DS 778 .Y8 H6 Copy 1 YUAN YEN TAI The Worthy Son of a Famous Fathe?* By HERBERT E. HOUSE ^ V # Copyright, 1902, by Herbert E. House New York Foreign Missions Library, 156 Fifth Avenue NEW YORK THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, Two Copies Received MAY. 13 1902 Copyright entry CLASS Cu xXc. No. a. 1- * *) * COPY 8. YUAN SHIH KAI VICEROY OF CHIH LI FATHER OF YUAN YEN TAI YUAN SHIH KAI. His Excellency, Yuan Shih Kai, now forty- three years of age, is not, as are many of the high officials of China, a Manchu, but is a Chinese, a native of the Province of Ho Nan. He was nine years minister to Korea, a position given him as a reward for an act of exception- ally aggressive daring, in which he res- cued a Korean prince from the Japanese, saving his life. In 1895, after the war with Japan, he was given command of one branch of the "New Imperial Army," consist- ing of about seven thousand raw recruits, which he rapidly brought to a state of high efficiency, its organization, equipment, drill and discipline being thoroughly up to date. In December, 1900, he was appointed Governor of Shan Tung, where, during the late trouble, he ruled with a strong hand, protecting foreigners and keeping peace. Here he also planned a great school for Western learning, calling a Presbyterian missionary to the position of pres- ident, giving him a free hand in its develop- ment. In November, 1901, he was appointed to the position of Governor of the province of Chili Li, with the title of Viceroy, in place of Li Hung Chang, deceased. He has shown himself to be a man of the very highest order of executive ability, a broad- minded, well-informed conservative reformer, just and friendly in his attitude toward for- eigners, a sincere patriot, the integrity of whose purpose is not doubted by those who best know him. He is typical of the men now coming into power who are to reorganize the Empire and develop the almost unlimited resources of the country. YUAN YEN TAI YUAN YEN TAI. In the spring of 1898 there called at my home in Tientsin a Chinese gentleman, Dr. Kin Ta Ting, who brought with him a young man about eighteen years of age who wished to hear my gramophone and I think also wished to visit a foreigner's family. This young man was finely dressed, very attractive in face and man- ner and every inch a gentleman. During the visit I was told that he was anxious to begin the study of English and I remarked that I would be glad to be the teacher of so fine a young man. The following October I was invited to be- come his teacher, Dr. Kin telling me that his father, Yuan Shih Kai, had instructed him to secure a teacher from the missionary class to whom he could trust his son. For a year and a half thereafter he was my pupil; for three months of this time he lived with me at my seaside summer home at Pei Tai Ho, 175 miles northeast of Tientsin, and I came to know him well and to have for him a warm affection. Clean in his person and habits, he never touched tobacco, opium or wine, and scarcely drank tea, explaining that he thought it was not good for his health and he wanted all his strength for his study. He was wonderfully pure in his thought, high in his ambition and intense in his passion for knowledge. It is no exaggeration to say that he was the most patient and diligent student I ever knew. He once said to me, " I used to say to my father, ' If you want to give me anything don't give me money, give me a teacher.'" He also used to remark, "The Chinese learning is not useful; the foreign ~5 learning is useful," and his mind was always full of the things that were to be done for China and of what his father hoped to be able to do, and of his own possible part in China's future development ; though once in great despondency he said to me, " My father nearly cried this morning, for he says that 'China is finished,' " referring to what then seemed an almost hope- less condition. Our hours together were from eight to twelve, and every moment was given to the closest application. After a few weeks he consented to take a ten-minutes' rest at the end of every two hours' study, but he was back at his work on the second. At the same time he was giving six or more hours a day to Chinese studies, in which he was very proficient, though in time I prevailed upon him to give less time to Chinese. As he was never strong, so much confinement and study were breaking his health. The official residence was at the military bar- racks, twenty-two miles east of Tientsin, in the town of Hsiao Chan, a low, level and rather unhealthful place in summer. Yen Tai's health was such that in the spring of 1899 it became apparent that a change of climate and an outdoor life was absolutely necessary, but it was only by the most earnest urging, coupled with plain warnings, that the consent of his mother and grandmother was gained for so radical a move. It was finally decided that he should spend the summer with me and my family at the seaside. This opened to him a new day of freedom and delight. At home his life was largely inactive and secluded, it not being good form for the son of a high official to be seen out often. Here he was out for his sea bath or long walk on the beach in the early morning and in the afternoon we were often out walking together, talking of what we saw. It was most interesting to pick a flower or a blade of grass, or take up a stone, look at it and talk about it. These things he had never truly seen. The sea and the fields and the starry sky talked of in our rambles and in connection with our studies were a revelation to him. I have never seen any one enjoy an experience with more boundless zest than he did these summer months. The improvement in his health and appearance was very great, so that, as he told me, his mother hardly knew him when he returned home. During the winter we continued our study at Hsiao Chan until March, when the condi- tions in the country made it necessary for all foreigners to be dismissed from Chinese service. Always treated by his father and himself with the greatest consideration, a few days before we left the camp we were given val- uable presents and a farewell Chinese dinner, served in my home in foreign style, the com- bination, as he said with great glee, being his invention. By his orders the military band of about twenty Chinese players, with foreign instruments — a band noted for its great excel- lence — was in attendance and as a last selection played most beautifully, " God Be With You Till We Meet Again." The various new and fine American school and other books that I procured for him were his great delight. His care of those he studied was a marvel. He had them covered and always handled them with perfectly clean hands, so that after weeks of use they looked as fresh as new. In marking new words that they might be easily reviewed he would mark them with only a single small dot. It was a great sorrow to us both that we were compelled to part and that he must give up his study. During the last days we were together we talked much of his future, of the study that he would continue alone, and of books that I would send him. As he was leaving me at Tientsin at the close of our last hour together, he to go on with the family to Shan Tung, where his father had already gone as governor, and I soon to start for America, just as he was turning from me at the door, I remarked, ' ' I'll be sending you things from America as soon as I get home," when he turned and said most pathetically, and they were his last words to me, ' ' Only send me books, only send me books," and I have thus far sent'him about eighty books, for which he has insisted on sending a remittance. We have been in quite constant correspond- ence during the last two years and the following extracts from his letters may be a revelation to some of the possible character of a Chinese young man. They are given exact- ly as written, with the exception of an occa- sional correction in spelling, and show how quickly and well he was gaining a knowledge of English. The letters were written after a year and a half of study under my instruction and some months of study alone. Chi Nan Fu, Shan Tung, China. February 12, 1901. My Dear Teacher Mr. House: I forward you a letter a month ago. Have you re- ceived it ? Your kind letter of December 23 is duly received. I thank you very much for the Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes and the picture, both of which interested me very much. In that picture Mrs. and you both look very well, and especially Harvey, who seems to be much fatter than when he was at Hsiao Chan last. I have been longing to visit the friendly country to which you belong and your kindest family I ever saw. Next spring I shall try my best to go abroad. Herewith enclosed please find a draft for fifty (50) taels. When you shall have received it, please let me know. I want to buy some books with this sum as I have written you last month. Sincerely your scholar, Yuan Yen Tai. May 9, 1901. You do not know how deeply I am longing to go to America to complete my studies and to see you and Mrs. House, but am sorry I cannot fulfil my wishes just at present, and I fear if I do not start this year I will be too old to learn. I think you will be very glad to hear that my health is improving later on I will send you the photos of my father and myself so that you may know how I am getting on. I shall be much pleased if you will kindly advise me how to conduct myself in my studies and how to become a good man. June 5, 1901. I think you will be glad to hear that my health is getting improved day by day. 1 have given up study- ing Chinese temporarily and am paying my whole attention to English studies that I may be improved more rapidly on the English. I have copied down all the political letters from the missionaries to my father and also copied down all the answers to missionaries. I think it would be beneficial to me to have all these copied. (To copy them himself for practice.) I cannot tell you how earnest I am to go to America to have my education completed, a project which has been constantly recurring to my mind. July 19, 1901. I enjoy those books very much especially the Story of Great Americans for Little Americans. I admire their way of making their adventures and their extreme good conduct but the stories of Indians do not interest me very much. I nearly finished the Maxwell's Intro- ductory Lessons to English Grammar. I will be much pleased if you will kindly buy for me an advanced one by the same author and a modern history of all nations both of which I am anxious to study. August 22, 1901. Since I wrote the last list of books I have received eight more books in addition. I think I have enough easy readers, please send me the advanced ones. September 25, 1901. It is my desire to go to Ameiica but there is some thing obstructs me from going thus putting me in a state of great sorrow again. Your kind advice about my education was in every way agreeable and I shall try to follow it up. I have nearly finished the fourth reader, kindly inform me as to what to take next and further please buy for me such books as would be necessary in order to fit myself for the American high school. I think that you will be very interested to hear that the Chinese examinations have been changed, all the degrees of Chinese scholars will depend upon examinations upon modern subjects such as Chinese and foreign politics, sciences and Chinese classics. Sincerely your scholar, Yuan Yen Tai. In reply to my inquiry, one who was in a position to know wrote me under date of July 16, 1901, "Concerning your former pupil, the latest news is that the young man is far from well, yet he works away at his English most laboriously, spending hours over his North China Herald." It is chiefly because this young man is rep- resentative of a large number of young men in China that he is so interesting. It is this class of young men, the coming leaders of China, who have capacity and high ambition, who throughout the Empire are to- day urgent in their desire for teachers of West- ern learning. As a plea for the young men and also for the young women of China we should consider the comparative need : for example, New York and New England, with a population of thirteen millions, in addition to hundreds of splendidly equipped high schools, has fifty- five colleges, with an endowment in property and invested funds of $99,000,000. The two provinces in South China, a little greater in area than New York and New England, with a population of thirty-five millions, has but one institution planning to do real college work, at Canton, with an endowment of only about $100,000, which, with its four American prof es- sors, faces one of the most magnificent oppor- tunities for Christian enterprise in all histoiy. MAY 14 1902 I \j\jt i fun,. -V wrv [ , , MAY 14 1902 THE WILLETT PRESS NEW YORK LIBRARY OF CONGRESS [0 019 711 721