An 
 
 American Engineer 
 
 in China 
 
 
 By 
 
 Wm. Barclay Parsons
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES

 
 An American Engineer 
 in China
 
 ■ [X, 
 
 fc/.
 
 An 
 
 American Engineer 
 
 in China 
 
 By 
 
 Wm. Barclay Parsons 
 
 M 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 McClure, Phillips & Co. 
 
 M C M
 
 Copyright, 1 900, by 
 McCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO.
 
 Preface 
 
 THE following - pages are designed to pre- 
 sent a view of China and the Chinese from 
 the stand-point of industrial development 
 as it exists at present and along the lines it is 
 likely to follow in the future. Such phases of 
 the Chinese question as the missionary problems, 
 and the causes and treatment of the recent politi- 
 cal disturbance, are left entirely to be dealt with 
 by others, as, likewise, are all matters of govern- 
 ment, internal and foreign politics, and personal 
 or national characteristics, except in so far as 
 they may come within the subject scope. In 
 the years 1898 and 1899 the author was in China, 
 under retainer of an American syndicate to ex- 
 amine, survey, and report on an extensive rail- 
 way enterprise, and the duties connected with 
 his professional work placed him in an excep- 
 tional position to study and observe this interest- 
 ing country and its people from a quite different 
 point of view from that taken by other writers. 
 The journey made in the course of the survey 
 had a special interest, in that it traversed Hu-nan, 
 that province of China of which the least was 
 known, and presented the opportunity, success- 
 fully availed of, to obtain an entrance to, and an 
 
 5
 
 6 Preface 
 
 official recognition in, Chang-sha, the one large 
 city in China which hitherto had been closed to 
 foreigners. The author was accompanied by a 
 corps of engineers, consisting of Mr. R. C. Hunt, 
 Chief of Stall, and Messrs. A. E. Coulter, If. B. 
 Magor, W. K. Brice, and W. S. K. Wet more— to 
 whom were added Mr. Charles Denbv, Jr., as in- 
 terpreter and manager, and Dr. R. B. J el li son as 
 physician. Sheng Ta-jen, Director - General of 
 Imperial Chinese Railways, kindly attached to 
 the party Mi'. W. W. Rich, his consulting engineer, 
 and Woo Yung-fo, and Lo Kwok-shui, two of his 
 secretaries. The two last mentioned gentlemen 
 had been educated in the United States, the latter 
 as an engineer. They both had been recalled in 
 the midst of their collegiate studies, and subse- 
 quently Mr. Woo entered the Chinese navy, 
 where he served as flag-lieutenant to Captain 
 Lang, R.N., at that time acting as Chinese 
 Admiral. When Admiral Ting succeeded Cap- 
 tain Lang, Mr. Woo was transferred to the for- 
 mer's staff, and stood at the side of his chief in 
 the conning tower of the flag-ship in the famous 
 battle of the Ya-lu in the Japanese War. 
 
 The journey was not without its rough as well 
 as its interesting side, and was one of. some con- 
 siderable personal risk. The party was accom- 
 panied by a large force of Chinese soldiers for
 
 Preface 7 
 
 protection, Chinese officials to indicate its char- 
 acter, and a body of coolies acting as porters, for 
 all stores had to be carried. Provisions, except 
 eggs, fish, and fresh meat, were purchased before 
 starting in sufficient quantity to maintain the 
 party in the field for some months. The articles 
 mentioned above were obtained without trouble, 
 and usually as presents from the local officials, the 
 meats consisting of buffalo, sheep, goat, deer, wild 
 ducks and chicken. 
 
 The author desires to take this opportunity to 
 express his sense of personal obligation to Their 
 Excellencies: Sheng, the Director-General of Rail- 
 ways and Telegraphs, with whom the author was 
 necessarily brought into close contact ; Chang 
 Chih-tung, the great central Viceroy, through 
 whose territory the survey was made; and Wu 
 Ting-fang, China's able representative in Wash- 
 ington ; to Mr. Conger, the United States Minister 
 at Peking, the latter particularly for such personal 
 aid as his official position permitted ; and to Mr. 
 John Goodnow, United States Consul-General 
 at Shanghai. 
 
 Part of the matter contained in this volume has 
 previously appeared in McClurc s and Engineering 
 Magazines and Harper s Weekly, and is republished 
 through the courtesy of the respective editors,
 
 8 Preface 
 
 although now entirely rewritten and enlarged. 
 All the illustrations are from photographs act- 
 ually taken on the expedition, and for the most 
 part represent Chinese life as it exists in the in- 
 terior of the Empire. 
 
 NEW York, November, 1900. 
 
 46
 
 A Table of the Chapters 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 I. China 15 
 
 II. American Concession ..44 
 
 III. Hu-nan, The Closed Province of China . . 54 
 
 The Entrance 70 
 
 The Interior 90 
 
 The Exit 109 
 
 IV. My Chinese Impressions 127 
 
 V. Commerce and Commercial Relations . . .148 
 
 VI. Finances of China 181 
 
 VII. Chinese Construction 198 
 
 VIII. Inland Communication 221 
 
 IX. Railways 245 
 
 X. The Yellow Peril 286 
 
 XI. China in the Twentieth Century 306
 
 A List of the Illustrations 
 
 The American Engineers in the Field 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 Stairway Leading to Temple of Confucius, Peking . 
 Carved Stone Animals Lining the Road Leading to the 
 
 Ming Tombs ....... 
 
 Four Members of the Tsung-li Yamen and Mr. Conger 
 
 in the Court-yard of the Yamen .... 
 Yang-tze Kiang, between Han-yang and Wu-chang 
 A Part of the City of Victoria, on the Island of Hongkong 
 
 at the Base of the Peak ..... 
 
 The Last of Hu-nan ...... 
 
 Junks on the River Han with Hankow in the Distance 
 A Group of Natives who Have Never Seen a Foreigner 
 
 Before ........ 
 
 Another Group of Natives ..... 
 
 Coolies Waiting to be Employed as Carriers 
 
 Coolie Carrying my Bedding ..... 
 
 A Yamen Runner ....... 
 
 The Procession ....... 
 
 Placard Bearers who Preceded the Procession to Announci 
 
 Our Coming ....... 
 
 Chinese Soldiers who Formed Our Guard 
 
 A Chinese Hsien Magistrate and His Red Umbrella, in 
 
 dicative of His Rank and Presence . 
 Main Court-yard of the Governor's Yamen at Chang-sha 
 River Gunboat ....... 
 
 A Peculiar Custom by Chinese Women of Wearing Heat 
 
 ing-Baskets ....... 
 
 Fage 
 79 
 
 26 
 2S 
 
 3 2 
 
 38 
 
 47 
 55 
 
 59 
 61 
 
 63 
 64 
 65 
 
 72 
 
 73 
 75 
 
 11 
 85 
 90 
 
 95
 
 A List of the Illustrations 
 
 The Descent from the Che-ling Pass on the South Side 
 Two Faithful Friends ...... 
 
 The Wall and Gateway on the Border between Hu-nan 
 
 and Kiang-si ....... 
 
 A Bridge over Dry Ground with a Coolie Climbing th 
 
 Approach Steps on the Left .... 
 
 A Kwang-tung Pawnshop and Surrounding Village 
 Under Two Flags ....... 
 
 Chinese and Manchu Ladies of the Upper Class 
 A Neglected Buddhist Temple 
 Chinese Graves .... 
 
 Flags were Everywhere in Profusion 
 
 General Liu Kao-chao at Tiffin 
 
 Wall Along Yang-tze Kiang at Wu-chang, Opposite 
 
 Hankow .... 
 
 Road-side Shrine in Which Papers are Burned 
 A Hu-nan Farm-house . 
 A Chinese Saw-mill 
 A Military Officer and Two Privates 
 
 "Bell "Cash 
 
 A Very Old Arch in Eastern Hu-nan, Previously In ex 
 
 plored ..... 
 
 Ping-hsiang Bridge 
 
 A Beautiful Single Span . 
 
 Arch near Peking .... 
 
 A Small Bridge .... 
 
 Wooden Cantilever Bridge at Li-ling, over the Lu Ho 
 Pagoda near Wu-chang ...... 
 
 Chinese House Construction — a Combination of a Wooden 
 
 Frame and Brick Walls .
 
 A List of the Illustrations 
 
 13 
 
 The Famous Wall of the Tartar City, Peking, with One of 
 the Gate-towers ..... 
 
 The Great Wall of China .... 
 
 The Siang Kiang ...... 
 
 A Freight-boat Being Poled Against the Stream 
 
 A Sail That May Have Seen Better Days, but Which is by 
 
 no Means a Unique Specimen . 
 A Female Skipper ...... 
 
 The Equality of Sex. A Man and a Woman at the Oar 
 A Cantonese Slipper B.oat .... 
 
 Fast Freight by Wheelbarrow .... 
 
 The Author Travelling in an Official Chair 
 Boy Carrying Coal from the Mines to the River 
 A Typical Road on Top of a Dyke between Rice-fields 
 A Road Paved with Stone Slabs Showing the Groove Cut 
 by Wheelbarrows ..... 
 
 The " Rocket of China " and Mr. Kinder 
 Khojack Tunnel on the Sind-Peshin Railway, India 
 Japanese Passenger Train .... 
 
 Typical Large Railway Station in Japan . 
 Typical Small Railway Station in Japan . 
 Passengers Getting on a Train in China . 
 Japanese Railway Freight Station . 
 Second-class Train on the Imperial Chinese Railway 
 First-class Train on the Imperial Chinese Railway . 
 
 Page 
 
 214 
 2l6 
 224 
 
 230 
 232 
 233 
 235 
 237 
 238 
 240 
 241 
 
 242 
 248 
 268 
 270 
 
 272 
 
 276 
 278 
 282 
 284
 
 Chapter 
 
 China 
 
 EVER since the days when Marco Polo 
 brought back to Europe the seeming fairy 
 tales of the wonder land of the Far East, 
 the country to which we have applied the name 
 of China has been a field more and more attrac- 
 tive for commercial conquest. 
 
 At the close of the nineteenth century, when the 
 ever-rising tide of industrial development has 
 succeeded in sweeping over Europe, America, 
 the better portion of Africa, Western Asia, and 
 India, it is the Chinese Wall alone that resists its 
 waves. The movement, however, is irresistible, 
 and not even the exclusiveness of the Chinese and 
 their extreme disinclination to change their ways 
 will be a sufficient protection against it. The re- 
 cent so-called "Boxer 1 ' outbreak will probably 
 prove to be the death-knell to Chinese resist- 
 ance. Whatever may be the outcome of this out- 
 break, in so far as it affects the government or 
 the political integrity of the country, it can be 
 predicted with safety that the commercial and in- 
 dustrial life of China will be revolutionized, and 
 the beginning of the twentieth century will be 
 found to mark the dawning of a new era. 
 
 The present moment, when we are about to 
 pass from the old into the new state of things, is a 
 
 15
 
 i'' An American Engineer in China 
 
 fitting time to survey the lie-Id of industrial enter- 
 prise by examining into what has been done, and 
 to .i- 1 i rtain the sorl ol foundation thai lias been 
 prepared on which the Chinese people, aided .it 
 first l>\ foreigners, will eventually oi themselves 
 ere< I their own industrial structure. 
 
 In tin- consideration ol this very interesting 
 land there seems to be a surprise ;it every turn, 
 and one of the mosl peculiar is that weare met at 
 the outsel by the curious circumstance that it is a 
 countr} withoul a name. The Chinese themselves 
 have no fixed designation (or their country, using, 
 as a general thing, either the "Middle Kingdom," 
 or the "Celestial Kingdom," or the "Great Pure 
 Kingdom.** The interpretation of the first is that 
 tin- pm] ile consider China to be the centre of the 
 world, all the other countries surrounding and be- 
 ing tributary to it; although the term probably 
 originated when, what is now the Province of 
 Ilo-nan was the central kingdom of several other 
 kingdoms which together formed a united coun- 
 try. The name "Celestial Kingdom" is a piece of 
 self-flattery, the Chinese Emperor being called in 
 like manner the " Son ol I leaven ; " while the last 
 name, that of the " Great Pure Kingdom," follows 
 the designation of the presenl ruling house, which 
 styles itself the " Pure Dynasty," in contra-dis- 
 tinction to the preceding dynasty which it over- 
 threw, and which was called the Ming or" Plight 
 Dynasty." The foreigner's appellation of China
 
 Chapter I : China 17 
 
 is of uncertain origin, but it is supposed to mean 
 the land of Chin or Tsin, a family that ruled about 
 250 B.C. ; and even this name is used indiscrimi- 
 nately as covering- two areas very different in size. 
 When we use the word China it may mean the 
 Chinese Empire proper, the Empire of the eigh- 
 teen provinces; or it may mean the eighteen 
 provinces and the dependencies of Manchuria, 
 Mongolia, and Tibet, whose bond of attachment 
 to the Empire, in strength, is in the above order. 
 The eighteen provinces comprise in area about 
 1,500,000 square miles, or an area about equal 
 to that portion of the United States lying east 
 of Colorado. The shape of the Empire proper 
 is substantially rectangular, extending from the 
 latitude of eighteen degrees north, or the latitude 
 of Vera Cruz, to forty-two degrees north, which 
 is about that of New York. When the depen- 
 dencies are included under the title of China 
 the northern boundary is carried to the forty- 
 eighth parallel, or say the latitude of New Found- 
 land, and the whole has an area of over 4,000,000 
 square miles, a greater surface than that of 
 Europe, or of the United States and Alaska com- 
 bined. This great area is reputed to support a 
 population of upwards of 400,000,000 ; figures, 
 however, which, as I will later point out, are, in 
 my belief, a gross exaggeration ; but the bal- 
 ance, even after the most conservative reduc- 
 tions, will still easily be the greatest single con-
 
 [8 An American Engineer in China 
 
 tiguous conglomeration ol people under one rul- 
 er. Racially speaking, they are a conglomeration. 
 
 Who the Chinese were originally is not known. 
 It is generally believed that they came from 
 Western or Central Asia, and, conquering the 
 scattered nomadic tribes inhabiting what is now- 
 China, seized their count ry. 
 
 In the dependencies and China proper we find 
 distinctly different peoples, with diverse customs; 
 while scattered about the Empire proper are set- 
 tlements ol strange tribes, whose origin is abso- 
 lutely unknown, but who are believed to be relics 
 of the aboriginal inhabitants. 
 
 Lack of intercommunication has allowed the 
 language of the Chinese to become locally varied, 
 and to such an extent that, although the written 
 characters are the same, the spoken dialects of the 
 North and South are so different as to be mutu- 
 ally unintelligible. There are said to be in the 
 Empire proper eight dialects, each again being 
 many times subdivided by local colloquialisms. 
 Of these dialects the most important is the so- 
 called Mandarin or Pekingese, the dialect of the 
 North and the official language of the country, 
 the one which all government officials are re- 
 quired to learn and use. It therefore holds the 
 position in respect to other dialects that the 
 French formerlv held in Europe as the court 
 tongue, or language of diplomacy and officialism. 
 
 Historically, China enjoys the distinction of
 
 Chapter I : China 19 
 
 being the oldest continuing nation in the world. 
 Fairly authentic records trace back the course of 
 events to about 3,000 B.C., so that China rightly 
 claims an existence of at least 5,000 years. Re- 
 lating to the time previous to this period there 
 is a vast amount of legendary matter, in which 
 probability and fiction have not yet been separ- 
 ated. 
 
 China's own historians, with characteristic con- 
 ceit, make out their country's history to be con- 
 temporaneous with time. Owing to her seclusion 
 and isolation from the affairs of other nations, the 
 history of China possesses a local rather than a 
 world interest, and for the most part is a record 
 of the rise and fall of the several tribes or peoples 
 composing the nation, each such change estab- 
 lishing a new dynasty. However, there are cer- 
 tain epochs of general interest and certain salient 
 points in the nation's development and growth 
 that should be understood and kept in mind if 
 any study of China or of things Chinese is under- 
 taken. 
 
 Accepted Chinese chronology begins with the 
 reign of Fuh-hi, in the year 2852 B.C. As to the 
 significance of that date, it is interesting to note 
 that it is 200 years before the rise of the Egyptian 
 monarchy, 500 years before that of Babylon, and 
 precedes the reputed time of Abraham by a period 
 almost as long as the whole record of English his- 
 tory from the conquest to the present time.
 
 An American Engineer in China 
 
 In the Chau Dynasty, which lasted from B.C. 
 1 122 to B.C. 249, we find the great period in Chi- 
 nese literature, an era comparable with that oi 
 Elizabeth in our records. In 550 B.C. Confucius 
 was born, whose philosophical reasonings, ow- 
 ing to the long time he antedated the spread of 
 Christianity and Mohammedanism, have affected 
 the thought of more human beings than the writ- 
 ings or sayings of any other man, with the possi- 
 ble exception of Buddha. 
 
 Although Confucius is the central figure of the 
 epoch, there are at least two other men sub- 
 stantially contemporaneous with him, who are 
 only a little less prominent : Liao-tze, who pre- 
 ceded him fifty years, and Mencius, who followed 
 him one hundred years. The former was a 
 religious philosopher, on whose writings has 
 been founded the doctrine of Taoism. This phi- 
 losophy is based on Reason (Tao) and Virtue 
 (Teh), and is of interest in that it leans toward 
 an eternal monotheism. According to his theory 
 the visible forms of the highest Teh can proceed 
 only from Tao, and Tao, he says, is impalpable, 
 indefinite. Taoism, therefore, contemplates the 
 indefinite, the eternal, and a pre-existent some- 
 thing which Liao-tze likens to the " Mother of all 
 things," or what w y e call a creator. 
 
 In Chinese literature there are the nine classics, 
 the five greater and the four lesser books. The 
 former are Yih-King, the Book of Changes ; Shu-
 
 Chapter I : China 
 
 King-, Book of Records ; Shi-King, the Book 
 of Odes; Li-Ki, the Book of Rites; and Chun- 
 Tsiu, a continuation of the Shu-King. Of the 
 above, the second, third and fourth, although long 
 antedating Confucius, were edited by him, while 
 the fifth is from his pen. The four lesser classics 
 are Ta-Hioh, Great learning; Chung-Yung, the 
 Just Medium ; the Analects of Confucius ; and 
 the writings of Mencius. The last is the great 
 production of Mencius, while the first three are 
 a digest of the moralizings of Confucius as 
 gathered by his disciples. 
 
 On these nine books are founded Chinese phi- 
 losophy, morals, thought, religion, education, 
 ethics, and even etiquette. The spirit of the mat- 
 ter in the classics is essentially lofty, moral, and 
 good. 
 
 In China, learning transcends all else in impor- 
 tance, and as Confucius is considered the foun- 
 tain head of literature and learning, so he has 
 come to be regarded as saints were regarded 
 by Europeans in the Middle Ages, and temples 
 to his honor are found in all large cities. The 
 most important is the beautiful example of Chi- 
 nese architecture in Peking, where the Emperor 
 annually worships before his tablet. In spite of 
 this apparent adoration, Confucius is not regard- 
 ed by the Chinese as a god, but is clearly under- 
 stood by them to have been a man and a philos- 
 opher, and is revered as the embodiment of wis-
 
 An American Engineer in China 
 
 dom. He was not the founder of a religion, nor 
 was he a religious writer, although his sentiments 
 have become woven in the complicated fabric oi 
 
 Chinese faith. The name by which foreigners 
 
 Stairway Leading to Temple of Confucius, Peking 
 
 know him is a latinized corruption of Ktmg-tze, 
 the Master Kung, the last being his family name, 
 as Mencius is a similar corruption of Mang-tzo, 
 the Master Mang. 
 
 Following" the Chan dynasty comes that of Tsin, 
 which was noted for supplying the foreign appel- 
 lation of the country and for the great works, 
 both good and bad, of its name-giving Emperor.
 
 Chapter I : China 23 
 
 It was he who united the various peoples of East- 
 ern Asia under one sway, laid the foundation for 
 at least internal commerce by beginning the con- 
 struction of the Chinese system of canals, started 
 the construction of the Great Wall, and succeeded 
 in raising his country to a point of material great- 
 ness not before reached. Then, with a view to 
 make all records begin with him, he ordered 
 burned all books and writings of every descrip- 
 tion, including those of Confucius and the other 
 philosophers. Fortunately, in spite of an ener- 
 getic attempt, this sacreligious act was not com- 
 pletely consummated. 
 
 From this period to the Tang dynasty in 618 
 A.D. the history of this country is a succession of 
 different reigning houses, internal wars, rebellions, 
 more or less successful, and during which the 
 capital was frequently moved; part of the time 
 being located at Nan-king on the Yang-tze, which 
 many of the Chinese to-day regard as the prop- 
 er site. The great single event of this long 
 stretch of years, and practically the only one of 
 foreign interest, was the introduction of Buddh- 
 ism at the close of the first century A.D. 
 
 The Emperor Ming-ti sent an embassy to the 
 West to bring back the teachings of the foreign 
 god, rumors of whose fame had already reached 
 the Pacific shore. It has since been supposed by 
 some that this meant tidings of Christ ; but the 
 basis for such an inference is doubtful. At any
 
 24 An American Engineer in China 
 
 rate the embassy found its way to India and re- 
 turned thence with the doctrines of Buddhism, 
 which at once became the established religion oi 
 the country, spreading over the whole of China 
 and eventually Japan. It makes an interesting 
 speculation to consider what the effect on the 
 world would have been if the embassy had taken 
 a more northern route, bringing it to Palestine 
 instead of to India. 
 
 The Tang dynasty a.d. 618 to 908 marks per- 
 haps the zenith of Chinese development, when, 
 there is no doubt, its civilization and cultivation 
 outshone those of Europe at the same period. 
 Literature flourished ; trade was nurtured, the 
 banking system developed, laws were codified and 
 the limits of the Empire were extended even to 
 Persia and the Caspian Sea. The art of printing 
 was discovered, certainly in block form and prob- 
 ably by movable type. The fame of China 
 reached India and Europe, whence embassies 
 were dispatched bearing salutations and presents. 
 Monks of the Nestorian order were received by 
 the Emperor Tai-tsung, who gave permission for 
 them to erect churches; and thus was Christianity 
 first publicly acknowledged in China. Although 
 the efforts of the Nestorian monks continued for 
 many years, from perhaps as early as 500 a.d. to 845, 
 yet they were without permanent results, as they 
 left no monuments behind them, and the practice 
 of Christianity was suspended for some centuries.
 
 Chapter I : China 25 
 
 In 12 1 3 A.D. the Chinese for the first time 
 passed under a foreign rule, when Genghis Khan, 
 the great Mongol, crossed the wall and began to 
 lay waste the country. When he had captured 
 Peking and established a Mongol dynast)-, he 
 turned his attention to further conquests, and in 
 1 2 19 led a force westward. With it he overran 
 Northern India, Asia Minor and even entered 
 Europe in Southern Russia. He then withdrew 
 to Peking, having established the largest Empire 
 in the world's history. Under his degenerate 
 successors this vast power dwindled, the only 
 permanent result being found in Europe; where 
 the Turks are the descendants of those whom 
 Genghis drove out of their own Asiatic country. 
 
 The last purely Chinese dynasty was the Ming 
 (Bright), which occupied the throne from 1368 to 
 its overthrow by the Manchus in 1644. The capi- 
 tal of this house was originally at Nan-king, but 
 was moved bv the great Emperor Yung-loh to 
 Peking in 1403, where he constructed the famous 
 Ming Tombs forty miles northwest of the city, and 
 where he and his successors of Ming lie buried in 
 solitary grandeur. He established also the laws 
 under which China is governed to-day, and under 
 Wan-leih the seeds of Christianity were perma- 
 nently planted in China in 1582 by the Jesuit mis- 
 sionary Matteo Ricci. About two hundred and 
 fifty years earlier a temporary foothold had been 
 gained by the same order. The first effort had
 
 Chapter I : China 27 
 
 lasted, for only seventy-five years, and then, like the 
 Nestorian movement, quietly died without practi- 
 cal results. It was also during this dynasty that 
 the first foreign settlement was made on Chinese 
 soil, in the Portuguese port of Macao in 1557. 
 
 In the seventeenth century the northern tribes 
 set up a rebellion. Gaining adherents to their 
 cause they captured Peking in 1644, swept away 
 Chinese rule and established the Manchu dynasty, 
 to which they gave the name of " Ta Tsing " 
 or the " Great Pure." The principal effects of 
 this change were to establish the northern races 
 in control of the government, and to stamp upon 
 the whole people their most striking outward dis- 
 tinguishing mark, in the queue, which was a dis- 
 tinctly Manchu custom, the Chinese having pre- 
 viously cut their hair like Western people. On 
 their establishment the Manchu rulers ordered all 
 people to wear the queue as a token of subjugation. 
 This the Chinese natives still do, although the Ti- 
 betans and Mongols continue to cut their hair as 
 of old. Manchus and Chinese can be readily dis- 
 tinguished by their names. Thus one of Manchu 
 descent has but a double name, like Yung Lu, while 
 a Chinese has three characters as, Li Hung-chang. 
 
 The government ol China is an absolute des- 
 potism, wilh powers vested in an Emperor, whose 
 position is well indicated by his most used title 
 the "Son of Heaven." He is assisted by two 
 councils under whom are the seven boards of Civil
 
 28 
 
 An American Engineer in China 
 
 Service, Revenue, Rites, War, Punishment, Works, 
 and Navy, who severally attend to the adminis- 
 tration ol affairs in their respective departments. 
 Then there is the Tsung-li Vaineii, or foreign of- 
 
 Four Members of the Tsung-li Yamen and Mr. Conger in 
 the Courtyard of the Yamen 
 
 From left to right they are : Hsu Yung-i, Wang Wen-shao, Chao Shu- 
 chiao, Mr. Conger, Yii Keng 
 
 fice, a bureau composed of twelve ministers, with 
 and through whom all relations with other nations 
 and foreigners generally are conducted. 
 
 The communication between the Imperial au- 
 thority and the people is through the local gov-
 
 Chapter I : China 29 
 
 ernments of the provinces. These provinces in 
 their organization closely resemble an American 
 State, varying in size from Che-kiang, the smallest, 
 with an area of 35,000 square miles, to Sz-chuen, 
 the largest, embracing 170,000 square miles. 
 These are respectively comparable with the 
 States of Indiana (36,350 square miles) and Cali- 
 fornia (156,000 square miles). Each province is 
 ruled by a Governor appointed by the throne, 
 who exercises his authority through a chain of 
 officialism. The province is divided into circuits, 
 each circuit being controlled by an intendant of 
 circuit or taotai. In addition to the regular 
 taotais, there are special ones appointed to look 
 after the large treaty ports, like Shanghai. Such 
 taotais have immense powers, and the positions 
 are much sought after. The circuits or " Fu " 
 are usually again subdivided into two or more 
 " Chow," or prefectures, under a prefect, and each 
 prefecture into Hsiens, or districts, under a mag- 
 istrate. Cities where such officials dwell are 
 usually indicated by the adding " Fu," "Chow" 
 or " Hsien " to their names. The Hsien magis- 
 trates are the men who come in direct contact 
 with the people. The Governor in turn reports 
 to an officer properly styled a Governor-General, 
 but whose title foreign nations have translated 
 as Viceroy, each of whom usually controls two 
 provinces. These Viceroys form the real gov- 
 ernment of the country. Their powers are abso-
 
 30 An American Engineer in China 
 
 lute. It is to them, armed with judgment of life 
 and death, thai the people look for justice and 
 protection, and to them, also, the throne itself 
 looks for support. Each Viceroy maintains his 
 own army, ot which, in some instances, a portion 
 has been foreign drilled ; and he has a right to 
 decide whether he will use this army for national 
 purposes or not. 
 
 Of the existing college of viceroys, there are 
 three who have brought themselves, by their acts, 
 abilities, and force of character, to the forefront, 
 and who are known as the three great viceroys. 
 These men are Li Ilung-chang, formerly Viceroy 
 of Chi-li, but now of Canton, ruling the prov- 
 inces of Kwang-tung and Kwang-si, and so usually 
 referred to as the Viceroy of the two Kwang; 
 Chang Chi-tung, the Viceroy of Wu-chang, in like 
 manner called the Viceroy of the two I In, as his 
 dominion covers the provinces of Hu-peh, and 
 Hu-nan ; and Liu Kun-yi, the Viceroy of Nan- 
 king, ruling the provinces of Kiang-si and Ngan- 
 whui. 
 
 Li Hung-chang, whose reputation is interna- 
 tional, needs no introduction. The other two, 
 while, perhaps, not so well known, are in China 
 of scarcely less importance, especially as they have 
 a personal hold on their people that is not equalled 
 by any other official. They are not rich, which 
 is almost the same as saying that they are honest, 
 and, although they are decidedly pro-foreign in
 
 Chapter I : China 31 
 
 their views, nevertheless they are at the same time 
 imbued with a strong and earnest desire to ameli- 
 orate the condition of their charges and therefore 
 are honored and respected by their people. To 
 accomplish this end they do not hesitate to avail 
 themselves of occidental ideas or means if therein 
 they see a possibility of benefit. 
 
 When the Empress Dowager in 1898 executed 
 her coup d'etat and notified the Viceroys of what 
 she had done, Chang Chi-tung and Liu Kun-yi 
 were the only ones who had courage to express 
 their disapproval. In consequence there is little 
 doubt that she would have removed or beheaded 
 them if she had dared to brave the outcry of the 
 people of the four provinces which would cer- 
 tainly have followed. In any reorganization of 
 China these three men will pla\ T an important 
 part. The influence of Chang Chi-tung and Liu 
 Kunyi will certainly be of weight, as they enjoy 
 the esteem and confidence of both foreigner and 
 native. 
 
 In the appointing of all officials there is one 
 rule that is curiously indicative of Chinese rea- 
 soning and methods. No official is allowed to 
 serve in a district in which he was born. The 
 reason for this is that, being a stranger, without 
 local prejudice or interest, he will, it is believed, 
 administer justice quite impartially. Unfortu- 
 nately, human nature being the same in China 
 as elsewhere, the official, on account of his lack
 
 3 2 
 
 An American Engineer in China 
 
 of local prejudice and interest, administers justice 
 in such a manner as will best serve his own ends 
 and secure his advancement. 
 
 Topographically considered, China lies on the 
 eastern Hank of the great Central Asian plateau 
 and, therefore, its main drainage lines lie east and 
 west. There are three great valleys: that of the 
 
 Yang-tze Kiang, between Han-yang and Wu-chang 
 
 More than one mile wide, although seven hundred miles from the 
 
 mouth 
 
 Yellow in the north, Yang-tze in the centre, and 
 the Si or (West) in the south. The Yellow Riv- 
 er, or Hoang Ho, or as it is frequently called, on 
 account of its erratic and devastating floods, 
 " China's Sorrow," is a stream very much resem- 
 bling the Mississippi, earning a great amount of 
 alluvium, which it deposits at various places, 
 forming bars and shoals. In order to protect the 
 shores from inundations, the Chinese for many
 
 Chapter I : China 33 
 
 years have been building dykes, with the result 
 of gradually raising the bottom of the river 
 through the deposition of alluvium. There are 
 now many places where the bottom of the stream 
 is actually higher than the normal banks. Under 
 such circumstances the breaking of a dyke means 
 untold destruction, with possible permanent 
 change of bed. The location of its mouth shows 
 the character of this great river. Eight)' years 
 ago it flowed into the Yellow Sea, south of the 
 Shang-tung Peninsula. To-day it enters the Gulf 
 of Pe-chi-li two hundred and fifty miles in a di- 
 rect line northwest of its previous location, or 
 about six hundred miles, when measured around 
 the coast line. The Yang-tze, on the other hand, 
 rightly merits its name of "China's Glory." 
 This noble stream, whose length is about 3,500 
 miles, of which 1,100 miles are navigable by steam 
 vessels, divides the country, approximately equal- 
 ly north and south. Its drainage area covers 
 more than one-half of the empire, the richest 
 and most valuable portion. This stream, like the 
 Hoang Ho. carries a large amount of alluvial mat- 
 ter, but it is much more orderly and well regu- 
 lated. Practically at its mouth, the gateway to 
 Central China, although actually on a small trib- 
 utary called the Whang-Poo, is Shanghai. The 
 West River, or Si Kiang, drains the southern and 
 south-western section of the empire, flowing into 
 the sea at Canton, where, with the Pei (North) and
 
 34 An American Engineer in China 
 
 Tung (East) Rivers, it forms the broad estuary 
 known as the Canton River. 
 
 In agricultural possibilities and mineral wealth 
 China is particularly fortunate. On account of 
 its great dimensions north and south it enjoys all 
 varieties of climate, from the tropical to the tem- 
 perate, and in consequence possesses the ability to 
 raise almost any crop. The great bottom-lands of 
 the Yang-tze, the Hoang and other rivers, which 
 are subject to annual overflow, are thus by nature 
 enriched and automatically fertilized, as are the 
 bottom-lands along the Mississippi and other allu- 
 vium-bearing streams. In addition to the ordi- 
 nary advantages of soil and variety of climate to 
 which such a large expanse is naturally entitled, 
 China enjoys one special favor in the singular de- 
 posit known as Loess. 
 
 The country lying north from the Yang-tze 
 to the Gulf of Pe-chi-li, part of which has been 
 made by the alluvial deposits of the Yang-tze and 
 Yellow Rivers, is known as the Great Plain. Of 
 this territory there is a considerable section in 
 the provinces of Shen-si, Shan-si and Shan-tung, 
 which is known as the Loess formation. This 
 particular soil is yellow in appearance, resem- 
 bling alluvial material, but on examination is 
 found to consist of a network of minute capillary 
 tubes. The best theory for its deposit is that it 
 is the fine dust of dried vegetable matter carried 
 down by the winds from the north-west plains and
 
 Chapter I : China 35 
 
 dropped where found. The fine tubes are ac- 
 counted for by believing them to be the spaces 
 occupied by the roots of grasses, as the latter 
 have been continually elevating themselves to re- 
 main on the constantly rising surface. The loess 
 soil is of great and unknown thickness, of extraor- 
 dinary fertility, and with great capacity for with- 
 standing droughts, as the tubes, by their capil- 
 lary action, serve to bring up moisture from the 
 ground water below. This part of the Great 
 Plain has been growing crops for many centu- 
 ries without fertilizing, and supports the densest 
 part of the Chinese population. 
 
 In minerals, China is particularly rich. Of the 
 precious metals, gold and silver are known to 
 exist and probably in paying quantities, while of 
 the less valuable metals, copper, lead, antimonv, 
 and others have been found, and but await the 
 introduction of proper transportation methods to 
 be developed. Petroleum occurs in Sz-chuen, 
 the extreme western province lying next to Ti- 
 bet. But China's greatest mineral wealth lies in 
 iron and coal. The great fields of the latter 
 are in Chi-li, Shen-si, Shan-si, Sz-chuen, Kiang-si 
 and Hu-nan, where all varieties from soft bitu- 
 minous to very hard anthracites are found. Of 
 the former there are coals both coking and non- 
 coking, fit for steel making or steam uses, while 
 of the latter there are those adapted for domes- 
 tic use, with enough volatile matter to ignite
 
 :,(> An American Engineer in China 
 
 easily, and others sufficiently hard to bear the 
 burden in a blast turnaee and yet so low in 
 phosphorus, sulphur, and volatile substances as 
 to render them available for the manufacture of 
 Bessemer pig, as is done in Pennsylvania. Chi- 
 nese houses are usually without chimneys, and 
 therefore the native is compelled to use for do- 
 mestic purposes an anthracite, or, as he calls it, 
 a non-smoking coal, which he burns in an open 
 fireplace, the products of combustion escaping 
 through the doors, unglazed windows, or the 
 many leaks which are usually found in Chinese 
 roofs. 
 
 In opposing the introduction of occidental re- 
 forms, methods, and commercial relations, China 
 has invited, if not actually obliged, the forming of 
 bases by other nations from which to push their 
 trade. Chinese soil is now held, through some 
 excuse and under various conditions, by Portu- 
 gal, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and 
 Japan. In addition to this Italy has made an un- 
 successful attempt to secure a foothold at San 
 Mun Bay. 
 
 The Portuguese possession is Macao, situated 
 on the western side of the mouth of the Canton 
 River, a charming settlement covering the city 
 and a few square miles of territory separated 
 from the main land by a narrow neck. It is a de- 
 lightful little piece of southern European refine- 
 ment in an oriental setting, and perhaps the only
 
 Chapter I : China 37 
 
 point on the coast to which the word charming 
 can be rightly applied. It was the first foreign 
 settlement in China, being ceded to Portugal in 
 1557, in return for services in putting down pi- 
 rates. On account of the shallowness of the har- 
 bor, the importance of Macao as a trading point 
 or military base is very small. 
 
 The British possessions are Hongkong, Kow- 
 loon, and VVei-hai-wei. As a result of the Opium 
 War of 1841, the island ol Hongkong, whose 
 greatest dimension is but nine miles, and wholly 
 mountainous, was given over by China as a part 
 of the indemnity. It is located at the eastern side 
 of the Canton estuary, directly opposite Macao, 
 but distant therefrom about forty miles. In i860 
 there was added, in order to complete the har- 
 bor, the shore of the main land, called Kow-loon, 
 across the roadstead whose width is rather more 
 than a mile. On this island the English have es- 
 tablished a colony, built the city of Victoria, and, 
 through the magnificent land-locked harbor, have 
 developed a trading point whose commerce ranks 
 with that of the world's greatest ports. There are 
 no customs dues nor restricting conditions, but all 
 nations and nationalities have an equal footing, so 
 that Hongkong has become the great entrepot or 
 warehouse for nearly the whole of Eastern Asia, 
 and absolutely so for Southern China, whose gate- 
 way it controls. A year's record shows that over 
 1 1,000 vessels enter and clear, not including up-
 
 Chapter I : China 39 
 
 wards of 70,000 junks. Thus have the English 
 converted an apparently useless island into a most 
 valuable possession for themselves and a great 
 stepping-stone for the world's commerce. 
 
 The next country to establish a foothold on Chi- 
 nese soil was France, who acquired from Annam, 
 by war and treat)', between the years i860 and 
 1874, part of the province of Tong-king. In 1882 
 further trouble arising between France and An- 
 nam, the latter appealed to her protector, China, 
 and war ensued. The result was the permanent oc- 
 cupation of the whole of Tong-king and the plac- 
 ing of the French frontier next to that of China. 
 
 At the conclusion of the Japanese war, the 
 island of Formosa was permanently ceded by 
 China, and an arrangement made for the tempo- 
 rary occupation of Port Arthur. Then Russia 
 interfered, insisted on the withdrawal of the 
 Japanese troops from the North, and, as her price 
 for aiding China, secured for twenty-five years a 
 lease of the Liao-tung Peninsula, covering eight 
 hundred square miles, with the harbors of Port 
 Arthur and Talien-wan, and so, practically, ob- 
 tained the control of Chinese Manchuria. 
 
 In 1897 the German Emperor demanded, as 
 compensation for two German missionaries who 
 were killed, a share of Chinese territory, which 
 was granted through a " lease" of Kiao-chow Bay 
 for ninety-nine years. 
 
 These so-called "leases" are in fact nothing
 
 4o An American Engineer in China 
 
 more than mere subterfuges to save "face" for 
 the Chinese in yielding up their territory, as the 
 following abbreviated quotations from the Ger- 
 man documenl will show : 
 
 "I. 1 1 is Majesty the Emperor of China, being 
 desirous oi preserving the existing good relations 
 with I lis Majesty the Emperor of Germany and 
 of promoting an increase of German power and 
 influence in the Far East, sanctions the acquire- 
 ment under lease by Germany of the land extend- 
 ing for one hundred li at high tide. 
 
 "Germany may engage in works for the public 
 benefit, such as water-works, within the territory 
 covered by the lease, without reference to China. 
 Should China wish to march troops or establish 
 garrisons therein she can only do so after negoti- 
 ating with and obtaining the express permission 
 of German v. 
 
 " II. His Majesty the Emperor of Germany be- 
 ing desirous, like the rulers of certain other coun- 
 tries, of establishing a naval and coaling station and 
 constructing dockyards on the coast of China, the 
 Emperor of China agrees to lease to him for the 
 purpose all the land on the southern and northern 
 sides of Kiao-chow Bay for a term of ninety-nine 
 years. Germany is to be at liberty to erect forts on 
 this land for the defence of her possessions therein. 
 
 " III. During the continuance of the lease China
 
 Chapter I : China 41 
 
 shall have no voice in the government or admin- 
 istration of the leased territory. It will be gov- 
 erned and administered during the whole term of 
 ninety-nine years solely by Germany, so that the 
 possibility of friction between the two powers 
 may be reduced to the smallest magnitude. 
 
 " If at any time the Chinese should form schemes 
 for the development of Shan-tung, for the execu- 
 tion of which it is necessary to obtain foreign 
 capital, the Chinese Government, or whatever 
 Chinese may be interested in such schemes, shall, 
 in the first instance, apply to German capitalists. 
 Application shall also be made to German manu- 
 facturers for the necessary machinery and materi- 
 als before the manufacturers of an} 7 other power 
 are approached. Should German capitalists or 
 manufacturers decline to take up the business, the 
 Chinese shall then be at liberty to obtain money 
 and materials from other nations." 
 
 While the area actually covered by the lease is 
 small, the shore-line being but 100 li (33 miles), 
 nevertheless the Germans, availing themselves 
 of the special commercial concession, as above 
 quoted, have thrown a sphere claim over the 
 whole province of Shan-tung, an area as large as 
 New England. 
 
 The strongholds of Kiao-chow and Port Arthur 
 — for the Germans and Russians immediately set
 
 42 An American Engineer in China 
 
 about fortifying them — so threatened the balance 
 of power in the North, thai the British Govern- 
 ment in 1898, demanding something to offset 
 them, secured the harbor of Wei-hai-wei, directly 
 opposite Port Arthur and with it marking the 
 entrance to the Gulf of Pe-chi-li. This territory 
 is to be held as long as the Russians hold Port 
 Arthur. At the same time Great Britain extend- 
 ed the limits of her Kow-loon possession by two 
 hundred square miles, so as to absolutely protect 
 the harbor of Hongkong, and secured from the 
 Chinese Government a promise that no territory 
 in the Yang-tze Valley should be alienated to 
 any other power, thus obtaining a so-called sphere 
 of influence oyer the richest half of the Empire. 
 France, not wishing to see her commercial rivals 
 outdo her, demanded, as her share of the plunder, 
 the harbor and port of Kiang-chow-wau near her 
 province of Tong-king, and secured a lease of the 
 same lor ninety-nine years. Thus has the Chinese 
 Government given away its patrimony. 
 
 In addition to the above possessions of territory 
 actually held under the domination of their re- 
 spective governments, there are at the various 
 treaty ports the so-called foreign concessions, 
 which have been given by the Chinese Govern- 
 ment to the temporary care of the people of other 
 nationalities, permitting them to establish police 
 force, courts of justice, fire protective service, to 
 collect taxes for local use, and otherwise to main-
 
 Chapter I : China 43 
 
 tain local governments according to foreign regu- 
 lations and practically without interference by the 
 Chinese Government. Such concessions remain, 
 however, in name at least, Chinese territory. The 
 largest and most important of them is Shanghai, 
 where grants were made some years ago to the 
 English, American, and French. The first, two 
 concessions have been combined into the Shang- 
 hai Municipality, under a system of popular gov- 
 ernment with annual elections, where the rate- 
 payers are voters and which in all its functions 
 closely resembles an independent republic. The 
 theorv that all nations are on an equal footing 
 within the limits of the Municipality is carried out 
 to such an extreme, that not only does the Chinese 
 Government maintain a post-office, but also do all 
 other countries under whose flags lines of mail 
 steamers are operated to and from the port. 
 There are thus to be found, in addition to the 
 Chinese post-office, regular establishments of the 
 United States, Great Britain, Germany and Japan, 
 while France has hers in the French concession, 
 at all of which the stamps of the several countries 
 are for sale. 
 
 Such, in a few words, is the political and phys- 
 ical status of that nation and that country on 
 which the attention of the civilized world is 
 focused, and whose development and regenera- 
 tion will probably be the leading feature of the 
 early years of the new century.
 
 Chapter 
 
 II 
 
 American Concession 
 
 IN the making of Chinese foreign commerce 
 and the opening of the country to trade and 
 industrial enterprise, the position taken by 
 European governments lias been to foster and 
 support the efforts of their subjects. The policy 
 of the United States in this regard has been dis- 
 tinctly negative, and whatever has been accom- 
 plished by our citizens is the result of individual 
 energy without national support. There have even 
 been lacking co-operative efforts on the part of 
 our people, so that practically all of the corpora- 
 tion interests, such as banks, transportation lines, 
 railway and mining privileges, and the adminis- 
 tration of those departments of the Chinese Gov- 
 ernment whose functions are largely external, 
 such as the maritime customs, are in the hands of 
 Europeans, principally English. The reason for 
 this is partly due to the traditional policy of the 
 American Government not to interfere in foreign 
 affairs, but principally to the fact that the atten- 
 tion and capital of the American people have been 
 occupied in the development of their own country. 
 A change from such conditions and a turning of 
 American energies into new channels were devel- 
 opments that were inevitable. In the investiga- 
 tion of the transition of the American position the 
 
 44
 
 Chapter II : American Concession 45 
 
 future historian will point to the mass of statisti- 
 cal information now being made, which will show- 
 that the status of our country changed from being 
 open to invasion by foreign capital to being capa- 
 ble of invading other lands with its own capital, 
 about the year 1895. The latent force was given 
 life by the Spanish War in directing the attention 
 by our people to foreign affairs, and the subse- 
 quent and consequent acquisition of foreign terri- 
 tory. A singular confirmation of the movement 
 toward a broadening out on the part of American 
 capital for foreign invasion, was the securing of 
 the concession of the railway from Hankow to 
 Canton, consummated by the signing of the grant 
 in Washington in April, 1S98, by H. E. Wu Ting- 
 fang, the Chinese Minister, and by a singular co- 
 incidence just one week before the declaration 
 of war, which was to establish the United States 
 as a colonizing power. 
 
 The concession covers about nine hundred miles 
 of railway, together with mining and other privi- 
 leges, which make it in value and in national im- 
 portance second to no other concession granted 
 by the Chinese Government. The projected route 
 of the railway itself is from Hankow, the metropo- 
 lis of the interior, or, as it is sometimes called, the 
 "Chicago of China," to Canton, the great port in 
 the South, and thence with rights to go to any 
 selected point on the coast i! desired. It lies 
 through part of the province ol Hu-peh, for four
 
 46 An American Engineer in China 
 
 hundred miles through the whole length of the 
 province oi Hu-nan, and across the province of 
 K.wang-1 ung. 
 
 In order to investigate the local conditions and 
 to ascertain the official, physical, and commercial 
 aspects oi the concession, and to make a detailed 
 survey of the route ol the railway, the concession- 
 aire syndicate retained me as a Cliiel Engineer to 
 go to the East, with a complete stall. The work 
 of making this survey, the longest continuous in- 
 strumental measurement up to that time com- 
 pleted in China, and the other duties ol investiga- 
 tion connected therewith, necessarily brought me 
 in personal contact with Chinese officials of the 
 highest rank, such as members of the Tsung-li- 
 Yamen ; Sheng Tajen, the distinguished Director- 
 General of Rail ways and Telegraphs ; Viceroys; 
 Governors of Provinces; minor officials of all de- 
 grees; and the foreign merchants of different na- 
 tionalities who control the trade at the treats- 
 ports. I was obliged to visit not only the various 
 points from Peking to Canton that are accessible 
 to ordinary travellers, but typical portions of the 
 interior, which can be reached only with difficul- 
 ty, and others which it had not been previousl) 
 possible to reach at all, so that for five hundred 
 miles I was the first foreigner ever seen. 1 was en- 
 abled, by living among the people under all sorts 
 of conditions in official yamen, in temples, in vil- 
 lage inns, or in ordinary private houses, to inspect
 
 J M
 
 48 An American Engineer in China 
 
 and study at close range Chinese who were ab- 
 solutely and entirely unaffected by foreign or 
 outside influences. My experience with the peo- 
 ple extended therefore from the poorest peasant 
 through all grades oi society up to those actually 
 next to the throne, and my observations of the 
 country from the national and commercial capitals 
 down to the individual farmhouse, or the little 
 country hamlet, where a foreigner was as great 
 an object of wonderful astonishment as a man 
 from Mars would be with us. 
 
 Of the eighteen provinces which constitute the 
 Chinese Empire proper, the only one, until re- 
 cently, which had not been explored or mapped 
 by foreigners, previous to the occasion described 
 herein, was the province of Ilu-nan, extending 
 from the Yang-tze Kiang to the Nan-ling Range, 
 — that is, between the 30th and 25th parallels of 
 latitude, and between the 109th and 114th meri- 
 dians of east longitude. 
 
 From the earliest times, since the subject of the 
 development of the interior of China has been 
 considered, the province of Hu-nan has been re- 
 garded as one of the great objectives of the rail- 
 way and mining promoter, on account of its well- 
 known wealth in coal and other minerals, the fer- 
 tility of its soil, and the superior ability of its 
 people. The people themselves, however, have 
 been the most clannish and conservative in the 
 Empire, and have succeeded in keeping their
 
 Chapter II : American Concession 49 
 
 province practically free from invasion by foreign- 
 ers or even by foreign ideas. All writers on 
 China refer to this attitude of the people of Hu- 
 nan. As Lord Charles Beresford says of it in his 
 recent work : " At present the province of Hu-nan, 
 though very rich, and the people very well-to-do, 
 is the most anti-foreign in China. Foreigners who 
 penetrate into Ilu-nan, even by help of the man- 
 darins with a military escort, do so at the risk 
 of their lives." Strangely enough, however, this 
 hostilitv is directed not only against foreigners, 
 but against other Chinese with almost equal force. 
 In the way of exclusiveness, the Ilu-nanese mark 
 therefore the extreme of the Chinese character in 
 that regard. Thev are, however, hard working, 
 and possess one of the richest provinces in the 
 empire as to mineral resources and fertility of 
 soil. In fact, it is doubtful if any other province, 
 except possibly Sz-chuen, exceeds Hu-nan in the 
 variety, extent, and value of its mineral wealth, 
 while Hu-nan has the great advantage over 
 Sz-chuen in having a double outlet north and 
 south for its products and being five hundred 
 miles nearer the sea-coast market. 
 
 In 1 871 Baron Richtofen, the great German 
 geologist, to whose investigations we owe the 
 greater part of our knowledge ol the geological 
 structure of China, made a trip from south to 
 north across Hu-nan to report on the coal areas 
 of the province to the Shanghai Chamber of Com-
 
 5© An American Engineer in China 
 
 incite; but his voyage was confined wholly to 
 boat travel, and therefore the information that he 
 
 obtained was very limited. Some three years 
 previous to this, Pumpelly, the American geolo- 
 gist, had made an attempt to explore Iln-nan by 
 proceeding by boat up the Siang River from the 
 Yang-tze, but was not allowed to land, and finally 
 was compelled by the people to turn back alter 
 having reached, but not entered, Chang-sha, the 
 capital of the province. In 1878 Mr. G.J. Morrison, 
 an English engineer, travelled from north to south 
 across Hu-nan, having attempted to make the 
 journey on foot, but was compelled by the people 
 to take to boat, as Baron Richtofen had also done. 
 Missionaries have made a number of attempts to 
 travel through Hu-nan, but in every case without 
 success, except in the single instance of maintain- 
 ing one Roman Catholic Mission Station in South- 
 ern Hu-nan, so that the only accurate knowledge 
 of this most interesting section was that obtained 
 from the three travellers above mentioned, but 
 whose observations were made wholly from boats. 
 Xo laud journey by foreigners had been made 
 through the province, except in the northwestern 
 part, where the people are less anti-foreign. In 
 the other provinces little or no difficulty was to 
 be anticipated. In Ilu-peh foreigners were well 
 known and could travel at will, and the same was 
 true, although possiblv to a less degree, in Kwang- 
 tung. Hu-nan was peculiar.
 
 Chapter II: American Concession 51 
 
 The province of Hu-nan has an area ol about. 
 75,000 square miles, or half as much again as the 
 State of New York. Its population is estimated 
 by the Chinese at 22,000,000. It is well watered, 
 for the Siang River, a tine stream, although too 
 shallow during the winter months lor anything 
 but light-draught junks, Hows northerly through 
 it into the Yang-tze. The upper part of the prov- 
 ince is open and gently undulating, growing the 
 finest quality of tea. As, however, the southern 
 portion is approached, the hills change into moun- 
 tains, the scenery becomes grander, the population 
 less dense, and the agricultural resources much 
 diminished. But these lower regions are much 
 more valuable from the point of view ol future 
 development as the lower half of the province, for 
 a length ol two hundred miles along our route, 
 and for a width of at least sixty miles, is underlain 
 with certainly three, and probably more, veins of 
 coal, which, curiously enough, is both bituminous 
 and anthracite. It took but small flights of fancy to 
 see future trains bearing their dark burden north- 
 ward to furnish power for the furnaces and mills 
 that will be built in central China to convert her 
 ores into metals or work her raw produce of cotton 
 and wool and hemp into articles of commerce; 
 or other trains south-bound carrying a like burden 
 to Canton and Hongkong to make steam for the 
 vessels ol all nations, bringing goods from other 
 lands to China, and taking back her teas and silks.
 
 52 An American Engineer in China 
 
 Si Hue t luce years ago the Emperor appointed, 
 as Governor oi Hu-nan, Chen Pao-cheng, a man 
 of modern thought, who at once sel aboul to break 
 down the barriers which had hitherto shut in the 
 province from therest oi the empire and the world 
 at large. lie introduced electric lighting into 
 Chang-sha, the capital, established schools where 
 scientific subjects were taught, urged on the gen- 
 eral government the advisability and desirability 
 of railroad construction, and in many ways opened 
 the door for the entrance of Western civilization. 
 The Empress Dowager, immediately on accession 
 to power, removed Chen, and appointed in his 
 stead as governor, Yu Lien-san, a "conservative," 
 an official of high character and attainments from 
 a Chinese point of view T , but wdio did not believe 
 in departing from customs supported by lour 
 thousand years of precedents. He closed the 
 schools and set about to undo the work begun by 
 his predecessor. In a recent, memorial to the 
 throne, he apologized for his tardiness in entirely 
 uprooting the false doctrines, but hoped in the 
 end to bring the people back to the exclusive study 
 of the classics. In accordance with his views of 
 what was right, he used his influence to thwart 
 our going, even to the extent of sending word for- 
 bidding the foreigners to enter his province. It is 
 not surprising that in the recent " Boxer " out- 
 break the sympathies and influence of Yu were 
 enlisted on the anti-foreign side.
 
 Chapter II : American Concession 53 
 
 The extreme position hitherto taken by the 
 Hu-nanese and their consequent isolation render 
 
 them unsurpassed among the Chinese as interest- 
 ing objects for study, and have gained for their 
 section the name of the "Closed Province of 
 China."
 
 Chapter 
 
 III 
 
 Hu-nan, the Closed Province of China 
 
 Tl I E genera] condition of affairs as to the 
 hostility of the 1 1 u-nanese and the difficulty 
 ol travelling through Hu-rian was known 
 before our leaving New York, but on arriving in 
 Shanghai it was found that the political disturb- 
 ance following the coup d'etat executed bv the 
 Empress Dowager and the beheading of certain 
 members of the Reform or Emperor's Party, had 
 rendered the whole Chinese official class very 
 cautious about taking a decided stand upon any 
 important question, especially upon one looking 
 to the invasion of the country by foreigners, even 
 il they came with peaceful intents. A stop was 
 made in Shanghai only long enough to purchase 
 provisions and equipment, when the engineering 
 statf left there for Hankow to begin the survey 
 to Canton. 
 
 As our course from Hankow lay to the Nan- 
 ling Mountains, which form the divide of the 
 water-shed of the Yang-tze Valley from that of 
 the China Sea, along the Yang-tze and its trib- 
 utary the Siang for a distance of nearly five 
 hundred miles, it was decided to establish head- 
 quarters afloat, and thus avoid the difficulties and 
 dangers of sleeping on shore, except when the 
 latter was absolutely necessary. One morning 
 
 54
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 55 
 
 shortly alter reaching Hankow, and while the 
 preparation for our start was being made, I set 
 out in a sampan to find among the junks in the 
 River Han, a satisfactory one for our purpose. 
 A junk is a picturesque but not a pretty object, 
 
 Junks on the River Han, with Hankow in the Distance 
 
 but, in that flotilla which forms a solid surface 
 along- the banks of the Han for at least two 
 miles, there was a stern that caught my eve. 
 The ordinary junk stern is something that rivals 
 any stern that a naval architect of the sixteenth 
 century ever conceived, but this special one had 
 something: which singled it out from all its fel-
 
 56 An American Engineer in China 
 
 lows. Possibly it was its height, for perched on 
 it one could imagine himseli a gay freebooter 
 ploughing the Spanish Main, until the sight of a 
 steel tape would rudely bring him back to the 
 realization thai he was nothing- but. an American 
 engineer making a survey for hire , or perhaps 
 it was an undefined and undistinguishable «*race 
 in the upward curve of the heavy timber on 
 the side ! Whatever it was, there was an instant 
 resolve made that the junk of which that stern 
 formed a part must be had. On hailing, the Lao- 
 dah (which is Chinese for captain) shoved his pig- 
 tail out of the door and invited us all on board. 
 With trepidation lest his demands would be un- 
 warrantably exorbitant, we gradually, and with 
 much circumlocution, according to Chinese eti- 
 quette, communicated our wishes to charter the 
 boat for a journey of two hundred and fifty or 
 possibly three hundred miles, in short stages, so 
 that the time might occupy a month, or even two. 
 As a preliminary to what was evidently about to 
 become an important financial negotiation, and 
 in compliance with Chinese custom, the Lao-dah, 
 in order to show his respect for us, offered tea. 
 We, with a still higher respect for ourselves, 
 with great ceremony and greater resolution, de- 
 clined the same. It is wonderful wdiat vile stuff 
 is drunk in that country, where the finest tea 
 that the world knows comes from ; but the na- 
 tives consume only what they cannot sell or give
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 57 
 
 away. After a long session with Mrs. Lao-dah — 
 for in every Chinese junk the woman seems to 
 command — the Lao-dah returned, chin-chinned, 
 and said that he would take us for forty taels. 
 Now forty taels means about twenty-eight dollars, 
 gold, and that was to include the boat, the crew 
 of eight men, with their rice and all expenses, for 
 possibly two months. Naturally our faces be- 
 trayed our astonishment, which the Lao-dah en- 
 tirely misunderstood, and apparently fearing that 
 he had lost the trade, begged us to make an offer. 
 We finally agreed on thirty-six taels, or twenty- 
 five dollars. Subsequently we discovered that 
 our childlike and bland young friend, knowing 
 that we would have a permit to pass all the " Lik- 
 in " stations — that is, the places where heavy in- 
 ternal customs taxes are levied — had made this low- 
 price in order to secure the charter, and had then 
 laid in a little stock of dutiable articles to trade 
 in on his own account ; in short, he made us his 
 partners in a smuggling enterprise! After that 
 I had, and will always entertain, the highest re- 
 spect for the ability of a Chinese to turn an hon- 
 est penny. 
 
 Early in December we started, but not without 
 much anxiety and misgivings on the part of the 
 chief. The Chinese officials had either tried to 
 dissuade me from going, or if, like the Viceroy 
 and the Director-General, courageous enough to 
 have me start, nevertheless impressed upon me
 
 58 An American Engineer in China 
 
 the necessity for extreme caution when travers- 
 ing I lu-naii. 'The foreign residents were practi- 
 cally unanimous thai the trip could not be made, 
 or, if made, thai a land survey would be impos- 
 sible, and thai we would be compelled to remain 
 practically prisoners in our junk, although un- 
 der the orders of Viceroy Chang- Chih-tung we 
 were to be always accompanied by a guard of 
 Chinese soldiers. 
 
 The Yang-tze, even at: this distance of over 
 seven hundred miles from the mouth, is still a noble 
 stream, with a width of a mile, and a minimum 
 depth, at lowest stage of water in winter, of six 
 feet, with its continual procession of large junks 
 carrying down coal from Hu-nan, opium and silk 
 from Sz-chuen, wool from the mountains of Ti- 
 bet, and passing other large junks carrying up in 
 return, yarn from India, cottons from Lancashire, 
 and oil from America. Its banks, when not high 
 enough to be above flood-level, are built up with 
 dykes, behind which are farms of rice, oil-beans, 
 cotton, tobacco and, on approaching Hu-nan, tea. 
 
 For about one-hall of the time we were obliged 
 to sleep on shore, where camping in tents was 
 impossible cm account of the great curiosity of 
 the people. In their eagerness to see a "foreign 
 devil," to examine his short hair, to feel his queer 
 cloth clothes, to inspect his extraordinary big 
 leather boots — which last everywhere seemed, of 
 all our belongings, to attract the most attention —
 
 CO 
 
 M
 
 6o An American Engineer in China 
 
 they would certainly have torn down any tem- 
 porary shelter; and at such moments our guard, 
 in spite of its pretentious proportions oi three 
 hundred soldiers, would have been of little use. 
 In fact, the only benefit — which, however, was 
 no small one — that we derived from our guard, 
 was its notification to the people that we were 
 travelling officially and under the protection of 
 the government. At stopping-places we were 
 immediately surrounded by curious natives, on 
 whose faces ever)' human sentiment, from won- 
 derment to fear, or even hatred, was depicted. 
 Our preferred sleeping-places were examination 
 hails, in which are held the annual examinations 
 of students in the classics for literary degrees, 
 the stepping-stone for political preferment, the 
 ambition of every Chinese,- for in China public 
 office means wealth and power; temples, either 
 public of the Buddhist faith, or private ones for 
 ancestral worship — the latter much to be pre- 
 ferred as being cleaner and better tended ; tea- 
 hongs or large store-houses, or, as a last resort, 
 inns. 
 
 In the north, where there are horses and where 
 the roads concentrate toward Peking, there are 
 enough rich officials travelling to warrant the 
 maintenance of fairly decent accommodations. 
 The northern inns are set usually in a compound 
 in which the travellers' horses are stabled, while 
 the inn itself with two stories provides furnished
 
 62 An American Engineer in China 
 
 rooms where the weary wanderer can secure 
 
 sonic rest. Rarely do these inns supply food, 
 which the traveller is supposed to carry with 
 him, but they are equipped with a large brick 
 oven called a kang, where the lodgers do their 
 cooking in common, and on top ol which they 
 frequently sleep in winter. In the south of China 
 the inns are quite different. There are no horses, 
 and there are rarely any grandee travellers. When 
 the latter do come the} 7 are quartered in the yamen 
 of the local officials, or in temples previously en- 
 gaged and prepared. The southern inn is not 
 set in a compound, but opens directly on the vil- 
 lage street or country road. There is usually a 
 large hall containing" the kang, rarely arranged to 
 be slept on, and on both sides of the hall are the 
 sleeping-rooms, which are more like prison-cells. 
 Sometimes there is a window, which if it is 
 "glazed" is done so with thin tissue paper. On 
 arrival at such a place the foreigner in self-pro- 
 tection has to barricade his door, which may keep 
 him from personal contact with the crowd, but 
 does not protect him from observation. It is not 
 many minutes before his paper window is fairly 
 riddled with small holes, behind each one of which 
 he knows there is an almond-shaped eye, while a 
 glance overhead will show little bright beads of 
 light reflecting the flicker ol the Chinese candle 
 between the ceiling boards, the eyes of boys and 
 men lvinsr on the floor of the attic and taking in
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 63 
 
 everything from their point of vantage. A grunt- 
 ing noise under foot will explain the stench, that has 
 been so very oppressively evident, as arising from 
 the pigsty right beneath the very floor. Then a 
 later arrival will pile on the kang in the common 
 hall a lot <>l straw to rekindle the fire, whose tear- 
 producing effect is a welcome boon as drowning 
 
 Coolies Waiting to be Employed as Carriers 
 
 for a moment the odors of the pigsty and other 
 things worse, which cannot be defined. But even 
 under such circumstances sleep will come, and 
 at last the smoke, the pigsty, the peeping Toms, 
 and the babel in the hall are blotted out. 
 
 My first experience with the morning that fol- 
 lows I shall never forget. The main door was 
 barred and guarded by soldiers, and without,
 
 64 An American Engineer in China 
 
 packed solid in the little narrow street, was a 
 mass ol struggling humanity all armed with 
 poles ami all shouting. " Was there a riot in 
 
 Coolie Carrying My Bedding 
 
 progress?" I asked. " Oh, no, these are the coo- 
 lies, three hundred in number, who will carry 
 our things to-day." A hurried breakfast eaten, 
 our belongings packed up, and then the doors 
 are swung back. In they rush ! There are more 
 coolies than are needed, so they realize that first 
 come, first employed, for there is no order, no 
 system. The strongest push aside the weakest, 
 and seize the lightest and most desirable pack- 
 ages. Our cook-stove, specially constructed for 
 the expedition, is seized while still warm and 
 swung from two bamboo poles, and off it goes
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 65 
 
 hanging on the shoulders ot lour men. Surely 
 everything will be broken, or if not broken, lost, 
 and I am in despair all day. That night, on reach- 
 ing our destination, I find my Chinese boy, as 
 serene and unconcerned as ever, getting ready 
 my pot. of tea. At last I pluck up courage to ask 
 him if certain things in which I am particularly 
 interested have arrived safely. " Have got, 
 massa." Then the greater question, " All things, 
 Yang?" " Yes, all tings, massa." I never under- 
 stood it, and finally became accustomed to it ; 
 
 X 
 
 A Yamen Runner 
 
 but the only explanation of tlie phenomenon 
 that I could give was that the Chinese way 
 was not my way, and that in spite of apparent
 
 66 An American Engineer in China 
 
 disorder there was somewhere or somehow a 
 system. 
 
 In order that the people along the route might 
 be prepared for our coming and warned against 
 molesting us, large hand-written placards were 
 posted on the walls oi towns in advance of our 
 coming', bearing the official chop or seal of the 
 Viceroy, the Director-General, and the Governor. 
 These placards fully explained to the people the 
 nature of a railway, and described how "its bene- 
 fits would be manifold. Through its agency the 
 people will obtain a means of livelihood, thus sup 
 pressing vagrancy and robbery, to the benefit of 
 all localities. An equitable price will be paid for 
 all land required for the road, and no loss will be 
 suffered by any one. The blessings of the road 
 will be hundredfold to the people — the disadvan- 
 tages none whatever ; " and closing with these 
 words : " As the artisans of China are unfamiliar 
 with railroad construction, American engineers 
 have been engaged to come here to survey the 
 line, and it is feared that some persons, ignorant 
 of the purpose of their coming, may take alarm ; 
 therefore this proclamation is issued for their in- 
 struction. Let it be known to the scholars and 
 merchants, and people at large, that they must 
 peacefully pursue their occupation and create no 
 trouble or obstruction. The military and the 
 gentry are to instruct the populace to create no 
 disturbance. Should rowdies circulate rumors to
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 67 
 
 disturb the populace and gather crowds together, 
 the officials are ordered to assemble the police 
 and arrest them, and deal with them with severity ; 
 no mercy shall be shown them." 
 
 What is called in the proclamation a " police- 
 man " is an attendant of the magistrate's yamen 
 (official residence), and is an individual who is 
 even more loathed than feared by the people, if 
 that is possible. He rarely receives wages, and, 
 in fact, is said frequently to pay for his place. 
 He makes his living by a system of extortions 
 from the weak, by threatening to report them 
 for petty offences, sometimes not even committed; 
 by inflicting extra punishment when offenders 
 are convicted, unless bribed ; by reporting per- 
 sons for some special tax, or by other similar dis- 
 honest means. As showing the type of man these 
 yamen runners are, 1 recall a little incident which 
 happened, on one occasion, alter our whole party 
 lost its way, and the attending officials, the guard, 
 and the baggage train were hopelessly scattered. 
 The next morning early I started, with a solitary 
 guide, for the agreed-on point of rendezvous for 
 the night previous. On arrival I found that I 
 was the first of the foreigners to get there, and 
 had even preceded the greater part of the bag- 
 gage train. Through some of our servants who 
 could speak English, 1 communicated to the local 
 official that 1 would like to inspect the town, and 
 was thereupon conducted by several of these po-
 
 68 An American Engineer in China 
 
 licemen or " yamen runners." As is usual, they 
 were armed with bamboo sticks about four feet 
 long, split down about three-quarters of their 
 length, so that when they were waved in the 
 air the pieces slapped each other and made a 
 terrifying din. With these sticks they clubbed 
 back the people, who naturally pressed forward 
 in their curiosity to see a foreigner for the first 
 time, but otherwise were perfectly orderly and re- 
 spectful I soon noticed that the yamen men were 
 exceedingly careful to avoid hitting full-bodied 
 men, but fearlessly exhibited their importance by 
 striking old men, cripples, and boys. When one 
 of them raised his stick to strike an inoffensive 
 old woman who was not in the way at all, I felt 
 obliged to interfere — an act which was greeted 
 with loud shouts of approval by the crowd. 
 These " yamen runners " are a cowardly, despica- 
 ble, lying lot, and represent one of the great causes 
 of discontent that the masses feel toward the gov- 
 erning class. 
 
 On this occasion, while inspecting the town, a 
 high-grade Chinese funeral was taking place. 
 Now r a Chinese funeral is a great source of joy to 
 all but the central personage. At the head of the 
 procession come boys bearing placards reciting 
 the virtues of the deceased, many of which his 
 neighbors had probably failed to detect in life ; 
 then follows a bier, and alter that a collection of 
 various eatables and silver bullion, all in paper to
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 69 
 
 be burned at the grave, so as to provide the de- 
 parted with these necessaries on his long journey ; 
 while the coffin itself is surmounted by a gro- 
 tesque and ridiculous dragon, intended probably 
 to frighten away the evil Spirit. Before and be- 
 hind and on both sides are hired boys sending olf 
 enough tire-crackers to supply a small-sized New 
 England village on the Fourth of July. It was very 
 hard on the town that two such shows, a manda- 
 rin's funeral and the first foreigner, should both 
 be playing at the same time. For a moment the 
 crowd hesitated, but onlv for a moment! That 
 mandarin had his paid placard-bearers and his 
 fire-crackers, but otherwise went to his grave iin- 
 mourned and unsung. I had the crowd.
 
 yo An American Engineer in China 
 
 Hu-nan : The Entrance 
 
 On the morning of December 24, 1898, we 
 crossed a long bridge, composed of stone beams 
 thirty feet long, with an attractive temple at the 
 farther end, into Hu-nan, which we had already 
 termed the "enemy's country." From that point 
 on we became an increasing source of wonder- 
 ment and amusement to the natives. Christmas 
 night found us at a little town called Ping-shui 
 (literally "Still Water"), and all preparations 
 were made for a proper dinner after the day's 
 work. We were located in a tea-hong, opening 
 directly on the village street, and with little pro 
 vision for keeping out the crowd, so that the room 
 in which we were dining was filled with natives, 
 standing four or five deep around our table, and 
 then stretching to the door and even to the street 
 in a solid crowd. It was a singular thought to 
 realize that our jollity that night was something 
 more than the customary Christmas celebration. 
 It was the first message to these people of a pos- 
 sible betterment in their condition, and a promise 
 of the breaking of the bonds which have held them 
 down for so many centuries, and our song of how 
 " from every mountain-side let freedom ring" had 
 that night possibly a special significance. But 
 perhaps still more striking was the fact that this 
 message of freedom was being carried by repre-
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 7 1 
 
 sentatives of the youngest nation upon earth to 
 the oldest. Our actions, our songs, our very 
 food, but above all, our forks and knives, were a 
 source of inexplicable astonishment to the people; 
 but when our plum pudding — a thoughtful gift oi 
 an English lady in Hankow — appeared, decorated 
 with holly and blazing in true Yule-tide style, a 
 look of terror appeared on their faces. The climax, 
 however, was reached when a flash-light picture of 
 the scene was taken. When the magnesium pow- 
 der flared up, the crowd broke and ran. Probably 
 the natives of Ping-shui stoutly maintain to-day 
 that "foreign devils" are huge men with beards, 
 who feed on uncooked meat which they tear to 
 pieces with short swords and spears, and which 
 excites them to such a degree that they shout loud 
 and often, and in the midst of their excitement eat 
 flames. I have not the slightest doubt that some 
 such idea is generally prevalent in that town to- 
 day. 
 
 After such extraordinary exhibitions it is little 
 wonder that so unenlightened a race as the Chi- 
 nese forms so erroneous an estimate of all for- 
 eigners. Fearing lest, our St. Nicholas zeal might 
 create a too strongly false impression, I sent for 
 the local officials and explained to them that we 
 were but celebrating the greatest day in our 
 calendar — a day that is to us of the same impor- 
 tance that New-Year's is to them. With that out- 
 ward politeness that is so charming, and at times
 
 7 2 
 
 An American Engineer in China 
 
 so exasperating! v used as a cloak or subterfuge, 
 they expressed their regrets at their ignorance, 
 and said that had they but known it, they would 
 have been glad to have shown some special honor, 
 to both the day and us. 
 
 The Procession 
 
 Two official chairs are seen. The flags on the right indicate the posi- 
 tion of the military commander. The foreground is a flooded rice- 
 field 
 
 From now on we were conscious of the precau- 
 tions taken by the Viceroy for our protection. 
 Our guard was largely increased, so that our pro- 
 cession, including mandarins with their attendants, 
 soldiers, coolies carrying baggage and supplies,
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 73 
 
 consisted frequently of from live hundred to m\ 
 hundred men, and as they marched in straggling 
 order and in single file, the distance from the head 
 to the rear of the column would frequently be five 
 
 Placard Bearers who Preceded the Procession to Announce 
 Our Coming 
 
 miles. The Chinese love a show, and this pro- 
 cession offered opportunities that could not be 
 neglected. Although the details were largely a 
 matter of the degree of imagination possessed by
 
 74 An American Engineer in China 
 
 the local functionary in charge, we were usually 
 preceded by men or ragged boys carrying plac- 
 ards or wooden standards announcing our com- 
 ing, and commanding the people to give place. 
 Then there would he the Hags ol the commander 
 and of the regiment acting as guard; soldiers 
 armed with spears, tridents, two-handed swords, 
 flintlock or. at times, even match-lock guns. The 
 uniform of the Chinese soldier is a comfortable 
 but a most unmilitary collection of garments. 
 The coat, in its hang, resembles a cloak with wide, 
 loose sleeves. It is of a plain color, with a wide 
 marginal band of another hue. On the breast and 
 back are marked, usually on white discs sewed 
 to the coat, the number of the man, the desig- 
 nation of the organization to which he belongs, 
 and his position in the ranks. The trousers are 
 of dark blue cotton, and usually tied close around 
 the ankles. The queue is worn wrapped about the 
 head, and the whole enclosed in a dark blue cot- 
 ton turban. Beneath the coat is a waistcoat with 
 tight-fitting sleeves projecting about six inches be- 
 yond the ends of the fingers. The wearer can let 
 the projections hang down, when they protect the 
 hands from the weather, or can convert them into 
 a muff by merely clasping his hands within the 
 long sleeves. When he wishes to use his hands 
 he rolls his sleeves up. If the weather be cold he 
 wears as many undercoats as he pleases. He car- 
 ries no knapsack, but instead a cotton bag some-
 
 76 An American Engineer in China 
 
 what like a short golf-club bag-, which he wears 
 diagonally across his back, suspended by a cord 
 over one shoulder and the chest, and in it he car- 
 ries all the articles needed for a march, his to- 
 bacco pipe, fan, and paper umbrella! 
 
 According to the instructions of the Viceroy, 
 we were accompanied by the local magistrate 
 having complete jurisdiction over the Hsien, or 
 district through which we were travelling, and 
 which average in area from about thirty to 
 forty miles square. In addition there were the 
 mandarins representing the Viceroy and Director. 
 General, always one and sometimes more dele- 
 gated by the provincial Governor, and a military 
 mandarin of high rank commanding the guard, 
 with the title of General, and of high "button" 
 rank of the blue or red. The mandarins were 
 carried in their official sedan chairs, the posi- 
 tion of the magistrate himself being denoted by 
 a large gorgeous red umbrella. The Hsien mag- 
 istrate is the official who comes in direct contact 
 with the people, and who dispenses justice, au- 
 thority, and bad government with no uncertain 
 hand. Two or three Hsiens go to form a Pre- 
 fecture, the Prefect in command reporting to 
 the Governor or some agent named by him. 
 These various officials receive as a regular emolu- 
 ment a sum much less than what the necessary ex- 
 penses attendant upon their office are known to 
 be. The difference between their regular compen-
 
 78 An American Engineer in China 
 
 sation and actual income, which latter is supposed 
 to be large, is procured by deliberately appropri- 
 ating a portion of the tax levy, or, perhaps more 
 usually, through an ingenious system of squeezes 
 or extortions. From a foreign point of view, 
 they form a class intensely ignorant. The people 
 hate them, but, on account of their almost un- 
 controlled power, fear them ; while the magis- 
 trates, on the other hand, seem to fear the people, 
 and hesitate to exercise much authority over them 
 as a mass, preferring apparently to reserve their 
 power for extortions in individual cases. The 
 very evident mutual fear of the governing and 
 governed classes was striking and interesting. 
 This will be referred to later. 
 
 Some of these officials are not lacking in the 
 social traits which we call good fellowship, and 
 which made more than one a welcome guest at 
 the evening gathering between dinner and bed- 
 time, when our regret was that the conversation 
 had to pass through the halting medium of an in- 
 terpreter. There was one magistrate who took 
 most kindly to foreign ways, foreign food, and 
 even to foreign whiskev, with a particular fond- 
 ness for the variety of the last known as Old 
 Glenlivet. 
 
 At the time of passing through his jurisdiction 
 our headquarters were afloat, so that he joined 
 us with his junk, and every night his place at din- 
 ner was regularly set, and on returning to his own
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan. the Closed Province 79 
 
 boat he always took with him that comforting and 
 comfortable glow so frequently the accompani- 
 ment of Scotland's liquid production. One night 
 as he was leaving after dinner, dressed as usual in 
 his long embroidered official robes, with his button 
 and his peacock feather, "chin-chinning" or bow- 
 ing his farewell as he walked backwards down the 
 narrow plank connecting the junk with the shore, 
 there was suddenly a series of rapid gyrations, 
 like the rotating of the sails of a windmill, then a 
 void in the night air, followed a moment later by 
 a loud splash, immediately preceded by certain 
 articulations which fortunately our knowledge of 
 Chinese was not sufficient to catch exactly, but 
 concerning which it is hoped that the pen of the 
 recording angel will follow the example of mine. 
 Thanks to his queue and the united efforts of two 
 coolies and a boat hook, he was at last placed on 
 his native soil. 
 
 The Chinese costume does not diminish the be- 
 draggled effect of an involuntary bath. The next 
 evening he called as usual at the dinner-hour, 
 and expressed his deep mortification at the pre- 
 vious evening's catastrophe, explaining at great 
 length that his servant, an unfeeling rascal, had 
 held the light in the wrong place. We begged 
 him not to mention it; that we understood the 
 phenomenon perfectly ; that our servants had been 
 known to hold double lights, bringing us to grief, 
 and, in fact, it was well authenticated that in our
 
 So An American Engineer in China 
 
 large cities, where lights were firmly fixed on iron 
 poles, the latter have been seen to wave. This 
 explanation gave him great comfort. lie was a 
 nice fellow, and 1 hope some day to see him be- 
 come a member of the Tsung-li Yamen, for he 
 would honor that or any other board. 
 
 The people in this northeastern part of the prov- 
 ince are generally well-to-do, living in tiled-roof 
 farm-houses or little hamlets. The valleys are 
 well and carefully cultivated, the principal crops 
 being tea and rice, the former for sale and export, 
 the latter for domestic consumption. The Chinese, 
 in all their habits, wants, and tastes, are extremely 
 simple beings. As variety and change seem to 
 possess no charm, their clothes in the country are 
 invariably the same — of indigo-dyed cotton — while 
 their food consists of the crop most easily grown 
 in the locality, which in Southern China is rice, 
 and in Northern China millet. This rice is eaten 
 flavored with pickled cabbage or other vegetable, 
 and sometimes relieved with fish, but rarely with 
 meat. In the case of a coolie — that is, of the low- 
 est class — such will be the diet the year through; 
 if more well-to-do the list will be enlarged by the 
 addition of pork, mutton, chickens, ducks, or eggs. 
 Since food cannot be cut on the table with chop- 
 sticks, meat is sliced into small pieces before cook- 
 ing, and then stewed. The higher-class Chinese 
 are great gourmets, as the following menu of a 
 dinner given us by the magistrate of Siang-yin
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 81 
 
 will show, the table being set with a number of 
 small dishes containing fancy cakes and sweet- 
 meats: 
 
 Chicken giblets and ham, 
 
 Sharks' fins, 
 
 Pigeon's eggs, 
 
 Wood fungus, 
 
 Dough cakes, 
 
 Lotus seeds (hot), 
 
 Stewed fish, 
 
 Stewed chicken and pork, 
 
 Snails, 
 
 Bamboo shoots, 
 
 Stewed mutton, 
 
 Meat cakes and sweet grapes, 
 
 Roast pig, 
 
 Pork, fish, and vegetables boiled in a chafing-dish 
 
 on the table, 
 Rice. 
 
 We had not been long in Hu-nan before receiv- 
 ing illustrative warnings of possible trouble. On 
 approaching Yo-chou, a large and flourishing city, 
 situated near the junction of the Siang and Yang- 
 tze rivers, the gate-way to the province, and which 
 has since been declared a treaty port, we received 
 word by courier from the Governor of Hu-nan that 
 on no account must we go near Yo-chou, let alone 
 enter it, as ten thousand students were gathered 
 there from all parts of the province trying to pass 
 the examination for the first degree, and that the 
 authorities would not be answerable for the conse-
 
 82 An American Engineer in China 
 
 quences should we be found in their vicinity. Ap- 
 parently Chinese students do not differ essentially 
 from those of other lands. I replied to the Gov- 
 ernor's messenger that Yo-chou was a place of so 
 much importance, that a survey of it was necessary. 
 On reaching the outskirts we were met by a large 
 guard and politely conducted by a detour outside 
 of the city along the river-shore to our junks 
 where we slept, and which were flanked on both 
 sides by gun-boats. The first night, just before 
 retiring, a messenger came from the Hsien Magis- 
 trate announcing that a riot was imminent, that 
 the students had threatened to burn the Roman 
 Catholic Mission, whose priest was the sole for- 
 eigner in Yo-chou, and that the latter had tied. We 
 could do nothing as we were prisoners. The rea- 
 son for sending us word was not clear, unless as 
 a notice of what we ourselves might expect. Per- 
 haps the described riot did not occur at all. We 
 never knew. It is hard dealing with a Chinese 
 official. One is never sure. The next day, under 
 a strong military escort, I inspected the city and 
 saw no students. 
 
 Chang-sha, the capital of Hu-nan, is one of the 
 most interesting places in the whole empire, on 
 account of its extreme exclusiveness. Only two 
 or three foreigners, but no missionary, had ever 
 been within the city, and these few were smug- 
 gled in in closed chairs. Like all Chinese cities, 
 it is heavily walled, and strongly gated, the gates
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 83 
 
 being locked at night, giving a most mediaeval 
 air. The population is estimated by the Chinese 
 to be about a million, but that figure, like all oth- 
 ers in the same line, is probably an exaggeration. 
 Five hundred thousand would seem more likely to 
 be nearer the mark. The streets are narrow, being 
 but six to twelve feet wide. On them the shops 
 open directly, and in front of the shops are fre- 
 quently stationed small booths. During business 
 hours, the whole shop-front, consisting of wooden 
 shutters, is taken down, exposing the interior, so 
 that a street resembles a bazaar, or rather an ar- 
 cade, as it is frequent lv roofed over with bamboo 
 mats. Hanging down in front of the shops are 
 long, swinging signs, sometimes indicating the 
 kind of goods for sale, but more frequently being 
 felicitous greetings. I saw one that was trans- 
 lated, "Prices according to mutual agreement" 
 ■ — no fixed price for that tradesman. 
 
 On account of the local traditions, which were 
 to be broken if possible, and on account of the 
 general attitude of the Governor, it was deemed 
 essential that not only should our expedition enter 
 the city, but that we should be received publicly, 
 and with full honors, according to the Chinese 
 ritual, by the Governor himself. 1, therefore, 
 with the " flag-ship " and an attending gun-boat, 
 pushed ahead of the survey party, and arrived 
 at Chang-sha on January 7th at eleven o'clock in 
 the forenoon. Our coming was expected; a tri-
 
 84 An American Engineer in China 
 
 umphal arch had been erected on the shore — an 
 arch, by the way, as we afterwards learned, we 
 were nol expected to pass through, but which 
 we did, nevertheless — and as our junk was poled 
 np to the landing-place through a lane opened 
 among the other boats, a great crowd came down 
 to see us. Immediately on mooring, the local 
 magistrate, in his official robes, called and extend- 
 ed a greeting. I then, without delay, sent my 
 Chinese visiting-card to the Governor, announced 
 my arrival in his capital city, and stated that 1 
 desired, accompanied by my whole staff, to call 
 upon him and pay my respects. What followed 
 was a good illustration of Chinese diplomacy, the 
 roundabout ways of which were one of the diffi- 
 culties that beset our movements. The Governor 
 replied that he was glad to hear of our safe ar- 
 rival, but that he would not trouble us to call, in- 
 stead of which, accompanied by the chief officers 
 of the province, he would call on us the next 
 morning at eleven. With many complimentary 
 phrases, I immediately pointed out that not only 
 did Chinese etiquette, but even foreign etiquette, 
 demand that a Governor should have the stranger 
 call on him, and as my staff would arrive that 
 evening, and as he was apparently free at eleven 
 o'clock the next morning, I proposed that we 
 should all visit him formally at that hour. Word 
 then came from the Governor that he regretted 
 that he could not receive me at eleven, because at
 
 hfl 
 
 c 
 (J 
 
 O
 
 86 An American Engineer in China 
 
 that hour he would be engaged in inspecting his 
 troops at their archery practice; therefore he 
 
 wished us a pleasant and prosperous journey on- 
 ward trom Chang-sha. Of course there was 
 nothing then for us to do but put ourselves en- 
 tirely at his convenience for any hour of the day 
 or evening when he would be free from the ex- 
 actions of watching the archers. Then the ex- 
 cuse was offered that he had made no prepara- 
 tions to receive distinguished foreigners. This 
 requirement we, of course, at once waived. Then 
 his yamen (official residence) was too small. We 
 replied that we knew that his yamen was as large 
 as that of the Viceroy, and that the latter had 
 found no difficulty in receiving us. When it was 
 learned that the Viceroy had given us an audience, 
 the whole affair assumed a different aspect, and a 
 long conference with those versed in the intrica- 
 cies of Chinese etiquette ensued, during which a 
 small diagram which I had made in my note-book 
 illustrating the viceregal reception played a promi- 
 nent part. It was finally decided that Chang 
 Chih-tung, in permitting our chairs to be carried 
 to a certain place and in a certain manner, had used 
 the same ceremony that a provincial treasurer, 
 who ranks next to the Governor, was entitled to 
 have accorded him. Clearly a man who had been 
 thus received could not be unceremoniously re- 
 fused an audience. Then the Governor said he 
 would receive me alone, an offer that was respect-
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 87 
 
 fully declined, and finally he ventured, as a com- 
 promise, that I might select as companions three 
 members of my staff. 1 assured his Excellency 
 that my staff was composed of equally distin- 
 guished men, and that any invidious comparison 
 in the way of selection was out of the question, 
 but as it was now nearly midnight — for more 
 than twelve hours had been consumed in the di- 
 plomatic intercourse — that I would not trouble 
 him to reply immediately, but hoped that when 
 morning came he would see his way clear to re- 
 ceive us all. At 10.30 the next forenoon he sent 
 eleven official chairs from his own household, one 
 for each of the foreigners and Messrs. Woo and 
 Lo, the secretaries of H. E. Sheng, and a large 
 guard of soldiers under the personal command of 
 General Liu Kao-chao, the military commandant 
 of the capital. With his trumpeters and flag- 
 bearers preceding; with the genial and portly 
 general himself at the head of the troops ; with 
 our chairs in line, from the leading one of which 
 the chief engineer waved a small American flag 
 — we entered the city, the first foreign party to 
 do so publicly and with official honors, and very 
 proud to feel that the hist foreign flag to wave 
 within Chang-sha walls should be that of the 
 great republic. Thus fell Ilu-nan's strongest 
 tradition ! Although the streets were jammed 
 with people and the houses along the route filled 
 to overflowing, there was not heard a single op-
 
 An American Engineer in China 
 
 probrious epithet or even impolite reference. As 
 a general thing', the people seemed glad to see 
 ns, or, at the worst, merely exhibited a stolid in- 
 difference or, more usually an inordinate curios- 
 ity. The reception by the Governor was all 
 that could be desired. Our chairs were carried 
 into the inner court, where we were met by a per- 
 sonal representative of the Governor, to whom 
 our Chinese cards were given. These, placed in 
 order of rank, he carried in his right hand above 
 his head, and so conducted us to the first reception- 
 room, where we were presented to the provincial 
 officers, such as the Treasurer, Salt Commis- 
 sioner, and others, and then by them led to a sec- 
 ond reception-room, where we were presented to 
 his Excellency Vu Lien-san. The Governor was 
 dressed in his official robes, which at that time 
 of the year consisted of sable. Wearing his red 
 button and peacock feather and other insignia of 
 high rank, he received us in a most gracious and 
 polite manner. He is a man of medium size, has 
 an iron-gray mustache and a small gray imperial, 
 with an intelligent face and great ceremony of 
 manner. He inquired about our work, expressed 
 his interest in its outcome, and his belief that a 
 railway would be of enormous benefit to his peo- 
 ple, and assured me that he had issued full in- 
 structions which would insure the party cordial 
 treatment for the rest of our journey. The inter- 
 view lasted about fifteen minutes, when we were
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 89 
 
 reconducted to our chairs, and returned to our 
 boat by the same way in which we came. 
 
 The shops of Chang-sha will compare favorably 
 with the shops of any other city in China, display- 
 ing - a full line of articles of Chinese and of foreign 
 manufacture; in fact, so wide a range of choice is 
 there that we were even able to stock our larder 
 with a good supply of Munich beer in the orig- 
 inal bottles.
 
 90 An American Engineer in China 
 
 Hu-nan : The Interior 
 
 When the American party Left Chang-sha, two 
 
 of our boats, nicknamed the Mary Ann and Consort, 
 were exchanged for three smaller junks of lighter 
 draught, as the former were too large to proceed 
 farther at the existing low stage of the river. 
 
 River Gunboat 
 
 While on the Siang our flotilla was always 
 accompanied by one or more river gunboats. 
 These boats are intended to protect the trading- 
 junks from attacks of river pirates, which would 
 otherwise be of frequent occurrence. They are 
 from fifty to seventy-five feet in length, with a 
 beam of eight to ten feet, are flat-bottomed, and
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 91 
 
 draw but one foot. On the overhanging stern is 
 a little cabin for the commander, the crew sleep- 
 ing at night under an awning stretched over the 
 boat. They are constructed of a native wood 
 somewhat resembling yellow pine, which is oiled 
 only, so that the wood is left bright and its showy 
 grain fully brought out. They are furnished 
 with a square sail stiffened with bamboo slats, 
 hoisted on a pine mast without stays. If there is 
 an adverse wind or none at all, they can be easily 
 rowed. They are armed with a small cast-iron 
 cannon, about a three or a six pounder, fixed on 
 the bow, while the crew of eight to twelve men 
 are furnished with swords and muskets, the latter 
 being generally of a very old type, even match- 
 locks being not rare. These gunboats are always 
 kept in the pink of condition and repair. The 
 sails are of cotton canvas, sometimes colored blue, 
 and must be constantly changed, as we never saw 
 one in bad order. The crew see to it that the 
 boat itself is always shipshape and spotlessly 
 clean ; in fact, when any one boards a gunboat 
 one of the crew immediately presents a wet mop, 
 on which the feet must be wiped. All this appears 
 most striking in a country where the direct oppo- 
 site, in the way of untidiness and uncleanliness 
 and lack of attention to repair, is the universal 
 rule. Mow the gunboats ever escaped contami- 
 nation I could not learn ; but they have, and the 
 traveller is thankful.
 
 92 An American Engineer in China 
 
 At night our boats were brought close together, 
 with gunboats on the flanks to protect them from 
 the petty river thieves. Watch was kept faith- 
 fully, sentries being armed with a loud bamboo 
 rattle, which they sounded at intervals of every 
 ten minutes. Ever} where in China the night 
 watchman is thus supplied, with the idea of fright- 
 ening away thieves. The practical result, is, how- 
 ever, to give exact information of the whereabouts 
 of the guard, and enable the thief to lie in wait- 
 ing until the guard has passed on his rounds. 
 It is the custom to give the attending guard a 
 " cumsha " or substantial gratuity. On one oc- 
 casion we gave a present to the crew of a gun- 
 boat the day before they left us. The captain, to 
 show his appreciation, had double guards set that 
 night, who sounded their rattles without cessa- 
 tion, making sleep an impossibility. After that 
 we gave no more presents until we were sure 
 that we would permanently part company with 
 that crew. 
 
 It was not long before it became desirable to 
 procure a horse to enable one of the engineers to 
 ride. This was no easy matter, as horses are used 
 but little. However, we finally found a man who 
 could accommodate us, and earl}' the next morn- 
 ing he brought around for our inspection an 
 animal that he called a horse, but which, had its 
 ears been longer, might have passed as a large 
 donkey. Price, 40 taels. We looked him over,
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 93 
 
 an operation not requiring much time, and bid 10 
 taels. The owner replied that 40 taels was his 
 lowest price, but if we meant business he would 
 say 35 taels, or would consider an offer. We 
 assured him of our business intentions, and raised 
 our figure to 12 taels. A horse trade is always 
 an interesting- ceremony, but how much more so 
 under these circumstances, where a foreigner was 
 to supply the victim ! Each bid and counter-prop- 
 osition was received with loud shouts of ap- 
 proval by the crowd, who offered advice freely 
 and impartially to both principals, for they were 
 divided in their desire to see the foreigner swind- 
 led and in their anxiety not to establish too high 
 a market value for horseflesh. When the differ- 
 ence between the negotiators became so small that 
 a trade was evidently in sight, it was suggested 
 that we go within the temple where we had spent 
 the night and conclude matters, and where at last 
 we reached an agreement of 20 taels, saddle in- 
 cluded. Our money was in bullion, for the tael 
 is not a coin, but a weight of silver, and the clos- 
 est approximation to 20 taels that we could make 
 was i9 T Vo> which our Chinese friend declined as 
 not according to compact. We told him we 
 would make up the difference by throwing in 
 something, and for him to select. After inspect- 
 ing our belongings he picked out an empty Apol- 
 linaris bottle, saying that he had owned a bottle 
 once and had found it very useful, but some years
 
 94 An American Engineer in China 
 
 since it had been unfortunately broken. We told 
 him that we too came from a country where the 
 bottle was appreciated and highly valued, and for 
 him to choose again. In the meantime our servants 
 had packed nearly everything preparatory to the 
 day's march, and the only portable thing left, and 
 that of course had no value, was the rind of a pu- 
 maloe, a kind of orange about the size of a musk- 
 melon. This empty rind he was offered, and, to 
 our surprise it was promptly and gladly accepted. 
 Whether he saw some special virtue in it, whether 
 he had not recognized it, and thought it a peculiar 
 foreign article, or whether it was done merely to 
 "save face," on which so much store is set, I do 
 not know, but the last we saw of that man he was 
 hugging his rind like a treasure. Before we had 
 seen the last of his horse, however, we felt that if 
 the pumaloe rind had constituted the whole of 
 the purchase-price we still should have been the 
 losers. 
 
 It is surprising how closelv the people in one 
 section of the country pattern after those else- 
 where, when one remembers the lack, almost 
 absolute lack, of intercommunication. But in 
 spite of the general sameness, which perhaps 
 appears greater than it is on account of the uni- 
 formity in physiognomy of the people, with the 
 Mongolian coloring and jet-black hair, there were 
 many peculiar customs which appeared to- be 
 localized, as man)- of them were found only in
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 95 
 
 small districts, and travelled Chinese who accom- 
 panied me, said that they had never before seen 
 similar things elsewhere in the empire. Of these 
 the most singular was the carrying of small bam- 
 boo baskets lined with sheet metal and tilled with 
 
 A Peculiar Custom by Chinese Women of Wearing Heat- 
 ing-Baskets 
 
 hot wood-ashes. Such baskets the women in one 
 locality suspend from a belt beneath their short 
 blouses. Sometimes the baskets are worn in 
 front, sometimes behind, and occasionally in both 
 places, according-, apparently, to the fancy of the 
 wearer. Children also made use of the heating
 
 96 An American Engineer in China 
 
 apparatus, but men only rarely. No matter how 
 worn, the effect in all cases was both extraordi- 
 nary and comical. To get a photograph of Chi- 
 nese women is almost as difficult as to photograph 
 a herd of wild deer. Women are supposed to 
 keep away from any man, and of course a foreign 
 man is specially terrible. The picture of the 
 women and their baskets was obtained by cau- 
 tious stalking behind some Chinese, while their 
 attention was attracted by one of the members of 
 my staff. The instant after the shutter dropped 
 the group had scattered. 
 
 In farming methods the Chinaman in the inte- 
 rior is, of course, centuries behind. His grain he 
 is accustomed to spread on the ground and drive 
 over it his beast of burden, the water-buffalo, 
 drawing a stone roller, in order to thresh it, while 
 in some places I saw hay ricks built around trees 
 as a centre support. Apparently the method of 
 constructing them was to begin at the top and 
 work down, instead of up, as do farmers else- 
 where. Farming and boating are the Chinaman's 
 great occupations, in which he most excels. 
 
 The horse is little used in China, as has been 
 stated before, but when he is and he needs shoe- 
 ing, the extensiveness of the ceremony makes up 
 for any deficiency resulting from infrequent oc- 
 currence of the operation. Two straight poles 
 are firmly planted in the ground, with a cross- 
 arm at the top. Suspended from the latter, and
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 97 
 
 fastened head and tail to the first two, the horse 
 is finally secured, and then the farrier is ready to 
 begin his work, to the delight of an audience 
 usually of no mean dimensions. 
 
 But for ingenuity of adapting means to an end, 
 his fishing arrangements excel all others. Instead 
 of bothering with nets, which are apt to break and 
 call for repairs, or with hooks and lines, which 
 may not be easy to procure, the fisherman on 
 most of the rivers in the interior makes use of cor- 
 morants — large black birds which are by nature 
 fish-hunters, and which become by tuition very 
 docile. He will start out on his piscatorial quest 
 in a small boat, with from six to a dozen of his 
 feathered helpers, to whom he has omitted prob- 
 ably to give a breakfast. Once on the fishing- 
 grounds, the birds begin to dive for fish, but 
 which, as their owner had tied a string around 
 each neck, they cannot swallow. As each fish is 
 brought to the surface, the boatman relieves the 
 bird of its prey, and thereupon, according to the 
 dictates of nature, it dives again. When the boat 
 is full the fisherman removes the strings about the 
 necks, rewards each bird with a fish, and returns 
 home. 
 
 The southern and eastern portions of the prov- 
 ince are not so densely populated nor so well 
 developed as the central part, nor as the great 
 tea-producing belt in the north. The streams are 
 smaller, giving more difficult means of travel,
 
 98 An American Engineer in China 
 
 while the broken topography renders farming less 
 profitable. These are, however, the mineral dis- 
 tricts, where there is stored, awaiting develop- 
 ment, incomputable wealth. 
 
 The last place ol importance in Iln-nan is Chen- 
 chon, a prefecture town, with its fine arched 
 bridge of five spans crossing the Yu-tan River, 
 and its picturesque old gate-ways with carved 
 wooden lattices. It has a population of from five 
 thousand to eight thousand, and is evidently still 
 a prosperous place, although not now of the im- 
 portance that it was in those days when the Che- 
 ing highway, of which it is the northern gate- 
 way, was jammed with traffic. 
 
 The Nan-ling range is one of the great off-shoots 
 from the Central Asian table-land and extends in 
 a sharply marked position directly across the em- 
 pire from West to East, and forms the southern 
 boundary of the Yang-tze Valley. On the oppo- 
 site side from the Yang-tze, water flows south- 
 ward into the North and West Rivers and so to 
 the China Sea. The mountains comprising the 
 range are lofty and bold. There are three passes 
 crossing it, which have been occupied by trade 
 routes between North and South China. The 
 most westerly of the three is the lowest ; in fact 
 so low that a canal across it has been in exist- 
 ence for many years, rendering it possible to go 
 from the China Sea to the Yang-tze by boat. 
 This pass is in Southwestern Hu-nan, but on ac-
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 99 
 
 count of its indirectness and the shallow state of 
 the approaching streams is little used. On the 
 east is the Me-ling I'ass, at the head of the Pei-Ho, 
 and leads from Kwang-tung into the province of 
 Kiang-si. It. was this pass that Lord Macartney 
 crossed with his embassy in 1796. The central 
 and most celebrated of the passes is the Che-ling, 
 lying on a line almost due north from Canton. 
 
 Between the heads of navigation of the Wu- 
 shui River, on the south side of the Nan-ling 
 range leading to Canton, and the Vu-tan, a tribu- 
 tary to the Yang-tze on the north side, is a dis- 
 tance of but thirty miles, so that commerce be- 
 tween Canton and any point in the Yang-tze Val- 
 lev can be reached by boats, with this single and 
 small exception. The highway, crossing the 
 mountains by the Che-ling Pass, terminating at 
 I-chang on one end and Chen-chou on the other, 
 has therefore been the great trade route between 
 North and South China for certainly three thou- 
 sand years, and perhaps more — that is, during the 
 time when the whole of history has been written. 
 It stands to-day as one of the great monuments of 
 China's past, compared with which other relics of 
 antiquity seem but as things of yesterday. Many, 
 many years ago this road was paved for a width 
 of fifteen feet with large flat stones, ranging in 
 size from one to tour feet square. Deep in these 
 stones there are hollows worn by the bare feet, 
 of the coolies carrying their loads like beasts of
 
 ioo An American Engineer in China 
 
 burden, or there are dug actual holes where the 
 feel of the ponies, jogging along with short steps, 
 have struck. It was lined with shops and with 
 inns serving accommodations on a cheap scale for 
 coolies and teamsters, and on an elaborate scale 
 lor mandarins or rich Cantonese, who, if they 
 
 The Descent from the Che-ling Pass on the South Side 
 
 had the funds, could gratify their taste with any 
 expensive luxury. But the opening of the Yang- 
 tze to commerce in 1861 seriously damaged the 
 prestige of this route, for with goods going from 
 or to Canton it was found more economical to 
 ship by steam-vessel between there and Hankow, 
 and be thence distributed. Since then its impor- 
 tance has been gradually diminishing, so that the
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 101 
 
 traffic now passing to and fro, although still consid- 
 erable, is but a small fraction ol what, it once was. 
 The rich merchant no longer frequents it, and the 
 elaborately decorated inn erected for his entertain- 
 ment is dropping to decay. Shops and resting- 
 places for the coolies or pony-drivers are actually 
 abandoned, and the great trade route, which for 
 so many centuries has resounded with the almost 
 continuous patter of the human foot or the clatter 
 of the ponies' hoofs, is now becoming more and 
 more disused, and stands, as so many other things 
 in this country stand, an eloquent but silent 
 witness of the past. It had been expected that 
 we could utilize the approximate location of this 
 highway for the route of the railway, but a care- 
 ful examination revealed the fact that the na- 
 tives had not found the true pass at all, which lav 
 some three miles to the eastward, and about one 
 hundred and fifty feet lower. For ten, twenty, 
 thirty, or some other number of centuries the 
 poor coolies have been carrying their loads, quite 
 unnecessarily, up and down one hundred and 
 fifty feet of elevation. What a waste of human 
 energy ! 
 
 Ten miles after crossing the range we reached 
 the borders of Hu-nan, and passed into the prov- 
 ince of Kwang-tung. On reaching the frontier- 
 line, which crossed our path where it ran through 
 a little village, a very pretty ceremony was per- 
 formed. Our guard was, of course, composed of
 
 An American Engineer in China 
 
 Hu-nanese soldiers, but as we were about to 
 pass into the viceroyalty of the "Two Kwang " 
 (Kwang-tung and Kwang-si), they had reached 
 the limit of their jurisdiction. Our Cantonese 
 guard was on hand ready to receive us, and in 
 their mushroom hats presented quite a different 
 
 Two Faithful Friends 
 
 appearance to the uniforms we had been accus- 
 tomed to. The two bodies of troops, having 
 saluted, the Hu-nanese soldiers passed over into 
 Kwang-tung and lined up along the highway, and 
 in like manner the Cantonese soldiers formed in 
 Hu-nan. The Kwang-tung captain was then in- 
 troduced. The Hu-nan general came up, " chin-
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 103 
 
 chinned " his farewell, and then shook hands like 
 a foreigner. When I came to say good-by to the 
 two Hu-nanese soldiers who had formed my par- 
 ticular body-guard, who had carried 1113- camera 
 or mv pack, and who had looked after my little 
 personal wants in so many thoughtful ways, I was 
 indeed sorry, for I was parting from two faithful 
 friends. Then with one last look at Hu-nan, the 
 journey across which I had regarded with so 
 much anxiety, but where, with two exceptions, I 
 had been treated with uniform kindness, courtesy, 
 and attention by both officials and people, I sig- 
 nified my readiness to proceed, and said good-by 
 to Hu-nan by saluting her soldiers as I walked 
 past their front. 
 
 Taking Hu-nan, the closed province of China, 
 as an extreme example, for there foreigners are 
 practically unknown, nevertheless the general 
 condition of life along the Siang River, the chief 
 artery of travel and trade, does not differ materi- 
 ally from that found in the more frequented parts 
 of the empire ; nor, in fact, does the undercurrent 
 of human affairs flow in channels radically differ- 
 ent from those in other countries. There is the 
 usual struggle for success, attended with the or- 
 dinary run of victory or failure; men rise and 
 men go down. In Chang-sha there is the regular 
 excitement always surrounding a political capital, 
 while in lighter ways there are the festivities at- 
 tending the Chinese New-Year's celebration, and
 
 io4 An American Engineer in China 
 
 the occasional rendering of a Chinese play, for 
 the Chinese as a nation take great interest in the 
 drama. There are newspapers, and the telegraph, 
 administered entirely by Chinese, puts the great 
 cities in daily touch with other parts of the em- 
 pire. The majority of the people have probably 
 heard of the Japanese War of 1895, and the greater 
 part of these understand dimly that China was 
 defeated. Travelling merchants come from other 
 provinces, and the river boatmen are constantly 
 going to and from Hankow, or perhaps even to 
 so distant a port as Shanghai, so that the people 
 hear accounts of the doings of the outer world. 
 If foreigners are personally unknown, their ap- 
 pearance is not ; for the Chang-sha belle sees on 
 her bottle of pomade the prevailing fashion in 
 which her French sister does her hair, while the 
 young man about town in Siang-tan finds in his 
 package of American cigarettes a photograph of 
 the latest favorite of the London music-hall. 
 
 In Hu-nan there are two distinct classes, those 
 such as the above, who can enjoy life, and who 
 have attained a position easily comparable with 
 the best of conditions to be found anywhere, and 
 those who, living in the more remote parts of the 
 province, never come in contact with the outer 
 world. As soon as a departure is made from the 
 Siang River, such a difference is at once noticed, 
 and there is reached along the eastern side of the 
 province, where there is practically no trade and
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 105 
 
 consequently no communication with the rest of 
 the world, a condition of life that is distressingly 
 depressing. Not that there is suffering- or want, 
 for every bod v seems to have a home and enough 
 to wear and eat, but it is life reduced to its sim- 
 plest form, in which there is apparently lacking 
 every desire for amelioration or even a knowl- 
 edge or comprehension that such a thing is pos- 
 sible. Of education or religion or any aspiration 
 toward a better or a higher life, or intercourse 
 with the outer world, there is none. The soil 
 produces enough food and an occasional surplus, 
 which is sold in the nearest market-town, and 
 thus serves to provide clothing and the other 
 wants, which are of the simplest nature. There 
 seems to be nothing in the way of social inter- 
 course between the people, and life is merely a 
 struggle, day after day, for a bare existence. 
 From one year's end to the other there is no 
 pleasure, no enjoyment beyond the mere animal 
 instinct of living, and without a single event to 
 break the monotony. And yet, it must be re- 
 membered that this is not a savage country, but 
 one that had a high and complex civilization 
 before the time when Rome was, and this civiliza- 
 tion still remains among these people in the way- 
 off corners, probably not much altered except 
 that, it may have become sadly worn. 
 
 On our journey eastward from the Siang, we 
 made a short detour out of Hu-nan into the ad-
 
 io6 An American Engineer in China 
 
 joining province of Kiang-si, and at the border 
 line of the province came across an amusing spec- 
 imen of Chinese reasoning, and a suggestive illus- 
 tration of the attitude of the I lu-nanese toward 
 their neighbors. The so-called anti-foreign feeling 
 in Hu-nan is a misnomer; it is really Chinese ex- 
 clusiveness carried to its logical conclusion, giving 
 rise to an antipathy against all who do not live in 
 the province, and to whom they apply the epithet 
 of" foreigner" without discrimination. The peo- 
 ple of Kiang-si, in order to defend themselves 
 from the wicked inhabitants of Hu-nan, had 
 erected, at the frontier, where the highway en- 
 tered their province through a narrow valley, a 
 massive masonry wall with a wide rampart and 
 
 The Wall and Gateway on the Border between Hu-nan 
 and Kiang-si
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 107 
 
 embattled parapet, and a gate-way with watch- 
 tower complete — a most formidable- looking 
 structure, and one that was practically impreg- 
 
 A Bridge over Dry Ground, with a Coolie Climbing the 
 Approach Steps on the Left 
 
 nable by direct assault by archers. Its length, 
 however, was only about 1,500 feet, merely reach- 
 ing from hill to hill, and as the flanking hills were 
 low and easy of ascent, there was nothing at all 
 to prevent an invading army from turning from 
 their path but a few yards to either the right or 
 left and inarching unmolested, so far as the wall 
 was concerned, around its ends. That the con- 
 structors evidently considered this a secure de- 
 fence, in the way that the ostrich buries its head, 
 there is apparently little doubt, but I could not 
 help wondering whether the Hu-nanese had been 
 similarly affected and so deterred from mak- 
 ing an attack. But this is on a par with an old
 
 io8 An American Engineer in China 
 
 bridge that we met on our travels. Once upon a 
 time, when perhaps Elizabeth was reigning in 
 England, this bridge crossed a stream, but the 
 stream, unlike the natives, was capable of chang- 
 ing its course, and now the bridge spans dry 
 land. The highway, however, still continues to 
 cross the bridge, and the coolies, with their loads 
 upon their backs, still climb the flight of steps at 
 either end as their predecessors have done for 
 centuries. The Chinaman always accepts things 
 as they are, without inquiry or reasoning— actu- 
 ality and precedent being to him always para- 
 mount.
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 109 
 
 Hu-nan : The Exit 
 
 Five miles from the borders of Hu-nan we 
 reached Ping-shih, a flourishing-looking town of 
 perhaps three thousand people, the principal rea- 
 son of its existence being that it is a point of trans- 
 ferrence from boat transportation on the Wu-shui 
 to land portage. The whole surface of this part 
 of Kwang-tung, however, is very mountainous, 
 and the population is quite scant. The difference 
 from Hu-nan conditions was quite noticeable. 
 While foreigners rarely visited Ping-shih, they 
 were not entirely unknown, and therefore we 
 were not quite the same object of intense curi- 
 osity. 
 
 The most striking thing of all was the pawn- 
 shops. These singular buildings, which are a 
 particularly Kwang-tung institution — although 
 the pawnshop is known evervwhere in China — 
 are built of masonrv, in huge square towers, sixty 
 to eighty feet on a side, and with a height of one 
 hundred feet or more, presenting a most impos- 
 ing appearance, suggestive rather of an ancient 
 feudal castle, with the comparatively tiny houses 
 huddling about the base, than of anything so es- 
 sentially practical and commercial as a pawnshop. 
 The construction and shape of the building are 
 for protective purposes. The material of which 
 it is composed presents a safeguard against fire, 
 while its solidity, its great height, and fewness of
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province in 
 
 windows or other openings offer the greatest 
 obstacle to successful assault by robbers. Within 
 arc numerous floors, on which the pawned goods 
 are carefully stored after being neatly indexed. 
 The ordinary practice of the pawnbroker in the 
 way of high interest charges is the same here as 
 in other lands, but the calling is regarded quite 
 differently; in fact, the pawnshop is looked upon 
 as a blessing, the broker as a benefactor, and the 
 presence of a high tower the indication of good 
 business. If a town possesses more than one, it 
 is taken as a sign that it is particularly prosper- 
 ous, and places are described as being one, two, 
 three pawnshop towns, as the case may be. The 
 pawnshop partakes of the nature of a bank, the 
 Chinese arguing that, no one would borrow un- 
 less he can employ the capital with profit, and 
 as the pawnshops are the means of furnishing 
 capital, therefore the greater the number the 
 greater the prosperity. As the Cantonese have 
 always been the most progressive and energetic 
 merchants of China, so the pawn or banking sys- 
 tem of this province has become more highly 
 developed than elsewhere. 
 
 At Ping-shih the expedition was again divided, 
 the chief engineer preceding by boat to make a 
 reconnoissance of the river and of the route fol- 
 lowing the stream via Sam-shui and Fat-shan 
 while the survey party went overland, although 
 sleeping on boats to within lift)- miles of Canton,
 
 ti2 An American Engineer in China 
 
 where they left the river and struck directly for 
 the city. 
 
 Kwang-tung is drained by three principal 
 streams, of which one is the Tung Kiang, which 
 flows to Canton from the east, and with which 
 our expedition has nothing to do. The others 
 are the Si Kiang (West River) and the Pei Ho 
 (North River), with their respective tributaries. 
 These latter rivers join at Sam-shui (literally 
 "Three Waters"), twenty-five miles clue west of 
 Canton, the combined streams going to form the 
 Canton River and the net-work of channels and 
 small streams that intersect the flat land that ex- 
 tends to the sea. The West River is the most 
 important, draining not only the western portion 
 of Kwang-tung, but the whole of the province of 
 Kwang-si, and is open for steam navigation, even 
 at low stage, for shallow-draught vessels for some 
 considerable distance, and, on account of the 
 facility of navigation, has become an important 
 trade route, with a treaty port of its own at Wu- 
 chow. The North River, as its name would indi- 
 cate, strikes north to Shao-chou, where it forks — 
 the right-hand branch, carrying the name of Pei 
 Ho, draining the Nan-ling Mountains on the south 
 side from the province of Kiang-si, while the left- 
 hand branch called the Wu-shui, drains the slope 
 of the same range on the south side from Hu-nan. 
 During the winter months the river is very shal- 
 low, shoals with not over one foot of water being
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 113 
 
 of frequent occurrence to within a short distance 
 of Sam-shui ; and even while following the tor- 
 tuous and continually shifting channel, a vessel 
 drawing two feet cannot proceed up the river 
 from the junction more than fifty miles. The 
 Wu-shui is very shallow — especially the upper 
 waters — for the first fifty miles below Ping-shih. 
 We were therefore compelled to take the smallest 
 boats we had yet used. These little boats have a 
 water-line length of about twenty-five feet, but on 
 account of their peculiar overhanging ends, in 
 order that they may be run up to the bank on a 
 flat shore, are apparently very much longer. 
 They are about five feet beam, are flat-bottomed, 
 and are built in the lightest manner possible, the 
 composing boards being only about three-quarters 
 of an inch thick, without braces or frames, while, 
 in order to give some stiffness, the sides at the top 
 are curved inwards amidships, and are held apart 
 by thwarts at the fore and aft quarters. The roof- 
 ing protection consisted of hemispherical bamboo 
 mats on light bamboo frames. The boats, when 
 loaded, drew about three or four inches only, and 
 furnished accommodations for two of our party 
 to each one. It was not long after leaving Ping- 
 shih before the reason for the design was appar- 
 ent. During at least half of the year, the river is 
 very low, and is nothing but a succession of quiet 
 pools separated by swiftly running rapids, some 
 of the latter being of no small force. In order to
 
 ii4 An American Engineer in China 
 
 navigate the worst places a large oar would be 
 rigged on the bow, with which the boat was 
 steered as well as with one at the stern. On ap- 
 proaching a rapid the crew would cease rowing 
 and unship the oars while the two helmsmen, one 
 in front and one behind, would prepare for their 
 task. As the light boat feels the increasing cur- 
 rent she begins to increase her speed. In front 
 are two great masses of rocks, and between them 
 a narrow passage of white foaming water — a ver- 
 itable Scylla and Charybdis, with apparent equal 
 certainty of destruction whether we hit the rocks 
 or miss them, for surely no vessel as light as ours 
 could possibly stand the strain with safety. On we 
 shoot, straight for the rocks, when, just as a col- 
 lision seems absolutely certain, down goes the bow 
 oar, the boatman throws his weight against the 
 inboard end, our boat's head swerves, and with a 
 lurch she swings and clears the first danger by not 
 over six inches, but only to get into the seething 
 mass of foam. Surely now our frail craft must go 
 to pieces; instinctively one looks at the face of the 
 skipper, who, with stolid indifference, the charac- 
 teristic of his race, betrays no sign that anything 
 unusual is happening, but whose bright eye is fixed 
 steadfastly ahead, and the keenness of the glance 
 indicates that behind that eye, in spite of outward 
 appearances, is a brain that is alert. The boat 
 twists, she yields, her very bottom is seen to bulge 
 upwards as it actually slides over the rocks, which
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 115 
 
 are worn smooth by similar contact with many a 
 sampan, then with a final leap she reaches the 
 still surface of the pool ahead. It is only the 
 lightness of construction and the lack of stiffness 
 that makes the journey possible. A boat with a 
 frame and braces would have been wrecked 
 at once. In these runs no orders are given, 
 there is no excitement, no shouting, but every 
 man of the crew of four knows exactly what he 
 has to do and does it. These Chinese river-boat- 
 men make hne sailors. Before reaching the larg- 
 est of the rapids, which is really a succession of 
 several, our boats were beached and the combined 
 crews went ashore to a little temple to do " Joss 
 pigeon " to the river-god. From the fact that we 
 passed the danger in entire safety, one feels com- 
 pelled to assume that his godship was pleased 
 with the fire-crackers and brown paper burned in 
 his honor. As the crackers are sold by the priest 
 in charge, and as a large number of them were set 
 off, it would appear that the business of being a 
 river-god is not without its financial attractions. 
 
 From Ping-shih to Lo-chang, the first town seen 
 for a distance of nearly forty miles, there is one 
 continuous canon, furnishing the most beautiful 
 scenery found anywhere along our march, and, 
 for beauty and grandeur combined, is the equal 
 of any river-canon that I have ever seen. The 
 stream varies in width from one hundred to five 
 hundred feet. The hills, having a height of six
 
 n6 An American Engineer in China 
 
 hundred to one thousand feet, run directly to the 
 water without any beach or level shore. The 
 country is absolutely wild, there being no popu- 
 lation and no cultivation. Unfortunately, too, 
 there are no trees except in a few places, the 
 mountains haying been long since stripped of 
 their timber. It is possible, perhaps probable, 
 that examination with a diamond drill will show 
 that these hills are underlain with coal, as coal 
 outcrops at Lo-chang, and again in the vicinity 
 of Shao-chou. The) - are covered with a rich, 
 strong grass, and are capable of supporting great 
 herds of sheep or cattle. 
 
 At Lo-chang, a place of perhaps four thousand 
 people, situated at the mouth of the gorge, w r e ex- 
 changed our little boats for a regular junk. The 
 whole atmosphere of our surroundings was quite 
 different from what we had been accustomed to. 
 There are seen growing the banyan-tree, and 
 other tropical vegetation. Women are working 
 with men, especially in boats, and but few of them 
 have the terrible self-inflicted deformity of pinched 
 feet. The houses are of a type differing from 
 that in the more northern provinces, and in the 
 windows and from the balconies are seen growing 
 green plants and flowers. Neither in Hu-peh nor 
 Hu-nan had we seen a single evidence of an appre- 
 ciation by the lower classes of natural beauty, and 
 we had begun to consider the title of " Flowery 
 Kingdom " as sadly misplaced. From Lo-chang
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 117 
 
 onward we saw, in an increasing ratio, a desire 
 on the part of the people to improve the attrac- 
 tiveness of their environment. 
 
 In point of time we were now approaching the 
 Chinese New-Year, the greatest day, or rather 
 period, in the whole calendar, for the attendant 
 festivities are of a continuous character for three 
 days, during which all business, even in the com- 
 mercial centres, is absolutely stopped, while the 
 effect extends over about two weeks before nor- 
 mal conditions are again resumed. The Chinese 
 year is lunar, the beginning being marked by the 
 first new moon following the passage of the sun 
 into the constellation of Aquarius, imposing lim- 
 its of January 21st as the earliest date and Febru- 
 ary 19th as the latest. In 1899 it fell on February 
 10th. On all sides were evidences of the approach 
 of the fete. If no house-cleaning is done at other 
 times, and usually that is the case, it is ordained 
 by precedent that everything must be washed at 
 this season. Along the river-banks were seen 
 women with their trousers rolled up to their 
 thighs, standing in the water alongside of their 
 household furniture, giving their chairs, tables, 
 and clothes-presses a good bath. Boatmen were 
 pasting to the sides of their boats colored slips of 
 paper with " good luck " mottoes or prayers, while 
 the shops in the little villages were evidently do- 
 ing a thriving business. 
 
 Forty miles from Lo-chang brought us to Shao-
 
 n8 An American Engineer in China 
 
 chou, a walled city with seven to eight thousand 
 people, the official residence of a taotai, a pre- 
 fect, and a magistrate, the most important city 
 in northern Kwang-tung. We arrived there on 
 New-Year's eve. As foreigners were known here 
 —some foreign missionaries being actually in res- 
 idence — a walk ashore without a guard was pos- 
 sible, a luxury not enjoyed since leaving Hankow. 
 Seasonable decorations were everywhere in 
 plenty; the shops were loaded with fire-crackers, 
 toys, house decorations (usually of red paper), 
 and articles suitable for presents — for the latter 
 are exchanged at this season of the year between 
 all friends. At one time there would be seen a 
 gentleman bringing to his home a chicken and 
 other delicacies, preparation for the coming feast 
 next day, and before which, having deposited them 
 on his door-step, he would prostrate himself with 
 all due ceremony. At another time we met a 
 business man hurrying along with a preoccupied 
 air. evidently finding difficulty in raising the funds 
 to pay off his debts, which must be liquidated, in 
 accordance with the Chinese law, before night- 
 fall. The evening was quiet, but exactly at mid- 
 night the New-Year was ushered in with a deaf- 
 ening peal of fire-crackers from every junk and 
 from every house, for no Chinaman is so poor as 
 not to be able to afford his salute, accompanied 
 by a general din of gongs, bells, and rattles. 
 On February 15th we passed out of Fat-shan
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 119 
 
 Creek at Fati, and Canton lay before us, and the 
 first American Industrial Invasion of China by an 
 organized force was at an end. 
 
 Ten days later the balance of the party, which 
 had necessarily made slower progress, arrived, 
 and in spite of mournful prognostications to the 
 contrary, the journey was finished, and with 
 much better treatment at the hands of the natives 
 than would a similar expedition of Chinese re- 
 ceive during a trip of equal length under similar 
 conditions in the United States, or even possibly 
 in Europe, due in great measure to the care taken 
 of us by their Excellencies Sheng and Viceroy 
 Chang Chih-tung, to both of whom in this and in 
 many other ways I am much indebted. 
 
 Our ears were frequently assailed with shouts 
 from the crowds of " Yang-kwei-tze," "foreign 
 devil," or some similar epithet, but in nearly 
 every case I am sure that such expressions usu- 
 ally meant little more than such terms as "John 
 Chinaman" or "Yankee" do with us, because 
 frequently I heard the shout of foreign devil 
 raised by someone calling a crowd from within 
 houses to the street to see the strange sight, and 
 such people, when thus summoned, would return 
 our bows with pleasant smiles or laughter. Some- 
 times sullen looks were seen, but rarely was any- 
 thing thrown or deliberate discourtesy shown, 
 and only once was any violence attempted. This 
 single case occurred in southern Hu-nan, when we
 
 i2o An American Engineer in China 
 
 had begun to consider that no special precautions 
 were necessary, even among the famed turbulent 
 Hu-nanese, so that I did not hesitate to detach 
 myself from the party without a regular escort. 
 One day 1 was thus passing the little market 
 town of Wu-ni-pu (" rive mud shops") where the 
 weekly market had drawn from the surround- 
 ing country a crowd of perhaps two thousand. 
 My attendants were but three unarmed soldiers 
 and ni)- chair bearers. On learning of my com- 
 ing the crowd came out of the town and lined up 
 along the roadside. A boy in jest started the cry 
 of foreign devil, those near him took it up in sim- 
 ilar vein with laughter. Others in rear, not seeing 
 but hearing, also raised it, while those well at the 
 back, hearing the noise, pushed forward to ascer- 
 tain the cause. The pushing and the shouting 
 excited someone to throw a missile, whereupon 
 a quiet crowd unconsciously and quite uninten- 
 tionally was converted into a mob. Fortunately 
 they had nothing worse to throw than earth-clods 
 from the ploughed fields, but which having started 
 to do, they kept it up with energy and zeal. My 
 little guard stood bv me and urged me to run, as 
 resistance against such odds was out of the ques- 
 tion. To run I realized would encourage vio- 
 lence and invite stumbling, which would be fatal, 
 as likewise a proposition to take refuge in a little 
 temple at hand. The only chance lay in giving a 
 certain orderly portion in the crowd time to get
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 121 
 
 the disturbance under control, and in the mean- 
 while to protect my head with the collar of my 
 coat and to hope that the crowd would not find 
 any stones or bricks. After a somewhat mauvais 
 quart d ' Jicurc order supplanted violence, and I was 
 none the worse except for some dirty clothes and 
 a stiff neck, which two days' time quite cured. 
 After that, at the suggestion of the local officials, 
 we went armed. 
 
 I asked the Chinese dignitaries why we had 
 failed to experience the troubles that they had all 
 feared so keenly before starting. The answers 
 were threefold : we had shown no fear, and con- 
 sequently the people feared us; we neither mo- 
 lested nor interfered with anyone, therefore the 
 people respected us ; and we paid regular prices 
 for our purchases, and would not permit our 
 attendants to steal, therefore the people liked 
 us. There seemed to me to be another reason, 
 the good-will of the officials. I am confident that 
 the Government can, when it wants to do so, con- 
 trol the people, and is quite competent to bring 
 about any desired reform. The trouble is that 
 the existing clique realizes that with railways 
 and other innovations its powers are at an end. 
 One practical result of our trip is that mission- 
 aries have since penetrated without trouble into 
 Hu-nan, a thing impossible before, and the prov- 
 ince can now be considered as open as the other 
 seventeen.
 
 Mr. Parsons Mr. Rich 
 
 Chinese Skipper 
 
 Under Two Flags
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 123 
 
 Wherever we went we had the pleasure and hon- 
 or of carrying with us the American flag - , the first 
 foreign flag to be seen in this portion of China, 
 and alongside of it, in compliment to the country 
 we were visiting, we flew the Imperial Dragon. 
 
 The scientific results were entirely satisfactory. 
 In addition to determining the general location 
 of the railway, we established the longitude and 
 latitude of the various cities, discovering, as was 
 to be expected, differences in their locations as 
 usually platted. We noted the magnetic varia- 
 tion of the needle, locating the line of no variation 
 where it crossed our path ; we established the 
 lines of drainage, both north and south of the 
 Nan-ling Mountains, correcting many errors; but, 
 above all, we discovered the true pass across the 
 range connecting the head-waters of the Yu-tan 
 with those of the Wu-shui, to which the staff gave 
 the name of " Parsons Gap," and so marked it on 
 our map. 
 
 In this work our difficulty lay principally in 
 procuring reliable information in advance. The 
 average Chinese, and certainly everyone in the 
 interior, does not comprehend at all the meaning 
 of the word accuracy — all his statements are 
 "about." The unit of distance in China is a li, 
 a distance which is approximately 1,825 leet, or 
 something more than one-third of a mile; but the 
 li (pronounced lee) differs in different parts of the 
 empire, just as the tael or standard of value differs,
 
 124 An American Engineer in China 
 
 so that for ordinary usage the expression " li " is 
 of little value, while for accurate computations it 
 
 is worse than worthless, for it is misleading unless 
 all the circumstances are known. Thus there are 
 official li along certain highways specially devoted 
 to travel, which are termed "official highways." 
 On these coolies are paid for carrying merchandise 
 at so much per li, and by common consent under 
 these circumstances all distances are reckoned 
 short, the ratio of the error between stations not 
 being constant, and varying from twenty to as high 
 as fifty per cent. Thus a distance which would ac- 
 tually measure, say, 20 li would be set somewhere 
 between 24 and 30 li. On a parallel highway of 
 equal length the true distance, or something ap- 
 proximating it, would be stated ; hence we were 
 always in a perpetual quandary and argument 
 with the officials as to which would be the shortest 
 route to follow when there was a choice. Then, 
 to add to the complexity, in certain districts the 
 distance is reckoned not wholly on the basis of 
 length, but partly on the time required. Thus if 
 the road from A to B is up hill, the distance from 
 A to B might be 40 li, but from B to A only 30. 
 Distances are also stated in multiples of 10 above 
 20, and in multiples of 5 between 5 and 20, and 
 below 5 in single li — a custom arising from the 
 fact that the surface is considered as divided into 
 zones, the distance between the centres of the 
 zones being so many tens of li. If the points in
 
 Chapter III : Hu-nan, the Closed Province 125 
 
 question are on the nearest limits of the zones, the 
 distance given on the zone basis is too great by 
 10 li, or, if on the outer limit, too little by a like 
 amount. All such distances are subject to fur- 
 ther correction as to whether they are official or 
 otherwise, and by the several other local condi- 
 tions or even personal equations of the informant. 
 If there were any rule in these vagaries it would 
 not matter so much, but there is absolutely none. 
 Of maps we were fortunate in securing one of 
 Hu-nan, which, considering it was a native pro- 
 duction, was very good, and as a general thing 
 fairly reliable, although once in a while its woful 
 errors ran us into difficulties. The local maps 
 purporting to give details were caricatures, and 
 outdid the productions of Herodotus and other 
 early European geographers. One particular 
 map, which undertook to represent not the unex- 
 plored country, but an area of civilization, includ- 
 ing the viceregal capital of Wu-chang and the 
 metropolis of Han-kow, can be taken as a fair 
 specimen of the lot. At this point the Yang-tze 
 River runs almost straight. Had the local car- 
 tographer so shown it on his map, one of two 
 things would have happened : either he would 
 have been obliged to use a larger sheet of paper 
 or the river would have run off the border. He 
 very successfullv and ingeniously avoided both 
 difficulties by giving the river a graceful bend. 
 The rest of his topography and details were
 
 126 An American Engineer in China 
 
 shown with equal fidelity. Yet the officials treat 
 these things quite seriously, and in my own ex- 
 perience frequently such maps as these would be 
 produced and actually used as a basis of argu- 
 ment. 
 
 In China there is no fixed nomenclature — even 
 the country itself being without a name — and this 
 lack of distinct and recognized appellations was a 
 frequent source of difficult)'. Of personal infor- 
 mation from natives there was none obtainable on 
 which any credence could be placed. A Chinese, 
 unless he be a porter coolie or a boatman, rarely 
 travels or gets during his life more than a few 
 miles in any direction from the place where he 
 was born. When trying to procure information 
 concerning the immediate locality it was no un- 
 common thing to have a native, and even some- 
 times men of local position, say, " Oh, I have 
 never been so far away as that," or " I have never 
 been across that hill, and so do not know what is 
 be von d."
 
 Chapter 
 
 IV 
 
 My Chinese Impressions 
 
 IT is related in the analects of Confucius that 
 one of his disciples put to him the question : 
 " Is there one word upon which the whole life 
 may proceed?" to which the Master replied: " Is 
 not Reciprocity such a word?" If it were pos- 
 sible to find a word expressive of that curiously 
 subtle thing, the Chinese character, perhaps Con- 
 tradiction would furnish the keynote. 
 
 There is probably no nation so extolled and 
 lauded by some writers, and so inveighed against 
 and execrated by others, as the Chinese, and this, 
 too, by observers who have lived in China for 
 many years. This great divergence of opinion is 
 due, 1 believe, to the spirit of contradiction in the 
 Chinaman himself. 
 
 This spirit of contradiction is found not only in 
 the frequently occurring examples of the Chinese 
 way of doing things quite differently from the 
 way that other people have found best, but more 
 particularly in the cases where the Chinaman is 
 so singularly inconsistent with his own apparent 
 way of thinking and of the rules which lie has 
 laid down for his own guidance. Me seems to be 
 at the same time the extreme of economical and 
 wasteful, practical and impractical, kind and cruel, 
 honest and deceitful. No sooner has the observer 
 
 127
 
 128 
 
 An American Engineer in China 
 
 discovered and put in mental order a series of in- 
 cidents that seem to establish a certain trait, when 
 
 Chinese and Manchu Ladies of the Upper Class 
 
 The two on the ends are Chinese, with their feet compressed. The 
 third from the left is a Manchu, with the feet natural but wearing 
 the peculiar Manchu shoe on a central pedestal. The second 
 woman is a maid-servant, with her feet only partly compressed, as 
 is usual with women of her class. On the right is a Peking cart, 
 the private carriage of Minister Conger. This picture was obtained 
 by having Mrs. Parsons walk ahead to attract the attention of the 
 ladies to her foreign clothes 
 
 of a sudden he comes in contact with some new 
 fact or action, which completely upsets all pre- 
 conceived notions. 
 
 The well-known ways in which the Mongolian 
 methods and reasoning contradict the Caucasian 
 are both amusing and extraordinary in their com-
 
 Chapter IV: My Chinese Impressions 129 
 
 plete and direct oppositeness. With the Chinese 
 white is the color of mourning, and the left, is the 
 place of honor. Men wear skirts and women wear 
 breeches, while everyone is addressed with the 
 family name first. The Chinaman talks of the 
 magnetic needle pointing to the south — singular 
 reasoning for one living in the Northern Hemi- 
 sphere — reads and writes from right to left, and 
 thus it goes through almost every detail of every- 
 day life. But the most amusing instance is the 
 practice of the night-watchman, who flourishes 
 everywhere from Peking down to the small cities 
 in the interior. Instead of going his rounds 
 stealthily, to better detect thieves, which are not 
 few, he equips himself with a bamboo rattle and a 
 tinkling metal cymbal, which he sounds rhythmi- 
 cally as he walks his beat. In the still hours of 
 the night it is perfectly easy to tell exactly where 
 he is, and when he will pass in return a given 
 point. The theory is that his fiendish weapons of 
 noise strike terror into the hearts of all evil-doers, 
 but I fear, judging from personal experiences, 
 that the ways of evil-doers, contrary to the rule 
 of Chinese opposite, are the same in all lands. 
 
 Self-contradiction is equally apparent, and must 
 be continually expected and allowed for if we 
 are to attempt to understand the Celestial and his 
 way of thinking. Even his Government is a most 
 bewildering mixture of the most absolute autoc- 
 racy and liberal democracy.
 
 130 An American Engineer in China 
 
 The autocratic part is represented not so much 
 in the will of one man, the ruler, for the system of 
 government lias tended more and more to seclude 
 him from popular contact, but in the almost slav- 
 ish observance and veneration for precedent. 
 What is, is; and what has been done stands as an 
 example for all time or until some extraordinary 
 event establishes a new order. The personality 
 of the ruler and of the leading statesmen, there- 
 fore, is not stamped upon the course of affairs, nor 
 are the official personages of the same relative im- 
 portance that they are in other countries. Gov- 
 ernment is largely a matter of custom and of 
 precedent. 
 
 No dictator, no tyrant ever ruled with more 
 iron hand than does Precedent in China, and the 
 custom of obeying it is deep-seated and hoary 
 with age. Even before the time of Confucius it 
 was the ride, and his writings teem with admo- 
 nitions to observe the Rules of Proprieties and 
 Ceremonial. 
 
 The democratic side is shown by the fact that, 
 with but few exceptions, rank is not hereditary, 
 and that the meanest of the Emperor's subjects 
 may not only aspire to but actually attain the 
 highest place in his councils. Examinations form 
 the basis of political preferment, and these exam- 
 inations are open to all. But by one of those 
 strange inconsistencies of contradiction which 
 make the oldest of students of Chinese character
 
 Chapter IV: My Chinese Impressions 131 
 
 timid as to exact determinations, the Chinese, 
 having elaborated the most perfect system of 
 selection, lose sight entirely of the main object, 
 and so conduct ihe examinations as to render 
 them practically valueless in really determining 
 the contestant's fitness for anything except writ- 
 ing involved essays on a text from Confucius. I 
 met some Chinese of the official class, who were 
 endowed by nature with strong talents that would 
 have insured their rise under any circumstances 
 and had already won the highest of examination 
 honors, who told me that they were endeavoring 
 to forget their Confucius as fast as possible and 
 trying to learn other things. 
 
 In judging the Chinaman, allowance must be 
 made for the point of view. He must not be 
 looked at entirely from his stand-point ; if so, he 
 has no faults; nor wholly from ours; for if so, he 
 has no redeeming features. Take, for example, 
 his standard of veracity. All Asiatics have the 
 reputation of being cunning, deceitful, and un- 
 truthful, and in ordinary dealings the Chinaman 
 is said to be no exception. On the other hand, 
 in commercial intercourse he has the reputation 
 of being so truthful and honest that foreign mer- 
 chants frequently rely on verbal contracts and to 
 an extent that they would not do with each other. 
 It is quite impossible that the same man can be so 
 wholly different. The contradiction must be more 
 apparent than real. What is his point of view?
 
 132 An American Engineer in China 
 
 In ordinary transactions he is accustomed to 
 speak in exaggerated phrases, to veil his meaning 
 in obscure sentences, and to convey his thoughts 
 in an optimistic way; such has been his whole 
 education. He himself understands his fellows, 
 or, at least, does so after much circumlocutory 
 questioning. There has been no attempt to de- 
 ceive, and, therefore, he would say no lie. 
 
 This is not the direct bluntness of the Anglo- 
 Saxon ; it may not be the best way, but it is the 
 Chinese way, based on an experience of some 
 thousands of years, and he is at least entitled to 
 have his point of view taken into account. When 
 it comes to practical considerations, like making 
 a contract, he has learned that only the direct 
 method and rigid honesty are successful, and 
 therefore he governs himself accordingly and 
 perhaps more conscientiously than other people 
 with a so-called higher civilization. 
 
 In thinking of the Chinaman we frequently 
 make the error of vastly underrating his men- 
 tal ability, and regarding his stolidity and tenacity 
 to his own ways as precluding him from grasp- 
 ing another's point of view. But even from my 
 short experience I am convinced that such is far 
 from being the case. The Chinaman naturally 
 prefers his own way of accomplishing a given 
 end, but that does not prevent him from seeing 
 the line of thought and action of a mind trained 
 in methods diametrically opposite from his. On
 
 Chapter IV : My Chinese Impressions 133 
 
 one occasion, when the regular nightly council of 
 local officials was being held to arrange for the 
 next day's march of the expedition, I stated 
 my plans, a suggestion which immediately met, 
 as was not infrequently the case, with their very 
 strong opposition and elicited a counter sugges- 
 tion that I must follow a highway in quite a dif- 
 ferent direction, for so the Governor had ordered. 
 The officials were firmly but politely informed 
 that the Governor was not the chief engineer, and 
 therefore not responsible for the survey. When 
 they realized that I was set upon my own course 
 they adopted the usual Chinese custom of indi- 
 rectness, and began to assure me that it was 
 impossible for me to go the way I proposed, as 
 there were high mountains and deep rivers in- 
 tervening which were quite impassable. Accord- 
 ing to Chinese custom I should have accepted 
 such circumlocution, although they not only knew 
 it was untrue, but knew that I knew that it was 
 untrue, because they were well aware that I had 
 made a personal reconnaissance in advance to de- 
 velop the feasibility of the route proposed. At 
 this juncture one of the officials, who at the outset 
 had behaved in exactly the same way by raising 
 all sorts of absurd objections and then in the end 
 doing without difficulty what he had previously 
 insisted was impossible, leaned across the table 
 and said in an undertone to his coadjutors: 
 " Don't talk to that man about mountains and
 
 134 An American Engineer in China 
 
 rivers; he is not influenced by such phrases. 
 When \ on talk to him you must talk to the 
 point." Two weeks' intercourse had sufficed to 
 make him understand direct, straightforward 
 
 methods. One of these officials who that night 
 had been chief in resistance accompanied us for 
 four hundred miles, and developed into one of the 
 very best men we had, dropping his indirect ways 
 and talking " to the point." 
 
 The most striking trait in the Chinese character, 
 and which is chiefly answerable for the present 
 condition of the country, is exclusiveness. As a 
 nation they have produced great things, but they 
 have been for their own use and not for exchange 
 with other peoples for other ideas. This exclu- 
 siveness has operated not only to shut China in 
 from other nations, but has prevented that flow of 
 thought from within outward and from without 
 inward, a reciprocal action which is as necessarv 
 for the development of a nation as is variation in 
 physical and mental exercises for the development 
 of an individual. The teachings of nature show 
 that a stationary condition is impossible, that mo- 
 tion forward or backward is always taking place, 
 and as approach toward perfection is attained a 
 new condition of life is brought about under a 
 course of development. So life leads to death, and 
 death is but a birth for a new life. This law is 
 true for nations as well as for animals and plants. 
 Every great nation of the past has expanded until
 
 Chapter IV: My Chinese Impressions 135 
 
 its limit of growth is reached, when it enters a pe- 
 riod of decadence and finally comes to a natural 
 death, giving rise, however, to new nations and 
 new peoples. Here again China seems to be an 
 anomalous contradiction. It is a nation which 
 died centuries ago, but which has never been 
 buried, and continues to remain above ground as 
 a sort of vivified mummy. Everywhere in the 
 interior where one turns, one is struck with this 
 deadness and arrest of development, as it were, 
 that occurred some centuries ago. Every writer 
 on China regards the peculiar natural condition 
 from his own point of view, and suggests as the 
 cause the lack of his particular nostrum. The 
 missionary argues that it is necessary to instil in 
 the Chinese a high moral sense, and then all 
 would be well ; the writer on material develop- 
 ment calls for unlimited railways ; the military 
 man for the reformation of the army and navy as 
 the panacea ; while the commercial man claims 
 that if enough treaty ports were opened China 
 would soon take care of herself. Any one of 
 these or other similar views is too narrow. A 
 deficiency in moral sense, and the failure to ap- 
 preciate the benefit of railways or unrestricted 
 commerce, are effects, rather than causes, or cer- 
 tainly are not the prime causes. The nation is 
 dead ; a new birth, a regeneration, a new life is 
 needed ; and while each one of the urged reforms 
 is necessary as one of the conditions to bring into
 
 136 An American Engineer in China 
 
 existence this new life, no one by itself is suffi- 
 cient. To produce plant, life it is not only neces- 
 sary to have the seed ready to germinate, but there 
 must also be the required conditions of light, heat, 
 and moisture — no one in itself is enough, and 
 without the proper combination of all three our 
 seed will refuse to bring forth. Such is the con- 
 dition of China. 
 
 This lack of life is evident everywhere and is 
 interwoven in the whole fabric of Chinese exist- 
 ence. Take the writings of Confucius, on which 
 all Chinese thought and reasoning is both con- 
 sciously and unconsciously based, and it will be 
 seen that even his key-note is dead. The tone is 
 moral, the code of ethics is high, but his philoso- 
 phy is lifeless, for he speaks of himself as " I, a 
 transmitter and not an originator, and as one who 
 believes in and loves the ancients." This doctrine 
 he has taught successive generations, so that the 
 Chinaman is too apt to regard the future as 
 merely an opportunity to relive the past. But 
 this can be overcome. 
 
 Seeds for a new life, better and stronger than 
 the past life, even when China was the greatest 
 nation in existence, are there ready to sprout ; the 
 potentiality is great ; the people are by nature 
 peaceful, law-abiding, industrious, frugal, hard- 
 working, and patient — qualities absolutely essen- 
 tial to produce a great nation, and which under 
 proper conditions must produce one, in the same
 
 Chapter IV: My Chinese Impressions 137 
 
 way that a healthy acorn under the proper condi- 
 tions must give growth to a sturdy oak. 
 
 In examining the characteristics of a people one 
 turns first to the status of education and to the nat- 
 ure and depth of religious belief, and in both of 
 these this deadness is oppressively conspicuous. 
 One day, while journeying along a highway in 
 Hu-nan, I turned to a bright little boy of apparently 
 about ten years who was in the crowd surround- 
 ing me, and asked him if he went to school. " Oh, 
 yes," he replied, and in answer to a question what 
 he studied, said, with a look that clearly indicated 
 his surprise that anyone should ask such a ques- 
 tion, " Why, the classics, of course." Not a word 
 about geography or history, even of his own conn- 
 try, to say nothing of others; not a line of science; 
 not a single thought of anything that could do him 
 a bit of good or fit him to be a useful member of 
 society, but merely the teachings of Confucius, 
 who lived twenty-five hundred years ago. An il- 
 lustration of what this leads to was well shown 
 one night when the local officials of the village 
 where we were stopping called, according to cus- 
 tom, to greet us and arrange for future progress. 
 One of them, a dear old gentleman, who had a 
 laugh that would have made his fortune on the 
 stage in any capital of Europe, inquired what land 
 I came from, if it was far from China, and then 
 whether I came by land or by sea, each question 
 being punctuated by a delicious laugh. To tell
 
 138 An American Engineer in China 
 
 him, who considered one hundred miles as a long 
 journey, thai 1 had conic over ten thousand miles, 
 was to give the impression ol a gross exaggeration, 
 as he had no idea of the size of the earth or where 
 America was, as indicated by thequestion whether 
 it was north or south of China. One of his com- 
 panions, rinding that his friend was quite at sea, 
 finally summoned up courage and rebuked the 
 questioner by pointing out that America was in 
 the Western, and China in the Eastern, Hemi- 
 sphere. After other inquiries the hist man 
 brightened up and said, "Oh, I know now where 
 your land is ; it is between France and Germany : " 
 whereupon the second, who had been carefully 
 watching our faces and so perceived that the 
 other was wrong again, repeated his hemisphere 
 remark with a most supercilious and superior air. 
 As he ventured nothing more there was little 
 doubt that that comprised his whole knowledge 
 of the world's geography, although he had not 
 shown whether he really knew what a hemisphere 
 was. Vet these two men held important govern- 
 ment positions, and one of them has since been 
 promoted and is on the high road to still greater 
 places of trust, and such men the people must 
 look to and rely on for their guidance. But this 
 state of affairs must not be confounded with ig- 
 norance. These men were ignorant in the sense 
 of being uneducated according to our standards. 
 From a Chinese point of view they were very
 
 Chapter IV: My Chinese Impressions 139 
 
 highly educated, and had spent an amount of 
 time in acquiring their information thai would 
 suffice with us to lake a man through a leading 
 university and give him a Ph. I), degree. They 
 had a vast amount of learning, hut it was of no 
 practical value. It was the teachings of the filth 
 
 GHhr m 
 
 4> j 
 
 Iwi f * 
 
 
 A Neglected Buddhist Temple 
 
 The roof-beams are elaborately and beautifully carved 
 
 century before Christ rather than the nineteenth 
 century after. 
 
 Then, as to their religion: nominally they 
 possess the Buddhist faith; practically the only 
 religion they have is ancestral worship. Their 
 Buddhist temples, as a general thing, are neg- 
 lected, the idols dirty and broken, and even sub-
 
 140 An American Engineer in China 
 
 ject to sale by the priests if the traveller wishes 
 to carry them away, and nowhere seemingly 
 treated with any veneration or respect, except 
 possibly by the boatmen, who have a sort of su- 
 perstitions fetich, as is common to the sailor class 
 in all lands. Their ancestors they venerate, and 
 every Chinese consequently wishes to have a son 
 who will worship at his grave as he has done tow- 
 ard his predecessors. In going across the coun- 
 try one sees occasionally a handsome grave, on 
 which a certain amount of care and thought had 
 been bestowed at the time of its construction, 
 and possibly since ; but when one contemplates 
 the usual resting-place of departed Celestials, lit- 
 tle hummocks of pyramidal shape, unmarked by 
 any inscription, untended and unkempt, on one 
 hand scattered about in more or less disorder, or 
 on another hand huddled together, one is easily 
 forced to conclude that ancestral worship cannot 
 have any deep-rooted sentiment, and that it is, 
 like the system of government, a matter of prec- 
 edent, or, as the native picturesquely puts it in 
 his pigeon English, "That b'long ole custom." 
 
 At Shanghai, Canton, and even in the interior, 
 there are to be met large buildings, frequently of 
 elaborate and beautiful design, called ancestral 
 temples, where the records of past members of a 
 great family are kept and the honors that indi- 
 viduals have won for the house are properly 
 posted. Here the various branches of the family
 
 o
 
 142 An American Engineer in China 
 
 can meet and worship before the little tablets 
 bearing the names oi their lathers and grand- 
 fathers. But such buildings have a purpose other 
 than a purely religious one. They provide a place 
 where, at stated times, the scattered members of 
 the clan can come together and see each other. 
 They have, therefore, a social, or rather a tribal, 
 function as well as a religious one. 
 
 Reference was made above to the trait of ex- 
 clusiveness in the Chinese character. No great 
 principle ever stops abruptly in its effects, so this 
 spirit of exclusiveness not only limits the external 
 bearings of the empire, but affects the internal re- 
 lations of the people as well. Carried out to the 
 logical conclusion it has made the family the su- 
 preme unit. To his family, not merely his wife 
 and children, but his family collectively, to the 
 tribal or community relation, as it were, the Chi- 
 naman owes his first allegiance ; after that to the 
 district ; then to the state or province ; and finally 
 to the nation. In consequence, any real national 
 feeling or pride, or any sense of genuine patriot- 
 ism, or in fact of any patriotism whatever, is ab- 
 solutely wanting. The nation as a whole is a 
 great mass without cohesion, and inviting the 
 comparison, which is so frequently made, to a 
 huge jelly-fish. When the war between China 
 and Japan broke out, the men in the interior, pro- 
 vided they were cognizant, which many were not, 
 that a struggle was going on, declared it to be
 
 Chapter IV : My Chinese Impressions 143 
 
 that " Peking man's [Li Hung-chang] war," that 
 he had got into it, therefore let him get out of 
 it, entirely oblivious of the fact that they them- 
 selves constituted China, and that no matter who 
 was the author or what the cause, war was on, 
 and war with China meant not war with Li Hung- 
 chang, but. war with them. In the same way they 
 have tolerated, with scarcely a protest, the giving 
 away of their national territory. The man from 
 the interior cares not a whit whether Germany 
 occupies Shan-tung, or whether Russia has seized 
 the Liao-tung peninsula — " that is the 'pigeon' 
 [i.e., business] of the Shan-tung man." On a jour- 
 ney of some thirteen hundred miles between points 
 of civilization which our expedition in its various 
 parts collectively covered, with the single excep- 
 tion of a tug belonging to the China Merchant 
 Steamship Company which, according to the cus- 
 tom of that company, carried the Chinese flag, and 
 which we happened by chance to meet on the 
 Siang River, we saw not a single Chinese national 
 emblem, except the one that I flew on my own 
 junk alongside of the Stars and Stripes. From 
 no official yamen, from no city wall or military 
 camp, was it once displayed. No river gun-boat 
 threw it to the breeze, nor did any body of troops 
 carry it at their head. Flags everywhere were in 
 profusion, and in great profusion <>t colors and de- 
 sign, but they were always of a local or personal 
 character. Every gun-boat carried at least two
 
 Chapter IV: My Chinese Impressions 145 
 
 beautiful red ones with huge white hieroglyphics 
 — the name of the commander. The regimenl or 
 guard that marched with us bore standards on 
 which was inscribed the designation of their cap- 
 tain. The Hag ol China was everywhere absent. 
 There was but one man in that long journey 
 found to do it honor, and that man was a " for- 
 eign devil." Undoubtedly there were thousands 
 who saw for the first; time the flag with the yel- 
 low field and the blue dragon, which they sup- 
 posed to be the fanciful and decorative creation 
 of the foreigner's mind. 
 
 The personal bearing of the upper-class China- 
 man, even in the interior where he never comes 
 in contact with the outer world, is kindly, courte- 
 ous, and polite, and quite up to what is found in 
 similar classes in other countries, to which we ap- 
 ply the term "civilized." On my inland journey, 
 when approaching a town or city, 1 was invaria- 
 bly met, at some distance outside the walls, by a 
 subofficial representing the chief magistrate, who 
 handed me the latter* s card and bade me welcome. 
 A Chinese card is a piece of thin red paper, about 
 six inches long and three wide, with the name 
 printed in bold, black characters. There are 
 fashions in cards in China as in Europe. Some 
 high officials affect huge cards as indicative of 
 rank. Other persons, when leaving cards on per- 
 sons of position, use characters of microscopic 
 size as suggesting great inferiority on the part of
 
 I 46 
 
 An American Engineer in China 
 
 the caller, a very pretty compliment, but one 
 whose sincerity, like other compliments, is open 
 to question. Mourning is indicated by a small 
 character in an upper corner. On reaching my 
 quarters, usually a temple, the local officials im- 
 mediately called, those of junior rank merely 
 leaving their cards without troubling me, and 
 
 General Liu Kao-chao at Tiffin 
 
 those of higher rank sending in their cards and 
 waiting for an interview if 1 desired one. The 
 etiquette of leaving cards and immediately re- 
 turning calls is more rigorous than with us. On 
 first meeting with an official, conversation was 
 naturally formal and stilted, but on subsequent oc- 
 casions small-talk would flow as easilv as the limi. 
 tations of interpreting both ways would permit.
 
 Chapter IV: My Chinese Impressions 147 
 
 In some cases, where acquaintance was developed 
 by being fellow-travellers, we found among those 
 people precisely the same spirit of companionship 
 that existed among ourselves. External appear- 
 ances and differences in environment do not affect 
 human nature. General Liu Kao-chao, military 
 commandant of Chang-sha, who journeyed with us 
 for three hundred miles, by his genial and whole- 
 souled character caused us to part with him with 
 deep regrets, and his evidently unfeigned delight 
 in his midday tipple of Scotch whiskey at tiffin 
 will always remain a bright spot in a very inter- 
 esting journey.
 
 Chapter 
 
 Commerce and Commercial Relations 
 
 THE foreign commerce of China is carried 
 on through and at twenty-nine Treaty Ports. 
 Previous to 1840 trade with foreigners was 
 much hampered owing to its being subject to local 
 regulations, all of which were annoying, many of 
 them ridiculous, and some actually jeopardizing 
 to both life and property. In 1842 Great Britain, 
 availing herself of the successful outcome of what 
 is known as the Opium War, stipulated that as 
 one of the indemnities, China should declare the 
 ports of Canton, Amoy, Fu-chow, Ning-po, and 
 Shanghai to be thrown entirely open to British 
 trade and residence, and that commerce with Brit- 
 ish subjects should be conducted at these ports 
 under a properly regulated tariff and free from 
 special Chinese restrictions. Although Great 
 Britain nominally secured for herself special con- 
 siderations, she intended and actually accom- 
 plished the establishing of commerce between 
 China and all other nations on a sound and liberal 
 basis. The treaty of Nan-king was immediately 
 followed by similar treaties with other powers, 
 that with the United States being executed in 
 1844. Additional ports, decreed by treaties or 
 other arrangements by the Chinese Government, 
 have been added from year to year. At the end 
 
 148
 
 Chapter V: Commercial Relations 149 
 
 of the year 1899 the Maritime Customs reported 
 twenty-nine of these ports with several branch or 
 sub-ports in addition. At nearly all ol them there 
 is a special reservation, called the foreign conces- 
 sion, where foreigners are allowed to reside and 
 regulate their method of living in their own way. 
 Although foreigners are permitted to dwell in the 
 Chinese quarter if they so desire, the right to hold 
 property in the concessions is usually denied to 
 Chinese, and they are discriminated against in 
 other ways. 
 
 Previous to i860 the management of foreign 
 commerce had been in the hands of Chinese offi- 
 cials, with the usually unsatisfactory result attend- 
 ing any official department handled by native over- 
 seers. In that year the business of the port of 
 Shanghai was placed temporarily in the hands of 
 English, American, and French Commissioners, 
 who were able to so improve the receipts by effi- 
 cient and honest management that the Chinese 
 Government, recognizing the desirability of con- 
 tinuing foreign supervision, organized the Im- 
 perial Maritime Customs and placed the manage- 
 ment of the whole foreign trade in the hands of a 
 single Commissioner, called an Inspector-General. 
 It appointed to this position Mr. Lav, succeeded 
 in 1863 bv Mr., afterward Sir, Robert Hart, who 
 has continued in the control since then, and to 
 whom is due the present very satisfactory con- 
 dition of the management of this Bureau, to
 
 150 An American Engineer in China 
 
 which has since been attached, in order to secure 
 efficiency, a Marine Department, covering light- 
 houses and harbor regulations and the Chinese 
 Imperial Post-office. 
 
 The ports open in 1899 were : Niu-chwang, Tien- 
 tsin, Che-ioo, Chung-king, I-chang, Sha-si, Yo- 
 chow, Hankow, Kiu-kiang, Wu-hu, Nan-king, 
 Chin-kiang, Shanghai, Soo-chow, Ning-po, Hang- 
 chow, Wen-chow, San-tuao, Foo-chow, Amoy, 
 Swa-tow, Wu-chow, Sam-shui, Canton, Kiung- 
 chow, Pack-hoi, Lung-chow, Meng-tsz, and Sz- 
 mao. Of these Niu-chwang is located in the north, 
 at the terminus of the Chinese Imperial Railway, 
 and is the gateway through which the trade passes 
 from China to Russian Manchuria. Two ports, 
 Tien-tsin and Che-foo, are situated on the Gulf of 
 Pe-chi-li, while the next eleven on the list, Chung- 
 king to Soo-chow, are on the Yang-tze Kiang or 
 its tributaries. Seven ports, Ning-po to Swa-tow, 
 are on the East Coast. Wu-chow and Sam-shui 
 are on the West River. Canton is the great port 
 of Southern China and the oldest seat of foreign 
 trade in the country. Kiung-chow is on the Isl- 
 and of Hainan, and Pak-hoi, Lung-chow, Meng-tsz, 
 and Sz-mao are on the Franco-China frontier of 
 Tong-king. The last three and Niu-chwang are 
 the only places not situated on important water- 
 ways. Of the total foreign trade about three- 
 quarters is transacted through Canton, Shanghai, 
 Tientsin, and Hankow, which are the great dis-
 
 Chapter V: Commercial Relations 151 
 
 tributing points for the south, middle coast, north, 
 and interior. 
 
 The importance of Canton, Shanghai, Tien- 
 tsin, and Hankow, is fixed by geographical condi- 
 tions. Canton is at the head of the Canton River, 
 which is really the estuary for the combined flow 
 of the West, the North, and the East Rivers, the 
 three principal streams and consequent trade 
 routes of Southern China. With its fine harbor 
 and juxtaposition to Hongkong, it is, of necessity, 
 and must always continue to be, the gateway to 
 the southern part of the Empire. In like manner, 
 Shanghai, at the month of the Yang-tze, is the 
 controlling point for the whole of the central 
 zone; while Tien-tsin, the port of Peking, is the 
 entrance to the north, the northwest, and Mon- 
 golia. Hankow is at the head of steamship navi- 
 gation on the Yang-tze, and at the junction of thai 
 stream and its principal tributary, the Han, and if 
 the extreme western part of the country be omit- 
 ted, which part is mountainous and very thinly 
 populated, Hankow is approximately the geo- 
 graphical centre of the Empire. 
 
 Natiye vessels trading between native ports 
 report at custom-houses administered bv native 
 officials, where the records are hopelessly con- 
 fused, and which, as a source of income to the 
 Chinese Government, will be referred to in a later 
 chapter. 
 
 The foreign commerce of China, both import
 
 
 bD tjj 
 
 *j c o 
 
 a 
 
 n! 
 3 
 
 c 
 
 IX 
 
 c
 
 Chapter V: Commercial Relations 153 
 
 and export, is growing steadily, having doubled 
 since 1891, the figures for 1899 showing that for- 
 eign goods to the value of 264,748,456 Haikwan 
 taels ($185,324,000) were imported, and native 
 goods to the value of 195,784,332 Haikwan taels 
 ($137,049,000) were exported, or a total commerce 
 of 460,533,288 Haikwan taels. 
 
 Owing to the lack of internal communication, 
 the distribution of Chinese commerce is singu- 
 larly restricted. Of the imports more than one- 
 half is confined to two classes of articles alone ; 
 thus cotton and cotton goods in 1899 accounted 
 for 40.2 per cent., and opium, unfortunately, for 
 13.5 per cent. In like manner the exports, silk 
 and tea, stand out almost without competition 
 with other articles ; these two together also ag- 
 gregating more than 50 per cent, of the total. 
 Silk provided no less than 41.8 per cent, and tea 
 16.3 per cent. Kerosene oil, metals, rice, sugar, 
 and coal are other articles largely imported, and 
 beans, hides and furs, mats and matting, and wool 
 other exports. 
 
 Although the extent of the traffic entered at 
 native custom-houses, or, at least, not passing 
 through the Maritime Customs, cannot be ascer- 
 tained, that it is considerable is well understood, 
 as can be shown by the single item of the export 
 of rice. The exportation of this article was in 
 1898 prohibited in order to prevent a possible 
 shortage at home. The Maritime Customs, there-
 
 154 An American Engineer in China 
 
 fore, report no rice as having been shipped out- 
 ward during that year. The Japanese Customs, 
 however, report having received rice from China 
 to the value of $2,000,000 United States gold. It 
 had been smuggled out in native vessels through 
 the native customs and the Government deprived 
 of revenue. An amusing explanation of this is 
 given, which so thoroughly illustrates Chinese 
 methods as to be worth repeating. As rice forms 
 the greatest single item in Chinese food, any fall- 
 ing off in supply threatens a famine, the one thing 
 the Government most dreads. Such being the 
 case in 1898, stringent orders were sent to the 
 Customs Tao-tai in Shanghai to prohibit an)- ex- 
 port of the grain, the greatest source of supply 
 for which being the Yang-tze Valley, Shanghai 
 is the natural point of shipment. On account of 
 the power attached to it, and the opportunities 
 offered, the position of Shanghai Tao-tai is one 
 specially sought after, and it is generally believed 
 that the price paid for a three-year appointment, 
 in the way of "presents" to the Palace officials, 
 is about 200,000 taels. Since the authorized 
 emoluments are about 20,000 taels per annum, out 
 of which expenses exceeding that amount must be 
 paid, it is evident that great financial skill must 
 be displayed by the official in order to make both 
 ends meet. On receipt of the restraining order, 
 the Tao-tai, under the advice of the syndicate who 
 were "financing" him, held the order for some
 
 Chapter V: Commercial Relations 155 
 
 days, during which time the energetic syndicate 
 members bought all the rice in sight, put it in 
 vessels, and rushed it abroad to Japan, a country 
 which buys the inferior grade of Chinese rice for 
 home consumption and ships abroad its own su- 
 perior article. As soon as the embargo was pub- 
 lished, the value of rice afloat at once rose and the 
 Tao-tai syndicate cleared a handsome profit. This 
 illustrates Chinese fiscal methods, and warrants 
 the statement that the actual foreign commerce 
 of the country is greater than the figures indicate. 
 
 China levies on its foreign commerce a tariff for 
 revenue only. The rate charged on nearly all 
 articles is five per cent, on imports and exports 
 alike, although there are some special rates and a 
 number of articles on the free list. The actual 
 average rate on imports and exports runs from 
 three to four per cent. It is the general opinion 
 of merchants in China that, should it become nec- 
 essary to add to the Government's income, this 
 rate could be increased without any serious detri- 
 ment to foreign commerce. In Japan the Govern- 
 ment has found it necessary, in order to derive 
 more revenue, to seriously increase its custom 
 tariff, so that the present charges range from 
 thirty to fifty per cent, ad valorem. 
 
 Foreign articles destined for consumption at 
 the treaty ports or places of importation pay no 
 further taxes. When, however, they are sent into 
 the interior, they are obliged to pay internal trans-
 
 156 An American Engineer in China 
 
 portation taxes called " Likin," collected at vari- 
 ous stations along the trade routes. These likin 
 charges, although they form a perfectly legiti- 
 mate method of taxation, are objected to by the 
 Chinese quite as much as by foreign traders, on 
 account of their uncertain amount, which, accord- 
 ing to Chinese custom, is left largely to the official 
 in charge, who collects as much as he can. The 
 foreign nations, in order to obviate these diffi- 
 culties, have arranged with the Chinese Govern- 
 ment to permit foreign articles destined for the 
 interior to pay a single tax of two and a half per 
 cent, to the Imperial Maritime Customs and then 
 to receive what is called a " transit pass" entitling 
 the goods to pass the interior likin stations with- 
 out further charge. Unfortunately these transit 
 passes are not always respected by officials in the 
 interior, unless they think that the shipper will 
 appeal to a foreign government, and therefore the 
 officials are apt to levy likin in accordance with 
 their own needs, and of the total collected, but a 
 small part finds its way into the public treasury. 
 
 The native merchant has no such advantage as 
 the foreigner in securing immunity from likin ex- 
 tortion, and has to resort to all sorts of subter- 
 fuges to escape the impositions of his own coun- 
 trymen, one of the most frequent of such resorts 
 being to keep his goods under the name of a for- 
 eign merchant if possible. Another device was 
 told to me by a customs official on the West River,
 
 Chapter V: Commercial Relations 157 
 
 where the local farmers raise tobacco which 
 is consumed mostly in Northern Kwang-tung. 
 If it were shipped direct it would be charged 
 en route a large and uncertain likin tax, the un- 
 certainty of the amount being the worst feature, 
 as it may easily convert an apparently profitable 
 transaction into a serious loss. To avoid this the 
 tobacco is loaded on a sea-going junk and shipped 
 to Hongkong. From there the junk brings it 
 back and enters it at the point of original ship- 
 ment as a foreign importation. For this the mer- 
 chant secures a transit pass under which he ships 
 it to its destination. lie has paid the freight and 
 import taxes of five per cent, each, the transit 
 pass fee of two and a half per cent., and the ship- 
 ping charges both ways to Hongkong, and the 
 expense of rehandling. These items he can ascer- 
 tain accurately beforehand, and therefore prefers 
 paying them rather than run the likin gauntlet, 
 which may be from ten per cent, to fifty per cent, 
 or more. 
 
 The Chinaman is by very instinct a trader, is 
 quick to see and seize an opportunity to turn a 
 profit, and has, what few other Eastern Asiatics 
 have, a high sense of commercial honor. Al- 
 though the great mass of them is poor, yet there 
 is a wealthy class, and there exists, even in the in- 
 terior, a demand lor much more than the mere 
 necessaries of life. 
 
 Now, what have the United States done in the
 
 1 58 An American Engineer in China 
 
 past in this great country, how do they stand there 
 to-day, what can they do and what should they do 
 in the future? These are the considerations that 
 most concern us. 
 
 To answer the Hist two of these questions, there 
 are two sources of statistics which we can exam- 
 ine — the returns of the United States, and of the 
 Imperial Chinese Maritime Customs. Unfortu- 
 nately, both of these sources are rendered value- 
 less for exact deductions because of Hongkong. 
 This, as is well known, is a British colony, and one 
 of the few places on the globe where actual free 
 trade exists. Being a British colon)', enjoying 
 free trade, and possessing a magnificent harbor, 
 it has become a great depot, or warehouse, where 
 goods, whose ultimate destination, either in China 
 or anywhere else in the Far East, is not definitely 
 fixed, are shipped in the first instance, and thence 
 rebilled to the point of consumption. 
 
 In this act their nationality is lost, for the re- 
 turns of the shipping nation classes them as ex- 
 ports to Hongkong, while China, of course, treats 
 them as imports from that place. The import re- 
 turns of the Imperial Maritime Customs show 
 that nearly one-half of the foreign commerce 
 entering China comes from Hongkong. Thence 
 many waiters fall into errors, either by taking the 
 direct trade between China and any other coun- 
 try as limited to the reported figures, or by class- 
 ing Hongkong under the head of Great Britain
 
 Chapter V: Commercial Relations 159 
 
 and Colonies. The conclusions reached in these 
 ways are grievously wrong. Although foreign 
 goods are trans-shipped from Hongkong to Japan, 
 the Philippine Islands, Siam, and other parts of 
 the Orient, yet at least three-quarters of all goods 
 (of American probably a higher proportion) re- 
 ceived there find their final market in China ; so 
 to determine approximately the exports from the 
 United States, or from any other country to China, 
 the only way is to add to the direct exports three- 
 quarters of the shipments to Hongkong. And to 
 determine the relative standing of the trade of 
 several nations, we should deduct the Hongkong 
 trade from China's total as shown by the returns 
 of the Imperial Maritime Customs, and then com- 
 pare the reported direct imports or exports. This 
 last calculation will not yield the actual amount 
 of trade by about one-half, but it will show with 
 fair closeness the percentage of trade secured 
 and the rate of increase. I have in this manner 
 obtained the figures for the year 1893, the period 
 just previous to the Japanese War; those of 1883 
 and 1873, respectively the tenth and the twentieth 
 year preceding 1893 ; and those for 1898, the fifth 
 year following, and also for 1899, the last com- 
 plete year of normal trade conditions existing be- 
 fore the Boxer revolution. This table shows the 
 import trade of China exclusive of Hongkong 
 and the relative standing of the leading commer- 
 cial powers, the actual trade of which is not as
 
 160 An American Engineer in China 
 
 stated, for the tabic does not include shipments 
 through I [ongkong. 
 
 DIRECT EXPORTS TO CHINA. 
 
 1875 1883 1893 1898 1899 
 Hk. Tls. Hk. Tls. Hk. Tls. Hk. Tls. Hk. Tls. 
 Total, except Hong- 
 kong 44,202,000 45,863,000 72,435,922 116,737,079 146,652,248 
 
 Great Britain 20,991,000 16,930,000 28,156,077 34,962,474 40,161,115 
 
 India 16,709,000 17,154,000 16,739,588 19,135,546 31,911,214 
 
 Japan 3,207,000 3,738,000 7,852,068 22,581,812 31,414,362 
 
 Continent of Europe. . 662,000 2,385,000 5,920,363 10,852,073 13,405,637 
 
 United States 244,000 2,708,000 5,443,569 17,161,312 22,288,745 
 
 In the above tabic all the Continental powers of 
 Europe are grouped as one. From this it will be 
 seen that the export trade of the United States, 
 an insignificant amount in 1873, has now out- 
 stripped the combined exports from the whole 
 Continent of Europe, and will be soon contesting 
 for second place with India and Japan. Had it 
 not been for sudden increased shipments in 1899 
 of certain special articles like coal on the part of 
 these countries, which articles China can and 
 should produce, the United States would have 
 passed the Indian trade and be close on to that 
 of Japan. In point of exports from China the 
 United States trade in 1899 had reached a point 
 surpassing that of any other country except 
 Great Britain. 
 
 But along what lines have these increases been 
 made? Do they represent only a greater out- 
 turning of raw material — the direct products of 
 the soil — or of manufactured articles, carrying
 
 Chapter V: Commercial Relations 161 
 
 with them the results of American ingenuity and 
 American labor, a form of export trade always 
 the most desirable ? 
 
 Taking the full list, there were, according to 
 the United States Government classification, ex- 
 ports in 1893 under fifty-seven heads, but. in 1898, 
 according to the same classification, exports un- 
 der seventy-six heads. The greater part of the 
 increase in the five years (amounting to a total of 
 $6,091,613) was due to manufactures of cotton, 
 which increased $3,558,794; to raw cotton, which 
 increased from nothing to $370,670; to manu- 
 factures of iron and steel, including machinery, 
 $416,048, and to oils, chiefly kerosene, $1,055,797. 
 The manufactures of cotton, which in 1898 
 amounted to $5,193,427, reached, during the next 
 United States fiscal year (1899), $9,844,565. That 
 is to say, the value of cotton cloths alone was, in 
 the year 1899, almost as large as the value of the 
 total American imports into China during the 
 preceding year of all articles of whatsoever nat- 
 ure. This class of goods, the products of our 
 New England and Southern mills, is the greatest 
 single item of American commerce, and has al- 
 ready reached a point where, in certain grades, it. 
 dominates absolutely the Chinese market. 
 
 Taking Drills, Jeans, and Sheetings, the three 
 great items of cotton goods consumed by the 
 Chinese, and examining the trade of the three 
 northern ports of Niu-chwang, Tien-tsin, and
 
 \G2 An American Engineer in China 
 
 Che-foo, American goods comprise of total re- 
 ceipts at the fust : ninel y-eight per cent., and at the 
 second and third ninety-five per cent., the small 
 remaining balance being divided between the 
 English, Indian, Dutch, Japanese, and other man- 
 ufacturing nations. But quite as extraordinary 
 as this there must be kept in mind the fact that 
 of the total exports to all countries of American 
 manufactures in cotton cloths, the Chinese market 
 consumes just one-half. 
 
 Another article of American commerce that 
 figured very small in the earlv returns, but now 
 shows a great and increasing importance, is flour. 
 It is shipped almost wholly to Hongkong, and 
 thence forwarded to Canton, Amoy, or other 
 southern Chinese ports. In the fiscal year end- 
 ing June 30, 1898, no less than $3,835,727 worth 
 was exported from here, and during the corre- 
 sponding period of 1900, a value of $4,502,081. 
 Wheat is not grown in Southern China, and 
 American flour has captured the demand, just as 
 American cottons have done in the north. Next 
 to Great Britain and Germany our best customer 
 for American flour is China. 
 
 Such is the state of our Chinese trade to-day, 
 and no one can find fault with its present condi- 
 tion and its recent development. But what of 
 the future ? 
 
 The success of the American commercial in- 
 vasion depends absolutely on the maintenance of
 
 Chapter V: Commercial Relations 163 
 
 the existing status. China, in the liberality of the 
 regulations affecting foreign commerce, is second 
 to no other nation. In levying a tax, amounting 
 to less than four per cent., she gives preferential 
 duties to none, special privileges only as com- 
 pelled by the stress of force in Manchuria and 
 Shan-tung, and extends a freedom of welcome 
 to all. It is true that nations occupying Chinese 
 territory make so far no invidious distinction be- 
 tween their own and other people; but it must be 
 remembered that their tenure is only nominal, and 
 while the title to these lands remains vested in 
 China, it would be difficult, in the face of existing 
 treaties, to impose discriminating rules. Let Rus- 
 sia, however, become legally, as she is virtually, 
 possessed of Manchuria ; let her Trans-Siberian 
 railway be completed, and let her claim openly 
 as her own, not only Manchuria, but also the 
 metropolitan province of Chi-li, is it to be sup- 
 posed for one moment that the present freedom 
 and equality of trade that China offers will be 
 maintained? If anyone believes this, let him talk 
 with those in China who direct the course of 
 Muscovite affairs. These officials, when in a con- 
 fidential mood, will explain that the Trans-Siberian 
 railway is a Government enterprise, and that it is 
 much more important for Russia to give low and 
 special rates to Russian cotton and other manufact- 
 ures which the Government is fostering at home 
 than to look for a direct profit from the operation
 
 164 An American Engineer in China 
 
 oJ the railway. And vet Manchuria and the north- 
 eastern part of China are to-day the best, market 
 for American goods. During the year 1899 no 
 less than $6,297,300 worth of our cottons alone en- 
 tered the port of Tien-tsin, and $4,216,700 worth 
 entered the port of Niu-chwang in addition. The 
 latter amount was for consumption in Manchuria, 
 Chinese and Russian. It is interesting to note 
 that the whole import trade (including exports 
 through Hongkong) from Russia, Siberia, and 
 Russian Manchuria to the whole of the Chinese 
 Empire amounted to less than the imports of 
 two grades of American cotton goods at Niu- 
 chwang alone. When, therefore, Russia seized 
 Lower Manchuria, the country most interested 
 next to China, whose territory was being de- 
 spoiled, was not Japan, who was being robbed of 
 her fruits of victory; was not Russia, who was 
 adding another kingdom to her empire ; was not 
 Great Britain, the world's great trader, but it was, 
 little as it was appreciated, the United States. 
 The American interests in seeing commercial 
 equality maintained, far and away transcend those 
 of any other nation. 
 
 Foreign trade in China to-day is confined ex- 
 clusively to the treaty ports located along the 
 coast and up the Yang-tze River. When goods 
 are shipped to China, they are resold by the for- 
 eign houses resident in these treaty ports to Chi- 
 nese merchants, and by them in tun: are retailed
 
 Chapter V: Commercial Relations 165 
 
 in the interior. So far, therefore, as the foreigner 
 directly is concerned, his trade is confined simply 
 to the outer edge of the country ; to him the in- 
 terior is a terra incognita. The success of a com- 
 mercial invasion depends, not on these treaty 
 ports, not on the purchase of goods along the 
 outer edge of the country, but on the possibility 
 of reaching directly that great mass of population 
 which lies far away from the sea, out of reach of 
 existing means of transportation, and practically 
 buried in the interior. If they cannot be got at, 
 or if, when reached, they cannot and will not trade, 
 then it is not worth while to consider any general 
 forward movement. 
 
 In the course of my journey in the interior of 
 China, I went through the province of Hu-peh, 
 which the Yang-tze Kiang traverses; the province 
 of Kwang-tung, lying along the China Sea, and, 
 between these two, the province of Hu-nan, which 
 practically had not been traversed before by white 
 men. Here evidently was virgin soil, and its con- 
 dition can, therefore, be taken as a criterion of 
 what the Chinaman is when unaffected by foreign 
 influences. Even here I found that, although the 
 foreigner's foot might never before have trodden 
 the streets of the cities, his goods were already 
 exposed for sale in the shop-windows. 
 
 In thinking of the Chinese, especially those in 
 the interior, we are wont to consider them as un- 
 civilized ; and so they are, if measured scrupulous-
 
 166 An American Engineer in China 
 
 Iv by our peculiar standards. But, on the other 
 hand, they might say with some justice that we 
 are not civilized according to the standards that 
 they have set for themselves, founded on an ex- 
 perience of four thousand years. With all its 
 differences from ourselves, a nation that has had 
 an organization for five thousand years; that has 
 
 Road-side Shrine in which Papers are Burned 
 
 used printing for over eight centuries; that has 
 produced the works of art that China has pro- 
 duced ; that possesses a literature antedating that 
 of Rome or Athens ; whose people maintain 
 shrines along the highways in which, following 
 the precepts of the classics to respect the written 
 page, they are wont to pick up and burn printed
 
 Chapter V: Commercial Relations 167 
 
 papers rather than have them trampled under 
 
 foot ; and which, to indicate a modern instance, 
 was able to furnish me with a native letter of 
 credit on local banks in unexplored Hu-nan, can 
 hardly be denied the right to call itsell civil- 
 ized. In the interior — in those parts where no 
 outside influence has ever reached — we found 
 cities whose walls, by their size, their crenelated 
 parapets, and their keeps and watch-towers, sug- 
 gested mediaeval Germany rather than Cathay. 
 Many of the houses are of masonry, with deco- 
 rated tile roofs, and elaborately carved details. 
 The streets are paved with stone. The shops dis- 
 play in their windows articles of every form, of 
 every make. The streams are crossed by arched 
 bridges unsurpassed in their graceful outline and 
 good proportions. The farmer lives in a group of 
 farm buildings enclosed by a compound wall— the 
 whole exceeding in picturesqueness any bit in 
 Normandv or Derbyshire. The rich mandarin 
 dresses himself in summer in brocaded silk, and in 
 winter in sable furs. He is waited on by a retinue 
 of well-trained servants, and will invite the stran- 
 ger to a dinner at night composed of ten or fifteen 
 courses, entertaining him with a courtesy and in- 
 tricacy of etiquette that Mavfair itself cannot ex- 
 cel. Such are actual conditions in parts of China 
 uninfluenced by foreign presence, and so far the 
 civilization of the interior is a real thing. That 
 the Chinaman allows his handsome building's to
 
 168 An American Engineer in China 
 
 fall into disrepair ; that his narrow city streets 
 reek with foul odors; that the pig has equal rights 
 with the owner of the pretty farm-house; and that 
 the epicure takes delight at his dinner in sharks' 
 
 A Hu-nan Farm-house 
 
 fins instead of terrapin — these are merely differ- 
 ences in details ; and if they are faults, as we con- 
 sider them to be, they will naturally be corrected 
 as soon as the Chinaman, with his quick wit, per- 
 ceives his errors, when the opportunity to study 
 Occidental standards comes to him. 
 
 Chang-sha, the capital of Hu-nan, is one of the 
 most interesting cities in the whole Empire, as 
 marking the very highest development of Chi- 
 nese exclusiveness and dividing with Lhassa in 
 Tibet the boast of shutting its gates tightly in 
 the face of foreign contamination. In a previous 
 chapter an account was given of how the present 
 conservative governor had closed the schools 
 organized by his more liberal predecessor, and
 
 Chapter V : Commercial Relations 169 
 
 had tried to root up the budding movement tow- 
 ard reform and progress. But he made one in- 
 teresting- and highly suggestive omission in allow- 
 ing the electric-light plant to continue. When, 
 at the end of our first day at Chang-sha, as I 
 stood on my boat watching the city wall, the 
 picturesque roofs, the junks on the shore and the 
 surging crowd slowly lose their distinctness in 
 the twilight, and then saw them suddenly brought 
 into view again by the glare of the bright electric 
 arcs as the current was turned on to light the nar- 
 row streets, I smiled as I realized the utter impos- 
 sibility ol stopping the onward march of nine- 
 teenth century progress, and that the Chinese 
 themselves, even at the very heart-centre of anti- 
 ioreignism, are ready to turn from the old to the 
 new. 
 
 In the shop- windows at Chang-sha there are 
 displayed for sale articles with American, Eng- 
 lish, French, German, Japanese, and other brands. 
 One shop, I noticed, displayed a good assortment 
 of American canned fruits and vegetables. This 
 is the condition of affairs, not in Shanghai or Amoy, 
 open ports, but in the most exclusively Chinese 
 section in the whole Empire. That the Chinaman 
 will buy, that he will adopt foreign ways, there is 
 no question; and he is just as ready to make the 
 greater changes in his life that must result from 
 the introduction of railways as to buy a few more 
 pieces of cotton or a few more tons of steel.
 
 170 An American Engineer in China 
 
 But in order to buy more, the Chinaman must 
 be able to sell more ; for no mailer what his incli- 
 nation may be, unless he lias something to give in 
 return, he cannot trade. The exports from China 
 have been expanding gradually, and in step with 
 the imports. In 1888 they were 92,401,067 taels ; 
 had increased to 116,632,311 taels in 1893, and had 
 further advanced to 195,784,332 taels in 1899. The 
 two great items of Chinese export, as was shown 
 above, are silk and tea. The output of silk is in- 
 creasing steadily, especially in the manufactured 
 form. The amount of tea exported, however, is 
 not on the increase, being about the same that it 
 was ten years ago, the tea trade having been ad- 
 versely affected by the competition of Japan, Cey- 
 lon, and India, where more favorable transporta- 
 tion facilities have given advantages. Both tea 
 and silk, however, are staple articles, with no 
 chance of substitutes being found, and the world's 
 demand for both is steadily increasing. The 
 possibility of enlarging the output of silk is great, 
 tor there are in Northern Kwang-tung alone large 
 areas of land capable of producing mulberry, that 
 are lying idle at present because there are no 
 transportation facilities. 
 
 The idea we have of the interior of China as 
 over-peopled, and with every square foot of land 
 under cultivation, is entirely without founda- 
 tion, except possibly in certain portions of the 
 great loess plain in the north. There is a great
 
 Chapter V: Commercial Relations 171 
 
 amount of land, capable of producing crops of 
 various kinds and of supporting a population, thai 
 to-day lies fallow and untilled. Given the means 
 of sending their produce to the sea and so to the 
 foreigner, the people of the interior will see to it 
 that the produce is ready. 
 
 Then there are vast mineral resources that are 
 practicallv untouched. China, with coal-fields 
 exceeding in quantity those of Europe, imported 
 last year no less than 859,370 tons of coal, valued 
 at $4,477,670 gold, nearly the whole of which came 
 from Japan. With railways to bring the output 
 of the mines to market, there will not only be no 
 importing, thus permitting at least that amount 
 to be expended for other foreign goods, but there 
 should be a large export of coal to Hongkong 
 for foreign shipping, and to other Eastern coun- 
 tries for local consumption. In addition to the 
 coal, there are beds of copper, iron, lead, and sil- 
 ver that, to-day untouched, are only awaiting the 
 screech of the locomotive whistle. 
 
 In short, the resources, both agricultural and 
 mineral, are at hand to permit a foreign commerce 
 to be carried on — to pay the cost of building of 
 railways and to provide sustenance for a commer- 
 cial invasion. 
 
 But as yet China has made no effort to develop 
 her latent powers. As was shown, the bulk of 
 her exports are confined to two articles, due to 
 her people not utilizing their natural advantages
 
 i-j2 An American Engineer in China 
 
 in diversity of soil and climate. Each locality 
 produces that single article which gives the best 
 local result, without considering broad market 
 conditions. Thus in the south it is mostly silk 
 and rice; in the central zone rice and tea, and in 
 the north millet and wheat. Every bit of valley 
 land is cultivated, but the hills are let go waste. 
 There are gfreat areas of srrazhm- land where some 
 day the Chinese will let herds roam, producing 
 beef and hides, which they will turn to commer- 
 cial profit ; while on other hill-sides, as I saw be- 
 ing done in places, they will set out forests, and 
 arbor culture will be well suited to their patient 
 ways. As yet the) 7 have worked their lands only 
 with a view to home consumption ; there are many 
 ways in which they can devote them and their 
 energies to furnish export articles for the imports 
 they will buy. 
 
 The position of the United States in China is 
 peculiarly advantageous, because, in the first 
 place, China regards our country as friendly in 
 the desire to protect rather than despoil her terri- 
 tory, and because, in the second place, other na- 
 tions have been willing to see ours come forward 
 when they would have objected most strenuously 
 to the same advancement on the part of one of 
 their own number. The men who guide our na- 
 tional affairs and foreign commerce should always 
 see to it that China's confidence is not abused. 
 But as for the friendliness of other nations tow-
 
 Chapter V: Commercial Relations i 
 
 ard us in relation to China, so soon as the press- 
 ure of American trade begins to be felt by them, 
 efforts will be made to thwart it if possible ; and it 
 must be remembered that to-day all the machinery 
 of commerce, in the way of banks, transportation 
 companies, cable lines, and other forms, is in their 
 hands. When the meeting of the American and 
 European invasions takes place, unless we have an 
 organization, a base and rallying point, a tangible 
 something besides mere labels on boxes or bales 
 as representing American force, the struggle will 
 be a hard one, for the native is apt to judge his 
 associates by the outward visible signs, and with 
 a natural tendency to deal with the strongest. In 
 this respect commerce in the Far East stands, and 
 will stand for a long time, on a different footing 
 from that of commerce in Europe. 
 
 In order to be thoroughly successful, to expand 
 our trade far beyond its present boundaries, we 
 should make a careful and intelligent study of the 
 Chinaman in his tastes and habits. If we wish to 
 sell him goods, we must make them of a form and 
 kind that will please him and not necessarilv our- 
 selves. This is a fact too frequently overlooked 
 by both the English and ourselves, but one of 
 which the Germans, who may be our real compet- 
 itors in the end, take advantage. For example, 
 at the present moment, if a careful study were 
 made of Chinese designs, the market for American 
 printed goods could be largely broadened. It is
 
 174 An American Engineer in China 
 
 not for our people to say that our designs are 
 prettier; the Chinaman prefers his own, and he 
 will not buy any other. The United States Min- 
 ister to China, talking upon this subject, gave me 
 a striking instance of foolish American obstinacy. 
 The representative of a large concern manufact- 
 uring a staple article in hardware, let us say 
 screws, had been working hard to secure an order 
 for his screws, which he knew were better than 
 the German article then supplying the demand. 
 At last he obtained a trial order, amounting to 
 $5,000, which he cabled out; but it was given on 
 the condition that the screws be wrapped in a 
 peculiar manner, say in blue paper, according to 
 the form in which the native merchant had been 
 accustomed to buy them. Was the order filled? 
 Not at all. The company cabled back that their 
 goods were always wrapped in brown paper and 
 that no change could be made. The order then 
 went to Germanv. To the American concern an 
 order for $5,000 was of small moment, perhaps; 
 but they overlooked entirely the fact that this 
 was the thin edge of the wedge, opening a trade 
 that could be developed into tremendous propor- 
 tions. This instance is not isolated, for, unfortu- 
 nately, the reports of all our consuls are filled 
 with parallel ones. 
 
 A study must also be made of the grade and 
 quality of the article shipped. It is no use to send 
 to China, to be sold in the interior, tools, for in-
 
 Chapter V: Commercial Relations 175 
 
 stance, of the same high finish and quality that 
 
 our mechanics exact in their own. A Chinaman's 
 tools are hand-made, of rough finish and low cost. 
 In the interior cities one sees a tool-maker take a 
 piece of steel, draw all the temper, hammer it ap- 
 proximately to the shape of the knife or axe, chisel 
 or razor, or whatever other article he may be 
 about to make ; then, with a sort of drawing-knife 
 pare it down to the exact shape required, retem- 
 per it, grind it to an edge, and fix it in a rough 
 wooden handle. This work is clone by a man at 
 a wage of about ten cents a day, and this is the 
 competition that our manufacturer must meet. 
 In spite of the difference in cost of labor he can 
 do so, because his tools are machine-made, and 
 are better ; but he must waste no money on un- 
 necessary finish. 
 
 As an example, the case of lamps is directly to 
 the point. The Chinaman fairly revels in illumi- 
 nation ; he hates the dark, and everywhere, even 
 in the smallest country towns wholly removed 
 from foreign influence, it is possible to buy Stand- 
 ard oil or its competitors in the Chinese market, 
 the Russian and Sumatra brands. The importa- 
 tion of illuminating oils is increasing tremen- 
 dously. In 1892 it was 17,370,600 gallons, and in 
 1898 it was 44,324,344 gallons. But what of the 
 lamps in which this oil is burned? In 1892 the 
 United States sent to China lamps to the value of 
 $10,813, and in 1898 to the value of $4,690. That
 
 176 An American Engineer in China 
 
 is to say, lamps are one of the few articles 
 which show a decrease. While the consumption 
 of oil had increased more than two and one-half 
 
 times, the importation of American lamps had de- 
 creased in almost the same ratio. This was not 
 due to the manufacture of lamps in China, but to 
 the German and Japanese manufacturers making 
 a study of the trade and turning out a special 
 article. These lamps — and I saw them for sale 
 everywhere, even in unexplored Hu-nan — have a 
 metal stand, generally of brass, stamped out from 
 thin sheets, with Chinese characters and decora- 
 tions ; and were it not for a small imprint of the 
 manufacturer's name on the base, they woidd be 
 considered of Chinese make. They are inex- 
 pensive, of the kind desired by the Chinaman, 
 although perhaps not for sale in Hamburg or 
 Berlin. On the other hand, the American article, 
 much more handsome, from our point of view, 
 but also more expensive, is of the same style as is 
 sold on Broadway in New York. 
 
 There is no need to multiply examples. There 
 awaits the American manufacturer an outlet, espe- 
 cially for tools, machinery, and other articles in 
 iron and steel. He will find a demand for the 
 smaller and lighter machines, rather than for the 
 larger ones. That is to say, he must appeal first 
 to the individual worker who exists now, rather 
 than aim at the needs of a conglomeration in a 
 factory which will come about in the future. The
 
 Chapter V: Commercial Relations 177 
 
 tools should be simple in character, easily worked 
 and kept in order, and without the application 
 of quick-return and other mechanical devices so 
 necessary for labor-saving with us. Light wood- 
 
 A Chinese Saw-mill 
 
 The teeth of the saw are arranged to cut on the up stroke instead of 
 on the down, as in other countries 
 
 working machinery can be made to supplant the 
 present manual-labor methods; and a large field 
 is open for all kinds of pumps, windmills, piping, 
 and other articles of hydraulic machinery. 
 
 Cotton goods of the finer grades, as well as the
 
 178 An American Engineer in China 
 
 coarser which are supplied, household articles of 
 all kinds, glassware, window-glass, wall-paper, 
 and plumbing fixtures will find a ready market, 
 as will also farm equipments, such as light-wheeled 
 vehicles and small agricultural implements of all 
 kinds. In these, as in many manufactured arti- 
 cles, American trade has as yet made little or no 
 impression; and vet the American article has an 
 acknowledged superiority over any other for- 
 eign make. 
 
 It is necessary for us also to study the China- 
 man himself. The English and American traders 
 make but little attempt to learn the language, and 
 therefore frequently fail to come into personal 
 contact with the native merchant. They are in- 
 clined to leave such negotiations to be conducted 
 through a compradore, a native in the employ of 
 the firm, who makes all the contracts, and who 
 guarantees to his firm all native accounts, receiving 
 a commission for his services. The German, and 
 especially the Japanese, merchants, on the other 
 hand, make a great effort to come into direct rela- 
 tions with those with whom they trade. They 
 are still making use of the compradore system, 
 but within reasonable limits. As to which course 
 is preferable in the long run there can be no ques- 
 tion. Our houses should adopt, the suggestion 
 made in the report of the Blackburn (England) 
 Chamber of Commerce, "to train in the Chinese 
 spoken language and mercantile customs youths
 
 Chapter V: Commercial Relations 179 
 
 selected . . . for their business capacity. Such 
 a system," the report adds, " would give us a hold 
 over foreign trade in China that present methods 
 can never do." 
 
 Finally to be considered, there is the official rep- 
 resentative of the United States, the consul. It 
 is bad enough, as our practice is, to send consuls 
 to France, or Germany, or Italy, who are un- 
 acquainted with the language of the country. 
 But how much worse to send as our Government 
 agents to China, the nation most difficult of all to 
 come into relations with, men without any idea, 
 not only of the language, but of the customs and 
 the idiosyncrasies of the people. 
 
 This is not a reflection upon our present staff, 
 many of whom are excellent and worthy men and 
 who are now acquainted with the characteristics 
 of those to whom they are accredited. But under 
 our system, by the time a man understands his du- 
 ties, he is removed. Nowhere else in the world 
 is there so great a need for a permanent consular 
 service as in China. 
 
 The British Government long ago established 
 a separate consular service for the East, entirely 
 distinct from that elsewhere, so that a man once 
 in the Chinese service stays there, and is not likely 
 to be transferred to a European or American post. 
 Secretary Hay has lately made a beginning tow- 
 ard this end by proposing to establish a school 
 at Peking. If the idea is not carried out now,
 
 i So 
 
 An American Engineer in China 
 
 circumstances will compel its adoption later. We 
 should awake to the realization of our opportuni- 
 ties, and unite for the invasion, not only of China, 
 but of other Oriental lands as well. 
 
 A Military Officer and Two Privates
 
 Chapter 
 
 VI 
 
 Finances of China 
 
 THE ability of the Chinaman to contradict 
 himself reaches the maximum in matters 
 of finance. This strikes the observer as 
 singular, for the Chinese have no equals in their 
 understanding of the use of money, in their ability 
 to husband it and make it go far, and in their 
 economical and saving habits. Yet they have 
 elaborated a monetary system which, for cumber- 
 someness and downright wastefulness, is without 
 an equal. 
 
 This lack of progress is rendered more extra- 
 ordinary by the fact that bank-notes, one of the 
 greatest steps in the way of making financial 
 transactions more convenient, originated in China, 
 where they were known probably as early as 
 A.T). 800, or about eight centuries before the de- 
 vice was reinvented in Europe. In the first place 
 there is no standard of value; the nearest ap- 
 proach being a tael, which is subdivided deci- 
 mally into maces, the mace into candareens, and 
 the candareen into li. But these things exist in 
 names only, and not as coins, for the lael is but a 
 weight of silver bullion. This would be serious 
 enough if there was only one tael, but, as a matter 
 of fact, there arc over sixty in different parts of 
 the country differing in value as much as kn per 
 
 181
 
 182 An American Engineer in China 
 
 cent., the nearest approach to a standard being 
 the Haikwan tael as used in the Maritime Cus- 
 toms. When, therefore, a native merchant wishes 
 to pay a debt, it is not only necessary for him to 
 know the price, but to know the tael that the 
 price is expressed in, and to have at hand a set of 
 scales to weigh his broken bits of silver, while a 
 discussion as to the "touch" or fineness of the 
 metal offered may readjust the whole transaction. 
 There is, however, a Chinese coin, the cash. 
 This is of copper, round in shape with a square 
 hole in the centre to permit the pieces to be 
 strung together. It is a coin of great antiquity. 
 The earliest forms were about five inches in 
 length and something less than an inch in width, 
 shaped like a small knife and went by the name 
 of "knife" cash. These latter coins were in use 
 as early as 2,500 B.C., and owe their form prob- 
 ably to the fact that at that time the martial spirit 
 predominated, and a man's knife was his most 
 valuable possession, and therefore he made his 
 currency in the same shape. Later the knife-cash 
 coin was changed to the "bell" cash, which is 
 taken to indicate that the people had become more 
 civilized and that agricultural pursuits were now 
 dominant. This form of coin began to come into 
 use about 2,000 B.C. They are about 2 to 2\ inches 
 in height and 1 inch or more in width, and are 
 shaped somewhat like a bell with a hole at the 
 top. The present value of the cash, which is
 
 Chapter VI : Finances of China 183 
 
 made of copper or brass, is very small, about 
 twenty of them being required to make an Amer- 
 ican cent, so that values expressed in cash, while 
 sounding enormous, are really of small moment. 
 Thus an account of 50,000 cash represents but $25 
 gold, while to pay a bill of $10, the services of a 
 wheel-barrow and an attendant are required. For 
 convenience in handling, one hundred cash are 
 put on a string- and then ten hundreds are tied 
 together in two parallel strings of five hundreds 
 each, the whole string of 1,000 being called a 
 tiao, the value of which is approximately one 
 silver dollar, but depending on the varying ex- 
 change between copper and silver. The system 
 of cash as a standard of value is awkward enough 
 in theory, but in practice it is worse on account 
 of the varieties of size of individual coins, saving: 
 rise to "big" and "little" cash, eight of the former 
 equalling about ten of the latter. As remelting of 
 coins and counterfeiting is common, the careful 
 Chinese has to examine every tiao he receives. 
 At the treat v ports the foreigners introduced the 
 silver dollar from Mexico, and an attempt has been 
 made to coin for use in China dollars by other 
 countries, notably the American experiment of 
 the trade dollar. The Chinaman, however, would 
 have none of it. lie had been accustomed to 
 understand the Mexican dollar, and when he met 
 with other coins he cast them into the melting- 
 pot. A beginning to straighten out the trouble
 
 An American Engineer in China 
 
 with its attending annoyances, inconveniences, 
 and losses has been made by the establishing of 
 local mints by some of the viceroys where they 
 strike silver dollars of the weight and fineness of 
 the Mexican dollar and subsidiary silver coins of 
 50, 20, 10, and 5 cents each. In keeping with the 
 lack of centralized national effort, these coins are 
 not of national character, but bear the imprint of 
 the coining province. They, or some coin based on 
 them and struck by the central authoril \ , will prob- 
 ably become eventually the standard coin of the 
 country, and the present system will be given up. 
 
 The problems of China's financial status and 
 resources, rather than those of her monetary sys- 
 tem, are of greater world importance, especially 
 as some sort of Government assistance, in the way 
 of building railways, opening mines, and develop- 
 ing the country will be found necessary and de- 
 sirable in somewhat the same way as has been 
 done in India and Japan. 
 
 Owing to the entire lack of statistical records, 
 it is a difficult matter to obtain accurately either 
 the resources or the disbursements of the Chi- 
 nese Government. The funded debt of the coun- 
 try, however, is ascertainable, as such obligations 
 have been taken by foreigners. 
 
 Previous to the war with Japan, the funded 
 debt consisted of two issues of bonds, bearing 
 date 1886 and 1887 respectively; the former for 
 1,855,108.82 Shanghai taels, and the other for
 
 Chapter VI: Finances of China 1S5 
 
 50,000,000 German marks, subject to reduction by 
 sinking fund provision. Since the war the Gov- 
 ernment has been obliged to contract further 
 loans. The existing funded indebtedness is given 
 in detail in the following table. 
 
 The net amount of China's debt outstanding, 
 exclusive of the railway debt, for which there is 
 actual property of at least equal value in exist- 
 ence as an asset, is, therefore, £50,304,989. On 
 the gross sum the total annual payments for. both 
 interest and sinking funds are £3,319,624, or ex- 
 clusive of the interest on the railroad loan, which 
 is self-supporting, £3,079,624. The debt of India, 
 whose population is about the same as China, is 
 about £135,000,000, or, deducting the value of the 
 Government railways, £56,000,000, and the debt 
 of Japan about £50,000,000. It can be seen, there- 
 fore, that in spite of the disastrous result of the 
 Japanese War, the debt of China is not a large or 
 burdensome affair. 
 
 The several sinking fund and interest payments 
 on each of the above issues have been promptly 
 met when due. To furnish the sums required for 
 these payments and the other sums requisite to 
 meet, the expenses for maintaining the various 
 branches of the Government, the Imperial Treas- 
 ury has at its hand: firstly, the net returns of the 
 Imperial Maritime Customs, which are, however, 
 pledged specifically as collateral for some of the 
 above loans; secondly, the net receipts of the Im-
 
 1 86 
 
 An American Engineer in China 
 
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 Chapter VI : Finances of China 187 
 
 perial Chinese Railway; thirdly, various sources 
 of taxation. 
 
 As there is absolutely no system oi accounting-, 
 or of making detailed reports, it is impossible to 
 give even a close approximation of either revenue 
 or disbursements, except in the case of the Im- 
 perial Maritime Customs. From such informa- 
 tion, however, as is obtainable, the resources of 
 the Government under the above three heads will 
 be briefly stated. 
 
 Although the receipts of the Customs from im- 
 port and export duties have been gradually in- 
 creasing, in proportion to the increase in the im- 
 port and export trade, on the other hand there has 
 been a falling off in the receipts from opium likin, 
 to about the same extent as the increases in the 
 duties, so that the revenue of this department has 
 varied but little for the past ten years, except 
 that the receipts for 1899 show a sudden increase 
 of about 4,000,000 taels over the previous average, 
 distributed fairly evenly through the several 
 sources of income. The report for the year 1899 
 gave the gross receipts as follows : 
 
 Hk. Tls. 
 
 Import duties 8,437471 
 
 Export duties 10,235,968 
 
 Opium likin 4,748,243 
 
 Coast trade duties 1 ,763,757 
 
 Transit dues 835,830 
 
 Tonnage dues 640,191 
 
 Total 26,661 ,460 
 
 or equivalent to about $18,900,000 gold.
 
 An American Engineer in China 
 
 The expense oi maintaining this department is 
 not published, bul from reliable information it is 
 estimated to amount to about 3,000,000 taels per 
 annum, leaving 23,500,000 taels as net profit. This 
 last sum, the equivalent of about £3,500,000, is in 
 itself almost enough to meet the services of the 
 Government loans. An increase of only ten per 
 cent, in the duties would make it ample. 
 
 The net earnings, over expenses, of the present 
 Imperial Chinese Railway amounted to about 
 1,000,000 Mexican silver dollars, prior to its ex- 
 tension beyond Chung-hou-so, near the Great 
 Wall, or, at least, such were the net returns as 
 shown by the Chinese book-keepers, for, although 
 the management of operations was in English 
 hands, the revenue was received by native offi- 
 cials. A loan of £2,300,000 was contracted part- 
 ly to provid' funds to pay for the extension to 
 Niu-chwang and thence to a connection with 
 the Manchurian extension of the Russian Trans- 
 Siberian Railway. The work was completed 
 shortly before the "Boxer" uprising, when the rail- 
 way was largely destroyed. No complete state- 
 ment of operations was obtainable, but the traffic 
 was apparently sufficient to much more than pay 
 the interest charges. When reconstructed, this line 
 will return to the Chinese Government, which is 
 the owner of the stock, a handsome profit over the 
 interest on the bonds, which are held largely in 
 London.
 
 Chapter VI : Finances of China 189 
 
 The third source of income, namely, the various 
 forms of taxation, is, of course, the most important, 
 but, on the other hand, the most difficult about 
 which t( obtain reliable or even satisfactory in- 
 formation. The methods of internal taxation are 
 complex and wasteful. The Imperial Board of 
 Revenue at Peking- makes out each year a budget 
 for the expenses of the coming year, and propor- 
 tions the total thus ascertained among the various 
 provinces in accordance with what is considered 
 their ability to pay, and the governors of the va- 
 rious provinces are then informed of the amount 
 which they will be required to turn into the Im- 
 perial Treasury. 
 
 The Governor then distributes this amount, or 
 such additional amount as he sees fit, among the 
 tao-tais, prefects, and magistrates in his province. 
 If the Governor or any other official pays in eighty 
 per cent, of his assessment, no comment is made. 
 If his return is less than that without adequate 
 excuse, he is censured, and it he exceeds the full 
 amount, he is publicly commended. As there are 
 no accounts kept at any stage of the proceedings, 
 the possibilities for stealing on the part of sub- or 
 even high officials are practically unlimited, and 
 there is no question but that there is collected 
 from the people of China a very much larger 
 sum than the Imperial Government reports as re- 
 ceiving. A part ol this amount is deliberately 
 stolen, and a part ot it is wasted b} T the ridicu-
 
 i9° An American Engineer in China 
 
 lously cumbersome and expensive methods em- 
 ployed. 
 
 The most fruitful source of revenue is the land 
 tax, payable partly in cash and partly in grain. 
 As illustrating the wasteful methods in vogue by 
 the Government, frequently the actual money in 
 silver bullion is forwarded to Peking, and even 
 when the tax is remitted by draft, the latter is 
 taken to Peking by a Chinese official, involving, 
 of course, according to Chinese etiquette, the ne- 
 cessity of being accompanied by a large and ex- 
 pensive retinue. 
 
 The land tax is payable partly in money and 
 partly in grain. The portion of the tax payable 
 in grain is settled by actually sending the grain 
 to Peking. Of course, the loss and waste in so 
 doing, in addition to the cost of handling and 
 storing it in Government granaries, is necessarily 
 enormous. Were this grain sold in the open 
 market, and the cash remitted, the net result 
 would be much greater. 
 
 Next to the land tax the greatest source of Gov- 
 ernment revenue is the tax on salt. The sale of 
 salt in China is an absolute Government monop- 
 oly, the importation of foreign salt being pro- 
 hibited by treaties at the request of China. 
 
 As the production of salt is one of China's great- 
 est industries, and as the principles involved are 
 well illustrative of native methods, a short de- 
 scription will be of interest. The country at large
 
 Chapter VI: Finances of China 191 
 
 is divided into seven districts, in each of which 
 salt is produced by evaporation from sea-water or 
 from deep brine wells, as in Sz-chuen, and salt is 
 not allowed to be carried from one district to 
 another, no matter what the resulting economy 
 might be. Salt so produced is sold to regularly 
 appointed Government officials. In order to dis- 
 pone of the salt, the Salt Commissioner of the 
 district issues "warrants," each warrant entitling 
 the holder to purchase so much salt. These war- 
 rants are perpetual and are personal property, 
 and disposable at any time by sale, or bv will on 
 the holder's death. The number of warrants out- 
 standing is supposed to be fixed, a rule frequently 
 violated in spite of the protests by the warrant 
 owners. The warrant owner, having purchased 
 his quota of salt, can select any place in the dis- 
 trict as his point of sale, whither he must trans- 
 port his salt and place it in a Government ware- 
 house, where it is sold in order of entry, at a price 
 fixed by the Salt Commissioner. On the com- 
 pletion of the retailing, the warrant is returned 
 and the holder may repeat the operation. Ap- 
 parently the plan is most just to everyone, both 
 seller and buyer, as well as to the Government, 
 which receives an income through percentages 
 charged. As a matter of fact, the whole arrange- 
 ment is most expensive, as entailing in many cases 
 long hauls and shutting out certain districts where 
 salt can be produced very cheaply. The oppor-
 
 192 An American Engineer in China 
 
 tunities for helping friends in granting warrants 
 or in allowing their warrants to take precedence 
 over those of men less friendly are not neglected 
 by the Salt Commissioner, so that this position is 
 one much sought after, and when secured the 
 holder is considered on the way to wealth. Under 
 such circumstances, in China as elsewhere, it is 
 the people who finally pay all bills. 
 
 Next to the salt tax in importance is the likin 
 tax, levied, as was explained previously, on the 
 inland transportation of goods. None of these 
 likin stations keeps a record, so once more the 
 opportunity for stealing and waste is great. 
 
 In addition to the above, there is the revenue 
 received from the native custom-houses, from 
 special taxes on opium and miscellaneous sources. 
 The actual receipts of the Government under these 
 various headings can be taken approximately, as 
 follows : 
 
 Tls. 
 
 Land tax, in money 25,000,000 
 
 " " " grain 7,000,000 
 
 Salt tax 14,000,000 
 
 Likin tax 1 3,000,000 
 
 Native customs 1 ,000,000 
 
 Opium tax 2,500,000 
 
 Miscellaneous sources 6,000,000 
 
 68,500,000 
 
 which, with the net return of the Maritime Cus- 
 toms, give a revenue of 95,000,000 taels, or about 
 5,ooo,ooo gold per annum.
 
 Chapter VI: Finances of China 193 
 
 The principal thing for which the Government 
 of China is likely to incur further obligations will 
 be in the line of railways or other internal im- 
 provements. The railways created by these obli- 
 gations should be sell-sustaining, and, therefore, 
 practically not add to the Government's burdens. 
 
 Should, however, it become necessary, there 
 are many ways in which the Government can, 
 under proper financial administration, increase 
 its receipts. The following are some of the op- 
 portunities: 
 
 1. Maritime Customs charges, which, as pointed 
 out above, amount to an average of something 
 less than four per cent., can be materially raised 
 without interfering with Chinese trade. 
 
 2. The Native Customs can and should be con- 
 solidated with the Maritime Customs Bureau. 
 No department, such as Native Customs, entirely 
 in the hands of Chinese officials, returns the full 
 receipts. This fact is strikingly brought out by 
 Mr. George Jamieson, British Consul at Shanghai, 
 in a pamphlet published by him in 1897 on the 
 " Revenue and Expenditure of the Empire," the 
 best monograph on the subject, and to which the 
 author is indebted lor part of the information in 
 this chapter. As in the ease of the provincial 
 governors, so the Native-Customs tao-tais are 
 "assessed" by the Board of Revenue certain 
 amounts each year, which amounts or proper ex- 
 cuses must be forthcoming. Having met the
 
 i94 An American Engineer in China 
 
 assessment, no one scrutinizes the methods or 
 actual collections. Mr. Jamieson records that the 
 Shanghai tao-tai who was " assessed "65,980 taels, 
 reports as having received 65,991 taels, or a sur- 
 plus of 11 taels, equal to about $8. A wonderful 
 piece of accurate estimating on the part of the 
 Peking officials ! As Mr. Jamieson says, " It needs 
 but a glance at the forest of masts that line the 
 banks of the river (at Shanghai) to show that the 
 native junk traffic is still of very considerable 
 proportions, and that the total duties of the year 
 as stated are altogether too ridiculous. Such a 
 sum must represent more nearly a week's collec- 
 tion than a year's." The Governor of Che-kiang 
 in the same year did even better than his Shang- 
 hai confrere, arranging his accounts to show a 
 balance of 40,000 taels, the exact amount required ! 
 These are instances of what is taking place all 
 over China, in every Government office where 
 money is handled. The official class is not only 
 corrupt and dishonest to a point that we can 
 scarcely conceive, but they have been at it so 
 long, and the system is so perfect, that it has 
 ceased to cause comment or even to be thought 
 of, except as something quite legitimate. 
 
 3. The introduction of railways will increase 
 both the internal and external trade, thereby add- 
 ing to the Government revenue, both from likin 
 and Maritime Customs. 
 
 4. The whole method of tax gathering can be
 
 Chapter VI: Finances of China 195 
 
 reorganized so as to save an enormous amount of 
 waste and stealing. There is probably little 
 doubt but that the people of China now pay at 
 least twice as much and probably more than the 
 Imperial Government, actually receives. In this 
 connection it is interesting to compare the land 
 and salt taxes of China and India, where the con- 
 ditions, in regard to population and comparative 
 wealth, are quite similar: 
 
 Tls. 
 Land tax — India 100,000,000 
 
 China 25,000,000 
 
 Salt tax — India 33,000,000 
 
 China 14,000,000 
 
 In like manner, the internal tax on native opi- 
 um, which now amounts to about 2,500,000 taels, 
 should, by those who have studied the problem, 
 amount to from 15,000,000 to 18,000,000 taels. 
 As the latter sum is the one which the people 
 probably pay, the difference between the pay- 
 ments and the reported receipts is lost by steal- 
 ing or waste. 
 
 5. Post-office Receipts. — A little over a year 
 ago the Post-office Department was organized 
 as a sub-department of the Maritime Customs. 
 Previous to that time each separate commercial 
 district of China maintained its own local post- 
 office. It is yet too early to note the beneficial 
 result of this action. There is no doubt, how- 
 ever, that after the new system has become thor-
 
 196 An American Engineer in China 
 
 oughly well established and further extended, it 
 will work a profit to the Government, especially 
 as the management is under the control of for- 
 eigners. 
 
 There is one consideration in regard to the 
 general stealing of public funds, or the system of 
 "squeezes" and "presents," as it is euphemisti- 
 cally called, that must be kept in mind; which is, 
 that the official salaries paid to Government of- 
 ficers are ridiculously small, and in many cases 
 actually insufficient to meet the ordinary disburse- 
 ments for clerk hire and other entirely proper ex- 
 penses which the incumbent has to pay out of hi^s 
 stipend. This compels him to procure funds as 
 best he can, and as the insufficiency of salary is 
 understood by everyone, the principle and ne- 
 cessity for stealing can be said to be recognized 
 officially and publicly. Of course, once started it 
 is carried to the utmost extreme, and under such 
 conditions that, even if the official is perchance 
 reasonably honest, anything like economy is out 
 of the question. Should Chinese officials be paid 
 proper compensation, the expenses of the general 
 and local governments would be much greater 
 than they are now, but by getting competent and 
 honest men the returns would be still more in- 
 creased; besides which, it is possible to bring 
 about a still greater reform in abolishing the ex- 
 isting terribly wasteful, expensive, cumbersome 
 methods and instituting therefor a simple direct
 
 Chapter VI : Finances of China 
 
 197 
 
 system. Japan has already carried out a system of 
 reforms such as is outlined above, showing that it 
 is possible for an Oriental nation to have its finan- 
 cial methods put on a solid basis. China can do 
 the same. Without increasing the burdens of the 
 people, but by a mere reorganization of methods, 
 it is possible to produce a much greater net rev- 
 enue than the various public treasuries receive, 
 and one quite sufficient to meet any and all le- 
 gitimate requirements. As the country becomes 
 more opened, as trade grows, as industries are 
 multiplied, there will come a general rise in all 
 values, returning a corresponding increase in 
 Government income without inflicting hardships 
 on the people. 
 
 "Bell" Cash 
 
 This coin is over 2,000 years old
 
 Chapter 
 
 VII 
 
 Chinese Construction 
 
 IT must always be kept in mind that the twen- 
 tieth century development of China will be 
 along lines Chinese and not European ; that is, 
 it will be in conformity with native characteris- 
 tics, modified by modern ideas. This would be 
 an unnecessary truism were it not apparently lost 
 sight of at times by those planning for China's 
 development, and not always remembered by 
 foreigners in their general relations with the 
 Chinese Government and people. It is therefore 
 pertinent to inquire what is the condition of their 
 art of construction, wherein are the abilities of 
 the Chinese sufficiently advanced to-day, and 
 wherein must their resources be supplemented in 
 order to bring up the industrial development of 
 the country to the new standard. 
 
 Everyone knows that the Chinese once led the 
 world in scientific and material development, but 
 that they were acquainted with the principles of 
 good engineering design was a surprise to me. 
 At the seaports where foreigners have resided, or 
 even in those portions of the Empire into which 
 foreign ideas might have penetrated, it was ex- 
 pected to see structures bearing the imprint of 
 modern skill in design or construction ; but it was 
 not expected to find such things in the unexplored 
 
 iq8
 
 Chapter VII: Chinese Construction 199 
 
 interior, remotely or entirely removed from out- 
 side influences, and of such self-evident age as to 
 stamp them as genuinely Chinese, both in work- 
 manship and plan. 
 
 The structures that impress the engineering ob- 
 server most strongly are the bridges, the pagodas, 
 the city walls, and certain details of building con- 
 struction. The arch, beautiful from the scientific 
 as well as the aesthetic point of view, is generally 
 believed to be of Roman origin, and is considered 
 to be one of the evidences of their advance over 
 other nations. It was not known to, or at least 
 never used by, the Greeks ; and although the shape 
 appears in certain specimens of Hindoo architect- 
 ure, it is of false variety — that is, a succession of 
 protruding corbels. In China, on the other hand, 
 we find it of most widespread and general appli- 
 cation, and examination shows that the principles 
 involved are thoroughly understood, as the arches 
 are composed of a complete ring of voussoirs, ra- 
 dially jointed and of proper proportions, making 
 it therefore a true arch and establishing beyond 
 question the Chinaman's complete understanding 
 of the scientific principles on which it rests. 
 
 On the other hand, the general use ot the design 
 in all parts of the country and the undoubted an- 
 tiquity of so many of t he exist ing examples clearly 
 demonstrate that it long antedates any possible 
 foreign suggestions, and go a long way to estab- 
 lish it as of Chinese origin, which, however, like
 
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 Chapter VII : Chinese Construction 201 
 
 printing and gunpowder and so many other in- 
 ventions and discoveries, never passed beyond 
 the national oorders. 
 
 The largest application of the arch principle is 
 in the building of bridges, where spans of thirty 
 to forty feet are common, and single spans of 
 fifty feet were seen. Longer spans than these, 
 though perhaps existing, are not usually required, 
 as those streams which can be bridged do not, as 
 a rule, call for single openings larger than will 
 suffice to pass small boats. The arches are usu- 
 ally of the full half-circle, with the spring above 
 the ordinary flow line. The arch joints are cut 
 close and filled with hard, firm mortar, while the 
 spandrels are always built independently of the 
 arch, and usually of inferior workmanship, in- 
 dicating clearly that the designer understood the 
 theory. The piers frequently have \ r -shaped ends 
 up stream, evidently to diminish scouring action 
 and to prevent drift trash from catching, rather 
 than for the more usual purpose as ice breakers, 
 for such additions are common even in the south- 
 ern districts where ice is unknown. The road- 
 way is guarded by carved railings in the case 
 of the more elaborate structures, or by a solid 
 parapet, some of the latter that 1 saw being com- 
 posed of concrete. These arches have a grace 
 of outline based on proper proportion, a solidity 
 in appearance resulting from good construction, 
 coupled with a very evident sound application of
 
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 Chapter VII : Chinese Construction 203 
 
 theory to practical uses in accordance with the 
 requirements of local conditions — considerations 
 that stamp them as construction works of a very 
 high order, although their size, as compared with 
 arches in other lands, may be small. 
 
 Take the illustrations of the Ping-hsiang bridge, 
 and the one marked "A beautiful single span." In 
 the former let the reader note the arch lines ; the 
 proportions existing between the arches and the 
 piers ; the cut-water ends to the latter to prevent 
 drift catching ; the carved stone railing, supple- 
 menting but not detracting from the lines of the 
 main structure ; and finally the shrine on the cen- 
 tre pier, indicating that although the constructor 
 was compelled to place a pier in midstream, that 
 nevertheless he had the courage to emphasize it, 
 and that by making it a feature of the design he jus- 
 tified its location. In the other structure, crossing 
 a stream flowing from the Cheling Pass to the 
 China Sea, we have a design admirably meeting 
 in every respect the local conditions. The stream 
 is of no great importance, so that a central pier 
 and two spans would have answered as a mere 
 bridge, but such would not have been a well-con- 
 sidered design. On one side the ground is much 
 higher than on the other ; which is overcome by 
 spanning the brook with a bold single arch, whose 
 rise is the same as that of the high bank, with 
 steps on the lower side. Either of these beau- 
 tiful structures would have done credit to any
 
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 DP
 
 Chapter VII : Chinese Construction 205 
 
 architectural engineer brought up in the most fas- 
 tidious school o[ Europe. They both are ol es- 
 sentially Chinese origin, the former of sonic an- 
 tiquity. Probably neither of them was ever seen 
 by foreigners before my trip. 
 
 The freedom that a designer takes when he is 
 sure of his principles, has caused some of the Chi- 
 nese arches to take extraordinary shape, such as 
 the single span near Peking, carried to a height 
 seemingly out of all proportion, but intentionally 
 so in order to pass boats with short masts ; and 
 yet, such a design, in a locality without wheeled 
 vehicles where a short excessive gradient, is not a 
 serious matter, not only meets the requirements 
 of economical planning, but adds the charm ol 
 irregularity, which, in a country distinguished 
 for sameness and lack of contrast, is especially 
 attractive. 
 
 The Chinaman is very much like a cat — he ob- 
 jects to getting his feet wet; and as he carries his 
 own loads, which he thinks he can do more cheaply 
 than by horse or carriage, he sees to it that all 
 streams are bridged. The arch he uses nearly 
 always in the large structures, and employs it 
 down the scale even to small culverts ; although, 
 when he begins to deal with little openings, he 
 frequently makes use of stone stringers. It suit- 
 able stones can be procured he does not hesitate 
 to be bold, as some beams I measured were thirty 
 feet long and fifteen inches deep. In other in-
 
 Chapter VII : Chinese Construction 207 
 
 stances the effective spans were made shorter by 
 placing corbels beneath the ends of the stringers, 
 and occasionally intermediate supports were fur- 
 nished by framed bents of long stones, exactly 
 like the ordinary American timber construction. 
 
 But the most remarkable bridge I saw was a 
 wooden cantilever, in the eastern part of Hu-nan, 
 where no white man had ever previously been ; 
 a bridge remarkable, not only for its extraordi- 
 nary design, but also for the fact that it was of 
 wood, a material on account of its scarceness rarely 
 used for heavy construction. This bridge con- 
 sisted of six spans, with a length of four hundred 
 and eighty feet and a width of twenty feet, paved 
 with cobble-stones, while over it is erected a 
 frame to carry awning-mats in summer. The sub- 
 structure is masonry piers in good condition, but 
 evidently of good age, while the superstructure is 
 of wood and a genuine cantilever in design. The 
 timbers which compose it are about ten inches 
 square, laid in alternating layers in the direction of 
 and across the line of the bridge. As will be seen 
 from the illustration, each longitudinal layer pro- 
 jects beyond the one next below, and the series of 
 such projections builds out the cantilever arms 
 until the opposite ones are near enough together 
 to be spanned by a single timber. The super- 
 structure is not so old as the substructure, the 
 timber having been undoubtedly replaced, possi- 
 bly many times; but it was, when visited, in hor-
 
 Chapter VII : Chinese Construction 209 
 
 rible condition of decay. At the time of my visit, 
 an attending mandarin, knowing its rotten condi- 
 tion, requested that our party should cross it. in 
 detachments, so as to divide the crowd and avoid 
 concentration. It will stand, however, without 
 repairs or attention — as all structures in China are 
 allowed to stand — until some day an extra-large 
 crowd will be too much for the rotten timbers to 
 hold up and it will collapse, with great loss of life. 
 From the point of view of artistic and essen- 
 tially Oriental design the pagoda possesses the 
 most interest. These singular constructions, of 
 which nearly every city possesses at least one, 
 fairly dot the surface of the country. Their pur- 
 pose appears to be twofold — either as monuments 
 commemorating the virtues or the munificence 
 of some departed benefactor, or as agents of " feng 
 shui " (literally " wind and water "), the spirit 
 genius of good and evil, which, if properly pro- 
 pitiated, will ward off pestilence and famine, and 
 permit only prosperity and happiness to visit the 
 neighborhood. These very curious towers are of 
 great antiqnitv, Chinese records authenticating 
 their origin at least as far back as the early part 
 of the Christian era. In size they vary from the 
 little ones, which are nothing more than roadside 
 shrines, to what was once the most beautiful and 
 largest — the celebrated porcelain pagoda of Nan- 
 king, destroyed in the Tai-ping rebellion. This 
 extraordinary structure had a height of two nun-
 
 Chapter VII : Chinese Construction 211 
 
 dred and sixty-one feet, was built of masonry and 
 covered with glazed tiles of many colors, and was 
 a monuraenl to native skill in erection as well as to 
 artistic sense in design. Unfortunately, most, of 
 
 Pagoda near Wu-chang 
 
 the large pagodas are being allowed to crumble to 
 decay, although some are tended and give hope of 
 standing for other generations to admire. The 
 prominent ones vary in height from one hundred 
 to two hundred feet, are usually octagonal in plan, 
 with straight but tapering sides, and always are
 
 Chapter VII : Chinese Construction 213 
 
 composed of an ndd number of stories; although 
 sometimes these stories are double ones, as in the 
 case of the Wu-chang pagoda, one ot the most 
 beautiful and best preserved in the country. 
 They were always built plumb, and it now in bad 
 condition, it is the result of lack of care and the 
 ravages of time and not of original faulty con- 
 struction. Chinese houses conform to certain 
 general types; the pagoda, therefore, in its wide 
 range of size and of decorations, from the severely 
 plain stone structure to the one covered with col- 
 ored tiles, marks one of the few breaks in the 
 characteristic national ride of uniformity and fur- 
 nishes an interesting construction study. 
 
 The method oi putting up buildings with a rigid 
 frame and then encasing them with thin mason- 
 ry walls is supposed to be something essentially 
 American ; but, like so many designs claimed as 
 modern, this, too, finds a universal application all 
 over China. Although the Chinese have every- 
 where at hand brick-making clay, the product is 
 not good, owing to their unfortunate tendency to 
 false economy — which, in this particular case, 
 takes the form of deficient burning. To give 
 sufficient rigidity, house-walls have to be made 
 thick, and thick walls, they found as we have 
 found, encroach seriously on floor space; there- 
 fore, they have developed "cage construction." 
 The materials employed are usually round tim- 
 bers, connected by mortise and pin joints, while
 
 Chapter VII: Chinese Construction 215 
 
 the root truss is a peculiar and ingenious com- 
 bination of beams, taking load near the abutments 
 only. The accompanying illustration shows such 
 a building in process of being- encased. 
 
 If the arches display a knowledge of theory, 
 the houses are ingenious applications of practice, 
 and the pagodas are an appreciation of the beau- 
 tiful. The walls, without which no large city in 
 China exists, and which reach their maximum in 
 Peking or in the even more famous Great Wall, 
 are an evidence that our Oriental friend was 
 equally at home with large construction. These 
 great structures, with their massive proportions 
 (as in the Great Wall, with its length of fifteen 
 hundred miles, across wild hills and desert val- 
 leys), with their keeps and arched gateways, with 
 their parapets and moats, fill the observer with 
 admiration. 
 
 It is said that a nation's character is shown in 
 its architecture. This seems eminently true in 
 China, for no matter where one goes the same 
 general outline, varied slightly by local condi- 
 tions, meets the eye, and wherever a new build- 
 ing goes up it takes the same form as the one it 
 displaces, so that one feels that not only is every- 
 thing the same throughout the country, but that 
 it is just the same 1 now as it was ever so main- 
 years ago, which is probably the fact. But if the 
 architectural form illustrates the Chinese lack of 
 originalitv and progress of development, the con-
 
 o
 
 Chapter VII: Chinese Construction 217 
 
 st ruction of their houses illustrates t he regrettable 
 side of their abilities — the want <>l thoroughness. 
 In all their work they use poor material and work- 
 manship, so that their building's will not stand 
 close inspection, and soon succumb to the ravages 
 of time. China is consequently singularly devoid 
 of antique buildings. In addition to the original 
 defects in construction, the little care that the 
 buildings receive is exceedingly distressing; even 
 in Peking such artistically beautiful structures 
 as the Temple of Confucius or the Hall of Clas- 
 sics — perfect types of Chinese architecture — are 
 actually dropping to pieces for need of a few 
 repairs. This deficiency in appreciating thor- 
 oughness and the necessity for maintenance will 
 be found one of the greatest obstacles to be over- 
 come in industrial development. 
 
 The engineering progress of the Chinese has 
 been along static rather than dynamic lines — that 
 is, they have learned how to construct bridges, 
 erect pagodas, and concentrate their forces to 
 build a wall fifteen hundred miles long, but not 
 how to construct a machine, or to do any of the 
 things the basal principle of which is movement. 
 
 Perhaps this is due to the similar traits that we 
 find forming the framework of the national char- 
 acter ; or, perhaps, it is due to the dread of displac- 
 ing manual labor and the baseless fear of depriving 
 their fellow-men of work. But no matter what the 
 cause may be, this marks the cleavage line along
 
 2i8 An American Engineer in China 
 
 which foreign inspiration in the art of construc- 
 tion will Imd an outlet for development. 
 
 In solid, stationary structures, the Chinese can 
 supply their own needs unaided; hut the held 
 lor producing those aggregations ol engineering 
 and mechanical skill based on the theory or ap- 
 plication of movement, especially of economical 
 movement, lies unbroken and the soil is rich. The 
 idea of economy of movement is absolutely lack- 
 ing in the Chinese — a singular circumstance, as 
 there is no other nationality so strongly economi- 
 cal, even to the point of parsimony. This trait is 
 shown in their dwellings, in their clothes, and in all 
 their details of living, except in those where move- 
 ment is the main theme. The development, in 
 which foreign ideas will predominate and foreign 
 aid be required, will be, therefore, along this line, 
 and will show itself primarily in methods of 
 moving people and goods — namely, in means of 
 transportation; secondly, in the methods of mov- 
 ing the great untouched mineral wealth from its 
 existing subterranean hiding-places to the sur- 
 face, that is, in mining; and thirdly, in all matters 
 of construction whose parts are moving — namely, 
 machines. 
 
 The first of these is self-evident, and will be taken 
 up in detail in another chapter. The develop- 
 ment has already begun. The second, mining, is 
 about to begin, but is dependent on one form of 
 the devices under the third head — the means of
 
 Chapter VII: Chinese Construction 219 
 
 moving' water. The third class is general in its 
 characterand will include all kinds ol machines. 
 
 The science ol handling water is practically un- 
 known in China, the Chinese pump being a mosl 
 crude and uneconomical device, and wholly in- 
 capable of raising water to a height above that 
 of a few feet, and the lack of proper and efficient 
 devices has absolutely prevented the develop- 
 ment of China's mineral resources. Mining- by 
 native methods has consisted in sinking a shaft or 
 an inclined drift down the vein until water was 
 encountered, or until coolies could no longer raise 
 the load on their backs, a limit in the latter case of 
 two hundred feet. When one of these contingen- 
 cies is reached the mine is abandoned. In order 
 to develop the mineral wealth, the first requisite 
 is a pumping plant ; the second, of much less im- 
 portance, is elevating machinery. 
 
 It is difficult to imagine a great country without 
 good pumps, but such China is. The native device 
 consists of flat paddles attached to a wooden end- 
 less chain turning over two sprocket wheels, on 
 one of which pedals are fixed. One or two men, 
 sitting on a frameover this wheel, work the pedals 
 with their feet and thus by pulling on the chain, 
 elevate the water. The water supply of the 
 crowded eities depends on hundreds ol coolies 
 constantly passing to and fro carrying the water 
 in buckets from the river, lor all cities are located 
 on rivers, and there is no attempt at any sort of
 
 220 An American Engineer in China 
 
 tire protection, except such as can be done with 
 hand-buckets or by tearing down houses in the 
 path of the conflagration. 
 
 As the whole system oi Chinese farming seems 
 to depend on the areas that can be irrigated, there 
 is imposed a limit to such lands as can be reached 
 by natural flow, while low lands, subject to fre- 
 quent inundation, are abandoned. For all these 
 purposes the foreign pump will find an enormous 
 field of application and will prove to be an impor- 
 tant element in Chinese development. 
 
 If, therefore, I were asked to enumerate the 
 relative importance of engineering development, 
 I should say — means of transportation; hydraulic 
 machinery; mining; and then, those machines 
 which can compete against a very low-priced 
 manual labor, and which can, if possible, enter a 
 field of work not now undertaken, such as elec- 
 tric lighting, or enter the existing fields so as 
 to change present conditions without too violent 
 or immediately revolutionary effects.
 
 Chapter 
 
 VIII 
 
 Inland Communication 
 
 FROM one end of the Chinese Empire to 
 the other there is not an instance of a road 
 whose quality would be termed in any other 
 country as even moderately good. China's riv- 
 ers and waterways are her highways, and it is on 
 them that she relies for means of internal com- 
 munication. In the way of rivers and sea-coast, 
 nature has been most liberal. Her coast line is 
 as long as both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of 
 the United States — that is, as long as the distance 
 from Florida to Maine added to the distance from 
 Southern California to Washington, and from it 
 there are noble rivers penetrating to the very 
 western confines of the Empire. 
 
 No attempt has been made by the Chinese of 
 their own motion to improve the rivers by remov- 
 ing their bars or deepening their channels in 
 order to render them more navigable. Such a 
 course for the general good is still far beyond 
 Chinese comprehension. Along the coast and for 
 short distances in the estuaries, the Government, 
 through the agency of the Maritime Customs and 
 Sir Robert Hart, has established and maintains 
 light-houses, has located beacons and buoys mark- 
 ing channels and dangerous places, while other 
 Governments, principally the British, have sur- 
 
 221
 
 222 An American Engineer in China 
 
 veyed and charted the coast and harbors ; but all 
 such work, even when done by the home Govern- 
 ment, is ol foreign inspiration. l T p the rivers 
 where the traffic is wholly Chinese, nothing of 
 the kind has been attempted. The streams are 
 tilled with bars and bowlders and other obstruc- 
 tions, and the loss in time, property, and life which 
 they cause is something terrible. If a picture of 
 Chinese river-navigation is desired, accurate in 
 its details, true in color, and not exaggerated in 
 its tale of suffering, most of which is quite un- 
 necessary, it can be found in Mr. Little's work, 
 " Through the Yang-tze Gorges," or in " The 
 Yang-tze and Beyond," bv Mrs. Bishop. Both tell 
 of the Great River, where for some four hundred 
 miles west of I-chang it has laboriously cut its way 
 through the mountains in deep gorges, the gran- 
 deur and wildness of whose scenery is surpassed 
 nowhere. Into these gorges huge bowlders have 
 tumbled from the sides above, and in places even 
 the cliffs themselves in by-gone ages have slid off 
 and fallen forward. The bowlders and the debris 
 have never been removed, but are left lying where 
 they fell, and over and around them tumbles and 
 boils the Yang-tze, already a river of some two 
 thousand miles in length, which bears down, and 
 even up, against such difficulties, the out- and 
 in-commerce of all Western China. On other 
 streams where shoals are the worst enemy, the 
 great losses and dangers are eliminated, but the
 
 Chapter VIII: Inland Communication 223 
 
 delays and their costs are not. As one jour- 
 neys along a Chinese river at its low stage in win- 
 ter, there is scarcely a moment when there is not 
 one junk hard aground with her crew pushing 
 and struggling with their bamboo poles to get her 
 off. It won Id be bad enough if these laborious 
 and exhausting methods were resorted to only 
 occasionally and unexpectedly, but such terrific 
 waste of human energy is uncomplainingly ac- 
 cepted as quite regular and inevitable. It is al- 
 most incredible that the strongest opposition to 
 an amelioration of their own condition through 
 improved methods of transportation comes from 
 these very boatmen. 
 
 In the summer, when the rivers are in flood, 
 unless there is a favorable wind to aid in stem- 
 ming the swift currents, the same struggle is re- 
 peated ; while at night, during both winter and 
 summer, all traffic ceases, owing to the uncertain- 
 ties of navigation, and yet, these are China's main 
 arteries of trade, transportation, and inland com- 
 munication, and it is extraordinary to what extent 
 they are employed in spite of the entire failure to 
 improve their navigation or remove natural ob- 
 stacles and impediments. Being the chief lines of 
 travel, on them are located the great cities, for 
 with scarce an exception every town of impor- 
 tance in the Empire is situated on some soil of 
 a navigable waterway, and no matter where the 
 traveller goes in the interior, he will find along
 
 a 
 
 3 
 
 b£ 
 
 a 
 rt 
 
 c/5 
 
 ID 
 
 -C 
 
 h
 
 Chapter VIII: Inland Communication 225 
 
 the river front oi the cities he visits, a veritable 
 forest of masts and a solid raft oi hulls. 
 
 A great deal has been said and written about 
 the improvement of the rivers of China and the 
 introduction upon them oi steamers of type some- 
 what similar to that used on shallow American 
 rivers or on the Nile. Advocates of such pro- 
 posals have pictured the running of steamboats 
 up the Yang-tze to Chung-king, sixteen hundred 
 miles, and on about, seven hundred miles more 
 on such tributaries to the Yang-tze as the Siang, 
 the Han, and the Kan. Southern and Southwest- 
 ern China it is proposed to reach by improving 
 the West and other streams for distances aggre- 
 gating - , possiblv, one thousand miles; while the 
 Yellow or the Pei Rivers are to provide perma- 
 nent means of steam communication in the North. 
 Constructively such a proposition is entirely fea- 
 sible. The rivers of China can be improved, but 
 their improvement will cost a great deal of money. 
 Practically, however, it is out of the question un- 
 til the Chinese people have been educated to con- 
 sider the undertaking and maintaining of such 
 works in a light different from that which they do 
 now. Obviously, it is impossible that such work 
 could be done by private corporations, for there 
 would be no means of preventing open competi- 
 tion, when the expensive work would be complet- 
 ed : it would, therefore, have to be undertaken un- 
 der Government direction and expense. It so, the
 
 226 An American Engineer in China 
 
 hinds must conic from general taxation or special 
 boal charges. To levy a genera] tax for matters 
 oi general utility is something so unheard of that 
 no Government would dare do it until the people 
 by gradual experience in other ways with similar 
 experiments had learned to see t lie benefits. To 
 levy a special tax on boats, that is, on the class 
 who would be most directly benefited, would be 
 equally unpopular and impossible. The junkmen 
 would reply that they do not complain, which is 
 quite true, and they would say that to make trans- 
 portation easier would deprive many men of em- 
 ployment who are now hired as crews, and the 
 consequent saving would result finally not to the 
 junk owner's financial benefit, but in the lowering 
 of freight charges to consumers, a matter in which 
 they have no interest. Such reasoning may be 
 illogical, but it must be remembered that it is be- 
 lieved bv the Chinese to be sound. But even if 
 it were possible to have the streams canalized or 
 deepened, who will pay the dredging and mainte- 
 nance charges, for all the rivers oi China are of 
 such a nature that constant deposition of alluvial 
 matter is taking place? If a Chinaman will not 
 repair his house, in which he alone is interested, 
 is he likely to stand the expense of maintaining 
 rivers in which his interest is so remote and indi- 
 rect as not to be discernible? To improve the 
 rivers requires united effort, and a united effort 
 for the good of others is an altruistic policy which
 
 Chapter VIII: Inland Communication 227 
 
 it will lake a iong time to make the Chinese un- 
 derstand. As an engineer, who has looked into 
 the feasibility oi doing this very thing, I am con- 
 vinced that it will be easier and better, as has 
 been found in other countries, to build railways 
 on the banks rather than to try to improve the 
 streams. 
 
 For coast and sea-going work the Chinaman 
 uses a junk oi large and strong proportions, and 
 on the rivers one more adapted to the particular 
 needs. Except for use on the lower reaches of 
 the Yang-tze, where deeper water permits some 
 latitude in construction, the up-river boats are of 
 one general type. The hull is flat-bottomed and 
 constructed of heavy planks, with a stout half- 
 round timber at the deck line, to serve as a guard 
 when the boats are banging together at landing- 
 places. The bow and stern are square, and the 
 latter is curved upward to form a poop. The hull 
 is divided by transverse wooden bulkheads into 
 water-tight compartments. It is a singular and 
 interesting fact that Marco Polo noted this very 
 useful device when he was in China in the thir- 
 teenth century, and, alter giving a minute de- 
 scription, so that there is no possibility ol his mis- 
 taking it, shows the intent by stating, " The object 
 ol this is to guard against accidents, which may 
 occasion the vessel to spring a leak." Staunton's 
 account of Lord Macartney's Embassy in 1796 
 again reports it, as did Abbe Hue some years
 
 en 
 
 < 
 
 o 
 
 bo
 
 Chapter VIII : Inland Communication 229 
 
 later. The bulkhead was introduced in European 
 
 ship building in 1840 as a brilliant and new idea. 
 Thus it is that at almost every turn in this queer 
 land one meets with some device which we regard 
 with pride as a modern invention, but which the 
 Chinese have employed so long that, its origin is 
 forgotten. 
 
 A deck load can be housed under curved 
 covers of bamboo matting resting on permanent 
 frames. Under these covers the crew ol five men 
 or more also find quarters, while the owner and 
 his family reside in the stern. There are one or 
 two masts, according to the size ol the boat, stand- 
 ing without stavs and carrying large sails of 
 cotton canvas or light bamboo mats. ()l boats 
 of this description there are tens ol thousands, 
 and they pass and repass in endless processions. 
 Usually the boat itself is kept, in lair condition. 
 but the same cannot be said of the sails. A new 
 sail is scarcely ever seen, and many of them are 
 so dilapidated as to cause wonder at their being 
 set at all. But a Chinese never considers time 
 as of value ; he feels no incentive to keep his 
 source of motive power in repair, but goes on 
 using it as it is until it can be no longer hoisted. 
 
 Even when his attention is called to the loss of 
 time involved, he will make the amusing reply 
 that should he go faster, no higher freighl rate 
 will be paid, and what could be done with his 
 crew during the time saved ? On one occasion
 
 If] 
 
 >* 
 
 £> 
 
 ca 
 
 in
 
 Chapter VIII : Inland Communication 
 
 when making a river trip, where afixed price had 
 been agreed < a for the journey, I found the junk 
 to be equipped with bad sails. On complaining 
 to the captain, he said he had better ones, but that 
 he was keeping the new ones sale at home! 
 
 Boats rigged like these, without keels, and 
 of shallow draft, cannot make headway when both 
 wind and current are adverse. When this occurs, 
 or when the wind tails entirely, recourse is had 
 to poling, rowing, or the more Laborious method 
 of "tracking," which consists in dragging the 
 junk by means of a rope of twisted bamboo fibres 
 attached at one end to the masthead and at the 
 other to yokes over the shoulders of the crew 
 ashore. 
 
 On rivers where rapids are moderate, but which 
 are too great to be overcome by a single crew, it 
 is the custom lor boats to wait until a united force 
 has been collected sufficient to pull each one up 
 against the current. On such rivers as the upper 
 Yang-tze, where the rapids are very strong, there 
 are "tracker" settlements providing" sufficient 
 extra labor always at hand to help ascending 
 craft. Two hundred and fifty men or more on 
 the tow lines are frequently required. 
 
 The Chinese junkmen form a distinct class b\ 
 themselves and in some localities are under special 
 laws. Their boats are their houses, on which 
 they are born, live, and die. The women do not 
 bind their feet, and take their turn with the men
 
 Chapter VIII : Inland Communication 233 
 
 at the helm, sail, oar, pule, or even track line, in 
 addition to doing their own work of preparing 
 the meals for the crew and looking after the fi- 
 nances of the institution. When things go wrong, 
 and in accordance with Chinese custom, all begin 
 
 The Equality of Sex. A Man and a Woman at the Oar 
 
 to shout and each one to work on his own account 
 and so nullify the labor ol someone else, then the 
 strident notes of the voice of the Amazon skipper 
 will rise above the other din, and, finally, but not 
 until alter the use- ol language, whose rhythm and 
 force suggests that ol the old style deep-sea sailor, 
 will she succeed in drowning the orders of the
 
 234 An American Engineer in China 
 
 others and bring about some sort of effort in 
 unison. 
 
 On reaching points where the shallowness of 
 the water stops the passage of such junks as draw 
 more than two or three feet, cargoes are trans- 
 shipped to smaller boats; and this goes on until 
 finally little sampans (literally, "three boards"), 
 boats of the flimsiest description, drawing four 
 inches or less, are employed to carry goods to the 
 very extreme of river navigation. 
 
 In the south, there is found plying on the 
 waters that intersect the province of Kwang-tung 
 and its neighbors a form of large junk, called a 
 Canton River boat, with a large sail, and in addi- 
 tion a stern-wheel like a Mississippi River steam- 
 boat. They are worked by crews of natives rang- 
 ing from twelve to thirty-six in number, according 
 to the size of the craft, and each carries a hundred 
 or more passengers. For more speedy transit, and 
 contrary to the common belief that the Chinese 
 does not appreciate quickness, there is the " slip- 
 per " boat, so called from its resemblance in form 
 to that useful article. These little boats are very 
 light in construction, and are propelled by four 
 oarsmen, either men or women, of whom three 
 stand up and push on the oars, while one sits down 
 and pulls. The passengers lie at full length in 
 the toe. A speed of eight miles an hour is at- 
 tained. 
 
 Arduous, however, as is the task of transport-
 
 CO
 
 236 An American Engineer in China 
 
 ing goods from, say, Shanghai or Canton into the 
 interior by means of river navigation, it is as 
 nothing compared with the labor required to de- 
 liver them at a destination removed from the wa- 
 ter-way. This is done almost wholly by coolies 
 travelling on foot. The horse is little used, except 
 in Northern China. Where men receive as wages 
 but five to ten cents per diem, the horse cannot 
 compete, especially when he has not, as with us, 
 the economy of cheaper living, for in China both 
 men and horses are grain fed. 
 
 The vehicle for land transportation, both for 
 goods and passengers, varies in different parts of 
 the Empire. On the great plains in the north, 
 which, by their nature, have permitted the con- 
 struction of passageways, that by way of eu- 
 phemism are called roads, we find a springless 
 two-wheeled cart drawn by a little pony or ox, 
 which form the sole means of transportation in 
 Peking. They are the essence of torture to ride 
 in, but the badness of the going will permit noth- 
 ing else. On the great trade route northwest 
 from Peking, camels in caravans are employed. 
 As the region of the great plain is left, the horse 
 and cart disappear, and the wheelbarrow takes 
 their place. The Chinese barrow, of course, dif- 
 fers from its European namesake, but is not with- 
 out very excellent qualities. As used in Central 
 China, the wheel is large, being about thirty inches 
 in diameter, with the body of the vehicle balanced
 
 Chapter VIII : Inland Communication 237 
 
 on the axle, and on both sides of the wheel like an 
 Irish jaunting car. In some cities, like Shanghai, 
 these wheelbarrows are for hire like cabs by the 
 natives, and as little or no load comes on the 
 wheelman, it is not an infrequent sight to see him 
 pushing four fares at a speed of four or five miles 
 an hour. 
 
 Fast Freight by Wheelbarrow 
 
 In the up-country of the Yang-tze Valley such 
 wheelbarrows are the great means of fast freight 
 transportation. On them the farmer will take his 
 supply of produce to market, or if he has to take 
 his wife along, for she with her small feet cannot 
 walk, he will usually place her on one side and 
 possibly a dead hog that he has slaughtered that 
 morning on the other side in order to balance her 
 weight.
 
 u
 
 Chapter VIII : Inland Communication 239 
 
 As the Yaog-tze is left and Southern China is 
 approached, it is interesting to note the gradual 
 discontinuance of the wheelbarrow; its wheel 
 gets smaller and takes a position farther forward, 
 more like the western machine, and, at last, it 
 disappears from use entirely. 
 
 The rich or official Chinese on a journey always 
 uses a sedan chair borne by two, three, or four 
 men, according to his means and station, and fol- 
 lowed by a line of coolies carrying the miscella- 
 neous lot ol goods and encumbrances supposed to 
 be necessary for his comfort. Such a man never 
 walks, as it would be quite beneath his dignity to 
 do so. On my own trip it was with the greatest 
 difficulty that the attending officials could be per- 
 suaded, if they really ever were, that it was pos- 
 sible for a man to prefer the freedom of being on 
 foot to the cramping restraint of the little box of 
 a chair. 
 
 But whether in the north or in the centre or in 
 the south, if the Chinaman is unable to call to his 
 aid the springless cart or the wheelbarrow, he 
 has at all times at his service his own back, and 
 the greatest part of the country's commerce is 
 carried in two baskets, each of which is suspended 
 from a bamboo pole resting on the shoulders of 
 some coolie. In a Chinese city the last thing one 
 hears before dropping to sleep is the " he-ho " sing- 
 song of the poor, hard-working coolie, as late at 
 night he is carrying his loads through the narrow
 
 240 An American Engineer in China 
 
 streets below, and again the first thing in the 
 morning it is this same ceaseless song that greets 
 the ear. On the roads, uphill and down, day after 
 
 Boy Carrying Coal from the Mines to the River 
 
 day, he plods along carrying his loads of rice, tea, 
 silk, or opium from his little farm to the market- 
 town on the river, and takes back with him an equal 
 burden of Lancashire or New England cottons, 
 of Russian or Pennsylvania oil, or other articles 
 of foreign import. 1 have seen even coal carried 
 for ten to fifteen miles, up, over, and down a range 
 of eight hundred feet of elevation before it could 
 be loaded into boats to find its way down the 
 Yang-tze. This would be bad enough and expen-
 
 Chapter VIII : Inland Communication 241 
 
 sivc enough if 6nly the coolie had a decent road 
 on which to walk. But if no care is taken of the 
 waterways, even still less attention is paid to the 
 landways, there being no central authority by 
 which highways are laid out and maintained. 
 
 A Typical Road on Top of a Dike Between Rice-fields 
 
 As each land-owner has to give up to the gen- 
 eral public a portion ol his too small farm, from 
 which donation he derives, so far as he can see, 
 but a small personal benefit, he usually does SO by 
 giving a strip along one side of his tract, or on the
 
 242 An American Engineer in China 
 
 top of one of the little dikes forming the rice-field 
 terraces. In either ease, as neither the farm lines 
 nor the rice-field dikes are straight, the road, so 
 called, winds its way in and out, increasing the 
 normal length by at least one-half. In width 
 
 A Road Paved with Stone Slabs Showing the Groove Cut 
 by Wheelbarrows 
 
 it is rarely more than that required for two 
 men to pass. In districts where there is a heavy 
 concentrated travel, some of these roads have 
 been paved with cobble-stones, or if it is a section
 
 Chapter VIII : Inland Communication 243 
 
 where wheelbarrows are in use, they may have 
 been laid with longitudinal stone slabs, in which 
 the wheels of countless barrows have cut a groove 
 several inches in depth. A few of the great roads, 
 such as the one leading to the Ming Tombs, 
 northwest of Peking, or across the Che-ling Pass 
 in the Nan-ling Range, were, many years ago, care- 
 fully paved with stone; but it is now nobody's 
 business to make repairs, and these great monu- 
 ments of a past constructive era are dropping into 
 decay. In the north where wheeled vehicles are 
 used, the roads, in order to accommodate them, 
 have to be wider than the narrower paths in the 
 south, and as the soil is of an alluvial nature and 
 not fitted for road-making, the general condition 
 of affairs is even worse. 
 
 No better picture of the method of construct- 
 ing the Chinese road and its lack of maintenance 
 can be found than that given by Dr. A. II. Smith 
 in his " Village Life in China." In referring to 
 the fact that the ordinary road is but wide enough 
 for one vehicle, so that when two attempt: to pass, 
 it can be done only by trespassing on the crops, 
 he writes: "To prevent this, the farmer digs 
 deep ditches along his land, but when he drives 
 his own cart he, too, becomes a trespasser; thus a 
 state of chronic and immitigable warfare is estab- 
 lished, for which there is absolutely no remedy. 
 Where land is valuable and is all of private 
 property, road repairs are out of the question.
 
 244 An American Engineer in China 
 
 There is no earth to repair with, and without re- 
 pair the roads soon reach a condition beyond the 
 possibility of any repairs. Constant travel com- 
 presses and hardens the soil, making it lower than 
 the adjacent fields. In the rainy season the fields 
 are drained into the road, which, at such times, is 
 constantly under water. A slight change of leyel 
 allows the water to escape into some still lower 
 road and thus a current is set up which becomes 
 eventually a brook and then a rushing torrent. It 
 is a proverb that 'a road one thousand years old 
 becomes a river, just as a daughter-in-law of many 
 years' standing, summers into a mother-in-law.' ' 
 
 Such are the lines of communication every- 
 where in China. Such are the difficulties and 
 obstacles to be overcome and surmounted at tre- 
 mendous personal cost by the Chinese in main- 
 taining not merely his foreign commerce, but that 
 which is many fold greater, his own internal com- 
 merce. What the cost in humanity is can be 
 understood only by seeing the labor required ; 
 what it is in money can easily be imagined, and 
 that the charge for transportation runs as high 
 as ten cents to fifteen cents per ton per mile 
 is not surprising. To talk to the Chinese of the 
 wasteful and unnecessary expense is useless. 
 They must be shown by practical example that 
 their methods are actually detrimental. What 
 that practical example is and how it can be shown 
 will be told in another chapter.
 
 Chapter 
 
 IX 
 
 Railways 
 
 THE preceding chapter gave a description 
 of the transportation facilities of China and 
 the condition in which they are allowed to 
 exist. The state of affairs is quite anomalous. In 
 other countries, including Japan, good high-roads 
 were constructed and maintained long before rail- 
 ways were thought of, thus permitting internal 
 trade to be carried on, if not with the economy 
 and speed of steam, at least with reasonable de- 
 spatch and cost, against which railways, when in- 
 troduced, were obliged to compete. In China 
 there was, and is, nothing of the kind. It is not 
 a question whether any line or system of railways 
 can stand the competition of existing canals or 
 high-roads, but whether it is best ab initio to im- 
 prove rivers, to lay out roads, or to build railways. 
 'The answer to this question is not difficult to find. 
 It is idle to expect any initiation from the great in- 
 ert mass of Chinese inaction, and the sole hope for 
 the beginning of a revolution of existing methods 
 lies in finding some way in which the foreigner 
 can levy a direct tariff in return for his services, 
 where no expense will be incurred by the Chinese 
 themselves previous to the charge for actual ser- 
 vices rendered, and where the direction of the 
 maintenance of the facilities created will not be 
 
 245
 
 246 An American Engineer in China 
 
 under Chinese control. This can be accomplished 
 practically only by railways, and not by improving 
 rivers or making highways, even if the latter would 
 satisfv the requirements of modern commercial 
 conditions. In China, therefore, we shall see rail- 
 ways built first, followed by highways and event- 
 ually by improved rivers, as might naturally be 
 expected in the country where the order of things 
 is always reversed. 
 
 When about i860 the opening of the interior 
 of China was first seriously considered by foreign- 
 ers, the extraordinarily favorable conditions for 
 railways was at once appreciated, and from then 
 to now there has been a constant outside pressure 
 on the Chinese officials and people to overcome 
 their national antipathy to change. But it was not 
 until 1876 that official consent was obtained for the 
 first line. This was projected to run nine miles, 
 from Shanghai to Wu-sung, at the junction of the 
 Whang-poo and Yang-tze Rivers, on the former 
 of which Shanghai is situated. The line was con- 
 structed with a thirty-inch gauge, and, although it 
 traversed a perfectly flat country, it was given an 
 absurdly tortuous alignment, in order to avoid 
 graves, special tracts of land, houses, and similar 
 obstacles. The Chinese regarded the construction 
 with apparent indifference. But foreigners, al- 
 though knowing that in itself the line had no great 
 importance, nevertheless hailed the project as the 
 opening of the door to future railway operations.
 
 Chapter IX : Railways 247 
 
 Almost immediately after its completion, the Chi- 
 nese Government bought it, an act that was be- 
 lieved to indicate that they were ready to take up 
 railways. It was true, for they took up this one 
 and threw the rails, cars, and locomotives into the 
 river, and with them went all hopes that an era 
 of Chinese development toward occidental civiliza- 
 tion had arrived. After this disappointment rail- 
 wav construction languished, and China continued 
 to get along, as she had done for many centuries, 
 and as indeed she does still, with junks, sampans, 
 ponies, and coolies. Some statesmen, by means 
 of memorials to the throne, urged upon the im- 
 perial authorities the advisability of making a 
 change and adopting a new order of things ; but 
 the memorials were referred to some Government 
 board, where they were conveniently pigeon- 
 holed. 
 
 But the first actual forward step was in connec- 
 tion with the Kai-ping coal-mines, eighty-four 
 miles northeast of Tien-tsin. This fine deposit of 
 really excellent bituminous coal required an outlet 
 to market. In 1881 the construction of a small 
 tram-way was begun to transport coal a few miles 
 to a river, whence it could find its way by junk to 
 tide-water. This little tram-way, projected by the 
 native proprietors to be operated by horses, was 
 the real beginning of the Chinese railway system. 
 The work was intrusted to an English engineer, 
 Mr. C. W. Kinder, to whose courage and persist-
 
 X
 
 Chapter IX : Railways 249 
 
 encc the present status of railway development 
 in China is largely due. He began, unknown to 
 the Chinese, the construction of a small loco- 
 motive, made up mainly from parts oi old ma- 
 chines that he could obtain on the ground. This 
 engine, appropriately named the " Rocket of 
 China," was actually put in service on this col- 
 liery tram-road during the first year o( the load's 
 operation, and served to convert it from its origi- 
 nal character into a real steam railway. 
 
 By demonstrating to the Chinese owners the 
 great economy oi steam traction, this engine ap- 
 pealed to their pocketbook reasoning, the near- 
 est way to reach the native mind, and so won for 
 itself a permanent place. 
 
 Step by step, mile by mile, the little railway 
 was extended, lirst to Tien-tsin ; then in 1893, 
 ninety miles, to Shan-hai-kw an, the point where 
 the Great Wall of China runs into the sea ; and 
 by 1899 forty miles farther, to Chung-hou-so, 
 with construction projected, and at this writing 
 just completed, to Niu-chwang, where connection 
 is to be made with the Chinese Eastern Railway, 
 the Manchurian branch of the Russian Trans-Si- 
 berian load. 
 
 That the railway has become a permanent in- 
 stitution in China there is, of course, no question. 
 The energy of the Government in pushing the 
 construction of its own system proves that the 
 day of tearing up rails, as was done on the Wu-
 
 25° An American Engineer in China 
 
 sung line, is past. It is, indeed, the opinion 
 and confident belief of all who have investigated 
 the subject, that the time is at hand when the act- 
 ual system that is to cover the Empire with its 
 lace-work of steel may not only be projected on 
 paper but be actually begun in practical construc- 
 tion. Matters of this kind, however, move slowly 
 in China. Although the Northern Railway had 
 proved its commercial desirability and success, it 
 was not until the war with Japan had shown the 
 helplessness of the country, by reason of the entire 
 lack of rapid and certain means of communica- 
 tion, that measures were taken looking to decisive 
 action. The country was divided into two sec- 
 tions, called North and South, but with no exact 
 delimitations, over each of which there was in- 
 stalled an official with the title of Director-Gen- 
 eral of Railways ; and railways were talked of and 
 projected for the length and breadth of the land. 
 
 Up to the year 1896, connection between Tien- 
 tsin and Peking, a distance of eighty miles, was 
 maintained either by junks on the Pei Ho or by 
 ox-carts. In that year, however, the railway be- 
 tween these two places was begun, and completed 
 in May, 1897. We thus have a line, about five 
 hundred miles long, running 1 from Peking to its 
 port, Tientsin, and thence northeasterly through 
 the Great Wall, which is owned by the Gov- 
 ernment and was constructed by it under the 
 direction of Mr. Kinder and through the instru-
 
 Chapter IX : Railways 251 
 
 mentality of English banking houses. This rail- 
 way, which owes its inception to the ingenuity and 
 courage of Mr. Kinder, and its completion to its 
 nearness to Peking, whereby its benefits were 
 forced upon the attention of the imperial authori- 
 ties, has been the pioneer of like improvements in 
 China. Considered on its merits, its importance 
 arises from its connecting the capital of the coun- 
 try with the coast, and forming the highway 
 between China and the Russian Trans-Siberian 
 Railway, rather than from its being a great factor 
 in local development. In this latter respect the 
 Imperial Railway will be exceeded by other lines. 
 
 In the chapter devoted to the consideration of 
 commerce and trade conditions, the importance 
 of the four great points of distribution, Tien-tsin, 
 Shanghai, Canton, and Hankow, was shown, serv- 
 ing respectively the northern, central, southern, 
 and interior sections of the Empire, with Shang- 
 hai as the chief port of original entry. The com- 
 mercial supremacv of these points is irrevocably 
 fixed by geographical conditions, and necessarily 
 the lines of primary importance in China's future 
 railway system will be those connecting them. 
 
 As it happens, the four places are about equally 
 distant from each other, say seven hundred miles, 
 except that Hankow lies midway and in line be- 
 tween Canton and Tien-tsin. In the past, China 
 has been able to carry on her commerce because 
 these four cities enjoyed water connections. But
 
 252 An American Engineer in China 
 
 modern conditions require a more certain and 
 speedy means ot communication. Especially is 
 this the case at Tien-tsin, where the port is closed 
 bv ice for nearly one-third of every year. 
 
 Agitation for concessions for these lines fol- 
 lowed closely on the conclusion of the Japanese 
 War, the first one "ranted being awarded in 1897 
 to a Belgian syndicate for the construction of the 
 link between Hankow and Peking, or rather with 
 a junction with the Tien-tsin-Peking line just out- 
 side of the capital, and this was followed in 1898 
 bv a like concession to the American syndicate for 
 the construction of the section joining Hankow 
 and Canton. These two railways when completed 
 will form an almost direct north and south line, 
 from Canton, the great southern port, to Tien- 
 tsin, the northern port, and Peking, the capital, 
 through Hankow, the metropolis of the interior. 
 Such a line would divide the Empire proper into 
 about equal portions east and west, and as it will 
 cross the Yang-tze River at the head of large ship 
 navigation at a point midway between its ter- 
 minals, the combined railway and the river will 
 approximately quarter the Empire. Moreover, 
 these two railways, considered as one, will con- 
 stitute the backbone of the future railway system 
 of China. Work on the line has passed the stage 
 of beginning. The American half has been sur- 
 veyed, and construction on the Belgian section 
 has progressed from both ends. In 1896, construe-
 
 Chapter IX: Railways 253 
 
 lion, at that time under the direction of the 
 Government, was begun southerly from Peking, 
 and in February, 1899, had reached Pao-ting Fu, 
 a distance of eight}- miles. This section shortly 
 afterward was turned over to the Belgians to 
 operate, who have since extended it thirty miles 
 more, and built, but not yet commercially oper- 
 ated, twenty-five miles north from Hankow, with 
 other construction pending. 
 
 In the meantime the reconstruction of the de- 
 stroyed Wu-sung line was decided upon. The 
 work was undertaken by Sheng Ta-jen, the Direc- 
 tor-General of Imperial Chinese Railways of the 
 South, was completed during 1898, and put under 
 contract to be turned over at cost to an English 
 syndicate when so required by the latter. 
 
 Of what I have above mentioned as " primary" 
 lines the Canton-Hankow-Peking connection is 
 provided for. On two of the others, a beginning 
 has been made. A concession has been awarded to 
 an English syndicate for a railway from Shanghai 
 to Nan-king, the initial step toward a line be- 
 tween Shanghai and Hankow ; and from a point 
 on the Yang-tze, opposite Chin-kiang, which lat- 
 ter will be on the Shanghai-Nan-king Railway, a 
 concession has been awarded for an extension 
 north to Tientsin, thus forming the Tien-tsin- 
 Shanghai connection. This latter line, whose 
 length is about seven hundred and seventy five 
 miles, is divided between English and German
 
 254 An American Engineer in China 
 
 interests, the latter contracting for the northern 
 part through Shan-tung, four hundred and seventy- 
 five miles, and the former undertaking the balance 
 between Shan-tung and the Yang-tze, three hun- 
 dred miles. The remaining primary line, that be- 
 tween Shanghai and Canton, is still in abeyance, 
 and this will be slower to develop than the others, 
 as it is paralleled by deep-sea navigation, and 
 moreover has to cross the successive drainage 
 lines that run to the coast, making construction 
 expensive. Its possibility is indicated by conces- 
 sions for the terminal ends being already awarded 
 to a British syndicate in a surveyed route from 
 Shanghai to Ning-po via Hang-chow, two hun- 
 dred miles, and in another project from Canton 
 to Kow-loon, one hundred miles. 
 
 Such are the main stems either under actual 
 construction or under more or less serious con- 
 sideration. Lines of secondary importance al- 
 ready projected are numerous. The " Peking 
 Syndicate," an Anglo-Italian combination, which 
 controls a large area of coal-fields in Shan-si and 
 Shen-si, claims railway rights, under a general 
 clause in their concession, amounting to about nine 
 hundred miles, ramifying through the provinces 
 named, connecting with the Belgian and British 
 lines and the Yang-tze in order to bring their 
 coal to market. On these, however, nothing has 
 yet been done. The Germans in Shan-tung are 
 at work building a local system connecting their
 
 Chapter IX : Railways 255 
 
 port at Kiao-chow, while the French in Kwang-si 
 and Yun-nan have secured concessions aggregat- 
 ing aboul loin hundred miles, to extend their own 
 Tong-king railway into the two provinces named. 
 Of these latter the construction of the line from 
 Lang-son on the frontier to Nan-ning Fu, one 
 hundred miles, is now in hand. 
 
 There is one element in the Chinese railway 
 situation, however, whose importance is second to 
 no other, which of necessity will continue to be a 
 great factor in the future, and that is the presence 
 and participation of the Russians. Their inter- 
 ests have been concentrated in the construction of 
 the Trans-Siberian system, the obtaining of out- 
 lets on the Pacific coast and the eventual exten- 
 sion of its rails into Chinese territory. To these 
 ends there has been no wasting or scattering of 
 Russia's forces or energies. In point of view of 
 money spent and results accomplished, Russian 
 attainments vastly exceed those of all the other 
 nations combined, but it is often somewhat diffi- 
 cult to decide whether their operations are on 
 Chinese or Russian soil. The line to Yladi- 
 vostock traverses what is nominally Chinese 
 Manchuria, for 1,000 miles, while the branch 
 known as the Chinese Eastern, from Kirin to 
 Port Arthur and Ta-lien-wan. strikes north and 
 south through Manchuria, which is still consid- 
 ered Chinese territory, but where Russian influ- 
 ence, through the Port Arthur lease, is being im-
 
 256 An American Engineer in China 
 
 pressed on the people gradually, but hoik- the less 
 effectually. This line will have a length ol about 
 four hundred miles, of which one hundred and 
 twenty-five miles between Port Arthur and Niu- 
 chwang are already built. In addition, Russia 
 claims, as conceded, branches from the Belgian 
 Hankow-Peking line, aggregating four hundred 
 and eighty miles. 
 
 The figures relating to concessions, and in fact 
 any statements in regard to them, are necessarily 
 vague and uncertain and constantly subject to 
 change. But few actual surveys have been made 
 and the maximum mileage in each case is usually 
 claimed. On the other hand, the terms of the con- 
 cessions are guarded as closely as possible, so 
 that it is difficult to ascertain what has been act- 
 ually granted. Some so-called concessions may 
 not have been finally executed, while perhaps, 
 although not likely to be the case, there are others 
 in existence which have not been made known. 
 
 Summarizing the figures, such as they are, we 
 find the present status of Chinese railways to be 
 about as follows : 
 
 Constructed ' : Miles. 
 
 Chinese Government system 534 
 
 Belgian concession 135 
 
 British concession 10 
 
 German Shan-tung concession 10 
 
 Russian Manchurian lines 125 
 
 Total 814
 
 Chapter IX : Railways 257 
 
 / T nder construction : 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Belgian concession 55 
 
 French concession 100 
 
 German concession 96 
 
 Russian Manchurian lines 375 
 
 Chinese, part of American concession 10 
 
 Total 636 
 
 Concessions granted to foreigners, including the abcroe : 
 
 Miles. 
 
 British, including Peking syndicate 2.000 
 
 American 900 
 
 Russian, excluding 1,000 miles of Siberian 
 
 railway 880 
 
 German 800 
 
 Belgian 700 
 
 French 400 
 
 Total conceded 5,680 
 
 We have thus in China, including the Russian 
 branch in Manchuria, only about eight hundred 
 miles of railway serving a country whose area is 
 nearly half as large as that of the United States, 
 and whose population is said to be 400,000,000. 
 Lines aggregating 20,000 miles could well be built 
 during the next ten years with profit. 
 
 For the construction ol these and other lines 
 recourse must be had to foreign capital, aided by 
 the Chinese Government. Although the Chinese 
 Government itself, under English advice and fi- 
 nancial assistance, has been able to construct and
 
 258 An American Engineer in China 
 
 successfully operate over five hundred miles in 
 and about the " metropolitan district," the task 
 of constructing and organizing the great system 
 that is already so imperatively needed is one from 
 which any government might well shrink, espe- 
 cially one so conservative and opposed to innova- 
 tion as that of China. On the other hand, while 
 there is a large amount of private wealth in China, 
 native capitalists have not been instructed in the 
 idea of combining in large joint-stock companies, 
 and therefore the initiative must devolve on the 
 foreigner. 
 
 The concessions referred to are a means to over- 
 come these difficulties, permitting the Govern- 
 ment to give, which they began to do in 1897, to 
 foreigners the right to construct and operate rail- 
 ways. These concessions clearly state, however, 
 that the title to the property thus to be created 
 remains in the Government (according to Chinese 
 theory, the Emperor is the owner of all things), 
 and that the money required for construction is 
 to be advanced by the foreigner as a loan. In 
 order that the latter may recoup himself for this 
 loan, he receives bonds guaranteed, both as to prin- 
 cipal and interest, by the Government, bearing 
 five per cent, interest, payable in the current gold 
 coin of the foreigner's country. These bonds are 
 issued at such a reasonable discount as to pay 
 the expense of making the issue to the investing 
 public, and limited to such an amount as is neces-
 
 Chapter IX : Railways 259 
 
 sary to pay only the legitimate cost of construc- 
 tion, so that the purchasers of the bonds receive a 
 security based on positive value and without the 
 usual " watering." The time oi the loan varies 
 with each concession, but is usually between forty 
 and fifty years. During- this time the control of 
 the property, so far as financial matters are con- 
 cerned, is vested absolutely in the foreigner's 
 hands, and, so far as local matters are concerned, 
 in a board in which the foreign element and in- 
 fluence predominate. To pay the foreigner for 
 his labor he is entitled to receive a certain propor- 
 tion, usually twenty per cent., of the net earnings, 
 if any, after meeting operating expenses and in- 
 terest. The bonds are redeemable at a price fixed 
 in the contract of concession, so that, in the event 
 of the credit of the Chinese Government improv- 
 ing, the first issue may be refunded at a lower 
 rate. At the end of the fixed period and on re- 
 payment of the loan the foreigner's interest will 
 cease entirely, and the Chinese are to take over 
 the management. Other provisions require the 
 foreigner to maintain a school of instruction ; to 
 consider Chinese on an equal footing with for- 
 eigners for appointment ; to permit natives to in- 
 vest in the securities; to transport Government 
 troops and munitions of war at halt rates ; and, 
 in the event of war between China and another 
 power, not to give aid to the enemy. On the 
 other hand, the full power of the Government is
 
 260 An American Engineer in China 
 
 pledged, in addition to its financial guarantee, to 
 protect the foreigner in the full and unrestricted 
 right, according to the terms of the concession, to 
 use and enjoy the fruits of his labors. 
 
 This combination, wherein there is secured, on 
 the one hand, the knowledge, experience, and 
 financial assistance of the foreigner, and, on the 
 other, the support, both moral and actual, of the 
 Government, when a permanent one is established, 
 is a most happy one. It assures security to the 
 investor, and obtains for China not only the pos- 
 sibility of rapid development, but the eventual re- 
 turn to the hands of her own people of the prop- 
 erties which her credit in the first instance created. 
 As the Government liability is limited to five 
 per cent, on the actual cost, it is not expected 
 that it will be called on for any payment, as each 
 railway should earn net, above operating expenses, 
 at least that return. 
 
 The danger in the method lies in that, owing to 
 the fact that the securities issued for the construc- 
 tion of railways are guaranteed by the Govern- 
 ment, promoters will not consider sufficiently well 
 the earning power of the lines they project and 
 will build lines either not immediately needed or 
 more rapidly than local trade conditions can as- 
 similate, and so place on the Government a yearly 
 burden of interest in excess of the net returns. 
 This risk must be guarded against by patriotic 
 and wise care on the part of the Chinese officials,
 
 Chapter IX : Railways 261 
 
 and by cautious and conservative investigation on 
 the part of the foreign projectors. 
 
 The political aspect of the situation is unique, 
 since we see established on the soil of another 
 country the people of six different foreign na- 
 tions, with rights and privileges granted and guar- 
 anteed by the local Government, a situation which 
 may contain the germs of future complications. 
 Looking at it from the strategical point of view, 
 we see the control of all the country north of 
 the Chinese province of Chi-li absolutely in Rus- 
 sian hands. South from Tien-tsin, German inter- 
 ests are paramount, while between these and the 
 Russians there stands the Imperial Chinese Rail- 
 way system as a buffer. The land approaches 
 to Shanghai from the north, west, and south 
 have been secured by the English. Hankow, as 
 respects the north and east, is under the Belgian 
 domination. The American concession secures 
 the approaches to Hankow from the west and 
 south, and to Canton from the west and north, that 
 is to say, it controls the southwestern quarter of 
 the Empire. On the other hand, the French have 
 established themselves in the south and south- 
 west, while the Japanese are understood to have 
 eyes on the coast opposite Formosa. 
 
 Some of the railway projects in China have 
 been prompted undoubtedly much more by for- 
 eign politics than by commercial motives. As long 
 as other nations have a foothold on Chinese ter-
 
 262 An American Engineer in China 
 
 ritorv under the thin guise of "leases," and either 
 claim to have a voice in the administration of 
 local affairs through "spheres of influence" or 
 are possessed with the fear that their rivals may in 
 some way secure special favors, the various Eu- 
 ropean powers will endeavor to put themselves 
 in advantageous positions, either to seize terri- 
 tory in the event of a break-up, or to prevent 
 others from doing so. There exists a general 
 belief in China, which repeated authoritative de- 
 nials seem, curiously enough, to strengthen, that 
 Russian influence was behind the Belgian syndi- 
 cate in procuring the railroad concession from 
 Peking to Hankow, the theory being that Rus- 
 sia's design is either to form, ultimately, a 
 through line from St. Petersburg to the Yang- 
 tze River, or to have something ready to offer in 
 trade for other concessions in the north of more 
 immediate benefit, to herself and of less threaten- 
 ing aspect to Great Britain. Whether true or 
 not, this supposed Russian "move" was immedi- 
 ately met by the British Government despatch- 
 ing two parties to China under the charge of 
 army officers to prospect for a route for a rail- 
 way controlling the Yang-tze Valley, usually con- 
 sidered as Great Britain's "sphere," and connect- 
 ing with the Burma system. One of the lines 
 projected follows up the Yang-tze from Hankow 
 to Chung-king, and thence to Burma. The other 
 runs across the northwest eorner of Hu-nan, and
 
 Chapter IX : Railways 263 
 
 through Yun-nan, bv a more direct route, to the 
 same objective. They would have a length of 
 about 1,700 and 1,550 miles respectively. They 
 coidd be supported onlv as a political necessity, 
 for while a part of each would traverse a rich, 
 productive and remunerative territory, neither 
 as a whole would be profitable for many years. 
 The other nations that have political interests at 
 stake are German v, who appears to be content 
 to develop the resources of Shan-tung as a local 
 venture, and France, who, branching" out from 
 her Anam and Tong-king possessions, is desirous 
 somehow to reach across the Empire and clasp 
 hands with her Muscovite ally in the north. No 
 sadder thing could happen, not only for China, 
 but for the world at large, than to have some such 
 scheme of interference or European division be- 
 come a reality. 
 
 Two questions, each of vital importance, present 
 themselves in connection with possible railway 
 development. Firstly, will the Chinese permit 
 their construction, or will the national antipathy 
 to innovation and superstitious fear of violation 
 of ancestral tombs prevent the introduction of so 
 revolutionary a thing as a railway? Secondly, if 
 constructed, will railways pay ? 
 
 The principal opposition to railway construction 
 in China has come largely, I believe, from the of- 
 ficial class, which has realized quite well that on 
 the introduction of modern means of communica-
 
 264 An American Engineer in China 
 
 tion, and the general enlightenment of the country 
 that would inevitably follow, its power would be 
 broken and its prerogatives greatly reduced. Of 
 course, there exists among the people a strong 
 prejudice against any innovation, but this preju- 
 dice can be, and is, easily overcome wherever 
 the innovation has official support and encour- 
 agement. The general popular opposition to rail- 
 ways in China is double, being partly religious and 
 partly through fear of competition against manual 
 labor. Being ignorant, the common people are 
 naturally superstitious, and every district has its 
 sacred hill or its holy river wherein resides the 
 spirit of the local protecting deity, which, if in- 
 terfered with, dreadful disaster will result. An 
 amusing instance concerns an island in the interior 
 on which it was necessarv to make some excava- 
 tion in the course of railway work. At once the 
 literar}' gentry were up in arms, explaining that 
 the island was really a fish who kindly kept watch 
 over the adjacent city, and that if an excavation 
 were made the fish's backbone would be cut and 
 he would die. Such is one form of popular and 
 superstitious opposition. Another formidable 
 obstacle is found in connection with the graves of 
 ancestors, which are the most important outward 
 evidence of Chinese religion. Unfortunately, these 
 graves are not placed in regular cemeteries but 
 are scattered more or less broadcast over the sur- 
 face of the country, so that it is impossible to run
 
 Chapter IX : Railways 265 
 
 a railway line without frequently interfering with 
 them. At first this objection seemed fatal, and 
 the earh'cr lines were given an alignment thai 
 would prove seriously detrimental to impor- 
 tant railways. When the matter became acute in 
 the construction of the Imperial Railway in the 
 north, the question was taken up for settlement 
 on a business basis, and eight taels was reached 
 as a sort of tariff to compensate the resident for 
 the disturbance of each dead ancestor and to pay 
 for the removal of the latter to a new resting- 
 place. Experience has shown that this charge 
 was somewhat in excess of actual cost, for not 
 only has opposition practically ceased, but a new 
 business has sprung up. It is found that if the 
 natives learn in advance of the location of a new 
 line, that the more enterprising among them, it 
 so unfortunate as not to have a family burying- 
 gronnd in the way, will borrow from their neigh- 
 bors the temporary loan of a few grandfathers 
 whom they will quietly re-bury in advance of the 
 work. The charge of eight taels seems sufficient 
 to pay the expense of the double handling, with a 
 commission to the owner of the ancestor, and yet 
 leave an attractive profit to the borrower. 
 
 A more reasonable objection to the building 
 of railways is the fear that the coolies, who now 
 carry their goods and produce over their poor 
 highways on their backs, one hundred pounds at 
 a load, or the junkmen who now take weeks or
 
 266 An American Engineer in China 
 
 perhaps months to move a cargo of American 
 kerosene a few hundred miles, will be deprived 
 of their means of support and existence. This 
 was urged to me by intelligent local officials and 
 merchants, who appeared genuinely desirous to 
 know what a railroad was and what its effects 
 would be. When it was explained to them that 
 similar fears had been found to be groundless in 
 other countries, and that railways, instead of de- 
 creasing, gave increased employment at higher 
 wages bv diversifying and developing new means 
 of trade, the local merchants and land-owners 
 almost without exception seemed satisfied and 
 urged my speedy return. The native prejudices, 
 although strong, are not by any means insuper- 
 able, and can be conquered by tact, firmness, and 
 money. 
 
 In order to give an answer to the second ques- 
 tion, that is, as to whether the financial returns will 
 pay a sufficient profit on the investment — for it 
 must be remembered that the Chinese natives are 
 very poor and apparently have no money for 
 travelling — let us first turn to China's more ad- 
 vanced neighbors and see what they have done 
 with their railways. 
 
 On one side we have India and on the other 
 Japan. While the Hindus and Japanese are races 
 different from each other and from the Chinese, 
 the differences are not so great as to destroy the 
 usefulness of the comparison. They are all Eastern
 
 Chapter IX : Railways 267 
 
 Asiatics, with many institutions — and even relig- 
 ions in part — in common ; their countries have 
 dense populations, while they themselves possess 
 a natural disinclination to change established ways, 
 a strong and almost bigoted desire for hand-labor 
 methods, and a more or less deep suspicion of for- 
 eign ideas. 
 
 The Indian system of railways is of main years' 
 growth, and has now attained a length of 25,000 
 miles. It may be urged that this gets its strength, 
 and therefore has reached its development, 
 through British, and not native, sources, and con- 
 sequently is not a lair guide for comparison with 
 proposed railways in other Eastern countries. It 
 is, of course, true that the original incentive and 
 the power of promotion was of foreign origin; 
 but it is equally true that, unless the great mass 
 of people in the locality concerned will patronize 
 the newer systems of transportation — no matter 
 how energetically promoted and extolled — the 
 latter will not be profitable, and if the first lines 
 do not pay, no subsequent ones will be built. The 
 Indian system does pay, in spite of very heavy 
 cost in construction, and pays chief!}' through the 
 receipts from those classes who usually are not 
 supposed to have the means at hand. The receipts 
 of the whole Indian system amount to $4,000 gold 
 per mile, while the receipts of the "standard- 
 gauge" portion are more than $5000 per mile, 
 with the chief lines showimr results as high as
 
 Chapter IX : Railways 269 
 
 $11,000 gold, which may be contrasted with an 
 average of $6,000 per mile for the railways in the 
 United States. These figures, too, are obtained 
 in a country where the natives are as poor as any 
 to be found on the .Asiatic continent, and where a 
 heavy mineral traffic, such as that in coal, is not 
 obtainable, as it is in the more favored Eastern 
 countries. 
 
 The Japanese railway system, however, is quite 
 free from the objection that may be brought 
 against the Indian railways as standards of com- 
 parison, because here we have all the usual ori- 
 ental conditions without foreign pressure, except 
 perhaps in the case of such foreign engineers or 
 others as may have been retained from time to 
 time for advice. Hence, in the Japanese system 
 we find an example by which we can judge of the 
 possibilities of development as to the capacity of 
 the Eastern Asiatic not only to adapt himself to 
 new conditions, but to take up the construction 
 and management of so essentially an occidental 
 idea as a railway, and also of his own initiative to 
 suggest, promote, and carry out new lines. 
 
 The case of Japan is peculiar. Prior to the visit 
 of Commodore Perry, in 1853, it was a country 
 practically closed to the outside world, and was 
 therefore far behind its neighbor, China, which 
 had been carrying on trade with foreign nations 
 for oyer three hundred years. In 1X70 there was 
 undertaken the construction ol a line from Tokyo,
 
 Chapter IX : Railways 271 
 
 the capital, to Yokohama, the chief port, a dis- 
 tance of eighteen miles, whose operation was be- 
 gun in 1872. In 1893 the system had grown to 
 1,871 miles, and at the present time there are in 
 actual operation about 4,000 miles. 
 
 These railways are of three kinds: first, the 
 Government line, which constitutes the main stem, 
 from Tokyo westerly along the coast through the 
 great centres of trade and population, Yokohama, 
 Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe; second, private lines, 
 built with the aid of a Government subsidy ; 
 third, private lines, without Government aid. Of 
 the existing mileage, about nine hundred miles 
 belong to the Government and 3,100 miles to 
 private companies, of which the most important 
 is the Nippon Railway Company, whose lines run 
 east and northeast from Tokyo. The early Japa- 
 nese lines were built by foreign, usually English, 
 engineers and operated by foreign managers. 
 But nearly all the foreigners have since been re- 
 placed by Japanese officials, and no new ones are 
 engaged, the natives having amply demonstrated 
 their ability to do all the work of planning, con- 
 structing, and operating. 
 
 The principal lines are double-tracked. Such 
 single lines as exist are operated according to the 
 English system of the train staff; and as the cn- 
 ginemen are natives, at wages averaging $12 per 
 month, some such mechanical method, instead of 
 the American system o! telegraph despatching, is
 
 Chapter IX : Railways 273 
 
 a necessity. The track is of the American type, 
 with flat-footed rails on wooden cross-ties and 
 stone ballast. The rolling stock is of the Eu- 
 ropean design, with cross compartments in the 
 passenger cars and freight equipment of the 
 "truck" order. The locomotives, on the other 
 hand, are both European and American. In or- 
 der to suit the passenger cars the stations have 
 high platforms, and the buildings, though simple 
 in design, are effective and usually models of 
 neatness. Passengers are not admitted to the 
 platform except with tickets, and are not allowed 
 to cross the tracks except by an overhead bridge. 
 The train schedules are generous in regard to 
 frequency of trains, and call for speeds of from 
 twenty to thirty miles per hour. Trains are 
 usually on time. 
 
 The results of operation are in every way satis- 
 factory, and are sufficient to completely dispel 
 any fear that the Oriental races will fail to appre- 
 ciate modern conditions when they have become 
 used to them ; for it must be kept in mind that it 
 is only within the last lew years that Japan has 
 attained commercial prominence, and that it was 
 but a short time since she occupied a position in- 
 ferior to other Asiatic peoples. The Government 
 lines earn per mile per annum about $8,000 gross, 
 while the private lines, many oi which are located 
 in the sparsely settled and mountainous districts, 
 succeed in averaging $3,500; but, owing to the
 
 CD 
 
 a. 
 
 h
 
 Chapter IX : Railways 275 
 
 low cost of labor, the ratio of operating expenses 
 is much less than is found in the United States, 
 ranging from forty per cent, to fifty per cent., 
 thus giving a higher net return than is usual with 
 equal gross receipts on railways in the United 
 States. 
 
 Japan being insular, the railways there are sub- 
 ject to junk and steamer competition, and as the 
 Japanese coal-mines are located on the sea, such 
 traffic is almost exclusively water-borne. The for- 
 mer condition deprives the railways of through 
 freight, and the latter of coal and similar classes 
 ol heavy goods, except to interior points. To 
 American eves the anomaly in the returns is the 
 fad that passenger receipts exceed those from 
 freight, the ratio of earnings on the Government 
 lines being about as three to one, although on the 
 private lines, where the population is much less 
 dense, there is a nearer approach to equality. 
 The same state of affairs is found to exist on the 
 Indian system and on the Imperial Chinese Rail- 
 way so far as it is built, thus indicating the ex- 
 istence of similar conditions of life throughout 
 all the Far East. Contrary, therefore, to the or- 
 dinarily accepted belief, the Oriental is by nature 
 a traveller when he gets the opportunity: and the 
 extent to which he will travel is enormous. On 
 the 660 miles of Government lines in Japan, 
 there were carried in the year 1898 no fewer 
 than 28,000,000 passengers, an average per mile
 
 j;0 
 
 An American Engineer in China 
 
 o! 42,000. The average number of passengers 
 per mile of railway in the United States is about 
 3,000. Taking a more striking comparison, the 
 whole Japanese system, Government and private, 
 
 Passengers Getting on a Train in China 
 
 in 1S98 aggregating 2,468 miles, carried 84,040,963 
 passengers, while the New York Central Railroad, 
 in the same year, with 2,395 miles — or almost ex- 
 actly the same length of line — carried 24,074,254 
 passengers, the relative density in favor of the 
 Japanese being thus more than three to one; and
 
 Chapter IX : Railways 277 
 
 this in spite of the fact that the New York Central 
 had the benefit of including among its passengers 
 all the traffic received from Western, New Eng- 
 land, and other connecting lines. Even when 
 making a comparison as to passenger mileage, 
 the volume of business is found to be in favor ol 
 the Japanese system in the proportion of two to 
 one, the passengers carried one mile being in one 
 case 1,438,014,632, and in the other 712,115,222. 
 
 Nor are the rates of fare at which this business 
 is done so very low ; in fact, some of the charges 
 are high enough to excite the envy of the ordi- 
 nary American traffic manager. In India there 
 are lour classes of passenger accommodation, the 
 rates per mile ranging from 0.3 cent to 2.4 cents 
 gold. In Japan there are three classes, the 
 charges being 0.7 cent for the third class, 1.4 
 cent for the second, and 2.1 cents lor the first. 
 These last rates, adopted one year ago, are an in- 
 crease of one-third over the previous figures, it 
 being found that the natives demanded better 
 facilities and were willing to pay for them. On 
 the Chinese Imperial Railway the rates are 1*4 
 cents for first-class and ^ cent second-class, at 
 which prices, considering the shortness of the 
 line, an enormous business is done. Although 
 the rates for the lower classes seem low, it is to 
 be remembered that the accommodations offered 
 are of the simplest and cheapest character, pas- 
 sengers in China being transported in open gon-
 
 Chapter IX : Railways 279 
 
 dola cars. The charges for first-class travel in all 
 the countries referred to are seen to compare fa- 
 vorably with American charges, again bearing 
 in mind thai the heavy, expensively decorated 
 American coach is unknown in the East. But 
 freight rates are proportionately higher, the larger 
 charges being rendered possible by competition 
 with man-carried transportation, in which neces- 
 sarily the cost is great, even in spite of the very 
 low wages paid. In India the freight tariff per 
 ton per mile ranges from 1.6 to 5.5 cents; in Japan 
 on ordinary goods from 1 to 2 cents with reduc- 
 tions for huge consignments, and in China from 
 1.2 to 2.25 cents. In 1898 the average charge per 
 ton per mile on the whole Japanese system was 1 
 cent, as compared with 0.6 cent on the New York 
 Central. 
 
 It would appear from these figures that two pop- 
 ular beliefs in regard to traffic conditions in the 
 Far East are fallacious; viz., that the natives are 
 too poor to afford to pay for modern facilities, and 
 that they will not travel freely. The facts are 
 otherwise. Their poverty is partly due to the 
 high charges the deficient native methods inflict, 
 which prevent any movements except those of 
 great inherent profit which can afford the traffic 
 expenses while in the interior of any of the 
 countries here concerned none but the rich can 
 gratify their desire to travel. Where the onlv 
 facility afforded to the poor man is to walk, it be-
 
 280 An American Engineer in China 
 
 comes a condition as fatal to general movement in 
 China as it would be in any other country. As a 
 simple example ol what the Chinese will do when 
 they have the opportunity, the reports of the 
 Canton Customs Office show that the steamers 
 between Hongkong and Canton earn- annually 
 nearly 1,000,000 passengers, a daily average of 
 2,500, in addition to a large but cheaper travel 
 by native junk, of which no record is kept. 
 
 The electric trolley car is a form of railway de- 
 velopment which as yet has made but little head- 
 way, but which is certain to attain great success, 
 being peculiarly suited to the needs of the Chinese 
 on account of the density of population, and the 
 inherent tendency of the natives to prefer short 
 journeys, and journeys made at all hours, rather 
 than at fixed intervals on a regular schedule. 
 The electric tram-way has recently secured a foot- 
 hold in Japan, in Siam, and in a few other isolated 
 points; a few years hence will see its general use. 
 
 One curious and unfortunate feature in connec- 
 tion with Asiatic railways is the diversity of 
 gauges, with the entailed certainty of all the in- 
 conveniences, delays, and unnecessary expenses 
 that were experienced in the United States until 
 a uniform gauge was at last adopted. The gauge 
 of the Japanese system is 3 feet 6 inches, which is 
 found to be inconveniently small ; but as all the 
 lines are alike, and as no outside connections are 
 possible, it is not likely that any change will be
 
 Chapter IX : Railways 281 
 
 made — at least, not for a long time. On the Con- 
 tinent the conditions are more complicated, and 
 such that some day will certainly give trouble. 
 The Russian Trans-Siberian Railway, and the Chi- 
 nese Eastern Railway ( which is t he extension of the 
 former through Manchuria, still nominally Chi- 
 nese territory) to Port Arthur and to a connection 
 with the Imperial Chinese Railway, has a gauge 
 of 5 leet, in accordance with Russian standards. 
 The Indian railways, on the other hand, have an 
 assortment of gauges, one ol 5 feet 6 inches, mis- 
 called the "standard gauge," being used on the 
 principal lines to the extent of about 14,000 miles. 
 Again, a gauge of 1 metre is in force on over 10,000 
 miles, while odd gauges of 2 feet and 2 feet 6 
 inches are found on a number of short lines, aggre- 
 gating, however, nearly 1,000 miles. The Chinese 
 authorities on the Imperial svstem in the north, and 
 on the Shanghai-Wu-sung line, have adopted the 
 European and American standard of 4 feet 8^ 
 inches; and as the same dimension is being fol- 
 lowed by the Belgians on their Hankow- Peking 
 line, and will be used on the English and Ameri- 
 can concessions, a standard is thus formed that 
 will ultimately dominate the Empire, and which 
 in the end the exigencies of traffic will compel 
 the Russian and Indian railways to adopt. 
 
 The time will come, and perhaps at no very dis- 
 tant day, when it will be possible tor a traveller 
 starting, we may say, from Paris, to traverse North
 
 u 
 
 If)
 
 Chapter IX : Railways 283 
 
 Europe by way of Berlin and Moscow ; and to 
 proceed thence through Siberia; south to Peking 
 and China; across India, Persia, and Asia Minor; 
 by car-ferry over the Bosphorus ; and thence 
 through Austria and the Tyrol back to his start- 
 ing point, without changing cars. 
 
 In style of construction the Chinese railways 
 are a compromise between European and Ameri- 
 can lines. They are all single-track lines, except 
 the division between Tien-tsin and Peking. The 
 track is of the American type ; the locomotives 
 are partly American and partly English ; and the 
 cars, both passenger and freight, are an adapta- 
 tion of both the American and English patterns, 
 made to conform with local conditions, and in 
 their construction to come within the facilities of 
 local shops, for all the rolling stock, except the 
 engines, is home-made. 
 
 As a field for the future, China stands pre- 
 eminent on account ol its size, its population, and 
 its well-known but undeveloped mineral wealth, 
 and offers chances and opportunities that are to 
 be found nowhere else in the Orient. 
 
 The Japanese, in his essentials, does not differ 
 radically from other Eastern Asiatic races. Start- 
 ing from a point much inferior in the way of com- 
 mercial development to that attained by the Chi- 
 nese, he has built up, the greater part by his own 
 individual and unassisted efforts, a railway system 
 that can take rank with the railways of any other
 
 Chapter IX : Railways 285 
 
 country. What he has done the Chinese can do, 
 and will do, especially seeing that the conditions 
 for success on the mainland, with possibilities for 
 through traffic and vast mineral deposits await- 
 ing rail transportation outward, exceed those of 
 insular Japan.
 
 Chapter 
 
 X 
 
 The Yellow Peril 
 
 THERE arc two questions in regard to 
 China thai are frequently raised, which 
 merit attention on account of their being 
 supported by a belief that appears to be quite 
 wide-spread. One is whether it is not dangerous 
 commercially to supply the Chinese with facto- 
 ries, mills, railways and other modern means of 
 constructing, by means of which, operated by 
 their cheap labor, they will be able to flood the 
 world with articles at a price lower than they 
 can be manufactured elsewhere, and thus close 
 our own factories, or compel our laborers to 
 work for less pay. The other question is whether 
 it is not dangerous politically to teach the Chi- 
 nese modern methods, lest the}' will devote their 
 energies to making arms and ammunition and 
 overrun the world as Genghis Khan did, and 
 make us all yassals of the Son of Heaven. Both 
 questions are based on a fear of the so-called Yel- 
 low Peril. Let us take them up separately. 
 
 The basis of the first is the prevailing low rate 
 of wages. Although China is a land of surprises 
 and contradictions, the law of supply and demand 
 still remains true. A man is paid five cents a day, 
 because he is worth no more, and because there 
 are more men seeking employment than the 
 
 286
 
 Chapter X: The Yellow Peril 287 
 
 scant diversity of occupation offers opportunities. 
 Wherever in any country the number of occupa- 
 tions is limited, the rate of wages is low ; thus a 
 man receives less for his labor in the rural dis- 
 tricts, where the variety of pursuits is small, than 
 lie docs in the cities, where it is great. Likewise 
 wherever labor is specialized, so that the output of 
 the article made is increased, wages rise ; wherever 
 labor is not specialized, wages fall. 
 
 The extremes of the less desirable of the above 
 conditions are those which exist in China. Ordi- 
 narily the man obtains his bare living in the hard- 
 est possible manner. 11 a farmer, he not only 
 raises his own food, but he spins his cotton or 
 his wool lor 1 1 is clothes; he constructs his own 
 farming implements and makes his own houses. 
 If he be a Laborer in his native cities, he does the 
 most menial o( work, such as carrying water, 
 hauling loads, and doing things that with us are 
 accomplished by animal or machine. We know 
 of our own experience that wherever that is the 
 case, wages rule low. The same thing is true in 
 China. Take any one of the treaty ports where 
 there are enough foreigners residing to make a 
 settlement, wages will be found rising, and ris- 
 ing in proportion as there are activity and diver- 
 sity of occupation. The more cotton mills, the 
 more silk filatures, the higher arc the wages paid. 
 When, therefore, China has reached a condition in 
 which she can invade us, it will be found that the
 
 288 An American Engineer in China 
 
 labor conditions will have adjusted themselves to 
 a new level. 
 
 It is very difficult to argue against the propo- 
 sition that it is unwise to develop a country that 
 some dav may surpass us in trade. Yet the dis- 
 cussion cannot he Left in the condition that the 
 burden of proof rests properly with the affiant, 
 for those people who doubt the wisdom of the 
 policy would consider such a course as conceding 
 the argument. The proposition itself, if carried 
 out to a logical conclusion, would mean that the 
 world at large would be better off commercially 
 if a nation like Germany for instance were ab- 
 solutely destroyed or relegated to barbarism. Or 
 to put it in another form, have the iron masters 
 of England been ruined by the growth of Pitts- 
 burg? Has the cause of civilization or the com- 
 mercial interests of other nations been injured by 
 reclaiming what is now the United States from 
 the Indian tribes who once possessed it? If this 
 reasoning is objected to as not being parallel, in 
 that the development of the United States was 
 due to an overflow from European countries and 
 was not the result of transforming an already ex- 
 isting population from a state of non-production 
 to one of active competition, let us turn to the 
 East for an illustration that is exactly parallel. 
 We will pass over the customs returns of China, 
 which indicate unmistakably a growth in import 
 trade commensurate with that in export, and take
 
 Chapter X : The Yellow Peril 289 
 
 up Japan. !n this we find a country having a 
 dense population, and one where the natives but 
 a few years since were lar behind the Chinese of 
 to-day ; where the prevailing rate of wages was 
 latelv equally low, but whose rapid rise into the 
 ranks of great nations is the marvellous wonder 
 of the age. It is not so very many years since 
 Japan was tightly closed to any and all external 
 relations, and even within a decade it looked to 
 other countries for such manufactured articles as 
 it consumed. Through wise statesmanship, new- 
 industries have been developed, trade nurtured, 
 a merchant marine established carrying the flag 
 of Japan into all ports, while its cities, like Osaka, 
 Kyoto, Nagova and Yokohama, might be mis- 
 taken, if judged by their factory chimneys and 
 active life, for some bustling cities in our own 
 nervous West. If there be anything in the Yel- 
 low Peril, here surely is an opportunity where 
 its evil effects can be seen. Here is a coun- 
 try, oriental in temperament, developed largely 
 through its own energy, and which is not, as the 
 United States may be said to be, a second En- 
 rope. What are the facts? In 1891 the United 
 States sold to Japan goods valued at $4,800,000, 
 and to about the same amount in 1895. In the 
 five years intervening since the latter year, the 
 phenomenal growth in Japanese industrial life has 
 taken place. Instead of the consumption of for- 
 eign articles diminishing, as the alarmists would
 
 290 An American Engineer in China 
 
 have it, the imports from the United States have 
 increased by leaps and bounds, reaching in the fis- 
 cal year ended June 30, 1900, nearly $30,000,000, an 
 increase of about 600 per cent. In 1891 our sales 
 to China amounted to $12,000,000, or more than 
 twice those to Japan, while in 1900 our exports to 
 the former were about $21,000,000, or an increase 
 of less than 100 per cent. In short the advan- 
 tage and benefit to the commerce of this country 
 are greatest in connection with that oriental na- 
 tion which developed the most. An increase 
 of wages in Japan has taken place in comparison 
 with the increase in trade, as was shown to be the 
 case in China on a smaller scale. A few years 
 ago the supply of farm hands was much greater 
 than the demand ; to-day there is difficult)' in pro- 
 curing enough to gather the crops, the men being 
 attracted to the cities by the higher wages paid, 
 and the cheap labor of Japan is fast disappearing. 
 But even in spite of the difference in the ruling 
 rate of wages, in manufactured cotton goods the 
 United States is able to compete successfully with 
 Japan in China, although in the matter of raw 
 material the two nations stand on the same foot- 
 ing, as Japan imports American raw cotton to be 
 manufactured in her own mills. On this point 
 the Chinese Customs Report of 1898 says: "Jap- 
 anese sheetings show an immense decline, said 
 to be due to inequality in texture, which handi- 
 caps them, in competition with American goods."
 
 Chapter X : The Yellow Peril 291 
 
 The Japanese labor is cheap because it is not as 
 efficient. When it is equally experienced, intel- 
 ligent and reliable, it will receive corresponding 
 compensation. So it will be in China. The 
 theory that would keep a large country, embrac- 
 ing an area equal to that of Europe, from the 
 blessings and comforts ot modern civilization, is 
 based only on the idea that trade is not mutual 
 and that the only customer to be desired is he 
 that will buy but cannot sell. 
 
 The second form of Yellow Peril fear rests on 
 the density of Chinese population. The popular- 
 ly conceived picture of China is one where the 
 population has grown to the actual limits that the 
 land can support, and that the "Yellow Terror" 
 needs but the suggestion and the means to burst 
 his bonds, and then from sheer necessity for the ac- 
 quisition of more space will overrun Europe. Let 
 us review briefly the facts in the case and ascer- 
 tain what is the basis for the belief that the popu- 
 lation is either as great as it is popularly supposed 
 to be or that the land is actually over-crowded. 
 
 According to Williams, the first Chinese census 
 of which there is any reliable record was one 
 taken in the year 1331 A.D., which placed the 
 population of the Empire at something less than 
 60,000,000. The first census to which any credit 
 can be attached, however, was one reputed to have 
 been taken in the year 171 1, placing the population 
 at less than 29,000,000, or about one-half of what it
 
 292 An American Engineer in China 
 
 was said to be 406 years before. Although there 
 is considerable doubt as to whether this census 
 included the whole oi the Empire, the general 
 looseness ol statement in regard to the popula- 
 tion is to be noted. In 1812 an elaborate Chinese 
 census was said to have been compiled, placing 
 the population of the country at 362,000,000, and 
 in 1 86S a Russian statistician named Vassilivitch 
 estimated it at 405,000,000. In 1881 figures col- 
 lected through the Maritime Customs officials 
 gave a total of 380,000,000, being a decrease since 
 1868 and an absurdly small increase since 181 2. 
 These last three censuses so called are the ones 
 that are generally accepted as approximating the 
 population of the country, and from which, rely- 
 ing on a normal rate of increase, the present pop- 
 ulation is generally assumed to be about 450,000,- 
 000. Such are the primary facts. Now what is 
 the evidence in support of their reliability ? Of 
 course no actual count of the people in China has 
 ever been undertaken in the same correct and 
 careful manner that the regular count of foreign 
 nations is periodically made. The Chinese officials 
 attempt to keep a record of their people, which is 
 done, not by counting heads, but by ascertaining 
 the number of families in each small district, and 
 then by multiplying the number of families as 
 reported by an average, assumed to give correctly 
 the number of persons per family. In this man- 
 ner the supposed population in any given district
 
 Chapter X : The Yellow Peril 293 
 
 is estimated. These figures are reported from 
 time to time to the higher provincial officers, in 
 order to determine the population oi each province 
 for taxation purposes, and it is on such figures 
 that the great Chinese census of 18 12 was made 
 and the subsequent figures ol Vassiliviteh and the 
 Chinese Customs compiled. If this method were 
 pursued faithfully, even approximately, the gen- 
 eral result would be somewhere near the actual 
 facts, but we know that the Chinese, of all peoples 
 in the world, are the most inaccurate. Whenever 
 a Chinese makes a statement it is invariably pre- 
 ceded by the word "about," and an accurate state- 
 ment of figures or statist ies is something entirely 
 beyond his comprehension. 1 1 is very system of 
 counting stops at ten thousand, and when he 
 wishes to use numbers above that, he is com- 
 pelled to count bv so many tens of thousands. 
 The methods of written arithmetic and of re- 
 cording figures are unknown to him. When he 
 wishes to work out an example in addition or 
 subtraction, or perform any other arithmetical 
 solution, he does so, not with the figures before 
 him, but on a counting machine. To him, figures, 
 or rather accuracy in handling them, mean noth- 
 ing, but when he does use figures, he not only 
 expresses them as "about," but invariably makes 
 an overstatement. It a distance between two 
 points is required, the figures given will always 
 be in excess. If the price of an article is asked,
 
 294 An American Engineer in China 
 
 it is always one greater than the real one, and 
 even in stating his age, where one would natu- 
 rally look for accuracy, he increases the actual 
 figure by one year, by considering that the child 
 is one year old when he is born, and thus it goes 
 through all cases where he has to handle num- 
 bers. Such being the case, his own statements 
 in regard to population cannot command our ac- 
 ceptance without corroborating evidence. As has 
 been shown above, what might be termed the 
 internal evidence of the figures themselves is far 
 from convincing, for not only do the totals fail to 
 show any correlation, but the details of the prov- 
 inces also are sadly at variance. Thus the prov- 
 ince of Kwang-tung, where facts are easily ascer- 
 tainable, was shown in 1812 to contain 19,175,000 
 people, and was given 19,200,000 by the Customs 
 estimate in 188 1, while Sz-chuen, the extreme 
 western province, much less travelled than 
 Kwang-tung, was credited with 21,000,000 in 1812, 
 with 35,000,000 in 1 88 1, and with over 70,000,000 
 now. There has been no such disproportionate 
 growth. The most important of these censuses is, 
 of course, that given out by the Chinese Customs. 
 But the Maritime Customs Bureau had no means 
 of ascertaining the population except through 
 taking the Chinese figures and making such allow- 
 ance in them as seemed proper for local discrep- 
 ancies. The officials of the Customs are located 
 at the treaty ports, where, of course, the greatest
 
 Chapter X : The Yellow Peril 295 
 
 concentration of population exists, and where the 
 outward evidence would seem to support the es- 
 timates of a dense population. 
 
 Various writers on China have discussed this 
 question ol population from both points of 
 view. Williams, in his " Middle Kingdom," says: 
 " Whatever may be our views of the actual popu- 
 lation, it is plain that these censuses, with all their 
 discrepancies and inaccuracies, are the only reli- 
 able sources of information. . . . As the ques- 
 tion stands at present they can be doubted, but 
 cannot be denied ; it is impossible to prove them, 
 still there are many grounds for believing them. 
 The enormous total which they exhibit can be 
 declared to be improbable, but not shown to be 
 impossible." From this, Williams goes on to 
 reason, although showing his own doubt, that 
 we should accept the figures until they can be 
 proved to be untrue. 
 
 Dr. A. II. Smith, who probably knows China 
 and the Chinese as well as any other writer, in 
 his recent book on "Village Life" supports the 
 idea of density of population as shown by the 
 Chinese census, by giving results of actual counts 
 in certain districts in the province of Shan-tung, 
 which would seem to bear out the official figures. 
 Among other critical observers, Mr. Colquhoun 
 states his belief, when comparing India and China, 
 the population of the former being fairly well 
 known, that the population of the latter would
 
 296 An American Engineer in China 
 
 seem to be about 350,000,000, although admitting 
 thai other persons who have examined into this 
 question have put the population below 300,000,- 
 000. An American, General James 11. Wilson, 
 who has travelled extensively in the northern 
 part o! China, which is probably the most densely 
 populated portion, doubts the figures as stated by 
 the various authorities and considers that 360,000,- 
 000 would be the maximum limit that he would 
 believe. Other authorities can be quoted in a sim- 
 ilar strain, the general summary of such opinions 
 being that we should not doubt the Chinese fig- 
 ures until they are disproved, and that although 
 the population appears to the writers to be great, 
 it may not be so great as the census states. Such 
 is the defence of the theory of great density of 
 population. Oi all the statements made, that 
 possibly of Dr. Smith is entitled to the most re- 
 spect, but his figures were taken from the prov- 
 ince of Shan-tung, and on a portion of the great 
 plain, where naturally the population is most 
 dense, as there the greatest facilities for raising 
 crops and supporting the population exist. As 
 his work, that of a missionary, lay principally 
 among villages and places where most people 
 live, it is possible that even he did not make an 
 allowance for the vast areas of waste ground 
 which are to be found all over the Empire. 
 
 While the portion of China actually inspected 
 on my own journey and on other trips to the
 
 Chapter X: The Yellow Peril 297 
 
 north and elsewhere is small as compared with 
 the whole, nevertheless the districts seen were 
 certainly typical and contained the great centres 
 of population. From what I saw I am forced 
 to believe that the density of the population 
 of China has been most grossly exaggerated. 
 Nowhere, not even on the plains surrounding 
 Peking, did I see anything approaching a condi- 
 tion of overcrowding. On all sides there was 
 evidence in abundance that the soil could sup- 
 port a very much larger mass of people than it 
 does at present, and my own attempts to secure 
 figures relating to the population of the districts 
 through which 1 travelled, convinced me that no 
 reliability whatever could be placed on Chinese 
 figures. In some cases it is true the local offi- 
 cial presented me with a tabulated statement 
 showing the population of a district, but when 
 these figures were compared with figures for an 
 adjoining district, and where in each case I was 
 able to make at least a comparison as to the rela- 
 tive density of population of the two, the evidence 
 of unreliability was so great thai 1 was forced to 
 discredit them both. In the majority of cases, in- 
 quiries as to population were productive of no re- 
 sults at all. As Dr. Smith himself states, such a 
 question usually provokes the answer of "Who 
 knows?" or " Quite a few." In one case in my own 
 experience an application made to the local mag- 
 istrate (the man who should keep in his 3 amen a
 
 298 An American Engineer in China 
 
 record of the number of families) as to how many 
 people lived in his district, he replied, " Many tens 
 of thousands." .After he was pressed for greater 
 detail, he replied that he had told me that there 
 were " many " tens of thousands, and lie appeared 
 to really believe that the word " many " gave me 
 an accurate answer to my question. When it is 
 recalled that such men as these are those who 
 gather the basal figures for any census, and bearing 
 in mind the general inaccuracy and looseness of 
 statement characteristic of the Chinese, it seems 
 to me that their figures of population should be set 
 aside as almost unworthy of serious considera- 
 tion. The burden of proof is undoubtedly on the 
 Chinese, and as there is no direct evidence to sup- 
 port their claim, and much to make one doubt it, 
 the whole question seems to be (airly open for un- 
 biassed investigation. 
 
 In other countries the average density of popu- 
 lation depends largely upon the concentration of 
 people in great cities. Of the total population of 
 the State of New York, more than one-half of it 
 is concentrated in a small area, covered bv the 
 City of New York. Of the population of Eng- 
 land, one-fifth of it is comprised in London alone; 
 and if the population of all cities of over 50,000 in 
 any country are removed from consideration, the 
 average number of people per square mile will 
 be found to be very low. It used to be supposed 
 that the cities of China were exceedingly popu-
 
 Chapter X : The Yellow Peril 299 
 
 Ions, Peking being credited with a population of 
 several millions. This is now known and gener- 
 ally admitted not to be the fact, and Peking, 
 instead of being one of the largest cities of the 
 world, evidently does not possess over 700,000 
 inhabitants. 
 
 Taking, for example, the provinces of Hu-peh, 
 Hu-nan, and Kwang-tung, along whose chief trade 
 routes, and consequently most densely populated 
 sections, my journey led me, of these Hu-peh is 
 usually credited with something over 30,000,000. 
 The only large centre of population of Hu-peh is 
 Hankow, which, with Wu-chang and Han-yang, 
 cannot have more than 1,250,000. While there are 
 several other cities in the province, with possibly 
 from 50,000 to 100,000 people each, there is no 
 other very large aggregation of people. Hu-nan 
 has an area of 75,000 square miles, or just about one 
 and one-half times as much as the State of New 
 York. The former is credited with 22,000,000 and 
 the latter with about 7,000,000 of people. My 
 journey through Hu-nan is comparable with a trip 
 from New York to Buffalo, along the line of the 
 Erie Canal and the New York Central Railroad. 
 On the first, there are but two really large cities, 
 Chang-sha and Siang-tan, to offset New York, 
 Albany, Schenectadv, Syracuse, Rochester, Buf- 
 falo, and intermediate points. It is impossible 
 to see how there can be a relative density per 
 square mile of more than two to one in favor of
 
 300 An American Engineer in China 
 
 the Chinese province. Kwang-tung is given 
 30,000,000, approximately, on an area of about 
 80,000 square miles. The northern part is moun- 
 tainous and almost bare of people, and no crowd- 
 ing is apparent until Canton is approached. If 
 the district of Canton, including Fatshan and the 
 other places in the vicinity, be credited with 5,000,- 
 000 — a most generous allowance — there would 
 remain 25,000,000 to be made up by the smaller 
 cities and villages. If these places should aver- 
 age 2,500 people each, there would then be needed 
 10,000 of them. I am quite sure that no such 
 number can be found. 
 
 While I have no means of forming any estimate 
 of the actual number of people to be found in 
 these three provinces, I am convinced that the 
 originally reputed figures are more than twice too 
 great. This view of overestimating on the part 
 of the Chinese is corroborated by the report of a 
 commission sent by the Chamber of Commerce of 
 Lvons, France, in 1895, to investigate the trade 
 conditions of certain parts of China, notably the 
 provinces of Yun-nan and Sz-chuen, in which the 
 French Government claimed special commercial 
 privileges. In order to acquire information they 
 subdivided their main bod)- into several parties, 
 and thus in their two years' work covered all the 
 principal routes. Of the province of Yun-nan, 
 they speak as follows: 
 
 " There is the same uncertainty in the matter of
 
 Chapter X: The Yellow Peril 301 
 
 population. In spite of the authorities, \vc are 
 forced to believe that the figure of twelve mill- 
 ions is too great, and that one of seven or eight 
 millions would come closer to the truth, although 
 a missionary who had travelled much throughout 
 the province gave an estimate of from four to five 
 millions." 
 
 The province of Sz-chuen, which is the largest 
 province in China, has assigned to it a population 
 of 73,000,000. The French commission state that 
 they discard, without hesitation, the above-named 
 figure, and give as their estimate from 40,000,000 
 to 50,000,000, but add that the Customs authori- 
 ties at Chung-king and the missionaries estimate 
 the population at from 30,000,000 to 35,000,000. 
 
 We thus have a careful estimate made by men 
 who can hardly be accused of pessimism, giving 
 but sixty per cent, of the usually quoted figures. 
 In addition to this they felt constrained to point 
 out that the missionaries, who probably know the 
 country better than anybody else, estimate the 
 population on a basis of from thirty to forty per 
 cent. 
 
 The foreigner gets his idea of the overcrowd- 
 ing of China by a cursory trip through the streets 
 of a Chinese city like Canton. These streets are 
 narrow, being but from eight to twelve feet wide, 
 and are consequently crowded, but he must re- 
 member that the widest one of Canton's busi- 
 ness streets is narrower than a single sidewalk in
 
 304 An American Engineer in China 
 
 to consist of several millions of men, weighed 
 down with rifles and ammunition, artillery and 
 ordnance, and the other heavy impedimenta of 
 modern warfare. Thus encumbered — for the 
 whole of the equipment would have to be car- 
 ried from the starting-base — this huge, unwieldy 
 army would have to cross into Europe by one 
 of the three land routes, for an attack by water 
 would be impossible. These routes are: south- 
 westerly across Burma into India, northwesterly 
 across Siberia, or directly west across the high 
 table-land of Central Asia ; in any case a distance 
 of at least-6,000 miles. In either of the first two, 
 the attacking force would be met by defending 
 forces constantly in touch with their base of sup- 
 plies, through their own railway systems, and 
 which on retreating would form a greater concen- 
 tration. The attacking force would be under the 
 disadvantage of working further and further from 
 its base, with its line of communication being 
 thus constantly lengthened and attenuated, and 
 maintained only bv the constructing of new rail- 
 ways as it progressed, for, of course, the defend- 
 ing force, if defeated, would destroy their lines of 
 communication. The last of these routes, that 
 across Central Asia, would involve a march across 
 a high and mountainous country, where there is 
 practically no population, no means whatever of 
 feeding and supporting the gigantic army re- 
 quired, and where the combined Europeans could
 
 Chapter X : The Yellow Peril 305 
 
 leave climatic conditions, starvation, and other 
 natural causes to protect them from the advanc- 
 ing foe. 
 
 To be able to carry out such an invasion there 
 would be required tremendous preparation, the 
 development of industrial enterprise, and the con- 
 sequent bringing up of the people to a high stand- 
 ard of civilization. When that point is reached, 
 the people themselves will shrink from general 
 warfare, as other civilized nations do now, since 
 their interests at home will transcend any possi- 
 ble gain to be obtained abroad. This reluctance 
 in the case of the Chinese will be further enhanced 
 through local racial prejudice, diversity of lan- 
 guage and temperament existing among them- 
 selves, as developed by climatic conditions, vary- 
 ing from the temperate to the tropical. 
 
 The only way in which the yellow races can 
 conquer the world, either commercially or actu- 
 ally, will be, not by force, not by hordes, but by 
 peacefully developing a higher civilization as the 
 Western World has done. The contemplation of 
 future generations receiving from the Far East a 
 betterment in condition and a higher civilization 
 is one that does not appear to contain many 
 terrors.
 
 Chapter 
 
 XI 
 
 China in the Twentieth Century 
 
 IN the preceding chapters there has been pre- 
 sented a brief review of the greater and more 
 important conditions underlying and leading 
 up to such industrial development in China as is 
 found to exist at the close of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury. I have endeavored to let the reader see the 
 country, the people, their ways of doing things, 
 what has been accomplished and the difficulties 
 in the path of further progress, as these appeared 
 to me. But what of the future? We have seen 
 that the Chinese, are absolute and unthinking 
 slaves to precedent and established custom, and 
 how in lieu of a practical and serviceable educa- 
 tion they still continue to memorize the doc- 
 trines of Confucius, who, in his day, merely put 
 into permanent and imperishable form the teach- 
 ings of those whom even he called the ancients. 
 Are these habits so firmly fixed after five thousand 
 years of practice that they cannot be broken? Or 
 in spite of all, does there exist in the Chinese char- 
 acter the latent trait of mobility? The Chinaman 
 was once an engineer of no mean ability. Is he 
 going to let things rest as they are, or will he set 
 about to learn the newer application of science, 
 especially modern methods of transportation, the 
 direction in which he is most deficient ? Will he 
 
 306
 
 Chapter XI : In the Twentieth Century 307 
 
 appreciate the benefits oJ railways and steam-boats, 
 of mines and metallurgy, oi factories and machin- 
 ery, of steam and electricity? Such are the ques- 
 tions that the critic asks alter a survey of the past 
 and present, but which questions are not subjeel to 
 an exact reply. In spite oi difference in surround- 
 ings and appearances, oi personal characteristics 
 and idiosyncrasies, the Chinese are actuated by 
 feelings, reasonings, passions, and motives similar 
 to those of other human beings, so that it is justi- 
 fiable to assume that similar causes will bring 
 about similar results. The development of China, 
 assisted at first perhaps by outside influence, but 
 eventually carried on by the impulses of her own 
 people, is as sure to come to pass as in the case 
 of other nations ; and when at last it has broken 
 down completely the wall of exclusion and isola- 
 tion, the progress that will follow will produce 
 great results, aided as it will be by the mineral 
 wealth of the country and the industrious habits 
 of the people. 
 
 Japan in less than lift}' years has risen from a 
 condition far inferior to that oi China to one 
 where in every walk of life she justly receives the 
 admiration of other nations. What Japan has done 
 there is nothing to prevent China doing. Hut 
 before any regeneration oi China can take place, 
 there is one institution that must go, and will go, 
 and one institution that must come, and will come. 
 The first is the present official class, and their
 
 308 An American Engineer in China 
 
 method of governing, and the last is modern edu- 
 cation, the great prerequisite for a social revolu- 
 tion, and on which all rehabilitation ol the people, 
 including even their religion, will rest. These 
 two are so interdependent that it is difficult to 
 distinguish between cause and effect, but certain 
 it is that the weakening of incompetent rule and 
 the spread of occidental education are each at 
 work to secure the accomplishment of the other. 
 
 In no country is the gulf between the govern- 
 ing and the governed so wide and deep as it is in 
 China. As has been explained, the former appre- 
 ciate that their powers, perquisites, and oppor- 
 tunities for getting rich depend on maintaining 
 the existing condition of affairs. No great or 
 lasting advance is possible while the present sys- 
 tem of officialdom and officialism continues. In 
 this respect China resembles Japan as the latter 
 was when opened to the outside world by Com- 
 modore Perry, and down to the overthrow of the 
 Shogun and the attending feudalism. When these 
 surviving relics of by-gone centuries were swept 
 away, and the power to govern and to act was 
 concentrated in the hands of the Mikado, Japan's 
 regeneration began. There are men in China 
 who are able to see beyond the immediate limits 
 of their personal ends, and who can patriotically 
 consider the needs of their country, and there is 
 rapidly growing among the people an apprecia- 
 tion of wrongs suffered, and a possible betterment
 
 Chapter XI : In the Twentieth Century 309 
 
 to be obtained. This movement will eventually 
 gather momentum sufficient to break down be- 
 fore it the barriers of ignorance, superstition, and 
 selfishness that now impede its progress. In the 
 achieving of this result outside help will do some 
 good, but the greater aid will be secured through 
 the education of the people. Of education, the 
 seeds have been planted, and some of the fruits 
 are alreadv being gathered. The work of dissem- 
 inating modern learning is being carried on freely 
 by the missionary bodies, but as a general rule 
 under a policv that is steadily becoming more 
 liberal in treating education as something which, 
 though possiblv leading to, is in itself distinct 
 from, religion, and a policv which therefore rec- 
 ognizes in schools no difference between those 
 professing Christianity and those adhering to 
 native beliefs. Similar good work is also done 
 through the agencv of a society which is espe- 
 cially organized under foreign and native patron- 
 age, tor the purpose of Diffusing Knowledge, and 
 partly by the labors of the Chinese themselves. 
 This last form is the most encouraging and prom- 
 ising sign. At Peking there was established a 
 well-organized college under imperial sanction 
 and support, where Chinese students could obtain 
 a very liberal education. At Shanghai there is 
 another college, maintained through the personal 
 liberalitv of Sheng Tajen, and at other points 
 throughout the Empire there are similar institu-
 
 3io An American Engineer in China 
 
 
 tions. The several thousand students attending 
 the various "foreign" schools, although perhaps 
 but a small portion of the whole population, nev- 
 ertheless are sufficient to attest the successful and 
 permanent establishment of occidental education. 
 Every student that leaves one of these schools 
 becomes, as it were, a spore centre, whence a little 
 circle of new thought germinates and spreads, 
 and thus the progress and effect of education will 
 proceed, gathering strength of its own accord. 
 
 Two little incidents that came under my own 
 notice will illustrate the spirit that animates the 
 Chinese who have taken up this question of educa- 
 tion. The closing of the so-called foreign schools 
 at Chang-sha was followed by earnest efforts on 
 the part of the authorities to blot out if possible 
 all the effects of their teachings, and to this end 
 the native instructors were ferreted out and com- 
 pelled to leave the capital. During my stop at 
 Chang-sha there came to my boat a messenger 
 who left a package and immediately disappeared. 
 On opening it, it was found to contain a Chinese 
 work on geometry, with the card of the native 
 author who had been on the school staff. He left 
 no address and gave no way in which his gift could 
 be acknowledged. Probably he was hiding some- 
 where in the city and trying to eke out an existence 
 by some lowly trade, and biding his time with a 
 firm confidence that the hour would come again 
 when he could resume his teaching. Hearing
 
 Chapter XI: In the Twentieth Century 311 
 
 that a foreigner, and that foreigner, a man like 
 himself, of scientific training, had at last reached 
 Chang-sha, he knew that in him he would find ap- 
 preciation, and therefore sent his little work with 
 an author's pride. He sought no other reward 
 than the pleasure he took in the knowledge that 
 the thought would be understood. If, as I be- 
 lieve, he did not dare make any more open recog- 
 nition, then the very simplicity of the act indicated 
 the spirit that, when necessity requires, suffices 
 to make the martyr. 
 
 On another occasion a high-class mandarin who 
 accompanied me during part of the journey, asked 
 for advice as to where in China he could best send 
 his two sons to receive a Western education, add- 
 ing that he had been burdened all his life with use- 
 less knowledge and therefore wished his sons to be 
 trained against the day which he was sure was 
 coming for China, when men of intelligence and 
 liberal education would be called on for public 
 office, adding naively that a Christian school was 
 not objectionable. Such examples are by no means 
 isolated. China is full of such men, and corrupt 
 officialism can no more stand against the growing 
 light than can the darkness of night prevent the 
 coming dawn. Education will sweep away the in- 
 crustations that hamper progress, and as each im- 
 provement intheranksof the official class occurs, 
 such addition will hasten the advance and spread 
 of education. Thus the downfall of one will go
 
 3i2 An American Engineer in China 
 
 hand in hand with the rise of the other. Slower in 
 thought and action, slower to accept innovations 
 than the Japanese, yet this very trait makes the 
 Chinese tinner in the new way when once adopt- 
 ed, and therefore we may look in the twentieth 
 century for a development in China, less rapid 
 perhaps in its earlier stages, just as its beginning 
 has been longer postponed, yet in its ultimate ex- 
 pansion more thorough, more complete, and more 
 far-reaching. 
 
 The journey on which this book is based, was 
 made before the " Boxer " outbreak of June, 1900. 
 The latter seems to confirm the above-described 
 traits of national character and existing conditions 
 of life, and to emphasize that there is really no 
 such thing in China as a government, according 
 to our understanding of that term. There is the 
 outward form, but it is entirely devoid of sub- 
 stance. There are officials, but they lack power, 
 and even the imperious will of the Empress Dow- 
 ager cannot be impressed on the people at large. 
 The present disturbance, if it is viewed as a popu- 
 lar uprising, indicates the helplessness of the cen- 
 tral government to govern ; or if it is believed to be 
 actually supported by the authorities, then we see 
 the curious spectacle of a government carrying 
 on a war against the civilized world in concert, 
 with the greater part of its people and the whole 
 of its navy standing by, apparently unmoved.
 
 Chapter XI : In the Twentieth Century 313 
 
 What other country but China can present such 
 an anomaly ? 
 
 But China and the Chinese must not be judged 
 by the movement of a fanatical sect, although that 
 movement may acquire sufficient strength to in- 
 flame the whole country, but rather by the failure 
 to govern on the part of a government whose life- 
 spring has long since been dead. On this account 
 there is no need to destroy the country, to parcel 
 it among the European Powers, or to reduce the 
 people to a state of vassalage to be used by the 
 other nations as " buffer states." Such is not 
 world's progress. The fault lies not in the peo- 
 ple but in the so-called governing class, who are 
 unable or unwilling to guide the people in their 
 tranquil ignorance, or to control them in their 
 ignorant turbulence. If the break-up of China 
 can be prevented for a few years, all this is sus- 
 ceptible of correction. Give China a chance and 
 a little help and she is quite capable of working 
 out her own salvation. Let there be established 
 a government that is capable of governing hon- 
 estly and well. Let order be guaranteed. Let 
 the way be prepared for transforming the dead 
 civilization of the past into the living civilization 
 of the present. As one looks at her fertile fields 
 and sees her patient and industrious people, one 
 cannot help wishing that there may come for 
 China a Peter the Great to elevate his people by 
 the developing of industry and diversifying of oc-
 
 314 An American Engineer in China 
 
 cupation; and a Washington to instil in them a 
 lofty sense of national unity, spirit of freedom, and 
 love of country. The seeds for this work have 
 been sown. Schools have been founded, industries 
 are being multiplied, railways are being built to 
 connect the various parts of the Empire and so 
 actually and metaphorically to bind them together 
 with bonds of steel, while the foreign settlements 
 that are springing up are silent but eloquent wit- 
 nesses of better possible conditions of life. By all 
 of these, if time be given, in spite of such tem- 
 porary set-backs as the present trouble, there will 
 develop in the Chinese a new intellectual activity, 
 and an appreciation of patriotic unity which by 
 making the man from the East and the South feel 
 that he is one with him from the West and the 
 North, will enable China once more to take her 
 place among the great nations of the earth. 
 
 In the work of regeneration the influence of 
 the United States should be, and for many rea- 
 sons inevitably will be, of preponderating weight. 
 Thus we shall have the final confirmation of the 
 singular and interesting circumstance that the 
 world's progress has always been from the rising 
 to the setting sun, ex oriente lux. Now, after a 
 lapse of five thousand years, the youngest of the 
 great nations is preparing to pass on, or rather to 
 return, this light, to the oldest, whence it started 
 in its " circum-orbem " journey. Whether the 
 latter, receiving back the flame, will add some-
 
 Chapter XI: In the Twentieth Century 315 
 
 thing to its brightness as each previous nation 
 has clone, and start it moving once more west- 
 ward, and so begin a new and still higher circle 
 of development for the world, is one of those in- 
 teresting questions that only a generation far in 
 the future will be able to answer. We of to-day 
 are concerned not so much with what China will 
 eventually do with progress, as with what we 
 ourselves can and should do with it now. 
 
 The End.
 
 Ind 
 
 e x 
 
 Accuracy, 123, 293, 294, 297 
 American concession, 44-53, 252 
 
 influence, 173, 314 
 
 op] "inanities, 173-179 
 
 policy, 44, 314 
 Ancestral worship, 140 
 Annam, 39, 263 
 Anti-foreign spirit, 120 
 Arbor culture, 172 
 Arches, 20, 199-205 
 Architecture, Chinese, 215, 217 
 
 Banking, Chinese, 167, 181 
 
 111 concession, 252, 253, 256, 
 257, 262 
 I |i ,11 (Is of government, 27 
 Boxers, 52, 312 
 Bridges, 199-209 
 
 British concessions, 253, 254, 256, 
 257, 262 
 interests, 261, 262 
 possessions, 37, 42 
 Buddhism, 23, 139 
 Budget, Imperial, 189 
 Bulkheads in junks, 227 
 
 Cantilever bridge, 207 
 
 Canton, 45, 46, 99, 100, III, 112, 
 119, 151, 251, 252, 261, 280, 300, 
 301 
 
 1 anton River, 34, 37, 112 
 
 Card, Chinese visiting, 84, 88, 145 
 
 Cash, coin, 182 
 
 Celestial Kingdi 'in, [6 
 
 Census, Chinese, 291-296 
 
 Chair, sedan, 72, 76, 87, 89, 238, 
 239 
 
 Chang Chih-tung, 7, 30, 58, 86, 
 
 119 
 Chang-sha, 6, 50, 52, 82, 87, 103, 
 
 104, 168, 310 
 Character, 127, 215 
 Chan I >ynasty, 20 
 Che-ling Pass, 99 
 Chi-li, pro\ mce of, 35, 163 
 China, area of, 17 
 
 name of, 16 
 ( 'hinese language, 18 
 
 origin of, 18 
 Christianity, introduction of, 24, 
 
 25 
 
 ( 'hiistmas, 70 
 
 City, Chinese, 82, 301 
 
 Civilization, Chinese, 105, 166 
 
 ( 'lassies, ( 'hinese, 20, 60, 137 
 
 ( Ilothing, 80, 105, 167, 287 
 
 1 :oal, 35, 5i. 98. 116, 171, 247, 255 
 
 Coins, Chinese, 182 
 
 Commerce, 148, 180 
 
 with Europe, 160 
 
 with < heat Britain, 160 
 
 with India, 160 
 
 with Japan, 153, 155, 160, 171 
 
 with Russia, 164 
 
 with f'nited States, 160, 161, 
 162, 172 
 Conipradore, 178 
 
 Concessions (settlements), foreign, 
 42 
 
 (railway). See Railways 
 Confucianism, 21, 136 
 ( lonfucius, 20, 21, 22 
 
 temple of, 22, 217 
 Construction, (hinese, 198, 220 
 
 317
 
 3i8 
 
 Index 
 
 ( loolies, 63, 64, 72, 80, 99, 101,239, 
 
 ( ierman lease, 39 
 
 
 265 
 
 possessions, 39 
 
 
 < 'oiini >i;mt fishing, 97 
 
 Government, system of Chinese, 
 
 ( lotton, imports of, 153, 161, 164 
 
 27, 130 
 
 
 Curiosity, 58, 60, 68, 88 
 
 ( rraves, 69, 140, 264, 265 
 
 
 Customs dues, 155, 157, 163 
 
 Great Pure Kingdom, 16 
 
 
 Maritime, 149, 153, 155, 163, 185, 
 
 Great Wall, 23, 215, 249, 250 
 
 
 187, 192, 193 
 
 Guard, 58, 60, 63, 67, 72, 82, 
 
 102, 
 
 native, 154, 192, 193 
 
 118 
 
 
 peculiar Chinese, 95 
 
 Gun-boat 83, 90, 92, 145 
 
 
 Debt of China, 184, 186 
 
 Hankow, 45, 100, 104, 151, 
 
 251. 
 
 Dialects, 18 
 
 252, 261, 299 
 
 
 
 Canton Railway, 45, 46, 252 
 
 253 
 
 Education, 105, 137, 308-311 
 
 Hart, Sir Robert, 149 
 
 
 Empress Dowager, 52, 54, 312 
 
 Highways, 221, 241-244, 245 
 
 
 Engineering, Chinese, 198, 217 
 
 History, Chinese, 19-27 
 
 
 Etiquette, 21, 84, 145 
 
 Hoang (Yellow) Ho, 32, 225 
 
 
 Examination hall, 60 
 
 Ho-nan province, 16 
 
 
 Examinations, 130 
 
 Hongkong, 37, 42 
 
 
 Exclusiveness, 106, 134, 142 
 
 commerce of, 158, 280 
 
 
 Exports, Chinese, 152, 153, 154, 160 
 
 Horse trade, 92 
 
 Horses, 60, 62, 92, 96, 236 
 
 
 Farm produce, 58, 80 
 
 Houses, 109, 116, 152, 167, 
 
 212, 
 
 Farming methods, 96, 220 
 
 213, 216 
 
 
 Finance, Chinese, 181-197 
 
 Hsiens or districts, 29, 76 
 
 
 Flags, 72, 74, 143 
 
 magistrates, 29, 76, 77, 82, 84 
 
 Flour, imports of, 162 
 
 Hu-nan, 5. 35, 46, 48, 54, 70 
 
 8l, 
 
 Food, native, 80, 81, 154 
 
 87, 98, 101, 103, 104 
 
 
 Foreign concessions (settlements), 
 
 Governor of, 52, 81, 83, 88, 1 
 
 68 
 
 42 
 
 population of, 299 
 
 
 devils, 71, 119, 145 
 
 Hu-nanese, anti-foreign, 48, 49 
 
 , 120 
 
 possessions, 36, 43 
 
 Hu-peh, population of, 299 
 
 
 Formosa, 39 
 
 province, 45, 50 
 
 
 French concessions (railway), 255, 
 
 Hydraulics, 219 
 
 
 257, 262 
 
 
 
 possessions, 39, 42 
 
 Imports, 152, 153, 160, 161, 162 
 
 , 164 
 
 Funeral, Chinese, 68 
 
 Inaccuracy, 123, 293, 294, 297 
 Indirectness, 133 
 
 
 Genghis Khan, 25, 286, 303 
 
 Inn, Chinese, 60, 62, 100, 101 
 
 
 German concessions (railway), 253, 
 
 Invasion of Europe, 291, 303, 
 
 304, 
 
 254, 256, 257, 262 
 
 30s
 
 Index 
 
 3 T 9 
 
 J vpan, development of, 289, 290 
 Japanese War, 39, 104, 142, 185, 
 
 250, 252 
 Junks, 55, 90, 113, 227, 229 
 
 Kai-ping coal-mines, 247 
 Kerosene, 35, 153, 175 
 Kiung-chow-wan, 42 
 
 Ki tng si, 30, 35, 106 
 Is i.ki chow, 39, 40, 41, 255 
 Kinder, C. W., 247, 250, 251 
 K( iv -loon, 37, 42, 254 
 Kwang-tung, 46, 50, 101, 109, 170 
 population ot, 294, 300 
 
 Lamps, 175 
 
 iguage, 18 
 Lease of Chinese territory, 39 
 Li 1 lung-chang, 30, 143 
 Li, unit of distance, 123 
 Liao-tung Peninsula, 39 
 Liao-tze, 20 
 Likin, 57, 156, 157, 192 
 Literature. 20 
 Liu Kao-chao, 77, 146, 147 
 Liu Kun-yi, 30 
 L01 5S formation, 34 
 
 Macao, 36, yj 
 Machines, 177, 217, 220 
 Manchu Dynasty, 25, 27 
 Manchuria, 17, 39, 163, 164, 255, 
 
 257, 281 
 Mandarin dialect, 18 
 Magistrates, 29, 76, 77, 82, 84 
 Maps, < Ihinese, 125 
 Matteo Ricci, 25 
 Me-ling Pass, 99 
 Mencius, 20 
 Middle Kingdom, 16 
 Minerals, 35, 49, 51, 98. 116, 171 
 Mines and mining, 218, 219 
 
 Mini; 1 )\ nasty, 25 
 
 M ing tombs, 25 
 
 Mints, 184 
 
 Mob violence, 119 
 
 Monetary system, 181 
 
 Mongol I >\ nasty, 25 
 
 Mongolia, 17 
 
 Movement, appreciation of, 217 
 
 Nan-king, 23, 25, 253 
 Nan-ling Range, 48, 54, 98, 112, 123 
 Ne ti 'l ian mi inks, 24 
 New Year, 71, 103, 117 
 Niu-chwang, 164, 249, 256 
 Nomenclature, lack ol fixed, 16, 
 
 126 
 North River, 37, 98, 99, 1 [2 
 
 Officiai corruption, 1 5 |, 156, 189, 
 
 192, 194, 196, 311 
 ( Mlii ials, 76, 308 
 
 ignorance of, 131, 138 
 
 incompetence of, 121 
 
 powers of, 121, 312 
 
 salaries of, 77 
 Opium, 153 
 < >pium War, 37 
 
 Pagoda, 209, 213 
 
 Parsons < lap, 123 
 
 Patriotism, lack of, 142, 314 
 
 Pawnshops, 109 
 
 Pe-chi-li, Gulf of, 33, 42 
 
 Pei (North) Ho. 37, 98, 99, 112 
 
 Peking, 25, 27, 46, 60, 215, 250, 251, 
 
 252 
 s\ ndicate, 254 
 Pekinge e dialect, 18 
 Placards, 66, 68, 74 
 Point ol v iew, 1 ,1 
 Population, 17, 51, 83, 116, 291, 
 
 303
 
 3-° 
 
 Index 
 
 Port Arthur, 39, 41, 255, 281 
 Portuguese possession, 36 
 Postal sen ice, 43, 195 
 Precedent, importance of, 130 
 
 Prefects, 29, 76 
 Printing discovered, 24 
 Proclamation, 66 
 Provinces, organization of, 29 
 Pumps, 219 
 
 Qi EUE, significance of, 27 
 
 Railway, Chinese Eastern, 249 
 
 concessions, American, 44-53, 
 
 252, 253, 257 
 concessions, Belgian, 252, 253, 
 
 256, 257, 262 
 concessions, British, 253, 254, 
 
 256, 257, 262 
 concessions, French, 255, 257, 
 
 262 
 concessions, German, 253, 254, 
 
 256, 257, 262 
 concessions, Russian, 255, 256, 
 
 257, 262 
 
 concessions, terms of, 258-261 
 construction, 271, 273, 283 
 electric, 279 
 
 equipment, 248, 273, 277, 283 
 gauges, 280, 281 
 Hang-chow-Shanghai, 254 
 Hankow-Canton, 45, 252, 262, 
 
 281 
 Hankow-Peking, 252, 253, 262, 
 
 281 
 Imperial Chinese, 187, 188, 250, 
 
 251, 261, 265, 275, 277, 281 
 Kai-ping, 247 
 Nan-king-Shanghai, 253 
 possibilities, 283, 284 
 tariffs, 277-279 
 traffic, 275-280 
 
 Railway, Trans-Siberian, 163, 188, 
 249, 251, 255, 281 
 
 Wu-sung, 246, 249, 250, 281 
 Railways, 245-285 
 
 constructed, 250, 253, 256 
 
 Director-General, 250 
 
 effect of, 193, 194 
 
 Indian, 267 269, 277, 279, 281 
 
 Japanese, 269-279 
 
 opposition to, 263-266 
 
 political aspect of, 261-263 
 
 primary, 251, 253, 254 
 
 revenue of, 188, 266-269, 273- 
 277 
 
 secondary, 254 
 
 statistics of, 256, 257, 275 
 
 to Burma, 262 
 Reform, 54, 169, 196 
 Religion, 23, 105, 139, 308, 309 
 Revenue, Government, 185, 187, 
 192, 195 
 
 Government, can be increased, 
 156, 193 
 Rice, 153, 162, 172 
 Rice-fields, 241, 242 
 Richtofen, Baron, 49 
 Rivers, importance of, 223 
 
 improvement of, 221, 225, 226, 
 
 245 
 navigation of, 114, 222, 231 
 Road. See Highway 
 Rocket of China, 248, 249 
 Russia, aims of, 163 
 Russian concessions (railway), 255, 
 256, 257, 262 
 interests, 255, 261, 262, 263 
 possessions, 39 
 
 Sails, 91, 229, 231 
 
 Salt, 190 
 
 Sam-shui, 112, 113, 254 
 
 Sam-pans, 234
 
 Index 
 
 3 21 
 
 Shanghai, 33. 43, 149, 151, 154. 194. 
 
 251, 261 
 Shan-si, 34. 35 
 
 Shan-tung, 34, 41, 163, 254, 263, 
 
 295 
 Shao-chou, 112, 116, 118 
 Sheng Tajen, 7, 46, 66, 87, 119, 
 
 253. 309 
 Shen-si, 34, 35, 254 
 Shi 'i>. ' Chinese, 83, 89, 169 
 Siang River, 50, 51, 54, 90, 103, 
 
 104, 105, 224 
 Silk, 153. 170, 172 
 Slipper boat, 234, 235 
 Soldiers, 58, 60, 63, 74, 87, 103 . 
 Squeezes, 78, 196 
 
 "-tition, 115, 264, 309 
 Sz-chuen, 29, 35, 49, 191, 21,; 
 
 Tael, 57, 181 
 Talien-wan, 39 
 Tang I >ynasty, 24 
 Taoism, 20 
 
 I < itais, 29, 193 
 Taxation, system of, 156, 187, 189, 
 
 190, 194, 197 
 Tea, 58, 153, 170, 172 
 Telegraph system, 104 
 
 Temples, 22, 60, 62, 139, 140 
 
 Tibet, 17 
 
 Tien-tsin, 151, 247, 249, 250, 251, 
 
 252, 253, 261 
 Tong-king, 39, 42, 255. 263 
 Tools, Chinese, 175 
 Topography, 32 
 Transit Pass. 156. 157 
 Treaty ports, 148, 149 
 
 'I sm 1 )ynasty, 22 
 Tsung-li Yamen, 28 
 
 l Fniform, military, 71 
 United States commerce, 158, 160, 
 c6i, 162, 172, 283 
 c ( msuls, [74, 179 
 
 \ 11 1 kov, 29, 30, 58, 66, 72, 
 Victoria, 37 
 
 86 
 
 Wages, ran- of, 275, 286,287, 2 9°- 
 
 291 
 Wall, Great, 23, 215, 249, 250 
 Walls, citj . 214 
 Watchmen, 92, 129 
 Weapons, 74, 91 
 Wei-hai-wei, 37, 42 
 Wesl River, 112 
 Whang-Poo Kiang, 33 
 Wheat, 172 
 
 Wheelbarrow, 236, 237 
 Women, 95, 96, 128 
 
 on junks, 57, 231 
 Wu-shui, 112, 113 
 Wu-sung, 246 
 Wu Ting-fang, 7, 45 
 
 Yamen, 62, 67, 86 
 
 runner, 65, 67 
 Yang-tze Kiang, 33, 54, 58, 98, 100, 
 
 151, 222, 225, 252 
 Valley, 32, 42, 98, 99, 151 
 Yellow Peril, 291, 305 
 
 River, 32 
 Yo-chou, 81 
 Yun-nan, 255, 262, 300
 
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