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Interior of the House of a wealtliy Chinese. 
 
THE 
 
 PEOPLE OF CHINA; 
 
 OB, 
 
 A SUMMARY 
 
 CHINESE HISTORY. 
 
 >^ 
 
 REVISED BY THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION OF THE 
 AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION. 
 
 \y 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 
 AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 
 
 NO. 146 C H E S T A' U T S T E E E T. 
 

 i^^ ei 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 There is, perhaps, no quarter of our globe to 
 which the attention of all classes of people has 
 been turned with more interest, within the last 
 few years, than China. 
 
 The civil and commercial relations of that coun- 
 try have been, and are still, the subject of much 
 controversy and anxiety among other nations ; 
 and the result of the late negotiations with the 
 British government is yet to be seen. 
 
 But when the eyes of Christians turn to China, 
 their minds are filled with higher and better 
 thoughts than those which govern the policy of the 
 world. They see there a large proportion of the 
 whole population of the earth sunk in the degra- 
 dation and folly of heathenism ; and they watch, 
 with deep interest, all the events of providence 
 that seem to open the way for their salvation. 
 They seize every opportunity to introduce the 
 blessings of civil and religious liberty among 
 P 5 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 those who are led captive by Satan at his will. 
 And whenever a Chinese Bible, or religious book 
 or tract, or a printing-press, or a teacher or 
 missionary can gain admission there, they wish 
 to be ready to avail themselves of the favourable 
 moment. 
 
 The present volume, though prepared for a 
 sister-institution in Great Britain, has been care- 
 fully revised for the society's press. It has been 
 examined by several persons whose residence in 
 or near the Chinese empire give them the means 
 of judging of the correctness of the statements, 
 and we are very happy to present our readers 
 with so succinct and yet so full and authentic an 
 account of the country and its inhabitants. 
 
 This " Summary of Chinese History" may be 
 regarded as the introduction to an original work 
 now preparing for the societ}^, which will more 
 fully exhibit the religious aspect of Chinese so- 
 ciety and the facilities and obstacles for intro- 
 ducing Christianity. 
 
 1844. 
 
THE 
 
 PEOPLE OF CHINA, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A SUMMARY OF CHINESE HISTORY. 
 
 The history of all nations, except the Jews, com- 
 mences with fabulous traditions. This is true of 
 the annals of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, whose sun 
 of power has long since sunk beloAv the horizon, 
 never more to shine with its ancient splendour ; 
 and, it may be added with peculiar emphasis of 
 China, that national vanity, and the love of the mar- 
 vellous, have induced them to assign to their coun- 
 try such a high degree of antiquity as exceeds the 
 bounds of belief. Even one of their own writers 
 remarks — "It is impossible to credit the accounts 
 of these remote ages." 
 
 The fabulous part of Chinese history commences 
 with Puon-koo, who is said to have been followed 
 by a number of persons with fanciful names, who 
 reigned for thousands of years. Among these 
 were Fo-hy, to whom the invention of the arts 
 of music, numbers, etc., is ascribed ; Shin-noong, 
 who instructed his people in agriculture ; and 
 Hoang-ty, who divided all the lands into groups 
 of nine equal squares, and invented the mode of 
 noting the cycle of sixty years, which is the 
 foundation of the Chinese system of chronology. 
 
 7 
 
8 SUMMARY OF 
 
 In the Chinese annals, Fo-hy, Shin-noong, and 
 Hoang-ty, are denominated the " Three Empe- 
 rors ;" and they are the reputed inventors of ail 
 the arts and accommodations of life. 
 
 To the " Three Emperors" succeeded the "Five 
 Sovereigns," of whom Yaou and Shun were the 
 last and the most celebrated of all Chinese rulers. 
 It was from the reign of Yaou, who is described 
 as living at about the period of the deluge, that the 
 pages of Chinese history begin to assume some- 
 what of the appearanceof probability, although to 
 the age of Confucius, b. c. 550, they are still sul- 
 lied with fable and uncertainty. 
 
 Yaou is represented as a model of perfection, 
 virtue, and wisdom ; his reign as a state of inno- 
 cence ; and the country which he governed as a 
 perfect paradise. The aged and the young, the 
 rich and the poor, alike hailed him as their bene- 
 factor, and delighted to recount his praises. 
 
 In the " Shoo-king" of Confucius, there is an 
 account of an extensive flood which took place 
 in the reign of Yaou,* and which appears to be 
 derived from a tradition concerning the Mosaic 
 deluge. It reads thus: — "The emperor Yaou 
 said, 'Vast and destructive are the accumulating 
 waters. They have overflowed their banks, co- 
 vered the hills, over-topped the loftiest mountains, 
 and are co-extensive with the spacious concave of 
 heaven. Who shall save the people from the ca- 
 lamity V " 
 
 Although it is evident that a flood so vast must 
 have destroyed " all flesh," yet the Chinese histo- 
 
 * According to Chinese chronology, this took place b. c. 
 2291, which is only fifty-seven years later than the gene- 
 rally received date of tlie deluge described by Moses. 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 9 
 
 rians, having only tradition for their guide, repre- 
 sent Yaou, and his successors, Shun and Yu, as 
 being employed in drawing off the waters of the 
 great inundation. According to their testimony 
 it was effected by Yu ; for which reason he was 
 chosen by Shun to be his partner on the throne, 
 and finally his successor. Yu is more celebrated 
 for being the founder of the period, or the dynasty 
 called Hea, which commenced, according to the 
 erroneous chronology of the Chinese, b. c. 2207. 
 
 FROM THE HEA TO THE HAN DYNASTY. 
 
 When Yu assumed the reins of empire, he was 
 ninety-three years of age. He is said to have 
 reigned seven years ; and, according to Confucius, 
 with consummate wisdom. With him, indeed, he 
 represents the perfection of princes to have ended. 
 After the reign of Yu, the monarchy became here- 
 ditary ; and fourteen princes, descended from one 
 Ta-yu, sat upon the throne during four centuries, 
 concerning whom nothing is recorded worthy of 
 note. During that period, it is represented that 
 China was divided amongst a number of feudal 
 chiefs, who either acknowledged the emperor's 
 power, or set him at defiance, according as he was 
 in a condition to exercise authority. There was 
 constant strife between them ; and philosophy vain- 
 ly endeavoured to unite the whole empire under 
 one head. The reign of the Hea, therefore, was 
 inglorious ; and it closed with the vicious Kee, who 
 was dethroned by Ching-tang, who became the 
 founder of the Shang dynasty, b. c. 1766. 
 
 THE SHANG DYNASTY. 
 
 Ching-tang justified his usurpation by a solemn 
 appeal to Shang-te, the Supreme Emperor, or Su- 
 
10 SUMMARY OF 
 
 preme Being, v/hence it became, in the sight of 
 the Chinese, the will of Heaven ; and he was per- 
 mitted to sit upon the throne by universal consent. 
 Nor do his after-actions exhibit unfitness for empire. 
 He was anxious to recall the age of Yaou, Shun, 
 and Yu, and he laboured dihgently to improve the 
 condition and the manners of his people. 
 
 It is related, that Ching-tang, on ascending the 
 throne, laid up a large store of grain ; and that a 
 famine, occasioned by drought, happening soon 
 afterwards, he was enabled thereby to act in a 
 bountiful manner towards his subjects.* On this 
 account, he is said to have charged himself with 
 the sins which had occasioned the calamity, and by 
 humble confession so to have propitiated the Deity, 
 that plentiful showers fell upon the parched soil, and 
 the wrath of Heaven was appeased. By this con- 
 duct, Ching-tang established himself on the throne ; 
 and Chinese emperors, from that day to this, have 
 not failed to follow his example. They affect a 
 show of piety, to insure the obedience of their sub- 
 jects. 
 
 The records of the Shang dynasty are very 
 meager. Twenty-seven princes of the same fami- 
 ly seem successively to have occupied the throne 
 within the space of 643 years, but their lives are, 
 for the most part, a mere blank. 
 
 THE CHOW DYNASTY. 
 
 The period of authentic Chinese history may be 
 considered as dating from the race of Chow, that is, 
 about 1000 years b. c. Before that time the Chi- 
 nese had no existing records. While this race sat 
 
 * A probable allusion to the history of Joseph in Egypt, 
 who lived 1700 years before Christ. 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 11 
 
 ^pon the throne, however, Confucius appeared, 
 and he it was, together with his disciples, who be- 
 queathed to the world various books which relate 
 the early traditions of the country and the annals 
 of their own times. This fact will prove the truth 
 of a previous statement ; namely, that before the 
 age of Confucius, the annals of China are fabulous 
 and uncertain. To an attentive observer, indeed, 
 it appears evident that what Confucius related of 
 the Chinese, in remote ages, had reference for the 
 most part to a distinct people. Thus Yaou, Shun 
 and Yu, seem to have been nearly contemporane- 
 ous with the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob ; and the points of resemblance in their cha- 
 racters afford evidence that they were one and the 
 self-same persons. Thus, also, Fo-hy is to be iden- 
 tified with Noah. Tradition had handed down its 
 uncertain memorials of these Scripture worthies; 
 and Confucius, whose design was to draw a pat- 
 tern for the imitation of princes, placed them on 
 the throne of China, and described them as Chi- 
 nese patriarchs. How prone the Chinese are to 
 imitation, may be seen from the fact that they 
 fabricated a counterpart of Alexander the Great 
 in the person of Tsin-che-hwang-te. But notwith- 
 standing aJl this, it is clear that the Chinese are, 
 as a nation, the most ancient people in existence, 
 the Jews excepted. Their civilization was coeval 
 with that of the Egyptians; their literature with 
 that of Greece ; and the extension of the empire 
 with that of Persia. Confucius himself was nearly 
 contemporary with Herodotus, the father of Gre- 
 cian history, to whom he is neither inferior in 
 talent nor morality. He was one of those extra- 
 ordinary men whom the Almighty has in mercy 
 raised up at divers times to alleviate the miseries 
 
12 SUMMARY OF 
 
 of mankind, by teaching them that to be happy, 
 they must be virtuous. 
 
 According to the testimony of Confucius, the 
 emperor Woo-wong,first of the new dynasty, which 
 signifies, literally, " the martial king," was with- 
 out spot or blemish, and a father to his people. 
 His wisdom, however, does not appear to have 
 equalled his goodness. Many feudal states already 
 existed in the country, and he added others, by ap- 
 portioning territories to the well-deserving states- 
 men and princes who had lost their patrimony. 
 This act, though emanating from a spirit of kind- 
 ness, increased the evils which had long been 
 productive of much bloodshed in the empire. 
 For, although the recipients of his bounty may 
 generally have been attached to the cause of the 
 emperor, yet their descendants, possessed of power, 
 exhibited a spirit of insubordination. 
 
 After a succession of various rulers, Chaou- 
 seang, prince of Tsin, stripped the last emperor 
 of the Chow race of his imperial dignity, and 
 usurped the throne, b. c. 249. 
 
 THE TSIN DYNASTY. 
 
 When the Tsin state became supreme in power, 
 a reign of terror commenced in China. Chaou- 
 seang and his successors all ruled with an iron 
 rod. The latter monarch, puffed up with inordi- 
 nate vanity, abolished the humble title of Wang, 
 or "king," which the preceding dynasty had 
 adopted, and called himself Tsin-che-hwang-te, or 
 " The first great emperor." He also proclaimed 
 himself a compeer of Yaou, Shun, and Yu. It 
 was this emperor whom the Chinese annals have 
 extolled as a counterpart to Alexander. Accord- 
 ing to them, during his reign the renown of Chi- 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 13 
 
 nese valour became as terrible in Asia as that of 
 the Romans in the western world. This is, doubt- 
 less, hyperbole ; yet it would appear that he made 
 some foreign conquests or incursions, since most 
 of the Asiatic tribes date their knowledge of China 
 from his era. The Huns and Tartar tribes also 
 appear to have been completely subdued by him. 
 He chased them into their deserts, and, to protect 
 the country against their future inroads, erected, 
 or at least completed, the famous great wall of 
 China, which has now stood for 2,000 years. 
 
 The emperor died b. c. 207, and was succeeded 
 by his son, Urh-she-hwang-te, who was deposed 
 by Lew-pang, the captain of a band of robbers, 
 who usurped the throne, and founded a new dy- 
 nasty, about B. c. 201. 
 
 THE HAN DYNASTY. 
 
 One of the most celebrated periods of Chinese 
 history commenced with the race of Han. Its 
 founder, Lew-pang, ascended the throne under 
 the name of Kaou-tsoo, and he kept the empire in 
 complete subjection. He died when his son and 
 heir was still a child, whence his wife became re- 
 gent. Finally, indeed, she became ruler, for the 
 young prince died before the period of his acces- 
 sion to the throne, and she usurped the empire, 
 and reigned under the name of Leu-how. Her 
 reign was one of terror ; but her successor, Wan- 
 te, redressed the grievances of his subjects, so that 
 he gained great celebrity. 
 
 Wan-te was the first who gave a distinctive 
 name to his reign, which custom has been fol- 
 lowed by all succeeding dynasties. His success- 
 ors were considered great scholars, and munificent 
 patrons of literature. The empire seems to have 
 2 
 
14 SUMMARY OF 
 
 been swayed by philosophy, but it proved vain to 
 defend it from its old enemies. It was at this pe- 
 riod that the Tartars, by their predatory warfare, 
 became the source of endless disquiet to the na- 
 tion, and neither alliances nor tribute could make 
 them lay down their arms. Even the gift of the 
 emperor's daughters in marriage with the ruthless 
 chiefs could not stop their ravages. They came 
 onward still, like a devastating flood. 
 
 Among the earlier princes of this race were 
 Woo-te, Seun-te, and Gae-te. All of these appear 
 to have been celebrated for their abilities ; and 
 Seun-te was conspicuous for his love of literature. 
 The last year of the reign of Gae-te is described 
 as coeval with our Saviour's birth ; yet, to that 
 people, he still remains unknown. The sound of 
 the glad tidings of salvation has yet scarce been 
 heard in that vast empire ; but hope points to the 
 day when it will go forth throughout every part. 
 The chain by which the empire has been bound 
 for aa:es is broken, and, ere long, the disciples of 
 Confucius, Taou, and Budhu, may become the 
 disciples of Christ. The fields of China are open- 
 ing, and labourers, we trust, will enter them, and 
 gather an abundant harvest. 
 
 After the death of Gae-te, (his successor being 
 a minor,) Wang-mang, an ambitious and cruel 
 grandee, dethroned the Han family. Various lead- 
 ers collected forces to assert the rights of that race, 
 and they were successful. Wang-mang was slain, 
 but one of the victorious generals was raised to the 
 throne, under the name of Kwang-woo, a. d. 25, 
 and the line of the Han princes remained still un- 
 interrupted. 
 
 The emperors from Kwang-woo downward are 
 called Tung-han. It is said of Ming-te, his sue- 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 15 
 
 cesser, that he was prompted, by a dream, to 
 search for the Holy One in the west, as pointed 
 out by Confucius. An embassy was instantly de- 
 spatched to Hindoostan, and some priests of Budhu 
 accompanied them to China. The tenets which 
 these priests taught found an advocate in the em- 
 peror's brother, and Budhuism henceforth spread 
 its baneful influence over the minds of the people, 
 and became even more popular than the state re- 
 ligion. This is a remarkable event in Chinese 
 history. Although averse to every thing foreign, 
 and although they looked upon the Hindoos with 
 great contempt, yet they embraced with ardour 
 their gross and debasing system of idolatry ; a 
 proof that the human mind, if unenlightened by 
 Divine revelation, readily submits to the most de- 
 grading superstitions. Of what importance, then, 
 is the gospel to such a people ? It will rescue 
 them from the greatest evils to which a fallen na- 
 ture is ever prone, and to which the Chinese seem 
 especially exposed. 
 
 Ming-te was succeeded by Chang-te, who is 
 celebrated for his victory over the Tartars, and in 
 whose reign literature greatly flourished. After 
 his death, women, eunuchs, and children held the 
 reins of government during successive reigns. 
 Then came the period of the San-Kuo, or " Three 
 States," into which the country was divided to- 
 wards the close of the Han dynasty, and which 
 forms a favourite subject of the historical plays 
 and romances of the Chinese. Three states long 
 struggled for dominion, and numerous were the 
 exploits which the respective generals of the 
 three leaders performed ; but, at length, Hovv-te, 
 the legitimate emperor, abdicated the throne in 
 favour of the prince of Wei, and the Han dynasty 
 
16 SUMMARY OF 
 
 was no more. It arose in splendour, but it set 
 behind a cloud of misfortune. 
 
 The Chinese consider this period as the most 
 glorious in their history, and to this day they call 
 themselves Hanjin, " Sons, or men of Han ;" nor 
 do their opinion and their boast appear to be ill- 
 founded. During the epoch of the Han dynasty, 
 China produced some of its most celebrated gene- 
 rals, writers, statesmen and sages. The empire, 
 also, was extended towards the south and the west, 
 and Chinese civilization was carried to the borders 
 of the Indian Archipelago and the foot of the Imaus. 
 Moreover, the learning of the country spread its 
 influence extensively, being fostered by the state : 
 but civil wars disturbed the order of the govern- 
 ment and the prosperity of the ruling race : they 
 fell before them, a. d. 264. 
 
 THE TSIN DYNASTY. 
 
 This dynasty, the second of the name, was 
 founded by Sze-ma-yen, who ruled over the Tsin 
 principality, and who, when the three contending 
 states had exhausted each other, stepped forward 
 at the head of his forces, and secured the prize for 
 which they had been struggling. 
 
 The family sat upon the throne for 156 years. 
 During that period fifteen emperors held the reins 
 of government ; yet among them all there was not 
 one who attained any celebrity. Their rule was 
 marked by cruelty and usurpations, and war never 
 ceased among the principalities. To increase the 
 misery of the people, the Tartars ranged them- 
 selves under the banners of some tributary princes, 
 and partook in the general plunder of the country. 
 At length, however, Lew-yu, prince of Sung, hav- 
 ing been ill rewarded by his master for his services 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 17 
 
 against the Tartars, assassinated him, with nearly 
 the whole of the imperial family, and ascended 
 the throne, a. d. 420. 
 
 THE SUNG DYNASTY. 
 
 The founder of this dynasty, although a man 
 of considerable talent, was wily and cruel. Eight 
 emperors of his family sat upon the throne, but 
 two only were capable of ruling ; himself and 
 Wan-te. The rest were debauchees and mon- 
 sters of cruelty, exhibiting throughout their lives 
 the desperate wickedness of the human heart. 
 Most of them were assassinated, and the last was 
 dethroned by the prince of Tse, who usurped the 
 sovereignty, a. d. 480. 
 
 THE TSE DYNASTY. 
 
 It is proper to mention here, that, on the acces- 
 sion of the Sung dynasty, China became divided 
 into two principal kingdoms. The princes of 
 Wei established a vigorous government in the 
 north, having Honan for their capital ; while the 
 Sung family reigned over the south at Nankin. 
 This state of affairs continued until the Suy dynas- 
 ty, A. D. 589, when the empire was united under 
 one head. It is of the southern dynasty only, 
 however, of which Chinese historians deign to 
 speak in detail ; for the princes of Wei, being 
 Tartars, were looked upon as intruding barba- 
 rians : but whether barbarians or not, and though 
 they were ignorant of the doctrines of Confucius, 
 the Tartar princes seem to have excelled the Chi- 
 nese in practical wisdom. Whilst the southern 
 provinces suffered from misrule, they governed 
 the northern with complete success. 
 
 On ascending the throne, Seaou-taou-chjng,who 
 2* 
 
18 SUMMARY OF 
 
 assumed the imperial name of Kaou-te, endea- 
 voured to raise the country from its degraded con- 
 dition. In this he was successful, for he left the 
 state very prosperous ; but his son and grandson 
 were incapable of ruling. The latter was dispos- 
 sessed of the throne by an intriguing statesman, 
 named Seaou-lun, who created himself emperor 
 under the title of Minaf-te. His reio-n was brief. 
 The northern emperor came up against him, and 
 both the usurper and defender of the rightful heir 
 perished in the struggle. After this, Seaou-yen, 
 a celebrated general, exalted Ho-te to the throne, 
 but he soon deposed him, and having adopted the 
 title of Prince of Leang, reigned himself, a. d. 502. 
 
 We pass over a succession of dynasties cha- 
 racterized by the same exhibition of violence 
 and fraud which mark the history of all other na- 
 tions, and prove the universal corruption of man. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that Christianity is said 
 to have been first made known to a few of the 
 natives of China, about a. d. 640. It appears to 
 have been introduced by certain Christians of the 
 Nestorian church ; but it does not seem to have 
 been adopted by any great number of the people. 
 The multitude still bowed the knee to idols. Tae- 
 tsung, who became emperor in 619, and his suc- 
 cessors, v/ere all weak princes ; and they disre- 
 garding the voice of truth, their subjects followed 
 their example. Darkness still covered the whole 
 land, and gross darkness the people. 
 
 Kublai, the leader of the Mongols, proclaimed 
 himself emperor in the year 1279, after the death 
 of the last of the Southern rulers. His son, the 
 only remaining branch of the imperial family, had 
 taken refuge in the fleet at Canton ; but being pur- 
 sued by the Mongols, a minister of the late mo- 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 19 
 
 narch embraced the young emperor, and threw 
 himself with him into the sea, where they both 
 perished. He appears to have been one of the 
 greatest rulers China ever possessed ; but being- 
 a Tartar, and hence deemed a barbarian, Chinese 
 historians have avenged themselves on his memo- 
 ry by passing over his exploits in silence. How 
 great these must have been, is proved by the fact 
 that all the tribes of the Siberian ice-fields, the de- 
 serts of Asia, and the country between China and 
 the Caspian, acknowledged his sway. He fitted 
 out a fleet of four thousand vessels in order to 
 subject Japan ; but bounds were set to his restless 
 ambition. This fleet was dispersed by a storm, 
 and before he could put another in motion, death 
 ended his schemes, a. d. 1294. 
 
 Kublai was succeeded by his grandson, Ching- 
 tsung, who reigned in peace. So also did Woo- 
 tsung, his successor, who exerted himself to render 
 his subjects happy. In his reign foreign trade 
 seems to have been carried on very briskly, for it 
 was deemed necessary that the exportation of gold, 
 silver, grain, and silk should be prohibited. In 
 the days of Jin-tsung, the next emperor, the ad- 
 ministration underwent a complete change. All 
 foreigners holding high stations were expelled, 
 and Chinese scholars appointed in their room. 
 Philosophers governed the country ; but their rule, 
 being rather of a speculative than a practical na- 
 ture, proved fatal to the reigning dynasty. Bands 
 of robbers overawed the government ; and this 
 state of affairs existed during the reigns of five 
 successive emperors, when, in the midst of wild 
 anarchy, Chuen-yuen-chang, who was originally 
 a robber, appeared as a patriotic leader, and laid 
 the foundation of the Ming dynasty. By him the 
 
20 SUMMARY OF 
 
 last emperor of the Mongol race was chased from 
 the throne, and the Mongols hastily fled to their 
 deserts. Thus this dynasty ceased, and China 
 was again ruled by native emperors, a. d. 1368. 
 
 During the reign of Kea-tsing, one of the last 
 rulers of this race, the Portuguese found their 
 way into China. This was in the sixteenth century. 
 A new era seemed then to be approaching ; for 
 Popish missionaries penetrated into the empire,, 
 and communicated some knowledge both of the 
 religion and the sciences of Europe. But their 
 efforts proved abortive. The religion they taught 
 was a corrupted Christianity, and their work was 
 brought to nought. The pure doctrines of the 
 Bible alone are able to demolish the strongholds 
 of superstition which have for ages existed in 
 China. Even had the Portuguese succeeded, it 
 would have been only setting up one mode of su- 
 perstition for another ; the heart of the worshipper 
 would still have remained unaffected, and the mind 
 unenlightened. For Popery is a religion which 
 appeals to the sight, and not to the inner man. 
 It leaves that grand truth uttered by our Saviour 
 to Nicodemus out of the question : " Ye must be 
 born again ;" and substitutes for it superstitious 
 inventions of human device. 
 
 THE TA-TSING DYNASTY. 
 
 The Ming dynasty was subverted by the robber 
 chief, Le, who took possession of the capital of 
 China, and declared himself emperor. He was 
 opposed by an army of Mantchoo Tartars under 
 Tsung-tih, and overthrown. The Tartar chief 
 died, but the grandees entered Pekin in triumph, 
 and proclaimed his nephew emperor, under the 
 name of Shun-che. 
 
[ 
 
 CHINESE HISTORY. 31 
 
 Shun-che was a minor, and the regency which 
 ruled during his minority did much to concihate 
 the Chinese. Notwithstanding, the mandarins 
 obstinately opposed his reign. Four princes of 
 the Ming family were successively raised by them 
 to the throne ; but they were all defeated by the 
 victorious Tartars. Shun-che still reigned, and 
 at the death of his uncle, Amawang, in 1651, he 
 assumed the reins of government. 
 
 Shun-che was instructed in the art of govern- 
 ment by a German Jesuit, to whose suggestions 
 perhaps he mainly owed his success. After the 
 death of his uncle, he ruled, for the most part, in 
 jieace, having only one antagonist to encounter, 
 namel}^ a Fo-keen man, whose father had fallen 
 a victim to the treachery of the Mantchoos, and 
 who, incited by revenge, braved the whole imperial 
 forces, by ruling over the Chinese seas. Shun-che 
 reigned solely eleven years, and he was succeeded 
 by his heir, the renowned Kang-he. 
 
 Notwithstanding much had: been done during 
 the reign of Shun-che towards the establishment 
 of the Mantchoo Tartars in China, such a consum- 
 mation was doubtless fully brought to pass by the 
 master mind of Kang-he. He it was, who, by his 
 vigour and his skill, laid a firm foundation for the 
 throne of his dynasty, Avhich is still in existence. 
 For not only did he by his personal character win 
 the hearts of the Chinese, but by his prowess he 
 subdued his foreign foes. The Mongols and Kal- 
 mucks were humbled by him ; and he even pre- 
 scribed a treaty to the Russians, who had pushed 
 their settlement to the river Amour. 
 
 Having thus proved victorious over all his ene- 
 mies, Kang-he applied himself to the reformation 
 of the government, in which he was equally sue- 
 
3» SUMMARY OF 
 
 cessful. He endeavoured to introduce arts and 
 sciences, and to destroy the system of slavish ad- 
 herence to antiquated custom, which is the charac- 
 teristic feature of the Chinese. But in this he 
 failed. What the Chinese were before and were 
 then, they still remain. Notwithstanding, he gave 
 a fresh impulse to literature by the expulsion of all 
 those doctors from Han-lin college who could not 
 give proof of their qualifications, and by having a 
 national dictionary compiled. Under his direc- 
 tion, also, the whole country was surveyed by the 
 Jesuits ; and he so far triumphed over national pre- 
 judices, as to adorn his palace by European arts. 
 
 Kang-he ruled sixty years over the empire of 
 China. He died in 1723 ; and was succeeded by 
 Yung-chin, who obtained the imperial dignity by 
 stratagem. His brother, who had been nominated 
 heir of the crown, being absent in Tartary, he 
 "Usurped the throne, and sent all his nearest rela- 
 tions into exile, (one brother excepted, to whom 
 he was tenderly attached,) lest they should prove 
 rivals. 
 
 One of the first measures of Yung-chin was to 
 banish the Jesuit missionaries to Canton, because 
 of their disposition to intrigue, and the influence 
 they had gained thereby at court. To their con- 
 duct at this period, as well as the jealous eye with 
 which the Chinese ever look upon " barbarians," 
 may be attributed the entire expulsion of the mis- 
 sionaries from the interior of China. They saw 
 that while the Jesuits professedly served God, they 
 sought with eagerness after mammon ; and look- 
 ing upon other missionaries as similar characters, 
 have hence denied them that free intercourse by 
 which alone the people of China can be fully in- 
 structed in the ways of righteousness. 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 23 
 
 Yung-chin was succeeded by Keen-lung, who, 
 like his great predecessor, Kang-he, reigned during 
 the long period of sixty years. Keen-lung was no 
 unworthy inheritor of the fame and dominion of 
 his grandfather. He was a munificent patron of 
 learning, and, under him, the empire was at peace. 
 One expedition only, of any celebrity, was under- 
 taken by him, which Avas against the Meaou-tse, 
 a race of mountaineers not far from the province 
 of Canton. The emperor boasted that he had 
 subdued them ; but there is reason to believe that 
 they still not only retained their independence, 
 but that they were victors. Never yet have they 
 submitted to the Tartar tonsure, which is the only 
 mark of Tartar conquest. 
 
 During the reign of Keen-lung, the Dutch, 
 English, and Portuguese sent embassies to China, 
 which were favourably received. He was upon 
 the point of being involved in a war with Russia, 
 but, fortunately for the Chinese empire, matters 
 were amicably arranged. When he had ruled 
 sixty years, which just completes a revolution of 
 the Chinese cycle, he resigned his throne to his 
 son Kea-king, a. d. 1795. 
 
 Kea-king was ill calculated to maintain the im- 
 perial dignity after such an able ruler as his father. 
 His habits were extremely profligate. After the 
 morning audience, from which no emperor can 
 excuse himself, he generally retired to the com- 
 pany of comedians : he even took them with him 
 when he proceeded to sacrifice at the temples of 
 Heaven and Earth. This conduct gave birth to 
 secret machinations and open rebellion. His life 
 was frequently attempted ; and scarcely a year 
 elapsed without a revolution breaking out in some 
 part of the empire. His profligacy brought him 
 
24 SUMMARY OF 
 
 into universal contempt, and his weakness rendered 
 him the object of scorn. The care of the admi- 
 nistration was left to others, and he wallowed in 
 pleasures of the grossest nature, in the midst of 
 which he died, leaving the empire to Taou-kwang, 
 
 A. D. 1821. 
 
 Taou-kwang, which signifies "Reason's glory," 
 is the present emperor of China. He was ap- 
 pointed to succeed his father, because he nobly- 
 defended him when his palace was stormed by a 
 band of robbers. His personaJ character is much 
 better than that of his father, though his conduct 
 has been far from realizing the lofty title ascribed 
 to him. The torrent of corruption which broke 
 forth among his subjects during the life of Kea- 
 king remains unstemmed, while he lives a life of 
 inglorious ease in the retirement of his palace. 
 In the civil administration he has done nothing re- 
 quiring particular notice. As he found the laws, 
 so they still remain. The great maxim of his 
 government is to remain passive, and to accom- 
 modate himself to circumstances as they occur. 
 Twice only has the emperor's energy been roused 
 to action in the field, and in both cases without 
 honour. When a rebellion occurred in Turkestan, 
 he quelled it by bribes of silver and gold ; and 
 when he arrayed his forces against the English in 
 the recent war, they were on all occasions defeat- 
 ed. He has been compelled to purchase peace at 
 a great cost. 
 
 Like his immediate predecessor, Taou-kwang 
 has exhibited a determined aversion and hostility 
 to the Roman Catholic religion. The *' religion 
 of the western ocean" is to him an abomination; 
 and he has given full proof of this in expelling the 
 last of those European missionaries from Pekin, 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 25 
 
 who had been attached for two hundred years to 
 that tribunal, whose business it is to observe the 
 motions of the heavenly bodies, and to construct the 
 Imperial Calendar. He has also warred against 
 European science. The last traces of it have been 
 nearly obliterated in the capital; and a series of 
 fierce edicts have been successively published to 
 prohibit the Chinese from making themselves ac- 
 quainted with it again. They have been com- 
 manded to have no dealings with barbarians ! 
 
 And yet the recent successes of the English 
 open a wide door of hope for the true philanthro- 
 pist. The two people are more closely united 
 than they have ever before been in the annals of 
 history. Twice indeed have the English been 
 permitted to send embassies to the court of China, 
 but they were received as unworthy of entering 
 into the " celestial empire." But noAV it is other- 
 wise. The humanity of the conquerors towards 
 their foes has begotten in the breasts of the Chi- 
 nese respect for them. Even the haughtiness of 
 the court is subdued by it, and a disposition for a 
 close and friendly alliance is clearly exhibited. 
 From contact with Christians of other nations, 
 it may be hoped that the "hoary-headed na- 
 tion," China, is approaching a great crisis. If 
 Christians do their duty, they will pour forth the 
 Avord of truth on the right hand and on the left 
 throughout that vast empire ; and thus the long 
 struggle between the two powers will be made 
 subservient to the glory of God and the salva- 
 tion of immortal souls. China, out of its super- 
 abundant population, shall then present a scene 
 never before witnessed — a people serving and 
 worshipping the one true God. Its idols shall be 
 cast to the moles and the bats; its flimsy webs of 
 3 
 
26 SUMMARY OF 
 
 philosophy rent asunder; and its inhabitants shall 
 flock to the temple of the living God as " doves to 
 the windows." And that such a consummation 
 shall one day take place, the sure word of pro- 
 phecy testifies. Every nation and every kingdom 
 under heaven — the vast and populous empire of 
 China included — shall become " the kingdoms of 
 our God and of his Christ." All shall own his 
 gentle sway ! 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE CHINESE COURT. 
 
 If absolute and extended power could impart 
 happiness to the human breast, then the emperor 
 of China might prove the object of envy to all 
 monarchs. He reigns over almost one-third of 
 the human race, and throughout his dominions 
 his will is law. Arrogating to himself the title of 
 " Interpreter of the decrees of Heaven,"* he issues 
 his edicts as he pleases, and his subjects bow sub- 
 missively at his feet. However arbitrary, cruel, 
 and unjust they may be, none venture to oppose 
 him. He is even worshipped with divine honours 
 throughout the empire. He professes to worship 
 Heaven, and the people blindly worship him. 
 
 * This is only one among the numerous titles of the 
 emperor of China. He is also called the Son of Heaven ; 
 Imperial Supreme ; Holy Lord ; Most High ; Lord of Ten 
 Thousand Years ; King of Kings, etc. One of his most 
 appropriate titles is, King of Ten Thousand Islands, inas- 
 much as the mainland of China is surrounded by islands 
 in great numbers, which he governs. 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 
 
 ii|i|!lffl"ii|iiiiilii i'M\ % 
 
 27 
 
 The Emperor of CliiDa, witti Mandarina. 
 
 This will be clearly seen from the testimony of 
 an eye-witness to the celebration of the emperor's 
 birth-day at Pekin : — 
 
 " The first day was consecrated to the purpose 
 of rendering a solemn, sacred, and devout homage 
 to the supreme majesty of the emperor. The 
 princes, tributaries, ambassadors, great officers of 
 state, and principal mandarins, were assembled in 
 a vast hall, and, upon particular notice, were in- 
 troduced into an inner building, bearing the sem- 
 blance of a temple. It was chiefly furnished with 
 instruments of music, among which were sets of 
 
28 SUMMARY OF 
 
 cylindrical bells, suspended in a line from orna- 
 mented frames of wood, and gradually diminish- 
 ing in size from one extremity to the other, and 
 also triangular pieces of metal, arranged in the 
 same order as the bells. To the sound of these 
 instruments, a slow and solemn hymn was sung 
 by persons who had such a command over their 
 voices as to resemble the effect of musical glasses 
 at a distance. The performers were directed, in 
 gliding from one tone to another, by the striking 
 of a shrill and sonorous cymbal ; and the judges 
 of music among the gentlemen of the embassy 
 were much pleased with their execution. The 
 whole had, indeed, a grand effect. During the 
 performance, and at particular signals, nine times 
 repeated, all the persons present prostrated them- 
 selves nine times, except the ambassador and his 
 suite, who made a profound obeisance : but he 
 whom it was meant to honour continued, as if it 
 were in imitation of the Deity, invisible the whole 
 time. The awful impression made upon the minds 
 of men by this apparent worship of a fellow-mortal 
 was not to be effaced by any immediate scenes of 
 gaiety, which were postponed to the following 
 
 This ceremony is universal and simultaneous 
 through the chief cities of China. All worship 
 the creature in the person of their emperor ; and 
 yet it would not appear that the emperor, or his 
 court, think that such honours are rightly due to 
 him. The homage is apparently exacted as a 
 trick of state, for every device is called into action 
 to perpetuate the impression of awe. Thus no 
 person is allowed to pass before the outer gate of 
 the palace, either on horseback or in a vehicle ; 
 the vacant throne is worshipped when the empe- 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 29 
 
 ror does not occupy it ; an imperial despatch is 
 received in the provinces with offerings of incense 
 and prostration, looking- towards Pekin ; and there 
 is a paved walk to the principal audience hall on 
 which none may walk but the emperor : to such 
 miserable expedients will man resort to gain power 
 over his fellow-man, and to oppose his Maker. 
 It is in vain that the assertion is made that the 
 emperor has received such authority in order to 
 show compassion, maintain peace, and promote 
 civihzation amongst all tribes : actual practice de- 
 nounces such a declaration as a vile subterfuge, 
 and history confirms the fact. The love of power 
 alone has stimulated the emperors of China to 
 climb to such a giddy height over their subjects. 
 
 The sovereign of China has the absolute dis- 
 posal of the succession. If he pleases, he can 
 name his heir out of his own family, several exam- 
 ples of which are given in the preceding chapter. 
 Generally, however, as is natural, the Chinese em- 
 perors have sought to perpetuate their dynasties by 
 the succession of the members of their own fami- 
 ly — ^the eldest son, if deemed worthy ; if not, a 
 younger, or some more remote branch of the race. 
 
 As in most oriental countries, the imperial sanc- 
 tion to all public acts is conveyed by the impres- 
 sion of a seal. Any remarks or directions made 
 by the emperor himself are written in red, com- 
 monly styled "the vermilion pencil." The whole 
 appears to be dictated by him, for he neither pro- 
 poses questions, nor asks advice of his ministers. 
 They remain mute while he promulgates his will 
 as the " Son of Heaven." It is probable, how- 
 ever, that in secret he frequently has confidential 
 counsellors. In pubhc he acts alone, in order to 
 maintain his self-importance. The history of the 
 3^* 
 
30 SUMMARY OF 
 
 Chinese shoAvs that but few emperors among them 
 have been sufficiently sage to rule without counsel. 
 
 All edicts of a special nature, after being ad- 
 dressed to the proper tribunal, are promulgated 
 in the Pekin Gazette. This paper contains no- 
 thing but what relates to the government, and it 
 is death to falsify any article inserted therein. 
 The articles consist of edicts, proclamations, re- 
 scripts, orders in council, promotions, etc., which 
 bear different names according to their contents. 
 The most striking amongst them are those in 
 which the emperor exhorts and admonishes the 
 world to become virtuous, and turn to righteous- 
 ness. These articles are very long, and contain 
 many maxims drawn from the writings of Chinese 
 moralists, which are well worth the attention of 
 the reader ; for if they are not calculated to affect 
 the heart, they convey much instruction to the 
 mind. 
 
 As high priest of the empire, the emperor of 
 China alone, with his representatives, offers sacri- 
 fices in the government temples. These sacrifices 
 are composed of victims and incense, and the mode 
 of offering them is precisely the same as among 
 the nations of antiquity. The sacrifi.cial duties of 
 the emperor are far more numerous and burden- 
 some than any others laid upon his shoulders. 
 They comprehend a tedious ceremonial, and a 
 number of vain rites, none of which he may neg- 
 lect. These cannot be laid before the reader, 
 but the following description of an imperial pro- 
 cession to the temple dedicated to Teen may give 
 some idea of the scene within : — " This imperial 
 procession w^as headed by twenty-four drummers, 
 and as many trumpeters : next to them were an 
 equal number of men armed with red varnished 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 31 
 
 Staves, seven or eight feet long, and adorned with 
 golden fohage. Then followed one hundred sol- 
 diers carrying halberds, ending in a crescent and 
 gilded at the end ; then four hundred great lan- 
 terns finely adorned, and four hundred torches 
 made of wood, which burn for a long time, and 
 yield a great light ; two hundred spears, some set 
 oif with flowing silk of various colours, others with 
 tails of panthers, foxes, and other animals ; twenty- 
 four banners, painted with the signs of the zodiac ; 
 fifty-six banners, exhibiting the fifty-six constella- 
 tions into which all the stars are divided; two 
 hundred fans, supported by long gilded sticks, 
 painted with figures of dragons, birds, and ani- 
 mals ; twenty-four umbrellas, richly adorned ; and 
 a beaufet, carried by officers of the kitchen, and 
 furnished with gold utensils, such as basins, ewers, 
 etc. The emperor followed on horseback, with a 
 grave majestic air, pompously dressed ; on each 
 side of him was carried a rich umbrella, large 
 enough to shade both him and his horse. He was 
 surrounded with ten white horses, led, whose sad- 
 dles and bridles were enriched with gold and pre- 
 cious stones ; one hundred spear-men, and the 
 pages of the bed-chamber. After this appeared, 
 in the same order, the princes of the blood, the 
 kings, the principal mandarins, and the lords of 
 his court, in their habits of ceremony ; five hun- 
 dred young gentlemen belonging to the palace ; 
 one thousand footmen in red gowns, embroidered 
 with flowers, and stars of gold and silver. Then 
 thirty-six men carried an open chair, followed by 
 another that was close and much larger, supported 
 by one hundred chairmen. Lastly, came four 
 large chariots, two drawn by elephants, and two 
 by horses, covered with embroidered housings ; 
 
32 SUMMARY OF 
 
 each chair and chariot had one hundred and fifty 
 men following it for its guard. The procession 
 was closed by two thousand civilians, and as many 
 military mandarins, in magnificent habits of cere- 
 mony." That such an imposing procession as 
 this should leave an impression of awe upon the 
 minds of the subjects of the emperor of heathen 
 China, can form no matter of wonder. 
 
 Another reason for the superstitious reverence 
 which the Chinese pay to their emperor may be 
 found in the fact, that he is represented as forming 
 the link between God and man ; as having at all 
 times access to the heavenly powers, of whom he 
 can not only request, but demand blessings ; as 
 possessing power over the whole material and im- 
 material world; and as superintending the course 
 of nature. These blasphemous assertions weigh 
 with the multitude, and insure their ready venera- 
 tion. So also do their professions of paternal love 
 for their subjects, which are always contained in 
 their edicts. These are well calculated to take 
 the heart captive, and especially when it is consi- 
 dered that one of the leading characteristics of the 
 Chinese nation is ignorant simplicity. 
 
 It is the custom of the Chinese emperor to give, 
 from time to time, an account of his conduct to 
 the nation. When he does this, after some public 
 calamity, his expressions are those of the deepest 
 humility. They are, however, only to be consi- 
 dered as the language of the lips, and not of the 
 heart. The sentiments which such edicts contain 
 are chosen from the best models of his predeces- 
 sors, and the paper is drawn up for his use by a 
 member of the Han-lin College. The form of a 
 petition addressed to the " azure heavens" for rain 
 is subjoined, as it will not only illustrate the pre- 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 33 
 
 sent but preceding paragraphs. It was promul- 
 gated by the present emperor, and it reads thus : — 
 
 "Kneeling, a memorial is presented to cause 
 affairs to be heard. Alas, imperial Heaven ! were 
 not the world afflicted by extraordinary changes, I 
 would not dare to present extraordinary services ; 
 but this year the drought is unusual. The summer 
 is past, and no rain has fallen. Agriculture and 
 human beings feel the dire calamity, and beasts, 
 insects, herbs, and trees almost cease to live. 
 
 "I, the minister of Heaven, am placed overman- 
 kind, and am responsible for keeping the world in 
 order and tranquillizing the people. Although it 
 is impossible for me to sleep or eat with compo- 
 sure ; although I am scorched with grief, and 
 palsied with anxiety, still no genial showers are 
 vouchsafed. Some days ago, I fasted, and offered 
 rich sacrifices on the altars of the gods of the land 
 and the grain, and had to be thankful for gathering 
 clouds and light showers, but not sufficient to cause 
 gladness. Looking up, I consider that Heaven's 
 heart is benevolence and love. The sole cause is 
 my daily sins, and my little sincerity and devo- 
 tion : hence I have been unable to move Heaven's 
 heart, and bring down abundant blessings. 
 
 "Having searched the records,* I find that in 
 the twenty-fourth year of Keen-lung, my imperial 
 grandfather, the high, honourable, and pure em- 
 peror reverently performed a great snow service. 
 I feel impelled, by ten thousand considerations, to 
 
 * This will serve to remind the reader of that incident 
 in the book of Esther, in which it is related that Ahasue- 
 rus, when he could not sleep, commanded the records to 
 be brought and read before him, that he might discover 
 whether he had left any duty unfulfilled. Such is still 
 the oriental custom. 
 
34 SUMMARY OF 
 
 look up and imitate the usage ; and with trembling 
 anxiety assail Heaven, examine myself, and con- 
 sider my errors, looking up and hoping that I 
 may obtain pardon. I ask myself whether I 
 have been irreverent in sacrifice ? Whether pride 
 and prodigality have had a place unobserved in 
 my heart? Whether I have uttered irreverent 
 words, and deserved reprehension? Whether re- 
 wards have been conferred or punishments inflict- 
 ed in strict equity?" 
 
 After this, the edict goes on to hint at the 
 emperor's probable faults, which are here passed 
 over, and it thus concludes : — 
 
 "Prostrate, I beg imperial Heaven to pardon 
 my ignorance and stupidity, and to grant me re- 
 novation, for myriads of innocent people are in- 
 volved by me, who am but a single man. My 
 sins are so numerous that it is difficult to escape 
 from them. Summer is past, and autumn arrived; 
 to wait longer is impossible. Beating my head on 
 the ground I pray imperial Heaven to hasten and 
 confer a gracious deliverance, a speedy and divine- 
 ly beneficial rain, and to save the people's lives, 
 and in some degree redeem my iniquities. Alas, 
 imperial Heaven ! observe these things. Alas, 
 imperial Heaven ! be gracious. I am grieved, 
 alarmed, and frightened. 
 
 " This memorial is presented reverently, 12th 
 year of Taou-kwang, 2Sth day, 6th month" — 
 (July 25, 1832.) 
 
 These edicts relative to the emperor's conduct 
 are not confined to seasons of calamity. When 
 the country is in a flourishing state he issue? 
 those of a difterent character, in which he praises 
 himself, and thanks Heaven that he is so perfect 
 a man as to insure such blessings. And it is 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 35 
 
 worthy of remark, that this has been the policy of 
 all Chinese emperors, whether natives or foreign- 
 ers. However different their manners may have 
 been before, so soon as they have seated them- 
 selves in the " divine utensil," or the throne, they 
 set themselves up as the mediators between Hea- 
 ven and their subjects. Even the rude and fierce 
 Mantchoo Tartar made no scruples in adopting for 
 his title "The Son of Heaven," when the fortunes 
 of war placed the sceptre of the empire in his 
 hands. Policy taught him to rule as though he 
 was a genuine descendant of " the black-haired 
 race." 
 
 As might be reasonably supposed of so exalted 
 a mortal, the installation of a Chinese emperor is 
 a very imposing ceremony. An eye-witness of 
 that of Kang-he thus describes the ceremony :— 
 "All the mandarins were ranged on both sides, 
 dressed in silk, flowered with gold in the form of 
 roses. There were fifty men who held great um- 
 brellas of gold brocade and silk, with their staves 
 gilt, divided into two rows. On the side of them 
 were fifty other ofiicers, having large fans of silk, 
 embroidered with gold ; and near these were 
 twenty-eight large standards, embroidered with 
 golden stars, and the figures of the moon in all its 
 changes. In order to represent its twenty-eight 
 mansions in the heavens, and its different conjunc- 
 tions and oppositions with the sun, as they appear 
 in the intersection of the circles, which the astro- 
 nomers call nodes; these things were delineated 
 with considerable accuracy. A hundred standards 
 followed these, and the rest of the mandarins car- 
 ried maces, axes, hammers, and other instruments 
 of war or court ceremony, with heads of strange 
 monsters and other animals." Such is the para- 
 
3b SUMMARY OF 
 
 phernalia of the occasion when a mortal is self- 
 constituted " The Son of Heaven !" 
 
 Concerning the private life of the emperor of 
 China, scarcely any thing is known among Euro- 
 peans. He appears very little in public, regard- 
 ing it as the safest policy to withdraw from the gaze 
 of his subjects, in order to inspire them with the 
 greatest awe. Frequent intercourse with them is 
 deemed unsafe, as it would greatly diminish their 
 reverence for his "sacred person." As for the 
 charms which constitute the pleasures of civihzed 
 life, they are little known to such a despotic mo- 
 narch. His time, for the most part, is spent in 
 the harem, where a veil is gathered over his 
 proceedings which cannot be drawn aside. The 
 imperial palace is forbidden ground to all except 
 those of his own household, unless when he gives 
 an audience. What it is on these occasions may be 
 seen from the following description, given by some m 
 Papal missionaries :•— if 
 
 " The palace, which shines with carving, var- 
 nish, gilding, and painting, stands upon a kind 
 of platform, paved with large square pieces of a 
 beautiful green marble, polished like glass, and 
 laid so close together, that one cannot distinguish 
 the joinings. At the entrance of the great hall 
 there is a door, which opens into a large square 
 room, paved with marble, where the emperor was 
 sitting on an estrade, after the Tartar fashion. 
 The beams of the roof were supported by wooden 
 columns, varnished with red, and fixed in such a 
 manner in the wall that they were even with its 
 surface. We performed the usual ceremonies ; 
 that is, we ranged ourselves in a line facing the 
 emperor, and fell on our knees three times, bow- 
 ing every time to the ground. In receiving these 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 37 
 
 marks of our respect, he did us great favour ; for 
 when the mandarins of the six sovereign courts 
 come every fifth day, on the first day of the year, 
 and on the emperor's birth-dajr, to perform this 
 ceremony, he is scarcely ever present ; he is even 
 at some distance from the palace when they pay 
 him this homage. After we had performed this 
 duty, we approached his person, kneeling on one 
 side, and in a line. He asked us our names, ages, 
 and country, and entertained us with a sweetness 
 and affabihty which would he surprising in any 
 prince, but was much more so in the emperor of 
 China." 
 
 The table of a Chinese emperor is supplied 
 with but few dainties. The wine he drinks is 
 made from sour mare's-milk, and would be very 
 unpalatable to those accustomed to the juice of 
 the grape. Sometimes he gives a public repast 
 at his palace, to which a certain class of persons 
 are invited, as the aged, whom the emperor him- 
 self waits upon ; and the learned, who partake of 
 his bounties under the sound of music. 
 
 The emperor of China participates in various 
 diversions, the most remarkable of which is hunt- 
 ing, in the season of autumn. It more resembles 
 a campaign than a hunt, on account of the large 
 number of soldiers who follow in his train. The 
 custom was, indeed, introduced in order to inure 
 the soldiers to fatigue, and to maintain in them a 
 spirit worthy of the sons of the desert. But the 
 means could hardly have answered the end, for 
 the prey was easily taken at all times, it being the 
 custom to surround, and not pursue it in a straight 
 line, or through whatever course fear might prompt 
 it to take. At present the custom seems to be fall- 
 ing into disuse, owing, perhaps, to the fact, that 
 4 
 
3S SUMMARY OF 
 
 the death of Kea-king, the father of the present 
 monarch, was caused by an accident he met with 
 in hunting on the mountain of Kwan-jin. 
 
 In former days, as in the reign of Kang-he, it 
 was customary for the emperor to make extensive 
 tours in the provinces, in order to take cognisance 
 of the state of the country. Now he is seldom 
 heard of beyond Pekin and Jehol. When he does 
 leave the palace, he is carried in a sedan-chair, 
 and is preceded by the princes and nobility on 
 horseback; the prime ministers and presidents 
 of the six boards, hereafter described, marching 
 before him. These are followed by three com- 
 panies of twenty men each, bearing yellow flags, 
 embroidered with dragons, umbrellas of the same 
 colour, and fans. After these come the life-guards, 
 clothed in yellow, wearing a kind of helmet, and 
 armed with a javelin or halberd, gilt and adorned 
 with the figure of the sun, or moon, or of some 
 animal. The emperor is carried by twelve men 
 in yellow, and is surrounded with musicians. 
 
 On the occasion of the pilgrimage to the impe- 
 rial tombs, the emperor of China is surrounded 
 with great pomp. All his grandees accompany 
 him, and his expedition resembles more the march 
 of an army going out to battle than a procession 
 of pilgrims. When he has arrived at the land of 
 his birth, he and his grandees pay their devo- 
 tion at the graves of his ancestors. But here the 
 idea of a pilgrimage ends. Regardless of the 
 lesson which a sight of the tomb is calculated to 
 impart, the emperor divests himself of all care, 
 and abandons himself to rural sports, as though 
 he was anxious to forget that, like the departed 
 great, he also was mortal. But although he arro- 
 gates to himself titles which convey an idea of his 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 39 
 
 immortality, death, the mighty leveller of the hu- 
 man race, pays no more regard to the emperor of 
 China, than he does to the beggar on a dunghill. 
 
 The manner of mourning, on the demise of an 
 emperor of China, may be seen in the following 
 rules, laid down in an edict issued at the death of 
 Kea-king. 
 
 " When any one of the immaculate sages of the 
 family is numbered with those gone before, the 
 succeeding emperor shall be the chief mourner. 
 He shall take the fringes from his cap, and wail 
 and stamp his feet for sorrow. The empress, and 
 all the ladies of inferior rank in the palace or harem, 
 shall put away their ear-rings, and every ornament 
 of their head-dress. A table shall be spread out 
 before the coffin, and there the kings, princes, and 
 nobles shall pour out libations. The empress, con- 
 cubines, and imperial children, and grandchildren, 
 shall all assemble there, to weep and stamp their 
 feet, as an expression of grief. After the first burst 
 of sorrow is over, they shall retire. Then the im- 
 perial successor shall put on mourning, cut off the 
 riband with which his tail is plaited, and take up 
 his abode in a hovel with the corpse. The princes, 
 imperial grandchildren, the kings, nobles, and great 
 officers of the household, and all the kindred, shall 
 likewise cut off their tails ; and the empress, con- 
 cubines, and ladies of the harem shall shave their 
 heads. 
 
 " The emperor shall mourn for three years, and, 
 during the first hundred days, shall cause all im- 
 perial edicts to be written with blue ink. During 
 as many days, the Chinese shall desist from shav- 
 ing their heads. The officers of the government 
 at Pekin shall not give their sons and daughters in 
 marriage for the space of one year. The Mongol 
 
40 SUMMARY OF 
 
 kings and nobles, as well as ambassadors from 
 Corea, who may be at Pekin, shall wear mourn- 
 ing and fringeless caps. Ladies, also, who may 
 accompany them, shall not wear any ornaments in 
 their head-dresses." 
 
 The honours paid to a deceased empress are 
 nearly as great as those paid to the emperor him- 
 self. Of this there can be no wonder ; for during 
 life her power is second only to that of her royal 
 spouse. In some cases, indeed, as at the present 
 day, the empress rules, notwithstanding the Chi- 
 nese constitution forbids her to meddle in state 
 affairs. Love of ease and pleasure have frequent- 
 ly induced the emperor to part at least with a 
 moiety of his power, and sometimes he has ap- 
 peared but a cipher in the state. 
 
 By the Chinese nation, the empress is supposed 
 to represent mother earth, whilst the emperor 
 personifies heaven. In this high capacity, she is 
 considered to influence nature, and to possess a 
 transforming power. In particular, she is charged 
 with the homage due to the god of the silk-worm ; 
 and it is her duty to rear this insect, for the en- 
 couragement of her sex. Under her inspection, 
 also, silk stuffs are woven by the ladies of the 
 harem, and annually brought as offerings to the 
 gods. Her sway, unless she usurps the authority 
 of the emperor, is confined to the palace, and to 
 acts of benevolence. In the former, she is absolute 
 monarch ; and there are many instances on record 
 of their exertions on behalf of suffering humanity, 
 which display the tender compassion of a woman's 
 heart. Whole districts have been rescued from an- 
 nihilation, by the timely relief of food and clothing 
 which they have afforded. Notwithstanding the 
 glitter and pomp by which they were surround- 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 41 
 
 ed, and which, too often, stifle the emotions of pity, 
 they have shown themselves to be women still. 
 
 The manner in which the empress of China is 
 chosen, illustrates and receives illustration from 
 the records of Persian manners, in the book of 
 Esther. They are raised to that rank from the 
 imperial harem, which is periodically supplied 
 with a number of young- females, mostly the 
 daughters of noblemen. Frequently, as in the 
 case of Esther, she is chosen for her beauty ; but 
 the choice is sometimes determined by the birth 
 and connections of the individual. From the mo- 
 ment the emperor has fixed his choice, the empress 
 assumes the government of the harem ; and the 
 females therein lavish the same ceremonies and 
 homage upon her as upon the emperor. 
 
 Among the persons always dangerous to the 
 safety of the reigning dynasty are the Lama 
 priests. In the days of Kang-he and Keen-lung, 
 an establishment w^as granted these priests in the 
 palace ; and they likewise possess temples in the 
 neighbourhood of the imperial pleasure-houses. 
 Thus situated, and possessing great influence over 
 the weak and superstitious, they are ever seeking 
 to enrich themselves, and to usurp authority. On 
 several occasions, they have obtruded themselves 
 into the harem, and there fomented disturbances; 
 and yet they still maintain their position in the 
 palace. To eject them by force, indeed, would 
 probably be fatal to the interest of the existing 
 dynasty; for the minds of both the Mantchoo 
 Tartars and Chinese who form the court, are led 
 captive by the gross absurdities taught by the 
 Lamas. Hence, any restrictions now laid upon 
 them, would call the latent sparks of rebellion 
 into action. 
 
 4* 
 
42 SUMMARY OF 
 
 The females and officers who are constantly 
 about the court, are so numerous that the interior 
 palace is made to resemble a city with many thou- 
 sand inhabitants. These officers may in truth be 
 considered as part of the household of the empe- 
 ror ; and in order to represent the court of China 
 as it really is, it is necessary to describe them as 
 they exist according to their rank. 
 
 THE IMPERIAL CLASS. 
 
 The imperial family is so numerous that all the 
 principal stations of government might be filled with 
 its members. But this is not the policy in China 
 at the present day. Taught by the experience 
 of former ages, they are carefully excluded from 
 all authority, and even from all opportunities of 
 acquiring power. The life of a private gentle- 
 man is, indeed, far more enviable than theirs ; 
 for while they have no respectable estabhshment, 
 their liberty, also, is confined within narrow limits. 
 A high-sounding title is the only portion they en- 
 joy; and that is not secure, for by misdeeds it 
 may be, as it frequently is, forfeited. Nor is it 
 by misdeeds alone that they are degraded. A 
 superior genius is sufficient to insure its possessor 
 imprisonment or exile. At the present day seve- 
 ral of the descendants of imperial majesty live like 
 porters at Pekin, and hide their birth in order to 
 cover their shame. Those who live without occu- 
 pation frequently indulge in a life of vicious ease ; 
 and it is not uncommon, in such cases, for them 
 to be transported to the deserts of Mantchouria, 
 that they may learn to inure themselves to a 
 hardy life. 
 
 In order to keep the princes of the blood in 
 awe, they are placed under the control of the 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 43 
 
 Tsung-jin-foo, a tribunal which consists of six 
 individuals, all of them bearing high titles, and 
 possessing the entire confidence of the emperor. 
 It is the duty of this tribunal to keep an exact re- 
 gister of the births, marriages, deaths and relations 
 of the princes. This they do, and they divide their 
 genealogical tables into yellow and red ; the former 
 including the imperial kindred, and the latter the 
 collateral branches. These lists are submitted once 
 in ten years to the emperor, when he confers on 
 each their titles, as well as at other times, upon the 
 recommendation of the Tsung-jin-foo. 
 
 These titles are conferred under four considera- 
 tions : as hereditary; as an imperial favour; on 
 account of having rendered some prominent ser- 
 vice to the state ; and by right of having passed the 
 examinations. These last consist in the proficiency 
 of military exercises, as bow-shooting, riding, and 
 gymnastics : they take place every quarter, and 
 a due report thereof is made to the emperor. He 
 himself is often present, to superintend the drill, 
 when he rewards the ablest among them, not by 
 wealth or honours, but by a favourable glance of 
 his eye ! 
 
 The princes are obliged to study Mantchoo and 
 Chinese literature ; but it would appear that their 
 education, except in the military art, is very lax. 
 To assist in their studies, and to superintend their 
 domestic habits, a number of inferior officers are 
 appointed ; but these, hke the governors of the 
 Greek youth, in the days of antiquity, frequently 
 corrupt rather than improve their manners. 
 
 Among the titles which the emperor of China 
 bestows on the imperial family, as well as others 
 of his remote descendants Vv^ho have gained his 
 favour, is that of king" : but a Chinese king is a 
 
44 SUMMARY OF 
 
 very different personage from those who hear the 
 title in Europe. He is merely the highest noble- 
 man in the empire, with as many subjects as the 
 emperor condescends to grant ; and who are fre- 
 quently mere attendants, honoured with the name 
 of slaves. And the title is merely nominal ; for 
 when they attend upon the emperor, they are con- 
 sidered only servants. As for their power, it is a 
 mere shadow ; it does not extend beyond their 
 household, and even within those limits they are not 
 allowed to inflict capital punishment. And then, 
 too, their incomes are contemptible, compared 
 with their titles : these are subject to the empe- 
 ror's bounty, and they are never sufficient to en- 
 able them to exhibit regal pageantry. The guard 
 of honour allowed them, in truth, consists only of 
 twenty persons ! 
 
 These kings, as well as the higher ranks of 
 nobility, follow in the train of the emperor on all 
 solemn occasions : at sacrifices they are always 
 present ; and when the emperor gives audience to 
 great multitudes, they crouch before him. They 
 likewise perform the sacrificial rites, as proxies of 
 the emperor, as well as the duties of sentinels at 
 the palace. He surrounds himself with them, in 
 order to insure their fidelity, and, consequently, 
 his own safety : deeming the ties of blood his best 
 safeguard. 
 
 The treatment which these kings receive occa- 
 sionally, sufficiently shows their degraded state. 
 If they commit any crime, they are bastinadoed, 
 loaded with chains like common criminals, fined 
 and disgraced. Sometimes, indeed, their names 
 are changed into ignominious epithets, their pro- 
 perty confiscated, and they are sent into banish- 
 ment, where mortification and incessant grief not 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 45 
 
 unfrequently bring them down to the grave. All 
 this is done by the law ; and however unjust their 
 condemnation may be, there is no appeal. Hence, 
 to escape such punishment, many among the de- 
 scendants of "Heaven's son" feign stupidity and 
 carelessness, as Brutus did, in the times of the 
 corrupted Roman commonwealth. 
 
 The princesses of the blood are still less favoured 
 than the princes. The only education they receive 
 is in the harem, where they become versed in all 
 the intrigues of the officers of the household. A 
 small pittance only is allowed them ; and when 
 they are married, the emperor bestows upon them 
 a dowry, consisting of a few pieces of silk, and 
 some hundred taels.* Frequently, without any 
 regard to their feelings, their hand is bestowed 
 upon Mongol chiefs, by which means the Chinese 
 court either is, or hopes to be, made acquainted 
 with the affairs of that hostile race. A strong 
 bulwark is thereby formed against Mongol inva- 
 sion. And yet, notwithstanding the Chinese em- 
 peror expects his daughters still to show filial duty 
 towards his "sacred person," he pays no regard 
 to their affection. When they are once sent to 
 the desert, severe laws prevent their return to the 
 capital, lest they should occasion expense, and 
 leave their duties of espionage unfulfilled. Such 
 are the unhallowed fruits of paganism. 
 
 THE NOBILITY. 
 
 Nominally, the Chinese constitution mamtains 
 the following privileged classes : the privilege of 
 imperial blood ; of long service ; of illustrious 
 
 * The value of a tael in our money is about one dollar 
 and a third. 
 
46 SUMMARY OF 
 
 actions ; of talent and wisdom ; of great abilities ; 
 of zeal and assiduity; of nobility; and of birth. 
 The privilege of the first of these classes belongs 
 to those who are descended from the same ances- 
 tor as the emperor ; those who are of the emperor's 
 mother and grandmother, within four degrees ; those 
 who are relations of the empress within three de- 
 grees ; and those who are relations of the consort 
 of the heir apparent, within two degrees. The 
 second and third classes are intended for faithful 
 servants of the state, both civil and mihtary ; the 
 fourth, fifth, and sixth classes for civilians, and the 
 literati, including those mandarins who excel in 
 administration ; the seventh comprehends the no- 
 bility ; and the eighth, the sons of meritorious offi- 
 cers. 
 
 By this the reader will learn in what light the 
 Chinese view nobility. Merit, for the most part, 
 takes the precedence of birth ; and if this were 
 carried out, the arrangement would be excellent. 
 Unfortunately, however, this arrangement of nobi- 
 lity by the Chinese constitution is but theoretical ; 
 for it happens that the vicious are frequently exalt- 
 ed, while merit goes unrewarded. The payment 
 of a sum of money is made to pass for an illustrious 
 action, and the basest intrigue for consummate wis- 
 dom. Hence the rule laid down by law regarding 
 nobility becomes a dead letter. It makes out its 
 patent excellently well, but the dispensers of the 
 law (some cases excepted) put it into the hands 
 of the wrong person. At the same time, the mere 
 idea of merit being rewarded is sufficient to excite 
 emulation in the breasts of those orders of people 
 who are open to rewards, and sometimes they gain 
 the prize. 
 
 There is an hereditary nobility existing in China 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 47 
 
 far more ancient than that of any other nation. 
 Some date their titles back as far as the fabulous 
 ages of Yaou and Shun ; while others, more cor- 
 rectly, derive theirs from Confucius and other Chi- 
 nese worthies. The emperors, in whose time they 
 lived, foreseeing the benefits arising to the country 
 from the doctrines taught by these sages, assigned 
 to them hereditary offices, which have ever since 
 been held by their posterity. When it is consi- 
 dered that this homage has been paid to genius 
 and worth by the varied dynasties which have 
 swayed the empire, whether natives or barba- 
 rians, we cannot but express our admiration. 
 
 By this it will be seen that the Chinese, in their 
 predilection for honours, carry their taste to the 
 extreme point of absurdity. The emperor enno- 
 bles, or pretends to ennoble, even those persons 
 who have long departed. Thus, if an officer has 
 deserved well of his country, he makes out a pa- 
 tent of nobility extending to the second, third, or 
 fourth generation of his ancestors ! Various titles 
 are also conferred upon meritorious officers who 
 have left the world. They are created govern- 
 ors, presidents, overseers, etc. But this must be 
 looked upon as a trick of state to obtain money. 
 The wealthy and deluded Chinese, anxious for the 
 welfare and honour of their deceased relatives, 
 frequently come forward and purchase what may 
 be termed their canonization. They buy the va- 
 rious ranks which the emperor pretends to have 
 at his disposal ; and as soon as the patent is put 
 into their hands, they rest satisfied that their an- 
 cestors are ennobled. This is one of the strangest 
 delusions unfolded in the page of history: it may, 
 indeed, be looked upon as a counterpart to that 
 delusion which the Papal church palms upon 
 
48 SUMMARY OF 
 
 Christendom concerning souls in purgatory. The 
 one asks money for the honour of the dead, the 
 other for their happiness ! 
 
 The imperial favour extends beyond the confines 
 of China. Those titles which he bestows upon 
 princes of the blood are also bestowed upon Mon- 
 gol princes and chieftains ; and to those who have 
 married a princess of the imperial house, he has 
 the power of granting two other titles, denoting 
 the highest rank ; namely, Khan, and Ta-poo-nang, 
 of which there are four degrees. Among the Turko- 
 mans, also, he confers the title of Begs, and Akim 
 Begs ;* and in Thibet, the national titles of Tae-fun, 
 Te-pa, and Kan-poo. 
 
 The nations which thus submit to the emperor 
 of China, by placing their ancient and national 
 honours in his hands, are virtually united to the 
 empire. Alike with the mandarins, their nobility 
 pay court to him, and receive his orders in the 
 same haughty tone. This is the natural effect 
 of his assumption. Setting aside the idea of his 
 power, the very fact of his possessing the right of 
 bestowing honours, which he does with a lavish 
 hand, is sufficient to ensure their willing obedi- 
 ence. Hence it is that so many barbarian chief- 
 tains, as well as the mass of the native Chinese, 
 bow submissively at the foot of his throne. The 
 distribution of imperial favours being so abundant, 
 all are led to look up to the proud ruler of China 
 with affection and reverence, which even haughty 
 airs and rough usage cannot diminish. It is so 
 deep-rooted in their hearts, that it partakes of the 
 nature of slavish servility. 
 
 * This was a native honorary appellation ; but it is not 
 now acknowledged, unless conferred by the Chinese em- 
 peror. 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 49 
 
 THE IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD ESTABLISHMENT. 
 
 This division of the emperor of China's court 
 consists of his body-guard, which is quartered 
 within the precincts of the imperial city, and at 
 other places ; of a pastoral establishment, called 
 King-fun g-sze, placed in luxurious meadows be- 
 yond the great wall of China, where immense 
 droves of large and small cattle are fed, partly for 
 his own use, and partly for sacrificial purposes ; 
 of an arsenal, where his armour and weapons are 
 kept, with all the tents and baggage necessary for 
 a campaign ; of a board charged with the care of 
 the imperial steeds ; of a treasury, where all the 
 riches designed for the emperor's particular use 
 are preserved under a court of officers ; of an 
 office charged with the repair of the buildings, 
 maintaining numerous artisans, and providing the 
 coals and fuel requisite for the kitchen ; of a board 
 of officers who have the care of the gardens and 
 parks of the emperor; also an office which regu- 
 lates his domestic estabhshment ; another for the 
 punishment of the inmates of the inner palace, for 
 trifling derehctions of duty ; of a medical establish- 
 ment, for the benefit of the ladies in the harem; 
 of a court which keeps the travelling equipages 
 in order, and one which provides the necessary 
 horses and camels for the emperor when he pro- 
 ceeds on his hunting excursions. 
 
 The number of individuals employed in these 
 various departments of the emperor of China's 
 household establishment is immense. The offi- 
 cers employed in them are of various ranks, from 
 the nobleman downward. The superior officers 
 are frequently the personal friends of the empe- 
 ror; and though their salary may be trifling, an 
 5 
 
50 SUMMARY OF 
 
 office in the imperial household establishment is 
 a sure step to higher preferments in other depart- 
 ments. Most of the governors-general, and pre- 
 sidents of the supreme boards, have indeed passed 
 through them to their present position. While 
 serving in the palace they learned to court the 
 favour of their master, and thus insured their fur- 
 ther exaltation. 
 
 Apart from the various offices described in the 
 imperial household establishment, there exists a 
 corps of five hundred and seventy men, instituted 
 for the protection of the emperor. This corps is 
 divided into four classes, and is placed under the 
 command of a great minister of the interior ; and 
 the soldiers of which it is composed are the de- 
 scendants of the bravest Mantchoos who subvert- 
 ed the throne of China. The commanders of the 
 corps are relations of the emperor, and are on 
 terms of great intimacy with him. But this is, 
 perhaps, chiefly owing to their proximity to his 
 person ; for they, with those under them, not only 
 stand sentinel at his apartment, but also take care 
 of his household. Probably, no class of persons 
 in China are more open to preferment than these 
 Mantchoo defenders of the throne. Several of 
 them hold the ranks of general and heutenant- 
 general, while others have been sent abroad into 
 the provinces as civilians; and many are even 
 ministers of the cabinet. 
 
 SACRIFICIAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 
 
 The religion of the state in China consists of 
 mere ceremonies, and ecclesiastical establishments 
 are instituted solely for their observance. These 
 are, 1. The Tae-chang-sze, the members of which 
 have to announce to the emperor that on such a 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 51 
 
 day a festival is to take place, and to prepare the 
 sacrificial animals, as well as to receive the empe- 
 ror, or his proxy, on the day of ceremony. 2. The 
 Hung-loo-sze, the members of which attend as 
 masters of ceremony on court days, as well as 
 at sacrifices, and give the word of command, 
 "Kneell" "Prostrate!" "Rise !" 3. The Kwang- 
 luh-sze, who are charged with the cooking of the 
 flesh of the sacrifices, and arranging the imperial 
 banquet given to the Mongol princes and foreign 
 ambassadors. 
 
 The worship of the emperor consists in a reci- 
 tation of a form of prayer, written upon a board, 
 and read with a loud voice by a member of the 
 Tae-chang-sze. The subjoined is a specimen : — 
 
 " The rightful successor of Heaven's son, your 
 minister, dares to announce to illustrious Heaven, 
 the Supreme Ruler, that he has received the im- 
 perial decree of nourishing the people in this sub- 
 lunary sphere. He thinks profoundly upon the 
 country's welfare. Sowing and harvest are sub- 
 ject to difficulties, and upon them the sustenance 
 of the people depends : he therefore hopes that 
 Heaven will grant rain in due season. Availing 
 himself of this lucky day, he spreads out his sacri- 
 fice in public. Whilst the dragon's eyes are upon 
 him, he utters his annual prayer. May the Au- 
 gust and Supreme Ruler behold this repast, which 
 is sincerely presented. Maybe grant tranquillity 
 to the millions of people, bestow splendid gifts 
 upon all, and vouchsafe the five winds and ten 
 rains, that there may be millet and corn, as well 
 as the five kinds of grain. Thus these three kinds 
 of agriculture will flourish." 
 
 The sacrifice which the emperor of China 
 spreads before the ahar is very costly. The sa- 
 
52 SUMMARY OF 
 
 crificial animals amount annually to two hundred 
 and forty cows, four hundred and thirty-nine sheep 
 and goats, three hundred and thirty-nine pigs, 
 four hundred and five stags, and four hundred 
 and forty-nine hares. 
 
 Divers soups and dishes are also prepared and 
 presented to the idols, and gold and silver paper 
 is burned before them in great abundance. It 
 has been calculated, indeed, that the institutions 
 for the service of the one true God in other coun- 
 tries do not cost more than one-eighth part of the 
 sum which the emperor of China pays for idolatry ! 
 This is an humbling consideration for the Chris- 
 tian world. 
 
 LITERARY ESTABLISHMENTS, 
 
 It is maintained by the Chinese, that their na- 
 tion is the only civilized nation on earth, and that 
 it is destined to transform the whole world. Look- 
 ing at this vaunt, one might expect to find literary 
 institutions in every nook of the empire, and to 
 learn that its emperors were the constant and mu- 
 nificent patrons of learning. The history of many 
 emperors declares, indeed, that they sedulously 
 cultivated literature ; but the actual condition of 
 learning in China proves such a declaration to be 
 a mere oriental hyperbole. 
 
 Compared with the various courts for the main- 
 tenance of rites and ceremonies, the learned in- 
 stitutions of China sink into insignificance. Those 
 connected with the court resolve themselves into 
 three only ; namely, the national institute, the 
 astronomical board, and the medical board; and 
 even these are miserably deficient in sound learn- 
 ing. 
 
 The national institute is an establishment for 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 53 
 
 the education of the sons of officers and noble 
 Mantchoos. They are educated at the public ex- 
 pense, and are instructed in the Chinese, Mongol, 
 and Mantchoo languages. Beyond this they learn 
 very little ; and when they have passed the requi- 
 site examinations, they are either sent to the high 
 tribunals, or to the provinces, to serve as clerks, 
 till they receive further promotion. This is the 
 general rule ; but some pupils, who exhibit great 
 aptitude for learning, are educated for the astro- 
 nomical board, and learn the elements of mathe- 
 matics. 
 
 The astronomical board belonging to the court 
 of China has been greatly celebrated by the 
 Jesuits, who were admitted members of it, and 
 who raised it to its present state. In it there are 
 employed, one great minister, 190 mandarins, with 
 a host of pupils and clerks. Their principal du- 
 ties are, to notify to the emperor the day, hour, 
 and part of the heavens in which an eclipse is to 
 happen, and to prepare a calendar. Of late years, 
 they have been enabled to do this with tolerable 
 accuracy ; but only a few are engaged in astrono- 
 mical labours, or understand the science. Most 
 of them are employed in astrological observations, 
 and foretelling future events ; or, in other words, 
 in imposing in various ways upon the credulity 
 of the emperor and his court. 
 
 The medical board consists of three presidents, 
 fifteen imperial physicians, thirty assistants, forty 
 secondary doctors, with several pupils and apo- 
 thecaries. The duties of these are self-evident. 
 They are supported for the service of the imperial 
 palace ; but it frequently happens that some of the 
 physicians are sent to Mongolia, in order to visit 
 a sick princess. The skill which they display in 
 
54 SUMMARY OF 
 
 the healing art is of a questionable nature ; or, if 
 they possess such, it is scarcely made available. 
 The law forbids them to follow their own judgment 
 in preparing medicines. Whatever may be the 
 nature and stage of the complaint, they must 
 prescribe and prepare the drugs according to 
 established rules. This, perhaps, is one of the 
 strongest proofs that could be adduced of the un- 
 changing manners of oriental nations. What they 
 were of old, that they are now, and are likely to 
 be in future years. 
 
 Such is the emperor, and such the court of 
 China. To a Christian, the picture affords a sad 
 theme of contemplation. In it he beholds one 
 man proudly lording it over millions of subjects 
 with a high hand ; and that not only as regards 
 their bodies, but their souls. In the crouching 
 form of the one, the debasing condition of the 
 other is seen. All the best faculties are pros- 
 trated beneath his withering sway. In vain are 
 edicts issued breathing paternal love for them. 
 "All is false and hollow." Like the priests of 
 the oracles of antiquity, who secretly laughed at 
 the credulous multitude bowing at their shrines, 
 the emperor of China, doubtless, sits in his impe- 
 rial palace, and laughs at the credulity of his sub- 
 jects, who bow before him as a god. He knows 
 and feels his own mortality; and when he issues 
 his assumptive dogmas, he cannot but ask him- 
 self this question, " Is there not a he in my right 
 hand ?" But the time is hastening onward, when 
 the flimsy web he has woven, all covered as it is 
 with the dust of antiquity, shall be removed ! 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 
 
 56 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE RELIGION OF THE CHINESE. 
 
 The Triad of Budha. 
 
 The tendency of man to idolatry is shown by 
 the history of all nations. The most intelligent 
 of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, alike 
 bowed the knee to idols made of wood and stone. 
 Nor is there any occasion to revert to the nations 
 of antiquity for a confirmation of this appalling 
 fact. India and China exhibit millions of human 
 beings, who, having no knowledge of the God that 
 made them, and the Saviour who died on the 
 cross for the salvation of sinners, make them 
 
56 SUMMARY OF 
 
 graven images, and falling down before them, 
 pray unto them, and say, individually, "Deliver 
 me, for thou art my god !" 
 
 There are facts in the history of China which 
 prove that the Chinese did not arrive at this state 
 of utter degradation all at once. Like the nations 
 of antiquity, they only reached it by slow degrees. 
 Its first inhabitants imparted to their children, and 
 their posterity through them, for several ages, 
 some proper sentiments concerning the Supreme 
 Being. They taught them to fear and honour Him 
 as the Sovereign Lord of the universe. Traces 
 of this are discerned in the five canonical works 
 called King, of each of which Confucius was either 
 the author or compiler, and which the Chinese 
 look upon as the source of all their science and 
 morality. Thus, in one of these works, Tien, or 
 the Deity, is called the Father of the people, in- 
 dependent, almighty ; and a Being who knows 
 the most hidden things, even the secrets of the 
 heart. He is also there represented as watching 
 over the government of the universe, so that no 
 event can happen but by his command ; as holy ; 
 as pleased with human virtues; as superlatively 
 just ; and as punishing wickedness in the most 
 signal manner, and even in kings, w^hom he 
 deposes, setting up others in their room, accord- 
 ing to his pleasure. It is hkewise there said that 
 he dispenses public calamities, as warnings for 
 repentance, and that repentance is followed by 
 acts of mercy and goodness. 
 
 The remote ancestors of the Chinese derived 
 some information from the immediate descendants 
 of Noah ; but the influence of knowledge thus ob- 
 tained was vague and transitory. Hence, like the 
 ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, Phenicians, Greeks, 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 57 
 
 and many other ancient nations, the Chinese, in the 
 lapse of time, forsook the worship of the Deity, and 
 bowed in homage to the visible material heaven. 
 Sun, moon, and stars, were worshipped by them, 
 instead of Him whose hand had created them, and 
 whose will appointed their destined courses. This 
 was the first great step in their downward path 
 of moral turpitude, and, having taken it, it led to 
 another still more fatal in its results. They next 
 worshipped inferior spirits, whom they supposed 
 to depend on a Supreme Being, and who presided 
 over cities, rivers, mountains, kingdoms, provinces, 
 and particular persons, and nearly answered to 
 the demons and genii of the Greeks and Romans. 
 Having gone thus far, they were unable to retrace 
 their steps, or to halt in their downward career. 
 Step after step was taken, until they reached that 
 depth of degrading superstition in which they 
 have now for ages been sunk. 
 
 The religion of China, as it exists, and has for 
 a long time existed, is three-fold ; first, there is 
 the religion of the state ; secondly, Taouism; and 
 thirdly, Budhuism. 
 
 SECTION I. THE RELIGION OF THE STATE.* 
 
 Ancient Chinese legislators appear to have 
 thought, that, unless they had power over the 
 minds of men, they could not control their bodies. 
 For this purpose, they invented a religious system 
 which delegated to their rulers all power upon 
 earth ; a system which raised them to the rank 
 of mediators between Heaven and their subjects, 
 and which identified them with ideal spirits, de- 
 
 [* This account of the court religion is not to be re- 
 ceived with entire confidence, though it is authentic and 
 more probable than any other we have seen. — Ed.] 
 
58 SUMMARY OF 
 
 mons, gods, and invisible powers. By it, indeed, 
 they were made the representatives of the people, 
 for whom it was asserted they could draw down 
 blessings from on high. 
 
 This system, as might be supposed, was not 
 promulgated or imposed upon the credulity of the 
 people suddenly. It was gradually unfolded, lest 
 common sense should be shocked, and it should 
 thereby meet with such opposition as would have 
 prevented its establishment. The designing usual- 
 ly work slowly and secretly, and thus these Chinese 
 legislators proceeded. Hence they were success- 
 ful in palming this religious system upon the 
 multitude, and thereby triumphed over all ob- 
 stacles. And the religious rites they established 
 exist, notwithstanding a change of opinion has 
 taken place in the minds of the higher classes, 
 through the exertions of philosophers, from the 
 period of the Sung dynasty downwards. In vain 
 does their skepticism strike at the root of supersti- 
 tion ; the mass of the people still sit under its 
 wide-spread branches. Even the very philoso- 
 phers themselves, and their warmest adherents, 
 who know the frivolity of existing creeds in China, 
 when sickness and sufferings come upon them, 
 sometimes have recourse to a despised priest of 
 Budhu, and follow the most ridiculous directions, 
 in order to appease a guilty conscience. They 
 would destroy superstition, but having no better 
 creed to substitute, they are yet compelled to sub- 
 mit to its directions. Alike with the priests of 
 China, therefore, they are blind leaders of the 
 blind ; and it cannot but follow that all are engulfed 
 in the vortex of error. 
 
 The rehgious rites established by Chinese le- 
 gislators are watched over by the Le-poo, or tri- 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 59 
 
 junal of rites, with an eye as jealous as that of a 
 papal inquisitor. All innovations are violently- 
 resisted. 
 
 The catalogue of the canonical objects of adora- 
 tion amongst the Chinese rulers is truly appalling. 
 Among them may be enumerated heaven ; earth ; 
 the ancestors of the existing dynasty ; the sun and 
 moon ; the gods of the land; Confucius; the in- 
 ventor of agriculture; the inventor of silk; the 
 spirits of heaven ; the gods of the earth ; the god 
 of the passing year; the worthies of antiquity ; 
 the stars, clouds, wind, rain; the ocean, rivers, 
 hills, streams ; five mountains upon which the an- 
 cients sacrificed ; flags ; roads ; gods of the can- 
 non, gate and soil ; the north pole ; the north star ; 
 the gods of some hills ; with a great variety of 
 others. Every year objects of worship are in- 
 creased, so that the deities of China will bear a 
 comparison with those of Greece, of whom no one, 
 in the end, could undertake to say, " how many 
 there were not." 
 
 The regulation of the order of deities rests with 
 the emperor of China. He it is who exalts or 
 degrades, canonizes or excommunicates, accord- 
 ing to the merits or demerits of the parties. He 
 himself ranks high among them, for only heaven, 
 earth, and his deceased ancestors are deemed his 
 superiors. The rest are more or less inferior to 
 the monarch, and he can strike off of the catalogue 
 of divinities whom he pleases. The proper rank 
 of idols is striccly observed in every temple: for 
 if a mandarin loJges in a temple where there are 
 images below his rank, he may order them to be 
 removed ; but they consider that a mandarin has 
 no power to confer divine honours; that rests 
 solely with the emperor. 
 
60 SUMMARY OP 
 
 By this it will be seen, that the state-religion 
 in China enjoins the worship of numberless im- 
 posing visible objects, thereby confounding the 
 universe with the supreme God. It also fills all 
 parts of the world Avith genii, demons, spirits, or 
 deceased mortals, to whom the control of some 
 part of the world is assigned. But these are not 
 exactly deities ; they are looked upon only as rulers 
 and governors of the universe, under the sway of 
 the emperor, who can dictate laws to them, and 
 punish them if they do not obey. 
 
 A prominent feature in the religion of the Chi- 
 nese, whether of the state or individuals, is the 
 worship of the dead. The emperor and the pea- 
 sant ahke bow down before the shades of their 
 ancestors. Such are idols of the first order ; and 
 whatever duty may be forgotten, this is surely 
 remembered. To neglect it would be to gain a 
 character for impiety, which neither personal vir- 
 tues nor time could obliterate. 
 
 The various deities of China are variously re- 
 presented. Some are recognised by altars in a 
 series of steps, like the tower of Babel ; and others 
 by temples, images and pictures. The images are 
 in general made of clay, and gilt; those of brass 
 being in disrepute. The country abounds with 
 temples, which either belong to the government, 
 or to the Taou and Budhu sects. Those in Pekin 
 appear to be the most celebrated, but there is a 
 great uniformity in their construction throughout 
 the empire. The largest consist of a row of build- 
 ings with intervening court-yards. All of them 
 have one large hall, to which a few steps lead; 
 and when that is gained the visitor beholds an idol 
 placed upon an altar, resembling a table, walls 
 daubed with historical paintings, and a roof adorned 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 61 
 
 with dragons and griffins, after the manner of the 
 
 mystic cells of Egypt. 
 
 This feature of the Chinese temples will also 
 serve to remind the reader of the " chambers of 
 imagery," described by the prophet Ezekiel, as 
 chambers wherein " every form of creeping things, 
 and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house 
 of Israel, were portrayed upon the wall round 
 about."* The "chambers of imagery" erected 
 by the idolatrous Hebrews were evidently formed 
 from a model supplied by the Egyptians ; and it 
 may be a question, whether the Chinese derived 
 their ideas of the paintings which adorn the inte- 
 rior of their temples from the same source, or from 
 their own corrupt imagination. But, however that 
 may be, the fact exhibits the universality of the 
 corruption of the human heart in the most glow- 
 ing colours. It testifies of the truth which the 
 psalmist uttered, in holy indignation, when contem- 
 plating the apostasy of man in the aggregate : — 
 
 " They are all gone aside, 
 They are all together become filthy : 
 There is none that doeth good, no, not one." 
 
 PsA. xiv. 3. 
 
 The splendour of some of the temples in China 
 is said to be very striking. This is more especially 
 the case with the Teen-tan, or celestial altar, Avhich 
 is a mound of earth built in terraces, and made to 
 represent the firmament. Similar monuments are 
 arreted in honour of " mother earth;" but they do 
 not vie in splendour with the Teen-tan, and none 
 are equal to the gorgeousness of the palaces. 
 When the object of worship is presumed to be 
 like a man, the oblations which the Chinese offer 
 
 •* Ezek. viii. 7—12. 
 6 
 
63 SUMMARY OF 
 
 at their shrines consist of various kinds of edibles. 
 These are presented amidst the fumes of incense, 
 the effulgence of tapers, or the lighted tinsel, and 
 the sound of the gong ; all which they suppose 
 to be essential in order to propitiate their deities. 
 The model after which all altars are made, is a 
 large censer in the middle of a table, with an urn 
 on each side. These vessels are, for the most part, 
 made of pewter, and somewhat resemble European, 
 ornaments on chimney-pieces. Incense sticks are 
 stuck into the censer, and as they waste they de- 
 posit their ashes around in the hollow of the censer. 
 
 In the state-religion all sacrifices are either 
 offered by the emperor himself or by his deputies, 
 who are either ministers of state or members of 
 the Le-poo. When the ceremony takes place 
 every one appears in his state robes, which differ 
 in colour according to the object of worship. For 
 instance, when the imperial heaven is worshipped, 
 the robes are azure ; when the earth, yellow ; the 
 sun, red ; and the moon, a pale white. Their very 
 altars are also shaped according to the notion which 
 the Chinese have of their object of worship. Thus, 
 the earth being considered by them as having right 
 angles, the altar dedicated to the earth is made 
 square likewise. Every thing, indeed, belonging 
 to the Chinese temples is fabricated according to 
 rule. The dimensions are given, and they must 
 be strictly executed according to the pattern. 
 
 It has been seen, in the article on the Chinese 
 Court, that various officers are maintained for the 
 purpose of feeding the sacred animals, and pre- 
 paring the offerings. These offerings consist of 
 three kinds, according to the rank or sanctity of 
 the idol. They are prepared the day before, and 
 are presented with a variety of fruits and cakes, 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 63 
 
 which are publicly exhibited for a while, and are 
 then consumed by the assistants. 
 
 It would be tedious to dwell on the numberless 
 festivals observed by the Chinese state. At every 
 new moon, and the change of the season, they 
 take place ; and they are generally seasons of 
 mirth and merriment. One example must suf- 
 fice, — that of the emperor's ploughing the sacred 
 field. 
 
 This festival takes place when the sun enters 
 the fifteenth degree of Aquarius. It is not, how- 
 ever, performed till the astrologers have consulted 
 the stars, and discovered a propitious day. This 
 done, the ceremonial is forwarded to the emperor, 
 who, after nominally fasting for three days, informs 
 his ancestors, by proxy, what he is going to do, 
 and solicits their approbation. This is granted as 
 a matter of course — for the dead cannot oppose 
 the proceedings of the living; and then the empe- 
 ror sets out, accompanied by the highest ofiicers 
 of state, for the altar erected in honour of " mother 
 earth." Here he offers sacrifices, and reads the 
 formula of prayer ; and then he proceeds to the 
 sacred field, which lies to the south of Pekin, 
 where he grasps the plough, and turns up a few 
 furrows. The princes of the blood then follow 
 his example ; and the emperor next sows the dif- 
 ferent kinds of grains — rice, wheat, pulse, and 
 millet ; after which he partakes of a repast under 
 tents erected for his reception. 
 
 On the following day, about eighty peasants are 
 deputed to finish the ploughing of the sacred field, 
 and in due time the governor of Pekin repairs to 
 the spot, and reports on the success of their mu- 
 tual labours. If he can discover any extraordinary 
 ear, or luxuriant blade, he reports this to the em- 
 
64 SUMMARY OF 
 
 peror, and predicts a good harvest throughout the 
 empire. When the harvest is gathered in, the 
 grain of the sacred field is carefully stored in a 
 separate granary, and used only for sacrifices. 
 
 A similar ceremony takes place throughout the 
 provinces under the direction of the various govern- 
 ors, who act as so many proxies of the emperor. 
 To neglect it would be to incur general censure; 
 for the success of agriculture is supposed to de- 
 pend upon its strict performance. 
 
 The body of the people take very little part in 
 this or any other festival, except that of the New- 
 Year's day, which may be deemed a day of na- 
 tional, civil, and religious rejoicing. Then the 
 Chinese generally, who have toiled throughout 
 the year without cessation, having no Sabbath or 
 appointed day of rest, eschew all labour, and give 
 themselves up to feasting and revelry. In the 
 palace, the villa, and the cottage, alike, after their 
 inmates have been to the temples to inquire their 
 fate for the coming year, excess in eating and 
 drinking takes place ; whilst jugglers, play-actors, 
 and the representatives of the great dragon, amuse 
 the populace with their soul-degrading tricks. 
 
 Besides the above festivals, there are others of 
 almost equal celebrity. Among them are the fol- 
 lowing : one which takes place at the commence- 
 ment of the spring, and continues for ten days ; 
 the festival of the lanterns ; the feast of the tombs, 
 v/hich, it is said, is now failing into disuse; a fes- 
 tival in honour of the ascension of the god of the 
 north ; the festivals of the births of the god of the 
 sea and the goddess of mercy; and the festivals 
 of the queen of heaven and goddess of the sea ; 
 of holy mother ; of the god of the central mount ; 
 of the king of medicine ; of the god of the south 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 65 
 
 pole; of the god of thunder, with others ; as well 
 as minor festivals : among-st which, the anniver- 
 sary of the builder of cities, and the birthdays of 
 the heavenly spirits, hold the first rank. 
 
 The birthdays of the emperor and empress, 
 as well as the anniversaries of their deaths, are 
 celebrated exclusively by mandarins. On the an- 
 niversary of the birthday of the empress, a procla- 
 mation is circulated throughout the empire, and 
 sometimes posted up in all public placesv This 
 proclamation contains an account of the imperial 
 favours which the emperor intends to bestow on 
 the natal day of the empress ; of the blessings 
 which her reign has bestowed upon the empire, 
 and of the virtues which she possesses. The 
 section relating to her virtues, w^hich was issued 
 in the proclamation on the occasion of the em- 
 press-mother attaining her sixtieth year, in 1825, 
 is subjoined : — 
 
 "Her majesty, the great empress, benign and 
 dignified, universally beneficent, perfectly serene, 
 extensively benevolent, composed and placid, tho- 
 roughly virtuous, tranquil and self-collected, in 
 favours unbounded — who in virtue is the equal of 
 the exalted and expansive heavens, and in good- 
 ness of the vast and solid earth — has within her 
 perfumed palaces aided the renovating endea- 
 vours of his late majesty, rendering the seasons 
 ever harmonious, and in her maternal court has 
 afforded a bright rule of government. She has 
 planted for herself a gjorious name in all the 
 palace, which she will leave to her descendants; 
 and has imparted her sustaining favours to the em- 
 pire, making her tender affection universally con 
 spicuous. Hence genial influence abides within 
 the palace of everlasting delight and joy, and 
 6* 
 
66 SUMMARY OF 
 
 congratulation meets in the halls of eternal 
 spring." 
 
 The force of oriental hyperbole could go no 
 further than this, for it reaches the very height of 
 blasphemy. Not satisfied with divine honours 
 himself, the emperor enjoins them to be paid to 
 his relations,* for he associates them with him in 
 the great work of renovating nature. How deep- 
 rooted must the superstition of that people be ! 
 The mind can form, indeed, but a faint idea of the 
 superstition which pervades all classes in China, 
 from the emperor down to the meanest peasant. 
 Although rational in mutual intercourse, the po- 
 pulace are subject to the wildest imaginations and 
 folly. Though they deem themselves superior to 
 demons and spirits, yet they are constantly en- 
 gaged in wars with imps and elfs, by whom they 
 suppose themselves to be surrounded and perse- 
 cuted. All their actions are supposed to be con- 
 trolled by an unalterable fate. The revolving 
 universe, say they, brings every thing to an issue ; 
 and man, w^ho is but a particle of the whole, can- 
 not escape its iron decrees. Here, indeed, super- 
 stition deceives millions, and plunges them in im- 
 perishable wretchedness. 
 
 This latter sentence will receive illustration by 
 an examination of the classical or sacred works 
 written by Confucius and his disciples, and which 
 constitute at this day the standard of Chinese or- 
 thodoxy. These works consist, in all, of nine ; 
 that is, the "Four Books," and the "Five Cano- 
 nical Works." 
 
 The Four Books are entitled, the Ta-heo, the 
 
 [* It is doubtful whether this custom is understood lite- 
 rally in the sense here ascribed to it. — Ed.] 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 67 
 
 Choong-yoong, the Lun-yu, and the Book of 
 Mencius. 
 
 The Ta-lieo. — The Ta-heo has been translated 
 by the Jesuits "The School of Adults," meaning 
 hterally, "the study of grown persons." The first 
 section of it is ascribed to Confucius, and the re- 
 maining ten to his principal disciple. Its end and 
 aim are evidently political ; and morals are repre- 
 sented as the foundation of politics. How to attain 
 morality, however, seems to have been unknown 
 to the philosophers. Thus, for instance, " the 
 beauty of virtue" is inculcated somewhat in the 
 manner of the stoics of old, and its practice recom- 
 mended as a species of enjoyment. The philoso- 
 phers saw that virtue was preferable to vice, even 
 in this world, but they could not teach mankind 
 how to walk in its paths. This book, however, 
 contains many wise remarks and rules for indi- 
 vidual improvement, the regulation of a family, 
 the government of a state, and the rule of an em- 
 pire. 
 
 The Choong-yoong,-— The title of this book signi- 
 fies the "Infallible Medium." In it man is taught 
 to be always moderate in whatever vicissitudes he 
 is called upon to undergo : never to be haughty if 
 rich and great, nor base if poor. Generally, it 
 serves to expound the ideas of the Chinese philo- 
 sophers respecting the nature of human virtue, 
 which ideas are crude and unsatisfactory. Con- 
 trary to all human experience, and in opposition 
 to the doctrines of the Bible, which teach that the 
 heart of man is only evil from his youth, they con- 
 sider that the nature of man is originally pure, and 
 that it becomes vitiated only by the force of ex- 
 ample, and by being soiled with " the dust of the 
 world." 
 
68 SUMMARY OF 
 
 The Chinese usually divide man into three great 
 classes, thus : — Those who are wise or virtuous 
 independently of instruction ; those who become 
 moral by the aid of study and application; and 
 those who, in spite of all instruction, are vicious or 
 worthless. Such a triplicate classification of man- 
 kind, however, does not seem to belong exclusively 
 to the Chinese, for the traces of it are distinctly dis- 
 covered in the works of the poet Horace. He says : 
 
 "Far does that man all other men excel, 
 Who, from his wisdom, thinks in all things well ; 
 Wisely considering, to himself a friend, 
 All for the present best, and for the end. 
 Nor is the man without his share of praise, 
 Who well the dictates of the wise obeys ; 
 But he that is not wise himself, nor can 
 Hearken to wisdom, is a worthless man." 
 
 In this extract the very germ of the Chinese 
 sentiment concerning the division of mankind is 
 found ; and it is probable that the philosophers of 
 China derived it from the very same source as 
 Horace, namely, knowledge handed down from the 
 early recipients of revealed truth. 
 
 The Lun-yu. — This work consists of the con- 
 versations or sayings of Confucius, together with 
 the most remarkable actions of his life. 
 
 The most remarkable passage in the Lun-yu is 
 the following :• — Being asked if any one word could 
 express a rule for the conduct of one's life, Con- 
 fucius answered, " Will not the word shoo serve ?" 
 And he explained this by the sentiment, " Do to 
 others as you would wish them to do to you." 
 Our Saviour's golden rule was of similar import ; 
 but He added : " I say unto you, Love your ene- 
 mies" — -a standard to which heathenism could not 
 attain. 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 69 
 
 The Lun-yu consists, in all, of twenty chapters. 
 Its maxims turn chiefly upon private and public 
 conduct, or morals and politics ; the latter, as in 
 all the other canonical works, preponderating. 
 Confucius and his disciples may, indeed, be termed 
 political, rather than moral teachers. The great 
 end of the life of man seems to have been consi- 
 dered by them, either to rule or to obey ; and the 
 morals they taught were, either directly or indi- 
 rectly, made subservient to that purpose. 
 
 The Book of Meiicius. — ^Mencius was a disci- 
 ple of Confucius, to whom he is considered only 
 second in point of wisdom. He lived about a 
 century after his predecessor ; and the great aim 
 of his life was to illustrate and promote his doc- 
 trines. In the book which bears his name, his 
 chief object is, to inculcate the one leading prin- 
 ciple of Confucius — philanthropic government. 
 
 While these books teach some moral, and even 
 great truths, they leave the heart of man univer- 
 sally unaffected . Like the writings of the Greek 
 and Roman philosophers, they only tend to show 
 that their sage authors were deeply convinced of 
 the fact, that man needs Divine inspiration far su- 
 perior to any that had hitherto been imparted. 
 
 This will more fully appear, by a view of the five 
 canonical works called King, of each of which 
 Confucius was either the author or compiler. 
 
 1. The Sky-king is a book of sacred songs. It 
 consists of about three hundred brief poems, se- 
 lected by Confucius from a mass of rubbish handed 
 down b}^ antiquity, or supplied by his contempo- 
 raries. The merits of this book are very ques- 
 tionable. Most of the songs and odes are of a 
 very humble order ; and taken with their com- 
 mentary, Vv-hich is very minute, their style and 
 
70 SUMMARV OF 
 
 language are frequently unintelligible. It seems 
 doubtful, indeed, whether they ever answered the 
 end proposed, which is discovered in the follow- 
 ing notion which the Chinese have of poetical 
 language : — " The human feelings, when excited, 
 become embodied in words ; when words fail to 
 express them, sighs or inarticulate tones succeed ; 
 when these are inadequate to do justice to feeling, 
 then recourse is had to song." At all events, the 
 poetry of the Sky-king falls very much short of 
 poetical merit, when compared with the contem- 
 poraneous soul-stirring strains of the Greeks and 
 Romans. These, in reality, were calculated to 
 do "justice to feeling." 
 
 2. The Shoo-king is a history of the delibera- 
 tions between the two ancient emperors, Yaou and 
 Shun, and some minor rulers. Like most of the 
 other canonical works, it chiefly turns upon the 
 art of good government. To this end, Confucius 
 puts maxims into their mouths, which he quotes 
 as models of perfection. Thus, for example, he 
 makes them say : — " It is vain to expect that good 
 government can proceed from vicious minds." 
 Every notion of good government is, indeed, re- 
 presented as founded on certain principles, good 
 in themselves, and which, if observed, bring order, 
 but if abandoned, anarchy. 
 
 3. The Ly-king, or Book of Rites, is considered 
 as the foundation of the present state of Chinese 
 manners, and a chief cause of their unchangeable- 
 ness. This seems very probable, for it carries out 
 the leading principle of Chinese moralists and 
 rulers; namely, to subdue the passions, and re- 
 duce the mind to a state of torpor. The Ly-king 
 contains directions for about three thousand cere- 
 monial usages, and the tribunal of the Le-pot) is 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 71 
 
 charged with the g-uardianship and interpretation 
 thereof. Hence they are made as unalterable as 
 the laws of the Medes and Persians. This is a 
 fearful fact ; for the chains by which the minds of 
 the Chinese are thereby manacled, are such as 
 no human effort can shake off. The gospel, by its 
 mighty power, can alone set them free. 
 
 4. The Chun-tsieu is a history of the times 
 of Confucius, and is, strictly speaking, his only 
 original work. Its chief object appears to have 
 been to afford warning and ex-amples to the rulers 
 of the country ; for in it he reproves their mis- 
 government, and inculcates the maxims of the 
 " ancient kings," as unfolded at large in the Shoo- 
 king, for their guidance. It seems surprising that 
 such maxims should have formed the ground- 
 w^ork of a mere Asiatic despotism — for such they 
 are nominally — w^hether they were the emanations 
 of the minds of the ancient kings, or of Confucius 
 himself. But the fact seems to be, that all the 
 Chinese rulers, convinced of their wisdom, gladly 
 adopted them for their guidance, though they 
 generally shunned their practice. 
 
 5. The Ye-king is a mystical exposition of the 
 theory of creation, and of the changes that are 
 perpetually occurring in nature. 
 
 The general drift of the system is material. 
 Having lost sight of the Creator of the universe, 
 the Chinese philosophers attributed the propaga- 
 tion of every creature to the creature. Hence 
 Tien, or Heaven, in common conversation, is spoken 
 of in terms of respect, equivalent to " venerable 
 father," while the Earth is called " mother." Be- 
 tween these all sublunary things are said to have 
 been produced, they having first been created 
 by the mystical Tae-keih. How unmeaning- and 
 
72 SUMMARY OF 
 
 vague do such speculations appear, when com- 
 pared with these great and sublime truths :— 
 
 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the 
 earth." 
 
 " By the word of the Lord were the heavens made ; 
 
 And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. 
 
 He gathereih the waters of the sea together as an heap: 
 
 He layeth up the depth in storehouses. 
 
 Let all the earth fear the Lord : 
 
 Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of 
 him. 
 
 For he spake, and it was done ; 
 
 He commanded, and it stood fast." 
 
 This review of the classical or sacred books of 
 the Chinese shows that the philosophers, by whom 
 they were written, saw that the multitude were 
 gone far astray from the path of moral rectitude, 
 but how to restore them they knew not. They 
 found them idolaters — they left them idolaters still. 
 Ages had rolled away since any just notion of a 
 Supreme Being had been entertained in China, 
 and reason was too impotent to restore a know- 
 ledge of him or his unsearchable ways. 
 
 Notwithstanding, therefore, the writings of Con- 
 fucius and his disciples may have modified the 
 government of China, and, in some degree, ame- 
 liorated the condition of the people, they still left 
 the emperor, the court, and his subjects at large, 
 superstitious. With their rites and ceremonies 
 they did not interfere. Rather by the compilation 
 of the Ly-king, or Book of Rites, they confirmed 
 them. In this dark ritual, the religion of the State 
 is amplified and perpetuated. It serves as the key- 
 stone to the superstitious fabric erected by the 
 crafty and designing, while the remaining Sacred 
 Books may be looked upon as so many pillars 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 73 
 
 reared to sustain the massive weight of the build- 
 ing. 
 
 One remarkable circumstance connected with 
 the religion of the State in China must not be over- 
 looked. Already the Christian reader must be 
 aware that the emperor, alike with his subjects, 
 is under the influence of " the old serpent, the 
 devil." In this connection it is a remarkable fact, 
 that the dragon is the emblem of the imperial 
 dignity ! In its most hideous shape it is portrayed 
 upon roofs, temples, ensigns, banners, and robes ; 
 and statesmen do not worship any other animal. 
 Surely this great heathen monarch could not have 
 adopted a more expressive device to indicate his 
 allegiance to the "Prince of the power of the air 
 that worketh in the children of disobedience." The 
 Chinese have, indeed, an idea of the existence of 
 demons, and not only speak of Satan, but also 
 sacrifice to him. This, however, is rather out of 
 fear than reverence. Confucius sagely recom- 
 mends that demons and spirits should be kept at 
 a distance, while all due respect is paid to them ; 
 and if any one flatters them with profuse sacrifices, 
 he is deemed a man void of sincerity, and a 
 sycophant. 
 
 This worship of the evil spirit answers to that 
 of Seeva, or *' the destroyer," among the Hindus ; 
 to that of Ahriman, or " principle of evil," among 
 the Persians ; to that of Abaddon, of the Orien- 
 tals ; to that of Apollyon, of the Apocalypse ; and 
 to that of Anax Apollon, or "destroying king," 
 of Homer. So closely allied, in principle, are all 
 the religions of the pagan world ; and so evident 
 is it, that all pagan nations, whether of remote or 
 modern times, are under the dominion of Satan ! 
 As this enemy has walked over the earth seeking 
 7 
 
74 SUMMARY OF 
 
 whom he might devour, the millions of China 
 have for ages proved his easy and willing prey. 
 They are ranged under banners on which is 
 triumphantly represented the old dragon in the 
 shape in which he is described in the Apoca- 
 lypse. 
 
 A striking illustration of this truth is found in 
 the circumstance, that some dark hints prevail 
 among the Chinese that the human spirit is allied 
 to spirits in general, to which it returns after death. 
 As, say they, all matter revolves in endless succes- 
 sion, and produces out of its chaos shape, either 
 man, beast, plant, or mineral, which in process of 
 time is added to the great mass : so also the spirit, 
 which is moulded from incorporeal essence, is 
 finally re-united to the great bulk. Alas, how 
 grievously are they deceived ! 
 
 The desire for happiness in the next world 
 seems to be a stranger to the Chinese breast. They 
 live for this world alone. Nor should this be a 
 matter of surprise, since almost all public instruc- 
 tion is disregarded, and that which is imparted 
 relates to this life only. The only system of morals 
 founded on the above dogmas was drawn out in 
 the days of Kang-he, and amplified in the reign 
 of his son, Yung-chin. It reads thus :— 
 
 Pay regard to filial and fraternal duties, that a 
 due importance may be attached to the relations 
 of life. . 
 
 Respect kindred, that the excellency of harmo- 
 ny may be displayed. 
 
 Let concord abound in every neighbourhood, 
 that litigations may be prevented. 
 
 Give the chief place to husbandry, and the cul- 
 ture of the mulberry-tree, that food and raiment 
 may be adequately supplied. 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 75 
 
 Observe economy, that the lavish waste of mo- 
 ney may be prevented. 
 
 Magnify learning, that the scholar's progress 
 may be facilitated. 
 
 Destroy heresy, that the true (or State) doctrines 
 may prevail. 
 
 Explain the laws, that the ignorant and obsti- 
 nate may be warned. 
 
 Exhibit a yielding and polite behaviour, that 
 manners maj'- be improved. 
 
 Be diligent in employment, that a fixed direc- 
 tion may be given to the industry of the people. 
 
 Instruct youth, that they may be prevented from 
 doing evil. 
 
 Suppress false accusations, that the innocent 
 may be protected. 
 
 Warn people against harbouring other religion- 
 ists, that they may not be involved in their errors. 
 
 Urge the payment of taxes, that you may not 
 have to demand them with importunity. 
 
 Extirpate theft and robbery, by promoting the 
 efforts of civil officers. 
 
 Settle animosities, that a just value may be set 
 upon human life. 
 
 This system of ethics, which constitutes the 
 only religious instruction imparted by the state 
 of China, is appointed to be read every first and 
 fifteenth day of the month, by a mandarin, dressed 
 m his robes of office. For this purpose the mili- 
 tary and civil officers meet in a public hall, and 
 after the ceremony of kneeling, they enter into a 
 room, where a mandarin reads the document. 
 Few persons, however, attend ; and those who do, 
 look upon the act as a mere ceremony. Hence 
 it may be concluded that the standard of morals 
 in China is very lov/. It cannot be otherwise, 
 
76 
 
 SUMMARY OF 
 
 seeing that the mass of the people are left void 
 of instruction, and are simply taught the rules of 
 good conduct by the law. It is nothing more 
 than political morality enforced by rulers, because 
 it serves to establish that authority which they hold 
 over the bodies and the souls of their subjects. 
 
 Such is the lamentable condition in which the 
 State-religion of China leaves its millions of sub- 
 jects. It is so fearful, that even some of their 
 own scholars have endeavoured, from a spirit of 
 philanthropy, to apply a remedy. They have 
 made many collections from the pages of writers 
 on moral duties, and benevolent persons distribute 
 such gratuitously among the multitude, who read 
 them with avidity. But the remedy is little better 
 than the disease. These collections, though they 
 contain many truths, are replete with absurdities 
 and pagan notions ; and none of their sentiments 
 are calculated to give an effectual impulse to vir- 
 tuous action, and still less to lead the wandering 
 heart back to God, the true source of happiness. 
 Hence, like all other heathens, the Chinese are 
 slaves to sin, and ignorant of that liberty, the 
 liberty of the gospel, which alone can set them 
 free. During life, and in the hour of death, they 
 exhibit the awful picture of men very far gone 
 astray from original righteousness: they live and 
 die utterly ignorant, and consequently without 
 fear of Flim, " who is able to destroy both soul 
 and body in hell." They have scarcely, indeed, 
 a notion of future rewards and punishments; and 
 if any prove virtuous, it is upon that principle on 
 which all the tenets of their moralists are founded 
 — self-interest. The present time alone occupies 
 their thoughts ; the future is forgotten : for it 
 never entered into the heart of their moralists to 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 77 
 
 conceive, much less to teach, this sublime pre- 
 cept — "• Take no thought, saying, What shall we 
 eat ? or, What shall we drink ? or, Wherewithal 
 s-hall we be clothed ? But seek ye first the king- 
 dom of God, and his righteousness, and all these 
 things shall be added unto you." 
 
 SECTION II. — -TAOUISM. 
 
 It has heen seen in the preceding section, that 
 the religion of the State in China, and the writings 
 of their moralists, have left the heart universally 
 unaffected. This being the case, human depra- 
 vity has full scope for action, and the Chinese 
 become an easy prey to the designing. Such will 
 be fully manifested in the following brief history 
 of Taouism. 
 
 Nearly simultaneous with Confucius appeared 
 Laou Keun, or, as he is denominated, Taou, that is, 
 Reason. This man, apparently dissatisfied with 
 the existing religion, set himself up for a teacher, 
 and succeeded in gaining many votaries. Like 
 t'he hermits, which are to be met with in many 
 ages and countries, he withdrevir from the world, 
 and, residing in the mountains, inculcated a con- 
 tempt of riches, honours, and all worldly distinc- 
 tions, as well as the subjugation of every passion 
 that could interfere with personal tranquillity and 
 self-enjoyment. 
 
 Such was the sum of the doctrines taught by 
 Taou himself; and, considering the state of the 
 Chinese in the age in which he lived, they con- 
 tain much that is commendable. But his follow- 
 ers did not rest satisfied with his system. They, 
 professing to act under his guidance, (for they 
 maintain that he was an incarnation of some supe- 
 rior being, and that there is no age in which he 
 7* 
 
78 SUMMARY OF 
 
 does not appear among men in human shape,) 
 have put forth tenets even more visionary and 
 more soul-degrading than can be found in the 
 State-rehgion itself: they have, in fact, become a 
 race of cheats and jugglers, professing to hold 
 communication with demons. 
 
 A legend from one of their works, entitled 
 "The History of the Three States," will show the 
 debasing nature of the superstitions which have 
 occupied the attention of this sect. It relates to 
 the three brothers Chang, who belonged to the 
 sect, and who, at the head of an insurrection of 
 rebels called " Yellow Caps," produced that 
 strife which overthrew the Han dynasty. It reads 
 thus: — "Lew-pei stole upon Chang-paou with his 
 whole force. To baffle this, Chang-paou mounted 
 his horse, and, with dishevelled hair and waving 
 sword, betook himself to magic arts. The wind 
 arose with loud peals of thunder, and a black 
 cloud descended, in which appeared a number of 
 men and horses as if engaged in battle. LeAv-pei, 
 seeing this, drew off his troops in confusion, and 
 retreated to consult with Choo-tsien. The latter 
 observed, ' Let him have recourse again to magic ; 
 1 will prepare the blood of swine, sheep, and dogs, 
 and, placing a party on the heights in ambush, 
 wait until the enemy approaches, when his magic 
 will be all dispersed by projecting the same upon 
 him.' Lew-pei assented to this ; and directed two 
 leaders, each at the head of one thousand men, to 
 ascend the highest part of the mountain, supplied 
 with the blood of swine, sheep, dogs, and other im- 
 pure animals. The following day, Chang-paou, 
 with flags displayed and drums beating, offered 
 battle, and Lew-pei proceeded to meet him. They 
 had scarcely joined battle, however, before Chang- 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 79 
 
 paou again put his magic into exercise. The 
 wind and thunder arose, a storm of sand and 
 stones commenced, a dark cloud appeared in the 
 sky, and troops of horsemen seemed to descend. 
 Upon seeing this, Lew-pei made a show of retreat- 
 ing, and Chang-paou followed him ; but scarcely- 
 had they turned the hill, when the troops in am- 
 bush started up and poured their impure stores 
 upon the enemy. Instantl}' the air seemed filled 
 with men and horses of paper or straw, which fell 
 to the earth in confusion ; while the wind and 
 thunder ceased, and the stones and sand no longer 
 flew about. Seeing his magic thus baffled, Chang- 
 paou would have retreated; but the two leaders 
 of Lew-pei made their appearance on either side, 
 while himself and his lieutenant pursued in the 
 rear. The rebels were utterly defeated, and Lew- 
 pei, seeing the flag inscribed, 'Lord of Earth,' ran 
 full speed on his horse towards Chang-paou, whom 
 he wounded in the left arm with an arrow as he 
 fled." 
 
 Such is the puerile nature of the superstitions 
 which occupy the priests of Taou. But this is 
 not the extent of the evils which they work in 
 China. They are distinguished by diving into 
 mysteries too difficult for the mind of man,, aided 
 only by reason, to comprehend : they have even 
 set themselves to work to invent an ehxir of long 
 life, or immortality. This elixir is prepared from 
 a mixture of herbs, and has a contrary effect to the 
 end they propose : it not only does not lengthen, 
 but, by its deleterious effect on the human consti- 
 tution, it shortens life. When the health of their 
 followers declines, however, they console them 
 with the idea that they will soon be numbered 
 with the genii, and enjoy everlasting youth. And 
 
80 SUMMARY OF 
 
 yet, notwithstanding all this, there are numbers 
 who eagerly drink the fatal draught. 
 
 The followers of Taou are equally addicted to 
 alchymy ; and although they have, like other 
 alchymists, failed in discovering the philosopher's 
 stone, this pursuit makes them acquainted with 
 chemistry. They are the only class of people in 
 China, indeed, who possess any knowledge of the 
 science ; and this often enables them to pass for 
 great physicians, whereby they gain a good live- 
 lihood. Those who pretend to a higher degree 
 of knowledge, afflict themselves, like the Hindoo 
 devotees, and live upon the compassion of the 
 multitude. 
 
 A conspicuous species of imposture which the 
 piriests of Taouism practise upon the Chinese for 
 the sake of gain, is produced by animal magnet- 
 ism. By means of this art they perform tricks 
 which might astonish a philosopher : they even 
 convulse their frames to a fearfuldegree, in order 
 to make the people believe that they are possessed 
 of an evil spirit. Nor do they stop here : they 
 own a union with Satan, and, to avert impending 
 evil, offer to that arch-enemy of mankind the rich- 
 est oblations. These are offered by the priests, 
 in the midst of the most horrible grimaces, which 
 may be looked upon as a fit emblem of the misery 
 which lost souls endure in the shades of despair. 
 It is as though they had commenced that life here 
 which is the inevitable portion of the wicked here- 
 after. 
 
 The deities worshipped by this sect are to6 
 many to be enumerated. Among them stands 
 the indefinable Taou; the San-tsing, or "pure 
 ones ;" Shang-te, whom some represent as a dei- 
 fied personage, and others as a supreme being ; 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 81 
 
 and Hwa-kvvang, the god of light or fire, who is 
 the counterpart of the Moloch of antiquity. On 
 the'birth-day of Hwa-kwang — for the gods of the 
 heathen are born, not self-created — a large coal 
 fire is made, and persons are hired to go through 
 it barefoot, carrying the standards of the idol, in 
 order to prove that he has power to subdue the 
 violence of the element. These wretches are hur- 
 ried into the fire in the midst of awful impreca- 
 tions, and many die annually of its consequences. 
 
 The San-tsing, or "pure ones," three in num- 
 ber, seem to be an imitation of the Budhist Triad. 
 This threefold source, and supreme ruler, is repre- 
 sented as presiding in heaven among the assem- 
 bled gods, the sun, moon, and stars, and delivering 
 his name and benevolent commands to " the great 
 barefooted angel," to be promulgated amongst 
 mankind, that all who see and recite that name 
 may be delivered from all evil, and attain infinite 
 happiness. 
 
 The followers of Taou represent that he was 
 the discoverer of the spiritual world. Their creed 
 peoples the spiritual world with the souls of illus- 
 trious men, who, under the name of Heen,or sages, 
 perform the functions of rulers and lords ; while 
 the spirits of those who are contaminated with 
 certain vices are stationed between heaven and 
 earth, in the shape of genii, elfs, and hobgoblins, 
 where they effect both good and evil ; and the 
 souls of hardened sinners are changed to demons, 
 and either sent to abodes of misery, or left on 
 earth to work mischief. All nature is represented 
 by their priests as teeming with invisible beings, 
 which they alone can keep under due restraint. 
 As for Taou himself, he is represented as the chief 
 of the Seen, (which is the general denomiination 
 
82 stJMMARV or 
 
 of the genii, elfs, and hobgoblins,) in Avhich capa- 
 city, he still presides over the world, or rather 
 China. 
 
 The sect that promulgates these wild reveries 
 has undergone many changes. The follies of its 
 professors were clearly exposed by the disciples 
 of Confucius ; but they frequently revenged them- 
 selves, by establishing their authority at court, and 
 expelling the Confucians. At various periods of 
 Chinese history they practised their arts of impo- 
 sition upon the sovereigns of the country ; and 
 under the Tang dynasty they gained such credit, 
 that the title of Tien-sze, or " celestial doctors, or 
 teachers," was conferred on them, and a superb 
 temple was erected to Taou, in which his image 
 was placed. Since that period they have been on 
 the wane ; but it is said that they have still a large 
 establishment in the province of Keang-sy, where 
 numbers flock from all parts, to obtain cures for 
 diseases, or to learn their destinies. But they 
 have formidable rivals throughout the country 
 in the persons of the Budhist priests, to whom 
 the people now more generally resort. Hence, 
 though their temples are still numerous, the 
 priesthood is very poor, and the system exhibits 
 signs of an approaching dissolution. Budhuism 
 bids fair to erect a gorgeous fabric on its ruins ; 
 but divine revelation pomts to the period when 
 Christianity shall prevail over this and all other 
 superstitions. 
 
 SECTION III. ^BUDHUISM. 
 
 Chinese history relates that, in consequence of 
 a dream, the emperor Ming-te, of the Han dynas- 
 ty, sent ambassadors, a. d. 58, to the west, or India, 
 in search of "the holy one," whom Confucius had 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 83 
 
 pointed out. On reaching India these ambas- 
 sadors discovered the sect of Budhists, which was 
 said to have existed for about one thousand years, 
 and, imagining that they had discovered the object 
 of their search, they brought back some of them, 
 with their books, to China. 
 
 The life of the founder of this idolatry is involved 
 in mystery. Some, indeed, doubt his existence ; 
 others maintain that various persons of this name 
 have lived and taught at different periods. The 
 traditional account of him which led the ambassa- 
 dors of China to conclude that they had found 
 *' the holy one," is briefly this : — 
 
 Budha was both king and priest in a country of 
 the west, with a queen, whom he made a divinity. 
 He was obliged to abdicate his power, and seek a 
 retreat for twelve years, after which he taught the 
 dogma of the transmigration of souls, which he 
 made the vehicle of a system of rewards and 
 punishments hereafter. At last he regained his 
 power, and he departed this life at an advanced 
 age, being at once transformed into the god F6, or 
 Budhu. 
 
 It is commonly said by the disciples of F6 in 
 China, that, while he is but one person, he has 
 three forms. These are represented by three dis- 
 tinct gilded images, called the " three precious or 
 pure Budhus." The engraving at the beginning 
 of this chapter represents the Triad of Budhu — 
 San, Paou, Fiih, "past, present, and to come." 
 At the right hand is seated the first, whose reign 
 is already past ; in the centre, Paou, who now 
 reigns over the world; at the left hand, Fiih, 
 whose reign has not yet come. 
 
 As a reformer, Budhu's character is indicated 
 
84 SUMMARY OF 
 
 by the legend prevalent in China, that he aimed 
 at instructing- men " to amend their conduct, and 
 practise virtue." To this end he issued these five 
 general precepts: — 1. Thou shalt kill no living 
 creature. 2. Thou shalt not steal. 3. Thou 
 shalt not marry. 4. Thou shalt not speak falsely. 
 5. Thou shalt drink no wine. Budhu also defined 
 ten sins which he prohibited ; namely, the killing- 
 of animals, theft, adultery, falsehood, discord, harsh 
 language, idle talk, covetousness, envy and malice, 
 and following the doctrines of false gods. From 
 this it would appear, that Budhu, or whoever was 
 the founder of this system, was acquainted with 
 the Decalogue, many of its points being in strict 
 accordance with those uttered from Mount Sinai, 
 amidst thunderings and lightnings, by the voice 
 of the Almighty. 
 
 Had Budhuism stopped at this precise point, it 
 might have proved a boon to mankind ; but it was 
 far otherwise. Like all other pagan religions, it 
 erected temples and fabricated idols, before which 
 its priests called upon their devotees to boAv in 
 lowly adoration, instead of the One True God. 
 
 The features of Budhuism vary in different coun- 
 tries. The progress of the Budhuists in China is 
 thus described by Gutzlaff:-^" Accommodating 
 their system to all the existing superstitions, they 
 opened the door to every sort of converts, who 
 might retain as many of their old prejudices as 
 they chose. They were by no means rigorous in 
 enforcing the obligations of men to morality. To 
 expiate sins, offerings to the idols and priests were 
 sufficient. A temple built in honour of F6, and 
 richly endowed, would suffice to blot out every 
 stain of guih, and serve as a portal to the blessed 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 85 
 
 .ftansions of Budhu. When death approached, 
 they promised to every one of their votaries 
 speedy promotion, till he should be absorbed in 
 non-entity. With these prospects the poor de- 
 luded victim left the world. To facilitate his re- 
 lease from purgatory they said mass, and supplied 
 the wants of the hungry departed spirit by rich 
 offerings of food, which the priests greedily 
 devoured. As Confucius had raised veneration 
 towards ancestors into idolatrous worship, they 
 were ready to perform the office of priests before 
 the tablets of the dead. 
 
 "Notwithstanding this accommodating creed, 
 the Chinese government has at times disapproved 
 of it. As the importance of marriage has been 
 acknowledged in China from time immemorial, 
 and almost every person at years of maturity has 
 been obliged to enter that state, the celibacy of the 
 priesthood of F6 was considered a very dangerous 
 custom. Budhu regarded contemplation apart from 
 worldly cares as the nearest approach to bliss and 
 perfection; therefore his followers passed lives of 
 indolence, and practised begging as the proper 
 means of maintaining themselves. This was dia- 
 metrically opposed to the political institutions of 
 China, where the emperor himself sets the example 
 of holding the plough. If such a system prevailed 
 extensively, the immense population of the empire 
 must be reduced to starvation, for it is only by the 
 utmost exertion that it can subsist. These serious 
 faults in the foreign creed gave occasion for its 
 enemies to devise its extirpation. It was proscribed 
 as a dangerous heresy, and a cruel persecution 
 followed; but it had taken too deep root to be 
 easily eradicated. Then, again, some emperor 
 would think more favourably of its tendency, and 
 8 
 
Ob SUMMARY OF 
 
 even adopt it himself. Yet the natural conse- 
 quence of its tenets was, that it could never become 
 a religion of the State, and that the priests vt^ere 
 never able to exercise any permanent influence 
 over the populace. Besides, the Chinese are too 
 
 ^ rational to believe implicitly all the absurd Bud- 
 huistic fables, nor can they generally persuade 
 themselves that their numerous images are gods. 
 When we add to this their national apathy towards 
 every thing concerning religion, from their being 
 entirely engrossed by the affairs of this life, we 
 can easily account for the disesteem in which they 
 hold Budhuism." 
 
 The Confucians maintain that the doctrines of 
 
 ' F6 unfit men for the active duties of life, by fixing 
 their speculations so entirely on another state of 
 existence, as to lead some fanatics to commit 
 suicide, in order to anticipate futurity. The charge 
 appears to be just ; for the mental abstraction of 
 the priests is so intense, that they have nearly all 
 of them an expression approaching to idiocy. 
 One of their most famous professors is even said 
 to have passed nine years with his eyes fixed 
 upon a wall. 
 
 In their system of moral retribution the priests 
 of F6 teach, that what a man receives now is an 
 indication of what he will receive hereafter ; or, 
 in other words, that he may predict his future con- 
 dition from his behaviour in this life. Merit, how- 
 ever, seems to consist as much in inaction as 
 action ; in the abstinence from sin, as in the prac- 
 tice of virtue. Moreover, in one of their works, 
 entitled "Merits and Demerits examined," their 
 followers are directed to keep a debtor and cre- 
 ditor account with themselves of the acts of each 
 day, and at the end of the year to wind it up. If 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 87 
 
 the balance is in his favour, it serves as a founda- 
 tion of a stock of merits for the ensuing year ; and 
 if against him, it must be liquidated by future 
 good deeds. It teaches them, in truth, to make 
 up an account with Heaven, and demand the ba- 
 lance in bliss, or pay it by sufferings and penance. 
 
 This fallacious tenet of Budhuism is generally 
 adopted by the Chinese, and it affords an analogy 
 to the system of penances and indulgences in the 
 papal church : nor does the resemblance betvi^een 
 the two religions stop here. They practise the 
 ordinances of celibacy, fasting, and prayers for 
 the dead; they have holy water, rosaries of beads, 
 which they count with their prayers, the worship 
 of relics, and a monastic habit resembling that of 
 the Franciscans ; and they likewise kneel before 
 an idol called Tein-how, or queen of heaven. 
 
 These singular coincidences between the Papal 
 religion and Budhuism led some of the Jesuit 
 missionaries to conjecture, that the Chinese had 
 received a glimpse of Papal Christianity, by the 
 way of Tartary, from the Nestorians ; while others 
 supposed that St. Thomas himself had been among 
 them; and others concluded that Satan had prac- 
 tised a trick upon his friends, the Jesuits ! Gutzlaff 
 speaks more rationally on the subject, thus: — 
 " That they should count their prayers by means 
 of a rosary, and chant masses for both the living 
 and the dead ; that they should live in a state ojf 
 celibacy, shave their heads, fast, &c., might be 
 perhaps accounted for, as a mere coincidence of 
 errors into which men are prone to fall ; but their 
 adoration of Tein-how, the ' queen of heaven,' 
 called also Shing-moo, 'the holy mother,' must 
 be a tenet engrafted upon Budhuism from foreign 
 traditions. We are unable to fix the exact date 
 
88 
 
 SUMMARY OF 
 
 of the adoption of this deity. There is a legend 
 of modern date among the people of Fokien, which 
 tells us that she was a virgin of that province, who 
 in a dream saw her kindred in danger of being 
 wrecked, and boldly rescued them ; but this affords 
 no satisfactory solution. It is likely that some 
 degenerate Nestorian Christians amalgamated with 
 their faith and ceremonies the prevailing errors of 
 China, and caused the priests of Budhu to adopt 
 many of their rites." This writer saw a marble 
 bust of Napoleon, before which incense was burnt 
 in a temple ; whence he remarks, that it would 
 not be extraordinary if they had also adopted 
 among their other idols such a conspicuous object 
 of worship as the Virgin is among Papists. 
 
 This supposition seems to be corroborated by 
 the fact, that the Saviour himself is ranked among 
 the number of Chinese gods ! This is proved by 
 the following history of Christ, as translated by 
 Dr. Milne, from a work entitled " A complete 
 History of Gods and Genii:" a work which was 
 compiled in twenty-two octavo volumes, in the 
 reign of the immortal Kang-he. " The extreme 
 western nations say, that at the distance of ninety- 
 seven thousand /y*from China, a journey of about 
 three years, commences the border of Sy-keang. 
 In that country there was formerly a virgin named 
 Ma-le-a. In the first year of Yuen-chy, in the 
 dynasty Han, a celestial god reverently announced 
 to her, saying, ' The Lord of heaven has selected 
 thee to be his mother.' Having finished his dis- 
 course, she actually conceived, and afterwards 
 
 * The ly, or Chinese mile, is equal to 1,897^ English 
 feet. The distance from China to Palestine, therefore, 
 according to the notion of the 'Chinese, is about 30,000 
 miles. 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 89 
 
 bore a son. The mother, filled with joy and 
 reverence, wrapped him in a cloth, and laid him 
 in a manger. A flock of celestial gods (angels) 
 sang and rejoiced in the void space. Forty days 
 after, his mother presented him to the holy teacher, 
 and named him Yay-soo. When twelve years of 
 age, he followed his mother to worship in the holy 
 place. Returning home they lost each other. After 
 three days' search, coming into the palace, she 
 saw Yay-soo sitting on an honourable seat, con- 
 versing with aged and learned doctors, about the 
 works and doctrines of the Lord of heaven. Seeing 
 his mother, he was glad, returned with her, and 
 served her with the utmost filial reverence. When 
 thirty years of age he left his mother and teacher, 
 and travelling to the country of Yu-teh-a, taught 
 men to do good. The sacred miracles which he 
 wrought were very numerous. The chief families, 
 and those in ofiice in that country, being proud 
 and wicked in the extreme, envied him for the 
 multitude of those who joined themselves to him, 
 and planned to slay him. Among the twelve dis- 
 ciples of Yay-soo, there was a covetous one, named 
 Yu-tah-sze. Aware of the wish of the greater 
 part of his countrymen, and seizing on a proffered 
 gain, he led forth a multitude at night, who, taking 
 Yay-soo, bound him, and carried him before Ana- 
 sze, in the court-house of Pelah-to. Rudely strip- 
 ping ofi" his garments, they tied him to a stone 
 pillar, inflicting on him upwards of 5,400 stripes, 
 until his whole body was torn and mangled ; but 
 still he was silent, and like a lamb remonstrated 
 not. The wicked rabble, taking a cap made of 
 piercing thorns, pressed it forcibly down on his 
 temples. They hung a vile red cloak on his body, 
 and hypocritically did reverence to him as a king. 
 8* 
 
90 SUMMARY OF 
 
 They made a very large and heavy machme of 
 wood, resembling the character ten^ (or an upright 
 cross,) which they compelled him to bear on his 
 shoulders. The whole way it sorely pressed him 
 down, so that he moved and fell alternately. His 
 hands and feet were nailed to the wood, and being 
 thirsty, a sour and bitter drink was given him. 
 When he died, the heavens were darkened, the 
 earth shook ; the rocks, striking against each other, 
 were broken into small pieces. He was then aged 
 thirty-three years. On the third day after his death, 
 he again returned to life, and his body was splendid 
 and beautiful. He appeared first to his mother, 
 in order to remove her sorrow. Forty days after, 
 when about to ascend to heaven, he commanded 
 his disciples, in all a hundred and two, to separate 
 and go every where under heaven to teach, and 
 administer a sacred water, to wash away the sins 
 of those who should join their sect. Having 
 finished his commands, a flock of ancient holy 
 ones followed him up to the celestial kingdom. 
 Ten days after, a celestial god descended, to re- 
 ceive his mother, who also ascended up on high. 
 Being set above the nine orders, she became the 
 empress of heaven and earth, and the protectress 
 of human beings." 
 
 The writer who furnished this curious Chinese 
 account of Christ has supplied another remark- 
 able coincidence betvi^een the practices of Budhu- 
 ism and Popery. He says — " There is something 
 to be said in favour of those Christians who be- 
 lieve in the magic powers of foreign words, and 
 who think a prayer either more acceptable to the 
 Deity or more suited to common edification, be- 
 cause the people do not generally understand it. 
 They are not singular in this belief. Some of 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 91 
 
 the Jews had the same opinion ; the followers of 
 Budhu, and the Mohammedans, all cherish the 
 same sentiment. From the seat of his holiness 
 at Rome, and eastward through all Asia, to the 
 cave of the Jammaboos of Japan, this sentiment is 
 espoused. The bloody Druids of ancient Europe ; 
 the Mohammedan Hatib ; the Budhist priests of 
 China ; the Papal clergy, and the bonzes of Japan, 
 all entertain the notion that the mysteries of reli- 
 gion will be the more revered the less they are 
 understood, and the devotions of the people per- 
 formed by proxy the more welcome in heaven for 
 their being dressed in the garb of a foreign tongue. 
 Thus the synagogue, the mosque, the pagan tem- 
 ple, and the Papal church, seem all to agree in 
 ascribing marvellous efficacy to the sounds of an 
 unknown language ; and as they have Jews, 
 Mohammedans, and pagans, on their side, those 
 Christians who plead for the use of an unknown 
 tongue in the services of religion have certainly a 
 host, as to number, in support of their opinion, 
 though Scripture, reason, and common sense, are 
 on the other side. 
 
 " The sacred language of the Budhists is called 
 *the language of Fan,' which is the name of the 
 birth-place of Budhu. It is totally unknown to 
 the Chinese generally, and the priests themselves 
 know nothing of it beyond the sound of a few 
 favourite words and phrases. Among them there 
 may now and then be found a scholar, and some 
 have written books, but as a body they are ex- 
 tremely ignorant. Beyond the stated and occa- 
 sional lessons of their liturgy, which they have 
 learned to repeat by rote, they have very httle 
 knowledge of books, and many of them cannot 
 read. As a sect, however, they profess to cherish 
 
92 SUMMAF.Y OF 
 
 the most profound veneration for the language of 
 Fan. They ascribe miraculous effects to the use 
 of the written character and of the oral language, 
 and consider both to be of celestial origin. To 
 the repetition of the bare sounds, without regard 
 to the meaning, they attach the highest import- 
 ance ; hence they occasionally go over the same 
 words hundreds and thousands of times. I once 
 asked a priest, 'What advantage can you expect 
 to derive from merely repeating a number of 
 words, with the sense of which you are entirely 
 unacquainted V His answer was, 'True, I do not 
 know the sense ; it is profound and mysterious ; 
 yet the benefit of often repeating the sounds is 
 incalculable, it is infinite I' " 
 
 We will now notice the paradise of the Budhists. 
 The creed of Budhuism represents that there are 
 thirty-three stories in heaven, and that Budhu sits 
 upon a lotus, which is a favourite type of creative 
 power, in the uppermost story, whence he surveys 
 the whole world. The land of his kingdom is 
 gold, and its gardens, groves, houses, and temples 
 are adorned with seven kinds of precious stones. 
 Around it are seven rows of trees, seven elegant 
 net-works, seven fences of palisades ; while in the 
 midst are seven towers of gems, having seven 
 flights of pearl stairs, and seven bridges made of 
 pearls. It is inhabited by the Olo-han, the first 
 disciples of Budhu ; by the demi-gods, and pure 
 gods of the ocean; by the numberless renovating 
 Fos ; and by the demi-gods of the past, present, 
 and future ; and all the sages, whether produced 
 in heaven or earth. To obtain an entrance into 
 this kingdom, it is represented that a man must 
 have F6 in the mind, and F6 on the lips, at all 
 times and seasons ; and Fo is made to swear that 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 93 
 
 if such a votary should miss the bliss he seeks, 
 he will descend from his lotus throne, and no 
 long-er be a god ! 
 
 The paradise of F6 includes most of those 
 sensual indulgences which the founders of false 
 rehgions have universally promised their votaries. 
 When those die, who have earned for themselves 
 a title to inherit it, their bodies, reproduced from 
 the lotus, become pure and fragrant, and their 
 countenances fair and well formed. Their hearts 
 are replete with wisdom, and without vexation. 
 If they dress not, they are not cold ; and if they 
 do, they are not made hot. So also, if they do 
 not eat, they do not become hungry ; and if they 
 do, they are not satiated. They are without pain, 
 irritation, and sickness, and they do not become 
 aged. Around them they behold the lotus flow- 
 ers, and trees of gems, delightfully waving, like 
 the motion of a sheet of embroidered silk, while 
 over their heads they see the firmament full of 
 flowers, falling in beautiful confusion, like rain. 
 In short, the felicity of the paradise of F6 may be 
 called superlative, and its inhabitants are repre- 
 sented as enjoying it for ever. 
 
 These absurd notions of paradise are equalled 
 by those which the Budhists entertain of hell. 
 These have been thus described from a transla- 
 tion made by Dr. Morrison, of the explanatory 
 letter-press on ten large wood-cuts, which are 
 occasionally exhibited in their temples, and which 
 have reference to this subject: — " Prior to their 
 final condemnation, the souls are exposed to judg- 
 ment in the courts of the She-ming-wang, 'the ten 
 kings of darkness.' The proceedings in these 
 courts are represented exactly after the manner 
 of the Chinese judicial trials, with the difference 
 
94 SUMMARY OF 
 
 in the punishments, which, in these pictures of the 
 infernal regions, are of course sufficiently appall- 
 ing. In one view are seen the judge, with his 
 attendants and officers of the court, to whom the 
 merciful goddess Kuan-yin appears, in order to 
 save from punishment a soul that is condemned 
 to be pounded in a mortar. Other punishments 
 consist of sawing asunder, tying to a burning pil- 
 lar of brass, etc. Liars have their tongues cut 
 out ; thieves and robbers are cast upon a hill of 
 knives, and so on. After the trials are over, the 
 more eminently good ascend to paradise ; the 
 middling class return to earth in other bodies to 
 enjoy riches and honours ; while the wicked are 
 tormented in hell, or transformed into various 
 animals whose dispositions and habits they imi- 
 tated during their lives." 
 
 It appears singular, that while the Budhist 
 priests teach their votaries there is a heaven and 
 hell, they should also teach the dogma of the 
 transmigration of souls, in which doctrine they are 
 represented as being finally swallowed up in anni- 
 hilation. But the truth is, they know not what 
 they teach. As, indeed, they have collected idols 
 from every country, so it would appear that they 
 have collected notions from every country, and 
 grafted them on their original creed, so that it has 
 become hard to be understood and explained. 
 
 The priests of Budhu are very numerous in 
 China. They are taken from the dregs of the 
 people, are a stupid and indolent class of men, 
 and are generally very poor. They live a life of 
 celibacy, and confine themselves principally to a 
 vegetable diet. The costume which they wear 
 resembles that of the Papal priesthood ; and they 
 are, in China, a society of mendicants, and go 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 95 
 
 about like the monks, asking alms for the support 
 of their establishment. Among- them there is also 
 a regular gradation of rank, as in the Papal church. 
 According to his reputation for sanctity, his length 
 of service, and other claims, each priest may rise 
 from the rank of servitor, whose duty it is to per- 
 form the menial offices of the tem^^le, to that of 
 Tae-ho-shang, abbot, or head of the establishment. 
 The temples of Budhuism differ very little from 
 those of the State-religion and Taouism. One of 
 the most celebrated, which is at Canton, has been 
 thus described by an eye-witness : — " I visited, one 
 evening, the temple situated, at Honan, on the 
 opposite side of the river to that on which the 
 factories are built. Having crossed with my com- 
 panions in a boat, we proceeded a little way down 
 the river, and landed at a dirty causeway, near 
 some timber-yards, in which a quantity of fir tim- 
 ber of various dimensions was piled with extreme 
 regularity. The entrance to the temple, or tem- 
 ples, and extensive grounds about them, was close 
 to the landing-place ; and passing some miserable 
 fruit and eating-stalls adjoining, we noticed a large 
 clean open space, planted with trees, and having 
 in the centre a broad pavement of granite, kept 
 very clean. The quietness that reigned within 
 formed a pleasing retreat from the noise and bustle 
 without. This paved way brought us to the first 
 portico, where we beheld, on huge granite pedes- 
 tals, a colossal figure on each side, placed there 
 as guards of the entrance to the temple of Budhu: 
 the one on the right, in entering, is the warrior 
 Chin-ky, and on the left is Chin-loong. After 
 passing these terrific colossal guards, we entered 
 another court somewhat similar to the first, also 
 planted with trees, with a continuation of the 
 
96 SUMMARY OF 
 
 granite footpath, which led, through several gate- 
 ways, to one of the temples. At this time the 
 priesthood were assembled, worshipping, chant- 
 ing, striking gongs arranged in rows, and fre- 
 quently performing the Ko-tow in adoration of 
 their gilded, senseless deity. The priests, with 
 shaven crowns, and arrayed in the yellow robes 
 of their religion, appeared to go through the mum- 
 mery with devotion. They had the lowering look 
 of bigotry, which constant habit had at last legibly 
 written upon their countenances. As soon as the 
 mummery had ceased, the priests all flocked out 
 of the temple, adjourned to their respective rooms, 
 divested themselves of their official robes, and the 
 senseless figures were left to themselves with the 
 lamps burning before them." 
 
 Such temples as these are to be found in every 
 province, and they partake of the nature of monas- 
 tic establishments. Some of them are so large, 
 that they contain two or three hundred priests, 
 who are supported by the offerings or legacies of 
 the votaries, like the priests of Popery. Many of 
 the temples are erected upon mountains and in 
 ravines ; and the priesthood in these live as her- 
 mits, and do nothing but eat, pray, and burn in- 
 cense. Sometimes, however, they make long 
 journeys, in order to talk to the people about the 
 miracles which they pretend have happened in 
 their temples, hoping thereby to increase their in- 
 fluence. The pilgrims who repair to their tem- 
 ples, which they do in great numbers, live a life 
 of ease and comfort, performing their worship, 
 counting their beads, and afterwards regaling 
 themselves with the viands which the priests pre- 
 pare. Some of their devotees, though mingling 
 in the world, have monthly meetings for prayer, 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 
 
 97 
 
 at which one of the eider priests presides, and 
 females are allowed to attend. 
 
 Connected with the religion and worship of 
 F6 are those pagodas of China, which consist. 
 
 Temple and Bridge. 
 
 some of nine, and others of seven stories. This 
 has evident reference to the tales of the ninth 
 incarnation of Vishnu, and the seven Budhus, 
 who are said to have existed at different periods. 
 Images of Fo, and the various gods and saints 
 associated with him, are found in niches of the 
 wall, as the visitor mounts the spiral staircase 
 which conducts to the summit. Many of these 
 9 
 
98 SUMMARY OF 
 
 pagodas are in a dilapidated state ; and whenever 
 they are found in repair, they are attached to ex- 
 tensive establishments as those above described, 
 and which are enriched by the contributions and 
 bequests of their votaries. The government has 
 nothing to do with their maintenance, and it even 
 exhibits a repugnance towards them. It does not, 
 however, proscribe Budhuism, as from time to time 
 it has other sects. On the contrary, its priests are 
 left free to promulgate their dark superstitions, 
 and to make converts throughout the length and 
 breadth of the empire. 
 
 It is not known how many votaries Budhuism 
 has in China. The greater part of the population 
 profess no rehgion at all, and are satisfied with 
 repairing occasionally to the temples; and even 
 those who do, exhibit no sectarism. They do not 
 boast that they are of Taou, or of Budhu, but 
 content themselves with showing their particu- 
 lar predilections to a creed by their donations. 
 While, however, no accurate statement can be 
 made as to the number of the disciples of Budhu 
 in China, some judgment may be formed on this 
 point from the fact that the priesthood number 
 one or two millions, and that these are dispersed 
 abroad throughout the whole empire. 
 
 The fact of China swarming with so many 
 Budhu priests, is one of the most appalling fea- 
 tures in their history. What fearful evils they 
 are capable of working among a mass of people 
 so proverbially simple and prone to superstition 
 as the Chinese are, words cannot describe : and 
 when to these are added the priests of the State, 
 and the priests of Taou, the evil rises to a fearful 
 extreme. The Chinese are generally fatalists, or 
 believers in inevitable destiny ; and those who are 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 99 
 
 not, believe that conduct is fate; or. in other words, 
 that a man may lay the foundation of his own des- 
 tiny by his actions. Then again, they believe in 
 ghosts, against which they use talismans and spells 
 without number. They are also given to omens, 
 and various kinds of divinations, all of which bear 
 the marks of the strangest and wildest supersti- 
 tion. 
 
 Having thus described the three chief sects of 
 China, it may not prove uninteresting to take a 
 brief view of the progress of Nestorianism, Popery, 
 Protestantism, Mohammedanism, and other reli- 
 gions which have been from time to time intro- 
 duced into that country. 
 
 SECTION IV. OTHER RELIGIONS. 
 
 NESTORIANISM. 
 
 The Jesuits relate that, in the year 1265, some 
 Roman Catholic missionaries discovered, at one 
 of the principal cities of the province of Shen-sy, 
 an inscription in Syriac letters, which recorded 
 the first introduction of Christianity into China in 
 the year 635, by certain Nestorian bishops, who 
 had been driven eastward by persecutions in the 
 Roman provinces. These refugees, and their de- 
 scendants, seem to have exerted themselves in 
 promulgating the truths of the gospel ; and Marco 
 Polo relates, that they so far succeeded, as to be 
 allowed to build two churches in a city on the 
 banks of the Yang-tse-keang, where a Nestorian, 
 named Mar-Sachis, was appointed to the govern- 
 ment of the city for three years. The influence, 
 however, which Nestorianism had upon the Chi- 
 nese must have been very slight ; for all traces of 
 it are lost in the pages of history. 
 
100 SUMMARY OF 
 
 POPERY. 
 
 The first mission for the conversion of the 
 Chinese to the Papal faith was sent out by Pope 
 Innocent IV., in 1246 ; but the first successful 
 promoter of it was John de Corvino, who was 
 despatched to Asia by Pope Nicholas IV., in 1288. 
 John de Corvino was allowed to settle at Pekin, 
 where he built a church, and is said to have bap- 
 tized many thousands of converts, as well as to 
 have instructed numbers of children in the Latin 
 language, and the tenets of Romanism. At his 
 death, however, the establishment which he found- 
 ed seems to have sunk into insignificance, if not 
 wholly to have ceased. It remained for the Por- 
 tuguese Jesuits to establish a permanent footing 
 in China. And this they did through the zealous 
 labours of Francis Xavier and Ricci. The latter, 
 especially, notwithstanding fierce opposition, final- 
 ly established himself at Pekin ; where, by his 
 adroit and pliant conduct, as well as by his great 
 talents, he became the object of admiration. He 
 was a Jesuit in the true sense of that term, which, 
 by a course of duplicity on the part of those who 
 bear it, has become expressive of cunning and 
 deceptive guile. At his death, in 1610, thirty 
 churches existed in the province of Keang-nan 
 alone ; and, after that event, kindred spirits pur- 
 sued the work with equal vigour and cunning. 
 Even mandarins embraced the tenets of Popery. 
 Since that period the Jesuits have undergone va- 
 rious vicissitudes. They were tolerated by some 
 emperors, while others raised against them a fierce 
 persecution. The period of their greatest success 
 was during the reign of the first emperor of the 
 Ta-tsing dynasty, when there were few large 
 cities in which some of their establishments were 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 101 
 
 not found. At that time, also, other orders flocked 
 over to China; but when that emperor died, a 
 general persecution commenced. They revived 
 again, however, under the rule of Kang-he, who, 
 perceiving that he could learn much from these 
 foreigners, took them under the wing of his pro- 
 tection. But dissensions arose among the different 
 orders, which proved a stronger drawback upon 
 their missions than all former persecutions. It 
 raised up for them two powerful opponents in the 
 persons of Kang-he's successors ; the former of 
 whom abohshed the order of Jesuits, and the latter 
 did every thing in his power to extirpate Popery. 
 The present monarch, who succeeded these de- 
 termined opposers of the Papal religion, has uni- 
 formly shown more forbearance till recently, when 
 he issued a furious edict, commanding all " native 
 Christians," on pain of death, to renounce their 
 faith ; though it does not appear that any mea- 
 sures for putting the edict into execution have 
 been taken. The foreign priests have been dis- 
 missed from the interior ; but the " native Chris- 
 tians" are left to worship in their private churches ; 
 for they are not permitted to worship openly, ex- 
 cept at Macao and Pekin. 
 
 Of the Chinese Papists it has been said, that 
 they retain much of their native character. This 
 is no matter for wonder ; for setting aside the fact, 
 that the Jesuits, observing them wedded to anti- 
 quated custom, permitted them to retain many of 
 their superstitions and idolatries, the religion they 
 taught was little better calculated to improve the 
 heart. They took away from them some of their 
 clay-gilt gods, but they substituted for them little 
 images and relics of saints. Hence the heart, the 
 seat of all virtuous and pious emotion, remained 
 9^ 
 
102 
 
 SUMMARY OF 
 
 unaffected. And thus will it remain, till touched 
 by the Holy Spirit, through the preaching of the 
 pure and unadulterated gospel. 
 
 PROTESTANTISM. 
 
 There have been peculiar difficulties in the way 
 of Protestant missions in China. A broad seal 
 has been set upon the interior, so that the heralds 
 of the gospel could not have entered had they been 
 sent. This is proved by the previous account of 
 the progress of Popery in China : it was only by 
 art and cunning that it was introduced, and by sin- 
 ful temporizing that it became established. And 
 even after the Papists had thus worked their way 
 into the good graces of the Chinese, the Jesuits 
 were finally expelled the country in disgrace. 
 
 Protestants, however, have not altogether slum- 
 bered in this good cause. Some, notwithstanding 
 they have seen a lion in the way, have zealously 
 braved the danger. The first of these was Dr. 
 Morrison, who was once a Simday-school boy, 
 and who translated the Scriptures and compiled 
 a dictionary of the Chinese language, thereby 
 laying a broad foundation for future operations. 
 He was afterwards joined by Dr. Milne, Avho was 
 compelled, through the jealousy of the Portu- 
 guese, to remove from the coasts of China to 
 Malacca. This, coupled with the fact, that the 
 friendly intercourse with Europeans is jealously 
 watched by the Chinese government, in order 
 to prevent it, precluded the free course of the 
 word of life. And yet a few Chinese embraced 
 the gospel, and were ready to venture all for the 
 name of Christ. Yielding to the influences of the 
 Holy Spirit, they forsook their pagan altars, and 
 bowed to the authority of the Redeemer. For- 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 103 
 
 saking their " lying vanities," they built their 
 hopes on the Rock of Ages, and they testified 
 their sincerity b}?" pointing out that Saviour to 
 others whom they had found so precious to their 
 own souls. Among the most extraordinary of 
 these was Leang-afa, whose history is well known 
 in our country. 
 
 A primary object of the missionaries has been 
 to enlighten the nation by means of religious tracts 
 and books. A series of such were published at 
 Batavia and Malacca, and widely circulated in 
 every part of the empire, as well as in the settle- 
 ments of the Archipelago and Siam. Afterwards, 
 when the few native members of the Protestant 
 church at Canton were dispersed, the press was 
 transferred to Singapore, and thence the distribu- 
 tion of books on the coast was still continued with 
 gratifying results. The people read them with 
 avidity, as though they were thirsting for the 
 waters of life. So eager were they to receive 
 them, that the emperor became desirous of know- 
 ing their contents; and though he at first simply 
 pronounced them to be "unclassical," on a recent 
 occasion, when a successful attempt was made to 
 scatter the word of eternal life by means of books, 
 an edict was issued, complaining of the intrusion. 
 But no edict promulgated by the emperor of 
 China is sufficiently authoritative to prevent his 
 subjects from receiving these publications. Recent 
 events, moreover, have opened a highway for 
 them, not only on the coasts, but into the very 
 interior of China. Means only now are wanting. 
 These obtained, and books and missionaries may 
 unite in the hallowed work of evangelizing China. 
 And they may go forth in the sure and certain 
 hope that the best results will follow. Let true 
 
104 SUMMARY OF 
 
 Christians but arise to the rescue of these be- 
 nighted wanderers of the human race from the 
 shackles in which they are bound, and they, by 
 the blessing- of the Holy Spirit resting upon their 
 labours, will be set free. Difficulties may be in 
 the way, but Christian love and zeal can readily 
 surmount all these. China is a field open to 
 Christian heroes and martyrs, and who are more 
 irresistible than they ? Fighting under the ban- 
 ners of Christ, they can command the victory 
 over all the powers set in array against them. 
 Let them, then, advance to the very centre of 
 Satan's empire, and they will not fail to pull 
 down the ensign of the great dragon. Let all the 
 churches under the immediate influence of the 
 Divine Spirit unite in this great work, looking 
 upwards for a blessing, and it must be accom- 
 plished. China, hitherto one of the strongest 
 holds of Satan, will then become a section of the 
 "kingdom of our God, and of his Christ."*' 
 
 MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 It has been urged, that practical toleration is a 
 principle on which the Chinese government is 
 founded. Would that history bore out this as- 
 sertion, for then had the gospel long ago have 
 found its way even into the centre of China. 
 Unfortunately, however, it only holds good so far 
 as false religions are concerned, and of them only 
 in a limited sense. Still, it is a remarkable fact, 
 that while the government of China has watched 
 over the proceedings of Protestants with a jealous 
 
 * For more ample details concerning- the progress of 
 Christianity in China, the reader is referred to the last 
 chapter of the volume. 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. * 105 
 
 eye, it has permitted the growth of false religions ; 
 and even of Mohammedanism. It can only be 
 accounted for by the facts, that Christianity alone 
 is calculated to overthrow the hollow system on 
 which the government is based, and those by 
 which it is surrounded ; and that the carnal mind 
 is enmity against God, and the everlasting gospel 
 of his Son Jesus Christ. 
 
 In the early ages of Mohammedanism it was 
 promulgated by the sword. The motto of that 
 false prophet was—" When ye encounter the 
 unbelievers, strike off their heads, until ye have 
 made a great slaughter among them; and bind 
 them in bonds; and either give them a free dis- 
 mission afterwards, or exact a ransom, until the 
 foe shall have laid down his arms." The imme- 
 diate successors of Mohammed followed his line 
 of policy, and all his followers for ages burned 
 wath proselyting zeal. A short time after the 
 death of Mohammed, his faith entered the west- 
 ern provinces of China; but its progress was in- 
 considerable till the ninth and tenth centuries, 
 when some Arab merchants formed several con- 
 gregations among the Chinese. Under Kub-lai- 
 khan's reign, also, the highest mandarins were 
 chosen from amongst the Saracens ; and they 
 would not fail to endeavour to propagate their 
 doctrines. These so far gained credit, that to this 
 day some few Mussulmans are to be found in 
 almost every large city of the empire ; but they 
 possess small influence over the idolatrous com- 
 munity. Hence it is that they have been gene- 
 rally left by the government to live, and to enjoy 
 their opinions, unmolested. No emperor, how- 
 ever, except Kub-lai, has favoured them ; nor is 
 it likel}'' that they will ever become a predomi- 
 
106 SUMMARY OF 
 
 nant sect. In some places they have built mosques, 
 as in Canton, Kan-suh, and beyond the Yellow 
 River, on the banks of the Great Canal ; but they 
 generally appear to be despised by their fellow- 
 countrymen. Moreover, they are not very strict 
 Mussulmans, for they wear the same dress, eat the 
 same kind of food, pork excepted, and perform 
 nearly the same ceremonies as the multitude. 
 
 THE JEWS IN CHINA. 
 
 In the works of Benjamin of Tudela, it is men- 
 tioned, that some Jews had settled in the Chinese 
 empire. This information is essentially correct, 
 for Gozani, one of the Portuguese Jesuits, visited 
 their synagogue, which is at Kae-fung-foo, the 
 capital of the province of Honan. They are called 
 the Taou-kin-keaou, "the sect that extracts the 
 sinew." Father Gozani sought to obtain a sight 
 of the manuscript of the Pentateuch which they 
 had in their possession, and of which they read a 
 section every Sabbath, but in this he did not suc- 
 ceed.* When they read it, he observes, they 
 cover the face with a transparent veil, in memory 
 of Moses, who descended from the mountain with 
 his face covered, and who thus published the de- 
 calogue and the law of God to his people. The 
 fact of their reading it in public may serve as a 
 key to the analogies drawn between the decalogue 
 and the commandments ascribed to Budhu, etc. ; 
 for these Jews are said to have reached China two 
 hundred years before Christ. The sect attracts 
 very little attention, and remains entirely unno- 
 ticed by the government, although they still ad- 
 
 * This has since been seen ; but all attempts to obtain 
 a collation of their Scriptures with ours have failed. 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 107 
 
 here to the traditions of their fathers, and conform 
 to many points of the law. 
 
 THE NATIVE CHINESE SECTS. 
 
 There are various sects among the Chinese, 
 which may be termed semi-religious, semi-politi- 
 cal. Among these are the Pih-leen-keaou, or " the 
 white water-lily sect," which sprung from Budhu- 
 ism, and use the lotus as a badge of their order ; 
 —the San-ho-hwuy, or " triad society," so deno- 
 minated from the three ruling powers of the uni- 
 verse, heaven, earth, and man, and which is said 
 to have sprung up from the former ; — the Tsing- 
 cha-mim, or " tea sect," who burn incense, make 
 offerings of fine tea, bow down and worship the 
 heavens, the earth, sun, moon, fire and water, F6, 
 and their deceased parents ; — and a sect which 
 has for its title "The v/onderful association." 
 The .members of all these sects have been perse- 
 cuted at various times for designing to subvert the 
 government, and the suspicion does not appear to 
 have been without a cause. This is especially 
 the case with the Pih-leen-keaou, and the San-ho- 
 hwuy ; the former of which have frequently broken 
 out into open rebeUion ; and the latter have for 
 their ostensible object the overthrow of the Tartar 
 dynasty, which they are bound by oath to effect, 
 either sooner or later. The members of the San- 
 ho-hwuy have secret signs, by which they make 
 themselves known to each other, and are bound 
 in duty to afford mutual assistance. The very 
 essence of' their creed, likewise, consists in the 
 explanation of some unintelligible symbols, in 
 which three powers, three virtues, and three de- 
 terminations, are always traced. 
 
 That associations of this nature should be form.ed 
 
108 
 
 SUMMARY OF 
 
 in China, is a very natural consequence of the state 
 in which society exists. Ancient and modern his- 
 tory attests with a trumpet-tongue, that, where the 
 mind is universally influenced by idolatry, there 
 no government can rule in perfect security. The 
 pillars of state must ever be in danger of being 
 overthrown ; for the heart, influenced by its inhe- 
 rent depravity alone, neither feels nor knows a 
 motive for right conduct. It maybe awed into 
 submission by the grandeur and power of mo- 
 narchs for a while, as it is in China; but there 
 ever will be an under-current flowing from its 
 marvellous source of evil, and secretly working 
 mischief. It is only when human nature becomes 
 deeply imbued with the divine principles of Chris- 
 tianity — only when mankind have the fear of God 
 before their eyes — that they perform all their rela- 
 tive duties aright. 
 
 Cliinese Iraage-worsliip. 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 
 
 109 
 
 CHAPTER IV, 
 
 GOVERNMENT AND LEGISLATION OF THE CHINESE. 
 
 Mandarin in Sedan, Bearers, and Senrant -TOitti Lantern. 
 
 The antiquity of China is indicated by the 
 theoretically patriarchal form of its government. 
 This is a remarkable circumstance, when coupled 
 with the consideration that great revolutions have 
 shaken the very foundations of the empire of 
 China. Its institutions have been subverted by 
 strangers, who ruled the people with a rod of iron, 
 but the empire has again resumed its former out- 
 Avard state, and the people returned to their former 
 condition : the emperor has again, of whatever dy- 
 nasty he might be, been looked up to as a father, 
 10 
 
110 SUMMARY OF 
 
 while he has professed to govern his subjects as 
 children. 
 
 This feature in the Chinese government is clear- 
 ly unfolded both in their ritual and criminal code. 
 In them an exact parallel is drawn between the 
 relations in which every person stands to his own 
 parents, and to the emperor. He suffers similar 
 punishments for similar offences against both ; he 
 mourns, and goes unshaved, for the same period, 
 at the death of hoth ; and both possess similar 
 power over his person. Hence he is bred up to 
 civil obedience, though at the expense of his liber- 
 ty ; and the State has reason to expect that he will 
 prove a quiet subject, because he has been trained 
 to the restraints put upon him. 
 
 That the people may be conversant with the 
 duties they owe to their parents, elders, and em- 
 peror, it is ordained that the magistrates should 
 read, on the days corresponding to the new and 
 full moon, some portions of the book of Sacred 
 Instructions in public. This book is addressed to 
 the people : and how well calculated it is to teach 
 at least the moral of obedience, the annexed ex- 
 tracts will show. Teaching them duty in general, 
 it says, — " In our general conduct, not to be order- 
 ly is to fail in our duty ; in serving our sovereign, 
 not to be faithful is to fail in filial duty ; in acting 
 as a magistrate, not to be careful is to fail in hlial 
 duty; in the intercourse of friends, not to be sin- 
 cere is to fail in filial duty ; in arms and in war, 
 not to be brave is to fail in filial duty." Duty 
 thus makes up the sum of life ; and the same 
 principle is observable in the claims of elders, 
 which are thus enforced :— •" The duty to parents 
 and the duty to elders are indeed similar in obli- 
 gation ; for he who can be a pious son. will also 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. Ill 
 
 prove an obedient younger brother ; and lie who 
 IS botli, will, while at home, prove an honest and 
 orderly subject, and in foreign service a faithful 
 
 and courageous soldier Mencius has said, 
 
 ' Were all men to honour their kindred and respect 
 their elders, the world w^ould be at peace.' " 
 
 The assertion that has been made, that the fun- 
 damental principle of the Chinese government is 
 "enforced by positive laws," may be illustrated 
 by the narration of a case which occurred in one 
 of the central provinces — a case which shows that 
 the State deems it necessary to treat family re- 
 bellion with the same severity as treason, suppos- 
 ing them to be allied in principle. A man, aided 
 by his wife, had severely beaten his mother; and 
 this being reported to the viceroy at Pekin,it was 
 determined to punish them in a signal manner, in 
 order to enforce the fundamental principle of the 
 empire. And so it was done. The principal of- 
 fenders were put to death ; the mother of the wife 
 was bambooed and exiled ; the scholars of the 
 district were not permitted to attend the public 
 examination for three years ; the magistrates were 
 deprived of their office and banished ; the house 
 in which the offenders lived was razed to its very 
 foundations ; and the spot where the offence oc- 
 curred was anathematized, or made accursed ! 
 This punishment took place under the sanction, 
 and by the command, of an imperial edict, which 
 concluded thus : — " If there be any rebellious 
 children, who oppose, beat, or degrade their pa- 
 rents, they shall be punished in like manner. If 
 ye people, indeed, know the renovating principle, 
 then fear and obey the imperial will, nor look on 
 this as an empty declamation. For now, accord- 
 ing to this case of Teng-chen, whenever there are 
 
112 SUMMARY OF 
 
 the like, I resolve to condemn them, and from my 
 heart strictly charge you to beware. I instruct the 
 magistrates of every province severely to warn the 
 heads of famihes, and elders of villages ; and on 
 the second and sixteenth of every month to read 
 the Sacred Instructions, in order to show the im- 
 portance of the relations of life, that persons may 
 not rebel against their parents. I intend to render 
 the empire filial." 
 
 The practical wisdom displayed in the enforce- 
 ment of obedience to parents by the Chinese go- 
 vernment, is a matter for admiration. It may, 
 indeed, only have been adopted out of policy, or 
 as the means to an end, but the effect is the same. 
 It is the State teaching a great moral principle ; 
 and its instructions have a salutary effect. By it 
 the young not only respect their parents, but their 
 elders ; and men of all ages and classes, thus 
 trained to practical obedience, with some excep- 
 tions only, become willing subjects. 
 
 Admiration of this fundamental principle of the 
 Chinese government, however, has its limits. The 
 end to which it is made the means is one of doubt- 
 ful good. Unhappily, indeed, under the endear- 
 ing name of a patriarchal and paternal government, 
 China is the beau-ideal of despotism. By it, one 
 man only, the emperor, possesses authority ; and 
 he uses that authority frequently to evil purposes 
 — purposes which have a debasing influence over 
 the minds of his subjects. 
 
 Amidst all his despotism and high pretensions, 
 however, the Chinese emperor, through his organ 
 the government, is not unmindful of his duties. 
 Having thus effected social peace and order, he 
 employs it to the promotion of the very best of all 
 possible preventives of commotion, that of cheerful 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 113 
 
 industry. Under his fostering care, agriculture, 
 trade and commerce flourish, and the people are 
 left to possess their full share of the results of their 
 labour. The surest proof of this is the character- 
 istic cheerfulness with which the Chinese proceed 
 to their daily toil ; and which is so marked, that 
 it never fails to excite the attention of travellers 
 to that country. 
 
 Another good efl^ect of the social peace and 
 order promoted by the government of China, is 
 the universal diffusion of intelligence and educa- 
 tion through the lower classes. Notwithstanding 
 the empire consists of so many millions, almost 
 every man can read and write sufficiently for the 
 ordinary purposes of life. Education is, in truth, 
 inculcated by the government ; for one of the dis- 
 courses in the book of Sacred Instructions, which 
 is read to the people, inculcates the necessity of a 
 general acquaintance with the penal laws, and these 
 penal laws are printed and distributed among the 
 people. It is held, that as men cannot properly 
 be punished for what they do not know, so they 
 will be less liable to incur the penalty if they are 
 made duly acquainted with the prohibition. Edu- 
 cation, therefore, is made by the Chinese the means 
 of " preventive justice ;" and it is, upon every prin- 
 ciple of reason, humanity, and sound principle, 
 preferable to "punitive justice." 
 
 This appears to be the general sentiment of the 
 Chinese ; and this is enforced upon the parent's 
 notice by the government. Every parent is by 
 law hable to punishment for the crimes of his 
 children at any period of their lives ; and he, also, 
 is entitled to rewards for their merits ; and hence, 
 influenced by the motives of fear and hope, edu- 
 cation is generally promoted. Every town and 
 10* 
 
114 SUMMARY OF 
 
 village has its public place of instruction, and 
 wealthy families have private tutors. So sensible 
 are the Chinese of the importance of education, 
 that their language abounds with maxims having 
 reference to its utility, such as, " Bend the mul- 
 berry tree when young;" and, "Without educa- 
 tion no governors can be obtained for the people." 
 
 It is all these circumstances combined, the latter 
 of which are but ramifications of the first principle 
 of government, that have produced the general 
 harmony which prevails among the Chinese. A 
 common maxim among them is, " Better be a dog 
 in peace, than a man in anarchy ;" and they ob- 
 serve that " The worst of men are fondest of change 
 and commotion, hoping that they may thereby 
 benefit themselves ; but by adherence to a steady, 
 quiet system, affairs proceed without confusion, 
 and bad men have nothing to gain." It is to this 
 soul-pervading sentiment, perhaps, that amidst all 
 the internal revolutions of China, no single instance 
 has occurred of an attempt to change the form of 
 the patriarchal government. All seem to be deeply 
 convinced that their interest is concerned in the 
 maintenance of the state of things as it is, and 
 hence they are averse to any innovations. 
 
 Even if this feeling did not prevent, policy has 
 thrown such obstacles in the way of change 
 as could not easily be overcome. In order to 
 strengthen the hands of government, it has drawn, 
 a strong line of demarcation between its officers 
 and the people. All, from the highest State minis- 
 ter to the meanest soldier, are by their situations 
 interested in upholding the existing order of things, 
 since all they have, and all they hope to have, is 
 derived from the emperor. Statesmen, soldiers 
 and scholars, alike can only look to the court for 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 
 
 115 
 
 honours and emoluments, whence they present a 
 formidable front to every aggression. The very 
 
 receiving Seals of Office from tne Emperor. 
 
 aristocracy of the country is official, and not here- 
 ditary, whence they are ever looking to the throne 
 for favours ; and if that throne was utterly sub- 
 
116 SUMMARY OF 
 
 verted, their expectations would be cut off. Be- 
 sides, all rank of consequence is determined by 
 talent, the test of which is afforded by public ex- 
 aminations, which are open to the poorest persons; 
 menial servants, comedians, and the lowest agents 
 of the police excepted : and the multitude, there- 
 fore, as well as officials, are encouraged to seek 
 for promotion at the hands of the emperor. 
 
 Another barrier in the way of change in the 
 government of China is, that the actions of all the 
 officers are mutually watched, and their merits or 
 demerits represented to their superiors. Thus a 
 sword is ever suspended over their heads, and 
 they are careful not to cut the thread by which it 
 hangs, lest their lives should be endangered. But 
 this system, while it promotes watchfulness, and 
 guards the throne, works for evil. Knowing that 
 if they are detected in any error they will certainly 
 suffer for it, deceit and prevarication become the 
 order of the day, that punishment may be avoided. 
 
 To the same end, civil officers are not allowed 
 to hold a place in their native province ; and high 
 officers are frequently removed from one station 
 to another, raised and degraded, summoned to ap- 
 pear before the throne, and again dismissed. The 
 principal authority, moreover, is divided between 
 two grandees, independent and frequently jealous 
 of each other, so that it would be extremely diffi- 
 cult for a party to be formed in the provinces of 
 sufficient strength to overthrow the supreme go- 
 vernment. 
 
 The exact position which the emperor of China 
 holds in the State has been fully shown. His 
 principal ministers form the Nuy-ko, or "interior 
 council chamber;" and the chief counsellors, who 
 bear the titles of Choong-t'hang and K6-laou, are 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 117 
 
 four in number, two Tartars, and two Chinese; 
 the former taking the precedence. To these mi- 
 nisters the emperor has recourse in all state affairs. 
 Every matter, Avhether spiritual or temporal, is 
 submitted to their deliberation ; though, in most 
 instances, they simply re-echo the emperor's sen- 
 timents. Notwithstanding, he never acts without 
 them, either as priest or sovereign, whence they 
 may be justly considered to hold the most exalted 
 situation in the State. 
 
 The members of the imperial cabinet are gene- 
 rally men grown gray in the service of their 
 country. They are selected for their supposed 
 experience and wisdom. 
 
 Frequent changes occur in the imperial cabinet 
 of China. At the same time there is no party 
 spirit displayed, as in European courts. When 
 one officer is dismissed, the others do not resign, 
 but proceed at once to choose another, who before 
 night is installed. This arises from the fact, that 
 the aristocracy all entertain the same notions con- 
 cerning politics. They are all submissive cour- 
 tiers ; and the only contest known among them, 
 is who shall prove the most servile to the emperor. 
 Below these are a number of assessors, who, with 
 them, form the council of state. All these are 
 selected from the Imperial college. Besides the 
 supreme council, there is a body of privy council- 
 lors, who are employed when secresy and despatch 
 are required. 
 
 For the conduct of government-business in 
 detail, the Leapoo, or Six Boards, are established 
 at Pekin. These are, 1. The Board of Official 
 Appointments, which takes cognisance of the con- 
 duct of all civil officers. 2. The Board of Re- 
 venue, which regulates all fiscal matters. 3. The 
 
118 
 
 SUMMARY or 
 
 Board of Rites and Ceremonies. 4. The Military 
 Board. 5. The Board of Criminal Jurisdiction ; 
 
 Mandarins of ttie First, Second, and Sixth. Classes. 
 
 and 6. The Board of Public Works. All these 
 have subordinate offices under them. 
 
 Apart from these boards, there are two other 
 establishments ; namely, the " Office for Foreign 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 119 
 
 Affairs," which has the charge of the external re- 
 lations of the empire, and the presidents of which 
 always consist of Manchow or Mongol Tartars ; 
 and the " Office of Censors," who pry officially 
 into other men's affairs, for which they are re- 
 warded by government with pay and high-sound- 
 ing titles ; albeit they are mere spies. The mem-' 
 bers consist, in all, of from forty to fifty, of whom 
 several are sent to various parts of the em- 
 pire, while others remain in the vicinity of the 
 court. 
 
 Such are the principal organs of the govern- 
 ment of Pekin ; and the provincial government in 
 its whole, as well as parts, is formed on the same 
 model. Every governor is an emperor in his 
 sphere, but there is this wide difference between 
 them — instead of being responsible only to Heaven, 
 the governors of provinces have to give an account 
 to the emperor. 
 
 The duties of a governor are very onerous. 
 He is, indeed, responsible for the Avelfare and 
 peace of the community over which he presides, 
 and if any disturbance or rebellion takes place, 
 he is never forgiven. Thus, the governor of 
 Canton received signal marks of imperial favour 
 in 1831 ; but he was ruined the next year, by the 
 rebellion of some mountaineers in the north-west, 
 though no blame could be attached to his ad- 
 ministration. Once in every three years, the 
 governor of each province is compelled to forward 
 to the Board of Civil Appointments at Pekin the 
 name of every officer under his government, with 
 remarks on their conduct and character, supplied 
 by the immediate superiors of each ; and accord- 
 ing to his report every one is exalted or degraded 
 so many degrees. The offences of g-overnors are 
 
120 SUMMARY OF 
 
 tried by imperial commissioners, appointed by 
 the emperor for the special purpose. 
 
 The several degrees of both civil and military 
 officers are distinguished by the colour of the ball 
 which they wear at the point of their conical caps, 
 and which are usually red, light blue, dark blue, 
 crystal, white stone, and gold. These balls, how- 
 ever, are not infallible signs of the rank of the 
 wearer, for the privilege of wearing them may be 
 purchased. This is frequently done by the wealthy, 
 as in case of a breach of the law it protects them 
 from being punished on the spot, or till they have 
 been legally deprived of the ball. But it does 
 not prove the means of a long delay of punish- 
 ment, for the process of depriving them of it is 
 very summary. This done, the consequences of 
 their offence* soon follow, for the principle of 
 the penal code of China may be exemplified by 
 a common saying applied to hasty parents in the 
 correction of their offspring : — " It is but a word 
 and a blow, and sometimes the blow first." 
 
 The practical portion of the penal code of China 
 is divided under six heads, corresponding to the 
 six supreme boards at Pekin. This arrangement 
 proves an efficient engine for the control of the 
 vast population of China. The penal code of this 
 country is very arbitrary. Thus it is constantly 
 meddling with relative duties, whether they regard 
 the living or the dead ; and it pays such a minute 
 attention to trifles as makes it burdensome to its 
 administrators. It is also notorious for the gross 
 injustice and unrelenting cruelty which mark all 
 its provisions against the crime of treason. Every 
 species of advantage and protection afforded to 
 other criminals, though these are but slight com- 
 pared with those in European countries, is taken 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 121 
 
 away from a traitor, and he is sure to die. Nor 
 himself alone : for in 1803, the life of the emperor 
 was attempted by a single assassin, and while he 
 was condemned to a ling-ering death, his sons, 
 who were of a tender age, were strangled. Thus, 
 the innocent, contrary to the principles of all 
 reason and humanity, are made to suffer with the 
 guilty: and this despotic law is even sanctioned 
 by their sacred books : in them Confucius enjoins 
 a son " not to live under the same heaven with 
 the slayer of his father ;" and this rule is made 
 to extend to the sovereign. 
 
 The extent of the punishment for particular 
 crimes is clearly defined in the penal code, and 
 the administrators of the law dare not go beyond 
 the definition. So far the offender is protected 
 from injustice. It may be truly said of the 
 Chinese, therefore, that when they once are en- 
 closed in the net of the law, it is difficult for them 
 to make their escape. 
 
 The minor punishments among the Chinese are 
 by the bamboo, whose dimensions are exactly 
 defined, and the blows of which are administered 
 according to the nature of the offence ; the kea, 
 or cangue, which has been called the wooden 
 collar, and is a species of walking pillory ; tem- 
 porary banishment to a distance not exceeding 
 fifty leagues from the prisoner's home ; and exile 
 beyond the Chinese frontier, either temporary or 
 during life. The three capital punishments are 
 strangulation, beheading, and a mode of execu- 
 tion called ling-chy, which means literally " a 
 disgraceful and lingering death. The applica- 
 tion of these modes of punishment sometimes 
 savours of despotism. Thus robbery, with the 
 preconcerted use of weapons, is punished with 
 11 
 
122 SUMMARY OF 
 
 death, however small the amount may be which 
 the robber has taken. Thus, also, killing in an 
 affray, without reference to intent, either expressed 
 or implied, is punished with strangulation. 
 
 In the law of homicide there is a remarkable 
 incongruity, which could only have been engen- 
 dered by that principle on which the government 
 is founded ; namely, patriarchal authority. While 
 this law almost exculpates the parent from crime 
 if he kills his children, whether accidentally or 
 intentionally, it denounces the penalty of death 
 upon children who strike or curse their parents. 
 This absolute power bestowed upon fathers is, 
 doubtless, productive of much evil; and if natural 
 feeling did not generally prove a sufficient secu- 
 rity against its abuse, China would thereby pre- 
 sent an awful spectacle of homicide to the world. 
 As it is, fathers have virtually the power of life 
 and death over their children. 
 
 The prisons of China are frequently made the 
 instruments of judicial injustice. The Chinese 
 emphatically style them ty-yo, or " hell ;" and 
 their horror of them is such, that it has a 
 tendency to deter from crime. Their severity 
 is increased by the confinement being solitary, 
 of which the Chinese, who are a social people, 
 have an instinctive dread. Women are rarely 
 confined in these miserable abodes, they being 
 generally allowed the exemption of being placed 
 as criminals in the custody of their nearest rela- 
 tions, who are answerable for their appearance at 
 the tribunal of justice. At this tribunal the 
 whole of the vast population of China are liable 
 to be arraigned, except ten privileged classes, who 
 are either in relationship to the imperial line, or 
 in high character and station. These, except in 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 123 
 
 the case of treason, when the exemption is not 
 allowed, cannot be either tried or punished with- 
 out a special reference to the emperor. In giving 
 evidence, oaths are never required, but severe 
 punishments are attached to falsehood. When 
 any one exhibits a reluctance to give evidence, 
 a species of torture is employed to force it from 
 him ; that is, the ankles or fingers are squeezed 
 between two sticks tied triangularly. Torture, 
 however, is forbidden to be exercised on persons 
 above seventy, or under fifteen years of age, as 
 also on those labouring under permanent disease. 
 
 The severity of the penal code of China appears 
 chiefly in those cases wherein the safety of the 
 emperor, or the stability of the government, is 
 involved. Apart from these, benevolent traits 
 are sometimes discernible. Thus, in order to pro- 
 mote kindred and domestic ties, it is provided 
 that relatives and servants living under the same 
 roof shall, in ordinary cases, be held innocent, 
 though they conceal the offences of their fellows, 
 or assist in effecting their escape : but this benevo- 
 lence ceases in the enactments relative to slaves. 
 Every offence is aggravated or diminished in its 
 penalty, according as it is committed by a slave 
 towards a freeman, or a freeman towards a slave. 
 Thus, if a slave kills his master, he is punished 
 with a lingering death, as a traitor ; but if a master 
 kills his slave, the crime is not even made capital. 
 
 The penal code of China, therefore, cannot be 
 said to be founded upon the strict rules of equity 
 and justice. If in some respects it exhibits prac- 
 tical wisdom, in others it*appears eminently cal- 
 culated to keep the multitude in awe. Its defects 
 and excesses are those inherent in all despotisms, 
 for they evidently arise from the first and last 
 
124 SUMMARY OF 
 
 principle of the government, which declares that 
 one man shall rule, the rest obey. 
 
 That the population of China is comparatively- 
 happy and secure under its administration, is uni- 
 versally attested by those Avho have visited that 
 country. Sir George Staunton, speaking of his 
 colleague in the commission of the last British 
 embassy, says : — " His extensive acquaintance 
 with Persia and India renders him a peculiarly 
 competent judge of comparative merit in this case. 
 He pronounces China superior to the other coun- 
 tries of Asia, both in the arts of government, and 
 the general aspects of society : and adds, that the 
 laws are more generally known, and more equally 
 administered ; that those examples of oppression, 
 accompanied with infliction of barbarous punish- 
 ment, which offend the eye and distress the feelings 
 of the most hurried traveller in other Asiatic 
 countries, are scarcely to be met with in China; 
 that the proportion which the middling orders 
 bear to the other classes of the community ap- 
 peared considerable ; and that compared with 
 Turkey, Persia, and parts of India, an impression 
 was produced highly favourable to the compara- 
 tive situation of the lower orders." 
 
 The Chinese themselves appear to be generally 
 satisfied with their lot, and even to felicitate 
 themselves that they were born in China. Thus 
 one of them wrote these complacent reflections : — 
 " I felicitate myself that I was born in China. 
 It constantly occurs to me, that I might have been 
 born beyond the sea in some remote part of the 
 earth, where the cold freezes, or the heat scorches : 
 where the people are clothed with the leaves of 
 plants, eat wood, dwell in the wilderness, lie in 
 holes in the earth, are far removed from the con- 
 verting maxims of the ancient kings, and are ig 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 125 
 
 norant of the domestic relations. Though born 
 as one of the race of men, I should not have been 
 different from a beast. But happily I have been 
 born in China. I have a house to live in, and 
 have drink, food, commodious furniture, clothing, 
 and caps, and infinite blessings ! Truly, the 
 highest felicity is mine !" 
 
 If, Christian reader, the Chinese feel called 
 upon to felicitate themselves that they are born 
 in a country where they can peaceably enjoy the 
 blessings of life, without making any reference to 
 eternity, how much more cause have you for self- 
 congratulation ! You live in a country where 
 you can not only enjoy liberty and prosperity, in 
 a far higher degree than the Chinese, but where 
 you have abundant religious privileges. See that 
 you are grateful for this high and inestimable ad- 
 vantage. Cast your eyes upon heathen China — 
 a land groaning in the iron fetters of supersti- 
 tion — and say : " 1 felicitate myself that I was 
 not born in China. I might have been ; and these 
 knees, which are now permitted to kneel at a 
 throne of grace, might be bowing before dumb 
 idols. But happily I have been born in a Chris- 
 tian land ! and if I have received grace to believe 
 and obey the gospel, I have God for my Father, 
 Jesus Christ for my Redeemer, and the Holy 
 Spirit for my Guide and Comforter, as I journey 
 onwards to the eternal mansions prepared for me, 
 in common with all true Christians, in heaven. 
 Truly I may say with the psalmist — 
 *The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup ; 
 Thou maintainest my lot. 
 
 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places. 
 Yea, I have a goodly heritage.'" 
 
 When vou have addressed these praises to God 
 11- 
 
126 
 
 SUMMARY OF 
 
 breathe also a prayer that the poor world-seeking 
 and superstitious Chinese may soon enjoy your 
 privileges ; that the millions now ranged under 
 the banners of the great dragon may bow to the 
 sceptre of Christ. The true Christian knows no 
 selfish motive. Saved himself, he desires the sal- 
 vation of the whole human race. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE AGRICULTURE OF THE CHINESE. 
 
 Cliinese Harrowing. 
 
 In all civilized communities, whether ancient or 
 modern, agriculture has been deemed of the 
 highest importance. The ancient Egyptians, 
 Greeks, and Romans, alike paid attention to this 
 subject. Perhaps, however, in no nation, whether 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 137 
 
 of ancient or modem times, has the husbandman 
 been held in higher repute than in China. That 
 country is essentially agricultural, and the cul- 
 tivators of the soil rank next to the cultivators 
 of the mind in national importance. And this is 
 not owing to their skill, but rather to the effects 
 of their labour. They are diligent and laborious 
 agriculturists, but the science of good husbandry 
 is unknown among them. This seems to arise 
 from a love of those customs which their fore- 
 fathers have handed down to them. As they 
 tilled the land, so their descendants resolve to till 
 it, and thus there is no spirit of improvement. 
 Although the nation has existed for several thou- 
 sand years, the very instruments they use are still 
 those of primitive simplicity. 
 
 As in other countries, the chief instrument of 
 the Chinese husbandman is the plough; but the 
 plough in China is a very different thing from 
 that with which Europeans are acquainted, or 
 even that which many of the ancients used. 
 A Chinese plough simply consists of a beam, 
 handle and a share, with a wooden stem, and a 
 rest behind, instead of a moulding board. And 
 all this is put together in a very rude manner. It 
 would seem, indeed, as one has observed, that a 
 labourer, tired of plying the spade, resolved to call 
 upon the ox for aid, and for that purpose tied his 
 shovel to a beam : to the one end he attached 
 the docile animal, while he held the other by 
 means of a handle. Still, it appears to an- 
 swer his purpose. His only aim is to stir up 
 the soil, or, in other words, to form the soil, 
 the manure and a certain quantity of water into 
 an equable mixture. Still, were the Chinese to 
 work the plough upon European principles, they 
 
128 SUMMARY OF 
 
 would, doubtless, produce more abundant crops ; 
 for their present instrument seldom cuts to the 
 depth of four inches ; so that they sow from year 
 to year on the same soil, without being able to 
 turn up new earth. But it is the endeavour of the 
 Chinese government to confirm the people in the 
 love of all antiquated things, if once acknow- 
 ledged to be useful, without endeavouring to dis- 
 cover a better method. 
 
 In some parts of the country, the plough is 
 drawn through the soil by human strength ; in 
 others, by oxen, asses, and mules, contrary to 
 the laws of humanity, yoked together indiscri- 
 minately. In the province of Canton the soil is 
 ploughed by means of a buffalo, of a dark gray 
 colour, which is called by the Chinese shuey-new, 
 or "water-ox," from its propensity for muddy 
 shallows, where it wallows in the mire. When 
 sufficient rain has fallen to allow the rice fields to 
 be laid under water, they are subjected to the 
 plough ; the buffalo and his driver wading through 
 the field up to their knees from morning to night. 
 
 Preparatory to planting, the rice is sown 
 thickly in some richly-manured corner. It there 
 germinates in two or three days ; and when about 
 ten inches in height, the young plants are re- 
 moved to the fields prepared for their reception. 
 The process of transplanting exhibits a perfect 
 division of labour. One person takes up the 
 young shoots and hands them to another, who 
 conveys them to their destination. They are 
 there received by a party of labourers, some of 
 whom dibble holes, into which they drop the 
 plants by sixes, while others follow to settle the 
 earth about the roots. The labour must be any 
 thing but agreeable, for the men are compelled to 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 129 
 
 wade ankle-deep in mud and water, and to pre- 
 serve a stooping position, till they have completed 
 their task. Use, however, has rendered the work 
 famihar ; and it is said that a man is able, by 
 an ordinary exertion of his powers, to set from 
 twenty to twenty-five plants within one minute. 
 Sir George Staunton also represents, that the 
 Chinese peasantry are better able to support 
 labour, with slight intermission, than the lower 
 classes in Europe, from the circumstance that 
 they are more temperate. For the most part, he 
 says, they are sober men, and marrying early, 
 they are less liable to corrupt the springs of life by 
 vicious habits. 
 
 After the rice is planted, the field is kept 
 watered as it requires. Any unusual deficiency 
 of water would be fatal to the grain ; and hence 
 the Chinese have provided against that contin- 
 gency, by furnishing canals and conduits to each 
 field for the purpose of irrigation. The Chinese 
 excel in their contrivances to raise water for the 
 irrigation of their land ; and it is probable, that 
 the origin of these inventions is very remote. The 
 simplest method is represented in the cut. 
 
 While some of the Chinese husbandmen are 
 thus employed in irrigating the land, others are 
 dispersed over the field, watching every plant to 
 see if any pernicious weed is growing by its side. 
 When such is the case, he pulls the seedling from 
 its bed, and plucks away the intruder, after which 
 he replaces it in its proper situation. In spite of this 
 practice, however, weeds still spring up, and re- 
 quire the application of the hoe at two successive 
 periods. This instrument is similar to that used 
 in Europe, only it is of a stronger make, and 
 has a short handle, which compels the labourer 
 
130 
 
 SUMMARY OF 
 
 CMnese Irrigation. 
 
 to stoop very much in the performance of his 
 work. 
 
 The rice, which is the staple food in China, is 
 ripe about August or September. Then, invited 
 by its yellow tinges, the reaper puts in his sickle, 
 which is the type of our reaping-hook, and cuts it 
 down. 
 
 In the northern parts of China wheat is culti- 
 vated, but it appears to be small-grained and of 
 an indifferent quahty. In the neighbourhood of 
 Canton, also, three kinds of millet are grown in 
 small fields laid out in narrow ridges. As before 
 observed, however, rice is the staple food of the 
 Chinese, and to this the husbandman directs his 
 chief attention. The rice grown in China is a 
 much larger grain than that which is common in 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 131 
 
 India. It consists principally of two sorts, the 
 white and red, the former of which is the most 
 esteemed. 
 
 The rearing of silk-worms and the cultivation 
 of mulberry trees constitute an important part of 
 the agriculture of the Chinese. 
 
 The Chinese, in common with the Japanese, 
 also pay great attention to the cultivation of the 
 paper-mulberry tree, the skin and the bark of 
 which are converted into paper. 
 
 Of all the trees and shrubs indigenous to China, 
 however, the tea plant is the most remarkable and 
 important. To the Chinese peasantry it afTords a 
 profitable employment ; to the government it is a 
 source of revenue ; while to numerous and distant 
 nations it affords a refreshing beverage. 
 
 The tea plant is an evergreen, somewhat resem- 
 bling the myrtle in appearance. It grows to a 
 height varying from three to six feet, and is capa- 
 ble of enduring great variations of climate, being 
 cultivated alike in the neighbourhood of Canton, 
 where the heat is intense, and around the walls of 
 Pekin, where the winter is sometimes as severe as 
 in the north of Europe. The best kinds are the 
 production of the more temperate climate of Nan- 
 kin province, which occupies nearly the middle 
 station between the two extremes above men- 
 tioned. The greatest portion of that which is 
 brought to the Canton market, and sold to Euro- 
 pean merchants, is the produce of the hilly pro- 
 vince of Fokien, which is situated on the sea-coast, 
 to the north-east of Canton. 
 
 The cultivation of the tea plant affords employ- 
 ment to many of the Chinese peasantry. It is 
 propagated from seed. Holes are drilled in the 
 ground, at equal distances and in regular rows, 
 
132 SUMMARY OF 
 
 and into each of these holes the planter throws 
 from six to twelve seeds, not above a fifth part of 
 them being expected to grow. While growing, 
 the plants are carefully watered, weeded, and 
 manured, though, when once out of the ground, 
 they would continue to vegetate without care. 
 
 The leaf of the tea plant is not fit for gathering 
 until the third year. At that period the shrub is 
 in its prime. When seven years old, the leaves 
 become few and coarse, and the shrub is then 
 generally cut down to the stem, which in the suc- 
 ceeding summer produces an exuberant crop of 
 fresh foliage. 
 
 The process of gathering the leaves is one of 
 great nicety and importance. The leaf is plucked 
 separately from the stalk, and in doing this the 
 gatherer is careful that his hands are clean ; and 
 in collecting some of the fine sorts, he hardly ven- 
 tures to breathe on the plant. But, with all this 
 care, the labourer is frequently able to collect 
 from four to ten, or even fifteen, pounds in the 
 day. There are four of these gatherings during 
 the season ; namely, in February or March, in 
 April or May, in June and in August. 
 
 Another prominent feature in the agriculture of 
 the Chinese, is the growth of the cucumber. This 
 vegetable, differing from ours in its wholesome 
 properties, as it does universally in the east, is in 
 great demand in China. It is grown in the south, 
 (where the climate is hot,) without any artificial 
 warmth, and in the open field. Around this field 
 there is frequently nothing more than a terrace of 
 earth thrown up for a fence, whence the contents 
 are exposed to the depredations of thieves. To 
 protect them, therefore, the owner erects a lodge 
 with just sufficient room for a watchman to stand 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 133 
 
 in, and in a position where he may overlook the 
 whole field. This lodge, when the crop is grow- 
 ing luxuriously around it, forms no conspicuous 
 object in the scene ; but when the vegetables have 
 been removed, it affords a melancholy representa- 
 tion of solitude and desertion. With such a melan- 
 choly abandonment Zion was threatened, because 
 its inhabitants heeded not the voice of warning: — 
 
 "And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vine- 
 yard, 
 As a lodge in a garden of cucambers, 
 As a besieged city." 
 
 A Lodge in a Garden of Cacurabers. 
 
 As the political father of the nation, the empe- 
 ror is the sole proprietor of the lands, and the 
 cultivators are his tenants. Large tracts, both of 
 China and Turkestan, are allotted to the soldiery, 
 as was the case among the ancient Egyptians, till 
 the law of territorial property was modified by 
 12 
 
134 SUMMARY OF 
 
 that consummate statesman the Hebrew Joseph. 
 The husbandmen of China forfeit their lands if 
 they do not keep them in proper cultivation, or 
 if they refuse to pay the taxes, or invalidate their 
 title by fraudulent practices. At the death of a 
 parent they are divided amongst his sons, the 
 eldest receiving the larger share. Great land- 
 holders let land out in small parcels, and pay the 
 taxes themselves. Every one in China may cul- 
 tivate waste land, upon application to government; 
 and the people are encouraged to do this by an 
 exemption from taxes until it is rendered produc- 
 tive. From this cause much land has been brought 
 into cultivation ; and still, as the population in- 
 creases, from the industrious habits of the Chinese, 
 it may reasonably be expected that many of the 
 marshes which now form a part of the soil in 
 China, will one day produce food for their suste- 
 nance. Vast as the population of China is, there- 
 fore, the land is still capable of feeding many more 
 millions ; for Barrow is incHned to think that one- 
 fourth part of the whole country consists of lakes 
 and uncultivated marshes. 
 
 There are no parks or pleasure-grounds reserved 
 from the operations of productive industry in China, 
 except those belonging to the emperor, near Pekin : 
 nor is there any meadow cultivation ; nothing is 
 raised for the food of cattle, but all for man. The 
 few cattle there are in China maintain themselves 
 as they can on uncultivated pastures ; but these 
 are very feAv, for man generall}^ performs the work 
 of horses ; and while the consumption of animal 
 food among the higher orders is limited, the lower 
 subsist almost exclusively on the productions of 
 tillage. The horse is a rare object in China, for 
 whatever cannot be transported by water is borne 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 135 
 
 on men's shoulders, and the very boats on the 
 canals are guided in their courses by men. Thus, 
 even the ground which would otherwise have been 
 used for roads is made available for purposes of 
 cultivation. 
 
 The Chinese, however, do not depend wholly 
 on the land for sustenance. In no country be- 
 sides is so much food derived from the water. So 
 important an article of diet is fish, that, at a par- 
 ticular period of the year, men are employed on 
 the great river Keang to procure the spawn to 
 deposit wherever fish can subsist. The Chinese 
 have several modes of taking fish, besides the or- 
 dinary contrivances of nets and wicker traps used 
 in other countries. On moonlight nights, they 
 use long narrow boats, having wooden flaps at 
 their sides descending to the surface of the water. 
 These flaps, being painted white, reflect a light, 
 and attract the fish to such a degree that they leap 
 upon them, and are then turned over into the boat 
 with a jerk. Another method of taking fish is by 
 birds, which are trained for this purpose. They 
 disperse themselves over lakes and swamps, and 
 return to their owners with their prey. After the 
 fish are caught and salted, they are generally eaten 
 with rice. 
 
 The vast resources of the Chinese, in their na- 
 tural productions, are frequently cut off by drought, 
 inundations, and the locusts. In such an event 
 they suffer greatly, for the public granaries make 
 poor provisions against dearth. Their original 
 intention is defeated by the dishonesty of those 
 who conduct them. Nor can one province, in 
 which there may be plenty, supply the wants of 
 another; for the Chinese rulers have restricted 
 the intercourse of different parts of the empire to 
 
136 SUMMARY OF 
 
 inland navigation ; and the inland trade between 
 some provinces on the coast is impeded by lofty 
 mountains, in which unnavigable rivers take their 
 rise. Hence, when famine overtakes the popula- 
 tion of a province, coupled with its natural con- 
 comitant, disease, in the language of one of the 
 "sacred edicts," it "makes all places desolate." 
 The evil is sometimes remov^ed, by permission 
 from the government to import grain by sea; but 
 before the required relief is afforded, thousands 
 perish. This circumstance may be looked upon 
 as a positive check to the growth of population. 
 
 Infanticide, which prevails among the peasantry 
 of China, also does its fearful work. Taught by 
 the State that parents have power over the lives 
 of their children, they frequently destroy their 
 female offspring, in order to escape the trouble of 
 bringing them up. This inhumanity, this dread- 
 ful crime, may likewise be superinduced by po- 
 verty. The ordinary wages of labour seem to be 
 equivalent to twelve cents a day, which gives little 
 more than a bare subsistence. Many, indeed, die 
 from actual starvation, and that in the midst of 
 plenty. Their principal food is rice, and their 
 best beverage tea boiled over and over again, as 
 long as any virtue remains in the leaves. 
 
 The poverty of the Chinese peasantry appears 
 to be most conspicuous in the vicinity of the capi- 
 tal, where the soil is barren and sandy ; and in the 
 northern provinces, where the climate is ungenial 
 to the process of vegetation. The cold is so in- 
 tense in the winter, that, what with their scanty 
 fare, and their lack of fuel, clothing and even 
 shelter, many perish. " In such a condition," 
 says Barrow, "the ties of nature yield to self- 
 preservation ; and children are sold, to save both 
 
CHINESE HISTORY 187 
 
 the parent and offspring from perishing by want, 
 and infants become a prey to hopeless injury." 
 
 The moral character of the Chinese peasantry 
 near Pekin is represented by travellers in a very 
 unfavourable light : they are idle, and, as a natu- 
 ral consequence, dissipated. In the heart of the 
 country, however, they appear to be a compara- 
 tively artless race. Of these a traveller thus 
 speaks : — " When they have accompanied me 
 along the banks of the river, far in advance of my 
 boat, and have beheld me overcome by fatigue 
 and heat, they have always appeared anxious to 
 relieve my distress. One has hastened to the 
 nearest house for a seat, another has brought me 
 water, and a third has held an umbrella over my 
 head to defend me from the sun, whilst their com- 
 panions have at some distance formed a circle 
 round me. We were to these people as the in- 
 habitants of another world. Our features, dress, 
 and habits were so opppsed to theirs, as to induce 
 them to infer that our country in all its natural 
 characters must equally differ from their own. 
 ♦Have you a moon, and sun, and rivers in your 
 country?' are their occasional questions. Com- 
 prehending no other rational objects for the col- 
 lecting of plants than their useful qualities, and 
 seeing me gather all indiscriminately, they at once 
 supposed that I sought them merely as objects of 
 curiosity, and laughed heartily at my eagerness to 
 obtain them. They pitied my ignorance, and en- 
 deavoured to teach me their relative worth, and 
 were anxious for me to learn the important truth, 
 that from one seed many might be obtained. A 
 young man, having shaken some ripe seeds from 
 the capsules of the sesamum and the sida, de- 
 scribed to me, with much minuteness, that if I 
 12* 
 
138 
 
 SUMMARY OF 
 
 took them to my own country, and put them into 
 the ground, they would produce many plants, and 
 I might thus in time obtain the blessing of good 
 rope and oil." 
 
 How sad the reflection that it is the self-same 
 people who are guilty of that foul crime, infanti- 
 cide. Such are the bitter fruits of pagan phi- 
 losophy ! While the emperor and his subjects 
 complacently deem themselves the only civilized 
 inhabitants of the world, "the dark places" of 
 this idolatrous empire " are full of the habitations 
 of cruelty." 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 
 
 139 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE OF THE CHINESE. 
 
 CMnese Literao-y Gentlemen. 
 LANGUAGE. 
 
 The original Avritten characters of the Chinese 
 were purely hieroglyphic, like those of the ancient 
 Egyptians. Experience taught them, however, 
 that the power of simple imitative characters to 
 convey ideas was limited and imperfect ; that they 
 were able to express but a small portion of that 
 which occurs to the mind of man ; and from this 
 cause the Chinese language, as it now exists, be- 
 came gradually unfolded. Proof that the written 
 language originated in picture writing may be 
 
140 SUMMARY OF 
 
 adduced from the similarity existing between 
 some of the ancient and modern forms of their 
 characters. 
 
 The Chinese language, still written in charac- 
 ters, is symbolic, and hence imperfect, notwith- 
 standing it presents a greater variety than any 
 other language on earth. A single character 
 placed in various positions is often made to con- 
 vey ideas which it would be difficult to express by 
 a simple drawing of the object. 
 
 Greater ingenuity was required in order to 
 represent invisible substances, such as light and 
 air ; or the qualities of things, known among us 
 by the term adjectives, such as those implying 
 strength, weakness, or human action. This is 
 usually accomplished by the union of two or more 
 simple forms, placed together in such a manner 
 that their combinations may convey the required 
 idea. Thus, to express brightness, the figures 
 of the sun and moon are combined; and to denote 
 the adjective " aspiring," a man's breath is repre- 
 sented as going out of his body and ascending. 
 The character of a king is described by one mark, 
 thus — . The idea of a family is expressed by a 
 house, under which three human beings are shel- 
 tered. 
 
 The Chinese distinguish six modes of writing 
 their characters :— 
 
 1. The ancient mode of writing'is derived im- 
 mediately from hieroglyphics, and is either a 
 caricature or a stiff and imperfectly written cha- 
 racter. 
 
 2. That which is used by official attendants, and 
 is written with greater freedom than that em- 
 ployed in books. 
 
 3. The pattern style, which is the mode of neat 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 141 
 
 writing at the present day. It is also employed 
 in printing. 
 
 4. The regular running hand, in which any thing 
 which requires despatch is written. 
 
 5. A hasty and abbreviated form of writing, 
 used in common transactions of life, and in cor- 
 respondence. 
 
 6. The regular form of the character used in 
 printing. It appears very beautiful in the im- 
 pression. 
 
 The division of characters, made according to 
 the ideas they express, are also sixfold : — 
 
 1 . Figures, or more strictly hieroglyphics, bear- 
 ing a resemblance to the objects they express. 
 
 2. Epithets, or characters, expressive of attri- 
 butes and relative circumstances. 
 
 3. Combination of ideas, in order to express a 
 simple object. 
 
 4. Invented symbols, or characters in which 
 both the form and idea are transposed. 
 
 5. Symbols uniting sound, which are of neces- 
 sity very uncertain as to their signification. 
 
 6. Metaphorical symbols, which bear a resem- 
 blance to the original meaning, but are neverthe- 
 less simply figurative. 
 
 Many of these characters are similar in form, 
 but differ widely in meaning ; while others have 
 a variety of forms to express a similar idea. The 
 number of the whole is uncertain. Some writers 
 state that there are ten thousand, while others 
 assert there are as many as eighty thousand. 
 Perhaps the medium would be nearest the truth; 
 but the fact is, there is no dictionary, either native 
 or foreign, in which they are all contained. 
 
 From the great number of characters used, as 
 well as their varied significations, it has been sup- 
 
142 SUMMARY OF 
 
 posed that the Chinese language is difficult of 
 acquisition. On this subject, a writer remarks — 
 " The roots, or original characters of the Chinese, 
 or what, by a species of analogy may be called its 
 alphabet, are only 214 in number, and might be 
 reduced to a much smaller amount by a little dis- 
 section and analysis. To assert that there are so 
 many thousand characters in the language, is 
 very much the same thing as to say that there are 
 so many thousand words in Johnson's Dictionary. 
 Nor is a knowledge of the whole more necessary 
 for every practical purpose, than it is to get all 
 Johnson's Dictionary by heart, in order to read 
 and converse in English." 
 
 The written characters of the Chinese language 
 are the same over an extent of 2000 miles of latitude 
 —from Japan in the north to Cochin China in the 
 south. This uniformity in the written character, 
 however, has not prevented the existence of diver- 
 sities in the oral languages of the different pro- 
 vinces. While the natives of the two extremities 
 of the empire, indeed, can read the same books, 
 and can understand each other perfectly on paper, 
 they can scarcely hold intelligible converse with 
 each other. For example : while a native of Pe- 
 kin pronounces the numerals expressive of the 
 number 22, urh-she-urh^ a native of Canton calls 
 them ee-shap-ee, although both write them alike. 
 
 The total number of dififerent syllables in the 
 Chinese language does not greatly exceed four 
 hundred, but these are multiplied by various into- 
 nations, which are sufficiently distinct to the ear 
 of a native. 
 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 On the subject of Chinese literature, Sir George 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 143 
 
 Staunton remarks : " One of the most remarkable 
 national peculiarities of the Chinese is their ex- 
 traordinary fondness for letters, and the general 
 prevalence of literary habits among the middling 
 and higher orders, and the very honourable pre- 
 eminence which, from the most remote period, has 
 been universally conceded to that class which is 
 exclusively devoted to literary pursuits. Since 
 the memorable era of Confucius, the Chinese em- 
 pire has been repeatedly dismembered, and again 
 restored to its integrity ; its sceptre, as we have 
 seen, has passed through the hands of many fami- 
 lies or dynasties ; it has been a prey to many in- 
 testine divisions and revolutions, and it has been 
 twice subdued by a foreign foe ; but the reverence 
 of the government and people for the name and in- 
 stitutions of Confucius has survived every change." 
 
 Under the influence of such institutions, it is 
 by no means surprising that the proportion of the 
 community exclusively devoted to letters should 
 be much, greater in China than it is in any other 
 country on the surface of the globe. It is so 
 great as to constitute of itself a distinct class in 
 the State. It is the first and most honourable of 
 the four classes into which the body of the people 
 is considered as divisible, according to the Chinese 
 political system ; namely, the literary, the agricul- 
 tural, the manufacturing, and the mercantile. 
 
 The literature of the Chinese consists of their 
 sacred or canonical works ; moral and didactic 
 books, history, biography, works on their criminal 
 law, works on astronomy, geography, medicine, 
 etc. ; poetry, dramatic writings, and works of fic- 
 tion. All these are briefly noticed underneath, 
 that the reader may be enabled to form a just no- 
 tion of the state of literature in China. 
 
144 SUMMARY OF 
 
 Sacred, or canonical works. — These works have 
 been already briefly levieAved. They are the 
 productions of Confucius and his school, and 
 may be termed philosophical writings. Their 
 whole aim is to teach the Chinese emperors how 
 to rule, and the nation how to obey. For this pur- 
 pose, they represent that all must be virtuous, 
 since on no other principle can order be obtained. 
 This was both just and wise, but it was one thing 
 to tell a people that they must be virtuous, and 
 another to instruct them how to practise virtue. 
 The " sacred or canonical works" fail in this 
 essential knowledge, and hence they must be 
 termed simply theoretical. Confucius himself 
 discovered the inefRcacy of his philosophy. He 
 taught the principles of good government, and 
 maintained that, if his principles were generally 
 received, all the world would become virtuous, 
 war would cease, and the empire enjoy prosperity 
 and peace ; but although he frequently obtained 
 office, for the sole purpose of proving by his own 
 administration that his theory could be reduced to 
 practice, he always failed. Slander assailed him ; 
 vice triumphed over virtue ; and, at length, dis- 
 gusted with politics, he retired into private life. 
 The philosopher himself could not, in truth, sus- 
 tain an even tenor of moral rectitude ; for it is 
 recorded, that he unjustly discarded his lawful 
 wife. So fallible is human wisdom, and so pow- 
 erless is it to affect the seat of all human action — 
 THE HEART. The canouical works may teach 
 some great truths to both the ruler of China and 
 his people, and may even have, to some extent, 
 influenced their conduct; but the heart still retains 
 its original and native corruption, and it can only 
 be cleansed by the influences of the Holy Spirit. 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 145 
 
 Moral and didactic books. — These works rank 
 next to the "sacred or canonical works." They 
 are moral and political essays, which have the 
 sanction both of the government and the learned. 
 Dr. Milne thus speaks of the Shing-yu, or " Sacred 
 Edict," which ranks high in this list of books : 
 " It treats of moral duties and of political economj^ 
 Like all similar Chinese productions, it begins with 
 filial piety, and thence branches out into various 
 other relative duties, according to their supposed 
 importance. Indeed, on whatever subject a 
 Chinese writer treats, he can at all times, with 
 the utmost facility, draw arguments for its support 
 from the relation between parent and child. Even 
 the grossest absurdities of their idolatry are thus 
 supported. The work we are now considering 
 is, in general, for the matter of it, well worth a 
 perusal. Though Christians can derive no im- 
 provement to their ethics from it, yet it will confirm 
 them more and more in the belief of two important 
 points, namely, that God has not left himself with- 
 out a witness in the minds of the heathen ; and 
 that the bare light of nature, as it is called, even 
 when aided by all the light of pagan philosophy, 
 is totally incapable of leading men to the know- 
 ledge and worship of the true God. Yet, for my 
 own part, as an individual, I am of opinion that, 
 as all truth and all good came originally from the 
 same source, so we ought to look with a degree of 
 reverence on those fragments of just sentiment 
 and good principle which we sometimes meet with 
 among the heathen." 
 
 The following aphorisms, derived from the 
 moral and didactic works, are offered as examples 
 of the "just sentiment and good principle" which 
 13 
 
146 SUMMARY or 
 
 sometimes emanate from the minds of Chinese 
 authors. 
 
 The error of a moment becomes the sorrow of a whole 
 life. 
 
 The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man 
 perfected without trials. 
 
 Between two parties, do not speak swords here and 
 flatteries there. 
 
 Carelessness gives temptation to dishonesty. 
 
 The man who combats himself, will be happier than 
 he who contends with others. 
 
 A man need only correct himself with the same rigour 
 that he reprehends others ; and excuse others with the 
 same indulgence that he shows to himself. 
 
 Envy not those who have, nor despise those who have 
 not. 
 
 Do not despise the good things of Providence, 
 
 Domestic failings should not be published. 
 
 Let every man sweep the snow from before his own 
 doors, and not busy himself about the frost on his neigh= 
 hour's tiles. 
 
 The more talents are exercised, the more they will be 
 developed. 
 
 The torment of envy is like a grain of sand in the eye. 
 
 Complain not of Heaven, and blame not men. 
 
 Do not deceive and oppress the orphan and widow. 
 
 Be not proud of wealth, nor complain of poverty. 
 
 He who does not soar high, will suffer Jess by a falL 
 
 Do not wrongfully accuse any one. 
 
 Though the life of a man falls short of a hundred years, 
 he gives himself as much pain and anxiety as if he were 
 to live a thousand. 
 
 Such aphorisms as these adorn both the temples 
 and dwellings of the Chinese. A recent writer 
 has adduced others, which bear a resemblance to 
 some passages of Scripture, as the following : — 
 
 Virtue is the surest road to Ion- Tlie fear of the Lord prolongeth 
 
 gevity; but vice meets with an days; but the years of the wicked 
 
 early doom. shall be shortened. Prov. x. 27. 
 
 The heart is the fountain of Out of it [the heart] are the 
 
 life. issues of life. Prov. iv. 23. 
 
CHINESE HISTOHY. 147 
 
 Honours come by diligence ; The hand of the diligent shall 
 riches spring from economy. bear rule ; but the slothful shall 
 
 be under tribute. Prov. xii. 24. 
 
 If you love your son, give him He that spareth his rod hateth 
 plenty of the cudgel ; if you hate his son ; but he that loveth him 
 your son, cram him with dainties, chasteneth him betimes. Prov. 
 xiii. 2i. 
 
 A virtuous woman is a source A virtuous woman is a crown 
 of honour to her husband ; a to her husband ; but she that 
 vicious one causes him disgrace, maketh ashamed is as rottenness 
 in his bones. Prov. xii. 4. 
 
 Every blade of grass has its Behold the fowls of the air ; 
 share of the dews of heaven ; and for they sow not, neither do they 
 though the birds of the forest have reap, nor gather into barns; yet 
 no garners, the wide world is be- your heavenly Father feedelh 
 fore them. them. Matt. vi". 26. 
 
 That which touches vermilion Evil communications corrupt 
 is reddened. good manners. 1 Cor. xv. 33. 
 
 Similarity of sentiment may certainly be traced 
 in these passages, but the vast superiority of the 
 sacred writers is apparent. Compared with their 
 breathings, indeed, those adduced from Chinese 
 authors sink into insignificance. This is more 
 especially observable in the passage set in juxta- 
 position with that uttered by our Saviour. The 
 writer of it knew only that the birds of the air are 
 fed without treasuring up their stores in garners: 
 Christ taught his disciples, and the world at large, 
 that they are fed by the bounty of a common 
 Father. 
 
 History. '—Hisioiy may be said to occupy the 
 next place to the moral and didactic works in 
 Chinese literature. The master-works are the 
 Shoo-king, and the historical annals of Confucius, 
 called Chun-tsew. On these, all succeeding 
 ^vorks are founded, as far as their data extend : 
 but there are other minor histories which treat of 
 later ages. The histories of the Chinese, however, 
 are not such works as the Roman, Greek, and 
 European historians have produced. The very 
 best among them are by no means superior to the 
 fragments of the annals of Egypt and Chaldea. 
 
148 SUMMARY OF 
 
 The earlier annals are little better than fiction, 
 and those of a later date are replete with fulsome 
 adulation. As Gutzlaff observes, " Instead of 
 allowing that common mortals had any part in 
 the affairs of the world, they speak only of the 
 emperors who then reigned. They represent 
 them as the sources from which the whole order 
 of things emanated, and all others as mere pup- 
 pets, who moved at the pleasure of the autocrat. 
 This is truly Chinese. The whole nation is re- 
 presented by the emperor, and absorbed in him." 
 
 An example of the style which Chinese histo- 
 rians have adopted is subjoined: — "In the sixth 
 year of Hung-woo, the founder of the Ming dynas- 
 ty, the emperor summoned the mandarins of the 
 various districts before him, and thus addressed, 
 them : ' Kindness and cheerfulness are the vir- 
 tues which man ought to possess : hard-hearted- 
 ness and cruelty will rob him of every good 
 quality. If you only pretend to be kind, you will 
 not possess any real goodness of heart; and if 
 you only wish to appear cheerful, you will not 
 exhibit true affability. Strive, therefore, to prac- 
 tise true virtue.' 
 
 " The emperor chose the Taou priests to per- 
 form the service at the national altars, and to 
 officiate at festivals of the gods of the land, river, 
 and cows. 
 
 " Hoo-wei-yung, a deputy magistrate, was de- 
 graded on account of not having brought the mul- 
 tifarious affairs of his province to a conclusion. 
 
 " On the first day of the third month was a solar 
 eclipse. About the same time, several military 
 officers and civilians received promotion." 
 
 This is the classical method of writing history 
 among the Chinese, and in such a strain their 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 149 
 
 pages read from first to last. Statements that in 
 such and such a month, in such and such a year 
 of the reign of a certain prince, the minister or 
 general went to the capital, or traversed the coun- 
 try ; and the prince repaired to his palace, offered 
 sacrifices, or issued orders, etc., make up their 
 sum. They are mere dry chronological details, 
 wherein no spring of human action is traced, and 
 no reference is made to the great Disposer of 
 human events. 
 
 The portion of Chinese history most interesting 
 to a foreigner is, when the country was involved 
 in contests with the Tartars, or subjected by their 
 invasions. 
 
 The lack of veracity, which is a dark spot in. 
 the character of the Chinese, is everywhere dis- 
 covered in their historical writings. That order 
 and connection may be preserved in them, they 
 will even supply data where it is impossible for 
 them to be ascertained. Like Livy, and other 
 ancient historians, they also put orations into the 
 mouths of their heroes, which they neither uttered 
 nor conceived. Some writers have clothed their 
 whole narrative in this garb, as though they wished 
 to write a dialogue ; at the same time so deep is 
 their ingenuity, that even their mythological sto- 
 ries have an appearance of probability, if not of 
 truth. These remarks apply more especially to 
 details having reference to their own country. 
 When they speak of "barbarians," as they know 
 but little about them, and their self-love is strong, 
 their statements are not only imperfect, but mixed 
 with gross falsehood. 
 
 Biography. — The Chinese call biography Sing- 
 heo, or "the study of names." In this department 
 of literature they have a g^reat variety of books, at 
 13* 
 
150 SUMMARY OF 
 
 the head of which, in date and estimation, stands 
 the Lun-yii, or discourses of Confucius, before no- 
 ticed. Some of their memoirs are exceedingly- 
 interesting, and throw more hght on history than 
 the works of professed historians. There is a 
 modern biographical work called Sing-poo, which 
 consists of one hundred volumes, and comprises 
 the lives of eminent men and women, as do our 
 bioo-raphical dictionaries. 
 
 Works on astronomy, geography, medicine, etc. 
 — The Chinese possess one work, published in 
 one hundred volumes, which treats of spherical 
 trigonometry, geometry, astronomy, and music. 
 Of medicine, also, they possess some works, as 
 the Chang-Seng, or " long hfe," an essay on diet 
 and regimen ; and the famous Pun-tsaou, or " her- 
 bal." In geography, their literature is rich; and 
 they have maps, in which every province is laid 
 down on the spherical projection, with lines of 
 latitude, and meridians of longitude. All these 
 works, however, are of very little practical utility. 
 Notwithstanding their boasted civilization, the 
 science of the Chinese is not many degrees supe- 
 rior to that of the primitive ages. 
 
 Poetinj. — In what rude strains the ancient poets 
 among the Chinese sang has been mentioned in a 
 review of the "book of Songs," included in the 
 sacred classics. Since that age, the structure of 
 their verse has undergone considerable improve- 
 ment. 
 
 It would require more space than our limits 
 will allow to give specimens of every kind of 
 Chinese poetry. Hence one example only is 
 subjoined, which will give the reader an idea of 
 their descriptive verse. It is extracted at random 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 151 
 
 from a very famous poem concerning the English, 
 which was written in 1813, by one better instruct- 
 ed than most of his countrymen who have ven- 
 tured to travel abroad. It is entitled "London," 
 and was originally published in the Royal Asiatic 
 Transactions, where it was printed with the Chi- 
 nese text, and where the translator observed that 
 the poem, being a simple description, contains few 
 flights of fancy, whence it was judged best to afford 
 a literal prose translation, retaining all the hyper- 
 boles of the original. 
 
 Afar in the ocean, towards the extremities of the north- 
 west, 
 
 There is a nation, or country, called England : 
 
 The climate is frigid, and you are compelled to approach 
 the fire : 
 
 The houses are so lofty, that you may pluck the stars ! 
 
 The pious inhabitants respect the ceremonies of worship, 
 
 And the virtuous among them ever read the sacred books ; 
 
 They bear a peculiar enmity towards the French nation, 
 
 The weapons of war rest not for a moment between them. 
 Their fertile hills, adorned with the richest luxuriance. 
 
 Resemble, in the outline of their summits, the arched eye- 
 brows of a fair woman. 
 
 The inhabitants are inspired with a respect for the female 
 sex, 
 
 Who in this land correspond with the perfect features of 
 nature ; 
 
 Their young maidens have cheeks resembling red blos- 
 soms. 
 
 And the complexion of their beauties is like the white 
 gem: 
 
 Of old has connubial affection been highly esteemed 
 among them, 
 
 Husband and wife delighting in mutual harmony. 
 
 Here some stanzas are omitted, after which the 
 poet proceeds to describe the city of London. 
 
152 SUMMARY OF 
 
 The two banks of the river lie to the north and south ; 
 Three bridges* interrupt the stream, and form a commu- 
 nication: 
 Vessels of every kind pass between the arches, 
 While men and horses pace among the clouds [fogs] : 
 A thousand masses of stone rise one above the other, 
 And the river flows through nine channels : 
 The bridge of Loyang, which out-tops all in our empire, 
 Is in shape and size somewhat like these. 
 
 The towering edifices rise story above story, 
 In all the stateliness of splendid mansions: 
 Railings of iron thickly stud the sides of every entrance, 
 And streams from the river circulate through the walls. 
 The sides of each apartment are variegated with devices; 
 Through the windows of glass appear the scarlet hang- 
 ings : 
 And in the street itself is presented a beautiful scene ; 
 The congregated buildings have all the aspect of a picture. 
 The spacious streets are exceedingl}'- smooth and level, 
 Each being crossed by others at intervals : 
 On either side perambulate men and women : 
 In the centre career along the carriages and horses : 
 The mingled sound of voices is heard in the shops at 
 
 evening; 
 During winter the heaped-up snows adhere to the path- 
 way : 
 Lamps are displayed at night along the street-sides, 
 Whose radiance twinkles like the stars of the sky. 
 
 On the difficulties attending the translation of 
 Chinese poetry, Gutzlaff remarks : — " That it is 
 interwoven with so many strange and original 
 metaphors and figures of speech, and contains 
 such various allusions to history and deified he- 
 roes, that at first sight it appears a mere jargon. 
 But when a sufficient acquaintance w^ith these 
 peculiarities has enabled the reader to penetrate 
 into the spirit, a splendid vista opens, and the 
 most sublime images present themselves before 
 
 * The only bridges then existing. 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 153 
 
 him. This, however, applies to the works of 
 master-poets only: the productions of numberless 
 imitators are insipid and full of affectation. Nature 
 presents scenes as grand and subhme in China as 
 in any other part of the world. The most roman- 
 tic spots are the abodes of poets even at the present 
 day. Much, therefore, that we admire in descrip- 
 tive writers of other nations who have copied from 
 nature, may be discovered in the effusions of Chi- 
 nese bards, in a different garb." 
 
 Dramatic ivritings. — The Chinese possess a 
 collection of plays in about two hundred volumes, 
 from which one hundred pieces have been selected 
 for general use, as the flower of the whole. These 
 plays chiefly relate to facts in history and domestic 
 manners. Since the Tartar conquest, they have 
 much degenerated in their character. 
 
 Works of fiction. — There is a numerous class 
 of works of fiction in the Chinese language, all 
 of which are either written in the conversational 
 style, or in detached verses. Among them, some 
 have become very popular, and a few are ranked 
 under the title of Tsae-tsze, or "works of genius." 
 Their character is twofold. While some have 
 a peculiar value, inasmuch as they paint Chinese 
 society as it really exists ; others are composed 
 of the most improbable and extravagant stories. 
 Some, indeed, cannot be read Avithout horrifying 
 the mind of the reader, whence the government 
 prohibits their publication. But their contents 
 are so agreeable to the depraved appetite of man, 
 that this prohibition is defied. They are still sold, 
 and their possessors read them with the greatest 
 avidity. 
 
 It will be seen by the foregoing, that the Chi- 
 nese, although they possess a bulky literature, 
 
154 SUMMARY OF 
 
 have very little that is really practical and useful. 
 Their sacred works are mere political essays on 
 the art of government, and contain much that is 
 fallacious ; their moral and didactic works are in- 
 capable of giving a right impulse to human action ; 
 their histories are mere skeletons, conveying no 
 really useful knowledge beyond the data of events ; 
 their works on the criminal code do nothing more 
 than teach by the bastinado ; their volumes on 
 the sciences are miserably deficient in true infor- 
 mation ; while their lighter books are, to a consi- 
 derable extent, calculated to work mischief among 
 the deluded and semi-barbarous multitude. 
 
 The mass of thought contained in their volumes, 
 indeed, presents a hideous picture of the human 
 mind. And with these productions the millions 
 of China are compelled to be satisfied. They are 
 their guides through life, and their stay in the hour 
 of death. This is a fearful consideration, when it 
 is remembered that the Chinese form a third part 
 of the whole human race ; and it should arouse 
 the slumbering zeal of Christians on their behalf. 
 That great and ancient nation requires renovating, 
 for the whole head of it is sick, and the whole 
 heart faint with its iniquities. And how can this 
 be efifected, but by spreading the knowledge of 
 the truth, as it is in Jesus, throughout the length 
 and breadth of the whole land ? The words of 
 our blessed Lord are encouraging to all his dis- 
 ciples : "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will 
 draw all men unto me." He has been lifted up 
 on the cross a sacrifice for the sins of the world, 
 nor will the Chinese possess true knowledge till 
 they know him, whom to know is life eternal. 
 
 Past experience teaches that the efforts of pagan 
 philosophers are utterly vain. Confucius and his 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 
 
 155 
 
 disciples wrought to that end, both by their per- 
 sonal efforts and their writings, but human nature 
 laughed them to scorn. It showed itself, despite 
 all their labours, corrupted still. And thus will it 
 show itself, even to the end of the world, unless 
 the glorious gospel is made known unto them. 
 That alone can renovate China, so long paralyzed 
 by superstition, custom, and despotism. 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 THE MANUFACTirRES, ARTS, AND SCIENCES OF THE 
 CHINESE. 
 
 Itinerant Shoemaker. 
 
 MANUFACTURES. 
 
 It is supposed that the art of printing, the compo- 
 sition of gunpowder, and the m.agnetic compass, 
 had each their origin in China, and were im.ported 
 
156 SUMMARY OF 
 
 into Europe through the channels of oriental com- 
 merce by the way of Asia Minor, or the Red Sea. 
 Europeans, however, have far outstripped the Chi- 
 nese in their use and application. 
 
 The art of printing was practised in China during 
 the tenth century of our era. History relates that 
 the first essay in the art was to transfer the pages 
 from stone blocks, on which the writing had been 
 engraved. By this process the ground of the paper 
 was black, and the letters white. This, however, 
 in the course of time, gavejivay to wooden blocks, 
 on which the characters were cut in relief, and 
 the effect thereby reversed. The paper remained 
 white, and the characters were impressed in ink. 
 This is the Chinese mode of printing at the pre- 
 sent day, and perhaps it is better suited to the 
 Chinese characters than that in use among our- 
 selves. It would, indeed, be difficult for a printer 
 to pick out the various characters required for the 
 printing of a single book, as our compositors do 
 the twenty-six letters of our alphabet, from the 
 little cells in which they are arranged before him. 
 Besides, the plan of printing from blocks is much 
 better for the Chinese, inasmuch as copies of their 
 " sacred works" are required in great numbers for 
 the use of the whole population. 
 
 The material used for printing in China is pear- 
 tree wood. A block of this wood is finely planed 
 and squared to the shape and dimensions of two 
 pages. After this the surface is rubbed over with 
 a paste, sometimes made from boiled rice, which 
 renders it smooth. While yet wet, the future 
 pages, firmly transcribed on their transparent pa- 
 per, are laid upon it in an inverted position, and 
 this paper being subsequently rubbed off, a clear 
 impression in ink of \the inverted writing remains 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 157 
 
 on the wood. The workman then, with a sharp 
 graver, cuts away that portion of the wooden sur- 
 face not covered by ink, and leaves the characters 
 in rehef. Any error may be corrected by insert- 
 ing- small pieces of wood, but the process is so 
 cheap and expeditious, that it is easy to replane 
 and re-eng-rave the block. 
 
 The paper used by the Chinese in their volumes 
 is almost as thin and absorbent of ink as that we 
 call silver paper. The impression is given with 
 a soft contact, and, being so thin and transparent, 
 on one side only. This is done with such expe- 
 dition that one man can strike off two thousand 
 copies in a day. 
 
 The invention of gunpowder, as composed of 
 sulphur, saltpetre, and willow charcoal, is carried 
 very far back by the Chinese. Probably it was 
 applied by them to fire-works — in which they 
 excel at the present day — at a very early date ; 
 but its particular application to fire-arms seems to 
 have been derived from the west, for it is certain 
 that they were ignorant of their use till about 
 A. D. 1309. Soon after this they appear to have 
 had a species of guns, consisting of tubes of 
 wrought-iron, bound together by hoops ; and when 
 the Jesuits located themselves in China, they 
 taught the Chinese to cast cannon. The celebrated 
 Kang-he, after the conquest of China, employed 
 father Verbiest to superintend the casting of some 
 hundred guns, which union of military with clerical 
 pursuits brought some scandal upon him at Rome. 
 Neither the guns nor the powder of the Chinese, 
 however, seem to be very effective, or at least 
 to equal those manufactured and in use by Eu- 
 ropeans. It is recorded as a wonder, that one of 
 14 
 
168 SUMMARY OF 
 
 their cannon pierced a frigate with a shot when it 
 was within pistol-shot of the battery. 
 
 One of the manufactures in which the Chinese 
 most excel is silks. Their brilliant colours, and 
 exquisite texture, have constituted them the most 
 splendid article of dress in China. All, from the 
 noble to the peasant, are ambitious of wearing- 
 them, and they are used not only in robes and 
 trowsers, but in boots shoes and caps. The silks 
 most worn by the Chinese are plain, but they are 
 manufactured of every colour, and with beauti- 
 ful figures. So highly do the Chinese esteem 
 the manufacture of silks, that the empress is its 
 patroness, and goes annually, with her maids of 
 honour, to worship the god of silk, whilst she en- 
 courages the rearing of the worm, and the weav- 
 ing of the article amongst her women. The manu- 
 facture, beautiful as it is, is merely the work of 
 human hands, woven in simple looms, like that 
 produced among the ancients. 
 
 The velvet of the Chinese is inferior to the Eu- 
 ropean : but their damask, sarsnet, satin, crape, 
 and shawls, are reckoned superior. The Chinese, 
 also, display considerable skill in the manufacture 
 of cotton goods, and in a variety of stuffs made of 
 silk and cotton, which are very costly. Carpets 
 are manufactured in the northern provinces, which 
 are of the most elegant description ; and in the 
 same parts they imitate our woollens, though with 
 little success. 
 
 The Chinese are celebrated for the manufacture 
 of artificial flowers, and the mats and various 
 other articles made of bamboo are remarkable 
 for their neatness. Ivory is wrought with great 
 elegance, and their manufacture of cut glass nearly 
 equals that of England. In porcelain and lacquered 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 159 
 
 ware they excel, though in the former they are 
 now outstripped by foreigners, and in the latter, 
 for lustre and beauty, by the Japanese. 
 
 Of the more common manufactures, or trades, 
 Gutzlaff says: — "For the working of iron and 
 steel, the Chinese have never been celebrated; 
 their instruments and utensils are very clumsy, 
 their steel badly tempered, and their knives and 
 razors indifferently polished. The finer toys and 
 trinkets made of that substance, which eclipses 
 the lustre of every other metal, are unknown in 
 China. 
 
 " It would be difficult to find a blacksmith in 
 China able to make a large anchor, or a huge 
 piece of machinery. Their needles, locks, &c., 
 are all of a similar description ; they are not able 
 to make good springs, or to temper the steel pro- 
 perly. What they want in skill, however, they sup- 
 ply in economy and perseverance. Their bellows 
 and instruments, adapted for saving every particle, 
 prove them to be a nation duly attentive to the 
 minor points, and parsimonious with the very 
 fihngs. They understand casting iron. Many of 
 their kitchen utensils, which we make of copper, 
 are here made of iron. Their iron cannon-foun- 
 deries are very numerous, and even the barrel of 
 a match-lock is cast. 
 
 "The Chinese work in tin with great neatness, 
 of which they cast and beat a great variety of uten- 
 sils. It often serves as a substitute for copper, 
 the latter being more expensive. Chinese bra- 
 ziers and coppersmiths are not frequently met 
 with, because the government prohibits the use of 
 copper and brass, except for the casting of coin. 
 Their work is therefore confined to a few unim- 
 portant things, which they make with great neat- 
 
160 
 
 SUMMARY OF 
 
 ness. They are not able to manufacture tin-plates, 
 and these are imported principally for the fabrica- 
 tion of lacquered ware. The work of gold and 
 silversmiths, and jewellers, is exquisite, and can 
 vie with that of any other nation. 
 
 " Chinese artisans are in the habit of itinerating 
 with their implements, and performing work as it 
 may casually fall in their way. The cook may 
 be seen in the market with all culinary utensils for 
 the preparation of viands ; whilst the fruiterer, 
 fish-monger and butcher are near at hand to sup- 
 ply the materials. Even a smithy is carried about, 
 and used at any convenient place in the open air 
 where most customers may be expected. The 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 161 
 
 Streets swarm with tinkers of every description, 
 and their occupations extend to the repairing of 
 every article. The dexterity with which they put 
 together broken glass, porcelain, and other fragile 
 articles, is astonishing. Their earnings are so tri- 
 fling, that the most industrious workman does not 
 gain above one mace (about twenty cents) per day. 
 
 "Barbers put their wash-stand on one end of a 
 bamboo-pole, and their case of drawers, fitted up 
 as a seat for their customers, and containing all 
 the tonsorial apparatus, on the other end. They 
 perform their functions in the open street, or in 
 the market place, without feeling the least sense 
 of impropriety. 
 
 " Shoemakers and tailors are much better off 
 than workers in metal. They receive higher 
 wages, and are more esteemed. Joiners and 
 carpenters have the name of skilful artisans. 
 The former are able to imitate exactly our Eu- 
 ropean furniture, and the latter are famous for 
 boat-building, though very deficient in the con- 
 struction of houses. Some few individuals at Can- 
 ton, and in other large cities, can make clocks and 
 watches ; but they are unable to manufacture the 
 steel work. We have also seen a rudely-made 
 musket, of which, however, the lock was foreign. 
 All articles, the making of which requires more 
 than mere mechanical skill, and the application of 
 profound thought and mathematical exactness, is 
 beyond Chinese ingenuity. Whenever they have 
 a good pattern, the natives of Canton will endea- 
 vour to imitate it, but they attem.pt nothing further. 
 Addicted from their youth to follow ancient rule, 
 they do not, even in their daily occupations, think 
 for themselves, but prefer accommodating them- 
 selves to others." 
 
 14* 
 
-162 SUMMARY OF 
 
 The Chinese are strangers to machinery, but 
 their ingenuity is conspicuous in the ready and 
 simple modes in Avhich they contrive to abridge 
 labour. An example of this is furnished by a 
 modern writer. He says : — " Chance led me to 
 the shop of a blacksmith, the manufacturer of va- 
 rious iron instruments, from a sword to a hoe. 
 This man well understood the modifying proper- 
 ties of heat, and took the fullest advantage of them 
 in all the practical concerns of his business. He 
 Avas forming a reaping-hook at the time of my 
 visit. A large pair of shears, having one blade 
 fixed in a heavy block of wood, and the other fur- 
 nished with a long handle, to serve as a lever, 
 stood beside him. Bringing a piece of metal of 
 the necessary dimensions from the forge at a 
 white heat, he placed it between the blades of 
 this instrument, and cut it into shape with equal 
 ease and despatch." 
 
 The fashion of most of the Chinese tools is very 
 peculiar. The saw of the carpenter, for instance, 
 is formed of a thin plate of steel, Avhich is kept 
 straight by a light frame of bamboo at the back, 
 which serves at the same time for a handle. Then 
 again, carpenters work their awls or augers with 
 a thong, the two extremities of which are attached 
 to the two ends of a stick. The thong being quite 
 slack, is turned round the handle of the awl once, 
 and the instrument is then worked backwards and 
 forwards Avith great velocity. 
 
 The native ingenuity of the Chinese has been 
 thus noticed by Sir George Staunton: — "Two of 
 them took down the two m.agnificent glass lustres 
 sent as presents to the emperor, in order to place 
 them in a more advantageous position. They 
 separated them piecd by piece, and put them toge- 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 163 
 
 ther again without difficulty or mistake, the whole 
 consisting of many thousand pieces, though they 
 had never seen any thing of the kind before. An- 
 other Chinese cut a narrow slip from the edge of 
 a curved plate of glass, in order to supply the place 
 of one belonging to the dome of the Planetarium, 
 which had been broken. The English mechanics 
 belonging to the embassy had in vain attempted 
 to cut the glass according to this curved hne, with 
 the assistance of a diamond. The native work- 
 man did not show his method ; but it was said he 
 succeeded by first drawing the point of a heated 
 iron across the surface to be divided." 
 
 ARTS. 
 
 In sculpture, or the art of cutting stone into imi- 
 tative forms of living objects, the Chinese are very 
 defective. Their figures are altogether rude, both 
 in form and proportion. And it may be owing to 
 this lack of skill in the art of sculpture, that their 
 gods are never represented in stone, but always in 
 modelled clay. No very great anatomical skill is 
 required, as the figures, unlike those in the Gre- 
 cian Pantheon in general, are always clothed. 
 The drapery in which they are enveloped, and 
 which is executed with much truth and effect, 
 conceals their deficiency of skill in modelling. If 
 exhibited in a state of nudity, their idols would 
 appear a caricature of human beings, rather than 
 imitations. The same deficiency of skill is, also, 
 displayed in their sculptured representations of 
 flowers. 
 
 In drawing and painting, where a scientific ad- 
 herence to the rules of perspective are not required, 
 the Chmese are sometimes very successful ; but 
 perspective is disregarded, and as for shading, 
 
164 SUMMARY OF 
 
 they object to its introduction. "When several 
 portraits," says Mr. Barrow, "intended as presents 
 for the emperor, were exposed to view, the man- 
 darins, observing the variety of tints occasioned by 
 the light and shade, asked whether the originals 
 had the right and left sides of the figure of differ- 
 ent colours ? The)^ considered the shadow of the 
 nose as a great imperfection in the figure, and 
 some supposed it to have been placed there by 
 accident." But though the Chinese disregard the 
 rules of perspective and shading, their drawings 
 by the eye are often tolerably correct. They paint 
 insects, birds, fruits, and flowers very beautifully, 
 and with great vividness of colour. Still their 
 representations of living objects are very stiff — 
 the life, which can only render paintings cele- 
 brated, is wanting. The Chinese, however, are 
 not incapable of producing better things ; for some 
 native artists employed at Canton and Macao, by 
 English naturalists, have delineated various spe- 
 cimens in botany and zoology scientifically. 
 
 Of the music of the Chinese, Gutzlaff remarks: 
 —"During all our peregrinations, having been 
 present at the celebration of marriages and fune- 
 rals, and at the review of troops, we have never 
 been able to make out a single air. Musical notes, 
 though known, are not in common use. A band 
 of music consists of the loud gong, large and small 
 drums, cymbals, pipes, various flutes, trumpets 
 like those made for children, horns, which are 
 instruments with many pipes, a guitar with one 
 or two strings, and a variety of others ; amongst 
 which are bells, hung up in a frame, in order to 
 give an harmonious chime. The principle on 
 which a concert is played appears to be, which of 
 the musicians shall ouhdo the other in loudness of 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 165 
 
 sound, in which attempt the beater of the gong 
 generally succeeds to admiration." 
 
 The houses of the Chinese are tent-like edifices ; 
 and their bridges, which have been extolled by the 
 Jesuits as something extraordinary, are found, upon 
 examination, to display no scientific principles. 
 " Something," says Lay, " taught them to connect 
 two banks of a river, by means of stones or bricks 
 laid together, and to leave a hole in the middle to 
 let the water pass through; but there is no evi- 
 dence to show they ever reflected upon the cause 
 which kept the several parts in their places, or 
 sought any further for it than the mortar or cement 
 by which they were bound together. The archi- 
 tect looked on, displayed his portly form, and plied 
 his fan from time to time, or chatted familiarly 
 with his men, but never ran the risk of a prema- 
 ture wrinkle or look of care, by any speculation 
 about the abstruse doctrines of equilibrium." 
 
 SCIENCE. 
 
 If the civilization of a people is to be measured 
 by their skill in the sciences, then the Chinese 
 are but a few stages in advance of barbarism. 
 Educated they may be, but their education con- 
 sists almost solely in knowing how to read and 
 write, as the common people of Europe. On 
 abstract science they set no value, apart from 
 obvious and immediate utility, and hence it forms 
 no part of their studies. 
 
 The whole system of medicine partakes of the 
 nature of quackery. Their remedies for diseases 
 are as multifarious as they are absurd. At the 
 head of all drugs stands ginseng, the vivifying 
 effects of which are said to be so great, that if a 
 piece be put into the mouth of a person just de- 
 
166 SUMMARY OF 
 
 ceased, he will again revive I Tea, in various 
 modes of preparation, is much valued as a medi- 
 cine, and difterent parts of rare animals are in- 
 cluded in their list. 
 
 Of the mathematical sciences, with the excep- 
 tion of the elements of arithmetic and astronomy, 
 the Chinese are entirely ignorant. 
 
 What the Chinese know scientifically of astro- 
 nomy appears to be owing partly to the instruc- 
 tions of the Mohammedans, but chiefly to the 
 Jesuit missionaries attached to the Astronomical 
 Board. Their knowledge, however, is still very 
 imperfect. Astrological observations, vain and 
 fallacious though they be, better suit their genius 
 and their tastes. The emperor is, in truth, the 
 great patron of astrology^; for he will not under- 
 take any thing except he is first assured that it is 
 in accordance with the starry heavens; whence it 
 is natural that the Chinese should prefer the cul- 
 tivation of astrology to that of astronomy. The 
 mysteries of astronomy and astrology are wielded 
 as an engine of power over the ignorance of the 
 people. The government has declared it death 
 to publish a counterfeit or imitation of the Imperial 
 Almanac, and it countenances the extravagancies 
 of the populace during the observation of an 
 eclipse, and the terror caused by the appearance 
 of a comet. When an eclipse occurs, the emperor 
 goes through sundry ceremonies, and affects to 
 consider it as a warning to him for some mal- 
 administration. 
 
 In geometry they are very deficient ; and, by a 
 natural consequence, they have no correct notions 
 of geograph5r. But for the Jesuits, they might 
 even now have represented their country as the 
 centre of a circle,^ studded round with foreign 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 
 
 167 
 
 nations, as they did anciently. Taught by them, 
 under the patronage of the enlightened Kang-he, 
 they have laid down every province separately on 
 the spherical projection, with lines of latitude, 
 calculated from the equator, and meridians, of 
 longitude. But these maps are inaccurate ; and 
 as for every thing external to their own country 
 and Tartary, they scarcely give it a thought. 
 They possess a rough map of the two terrestrial 
 hemispheres, supplied them by the Jesuits, which 
 is their only work on general geography. 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 THE COMMERCE OF THE CHINESE, 
 
 Shipr ng 
 INTERCOURSE WITH THE ANCIENTS. 
 
 Although the Chinese are an essentially agri- 
 cultural people, and although their policy has ever 
 
168 SUMMARY OF 
 
 been to live secluded from the rest of manldnd, 
 yet history relates that some of the treasures of 
 their country very early found their way into the 
 distant parts of the earth. This is more especially 
 the case with reference to the article of silk. 
 After silk was known in Europe, it was always 
 represented as coming from some remote country, 
 and this remote country has been said to be 
 Thinas, Sinae, or Serica, or the country of the 
 Seres, all which have reference to China. 
 
 A knowledge of China cannot be traced back 
 to a more remote period than the age of Alexander. 
 The Macedonian Greeks, having carried their 
 arms into India, there heard of it under the an- 
 cient names of Thinse and Sinas ; but this was not 
 the origin of commerce with China. Anterior to 
 that date the Greeks had used silk, and it appears 
 probable that it was used in Western Asia before 
 it was known to the Greeks. It was from Western 
 Asia that the Greeks first obtained it, and they 
 used it long before they knew whence the sub- 
 stance came. Centuries passed, indeed, before 
 they, or even the Romans, had any information 
 about the remote country from which silk came, 
 or of the manner in which it was produced. Thus 
 Virgil supposed that the Seres carded the silk 
 from leaves ; and Dionysius, the geographer, con- 
 ceived it to be a vegetable product. In the days of 
 Pausanias more distinct information had been ob- 
 tained concerning the silk-worm, and the country 
 whence it came; and about a. d. 166, the increas- 
 ing demand for the article, with the increase 
 of luxury among the Romans, suggested the idea 
 of a direct commercial intercourse with China. 
 The emperor Marcus Antoninus sent an embassy 
 thither for the purj^se, but the policy of that em 
 
 
CHINESE HISTORY- 169 
 
 pire was as exclusive then as it is at the present 
 day. The embassy was coldly received, and a 
 second embassy, in 284, met with a similar recep- 
 tion. The Romans were compelled still to re- 
 ceive the article through an indirect medium, 
 and the question may be asked, what that medium 
 was ? Ancient authors furnish so little informa- 
 tion about China, and their notions of the country 
 moreover are so obscure, that it would be difficult 
 to describe the direct route by which the silk of 
 the "remote east" found its way into Europe. In 
 the earliest ages, however, it would appear that 
 silk was brought from China, where it was origi- 
 nally found, to India, by an inland communication, 
 beginning from the bay of Issus inCilicia; and 
 that it was brought out of India by the Red Sea 
 to Egypt, and thence to Greece and Rome. At 
 a later date, the Romans obtained it from Persia. 
 Merchants of Samarcand and Bokhara proceeded 
 through the northern provinces of Chinese Tarta- 
 ry, by a dangerous and difficult route, to China; 
 these on their return transported it into Persia, 
 and the Persian merchants sold it to the Romans at 
 the fairs of Armenia and Nisibis. About a. d. 550, 
 the Persians had obtained the monopoly of the 
 whole silk trade ; and whatever nation desired 
 this article of luxury was compelled to seek it 
 from them. They were so jealous of the trade, 
 that no person from the west was allowed to tra- 
 verse the dominions of Persia towards China, nor 
 was any traveller thence, allowed to proceed to the 
 west. They were thus enabled to control the sup- 
 ply, so that the inhabitants of Tyre and Berytus 
 in Phenicia, who had manufactured the article for 
 the Roman market, were sometimes unable to 
 procure an adequate quantity of the raw material. 
 15 
 
170 SUMMARY or 
 
 In the reign of Justinian, indeed, an event hap- 
 pened which put an end to the indirect intercourse 
 between China and Europe, and in a short time 
 served to obscure the slight knowledge which had 
 been obtained of that country. The government 
 of Constantinople put an entire stop to the importa- 
 tion of silk, and in this extremity Justinian applied 
 to the Arabians, and to the king of Abyssinia, 
 hoping to induce them to undertake the import 
 of the raw material. His application, however, 
 was unsuccessful, and the luxurious Romans had 
 the mortifying prospect before them of being com- 
 pelled to substitute cotton for silk. But an inci- 
 dent occurred which furnished the means through 
 which an abundant supply of the raw material 
 was eventually procured. Two Nestorian monks 
 of Persia, who had travelled to Serindi, or China, 
 had made themselves acquainted with the history 
 and treatment of the silkworm, as well as the pro- 
 cess of manufacture. These monks stated their 
 information to the emperor, who engaged them 
 to return to Serindi, and bring away some of the 
 eggs of the silk-worm. Accordingly they returned 
 to Serindi, and secured a quantity of the eggs, 
 which they deposited in a hollow cane, and brought 
 to Constantinople. These eggs were hatched by 
 the heat of a dung-hill, and the worms were fed 
 with mulberry leaves ; and from that time silk 
 was manufactured in Europe. 
 
 INTERCOURSE WITH THE MODERNS. 
 
 After the age of Justinian, all traces of Euro- 
 pean intercourse with China, whether directly or 
 indirectly, are lost for a series of ages. In the 
 ninth century, the Arabians appear to have ex- 
 tended their commerce by sea to the southern 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 171 
 
 coasts of China, while their caravans maintained a 
 land intercourse with that country, through Persia 
 and Thibet, or India. The knowledge of this in- 
 tercourse was furnished by two Mohammedan 
 travellers, who were there about the middle of 
 the ninth centur}^ Such was the state of learn- 
 ing", however, that this knowledge was not made 
 known to Europeans till 1718. Still Europe had 
 benefited from the Arabian intercourse with China. 
 The art of paper-making was introduced by them 
 in the eleventh century ; and soon after they taught 
 Europeans the art of block-printing, of making pen- 
 dulum clocks, and the use of the mariner's compass. 
 All these arts had been long in the possession of 
 the Chinese, and it seems probable that the Arabs 
 gathered a knowledge of them from that people, 
 and brought them into Europe. 
 
 The Arabian merchants appear to have been 
 privileged to enter into the interior of China. 
 Their geographical works, at least, mention the 
 names of various cities, though it is not always 
 easy to discover to what town their descriptions 
 refer. But thus much can be collected, that the 
 northern provinces were called Cathay ; the south- 
 ern, Tchin, or Sin ; and that the capital of the 
 country was called Cambalu. 
 
 In the thirteenth century, some information con- 
 cerning China was collected from Tartary. The 
 conquests of Genghis Khan and his successors, 
 and the encroachments of the Tartars upon the 
 eastern frontiers of Europe, induced the pope 
 to send two embassies to the Tartarian camps. 
 When the second of these embassies arrived, they 
 found ambassadors from Persia, India, Russia, 
 and China ; and they obtained correct informa- 
 tion what part of China the Tartars had then sub- 
 
172 SUMMARY OF 
 
 jugated, and some little knowledge of the people. 
 In describing the latter, Carpini, who was at the 
 head of this embassy, says, " They seem to be a 
 mild and humanized people ; they wear no beard, 
 and in their face rather resemble the Mongols, 
 though their faces are not so broad. They have a 
 peculiar language of their own; and better arti- 
 sans, in all sorts of work, cannot be found. Their 
 country abounds in corn, wine, gold, silver, and 
 silks ; and, in short, in every thing desirable for 
 life." 
 
 A few years later, Louis IX. of France de- 
 spatched two ambassadors to the Tartars, on hear- 
 ing that they were well di&'posed toward the 
 Christian faith. These ambassadors penetrated 
 through the heart of Asia to Karakorum, at that 
 time the capital of the khan of the Tartars. This 
 city was not far from the confines of China, and it 
 abounded with Chinese ; so that the ambassadors, 
 while there, learned much both of the country and 
 the people. 
 
 In the meantime, commerce sent forth private 
 adventurers, who greatly contributed to a know- 
 ledge of China. Among these the family of the 
 Poll, of Venice, is very conspicuous. Maffeo and 
 Nicolo Polo, two brothers, being informed that an 
 advantageous commercial speculation might be 
 made with the Tartars on the Volga, went thither ; 
 and on their return they met with an ambassador 
 from Kublai, the great khan, who invited them to 
 his court. This was accepted, and they were held 
 in such high estimation by Kublai, that he com- 
 missioned them to request the pope to send him 
 „one hundred learned men to teach Christianity and 
 the ''Seven Sciences"Mn his dominion. Shortly 
 after they had reached Europe, Gregory X. was 
 
CHINESE HigXORY, 173 
 
 raised to the Papal throne ; and he so far com- 
 plied with the khan's request as to send two indi- 
 viduals, Avho were reputed men of letters and 
 science, as well as good theologians. At the same 
 time Marco Polo, the son of Maffeo, was sent with 
 some presents to the khan, and proper diplomatic 
 credentials. When Marco arrived, the khan had 
 made himself master of the empire of China, and 
 he was detained in his suite for more than twenty 
 years. Here he had opportunities of making him- 
 self acquainted with both the country and the peo- 
 ple. He published an account of the country in 
 manuscript, and it was at first believed ; but in a 
 short time it became the fashion to decry his work 
 as a tissue of romance. 
 
 A few years after the return of Marco Polo, one 
 Oderic de Porteneau, a friar, seized with a desire 
 to visit the remote and infidel countries of the east, 
 penetrated into Southern China, and visited Cam- 
 balu. The Tartar government still existed, and 
 on his return he published an account of it, which 
 agreed with that of Marco Polo. The statements 
 of Oderic, however, were treated with even more 
 skepticism than those of the Venetian. From that 
 time, until the nations of Europe commenced a 
 system of commercial enterprise, great and mighty 
 as the empire of China was, it was only heard of 
 incidentally. About the commencement of the 
 fourteenth century, an Armenian monk gave some 
 information to Clement V. concerning the history 
 and geography of those remote regions ; and some 
 further details were given by the Persian historian, 
 Mirkhond, and some Persian travellers : but their 
 accounts produced no desire in the breasts of Eu- 
 ropeans to visit the country, or to trade with the 
 oeople. 
 
 15^^ 
 
174 SUMMARY OF 
 
 At length, in the sixteenth century, the fame 
 of the empire reached some Portuguese, who had 
 established themselves at Malacca; and having 
 satisfied, themselves by ocular demonstration, that 
 such a nation existed, and proved it to the govern- 
 ment, the Portuguese authorities sent missions to 
 the emperor, in order to establish a free trade with 
 the country. At first, they were permitted to 
 trade at the port of Tamon, and afterwards at 
 Ningpo and Chincheu ; but, in consequence of 
 their behaviour, they were successively expelled 
 from these towns. While they were engaged in 
 the trade at Sanshan, however, they assisted the 
 Chinese in clearing the seas of some pirates, by 
 whom the neighbourhood of Canton was infested ; 
 and they received, as the reward of their services, 
 the exclusive right to trade with China for many 
 years, and the possession of the island of Macao. 
 The Portuguese still nominally retain this island : 
 but Chinese soldiers mount guard at the landing- 
 place, and Chinese edicts control the commands 
 of the Portuguese authorities. 
 
 The discovery of the empire of China, and the 
 early proceedings of the Portuguese in that coun- 
 try, excited a great sensation in Europe. A cen- 
 tury, however, passed away, before any other 
 nation seemed disposed to dispute their advan- 
 tages. Early in the seventeenth century, the 
 Dutch, who were their rivals in the commerce of 
 India, determined to meet them as such on the 
 shores of the "celestial empire." An embassy 
 sent to the court of China for that purpose failed, 
 chiefly, it would seem, from their singular appear- 
 ance, (which alarmed the Chinese.) and from the 
 aspersions of the Portuguese, who inspired the 
 government with much suspicion of the new 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 175 
 
 Visitors. Thus repulsed, and unable to obtain 
 any Chinese goods, except through the medium 
 of the Portuguese, the Dutch resolved to obtain 
 by force what they were unable to obtain by nego- 
 tiation. A fleet was fitted out and placed under 
 the command of Admiral Kiezerzoon, who suc- 
 ceeded in capturing one of the Pehou islands, 
 situated between Formosa and the main land. 
 Still the Chinese would hold no friendly inter- 
 course with them, alleging that they would never 
 treat with persons who kept possession of any part 
 of the imperial territories ; and informing them, 
 that if they would retire to Formosa, which was 
 then out of the Chinese dominion, they would 
 treat with them. The Dutch did retire to For- 
 mosa ; but it was subsequently wrested from them 
 by Coxinga, who governed the southern provinces 
 of Gluangsee, Quangtung, and Fokien, and who 
 rebelled against the emperor. In their war with 
 Coxinga, the Chinese called in the aid of the 
 Dutch, and he fell before their united forces. 
 This led to the establishment of the Dutch at 
 Canton, where they were allowed to build a 
 house for the purposes of trade, which they soon 
 converted into a fortress. A battery only was 
 wanting to make it a citadel, and the Dutch were 
 desirous of thus establishing their power in China. 
 They employed themselves in bringing in cannon 
 clandestinely ; but their treachery being disco- 
 vered, their vessels were burned, their fort demo- 
 lished, all Dutchmen were banished, and trade 
 forbidden with them on pain of death. The me- 
 mory of this attempt appears to have been soon 
 obliterated, for, in 1762, they were again permit- 
 ted to establish a factory at Canton. Their trade 
 with China, however, was interrupted by the war 
 
176 SUMIilARY OF 
 
 between England and Holland; and though, since 
 the fall of Napoleon, it has been resumed, the 
 Dutch have not been able to recover the relative 
 position in the trade which they occupied anterior 
 to that date. 
 
 The Russians have been more successful in 
 establishing a trade with China. Involved in ter- 
 ritorial disputes with that nation, at length nego- 
 tiations ensued, and, in 1689, a treaty was signed, 
 by which Russia, on condition of being permitted 
 to trade with China, agreed to abandon an exten- 
 sive territory on the Chinese frontier, to destroy 
 the fortress of Albazin, and to surrender the navi- 
 gation of the river Amour. This treaty was after- 
 wards ratified by Peter the Great, and by it Russia 
 has gained considerably greater privileges than 
 have ever been accorded to any other European 
 nation by the Chinese government. Still the 
 trade between these two empires is one of mere 
 barter. It is carried on solely at Kiakhta, on the 
 frontiers of the two countries, each nation carrying 
 its goods to that mart to exchange with those of 
 the other. The profits arising therefrom are valu- 
 able to Russia ; but, by a fundamental lavi^ of China, 
 no nation can trade at two points, and Russia is in 
 consequence excluded from the more valuable 
 trade at Canton. 
 
 The intercourse of America with China has 
 been strictly commercial; it commenced in 1784, 
 and it has gradually increased, till it has acquired 
 an importance second only to that of Great Britain. 
 
 It is in connection with the trade of Great Britain 
 that the nature of Chinese commerce, and the man- 
 ner in which it is conducted, will be more fully 
 unfolded. ^ 
 
 The first attempt of the English to establish 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 177 
 
 commercial intercourse with China was made in. 
 the days of Elizabeth. In 1596, Sir Robert Dud- 
 ley was commissioned to sail thither ; and he car- 
 ried with him a letter to "The most high, serene, 
 and powerful prince and ruler of the great king- 
 dom of China, the greatest empire in the eastern 
 parts of the world." But Dudley never reached 
 China, and never returned home, and his fate re- 
 mains a mystery. The English were brought 
 into actual contact with the Chinese, however, in 
 the year 1605. Sir E. Michelbourne obtained a 
 patent for trading to the eastern seas, and not find- 
 ing the Chinese favourably disposed to commerce, 
 he not only seized the ships of any nation he 
 met with, but plundered several valuable Chinese 
 junks. This was an untoward action, for it had 
 the effect of prejudicing the minds of the Chinese 
 against the English, which prejudice was fostered 
 by the Portuguese. The English were designated 
 as the enemies of China ; trade with them was ex- 
 pressly prohibited, and they continued for many 
 years the most abhorred of all the nations of Eu- 
 rope. 
 
 The enmity of the Chinese towards the English 
 was made manifest in 1637, when another attempt 
 was made to establish a commercial intercourse 
 between the two countries. At that date, the 
 British merchants sent four ships and a pinnace, 
 imder the command of Captain Weddel, to Macao, 
 which was in the possession of the Portuguese. 
 While here, the pinnace, with fifty men, and a 
 ship's barge, were despatched to the river of Can- 
 ton, and on reaching an anchorage they landed, 
 and were hospitably entertained at a native village. 
 In their subsequent progress up the river they met 
 with a fleet of twenty junks, and were kindly in- 
 
178 SUMMARY OF 
 
 vited on "board, and a Portuguese negro, who un- 
 derstood Chinese, interpreted between them and 
 their hosts. All seemed to augur well, for the 
 Chinese offered to conduct the officers to Canton, 
 where they might present the petition for trade 
 which they had with them to the viceroy, provided 
 the pinnace would instantly return to Macao. This 
 was agreed to, but before they had reached Can- 
 ton, they were met by a boat from the viceroy, 
 and informed that their petition should be granted 
 if they would return to Macao. 
 
 Not wishing to give offence, the English officers 
 returned to Macao ; but, instead of the expected 
 arrangements, they found onl}^ derision for their 
 credulity. Thus incensed, the whole fleet sailed 
 for Canton, and they had advanced as far as the 
 Bocca Tigris, when they were met by some offi- 
 cial personages, who, after some specious expla- 
 nations of their conduct, promised the officers that 
 they should positively have an audience of the 
 viceroy if they would remain at anchor for six 
 days. Although justly suspicious of the good 
 faith of the Chinese, the English consented to 
 remain at anchor ; but, on the fourth day, they 
 were suddenly cannonaded from a neighbouring 
 fortification. Their shot being ill-directed, how- 
 ever, did little harm, and before they could again 
 discharge their unwieldy artillery, the English 
 guns bore upon their batteries, and made fearful 
 havoc. In two hours the fort was taken, the Chi- i 
 nese utterly dispersed, and the British flag waved | 
 for the first time in the air of China. ' 
 
 Still the English were unwilling to continue 
 hostile towards the Chinese. They abandoned 
 their advantages, and made another attempt to 
 address the viceroy. But a^-ain they were de 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 179 
 
 ceived. ^Some officers were permitted to present 
 their petition to the viceroy, and leave was grant- 
 ed to the English to take possession of one small 
 island outside the river, which they might fortify, 
 and make the centre of their commerce. Trade 
 was already commenced, and every thing appeared 
 to be going on prosperously ; but, on a sudden, an 
 attempt was made to destroy the English fleet at 
 Macao by means of fire-ships, and the officers at 
 Canton were confined in the house they occupied, 
 while food and fire were denied them, and a guard 
 placed at the door to prevent their escape. The 
 attempt on the English fleet proved abortive; and 
 the crew, enraged at the detention of their officers, 
 laid waste plantations, destroyed villages, and sunk 
 or disabled all the vessels they could meet with. 
 This destruction soon determined the Chinese to 
 a more pacific line of conduct. The officers were 
 released, and the English permitted to conclude 
 their trade ; but they had no sooner quitted the 
 river, than an edict was issued, strictly prohibiting 
 all trade with the Enghsh nation. 
 
 The terror of the English, which this event 
 caused in China, was of long duration. Twenty 
 years after, when the Dutch petitioned to be 
 allowed to trade with the Chinese, they were in- 
 formed that they must prove themselves not to be 
 Englishmen before their petition was granted. 
 The English, it was stated, had arrived in the 
 river with ships of war, which had not only beaten 
 their navy, but had battered their castles, taken 
 their great men prisoners, fighting more like 
 demons than men, whereby they had become the 
 declared enemies of China. 
 
 Subsequent to this event, several attempts w^ere 
 made by the English to gain a footing in China, 
 
180 SUMMARY OF 
 
 but they were unavailing. At lengtli, however, 
 from the assistance rendered by them to the 
 Chinese in the southern provinces against the 
 Tartars, who had subjugated the north to their 
 sway, they procured a residence on the islands of 
 Amoy and Gluemoy. But the reduction of the 
 whole empire by the Tartars soon afterwards de- 
 prived them of this advantage, and it was not till 
 near the end of the century that they were allowed 
 to partake of their commerce with other European 
 nations. 
 
 The commercial intercourse of England was 
 first carried on through the medium of the East 
 India Company, under whose management it 
 flourished. The trade of the East India Company 
 with China, however, was brought to a close, 
 according to the provisions of a new act, which 
 rendered the trade free, in April, 1834, after hav- 
 ing lasted just two centuries. Soon after this, 
 several ships quitted Canton with cargoes of tea 
 for the British islands, and the trade continued, 
 with some interruptions, till 1839, when the Chi- 
 nese required that all opium ships should be sent 
 away, under the penalty of hostile measures. 
 This requisition was disregarded, and a demand 
 was then made that all the opium on board the 
 ships should be delivered to the government for 
 the purpose of being destroyed. It was further 
 demanded, that a bond should be given in the 
 Chinese and foreign languages, that the ships 
 should hereafter never dare to bring opium ; and 
 that, should any be brought, the ships should be 
 forfeited, and the parties suffer death. 
 
 These demands were made under a show of de- 
 termined hostility, and from these circumstances 
 Captain Elliot, then British superintendent of the 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 181 
 
 trade at Canton, required the surrender of all 
 the English opium on the coast of China, and 
 20,283 chests of that haneful drug were delivered 
 to the commissioners appointed by the Chinese 
 government, from the ships assembled for that 
 purpose below the Bocca Tigris. At the same 
 time, the British superintendent gave a bond to 
 the owners as an indemnity. Still the Chinese 
 government was not satisfied. Hostilities com- 
 menced, and Avar with China was the consequence, 
 the events of which are doubtless fresh in the 
 minds of the reader.* The result of that war, so far 
 as commerce is concerned, has proved favourable 
 to the English nation. By it indemnification to 
 the amount of 820,000,000 has been procured for 
 all the losses of the English merchants by the 
 Chinese, and the trade between the two countries 
 established upon a broader foundation than it has 
 ever been before. The English, indeed, have 
 virtually gained some settlements in the Chinese 
 territory ; and there can be little doubt but they 
 will be able to maintain their position, and keep 
 the extensive empire of China in awe. 
 
 It is to be feared, however, that the population 
 of China will still possess the opportunity of in- 
 haling the fatal drug, which has caused so many 
 miUions to sleep the sleep of death. But if some fo- 
 reigners still persist in the traffic, let it be the duty 
 of others to endeavour to counteract its evils. There 
 is an impression among the Chinese, that the 
 object which the English have in view by intro- 
 ducing opium into the country, is to weaken and 
 
 * As this is a re-print of an English work, the reader 
 will understand that the view here given of the origin of 
 the late Chinese war is to be received with due allow- 
 ance. — Ed, 
 
 16 
 
182 SUMMARY OF 
 
 enfeeble the "celestial empire," for some ulterior 
 purpose. One of the emperor's edicts says, that 
 " the English are of a violent, overbearing dispo- 
 sition, and that they have long cherished plans 
 great and deep." It is to be hoped that the 
 British nation will prove that as a body of people 
 they desire their temporal and eternal welfare, and 
 while some seek individual gain, even at the ex- 
 pense of the souls and bodies of their fellow-men, 
 many are ready to make a sacrifice of their tem- 
 poral goods on their behalf. 
 
 All foreign commerce (the inland trade except- 
 ed) is carried on at Canton. For this purpose, 
 hongs, or factories, are built along the bank of the 
 river, extending backwards in depth a hundred and 
 thirty yards, into a long narrow lane, on each side 
 of which are the abodes of foreigners. 
 
 Abeel gives an interesting description of the 
 appearance which the open space in front of the 
 factories presents at different hours of the day. He 
 says : — " It is the rendezvous of multitudes of the 
 natives, who assemble daily, to transact business, 
 gratify curiosity, or murder time. It is level for a 
 short distance, beyond which, it stretches over a 
 large pile of rubbish, deposited here after the de- 
 solating fire of 1822, and retained, notwithstand- 
 ing numerous applications for its removal, as a 
 lasting and growing nuisance to foreigners. 
 
 " As the morning opens upon this scene, silence 
 retires, and the ears of the stranger are assailed by 
 a new and peculiar combination of sounds. Hu- 
 man voices of harsh, drawhng tones, cries of con^ 
 fined dogs and cats, screams of roughly-handled 
 poultry, notes of feathered songsters, some of 
 them admirably gifted and trained, with, at times, 
 an accompaniment of very unmusical instruments, 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 183 
 
 all unite in this inharmonious concert. The occu- 
 pations of the tradesmen are varied. Meat, fish, 
 vegetables, fruit, drugs, manufactures ; every thing 
 saleable is brought to the general market. A 
 number convey their portable kitchens hither, and 
 prepare such dishes as suit the palates and purses 
 of this promiscuous concourse. Others plant the 
 barber's shop, or its necessary apparatus, in a con- 
 venient place, and spend their leisure hours in 
 lolling about and conversation. Those who fre- 
 quent the place for trade are probably less nume- 
 rous than the groups of idlers, who pass their time 
 in listening to stories, witnessing juggling tricks, 
 attending the operations and lectures of empirics, 
 gaping at objects of novelty, and too frequently 
 endeavouring to obtain each other's money by 
 gambling. 
 
 " When the sun is oppressive, the crowd retires, 
 with the exception of the hucksters, who intercept 
 his withering beams by temporary tilts. The erec- 
 tion of tents is a liberty not sanctioned by law, or 
 rather, contrary to the oral prohibitions of the 
 petty officers who have charge of the square. 
 Consequently, when men of authority make their 
 appearance, the scene suddenly changes. From 
 the moment of alarm, there is the most hasty de- 
 spatch, until every thing is removed that militates 
 against their order. Their exit appears to be re- 
 garded as the signal of re-erection, and all things 
 speedily revert to their former state. Such a show 
 of subjection, with real contempt for authority, 
 when it opposes individual gain, is said to be a 
 prominent feature of the nation." 
 
 In moralizing upon the mass of accountable 
 beings met with at Canton, Mr. Abeel remarks ; 
 '•In surveying this multitude, there are a great 
 
184 SUMMARY OF 
 
 many points of interest to the eye of Christian 
 compassion and benevolence. Independent of the 
 associations which are common to all the heathen, 
 there are facts of importance peculiar to this daily 
 throng. Great numbers of them can read, and 
 are attracted by every publication that meets their 
 eyes. It is customary to paste up advertisements 
 in the most public place of the square and the 
 streets, and the groups generally found through 
 the day gathered around them show their eager- 
 ness to catch at every piece of information. What 
 a place must this be for the operations of a press, 
 sacred to the cause of the Redeemer !" 
 
 As traders, the Chinese are eminently active, 
 persevering, and intelligent. They are, in truth, 
 a highly commercial people. Business is trans- 
 acted with great despatch, and it is affirmed that 
 there is no part of the world where cargoes may 
 be sold and bought, unloaded and loaded, with 
 more business-like speed and activity. An instance 
 of this despatch is furnished by an American writer 
 thus : — " While our officers were at dmner, a 
 gentleman left the table for a moment, and return- 
 ed as soon as he was scarcely missed. He in- 
 formed his guests, that he had made a sale, while 
 absent, of opium, to the amount of $200,000, and 
 assured them that the Chinese are remarkably 
 expert in business. Shopkeepers, from Avhom you 
 may buy the most trifling article, supply ships 
 with cargoes, worth $200,000, and will contract 
 to do so, with all the necessary security, in the 
 length of time he had been absent from the table. 
 They will manage all the smuggling, if any be 
 necessary; get all the chops for duties; and deliver 
 the articles on board the ship at Lintin, Whampoa, 
 or Macao." 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 185 
 
 The articles of import and export to be met with 
 at Canton are too numerous to be mentioned. It 
 will be sufficient to say that Europe and America 
 pour many of their natural productions, and some 
 of their manufactures, into China ; and that China, 
 in return, sends its most valuable productions, na- 
 tural and artificial, to be dispersed throughout the 
 world. Of these productions tea holds the first 
 rank; and the importance of this branch of com- 
 merce may be seen in the fact, that since the com- 
 mencement of the present century, about 1,000,- 
 000,000 lbs. have been sent into England. Well 
 has it been said by the poet Cowper, that 
 
 "the bond of commerce was designed 
 
 To associate all the branches of mankind; 
 And if a boundless plent}' be the robe, 
 Trade is the golden girdle of the globe. 
 Wise to promote whatever ends he means, 
 God opens fruitful nature's various scenes : 
 Each climate needs what other climes produce, 
 And offers something to the general use ; 
 No land but listens to the common call, 
 And in return receives supply from all." 
 
 Still the present trade with our own country 
 and Europe dwindles to a mere point, when com- 
 pared with the extent of the empire, and the 
 amount of its population. The direct annual 
 revenue accruing from Canton has been ascer- 
 tained to exceed, annually, $2,000,000 on imports 
 alone ; but this bears no proportion to indirect 
 gains arising from trade. Contributions are ex- 
 acted from the hong merchants under various 
 names, as "Uses of the army," "Imperial tri- 
 bute," " Yellow river dues," &c. ; andtheConsoo 
 fund, at first intended as a provision for defraying 
 the debts of bankrupt hongs, is a rich source of 
 16* 
 
186 
 
 SUMMARY OF 
 
 revenue to the Chinese, as well as a heavy loss 
 to foreign traders. Besides this, the inferior offices 
 of the customs at Canton, being farmed out, are 
 maintained by irregular charges on European 
 commerce. 
 
 Extensive as the commerce Mrith China, then, 
 appears to be, it is yet a field almost unexplored. 
 It is hoped that recent events will afford the mer- 
 chant more ample scope than heretofore ; that he 
 will be permitted eventually to enter into the 
 interior of China. Such a consummation is de- 
 voutly to be wished, not only for the prosperity 
 of Europe, but for the spiritual well-being of the 
 Chinese. For if the merchant were allowed to 
 carry his wares into the heart of the country, the 
 missionary might carry there the infinitely richer 
 treasures of the word of life. 
 
 ?dfm. 
 
 Articles of Furniture. 
 
CHINESE HIS I DRY. 
 
 187 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE CHINESE. 
 
 (jroup of th.e Lower Clas 
 
 -Umbrella Mender. 
 
 The hope entertained by Christians, that China 
 will one day prove a highway for the heralds of 
 salvation, is not unfounded. A change has already 
 taken place. Until recently, its peculiarities of 
 manners, customs, education, government, reli- 
 gions, and its acknowledged antiquity, have been 
 concealed from the observation of other nations. 
 Now, however, some have visited this country, 
 and some have even penetrated into the interior, 
 and made themselves acquainted with the habits 
 of the people. We believe that the Almighty has 
 designs of mercy toward China, and in his own 
 good time they will be accomplished. At his word 
 
188 SUMMARY OF 
 
 Every valley shall be exalted, 
 
 And every mountain and hill shall be made low : 
 
 And the crooked shall be made straight, 
 
 And the rough places plain : 
 
 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, 
 
 And all flesh shall see it together. Isa. xl. 4, 5. 
 
 Information has already been given concerning 
 education among the Chinese. 
 
 Historians depicted the ancients as they deemed 
 they might have been, rather than as they were. 
 Their guide was tradition, and that, being blind, 
 led them astray. Fallible as reason is, it would 
 have proved a better teacher ; for had they drawn 
 a correct inference from the defective state of 
 society in their own days, when education was 
 more general than in the remote ages, they must 
 have become convinced of its utter insufficiency. 
 
 How powerless to produce right moral conduct 
 is the mode of education in China, may be seen in 
 several of the preceding chapters. This will be 
 more clearly discerned, however, in a description 
 of the manners and customs of the people, which 
 may be subdivided under four general terms, 
 namely, the Character and Domestic Institutions 
 of the Chinese; Ceremonial Usages; Amuse- 
 ments ; and Costume and Domestic Manners. 
 
 THE CHARACTER AND DOMESTIC INSTITUTIONS 
 OF THE CHINESE. 
 
 Speaking of the character of the Chinese, Gutz- 
 laff remarks : " Generally, they maybe considered 
 an agricultural people, whose density of popula- 
 tion exceeds the means of their subsistence. The 
 consequences are very obvious. The capital being 
 divided into endless^ sections, many individuals 
 are without a portion ; and whilst the majority 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 189 
 
 earn a scanty subsistence by the sweat of their 
 brow, a very numerous class has nothing on which 
 to depend. On the one hand, such a state prompts 
 to the most unwearied exertion, merely for the 
 sake of maintaining life ; industry is no longer a 
 matter of choice, but becomes a necessary and 
 constant habit, whilst the least intermission of it 
 leads to misery. On the other hand, men's minds, 
 thus ground down to the earth, cannot aspire to 
 higher things ; in supplying the most urgent bodily 
 wants, every thought is absorbed, the same neces- 
 sities and cares present themselves daily, and there 
 is neither time nor inclination to seek for mental 
 or spiritual improvement. The economical habits 
 of the Chinese, also, may thus be explained, for 
 waste produces want, and their feeding upon any 
 substance which yields nourishment, how loath- 
 some soever, is no longer a matter of absurd 
 predilection, but of absolute necessity. Their 
 clothing, dwellings, and whole mode of life, amply 
 bespeak the necessity by which they are con- 
 trolled. Those classes who are above want are 
 too deeply tinged with the national spirit not to 
 show themselves Chinese by their grovelling de- 
 sires. Sensual inclinations operate instead of 
 want, and to satisfy these they are as eager as the 
 poorer classes to procure a livelihood. Their 
 habits degenerate into sloth, because they con- 
 sider it beneath their dignity to engage in labour ; 
 and the length of the nails is used to indicate 
 their exemption from menial occupation^ If 
 they do, however, engage in literary pursuits, 
 the same industry which animated the peasant is 
 visible in their studies ; they actually toil to obtain 
 knowledge, and carefully store up their acquisi- 
 tions." 
 
190 SUMMARY OF ^^H{ 
 
 A marked feature in the character of the Chi- 
 nese is their love of money. All their thoughts ^ ' 
 and pursuits are centred in " the mammon of un- I 
 righteousness. " And this ruling passion during 
 life is strong even in the hour of death. But 
 we do not vouch for the truth of the statement, 
 though it serves as a striking illustration of this 
 avaricious passion, that they seek to establish a 
 rate of exchange beyond the grave ! They are 
 in the habit of burning paper laid over with thin 
 plates, under the impression that its ashes will 
 take the value of dollars in the other world ! 
 Their gods are rewarded for their favours after 
 the same manner ; and as more than a thousand 
 papers can be bought for a dollar, and each one 
 when reduced to ashes is worth that sum, this is 
 deemed a profitable mode of remittance ! So vain 
 are they in their imaginations, and so are their 
 foolish hearts darkened. 
 
 The favourable parts of the Chinese character 
 are mildness, docihty, industry, peaceableness, 
 subordination and respect for the aged. These, 
 however, are accompanied by the vices of insin- 
 cerity, falsehood, mutual distrust and jealousy. 
 No disgrace is attached to lying and deceit among 
 them, and it is praiseworthy if practised towards 
 foreigners. 
 
 Concerning their duplicity, Barrow observes: 
 " As a direct refusal to any request would betray 
 a want of good breeding, every proposal finds 
 their immediate acquiescence : they promise with- 
 out hesitation, but generally disappoint by the in- 
 vention of some slight pretence or plausible ob- 
 jection: they have no proper sense of the obliga- 
 tions of truth. 
 
CHINESE HISTORY, 191 
 
 The quietness observable in the character of 
 the Chinese is the natural result of their training. 
 By the Confucian system, the nation is moulded 
 in a certain form, and, from the highest to the 
 lowest, they present the aspect of a peace-loving 
 people. But this is more the outward show of 
 the face than the inward feeling of the heart. 
 Stern disciphne may generally keep them in awe, 
 and the mass may kiss the rod which smites them ; 
 but, under real or supposed injury, they are some- 
 times found to be very revengeful. Women have 
 been known to destroy themselves, in order to 
 bring down the vengeance of the government on 
 the heads of those with whom they have quar- 
 relled; and history records that the people have 
 arisen as one body against a magistrate by whom 
 they were oppressed. 
 
 The inordinate national pride, for which the 
 Chinese are proverbial, seems to be the offspring 
 of self-love and ignorance. Imaginmg that their 
 country is the centre of a system, as the old astro- 
 nomers deemed that the earth was of the universe, 
 they have hence learned to look upon all other 
 nations with contempt. And this natural dispo- 
 sition of the people has been artfully promoted by 
 the government, considering that its interest was 
 concerned in increasing mutual dislike and dis- 
 union. Slanderous proclamations are frequently 
 issued against foreigners at Canton, and penalties 
 of no sHght nature are attached to a " traitorous 
 intercourse" w^th Europeans. From these causes- 
 it is that, though the merchants are scrupulous in 
 their commercial engagements, yet on all other 
 points foreigners are considered "fair game." 
 
 Poverty is no reproach among the Chinese. 
 Personal merit and age are in far higher esteem 
 
193 
 
 SUMMARY OF 
 
 than mere wealth. Notwithstanding, poverty is a 
 dreaded evil. It is greatly obviated by a system 
 of clubbing together in families, which resembles 
 the clanships of Scotch Highlanders. This sys- 
 tem arises from a sacred regard to kindred, but it 
 operates as a public provision for the relief of the 
 poor, and serves as one of the best means for the 
 distribution of wealth. At times, also, it exercises 
 a salutary check on the measures of the arbitrary 
 government; whence many attempts have been 
 made to effect its dissolution. But the institution 
 is too much interwoven with the whole being of 
 the nation to be utterly overthrown. It has ex- 
 isted from the first ages of the history of China, 
 and it will, doubtless, exist for ages yet to come, 
 if not through all time. The ties of blood, and 
 the love of their relations, among the Chinese, are 
 so strong as to make them look with indifference 
 on society at large : and they are strengthened by 
 the doctrines of their philosophers. Confucius 
 connived at injustice in favour of a relation ; and 
 Mencius rejected, with equal disdain, egotism 
 and general philanthropy, while he taught that 
 relations should possess the undivided love of 
 relations. 
 
 The same feeling which the Chinese display 
 towards relations is also displayed towards the 
 place of their birth. They have a popular saying, 
 "If he who attains to honours or wealth never 
 returns to his native place, he is like a finely 
 dressed person walking in the dark." Hence 
 regard for the place of their birth cHngs to the 
 Chinese through life ; and they commonly apply, 
 toward the end of their days, for leave to quit the 
 honours and emoluments of office, and retire to 
 their native village. Colonists, also, who venture 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 193 
 
 abroad in search of gain, return home as soon as 
 they have acquired a competency, though at the 
 risk of being oppressed, under the forms of law, 
 for leaving their native country. 
 
 It seems strange that a people so ardently at- 
 tached to their families and their birth-place should 
 be guilty of the crime of infanticide. Yet so it is, 
 Barrow concludes, from observation, that four thou- 
 sand infants are annually exposed to death in Pekin 
 alone. Some of the scenes he witnessed are almost 
 incredible, when contrasted with the boasted civi- 
 lization of the " celestial empire." About twenty- 
 four infants, he says, half of whom may die a 
 natural death, are cast out into the streets every 
 night, and dogs and swine are let loose to devour 
 them. Those who remain undevoured are picked 
 up, and carried in carts to a common pit without 
 the city walls, in which the living and the dead 
 are thrown together. The most prevalent mode 
 of effecting the death of infants is by suffocation ; 
 and this is said to be frequently done to the aged 
 and afflicted, to *' cut the brittle thread of life." 
 So truly has it been observed by the psalmist, that 
 
 " The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations 
 of cruelty."— Ps; Ixxiv. 20. 
 
 Infanticide is exclusively limited to the female 
 sex, and it may be looked upon as a proof of the 
 degradation of females in China. On the treat- 
 ment of women, the Indo-Chinese Gleaner re- 
 marks >— " The very dependent and degraded 
 state of females in China is everywhere observ- 
 able. They are not allowed the confidence of 
 their husbands, nor to sit at table with them, nor 
 to have a voice in domestic concerns, nor to visit 
 the temples of prayer. Religion is denied them. 
 17 
 
194 SUMMARY OF 
 
 m 
 
 iliar I 
 ers, I 
 ttle, |. 
 
 Little attention seems to be paid to the peculiar 
 circumstances in which, as wives and mothers 
 they may be placed. ' Rise, run, work, eat little 
 spend little, be silent, keep out of sight, obey, bear ; 
 and rather bleed, starve, and die, than dare to com- 
 plain,' is the language of the rules laid down for 
 their treatment. Fortunately for them, humanity, 
 common sense and interest, in many cases, plead 
 in their favour, and procure a relaxation of the 
 rigour of these restrictions ; yet where such re- 
 strictions have the sanction both of public opinion 
 and of supreme authority, how is it possible to 
 prevent their hurtful operation." 
 
 In the life of females in China, up to the period 
 of their marriage, there are but few shades. One 
 of the most remarkable practices, and especially in 
 the higher classes, is, the mutilation of their feet, 
 which is produced by cramping them in early 
 childhood. This is said to arise from Chinese 
 notions of gentility, in the same manner as it is the 
 fashion among the men to wear long nails, to con- 
 vey an idea of exemption from labour. Probably, 
 however, the custom was first imposed by the 
 tyranny of the men, who wished to disable them 
 from " gadding abroad ;" and as custom is held 
 sacred, it is hence perpetuated. The Chinese 
 affect to admire the helplessness induced by this 
 mutilation, notwithstanding its usual concomitant 
 of sickness. Their tottering gait, as they hobble 
 along on the heel of the foot, is compared to the 
 waving of a willow, agitated by the wind ! But 
 the foot of a female in China is not the only part 
 of the being cramped by the tyranny of law and 
 custom. The mind suffers a greater and an irre- 
 parable injury. The great subject of education, 
 among the higher classes, is implicit obedience, to 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 
 
 195 
 
 which is added a little reading- and writing ; while 
 the humbler classes are only taught weaving, sew- 
 ing, embroidery, and the drudgery of household 
 and field-work. Some ladies, however, are in- 
 structed in embroidering, as well as painting on 
 silk, and music. They are not often versed in let- 
 ters, but instances are sometimes quoted of those 
 who have been skilled in composing verses. 
 
 In marriage, the females of China are merely 
 the passive subjects of parental authority. A 
 union prompted solely by love is unknown. It 
 would be considered a monstrous infraction of 
 the duty of filial obedience, and a crime heinous 
 as infidelity. In this momentous concern, there- 
 fore, they are compelled to submit to the will of 
 
196 SUMMARY OF 
 
 their parents. Children are frequently betrothed 
 to each other while yet infants ; and those who are 
 not, are given to men of whom they know nothing, 
 and whose faces they have never seen. Such 
 unions as the latter are contracted by a third 
 party, who repairs to the parents of the female 
 and offers terms. When the bargain is concluded, 
 which is generally influenced by the personal 
 attractions of the lady, (determined by the small- 
 ness of her feet, her pale complexion, and slen- 
 der waist,) the stipulated sum is paid, and a day 
 appointed for the wedding, which takes place 
 amidst the sound of mirth and music. 
 
 On her marriage the lady assumes her hus- 
 band's surname. But these forced marriages often 
 produce the most tragical results. Suicides fre- 
 quently take place among the women of China; 
 and they frequently attempt to poison those by 
 whom their earthly happiness is destroyed. 
 
 Divorce is common among the Chinese. They 
 have borrowed the notion from the Budhists, that 
 marriage goes by destiny. Early marriages are 
 promoted by every motive of humanity. Their 
 maxim on this subject is, that " there are three 
 great acts of disregard to parents, and to die with- 
 out a progeny is the chief. '^ Hence the desire for 
 children among the Chinese, which is scarcely less 
 ardent than that which existed among the He- 
 brews. Hence, also, the birth of a son is an 
 occasion of great rejoicing. Parents and friends 
 alike join in celebrating the event, as one of the 
 happiest which could fall to .their lot. The father 
 especially rejoices, and that not simply because 
 his name will be perpetuated, but because he will 
 have a helper during life, and one to perform his 
 funeral rites at the family tomb. 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 197 
 
 There is no duty among the Chinese so scru- 
 pulously performed as that which relates to the 
 tombs of their ancestors. They conceive that any 
 neglect of this duty is sure to be succeeded by 
 worldly misfortune. 
 
 " When a parent or elder relative among the 
 Chinese dies," says Davis, "the event is an- 
 nounced to all the branches of the family ; each 
 side of the doors is distinguished by labels in 
 white, which is the mourning colour. The lineal 
 descendants of the deceased, clothed in coarse 
 white cloth, with bandages of the same around their 
 heads, sit, weeping, near the corpse, on the ground, 
 the women keeping up a dismal howl. In the 
 meantime the friends of the deceased appear, 
 with white coverlids of linen or silk, which are 
 placed on the body. The eldest son, or next lineal 
 male descendant, supported on each side by rela- 
 tions, and bearing in his hands a porcelain bowl 
 containing two copper coins, now proceeds to the 
 river, or the nearest well, or the wet ditch of the 
 city, to buy water, as it is termed. The ceremony 
 must be performed by the eldest son's son, in pre- 
 ference to the second son ; and this entitles him 
 to a double share of the property, which in other 
 respects is divided equally among the sons. The 
 form of washing the face and body with this water 
 being completed, the deceased is dressed as in 
 life, and laid in a coffin, of which the planks are 
 from four to six inches in thickness, and the bot- 
 tom strewed with quick-hme. On being closed, 
 it is made air-tight by cement, being, besides, 
 varnished on the inside and outside. A tablet is 
 then placed on it, inscribed with the name and 
 titles of the deceased, as they are afterwards to be 
 cut upon his tomb. 
 
 17* 
 
198 SUMMARY OF 
 
 " On the expiration of thrice seven, or twenty- 
 one days, the funeral procession takes place ; the 
 tablet being conveyed in a gilded sedan, or pavi- 
 lion, with incense and offerings befora it. It is 
 accompanied by music, closely resembling the 
 Scottish bagpipe, with the continual repetition 
 of three successive strokes on a sort of drum. 
 The children and relations of both gexes follow, 
 in white, without much order or regularity; and, 
 upon reaching the grave, the ceremonies and ob- 
 lations commence. It being a part of their super- 
 stition that money and garments must be burned 
 for the use of the deceased in the world of spirits, 
 these are, with a wise economy, represented by 
 paper. The form of the tomb, whether large or 
 small, is that of the last letter of the Greek alpha- 
 bet, fi, called omega, which, if taken in the sense 
 of 'the end,' is a singular coincidence. Those 
 of the wealthy and noble are sometimes very 
 large, and contain a considerable quantity of ma- 
 sonry, with figures of animals in stone. The 
 whole detail of sepulchral rites, with the senti- 
 ments of the Chinese concerning the dead, are 
 contained in the drama of 'An Heir in Old Age.' 
 
 " After the interment, the tablet of the deceased 
 is brought back in procession ; and if the family 
 be rich, it is placed in the hall of ancestors ; if 
 poor, in some part of the house, with incense be- 
 fore it. Twice in every year, in the spring and 
 autumn, are the periods fixed for performing the 
 rites to the dead ; but the first is the principal 
 period, and the only one commonly attended to. 
 Unlike the generality of the Chinese festivals, 
 which are regulated by the moon, this is deter- 
 mined by the suuj, and occurs annually one 
 hundred and five days after the winter solstice, 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 199 
 
 that is, on the 5th of April. About that time the 
 whole population of the town is seen trooping- out 
 in parties to the hills, to repair and sweep the 
 tombs, and make offerings ; leaving behind them, 
 on their return home, long streamers of red and 
 white paper, to mark the fulfilment of the rites. 
 Whole ranges of hills, sprinkled with tombs, may 
 at that season be seen covered with these testimo- 
 nials of attention to the departed, fluttering in the 
 wind and sunshine." 
 
 The graves and monuments of the Chinese are 
 uniformly situated upon the hill sides. Their 
 reasons for this appear to be threefold : first, that 
 they a.re unfit for cultivation ; secondly, as they 
 afe'exposed to the winds, every kind of noxious 
 exhalation is soon dispersed; and thirdly, they 
 are associated in their minds with the pleasing ap- 
 pearances and fructifying effects of the atmo- 
 sphere, as well as with curious legends and capti- 
 vating stories. To the hills, therefore, the dead, 
 whether rich or poor, are brought and buried ; 
 and hither affectionate mothers, forlorn widows, 
 and dutiful sons, resort to mourn the loss of the 
 departed. Frequently a temporary habitation is 
 erected by the side of the grave, to shelter them 
 from the inclement skies, while they eat " the 
 bread of mourners" and the "sorrowful meat," 
 and take their "fill of tears." They sorrow as 
 those without hope. Wrapped in the coarsest 
 cloth, they forego the custom of personal attention, 
 and sometimes show an extraordinary example of 
 patience and self-mortification. But this is not 
 common. The majority adhere to the rules estab- 
 lished by etiquette, as to the time which mourners 
 ought to spend at the grave of the deceased. 
 
 The period of mourning prescribed by the ritual 
 
200 SUMMARY OF 
 
 is three years for a parent. This, however, is com- 
 monly reduced in practice to thrice nine, or 
 twenty-seven months. The full period of three 
 years must elapse before children can marry sub- 
 sequent to the death of their parents. On the 
 death of the emperor, the same observances are 
 kept by his millions of subjects as on the death of 
 the parent of each individual. The whole empire 
 remains unshaven for the space of one hundred 
 days, while the period of mourning apparently 
 lasts longer ; and all officers of government take 
 the ball and crimson silk from their caps, thereby 
 laying aside the insignia of rank. 
 
 The regard which the Chinese exhibit towards 
 their deceased relatives would form a pleasing 
 trait in their character, if it stopped at the point 
 of their mourning. Unhappily, however, it de- 
 generates into idolatry : their fond imaginations 
 exalt a poor miserable worm to heaven, and enrol 
 him among the gods ! To their dead they offer the 
 meat and the drink-offering, as unto the Deity ! 
 
 The festival for the dead among the Chinese is 
 a public celebration. Large mat-houses are erect- 
 ed on the hills, ornamented with lanterns and chan- 
 deliers, in which are placed images of the infernal 
 deities, including Yen-wang, who may be reckoned 
 the Pluto of the Chinese. Priests of the Budhu 
 sect are employed on this occasion, who chant 
 masses for the dead, present offerings of food, and 
 burn large quantities of paper, representing clothes, 
 habitations, etc., in order that they may pass into 
 the other world for the use of the departed. But 
 these celebrations, being calculated to bring large 
 numbers together, appear to consist, in a great 
 measure, of feasting and entertainment. While 
 they remember the dead, and exalt them, they are 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 201 
 
 not unmindful of their own enjoyments : this festi- 
 val, therefore, may be considered to have dwindled 
 into mere ceremony. The Chinese offer all kinds 
 of food, candles, flowers and incense, in rich 
 abundance, at the graves of their ancestors, but 
 they do not scruple to make use of them them- 
 selves. There seems no question, however, that 
 they are sincere in ofTering their oblations to the 
 dead, nor can it be doubted that the ceremony is 
 idolatrous. 
 
 The Chinese appear to be led into this exhibition 
 of idolatrous regard for the dead, by the instinctive 
 horror which they have of death. GutzlafT re- 
 marks : " Nothing is viewed by the Chinese with 
 so much horror as death. Their hopes do not 
 extend beyond the grave, and the future state is to 
 them the wretched condition of hungry ghosts, 
 whose hankering desires after the good things of 
 this world are left unsatisfied. Often have we wit- 
 nessed the last agony, when the soul was about to 
 take her flight. It is a fearful struggle, unallayed 
 by the pleasing prospect of eternity, heightened 
 by the terror of a sudden removal into the hideous 
 hades. Hence the mourning and wailing at the 
 death of friends, and the painful, unsatisfying 
 efforts of survivors, by splendid funeral rites and 
 sepulchral gifts, to soothe their own sorrows, and 
 to render the state of the dead at least in some de- 
 gree tolerable. Confucius inculcates burial and 
 mourning rites as the most important of all duties ; 
 and, to excite veneration towards the dead, he in- 
 culcates their idolatrous worship. Mencius ob- 
 serves, that political economy consists in providing 
 food for the living and the means of fit burial for 
 the dead." 
 
 This feature in the Chinese character affords an 
 
202 SUMMARY OF 
 
 awful theme for contemplation. More than three 
 hundred millions of human beings, born to exist 
 throughout the countless ages of eternity, living 
 without hope, and dying in despair ! Struggling 
 in the midst of darkness, they seek by vain rites 
 and ceremonies, by tears and wailing, to redeem 
 the soul from misery. How tremendous is the 
 consideration — hundreds of millions are perishing 
 for lack of knowledge ! And they are passing to* 
 the world of spirits at the rate of about thirty thou- 
 sand every day in the year. 
 
 Shall the Chinese, then, be overlooked by Chris- 
 tian sympathy ? Surely, none whose heart is not 
 adamant can gaze upon them without emotion, 
 and without desiring their conversion. Feeling, 
 however, is not enough. Christian emotion and 
 zealous desires must be followed by active and 
 persevering efforts to make known that gospel 
 which is " the power of God to salvation unto 
 every one that believeth." 
 
 CEREMONIAL USAGES. 
 
 The Chinese attach great importance to cere- 
 mony. This might be supposed to produce a 
 constrained stiffness and formality of manner; but 
 the reverse is the fact. Persons high in station 
 are distinguished generally in their address by a 
 dignified simplicity and ease. This does not, 
 however, prevent their laying great stress on pre- 
 cedence ; and on public occasions, when the spec- 
 tators are numerous, this is especially manifest. 
 In the case of foreign embassies, particularly, they 
 always strive to maintain their superiority over 
 their guests by placing themselves before them, 
 which is directly contrary to the true principles 
 of politeness. • 
 
CHINESE HISTORY, 203 
 
 This behaviour towards foreigners becomes 
 more marked when contrasted with their general 
 rule in domestic visits, which is to contend for the 
 lowest seat. " When any one proceeds in his 
 chair to pay a visit, his attendants present his 
 ticket at the gate, consisting of his name and titles 
 written down the middle of a folded sheet of red 
 paper ornamented with gold leaf; and there is 
 sometimes enough paper in these, when opened 
 out like a screen, to extend across a room. If the 
 visitor is in mourning, his ticket is white, with 
 blue letters. According to the relative rank of 
 the parties, the person visited comes out a greater 
 or less distance to receive his guest ; and when, 
 they meet, their genuflexions, and endeavours to 
 prevent the same, are also according to rule. 
 These matters are all so well understood by those 
 who are bred up to them, that they occasion no 
 embarrassment whatever to the Chinese. The 
 ordinary salutation among equals is to join the 
 closed hands, and lift them two or three times 
 towards the head, saying, Haou? tsing, tsingi 
 that is, ' Are you well ? hail, hail !' 
 
 " Soon after being seated, the attendants inva- 
 riably enter with porcelain cups, furnished with 
 covers, in each of which, on removing the little 
 saucer by which it is surmounted, appears a small 
 quantity of fine tea-leaves, on which boiling water 
 has been poured : and thus it is that they drink 
 the infusion without the addition of either sugar 
 or milk. The delicate aroma of fine tea is no 
 doubt more enjoyed, in this mode of taking it ; 
 and a little habit leads many Europeans in China 
 to relish the custom. Though the infusion is 
 generally made in the cup, they occasionally use 
 antique and tastefully shaped tea-pots. At visits, a 
 
204 SUMMARY OF 
 
 circular japanned tray is frequently brought in, 
 having numerous compartments, radiating from 
 the centre, in which is a variety of sweetmeats, 
 or dried fruits. These are taken up with a small 
 two-pronged fork of silver. On the conclusion 
 of a visit, the host conducts his guest, if he wishes 
 to do him high honour, even to his sedan, and 
 there remains until he is carried off: but on ordi- 
 nary occasions, it is deemed sufficient to go as far 
 as the top of the stone steps, if there are any, or 
 merely to the door of the apartment." 
 
 Mandarins and official persons are carried in 
 their sedans by four bearers; they are hkewise 
 accompanied by a train of attendants, who are 
 marshalled in two files before the chair. Two of 
 these carry gongs, on which they strike at regular 
 intervals ; two others carry chains, which they 
 jingle in concert ; and two more are armed with 
 the bamboo, or bastinado. Others there are, who 
 utter a long-drawn shout at intervals, to denote 
 the approach of the great man ; while the cortege 
 is made up of servants and other followers, some 
 of whom carry red umbrellas of dignity ; and 
 others, large red boards, on which the titles of the 
 officer are inscribed. The populace who meet 
 this procession are compelled to stand aside, with 
 their arms hanging close to their sides, and their 
 eyes on the ground. A departure from this cus- 
 tom would insure them an infliction of the basti- 
 nado, without any ceremony. 
 
 The solemn feasts of the emperor, and the pri- 
 vate feasts and formal dinners among the Chinese, 
 are conducted in a similar manner. The former 
 have been thus described by an eye-witness, who 
 was present at an antertainment given to the last 
 English embassy :-—" The ambassador informed 
 
CHINESE HISTORY, 205 
 
 the gentlemen of his suite that he was going to 
 perform the same salutation of respect, before the 
 yellow screen, that he was accustomed to make 
 to the vacant throne of his sovereign in the House 
 of Lords. We were directed to keep our eyes on 
 him, and do exactly as he did. A low solemn 
 hymn, of not unpleasant melody, now commenced; 
 and, at the voice of a crier, the two imperial legates 
 fell prostrate three times, and each time thrice 
 struck the floor with their foreheads : a cranio- 
 verberative sound being audible, amidst the deep 
 silence which prevailed around. The ambassador 
 and his suite, standing up in the mean while, made 
 nine profound bows 
 
 *• When the ceremony was over, the feast was 
 brought in, and the theatrical entertainments com= 
 menced. The legates sat to the left, on an eleva- 
 tion of one step ; and the ambassador and two 
 commissioners on the same elevation to the right. 
 The other Chinese grandees sat on the left, a little 
 below the legates ; and the gentlemen of the em- 
 bassy to the right, below his lordship and the com- 
 missioners. The two lines thus faced each other 
 down the room. 
 
 " As no chairs can be used where the emperor 
 is present, or supposed to be so, the whole party 
 sat cross-legged on cushions ; but the mandarins, 
 being accustomed to the posture, of course had 
 the advantage. The tables were low in propor- 
 tion ; and when we were all seated, a number of 
 attendants placed on each table, holding only two 
 guests, a large tray which fitted it, and contained a 
 complete course, of which four in all were served. 
 The first consisted of a rich soup ; the second, of 
 sixteen round and narrow dishes, containing salted 
 meats and other relishes ; the third, of eighteen 
 18 
 
306 SUMMARY OF 
 
 basins of birds'-nests, sharks'-fins, deer-sinews, 
 and other viands, supposed to be highly nourishing ; 
 the fourth, of twelve bowls of stews, immersed in 
 a rich soup. The guests helped themselves with 
 chopsticks, (small spoons of porcelain, fashioned 
 like a child's pap-boat,) and four-pronged forks of 
 silver, small and straight ; and when they drank 
 to each other, the warm wine was poured into little 
 cups by the attendants, who at the same time bent 
 on one knee. 
 
 " At the other end of the hall, where we sat, so 
 as to be viewed by each person from his place, 
 down the two ranges of tables, proceeded the stage 
 performances. The music was wretched, and the 
 occasional crash of gongs abominable. Some 
 pyrotechnic monsters, breathing fire and smoke, 
 were among the characters personified ; but the 
 best part of the scene was the tumbling, which 
 was really superior in its kind. The strength 
 and activity of one man were particularly emi- 
 nent." 
 
 At their great entertainments, the Chinese have 
 a number of courses, beginning with those more 
 digestible, and ending with rice and steAvs. They 
 are noted gourmands, and their feasts often last 
 several hours, whilst tea and liquors are served 
 up in the intervals of the repast. If the party 
 consists of the learned, they amuse themselves 
 with riddles, after the manner of the ancient ori- 
 ental and classical nations, and with reciting poems 
 and satirical verses. Amongst the lower classes, 
 games of chance, consisting of throwing out some 
 fingers, and letting the other party guess the num- 
 ber, similar to the Italian mora, are very common. 
 At all times the Chinese are a cheerful people, 
 but at their feasts the}^ are jovial ; they then talk 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 207 
 
 and laugh, incessantly seeking to drown care in 
 present enjoyment. At such seasons they may 
 be likened to the ancient Epicureans, whose maxim 
 was, " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we 
 die." Their feasting, indeed, which begins in 
 ceremony, generally ends in revelry and drunken- 
 ness. 
 
 The great staff of life in China is rice, which is 
 either eaten dry, or mixed with water, so as to 
 resemble a soup. Out of rice they make their 
 chief intoxicating liquor, which, when good, is 
 something like strong whiskey, both in its colour- 
 less appearance and its smoky flavour. Other 
 vegetables are common, such as the sweet po- 
 tato, Barbadoes millet, peas, beans, turnips, car- 
 rots, &c. Of their fruits, the orange, lichen, 
 loquats and mangoes are much in use, and of a 
 very exquisite flavour. Their favourite animal 
 food is pork, the taste for which is national and 
 peculiar. There is a maxim prevalent among 
 them, that " a scholar does not quit his books, nor 
 a poor man his pigs." The pig is, in truth, uni- 
 versally reared about cottages, and its flesh is by 
 far the commonest meat. The flesh of the bullock, 
 sheep, deer, dog, cat and horse is eaten, but com- 
 pared with that of swine, it is a rarity. Fish are 
 eaten in great abundance, either fresh, dried, or 
 salted ; and they rear great quantities of ducks, 
 and various species of fowl, for the table. The 
 comprehensive principle on which Chinese diet is 
 regulated, is, to eat every thing which can possi- 
 bly give nourishment. But the greatest dainties 
 consumed by the Chinese are brought from foreign 
 countries. Among these, the edible bird's-nest, 
 and the sea-slug, of which there are various kinds, 
 occupy the first rank. Shark-fins, fish-maws, cow- 
 
208 SUMMARY OF 
 
 sinews, and the points of stag-antlers, buffalo-hides, 
 &c., are considered great dainties, on account of 
 their gelatinous qualities. These are boiled down 
 to a jelly, and eaten with a little seasoning. 
 
 The edible bird's-nest, so grateful to the Chi- 
 nese palate, has been thus described : — " The 
 manufacturers of the nests are small swallows, 
 which are supposed to collect the glutinous sub- 
 stance of which they are composed from the sea. 
 The nests resemble small tea-saucers in form, the 
 rim being about the size of that of a tumbler. The 
 best, that is those collected before the eggs of the 
 bird have been laid, are of a light red colour and 
 nearly transparent, bearing almost a perfect re- 
 semblance to isinglass, except that they are rather 
 more brittle. China is almost the only market for 
 this delicacy, the nests being greatly in demand 
 throughout the celestial empire, in consequence 
 of their supposed nutritious qualities. They are 
 of three different degrees of excellence, and the 
 best kind are sold in China at two dollars the 
 ounce. When used for culinary purposes, they 
 are dissolved in water, and made into a tasteless 
 soup. I have eaten them several times at the 
 tables of rich Chinese, but they were not at all 
 agreeable to the palate." 
 
 Cookery among the Chinese is more like the 
 French than the English. Their dishes are usual- 
 ly made, and vegetables are introduced into every 
 preparation of meat. Generally speaking, their 
 dishes are very palatable ; but there are some 
 which they esteem as delicacies, which would 
 have few attractions for a European. Among 
 these are the dishes made of the larvae of the 
 sphinx moth, and of a grub bred in the sugar-cane, 
 which are much relished in China. Some of the 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 209 
 
 articles eaten by the poor are truly disgusting; 
 they refuse nothing ; even rats, mice and every 
 kind of vermin are eaten without repugnance. It 
 is probable, however, that poverty induces this 
 habit, for the Chinese are by no means an unclean 
 people in their diet. Travellers, indeed, give them 
 the credit of being, in general, scrupulously nice 
 in their food. GutzlafFsays, they are very clean 
 in preparing it, and that they prefer high-seasoned 
 dishes, salt meats and vegetables, to all other 
 viands. 
 
 AMUSEMENTS. 
 
 The Chinese, living in uninterrupted peace, 
 and bearing no part in public transactions, relieve 
 the dull monotony of their lives by games at once 
 frivolous and puerile. This contrariety in the 
 national character of the Chinese compared with 
 that of Europeans, as well as other customs, has 
 been thus noticed in a work printed at Macao : — 
 " On inquiring of the boatman in which direction 
 Macao lay, I was answered in the west-north, the 
 wind, as I was informed, being east-south. We 
 do not say so in Europe, thought I ; but imagine 
 my surprise when, in explaining the utility of the 
 compass, the boatman added, that the needle 
 pointed to the south ! Desirous to change the 
 subject, I remarked that I concluded he was about 
 to proceed to some high festival, or merry-making, 
 as his dress was completely white. He told me, 
 with a look of much dejection, that his only brother 
 had died the week before, and that he was in the 
 deepest mourning for him. On my landing, the 
 first object that attracted my attention was a mili- 
 tary mandarin, who wore an embroidered petti- 
 coat, with a string of beads round his neck, and 
 18* 
 
210 SUMMARY OF 
 
 who besides carried a fan ; and it was with some 
 dismay I observed him mount on the right side 
 of his horse. I was surrounded by natives, all of 
 whom had the hair shaven from the forepart of 
 the head, while a portion of them permitted it to 
 grow on their faces. On my way to the house 
 prepared for my reception, I saw two Chinese 
 boys discussing with much earnestness who should 
 be the possessor of an orange. They debated 
 the point with much gesture, and at length, without 
 venturing a combat, sat down and divided the 
 orange equally between them. At that moment 
 my attention was drawn to several old Chinese, 
 some of whom had gray beards, and nearly all of 
 them wearing huge goggling spectacles. A few 
 were chirruping and chuckling to singing birds, 
 which they carried in bamboo cages, or perched 
 on a stick. Others were catching flies to feed the 
 birds ; and the remainder of the party seemed to 
 be delightfully employed in flying paper kites ; 
 while a group of boys were gravely looking on, 
 and regarding these innocent occupations of their 
 seniors with the most serious and gratified atten- 
 tion." 
 
 One of the few athletic diversions of the Chi- 
 nese takes place on the occasion of a public 
 festival, held on the fifth day of the fifth moon, 
 which usually occurs in June. Long narrow 
 boats, built for the purpose, and manned by from 
 forty to eighty men with paddles, meet in the 
 rivers of China, and race with great heat and 
 emulation. They row to the sound of the gong, 
 and the paddles keep time to its beat. In their 
 contests accidents frequently occur from the up- 
 setting of the boat^, which, from their great 
 length, are called " dragon boats." 
 
CHINESE HiSTORYo 211 
 
 Another public entertainment is given in the 
 feast of lanterns. This takes place on the first 
 full moon of the new year, and it is a display of 
 ingenuity and taste in the construction and me- 
 chanism of a variety of lanterns made of silk, 
 varnish, horn, paper and glass ; some of which 
 are supplied with moving figures, of men gallop- 
 ing on horseback, fighting, or performing various 
 feats, together with representations of birds, 
 beasts and other living creatures, all in full 
 motion. The moving principle in these is formed 
 by a horizontal wheel turned by the draft of air 
 created by the heat of the lamp, and the circular 
 motion is communicated in various directions by 
 fine threads attached to moving figures. 
 
 The Chinese are celebrated for their fire-works. 
 Some of these are ingenious and entertaining, on 
 account of the variety of moving figures which 
 they exhibit. 
 
 Dramatic entertainments are frequently given 
 at public feasts, for which purpose some of the 
 Chinese officers of state have private theatres in 
 their houses. Scenery seems to be altogether 
 dispensed with ; on which Barrow observes : — 
 " The want of scenery is sometimes supplied hj 
 a very unclassical idea, which exactly reverses 
 the usual figure of personification, by making 
 persons represent things. If, for instance, a 
 walled city is to be stormed, a parcel of soldiers, 
 piling themselves in a heap across the stage, are 
 supposed to represent the wall over which the 
 storming party is to scramble." The same writer, 
 after having described the frivolous nature of the 
 Chinese drama, says : " In short, the greater part 
 of the amusements of the Chinese are at the pre- 
 sent day of a nature so puerile, or so gross and 
 
212 SUMMARY OF 
 
 1 
 
 vs, II 
 
 vulgar, that the tricks and the puppet-shows 
 which are exhibited in a common fair of one of the 
 country towns of Europe, may be considered as 
 comparatively polished, interesting and rational. 
 In sleight of hand, in posture-making, rope- 
 dancing, riding and athletic exercises, they are 
 much inferior to Europeans ; but in the variety 
 of their fire-works, they perhaps may carry the 
 palm against the whole world. In every other 
 respect the amusements of the Chinese appear to 
 be of a low and trifling nature, neither suited to 
 the affected gravity of the government, nor to the 
 generally supposed state of civilization among the 
 people." 
 
 Conjuring, sleight of hand, and other species 
 of dexterity, form the in-door amusements of the 
 Chinese. These are invariably practised at feasts, 
 if theatrical entertainments are not available. The 
 mind left uninformed thus seeks enjoyment in the 
 most foolish amusements. 
 
 COSTUME AND DOMESTIC MANNERS. 
 
 In Europe there is a never-ending change of 
 costume : fashion is there so capricious, that what 
 is worn to-day may be cast aside to-morrow as 
 useless. It is not so Avith the Chinese. To them 
 Morier's observations concerning oriental manners 
 in other Asiatic countries are equally applicable. 
 "The manners of the east," says he, "amidst all 
 the changes of government and religion, are still 
 the same : they are living impressions from an 
 original mould ; and at every step some object, 
 some idiom, some dress, or some custom of com- 
 mon life, reminds the traveller of ancient times." 
 The same costume ^as was worn in the remotest 
 ages is worn at this day, unchanged either in 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 213 
 
 shape or material, in almost all Asiatic nations ; 
 and this may solve the enigma, why it is that 
 European manufactures have not hitherto found 
 an extensive or even ready sale in the east, China 
 included. 
 
 There is a marked distinction betvi-een the 
 summer and winter dress of the Chinese, aris- 
 ing from the extremes of heat and cold which 
 prevail throughout the country at opposite seasons 
 of the year. This difference is principally marked 
 by the cap. The summer-cap is a cone of finely- 
 woven filaments of bamboo, and surmounted (in 
 persons of rank) by a red, blue, white, or gilded 
 ball at the point of the cone. From this orna- 
 mental ball, a bunch of crimson silk or red horse- 
 hair descends all around over the cap, and some- 
 times a single pearl is worn in front. The winter 
 cap fits close to the head, and has a brim of black 
 velvet or fur, turned sharply up all around, and 
 rising a little higher in front and behind than at 
 the sides. The dome-shaped top is surmounted 
 by the ball, like the summer-cap, and from the 
 point of its insertion a bunch of fine crimson silk 
 descends, just covering the dome. The summer 
 garment is a long loose gown of light silk, gauze, 
 or linen, hanging free at ordinary times, but, on 
 occasions of dress, gathered in round the middle 
 by a silken girdle, which is fastened in front by 
 a clasp. To this girdle are fastened a fan-case, 
 tobacco-pouch, flint and steel for lighting the 
 pipe, and sometimes a sheath with a small knife, 
 and a pair of chop-sticks. In winter, over a 
 longer dress of silk or crape, which reaches to the 
 ankles, the Chinese wear a large-sleeved spencer, 
 reaching down to the hips, and made either of fur, 
 or silk, or broadcloth, lined with skins. The 
 
214 SUMMARY OF 
 
 neck, which in summer is left bare, is protected m 
 winter with a collar of silk or fur. The nether 
 garment is loose in summer, but in winter a pair 
 of tight leggings are drawn on separately over 
 all, and fastened up to the sides of the person. 
 Stockings of cotton or silk, woven, are worn at 
 all seasons ; and in winter persons of rank wear 
 boots of cloth, satin, or velvet, with thick soles, 
 which are kept clean by whiting, instead of the 
 European mode of blacking. 
 
 The dress of ceremony among the Chinese is very 
 rich and handsome. The colour of the spencer is 
 usually dark-blue or purple, and the long dress 
 beneath is of some lighter or gayer colour. On 
 state occasions this long dress is embroidered with 
 dragons, or other devices, wrought in silk and 
 gold. 
 
 The Chinese have no "particular passion for 
 clean linen." Their very body-garments are 
 sometimes made of a species of light silk, and all 
 the rest of their dress being of silk or furs, there 
 is little demand for white calico or linen. Even 
 sheets and table-cloths are unknown among them. 
 The natural result of this want of cleanliness is, that 
 the people are subject to cutaneous and leprous 
 complaints. The latter may be increased, as some 
 suppose, from their fondness for pork and, per- 
 haps, from the nature of the climate. 
 
 The dress of females is very modest and becom- 
 ing, and, in the higher class, as splendid as it can 
 be made with silks and embroidery. The ordi- 
 nary dress is a large-sleeved robe of silk (or of 
 cotton among the poorer sort) over a long garment, 
 sometimes of a pink colour, under which are loose 
 trowsers, which are fastened round the ankle, just 
 above the shoe. Unmarried women wear their 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 215 
 
 hair in long tresses ; but matrons wear it twisted 
 up towards the back of the head, ornamented with 
 flowers or jewels, and fastened with two bodkins, 
 stuck in crosswise. Sometimes they wear an 
 ornament composed of gold and jewels, the wings 
 hovering, and the beak of the bird hanging over 
 the forehead on an elastic spring. In such a cos- 
 tume the females in China would frequently appear 
 handsome, were it not for the custom of daubing 
 their faces with white and red paint, and their mu- 
 tilated feet. The young women have their eye- 
 brows fashioned until they represent a fine curved 
 line, which the Chinese compare to "the new 
 moon," or to "the young leaflet of the willow." 
 
 The costume of the peasantry in China is adapt- 
 ed to give freedom to the body. In summer it 
 consists of a pair of loose cotton trowsers tied 
 round the middle, and a frock equally loose hang- 
 ing over it. In very hot weather the trowsers 
 only are worn. The head is defended from the 
 sun by a broad umbrella-shaped hat of bamboo 
 slips interwoven, which is exchanged for the felt 
 cap in winter. In rainy weather they have cloaks 
 of a species of flags or reeds, from which the 
 water runs as from a penthouse. Generally they 
 wear no shoes, but sometimes they wear sandals 
 made of straw. 
 
 It would seem that the party-coloured coat, with 
 which Jacob clad his beloved Joseph, is a uni- 
 versal mark of regard in oriental countries. Such 
 a coat is frequently given by the Chinese to a 
 retiring public magistrate whose government has 
 been marked by moderation and justice. A depu- 
 tation waits on him with a habit composed of every 
 variety of colour, as if made by a general contri- 
 bution from the people. With this habit he is 
 
216 SUMMARY OF 
 
 solemnly invested, and it is preserved with much 
 care as a relic in his family for generations. 
 
 Notwithstanding the dress of the Chinese is 
 defined by custom, and rendered sacred by anti- 
 quity, there is a vanity sometimes displayed in it 
 which exhibits the natural pride of the human 
 heart. There are fops among them as among 
 Europeans. 
 
 Among the most fatal temptations to which the 
 Chinese are exposed, and to which they m.ost yield, 
 may be reckoned the use of opium. Some use it 
 in moderation. "Nothing that I ever see," says 
 a modern traveller, " reminds me of an opium- 
 smoker. His lank and shrivelled limbs, tottering 
 gait, sallow visage, feeble voice and the death- 
 boding glance of his eye, are so superlative in 
 their degree, and so closely blended in their union, 
 that they at once bespeak him to be the most for- 
 lorn creature that treads upon the ground. Such 
 sights, however, are not very common, for the 
 miserable beings generally hide themselves from 
 public view, so that, amidst many thousands of 
 healthy and happy faces, we only see here and 
 there these prodigies of evil habit. Too much 
 leisure, more money than is required for the ne- 
 cessaries of life, a guilty conscience, an unquiet 
 mind and bad company, are the promoters, if not 
 the causes, of opium-smoking. Happy is that 
 man who, when he has provided for the necessi- 
 ties of the body, has nothing to bestow upon its 
 vices." 
 
 The fumes of this noxious drug are inhaled 
 through a peculiarly constructed pipe, whilst the 
 wretched victim reclines at his ease. In this 
 position he soon falls asleep, and on awaking 
 takes a cup of tea, and then resumes the process. 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 217 
 
 When the habit is confirmed, the degraded wretch 
 seems unable to leave it off; his strength soon 
 fails, and he becomes a walking shadow, with 
 eyes vacant and staring, and his whole bodily 
 frame deranged: on his brows are stamped the 
 mark of infamy, and he seldom reaches an ad- 
 vanced age. Such are the sufferings and misery 
 which millions endure from the use of this foreign 
 and fatal narcotic! The use of it has grown to 
 an evil of enormous magnitude in China; and the 
 anxiety of the Chinese government to abolish the 
 illicit traffic in the poison is commendable, though 
 hitherto unsuccessful. In the " Chinese Reposi- 
 tory" there is an account of a series of paintings, 
 by a Chinese artist, illustrating the progress of the 
 opium-smoker : it is from health and affluence, to 
 poverty, disease and death. 
 
 The lower orders among the Chinese are prone 
 to the vice of gambling. Dice, cards and domi- 
 noes, are all known and used among them, though 
 infamy is attached to the practice, and it is dis- 
 countenanced by the severity of the law. The 
 idle and dissolute meet in their public-houses, 
 which are generally open sheds, and where are 
 afforded the means of both gambling and drinking 
 to excess. These evil habits are more especially 
 observable among the sea-faring inhabitants of 
 Canton and Fokien. The dangerous profession 
 of these poor people, and their unsettled, wander- 
 ing habits, tend to give them the reckless and im- 
 provident character attached to the lower grades 
 of the maritime population in every part of the 
 world. So degraded are these people by their 
 habits, that it gives their superiors advantage 
 over them. They become the frequent victims 
 of cruelty and oppression, and none dare com- 
 19 
 
318 SUMMARY OF 
 
 plain. Their dead bodies are sometimes seen 
 floating down the river ; and the living, fearing 
 the infliction of the bastinado by their overseers, 
 see them pass onward without a sigh. Yet, in 
 the midst of oppression and wrong, they are ap- 
 parently light-hearted. To lighten their labour, 
 and assist them in keeping time with the strokes 
 of their oars, the boatmen often have recourse to 
 a rude air, which is generally sung by the master, 
 the whole of the crew joining in the chorus. " On 
 many a calm, still evening," says Barrow, " when 
 a dead silence reigned upon the water, have we 
 listened with pleasure to this artless and unpo- 
 lished air, which was sung, with little alteration, 
 through the whole fleet." 
 
 In common with the nation in general, the 
 maritime population of China are prone to super- 
 stition. Although the dragon is generally held in 
 honour, yet on some occasions he is treated with 
 great rudeness. This is especially the case on the 
 fifth day of the fifth month, when he is supposed 
 to lurk in ambush in some of the caves, with the 
 fell intention of drowning some unlucky crew 
 and sinking their boat. To prevent him, the 
 dragon-boat performs its fantastic feats about the 
 river immediately in the vicinity of Canton, and 
 noise and menace prevail as it is urged along by 
 the rowers. This is deemed sufiicient to scare 
 him from his purpose. 
 
 Another occasion, when the dragon is treated 
 disrespectfully, is during an eclipse, when he is 
 supposed to be making an essay to swallow the 
 sun or the moon, to gratify his hunger. To 
 frighten him from this act, or to entice him to 
 quit his grasp, gongs are beaten incessantly while 
 this phenomenon lasts. Yet the same people 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 219 
 
 hold processions to his honour on the same river. 
 One of these is thus graphically described :-— " On 
 the evening of March 10, 1838, as I was return- 
 ing from a wslW to the barrier, I observed that the 
 drums were more noisy than usual near the vil- 
 lage of Mongha, while sudden gleams of light were 
 seen from between the trees and tufts of bamboo. 
 After a short time, a long train of lights, differing 
 m volume and brilliancy, was seen, and soon pre- 
 sented to view transparent images of fish and 
 other living things, which were made of paper, 
 and lighted within. Among them, an enormous 
 dragon was borne by a row of men, who moved 
 about in fantastic evolutions, to represent the 
 writhings and contortions of the ugly beast. As 
 it was illuminated like the rest, the horned head, 
 large eyes and wide-yawning jaws, glared fiercely 
 upon the crowd, as the men who bore that part 
 capered and sidled about to give a characteristic 
 effect to it. The fish were very large, and ex- 
 ceedingly well executed ; for the Chinese show a 
 taste for natural beauty sometimes, and are pecu- 
 liarly happy in their paper imitations of the ' finny 
 drove.' 
 
 " The drum is indispensable in every proces- 
 sion of any importance ; and as the Chinese have 
 not adopted the plan of making it light enough to 
 be slung from the neck, they are obliged to place 
 it in a kind of stand or frame, which is carried by 
 several men, while the drummer follows his in- 
 strument on foot. In the head or prow of this 
 litter was placed the little drum, the sharp clicking 
 sound of which was intended as a treble to the 
 large drum. A gong was suspended upon a post 
 near the little drum, while a fourth musician made 
 a most obstreperous din with a large pair of cym- 
 
220 SUMMARY OF 
 
 bals. The man who beat the little drum seemed 
 to find an extraordinary delight in his occupation ; 
 while the swain with the cymbals held them close 
 to the ear of the drummer, as if he meant to re- 
 quite him for his diligence with a flood of sonorous 
 vibrations poured fresh into his ear. 
 
 " Among the illuminated fishes lanterns were 
 carried, of various forms, but generally shaped 
 like a Chinese house, with a succession of stories, 
 each story running out conspicuously into a cor- 
 nice or eaves. A flag was borne before, with a 
 dragon painted upon it, followed by two large 
 maces of a square shape, and divided into seve- 
 ral tiers, with a light in each of them. But the 
 most engaging part of the spectacle consisted 
 of two litters, brilliantly illuminated, and borne 
 aloft in the air ; in each of which were two little 
 girls, with lovely features, and very gay attire. 
 One of the twain stood upon a large pair of em- 
 broidered shoes, like those worn by Tartar ladies, 
 out of compliment to the nation that governs 
 China ; the other little girl was reared upon a 
 branch of the peach tree in full flower, which, 
 among the Chinese, is accounted the emblem of 
 beauty and loveliness." 
 
 Chinese Shoes. 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 
 
 231 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 PROTESTANT MISSIONS. 
 
 Tract Distribution among tlie Chinese. 
 
 Early in the nineteenth century Protestants of 
 various denominations were aroused to feel the 
 claims of the pagan world, and missions were 
 commenced in various parts of the earth, and 
 among them China received the heralds of sal- 
 vation. 
 
 The honour of sending the first Protestant 
 missionary to China belongs to the London Mis- 
 sionary Society. Having resolved upon this good, 
 great, and glorious work, that society sought for 
 men in whose prudence they could confide, and 
 whose talents were adapted for that station. The 
 first person nominated was the late zealous and 
 highly-gifted Dr. Morrison. Having directed his 
 attention to various branches of science, which it 
 19* 
 
222 SUMMARY OF 
 
 was hoped might prove subservient to the cause 
 of the gospel, and gained an imperfect insight 
 into the Chinese language, that first herald of sal- 
 vation to the pagans of China set sail for Canton 
 at the commencement of 1807. 
 
 On reaching Canton, Dr. Morrison studied the 
 language with unwearied assiduity, although sur- 
 rounded with discouragements. His labours were 
 in truth obliged to be carried on in secret, lest the 
 government, hearing of them, should be induced 
 to expel him from the country. Even the persons 
 who assisted him trembled lest they should be 
 discovered. But under the protecting care of the 
 Almighty, who had purposes of mercy toward 
 that benighted land, he laboured in security, and 
 his efforts were crowned Avith success. In a few 
 years, he translated and printed in the Chinese 
 language, first the Acts of the Apostles, then the 
 Gospel by Luke, next the morning and evening 
 prayers of the English Common Prayer Book, 
 together with the Psalter, divided for the days of 
 the month; and finally, he completed the transla- 
 tion of the whole inspired book of God. 
 
 The translation of the sacred Scriptures into 
 the Chinese language was completed in 1819, and 
 on this occasion, the translator thus expressed his 
 feelings: — "To have Moses, David, and the 
 prophets, Jesus Christ and his disciples, using 
 their own words, and thereby declaring to the 
 inhabitants of this land the wonderful works of 
 God, indicates, I hope, the speedy introduction of 
 a happier era in these parts of the world ; and I 
 trust, that the gloomy darkness of pagan scepti- 
 cism will be dispelled by the day-spring from on 
 high ; and that the gilded idols of Budhu, and the 
 numberless images which fill this land, will one 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 223 
 
 day assuredly fall to the ground before the power 
 of God's word, as the idol Dagon fell before the 
 ark. 
 
 " These are my anticipations, although there 
 appears not the least opening at present. A bitter 
 aversion to the name of our blessed Saviour, and 
 to any book that contains his name or his doctrines, 
 is felt and cherished. This, however, does not 
 induce us to despair. I remember Britain; what 
 she was, and what she now is in respect to religion. 
 Three hundred years have not elapsed since na- 
 tional authority said that ' the Bible should not be 
 read openly in any church by the people, nor 
 privately by the poor ; that only noblemen and 
 gentlemen, and noble ladies and gentlewomen, 
 might have the Bible in their houses.' I remem- 
 ber this, and cherish hope for China.'' 
 
 The labours of Dr. Morrison were not confined 
 solely to the important task of translating the 
 word of God into the Chinese language. In the 
 midst of these he compiled a Chinese grammar, 
 and commenced the compilation of a Chinese and 
 English dictionary. This latter great work he 
 completed in 1823, and by it he has prepared the 
 way, not only for the attainment of a knowledge 
 of the language of China, but. for the future dis- 
 semination of European learning and science, and 
 of the great truths of Christianity in that pagan 
 country. The completion of his dictionary, in- 
 deed, as well as that of the Chinese version of 
 the Bible, forms an epoch in the history of Chris- 
 tian missions. 
 
 While thus employed. Dr. Morrison Avas mind- 
 ful of the souls of those with whom he had an 
 opportunity of conversing. Privately he laboured 
 diligently to diffuse a knowledge of the truth as it 
 
224 SUMMARY OF 
 
 is in Jesus. Years rolled away, however, before 
 he was permitted to reap any fruit from his labours. 
 Until 1814, no individual had resolution to seek 
 admission, by baptism, into the church of Christ. 
 At that time a Chinese named Tsae-a-ko, after 
 much instruction and strict examination, came 
 forward and confessed his faith in Christ and was 
 baptized. Tsae-a-ko adhered to the faith until his 
 death, which occurred in 1818. 
 
 In 1823, Dr. Morrison visited his native country, 
 where he was received with the honour justly due 
 to his talents and Christian philanthropy. Pre- 
 vious to his leaving Macao, he dedicated a native 
 convert, named Leang Afa, to the work of an 
 evangelist among his own countrymen. Dr. Mor- 
 rison remained in England till 1826, when he re- 
 turned to Macao. On his arrival, he met Leang 
 Afa, who had been actively and usefully em- 
 ployed during his absence. Fearless of persecu- 
 tion, he had been ardent in his study of the sacred 
 Scriptures, which he boldly promulgated by con- 
 versation, preaching and the distribution of tracts 
 and the book of God itself. 
 
 Bibles and tracts were the chief means now 
 used by Dr. Morrison to promote the eternal 
 welfare of the Chinese. In this work he was 
 aided by the British and Foreign Bible Society, 
 and the London Religious Tract Society, both of 
 which responded to his call to stand forward " to 
 the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord 
 against the mighty." Nor were his labours in 
 vain. In October, 1832, he writes, " I have been 
 twenty-five years in China, and am now beginning 
 to see the work prosper. Blessed be God for his 
 mercy to me. By the press we have been en- 
 abled to scatter knowledge far and wide. We 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 225 
 
 now greatly want writers in Chinese- My 
 strengtii fails me much. The Confucian atheists, 
 who believe that death is annihilation, are nume- 
 rous. Of late, some merchants here, of that 
 school, have been put into possession of the Tes- 
 tament, Milne on the Soul, and other books print- 
 ed by us. Agong (another Chinese convert) has 
 been occupied in my house all the summer, in 
 printing sheet-tracts at the lithographic press. 
 Leang Afa has been engaged in printing nine 
 tracts, for which the Tract Society sent out 
 funds. He has baptized three persons during 
 the year." 
 
 By means of English presses, which were intro- 
 duced by this first Protestant mission, Dr. Mor- 
 rison and his Chinese coadjutors, Leang Afa and 
 Agong, were furnished with many thousand tracts, 
 which they distributed among the people. On 
 one occasion, the native converts itinerated about 
 250 miles into the interior, for the purpose of dis- 
 tributing religious tracts among them ; and on 
 another they distributed more than 2500 in the 
 streets of Canton, among 24,000 literary graduates 
 who had assembled in that city for public exami- 
 nation. They were received with gladness, and 
 the effects may have been great. 
 
 The press, therefore, that mighty engine for 
 good or evil, had become the chief instrument in 
 the hands of Dr. Morrison for diffusing the know- 
 ledge of Christ. He saw and confessed its power, 
 and wisely used it in the service of the Redeemer. 
 But he was not limited to the press alone. Every 
 Sabbath he conducted Divine worship in his own 
 house and in the Chinese language. To his work 
 he continued "faithful unto death ;" which took 
 place on the 1st of August, 1834. On that day. 
 
226 SUMMARY OF 
 
 he rested from his labours, and entered into the 
 blessedness of the dead who die in the Lord. 
 
 Having thus briefly sketched Dr. Morrison's his- 
 tory, we shall now notice his esteemed colleague, 
 Dr. Milne. After passing through a course of 
 preparatory instruction, he set sail for Macao, 
 where he arrived in 1813. On his arrival, he 
 commenced the study of the Chinese language ; 
 but on the second or third day after he began, he 
 received an order from the Portuguese governor 
 to leave the island in eight days, which was almost 
 immediately followed by another, to go on board 
 a vessel then about to leave the port. Remon- 
 strance was in vain. Influenced by the Papists, 
 who were alarmed at the arrival of a Protestant 
 missionary, the governor insisted on his departure, 
 and he proceeded to Canton. Subsequently, he 
 made a tour, circulating New Testaments, tracts 
 and catechisms, through the chief settlements of 
 the Malay Archipelago. On returning to Canton, 
 the jealousy of the Chinese government rendered 
 it imprudent for him to remain, and it was deter- 
 mined that he should proceed to Malacca, a town 
 in southern Asia, situated on the western coast of 
 the Malay Peninsula, between the Gulf of Bengal 
 and the Indian Archipelago and China. The bulk 
 of the population of this town consists of Malays, 
 but there are some Hindus and Chinese, as well 
 as some descendants of the Portuguese and Dutch. 
 Among this mixed population. Dr. Milne laboured 
 till his death, which took place in 1822. 
 
 Before his death Dr. Milne had the satisfaction 
 of seeing an Anglo-Chinese college erected, for the 
 instruction of Chinese youths, from which much 
 good has resulted. This mission has, indeed, 
 recently assumed a very favourable appearance. 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 227 
 
 Several instances of conversion have occurred 
 among the Chinese population, and the converts 
 have greatly aided the successors of Dr. Milne. 
 
 While stationed at Malacca, Dr. Milne visited 
 Pulo Penang, or Prince of Wales's Island, which 
 is the seat of government of the British posses- 
 sions in the Straits of Malacca. This island is 
 inhabited by a mixed population of Europeans, 
 Armenians, Malays, Achinese, Battas, Chinese, 
 Chuliahs, Bengalese, Burmans, Siamese, Arabs, 
 Parsees and Caffres. Among these, Mr. Med- 
 hurst, who had previously assisted Dr. Milne at 
 Malacca, established a school in a Chinese temple, 
 and distributed a great number of tracts. Since 
 then, other schools have been opened by other 
 missionaries, and the station promises to be of 
 great utility in future operations among the Chi- 
 nese. The education of the rising Chinese popu- 
 lation, both male and female, has recently assumed 
 a promising appearance. Printing-presses have 
 also been established at this station, and books, 
 both in the Malay and Chinese language, have 
 been issued from thence in great numbers. 
 
 In 1819, Mr. Milne removed from Malacca to 
 Singapore, and a temporary building was erected, 
 which served as a residence, a school-house and 
 a chapel; and the usual means were employed 
 for the benefit of the population, which consists 
 of Chinese, Malays, Javanese, etc. Since then a 
 printing-office has been established at Singapore, 
 and this office, together with those at Malacca and 
 Pulo Penang, have furnished an immense number 
 of copies of the Scriptures and tracts, in Chinese 
 and Malay, which have been widely dispersed; 
 those in the former language extending even to 
 the vicinity of Pekin. On the subject of the dis- 
 
328 SUMMARY OF 
 
 tribution of books and tracts at Singapore, one of 
 the missionaries remarks :— " Perhaps not less 
 than one hundred junks, of various sizes, pay at 
 least an annual visit to Singapore, which afford 
 abundant facilities for sending the sacred Scrip- 
 tures into the empire of China, and to almost every 
 important Chinese colony in the Indian Archipe- 
 lago. The large junks from China are chiefly 
 from two places. Canton and Amoy. They arrive 
 early in the year, and, as they stay some months* 
 we have an opportunity of paying them several 
 visits, and of holding conversations with the peo- 
 ple. All the readers on board each junk are sup- 
 plied with books, and then a small ' export cargo' 
 is intrusted to the captain, or other intelligent and 
 well-disposed person among the crew, to be given 
 to their friends on returning home. A complete 
 copy of the Scriptures is usually given to the cap- 
 tain for his own use. In all our intercourse with 
 these visitors, as well as those from other parts, 
 we have uniformly met with a friendly, and even 
 kind reception ; and the books are generally re- 
 ceived with cheerfulness, and not unfrequently 
 with strong feelings of gratitude." 
 
 Malacca, Pulo Penang and Singapore, have 
 been for years so many outposts for Christian 
 missionaries, carrying on their warfare against the 
 Great Dragon in China. In China itself, since 
 the death of Dr. Morrison, Httle has been done. 
 Leang Afa is still labouring in his Master's cause, 
 in the midst of much persecution ; and many excel- 
 lent men have been sent to China by the American 
 Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and 
 the American Baptist Board, some of whom reside 
 at Canton, where they have established a printing- 
 press, which has been actively employed for the best 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 229 
 
 interests of the Chinese. But English missionaries 
 have not yet been permitted to reside permanently 
 in that pagan country. Apart from the jealousy 
 of the Chinese government towards the English, 
 the commercial difficulties fostered by the Portu- 
 guese, and the recent rupture between the two 
 countries, have prevented such a desirable con- 
 summation. The war having ceased, it is hoped 
 EngHsh and American missionaries will, ere long, 
 be permitted to go forth in great numbers and 
 spread the glad tidings of salvation among that be- 
 nighted people. Christians are anxiously watch- 
 ing the progress of events, and daily prayer is 
 offered, that the way may be opened for the 
 heralds of salvation to pass onward in their hal- 
 lowed mission. Already the ports of Canton, 
 Amoy, Fouchoufoo, Ningpo and Shang-hai, are 
 thrown open to British merchants, and the island 
 of Hong-kong is ceded in perpetuity to her Bri- 
 tannic majesty, her heirs and successors. The 
 British flag is permitted to wave in these several 
 ports of the " celestial empire ;" and it becomes 
 Christians to unfold the standard of the cross there 
 likewise. By treaty, peace and friendship are se- 
 cured between the two empires ; and it is hoped 
 that England and America will be permitted to 
 send forth their missionaries to promulgate the 
 gospel of peace to that long-enslaved people, who 
 have been groaning under the yoke of Satan from 
 the earliest period of the world's history. 
 
 The Chinese are a reading people, and they all 
 speak the same language and write the same 
 characters. In other pagan countries it has been 
 necessary to establish schools in order to teach 
 the infant and the adult to read ; but in China the 
 people generally can read and write. Moreover, 
 20 
 
290 SUMMARY OF 
 
 they are extremely inquisitive, patient in research, 
 and fond of literature. Every thing they meet 
 with in the shape of a book or tract is read with 
 avidity ; and had their own literature been capable 
 of improving the moral character of man, the Chi- 
 nese would, doubtless, have long ago presented a 
 lovely picture of society. But all their writers, 
 even the most enlightened, may be considered as 
 "thebhnd leading the blind." The thick films 
 of pagan darkness had been gathered for ages 
 over the universal mind in China, and reason was 
 too impotent to chase its shades away. Confu- 
 cius, Mencius, and a long list of philosophers, 
 struggled to emerge from the night of darkness in 
 which they found themselves, but in vain. 
 
 Here, then, is a wide field for the exercise of 
 Christian philanthropy — a field already prepared 
 for the scattering abroad of the good seed of the 
 word of life : for, although the missionary may not 
 yet be permitted to labour therein, there are 
 facihties, as before shown, for sending books and 
 tracts even into the interior of that exclusive em- 
 pire ; and these facilities are greatly increased by 
 the recent treaty between the Chinese and the 
 English.* 
 
 On the reception of the word of God among the 
 Chinese, Mr. Lay, a former agent of the British 
 and Foreign Bible Society, remarks :• — " Among 
 the workmen and their acquaintances at a tailor's 
 
 * A more extended and particular notice of the labours 
 of American missionaries on this interesting portion of 
 the globe would be given in this connection, but we ex- 
 pect soon to publish a volume more especially devoted to 
 this subject, and prepared by one of the missionaries, 
 whose opportunities of acquiring information are very 
 peculiar and well-improved. — Ed. 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 231 
 
 shop, I witnessed some of the best examples of an 
 interest in the Holy Scriptures that I met with dur- 
 ing my stay. I was asked for them again and again, 
 with a cordiality of feeling that was truly refreshing. 
 An interest in this kind of reading had been dif- 
 fused from friend to friend, till, instead of single 
 copies, they began to ask for numbers, accom- 
 panying their requests with the remark, that ho 
 too tung yun tuk shu, ' a great many now read 
 the books.' One of the friends came and took a 
 bundle away to supply some kinsmen at a dis- 
 tance, and thus to perform, in its first elements, 
 the work of a native distributor. The man who 
 introduced this person to me said, ' The ladies 
 within read the books ; they say they are good 
 books, they understand them. Is not this good ?' 
 added he, with an air of triumph. ' Yes,' replied 
 I, 'ten times told,' or good in the superlative. 
 For, while I had heard some complain that they 
 did not know what to make of their sense, among 
 the males, it was in the highest degree gratifying 
 to hear that females in China were reading the 
 Scriptures with the understanding. It was a little 
 fact, when taken by itself; but it gave me the 
 most unfeigned pleasure, because it was unsought 
 for and unexpected, and seemed like a symptom 
 of something that may, in its development, fill the 
 Christian and philanthropist with wonder and 
 delight," 
 
 The same writer, in common with the English 
 and American missionaries, urges the necessity of 
 distributing tracts in large numbers among the 
 Chinese. And in the present state of the feelings 
 of the Chinese towards "barbarians," it may fairly 
 be presumed that they will be the means of doing 
 more good than even the missionaries themselves. 
 
332 SUMMARY OF 
 
 Against the white man they have strong national 
 antipathies, and these have been increased by his 
 unprincipled ambition and commercial rapacity. 
 But against books and tracts no such antipathy 
 exists — they are allowed to speak to the heart. 
 Besides, few are yet capable of teaching the Chi- 
 nese in their own language, and years of toil must 
 be endured before missionaries can go forth in 
 numbers. They have yet to prepare for this 
 mighty labour ; but the press can speak without 
 reserve, and in a language that can be understood. 
 It can tell the hundreds of miUions inhabiting that 
 vast empire the way of salvation in their own 
 tongue, wherein they were born. 
 
 " There is something grand," says Gutzlaff, "in 
 seeing such a prodigious number of our species 
 united in one nation, speaking the same language, 
 and using the same characters in expressing their 
 thoughts by writing. Ancient and modern histo- 
 ry furnishes no parallel of an identity which may 
 be traced in the slightest particular." There is 
 " something grand" in this circumstance ; but 
 how indescribably grand would be the picture, if 
 this " prodigious number of our species" were 
 united in the worship of the one true God, instead 
 of bowing the knee to their many false gods, or 
 grovelling in the night of atheism ! How inde- 
 scribably grand would be a well-founded idea, 
 that these hundreds of millions were passing to 
 the realms of glory, to swell this triumph of the 
 Redeemer's name : " Worthy is the Lamb that 
 was slain to receive power and riches and wis- 
 dom and strength and honour and glory and 
 blessing." And that earth will one day witness 
 such a scene, the sure word of prophecy testifies. 
 Wrapped in holy vision, in which futurity was re- 
 
 t 
 
CHINESE HISTORY. 233 
 
 vealed unto him, the same " heloved John," who 
 was privileged to hear this song- of the redeemed 
 in heaven, writes, "And every creature which is 
 in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, 
 and such as are in the sea, and all that are in 
 them, heard I saying, Blessing and honour and 
 glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon 
 the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." 
 Christian reader, you are privileged to aid in bring- 
 ing about this glorious consummation ; and a talent 
 has been committed unto you for that purpose, by 
 Him who " hath called you out of darkness into 
 his marvellous light." See that you so use that 
 talent, that through his grace you may receive 
 the welcome — " Well done, good and faithful ser- 
 vant ; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I 
 will make thee ruler over many things : enter thou 
 into the joy of thy Lord." Beware of entertain- 
 ing the idea that the little you can do will be of 
 no avail, and that, therefore, your exertions may 
 be dispensed with. All true Christians are com- 
 manded to spread the gospel throughout the world, 
 and if they were to unite in the halloAved work 
 with all their hearts, how great and delightful 
 would be the results! 
 
 "0 scenes surpassing fable, and yet true ; 
 Scenes of accomplish'd bliss ! Which, who can see, 
 Though but in distant prospect, and not feel 
 
 One song employs all nations ; and all cry, 
 ' Worthy the Lamb, for he was slain for us !* 
 The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks 
 Shout to each other; and the mountain tops 
 From distant mountains catch the flying joy; 
 Till nation after nation taught the strain, 
 Earth rolls the rapturous hosanna round. 
 20* 
 
334 SUMMARY OF 
 
 Behold tjie measure of the promise filled ; 
 
 See Salem built, the labour of a God ! 
 
 Bright as a sun the sacred city shines ; 
 
 All kingdoms and all princes of the earth 
 
 Flock to that light ; the glory of all lands 
 
 Flows unto her ; unbounded is her joy, 
 
 And endless her increase. Thy rams are there, 
 
 Nebaioth, and the flocks of Kedar there ; 
 
 The looms of Ormus, and the mines of Ind, 
 
 And Saba's spicy groves, pay tribute there. 
 
 Praise is in all her gates : upon her walls, 
 
 And in her streets, and in her spacious courts, 
 
 Is heard salvation. Eastern Java there 
 
 Kneels with the natives of the farthest west ; 
 
 And Ethiopia spreads abroad the hand. 
 
 And worships. Her report has travell'd forth 
 
 Into all lands. From every clime they come 
 
 To see thy beauty, and to share thy joy, 
 
 O Sion ! an assembly such as earth 
 
 Saw never, such as Heaven stoops down to see.' 
 
 THE END, 
 
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