intrigues and had mocked the 
 Emperor in his grief. Kuang Hsii had not forgotten or 
 forgiven, and at the last he sought to be revenged on one 
 who had added insults to the deadliest injuries. He asked 
 the Old Buddha that the eunuch Tsui might be dismissed 
 from the Palace and all his vast fortune confiscated. Even 
 then, remembering Her Majesty's ultra-sensitiveness in 
 matters where her supreme authority was concerned, he 
 avoided all direct reference to tragic events of which, he 
 believed, she had repented, and requested the eunuch's 
 punishment on the ground that " he was planning treason 
 against Her Majesty's person." His wish was granted 
 (Tsui's fortune was probably an important factor in the 
 decision), and on the day of Kuang Hsii's death, the eunuch 
 was ignominiously driven from the Palace. 
 
 Many were the slights and indignities placed upon the 
 miserable monarch by these " rats and foxes " of the 
 Palace, who seemed to delight in wounding his sensitive 
 nature. Li Lien-ying invariably checked the Empress 
 Dowager in any kind impulse of compassion towards him 
 by representing the Emperor as persistently disrespectful 
 to herself. 
 
 When the Emperor was confined by the Old Buddha's 
 orders at the Ocean Terrace, which was connected with 
 
 440 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 the rest of the Palace by a single drawbridge that spanned 
 the surrounding narrow lake, he practically saw no one 
 excepting the two or three eunuchs appointed to watch 
 over him. Even his wife and other ladies of the Palace 
 were seldom allowed to come near him, and the Old 
 Buddha's occasional visits were hardly calculated to cheer 
 him. His apartments were untidily kept and scantily 
 furnished; even the bamboo screens were usually in 
 tatters and the paper windows in holes. When the electric 
 light was installed in the Palace only the Emperor's rooms 
 were not connected. The Imperial Household officials 
 took their cue from the Old Buddha, and knew better than 
 to show concern for the Emperor's comfort. On one 
 occasion, Kuang Hsii asked Chi Lu, a Chamberlain of the 
 Household, to get him some new bamboo screens to replace 
 his old ones which were dropping to pieces. Chi Lu did 
 so. Next morning the eunuchs in attendance on Her 
 Majesty took pleasure in informing him that the Old 
 Buddha had been graciously pleased to present fine sable 
 robes to all her other Chamberlains, whilst on him she 
 had bestowed a foreign dog. This gentle hint, typical 
 of Tzii Hsi's way of doing things, effectually checked any 
 further attempts on the part of Chi Lu to make things 
 easier or pleasanter for poor Kuang Hsii. It is only fair 
 to say, however, that after the return from Hsian he was 
 better served, and was eventually allowed to have his 
 own attendants about him, and certain benefits from the 
 Privy Purse. 
 
 441 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE BOXER YEAR (1900) 
 
 The inner history of the Court of Peking during the 
 height of the Boxer crisis and the siege of the Legations 
 was fully narrated in the diary of His Excellency Ching 
 Shan, published for the first time in China under the 
 Empress Dowager in 1910. Since then, the observations 
 of Europeans who went through that siege, and the 
 criticisms of Chinese apologists on the subject, have 
 confirmed the opinion that Ching Shan was not only well- 
 informed but remarkably accurate in his record of those 
 stirring days. Until the abdication of the Manchus, it 
 was almost impossible to obtain authoritative evidence 
 confirmatory of Ching Shan's sensational revelations. 
 Tzu Hsi's successor as Empress Dowager, Her Majesty 
 Lung Yii, by whose orders a special Chinese translation 
 was made of China under the Empress Dowager, forbade 
 the vernacular press from publishing any reference to a 
 work which, naturally enough, she regarded as Use 
 majeste of the worst description. Since the inauguration 
 of the Republic, however, the writings, public and private, 
 of many Chinese and Manchus have thrown no little light 
 on the principal events of the reign of Tzu Hsi, and indeed 
 on the history of the dynasty. Making all due allowance 
 for the Oriental failing, common to most Chinese annalists, 
 of believing and recording evil of those in high places, 
 there is much in these fugitive papers which serves 
 to amplify and to check our knowledge of important 
 details. 
 
 442 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 The most significant feature common to all these docu- 
 ments lies in their tacit acceptance of the fact that a time 
 of political chaos implies the wreaking of vengeance for 
 private grudges by whichever party happens to he pos- 
 sessed of the balance of power at any given moment. 
 The Old Buddha's acceptance of the Boxers' programme 
 of " driving the hated foreigner into the sea " was used 
 by the leading Boxer politicians — Prince Tuan, Hsii 
 T'ung and Kang Yi — not so much for the furtherance of 
 that policy and the good of the State, as for the casti- 
 gation of their personal enemies and rivals. Even when 
 the allies were at the very gates of Peking, the thoughts 
 of these men were directed less towards the defence of 
 their city and their sovereign than towards revenge on 
 their political opponents. The grim drama of human 
 passions which was enacted around the Dragon Throne 
 during those days of terror is made grimmer by the fact 
 that those who describe it regard it as a matter of course, 
 unconscious of all it implies in the history, past and 
 future, of their country. 
 
 Before dealing with some of the most noteworthy 
 incidents in this drama, we may take from the diary of 
 a Manchu official the following account of the vicious 
 profligacy which characterised the Princes and nobles 
 of the Imperial Clan long before they became leaders of 
 the Boxer movement. The author heads his reminiscences : 
 " Signs of a Decaying Dynasty." 
 
 " It has ever been the case in Chinese history," he says, 
 " that whenever a dynasty has lost its virility and ex- 
 hausted the mandate of Heaven, its Princes and nobles, 
 becoming effete and addicted to luxurious and unnatural 
 vices, must be for ever seeking some new and strange way 
 of gratifying their jaded appetites. In the years before 
 the Boxer outbreak, the young Manchu aristocrats of 
 Peking used to amuse themselves by dressing themselves 
 as beggars and parading the streets in this guise. I 
 
 443 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 cannot say who started this fashion, but it became quite 
 the rage. Every young Prince would endeavour to sur- 
 pass his fellows in a thoroughly realistic imitation of a true 
 beggar's disguise. At first the craze was confined to the 
 highest Manchus, but, as might be expected, it soon 
 found imitators among the sons of Chinese in high places. 
 Prominent amongst them were the grandsons of the 
 powerful Board President, Pi Tung-ho. To-day this 
 family is fallen upon evil days, and its fate is well deserved. 
 
 " I remember particularly one occasion, during the dog- 
 days of 1892. It was a very hot day, and some friends had 
 invited me to join them in an excursion to the Kiosque 
 and Garden known as ' Beautiful Autumn Hillock,' just 
 outside the south-west gate of the Southern city. The 
 place is also called the Brick Kiln Terrace; it consists 
 of a hillock about forty feet high, on top of which there 
 is a wide level space of about a quarter of an acre in extent. 
 This spot is well shaded by tall willows and poplars, and 
 in the middle there is a pond, where water-lilies and 
 rushes grow. There are no houses about it, so the place 
 is delightfully cool, and visitors can take their tea quietly 
 at the open-air restaurant, while enjoying the pleasant and 
 busy scene. Pedlars and wine- sellers come here to ply 
 their trade, acrobajts and conjurors perform to earn a few 
 cash from the idle rich, and there are strolling musicians. 
 There are also sheltered nooks for the comfort of visitors, 
 so that one might fancy oneself in the heart of the country. 
 
 " At the table next us sat a young man of about eighteen : 
 his face was as black as soot and he looked thin and ill- 
 nourished. His queue was plaited round his head and he 
 had inserted a bone hairpin in his hair, after the manner 
 of the Peking hooligan class in summer time. He wore 
 no socks and was stripped to the waist. His only garment 
 was a very shabby pair of short trousers, which hardly 
 reached to the knee, all covered with grease and mud, and 
 badly torn : in fact, he was scarcely decent. He wore a 
 
 444 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 pair of dilapidated grass slippers, through which his toes 
 protruded. 
 
 " Strange to say, this miserable-looking beggar had on 
 his right thumb a large ring of green jade worth at least 
 500 taels (say at that time £80) ; and he carried a beautiful 
 and very costly carved fan with a jade handle. He sat, 
 with legs crossed, on the ground, drinking wine. His 
 conversation was full of vulgar oaths and the lowest 
 Pekingese slang. I noticed, however, that the waiters 
 showed him a very particular and eager attention and 
 hardly ever left his side. To their other patrons their 
 behaviour was very different, being somewhat offhand 
 and brusque. I was lost in bewilderment at this spectacle, 
 wondering what it meant, when the sun began to sink 
 behind the western hills and the guests to leave. All of 
 a sudden I observed the arrival of a smart official cart 
 with red wheels set far back,^ and a train of some twenty 
 well-groomed attendants. I then realised the truth and 
 awaited developments with some curiosity. Two officials 
 came up the hillock, both wearing the button of the third 
 rank and peacock's feather. They were evidently officers 
 of the bodyguard; one of them carried a hatbox and a 
 bundle of clothes, while the other held a basin and ewer 
 They approached the young beggar, and reverently ad- 
 dressed him : ' Your Highness's carriage is ready. You 
 have an engagement to dine at Prince Kung's palace to- 
 night, and we ought to be starting.' So the young blood 
 got up, took a towel and washed his face. We were all 
 astonished at the transformation, and could scarcely 
 suppress an exclamation of surprise. The dirty black 
 of his face had been replaced by a delicate white com- 
 plexion, and though thin, he had the distinctive features 
 of the Manchu Princes. We perceived that he had daubed 
 his face with charcoal. 
 
 ^ A type of vehicle which could only be used by persons of very 
 high rank. 
 
 445 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 "He then attired himself in his proper clothes, with 
 the jewelled buttoned hat which Princes wear, decorated 
 with the triple-eyed peacock's feather. The two officers 
 humbly escorted him to his carriage ; he drove off and was 
 soon lost to view. 
 
 " The head waiter then whispered to me : ' That was 
 the Beileh, Tsai Lien.' I replied in amazement : ' What 
 does he mean by such behaviour?' 'Oh,' said he, 
 ' don't you know the latest craze of our young Princes 
 in Peking ? ' He went on to tell me how Prince Chuang, 
 Prince K'o, Prince Tuan, the Beilehs Lien and Ying, 
 Prince Ch'ing's son Tsai Chen, the son of the Lieutenant 
 General Ch'i Hsiu, Prince Chuang's sons, Huai-t'a-pu's 
 boys, and many others, made a practice of adopting this 
 guise, and were constantly causing disturbances in houses 
 of ill fame, taverns, etc., and street rows, as the police 
 were afraid to interfere with them. The Prince we saw 
 was comparatively well behaved. 
 
 " I was horrified to hear this, and said : ' This surely 
 portends evil to our Empire. Such things occurred just 
 before the Sungs were finally defeated by the Mongols 
 and also at the close of the T'ang dynasty. History is 
 full of such examples. Mark my words, China will be 
 plunged in dire calamities before ten years have passed.' 
 
 " My friends were all Manchus of the Imperial Household, 
 in a position to learn much of the inner life of the Court, 
 so I had no doubt as to the accuracy of their statements. 
 My own opinion was confirmed in due course, for eight 
 years later the Boxer outbreak occurred. Of the several 
 Princes who had amused themselves by playing the 
 beggar. Prince K'o was taken into custody by the foreign 
 troops and set to work at burying the bodies of the dead : 
 in his mortification he committed suicide. Huai-t'a-pu 
 was forced by the Russians to clean out latrines : he 
 complained to the officers that he was of high rank, but 
 they only reviled him and flogged him with a whip; he 
 
 446 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 did not dare to tell them of his near kinship with the 
 Old Buddha, lest his Boxer proclivities should become 
 known and a worse fate befall him. Eventually he also 
 took poison and died. Ch'en Pi was forced to pull a rick- 
 sha. Scions of the Imperial family, men who had never 
 done a day's real work in their lives, fell to tramping the 
 streets not as sham, but real, beggars. Prince Tuan and 
 his brothers were either exiled or cashiered : Prince 
 Chuang was permitted to commit suicide. Ch'i Hsiu 
 perished by the sword of the executioner. The hero of 
 our day's outing, the Beileh, Tsai Lien, lost his title and 
 rank as the result of complicity in the Boxer rising, and is 
 now living in greatly straightened circumstances. I 
 wonder if those who still survive of that bright band of 
 gay blades ever feel any impulse to play at wallowing in 
 the dung-heaps of the city with outcasts and beggars ? 
 Perhaps by now their jaded appetites are sated, and in 
 their sober moments they may even brood sorrowfully 
 over the piteous decline of their once proud Manchu 
 dynasty." 
 
 The following, also from a Manchu' s diary, explains how 
 it came to pass that, after much vacillation and casting 
 about for advice, the Old Buddha finally decided on 
 defying the forces of the Western world. 
 
 " At the critical moment when the Taku ports were 
 taken (17th June, 1900) by the foreigners, the three high 
 officials who led the war-party at Peking were Prince 
 Tuan, Hsii T'ung and Kang yi. Prince Ch'ing might 
 have voted against the Boxers had not Prince Tuan been 
 watching him closely : whereat he was afraid. Chao 
 Shu-ch'iao could never come to any definite opinion one 
 way or the other. When the news reached Peking that 
 the forts had been taken, the Old Buddha, sorely per- 
 turbed, sent for each member of the Grand Council 
 separately. Prince Ch'ing, though not on the Council, 
 was first asked for his opinion. True to his crafty prin- 
 
 447 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ciples, he replied : ' Peace or war, each course presents 
 its advantages, but it must be for Your Majesty to de- 
 cide.' ' That is no answer to my question,' retorted the 
 Old Buddha, ' you may go down from the Presence.' 
 Jung Lu, the next to be summoned, implored Her Majesty 
 to pause before taking action which would irrevocably end 
 the Manchu dynasty. After being angrily rebuked by 
 the Old Buddha, he gave place to Kang Yi, who advised 
 war to the death. Chao Shu-ch'iao was then called in. 
 The Old Buddha first told him exactly what the others 
 had said and then observed : ' You have held many 
 provincial posts ' (he had been a Prefect at Feng Yang in 
 Anhui for many years), ' and have had direct experience 
 of the conditions under which my people live. In this 
 respect you should be able to gauge the situation better 
 than either Kang Yi or Jung Lu, who have never held 
 office as magistrates. I shall therefore decide in accord- 
 ance with your judgment.' Chao had previously promised 
 Jung Lu to vote against war, but realising that the Old 
 Buddha was bent on hostilities, he hesitated and finally 
 stammered out : ' I hear that the Foreign Powers are 
 sending large armies to China ; I am afraid that a cam- 
 paign is by no means certain to end in victory for our 
 arms; nevertheless, a pacific policy presents obvious 
 difficulties.' The Empress angrily interrupted him. 
 ' Are you for peace or war ? Make up your mind one 
 way or the other and tell me.' Chao replied : 'Your 
 Majesty might declare war to begin with, and then if we 
 are defeated, it will not be too late to order a cessation 
 of hostilities. Troops are pouring into Peking from the 
 provinces to support Your Majesty; but even if we are 
 completely defeated, the foreign armies will never venture 
 to penetrate far into the interior.^ This last argument 
 greatly impressed Tzu Hsi, who used it in her subsequent 
 speech to the Ministers and Princes as a good reason, fox_ 
 declaring war." 
 
 448 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 When, under the Peace Protocol, Chao expiated his 
 comparatively innocent part in the Boxer movement, the 
 Decree in which Tzu Hsi recorded his sentence referred 
 to his vacillation at audience ; but he was ever a favourite 
 of hers and she did her utmost to protect him from the 
 death penalty.^ 
 
 Of the three men who chiefly influenced Tzii Hsi's mind 
 and turned the wavering scales in favour of war, Prince 
 Tuan, the swashbucklering fanatic, is less interesting as a 
 type than Kang Yi and Hsii T'ung, whose hatred of 
 foreigners followed naturally from their conception of the 
 orthodox and patriotic official's duty to his country and 
 himself. Hsii T'ung's hostility towards Europeans and 
 all their ways was cold-blooded and uncompromising, but 
 at least it had the merit of being unconcealed. He carried 
 it, indeed, to an excess which made him notorious in 
 Peking long before the Boxer outbreak ; for several years 
 he made it a rule to leave his house (which was on Legation 
 Street) by the side door leading to the wall rather than 
 set foot on the foreigners' macadamised road. His son 
 Hsii Ch'eng-yii, however, though by no means friendly to 
 Europeans, was in the habit of taking foreign meals at 
 the local hotel, and was on good terms with a certain 
 foreigner who lived next door to the Grand Secretary's 
 premises. It was through this European's kindly inter- 
 vention that Hsii was able to escape from the besieged 
 Legation quarter, and the Old Buddha fully intended to 
 reward the foreigner for his friendly act. 
 
 Hsii T'ung's quarters during the next two months were 
 at the former residence of the Grand Secretary, Pao 
 Yiin; he went to the Palace nearly every day and did 
 more than any one, except Tuan and Kang, to persuade 
 Her Majesty to place her trust in the Boxers. 
 
 When the Court fled south, Hsii would have liked to 
 follow Her Majesty, but a decree made him Peace Plenipo- 
 
 ^ Vide China under the Empress Dowager, p. 368. 
 GO 449 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 tentiary. His son, Hsii Ch'eng-yu, then said to his father : 
 " Your Excellency is now over eighty years of age. Your 
 policy has been an utter failure. What are you waiting 
 for, that you still cling to life? " The old man angrily 
 rebuked him for this unfilial speech. The son retorted : 
 " Father, you have been disloyal to the best interests of 
 tJi£L.State._ A disloyal minister cannot complain if he has 
 an^ unfilial son." (These words were used by Wu San- 
 kuei to his father in 1644,^ when the latter submitted to 
 the rebel Li Tzu-ch'eng, who proclaimed himself Emperor 
 after overcoming and expelling the Mings.) The old man 
 meekly replied: "Do then as you think best." With 
 that, his son led him to a tree in the garden, hung a rope 
 thereon and assisted the Grand Secretary to commit 
 suicide. His action would have been meritorious, had 
 he seen fit to die at the same time, but he clung to life, 
 only to be beheaded five months later. 
 
 When the Boxer madness was at its height, Hsii T'ung, 
 who was nothing if he was not thorough, used to say to 
 his friends : " Before we can hope to drive these foreigners 
 into the sea, we must exterminate one Dragon, two tigers 
 and thirteen sheep." The Dragon was the Emperor,- the 
 tigers were Jung Lu and Li Hung-chang, and the sheep 
 were the Yangtsze Viceroys, Prince Ch'ing, Yuan Shih- 
 k'ai, Wang Wen-shao and the other moderates_at^eking 
 and the provincial capitals. 
 
 Yii Hsien, the " butcher " Governor of Shansi, on the 
 black list of the Allies, was first sentenced to banishment 
 by Tzu Hsi, and had proceeded on his way as far as Lan 
 Chou in Kansuh, when Her Majesty's decree — reluctantly 
 issued under pressure — reached Sung Fan, the Viceroy, 
 whereby Yii Hsien was sentenced to decapitation. Sung 
 Fan was an old friend of Yii Hsien, and the day before 
 the arrival of this decree had invited him to a banquet. 
 While the feast was actually proceeding, the order from 
 
 ^ Vide supra, p. 126. 
 450 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 the Old Buddha was brought to the Viceroy, requiring 
 Yii's immediate decapitation. Sung Fan read it, changed 
 countenance and hurriedly concealed the document. Yii 
 asked permission to see it, and on being refused, angrily 
 put down his chopsticks and announced his departure. 
 Sung, seeing no help for it, let him see the decree. In 
 response to his friend's expression of grief, Yii smilingly 
 said : " It is the fortune of war. I am a soldier and know 
 that you must obey orders. The Sovereign commands, 
 what can a Minister do but comply ? Our feast, however, 
 is a private matter; my decapitation is your public 
 duty. Let us first conclude the banquet and speak of 
 other things." Yii then drank most immoderately, took 
 leave of his friend and spent the rest of the day quietly. 
 Next morning the Viceroy sent his guard to convey him 
 to the place of execution, which had been hung with 
 red silk, and sorrowfully witnessed the beheading of his 
 friend. 
 
 Kang Yi, after Hsii T'ung the most determined fire- 
 eater of the war party, was an ignorant and illiterate bigot, 
 a great believer in magic and spells. His belief in the 
 Boxers was the natural outcome of his puerile super- 
 stition; his favourite literature was the well-known 
 magical romance, Feng Shen Ch'uan, a collection of fan- 
 tastic legends which his secretaries had to read aloud to 
 him almost daily. When serving on the Grand Council 
 he was wont to say that though possibly there really 
 were in Europe as many nations as Russia, England, 
 Germany and France, all the rest of the countries of which 
 foreigners spoke — Sweden, Holland, Austria and Spain — 
 were surely nothing but lying inventions, intended to 
 intimidate China. 
 
 On one occasion, in 1894, on coming up to Peking from 
 Canton, where he had been Governor, he recommended 
 one of his aides-de-camp for a high post. Kuang Hsii 
 asked what were the nominee's qualifications. Kang Yi 
 
 451 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 replied : " He is my Huang T'ien-pa." ^ Huang T'ien-pa 
 had been the right-hand man of a certain magistrate in 
 K'ang Hsi's reign, and is a legendary hero renowned for 
 his bravery. Kuang Hsti perceived the allusion, but he 
 only smiled slightly, for he knew that Kang's knowledge 
 of history was derived from plays and ghost stories. 
 
 Looking back on the Boxer movement, and dispassion- 
 ately considering its genesis and leadership, the childish- 
 ness of its impulses and ambitions assumes a pathetic 
 aspect, and, viewed in this light, the penalties imposed 
 on China by the European powers appear to have been 
 lacking in sympathetic recognition of many fundamental 
 facts. One of the chief Boxer leaders, for instance,., one 
 of those who misled thousands of comparatively innoegQt 
 human beings to their jdoom, was a woman, ori^nally a 
 low-class courtesan of Tientsin, who was known as. " The 
 Yellow Lotus Holy Mother." In the eyes of her super- 
 stitious followers, this woman became an Oriental Jeajuie 
 D'Arc. When the Boxer movement was in fufl swing, 
 any one suspected of being friendly to foreigners was 
 taken before her, and sentenced to death, or set at liberty, 
 according to her decision. Li Hung-chang's eldest son, 
 Li Chang- shu, who was in Tientsin at the time, was 
 arrested by the Boxers and brought before the " Yellow 
 Lotus." The " Holy Mother " bade him kneel, and then 
 smiled graciously upon him. One of his attendants, who 
 was intimate with a Boxer chief, purchased his release — 
 for the " Yellow Lotus " had an eye to business. 
 
 The Viceroy, Yii Lu, invited her to his yamen and 
 begged her to predict the result of the movement. At 
 her coming he knelt in Court robes to receive her outside 
 the main tribunal and made obeisance to her. He said : 
 " The foreigners are near at hand. Have mercy and 
 
 ^ A well-known theatrical personage : it is not etiquette to cite 
 heroes of the stage at an Imperial audience, least of all to compare 
 one of them with an official. 
 
 452 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 deliver us from them by your magic power." She re- 
 pHed : "I have already arranged for an angelic host to 
 destroy them with fire from Heaven. You need not be 
 alarmed." She was eventually arrested and decapitated 
 by order of Li Hung-chang. 
 
 The point of view of the man in the street, the humble, 
 plunderable private citizen, was of little account in those 
 days, when the great ones staked the destinies of the 
 Empire on a single desperate throw. What the man in 
 the street felt is fairly described in the following reminis- 
 cence of the crisis, penned at the time, by a Kiangsu man 
 resident in Peking, styled Heng Yi. 
 
 " In the 26th year of Kuang Hsii," he wrote, " my 
 house was at the western end of San T'iao lane, not four 
 hundred yards from the Legations. After the murder of 
 the German Minister on the 24th of the 5th Moon, the 
 ruffian soldiery of Tung Fu-hsiang entered and sacked 
 nearly every house in my neighbourhood. All through 
 the 24th and 25th I could hear the shrieks of the women 
 and children, whom they were butchering, and their 
 shouts, in the Kansu dialect, ' Bring out the Erh Mao 
 Tzu ! ' 1 On the 26th (June 22nd) a Manchu Censor 
 impeached them to the Throne, and the Old Buddha sent 
 for their General, Tung Fu-hsiang, and bade him make 
 an example of the culprits. Accordingly, on the evening 
 of that day, twenty soldiers were beheaded just at the 
 entrance to my lane. 
 
 *' Even this exemplary punishment did not abate their 
 fury, for next day another large contingent started looting 
 again, and in due course approached my house. My 
 cousin ordered the gate man to draw the bars across the 
 main gate, but I begged him to do nothing of the sort. 
 ' Our only hope to escape being massacred is to parley 
 with them.' My cousin agreed, so we collected the whole 
 
 ^ " Secondary Devils " — the term vised to describe Chinese Christians. 
 
 453 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of the family in one of the main rooms, and told them not 
 to get excited or scream. I had scarcely mustered them 
 when nineteen of the Kansu braves came rushing in. 
 Their swords and clothes were still dripping with blood, 
 as if they had come from a shambles. I went forward 
 to meet them, saying politely : ' I know what you have 
 come for : you are looking for secondary devils. How- 
 ever, none of us have " eaten " the foreign religion. You 
 will see that we have an altar to the kitchen god in our 
 back premises. The whole of our family is now here; 
 will you not take a look through the house to see if there 
 are any Christians in hiding ? ' I meant by this to imply 
 that we should offer no opposition to their looting what- 
 soever they pleased. I also called a servant to prepare 
 tea. Our guests received these overtures pleasantly 
 enough, and after a few minutes of energetic looting they 
 returned to my guest room, and some of them sat down 
 to take tea. One of them remarked : ' You seem to be 
 thoroughly respectable people : what a pity that you 
 should reside near this nest of foreign converts and spies.' 
 After a brief stay they thanked us poUtely, apologising 
 for the intrusion, and retired with their booty. It was 
 then about 2 p.m. We lost about $4,000 worth of valu- 
 ables. Shortly afterwards, flames were bursting from our 
 neighbour's premises, so I made up my mind to remove 
 my family to a friend's house in the north of the city. 
 In spite of these deeds of violence, even intelligent people 
 still believed that the Kansu soldiery were a tower of 
 defence for China, and would be more than able to repel 
 any number of foreign troops. A friend of mine reckoned 
 that 250,000 persons lost their lives in Peking that summer. 
 I used to revile the Boxers in the family circle so much that 
 my own kinsmen, who sympathised with them, would 
 call me an ' Erh Mao Tzu,' and my cousin, fearing that 
 the Boxers would murder me, induced me one day to 
 kotow before one of their altars in the Nai Tzu-fu. To 
 
 454 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 this day I have regretted my weakness in thus bowing the 
 knee." 
 
 Five high officials fell victims to the malignant passions 
 and private enmity of the war party during the height of 
 the crisis, while the Allies were advancing upon Peking. 
 Of these, two were executed by the orders of the Old 
 Buddha — Yiian Ch'ang and Hsii Ching-ch'eng — for having 
 tried to protect foreigners.^ The other three, Li Shan, 
 Hsii Yung-yi and Lien Shan, were hurriedly sent to their 
 death by Prince Tuan.^ The death of Hsii Ching-ch'eng, 
 a very brave and courtly gentleman, has been well de- 
 scribed by an anonymous writer, in a memoir entitled, 
 Reminiscences of a Time of Suspicion and Panic,^ as 
 follows : 
 
 " A certain old scholar of Chekiang had been a close 
 friend to Hsii Ching-ch'eng in the days before Hsii had 
 attained to official rank. He accompanied him on his 
 first mission to Europe, and from that time never left him 
 till the day of his death. This gentleman relates that 
 on the day of Hsii Ching-ch'eng's arrest, all was quiet in 
 Hsii's house and there were no particularly alarming 
 rumours. After the midday meal they were sitting talk- 
 ing in the library, Hsii having ordered his carriage to go 
 to the Tsungli-yamen. He had just put on his official 
 robes, when the gate-keeper came in with a card to an- 
 nounce a visitor. The name was not familiar to Hsii, 
 who told the gate-keeper to make his excuses, explaining 
 
 1 Vide China under the Empress Dowager, p. 294. 
 
 2 The diarist, Ching Shan, declares that this was done without the 
 knowledge of the Old Buddha, but, on the face of it, this is difficult to 
 believe. It is most probable that, without premeditation, she allowed 
 it to be done in one of her violent fits of rage, and was sorry for it 
 immediately afterwards. 
 
 3 Literally : " monkey-like suspicions and panic at the cry of a 
 bird." 
 
 455 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 that he had an appointment at the Yamen and no time 
 to spare. The gate-keeper went out but came back at 
 once, to say that the visitor was a mihtary official em- 
 ployed at the Yamen, and that his orders from Prince 
 Ch'ing were to invite Hsii's immediate attendance : Prince 
 Ch'ing and Prince Tuan were both at the Yamen already, 
 and there was most important business on hand. Hsii 
 thereupon went out and saw the man. On returning, he 
 said to his friend : ' When we left the Yamen yesterday 
 I heard nothing of any important business. I wonder 
 why both Princes are attending there to-day ? ' To this 
 his friend replied : ' No doubt something has happened. 
 I shall go now into the Southern city to get the latest 
 news.' The friend then went out, but immediately re- 
 turned to say : ' That officer who came to fetch you is 
 still waiting outside, close by the gate. He seems greatly 
 excited; it all looks very suspicious. Besides, I know all 
 the Yamen official messengers by sight, and I never saw 
 this man before. I advise you, as a precaution, to take 
 a larger suite with you than usual, and be sure to send back 
 a messenger with a report.' 
 
 " Hsii smilingly ignored his friend's remarks, entered his 
 carriage and drove as far as the end of the lane, where he 
 observed several runners from the Yamen of the Metro- 
 politan Gendarmerie standing about. Upon a sign from 
 the officer, they all formed a bodj^guard round Hsii's 
 carriage. Instead of proceeding towards the Tsungli- 
 yamen they turned northwards, and when Hsii asked 
 the reason for this he was told that to-day's meeting 
 would be held in the Yamen of Gendarmerie. On arriving 
 there, the officer came forward and assisted Hsii to alight. 
 He then ordered Hsii's attendants to go home : ' You 
 are not wanted here,' said he; ' His Excellency will have 
 other men to wait upon him inside.' Hsii was rapidly con- 
 ducted to a small room, the door was bolted and he was 
 left alone. He could hear sounds of lamentation pro- 
 
 456 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 ceeding from some one in the next room. This turned 
 out to be Yuan Ch'ang, but the two were not allowed to 
 meet. 
 
 " Meantime Hsii's suite returned home, and his friend 
 was greatly alarmed at this report. He hurried off to 
 Wang Wen-shao (his fellow provincial) to find out what 
 was afoot, and to beg him to save Hsii's life. Wang pro- 
 fessed amazement : ' I have only just come from the 
 Council,' he said, ' and to my knowledge Her Majesty 
 issued no decree. Your story seems incredible.' 
 
 " Hsii's friend took his leave and spent most of the night 
 in trying to find some means of succouring him; it was 
 not till 3 a.m. that he heard definitely that both he and 
 Yiian had been sent to the Board of Punishments. Early 
 that morning he received a private note from a secretary 
 of the Board to tell him that the heads of the Ministry 
 had just come out from the great hall of Council, and that 
 orders had been given for a supply of red yarn to be got 
 ready, from which he knew that the execution of the two 
 prisoners had been decreed, because an ancient custom 
 requires that when a high official is to be beheaded, his 
 face must be enveloped in red cloth. 
 
 " On receipt of this note Hsii's friend set off to visit Wang 
 Wen-shao to intercede once more for Hsii's life, but he 
 had only just started when he received a message saying 
 that the cart conveying the condemned had already left 
 the Board of Punishments. He hurried off to the exe- 
 cution ground outside the city, but on reaching it he 
 found that the two officials were already dead, and that 
 Hsii Ch'eng-yii (son of Hsii T'ung) was on his way to the 
 Palace to inform Her Majesty of the due execution of her 
 orders." 
 
 As regards the death of Li Shan, the same writer observes 
 that it is not correct to suppose that it was due to the 
 Boxers' coveting his vast wealth. The real reason lay in a 
 
 457 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 long-standing feud between him and Duke Tsai Lan, who 
 was really responsible for his execution. Some years 
 before, a well-known singing girl named " Green Monkey " 
 was all the rage among the fashionable elite of Peking. 
 Both Tsai Lan and Li Shan had had relations with her, and 
 each wished to secure her for himself, because her beauty 
 made her worthy in their eyes " of having a golden house 
 built for her abode." At that time, however, Duke Lan 
 had no official position and was in poor circumstances 
 financially, so Li Shan succeeded in carrying off the 
 " Green Monkey." For this Tsai Lan cherished a bitter 
 grudge against him, which the Boxer rising gave him an 
 opportunity to pay off. 
 
 As for the Chancellor of the Grand Secretariat, Lien 
 Yiian, executed at the same time by order of Prince Tuan, 
 he had put in a memorial urging that the bombardment 
 of the Legations should cease. He was just emerging 
 from the Palace when he met Ch'ung Li, ex-commandant 
 of the Gendarmerie, just outside the gate of Brilliant 
 Fortune. With an exclamation of surprise Ch'ung Li 
 said : " What brings you to the Palace at this early 
 hour ? " (It was not yet dawn ; Lien had had to attend 
 early in order to present his memorial.) Lien told him 
 the reason. Ch'ung angrily replied: "Indeed! Have 
 you Jorgotten your Manchu birth that you behave .UkfiL 
 ^ne, of these Chinese traitors ? " 
 
 Lien refused to admit that he was in the wrong, and 
 angrily turned on his heel. Ch'ung Li was furious, and 
 reported to Prince Tuan. A few days later Lien met his 
 fate at the " Western Market." Just before his head 
 fell, a Boxer leader in full uniform came riding up at a 
 hand gallop, dragging behind him something which was so 
 completely covered with dust and mud as to be quite un- 
 recognisable. It was not until the rider had pulled up 
 his horse at the execution ground, that the bystanders 
 perceived it was a man bound hand and foot. The features 
 
 458 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 were mutilated beyond recognition, but on inquiry of the 
 runners they learned that it was Li Shan. 
 
 The fate of the third victim, Hsii Yung-yi, was the 
 hardest of all. A native of Chfekiang, he began his career 
 as a small official in the Board of Revenue, obtained by 
 examination a post as clerk on the Grand Council, and 
 finally, after nearly fifty years of official life, rose to be 
 Board President. He was circumspect and careful by 
 nature, an advocate of compromise in State affairs, honest 
 and incorruptible, resembling the late Duke of Devonshire 
 in his slow and weighty mode of speech. His death was a 
 surprise to every one, because few knew that he had an 
 enemy. Tzii Hsi always liked him, and subsequently 
 declared that his execution was none of her doing. 
 
 Be this as it may, the man really responsible for his 
 undoing was Hsii T'ung, who had long cherished a secret 
 grudge against him, because of an apparently trivial in- 
 cident in connection with an Examination Commission 
 on which both men were engaged. On that occasion a 
 candidate, protege of the Grand Secretary, had been 
 '* ploughed " as the result of Hsii Yung-yi having de- 
 tected an error in caligraphy, which had escaped the notice 
 of the other examiners. Hsii T'ung's mind was of the 
 type which cannot forget or forgive loss of " face." 
 
 After the death of Li Shan and Lien Yuan, Prince Tuan, 
 Duke Lan and Kang Yi were by no means sated of their 
 blood lust, and proposed to make a wholesale proscription 
 of their opponents, including, if possible, Jung Lu. Liao 
 Shou-keng, ex-President of the Board of Ceremonies (a 
 native of Kiangsu) had been removed from the Grand 
 Council some months previously, and had resigned from 
 the Tsungli-yamen in June, 1910, but Kang and Tuan 
 both had long-standing grudges against him. They fixed 
 on the 22nd of the 7th Moon (i. e, August 16th) for the 
 execution of Liao and several others, Liao being the first 
 on their list of victims. They made no secret of their 
 
 459 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 intentions, which were known all over the metropolis. 
 Liao Shou-keng had sent his family home to the South, 
 and was living at that time in a small temple outside the 
 Tung-hua Gate. On hearing the news he was much 
 alarmed, and implored a kinsman of his, an ex- Viceroy, 
 to persuade Jung Lu to save his life. Jung Lu promised 
 to do what he could, but next day he reported that all 
 his efforts had been in vain. At audience that morning 
 he had kotowed time and again to the Old Buddha im- 
 ploring her to save Liao's life, but Her Majesty had re- 
 fused to change her decision, and no appeal could move her. 
 He therefore advised that Liao should commit suicide. 
 
 The message was duly delivered to Liao, but he could 
 not make up his mind to act upon it. Herein he was 
 wise, for on the 21st, one day before the date fixed for his 
 execution, Peking fell, and thus he escaped. He left 
 immediately for his home in the South, where he died 
 not long after. The priest at the temple where he lived 
 said afterwards that when Liao heard the news of his 
 sentence, he wandered round and round the courtyard 
 like a man in a frenzy, and hardly stood still a moment 
 for several hours on end. He took no nourishment and 
 Avas as pale as a corpse. 
 
 It is not generally known that Wang Wen-shao himself 
 had a very narrow escape at that time. After the five 
 officials above-named had been put to death, Duke Lan 
 put in a memorial concerning the bombardment of the 
 Legations. To this there was a supplementary memoran- 
 dum attached, containing these words : " Most of the pro- 
 foreign traitors have been put to death, and Your Majesty's 
 Court is purged of their odious miasma. One man, how- 
 ever, still remains to pollute your presence. That man is 
 Wang Wen-shao. Unless the weed be plucked up by the 
 roots, disaster will ensue. I beseech Your Majesty to have 
 him beheaded, so that Your Court may be thoroughly 
 purified of traitors." 
 
 460 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 The memorial duly reached the Grand Council for 
 presentation. Jung Lu opened and perused it. He 
 said nothing to his colleagues, but hid the supplementary 
 memorandum in his sleeve. He handed the memorial 
 itself to Wang Wen-shao, who read it through, and then 
 said to his colleague : "I understood that Duke Lan 
 was putting in a supplementary memorandum as well. 
 Where is it ? " Jung Lu quietly replied : " Oh ! probably 
 it has been retained by Her Majesty, and will not be 
 issued." 
 
 A few minutes later, the Councillors were all summoned 
 to audience. After transacting routine business, Jung 
 Lu took out the supplementary memorandum from his 
 sleeve, saying : " This memorandum of Tsai Lan is really 
 an abominable insult to Your Majesty's intelligence. 
 Will Your Majesty be pleased to issue a rescript of severe 
 censure ? " 
 
 The Old Buddha glanced over the document, and the 
 " benevolent countenance " grew black as thunder. She 
 muttered to herself and sat with knit brows, her face 
 wearing an expression which, as Jung Lu knew well, boded 
 evil to the victim of her impending wrath. At last, she 
 said sternly : " Will you guarantee that this man is 
 innocent of all treasonable designs ? " Jung Lu kotowed. 
 " Although every man in Your Majesty's Court were a 
 traitor and were plotting against Your Majesty, yet I. 
 would stake my life on this man's unswerving fidelity. I, 
 your slave, will pledge the Grand Secretary's loyalty, as 
 long as breath remains in my body. If I had a hundred 
 voices I would proclaim it with every one, even though 
 my head should fall under the headsman's sword for my 
 temerity." The Old Buddha still hesitated, with an 
 inscrutable look on her face and a demeanour of enforced 
 calm. At last she said in a voice of deep warning : "So 
 be it, then. I place this man under your charge, and if 
 I find that your words are false and that he has been 
 
 461 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 conspiring against me, both of you shall suffer the same 
 penalty." Jung Lu again prostrated himself and thanked 
 Her Majesty for her gracious kindness. The victory was 
 won. He and his colleagues then took their leave. 
 
 Now, Wang Wen-shao was very deaf, and all this time 
 had been kneeling at some distance from the Throne. He 
 had no idea what the Old Buddha was saying to Jung Lu. 
 Afterwards Jung Lu told his friends the story, remarking : 
 " While I was pleading for Wang's life and the Old 
 Buddha looked wrathfully in his direction, speaking in 
 such a tone that Prince Li and I both trembled and turned 
 deadly pale, while Kang Yi sneered at us, there was old 
 Wang, looking perfectly happy and self-possessed, without 
 the least idea of what was going on." To the day of his 
 death Wang never knew of his escape, and would often 
 ask Jung Lu what the Old Buddha was saying to him on 
 that fateful morning of August 1900. 
 
 Finally, from notes written a month after the relief of 
 the Legations, by one who signs himself " An Imperial 
 Clansman," we take the following pathetic description 
 of the death of Lien Yuan's son-in-law, Shou Fu, who with 
 all his household committed suicide upon the entry of the 
 Allies, fearing insult and outrage at their hands. Shou 
 Fu was of a type not uncommon amongst the Reformers 
 (of whom he was one) — earnest, honest and impulsive, 
 but not very wise or well-informed. A blind impulse, 
 born of ignorance, wiped out all his family ; such tragedies 
 were common, however, during those days of battle, 
 murder and sudden death. For that matter they are 
 common enough in China at this time of writing. 
 
 " At the beginning of the Boxer crisis Shou Fu was greatly 
 concerned as to the state of affairs at the Palace. He 
 sought everywhere to obtain accurate information, and in 
 the end came to the conclusion that the Old Buddha's 
 belief in the Boxers would bring ruin upon the State, and 
 end the Manchu rule. To his family he expressed the 
 
 462 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 opinion that the only hope of saving the situation would 
 be to get the Emperor out of the hands of Tzu Hsi and Li 
 Lien-ying — ' a position of dire peril ' — and let him then 
 arrange matters with the Allies. 
 
 " When Prince Tuan and his confederates had won the 
 ear of the Old Buddha, one of Shou Fu's friends implored 
 him to leave Peking, but he sadly refused. He was then 
 urged to allow his younger brother, Chang Fu, to take his 
 wife and children to his villa in the country, but again 
 he refused, saying : ' When the skin has perished, where 
 shall the hair grow? When everything is in such dire 
 confusion, why worry about individual misfortunes ? ' 
 His brother Chang Fu agreed, saying that he also had 
 lost all desire to live. 
 
 " Shou Fu's father-in-law. Lien Yiian, Chancellor of the 
 Grand Secretariat, was a well-known authority on the 
 philosophy of Chu Hsi. In 1898, while holding office in 
 Hupei province, he heard that Shou Fu was a supporter 
 of the Reform movement, and wrote him a very angry 
 letter. After the interchange of some heated corre- 
 spondence, all relations ceased for a time between the 
 two men. Subsequently, when Lien Yiian came to hold 
 office in Peking, he realised that his son-in-law's endorse- 
 ment of the Reform movement arose from sincere patriot- 
 ism and not from any love of new and strange ideas. 
 When, in June, the crisis became acute. Lien Yiian was 
 received in audience with the rest of the chief officials. 
 There, in the audience hall, he wept aloud, and addressed 
 a most vigorous remonstrance to the Empress Dowager, 
 telling her that by the laws of nations, the persons of 
 envoys are sacrosanct. At this Prince Tuan stepped out 
 from his place at the head of the Princes, and angrily 
 exclaimed : ' Lien Yiian deserves to lose his head.' 
 Luckily for Lien, the Old Buddha made no sign, but con- 
 tinued to listen, apparently unmoved, while he finished 
 his discourse. When he had done, all she said was : ' I 
 
 463 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 am perfectly well aware of all you tell me, and I find 
 these long-winded harangues very wearisome.' But Shou 
 Fu rightly foresaw that his father would not escape the 
 vengeance of Prince Tuan for thus openly defying him. 
 
 " Shou Fu's family moved to Lien's house four days after 
 the latter's execution, i. e. on August 14th. From that day 
 communications were interrupted, between various parts 
 of the city, by the coming of the allied armies. On the 
 17th of August detachments of foreign troops had been 
 seen in the West city, but it was rumoured that all who 
 hung out the white flag would have their lives spared. 
 Nevertheless Shou Fu and his brother proceeded to poison 
 themselves with opium. Their unmarried sister, aged 
 thirty-two, then swallowed some of the drug, and made 
 her little sister, aged eight, do the same. Her slave girl 
 named Sa'Erh, stimulated to heroism by her mistress's 
 shining example, vowed that she too would give up her 
 life. By this time, the foreign soldiers had entered the 
 adjoining courtyard. Shou Fu was afraid, as the drug 
 worked slowly, that death would not come in time to 
 save them from insult by the troops, so he led them all 
 into a room on the west side of the court. There he 
 mounted the brick platform and hanged himself to the 
 rafters; but he being very stout, the rope gave way, and 
 he fell with a crash' to the ground. His brother Chang Fu 
 raised him and hurriedly assisted him to climb up again 
 and to adjust the rope securely, and this time he succeeded 
 in hanging himself. 
 
 " Chang Fu then quietly made ready the ropes for his 
 sisters and the little maid. When he had done so, there 
 was no more rope left, so he hurried out and found a piece 
 of thin cord in an outhouse. With this he returned to the 
 western room, opened the door and hanged himself to the 
 rafter just inside, thus blocking the entrance. It was 
 then ten o'clock in the morning of the 23rd day of the 
 7th Moon. Shou Fu's age was thirty-six, and his brother's 
 
 464 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 thirty- two. Their wives were forcibly prevented by 
 Lien's family from committing suicide, as they too wished 
 to do. 
 
 " Later, when the foreign soldiers had left the house, the 
 servants had to cut down Chang Fu's body before they 
 could get into the western room. The five bodies were 
 reverently laid out in the main hall, but the family had no 
 money wherewith to bury them decently. A kind neigh- 
 bour, named Fu, made them a present of a hundred taels, 
 and with this they bought five coffins. The remains were 
 taken to the garden at the back and there temporarily 
 interred. 
 
 " Ever smce the Japanese war," concludes the 
 chroniclerj " Shou Fu had realised that only by reform 
 could China be saved from ruin. No doubt he would 
 h^^Ye preferred to serve his country by living to work for 
 itj_rather than by dying for it; nevertheless his heroic 
 resohition must have afforded no small satisfaction to 
 the_^oul in Heaven of „his ancestor, Nurhachi, as well as 
 serving to show his enemies how a true patriot can dijg ! " 
 
 HH 465 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 CONCERNING THE OLD BUDDHA 
 
 Readers of China Under the Empress Dowager may 
 remember that, in summing up the character of that 
 remarkable woman, we drew attention to the fact that 
 up to the time of her death, despite the mass of material 
 existing in the diaries and archives of metropolitan 
 officials and the personal reminiscences of those who knew 
 her well, nothing of any human interest or value had been 
 published in China concerning her life and times. The 
 work issued by " Wen Ching," from the safe asylum 
 of a British Colony, was so obviously distorted by hatred 
 of the Manchus and so recklessly inaccurate on matters 
 of verifiable detail, as to be useless. The diary of Ching 
 Shan afforded for the first time authoritative evidence 
 of the opinion in which Tzii Hsi was held by those most 
 competent to jildge of her faults and virtues. Regarded 
 in the light of that evidence, which has undoubtedly 
 been confirmed by popular verdict, the Empress Dowager 
 " despite her swift changing and uncontrolled moods, 
 her childish lack of moral sense, her unscrupulous love 
 of power, her fierce passions and revenges, was no more 
 the fierce monster described by ' Wen Ching ' than she 
 was the benevolent, fashion-plate Lady Bountiful of 
 the American Magazines." ^ 
 
 In discussing the early life of Tzu Hsi, and the crimes 
 with which her contemporaries and posterity have charged 
 ^ China under the Empress Dowager, p. 478. 
 466 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 her, we laid stress on the fact that she hved her hfe 
 according to her hghts and in strict accordance with the 
 traditions of her race and caste. Her own mistress, 
 and virtual ruler of the Empire at the age of twenty-four, 
 with none to teach her to control either her moods or 
 her passions, how could she learn to cleanse the For- 
 bidden City of its barbaric cruelties and corruption? 
 Remembering the utterly unscrupulous falsehood of the 
 charges with which Chinese political opponents habitually 
 assail each other, and making due allowance for Tzii 
 Hsi's environment in a city of " infantile gaiety and sudden 
 tragedy, of flashing fortunes and swift dooms," we held, 
 and hold, that she was entitled to the benefit of many 
 doubts. 
 
 Nevertheless, and making all these allowances, the fact 
 has ever been indisputable that the licentiousness and 
 wicked extravagance with which Tzu Hsi's name was 
 universally associated during the minority of her 
 son T'ung Chih, created widespread feelings of resent- 
 ment and disgust amongst the better class of Chinese 
 officials. These feelings bore fruit at several important 
 crises of her career, and undoubtedly contributed in the 
 end to inspire the Western- educated Cantonese party 
 with the revolutionary ideas which led to the overthrow 
 of the dynasty. .In 1898, for instance, one of the 
 memorials submitted by the Reformer, Yang Jui, to His 
 Majesty Kuang Hsii, advocating the seizure and im- 
 prisonment of the Empress Dowager, denounced her 
 gross immorality and accused her of illicit relations 
 with several notable persons, one of whom was Jung Lu. 
 It compared the crimes and orgies of her Summer Palace 
 with those committed under the infamous concubine, 
 Ta Chi, of the Shang dynasty, and referred to her vicious 
 practices as matters of common and undisputed know- 
 ledge. This, indeed, has generally been the attitude of 
 the anti-Manchu movement of Young China ;j> but, in 
 
 467 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 assessing the value of its denunciations and the evidence 
 which it now produces with impunity in support of its 
 assertions, it is well to bear in mind the frankly prejudiced 
 character of the writers, and to realise that their state- 
 ments are no more worthy of complete confidence than the 
 evidence of Tzii Hsi's own decrees and official apologists. 
 
 The principal crimes with which Tzii Hsi stands charged 
 are crimes affecting the Imperial succession. Incidents 
 such as the murder of the " Pearl Concubine " or her 
 complicity in the Boxer madness, are not seriously 
 denounced by her critics; by tacit consent it appears 
 to be assumed that a ruler in China may forcibly remove 
 all obstacles from the path of his, or her, supreme 
 authority, except where the direct and legitimate suc- 
 cession to the Throne is involved. The instinct of Young 
 China seems, in this matter, to be unconsciously at one 
 with that of the orthodox literati of the old regime, and 
 to spring from recognition of the principle that the whole 
 social system of China, based on ancestor worship, is 
 bound up with maintenance of the Throne and the 
 regular transmission of the Goodly Heritage to legitimate 
 heirs. 
 
 In discussing the untimely death of T'ung Chih's 
 young widow, the virtuous A-Lu-te, and her unborn 
 child in March, 1875, we recorded the fact that " opinions 
 have always differed, and will continue to differ, as to the 
 truth of her alleged suicide," but that the balance of all 
 available evidence undoubtedly pointed in the direction 
 of foul play. Of all the crimes with which Tzu Hsi has 
 been accused, this was, and is, the most heinous, the most 
 cold-blooded and at the same time the most vitally 
 necessary to the maintenance of her own position as 
 ruler of China. Given the circumstances under which 
 it occurred, it was inevitable that the death of this un- 
 fortunate woman should be laid at Tzu Hsi's door by 
 a verdict of public opinion practically unanimous; but 
 
 468 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 it has been left to the pamphleteers and annalists of the 
 Republic to set forth that which purports to be definite 
 evidence of the crime. How far this evidence is based 
 on testimony of competent witnesses, and how far evolved 
 from the inner consciousness of the writers, it were hard 
 to say. All the narratives in our possession are the work 
 of men who set out with the avowed purpose of vilifying 
 the Manchus in general and the Old Buddha in particular. 
 In describing many of her alleged crimes — the murder 
 of her colleague, the Empress Tzti An; the debauching 
 of her son, T'ung Chih; the killing of A-Lu-te, and the 
 death of Kuang Hsii— these writers of Young China agree 
 generally in their conclusions, but they differ very 
 materially on important details of evidence, and their 
 work, as a whole, suggests constructive memory developed 
 to a very high degree of elasticity. 
 
 The following extracts from the recent work of four 
 such writers are reproduced in order that the reader 
 may form an impression of the opinion in which the great 
 Empress Dowager was held during her lifetime, not 
 only by the ever-turbulent spirits of Canton, but by 
 many of her detractors and secret enemies in the North. 
 Whatever the truth or untruth of their conclusions in 
 regard to the personal blood-guiltiness of the Empress 
 Dowager, they present, separately and collectively, a 
 lamentable picture of the inner life of the Forbidden 
 City, where corruption festered around the foundations 
 of the Dragon Throne, and where, in the shadows of the 
 stately halls, love and pleasure ran swiftly, the grim 
 Fates pursuing. 
 
 The first is the work of .|he brilliant scholar P'an 
 Tsu-yin, a leader of the Southern party at Peking, in the 
 early 'nineties, who died in 1897.,> His memoirs were 
 published by his grandson, one of the Shanghai revolution- 
 aries, shortly after the abdication of the Manchus. P'an 
 Tsu-yin calls his reminiscences Random Notes from the 
 
 469 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Chamber of the Cloudy Sea, this being the poetical name 
 which he gave to his studio. For several years he was 
 employed in the Palace as a sort of poet laureate, his 
 duty being to compose Imperial inscriptions in the Palace 
 library. The following paper, dealing with Tzii Hsi's 
 first emergence into the arena of State affairs, was written 
 in April 1880 : 
 
 " When Su Shun was beheaded, after the abortive 
 conspiracy of the usurping Regents in 1861, official 
 pronouncements and common report agreed in expressing 
 the conviction that he had plotted high treason and 
 cherished designs upon the Throne after the death of 
 Hsien Feng, and that a coup de main by his faction was 
 only averted by Tzu Hsi's resource and courage. Her 
 prompt and decisive action in putting him and his fellow 
 conspirators to death has been lauded to the skies by 
 many writers. Yet the commonly received version of 
 this incident is very wide of the truth, as I, who have 
 been intimately associated v/ith Palace affairs for many 
 years, have good reason to know. The Western Empress's 
 real reason for putting Su Shun to death was that he 
 knew too much about her, and had therefore to be put 
 out of the way. Dead men tell no tales. 
 
 " When Tzii Hsi was first admitted into the Palace, she 
 was not an Imperial concubine, but only a handmaiden 
 of very low rank. Duties were assigned to her at the 
 Summer Palace in an outlying building called ' The 
 deep recesses of the plane trees.' There she performed 
 her allotted tasks, embroidery and other duties suitable 
 to females, with diligence. One of her chief gifts was 
 a charming voice ; she knew many Southern songs, which 
 she had learned from a nurse who had been with her 
 since her birth in the South. One day when Hsien Feng 
 was strolling in the grounds of Yuan-Ming-yuan, he heard 
 from a grove close by a delicate voice trilling a Southern 
 
 470 
 
Ladies of the Court working at Embroidery. 
 {From a painting by Chin Ying [fifteenth century] in the British Museum.) 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 air. Greatly charmed, the monarch proceeded to make 
 the acquaintance of the fair singer. This was his first 
 meeting with Yehonala, for on entering the Palace she 
 had passed before Tao Kuang and his mother, and he 
 never had seen her. He spent the following evening 
 in her company; she proved herself an adept flatterer, 
 and was clever enough not to appear servile. She 
 anticipated all the Emperor's wants and so delighted him 
 by her espieglerie and power of mimicry, that on the 
 following morning he took her back with him to Peking. 
 In due course she bore him an heir, and from that day 
 her high destinies were assured. 
 
 " On the occurrence of this auspicious event she was 
 raised to the rank of Imperial concubine, in accordance 
 with Manchu custom. Her elevation to this high rank 
 completely changed her disposition; she grew most 
 haughty and unruly. To the Emperor she was contumaci- 
 ous and wilful; to her colleagues, overbearing and sar- 
 castic. She acted as if the future were absolutely in her 
 hands, and Hsien Feng was quite unable to exercise any 
 authority over her. He could not even restrain her 
 indulging in unseemly dalliance with a young officer of 
 the Guard, a kinsman of her own, Jung Lu. The Taiping 
 rebellion gave her splendid opportunities for intriguing 
 and forming cabals; the Throne was at its wits' end and 
 the dynasty seemed to be doomed. Yehonala took 
 command of the situation, and by recommending this 
 or that officer for preferment at Court steadily increased 
 the number of her faithful henchmen. 
 
 " Her power grew apace and soon overshadowed that of 
 the Emperor himself; State papers were submitted for 
 her inspection : all the while, the weak monarch regarded 
 her with increasing jealousy and hatred. At that time 
 Su Shun was by far the most prominent member of the 
 Imperial Clan. Hsien Feng delighted to honour him and 
 always sought his society in preference to that of liis own 
 
 471 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 sulky brother, Prince Kung. No one else at Court 
 rivalled him in the Imperial favour. Yehonala knew that 
 she had forfeited the Emperor's regard, and was therefore 
 anxious to win Su Shun to her side ; she did so in the only 
 way open to a woman, by tempting him to woo her. 
 Su Shun told her plainly that too many men had known 
 her charms for him to wish to make one of that great 
 company, and from that day Yehonala's resentment 
 against him burned fiercely. 
 
 " On the occasion of the Dragon Festival, she persuaded 
 the Emperor to take her on a boating excursion. Yeho- 
 nala, an adept with the oar, entered the boat first and stood 
 waiting for Hsien Feng and Su Shun to embark. Just 
 as the Son of Heaven was getting in, she suddenly dipped 
 her oar, causing the boat to tilt, whereupon Hsien Feng 
 took an undignified header into the water, besides hurt- 
 ing his foot. This act of mischievous effrontery infuriated 
 the Emperor. It was about this time that his sister, 
 the Princess Imperial, reminded him of the ancient 
 prophecy : ' The Manchu house will be overthrown 
 because of a warrior woman of the Yehonala Clan.' 
 He remarked to Su Shun, in the hearing of a eunuch, 
 who told me these facts : ' I propose before long to follow 
 the example of the founder of the later Han dynasty 
 (a.d. 30) who decreed the execution of his concubine 
 Kouyi. What do you say? Shall I kill the Imperial 
 concubine, or not ? ' Su Shun declined to utter an 
 opinion, but his silence was construed by the Emperor 
 as assent. The same eunuch who informed me of these 
 things, told Yehonala of her husband's proposal. Her 
 proud spirit was curbed for a while, but she lost no 
 opportunity for consolidating her position, and the 
 Emperor's increasing debility made it difficult for him 
 to take any decided action. At this juncture, the war 
 with the barbarians broke out. Hsien Feng became 
 paralysed with fear and fled from Peking in spite of 
 
 472 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Yehonala's remonstrances. At Jehol his health grew 
 rapidly worse : he fell into a state of chronic melancholy, 
 shut up Yehonala in one of the side Palaces and forbade 
 all intercourse with her. But for the loyalty of some of 
 her admirers she would probably have starved to death. 
 
 *' As he lay dying, the Emperor determined that his 
 guilty consort should not live to enjoy the fruits of her 
 scheming. With his own hand he penned a valedictory 
 decree, brief and explicit : ' After Our death you are 
 commanded to slay the Western Empress, so that she 
 may attend Our spirit in the next world. She must not 
 be allowed to live and by her misdeeds overturn Our 
 dynasty.' Hsien Feng sent for Su Shun and handed 
 him this mandate, with orders to see to its due execution. 
 Su Shun placed it inside the Imperial pillow; it had to 
 remain in the death chamber, lest men should say it 
 was forged. 
 
 " Now it happened that a young eunuch named Li 
 Lien-ying, in attendance on the Emperor, was an expert 
 masseur and his ministrations gave some relief to the 
 dying monarch, whose limbs were racked by rheumatic 
 pains. He was waiting in the antechamber whilst the 
 Emperor was conversing with Su Shun, and having over- 
 heard the decree, hurried off to inform Yehonala. Prince 
 Ch'un and his wife (sister of Tzu Hsi) were in Jehol 
 at the time, and were waiting in the Palace, expecting at 
 any moment to hear of the Emperor's death. Li Lien- 
 ying managed to get word to Princess Ch'un of the fatal 
 decree, and implored her to succour her beloved sister. 
 On the announcement being made that the Emperor 
 was being arrayed in his robes of longevity (^. e. that he 
 wasm extremis) the Princess was admitted into the chamber 
 to assist in performing the last rites. Tzu Hsi was 
 also released from her confinement, and entered the death 
 chamber with her son, the Heir to the Throne. The 
 Senior Empress, Tzu An, had the decree in her hand, but 
 
 473 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Yehonala and her sister between them persuaded her to 
 give it up, and promptly burned it. It was commonly 
 believed that Tzu An voluntarily surrendered it, not 
 wishing to make trouble at such a time, firstly, because 
 she had no love for Su Shun, and secondly, because she 
 had in her possession another similar document which 
 authorised her to slay Yehonala if at any time her conduct 
 should prove a danger to the State. At any rate the 
 fatal decree was burnt; Su Shun re-entered the death 
 chamber after the final offices had been performed, and 
 inquired at what hour His Majesty had ascended on high, 
 because custom prescribed that this should be inserted in 
 the Imperial decree announcing the sovereign's demise. 
 Tzu Hsi angrily took out the watch which she wore at her 
 girdle, and turning its face towards Su Shun, exclaimed 
 in a freezing tone : ' See for yourself; he died only a 
 moment ago.' She did not wish it to appear that any 
 interval had occurred which would justify suspicion as 
 to the destroying of papers. From that day she 
 made up her mind to put Su Shun to death. She knew 
 that several people in the Palace were aware of the 
 Emperor's intention to remove her, so that Su Shun's 
 death was necessary to ensure her own safety. How true 
 is the saying in the Odes : ' Truculent is the feminine 
 nature ! ' Yehonala was a she-wolf at heart, though in 
 saying this I know that I am guilty of presumption 
 towards one who has shown me favour." 
 
 We turn next to a memoir or pamphlet, circulated over 
 the signature of " An Anhui official." After referring 
 to the fact that the Manchus first became a power by 
 their subjugation of the Yeho tribe, and that they lost 
 their Empire as the result of the ascendancy of the 
 Yeho Clan (wherein he descries the inexorable whirligig 
 of Time), this writer proceeds to explain Tzu Hsi's 
 responsibility for the Manchu decadence, as follows : 
 
 .474 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 " At the beginning of Hsien Feng's reign, the young 
 Emperor created a very favourable impression. But 
 the anxiety induced by the successes of the Taiping 
 rebels, and the temptations placed in his way by the 
 Court eunuchs, led him before long into evil courses of 
 debauchery, in which he eventually became hopelessly 
 involved. Wearying of the Manchu women of whom his 
 harem was composed, he turned a willing ear to the 
 beguilements of Su Shun, who played on his weaknesses 
 chiefly in order to lessen the influence of Yehonala. 
 With the help of the Chief eunuch, Su Shun procured 
 thirty beautiful Chinese maidens from Kiangsu and 
 Chekiang and brought them to Peking. Now there is 
 a dynastic house-law of the Manchus which forbids the 
 introduction of Chinese women into the Imperial City.i 
 Su Shun accordingly suggested to Hsien Feng that the 
 disturbed state of the Empire justified special precautions 
 for his personal safety at the Summer Palace, and he 
 therefore advised him to employ these thirty Chinese 
 women as a special bodyguard on night duty in the 
 proximity of the Imperial bedchamber. They were to 
 be divided into watches, of three women each, and beat 
 the watch rattle in the courtyard adjoining Hsien Feng's 
 apartments. Hsien Feng found the idea attractive, and 
 the Palace Amazons became a feature of his Court. 
 
 " Although Yehonala had given him an Heir to the 
 Throne, Hsien Feng greatly disliked her, and frequently 
 discussed with Su Shun the advisability of deposing her. 
 On his death-bed he wrote a valedictory Edict which he 
 handed to his consort (Tzu An) in which he said : ' The 
 Western Concubine being mother of the new Emperor, 
 
 ^ This law was introduced by the mother of Shun Chih, the first 
 Manchu Emperor, in order to guard her son against debauchery and 
 to preserve the purity of the Manchu stock. She had an iron pillar 
 erected at the entrance to the Palace, bearing the inscription, " If 
 any females with small feet dare to pass this gate, let them be summaril^^ 
 beheaded." 
 
 475 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 it will be necessary to raise her to the rank of Empress 
 Dowager. But she is utterly untrustworthy, and capable 
 of any crime. Do not let her influence you in matters of 
 government, but decide everything for yourself. If she 
 behaves herself, well and good; treat her with all kind- 
 ness. But if her misdeeds become flagrant, you must 
 summon the chief Ministers to your presence and show 
 them this decree, which authorises you to compel her 
 to commit suicide.' Hsien Feng never contemplated 
 the joint Regency : the valedictory decree subsequently 
 produced by Yehonala was forged for her by Li Hung-tsao. 
 
 '' Upon Hsien Feng's demise, a clear distinction was at 
 once drawn between the two Empresses : the senior, 
 Tzii An, received the higher title of ' Empress Mother,' 
 while to Yehonala was given the inferior appellation of 
 ' Holy Mother.' [To a European the distinction is 
 hardly apparent; suffice it to say, that in Chinese eyes 
 there exists a real gulf between the two titles.] There 
 was a precedent for thus lowering the rank of the Emperor's 
 actual parent in the reign of Wan Li [sixteenth century], 
 where a similar course had been adopted to thwart an 
 ambitious woman. Yehonala was furious, and intrigued 
 to such effect that she soon secured a title which gave 
 her rank with, but after, the Senior Empress. She became 
 the ' Motherly and Auspicious,' a title which, for experts 
 in honorifics, is only a little less elevated than the ' Motherly 
 and Peace-giving,' which designated Tzu An. 
 
 " At Jehol, Yehonala first threw out suggestions of 
 her scheme for seizing the Regency to some of the 
 Council. The idea met with no enthusiasm, as was evident 
 from the demeanour of the Ministers, but none of them 
 dared openly to oppose the masterful young woman, 
 except Tu Han, who boldly rebuked her and pointed out 
 that such a course would constitute a flagrant violation 
 of dynastic house-law. Yehonala said no more at the 
 time. The Empresses' Regency was thus unwelcome 
 
 476 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 to the Court when first mooted; if it subsequently came 
 to be well received, this was because Su Shun made 
 himself highly unpopular by his overbearing manners 
 and by his openly expressed contempt for certain Princes 
 of the Imperial Clan, who headed a strong party against 
 him. Posterity has done scant justice to Su Shun 
 because of his high stomach. The man was really far 
 from bad, and infinitely less venal than most of his 
 contemporaries. At least he was no bigoted Manchu, 
 and it was chiefly through his influence that high military 
 commands were given to Chinese like Hu Lin-yi and Tso 
 Tsung-t'ang. At Court they called him the ' Emperor's 
 alarum.' 
 
 "As to Tzii Hsi : ' The true story of the inner Chamber 
 cannot be told in its entirety.' ^ The Empire soon 
 learned to know only too well what were the morals 
 of the Empress : her liaison with An Te-hai, who was 
 no eunuch, was in all men's mouths. It was rumoured 
 at one time that she was enceinte, and people whispered 
 that, if T'ung Chih died without an heir, the next 
 Emperor would be illegitimate, like the ' First Emperor ' 
 of the Chin dynasty. It was because of this scandal 
 that the Empress Tzii An decided to kill An Te-hai. 
 His remains were never exhibited to the public, lest the 
 fact should come to light that he was not a eunuch. 
 
 " When the time came for the marriage of her son, 
 T'ung Chih, Yehonala was very anxious that a daughter 
 of Feng Hsia should become Empress Consort, but in 
 this she was thwarted by Tzii An. A-Lu-te, who was 
 chosen, was chaste and well-read. Chastity had no 
 charms for Tzii Hsi, who alternately flouted and ignored 
 her. She even went so far as to forbid the Emperor 
 to visit his Consort, and compelled him to pass his time 
 in the company of Lady Feng, who had been given the 
 title of ' Discerning Concubine.' T'ung Chih soon 
 ^ A quotation from the Odes. 
 477 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 wearied of the Discerning one, and for a time spent his 
 nights in soHtude at the Palace of Celestial Purity. It 
 was not to be wondered at, perhaps, under these cir- 
 cumstances, that the eunuchs soon persuaded him to 
 accompany them on long nocturnal excursions to the 
 gay quarter of the capital; on these occasions he passed 
 as the ' licentiate Ch'en from Kiangsi.' On one of 
 these outings he met in a tavern the Vice-president 
 Mao Chang-hsi, and nodded to him affably. Mao was 
 greatly alarmed and promptly informed the police that 
 the Son of Heaven was leaving the Palace incognito, so 
 that after this T'ung Chih's steps were dogged by a number 
 of guards. T'ung Chih was far from gratified by these 
 attentions and at the next audience expostulated strongly 
 with Mao for not minding his own business. 
 
 " When the Emperor fell ill of the disease which proved 
 fatal, Tzu An sent for the Empress A-Lu-te and com- 
 forted her by allowing her to minister to her husband. 
 Now it is an old custom of the Palace that whenever the 
 Emperor desires to visit any one of his concubines, an 
 order in writing must first be sent by the Empress Consort 
 bidding the favoured one to await the coming of the Son 
 of Heaven. This order must be sealed with the Empress's 
 seal, for without her authority the concubine is not 
 permitted to give' admission to the Emperor. [This 
 has been the rule ever since the attempt to assassinate 
 the Emperor Chia Ch'ing in 1542, when Yang Chin-ying 
 attacked him in one of the concubines' apartments.] 
 When T'ung Chih was ill and quite unfit to leave his bed 
 he nevertheless persuaded his Consort to seal an order 
 authorising a visit to one of his concubines. Shortly 
 after this, his condition became desperate, and realising 
 that the end was near, he sent for Li Hung-tsao, in whom 
 he trusted, and on his coming, bade him raise the curtain 
 and enter the bedchamber. A-Lu-te, who was standing 
 by the bed, wished to withdraw, but T'ung Chih stopped 
 
 478 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 her, saying : ' The Imperial Tutor is the old and trusted 
 servant of the late Emperor : you may stay and hear 
 what I have to say.' Li went down on his knees and 
 made obeisance : T'ung Chih bade him arise, saying : 
 ' This is no time for ceremony.' Then, taking Li's 
 hand, he went on : 'I am dying.' Both Li and A-Lu-te 
 began to weep, but he told them to desist and listen, as 
 his time was very short. Turning to his wife, he asked : 
 ' In the event of my death, who, think you, should 
 succeed me ? ' She replied : ' The nation needs a ruler 
 who has attained to manhood. I have no desire to be 
 Empress Dowager and to have the charge of an infant 
 Emperor. A minority would be a disaster to China.' 
 The Emperor smiled : ' That is well. I am delighted that 
 you realise this; I need not be uneasy any more.' He 
 next told Li that he wished his first cousin the Beileh 
 Tsai Ch'u, son of the ninth Prince, to succeed him as heir 
 to Hsien Feng.^ He then dictated his valedictory decree, 
 which he bade Li copy out by his bedside. It contained 
 about a thousand characters and introduced elaborate 
 safeguards against his mother's usurpation of power. The 
 dying man perused it with satisfaction, saying : ' Capital ! 
 Go now and rest; I may see you again before the end.' 
 *' Li Hung-tsao left the Palace deadly pale and trembling 
 violently; no wonder, for he hurried straight to Tzu 
 Hsi's Palace and demanded immediate audience of her. 
 Yehonala bade him enter, whereupon, without prelimin- 
 aries, he produced the valedictory decree from his sleeve. 
 Her Majesty read it with her usual unmoved calm : 
 but at the end her rage burst forth. She rose from her 
 seat, tore the paper into pieces and trampled them under 
 her feet. ' Leave us at once,' she said to Li. She then 
 gave orders that no more medicine or food of any kind 
 
 ^ This Prince was sent to prison by Tzu Hsi in 1898, after the coup 
 d'etat ; his rank was restored to him by the Regent, Prince Ch'un, on 
 the day of Yuan Shih-k'ai's downfall in 1909. 
 
 479 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 was to be taken to the Emperor; and no one was to go 
 near him. She herself hurried to her son's apartment 
 only to find him already dead. Tzii Hsi always remained 
 grateful to Li for this act of treachery. True, she 
 dismissed him from the Council in 1884, but ten years 
 later he was again high in office, and after his death 
 he received the highest possible title of canonisation, 
 ' Learned and Orthodox.' Li Hung-chang used to say that 
 this one act of the Imperial Tutor had done more than any 
 other to bring the house of Gioro to ruin, owing to the harm 
 Tzu Hsi's second Regency did to China. After the coup 
 d'etat in 1898, he narrated the whole incident to Ma Chien- 
 chung, one of his secretaries, and added : ' Li Hung-tsao 
 ruined the dynasty by that one act of his. We have him 
 to thank for the war with Japan and all our subsequent 
 misfortunes.' ^ It was Ma who told me the facts. 
 
 " It was dusk when T'ung Chih died; the Grand Council 
 were summoned at once to the side hall, but they found 
 there Yehonala alone. She was standing beside the 
 Throne, wearing her every- day costume. The Princes 
 and Ministers inquired after His Majesty; the news of 
 his decease being as yet unknown. Yehonala smiled : 
 ' Oh ! His Majesty is in splendid health,' she said. That 
 was all, but the Court knew that the Emperor was dead. 
 
 " A moment later, suddenly forcing an angry tone, 
 Tzii Hsi exclaimed : ' The Emperor is dead,' and then 
 went on, ' This is no time for ceremony ; we have im- 
 portant business before us.' During the discussion which 
 followed, only Wen Hsiang opposed Tzii Hsi, and pressed 
 for the appointment of an heir to T'ung Chih instead of to 
 Hsien Feng. He was greatly indignant at the wrong done 
 to T'ung Chih,^ whom he only survived by a few months. 
 
 1 It is only fair to say that, in the opinion of his countrymen, Li 
 Ilung-Chang himself was chiefly to blame for the war with Japan and 
 China's ignominious defeat. 
 
 2 Vide China under the Empress Dowager, p. 135. 
 
 480 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 " During the first years of Kuang Hsii's reign, Tzu Hsi 
 took but little interest in the government, and frequently 
 abstained from appearing at audiences. This was in 
 itself significant, and when, in February 1881, she was 
 taken ill, and remained confined to her rooms for two 
 months, it was generally believed that she gave birth 
 to a child, of whom Jung Lu was believed to be 
 the father. As it would have been contrary to etiquette 
 for the Court physician to give her prescriptions appro- 
 priate for an illness resulting from confinement (Yehonala 
 being a widow), they treated her as if for dysentery, and 
 her state, instead of improving, grew worse. It was not till 
 Dr. Hsieh Fu-chen was summoned from Kiangsu that he 
 diagnosed her complaint correctly, but in ordering the 
 proper remedies he was careful to write at the top of the 
 prescription ' For dysentery,' so that the august patient 
 might not lose face. [All prescriptions for the Palace 
 must be recorded in the archives of the Court of 
 Physicians.] 
 
 " Tzii An had discovered her colleague in several 
 equivocal situations, and was well aware of her lack of 
 feminine virtue, but she was of a generous and tolerant 
 nature. On Tzii Hsi's recovery from the illness above 
 mentioned, the Eastern Empress invited her to a party 
 to celebrate the event. After the wine cup had been 
 passed three times, Tzu An dismissed all the attendants, 
 desiring to appeal to Tzii Hsi's better nature by talking 
 confidentially over old times. She referred to their child- 
 hood and to her father's kindness to the stricken family 
 of Yehonala, and then she spoke of the flight to Jehol 
 and the plot of Tsai-yuan, which so nearly brought ruin 
 to them both. Yehonala affected to be deeply moved, 
 and shed many tears during this recital. The Eastern 
 Empress proceeded : ' We are both getting old, my 
 sister; it may not be long before one of us rejoins our 
 lord and master Hsien Feng in the Halls of the Lower 
 II 481 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 World. We have spent some twenty years together, 
 and on the whole we have never had a real disagreement. 
 Now, I have in my possession something which I received 
 from His late Majesty and which has become of no value. 
 I am afraid of its being discovered in the event of my 
 death, in which case people might be led to suppose that 
 our relations had only been friendly on the surface, and 
 that we were really at enmity. This would be a pity 
 indeed, and would be contrary to the late Emperor's 
 wish.' With these words she produced a paper from her 
 sleeve and handed it to Yehonala, who read it, turned 
 ghastly pale, and could hardly master her feelings. For 
 the document was the mandate given to Tzu An by 
 Hsien Feng, as he lay dying, authorising her to kill 
 Tzii Hsi if necessary. When Tzii Hsi had read it 
 through, Tzu An asked for it again, saying : ' Do not 
 be angry, sister. Be sure I should not have let you see 
 this if I had harboured any feelings against you. I 
 wished you to see it, that you might realise the very real 
 affection that I have for you.' She then took the paper 
 and burnt it before Tzu Hsi's eyes, saying, with a smile : 
 ' It is worthless now, and had better be destroyed. 
 I feel that I have done my duty by His Majesty and have 
 fulfilled his wishes.' Yehonala was enraged beyond 
 measure, but managed to hide her feelings. She pre- 
 tended even to shed tears of penitent gratitude, and clasped 
 Tzu An's hand, while her breast heaved with sobs. Tzu 
 An consoled her and advised her to return to her Palace 
 and rest. It was then that Tzu Hsi made up her mind 
 to kill the Eastern Empress. So true is the adage that 
 ' He who is not accustomed to train savage beasts should 
 do nothing to goad them to fury.' Tzu An would have 
 done well to remember this saying. 
 
 " A few days later Tzii An visited her colleague and found 
 her quite unlike her haughty self; she was a model of 
 submissive affection, so that the eunuch attendants could 
 
 482 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 not understand what had come over their mistress. As 
 for Tzii An, she congratulated herself on her wise diplo- 
 macy and fancied that she had curbed Yehonala's proud 
 spirit for ever. Before leaving, Tzu An complained of 
 feeling hungry; Tzu Hsi thereupon ordered Li Lien-ying 
 to bring up a tray full of sweet cakes. Tzti An took 
 several and found them far more palatable than those 
 served to her from the Imperial kitchen. Yehonala 
 was glad and said : ' Oh ! these are made by my sister, 
 the Duchess Chao. If you like them, I will send word 
 to her to-morrow and she will make some more.' Tzu 
 An thanked her, and Yehonala said smilingly : ' My 
 family is as your family. How, then, should my sister 
 be deemed worthy of your thanks ? ' Two days later 
 the Duchess Chao duly furnished several boxes of cakes 
 precisely similar in appearance to those which Tzii An 
 had so greatly enjoyed. Tzii An ate one or two and 
 found the flavour somewhat bitter. Before sundown she 
 was dead — poisoned. 
 
 " Now it chanced that, on the previous evening, Tzii An 
 had not been feeling quite well, and had sent for the same 
 physician who had treated Yehonala so successfully, 
 Dr. Hsieh Fu-chen. He advised her, in a memorial, 
 that there was nothing much the matter, and that she 
 did not need medicine. The eunuchs insisted, however, 
 on his prescribing, so he gave her a cooling mixture and 
 withdrew. Next day he went to call on his friend, 
 Yen Ching-ming, the Grand Secretary, and while the 
 two were chatting, one of Yen's secretaries came from 
 the Board of Revenue with a document for his Chief 
 to sign. He mentioned that, when he left the office, 
 a rumour was in circulation that the Eastern Empress 
 had expired. ' They were ordering the " auspicious 
 boards " ^ to be prepared,' said he. Dr. Hsieh could not 
 believe his ears, and dropped the cup he had in his hand, 
 ^ In the Palace an Imperial coffin is thus described. 
 483 
 
ANNALS AND MEIvIOIKS OF 
 
 exclaiming, ' I saw Her Majesty only a very short while 
 ago and she had nothing but a slight chill. It is im- 
 possible that it could have proved fatal. It is far more 
 likely that the Western Empress has had a relapse, and 
 that some mistake has occurred by confusing the names.' 
 Presently, however, one of the Household came to tell 
 the fatal news. When Dr. Hsieh heard it, he was greatly 
 distressed and said : ' There are stranger things in 
 Heaven and earth than ever I dreamed of. What have 
 I to live for now ? ' Because of his skill in medicine 
 he had recently been promoted to be Lieutenant- General 
 of a Banner. 
 
 " During Tzu Hsi's sickness, audiences had been held by 
 Tzii An alone. That evening, when Tso Tsung-t'ang 
 attended at the Palace, before the report of Tzu An's 
 death had been published, he inquired how she was. 
 They told him she was dead, whereat he was horrified 
 and amazed : ' I saw her at audience to-day and she 
 spoke with all her usual vigour; I cannot believe that 
 such a death can have been natural.' Prince Kung 
 hurriedly stopped him from saying anything more, but 
 the eunuchs had heard him and duly informed their 
 mistress. Tso left the capital not long afterwards. 
 
 " The collection of poisons in the Palace comprised drugs 
 of such potency that with some death followed on mere 
 contact with the lips, while others took many days to 
 operate and were not to be detected by any Chinese 
 methods. Many of these drugs had come down from the 
 Ming dynasty. Some of them were said to have been 
 brought from Italy in K'ang Hsi's day by foreigners at 
 the Court. It was with one of these drugs that Tzu 
 Hsi poisoned ' Mysterious ' Liu, one of the chief eunuchs, 
 whose influence for a time exceeded even that of Li 
 Lien-ying. This eunuch was senior to Li in standing, 
 and though Li gradually rose in Yehonala's favour, Liu 
 continued to attend Her Majesty daily and would not be 
 
 484 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 supplanted by his younger rival. Li hated him and 
 slandered him in every possible way to the Empress, 
 but Liu was very cunning, and managed to anticipate 
 calumny with explanations which always pacified Tzu 
 Hsi. One day, however, he offended Her Majesty, 
 who reproved him severely; this time, Li's abuse of his 
 rival fell on attentive ears and Tzu Hsi, giving way to 
 a passion of rage, ordered Liu to attend her immediately. 
 When he appeared, she recapitulated the list of his 
 offences, some thirty in all, and ended by saying : ' Do 
 you not think you merit decapitation ? ' Liu realised 
 that there was no hope, so kotowed, saying : ' Your 
 slave deserves to die a myriad deaths, but I implore 
 the Old Buddha to remember that I have served her, as 
 her dog or her horse, for thirty years; let her grant me 
 at least the favour of dying with a whole skin.' She 
 pondered over this for a minute, and replied : ' Very 
 well; you may go now, and await my further commands.' 
 She bade her handmaidens conduct him to a small ante- 
 chamber and lock the door on him. Then she burst out 
 laughing, and called all her eunuchs and women to her 
 side : ' I have a new amusement for you to-day,' she 
 said. One of the women was told to bring a small case 
 from her bedroom; Yehonala opened it with a tiny 
 key which she wore at her girdle. It contained about 
 twenty phials, one of which she selected and poured out 
 some of the contents, a pink powder, into a wine-cup. 
 She mixed some water with this and bade the attendant 
 take it to Liu and say that he was to drink the contents 
 and then lie quietly down. The attendant soon returned 
 and reported that Liu had thanked Her Majesty for her 
 benevolence and had done as directed. Tzii Hsi waited 
 about ten minutes and then said : ' You may now see 
 the fun I promised you. Open Liu's door and see how 
 he fares,' The eunuch was lying apparently asleep; 
 though dead, he showed no trace of suffering. Yehonala 
 
 485 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 had a heart of iron : indeed, ' What in this world is 
 so truculent as the feminine nature ? ' " 
 
 Another memoir, by "A writer on Court subjects," 
 deals with the same tragic incident. It will be seen that 
 his statements, based on the real or alleged testimony 
 of one of Tzu An's confidential eunuchs, coincide with 
 those of the " Anhui official " in regard to several of the 
 main charges against Tzu Hsi, but the motives alleged for 
 the sending of the poisoned cakes have nothing in common 
 in the two narratives. It seems fair to conclude that in one 
 instance (or both) the writer has drawn on his imagination 
 for his facts, and constructed theories which seemed to him 
 to meet the case and to supply a plausible indictment. 
 
 This writer professes to give the " main facts concern- 
 ing the sudden death of Tzii An." 
 
 " When the Empress Dowager of the Eastern Palace 
 died suddenly in 1881," he says, " suspicion pointed 
 to Tzii Hsi, who had everything to gain by putting her 
 colleague out of the way, but her guilt remained not 
 proven, owing to the care with which Palace secrets were 
 guarded. In April 1908, I was in Peking, and happened 
 to meet a eunuch in a shop outside the Ch'ien Men, with 
 whom I becamQ intimate. He had formerly been Tzu 
 An's confidential table boy; his name was Liu Wen-pin. 
 It is hard to say why Tzii Hsi did not take his life, but 
 the Old Buddha was always unaccountably loth to kill 
 more people than was necessary. This man told me the 
 whole story and, on the face of it, I should think his 
 record was true. He said : 
 
 ' The elevation of Kuang Hsii to the Throne was quite 
 contrary to the wish of Tzu An; after his accession she 
 took even less part in State business than during T'ung 
 Chih's reign. Above all things she hated a scene, and was 
 distressed by her colleague's somewhat hasty temper. 
 She took to religious observances, became a devout 
 
 486 
 
v^^<S^i\-'tjiiltf!i^fpfi<^i^»ft^^ 
 
 Q m' 
 
 o a 
 
 to w 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Buddhist, and fasted on all the occasions which custom 
 enjoined. Bonzes attended her Palace and recited 
 prayers daily, and in time of drought or flood she would 
 pray for hours together. 
 
 ' At that time the most fashionable actor in Peking 
 was one Yang Yueh-lou, remarkable for his personal 
 beauty and charm. Tzu Hsi summoned him to her 
 Palace to play before her, became attracted by his good 
 manners and gift of ready repartee, and ended by be- 
 coming intimate with him. He would come to her apart- 
 ments at all hours of the day and night ; finally, she installed 
 him as doorkeeper, and although this caused some scandal, 
 none of the Princes or officials of the Court ventured to 
 remonstrate with her except one courageous Censor, 
 who, in a memorial, plainly hinted at her flagrant viola- 
 tion of ancestral house law. Yang frequently spent the 
 whole night in Tzu Hsi's company. One evening, Tzu An 
 had occasion to go across to Tzu Hsi's quarters, in con- 
 nection with some official appointment that was to be 
 decided next morning. She appeared unannounced. Tzu 
 Hsi was out in the grounds, but Yang was calmly re- 
 clining on the Old Buddha's " phoenix bed." Tzu An 
 saw him quite plainly and beat a hasty retreat, after 
 giving to the maids in attendance the message which 
 she desired to be conveyed to Tzu Hsi. 
 
 ' Tzu Hsi, on returning, was horrified to find that she 
 was found out. As was her wont, she acted promptly. 
 She ordered Yang to arise, and handed him a cup of 
 clotted cream flavoured with apricot, saying : " The 
 Empress of the East will be back almost immediately, 
 so you had best be off. Here is a beverage, from my own 
 table, which you may drink in my presence." The 
 flattered minion partook of the delicacy and just managed 
 to reach his home before dying in awful agony. The 
 cup had contained a large quantity of arsenic, the poison 
 which Tzu Hsi found most effective. 
 
 487 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ' Tzii Hsi then took to her room and gave out that she 
 was too sick to attend to State matters. Tzu An had 
 been much shocked by what she had seen. Had she been 
 a strong woman, she could easily have degraded Tzu Hsi 
 by issuing a decree recounting her misdeeds; indeed, 
 she might have secured her death for so gross a breach 
 of a widow's duty and disrespect to Hsien Feng's soul 
 in Heaven. But she feared Tzu Hsi too much to venture 
 on such a step, and it never occurred to her that in her 
 own self-defence she would be wise to take action, inas- 
 much as Tzu Hsi was not likely to forget or forgive 
 having been surprised in a compromising situation. 
 Instead of denouncing her, she sent eunuchs daily to 
 ask after the malingerer's health and to urge her to 
 return to the discharge of her duties. 
 
 ' Now, it so happened that at this time a memorial 
 had come in from one of the provinces, recounting the 
 heroic chastity of a certain young widow, who, though 
 starving, had died rather than accept the advances of a 
 wealthy neighbour. The Governor memorialised the 
 Empresses, asking for the honour of a memorial arch to 
 be conferred as an encouragement to " faithful women 
 who would die rather than lose their virtue." Tzii An 
 came across to show this document to Tzii Hsi, and to 
 ask her decision. Possibly she may have thought to 
 avert suspicion from her colleague's mind by talking 
 frankly about the woman's virtue, which would lead 
 Tzii Hsi to think that her colleague knew nothing of her 
 recent intrigue. But Tzii Hsi's suspicions were not to 
 be thus lulled. She answered Tzii An perfunctorily, 
 her own mind working rapidly all the time. She came to 
 the conclusion that this was a subtle way of informing 
 her that her own lack of feminine virtue had been dis- 
 covered, so she determined to delay no longer. Tzii An 
 said : " This memorial will show you how you are needed 
 at Court; pray come back at once." Tzii Hsi answered : 
 
 488 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 " The woman acted well ; let her have her arch, as an 
 example to the women of the day." No more was said, 
 but on the following day Tzu Hsi sent her favourite 
 waiting-maid to Tzu An with a present of honey cakes 
 and her reverent greeting. Tzii An ate of them and died 
 of poison within a few hours. When Tso Tsung-t'ang 
 (who had only lately arrived to take up his duties on the 
 Grand Council) came to Court next day, he was met by 
 the announcement that Tzu An was dead. He stamped 
 angrily up and down the Palace courtyard, exclaiming : 
 " Why was no announcement made of her illness, and why 
 was no doctor called in from the Imperial Court of 
 Physicians ? It seems very strange also that no decree 
 was issued immediately after her decease occurred, as 
 custom requires; its belated issue is highly suspicious." 
 
 ' Tzii Hsi, who was in the main hall of audience, was 
 speedily informed by her eunuchs of what Tso had said. 
 She took an early opportunity of relieving him of his 
 duties on the Grand Council by sending him to Nanking 
 as Viceroy. She realised that he suspected her, and his 
 death soon afterwards came as an immense relief. He was 
 too powerful, with his army behind him, for her to adopt 
 her usual drastic methods in his case. I was lucky 
 myself in not incurring Tzu Hsi's suspicions; indeed, 
 she has always treated me with much liberality. I am 
 still in her service, although my present duties keep me 
 in the Forbidden City.' 
 
 "Thus ended the eunuch's statement; a few moons 
 later Tzii Hsi herself ' mounted the chariot drawn by 
 fairies and went forth on her distant journey.' Doubtless 
 she still has her imperious way in the Halls of the Lower 
 World, and compels her colleague to yield precedence to 
 her august shade ! " 
 
 Finally, we reproduce an extract from the artlessly 
 biased writings of the Chinese essayist who signs himself 
 
 489 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " Born out of Time." The monotonous regularity with 
 which these pamphleteers credit the Old Buddha with 
 selecting her lovers from the lowest classes, suggests a 
 conspiracy of defamation, very characteristic of Oriental 
 methods. 
 
 This writer observes : " During the lifetime of the Old 
 Buddha, the following story was only whispered with 
 bated breath in the precincts of the Palace, but its 
 truth is universally acknowledged. It accounts for Her 
 Majesty's illegal nomination of Kuang Hsii to the Throne, 
 far better than the commonly accepted official version 
 of the matter, whereby it is explained that Tzu Hsi 
 appointed him because of his physical disabilities, so that 
 she might look forward to a prolonged Regency. 
 
 " The Old Buddha was very fond of poached eggs 
 cooked in chicken gravy, a popular dish in Peking 
 restaurants, where it is commonly called ' tangwo kuo ' 
 (literally, ' fruits lying in gravy '). During her first 
 Regency she insisted on having this delicacy brought to 
 her every morning by the eunuch. An Te-hai, and after 
 his death by Li Lien-ying. They bought it at the 
 Chinhua (Gold Blossom) restaurant, which stands outside 
 the West gate of the Imperial city, a house famous for 
 this dish. [En passant, I may mention that the Old 
 Buddha was charged twenty-four taels for four eggs 
 served in this way, the usual price being about twenty 
 cents, so An and Li must have made handsome profits.] 
 After An's unlucky decease, Li made friends with one of 
 the waiters at the restaurant, a handsome youth of twenty, 
 named Shih, who had a remarkably white complexion. 
 Li allowed this youth to accompany him within the for- 
 bidden precincts, and even into Tzu Hsi's Palace. One 
 day the Empress observed him, was struck by his good 
 looks, and asked Li who he was. On learning his name 
 and origin, Tzu Hsi was pleased to say : ' He is the best- 
 looking lad I've seen for many a long day. He shall 
 
 490 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 have a post in the Palace, and he can wait upon me at 
 table.' The result was that Shih was always at her side, 
 and the intimacy, much to Li's disgust, resulted in Tzii 
 Hsi becoming enceinte. She was then in her thirty-sixth 
 year. When the child was born, it was obviously im- 
 possible to bring him up in the Palace, so Tzii Hsi appealed 
 to her favourite sister, Prince Ch'un's wife, to help her. 
 The infant was hurriedly removed to the West city, where 
 Prince Ch'un lived. Doubtless the Prince was also in 
 the secret, which would account for the Old Buddha's 
 marked favour towards him. Tzu Hsi's next step was 
 to put the unlucky Shih to death. This story serves also 
 to explain Li Lien-ying's undisguised contempt for 
 Kuang Hsii, for he could not forget his humble origin. 
 When T'ung Chih died, Tzii Hsi defied ancestral tradition 
 by placing this child, her second son, upon the Throne, 
 as successor to his half-brother. One can realise what 
 a bitter blow it must have been to her to find the boy 
 growing up hostile and disobedient to his mother, to 
 whom alone he owed the Throne. No doubt Wu Ko-tu ^ 
 was in the secret of this matter, and if so, his historic 
 protest requires to be read in a sense different from that 
 which has hitherto been placed upon it. He would 
 have wished to save the house of Gioro from being 
 tainted by illegitimacy of this kind, and for this reason 
 urged that the appointment of Kuang Hsii should be 
 nullified at the first opportunity. On these grounds, 
 also, the Old Buddha may have justified her design on the 
 Emperor's life in 1900; she may have argued that she 
 had a perfect right to dispose of her own son as she chose." 
 The frame of mind in which " Born out of Time " 
 records these things is fittingly illustrated by his con- 
 cluding observations : " IfJ^lie^ purpose of the revolution 
 
 ^ The famous Censor who committed suicide at the grave of T'ung 
 Chih to protest against the illegality of the succession of Kuang Hsii 
 (^'ide China unfler the Erniness Dotva^er, p. 132). 
 
 491 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 was to eradicate the Manchu dominion," he says, "it 
 may appear to some to have been unnecessary, for that 
 purpose had been to all intents effected by the Chinese 
 paramour of the, concubine of Ymig Cheng, by^Yehonala, 
 and others," 
 
 It is interesting to compare the estimate of Tzu Hsi's 
 character as presented by Young China, with that in 
 which she was held by men like Tseng-Kuo-fan, Liu 
 K'un-yi, and many other great officers of State, and to 
 wonder which of these verdicts will be finally accepted 
 in the histories written for the learning of the sons of 
 Han in ages to come. It is certain that, making due 
 allowance for bias of class, the opinion of the orthodox 
 and sober-minded literati is the more sincere and nearer 
 to the truth, and that it represents the instinctive judg- 
 ment of the mass of Tzii Hsi's contemporaries. But the 
 text-books for the use of young China's schools are not likely 
 to take their picture of the Old Buddha from the annals 
 of the orthodox. History, as Froude has said, presents 
 no subject matter for science : had he examined some 
 of the material from which Chinese history is usually 
 compiled, he might have expressed the same idea in 
 more forcible terms. 
 
 492 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 THE COURT UNDER THE LAST REGENCY 
 
 After the death of the Emperor Kuang Hsii on the 
 14th November, 1908, followed next day by that of the 
 Empress Dowager Tzii Hsi, the Throne passed once more 
 to a child of tender years, the Emperor Hsiian T'ung. 
 The objections to the succession were many and valid, 
 and the risks of a Regency obvious, but Tzu Hsi, always 
 a law unto herself, overrode all opposition. Her motives 
 in selecting this infant son of Prince Ch'un (brother of 
 the late Emperor) were mixed, and her dying words 
 showed that she herself was by no means blind to the 
 dangers to which her autocratic decision would expose 
 the State. One of the factors which chiefly influenced 
 her choice, was a desire to perpetuate the influence of the 
 Yehonala Clan in the person of her niece (Kuang Hsii's 
 widow), the Empress Lung Yii; another, as she herself 
 declared, lay in the promise which she had made to Jung 
 Lu, at the time when she betrothed his daughter to Prince 
 Ch'un, that the eldest son of this marriage should become 
 Heir to the Throne, in recognition of Jung Lu's lifelong 
 service to the dynasty and to herself. 
 
 But whatever her motives, the immediate result of 
 her action was to create a condition of affairs in the Palace 
 similar to that which had served her so well during the 
 minority of the Emperor T'ung Chih, and again during 
 that of Kuang Hsii. It is to be remembered that when 
 she issued her Decree of the 14th November, appointing 
 Prince Ch'un Regent and his infant son Emperor, she 
 
 493 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 had every intention of living; and had she not died, it 
 is perfectly certain that the Regent would have enjoyed 
 no greater authority than she had allowed to his un- 
 fortunate brother Kuang Hsii. It was only on the 
 following day, and at the very point of death, that she 
 issued a decree conferring upon him the whole govern- 
 ment of the Empire ; and it will be remembered that, even 
 then, she took from him the substance of authority, 
 leaving only the shadow, by the concluding sentence 
 of that decree, which ordered that " in any question of 
 vital importance, in regard to which an expression of 
 the Empress Dowager's opinion is desirable, the Regent 
 shall apply to her in person for instructions, and act 
 accordingly." ^ 
 
 The ill-starred Regent found himself, from the outset, 
 sore let and hindered in the administration of the Goodly 
 Heritage. Tzu Hsi's last act, indeed, was fiendishly 
 ingenious, if her object was to create divided counsels 
 and to perpetuate the old Yehonala Clan feud in the 
 Palace. The Regent's position was effectively under- 
 mined by that last clause of the decree, which placed at 
 the disposal of the new Empress Dowager and the 
 Yehonala Clan powers of supervision and interference 
 sufficient to thwart him at every turn. The Regent and 
 his party were checkmated from the first move : the real 
 powers behind the Throne must always be his sister-in- 
 law, the Empress Lung Yii, and his wife, the strong- 
 minded daughter of Jung Lu. Tzu Hsi with her last 
 breath advised her high officers of State " never again to 
 allow any woman to hold the supreme power," but her 
 valedictory orders made petticoat government a fore- 
 gone conclusion, complicated by the further certainty of 
 a struggle for power between these two masterful women. 
 
 Had the Regent been a man of strong purpose and re- 
 source, he might have won through to supreme authority 
 ^ Vide China under the Empress Dowager, p. 465. 
 494 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 by a skilful policy of Divide et Impera ; but he showed 
 neither initiative, courage nor intelligence, and frequently 
 played into the hands of Lung Yii by the perpetration 
 of blunders which, in the eyes of the Court, made her 
 interference in State affairs wholly justifiable and in- 
 evitable. History seemed, indeed, to be in a fair way to 
 repeat itself with extraordinary fidelity. Had it not been 
 for the debdcle of the revolution, whereby the Regent, 
 the Yehonala Clan, and all the loves and hates of the 
 Manchus were sw^ept into the limbo of things out- worn, 
 it is quite safe to say that the position between the 
 Empress Dowager, the young Emperor's mother and the 
 Regent would have reproduced nearly all the essential 
 features which existed during the joint Regency of Tzu 
 Hsi and Tzu An, Empresses of the Eastern and Western 
 Palaces, after the death of Hsien Feng, at the time when 
 Prince Kung ^vas "Adviser to the Government"; and 
 it is equally safe to say that Lung Yii, faithfully following 
 in the footsteps of Tzu Hsi, would before long have 
 deprived Prince Ch'un of the Regency and relegated his 
 wife, the Emperor's mother, to an innocuous background. 
 Lung Yii, whose death occurred " in the profound 
 seclusion of the Summer Palace," on the 22nd of February, 
 1913, was openly estranged from her lord for many years 
 before his death. When Tzu Hsi selected her for the 
 position of Imperial Consort, in 1889, it was more with 
 a view to strengthening the hands of the Yehonala Clan ^ 
 through her influence, than to increase the felicity of 
 His Majesty Kuang Hsii; and as both parties were aware 
 of the fact, it would have been strange had their relations 
 been cordial. Kuang Hsii's senior Consort certainly 
 never pretended to love, honour and obey him; never- 
 theless, she resented his devotion to the " Pearl Concu- 
 bine," and frequently quarrelled with her husband. In 
 appearance Her Majesty was unattractive, and her 
 ^ She was the daughter of Kiiei Hsiang, brother of Tzii Hsi. 
 
 495 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 disposition anything but genial; but she possessed the 
 shrewd mother-wit and genius for intrigue which had 
 distinguished her august aunt. 
 
 After Tzii Hsi's death, Lung Yii, now Empress Dowager, 
 lost no time in asserting her authority, with the result 
 that the inmates of the Palace and the officials of the 
 metropolis speedily ranged themselves into opposing 
 camps, the adherents of the Empress and her Clan against 
 the Regent and his party. A further element of dis- 
 ruption arose in the strife which divided the eunuchs of 
 the Palace into two fiercely hostile parties, the followers 
 of Tzu Hsi's aged major domo, Li Lien-ying, fighting 
 for perquisites and power against the partisans of Lung 
 Yii's favourite, the arrogant young eunuch, Chang Yuan- 
 fu. Here again history repeated itself with almost 
 monotonous observance of dynastic tradition, and with 
 the usual deplorable results. 
 
 Lung Yii made Tzii Hsi her model in all things. Those 
 who had hoped that the new regime would set itself to 
 abolish the crying evils of the eunuch system and, by 
 cleansing the Augean stables of the Palace, give an 
 earnest of its desire to effect reforms in other directions, 
 were speedily disillusioned. The new Empress Dowager, 
 like her august predecessor, was profuse with good 
 intentions, but in practice she followed the example of 
 the Old Buddha's extravagant and licentious youth, 
 so that her Court rapidly became a hotbed of scandals 
 and abuses. Upon the plea of reorganising the Imperial 
 Household on a basis of careful economy and good order 
 she did, indeed, reduce the eunuch staff and dismiss many 
 of the Palace women, but the individuals dismissed were 
 invariably supporters of the Regent's faction. She dis- 
 played a keen interest in the affairs of government, 
 metropolitan and provincial, but her interest arose 
 unmistakably from the connection of these affairs with 
 the replenishing of her own Privy Purse. 
 
 496 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 One day, in the autumn of 1909, Lung Yii was taking 
 the air with her favourite handmaidens and eunuchs 
 on the Lake near the Winter Palace. The conversation 
 turned on certain criticisms which had recently been 
 directed against Her Majesty by some of the Censors 
 and even in the Press. " I care nothing for such 
 criticisms," said Lung Yii. " Her late sainted Majesty 
 suffered greatly from the irresponsible wagging of evil 
 tongues. I am firmly resolved to make her my guide 
 and pattern in all things. She knew well how to blend 
 severity with kindness, and she knew also that public 
 opinion is like a stream which requires damming at its 
 source." 
 
 Her attendants were delighted at this outburst, taking 
 it to mean that Her Majesty looked forward to asserting 
 herself after the manner of Tzu Hsi, when the time 
 should be ripe. All the eunuchs kotowed, and " Little " 
 Chang Yiian-fu expressed their sentiments, saying : 
 " Your Majesty's resolve will bring happiness to the 
 Empire and to your unworthy servants as well." Lung 
 Yii beamed graciously, and the entertainment proceeded 
 amidst general satisfaction. 
 
 Following the example of her illustrious model, Lung 
 Yii took early steps to secure control of the education 
 of the yoimg Emperor, and was particularly careful to 
 select, for attendance on the child, eunuchs v/ho should 
 alienate his affection from the Regent and train him to 
 recognise her own paramount authority. At the same 
 time she complied faithfully with the traditions of ortho- 
 doxy and Court etiquette in the following decree (10th 
 July, 1911), which for platitudinous insincerity is on 
 a level with Tzii Hsi's most classical effusions. It was 
 issued, under her orders, by the Regent. 
 
 *' The personal commands of Her Majesty the Empress 
 Dowager, Lung Yii, to the Regent are as follows : 
 
 "His Majesty, the Emperor, succeeded in tender 
 KK 497 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 infancy to the goodly heritage and glorious patrimony^ 
 of the Throne. He has now reached an age when wise 
 training becomes needful, and it behoves him to enter 
 upon his education in due time, so that he shall 
 accomplish notable results and build up a solid foundation 
 for his rule. 
 
 " I command, therefore, that the Court of Astronomers 
 shall select an auspicious day in the 7th Moon, for the 
 Emperor to begin his studies in the Yii Ching Palace. 
 I hereby appoint the Grand Secretary Lu Jun-tsiang, 
 and the Vice-President Ch'en Pao-chen, as preceptors to 
 His Majesty. They shall bestow instruction upon him 
 early and late, and shall display their utmost diligence 
 in sowing the fertile seed in his mind. It is incumbent 
 upon them to impart in fullest detail the causes from which 
 proceed good government or anarchy in ancient and 
 modern times in every country of the worlds since this 
 is essential to a sovereign's training, and they are to point 
 the moral as circumstances may require. At the present 
 time, when intercourse between all parts of the world 
 is widely developed, and civilisation is ever advancing, 
 it behoves them, above all, to inculcate a clear impression 
 of the progress of constitutional government during its 
 Brst few decades, anji. ,of the development of sound 
 learning, especial stress being laid on the needs of the 
 day. The highest examples must be selected and scrupu- 
 lous attention given to detail, it being understood that 
 the cardinal principle of Confucius shall be faithfully 
 instilled, whereby the attainment of knowledge produces 
 'sincerity and righteousness, and the cultivation of the 
 moral nature leads to a state of ideal government. Thus 
 shall a daily increase of virtue be imparted to his mind^ 
 and thereby a good foundation bie_laidJor^-~perfect 
 governance. 
 
 " The Regent is to exercise a general superintendence 
 over the Emperor's curriculum and the procedure in the 
 
 498 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Yii-ching Palace. The Mancliu language, spoken and 
 written, being inseparable from our Dynasty, I hereby 
 appoint I-k'o-t'an, Deputy-Lieutenant-General-designate 
 of a Banner, to bestow such instruction therein as may 
 be requisite; of this also the Regent is to exercise a 
 general control. The words of the Empress." 
 
 A few weeks later we find Her Majesty taking steps 
 to prevent the " illicit diversion of funds " from her 
 Privy Purse. Her decree on this subject, preaching the 
 gospel of " circumspect parsimony," bears an unmistak- 
 able family likeness to those which Tzu Hsi was wont 
 to issue in the heyday of her tumultuous and spend- 
 thrift youth. The reference to building operations is 
 particularly barefaced, inasmuch as Her Majesty was at 
 the moment conniving, as will be shown, at enormous 
 peculations by her Chief eunuch under this very heading. 
 It reads as follows : 
 
 " The Ministry of Finance has impeached the Comp- 
 troller and staff of the Imperial Household for recording 
 false and excessive accounts of expenditure incurred, and 
 for conniving at illicit diversion of funds in connection 
 with the Imperial Silk Factory at Hang-chou. Such 
 conduct is grossly improper, and I hereby command that 
 the officials concerned be referred to the Cabinet for 
 determination of a penalty proportionate to the respective 
 offenders' rank and position. 
 
 " In addition, I hereby convey my severe rebuke to 
 the Comptrollers of the Imperial Household for their 
 gross lack of vigilance in the performance of their duties. 
 Hereafter they are to examine all accounts of expenditure 
 and of building operations with the most rigid and 
 particular scrutiny, so as to conform with the earnest 
 desire which animates me, in the profound seclusion of 
 my Palace, to maintain in all things a circumspect 
 parsimony. The words of the Empress." 
 
 This ingenuous declaration of high principle was made 
 
 499 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 in August 1911. Four months earlier, a certain Manchu 
 Censor, named Ch'ing Fu, had expressed the sentiments 
 of all who cared for the dignity of the Court, in an ex- 
 tremely outspoken memorial, which laid particular stress 
 on the notorious malpractices of the eunuch Chang 
 Yiian-fu in connection with the contracts for building 
 works and reoairs at the Palace. Abuses of this kind, 
 exposing the incorrigible corruption of the Manchu 
 regime, provided the revolutionary party in the South 
 with arguments of a kind that appealed, far more than 
 political ideals, to the man in the street. 
 
 In this memorial the Censor said : " Whenever money 
 is needed in the Palace, this eunuch Chang Yiian-fu actually 
 dares to make direct requisitions on the Board of Finance 
 and the Imperial Treasury, out of which he helps him- 
 self freely. Quite recently he made an arrangement with 
 three Manchus connected with the Works department 
 of the Household for the rebuilding of the two Throne 
 halls, the Hall of the Correct Mean and the Hall of the 
 Empyrean, and another for the supply of musical instru- 
 ments used in the Palace for sacrificial rites. The actual 
 amount requisitioned was 490,000 taels in silver and 
 30,000 taels in gold (say, £180,000). For repairs of the 
 main hall of audience at the Palace of Heavenly Purity, 
 he has received 570,000 taels, while for re-painting some 
 of the Forbidden City's inner enclosures, no less a sum 
 than 260,000 taels has been charged in the account. 
 For repairs to the Palace drains, the sum of 7,000 taels 
 was actually expended, but this eunuch has drawn 
 80,000 taels from the Board of Finance on this account. 
 For repairing the courts of the Palace, the Board of 
 Revenue has paid over to him 1,200,000 taels. Not 
 satisfied with these peculations, out of which he must 
 have made at least 2,000,000 taels, he proceeded to 
 rebuild the Palace of Perpetual Spring (which was in 
 excellent repair). For this work the contract called for 
 
 500 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 about 1,000,000 taels, but on the 26th of the 8th Moon 
 of last year (September 1910), the Imperial Household 
 memorialised the Throne that the Board of Finance 
 should be ordered to pay over half as much again under 
 this heading. To this memorial the Empress Dowager 
 appended the rescript ' Noted.' 
 
 " Now the fact is, that on this contract no more than 
 300,000 taels were expended, so that the greater part of 
 the balance of 1,200,000 taels has found its way into 
 Chang's pocket. 
 
 " Worse than all this, Chang has purloined many 
 valuable pearls and precious stones from the Palace, the 
 value of which amounts to millions of taels. He and two 
 tradesmen named Li Lo-t'ing and Liu Pu-ch'ing have 
 also opened numerous pawnshops and building yards. 
 At a crisis like the present, when funds are so urgently 
 needed for Army reform, and when the provincial budgets 
 all show huge deficits, it^is passing strange that this all- 
 powerful eunuch should be allowed to manipulate these 
 large amounts at his own sweet will. I would humbly 
 ask Your Majesty the Empress Dowager to issue a 
 decree ordering the confiscation of all his ill-gotten gains, 
 and the arrest and condign punishment of this baneful 
 and iniquitous eunuch, in order that the National Treasury 
 may receive an accession of much-needed funds." 
 
 This memorial was suppressed, and Her Majesty ad- 
 ministered a severe rebuke to the Censor. The eunuch's 
 power and insolence were greatly increased by the 
 incident ; he waxed fat and began to kick even the highest. 
 Soon there were none at Court who dared oppose him, 
 and even the Regent quailed before him. He became 
 Lung Yii's inseparable and intimate companion, following 
 her wherever she went. Shortly after his impeachment 
 he made another large haul out of theatrical performances 
 in the Palace. By his influence the compilation of the 
 proposed Civil List was effectually blocked. Soon his 
 
 501 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 fame spread, as that of Li Lien-ying had done before 
 him, to every quarter of the city ; his Httle finger became 
 thicker than the loins of his predecessor, so that in two 
 years all men spoke of him with hatred and fear. In that 
 time he amassed a fortune of about £1,000,000 out of 
 Palace squeezes alone, and this is without reckoning 
 bribes and " grants-in-aid " from officials. 
 
 Li Lien-ying weakened visibly after the death of his 
 mistress and protector; his proud spirit was broken 
 and his stomach for fighting permanently deranged. 
 He died on the 4th of March, 1911, at the age of sixty- 
 nine, after two years of chronic dysentery. On the 
 day of his death some of his most valuable pearls were 
 stolen from his apartments by eunuchs of the Chang 
 faction : they were subsequently claimed by a eunuch 
 named Li Yi-ch'un on the plea that he was Li Lien-ying's 
 foster son. Chang subsequently intrigued against him 
 and secured his banishment for life, and the pearls are 
 now in Chang's safe keeping, or were until the abdication 
 of the dynasty. 
 
 The extraordinary influence which this man rapidly 
 established over the Empress Lung Yii, his unbounded 
 presumption and haughty bearing, naturally led in his 
 case to rumours similar to those which were widely circu- 
 lated about the favourite companion of Tzu Hsi's halcyon 
 days, the " false eunuch " An Te-hai. His antecedents 
 were peculiar, for it was not till his eighteenth year that 
 he " left the family " (to use the Chinese euphemism) 
 and became a eunuch. Previous to that he had been 
 married, and was the father of two children. When he 
 came from Ho Chien-fu to Peking, in 1899, seeking 
 employment in the Palace, he was quite without influence 
 or friends, but was able to persuade one of his fellow- 
 townsmen, a head eunuch, to employ him in a menial 
 capacity. Being of extremely handsome appearance, a 
 good musician and a first-class actor, he soon made his 
 
 502 
 
K P-l 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 way to the front, and was eventually employed to wait 
 at table upon Lung Yii, whom he accompanied to Hsi-an 
 in 1900. 
 
 His way of living lent colour to the rumours which 
 reflected on the virtue of his Imperial mistress, for in 
 1911 he kept up the establishment of a family man. 
 Three of his chief clients in the building contract and 
 stolen- jewellery businesses (of whom one was the shop- 
 keeper Li Lo-t'ing, mentioned in the Censor's memorial 
 above quoted) presented him during that year with three 
 maidens of respectable parentage, whom they purchased 
 in Tientsin for the purpose. No great importance need 
 be attached to these facts, however, nor to the rumours 
 thereby created, for such domestic arrangements are by 
 no means unusual with the wealthier eunuchs at Peking, 
 and may be regarded as " face-making " expedients. 
 
 Of the enormous power and wealth which this individual 
 gathered into his supple hands during the brief course of 
 the Regency, there is no doubt. Towards the end he 
 was, in fact, the Government of China. The semi-regal 
 dignities which he assumed, his insolent attitude towards 
 the highest Manchu and Chinese officials, had become 
 a public scandal greater than anything Peking had known 
 since the days of Ho Shen. As his career fittingly adorns 
 the tale and points the moral of the Manchus' decline 
 and fall, we make no apology for describing the most 
 notorious of his achievements and habits. 
 
 Before the Court mourning was over, with Lung Yii's 
 knowledge and consent, he organised sumptuous theatrical 
 entertainments at the Palace, a gross breach of piety 
 and decorum. In the course of these entertainments an 
 incident occurred which showed that the new Empress 
 Dowager had studied her illustrious prototype to good 
 effect, in that she regarded herself and her affairs as above 
 the law. At this time the leaders of the Opium Abolition 
 movement were displaying great activity in Peking and 
 
 503 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Tientsin, and the Government was affording them moral, 
 if not material, support in the form of decrees, regulations 
 and Bureaus. In theory there were no opium smokers 
 left, either in the Palace or in any public office. Now, 
 the most famous actor and singer of North China was 
 a man named T'an, nicknamed " The Heaven-compelling 
 Singer " ; he was then sixty years of age, but still in full 
 vigour and a confirmed opium smoker. Lung Yii had 
 sent for him to give a command performance, but the 
 summons, though thrice repeated, was ignored. The 
 Ministers of the Household sent for him, intending to 
 punish him for his contumacy, but T'an said to them : 
 " I need an ounce of opium every day, as the craving is 
 very strong, and without it I cannot sing a note. Now 
 that officials have been forbidden to touch opium, how 
 should an actor dare to break the law and smoke in the 
 Palace? " The Ministers proceeded to consult Lung Yii, 
 who said : " Let him have his opium in peace." She 
 even signed a special decree, saying : " The actor T'an 
 is permitted to enter the Palace and to smoke opium 
 during the intervals between the acts." 
 
 Lung Yii also imitated the Old Buddha in displaying the 
 keenest interest in everything connected with her theatrical 
 entertainments, and in her criticism of the performers. 
 This criticism sometimes expressed itself in a manner 
 which Europe has outgrown. On one occasion, for 
 instance, the well-known actor Yang Hsiao-lou was 
 performing an emotional piece, " The Long Mountain 
 Slope," before Lung Yii and the Court. Her Majesty 
 took umbrage at his lack of expression in delivering his 
 lines and " at his failure to exert his best energies in her 
 presence." She commanded the Chief eunuch (Chang) 
 to have the actor chastised with forty strokes of the whip, 
 after which he was to be expelled from the Palace pre- 
 cincts and permanently struck off the list of Palace actors. 
 It is true that there were many at Court who declared 
 
 504 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 that his disgrace had nothing to do with his acting, but 
 was due to his having failed to placate Chang with the 
 usual " squeezes," in addition to which, he was a protege 
 of the late Li Lien-ying. 
 
 By dynastic houselaw, all building operations in the 
 Forbidden City are supposed to be suspended during the 
 period of mourning; yet Chang persuaded the Empress 
 to sanction the expenditure of vast sums upon a large 
 building in foreign style — the Yen Hsi Kung, or Palace 
 of Continual Prosperity. For the construction of this 
 inappropriate edifice, no official supervisors were ap- 
 pointed, as precedent required. The estimates were 
 all drawn up by Chang and carried out under his own 
 supervision by the Yung Te (" Everlasting Virtue ") 
 firm of contractors. The same firm was simultaneously 
 engaged in the complete reconstruction of Chang's private 
 residence, in the lane of the Temple of Supreme Felicity. 
 The result was a Palace, fitted with camphor wood 
 furniture and lacquer screens. The style of architecture 
 (except that the roofs are not yellow) is identical with 
 that used in the Ning Shou-kung, which in itself constitutes 
 an act of Use majeste.^ His mansion was equipped 
 throughout with electric light fittings taken from the 
 Palace of Ceremonial Phoenixes, where Her Majesty 
 Tzii Hsi died. Many curios were also taken from the 
 same place, including the golden image of the Goddess 
 of Mercy, four feet high, which was presented to the Old 
 Buddha at Hsi-an. His garden also contained a famous 
 jade fish-bowl, taken from the private Imperial garden 
 in the North of the Forbidden City. The rockery was 
 made as an exact replica of the one in the Palace, and six 
 ornamental kiosques, of the Imperial design, were erected 
 in the grounds. 
 
 His residence was connected by a private telephone 
 with Lung Yii's apartments in the Palace of Perpetual 
 1 Vide, the impeachment of Ho Shen, swpra, p. 353. 
 505 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Spring, which also constitutes Use majeste. His tables 
 were covered with bronzes and sacrificial vessels removed 
 from the Palace; many of them, no doubt, presents 
 from the Empress to her favourite. 
 
 He gave orders for the demolition of the Imperial 
 studio, known as the " Studio of Long-Lived Upright- 
 ness," and directed that all its fittings of camphor and 
 black wood were to be deposited with the Yung Tc 
 contractors, to be used in decorating a new wing of his 
 own residence. 
 
 As his hold over Lung Yii increased, so did he wax in 
 insolence towards the Regent, who, towards the end of 
 1911, was obviously afraid of him. On one occasion, 
 when the Regent had ventured to remonstrate with him 
 for removing Palace valuables, the eunuch produced 
 Lung Yii's golden tablet and said : " Here is my 
 authority." The Regent glared angrily and began to 
 fume, whereupon Chang haughtily remarked : " Palace 
 matters are not your business. When the Empress and 
 I require your advice we will ask for it. Meanwhile, 
 your apartments and your duties lie at the San So " (the 
 Three Departments set aside for the Regent to the East 
 of the Palace) : " what business brings you here? " 
 
 In like manner, when Li Chia-chu was appointed Vice- 
 Chancellor of th6 Senate, he put in a memorial denouncing 
 the entire eunuch system as unworthy of a State with 
 any pretentions to civilisation. Li had only recently 
 returned from investigating the constitutional system of 
 Japan. He himself felt no divine despair in this matter, 
 but since he was obliged to put in a report of some sort, 
 and to discuss changes desirable in the interests of the 
 State, it would have been absurd not to attack the 
 eunuch system, as to the evils of which all Chinese rulers, 
 statesmen and moralists, have agreed for centuries. But 
 Chang Yiian-fu was, none the less, exceeding wrath, 
 and made no secret of his anger. One day, in April 1911, 
 
 506 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 Li, having been summoned to audience, was sitting in 
 the ante-chamber, awaiting his turn to be called to the 
 Presence. Suddenly the Chief Eunuch, resplendent in 
 sumptuous apparel, came in, and seating himself, without 
 preliminary ceremonies, in the place of honour, addressed 
 Li, de haiit en has : 
 
 " We read your memorial advocating our dismissal," 
 he said, " at which both Her Majesty and I are much 
 displeased. What is it fills your head with these ideas, 
 utterly opposed to all dynastic tradition?" Li, much 
 embarrassed, replied : " Not at all : you misunderstand 
 my meaning. I would not have any of you gentlemen 
 lose your posts. All I have ventured to advise is that 
 henceforward no more eunuchs should be engaged, so 
 that the system might gradually die a natural death. 
 You see, jiOL,.Qther - civilised State employs eunuchs, and 
 China must come into line with the rest of the world in 
 this matter. I hope that you may be pleased to co- 
 operate with me in my humble efforts, and explain 
 my views to Her Majesty, that she take not umbrage. 
 If you oppose us, we shall never succeed." Chang 
 replied : " The Empress is very wrath with you, and 
 declares that you are interfering with Palace matters, 
 which concern you not. Beware of meddling." With 
 that Chang rudely shook his sleeve, and left the room. 
 
 An incident occurred two months later which opened 
 the eyes of the citizens of Peking, and forcibly brought 
 home to them the fact that a new power had arisen in 
 the Palace. Li Lien-ying, after many years, had chastised 
 the mandarin world with whips of craftiness, but here 
 was one who, almost at his first coming, chastised them 
 with the scorpions of his contemptuous wrath. 
 
 Every year, for fifteen days in the moon of June, a 
 sort of horse show, with racing, is held just outside the 
 Southern gate of the " Chinese " city of Peking. It is, 
 or was, a fashionable resort at which most of the young 
 
 507 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 bloods and sprigs of the Manchu aristocracy were wont 
 to display themselves, either riding their pacers or watch- 
 ing the sport. On these occasions brawls constantly 
 occurred between the henchmen and followers of high 
 officials, especially if local etiquette and the rules of the 
 game were infringed. The sport was not exactly racing 
 as the term is understood elsewhere : the track is narrow, 
 lined by the spectators, and on it the riders display the 
 paces of their fast trotters and amblers, amidst the plaudits 
 of the crowd. It is more a parade than a contest of speed, 
 and it is improper for one horse to pass another, except 
 when the owners are on intimate terms. 
 
 The Palace eunuchs always looked forward to this 
 festival, which gave them an opportunity to show off 
 their horses and mules in public. The crowd often 
 included the most fashionable Manchu women and the 
 elite of the gay world, so that to " lose face " at the 
 " Nan Ting " (as the fair is called) meant a discomfiture 
 from which a ruffling blade might never recover. 
 
 In June 1911 the eunuch Chang Yiian-fu attended 
 at this festival, accompanied by a faithful myrmidon 
 named Shen (also a favourite with Lung Yu). He brought 
 with him a large retinue of servants and four beautiful 
 black mules, one of which was ridden by Shen. Chang 
 himself looked on. Suddenly, as Shen was pacing down 
 the track, a certain Tientsin man, named Wang, de- 
 liberately raced past him. Shen, furious at this loss of 
 face, ordered his servants to pull Wang off his horse. 
 Nothing loth, they did so and belaboured him soundly, 
 Chang all the while reviling him from the stand. In the 
 midst of the disturbance Duke P'u Shan,^ who was 
 sitting close to Chang, interposed. " We all know your 
 power," said he, " but you will probably admit that 
 a member of the Imperial family is not to be insulted. 
 
 ^ A great grandson of Chia-ch'ing and second cousin to the young 
 Emperor. 
 
 508 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 This man Wang is my friend. If you do not obtain an 
 immediate apology from eunuch Shen, I shall complain 
 to Prince Su " (Minister of the Interior). At this 
 Chang laughed scornfully : " You had better complain 
 to the Empress Dowager while you are about it," said 
 he, " and I will give you something to complain for." 
 Whereupon he called his satellites, who pulled Duke 
 P'u Shan from off the stand and flogged him soundly with 
 a horse- whip. The police, who up to this time had been 
 standing by, deep in thought, with their hands in their 
 sleeves (anxious to avoid getting into trouble with either 
 party), now came up and besought the eunuch to spare 
 the Duke, if only for their sakes — in a broil of this kind 
 the police are always severely punished. Their officer, 
 Yiian Te-liang, tried to patch up a peace; as the hour 
 was late and the city gates would soon be closing, the 
 eunuchs allowed the Duke to rise and depart, while they 
 returned to the Palace, vowing further vengeance. 
 
 On the following day they turned up at the races in 
 force, supported moreover by about a hundred sturdy 
 contractors' men from the firm of " Everlasting Virtue," 
 all of whom were armed with carpenters' tools; the 
 eunuchs carried staves. There was also an extra large 
 muster of police on the scene, while Duke P'u Shan, 
 burning to avenge the insult of the previous day, had 
 brought a goodly number of Manchu retainers. There 
 was, therefore, every prospect of an interesting meeting; 
 but (as usual, when serious personal injury is likely to 
 ensue) it first took the form of a fierce bandying of abuse 
 between the parties, during which another Imperial 
 duke came up and offered to mediate. He said he would 
 apologise, in Duke P'u's name, for the latter's infringe- 
 ment of etiquette, and he begged the three eunuchs to 
 meet him and Duke P'u at dinner in a fashionable 
 restaurant on the following evening, when the amende 
 honorable would be formally concluded. To this the 
 
 509 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Chief Eunuch felt that he could agree without loss of 
 dignity. P'u Shan then uttered a few words of grudging 
 apology, in the presence of a huge crowd of spectators. 
 Naturally the sole topic of conversation at Peking, for 
 several days following this incident, was the power of 
 the eunuch, against whom even a scion of the Imperial 
 house was helpless. 
 
 Duke P'u reported the matter in due course to Prince 
 Su, who condoled with him on his loss of face, but 
 frankly said he could do nothing. " Do you expect 
 me to ask the Empress Dowager to dismiss Chang? 
 She would be much more likely to dismiss you. Better 
 stomach the affront, and avoid offending him for the 
 future." 
 
 But to return to the Regent. His troubles and diffi- 
 culties were not all made for him in the Palace of Lung Yii. 
 His own wife, the daughter of Jung Lu, gave him furiously 
 to think. A woman of remarkable intelligence and inde- 
 pendence of character, she has always inspired the Regent 
 in his own home with a dull, steady kind of fear, harder 
 to bear and more nerve- stretching than the swift slings 
 and arrows of the late Empress Dowager. The Regent's 
 wife is, indeed, one of the most remarkable results of the 
 impact of the West in China — a woman who only awaits 
 the coming of the illustrated halfpenny paper to fill the 
 eye and cheer the heart of the Chinese public, and in 
 other ways to emulate her vivacious and emancipated 
 sisters, and the suffragettes of the Western world. Until 
 the abdication of the Regent, she was everywhere and 
 anywhere in Peking ; business, politics, society, the play — 
 all felt her restless hand and knew her shrill voice. To 
 the man in the street, who regarded her with open awe, 
 as a strange manifestation of the latest ways of Providence, 
 she was known as the " Eighth Married Sister," she being 
 the eighth of Jung Lu's daughters. 
 
 The Regent, as a prudent politician, was greatly 
 
 510 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 troubled by many of his ^\■ ife's doings, by her extravagance, 
 her lack of modest decorum, and her revolutionary 
 ideas on the subject of the emancipation of women. 
 These she emphasised, inter alia, by going to the theatre 
 escorted only by her adopted brother, Liang K'uei, a 
 notorious spendthrift and ruffling blade. She was always 
 to be found at the Temple fairs, at the bazaars outside 
 the city, at race meetings and fashionable restaurants, 
 and, being known to the populace, was generally followed 
 about by an admiring crowd. She was for ever frequent- 
 ing the shops which sell European articles, and would 
 run up reckless bills, leaving her husband or her brother 
 to pay them. On one occasion, when the Regent had 
 screwed his courage to the sticking point and rebuked 
 her for frequenting the Chinese city without an escort, 
 she replied : " European Empresses and Queens go about 
 incognito wherever they choose, and I shall do the same. 
 I do not ask you to accompany me." At the time the 
 revolution broke out she was planning a trip to Shanghai 
 — having heard much praise of the shops and theatres 
 of the " Model Settlement " — and treated with the con- 
 tempt they deserved her husband's suggestions of revolu- 
 tionary attempts on her life. She is quite fearless, with 
 the courage of a woman who has no time to think of danger. 
 In her independence she resembles the proud, uncurbed 
 spirit of the American woman. It is recorded of her, 
 that even in her youth she was one of the few people 
 who dared to answer the Old Buddha, and that, on one 
 occasion, Tzu Hsi said to Jung Lu : " Your daughter is 
 incorrigible; she defies every one, she defies even Us ! " 
 Nevertheless, Tzu Hsi liked her, and arranged for her 
 marriage with Prince Ch'un. The only person who could 
 control and guide her actions during the Regency was her 
 near relative, Kuei Chiin. 
 
 Clearly the Regent's lot was not a happy one, and in 
 judging the failure which he made of his little day of 
 
 511 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 brief authority, allowance must surely be made for a man 
 confronted on the one hand by Lung Yii, a woman of 
 boundless ambition and power of intrigue, and, on the 
 other, by the " mean one of his inner chamber," the 
 excesses of whose frivolity he could neither anticipate 
 nor check. 
 
 512 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 Those who have followed the course of events in the 
 Far East during the past two years, that is to say, since 
 the ignominious collapse of the Manchu power and Young 
 China's little hour of brief authority, must have been 
 struck by the general, almost unanimous concurrence of 
 opinion, expressed in Europe and America alike, that, 
 with the establishment of a Republican form of govern- 
 ment, China had undergone a sudden and radical trans- 
 formation ; that the essential qualities of the people had 
 been completely changed, and all its social and political 
 institutions regenerated. Students of history and socio- 
 logical science are familiar with this persistent and imper- 
 ishable delusion. It arises, as Herbert Spencer has said, 
 from " the difficulty of understanding that human nature, 
 though indefinitely modifiable, can be modified but slowly ; 
 and that all laws and institutions and appliances which 
 count on getting from it, within a short time, results much 
 better than present ones, will inevitably fail." It may 
 fairly be said that missionaries in China and philanthropists 
 generally are subject to this delusion as a matter of voca- 
 tional necessity; that special correspondents cherish it, 
 because a belief in new eras and dramatic transformation- 
 scenes appeals naturally to the journalist, whose business 
 it is "to see history in the making;" and that many 
 politicians encourage it for purposes which have nothing to 
 do with philanthropy. Every new political scheme that 
 has ever been commended to a hopeful world, counts on 
 the imperishable vitality of this Utopian fallacy, and on 
 LL 513 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the fact that it flourishes with particular vigour amongst 
 those civiHsed nations whose habit it is to cloak the brutal 
 realities of life with a tissue of more or less conventional 
 ideals. 
 
 The idea of changing the social structure of a race, 
 not to say human nature, by virtue of the Republican 
 form of government, is one of the commonest manifesta- 
 tions of this perennial delusion. As applied to China, 
 in her recent dynastic convulsion, it has been warmly 
 welcomed by public opinion in Europe, and with even 
 greater fervour in America, as heralding the dawn of a new 
 and happy day in farthest Asia ; and this, in spite of the 
 startling demonstration concurrently afforded by Mexico, 
 of the instability of the structure upon which all such hopes 
 are founded. The " unexampled felicity," which the Mon- 
 roe doctrine declares to be the inheritance and reward of a 
 Republican form of government, takes the form, in Mexico, 
 as in China, of prolonged and aggravated misery for the 
 masses, proving once more that despotic authority remains 
 necessary for the maintenance of law and order amongst 
 , > peoples incapacitated by their character and circumstances 
 O,*^. from acquiring representative institutions. Remove that 
 authority, for any reasons which are not slowly determined 
 by the natural evolution of the race, and the result, as 
 Mill says, must be another form of despotism — " a despot- 
 ism, not even legal, but of illegal violence, which would 
 be alternatively exercised by a succession of political 
 adventurers and under which the names and forms of 
 representation would have no effect but to prevent 
 despotism from attaining the stability and security by 
 which alone its evils can be mitigated and its few advan- 
 tages realised." There is much food for thought in the 
 difference between the American Government's attitude 
 of to-day towards the Republic of China and that which 
 it feels constrained to adopt towards the Republic of 
 Mexico; nevertheless, and in spite of this remarkable 
 
 514 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 illustration of the delusiveness of hopes based on the 
 regenerative power of political formulae, we look in vain 
 for signs, either at Washington or elsewhere, of recognition 
 of the truth that " so long as the characteristics of citizens 
 remain substantially unchanged, there can be no change in 
 the political organisation which has slowly been evolved 
 by them," ^ which is merely another way of saying that 
 every people get the government it deserves, and that the 
 sins of the fathers are visited on the children. 
 
 These conclusions, which most students of sociology will 
 draw from the present condition of affairs in China, and 
 from the restoration of despotic authority in the hands of 
 Yuan Shih-k'ai, follow naturally from the history of the 
 country, not only during the period covered by the present 
 work, but for many centuries before the overthrow of the 
 Mongol dynasty. Yuan Shih-k'ai, if he lives, must 
 govern China by methods very similar to those by which 
 Porfirio Diaz gave stability and security to the govern- 
 ment of Mexico. In other words, what was true of China 
 when the Manchus first established their dynasty at 
 Peking, remains true to-day. As General Shih K'o-fa 
 said in 1644, " a supreme ruler is needed to inspire the 
 nation with courage and patriotism; without one, no 
 national spirit can exist. History has approved of this 
 principle, and has recognised that in no other way can the 
 fortunes of the State be preserved." ^ 
 
 The daily life of the average educated European is so 
 deeply affected by the political institutions which have 
 been gradually evolved throughout the Western world; 
 his material progress, which he has been taught to regard 
 as a blessing, is so closely identified with political ideas 
 and the laws which express them, that he is naturally 
 disposed to be impressed by the surface phenomena of 
 Young China's political activities and to attribute to them 
 
 1 Spencer, Study of Sociology, Chap. VI. 
 
 2 Vide supra, p. 181. 
 
 LL 2 515 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 an importance far beyond anything that they inherently 
 possess. It is true of China, as of India, Persia, and 
 Turkey (and, for that matter, of Japan) that, on the surface 
 of the deep sea of national life, rapid phenomena of dis- 
 integration are perceptible, and new structures are forming ; 
 but the social conditions of the masses and their incapacity 
 for self-government remain at a stage generally similar to 
 that which existed in Southern Europe before the Christian 
 era. The average observer notes this fact, but he often fails 
 to apply to sociological problems the laws of evolution. 
 
 As to the question of the moral preferability of one or 
 the other type of civilisation, the active European or the 
 passive Oriental, there can be no doubt that the main con- 
 currence of opinion (even amongst moralists) in European 
 countries is all against the passive ideal inculcated by the 
 founder of the Christian religion. With this aspect of 
 the question we are not here concerned, further than to 
 observe, that if the test of a civilisation be sought in the 
 average individual's opportunities of happiness, the East 
 may well dispute the moral superiority claimed by the 
 West, and resent our satisfaction at the prospect of a 
 Europeanised China. 
 
 The principal conclusion which appears to be justified by 
 these annals and memoirs, gathered from three centuries of 
 Chinese history, is that it were folly to expect stability and 
 efficiency from any political institutions in China which 
 do not conform to the deep-rooted sentiments and tradi- 
 tions of the masses. The most cursory study of the country's 
 history should prevent us from mistaking superficial for 
 fundamental phenomena. It may be, as a distinguished 
 American professor has lately written after a tour of 
 China, that " in forty years there will be telephones and 
 moving picture shows and appendicitis and sanitation and 
 baseball nines and bachelor maids in every one of the one 
 thousand three hundred districts of the Empire."^ Remem- 
 ^ Prof. E. A. Ross, in The Changing Chinese, 1911. 
 516 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 bering the similar prophecies of Mr. Anson Burhnghame 
 (similarly inspired), forty years ago, we are content to wait 
 and see, only hoping that China, protected by her poverty, 
 may escape these undeserved calamities. But even if they 
 must fall upon her, neither these, nor any other results 
 of our triumphant materialism are likely to disturb, for 
 many generations to come, the Oriental's attitude toward 
 the things that matter; his conception of the purposes 
 and relative values of existence; his views on birth, 
 marriage, and death; all the fundamental truths and 
 beliefs which constitute the inner life, the very soul of a 
 people. It may gratify the Wisconsin Professor's bene- 
 volent instincts to believe that " the renaissance of a 
 quarter of the human family is occurring before our eyes, 
 and we have only to sit in the parquet and watch the 
 stage," because " nowadays world processes are telescoped 
 and history is made at aviation speed," but all human 
 experience and biological science proclaim, nevertheless, 
 with one voice, that the racial instincts which find their 
 expression in China's social and political systems can only 
 be modified by a very slow process of evolution. If by 
 "renaissance" we mean a complete change of the ethical 
 ideals and traditional culture of a race, with whom reverence 
 for the past has attained the force of instinct, if we look 
 for a swift shedding of the accumulated experience of 
 centuries, history (as contained in these Annals) forbids us 
 to cherish any such comfortable fantasies. 
 
 The history of China shows clearly that the greatest 
 danger which can threaten the nation during its inevitably 
 recurring crises of economic and political unrest, lies not 
 in foreign invasions, nor even in alien rule, but in a weaken- 
 ing of those ethical restraints, of that ancient moral 
 discipline, upon which has rested the world's oldest 
 civilisation ; of those qualities from which the race draws 
 its unconquerable strength. The history of Japan and 
 the wisdom of her Elder Statesmen proclaim the same 
 
 517 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 truth ; if Dai Nippon has come safely thus far through her 
 great perils of change, if she has been able to assimilate 
 the material arts and crafts of the West and adapt them to 
 her own needs, it is, as Lafcadio Hearn justly said, " be- 
 cause under new forms of rule and new conditions of social 
 activity, she could still maintain a great deal of the ancient 
 discipline." It was imperative for Japan, as it is impera- 
 tive for China, that great changes should be made, but it 
 is equally imperative that they should be of a character 
 which shall not endanger the foundations. 
 
 Those who supported the inauguration of a Republican 
 form of government in China, and believed in its practical 
 utility, advocated something which seriously endangers the 
 foundations, because it undermines the ethical basis of 
 China's whole social system. The government which Yuan 
 Shih-k'ai is administering at this moment is no more 
 Republican than was that of Kublai Khan. He recognised 
 instinctively, at the outset, as did Prince Ito in Japan, 
 how vitally necessary is the preservation of the unbroken 
 continuity of ancient traditions. He knows that all the 
 instincts and experience of the race will accept his exercise 
 of despotic authority, so long as his rule follows established 
 precedent and conforms to popular sentiments and 
 traditions. The annals upon which we have drawn reveal 
 on every page the truth, that this people understands 
 and accepts the government of a despot, whether his 
 methods be benevolent or brutal, provided that he rule 
 according to the patriarchal precedents of the Canons of 
 the Sages. Let him, if he will, deck the surface of Chinese 
 life with strange inventions from the West, but let him 
 not disturb those silent depths wherein lie all the moral 
 and social experience of the race. 
 
 Of the Zeitgeist in Japan, where the outward and visible 
 manifestations of materialism and commercialism have 
 become so conspicuous, Hearn observed ten years ago : 
 
 " It were a grave mistake to suppose that the ancestor- 
 
 518 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 cult has yet been appreciably affected by exterior influences 
 of any kind, or to imagine that it continues to exist merely 
 by force of hallowed custom. No religion — and least of 
 all the religion of the dead — could thus suddenly lose its 
 hold upon the affections of the race that evolved it. 
 
 L Even in other directions, the new scepticism is superficial ; 
 
 " it has not spread downwards into the core of things." 
 
 If this be true of Japan, the observation applies with far 
 greater force to China. For, because of their religious 
 and social training, the Japanese brought into the crisis 
 of their contact with the West, virtues of patriotism, 
 courage and loyalty, which the Chinese lack. To China 
 remain those passive virtues which spring from the religion 
 of ancestor worship, chief of which and most powerful 
 as a factor of cohesion, is the sentiment of duty to the 
 dead. It is this sentiment which invests the world's oldest 
 civilisation with a philosophic dignity and elements of 
 happiness that the West instinctively respects and envies ; 
 with virtues which survive even when bereft of this 
 world's goods. For the preservation of this sentiment, 
 the unbroken continuity of ancient traditions, including 
 the monarchical-patriarchal system of government, is 
 evidently essential. Throughout the brief period of 
 Chinese history with which we have dealt in this volume, 
 the darkest hours of national humiliation and disaster have 
 ever been lightened by the example of a minority, splendidly 
 ' faithful to the Canons of the Sages, and to their stoics' 
 
 ■tradition of courage and unselfish loyalty. Young China, 
 pr at least that section of it which has acquired its 
 learning and its inspiration from abroad, mocks at the 
 Sages. The student class, full of the wind of new doctrines 
 from Tokyo, Harvard and Edinburgh, would destroy in 
 a day the splendid edifice of Confucian philosophy and 
 replace it by jerry-built structures of its own vain imagin- 
 ings, tenements all uninhabitable by the sons of Han. 
 These, more than invading hosts, the soul of the people 
 
 519 
 
ANNALS AND MEMOIRS OF 
 
 fears and distrusts, not only because they would desert the 
 old ways, but because their new ways have been weighed 
 in the balance of morality and found wanting. Already, 
 even at Canton, there are signs of the inevitable reaction, 
 and portents of an orthodox revival. 
 
 The Throne and the Court remain, therefore, necessary 
 integral parts of China's social system and cult of ancestors. 
 To these, sooner or later, the instinct of the race must insist- 
 ently return. It was perception of this truth, that caused 
 Li Hung-chang to support the Manchus in 1901, not because 
 they were good, but because they were there, and because, 
 in his opinion, no individual or family in China, without 
 fighting a successful civil war, could command the respect 
 of the people in measure sufficient to found a new dynasty. 
 Whether Yuan Shih-k'ai will be able to command it 
 remains to be seen, but every day increases his chances 
 of success. In biding his time, he is conforming strictly 
 to precedent, as established by the soldier-priest founder 
 of the Ming dynasty. He has made no secret of his 
 contempt for the Republican mirage, which for him means 
 " the instability of a rampant democracyj of dissension and 
 paxtiiion." In these sentiments, he has not only the 
 support of the literati^ but the inarticulate approval of the 
 masses. He realises that China's best hope lies, not in a 
 sudden revolutionary destruction of the old order, but in 
 slow steady growth, by educative processes, which shall 
 enable the nation to adapt itself gradually to its changed 
 environment. He knows that, whether as a sovereign 
 State, or under foreign dominion, the unconquerable 
 vitality of China, long tested in the crucible of time, lies 
 in the moral qualities of her common people, in the 
 unconscious heroism of a race of cheerful toilers, in the 
 enduring qualities of body and mind which have preserved 
 the soul of this nation steadfast and undismayed through 
 countless generations. Itjs a people which, as Sir Robert 
 Hart once said^ ".believes in right so firmly, jthat„ they 
 
 520 ^ 
 
I 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 ^corn to think it requires to be enforced by might" ; 
 a people which has often led captivity captive and will do 
 so again, because it has retained that elemental Christian 
 virtue which refuses to regard material advantage as the 
 be-all and end-all of existence. " The thoughts of the 
 heart, these are the wealth of a man," says the Sage. 
 
 The rough outline, contained in these annals, of that 
 period of China's history which leads up to her first 
 relations with the Western world, should enable the reader 
 to form a general idea of the economic and political 
 problems created by her ancient social system, of the 
 forces which have rough-hewed the character of the 
 people. In order to understand the problems which 
 perplex the nation to-day, it is necessary that we should 
 approach them with sympathetic knowledge of its religious 
 and sociological evolution. To this end, the voice of 
 Young China helps us but little, for Young China is 
 morally an alien in its own land ; some huiidreds or thou- 
 sands of foreign degrees taken by its students cannot 
 alter the fact that the Chinese people remains in the patri- 
 archal stage of development. It is unfortunate that Young 
 China (like Young India), being highly vocal, should have 
 commanded so wide an audience and inspired so many 
 illusions abroad, that superficial disintegration should 
 have been so widely interpreted to imply a vast upheaval 
 of the depths; because Young China, imbued with an 
 exaggerated sense of its own importance, becomes a danger 
 to itself and to the nation. Those who have followed the 
 history of the Ming and Manchu dynasties in their de- 
 cline and fall, must realise that this is true; and that 
 socially, morally and economically, the Chinese race, so 
 long a law unto itself, remains much the same to-day as 
 it was a thousand years ago. Even Young China, as 
 represented by its fiercest iconoclasts, unconsciously fulfils 
 the laws which ages of moral experience have written deep 
 in the heart of the race. Bravely it parades its foreign 
 
 521 
 
THE COURT OF PEKING 
 
 clothes and foreign ideas from platform and press, but in 
 the privacy of its home, in the market place and even in 
 its foreign-built government offices, it yields atavistic 
 allegiance to those laws of its inheritance which it can never 
 evade, to authority of traditions from which it can never 
 escape. As has been finely said,.in China ''^ law is noLJi 
 rule imjgiosed from above, it is the formula oj the national 
 life, and its embodiment in -practice ^precedes its inscription 
 on a code. Hence it is that in China, government is neither 
 arbitrary nor indispensable. Destroy , our ^authorities, 
 central and provincial, and our life will proceed very much 
 as before. Come what may, the family remains, with. Ml 
 that it involves, the attitude of mind remains, the spirit of 
 ~drdez,~ industry and thrift. These it is that rnake u/p 
 China.^^ 
 
 522 
 
INDEX 
 
 r 
 
 ABBi: Hue, Travels in Tibet, cited, n. 
 
 333, n. 399 
 Abbot of T'ien Tai temple, 237; also 
 
 vide Shun Chih 
 Abtai, Prince, 155, 242^5 
 Alexander I of Russia, 236 
 Alexander VII, Pope, 223 
 A-Lu-te, Empress, 420-22, 468, 469, 477, 
 
 478 
 Amherst Mission, 381 ef seq. 
 Amin, Prince, 144 
 " Anhui Official, An," Chinese annalist, 
 
 474 
 An Te-hai, Chief Eunuch, 420, 477, 490, 
 
 502 
 Aomen (Macao), foreign traders* base for 
 
 Canton, 327 et seq. 
 Ao Pai, Regent, 219, 242, 243, 257 
 Aristotle's sacrifice to Hermias cited, 18 
 Astrologers and soothsayers, 40, 226 
 Astronomers, Court of, 44, 106, n. 244, 
 
 498 
 
 Banners, Manchu, institution of, 139, 
 
 150, 359 
 Benedict XIII, Pope, 307, 308 
 Board of Ceremonies, 279 
 Board of Punishments, 76 
 Board of Regents, 242 
 Board of Rites, 273 
 Bocca Tigris, bombarded, 400 
 Book of Rites, quoted, 178 
 Borjikin, Empress, 242, n. 256 
 Borjikitu, Lady, 162, 231, 242, n. 475 
 " Bom out of Time," Chinese Annahst, 
 
 quoted, 230-32, n. 297, 490 et seq. 
 Bouvet, Joachim, 240, 243 
 Boxer indemnity, n. 367 
 Boxer leaders, 443, 448, 449, 459, 463 
 British at Canton, 391 
 British embassies to China, 311, 320 et 
 
 seq., 381 et seq. 
 British trade in China, 311, 322, 326, 
 
 327, 381 
 merchandise, duties on, 329 
 
 Brothers of Yung Cheng, 269 et seq. 
 
 titles restored by Ch'ien Lmig, 301 
 Buddhist All Souls' Day, 424 
 Buddhist arts of incantation, 346 
 Building operations in Palace, 500 et 
 
 seq., 505 
 Burmese King, 218 
 
 Canon of Histoby, quoted, 39, 390 
 Canons of the Sages, 184, 185, 214 
 Canton, blockaded, 399 
 
 European trade at, 311, 325 
 Censorate, the, 57, 65, 351, 391 
 
 suicide of President of, 109 
 Chahar Mongols, 145 
 Chang Ch'ai, 448 et seq. 
 Chang Chih-tung. n. 303, 438 
 Chang Chin, 30 et seq. 
 Chang Fu, 463, 464 
 Chang Hsien-chung, 94 
 Chang Kuo-chi, 60, 63, 67 
 Ch'ang Lo, Prince, 47 et seq., also vide 
 
 Emperor Kuang Tsung 
 Chang Ming-ti, 262, 265 et seq. 
 Chang Te, Emperor, 24 et seq. 
 Chang Yin-huan, 430 
 Chang Yiian-fu, Chief Eunuch, 496, 
 
 497, 500 et seq. 
 and horse-show brawl, 508, 509 
 and Regent, 501 
 insolence of, 503 et seq. 
 quarrel with Li Chia-ohu, 506, 507 
 residence of, 505 
 Cheng, Concubine, 47-52, 55 
 Cheng Kuo-tai, brother of Concubine 
 
 Cheng, 48 
 Cheng, Prince. co-Regent with Dorgun, 
 
 158 
 Ch'eng, Prince, elder brother of Chia 
 
 Ch'ing, 349. 365, 368, 376, 412, 413, 
 
 418 
 Ch'eng Te, 373, 374 
 Ch'en Hsin-chia, 148, 149, 154 
 Ch'en, Lady, the " Round-faced Beautj'," 
 
 120-22 
 
 523 
 
INDEX 
 
 Ch'en Liang-mi, 111 
 
 Ch'en Yen, 107 
 
 Chia Ch'ing, Emperor, 311, 322 
 
 and Ho Shen, 345, 346, 349 et seq. 
 
 and Amherst Mission, 381 et seq. 
 
 character of, 336, 361, 373 
 
 conspiracies against, 373 et seq., 478 
 
 death of, n. 350, 390 
 
 decrees, 347. 350, 359 et seq., 360, 361, 
 370, 375, 377, 379, 382, 385 
 Chia Ch'ing's sister, 359 
 Chiang Hsiang, 96, 97 
 Chiang Te-ying, 97 
 Ch'ien Lung, Emperor, 18, 59, 138, 234 
 
 abdication of, 310, 345 
 
 and Ho Shen, 344 et seq. 
 
 and Macartney Mission, 321 et seq. 
 
 and Stranger Concubine, 341 
 
 campaigns, 310 
 
 character of, 310, 334 et seq. 
 
 death of, 347 
 
 devotion to the chase, 334 
 
 domestic affairs, 334 
 
 escapades, 338 
 
 his heir, Sll et seq. 
 
 letter to George III, 331 et seq. 
 
 restores titles to sons of K'ang Hsi, 
 301 
 Ch'ien Men quarter, 420 
 Chihli, Manchu raid into, 144 
 Chi Lu, 441 
 
 China Under the Empress Dowager, 
 referred to, 9, 409, 417, 419, 423, 
 437, 442, 466 
 Ch'ing, Prince, n. 365, 446, 447, 450, 456 
 Ching Fu's memorial, 500 
 Ching Shan, 466 
 Ching Tai, Emperor, 438 
 Chinese poetry, 316 
 Chinese social system, 14 
 Chinese women debarred from entering 
 
 Forbidden City, 475 
 Ch'i Hsiu, 412, 447 
 Chin Tartars, 150, 181 
 Ch'i Shan, 399 et seq. 
 Chi T'an-jan, 218 
 Chou Yii-chi, 95, 96 
 Christianity in China, 330 
 
 conversion of Princes. 247, 273 
 
 Jesuits at Court of K'ang Hsi, 241 
 
 Palace missionaries forbidden to hold 
 intercourse with Chinese, 330 
 
 practised by Imperial clans women, 221 
 Chu Chih-fene, 98, 99 
 Chu Kuei, 331 
 
 Ch'ung Chen, Emperor, 82, 92 et seq., 
 187 
 
 Ch'ung Chen (continued) 
 
 death of, 103 
 
 burial of, 104, 105, 154 
 Chung Ch'i, 420, 422 
 Chung Hou-so, taken by assault, 158 
 Chung Li, 458 
 
 Ch'un, Prince, Regent, n. 302, n. 303, n. 
 433, 493, 494, 497, 501, 510 
 
 and Chang Yiian-fu, 501, 506 
 
 his wife, 610, 511 
 Ch'un, Princess, 473, 491 
 Chusan, British request for island near, 
 
 328 
 Ch'u Tsung, 278 
 Chii Yen-kuan, 99 
 
 Chu Yiian-chang, 23, n. 135, 220, 224 
 Civil service, 18, 390 
 Civil service examinations, 410 et seq., 427 
 Coal Hill, 101, 276, 300, 301 
 Confucian philosophy, 14, 109, 167, 498 
 
 tradition, 15 
 Confucius quoted, 181, 345, 350 
 
 grave of, 82 
 Constitutional government, 498 
 Coup d'etat of 1898, 430, 436, 437 
 Court, profligacy of, 187 
 Court of Astronomers, 44, 100, 498 
 Court of Imperial Clan, 275, 418 
 
 Dalai Lama, 320, 321, 352 
 Decapitation, etiquette of, 418 
 Degenerate Manchus, 372, 444 et seq. 
 Department for Tributary States, 323 
 De Toqueville, quoted, 14 
 Diary describing sack of Yang Chou-fu, 
 
 188 et seq. 
 Diary of Ching Shan, 466 
 Diary of Manchu official, 443, et seq. 
 Dice-throwing, 243, 244 
 " Discerning Concubine,'* 421, 477 
 Dominicans and Jesuits, 240 
 Dominic, Father, 222 
 Dorgun, Prince Jui, Manchu Regent, 85, 
 104, 132, 147, 157, 159, 168, 213 
 
 appoints himself Generalissimo, 158 
 
 becomes Regent, 157, 158 
 
 correspondence with Wu San-kuei, 128- 
 31 
 
 death of, 233 
 
 defeats Li Tzu-cheng, 131 
 
 enters Peking, 127 
 
 his march from Shan Hai-kuan to Chin 
 Chou, 127 
 
 posthumous degradation, 233, 242 
 
 receives Ming officials, 127 
 Dorgun, restitution of honours by Ch'ien 
 Lung, 234 
 
 524 
 
INDEX 
 
 Dutch in China, 86 
 Duties on merchandise, 329 
 Dynastic ordinances, 334 
 
 Eastebn Court, 68 
 
 East India Company, 381, 385 
 
 EcHpses as omens, 318 
 
 Edict of Toleration, 240 
 
 Eleuths, subjugation of, 253, 281 
 
 Elliott, British Commissioner, 400 
 
 Ellis's Journal, quoted, 382, n. 383, n. 
 
 386 
 Empress Consort of Ch'img Chen, 102 
 Empress Helen, 222 
 Eunuchs, Palace, 
 
 and Government appointments, 430 
 
 Christians, 222 
 
 conspire against Chia Ch'ing, 378 et seq. 
 
 factions of, 496, 508 
 
 in command of military forces, 100 
 
 power at Court, 17, 24, 46, 56, 100, 141, 
 
 268, 406 
 power reduced by Shun Chih, 232 
 system denounced by Li Chia-chu, 
 
 506 
 tortured and beheaded by Li Tzu-cheng, 
 
 116 
 under Yung Cheng, 306 
 European civilisation compared with 
 Oriental, 14 
 artillery, 145, 158, 173 
 merchants not allowed to enter city of 
 
 Canton, 329 
 missionaries compelled to adopt 
 
 Chinese dress, 323 
 forbidden to leave China, 323 
 Europeans classed with actors and sooth- 
 sayers, 294 
 Examinations, civil service, reorganised 
 by Chu Yiian-chang, 23 
 classical, revised by Shvm Chih, 229 
 for public service, 410 et seq., 427 
 
 Fall of Peking, 166 
 
 Fang Tsung-che, 50 et seq. 
 
 Fan Wen-ch'eng, 127, 159 
 
 Fei, handmaiden at Palace, 103 
 
 Fontaney, Jean de, 240 
 
 Fortune-tellers and astrologers, 44, 135, 
 
 262 
 Fu Ch'ang-an, 349, 357 et seq. 
 Fu K'ang-an, n. 332 
 Fu Lin, Prince, son of Emperor T'ai 
 
 Tsung, became Emperor Shun Chih, 
 
 231 
 Fu, Prince, son of Lady Cheng, 48, 55, 
 
 60 
 
 Genealogy of House of Gioeo, 161 
 Gerbillon, Jean Francois, 239, n. 244 
 Ghoorkas of Nepal, 320, 332, 333 
 
 ask aid of Great Britain, n. 333 
 Gioro, Genealogy of House of, 161 
 
 alleged illegitimate descent of, 230, 
 232 
 " Goddess Chang,'' 79, 83 
 Gordon and the " ever -victorious army," 
 
 422, 423 
 Grand Council, 101 
 Grave of Confucius, 82 
 Great Wall, 113, 143 
 " Green Monkey " singing girl, 458 
 Grimaldi, Philippe, 240 
 
 Hall of Iiviperial Longevity, 237, 291 
 Hanlin Academy, 25, 45, 258 
 Hara-kiri, Chinese influence in origin of, 
 
 n. 109 
 " Harrier Prince," nickname of Li Tzu- 
 cheng, 166, 175, 183 
 Heavenly Principles Society, 378 
 Heavenly Reason Society, 373 
 Heng Yi's reminiscences of Boxer Year, 
 
 453 
 Hermias, eunuch Governor of Atarnea, 
 
 18 
 Histoire Generate de la Chine, Pere 
 
 Mailla's, n. 239, n. 305 
 Ho Lin, commander in Tibet, 320, 321 
 Honan-fu, siege of, 88 
 Hongkong, ceded to Britain, 395 
 Hongs, foreign, at Canton, 326 et seq. 
 Ho Shen, Grand Secretary, 18, 311, 319, 
 321, 373, 503 
 
 career of, 345 et seq. 
 
 collection of curios, 366 
 
 death of, 358, 369 
 
 disgraced, 349 
 
 his pearls, n. 353 
 
 indictment of, 350 et seq. 
 
 investments of, 366 
 
 origin of, 344 
 
 power and wealth, 344, 364 et seq. 
 Ho Shen's faction and anti-dynastic 
 
 societies, 394 
 Ho Shih-t'ai, 387, 389 
 House laws of Manchus, 41, 230, 232, 248, 
 
 312, 349, 435, 475, 476, 505 
 House laws of Mings, 52, 56, 65 
 Hsiang. Prince, 89 
 Hsieh Fu-chen, Dr., 481, 483 
 Hsien Feng, Emperor, 403, 470 et seq. 
 
 accession of, 405 
 
 character of, 405, 409 
 
 death of, 418, 422, 473 
 
 525 
 
INDEX 
 
 Hsin, Prince, brother of Emperor Hsi 
 Tsung, who succeeded him as Em- 
 peror Ch'ung Chen, 79, 80 
 Hsi-ning, Yiin Tang's mission to, 275, 
 
 _ 278, 279 
 Hsi Tsung, Emperor, 55 et seq. 
 Hsing Ching, Nurhachi's capital, 140 
 Hsiung, Ming general, 141, 142 
 Hsiian-hua, 37, 94, 98 
 Hsiian Tsung, Emperor, 24 
 Hsiian T'ung, Emperor, 225, n. 353 
 
 education of, 497 et seq. 
 
 parentage of, 493 
 Hsii Ching-ch'eng, 455 
 Hsii Ch'ing-yu, 449, 450 
 Hsii T'ung, 443, 447, 449, 450, 459 
 Hsii Yung-yi, 455, 459 
 Huai River, 187 
 Huang Hsing, 225, 226 
 Huang Taiki, fourth son of Nurhachi, 143 
 Huang Te-hung, Marquis, 189 
 Huang Ts\m-su, 73 
 Hung Ch'eng-chou, 173 
 Hung Fu-lien, 425 
 Hung Kuang, Emperor, 184, 215 
 Hung, " the Heavenly King,'* 424 
 
 I-CHiANG-A, 354 et seq. 
 
 I-k'o-t'an, 499 
 
 Imperial cedar-wood, used in Palace, 352, 
 
 362 
 Imperial Clan, 236, 311, 443 
 Imperial Clan Court, 289 
 " Imperial Clansman, An,'' Annalist, 462 
 Imperial mandates to King of England, 
 
 322, 325, 382 
 Imperial mausoleum, 104 
 Imperial pearl, 242, n. 353 
 Italy, mission to Chinese Court, 324 
 
 Jade sceptres, 381 
 
 Japanese samurai tradition, 109 
 
 Jehol, Court at, 311 
 
 reception of British Embassy at, 321 
 Jen, Concubine, 67, 84, 85 
 Jesuit priests, 221 
 
 and Manchu Princes, 273 
 
 dissensions between Jesuits and Do- 
 minicans, 240 
 
 Edict of toleration, 240 
 
 expulsion of, 273, 307 
 
 introduce European guns, 95, 141, 145, 
 173 
 
 introduce quinine at Court, 240 
 
 their zeal leads to persecution, 241 
 
 under K'ang Hsi, 239-41 
 
 under Yung Cheng, 307 
 
 Job, quoted, 12 
 
 " Journey Eastward, A," play cited, 137 
 Jui Ch'eng, n. 399 
 Jui, Prince, vide Dorgun. 
 Ju-ji sceptres, 356 
 
 Jung Lu, 420, 448, 450, 459 et seq., 467, 
 471, 481, 493 
 
 K'ai Feng-eu, siege of, 90 
 
 recovered for Mings, 170 
 K'ang Hsi, Emperor, 132, 133, 234 
 
 abolishes semi-independent vassaldoms, 
 134, 158 
 
 addicted to drinking bouts, n. 292 
 
 and Jesuit Fathers, 237, 247 
 
 death of, 269, 270 
 
 deposition of Heir Apparent, 249-62 
 
 dismisses Regents, 242 
 
 his wars, 241 
 
 homily to Ministers, 252-55 
 
 obsequies of, 277, 280 
 
 persecutes Christians, 241 
 
 reign of, 238, 239 
 
 rumoured conversion to Christianity, 
 241 
 
 sons of, 245-68 
 
 succeeds Shim Chih, 235 
 Kang Yi, Boxer politician, 443, 447 etseq., 
 
 451, 452, 459, 462 
 K'ang Yu-wei, 230, 436 
 Kao, Empress, 114 
 Kao Ti, General, 143 
 Keyte, J, C, work cited, 209 
 Khorchin Mongols, 146, 158, n. 256, 276 
 Kiakhta, Russian trade at, 328 
 Kings of Korea, become vassals of 
 
 Manchu Emperor, 147 
 Kitchen God, 335 
 Koffler, Andrew Xavier, Jesuit, attached 
 
 to Ming Court, 222 
 K'o, Madame, 56 et seq. 
 K'o, Prince, 446 
 Korea, Prince Amin's expedition to, 144 
 
 invasion of, 146 
 
 refuses to recognise T'ai Tsung, 146 
 
 subjugated, 147 
 
 T'ai Tsung's campaign against, 143 
 Kowtow, ceremony of, 321, 331, 382, 383, 
 
 386 
 Kuai Tzu, philosopher, 113 
 Kuang Hsii, Emperor, alleged origin of, 
 491 
 
 character of, 429 
 
 confined to Ocean Terrace, 440 
 
 death of, 439, 469 
 
 defies Tzii Hsi, 432 
 
 his mean apartment, 439 
 
 4 
 
 526 
 
INDEX 
 
 Kuang Hsii, last request to Old Buddha, 
 439 
 
 Kuang Hui, 386-89 
 
 Kuang Tsimg, Emperor, 52-4 
 
 Kublai Khan, 23 
 
 Kuei Chiin, 611 
 
 Kuei Wang, last of the Mings, 167, 213 ; 
 (Reign title Yung Li), 
 death of, 220, 221, 223 
 flight into Burma, 213, 214 
 letter to Wu San-kuei, 215-19 
 
 Kung, Prince, 419, 434, 435, 472 
 
 Kung Yi, 220, 221 
 
 Kung Yung-ku, 100 
 
 Le Comte, Louis, 240 
 
 Lhasa, 320, 321 
 
 Liang Kuei, 511 
 
 Liao Shou-keng, 459, 460 
 
 Liao Yang, fall of, 142 
 
 Li Chang-shu, 452 
 
 Li Chia-chu, 506 
 
 Li Chien-t'ai, Grand Secretary, 92, 93, 97 
 
 Lien Shan, 455 
 
 Lien Yiian, 458, 462, 463 
 
 Li Hsiu-ch'eng, Taiping leader, 423 et seq. 
 
 his letter to Hung, 424 
 
 his record of Taiping rebellion, 424 
 
 his son, n. 424 
 Li Hung-chang, 450, 452, 453 
 Li Hung-tsao, 434, 435, 476, 478 et seq. 
 Li K'o-shao, 54 
 Li Kuo-chen, 116 
 Li Kuo-pu, Grand Secretary, 78 
 Li, Lady, 52 et seq., 68 
 Li Lien-ying, Chief Eunuch, 429, 433, 437, 
 439, 463, 473, 483, 490, 496, 507 
 
 and Government appointments, 430 
 
 death of, 502 
 
 his pearls stolen by Chang Yiian-fu, 502 
 Lin Ch'ing's conspiracy, 378 
 Lin Chi-shih, 25 et seq. 
 Ling Yi-ch'iin, suicide of, 110 
 Lin Hsii, reformer, 436, 437 
 Lin Tse-hsii, Viceroy of Canton, 395, 397 
 
 his despatch to Queen Victoria, 396 
 Li, Prince, 462 
 Li Shan, 455, 457, 458 
 Li Tai-po, poems of, 16 
 Literary examinations, 40 et seq. 
 
 tradition, 15 
 Literati, 236, 301 
 Li Ting-kuo, freebooter, 214 
 Li Tzu-cheng, 
 
 alliance with Wu San-kuei, 114, 123 
 
 ascends Imperial Throne, 107 
 
 assumes Imperial title, 114 
 
 Li Tzd-cheng {continued) 
 
 defeated by Dorgun, 131, 132 
 
 defeated by Wu San-kuei, 119, 123 
 
 ends days as Buddhist priest, 116, 117 
 
 enters the city, 104, 106 
 
 flight to Hunan, 116 
 
 his political genius, 107 
 
 his tomb, 117 
 
 punishes Palace eunuchs, 115 
 
 rebellion of, 24, 82 et seq., 86 et seq. 
 
 104 et seq., 148 
 takes Peking, 99 
 
 Liu Cheng, eunuch, 28, 49 
 
 Liu K'un-yi, Nanking Viceroy, 433, 492 
 
 " Liu, Mysterious," eunuch, 484 
 
 Liu Tsung-min, 121 
 
 Liu Wen-pin, 486 et seq. 
 
 Liu Wen-ping, Marquis, death of. 111 
 
 Liu Yi-ching, Grand Secretary, 54 
 
 li Yen, rebel chief, 83, 84 
 
 Lou Te-na, 258 
 
 Lung K'o-to, 269, 271, 282. 285, 291, 292, 
 305 
 
 Lung Yii, Empress, 225, 242, 353, n. 421, 
 493 et seq., 497 et seq. 
 and Eunuch Chang Yiian-fu, 496, 501 
 
 et seq. 
 death of, 495 
 
 " squeezes '' in building operations; 499 
 theatrical entertainments, 504 
 
 Lu Pin, Prince, 290 
 
 Lu Po-yang, 430, 431, 433 
 
 Macao, banquet at, in honour of Ming 
 
 Envoys, 222 
 Macao, Portuguese at, 221 
 Macartney Mission, 311, 320 et seq., 344, 
 
 382 
 Ma Chang-hsi, 478 
 Magic and spells, 451 
 Mahomedan mosque, 340 
 Mailla, Pere, author of Histoire Generate 
 
 de la Chine, n. 239, n. 305 
 Manchu invasion, 84 
 
 capture of Wuchang, 116 
 
 dynasty's Eastern tombs, 156 
 
 etiquette, 355 
 
 expedition to Korea, 144 
 
 house laws, 41, 230, 232, 248, 312, 349, 
 
 435, 475, 476, 505 
 march on Peking, 113 
 Prefect at Tamsui, 378 
 Princes, 335, 443 ; degeneration of, 444 
 
 et seq. 
 Princes and Wu San-kuei, 132 
 raid in Chihli, 144 
 rulers and eunuchs, 17 
 
 527 
 
INDEX 
 
 Manohus massacred by Chinese, 209 
 Market days in Forbidden City, 50 
 Market fair, 335 
 Ma Shih-ying, 168, 170, 172 
 Massacre of Chinese by Manchus, 195 
 
 of Manchus by Chinese, 209 
 Mencius quoted, 302, 319 
 Metropohtan Museum, New York, n. 367 
 Mien Ning, Prince, son of Chia Ch'ing, 
 
 became Emperor Tao Kuang, 375 
 Military organisation, 18, 390 
 Ming Heir Apparent, 97, 100, 101, 107, 
 121, 122, 124, 166 
 
 mission to Vatican, 222 
 
 nobles squeezed, 116 
 Mings at Nanking, 84, 167, 168 
 
 last of the, 104, 106, 137, 235 
 Missions to Chinese Court from Portugal 
 
 and Italy, 324 
 " Model Beauty, The," 341 et seq. 
 Mongol Empire, finally shattered, 23 
 
 Princes' tribute, 250 
 
 smallpox amongst, 352 
 Mongol Tushetu Khan, 157 
 Mongolian Superintendency, 277 
 Mongolia subjugated by T'ai Tsung, 143 
 Moukden, 142 
 Mu Ch'ang-a, Grand Secretary, 391, 395 
 
 et seq., 401 
 Mu Ching-yuan, European, at Court of 
 
 Yung Cheng, 299 
 Mu Yung-a, 242 
 
 Nanking, sack of (1913), 12 
 
 fall of, 406, 425, 428 
 Napier, Lord, 385 
 Nepal campaign, 320, 321, 332, 333 
 Ning, Prince, 32, 33 
 
 Ning Yiian, last of the Ming strongholds, 
 112 
 
 defence of, by Wu San-kuei, 118, 143, 
 148, 154 
 Nurhachi, 217, 225 
 
 appointed Warden of the Marches, 138 
 
 assumes dynastic name of Manchu, 140 
 
 declares war on China, 140 
 
 his army, 139, 143 
 
 his capital at Hsing Ching, 140 
 
 his capital at Moukden, 142 
 
 organises tribes under four banners, 139 
 
 rise of, 86, 138 
 
 ruler of five Manchu tribes, 139 
 
 " Ocean Terrace,** 437, 440 
 Odes, Booh of, quoted, 474, 477 
 Omens and portents, 43, 87, 88, 224, 243, 
 244, 318, 400 
 
 Opium abolition, 395, 503 
 Orientals, jealousy of, 242 
 
 Pa Chung, General, n. 333 
 Palace actors, 487, 502, 504 
 
 Amazons, 475 
 
 concubines, 60, 406 
 
 pearls, 501 
 
 of Prince Hsiao, n. 365 
 
 of Tranquil Longevity, 362 
 P'an Achilles, Chief Eunuch of Empress 
 Helen, 222 
 
 in command of land and sea forces of 
 Mings, 223 
 Pang Pao, eunuch, 48, 49 
 Panshen Lama, n. 233 
 P'an Tsu-yin, 469 
 Pao Tai, Resident at Lhasa, n. 333 
 Parker, E. H., work cited, 223 
 Peace Protocol ( 1 901 ), 449 
 Pearl Concubine, 440, 468, 495 
 Pearl necklaces, 353, 363, 369, 370 
 Peking Court Gazette, 293 
 Peking Oendarmerie, 338, 509 
 Peking horse show, 507 
 Pereira, Anthoine, 239 
 Pescadores, seizure of, by Dutch, 86 
 Ping Ling, 411 et seq. 
 Pi Ting-ho, 444 
 Pi Yiin-ssii, 75 
 Poison, use of, 81, 134, 166, 246, 464, 483, 
 
 484. 487, 489 
 Polygamy, 13 et seq., 245, 270 
 Portuguese in China, 
 
 aid Mings, 141 
 
 at Macao, 221 
 
 language used by Princes, 307 
 
 Mission to Chinese Court, 324 
 
 supply Mings with cannon, 145 
 Po Sui, Grand Secretary, 409 et seq. 
 
 execution of, 414^17 
 Pottinger, Sir H., 395 
 Precious Pearl, Empress, 59 et seq. 
 
 death of, 82-5 
 President Yuan Shih-k'ai's Palace, n. 341 
 Price of eggs, 337, 490 
 Priesthood, Shun Shih's regulations for 
 entering, 229 
 
 not reverenced by literati, 236 
 Princedom of Jui re-established, 234 
 Prophecies, 224, 225 
 P'u Shan, Duke, 508 et seq. 
 Pu Ying-ch'i, 427, 428 
 
 Random Notes from the Chamber of the 
 
 Cloudy Sea, 469 
 Ransom for Proscribed Mings, 109 
 
 528 
 
INDEX 
 
 Rebellions against Manchus, 347, 373 
 Reformers, 436 
 Regents, Board of, 242 
 
 harsh treatment of Jesuits, 242 
 Regents, Prince Abtai, 242-45 
 
 Ao Pai, 219, 242, 243, 257 
 
 Prince Ch'un, n. 302, n. 303, n. 433, 
 493 et seq. 
 Regents, usurping, 418, 470 
 
 dismissed by K'ang Hsi, 242 
 Regency, Joint, of Prince Clieng and 
 Dorgun, 158 
 
 of Tzu Hsi and Tzu An, 419, 495 
 Republic, the, 442 
 " Restore the Mings,'* battle cry of Tai- 
 
 pings, 221 
 Ricci, 221 
 
 Ritual of mourning, 271 
 Roman Catholic religion, 221, 272 et seq. 
 "Round-faced Beauty,'* 120, 122, 125; 
 
 also vide Lady Ch'en. 
 Russian merchants at Peking, 327, 328 
 Russian trade at Kiakhta, 328 
 
 Sages, teachings of the, 141 
 
 San Ku-niang, literary courtesan, 338, 339 
 
 Schall, Adam von, 242 
 
 Secret Societies, 373, 378 
 
 Shanghai Taotaiship, 430 
 
 Shan Hai-kuan, 95 
 
 siege of, 113 
 Shen, Eunuch, 508 
 Shih, alleged paramour of Tzu Hsi, 490, 
 
 491 
 Shih K'o-fa, General, 168, 188, 189, 207 
 
 his memorial, 169, 170 
 
 correspondence with Manchu Regent, 
 174r-84 
 
 death of, 174 
 Shou Fu, 464 et seq. 
 
 Shun Chih, Emperor, 138, 157, 158, 160, 
 229 
 
 alleged to have joined priesthood, 236, 
 237 
 
 birth, 231 
 
 character of, 229, 232 
 
 curtails power of eunuchs, 232 
 
 death of, 235 
 
 marriage, 234 
 
 reputed illegitimacy, 230 
 Shun (Obedient), title of Li Tzu-ch'eng's 
 
 rebel dynasty, 121 
 Sianfu, sack of Tartar city, 209 
 " Signs of a Decaying Dynasty," 443 et 
 
 seq. 
 Singing-girl and Wu San-kuei, 119; also 
 vide " Round-faced Beauty.** 
 
 Sister Phoenix, 37 et seq. 
 
 Smith, Dr. Arthur, work quoted, 225 
 
 Song of the Cakes, quoted, 224, 226 
 
 Soochow, fall of, 424 
 
 Soothsayers and fortime- tellers, 40, 226 
 
 Spirits and omens, 43, 44 
 
 Spring and Autumn Annals, quoted, 174, 
 
 178, 265 
 State seal of Mongol dynasty, 146 
 Staunton, Sir George, cited, 311, 319, 
 
 n. 320, 321, n. 386 
 " Stranger Concubine,'* 341 et seq. 
 Su, Prince, Minister of the Interior, 509, 
 
 510 
 Su, Prince, son of Emperor T'ai Tsung, 
 
 145, 157 
 Suicide of two hundred women of the 
 
 Palace, 103 
 Sungaria, campaign in, 340 
 Sung Ch'i-chiao, 108 
 Sung Fan, Viceroy of Kansuh, 450, 451 
 Sung, Prince, 218 
 Sung Yiin, Resident at Lhasa, 321 
 Sun Yat-sen, 221, 225 
 Superstitions, characteristic, 243 
 Su Shun, Lnperial clansman, 406 et seq. 
 
 death of, 417, 418, 470 et seq. 
 Symptoms of demoralisation, 372 
 
 T'ai hit. Magistracy, 36 
 
 Taiping Court at Nanking, 406, 410, 423 
 
 rebellion, 391, 405 et seq., 422 et seq., 
 475 
 
 genesis of, 423 
 T'ai Tsu, 217 
 T'ai Tsung, Emperor, 143 
 
 ambitions of, 143, 144 
 
 correspondence with Ming Emperor, 
 148, 149, 151, 153 
 
 death of, 157 
 
 invades Korea, 146 
 
 raids China, 147 
 
 receives State seal of Mongol dynasty, 
 146 
 
 subjugates Charhar Mongols, 145 
 
 takes Port Arthur, 145 
 T'ai Yiian-fu, siege of, 93 
 T'an, " Heaven-compelling " singer, 604 
 Tantla Pass, n. 333 
 Tao Kuang, Emperor, 375, 390 et seq. 
 
 and Tseng Kuo-fan, 400 et seq. 
 
 character of, 391, 394 
 
 signs Nanking Treaty, 399 
 Taranatha Lama, 280 
 Tashilhimpo, sack of, n. 333 
 Temple of Ancestors, 57, 93, 359 
 Temple of Heaven, 93, 115, 342 
 
 529 
 
INDEX 
 
 Teng, " the large-thighed," 231 
 Te, Prince, cousin of Ming Emperor, 147 
 Theatricals, palace, 136, 172, 335, 501, 603 
 Tibet, 320 
 
 British mission to, 332 
 
 China's suzerainty over, 320 
 
 war with Nepal, 321, n. 333 
 T'ien Ch'i, Emperor Hsi Tsung, 56 et seq. 
 T'ien, Concubine, 104 et seq., 122 
 T'ien Ming, reign title of Nurhachi 
 T'ien Tsung, reign title of Huang Taiki, 
 
 143 
 T'ien Wen-ching, 305, 306 
 Ting, Prince, 122 
 Ting, Prince, grandson of Ch'ien Lung, 
 
 364, 369, 370 
 Trading centre at Peking, 322 
 Treaty of alliance between Li Tzu-ch'eng 
 
 and Wu San-kuei, 114, 119, 122 
 Treaty of Nanking, 396, 399 
 Tsai Chen, son of Prince Ch'ing, 446 
 Tsai Ch'u, 479 
 Tsai Lan, Duke, 458 et seq. 
 Tsai Lien, Beileh, 446, 447 
 Tsai Yiian, n. 271, 481 
 Ts'ao Chen-yung, Grand Secretary, 393, 
 
 403, 404 
 Tseng Kuo-fan, 400 et seq., 419, 422, 426, 
 
 492 
 Tsin, eunuch, 440 
 
 Tso Kuang-tou, Censor, 51, 52, 56, 76 
 Tso Tsung fang, 419, 422, 477, 484, 489 
 Tsui Wen-hsiang, eunuch, 52, 53 
 Tuan, Prince (Boxer), 455 
 Tu Hsiin, eunuch, Commander-in-Chief, 
 
 94, 96, 98, 99, 115 
 Tu Shou-t'ien, Imperial tutor, 391, 392 
 Tung Chia, Empress of Shun Chih, 234 
 T'ung Chih, Emperor, Il9, 469, 477 
 
 character of, 419 
 
 death of, 478-80 
 
 escapades of, 420, 478 
 
 marriage, 420 
 Tung, Lady, Concubine, 234, 235 
 Tzu An, Empress, 469, 473, 476 et seq., 
 481 et seq. 
 
 death of, 483-84, 486 et seq. 
 Tzii Hsi, Empress Dowager, 337, n. 367, 
 394, 400, 419, 422, 461, 466 et seq. 
 
 and astrologers, 226 
 
 and Censor Wang P'eng-yiin, 436 
 
 and Tzii An, 481 et seq. 
 
 character of, 336, 466 et seq. 
 
 coup d'etat, 430, 364 
 
 en retraite, 434 
 
 executes Su Shun, 417; and usurping 
 Regents, 418 
 
 Tzu Hsi, Empress Dowager, (continued) 
 her pearl -embroidered jacket, 364 
 
 her relations with Kuang Hsii, 429 et 
 seq. 
 
 homilies of, 272 
 
 sympathy with Boxers, 455 
 
 the verdict of history, 492 
 
 usurps power, 433, 476 
 
 Verbiest, 221, 239 
 Visdelou, Claude de, 240 
 
 Wan Ching, Board Secretary, 74 
 Wang An, eunuch, 56, 58, 70 
 Wang'Ch'eng-en, eunuch, 98, 100, 103 
 Wang Ch'eng-yiin, General, 98 
 Wang Kao, alleged father of Shun Chih, 
 
 230-32 
 Wang P'eng-yiin, Censor, 434 et seq. 
 Wang Ting-lin, Grand Secretary, 397 
 Wang Wen-shao, 450, 457, 460 
 Wang Yung-chang, Diary of, 119, 122, 
 
 124 
 Wan Li, Ming Emperor, 47 et seq., 313 
 
 Heir Apparent of, 47-52, 377 
 Wei Ching-ynan, Governor of Ta T'ung- 
 
 fu, 96, 97 
 Wei Chung-hsien, the infamous eunuch, 
 
 47, 55 et seq., 142, 168, 232, 360 
 Wei Liang-ch'ing, 79 
 Wei Ta-ching, 74, 76 
 " Wen Ching,'' writings of, 230, 466 
 Wen Hsiang, 419, 480 
 Western Market, place of execution, 415 
 White Lily Conspiracy, 346, 347, 373 
 " Writer on Court Subjects, A," 486 
 Wu Ch'ang, captured by Manchus, 116 
 Wu Chao-ping, 324 
 Wu Hsiang, General, 113, 119 
 Wu Ko-tu, Censor, 491 
 Wu Len-cheng, suicide of, 110 
 Wu San-kuei, 98, 110, 118 et seq. 
 
 allies himself with Manchus, 126 et seq. 
 
 allies himself with Li Tzu-ch'eng, 119, 
 123, 125 
 
 and last of the Mings, 124, 214 
 
 and the " Round-faced Beauty," 113 
 119 e^ seq. 
 
 character of, 134 et seq. 
 
 death of, 132 
 
 defeats Li Tzu-ch'eng, 123 
 
 defence of Ning Yuan, 112, 118 
 
 his career, 119 et seq., 132 
 
 his father, 125 
 
 his rebeUion in 1674, 128, 133-35 
 Wu Su, 111, 112 
 Wu Tai Mountain, 85 
 
 530 
 
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