m m s C=5 £S ^XilJONVSOl^ A\40S'ANCn% '^JSiaDNVSOl^ "^/^aJAINO 3\\V^ ^^WEUNIVER% ^omyiQ"^ \q\ ^lOSANCEl^^ ^OfCALIF(%^ ^0F( &AbVJI8n# "^^AJl ^l•UBRARYQ^ ^.OFCAlIFOff^ ^OFCAllFOfi*^ .\WEUNIVERy/A .5X\EUNIVERS/A. =: *c ^TilJONVSOl^ ^^WEUNIVERS/A ^ _ ^lOSANCn^^ ^^HiBRARYOc^ .^>^HlB JCEifj> ^ ^^ — x%. %a3AiNn'3\\v ,^^!^HlBRARYQ^ ^^sM-lIBRARY^ .^W^UNIVERVA ^S:lOSANCElfJ^ ^OFrAllFO% >^.^ •5: ^ OU--i: i l^€)ii^e) Digitized by tine Internet Arcliive in 2007 witli funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation littp://www.arcliive.org/details/cliinadouglasOOdougiala A THIBETAN LAMA, AT PEKING. CHINA ROBERT K. DOUGLAS Of the British Museum. Professor of Chinese at King's College, London Ch'na as a nation makes the -or hole -a/or Id her debtor ' REVISED AND ENLARGED WITH MAXr ILLUSTRA TIONS AND AN INDEX akron, ohio The Saalfield Publishing Co New York 1903 MP ANY Chicago COPYRIGJIT BY D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY 1885 COPYRIGHT 1895 By the WERNER COMPANY History of China .*• .•• « ♦ • t * .' • < 7^1 PREFACE. In the English edition of the volume now republished, the author acknowledged his in- debtedness in preparing it to Doctor Legge's " Chinese Classics," Archdeacon Gray's work on China, Doolittle's " Social Life of the Chinese," Dennys's "Chinese Folklore," Mayers's "Chinese" Reader's Manual," Sir John Davis's " Poetry > of the Chinese," as well as to the important J linguistic, religious and topographical writings of Doctor Edkins of Peking, and to other foreign and native works- Among the laborers to whom Professor Douglas was much indebted, the late Professor S. Wells ^ Williams, of Yale College, should be also prom- S inently mentioned. Probabl}" his work on the «v^ ^Middle Kingdom contains more information of value than any other single volume in our language, especially in the revised form given ^^ it b}' the lamented author just at the close of his life. ' In reprinting Professor Douglas's work, it 5 42S143 6 Preface. "has been thought best to supply an analytical Table of Contents and an Index, conveniences often omitted in otherwise valuable English pub- lications ; and the opportunity has been embraced to revise the text somewhat in such a way as to render it more useful to its new readers, though no liberty has been taken with the author's statements of facts. A Chinese scholar, who combines a famili- arity with the wisdom of his native land and acquaintance with the civilization and intelli- gence of America, has read the text and has suggested a few remarks which have taken the form of footnotes. Probably the present is the first work on China that has thus had the advantage of careful revision by a native of the Flowery Land educated in the civilization of both the Eastern and the Western hemispheres. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. —SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. Obscurity of the origin of the Chinese, 17. Culture of the earliest Settlers, 19. Writing, Arts, Astronomy, etc., 20. Babylonian (Accadian) Parallelisms, 23. The Year, 24. Mesopotamian Culture, 25. Divisions of the Empire, 26. The Term Shang-te, 27. The great Flood, 28. The China of the Chow Dynast}-, 30. Reign of Kang, 31. Spread of Lawlessness, 32. The In- vention of Writing ordered, 36. War, 37. Degeneracy, 38. Confucius and Mencius, 40. Feudalism abolished, 42. The Great Wall, 43. The Dynasties, 44. The present Manchoo Rulers, 45. Schaal, the Jesuit, arrives, 46. Tibet added to the Empire, 49. Americans come, 49. Science enters, 51. Second English Embassy, 55. Bad Condition of Affairs, 56. Opium War, 57. Tai-ping Rebellion, 59. England proclaims War, 60. Chinese Gordon appears, 65. Women rule, 67. Rebellion in Yunnan, 70. A royal Maniage, 71. An imperial Death, 81. Peace, 86. CHAPTER II.— THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. A patriarchal Despotism, 87. Limit of royal Power, 88. Viceroys, 90. Corrupt Civil-service, 93. Ill-gotteirGain, 94. Light Taxes, 96. A popular Prefect, 98. Imperial Censors, 99. Lax Moral- ity in administering Justice, 100. Tortures, etc, 103. Horrible Executions, 103. Strangulation, 104. Lynching, 105. Loath- Bome Dungeons, 107. The Canque, 112. 8 Contents. CHAPTER III.— MARRIAGE. Institution of Marriage, 113. Marriage by Capture, 11 -i. Wedding Ceremonies, 116. Wedding Cards, 120. Presents, 122. Women difficult to manage, 127. Concubines, 128. Deatli better than Marriage, 129. Widows, 130. Suicide of Widows, 132. Cere- moniousness of the Chinese, 135. CHAPTER IV.— THE NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG. Baby's Advent, 137. Baby's Cries, 1-38. Omras, 139. Mother's Movements, 140. Father's Power, 141. Subjection of Children, 142. Punishment, 143. Filial Piety, 144. School-Life, 145. No Alphabet to learn, 146. The four Books and five Classics, 147. Two respectable Pursuits, 148. Fame vs. Rank, 149. Candidates for Office, 150. Examinations, 152. Essay-writing, 153. Belling the Deer, 155. Successful ! 156. Another De- gree, 157. Military Examinations, 161. Warlike Backward- ness, 163. CHAPTER v. — FOOD AND DRESS. Variety of Climate, 164. Chopsticks and Slippery Food, 167. A cottage Dinner, 168. A Bill-of-Fare, 169. Dogs, Cats and other Delicacies, 170. Courses of a Feast, 171. Another Bill- of-Fare, 172. Fishes, 175. . Oysters, 178. Poultry, 179. No Milk, 180. Clothing, 183. Buttons and Rank, 185. Modes of Hair-dressing, 188. Compressed Feet, 190. Barbers and Pigtails, 195. Shaven Heads, 197. Whiskers and Mustaches, 199. CHAPTER VI.— AGRICULTURE. Agriculture highly esteemed, 200. Agricultural Boards, 202. Pro- cesses, 203. Products, 205. Rice Fields, 205. Irrigation, 206. Threshing, 209. Tea-plants, 210. Cultivation of Tea, 213. Contents. 9 Varieties of Tea, 215. Tea-drinking, 216. Silk-culture, 218. The Silkworms, 219. Care of Them, 220. Superstitions, 221. Weaving Silk, 222. Wild Silkworms, 225. Insect-wax, 226. CHAPTER Vir. — MEDICINE. Antiquity of the Medical Art, 229. Highest Development, 2-30, Empiricism, 231. No Medical Colleges, 232. Quack Doctors, 233. Remedies, 234. Fees, 235. Acupuncture, 236. Insanity, 237. Mercury early used, 238. CHAPTER VIII.— MUSIC. Antiquity of Music, 239. Pre-Chinese Stage, 240. Instruments,. 241. Musical Stones, 243. Bells, 245. Gongs, 247. Stringed Instruments the Favorites, 248. Music and Politics, 250. Music and Morals, 253. The Imperial Board of Music 254. CHAPTER IX.— ARCHITECTURE. No old Buildings or Ruins, 255. Tent-like Structures, 256. Dreary Streets, 257. Uniform Houses, 258. No Comforts, 262. Colors regulated by Law, 263. Streets and Roads, 264. Shops, 266. Foos, 266. ^ Walls, 271. Temples, 272. Buddhist Temples, 277> Padogas, 279. . ♦ CHAPTER X.— DRAWING. Antiquity of the Art, 280. Chinese not artistic, 283. Mechanical Rules followed, 284. Art Legislation, 288. Landscape Draw- ing, 289. Portraits, 289. A Tragedy, 290. CHAPTER XI.— TRAVELLING. Slow and Sure, 291. No Springs to the Carriages, 292. Mules and Ponies, 293. Boats, 294. Junks that go to Sea, 297. Typhoons sweep the Seas, 299. Living in Boats, 300. Advan- tages of Boats, 302. " Travel by Wheelbarrow, 304. System of Highways, 309. Bridges, 310. 10 Contents. • CHAPTER XII.— HONORS. Honors not Inheritable, 312. Posthumous Honors, 313. Titles, 314. Gordon's Honors, 315. Yellow Jackets, 317. Permission to ride into the Palace, 318. Women honored, 319. Miss Wang's Reward for Propriety, .320. Spinster's Honors, 322. CHAPTER XIII.— NAMES. Antiquity of Surnames, 324. Intermarriages, 325. The twelve Sing, 326. The Ancestral Hall, 327. Professor of Ceremonies, 329. Personal Names, 331. The Milk Name, 331. High-sounding Names, 332. CHAPTER XIV.— THE CHINESE YEAR. Antiquity (as usual) of the Months, 333. Intercalaiy Month, 335. Rejoicings on New Year's Day, 335. A good Time to make Matrimonial Engagements, 337. Omens, 338. Symbolism, 340. Women feast, 340. Feast of Lanterns, 341. Women out after Dark, 342. Work again, 343. Food appropriate for this Period, 344. Divisions of the Year, 345. Atmospheric Changes, 347. Spring "received" officially, 348. Imperial Sod-turning, 349. Sacrificial Plowing, 352. In the Graveyard, 355. For the Comfort of the Manes, -356. Superstitions, 358. Buddha's Birthday, 359. Dragon-boat Festival, 360. Cart Races, 362. Women Sacrifice, 364. Ghost-feeding, 365. Festival of the Moon, 367. Imperial Hunting, 368. Kite-flying, 371. Preparing the Ghosts for Winter, 372. Thanksgiving-Day, 377. Shaving heads, 379. Kitchen-gods honored, 381. Sexagenary Cycles, 383. CHAPTER XV.— SUPERSTITIONS. English Superstitions, 386. Coincidences, 387. Eclipses, 388. Watch- ing the Planets, 392. Portents, 393. Divining the Future, 395. Fortune-telling, 397. Physiognomy, 399. Back Hair vs. Offi- Contents. 11 cial Advance, 401. The Month and its Meanings, 402. Spirit- ualism, 404. Magic Pencils, 406. Clairvoyance, 409. CHAPTER XVI.— FUNERAL RITES. Antiquity of Burials, 410. Immolations, 411. Trosseau for the next World, 412. Death-bed Scenes, 413. Omens, 415. Death Letters, 416. The future Life, 418. Burial-services, 420. The ancestral Tablet, 423. Anniversaries, 425. Sepulchres, 425. Cremation, 427. CHAPTER XVII.— THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. The three Religions, 428. Shang-te, 430. Teachings of Confucius, 430. Fading Belief in a personal Deity, 429. Self-cultivation, 433. Heaven, 434. Taouism, 438. Rs origin, 439. The Nir- vana of the Buddhists, 441. Superstitions, 443. Monopoly of Taouism, 445. Buddhism, 446. Indian Missionaries, 449. Relics, 450. Philosophical Ideas, 452. Pure Nothingness, 455. A ter- restrial Paradise necessary, 459. Buddhism disowned, 460. Mahommadenism, 463. CHAPTER XVni.— THE LANGUAGE. No clear Account of the Origin of Language, 464. The eight Diagrams, 465. The Kwei Writing, 466. Tradition concerning the Origin of Writing, 467. Phonetic Writing, 469. A fixed System,, 471. Ignorance of Philolog}-, 472. Suffixes, 475. Classification of the Characters, 476. A Cumbersome System, 478. Double Words, 479. Compound words, 481. Probable Origin of the Language, 482. Phonetic Decay, 484. Power of Tones, 485. Absence of Inflexion, 488. Self-depreciation in Conversation, 489. The Imperial we, 491. Modes and Tenses, 493. 12 Contents. CHAPTER XIX.— THE LITERATURE. Literary Activity, 494. An unplastic Language, 495. Origin of tbe Literature, 496. The most antique Book, 497. Light on the Aborigines, 499. Book of History, 502. Science wanting, 504. Work of Confucius, 507. Mencius, 511. Burning Librar- ies, 612. Re-creating the Literature, 517. Biography, 530. Phil- osophy, 534. Astronomy, 535. Golden Age of Letters. 538. Encyclopaedias, 539. Essay-writing, 545. Poetry, 547. Dramatic Work, 552. Theatres, 554. Novels, 555. CHAPTER XX.— CONTINUATION OF HISTORY OF CHINESE EMPIRE FROM 1875 TO 1894 INCLUSIVE.* Li-Hung-Chang appointed Prime Minister, 558, The war in Kashgaria, 559. Railway construction, 560. Capture of Kashgar, 562. St. Petersburg Mission fails, 563. Marquis Tseng's success, 56;i. Retrocession of Kuldja, 563. The Opium Trade. 565. Revolt on Island of Hainan, 566. General Grant visits Pek- ing, 566. Death of Empress Regent Tsi-An, 566. Treaty with Cores, 566. Japanese resentment, 567. The Tonquin War, 567. King of Annam Surrenders to France. 569. An " unofficial war," 569. The Treaty of Tientsin, 571. English occupy Port Hamilton, 572. Prince Chun becomes Dictator, 573. Educa- tional Advancement, 574. Railway Progress, 575. '• China's Sorrow," 575. Marriage of Emperor, 576. He ascends the Throne, 576. Right of Audience, 577. United States Minister Blair, 578. Trade and Commerce, 579. Japan lands troops in Corea, 581. Defeat of Corean army, 581. China demands withdrawal of Japanese Troops, 581. Declaration of War, 683. Japanese army lands in Manchuria, 583. Japanese victories, 584. Chinese Army and Navy, 585. China's Humiliation, 587. Japanese Atrocities, 587. Chinese Envoys proce;gd to Japan, 588. China's Executive Government, 591. China beyond the Wall, 592. Indkx ' . . . . 596 ♦Note.— For the continuation of the history of China, up to the close of the year 1894, see Chap, xx, at end of book. ILLUSTEATIONS A Tibetan Lama at Pekixo . Scenery in Western China . Natives of Southwestern China Natives of Western China (Ta-Ii) Image of Confucius ..... Chinesf- Water-proof Clothing The Chinese Wall Types mk uncivilized Women . A Chinese Boat-woman and Children A Street in the North of China A Valley in Southwestern China Natives of Southwestern China. (JJorthern Yunnan A Mandarin in his Sedan-chair . The Bastinado A Prisoner in the Canque Part of a Chinese bridal Procession A Bridal Procession Chinese Bride and Groom Household Ornaments A Schoolgirl A Chinese Teacher . Chinese Mope of Dressing the Hair . Cormorant-fishing from a Raft . Chinese Head-dress, Bracelets and Ear-ornaments A Hong Kong Woman . ^ . . . Frontispiece. •21 27 33 35 39 42 47 53 63 83 97 101 109 117 122 123 136 146 159 165 173 181 136 14 Illustrations, Types of Chinese Gihls . MoTHEK ANu Child . Compressed Feet A Street Bakbei: at Work JIen's Faces A Street Barber A Chinese Farm Chinese Agriculture In a Chinese Farm-yard . Roasting Tea In a Tea-Shop . Preparing Tea . The Tea-plant . Musical Women . Chinese Musicians A Chinese Gateway A Mandarin's Yamun official A Chinese Shop . In a Chinese Garden A War-tower . . . A City Gate A Chinese Portrait-painter A Chinese Artist at work A Chinese Junk Chinese Boats . A Mandarin's Junk . Chinese Coasting-vessels « Passenger-boats . A. Wheelbarrow with Sail Sacrificial Plowing . Kite-klying .... Women of Southern China Residence Illustrations Im a Chinese Cemeteuy . A BuDPHisT Abbot . . A Chinese Shrike In a Temple .... Mahommeuan Pagodas at Ta-li A Chinese Mahommedan . A Chinese Teachek and Plpil Chinese Street Amusements . At Breakfast .... Crocodile Point, Si-kiang Kiver Chinese Scenery near Ha-ngan A Chinese Gentleman 16 425 431 445 451 457 461 475 511 515 521 531 541 CHINA. CHAPTER I. SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 'pHE origin of the Chi- ue'ae race is shrouded ill some obscurity, the first records we have of it representing it as a band of im- migrants settling in the northeastern prov- inces of the modern empire of China, and way amongst the aborigines, ; Jews of old forced their inaan against the various they found in possession of It is probable that though entered China, by the same separated into bands almost route 18 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. on the threshold of the empire. One body, those who have left us the records of their history in the ancient Chinese books, apparently followed the course of the Yellow (Hoang-ho) River, and^ turning southward with it from it:^ northernmost bend, settled themselves in the fertile districts of the provinces of Shansi and Honan. As we find also that at about the same period a large settlement was made as far south as Annanu of which there is no mention in the books of the northern Chinese, we must assume that an- other body struck directly southward through the southern provinces of China to that country. The question then arises, Where did these people come from? and the answer which re- cent research gives to this question is, From the south of the Caspian Sea. In the chapter on the Chinese language we shall give the philological reasons which have led to this discovery. Here we will merely say that, in all probability, the outbreak in Susiana of, possibly, some political disturbance, which occurred about the twenty-fourth or twenty-third centur}' be- fore Christ, drove the Chinese from the land of their adoption, and that they wandered eastward until they finally settled in China Western Origin of the Chinese. 19 and the countries south of it. Such an emi- gration is by no means unusual in Asia. We know that the Ottoman Turks originally had their home in Northern Mongolia, and we have a record of the movement, at the end of the last century, of a body of six hundred thou- sand Kalmucks from Russia to the confines of China.* It would appear also that the Chinese came into China possessed of the resources of Western Asian culture. They brought with them a knowledge of writing and astronomy, as well as of the arts which primarily minister to the wants and comfort of mankind. The inven- tion of these civilizing influences is traditionally attributed to the Emperor Hwang-te, who is said to have reigned from B. c. 2697-2597; but the name of this sovereign leads ns to suppose that he never sat on the throne in China. One of his names, we are told, was Nai, anciently Nak, and in the Chinese paleographical collection he is described by a character composed of a group of phonographs which read Nak-kon-ti. The resemblance between this name and that of Nakhunte, who, according to the Susian texts, *ln this connection the reader will be interested in De Quincey's thrilling account of the Flight of a Tartar Tribe. 20 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. was the chief of the gods, is sufficiently striking, and many of the attributes ascribed to him are such as to phice liim on an equality with tlie Susiau deity. In exact accordance also with the system of Babylonian chronologj', he estab- lished a cycle of twelve years, and fixed the length of the year at three hundred and sixty days composed of twelve months, with an intercalary month to produce a correspondence with the Solar year. Further, we are told that he built a Ling tai, or observatoiy (reminding us of the Babylonian Ziffguratu, or house of ob- servation), "from which to watch the movements of the heavenly bodies." The primitive Chinese, like the Babylonians, recognized five planets besides the sun and moon, and, witli one exception, knew them b}' the same names. Jupiter, which among the Chaldeans was called " The planet," appears among the Chinese as " The one." To Bab}- lonians and Chinese alike, Mars was " King " and " Criminal," and Saturn " Kinjr " and "Righteousness," while among the first Venus was known as the " Queen of the defences of heaven," and among the latter as " Soldiers waiting." Mercur}'^ was recognized by difi'er- Babylonian Parallelisms. 23 tnt names, from which fact it may possibly be inferred that it was discovered b}^ both peoples at a comparatively recent date.* The various phases of these planets were care- fully watched, and portents were derived from «very real and imaginary change in their relative positions and colors. A comparison be- tween the astrological tablets, translated by Pro- fessor Sayce and the astrological chapter (27th) in the She ke, the earliest of the Dynastic His- tories, shows a remarkable parallelism, not only in the general style of the forecasts, but in particular portents which are so contrary to the prejudices of the Chinese as a nation, and to the train of thought of the people that they would be at once put down as of foreign origin, even if they were not found in the Babylonian records. Such, for example, are the constant references to the country of the "des- ert," to the adverse fortunes of the empire, and the common occurrence of such expres- sions as "Soldiers arise;" but the most curious coincidence is the occurrence, in both chroni- cles, of the forecast — " Gold is exchanged." Professor Sayce, being uncertain as to the * Sayce's Astronomy and Astrology of the Babylonians. 24 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. exact translation, adds a query to the render- ing just given, and in the Chinese we have but tlie words Tui^ " (Coin) is exchanged," and Puh tui, "(Coin) is not exchanged." In the reign of Chwan Hn (2513-2435 B. c.) we find according to the Chinese records, that the year, as among the Chaldeans, began with the third month of the Sohir y^J'r, and a com- parison between the ancient names of the months given in the Urh ya, the oldest Chinese diction- ary, with the Accadian equivalents, shows, in some instances, an exact identity-. For example, in Cliinese tlie fifth month was called HaoUy "bright;" the ninth month Huen, "dark;" the tenth month Yang^ "bright," "the sun," "the day;" the eleventh month Koo, "a crime," "a failure;" and the twelfth month Tsu, "heav}'- dew or rain." Turning now to the Accadian, we find that these months were respectively known as Dhe dhegar, " fire mak- ing fire;" Yanyanna, "thick clouds;" Ahha suddu, " the cave of the rising of the sun ; "' "the malediction of rain;"" and lastly "the month of mists." These parallelisms, together with a host of others which might be ad- duced, all point to the existence of an early The F'ung People. 25 relationship between Chinese and Mesopota- mian culture ; and seem to indicate that, armed with the advantages thus possessed, the Chinese entered into the empire over which they were ultimately to spread themselves. * They came among tribes, who, though some- what inferior to them in general civilization, were by no means destitute of culture. "We learn from the " Book of History " that the first Chinese rulers employed ^len of the Le tribe to calculate the equinoxes, and a man of the Kwei people to determine the notes of music. As has been conjectured by M. Terrien de La Couperie, these Kwei — remnants of whom are found to this day in Northern Cam- bodia — were an Aryan people. They certainly possessed a literature which, we are told, contained a treatise on music, to which the Kwei shoo, " the Kwei Books," probably refer. Like many other references to the aboriginal tribes in the early histories, this expression, Kwei shoo, has been entirely misunderstood, and since the character Kwei, which in this case *"Les Origines de I'Histoire d'apres la Bible." Par Frangois Lenormant. This worlt exists in an American edition translated by Professor Francis BrowTi. -New York : Charles Scribner's Sons. 26 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. is to be read only as a phonograph, means Tortoise, the tradition has arisen that the Kwei shoo was a book written on the shell of a tortoise. In the same way we are told that the" F'uhg people came to court and delighted the Chinese emperor by their skill in dancing and singing, and, as a token of their homage, presented him some of their books. These F'ung people still exist in Southwestern China ; but, in defiance of this fact and of common- sense, it has been universally accepted by Chinese writers that, because the character which is used to represent the sound F'ung bears the meaning of phoenix, it was birds bear- ing that name that visited the Chinese court and displayed their acconiplisliments. Among such people, and others of, a lower civilization, such as the Jungs of the west and the Teks, the ancestors of the Tekke Turco- mans, in the north, the Chinese succeeded in establishing themselves. The Emperor Yaou (2356-2255 b. c.) divided his kingdom into twelve portions, presided over by as many Pastors, in exact imitation of the duodenarj' feudal system of Susa with their twelve Pastor Princes To Yaou succeeded Shun, who carried on the Who was Shang-te ? 27 work of his predecessor of consolidating the Chinese power with energy and success. In his reign the first mention is made of religious worship. We are told that "he sacrificed spe- cially, but with the ordinary forms, to Shang-te ; sacrificed with purity and reverence to the six NATIVES OF SOUTHWESTERN CHINA. Honoured Ones ; oifered appropriate sacrifices to the hills and rivers, and extended his worship to the host of spirits." Much controversy has arisen as to the interpretation of the term Shang-te. By some he is regarded as having held the position among the ancient Chinese that Jehovah held among the Jews of old; 28 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Ejnpire. and certainly many of his attribiites are the same as those of the Jewish God. He was ' believed to exercise a minute and personal control over tlie fortunes of the Chinese. It was by his favor that kings rose to power ; and when, in consequence of their iniquities, he withdrew his segis from them, they fell to make room for others better than they. He was the supreme ruler. About the derivation of the character te, there has been as much difference of opinion as about tlie meaning of Shang-te. No satisfactory Chinese et3'mology has been found for it, and it is in all prob- ability nothing more than the eight point star of the Accadians, meaning " ruler." Com- bined witli the character Shang, it may be translated supreme ruler, but we find it, like the Accadian character, applied to temporal rulers among the Chinese. Of the six Honored Ones Chinese writers have not been able to offer any explanation. In the Susian texts, however, we find that next in rank to the chief deity were six gods of an inferior grade. In Shun's reign occurred the great flood which inundated most of the provinces of the existing empire. The waters, we are told, rose The " Great Flood." 29 to so great a height, that the people had to betake themselves to the mountains to escape death. The disaster arose, as many similar dis- asters of a less magnitude have since arisen, in consequence of the Yellow River bursting its bounds. The "Great Yu" was appointed to lead the waters back to their channel. With unremitting energy he set about his task, and \n nine years succeeded in bringing the river under control. During this period so absorbed was he in his work that, we are told, 'lie took heed neither of food nor clothing, and thrice passed the door of his house without once stopping to enter. At the completion of his labors, he divided the empire into nine instead of twelve provinces ; and tradition represents him as having engraved a record of his toils on a stone tablet on Mount Heng, in the pro- vince of Hoopih. As a reward for the ser- vices he thus rendered to the empire, he was invested with the principality of Hea, and after having served as prime minister to Shun for some years, he succeeded that sovereign on his death, in 2208 B. c. With Yu began the dynasty of Hea, which gave place in 1766 b. c, to the Shang Dynasty. 30 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. The last sovereign of the Hea line, Kieh kwei, is said to have been a monster of iniquity, and to have suffered the just punishment for his crimes at tlie hands of T'ang, the prince of the State of Shang, who took his throne from him. In like manner*, six hundred and forty years later. Woo Wang, the Prince of Chow, overthrew Chow Sin, the last of the Shang Dynasty, and establislied himself as the chief of the sovereign state of the empire. By " empire " it must not be supposed tliat the empire, as it exists at present, is meant. The China of the Chow Dynasty lay between the 33d and 38th parallels of latitude, and the 106th "and 119th of longitude only, and extended over no more than portions of the provinces of Pih chih-li, Shanse, Sheiise, Honan, Keang-se, and Sliang-tung. This territory was re-arranged by Woo Wang into the nine prin- cipalities established by Yu, and in accordance with his right as sovereign, he appointed over each a member of his own family or following, with the exception of one, the State of Sung, where a youthful scion of the Shang Dynasty was allowed to occupy the throne. Woo is held up in Chinese history as one of the Woo, the Model Monarch. 31 model monarchs of antiquity. He insisted, we are told, with great earnestness on the import- ance of having the people taught thoroughly the duties of the five relations of society, viz., those of (1) ministers to their sovereign ; (2) children to their parents ; (3) husband to wife ; (4) brother to brother; (5) and friend to friend: I of their being well fed, and of the proper observance of funeral ceremonies and sacrifices. In his administration of the affairs of the em- pire he was ably seconded by his brother, the Duke of Chow, who on the death of Woo became regent during the minority of the im- perial successor, Ching (b. c. 1115). Under the next ruler, K'ang (b. c. 1078-1053), the empire was consolidated, and the feudal princes one and all acknowledged their allegi- ance to the ruling house of Chow. Under succeeding sovereigns jealousies and strifes broke out among them, and their loyalty to the liege lord fluctuated with the pow^ he exercised. From all accounts there speedily occurred a marked degeneracy in the characters of the Chow kings. History tells us little about them, and that little is generally not to their credit. Among the most conspicuous of the early 82 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. kings was Muh (1001-947), who lias rendered himself notorious for having promulgated a penal code, under which the redemption of punishments was made permissable by the pa}-- ment of fines. The charge brought against him by historians, that tliis enactment first opened the door to the system of bribery and corrup- tion which has since produced great evils in China, may possibly be well founded ; but however this may be, it, at the time, only added one more source of harm to the grow- ing disorder of the State. Already a spirit of lawlessness was spreading far and wide among the princes and nobles, and wars and rumors of wars were creating misery and unrest throughout the country. Notwithstanding this, that literary instinct, which has been a marked characteristic of the Chi- nese throughout their long history, continued as active as ever. At stated intervals, officials, we are told, ^ere sent in "light carriages" into all parts of the empire to collect words from the changing dialects of each district; and at the time of the royal progresses the official music-masters and historiographers of each principality pret^ented to the officials of She Chow's System of Writing. «5 the sovereign state appointed for the purpose collections of the odes and songs of each local- IMAGE OF CONFUCILS. ity, in order, we are told, that the character of the rule exercised ' by their several princes 36 Sketch of the Hutory of the Chinese Empire. should be judged by the tone of the poetical and musical productions of tlieir subjects. Tlie odes and songs thus collected were carefully preserved in the royal archives, and it was from these materials that, as is commonly be- lieved, Confucius compiled the celebrated She King^ or Book of Odes, of which we shall speak hereafter. It is obvious that at the period of which we have been writing, the great variety of dialects existing, both in the states and among the feudatory tribes outside the frontiers, was giving rise to serious difficulties in the way of administering the kingdom, and was foster- ing a tendency to separation among the vari- ous peoples. In addition to this, the ancient characters of the language had, for reasons which will be hereafter explained, become to a great extent unintelligible. To correct these evils King Seuen (827-781) directed a man famous in Chinese history, She Chow by name, to invent a mode of writing known as Ta chuen, or the Great Seal characters, in con- formity with a system of a certain number of strokes, in order to establish a recognized centre of literary unity in the use of the A Degenerate Age. 87 written characters. Such an artificial system could only be made to serve the object pro- posed under the rule of a succession of su- premely powerful sovereigns, and as such were denied to Cliina at that period it failed en- tirely. Far from keeping up even the semblance of the authority exercised by the earlier Chow sovereigns, the successors of King Seuen failed to maintain any order among the subordinate princes. The hand of every man was against his neighbor, and a constant state of interne- cine war succeeded the peace and prosperity which had existed under the rule of Woo Wang. In the social relations was reflected the disorder into which the political world had fallen. Filial piety had almost ceased to exist, and great laxity in the marriage rela- tions gave rise to deeds of reckless licentious- ness and atrocious violence. The example set by the princes of taking with their brides eight other ladies at once was- followed with- out scruple in that degenerate age ; and chiefs, bent on the prosecution of their own ambitious schemes, trod under foot the rights of the people, and hesitated not to use up the lives 428143 38 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. and property of their subjects in pursuiince of their ends. "A host marches," sa3s Mencius, speaking of this period, " and stores of pro- visions are consumed. The hungry are de- prived of their food, and there is no rest for those who are called to toil. Maledictions are uttered by one to another with eyes askance, and the people proceed to the commission of wickedness. Then the royal ordinances are violated, and the people are oppressed, and the supplies of food and drink flow away like water. The rulers yield themselves to the cur- rent ; or the}'^ urge their way against it ; they are wild; the}' are lost . . . The crime of him who connives at and aids the wickedness of his ruler is small, but the crime of him who anticipates and excites that wickedness is great. The great officers of the present daj' are all guilty of this latter crime, and I say that they are sinners against the princes . . . Sage kings do not arise, and the princes of the states give the reins to their lusts ... In their stalls there are fat beasts, and in their stables there are fat horses, but their people have the look of hunger, and in the fields there are those who have died of famine. Confucius makes a Remark. 3& This is leading on beasts to devour men." A story, illustrative of the uncared-for state of the country and tlie oppression under which the people groaned, is told of Confucius. It chanced CHINESE WATEK-VROOF CLOTHING. that on one occasion, as the Sage was journey- ing from the state of Loo to that of Ts'e, he saw a woman weeping by a tomb at the road- side. Having compassion on her, he sent his disciple, Tsze-loo, to ask lier the cause of her 40 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. grief. '* You weep," said Tsze-loo, " as if you had experienced sorrow upon sorrow." " I have," said the woman ; " my father-in-law was killed here by a tiger, and my husband also; and now my son has met the same fate." '' Why then do you not remove from this place?" asked Confucius. "Because here there is no oppressive government," answered the woman. Turning to his disciples, Confucius re- marked, " My children, remember this, oppres- sive government is fiercer than a tiger." In their campaign against the prevailing law- lessness and violence neither Confucius (550- 478 B. c.) nor Mencius (371-288 b. c.) were able to make any headway. Their preachings fell on deaf ears, and their peaceful admoni- tions were passed unheeded by men who held their fiefs b}' the strength of their right arms, and administered the affairs of their principali- ties surrounded by the din of- war. The main articles of Confucius's political creed was the primary importance of strengthening and reha- bilitating the kingdom of Cliow in its suprem- acy over the surrounding states ; but the incompetency of its successive rulers levelled with the ground this castle in the air which Feudalism Abolished. , 41 he persisted in erecting, and he had scarcely passed away before it became evident that the sovereign sceptre of Chow would soon pass with the power, which was rapidly waning, to one of its more powerful vassals. As time went on and the disorder increased, supernatural signs added their testimony to the impending crisis. The brazen vessels upon which Yu had engraved the nine divisions of the empire were observed to shake and totter as though fore- shadowing the approaching change in the politi- cal position. Meanwhile Ts'in on the northwest, Ts'oo on the south, and Tsin on the north, hav- ing vanquished all the other states, engaged in tiie final struggle for the mastery over the confederate principalities. The ultimate victory rested with the state of Ts'in, and in 255 B. c, Chaou-seang Wang became the acknowl- edged leader of the confederate principalities. He reigned only four years ; at the end of which time he was succeeded by his son, Heaou-wan Wang, who died almost immediately on ascending the throne. To him succeeded Chwang-seang Wang, who was followed in 246 B. c. by Che Hwang-te, who having subdued all the states became the Emperor of China. The 42 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. abolition of feudalism, which was the first act of -Che Hwang-te, raised much discontent among those to whom the feudal system had brought power and emoluments, and the countenance which had been given to the system by Confucius and Mencius made it desirable — so thought the emperor — to THE CHINESE WALL. demolish once for all their testimony in favor of that condition of afifairs, which he had decreed should be among the things of the past. With this object he ordered that the whole existing liter- ature, with the exception of books on medicine, The Great Wall built. 43 agriculture, and diviuation sliould be burned. The decree was obeyed as faithfully as was pos- sible in the case of so sweeping an ordinance, and for many years a night of ignorance rested on the country. The construction of one gigan- tic work — the Great Wall of China* — has made the name of this monarch as famous as the destruction of the books has made it in- famous. Finding the Heung-nu Tartars were making dangerous inroads into the empire, he determined with characteristic thoroughness to build a huge barrier which sliould protect the northern frontier of the empire through all time. In 214 B. c. the work was begun under his personal supervision, and though every en- deavor was made to hasten its completion he died (209) leaving it unfinished. His death was the signal for a general revolt among the oppressed and down-trodden populace, who, how- ever, after some years of disorder were brought under the rule of a successful leader, who adopted the title of Kaou-te, and named his dynast}'' that of Han (206). / *The Great Wall is the most gigantic work of defence ever erected by man. At some points, it is a simple rampart, but in others it has a granite foundation. Its height is from fifteen to thirty feetj and its breadth so great that six horsemen can ride on it abreast. It is some fifteen hundred miles long. 44 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. From that day to this, with occasional in- terregnums, the empire has been ruled on the lines laid down by Che Hwang-te. Dynasty has succeeded dynasty, but the political tradi- tion has remained unchanged, and though Mon- gols and Manchoos have at different times wrested the throne from its legitimate lieirs, they have been engulfed in the homogeneous mass inhabiting the empire, and instead of im- pressing their seal on the country have become but the reflection of the vanquished. The dynasties from the beginning of the earlier Han, founded, as stated above, by Kaou-te, are as follows : The earlier Han Dynasty The late Han The Wei * This western Tsin The eastern Tsin The Sung The Ts'e The Leang^ The Ch'in B. C. A. D 206 — 25 A. D. ■ITi — 220 220 — 280 265 — 317 317 — 420 420 — 479 479 — 502 502 — 557 557 — SSO' * Simultaneously with this dynasty there existed that of the Minor Han in Sze- chuen in 220^263, and that of Wu 222-277. The Dynasties. 45 Simultaneously with these — The northern Wei Dynasty . 386 — 534 The western Wei i( 535 — 557 The eastern Wei <; 534 — 550 The northern Ts'e <( 550 — 577 The northern Chow (( 557 — 589 The Suy (( 589 — 618 The T'ang (( 618 — 907 The later Leang u 907 — 923 The later T'ang ^^ 923 — 936 The later Tsin (( 936 — 947 The later Han <( 947 — 951 The later Chow (« 951 — 960 The Sung <( 960 — 1127 The Southern Sung (( 1127 — 1280 The Yuen (Tartar) <( 1280 — 1368 The Ming (( 1368 — 1644 The Tae Ts'ing (( 1644 — Simultaneously with some of these — The Leaou Dynasty 907 — 1125 . The western Leaou Dynasty . 1125 — 1168 The Kin (( , 1115 — 1280 Tlie present Manchoo rulers of China are de- scendants of the Kin Tartars, and had their original home in the valley of the Hurka, a river which flows into the Sungari in about 46° 20' North latitude and 129° 50' East longi- tude. Under a succession of able leaders the tribe gained power and territory, and as time 46 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Urnpire. went on even reached the point of carrj'ing on a not altogether unsuccessful guerilla warfare with the Ming rulers of China. In an evil moment, being hardly pressed by rebels in the south, the Chinese patched up a peace witli the Manchoos, and went so far as to invite their assistance against the southern rebels. With alacrity the Manchoos responded to the call, and vanquished the common enemy. But when requested to withdraw again across the frontier they refused, and ended by placing the ninth son of their sovereign, Teen-ming, on the throne of Peking. The dynast}' thus founded was styled the Ts'ing, or " Pure " dynasty, and the title adopted by the first emperor of the line was Shun-che. It was during the reign of this sovereign that Adam Schaal, a German Jesuit, took up his residence at Peking, and that the first Russian Embassy (1656) visited the capital; but in those days the Chinese had not learned to tolerate the idea that a foreigner should enter the presence of the Son of Heaven unless he were willing to perform the prostration known as the Ko- t'ow ; and the Russians, not being inclined to humor such presumptuous folly, as they deemed TYPES OF UNCIVILIZED WOMEX. 47 Shun-che a Quest in Heaven. 49 it, left the capital without opening negotia- tions.* In 1661 the Emperor Sliun-che became a "guest in heaven," or in other words, died, and K'ang-he, his son, reigned in his stead. This sovereign is renowned in modern Chinese history as a model ruler, a skilful general, and an able author. During his reign, Tibet was added to the empire, and the Eluths were suc- cessfully subdued. But it is as a just and considerate ruler that he is best remembered among the people. Among the most cherished monuments of his wisdom are the following "Sixteen Sacred Maxims," which are tanght in every school throughout the empire, and which every candidate at the competitive ex- aminations is expected to know by heart, to- gether with the commentary thereon, by the imperial author's son and successor: 1. Esteem most highly filial piety and brotlierly submission, in order to give due prominence to the social relations. 2. Behave with generosity to the branches of your kindred, in order to illustrate harmony and benignity. ♦The Portuguese visited China in 1517, but did not obtain a footing until 1537, since which time Macao has be^n in their power. The British made a visit to the country in the reign of Elizabeth, but it was not until 1727 that Canton was open to their trade. The first American consul was allowed to reside at Canton in i8o2. A 60 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. 3. Cultivate peace and concord in your neighborliood, in order to prevent quarrels and litigation. 4. Give importance to husbandry and to the culture of the mulberry-tree, in order to ensure a sufficiency of clothing and food. 5. Show that you prize moderation and economy, in order to prevent the lavish waste of your means. 6. Make much of the colleges and seminaries, in order tO make correct the practice of the scholars. 7. Discountenance and banish strange doctrines, in order to exalt the orthodox religion. 8. Describe and explain the laws, in order to warn the igno- rant and obstinate. 9. Exhibit clearly propriety and yielding courtesy, in order that manners and customes may be perfected. 10. Labor diligently at your proper callings, in order to give settlement to the aims of the people. 11. Instruct your sons and younger brothers in order to prevent their doing what is wrong. 12. Put a stop to false accusations, in order to protect the honest and the good. , 13. Beware lest you shelter deserters and escaped criminals, in order that you may avoid being involved in their punishments. 14. Pay your taxes promptly and fully, in order to avoid urgent demands for your quota. 1.5. Combine in hundreds and tithings, in order to put an end to thefts and robbery. 16. Study to remove resentments and angry feelings, in order to show the importance due to the person and life. The support and patronage given to science and literature by K'ang-he marked the beginning- A new Intellectual Era. 51 of a new era in the intellectual life of the people. Under the 'guidance of the Jesuit mis- sionaries at Peking he studied, and lent his countenance to the various European sciences, more especially astronomy. To the cause of the native literature he devoted years of labor and vast sums of money. By his appointment a commission of scholars compiled a diction- ar}- of the language, which is the best work of the kind, and is called by his name ; and another illustrious company edited a vast encyclopaedia, containing articles on every known subject, and extracts from all works of author- ity dating from the twelfth centurj' B. C. to that time. This huge work, which consists of five thousand and twenty volumes, is a monu- ment of industrious research. But as only a hundred copies of the first imperial edition were printed, all of which were presented to princes of the blood and high officials, it is rapidly becoming extremely rare, and it is not unlikely that before long the copy in the pos- session of the trustees of the British Museum will be the only complete one existing. A cold, caught on a hunting excursion in Mongolia, brought K'ang-he's memorable reign of sixty- 52 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. one years to a close, and he was succeeded on the throne by his son, Yung-ching, in the year 1722. After an uneventful reign of twelve years, Yung-ching was gathered to his fathers, having bequeathed his throne to his son K'een-lung. This sovereign possessed many of the great qualities of K'ang-he, but he lacked his wis- dom and moderation. He carried his armies north, south and west, but though he converted Kuldja into a Chinese province, and fought a successful campaign against the Nepaulese Gorkhas, fortune on the whole inclined rather to the standard of his enemies, than to his own. In Burmah, Cochin China, and Formosa, his troops suffered discomfitures, and even the Meaou-tsze tribes of Kwei-chow and Kwang-se proved themselves troublesome antagonists. Dur- ing his reign, which extended over sixty years — a full Chinese cj'cle — the relations of his government with the East India Company were extremely unsatisfActory. The English mer- chants were compelled to submit to many in- dignities and wrongs ; and for the purpose of establishing a better international understand- , ing. Lord Macartney was sent by George the The JlJnglish in China. 65 Third on a special mission to the Court of Peking. The ambassador was received gra- ciously by the emperor, who accepted the pres- ents sent him by the English king, but owing to his ignorance of his own relative position and of the alphabet of international law, he declined to give those assurances of a more equitable policy which were demanded of him. In 1795, at the age of eighty-five, he ab- dicated in favor of his fifteenth son, who ascended the throne with the title of Kea- K'ing. During this reign a second English embassy was sent to Peking (1816), to represent to the emperor the unsatisfactory position of the English merchants in China. The envoy. Lord Amherst, was met at the mouth of the Peiho and conducted to Yuen-ming-yuen, or summer palace, where the emperor was residing. On his arrival he was officially warned that only on condition of his performing the Ko-t'ow would he be permitted to behold " the dragon countenance." This, of course, was impossible, and he consequently left the palace without having slept a night under its roof. Mean- while the internal affairs of the country were 56 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. even more disturbed than the foreign rela- tioii^-. A succession of rebellions broke out in the northern and western provinces, and the seaboard was ravaged by pirates. Wliile these disturbing causes were in full play, Kea- k'iiig died (1820), and the throne devolved upon Taou-kwang, his second son. Under this monarch both home and foreign affairs went from bad to worse. A secret league, known as the Triad Societ}-, wiiich was first formed during the reign of K'ang-he, now assumed a formidable bearing, and in many parts of the country, notably in Honan, Kwang-se, and Formosa, insurrections broke out at its in- stigation. At the same time the mandarins continued to persecute the English merchants, and on the expiry of the East India Com- pany's monopoly, in 1834, ,the English govern- ment sent Lord Napier to Canton to superintend the foreign trade at that port. Thwarted at every turn by the presumptuous obstinacy of the mandarins, Lord Napier's health gave way under the constant vexations connected with his post, and he died at Macao, after but a few months' residence in China. The opium trade was now the question of the hour, and at The Opium War. 57 the urgent demand of Commissioner Lin, Cap- tain Elliot, the superintendent of trade, agreed that all opium in the hands of English mer- chants should be given up to the authorities; and more than this, he exacted a pledge from his countrymen, that they would no longer deal in the drug. On the third of April, 1839, 20,283 chests of opium were, in accordance with this agreement, handed over to the man- darins, who burnt them to ashes This demand of Lin's, though agreed to by the superintendent of trade, was considered so unreasonable by the English government, that in the following year war was declared against China.* The island of Chusan and the Bogue forts on the Canton river soon fell into the hands of the English, and Commissioner Lin's successor sought to purchase peace by the cession of Hongkong and the payment of an indemnity of six mil- lion dollars. This convention was, however, repudiated by the Peking government,- and it was not until Canton, Amoy, Ningpo, Chapoo, Shanghai, and Chin-keang-fno had been taken, that the emperor at last consented to come to •The importation of opium was unlawful, but, being very profitable, Great Britain determined to force it upon the Chinese. 58 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. terms. These, as was only just, were now far more onerous. By a treaty made by Sir Henry Pottinger in 1842, the cession of Hongkong was supplemented by the opening of the four ports of Amoy, Fuh-chow foo, Ningpo, and Shanghai) to foreign trade, and the indemnity of six million dollars was increased to twenty- one million. Death put an end to Taou-kwang's reign in 1850, and his fourth son, Heeu-fung, assumed rule over tHe distracted empire which was bequeathed him by his father. There is a popular belief among the Chinese that two hundred years is the natural life of a dynast3\ This is one of those traditions which are apt to bring about their own fulfil- ment, and in the beginning of the reign of Heen-fung the political air was rife with rumors that an effort was to be made to restore the Ming Dynasty to the throne. On such occa- sions there are always real or pretended scions of the required family forthcoming, and when the flames of rebellion broke out in Kwang-se, a claimant suddenly appeared under tlie title of T'een-tih, "heavenly virtue," to head the move- ment. But T'een-tih had not the capacity re- quired to play the necessary part, and the The Life of a Dynasty. ' 69 affair languished and would have died out altogether, had not a leader, named Hung Sewtseuen, arose, who combined all the qualities required in a leader of men — en'ergy, enthu- siasm, and religious bigotry. Having obtained some idea of Christianity from reading a tract issued by the missionaries, he professed him- self shocked at the iniquities of the pagan rulers of the land, and thus added to the thousands of restless, discontented spirits who joined his banner a larger following gathered from the upper classes. As soon as he was sufficiently powerful, he advanced northwards into Hoonan and Hoopih and captured Woo- ehang foo, the capital of the last-named prov- ince, a city of considerable commercial and strategical importance, situated as it is at the junction of the Han river with the Yang-tsze keang. Having made this place secure, he ad- vanced down the river and made himself mas- ter of Gan-ting and the old capital of the empire, Nanking. Here, in 1852, he established l)is throne and proclaimed the commencement of the Tai-ping Dynasty. For himself h& adopted the title of T'een-wang, or "heavenly king." For a time all went well with the 60 S}cetch of the History of the Chinese Empire. new dynasty. The Tai-ping standard was cap ried northward to the walls of T'ien-tsin, and floated over the towns of Chin-keang foo and Soochow foo. Meanwhile the imperial authorities had by their stupidity raised another enemy . against themselves. The outrage oh the English flag perpetrated on board the Lorcha Arrow at Ciinton, in 1857, having been left unredressed by the mandarins, led to the proclamation of war -by England. Canton fell to the arms of General Straubenzee and Sir Michael Seymour in December of the same year, and in the follow- ing spring the Taku forts at the mouth of the Peiho having been taken, Lord Elgin, who had in the meantime arrived as Plenipotentiary, ad- vanced up the river to T'ien-tsin on his way to the capital. At that cit}^ however, he was met by imperial commissioners, and, yielding to their entreaties, he concluded a treftt}' with' them, which it was arranged should be ratified} at Peking in the following year; but the evil genius of tl»e Chinese still pursuing them, they treacherously fired on the fleet accompanying Sir Frederick Bruce, Lord Elgin's brother, when proceeding, in 1860, to Peking, in fulfilment of Lord Elgin in Chinal 61 this agreement. This outrage rendered another military expedition necessary, and, in conjunc- tion with the French Government, the English Cabinet sent out a force under the command of Sir Hope Grant, with orders to march to Peking. In the summer of 1861 the allied forces landed at Peh-tang, a village twelve miles north of the Taku forts, and, taking these entKenchments in the rear, captured them with but a trifling loss. This success was so utterly unexpected by the Chinese, that, leav- ing T'ien-tsin unprotected, they retreated rap- idly to the neighborhood of the capital. The allies pushed on after them, and, in reply to an invitation sent from the imperial commis- sioners at Tung-chow, a town twelve miles from Peking, Sir Harry Parkes and Mr. Loch, accompanied by an escort and some few friends, went in advance of the army to make a pre- liminary convention. While so engaged they were treacherously taken prisoners and carried off to Peking. This act precipitated an en- gagement in which the Chinese were completely routed, and the allies marched on to Peking. After the usual display of obstinacy the Chinese yielded to tl^e demand for the surrender of the 62 Sketch of the Ristory of the Chinese Empire, All-ting Gate of the city. From this vantage- point Lord Elgin opened negotiations, and hav- ing secured the release of Sir Harry Parkes, / Mr. Loch, and the other prisoners who had sur- vived the tortures to which they had been sub- jected, and having burnt Yuen-ming-yuen, the summer palace of the emperor, as a punishment for their treacfherous capture, and for the cruel- ties perpetrated on them, he concludeTd a treaty with Prince Kung, the representative of the em- peror. By this instrument the Chinese agreed to pay a war indemnity of eight million taels, and to open the ports of New-chwang, Che-foo, Kin-keang, Chin-keang, Hankow, Pak-lioi, Tai- wan in Formosa, and a port in the island of Hainan, to foreign trade, and to permit the representatives of the foreign governments to reside in Peking, Having ' thus relieved themselves from the presence of a foreign foe, the authorities were able to devote their attention to the suppres- sion of the Tai-ping rebellion. Fortunately for themselves, the apparent friendliness with which they greeted the arrival of the British Lega- tion at Peking enlisted for them the sj'mpathies of Sir Frederick Bruce, the British Minister, A STREET IN THE NORTH Ol CHINA. " Chinese Grordon " Appears. 66 and inclined him to listen to their request for the services of an English officer in their cam- paign against the rebels. At the request of Sir F. Bruce, General Staveley selected Major Gordon,* since generally known as " Chinese Gordon," for this duty. A better man, or one more peculiarly fitted for the work, could not have been found. A numerous force, known as "the ever-victorious army," partly officered by foreigners, had for some time been commanded by an American, named Ward, and after his death, by B urge vine, another American. Over this force Gordon was placed, and at the head of it he marched, in conjunction with the Chi- nese generals, against the Tai-pings. With mas- terly strategy he struck a succession of rapid and telling blows against the fortunes of the rebels. City after city fell into his hands, and at length the leaders at Soochow opened the gates ■ of the city to him on condition that he would spare their lives. With cruel treachery when these men presented themselves before Le Hung-chang, the present Viceroy of Chih-li, to offer their submission to the emperor, they were •General Gordon has been prominent in the Egyptian war of the English du- ring the present year. He was killed in January, 1885. 5 66 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. seized and beheaded. On learning how lightly his word had been treated by the Chinese gen- eral, Gordon armed himself, for the first time during the campaign, with a revolver, and sought out the Chinese headquarters, intending to avenge with his own hand this murder of the Tai-ping leaders; but Le Huug-chang having received timely notice of the righteous anger he had aroused, took to flight, and Gordon, thus thwarted in his immediate object, threw up his command, feeling that it was impossible to continue to act with so orientally minded a colleague. After considerable negotiation, however, he was persuaded to return to his command, and soon succeeded in so completely crippling the power of the rebels that Nanking, their last strong- hold, fell into the hands of the Imperialists, July 19, 1864. T'een-wang was then already dead, having committed suicide, and his body was found within the walls, wrapt in im- perial 3-ellovv. Thus was crushed out a rebel- lion which had paralyzed the imperial power in the central provinces of the 'empire, and which had for twelve years seriously threatened the existence of the reigning dynast}'. Meanwhile, in the summer following the con- The Rule of Women. 67 elusion of the treaty of Peking, the Emperor Heen-fung breathed his last at Jehol (1861) — an event which was, in popular belief, fore- told by the appearance of a comet in the early pnrt of the summer — and was succeeded on the throne by his only son, who adopted the ^itle of T'ung-che. Being quite a child at the time of liis accession, the administra- tion of affairs was placed in the hands of the empress and of the mother of T'ung-che, a lady who had not occupied the supreme post in the emperor's harem. Under the direction of these ladies, though the internal affairs of the empire prospered, the foreign relations were disturbed by the display of an increasingly hostile spirit towards the Christian missionaries and their converts, which culminated, in 1870, in the " T'ien-tsin massa- cre." In some of the central provinces reports had been industriously circulated that the Roman Catholic missionaries were in the habit of kid- napping and murdering children, in order to make medicine from their eyeballs. Ridiculous as the rumor was, it found ready credence among the ignorant people, and several out- rages were perpetrated on the missionaries and 68 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. their converts in Keang-se and Sze-cluien. Through the active interference, however, of the French minister on the spot, the agitation was locally suppressed, but only to be renewed again at T'ien-tsin. Here also the same absurd rumors were set afloat, and were especially di- rected against some Sisters of Charity who had opened an orphanage in the city. For some days previous to the massacre on the twenty-first of June, reports increasing in con- sistency' reached the foreign residents that an outbreak was to be apprehended, and three times the English Consul wrote to Chung How» the Superintendent of the three northern ports* calling upon him to take measures to subdue the gathering passions of the people, which had been further dangerously exasperated by an infamous proclamation issued by the pre- fect. Tp these communications the consul did not receive any reply, and o\i the morning of the twenty-first, a da)' which had apparent!}' been deliberately fixed upon for the massacre, the attack was made. The mob first broke into the French consulate, and while the con- sul, M. Fontanier, was with Chung How, en- deavoring to persuade him to interfere, M. The T'ien-tsin Massacre. 69 and Mad. Thomasin, M. and Mad. Chalmaison, and Pere Chevrien were there murdered. On his way back to tlie consulate, M. Fontanier suffered the same fate. Having thus whetted their taste for blood, the rioters then set fire to the French cathedral, and afterwards moved on to the orphanage of the Sisters of- Mercy. In spite of the appeals of these defenceless ladies for mercy, if not for themselves, at /east for the orphans under their charge, the mob broke into the hospital, and, having mur- dered the Sisters, smothered from thirty to forty children, and carried off a still larger number of older persons to the prisons in the city, where they were subjected to tortures of which they bore terrible evidence when their release was at length effected. In addition to tliese victims, a Russian gentleman, with his bride and a friend, who were unfortunate enough to meet the rioters on their way to the cathe- dral, were ruthlessl}' murdered. No other for- eigners were injured, a circumstance due to the facts that the fury of the mob was pri- marily directed against the French Roman Catholics, and also that the foreign settlement, where all but those engaged in missionary work 70 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. resided, is at a distance of a couple of miles from the city. When the evil had been done, the Chinese authorities professed themselves anxious to make reparation, and Chung How was eventually sent to Paris to offer the apologies of the Peking cabinet to the French government. These were ultimately accepted, and it was further arranged that the T'ien-tsin prefect and district magistrate should be removed from their posts and degraded, and that twent}' of the active murderers should be executed. By these retributive measures the emperor's government made its peace with the European powers, and the foreign relations again assumed their former friendly footing. The Chinese had now leisure to devote their efforts to the sub- jugation of the Panthay rebels, who for some ten or twelve years had held almost undisputed possession of the province of Yunnan. The visit of the adopted son of the rebel leader, the Sultan Suleiman, to England, for the pur- pose of attempting to enlist the sympathies of the English government in the Pantha}- cause, no doubt added zest to the action of the man- darins, who, after a short but vigorous cam* A Complex Marriage. 71 paign, suppressed the rebellion and restored the province to the imperial sway. Peace was thus brought about, and when the empresses handed over the reins of power to the emperor, on the occasion of his marriage, in 1872, tran- quility reigned throughout "the eighteen prov- inces." The marriage of T'ung-che was accompanied with numerous and complex ceremonies, as is every act in the life of a Chinese emperor. The bride had first to be chosen from the daughters of Manchoos, enrolled under one of the eight military banners. About a year before the marriage all girls of this class, who were of a specified age, were ordered to present themselves at the palace. Between six and seven hundred came, and these were introduced into the presence of the dowager-empresses in batches of ten at a time. The result of this preliminary examination was that about fifty were chosen, and the rest were sent back to their homes. A second interview with the empresses ended in the reduction of the selected number by one half, and by a continued pro- cess of sifting the candidates, the lady, Ah-lu-t^, was chosen as the " Phoenix " to mate the 72 Sketch of the Hutory of the Chinese Empire. "Dragon." While these matters were proceed- ing, four young ladies were chosen as *' Pro- fessors of matrimony " to instruct the emperor in the duties of the new relation, and, after much questioning of the stars, the officers of the Astronomical Board fixed upon the niglit between the fifteenth and the sixteenth of October for the supreme ceremony. As the time approached the lady, Ah-lu-t6, who was the daughter of the only Manchoo who ever gained the title of Chwang-yuen, the highest prize to be won at the competitive examina- tions, and four other ladies, who were destined to form the nucleus of the imperial harem, were lodged in a palace especially prepared and beautified for them in the imperial capi- tal. The road between this palace and the imperial abode was carefully levelled and con- stantly sprinkled with sand, of the yellow imperial color, and each morning long proces- sions of bearers passed along it carrying the presents destined for the bride, which poured in from all parts of the empire. Cabinets, dishes, vases, basins, bowls, chairs, and a host of gold and silver articles of all kinds were borne on uncovered trays escorted by manda- Honoring the Bride. 78 rins and troops, forming a daily spectacle for the idlers in the capital. One day, before the marriage, a tablet of gold was sent to the bride, on which was inscribed the edict elevating her to the throne, together with an imperial sceptre and seal. The next day another procession, escorting "the Phoenix^^ Chair," passed along to the bride's palace. At .its head rode a Manchoo prince, attended by lesser chiefs en grande tenue^ the prince carry- ing in his hand the jade sceptre, * which is constantly held by the emperor. Thirty white horses followed closel}- on these imperial insignia, and the rest of the cavalcade was made up of officials carrying banners, triple umbrellas adorned with embroidered representations of dragons and phoenixes, and fans, and bearing "golden melons" on long poles. At eleven o'clock the same evening, the same procession, with the addition of the bride and the golden tablet, the sceptre and the seal, started for the imperial palace. Every house was strictly closed along the route, which was guarded through its whole length by troops, and at the side of the bridal chair marched * Jade is a dark green mineral, of smooth surface, much used for ornaments. 74 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. an official of the Astronomical Board, carrying a lighted joss-stick,* so marked as to indicate portions of time, by means of which he regu- lated the pace of the procession, in order that the imperial palace might be reached at tiie fortunate moment of two in the morning. On arriving at the palace, the " Great Pure Gate " was ' thrown open, and Ah-lu-t^ was carried through the outer courts to the great central court leading to the throne room. A herald then proclaimed, " The orders of His Sacred Majesty are fulfilled," and forthwith the dow- ager-empresses came out to receive the bride. They placed pieces of uncoined gold and sil- ver in her hands, and crossed them over her breast in such a way as to enable her also to carry a vase containing wheat, maze, rice, em- eralds, sapphires, rubies, and other articles, to symbolize all that earth produces. She then stepped from her sedan on to a small golden saddle, and thus entered her future home. The remaining ceremonies were similar in kind to those performed, at marriages among the com- mon people, and thus Ah-lu-t^ became an empress, and her father, catching a reflection *A joss-stick is a p>erfumed reed burned before a deity. Portuguese dios, God. Ah-lu-ti Becomes a Bride, 76 of his daughter's greatness, was made a Duke.* On the day after the wedding, the four ladies spoken of above, who were destined to become imperial concubines of the first class, were brought into the palace, not through "the Great Pure Gate," but by a more obscure en- trance on the north of the palace. The Book of Rites of the present dynasty, which regu- lates every official observance in China, ordains that the number of these ladies should be in- creased to nine, that twenty-seven other young ladies should be chosen as concubines of the second class, and eighty-one as concubines of the third class. All these are subordinate to tl)e empress, who alone is entitled to enjoy the societ)'- of the emperor at the time of full moon, and who, in theory at least, apportions to each the special household duties pertaining to her rank. The cost of maintaining so large and extrav- agant a household is enormous, and the looms of Soochow and Nanking are barely able to supply the host of ladies and attendants with the silks and satins required for their use. In 1877 the Peking Gazette announced that, dur- * " Meeting the Sun," by William Simpson. 76 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. ing the preceding year, three hundred and sev- enty rolls of satin, five hundred rolls of bro- caded satin, three thousand four hundred rolls of silk gauze, six hundred large handkerchiefs, eight hundred catties of sewing silk, five hun- dred catties of white silk, and three thousand pieces of fine calico, had been furnished by the imperial purveyor at Nanking, besides the im- mense stores which were poured in from Hang- chow and Soochow. From the imperial proce- lain factories at Kin-tih-chin eleven thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight articles, consist- ing of fish-bowls, flower vases, and ornamental jars of the first quality, were forwarded to the palace during the same year, in addition to an abundance of articles of a common kind, des- tined for baser uses. The formal assumption of power proclaimed by this marriage was considered by the foreign ministers a fitting opportunity to insist on the fulfilment of the article in the treaties which provided for their reception by the emperor, and after much negotiation it was finally arranged that the emperor should receive them on the twenty-ninth of June, 1873. The ceremonj' is thus described. "Verj^ early, therefore, on the An Imperial Reception. 79 morning of that day the ministers were astir, and were conducted in their sedan-chairs to tlie park on the west side of the pahice, where, hav- ing dismounted from their sedans, they were met by some of the ministers of State, who led them to the ' Temple of Prayer for Seasonable Weather.' Here they were kept waiting some time while tea and confectionery from the imperial kitchen, by favor of the emperor, were served to them. They were then conducted to an oblong tent made of matting, on the west side of the Tsze-kwang Pavilion, where they were met by Prince Kung and other ministers. As soon as the emperor reached the Pavilion,, the Japanese? ambassador was introduced into his^^ presence, and when he had retired the other for- eign ministers entered the audience-chamber ia a body. The emperor was seated, facing south- wards. On either side of his Majesty stood, with the Prince of Kung, certain princes and high officers ; in all, four or five persons. When the foreign ministers reached the centre aisle they halted and bowed one and all to- gether ; they then advanced in line a little fur- ther and made a second bow ; and when they had nearly reached the yellow table — on which 80 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. their credentials were, as arranged, to be de- posited — they bowed a third time; after which the}'- remained erect. M. Vlangaly, the Russian ^ minister, then read a congratulatory address in French, which was translated by an interpreter into Chinese, and the ministers, making an- other reverence, respectfully laid their letters of credence on the yellow table. The emperor was pleased to make a slight inclination of the head towards them, and the Prince of Kung, advancing to the left of the throne, and falling upon his knees, had the honor to be informed, in Manchoo, that His Majesty- acknowledged the receipt of the letters pre- sented. The Prince of Kung, with his arms raised (according to precedent set by Confucius when in the presence of his sovereign), came down by the steps on the left of the dais to the foreign ministers, and respectfully repeated this in Chinese. After this he again pros- trated himself, and in like manner received and conveyed a message to the effect that His Majesty hoped that all foreign questions would be satisfactorily disposed of. The ministers then withdrew, bowing repeatedly until they reached the entrance." "^w Inheritance of Glory.'* 81 Thus ended the only instance during the present century in which Europeans have been received in imperial audience. Whether under more fortunate circumstances the cere- mony might have been repeated it is difficult to say, but in the following year the young emperor was stricken down with smallpox, or, as the Peking Gazette expressed it, "enjoyed the felicity of the heavenly flowers," and fin- ally succumbed to the disease on the twelfth of January, 1875. With great ceremony the obsequies were performed over' the body of him who had been T'ung-clie, and the coffin was finally laid in the imperial mausoleum, among' the eastern hills, beside the remains of his predecessors, Shun-che, K'ang-he, Yung-ching, K'een-lung, Kea-k'ing, Taou-kwang, and Heen- fung. For the first time in the annals of the Ts'ing dynasty, the throne was now left without a direct heir. As it is the office of the son and heir to perform regularl}- the ancestral worship, it is necessary that, failing a son, the heir should be, if possible, of a later generation than the deceased. In the present instance this was impossible, as there was no descend- 6 82 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. aut of a subsequent generation. It was neces- sary, therefore, that the lot should fall on one of the cousins of the late emperor, and Tsai- teen, the son of the Prince of Chun, a child not quite four j^ears old, was chosen to fill the vacant throne. Kwang-su, or " au iidierit- ance of glory," was the title conferred upon him, and it remains to be seen whether the events of his reign will justify so high-sound- ing a promise. Scarcely had the proclamation gone forth of the assumption of the imperial title by Kwaug- su, when news reached the English Legation at . Peking of the murder at Manwyne, in the Province of Yunnan, of Mr. Margary, an officer in the Consular Service, who had been de- spatched to meet an expedition sent by the Indian Government, under the command of Colonel Horace Browne, to discover a route from Burraah into the southwestern provinces of China. A more thoroughly competent officer than Mr. Margary could not have been selected for the undertaking, and the choice made was full}'^ justified by the way in which he per- formed the journey to Bhamo in Burmah, in spite of illness and of the many obstacles f^4^-^^ " Briqands did it ! " 85 thrown in his way by the native officials. He left Shanghai, on his journey westward, on the twenty-third of August, 1874, and reached Bharao, where he met Colonel Browne's party, on the seventeenth of the following January, On the eighteenth of February he once more turned his face eastward, in company with the Indian Exhibition. Scarcely, however, had they Jbegun their march, when rumors reached them that the frontier Chinese were preparing to bar their progress. After his recent experience of the friendly disposition of the mandarins in this part of the country, Margary declined to attach any importance to these reports, and, with the concurrence of Colonel Browne, he started in advance of the party, accompanied only by his Ciiinese writer and servant, to ^ ascertain the real facts of the case. From all accounts, he reached Manwyne in safety, but, when visiting some hot springs in the neigh- borhood of the town, he was treacherously knocked off his pon}'^ and murdered. In accordance with conventional practice, the Chinese government, on being called to account for this outrage, attempted to lay it to the charge of brigands. But the evidence which 86 Sketch of the History of the Chinese Empire. Sir Thomas Wade was able to adduce proved too strong to be ignored even by tlie Peking mandarins, and, eventuall3% they signed a con- vention in whicli the}' practicall}' acknowledged their blood-guiltiness, under the terms of which some fresh commercial privileges were granted, and an indemnity, part of which, viz., ten thousand pounds, was handed ovei to the fam- ily of Mr. Margar}-, was paid to the English Government. At the same time tlie "expect- ant Vice-President," Kwo Sung-tuou, was sent to England to apologize for this breach of international amity, and to establish an embassy on a perYnanent footing at the Court of St. James. With the conclusion of this agreement the friendly relations between the two govern- ments, which at one time during the negotia- tions were seriously imperilled, were renewed, and have since been maintained. After two years' residence in this country, Kwo Sung-taou resigned his post, and was succeeded by Marquis Ts'eng,* .a son of the celebrated soldier and statesman, Ts'eng kwo-fan. JSoTE.— For the continuation of the history of China, up to the close of the year, 1894, see Chapter XX at end of book. ♦Ambassador to France during the Tonquin difficulties in 1884. CHAPTER IT. THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. HINESE govern- mentmay be d e - scribed as being, in theory, a patriarch- al despot- ism. The emperor is the fa- ^^ therofhis people, and as in a family, the father's law is supreme, so the emperor exercises complete con- trol over his subjects, even to the extent of holding, under certain recognized conditions, their lives in his hands, but from time imme- 87 88 The Q-overnment of China. morial it has been held by the highest constitu- tional authorities, by Confucius and Mencius among the rest, that the relations existing between the emperor and his people are reciprocal, and that, though it is the duty of the people to render a loyal and willing obedience to the emperor so long as his rule is just and benefi- cent, it is equally incumbent on them to re- sist his authority, to depose him, and even to put him to death, in case he should desert the paths of rectitude and virtue. As a matter of fact, however, it is very difficult to say what extent of power the emperor actually wields. The outside world sees only the imperial bolts, but how they are forged, or whose is the hand that shoots them, none can tell. Of course, in the case of un- usually able men, such as K'ang-he (1661- 1722) and K'een-lung (1735-1795), the second and fourth rulers of the present dynasty, their in- fluence is more felt than that of less energetic rulers ; but the throne of China is so hedged in with ceremonials, and so padded with offi- cial etiquette, that unless its occupant be a man of supreme ability, he cannot fail to fall under the guidance of his ministers and favorites. Duties of Viceroys. 89 To assist him in the goverumeut, he has a council of state, the members of which, five in number, daily transact the business of the empire in the imperial presence, between the hours of four and six in the morning. Then there are tlie Grand Secretariat ; the Tsung-le Yamun, or Foreign Office; the six boards, viz. : tlie Le poo, or Board of Civil Office ; the Hoo poo, or Board of Revenue ; the Li poo, or Board of Ceremonies ; the Ping poo, or Board of War ; the Hing poo, or Board of Punishments ; and the Kung poo, or Board of Works, and several minor offices, all charged with the superintendence of the affairs of the eighteen provinces into which the empire is divided. Fifteen of these provinces' are grouped into eight viceroyalties, and tlie remaining three are administered by governors. Each province is autonomous, or nearly so, and the supreme authorities, whether viceroys or governors, are practically independent so long as they act in accordance witli the very minute regulations laid down for their guidance. The principal function of the Peking government is to see that these regulations are carried out, and in case they should not be, to call the offendinor 90 The Government of China. viceroy or governor to account. Subordinate to the viceroys are the governors of each province, under whom again are intendants of circuits ; then come prefects and sub-prefects ; next district magistrates, and after them, a whole host of petty officials. Each viceroy raises his own army and nav3', which he pays, or sometimes, unfortunately, does not pay, out of the revenues of his government. He levies his owu taxes, and, except in particular cases, is the final court of appeal in all judicial matters within the limits of his rule. In re- turn for this latitude allowed him he is held personally responsible for the good government of his territory. If by any chance serious dis- turbances break out and continue unsuppressed, he is called to account as having by his mis- conduct contributed to them, and he in his turn looks to his subordinates to maintain order and execute justice- within their jurisdictions. He lias no power to remove or punish sub- ordinate officials, but has to refer all complaints against them to Peking. The personal respon- sibility of maintaining order makes him a severe critic of those who serve under him, and the Peking Gazette bears evidence to the frequency " Official Purity " in China. 91 with which junior officials are impeached and punished at the instigation of their chiefs. The following decree, which appeared in the Peking Gazette of the thirteenth of September, 1877, furnishes a good example of the usual charges and customary punishments brought against and awarded to offending officers : — " A decree based upon a memorial from Le Han-chang, viceroy of Hoo Kwang, and Wan T'ung-tsioh, governor of Hoopih, who have solicited the degradation or compulsory retire- ment, respectivel}'', of certain incapable or un- worthy officials. In the case of Shoo Tsaou, department magistrate of Kiun Chow, declared to be wanting in natural ability and shallow in acquired knowledge, and of indifferent repu- tation — of Le Tsang-yaou, district magistrate of E-ch'eng, declared to have set official pre- scription at nought in his business arrange- ments, and to have made himself unacceptable to the people — and of Niu Fuh-kea, declared to be inspired with a false and treacherous dis- position, and to have employed deceitful repre- sentations in his transaction of affairs ; the sentence is that the delinquents be forthwith stripped of their rank and office. Chang Han, 92 The Government of China. sub-prefect of Han- Yang foo, being decrepit from age, and beyond the possibility of active exertion, is to be compulse lil}" retired." Other charges, such as of opium-smoking, misappropriation of public moneys, and failure to arrest criminals, meet with like punishments. On the whole, the conduct of junior officials is carefully watched ; and though it may not unfrequently happen that they are unjustly charged with offences, their causes are, when such cases become apparent, impartially vindi- cated, and their accusers, of whatever rank, are brought to the bar of justice. Not long since, for an offence of tins nature, the lieu- tenant-governor of the province of Honan was dismissed from his office, and the governor was degraded three degrees of rank for having countenanced the proceedings. As has been already- said; the affairs of each province are administered by the viceroy or governor and his subordinates, and, speaking generally, their rule is as enlightened and as just as could be expected in an Oriental coun- try where public opinion finds only a very imperfect utterance. Official purity and justice must be treated as comparative terms in China. Temptations of Office. 93 The constitution of the civil service renders it !;ext to impossible that any office-holder can be clean-handed in the European sense. The salaries awarded are low, out of all proportion to the necessary expenses pertaining to the offices to which they are apportioned, and the consequence is, that in some way or other the officials are compelled to make up the defi- ciency from the pockets of those subject to them. Every legal precaution is taken to pre- vent this nefarious system, with the exception of the only one which might be expected to put a stop to it. All appointments are tena- ble for three years only, so that the holders of office . are naturally anxious to gain and keep the esteem and approval of their superiors, and so to administer affairs as not to, raise audible discontent among the people. On the other hand, it must be admitted that this reg- ulation is apt to tempt a greedy and unscru- pulous mandarin to make the most he can from each district ' over which he may hold these short terms of office. No mandarin 'is allowed to take office in his native province, and no relation, or even connection, is allowed to serve under him. How stringent tliis rule is appears 94 The. Government of China, from an edict lately published in the Peking Gazette^ in which the governor of the province of Kwei-chovv was rebuked for not having reported to the throne that he was about to connect himself with the family of an intend- ant of circuit in the same province by the betrothal of his third son to the intendant's second daughter. In consequence of the pro- posed alliance the ambitious intendant was ordered to another province. All such regula- tions are powerless to prevent extortion in face of a positive necessity, and it would be just as useful to decree that black should be hence- forth white, as that men whose salaries are insufficient to pay the wages of their under- lings, should hold off their hands when abun- dance is within their reach. As a rule mandarins seldom enter office with private fortunes, and the wealth, therefore, which soothes the declining years of veteran officials may be fairly assumed to be ill-gotten gain. A remarkable instance of a fortune thus acquired, and of t?He retributive "fleecing" which is not unfrequently inflicted on the possessors of such plunder, occurred in the case of Hang Ke, who was superintendent of customs at Canton The Victors take the Spoils. 95 prior to the year 1859, when he resigned office. This man's salary was twenty-four hundred taels, or about four thousand dollars a year ; the necessary expenses of his yamun, or official residence, were about eight thousand taels per month, and yet, when he resigned his seals of office, he retired with a fortune of three hun- dred thousand taels, or five hundred thousand dollars. As is not unusually the case when a high official retires from his post, more espe- cially if he is believed to have made money. Hang Ke was ordered to Peking, and before he had been many days in the capital, one third of the five hundred thousand dollars had passed into the hands of members of the gov- ernment. Well may we ask. Who will watch the watchmen? But the old proverb, that one man may steal a horse, and another man may not look over the fence, is peculiarly true in regard to official extortion in China, as many less discreet men than Hang Ke have found to their cost. Not long since a district mag- istrate in the province of Kwei-chow was put to death by strangulation for having levied an illegal assessment of six thousand and fifty taels only from certain communes of the Meaou-tsze 96 The Government of China. aborigines within liis district. The immunity which some mandarins enjoy from the just con- sequences of their crimes, and the severit}- with which the law is vindicated in the cases of others for much lighter offences, has a sinister aspect ; but in a system of which briber}^ and corruption practically form a part, one need not expect to find purity in any direction, and it is not too much to say that the whole civil service is, judged by American standards, cor- rupt to the core. The people, however, are very lightly taxed, and they readil}'" submit to limited extortion so long as the rule of the mandarins is otherwise just and beneficent. How rarely a mandarin earns the respect and affection of the people is obvious from the great parade which is made on the departure from their posts of the very occasional officials who are fortunate enough to have earned it. Arch- deacon Gray states in his " China " that du- ring his residence of a quarter of a centurj- at Canton, he met one man only who had entitled himself to the regret of the people at his departure. On his leaving" the city, the inhabi- tants rose en masse to do him honor. " In the imposing procession which escorted him to A Bright Particular Star. 97 the place of embarkation, and which took at least twenty minutes to pass a given point* A MANDARIN IN HIS SEDAN CHAIR. were carried the silk umbrellas which had been presented to him by the people, and the red 98 The Government of China, boards — of which there were probably three hundred — upon which high-sounding titles had been inscribed in honor of the faithful minister. The route was spanned at frequent intervals by arches. From these banners were suspended which bore, in large letters, painted or embroi- dered, such sentences as ' The Friend of the People;' 'The Father of the People;' 'The Bright Star of the Province ; ' ' The Benefactor of the Age.' Deputations awaited his arrival at various temples, and he alighted from his chair to exchange compliments with them, and to partake of the refreshments provided for the occasion; but the formal arrangements could not speak so clearly to his popularity as the enthusiasm of the people. The silence gener- ally observed when a Chinese ruler passes through the streets was again and again broken by hearty exclamations of 'When will your Excellency come back to us?' At many points the crowd was so great as to interrupt the line of march, and the state chair was fre- quently in danger of being upset." A somewhat similar scene occurred at T'ien- tsin, in the year 1861, on the departure of the prefect of tliat city. The people accompanied The Imperial CensorB. 99 him beyond the gate, on his road to Peking, with every token of honor, and finally begged from him his boots, which they carried back in triumph, and hung up as a memento of their hero in the temple of the city god. Going to the opposite extreme, it sometimes happens that the people, goaded into rebellion by a sense of wrong, rise in arms against some par- ticularly obnoxious mandarin and drive him from the district. Chinamen are essentially un*- warlike, and it needs some act of gross oppres- sion to stir their blood to fever heat. A potent means of protection against oppres- sion is granted to the people by the appoint- ment of imperial censors throughout the empire, whose duty it is to report to the throne all cases of misrule, injustice, or neglect on the part of the mandarins wiiich come to their knowledge. The same tolerance which is shown by the people towards the shoi^t-comings and ill-deeds of the officials, is displayed by these men in the discharge of their duties.- Only aggravated cases make them take their pens in hand, but when they do it must be confessed that they show little mercy. Neither are they respecters of persons ; their lash falls on all alike, from 100 The Government of China. the emperor on his throne to the police-run- ners in magisterial courts. Nor is tlieir plain speaking more amazing than the candor with which their memorials affecting the characters of great and small alike are published in the Peking Gazette. The gravest charges, such as of peculation, neglect of dut)', injustice, or in- competence, are brought against mandarins of all ranks, and are openly published in the official paper. No doubt it is intended that the lesson implied by these publications should have a salutary effect on the official readers, but their constant recurrence tends to lessen their value, and thus they probably serve less as warnings against wrong-doing than as hints of what particular evil practices to avoid, and especially of the unwisdom of falling out with a censor. In the administration of justice, the same lax morality as in other branches of government exists, and bribery is largely resorted to by litigants, especially in civil cases. As a rule, money in excess of the legal fees has, in the first instance, to be paid to the clerks and secretaries before a case can be put down for hearing, and the decibion of the presiding man- Refinements of Cruelty. 101 darin is too often influenced by the sums of money which find their way into his purse from tlie pockets of eitlier suitor. But the greatest blot on Chinese administration is the inhumanity shown to both culprits and witnesses in crim- THE BASTINADO. inal procedure. Tortures of the most painful and revolting kind are used to extort evidence, and punishments scarcely more severely cruel are inflicted on the guilty parties. Flogging with bamboos on the hind part of the thighs, or 102 The Government of China, between the shoulders, beating the jaws with thick pieces of leather, or the ankles with a stick, are some of the preliminary tortures ap- plied to witnesses or culprits who refuse to give the evidence expected of them. Further refinements of cruelty are reserved for hard- ened offenders, by means of which infinite pain, and often permanent injury, are inflicted on the knee-joints, fingers, ankles, etc. Occasionally the tortures pass the limits of endurance, and death releases the victim from his miseries ; but as a rule, in the " severe question," life is pre- served, but at the expense of crippled limbs. The Turanians -are so obtuse-nerved by nature that they probably do not feel pain as acutely as more sensitive races, and their nerves sur- vive shocks which would prove fatal to a more finely organized people. It is this which en- ables them to pass through the horrors of the torture-chamber alive. It must of course be understood that though these tortures are un- fortunately common, their intensity, and even their use, vary with the disposition of each mandarin in wliose power it is to inflict them. To many, no doubt, their employment is as repugnant as it would be to an English judge. Horrible Executions. lOS but to have to look for mercy on the chance that the presiding, mandarin will be of a kindly disposition, is a poor security for those who enter a criminal court. It follows, as a natural consequence, that in a country where torture is thus resorted to the punishments inflicted on criminals must be proportionately cruel. Death, the final punish- ment, can unfortunately be inflicted in various ways, and a sliding scale of such executions is used by the Chinese to mark their sense of the varying heinousness of murderous crimes. For parricide, matricide, and wholesale murders, the usual sentence is that of Ling ehe, or " igno- minious and slow " death. In the carrying out of this sentence, the cnlprit is fastened to a cross, and cuts, varying in number, at the dis- cretion of the judge, from eight to a hundred and twenty, are made first on the face and fleshy parts of the body, next the heart is pierced, and finally, when death has been thus caused, the limbs are separated from the body and divided. During the year 1877, ten cases in which this punishment was inflicted were reported in the Peking Gazette^ in one of which, shocking to say, a lunatic was the suf- 104 The Government of China. ferer, a circumstance which adds a weird hor- ror to the ghastly scene. In ordinary cases of capital punishment execution by beheading is the common mode. This is a speedy and merciful death, the skill gained by frequent experience enabling the e^iecutioner in ahnost every case to perform his task in one blow. On one occasion, the author saw thirty-six men beheaded at Canton, for robbery with violence. Two executioners were employed, and they fin- ished their task in less than two minutes, neitiier of them having once failed to sever the head from the body at tlie first stroke. Another death, which is less horrible to China- nien, who view any mutilation of the body as an extreme disgrace, is by strangulation. ' The privilege of so passing out of the world is accorded at times to influential criminals, whose crimes are not of so heinous a nature as de- mands their decapitation ; and occasionally they are even allowed to be their own executioners. In the year 1861, a prince of the blood who had been found guilty of treason, had this favor extended to him. The "silken cord" was sent to him in his cell in the Board of Punish- ments, and he was left to consummate his Judge Lynch. 105 own doom, but his nerve forsook him and the jailers were ultimately compelled to carry out the sentence of the law. Other and summary extra-judicial executions are carried out b}' the people with the silent consent of the officials in the case of kid- nappers and others taken red-handed, and their nature is, to a great extent, moulded by cir- cumstances. If a river should be close at hand, the probability is that the criminal would be thrown, bound, into the water; but the more common mode of Ij'ucliing is to bind the con- demned wretch to a cross and to strangle him with a cord passed through a hole in the cross, at the back of his neck. It is a fortunate provision of nature that the fear of death diminishes in direct ratio to the frequency of its probable incidence. Times of war and of political disturbance, when the sword is bare and the executioner's hands are full, are gen- erally times of reckless gayety and thoughtless living, and so in countries such as China, where human life possesses, neither in the eyes of the judges nor of the people, the sacred- ness with which it is viewed in Europe, the people, far from being weighed down with a , 106 The Government of China. sense of the possible nearness of death, learn to look on its imminence with indifference and to despise its terrors. The uncertainty also which surrounds the fate of the condemned malefactor is apt to encourage a hope that fortune may be kinder to him than the judge, for it by no means follows that every man upon whom sentence of death is passed finds his waj"^ to the execution ground. The lists of condemned criminals are sent at stated times from all parts of the empire to Peking, and the Emperor, guided pretty much by chance, marks with a red pencil the names of a cer- tain proportion on whom it is liis imperial will that the sentence of the law should be carried out at the approaching jail delivery. On the morning of the day fixed for the exe- cution, the jailer enters the prison and reads out the names of the unfortunate ones, who are then taken before the judge to be offici- ally identified, after which tliey are allowed a meal, which is supplied either by their friends or the prison authorities, mainly consisting, as a rule, of some narcotic, and are finally car- ried off to the execution ground. The names of those left in prison are sent up to Peking Loathsome Dungeons. 107 with the next batch, and those who are lucky enough to escape the vermilion pencil two or three times are generally sent off into banish- ment for life. In the old days, when the great wall was building, such criminals were sent to work at that huge undertaking, but since that time they have been banished be- yond the frontiers into either Mongolia or Manchuria: It may be that in some cases the indifference with which criminals leave their cells for the execution ground is to be traced to the supreme misery of their prison life, and to any one who has visited a Chinese prison this indifference is not surprising. Asi- atics are almost invariably careless about the sufferings of others, and Chinamen are no ex- ception to the rule. It is almost impossible to exaggerate the horrors of a Chinese prison. The filth and dirt of the rooms, the brutality of the jailers, the miserable diet, and the en- tire absence of the commonest sanitary arrange- ments, make a picture too horrible to draw in detail. During the war of 1860, as before stated, two Englishmen, Sir Harry Parkes and Mr. Loch, were treacherously taken prisoners, and were confined in the prison of the Board 108 The Government of China. of Punishments at Peking. The extraordinary fortitude of these men and the horrors of their surroundings may be imagined from the follow- Mng passages from Mr. Loch's "Narrative of Events in China": — "The discipline of the prison was in itself not very strict, and had it not been for the starvation, the pain arising from the cramped position in which tlie chains and ropes retained the arms and legs, with the heavy drag of tlie iron collar on the bones of the spine, and the creeping vermin that in- fested evev}^ place, together with the occasional beatings and tortures which the prisoners were from time to time taken away for a few hours to endure — returning with bleeding legs and bodies, and so weak as to be scarce able to crawl — there was no very great hardship to be endured . . . There is a small maggot which appears to infest all Chinese prisons ; the earth at the depth of a few inches swarms with them ; they are the scourge most dreaded by every poor prisoner. Few enter a Chinese goal who have not on their bodies or limbs some wounds, either inflicted by blows to which they have been subjected, or caused by the manner in which they have been bound; A PRISONER IX THE CAXqUE. 109 A Canton Prison. Ill the instinct of the insect to which I allude appears to lead him direct to these wounds. Bound and helpless, the poor wretch cannot save himself from their approach, although he knows full well that if they once succeed in reaching his lacerated skin there is the cer- tainty of a fearful, lingering, and agonizing death before him." In the provincial prisons the condition of the wretched culprits is even worse than in those of the Board of Punishments. Those who were present at the first inspection of the Canton prisons after the taking of that city in 1859, will never forget the sight which met their gaze. As the wretched creatures were dragged out to the light of day, and the full horror of their condition became apparent, English soldiers who were present wept as they had not wept since they were children, at the sight of such unutterable suiEfering. There is no reason to suppose that the Canton prisons are not typical of others throughout the empire ; on the contrary, the gross neglect and abominable cruelty of magis- trates and jailers which are occasionallj'^ shown up in the Peking Gazette point to the con- clusion that other jails are as foul, and other 112 The Government of China. warders are as brutal even, as those of Canton. Chinese law-givers have distinguished in a marked manner between crimes accompanied and unaccompanied with violence. For offences of the latter description punishments of a com-- paratively light nature are inflicted, sucli as wearing the wooden collar, known among Euro- peans as the canque, and piercing the ears with arrows, to the ends of which are attached slips of paper on which are inscribed the crime of which the culprit has been guilty. Fre- quently the criminals, bearing these signs of their disgrace, are paraded up and down the street where their offence was committed, and sometimes, in more serious cases, they are flogged through the leading thoroughfares of tlie cit^', preceded by a herald, who announces the na- ture of their misdemeanors. To give a list of Chinese punishments would show that the inge- nuity of man to torture his fellow-creatures has been exhausted by them. The subject is horrible, and it is a relief to turn from the dingy prison gates and the halls of so-called justice to- the family life of the people. CHAPTER III. MARRIAGE. 'E have said that the goy- erument of the empire is modelled on the govern- ment of a household, and at the root of all family ties, says one of the Chinese classics, is the relation of husband and wife, which is as the relation of heaven and earth. Chinese histo- rians state that the rite of marriage was first insti- tuted by the Emperor Fuh-he, who reigned in the twenty-eightli century b. c, and who or- dained, as a preliminary, that the intending bridegroom should present his future bride a pair of prepared skins as an earnest of their engagement. There is abundant evidence to Q 113 114 Marriage. show that before this period, as indeed among all other peoples, the first form of marriage in China was by capture. The modern character cA'w, meaning to marr}*, is said to bear in its construction a reference to this old practice, made up as it is of an ear, a hand, and a woman, thus commemorating the custom of bringing in captives by the ear, as is still done by Chinese soldiers in time of war. On the evening of the marriage the Chinese bridegroom either goes himself or sends a friend to bring his bride to his house, but always after dark, as if by stealth, and the ceremony, such as it is, is performed in his house. In the same ' way, but in a more primitive form, we find the bridegroom among a northern Mongolian tribe chasing his bride through the compart- ments of her father's tent, while old women go through the form of tripping him up and otherwise hindering him in his pursuit ; and among some Central Asiatic tribes the bride- groom chases his wife on horseback ; but whether the pursuit is in a Siberian tent or on a Cen- tral Asiatic steppe, the result is the same, the bride gives in at last, and becomes the prop- erty of her pursuer. Among ourselves, no doubt, Chasing and Tripping. 115 the practice of a bridegroom going to take over his bride accompanied by a " best man," is a survival from the time when men took their wives by force, and the bridesmaids of the present day represent the defenders of their fortunate or unfortunate sister. At the present day marriage is probably more nearly universal in China than in any other civilized country in the world. It is regarded as something indispensable, and few men pass the age of twenty without taking a wife. Chinese legislators have at all times encouraged early marriages as having a pacify- ing efiect upon the people. A man who has given hostages to fortune in the shape of wife and children has a greater inducement to fol- low the paths of steady industry, and is less likely to throw in his lot with brigands and rebels, than a man who has but himself to thin] of, and is without any immediate ties. Besides this the Chinese believe, in common with the ancient Greeks, that the shades of the unburied wander restlessly about without gaining admittance into Hades ; so that non- burial came to be considered by them the most deplorable calamity that could befall one, and 116 Marriage. the discharge of the last service a most holy- duty. To die, therefore, without leaving behind a son to perform the burial rites, and to offer up the fixed periodical sacrifices at the tomb, is one of the most direful fates tliat can over- take a Cliinaman, and he seeks to avoid it by an early marriage. The gods, we are told, bestow not on men all their gifts at once, and it sometimes happens that the desired object is not obtained. As it was among the ancient Jews, the necessit}'- of securing an lieir is of so vital importance that in such cases the first wife has not unfrequently to make way for a second, and the practice of adoption conies to the relief of those to whom children are hope- lessly denied. The Chinese, however, being monogamists, it is necessary that, before taking another M'ife, a man should divorce the exist- ing one. This is not a difficult process, since any one of the seven pleas for divorce spoken of later on, would be enough for his purpose. Like every other rite in China, that of mar- riage is fenced in with a host of ceremonies. In a vast majority of cases a bridegroom never sees his bride until the wedding night, it be- ing considered a grave breach of etiquette for Pre-marital Etiquette. 119 young men and maidens to associate together or even to see one another. Of course it does occasionally happen that either by stealth or by chance a pair become acquainted; but whether they have thus associated or whether they are perfect strangers, the first formal over- ture must of necessity be made by a go-between, who, having received a commission from the parents of the young man, proceeds to the house of the lady ancl, makes a formal proposal on behalf of the would-be bridegroom's parents. If the young lady's father approve the pro- posed alliance, the suitor sends the lady some presents as an earnest *of his intention. The parents next exchange documents, which set forth the hour, day, month, and 3'ear when the young people were born, and the maiden names of their mothers. Astrologers are then called in to cast the horoscopes, and should these be favorable, the engagement is formally entered into, but not so irrevocably that there are not left several orthodox ways of breaking it off. If, for instance, a china bowl should be broken, or an article be lost in the house of either within three days of the engagement, the cir- cumstance is considered to be sufficiently un- 120 Marriage. lucky to warrant the instant termination of the negotiations. Should things go smoothly the bridegroom's father writes a formal letter of agreement to the lady's father, accompanied by presents, consisting in some cases of sweetmeats and a live pig, and in others of a goose and a gander, which are regarded as emblems of conjugal fidelity. At the same time the bride- groom prepares two large cards, on which are written the particulars of the engagement. On the outer side of the one which he keeps is pasted a paper Dragon, and on the outside of the other, which is seat to the lady, appears a Phcenix. Each card is adorned with two pieces of . red silk, which have their origin in the following legend : — " In the time of the T'ang dynasty — that is to say, about a thousand years ago — a man named Hwuy Ko while staying in the town of Sung met an old man reading a book by the light of the moon. In answer to Hwuy's inquiring look, the old man said, ' This is the register of the engage- ments for all marriages under heaven, and in my pocket I have red cords with which I con- nect the feet of those who are to become hus- band and wife. When these cords are once Red Silk and Wedding Cards. 121 tied nothing ' on earth can change the destiny of the parties. Your future wife,' added he, 'is the child of the old woman who sells veg- etables in yonder shop in the north of the town.' Upon hearing this, Hwuy hurried off to the vegetable shop, and found the woman in charge possessed of such a hideous little infant of about a year old, that in his despair he hired a man to kill the child. Years after- wards the prefect of the town where Hwuy Ko then lived, gave him in marriage a beau- tiful young lady whom he affirmed was his own daughter. Seeing that his bride always wore an artificial flower over one of her eye- brows, Hwuy Ku asked her the reason of her doing so. ' I am the daughter,' replied she, ' of the prefect's brother who died at Sung when I was an infant, leaving me to the care of an old woman who sold vegetables. One day when I was out with her in the street a ruffian struck me on my forehead, and made such a scar that I am obliged to wear this flower to hide the mark." " Hwuy Ko then recognized the immutability of fate, and from that day to this red silk has been entwined in the marriage cards of ever}' pair in China. 122 Marriage. Following on the exchange of these cards, presents varying according to the rank and fortune of the suitor are vicariously presented by him to the lad}'. Recourse is then again had to astrologers to fix a fortunate day for A BRIDAT- PROCESSION. the final ceremony, on the evening of which the bridegroom's best man proceeds to the house of the lady and conducts her to her future home in a red sedan-chair, accompanied by musicians who — as in ancient Athens — CHINESE BRIDE AND GROOM. At the Husband's Door. 125 enliven the procession with wedding airs. At the door of the house the bride alights from her sedan, and is lifted over a pan of burn- ing charcoal, or a red-hot coulter, laid on the threshold by two "women of luck," whose hus- # bands and children must be living. Sir John Lubbock states that this ceremony of lifting a bride over the threshold exists in the four con- tinents, and we know that in ancient Rome the bridegroom received his bride with fire and water, and presented these two elements to her touch. No full explanation has been given of this curiously universal practice, but it may possi- bly be useful as conveying a hint to the lady that for the future she should stay at home and not face the dangers of re-crossing the threshold.* In the reception-room the bridegroom awaits his bride on a raised dais, at the foot of which she humbly prostrates herself. He then descends to her level, and, removing her veil, gazes on her face for the first time. Without exchang- ing a word they seat themselves side bj' side, and each tries to sit on a part of the dress * It is also said in explanation that the fire serves to purge away evil spirits. 126 Marriage. of the other, it being considered that the one wlio succeeds in so doing will hold rule in the household. This trial of skill over, the pair proceed to the hall, and there before the family altar worship heaven and earth and their ancestors. They then go to dinner in their apartment, through the open door of which the guests scrutinize and make their remarks on the appearance and demeanor of the bride. This ordeal is the more trying to her since etiquette forbids her to eat anything — a pro- hibition which is not sliared by the bridegroom, who, to the extent of. his appetite, enjoys the dainties provided. The attendants next hand to each in turn a cup of wine, and, having exchanged pledges, the wedding ceremonies come to an end. In some parts of the country it is customary for the bride to sit up late into the night answering riddles which are pro- pounded to her by the guests ; in other parts it is usual for her to show herself for a time in the hall, whither her husband does not accompany her, as it is contrarj' to etiquette for a husband and wife ever to appear together in public. For the same reason she goes to pay the customary visit to her parents on the Women difficult to Manage. 127 third day after the wedding alone, and for the rest of her wedded life she enjoys the society of her husband only in the privacy of her apartments. The lives of women in China, and especially of married women, are such as -to justify the wish, often expressed by the fair followers of Buddha, that in their next state of existence they may be born men. Even if in their baby days they escape the infanticidal tendencies of their parents, and this they will certainly do unless the household is hard pressed by pov- erty, and even then their chances are greatly in favor of their surviving, they are regarded as secondary considerations compared with their brothers. The philosophers, from Confucius down- wards, have all agreed in assigning them to an inferior place to men. " Of all people," said Confucius, " women are the most difficult to manage. If you are familiar with them they become forward, and if you keep them at a distance they become discontented." When the time comes for them to marry, custom requires them, in nine cases out of ten, to take, as we have seen, a leap in the dark, and that wife is fortunate who finds in her husband a con- ^ 128 Marriage. genial and faithful companion. If the reverse should be the case, the probability is that her career will be one of great unhappiness. Though society looks with a certain amount of disfavor upon the practice of concubinage, except in the case of the wife being childless, it still fre- quently obtains, and gives rise to much misery and heart-burnings in households. A concubine is generally bought, or occasionally is received as a present. She occupies in the family an inferior position to the wife, and her children, if she have any, belong by law to the wife. The law-givers, accepting the general view of the inferiority of women, which is sufficiently indicated by the fact that they are marketable commodities, have provided that a husband may divorce his wife for any one of seven different faults, ranging from the disease of leprosy to the habit of garrulousness. On the other hand no offence, of whatever kind, on the part of the husband, gives a woman any right to claim a divorce from him. The consequence of this very one-sided legislation is, no doubt, to pro- mote that courteous, humble, and conciliatory address and manner which moralists say should mark a wife's conduct towards her husband ; Death better than Marriage. 129 and the same authorities hold that in no case should she do more than gently remonstrate with him on any departure on his part from "right principles," and never so as to annoy or irri- tate him. So many are the disabilities of married women that many girls prefer going into Buddhist or Taouist nunneries, or even (^ommitting suicide, to trusting their future to men of whom they can know nothing but from the interested re- ports of the go-betweens. Archdeacon Gray, in his work on China, states that in 1873 eight 3^oung girls, residing near Canton, " who had been affianced, drowned themselves in order to avoid marriage. They clothed themselves in their best attire, and at eleven o'clock, in the darkness of the night, having bound themselves together, they threw themselves into a tribu- tary stream of the Canton River." The re-marriage of widows is regarded as an impropriety, and in wealthy families is seldom practised. But among the poorer classes neces- sity often compels a widow to seek another bread-winner. The leading paraphernalia of the first marriage is, however, denied her. Instead of the led wedding sedan, borne by four or 9 130 Marriage. more men, she has to go to her new home in a common, small, blue or black chair, carried by two bearers, and unaccompanied by the music which cheered her on her first journey on a similar errand. Some, however, having been possibly unfortunate in their first matri- monial venture, refuse to listen to any proposal for a re-marriage, and, like the young girls mentioned above, sfeek escape by death from the importunities of relatives who desire to get them off their hands A reverse view of matrimonial experiences is suggested by the practice of wives refusing to survive their husbands and, like the victims of suttee in India, putting a voluntary end to their existence rather than live to mouin their loss. Such devotion is regarded by the people with great approbation, and the deed of suicide is generally performed in public with great punctiliousness. The following ac- count of one such suicide at Fuhchow is taken from tiie Hong Kong Daily Press of January 20th, 1861: "A few days since," says the writer, "I met a Chinese procession passing through the foreign settlement, escorting a young person in Extreme wifely Devotion. 181 scarlet and gold in a richly decorated chair; the object of wiiich, 1 found, was to invite the public to come and see her hang herself, a step she had resolved to take in consequence of the death of her husband, b}- which she had been left a childless widow. Both being orphans, this event had severed her dearesi earthly ties, and. she hoped by this sacrifice tc secure herself eternal happiness, and a meeting with her husband in the next world. Avail- ing myself of the general invitation, I repaired on the day appointed to the indicated spot. We had scarcely arrived, when the same pro- cession was seen advancing from the Joss house of the woman's native village towards a scaffold or gallows erected in an adjacent field, and surrounded by hundreds of natives of both sexes ; the female portion, attired in gayest holiday costume, was ver}' numerous. I and a friend ob- tained a bench for a consideration, which, being placed within a few yards of the scaffold, gave us a good view of the performance. The pro- cession having reached the foot of the scaffold, the lady was assisted to ascend by Ijer male attendant, and, after having welcomed the crowd, partook with some female relatives of a repast 132 Marriage. prepared for her on a table on the scafiFold, which she appeared to appreciate extremely. A child in arms was then placed upon the table, whom she caressed and adorned with a neck- lace which she had herself worn. She then took an ornamental basket containing rice, herbs, and flowers, and, whilst scattering them amongst the crowd, delivered a short address, thanking them for their attendance, and upholding the motives which urged her to the step she was about to take. This done, a salute of bombards announced the arrival of the time for the performance of the last act of iier existence, when a delay was occasioned by the discovery of the absence of a reluctant brother, pending whose arrival let me describe the means of exteiinination. The gallows was formed by an upright timber on each side of the scaffold supporting a stout bamboo, from the centre of which was suspended a loop of cord with a small wooden ring em- bracing both parts of it, which was covered by a red silk handkerchief, the whole being surrounded by an awning. "The^ missing brother having been induced to appear, the widow now proceeded to mount on a chair placed under the noose, and, to Extraordinary Self-Possession. 133 ascertain its fitness for her reception, deliber- ately placed her head in it ; then, withdrawing her head, she waved a final adieu to the ad- miring spectators, and committed herself to its embrace for the last time, throwing the red handkerchief over her head. Her supports were now about to be withdrawn, when she was re- minded by several voices in the crowd that she had omitted to draw down the ring which should tighten the cord round her neck ; smil- ing in acknowledgment of the reminder, she adjusted the ring, and, motioning away her supports, was left hanging in mid-air — a suicide. With extraordinary self-possession she now placed her hands before her, and continued to perform the manual chin-chin until the convulsions of strangulation separated them and she was dead. The body was left hanging about half an hour, and then taken down by her male attendants, one of whom immediately took possession of the halter, and was about to sever it for the purpose of appropriating a portion, when a struggle ensued, of which I took advantage to attach myself to the chair in which the body was now being removed to the Joss house, in order to obtain ocular proofs of her demise. 134 Marriage. Arrived at the Joss house the body' was placed on a couch, and the handkerchief withdrawn from the face, disclosed unmistakable proofs of death. This is the third instance of suicide of this sort within as many weeks. The au- thorities are quite unable to prevent it, and a monument is invariably erected to the memory ^ of the devoted widow." * Formerly, these stately suicides were not un- frequently presided over by some of the local authorities; but it is said that on one such occasion the lady made an excuse for leaving the scaffold, and never returned, since which misadventure no mandarin has been found bold enough to risk becoming the victim of the rep- etition of so annoying an hoax. The monu- ments generally raised to these suicides consist . either of a tablet in one of the neighboring temples, or an archway built across the street in which the victim lived. Monuments of a similar kind are earned by widows who have remained widows indeed, for for<-y or fifty years, and for such the imperial approbation is generally sought for and obtained, the edict announcing the gracious answer of the emperor * This practice is, however, very rare. Happiness Relative. 135 always appearing in tlie Peking Grazette. The only ancient bar to marriage in China was consanguinity, as evidenced by the the posses- sion of identical surnames ; but later legislation has declared marriages with a cousin on the mother's side, or a step-daughter, or a moth- er's sister, illegal, and, strict!}' speaking, pun- ishable with death by strangulation. , The picture here given of married life in China has been necessarily darkly shaded, since it is a rule onlj- in its unfortunate phases that it affords opportunity for remark. As has been said of an empire, that household is fortunate which has no history, and without doubt there are manj' hundreds of thousands of families in China which are in that happy condition. The placid natures of Chinamen make them com- paratively safe depositories of power over their fellow creatures. A man who has been accus- tomed from his A'outh up to perform every little duty with a punctilious regard to the ceremonies which are proper to it, to regulate every motion of his body by fixed rules, and to consider every breach of the elaborate eti- quette which surrounds his daily life, as a stain upon his chai'acter, is less likely to be actively 136 Marriage. cruel and violent than more unceremonious and warlike people ; and Chinese wives doubtless benefit by the peaceful tendencies of those ob- servances. Happiness is, after all, a relative term, and Chinese women, knowing no higher status, are, as a rule, content to run the risk of wrongs which would be unendurable to an European woman and to find happiness under conditions which are fortunately unknown in Western countries. HOUSEHOLD ORNAMENTS. CHAPTER IV. THE NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG. T *HE day and hour on which the baby is born are con- sidered as portentous for the future good or evil of the child, as among English north country folks. A child born on the fifth day of a month, and more cer- tainly if on the fifth of the fifth month, will either commit suicide iu after-life, or will murder his parents. Apart from these and some other ill-omened days, a child born at noon is believed to be a sure inheritor of wealth and honor, and he who first sees the light between nine and eleven will have a hard lot at first and afterwards great riches ; while the unfortunate infant who appears between three and five is doomed to poverty and woe. As has been said by Mr. Dennys, in his "Folklore of China," "if the 137 138 The Nurture and Education of the Young, Chinese lay great stress on the hour of birth, we no less attribute to the day a talismanic influence over the future of the new-born child ; as witness the good wives' rhyme : Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace, Wednesday's child is full of woe, Thursday's child has far to go, Friday's child is loving and giving, Saturday's child works hard for its living ; But the child which is born on the Sabbath-day, Is blythe and bonnie, and good and gay. The cries and movements of babies are care- fully watched by the light of the regulations laid down by physiognomists, who say that if a baby cries long, he will live to be old ; but if his cries are constantly intermittent, his life is precarious. Babies whose cries die out, or the tone of whose crying is deep, or who open their own eyes, or who constantly move their hands and feet, are doomed by the same authorities to early death ; while a child who walks, teeths, and speaks early has a bad dis- position, and will turn out to be unlovable. Swaddling clothes for babies are essential for the purpose of preventing contact with any evil influence which may interfere with the all- Bahy's Cries. IS 9 pervading principle of the season. For instance, should the time of year be spring or summer, then tlie life-producing principle is abroad, and it is of the utmost importance that the baby should be protected from t|ie touch of anything that would counteract that principle existing in it. In the same way, in autumn and winter the gathering-in principle is prevailing, and care must be taken to ward off all contact with everytliing hostile to it. The first clothes worn by the infant should be made out of the coat and trousers of some old man of seventy or eighty years, to ensure a like length of life to the wearer. But to return to the pre-clothes period : on the third day after its birtli tlie baby is washed for the first time. The occasion is one of great moment, and the relations and friends are invited to take part in the ceremony. Each guest brings with him or her as the case may be, an onion and some cash — emblems of keen-wittedness and wealth — which they present the child. Water, in which scented herbs and leaves have been fused, is used in the ablutions, and when the process is over, all present join in offering 140 The Nurture and Education of the Young. sacrifices to the goddess of children for the mercy she has vouchsafed. At the end of the raontli the mother leaves her room for the first time, and the ceremonies of naming the baby, and of shaving its liead, whether girl or boy, are performed on the occasion. In contradistinction to this rational and civilized regard for the mother, the abo- rigines in the province of Kwei-chow preserve the curious custom, known as couvarde, which is, or was, also practised by the Basques, among other peoples. The motlier among these tribei gets up immediate]}' after the birth of th^ child, and goes about her ordinary duties, while the father goes to bed with the infant for a month ; the idea being that the life of the father and child is one, and that any harm happening to the father will affect injuriously the well-being of the infant. For a hundred days the Chinese mother remains in the house, and at the end of that time goes with her infant to the temple of Kwan-yin — the god- dess of matrons — to return thanks for the possession of a child. On its first birthday, if the child be a boy, he is seated in a large sieve, in which are placed round him a set of Birthday Presents. 141 money-scales, a pair of shears, a foot measure, a brass mirror, a pencil, ink, paper, ink-slab, a book or two, an abacus, and other im- plements and ornaments ; and the assembled friends watch to see which object he first han- dles, in order to gain an indication of his future career. The brightest hopes are enter- tained of his scholarship should he take up a book or pencil. To see him handle the money- scales is the next ambition of his parents, and the probability is that devices are not wanting to direct his attention to the objects which it is particularly desired he should touch. The power of a Chinese father over his chil- dren is as full as that possessed by the Roman father, and stops short only with life. The practice of selling children is common, and, though the law makes it a punishable offence should the sale be effected against the will of the children, the prohibition is practically ig- nored. In the same way a law exists in the statute-book . making infanticide a crime, but as a matter of fact it is never acted upon ; and in some parts of the country, more especially in the provinces of Keang-se and Fuh-keen, this most unnatural offence prevails among the 142 The Nurture and Education of the Young, poorer classes to au alarming extent. Not only do the people acknowledge the existence of the practice, but - they even go the length of defending it. What, they say, is the good of rearing daughters? When they are young they are only an expense, and when they might be able to earn a living, they marry and leave us. Periodically the mandarins inveigh against the inhumanit}-^ of the offence and appeal to the better instincts of the people to put a stop to it ; but a stone whicli stands near a pool outside the city of Fuhchow, bearing the inscription, " Girls may not be drowned here," testifies with terrible emphasis to the futility of their praise wo rth}-^ endeavors. It is only, however, abject poverty which drives parents to this dreadful expedient, and in the more prosperous and wealthy districts the crime is almost unknown. The complete subjection of children to their parents puts into the hands of these latter a power which is occasionally exercised with cruelty, as is implied by the existence of the laws which provide that a father who chastises his ^ou, to death, shall receive a hundred blows with the bamboo, and that sixt}^ blows and a year's Subjection and Punishment. 143 banishment shall be the punishment inflicted for the murder of a disobedient child or grand- child. So firndy is respect to parents imbued in the minds of every Chinese boy and youth, that resistance to the infliction of cruel and even unmerited punishment is seldom if ever offered, and full-grown men snbmit meekly to be flogged without raising their hands. Tlie law steps in on every occasion in support of parental authority, and prison doors are readily opened at the request of parents for the recep- tion of disobedient sons, with one curious ex- ception, viz., a father cannot send his son for perpetual imprisonment against the wishes of his son's wife. Over the property of sons the father's authority is as complete as over their liberty ; he is, however, occasionally called upon to pay debts incurred by his son, and con- trary wise the son, if by any means possessed of property, is obliged to pay his father's debts. Filial piet)'- is the leading principle in Chi- nese ethics. It is the point upon wliich every teacher, from Confucius downwards, has most strongly insisted, and its almost universal prac- tice affords ground for tlie belief held by some 144 The Nurture and Education of the Young. that in the long continuance of the empire the Chinese are reaping the reward held out in the fiftli commandment of the Mosaic deca- logue. "Filial piety," said Confucius, "consists in obedience ; in serving one's parents when alive according to propriet}' ; in burying them when dead according to proprietj' ; and in sac- rificing to them according to propriety." In the "Book of Rites" it is laid down that "during the lifetime of his parents a son should not go abroad ; or, if he do so, then to a fixed place. When at home he should rise with the first cock-crow, and having washed and dressed himself carefully, should inquire what the wishes of his parents are as to the food they would eat and drink. He should not enter a room unless invited by his father, nor retire without permission ; neither should he speak unless spoken to." These are not unheeded precepts, but are to this day ob- served, if not strictly to the letter, at least in the spirit. The only exception to the exercise of imme- diate parental control is when a son takes office. The emperor tlien stands to him in loco parentis^ and though he is bound to con- Starting for School. 145 form to the recognized national customs with regard to parents, he is emancipated from their jurisdiction. When either of them die he is compelled to retire from office for three years, wiiich in practice is, by a fiction, reduced to twenty-seven months, but in private life, as long as his parents live, he holds himself at their disposal, and is guided by tliem in the choice of his occupation and in every concern of life. School-life begins at the age of six, and among the wealthier classes great care is shown in the choice of a master. His excellences must be moral as well as mental, and his power of teaching must be unquestioned. The selection of a lucky day for beginning work is confided to astrologers, who avoid above all other days those upon which Confucius and Ttiang Hieh, the reputed inventor of writing, died and were buried. The stars having indi- cated a propitious day, the boy presents him- self at the school, bringing with him two small candles, some sticks of incense, and some paper-money, which are burnt at the shrine of Confucius, before which also the little fellow prostrates himself three times. There 10 146 The Nurture and Education of the Young. being no alphabet in Chinese, the pupil has to plunge at once into the midst of the sub- ject and begins by learning to read the San tsze king^ a work written in sentences of three A srHooi.r.iRi,, characters, each containing a scrap of elemen- tary knowledge. Having mastered, the mysteries of this book, he is taught the Tsien tsze king, or the thousand-character classic which deals with somewhat more advanced subjects. The The four Boohs and five Classics. 147 next step is to the " Four Books," known as ' the Lun yu, or Confucian Analects ; tlie Ta Jieo, or Great Learning; the Chung yung^ or the Golden Medium ; and the Mung tsze^ or Sayings of Mencius. Then follow the five classics, viz., the Yih king, or Book of Changes; the Shoo king, or Book of History ; the Chun tsew, or Spring and Autumn Annals ; the She king, or Book of Odes ; and the Le ke, or Book of Rites. This is the ultima thule of Chinese learning. A full comprehension of these four books and five classics, together with the commentaries upon them, and the power of turning this knowledge to account in the shape of essays and poems is all that is required at the highest examinations in the empire. Year after year these form the subjects of study of every aspiring scholar until every character and every phrase is, or should be, indelibly en- graved on the memory. This course of instruc- tion has been exactly followed in every school in the empire for many centuries, and the re- sult is that there are annually turned out a vast number of lads of all cast in the same mould, all possessed of a certain amount of ready-made knowledge, and with their mem- 148 The Nurture and Education of the Young. ories unduly exercised at the expense of their thinking powers. The choice of a future call- ing, which is often so perplexing to English lads and their parents, is simplified in China by the fact of there being but two pursuits which a man of respectability and education 6an follow, namely, the mandarinate and trade. The liberal professions, as we understand them, are unknown in China. The judicial system forbids the existence of the legal professions, except in the case of official secretaries attached to the mandarins' yamuns ; * and medicine is, with a few exceptions, represented by charla- tans, who prey on the follies of their fellow- men, and dispense such monstrous nostrums as ground tigers' teeth, 'snakes' skins, etc., in lieu of drugs. A lad, or his parents for him, has, therefore, practically to consider whether the position he has held at school is sufficientl}'^ good, to justify his attempting to compete at the general competitive examinations to qualify him for office, or whether he should embark in one of the numerous mercantile concerns which abound among the money-making and thrifty Chinese. • A yamun is an official residence. Civil Service Examination. 149 Should he prefer winning fame and gaining official rank he loses no time in perfecting him- self in the books he studied at school, and in practising the art of writing essays, and pen- ning verses. As soon as he considers himself sufficiently prepared to undergo the first ordeal he presents liimself before the secretary of the magistrate of the district in which he lives, armed with a paper stating his name, age, place of residence, the names of his father, mother, grandparents, and great grandparents, and giving a description of his appearance, and especially the color of his complexion. In return his name is entered as a candidate for the next examination, and he pays his fee in the shape of the purchase he is expected to make of paper for the examination. On .a day appointed by the magistrate, the candidates, who frequentl}'^ number two or more thousands, according to the size of the district, go at day- light to the Kaou-pung-tsze, or examination-hall, in the magistrate's yamun. When all are as- sembled — the magistrate having taken his seat at a table covered with red cloth at the upper end of the hall— a notice-board is displayed, on which appear three passages from the four 150 The Nurture and Education of the Young books, on which the students are expected to write two essays and a poem. This constitutes the preliminary trial, and after a few days a list of the names of those who have passed is posted up at the yamun gate. The names of those who have done best are arranged in a centrifugal circle at the head of the list, while the rest are written side by side perpendicu- larly. The next examination, which lasts five days, takes place after only a short interval. The required work on each of the first four days consists of an essay on a text from the four books and a poem, but on the third day an extra ode is optional, and so also on the fourth day are additional poems. On the fifth day part of an essay (which is purposely left incomplete) on a text from the same source is required. Again a list of the successful candidates is published, and to these the magistrate gives a congratulatory feast. The scene is next changed to the literary chancellor's yamun in the prefectural cit}', where tliose who have dined with the magistrate appear before the prefect as a preliminary to a final examination by the chancellor. This test also lasts five days, and Competitive Examinations. 151 is conducted exactly as those at the magis- trate's yamun, the subjects being taken from the same books. In the same way it is cus- tomary for the prefect to entertain at a dinner those who pass best, and with this feast his part in the examination ceases. The literary chancellor then next examines those whose num- bers — for he is not supposed to know their names — have been sent him by the prefect, and from them he selects the best men to the number laid down by law. These meet on a given day the successful competitors at the other district-examinations in the prefectures, when the}^ are expected to write from mem- orv one of tlie sixteen edicts of the Emperor K'ang-he, with the commentary thereon of his son, Yung-ching. This completes the examina- tion, and on those who have survived the various tests is conferred tlie degree of Siu-ts'ai or " Elegant Scholarsliip," which may be said to be the equivalent of our degree of Bachelor of Arts. Having donned the diess proper to their rank, the new graduates go in a body to pay their respects to the literary chancellor, before whom, at a word of command from the master of ceremonies- thev nerform the Ko-t'ow 152 The Nurture and Education of the Young. three times. Subsequently they pay the same honor to the prefect, and they then disperse to their various homes. The examination for the next degree of Ku- jin is held in the provincial examination-hall, in the provincial capital, by two commissioners especially sent for the purpose from Peking. These officials generally arrive a day or two before the date fixed for the examination, and take up their quarters in residences prepared for them in the city, the doors of which are immediately sealed up so as to prevent any contaminating influences from reaching them. On the day before the examination begins, they move into yamuns set apart for their use within the precincts of the "schools," accompanied by the governor of the province. During the night preceding the examination, or very early on the morning of the day, the graduates, who gen- erally number from six to eight thousand, enter the hall, and each takes possession of the cell set apart for him, and which bears a number correspondent to that on his roll of examination-paper. The cells are built in rows, and are about three feet wide, three and a half deep, and about six feet high. They have Competitive Examinations. 153 neither doors nor windows, and the furniture of each consists only of three or four pieces of wide board, which serve as bench and table during the day and a bedstead by night. Each competitor brings with him food for two days, and on entering is rigorously searched to see that he has no "cribs" with him. As soon as all are assembled, the doors are locked and sealed, and the examiners having vowed before Heaven that they will act justly, and without fear or favor, in the approaching ordeal, the work begins by the issuing to each student of four texts from the " Four Books," upon which he is expected to write three essays and a poem. Two days are given for the completion of these tasks, and at the end of that time the doors are thrown open, and those who have finished their work pass out under a salute of three guns and the beating of drums. Those who are not ready are allowed a few hours' additional time. Meanwhile, on the completion of each essay, it is carried to the assistant examiners, who, if they find any infringement of the canonical laws of composition, cast it aside at once ; on the other hand, if they approve its contents, 154 The Nurture and Education of the Young. they mark it with a red circle, and forward a copy of it to the prefect, who, on receiving it, beats the " recommending drum " suspended at his office. The original manuscript is in each case handed over to the custody of tlie governor, the copy only coming before the com- missioners, in order to prevent the possibility of their recognizing the handwriting of any possibly favored competitors. After a day's in- terval the students reassemble, and with the same formalities write four essa3s and a poem on five texts from the " Five Classics." Again they disperse for twenty-four hours and a third time take their seats, or at least those of them whose papers have not been thrown out, for the final ordeal. This time they are given six texts on miscellaneous subjects, on which they have to write five essay's and a poem. This completes the examination, and the doors having been opened for the last time, the com- petitors, together with the three or four thou- sand officials and servants who are employed by the government for the regulation and ser- vice of the hall, pour out into the city. As soon as the commissioners have satisfied them- selves on the relative merits of the papers* '■'Belling of the Beer:' 156 they issue a list of the names of those to whom tliey award the degree of Kii-jiu or Master of Arts. To the new Kii-jin the governor of a pro- vince offers dubious hospitality in the shape of a feast, known as Luh ming, or Belling of the Deer, a name given to it from the fjact that an ode from the book of poetry bearing that name is chanted on the occasion. The elaborate pretensions of this festival are in in- verse ratio to its merit, and in exchange for the honor done them, the graduates, at a given signal from the master of ceremonies, bow their heads to the ground three times before their host. Visits are afterwards made to the literary chancellor and other officials connected with the examinations. Immediate!}'- on winning their degrees, the graduates receive from the emperor, at the hands of the pro- vincial treasurer, a suit of clothes and a pair of boots ; but these, like the governor's feast, are mere shadows of what they purport to be, and the difference between the value of reallv good articles and of the trash sent to the graduates remains in the treasurer's pocket. In the same way the money actually spent on 156 The Nurture and Education of the Young. conducting the examinations bears no proportion wliatever to the amount charged on the im- perial exchequer, but not a coin of the unex- pended balance ever finds its way back to the treasury. The successful candidates, on return to their homes, are received with every mark of honor, and the parents-in-law of each give a grand entertainment in commemoration of the event. The honor attaching to literary degrees is so great, and the desire to possess them is so nearly universal, that to suppose that the ex- aminations are, unlike every other institution in China, free from bribery and corruption, is to misjudge the tendencies of fallen human nature. It is a well-known fact that the offi- cials of all grades connected with the exami- nations are not unfrequently susceptible to the claims of friendship and the weighty persuasions of golden arguments. However elaborate may be the arrangements for the prevention of any underhand dealings, there ma}' always be found means by wliich the essays of certain favored individuals find their way to the examiner, who is interested in the success of the writers. Sometimes again, a candidate, distrustful of his « College of the Forest of Pencils" 157 abilities, succeeds, with the connivance of the necessary officials, in passing in a clever writer as a substitute, who wins honor for him. If such practices are discovered, the perpetrators are immediately punished ; but the crime mainly consists in being found out. The examination for the next degree, of Tsin-sze, is held at Peking, in the spring of the year following that of the Kii-jin degree, and is presided over by a minister of state, an imperial prince, and three other examiners. The Kii-jin assemble to the number of about six thousand, from among whom only about three hundred and fifty are ultimately chosen for the higher honor. These candidates have to undergo a test-examination, known as Fu she, before being allowed to enter at the Hwny she, or metropolitan competition. Those who are successful in this last trial obtain the provis- ional title of Kung sze, until the time arrives for the Teen she, or palace-examination. On this occasion texts from the Four Books and Five Classics are given out, as at the provin- cial examination, and the essaj's are examined by a special commission of imperial revisers. The candidate who passes first at this exam- 158 The Nurture and Education of the Young. ination receives the title of Chwang-yuen and a post in the Han lin t/uen, or " College of the Forest of Pencils," tlie highest literary body in the empire. The ne\ys of his success is carried with all speed to his native place, where the announcement is received with uni- versal rejoicing, as conferring a lasting honor on the district. The second man receives the title of Pang-yen^ or " Eye of the List," a name derived from the idea that he is second to the Chwang-yuen^ as the eye is below the forehead. The third is entitled T'an-hwa^ or "searcher for a sprig of the olea fragrans," a plant which is held to symbolize literary suc- cess. Of the remaining successful candidates about o.ne in three are admitted to the Han-lin Col- lege, and the remainder receive the degree of Tsin-sze. Subsequently a final examination, known as the CKaou K'aou^ or Court-exam- ination, is held at the palace, at which a theme chosen by the emperor is given out to the competitors. Finally, the graduates are admitted to an audience b}'' the emperor, who entertains them at a feast. Those Tsin-sze who are not admitted to the Han-lin College receive appoint- A CHINESE TEACHER. 159 Military Examinations. 161 ments either to provincial offices, or to posts in conuectien with the six Boards. These examinations are open to every man in the empire, of whatever grade, unless he belong to one of the following four classes, or be the descendant of one such within three generations : First, Prostitutes ; second, Actors ; third, Executioners, and the servants of man- darins ; and fourtli, Jailers. The theory with regard to these people is, that prostitutes and actors being devoid of all shame, and execu- tioners and jailers having become hardened by the cruel nature of their offices, are unfit, in their own persons, or as represented hy their sons, to win posts of honor by means of the examinations. Not long since, an edict appeared in the Peking Gazette, ordering the instant re- moval from the rank of Kii-jin of a man named Nin Kwang-to, on its being discovered that his father had been a gatekeeper in the yamun of a district magistrate in Kwang-se. " It is contrary to law," said the edict, "that a low official underling should obtain registration in a district other than his own, and thus fraud- ulently gain access to the privilege of exam- ination ; and it is most necessary that severe 11 162 The Nurture and Education of the Young. punishment should be meted out iu this case." If no reward beyond the possession of the degrees attached to the successful candidates at the competitions, the probability is that no great stress would be laid on the enforcement of this regulation ; but the fact that the ex- amination-hall is the Only legitimate door to the mandarin's yamun makes it imperative, in tlie eyes of the law, that sliameless and cruel persons should not be allowed to exercise rule over their fellow men. The military examina- tions are held separately, and though the lit- erary calibre of the candidates is treated much in the same way as at the civil examinations, the ^ame high standard of knowledge is not required; but, in addition, skill in archery and in the use of warlike weapons is essential. At the first examination, which is held by the magistrates of each district, the candidates are expected to show their proficiency in the use of the bow and arrow on foot. Those who succeed in passing this ordeal are required to shoot, still with a bow, from the back of a horse galloping at full speed. Three arrows are all that are allowed to the candidate, on each occasion. At the third examination their An Appearance of Backwardness. 163 skill in the use of swords weighing from a huiulred to a hundred and eighty pounds, is put to the test, and their strength is further tried by lifting heavy weights and drawing stiff bows. It is illubtrative of the backward- ness of the Chinese in warlike matters that, though they have been acquainted with the use of gunpowder for some centuries, they re- vert, in the examination of militar}' candidates, to the weapons of the ancients, and that while theoretically they are great strategists, strength and skill in the use of these weapons are the only tests required for commissions.* *The responsibility for this " appearance of backwardness" rests not upon the Chinese, but upon their jealous Manchoo rulers, who do not wish their subjects trained in the use of effective weapons of war. CHAPTER V. FOOD AND DRESS. TN a country covering so large au area as China, large with every variety botli of climate and soil, it is difficult to generalize on the subject of the food of the people ; and yet in China, ow^ing to the ho- mogeneousness of the in- habitants, there is less difference in this respect than might be expected. To begin, the staff of life in China is rice. It is eaten, and al- ways eaten, from north to south and from east to west, except among the very poor people in some of the northern non-rice-producing provinces, where millet takes its place. In all other parts the big bowl of rice forms the staple of the meals of the people, and it is 164 Chopsticks and Slippery food. 167 accompanied with vegetables, fisli, or meat, ac- cording to the circumstances of the househokL Among some there is a disinclination to eat meat, owing to the influence of Buddhism, which teaches the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, and devout followers of that sect natu- rally avoid partaking of the flesh of any ani- mal, which might possibly have been their dearest deceased friend or relation in another form of existence ; but the more general reason for the preference of vegetables to meat is that they are cheaper. Immense quantities of cab- bages, onions, garlic, carrots, cucumbers, toma- toes, and other kinds of vegetables are grown all over the southern provinces of the empire, and there are few families so poor as not to be able to give a relish to their meals by the use of some one or more of these. , At the cottage meal a basin about the size of a small breakfast slop-bowl is placed oppo- site each person, and by the side a pair of chopsticks, while in the middle of the table stands a big bowl of steaming rice. Each per- son fills his basin from this bowl, and, hold- ing it up to his chin with his left hand, he transfers its contents to his mouth with his. 168 Food and Dress. chopsticks at an astonishing rate. The chop- sticks are held between the first and second, and the second and third fingers ; and con- stant practice enables a Chinamiin to lift up and hold the minutest atoms of food, oily and slippery as they often are, with the greatest ease. To most foreigners their skilfnl use is well nigh impossible, and at tlie houses of officials and others who are in the habit of entertaining "foreign devils," it has now be- come the practice, in deference to our awk- wardness, to furnish us with knives and forks. To return to the cottage dinner. Dotted about on the table are small bowls containing vegetables, or fish, or meats, as the case may be, cut into small pieces, and ' seasoned with soy and other sauces. Each diner helps him- self* ^is he is inclined from these common dishes with his chopsticks, between his mouthfuls of rice, and washes all down either with tea or warm water. Cold water is never drunk, as it is considered to be unwholesome. The meats most commonly eaten are pork, mutton, goats' flesh, and beef, besides fowls, ducks, and plieasants, and, in the north, deer and hares. In some parts of the country' it An Effectual Hair-Restorer. 169 must be confessed that less savory viands find tlieir place on the dinner-table. In Canton, for example, dried rats have a recognized place in the poulterers' shops, and find a ready market, not only among those who have a taste for them, but also among people who have a ten- dency to baldness, the flesh of rats being con- sidered an effectual " hair-restorer." Horse-flesh is also exposed for sale, and there are even to be found dog and cat restaurants. Describ- ing one of these establishments, from personal acquaintance. Archdeacon Gray says, " The flesh is cut into small pieces, and fried with water- chestnuts and garlic in oil. In the window of the restaurant dogs' carcasses are suspended, for the purpose, I suppose, of attracting the atten- tion of passengers. Placards are sometimes placed above the door, setting forth that the flesh of black dogs and cats can be served up at a moment's notice. On the walls of the dining-room there are bills of fare. The fol- lowing is a translation of one : Cat's flesh, one basin 10 cents. Black cat's flesh, one small basin, 5 " Wine, one bottle, 3 " "Wine, one small bottle, > 1 1-2 " 170 Food and Dress. Congee, one basin, 2 cash. Ketchup, one basin, ' 3 " Black dog's grease, 1 tael, 4 cents. Black cats', eyes, one pair, 4 " All guests aining at this restaurant are requested to be punctual in their payments."* The flesh of black dogs and cats, and es- pecially the former, are preferred as being more nutritive ; and on a certain day in the begin- ning of summer it is customary, in the south of China, for people to partake of dog's flesh to fortify themselves against the coming heat, and as a preventative against disease. In the province of Shan-tung dog-hams are cured and exported ; but the price of these makes their general use prohibitory, and places them within the reach only of wealthy gourmets, who have a taste for this particular food. In the im- mense Encyclopaedia compiled under the direc- tion of the Emperor K'ang-he, there is a re- ceipt for hashed dog, which, by the number of condiments, the quantity of wine, and pro- fusion of adjuncts which are prescribed, seems to indicate that it was made by some one who * The poorer classes and epicures are the most addicted to these articles of diet, though they are also used for hygienic purposes by some. The Courses of a Feast. 171 liked a good dish, and disliked the taste of dog. Among the wealthier classes the use of rice is diminished in proportion to the increased quantity of meat or jfish eaten, and at a dinner- party of the better kind it scarcely finds a place. On such an occasion the table is spread with what in Russia would be called Zakuska, or dinette, consisting of numbers of small dishes containing fruits — fresh, dried, and candied; chopped eggs; ham, and other tasty morsels. The feast begins by the host pouring out a libation, and then taking wine generally with his guests, who raise tlie small wine-cups, which are not much bigger than thimbles, to their lips witli the right hand, touching them with the left, and drink off their contents. Next follows a succession of courses, each consisting of a single dish, between which pipes are handed round and a few whiffs en- joyed. Frequently the dinner is enlivened by the presence of singing-girls, or a play is per- formed for the amusement of the guests. In the absence, however, of all such attractions the game of Che-mei, the Italian Mora, some- times serves to make the interval between the 172 Food and Dress. courses seem shorter. Mr. Giles, in bis "Chi- nese Sketclies,"' gives the following menu of a dinner, which gives a good idea of the sort of viands offered by a Chinese gentleman to his guests : — Sharks' fins with crab sauce. Pigeons' eggs stewed with rausliiooms. Sliced sea-slugs in chiclcen broth, wiili ham. Wild duck and Shantung cabbage. Fried fish. Lumps of pork fat fried in rice-flour. Stewed lily-roots. Cliicken mashed to pulp, with ham. Stewed bamboo-shoots. Stewed shell-fish. Fried slices of pheasant- Musliroom broth. Remove. — Two dishes of fried pudding, one sweet, the other salt. Sweetened duck. Strips of boned chicken fried in oil. Boiled fish, with soy. Lumps of parboiled mutton fried in pork fat. Frogs form a common dish among poor peo- ple and are, it is needless to sa}', very good eating. They are caught with a rod and line, with a young live frog lately emerged from CORMORANT-FISHING FROM A RAFT. 173 Frogs, Locusts and Grubs. V15> the tadpole stage, as bait. The young frog which is tied ou to the line, is bobbed up and down in the water, and it is as a result of their snapping at it, that its elders are jerked out on to the bank. In some parts of the country locusts and grasshoppers are eaten. At T'ien-tsin, men may commonly be seen standing at the corner's of the streets frying- locusts over portable fires, just as among our- 'selves chestnuts are cooked at the curbstone. Ground-grubs, silkworms, and water-snakes are also occasionally treated as food. The sea, lakes, and rivers, abound in fish, which are caught in almost as many ways as there are found different species. Cod, mack- erel, soles, shark, herring, shad, mullet, crabs, tortoise, turtles, prawns, crawfish, shrimps, etc., are supplied by the ocean, while the- lakes, ponds, and rivers, swarm with carp,, tench, eels, perch, bream, and other kinds. As fish forms a staple food of the people, there is every inducement to perfect the fisherman's art, and the natural ingenuit}'^ of Chinamen has enabled them to secure the greatest quan- tity of fish with the least possible trouble. The net and line are generally used, but 176 Food and Dress. iu places where it is difficult to drag a net, or where the fish do not easily yield them- selves up as victims to the line, other agen- cies are brought to bear. On some rivers and lakes cormorants are the chosen instruments for landing the prey. The fisherman launches his raft, which is about two and a half feet wide and about twenty feet long, carrying on it three or four cormorants and a basket for the fish. Each cormorant has a ring loosely' fastened round his neck, and when tlie man has paddled the raft into a suitable spot he gently pushes one of the birds into the water. It instantl}' dives, and, having caught its prey, rises to the surface and swims towards the raft. As it approaches, the man throws a land- ing-net over both the bird and the fish, and lifts them on to the raft. Great pains are taken in training the cormorants, and it is seldom that they refuse to obey their master. Occasionally they show considerable intelli- gence and two or three have been known to help to secure fish too large for a single bird. On some rivers fishermen use, at night, a long, low boat, liaving a white var- nished board inclining from the side to the Gw'leful Fishermen. Ill water. As the boat is propelled along in the moonlight, a stone which is towed alongside, of course below the surface, makes a rushing noise, which so alarms the fish that, attracted by the vainished board they spring at it, and generally over it into the boat. The fear felt by fish at hearing noise, and the attraction exercised over them by light is well known, and taking advantage of these peculiarities. Chinamen drive them, by beating the water, into nets set for their reception. Sometimes, at night, a circu- lar net is thrown off from boats. In the centre a boat is stationed, on the bows of which a bright fire is kept burning. Tiie other boats surround the outside of the circle at some little distance, and their occupants beat the water with bamboo poles. The fish, fright- ened by the noise, and attracted by the fire, swim into the net, and their fate is sealed. Spearing fish with tridents is also common, and sharp, unbaited hooks, attached to lines fastened to floating buoys, are thrown into lakes and rivers, so as to catch any fish which may swim against them. All fishing-boats of sufficient size have tanks of water on board, into which the fish are 12 178 Wood and Dress. thrown as soon as they are caught, and are then carried fresh to market, where the same care is generally taken to keep them alive until they find purchasers. Chinamen are not content to depend entirely on the open water for their supply of fish. They breed large quantities themselves. The spring tides bring up the rivers' fish which deposit their spawn among the grass and rushes growing at the edge of the water. As soon as the young appear, they are caught in nets, and put into tanks in boats, where they are carefully fed and tended until they are large enough to be trans- ferred to the ponds prepared for them. Here they are fed with paste and the yolks of hard- boiled eggs, and are, eventually, drawn out to repay their nurses for the trouble they have had in rearing them. Oysters and cockles are also regularl}- fished for, and form a common article of food, and so also are mussels, which, however, are some- times in another way made a source of gain. When fresh caught, minute images of Buddha are put into the shell, and the mussels are thrown into ponds, where they are allowed to remain for some time. On being fished up Duck-boats and Poultry Farms. 179 again and opened, the little images are found covered with a coating of mother-of-pearl, and, in this state, find a ready sale among the super- stitious. In the same way artificial pearls are produced. The same care in the production of fish is extended to that of ducks and poultry. Not onl}' are ducks bred in great quantities in the usual way, but eggs are artificially hatched in immense numbers. As soon as the ducklings make their appearance, they are sold to men who make it their business to rear tliem and prepare them for the market. Many thousands are often to be seen in an establishment of this sort. Sometimes the purchaser is owner of a duck-boat, on which he keeps his numer- ous broods. Once or twice a day he lands them on the river-bank to feed, and they soon learn to walk without hesitation, along a plank to and fro from the boat to the shore. Im- mense quantities are thus reared on the rivers in China, as a proof of which Archdeacon Gray mentions that after a severe typhoon at Canton in 1862, during which a number of duck boats were upset, the ducks released from captivity were so numerous, " that for upwards 180 Food and Dress. of a mile the surface of the Canton River was crowded with them." Poultry farms are also numerous and large. Eggs are cooked in various ways as among ourselves, and sometimes are boiled hard and preserved by one of sev- eral processes until they are six weeks or two mouths old, when they are -considered ready for use. No use whatever is made of cow's milk by the Chinese, though, occasionally, human milk is given to old people as a restorative. The Mongolians, however, use it freely, and make a kind of rancid butter from it of which they are very fond, a conclusive proof of the wide' gulf which separates their tastes from ours. In matters of dress, with one or two excep- tions, the Chinese must be acknowledged to have used a wise discretion. They wear noth- ing that is tight-fitting, and make a greater difference between their summer and winter clothing than is customar}' among ourselves. The usual dress of a coolie in summer is a loose-fitting pair of cotton trousers, and an equally loose jacket ; but the same man in winter will be seen wearing quilted cotton clothes, or, if he should be an inhabitant of CHINESE HEAD-URESS. BRACELETS AND EAR ORNAMENTS Qrihs in Sleeves. 183 the northern provinces, a sheepskin robe, super- added to an abundance of warm clothing in- termediate between it and his shirt. By the wealthier classes silk, linen, and silk gauze are much worn in the summer, and woollen or more or less handsome fur clothes in the winter. Among such people it is customary, except in the seclusion of their homes, to wear, both in summer and winter, long tunics reaching to the ankles. Often these are fastened round the waist by a belt, to which are attached a num- ber of ornamental appendages, such as a purse, snuff-bottle, tobacco-pouch, etc. The sleeves of the tunics are made long enough to cover the hands, and partly serve the purposes of pockets. The expression "a sleeve full of snuff" is not at all uncommon in Chiiiese poetry, and small editions of books, especially of the classics, are called " sleeve editions," in reference probably to the practice, common to candidates at the examinations, of concealing '' cribs " in their sleeves. In summer non-official Chinamen leave their heads uncovered, and, though thus unprotected from the effects of the sun, do not seem to suffer any inconvenience from the great heat. 184 Food and BreBs. Occasionally coolies doing heavy work, fasten a fan so as to ward off the sun's rays, by means of their queues, which are then wound round their heads, instead of being allowed to liang down the back in the ordinar}' way. The dress of the mandarins is strictly de- fined by sumptuary laws, and their ranks are distinguished by badges worn on the breast and back of their robes, and by the knobs or buttons fixed on the top of the cap. The civilian badges are all representations of birds, while those J worn by militar}^ men, as indica- ting the fierceness of their nature, are like- nesses of beasts. Thus the first of the nine civilian ranks wears a Manchurian crane ; the second, a golden pheasant ; the third, a peacock ; the fourth, a wild goose ; the fifth, a silver pheasant ; tlie sixth, a lesser eyret ; the seventh, a mandarin duck ; the eightli, a quail ; the ninth, a long-tailed jay. The military officers have also nine insignia, which are as follows: First, the unicorn ; second, the lion ; third, the leopard ; fourth, the tiger; fifth, the black bear; sixth, the mottled bear or tiger cat ; seventh, the tiger cat ; eighth, the seal ; and ninth, the rhi- noceros. Badges of the Orders. 185 Since the establishment of the present dynasty, distinguibhiiio; buttons have been added to the caps in the case of both civil and military mandarins, and these are distributed among the nine ranks in the following order: The first two, red coral ; the third, clear blue ; tlie fourth, lapis lazuli ; the fifth, quartz crystal ; the sixth, opaque white stone ; and the last three, gilt. In cases where the same colored stone is worn by two ranks, that on the cap of the inferior one is of a deeper hue. In the same way the emperor wears a pearl on his cap, and this, together with the remainder of his attire, is quite plain and unadorned. On the approach of summer an edict is issued fix- ing the day upon which the summer costume is to be adopted throughout the empire, and again, as winter draws near, the time for put- ting on the winter dress is announced in the same formal manner. Fine straw or bamboo forms the material of the summer hat, the out- side of which is covered with fine silk, over which falls a tassel of red silk cords from the top. At this season also the thick silk robes and heavy padded jackets worn in win- ter are exchanged for light silk or satin tunics. 186 Food and Dresi. The winter cap has a turned-up brim, and is covered with sathi, with a black cloth lining, A HONG KONG WOMAN. and as in the case of the summer cap, a tassel of red silk covers the entire crown. Maidens and Wives. 187 The wives of mandarins wear the same em- broidered insignia on their dresses as their hus- bands, and their style of dress, as well as that TYPES OF CHINKSE GIRLS. of Chinese women generally, bears a resem- blance to the attire of the men. They wear a loose-fitting tunic which reaches below the knee, and trousers which are drawn in at the ankle after the bloomer fashion. On state oo- 188 Food and Dre%%. casions they wear a richl}' embroidered petti- coat coming down to the feet, which hangs square both before and behind, and is plaited at the sides like a Highlander's kilt. The mode of doing the hair varies in almost every province. At Canton the women of the people plaster their back-hair with a kind of bandoline, into the shape of a teapot handle, and adorn the sides with pins and ornaments, while tlie young girls proclaim their unmarried state by cutting their hair in a fringe across their fore- heads, after a fashion not unknown among our- selves. In most parts of the countrj', flowers, natural when obtainable, and artificial when not so, are largely used to deck out the head- dresses, and considerable taste is shown in the choice of colors and the manner in which they are arranged. Thus far there is nothing to find fault witli in female fashion in Cliina, ])nt the same cannot be said of the way in which they treat their faces and feet. In many countries the secret art of removing traces of the ravages of time with the paint-brush has been and is pra'cti^d ; but by an extravagant, and to European eyes, hideous use of pigments and cosmetics, Chinese girls not onl}- conceal The Deformed Feet. 189 the fresh complexion of youth, but produce those very disfigurements which furnish the only possible excuse for artificial complexions. Their poets also have declared that a woman's eye- brows should be arched like a rainbow or shaped like a willow-leaf, and the consequence is that, wishing to act up to the ideal thus pictured, Chinawomen with the help of tweez- ers, remove all the hairs of their eyebrows which straggle the least out of the required line, and when the task becomes impossible even with the help of these instruments, the paint-brush or a stick of charcoal is brought into requisition. Altogether the face of a be- dizened Chinese lady is a miserable sight. The ghastly white of the plastered complexion, the ruddled cheeks, the artificial eyebrows, and the brilliantly painted lips may, as the abstract picture of a poet's brain, be admirable, but when seen in the concrete, can in no sense be called other than repulsive. A comparison of one such painted lily with the natural, healthy complexion, bright eyes, laughing lips^ and dimpled cheeks of a Canton boat girl, for example, is enough to vindicate Nature's claim, to superiority over art a thousand-fold. 190 Food and Dress. The chief offence of Chinese women is in the matter of their feet. Even on the score of fashion it is diflBcult to excuse a practice which in the first instance causes great and continued pain, and affects injuriously the physique of the victims during the whole of their lives. Various explanations are current as to the origin of the custom of deforming the women's feet. Some say that it is an at- tempt servilely to imitate the peculiarly shaped foot of a certaiii beautiful empress; others that it is a device intended to act as a re- straint on the gadding-about tendencies of women. However that may be, the practice is universal except among the Manchoos and the Hakka population at Canton. The feet are first bound when the child is about five years old. The four smaller toes are bent under the foot, and the instep is forced up- wards and backwards. At the same time, the shoes worn, having high heels, the foot be- comes as it were clubbed and loses all elas- ticity. The consequence is that the women walk as on pegs, and the calf of the leg hav- ing no exercise shrivels up. The degree of severity with which the feet are bound, differs Women and Walking. 191 widely in the various ranks of society, and women in the humbler walks of life are often able to move about with ease. ' Most ladies, on the other hand, are practically debarred MOTHEK AND CHILD. from walking at all, and are dependent on their sedan-chairs, and sometimes even on the backs of their attendants, for all locomotion beyond their own doors. Even in this case 192 Food and Dress. habit becomes a second nature, and fashion triumphs over sense. No mother, however keen may be her recollection of her sufferings as a child, or however conscious she may be of the ^^^3^^ COMPBESSED FEET. inconveniences and ills arising from her de- formed feet, would ever think of saving her own child from like immediate torture and per- manent evil. Further, there is probably less excuse for such a practice in China than in A STREET BARBER AT WORK. 13 193 Barbers and Pig-tails. 196 any other country, for the hands and feet of both men and women are naturally both small and finely shaped. There is, liowever, no idol more difficult to overthrow than established custom, and there must be a complete revolu- tion in the national tastes and ideas before the much-persecuted Chinese vi^omen will be allowed free use of the very pretty feet with which nature has endov.ed ihem. The male analogue of the women's compressed feet is the shaven forepart of the head and the plaited queue. . The custom of thus treating the hair was imposed on the people by the first emperor of the present dynasty (1644). Up to that time the Chinese had allowed the hair to grow long, and were in the habit of drawing it up into a tuft on the top of the head. The introduction of the queue at the bidding of the Manchurian conqueror was in- tended as a badge of conquest, and as such was at first unwillingly adopted by the people. For nearl}^ a century tlie natives of outlying parts of the Empire refused to submit their heads to the razor, and in many districts the authorities rewarded converts to the new way by presents of money. As the custom spread. 196 Food and Dress. these bribes were discontinued, and the ccin- verse action of treating those who refused to conform with severity, completed the conversion of the empire. At the present day every China- man who is not in open rebellion to the throne shaves his head, with the t^xception of the crown, where the hair is allowed to grow to its full length. This hair is carefully plaited, and falls down the back forming what is commonly known as the " pig-tail." Great pride is taken, especially in the South, in having as long and as thick a queue as possible, and when nature has been niggardly in her supply of natural growth, the deficiency is supplemented by the insertion of silk in the plait. The Northerners are less given to this form of vanity than their Southern brethren, and are as a rule content to tie the ends of the queue plaits with a piece of silk. Among all classes great value is at- tached to the possession of the queue, and, in the commonest forms of abuse, there is gener- ally claimed for the cfbject of opprobrium an additional title to infamy in tiie assertion that he is woo peen^ " tail-less." As a general rule the head is shaved about once in ten days, though men who are partieu- Razors and Shaving-Soap. 197 lar as to their appearance do not allow their hair to grow half that time. As it is impos- sible for a mail to shave his own head, the barber's trade is a large and flourishing one, and is carried oji in shops, and in the streets men's faces. by itinerant barbers, who carry suspended at the two ends of a bamboo slung on the shoul- ders, all the implements of their trade, to- gether with a stool for the customer to sit upon during the operation. Among the riel. \t 198 Food and Dress. is customary to summon a barber to the house, and to mosi large yarauns there is a member of the fraternity attached, who gains his live- lihood by keeping the heads of the occupanw ja street scene.. In order. The Chinese razor consists of a short blade, somewhat ii; the shape of a rounded isosceles triangle, the lOng side being the edge. Hot water instead of soap is used to facilitate the operation of dhavin^r, which is extended to A Barber s Vacation. 199 the down on the cheeks. A Chinaman's face is singularly devoid of hair. Whiskers are very seldom seen, and the mustache is only allowed to grow after a man has arrived at the age of forty or upwards. On the occasion of the death of a near relative, it is customary to allow the hair to grow for a time as a sign of mental distraction from excessive grief, and on the death of an emperor an edict is usually issued forbidding barbers to ply their trade for a space of a hundred days. CHAPTER VI. AGRICULTDBE. T HOUGH trade prac- tically holdi* its place as next in esti- mation to the maudari- nate, in theory it should follow both the careers of husbandry and of the mechanical arts. From time immemorial the Cb'iese have held agri- cultuid in the highest esteem, as being the means by which the soil has been induced to sup- ply the primar}- want of the people of the empire — food. All land is held in freehold from the Government, and principally by clans, or fam- ilies, who pay an annual tax to the Crown 2u0 Agricultural Boards. 201 amounting to about oue tenth of the produce. On the death of the proprietor of an estate it descends to his eldest son, but hif> possession is hampered by the law, which permits all his A CHINESE FARM. younger brothers and their families to settle on parts of the inheritance. Very often an arrangement is made b}' which the cadets are bought off, but otherwise the heir has to sub- 202 Agriculture. mit, nolens volens, to their presence. When property changes hands, the fact has to be registered at the office of the district magis- trate, and the new owner becomes responsible for the payment of the Crown-tax. As long as this tax is paid regularly, the owners are never dispossessed, and estates thus remain in the hands of clans and families for many gen- erations. Li order to see that farming-operations are properly conducted, -agricultural boards are es- tablished in almost every district, consisting of old men learned in agriculture. By these Aet- erans a careful watch is kept over the work of the neighboring farmers, and in case of any dereliction of duty, or neglect of the prescribed modes of farming, the offender is summoned before the district magistrate, who inflicts the punishment that he considers })roportionate to the offence. It is illustrative of the mechani- cal ingenuity of the Chinese, as well as of their absence of scientific knowledge, that their appliances for irrigating the fields and winnow- ing the corn are excellent, while those for getting the most out of land are of a rude and primitive kind. The plongh, which is gen- Farm Processes. 203 orally drawn by a buffalo or an ox, does scarcely more than scratch the earth, and even this is only used in the large fields, the farm- ers of small enclosures being content to break up the surface soil with their hoes. Spades find no place among the implements of farmers and gardeners, who also know nothing of wheel- barrows for agricultural purposes. A small harrow is used to break up the clods left by the plough or hoe, and a reaping-hook gathers in the crops wliich grow up from the scarcely- turned soil. The absence of good farming in this respect naturally necessitates, in most parts, the constant employment of manure, which is applied frequently and in great quantities. The varieties are endless, being not only those of the kinds employed among ourselves, but con- sists also of the sweepings from the streets, feathers of birds, the refuse hair from barbers' shops, the remnants of exploded crackers, etc. Of course, the climate and the nature of a district determine the kind of farming appi-o- priate to it. Agriculturally, China may be said to be divided by the Yang-tsze Keang into two parts. South of that river, speaking gen- erally, the soil and climate point to rice as 204 Agriculture. the appropriate crop, while to the north he vast plains which, as clearly, are best for cereals. Over the huge tract of loess* country in North- ern China, little or no cultivation is necessary, nor is the use of manure required. A scratch- ing of the light, friable soil sufficient to enable the farmer to sow his seed, is all that is needed in favorable years to secure a good crop. Throughout Nature there are always drawbacks to otherwise exceptionally favored spots, and this "Garden of China" is depend- ent for its fruits on frequent showers. Water runs so quickly through the soil that all traces and effects of the heaviest rains soon disappear, and a constant succession of temperate rain- falls form, therefore, the kind of moisture best suited to it. When these fail, the crops fall off, and, after such dr}"- seasons, famine neces- sarily follows. The surface being far above the water-level, irrigation is next to impossible, and the soil, dried to a fine powder, blows away, leaving the seeds exposed to the destructive influences of the sun and wind. On the allu- vial plain of Chih-li the crops are not as large as those gathered on the loess in a good year, * Loess is an alluvial deposit of a loamy nature. Agricultural Boards. 205 but on the other hand they are not liable to the same extreme vicissitudes. The last drought was as severe in Chih-li as in Shanse, but the extremity of want was much more felt in the latter province, and in those covered with loess, than in Chili-li. Millet Indian corn, wheat and barley, are largely grown in the northern half of the empire. An entirely different system is pursued in the cultivation of rice. The rice-fields are fenced in with low banks, the surface of soil being kept as much on a level as possible. Manure in large quantities is first of all strewn over the fields, which are then flooded with water. When in this condition the farmer wades on to the ground with his plough and buffalo, and turns up the slush and mud until the manure has become thoroughly mixed with the soil. His next object is to discover, by means of his almanac, or by the advice of a fortune-teller, a propitious day for sowing his seed. This is generally sown in one corner of the field, and the plants, as soon as they have grown to a sufficient size, are transplanted in straight rows. The necessity for a copious suppl}' of water 206 Agriculture, continues during the early growth of the plant, and as this supply is not by any means always obtainable from the usual resources of nature, artificial irrigation has to be largely resorted to. In securing the constant supply of water thus needed, the mechanical genius of the people has full play, and the contrivances in- vented and employed by them are ingenious and effective. If the difference of level be- tween the supply of water (either a river or a pond), and the field to be irrigated, be but slight, a bucket held between two men, by ropes attached to its side, is commonly used. The men stand on the bank of the field, and by a constantly swinging motion fill the bucket and empty it on to the soil. When the differ- ence of level is such as to make this plan im- possible, a water-wheel with an endless chain- pump is u?ed. This ingenious contrivance is thus described by Mr. Doolittle : " One end of the box in which the chain, or rather rope, and its buckets pass, is placed at an angle of forty-five degrees, more or less, with the river, canal, or pond, whence the water is to be .brought upon the neighboring fields. This box is open at the top and both ends, and made Water- Wheels. 207 very strong and light, one man carrying the whole apparatus with ease on his shoulders. The chain, with its buckets, passes over a horizontal shaft, which is supported by two CHINESE AGRICULTUKE. perpendicular posts. One or more persons, steadying themselves by leaning upon a hori- zontal pole four or five feet higher than the shaft, and by walking or stepping briskly 208 Agriadture. on short, radiating arms cause it to revolve on its axis, bringing up the water, which pours out of the upper end of the box. The faster the men walk, or step, the greater the quantity of water pumped up." In some parts of the country oxen or don- keys are employed to turn the water-wheels, by means of horizontal cogged wheels which turn the shaft over which the buckets pass. Occasionally, when practicable, a stream supplies the motive-power, which transports a portion of itself to the field above. When the supply of water has to be drawn from a well, an up- right post, some ten or twelve feet high, is fixed near it, on which a long cross-beam is balanced. From one end of this beam hangs a bucket, while on the other extremity is fas- tened a weight, generally a large stone, which is so regulated that the only exertion required is to lower the bucket into the well. The stone at the end of the beam brings the bucket to the surface by its weight, and the water is then emptied into a conduit which carries it to the field or garden where it is required. The crop is generally fit for the harvest a hun- dred days after the seed is put in. When it Rice Cultivation. 209 is cut, as it generally is, close to the ground, a sickle is used, and the sheaves are bound up and put into shocks, as corn is among our- selves ; but iu some parts of tlie country the ears only are reaped, and when this is the case, the reaper drags after him a basket on a small wheeled-truck, into which he throws the ears as he severs them with a knife. The act of threshing is performed in different ways, ill different parts of the country. Some- times the thresher takes a double handful of the stalks, and strikes them against the bars of an open frame in such a way that the grain falls through to the ground ; sometimes, instead of an open frame, a tub is used, against the in- side of which the stalks are struck. In other places they are carried to a carefully swept threshing-floor, and are then threshed out with flails. Not unfiequentl}^ also, the grain is trod- den out by buffaloes, mules, or ponies, or is sepa- rated from the ear by means of rollers drawn by beasts of draught. Winnowing, in its most prim- itive form, is practised by many of the smallei farmers. A windy da}* is chosen to throw the grain and husks up in the air from the thresh- ing-floor, with the usual . result. But quite as 14 210 Agriculture. generally, machines, not unlike those in use among ourselves, are employed. Most of these are turned by hand, but otliers draw their mo- tive power either from water-wheels, or from oxen or donkeys. The mills for grinding grain are worked by the same agencies. Tobacco, beans, tea-oil, sweet potatoes, turnips, onions, fruits, and tea, are among the best-known pro- ducts of Southern China. The tea-plant, which resembles a whortle- berry, is grown from seed which is gathered in the winter months, and dried in the sun. In the beginning of the following spring the s6ed& are moistened and dried again, until they be- gin to sprout, when they are lightly covered with earth. As soon as the plants have grown four or five inches in height they are trans- planted to the plantations, where they are ar- ranged in rows at a distance of two or three feet apart. No manure is used in the culti- vation, but great care is taken to keep the ground clear from weeds. The blossom is white and is not unlike the orange-flower, and bloom* in November. The plant itself, which is an evergreen, is allowed to grow to heights vary- ing with the necessities of the plantations. la Cultivating Tea. 213 high and exposed positions it is kept low, that it may avoid injury from storms and wind, while in more sheltered places it reaches the height of six or eight feet. The first crop * of leaves is gathered from it at the end of the third year, but gare is taken not to ex- haust the plant by stripping it too closely. Thrice in the year the leaves are picked, in the third, fifth, and eighth months. The best leaves are the young ones, and, as the young- est are first picked, the earliest gathering is the best. Women and children are mainly em- ployed in this work. Having been first dried in the sun, the leaves are then trodden out by naked-footed laborers, in order to break the fibres and extract the moisture. This done, they are heaped up and allowed to heat for some hours, until the}"^ have become a reddish- brown color. They are next rolled up by the band, and are afterwards again exposed to the sun should the weather be propitious, but if not, they are slowly baked over charcoal fires. With this process their preparation for the market is complete, and they pass from the hands of the growers to those of the native merchants. By these purchasers they are car©- 214 Agriculture, fully sifted, the leaves of different sizes and ages are separated, and the stems and damaged leaves are removed. They are then thoroughly dried in iron pans over slow fires, and are shipped to Europe and America. These pro- cesses differ slightly in the case of some teas, but they are all dried, trodden on, baked, and rolled, excepting green tea, which is not dried in the sun, but is fired, and rubbed with the hands instead of being trodden on. The prin- Varieties of Tea. 215 cipal kinds of tea exported are Congou, which is grown iu the provinces of Hoonan and IX A TEA-SHOP. Kwang-tung ; Souchong, the best of which is produced in the northeastern part of the pro- vince of Fuh-keen ; Flowery Pekoe and Oolong, 216 Agriculture. or " Black dragon " which also comes from Fuh-keen ; scented Orange Pekoe and scented capers, from Kwang-tung and Fuh-keen ; and PREPAKING TEA. green tea from the neighborhood of Woojuen in Keang-se. Tea is drunk universally through- out the empire by all except those who are Hoiv to Drink Tea. 217 too poor to buy it ; but this was not always the case. In some places, as at Hang-chow, fur example, wine-shops used to be as numer- ous as tea-shops are now. To the honor of the temperance of the people it is to be said, that when tea-shops were first introduced, they were received with such favor, that the publi- cans had to shut up their establishments. The price of teas in tlie countr\- varies enormously, the common kinds being ver\^ cheap, while some of the choicest sorts fetch among native epi- cures such prices as make the export of them impossible. The orthodox way of making tea is to put a pincli of tlie leaves into a cup and to pour boiling water on them, the drinker being protected from swallowing the leaves b}* an inverted saucer, which covers the cup, and which is so held as to keep back the leaves during the act of drinking. Among the poorer classes, when tea is made for a number of per- sons, tea-pots are used, and the landlords of wayside inns, and charitable people who seek to win for themselves a happy future, by at- tending to tlie comforts of travellers here on earth, provide at stations along the high-road brews of the compound in large vessels. 218 Agriculture, In point of antiquity the use of tea cannot compare with the cultivation of silk. History tells us that Seling she, the wife of Shin-nnng (B. c. 2737-2697), was the first spinner of silk and weaver of cloth, for which discovery she has been canonized, and is annually worshiped on a certain day in the ninth month. On that occasion the empress and her ladies perform devotions at her shrine ; and as the emperor sets an example of industry to the agricultu- rists throughout the empire, by ploughing a piece of land at the opening of spring, so the empress and her court stimulate the busy fin- gers of Chinese housewives, by going through the form of collecting mulberry-leaves, feeding the palace silk-worms, and winding off some cocoon of silks. The eastern, central and southern provinces of the empire are the home of the silk in- dustry. There the mulberry-trees flourish, and tiiere the climate best suits the insects. Great care is taken by the breeders in the choice and matching of the cocoons, and unhealthy or in any way deformed moths are destroyed as soon as thej"^ free themselves from their shells. "The number of eggs which one moth lays," Silk Industry. 219 says Archdeacon Gray, "is generally five hun- dred, and the period required for her to per- form so great a labor is, I believe, about seventy-four hours. The females often die al- most immediately after tliey have laid their eggs, and the males do not long survive them. The eg^ of the silkworm, which is of a v^hiteish or pale ash color, is not larger than a grain of mustard-seed. When eighteen days old the eggs are carefully washed with spring- water. The sheet of coarse paper or piece of cloth on which they are laid, and to which they adhere, is very gently drawn through spring-water contained in a wooden or earthen- ware bowl. During the autumnal months the eggs are carefully kept in a cool chamber, the sheets of paper or pieces of cloth being sus- pended back to back from bamboo-rods placed in a horizontal position. In the tenth month of the Chinese year .... the sheets are rolled up, and then deposited in a room, which is well swept, and free from all noxious in- fluences. On the third day of the twelfth month the eggs are again washed, and then ex- posed in the air to dry. In the spring of the year, the eggs being now ready to be brought 220 Agricvlture. forth, the sheets are placed on mats, and each mat placed on a bamboo shelf, in a well- swept and well-warmed chamber, containing a series of shelves arranged along the walls. The shelves are almost invariably made of bam- boo, the wood of which emits no fragrance, aromatic wood being especially avoided as un- suitable for the purpose." As soon as the worms are hatched the}' are carefully tended and fed. Twice every hour during the first few days of their existence, they are given chopped mulberry-leaves. Grad- ually this number of meals is reduced to three or four in the day, when occasionally green- pea, black-bean, or rice-flour, is mixed with their staple food. On the fourth or fifth day of their lives they fall into a sleep known among the Chinese as the "hair sleep," which lasts for twenty-four hours. Twice again, after similar periods, they enjoy long slumbers, and on the twenty-second day a deep sleep of still longer duration overtakes them. During these periods of rest the worms cast their skins, and finally reach their full size at the end of a month, when they appear of a deep yellow color, and about the thickness of a man's little Silk Worms and Cleanliness. 221 finger. After arriving at maturity the worms cease to eat, and begin to spin. As * the silk issues from their mouths they move their heads from side to side, and thus envelope themselves in cocoons. When completely enclosed, they fall into a state of coma, and become chr3sales. The shelves on which they are, are then placed near a fire to kill the clirysalids, which, when accomplished, the silk is unwound and the chrysalids are eaten. As many superstitions sui-round the cultiva- tion of silkworms as encumber every other occupation in China, and, as might be supposed, most of them are founded on natural causes. Such are the beliefs based on the silkworm's love of cleanliness, that persons before enter- ing the room where they are kept, should be sprinkled with water in which mulberry-leaves have been soaked ; that no fish should on any account be brought into the chamber; that no woman who is pregnant, or who has lately become a mother, should have anything to do with them ; and that no one smelling of wine, ginger, garlic, or anything aromatic, should approach them. Speaking generalh*, the male principle is believed to be congenial to 222 Agriculture. them, and the female principle to be the re- verse. If this be really so, they are most iinforLunute insects, since they are attended to almost exclusively by women and girls. They are also said to be peculiarly suscepti- ble to thunder, and to all sudden and violent noises. The looms for weaving the silk are simple in construction, and are similar to the hand- looms used in Europe. The principal seats of the silk manufacture are Soo-chovv, Hang-chow^,- Nanking, and Canton. The three places first named are noted for the beauty of their silk stuffs, and they are those from which the im- perial . palace receives its annual stores. The Peking Gazette acknowledged the receipt from Soo-chow, in 1877, of a thousand rolls of satin for the Board of Revenue, and for the palace three hundred and seventy rolls of satin, three thousand four hundred rolls of silk gauze, six hundred large handkerchiefs, eight hundred cat- ties * of sewing silk, five hundred catties of white silk, and three thousand pieces of fine calico ; while at the same time the superin- tendent of the imperial manufactory at Nan- * A catty is equal to about a pound and a quarter. THE TEA PLANT. 223 The Wild Silkworm. 225 king reported the completion of an order for five hundred rolls of yellow brocaded satin. Canton is famous for its gauzes, and Pak-kow, in the province of Kwang-tung, for its crape shawls. Besides the cultivated silkworms, there is, in less favored parts of the empire, a kind known as "the wild silkworm," which feeds as sur- rounding circumstances determine, on either the leaves of the pepper-tree, or the ash, or a par- ticular kind of oak. This species is far less manageable than its mulberry-fed relative, and is infinitely more hardy. Much less trouble is bestowed on the worms by the breeders, but though the return of silk they yield is con- siderable, it is not to be compared with the other kind, either in beauty or fineness. In the province of Shan-tung a great quantity of Nankeen silk is made from the cocoons spun by the " wild silkworms " of that province, and in Sze-chuen a large trade is carried on in silk similarly manufactured. Though inferior in quality to that grown in Eastern China, j^et in strength and durability S^e-chuen silk is far superior to it, and is able to compete success- fully with it in the market. Being purely a 15 226 Agricultur'e. Chinese product, silk was introduced into Eu- rope by its native name (Sze), which it still retains under a guise sufficiently flimsy to leave it quite recognizable. The same is the case with satin (Sze-tun), and tea (Te). Another product peculiar to China is white insect wax. This curious substance is produced exclusivel}' in the prefecture of Kea-ting Foo, in Sze-chuen, the climate of which district appears to favor the propagation of the disease, which is believed by tiie natives to be the cause of the secretion of the wax. This be- lief is supported by the fact that, in the dis- tricts where the insects breed, only a small quantity of wax is made, and experience has therefore taught the natives the advantage of breeding the insects in one district and remov- ing them to another to produce the wax. The neighborhood of Keen-chang, in the south of the province, has been found most suitable for breeding-purposes, and it is there, therefore, that the breeding-processes are carried on, on a particular kind of evergreen tree, with large ovate leaves. At the end of April, the breed- ers start, each with a load of the insects' eggs, for the district of Kea-ting Foo, a journey No Head, no Eyes, no Feet. 227 which, when made on foot, occupies about a fortnight. The road between the two districts is very mountainous, and as exposure to the heat of the sun would hatch the eggs too rapidly, the men travel only by night. At Kea-ting Foo the eggs are eagerly bought up, and are at once put upon the wax-tree. " When the eg^ balls are procured," writes Baron Richthofen, " they are folded up, six or seven together, in a bag of palm-leaves. These bags are suspended on the twigs of the trees. This is all the human labor required. After a few days the insects commence coming out. They spread as a brownish film over the twigs, but do not touch the leaves. The Chinese describe them as having neither shape, nor head, nor eyes, nor feet. It is known that the insect is a species of coccus. Gradually, while the insect is grovviug, the surface of the twigs becomes encrustated with a white wax. No care wliatever is required. The insect has no enem}*, and is not even touched by ants. In the latter half of August the twigs are cut off and boiled in water, when the wax rises to the surface. It is then melted and poured into deep pans. It cools down to a translu- 228 Agriculture. cent and highly-crystalline substance. Two taels* weight of eggs produce from two to three catties of wax." * A tae] is equal to about an ounce. Sixteen make a poutkL CHAPTER VII. MEDICINE. HE medical art in China has a long ancestry, and dates back to the time when Hwang-te is said to have invent- ed mnsic, and many other arts which ad- ded to the elegan- cies and comforts of life. The prevalence of disease and death among his subjects so affected him that, as it is said, he wrested from nature a knowl- edge of the operations of her opposing prin- ciples, and of the virtues of herbs and other medical remedies. The results of these studies he embodied in a work entitled the Nuy king^ or the "Classic of the Interior," by means of 229 230 Medicine. the knowledge contained in whicli, disease lost' half its terrors, and the length of human life was extended. Chinese authors assume, with that complete self-complacency which is common to them, that the wide medical knowledge whicli was imparted to the world by Hwang-te, has since been so vastly increased that at the present time the science of medicine in China has reached its highest development. An acquaint- ance, however, with their medical practice and pharmacopoeia completely dispels this delusion, and brings us face to face with the fact that their knowledge of medicine is entirely empiri- cal, and is based neither on accurate observa- tion nor scientific research. Of physiology, or of human and comparative anatomy, they know nothing. The functions of the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys and brain are sealed books to them, and they recognize no distinction between veins and arteries, and between nerves and tendons. Their deeply-rooted repugnance to the use of the knife in surgery, or to post-mortem exam- inations, prevent the possibility of their acquir- ing any accurate knowledge of the human frame, and their notion of the position of the Ignorant Empiricism. 231 various organs is almost as wild as their idea of their different functions ; which is saying a good deal, wlien one recollects that they con- sider that from the heart and pit of the stom- ach all ideas and delights proceed, and that the gall-bladder is the seat of courage. So firmly is this last belief lield, and so strange is the perversion of their ideas on the subject of processes through which all food has to go, that it is not uncommon for men desirous of gaining additional courage to devour the gall of savage beasts, and even of notorious mur- derers and rebels who have expiated their crimes at the hand of the executioner. No Harvey has arisen in China to enligbten his countrymen on the circulation of the blood, and beyond having a general notion that it ebbs and flows, they know nothing of its movements. They even consider that there is a difference in the pulses on the two wrists, and not only this, but that there are differ- ences to be observed in each pulse. And this they profess' to account for by saying that the different parts of the pulse reflect the condi- tion of the organs which they represent. For example, the parts of the pulse on the left 232 Medicine. wrist are believed to discover the state of the heart, small intestines, liver, gall-bladder, kid- neys, and bladder; while those on the right wrist reflect the condition of the lungs, larger intestines, spleen, stomach, gate of life, and membranes of the viscera. There are, also, they consider, seven distinct indications, given by the pulse, on the approach of death, and each of the seven passions is represented by pulsa- tions which may be distinguished. Man's body is believed to be composed of the five elements — fire, water, metal, wood, and earth — all of which are mysteriously connected with the , five planets, five tastes, five colors, five metals, and five viscera. To keep these five antagonistic • principles in harmony is the duty of the phj^sician, and to restore the equilibrium when any one of them is in ex- cess or deficiency, is the main object of his endeavors. The medical profession in China is in every sense an open one. There are no medical col- leges, and no examination-tests exist to worry the minds of the would-be practitioners. Neither are diplomas asked for or granted. Any quack or the most, ignorant bumpkin may become a Quack Doctors- 283 practising physician, and by his success or non- success in the profession, he stands or falls. Speaking generally, doctors in China may be divided into three classes: — namely, those who have inherited prescriptions of merit; men, who having failed at the examinations, have taken to the study of medicine ; and the merest quacks. This classification is intelligible when it is remembered that the practice of medicine is not based on any well-ascertained knowledge, but is simply empirical, and consists mainly in the use of herbs and vegetable medicines. Many an old woman in the country districts of America or England has as useful a phar- macopoeia as the most prosperous Chinese doc- tors, who, however, supplement the more effi- cacious remedies they possess by others which 'have no remedial qualities at all. For example, among many herbal 'medicines, which undoubt- edly are more or less tonic, we find that the same qualities are ascribed to stalactite, fresh tops of stag-horns, dried red-spotted lizards, silk- worm moths, black and white lead, tortoise- shell, and dog's flesh. By the same stretch of the imagination the bones and teeth of dragons, oyst«r-shells, loadstone, talc, and gold and sil- 234 Medicine. ver leaf are regarded as astringents ; while ver- digris, calcareous spar, catechu pearls, bear's gall, shavings of rhinoceros' horns, and turtle- shell, are used as purgatives. Elephant's skin, and, with a certain consistency, ivory -shavings are considered to be antidotes to poison. It has been calculated by Doctor Henderson, that out of the whole Chinese pharmacopoeia, three hundred and fourteen remedies are taken from the vegetable kingdom, about fifty from the mineral kingdom, and seventy-eight from the animal kingdom. All these remedies, good, bad, and indiffer- ent, are sanctioned hj the medical board at Peking, which has, in the exercise of its wis- dom, divided all diseases into eleven classes ; viz., — diseases of the large blood-vessels, and small-pox ; diseases of the small blood-vessels ; diseases of the skin ; diseases of the eye ; of the mouth ; of the teeth ; of the throat ; of women ; of the bones ; and fevers and cases arising from acupuncture Fortunately for the people whose health is at the mere}' of these ignorant professors of the art of healing, in- flammatory diseases, to which are attributable three-fifths of the mortality in England, are Doctors' Pees. 236 almost unknown in China, where, however, small-pox, phthisis, dysentery, and diarrhoea, rage almost unchecked by medical help, and skin diseases lay a heavy burden on the population. Of late, the practice of vaccination has begun to make way among the people, having been first introduced to their notice by a pamphlet on the subject which was translated into Chi- nese b}' Sir George Staunton. Previouslv inoc- ulation by putting the virus up the nose was universally employed, as it still is, by all ex- cept those few who have been shown the bet- ter way. Cancer is b}' no means uncommon, and for this disease human milk is largely used. At the present time the empress dowager is said to be suffering from this frightful malady, and it is stated that in her case, the remedy referred to has been employed with the most beneficial results. The scale of doctors' fees is low, being from about a dime in the case of poor people, to a dollar in the case of wealthy persons ; but it will probably be considered that even this lower sum is more than an equivalent for the good likely to be gained from their advice. As a rule, when a lady is the sufferer, the 286 Medicine. doctor never sees his patient except in extreme cases, and is content to form his opinion ui' her ailment by feeling the pulse of her wrists, which are allowed to appear beneath the screen behind which she sits or reclines. One of the most curious and dangerous extra medicinal remedies used by the Chinese is acupuncture. This is generally resorted to in cases of chronic rheumatism or dyspepsia. For the first malady the needle, either hot or cold, is thrust boldly into the joint or joints affected, and though valueless as a curative, it is at least less dan- gerous than when applied for dyspepsia. In such cases it is thrust into the abdomen, re- gardless of the injury which is likely to be done to the intestines and organs. Among people of Western nations and constitutions, this reckless use of the needle would constantly produce serious if not fatal evils, but thanks to the phlegmatic temperament of Chinamen, it does not often bring about mortal results. Occasionally patients are admitted to the for- eign hospitals, suffering from injuries to intes- tines and liver inflicted by the needle, but these do not, as a rule, enter any more seri- ous category than that of troublesome cases. No Chinese Chemistrif. 287 Insanity is by no means uncomaion in China, , but it is less conspicuous than in Western lands, owing to the repressive treatment whicli the patients receive. On the first symptom of vio- lence, they are bound down and kept so until their strength fails them or death releases them from their bondage. When harmless, they are allowed to wandei about, and in the northern provinces, where insanity seems to prevail more than in the south, the wretched creatures, clothed or unclothed, may be met with on the roads and in the streets. On one occasion, the present writer saw a maniac lying by the way- side, in the midst of winter, without a particle of clothing upon him. Lunatic asylums are un- known, and the malady is so little recognized by the mandarins that madmen are held respon- sible to the law for their acts prompted by mania. The ignorance prevailing among Chinamen of chemistry and anatomv make their post-mortem examinations valueless, as may be gathered from the following finding, lately reported in the Peking Gazette, in the instance of a suspected case of poisoning. " We find," wrote the cor- oners, "in the remains of Koh P'in-leen that there is no reddish exfoliation on the surface 238 Medicine. of the skull; that the upper and lower bones of the mouth, the teeth, jaw-bones, hands, feet, fingers, toes, nails, and joints are all of a yellow- ish-white color; . . . through the remainder of the body the bones of all sizes are of a yel- lowish-white, showing no signs of the effects of poison ; and our verdict is that death in this case was caused by disease, and not by poison." The one point, in which, at an early period, the Chinese were in advance of our- selves, was in their knowledge of the value of mercury. CHAPTER VIII. MUSIC. ^V/TUSIC, like some of the other sciences, is said to have been invented by the Em- peror Fuh-he (B. c. 2852-2737). He it was, we are told, who made the first She^ a sort of lute. At first this instru- ment had twenty- five strings, but, ac- cording to the legend, a damsel was one day playing on one such instrument before the Em- peror Hwang-te, who became so effected to mel- ancholy by the music, that he ordered that, from that time, the number of the strings should be reduced by one half. To Fuh-he belongs 240 Muiic. also the credit of beiug the inventor of the KHn^ another form of lute, which stands in pop- ular estimation at the head of Chinese musi- cal instruments. The name which was originally given it of Lung KHn points to the fact, which we have abundant evidence to prove, that the aborigines of China were musicians before the ar- rival of the Chinese. The Lung were a powerful tribe occupying a portion of Southwestern China, and judging from the name, it is reasonable to suppose that the knowledge of the K'in was first brought to the Court of Fuh-he by men of that race. Tlie K'in was known also among the ancients as "a reminder of distant affairs," which would seem to indicate a geographically remote origin for it. History further tells us that, during his reign, men of the great Pung (Fung) tribe, which at that time occupied a large tract of country south of the Yang-tsze keang, arrived at court and made music. In considering these early chapters of ancient Chinese history, it is necessary to bear in mind that we are dealing with the mixed records of the aborigines and of the Chinese. So far in the history of music we are plainly in the pre- Chiuese stage, but with the reign of Hwang te The First Chinese Music. 241 the Chinese element is introduced. The account of Hwang-te's musical efforts are very interest- ing, and bear out in a remarkable degree the supposition that he was one of the rulers of the race when they had their homes to the south of the Caspian Sea. We are told that he sent his minister Ling-lun from the west of Ta hea to a particular valley in the KwSn- lun mountains, where he was ordered to make choice of bamboos fitted for musical pipes. Ta hea we know to have been Bactria, and Hwang-te must therefore have been living to the west of that country, exactly where we should expect to find him. Ling-lun did as he was told, and cut twelve pipes of varying lengths, so ar- ranged as to emit the twelve demi-tones. These, it is said, he arrived at by listening to the singing of the Pungs, the voices of the men giving him, so runs the story, six demi-tones, and those of the women the remaining six. Here again it will be observed the help of the Pungs is called in, and it is worth mentioning that the descendants of these people and of the Lung and Kwei tribes who are still to be founf^ in the southwestern povinces of the em- pire, retain the same passion for music and 16 242 Music. dancing which made them famous in the time of Full-he, and subsequently. Chwan Hii, the next Emperor but one to Hwang-te, was born, we are told, at the J8 water in Sze-chuen, and on reaching the throne, used to recall with pleasure, the sound made by the wind as it whistled through the forests of mulberry trees which grew in his native district. That he might again listen to such music, he sent a Fei-lung to the J5 water to imitate the sounds of the eight winds- The Fei-lung (Fl3dng Dragon) tribe was one of the most important in primitive China. We read of them in the first chapter of the Yih king., and repeatedly in the earlier historical works. They were a branch of the great Lung people, who were divided into the Fei-lung, the Hwo- lung (Fire Dragons), the Ho-lung (River Dra- gons), etc. The existence of these prefixes has served to conceal the fact that the compound expressions represented tribal names, and has encouraged those who looked on all mentions of the Lung as so many myths in their in- credulity. But in point of fact, they serve as confirmations of the opposite sense. In his recent work of travels in Cambodia, Monsieur Drums and Stringed Instruments, 243 JJe-la-porte says that he encountered in his. journeys several sections of the Kwei tribe» which were distinguished as Fei-kwei (Flying kwei), Hwo-kwei, (Fire kwei), Ho-kwei (River kwei), and so on. The Fei-lung who was sent by Chwan Hii on the diflBcult mission of reproducing the sounds of the wind, is said to have been successful. By means of what in- strument he preserved the notes we are not told, but as the invention of the Pan pipes is put down to this period, it is possible that they may have been tlie instrument chosen by the Fei-lung. Stringed and reed instruments, such as are used by the aboriginal tribes of China at the present day, were the first known. Next in order, probably, came drums, which seem, in the first instance, to have been used to excite warriors in the battle-field to deeds of prowess. Of these there are eight kinds, distinguished by names indicating their size and use. Stone •seems also to liave preceded metal aTs a musi- cal substance. In the earliest classics we have mention of musical stones, 'which were sixteen in number, and were hung from a frame by cords. They were cut somewhat in the shape 244 Music. of a carpenter's square, one side being twice the length of the other. The stones played upon by the emperors are said to have been of jade, the use of which, for this purpose, was forbidden to subjects. In most parts of the world the trumpet has TT 1 ) MUSICAL WOMEN. held the first place among metal instruments, but in China the bell had the priority, and at the present day it still holds its own against Trumpets and Bells. 245 the louder-tongiied, horn, which is used only as a militarj' call, and in processions. Bells were originally niade of six parts of copper to one of tin. Tongues were never used, but sound was produced by striking the rim with a stick, or, in after-times, the knobs with which the bell was studded, and which were so arranged as to give out the diflferent musical notes when struck. The form of the most ancient bells was square, but in subsequent ages they as- sumed the roujid shape, and at the present day are universally so made. They are moulded in every size, from the little Fung ling, or "Wind-bell," which swings on the eaves of pagodas, to the huge bells which hang in some of the most notable temples. One of the largest of these is in a temple at Peking, and forms a wonderful example of the mechanical inge- nuity of the Chinese. It is about fifteen feet in diameter, twenty feet in height, and weighs about fifty-three tons. The lower rim is about a foot thick, and the whole bell is covered inside and out with the Chinese text of a long Buddhist liturgical work. This bell is one of a set of five which were cast by order of the Emperor Yung-loh (a. d. 1403-1425). One of 246 Music. its companions hangs in the Drum-Tower at Peking, and, "in the stillness of the midnight hour, its deep mellow tone is heard at four miles distance throughout Peking, as it strikes the watch." In the "Great Bell Tower" at Canton there is a huge bell, which, however, is never voluntaril}^ struck, as it is believed, that if it be sounded, some misfortune will overtake the city. The capture of the town by the English and French, in 1857, is said, by the natives, to have been the result of a shot from one of the guns of the British ship Encounter which struck and sounded the bell during the bombardment. As musical instruments bells are principally used at religious services and in processions. In ancient times they seem to have been gen- erally sounded with drums. In the »She kmg we have constant mention of bells and drums being used on the occasions of bringing home brides, or in royal processions. Sometimes we hear of them concerted with other instruments, as when speaking of the expedition of King Yew to the Hwai the poet says: Kin kin peal the bells, peal on, And the lutes in the concert we hear. Grongs and CymbaU. - 247 Deep breathes the oi^an tone; Sounding stones join their notes, rich and clear. The wliile through the vessel there ring The Ya and the Nan which tltey sing, And the dancers with flutes now appear. Bells were sounded also at the opening and close of sacrificial rites, and were even at- tached to the knives used. It is custo- jnar}^ also to fasten them to the liarness of horses driven by potentates, and to their car- riages and banners. A more popular instrument than the bell is the gong, of which there are three kinds in common use, the Temple Gong, which, as its name implies, is used in temples; the Soochow Gong, which is shaped " like a boiler ; " and the Watch Gong, wliicli is a small kind used to strike the watches. At religious services, on occasions of ceremony, and at theatrical performances, the gong bears a conspicuous part ; but though considered an element of harmony by men, its sound strikes terror into evil spirits, and it is consequent- ly used with pealing effect on all occasions when evil influences are to be exorcised. When a vessel puts to sea, when it returns to harbor, when a house is supposed to be 248 Music. haunted, or when any unnatural phenomena occur, such as an eclipse, the gongs are vig- orously sounded to dispel the malign influ- ences which are believed to be present. On the outbreak of a fire they are used as sig- nals, first of all to indicate what quarter of the town is threatened ; next, by the rapidity of the beats, to make known the piogress and fierceness of the fire, and again, b}- tolling, to show that the danger is over. Cymbals and horns are other metal instruments used by the Chinese. Flutes, fifes, clarionets, and conch shells, are, with the reed organ, the commonest wind- instruments. This last is made with a gourd, into the upper surface of which nineteen reed tubes are inserted. These reeds have holes near the base to prevent their emitting sounds, until stopped by the performer. The mouth- piece, which is not unlike the spout of a ket- tle, is inserted in the side of the gourd, and the instrument is played either by drawing in the breath or by blowing. The favorite instruments of the Chinese, however, are stringed. The She and the KHn, of which mention has already been made, Fiddles and Q-uitarB. 249 are the chief among these. "The K'in," says Professor Williams, "is verj' ancient, and de- rives its name from the word K'in, to pro- hibit, * because it restrains and checks evil pas- sions, and corrects the human heart.' It is a board about four feet in length and eighteen inches wide, convex above and flat beneath, where are two holes opening into hollows. There are seven strings of silk, which pass over a bridge near the wide end, through the board, and are tightened by nuts beneath : they are secured on two pegs at the smaller end. The sounding board is divided by thirteen studs, so placed that the length of the strings is divided, first Into two equal parts, then into three, etc., up to eight, with the omission of the seventh. The seven strings enclose the compass of the nin'th or two fifths, the middle one being treated like A upon the violin — viz., as a middle string, and each of the outer ones is tuned a fifth from it. This interval is treated like our octave in the violin, for the compass of the KHn is made up of fifths. Each of the outer strings is tuned a fourth from the alternate string within the system, so that there is a major tone, an interval tone 250 Music. less than a minor third, and a major tone in the fifth. The Chinese leave tlie interval en- tire, and skip the half tone, while we divide it into two unequal parts. It Avill, therefore, readily appear, that the mood or character of the music of the KHn must be very different from that of western instruments, so that none of them can exactl}'' do justice to the Chinese airs. One of the peculiarities of performing on the lute, is sliding the left-hand fingers along the string, and the trilling and other evolutions they are made to execute." Besides the She and the JT'm there are several kinds of fiddles and guitars, among the best-known of which are the JP^i-P'a, a four- stringed guitar which is played with the fin- gers, the Yueh KHn, or " Moon ICin," named from the moon-like shape of the sound-board, which has four strings standing in pairs, tuned as fifths to each other, and the Su-chun. or "Standard Lute," with twelve strings, yielding exactly the notes of the twelve Luh or tubes invented by Ling-lun. Music has at all times held an important part in the political system of the Chinese. Its influence for good or evil on the people is Music and Morals. 253 regarded as potent, and according to a cele- brated saying of Confucius, it gives the finish to the character which has first been estab- lished by the rules of propriety. So marked has the impression produced by it been held to be, that Confucius, when on his way to Ts'e, recognized, in the gait and manner of a boy whom he met carrying a picture, the in- fluence of the^Shaou music, and hurried on to the capital of the state that he might enjoy its excellencies to perfection. On another occa- sion, we are told that he perceived with de- light, in the sound of stringed instruments and the singing at Woo-shing, the effect produced on a people turbulent by nature, by the rule of his disciple, Tszeyew. In this, as in other matters, Confucius merely reproduced the opinions of those who had gone before him, and from the time, that Ling-lun made the first pan- pipe, the influence of music on morals and politics has been an established creed amongst the Chinese. The purity of the prevailing music became the test of the virtues of the sovereign, and one of the gravest charges brought against the dissolute Chow Sin, the last emperor of the Yin Dynasty (b. c. 1154-1122) was that, 254 Music. to gratify his consort, the notoriously vicious T'au-ke, he substituted licentious airs for the chaste music of his ancestors. Time has done little to change the opinions of the Chinese on this subject, and at the present day a care- ful watch is kept over the efforts of composers by the Imperial Board of music, whose duty is to keep alive the music of the ancients, and to suppress all compositions which are not \n harmony with it. CHAPTER IX. ARCHITECTURE. T is a curious circumstance that ill China, a land where there exists such a profound veneration for everything old, there should not be found either any ancient buildings or old ruins. While every other nation possessing a history has its monuments and remains, China has noth- ing that illustrates a past age, except possibly a few pagodas scattered over the land. No emperor has sought to hand down his name to generations 5'et to come by the erection of any build- ing, useful or ornamental. It 255 256 Architecture, would seem as though their original nomadic origin haunted them still, and that the recol- lection of old tent-homes which were pitched to-day and struck to-morrow, still denominates their ideas of what palaces and houses should be. That there is an abundant suppl)' of the most durable materials for building in the land is certain, and that for many centuries the Chinese have been acquainted with the art of brick-making is well-known, but they have reared no building possessing enduring stabilit}'. Neither do they possess any respect for ancient edifices, even when they have the odor of sancity at- taching to them. If any house in the empire ought to have been preserved, it should have been that of Confucius, and yet we are told that in the reign of Woo-ti ( b. c. 140-86 ), a prince of Loo pulled it down to build a larger one in its place. Not only does the ephemeral nature of the tent appear in the slender construction of Chi- nese houses, but even in shape they assume a tent-like form. The slope of the roof, and its up-turned corners, coupled with the absence of upper stories, all remind one irresistibly of a tent. The main supports, also, of the roof are Walls and Screens. 257 the wooden pillars, the walls serving only to fill up the intervening spaces, and form no ad- dition to the stability of the building. As etiquette provides that, in houses of the better class, a high wall should surround the building, and that no window should look outward, streets iu the fashionable parts of cities have a very A CHINKSK GATEWAY. dreary aspect. The only breaks in the long line of dismal wall, are the front-doors, which, however, are generally closed, or if by 'dny chance they should be left open, movable screens bar the sight of all beyond the doors of the munshang^s^ or doorkeeper's rooms. If, however, we pass round one such screen, we find our- 17 268 Architecture. selves in a courtyard, which ma)'^ possibly be laid out as a garden, but more frequenily is flagged with paving-stones. On either side are rooms usually occupied by servants, while in front is a building to which we have to ascend by two or three steps, and through which a passage runs, having a room or rooms on either side. At the other end of the passage a de- scent of two or three steps lands us in another courtyard, in the rooms surrounding whicli the family live, and behind this again are the women's apartments, which not unfrequently look into a garden at the back. A passage, either running along the inside of tiie court- yards or beyond them, enables servants and tradespeople to pass to any part of the house without trespassing on the central way, which is reserved for their betters. As has been al- ready said, wooden pillars support the roofs of the buildings, which are a reminiscence of the enrlier tent, and the intervals between these are filled up with brick work, but often so irregularlj-, as to point plainlj' to their being no integral part of the construction. The win- dow-frames are wooden, over which is pasted either paper or calico, though sometimes pieces A mandarin's official residence. 259 Ceilings and Roofs. 261 of talc are substituted, the better to transmit the light. The doors are almost invariably fold- ing doors, and turn in wooden sockets. The floors of the rooms are generally either stone or cement, and when laid down with wood, are so uneven and creaky, as considerably to miti- gate its advantages. Ceilings are not often used, the roof being the only covering to the looms. As a rule, the roof is the most orna- mental part of the building. The woodwork which supports it is intricate and handsome, the shape is picturesque, and the glazed tiles which cover it make it present a bright aspect. A ridge-and-furrow-like appearance is given to it by putting, at regular intervals, on the under layer of flat tiles, lines of semi-circular tiles from the summit to the eaves. Yellow is the color commonly used, both for temples and those houses which, by the sumptuary laws in force, are entitled to have glazed tiles. At the "altar of heaven," at Peking, a magnificent effect is produced by the use of deep-blue glazed por- celain tiles, which in hue and brightness make no bad imitation of the sky above. Carpets are seldom used, more especially in Southern China, where also stoves for warming- 262 Architecture. purposes are unknown. In the north, where, in the winter, the cold is very great, portable charcoal stoves are employed, in addition to the heated kangs*, and small chafing dishes are carried ubout from room to room. The main depen- dence of the Chinese for personal warmth is i)u clothes. As ^he winter approaches garment is added to garment, and furs to quilted vest- ments, until the wearer assumes an unwieldy and exaggerated shape. Well-to-db Chinamen seldom take strong exercise, and they are there- fore able to bear a weight of clothes which to a European would be unendurable. Of the personal comfort obtainable in a house Chinamen are strangely ignorant. Their furniture is of the hardest and most uncompromising nature. Chairs, made of a hard, black wood, and of an angular shape, and equally unyield- ing divans, covered possibly with hard, red, cushions, are the only seats known to them. Their beds are scarcely more comfortable, and their pillows are oblong cubes of bamboo, or other' hard material. For the maintenance of the existing fashions of female head-dressing this kind of pillow is essential to women at least, •A Kang is a raised brick bed place. See page 303. Bandoline and Fashion. 263 as their hair, which is dressed only at in- tervals of days, and being kept in its gro- tesque shapes by the abundant use of bandoline, would be crushed and disfigured if lain upou for a moment. Women, therefore, who make any pretension of following the fashion, are obliged to sleep at night on their backs, rest- ing the nape of the neck on the pillow, thus keeping the head and hair free fiom contact witli anything. The use of paint in ornamenting the inside of the roofs and other parts of the house is subject to sumptuary laws, which regulate not only what shall be painted, but also what colors shall be used. No let or hindrance, however, is placed in the way of internal ornament, and the wood carvings, representing flowers and fruits, which not unfrequently adorn the doorways and walls of the houses of the rich, are often extremely handsome, combining beauty of design with wonderful skill in ex- ecution. The shapes of their cabinets and ornan>€ntal pieces of furniture are very taste- ful, and the rare beauty of their bronzes and articles of porcelain-ware, with which they de- light to fill their rooms, are too well known 264 Architecture. to need mention here. On a hot day, the large reception-hall in a wealthy Chinamen's house, shaded from every ray of sun by the wide, overhanging roof, lofty and spacious, is a wel- come retreat, while the absence of carpets and " stufif " from the furniture, gives it a refresh- ingly cool aspect. Like the country roads, the streets in towns differ widely in construction in the northern and southern portions of the empire. In the south, they are narrow and paved, in the north they are wide and unpaved. Both constructions are suited to the local wants of the people. The absence of wheel-traffic in the southern provinces makes wide streets unnecessary, while, by contracting their width, the sun's rays have less chance of beating down on the heads of passers-by, and are altogether excluded the more easily by the use of awnings stretched across from roof to roof. It is true that this is done at the expense of fresh air, but even to do this is a gain. Shops are all open in front, the counters forming the only barriers between the street and their contents. In the more populous parts of the empire the streets of large cities present a very animated appear- Street Scenes. 265 ance. Crowds of pedestrians, sedan-chairs carry- ing numbers of the wealthy and official classes, horsemen, and coolies carrying their loads bal- anced at each end of bamboos slung across their shoulders, jostle one another in the nar- row thoroughfares, in such close and constant A CHI^KS£ 8UUF. proximity, that it is due only to the untiring patience and good humor of the crowd that any movement is possible. 266 Architecture. This inconvenience is avoided in the wide streets of the cities in the north, where the accommodation of wheel-traffic make more room necessary ; but in the present degenerate con- dition of municipal regulations the wide streets are not an unmixed good. Though professing to be macadamized, they are destitute of metal,* with the natural consequences that in wet weather they are sloughs, and in dry seasons they are covered inches deep in dust. Of the large cities of the north and south, Peking and Canton may be taken as typical examples, and certainly, with the exception of the palace, the walls, and certain imperial temples, the streets of Peking compare very unfavorably with those of Canton. The shops have a meaner and less prosperous look, and there is a general air of dirt and decay about the city. From the fact that the better class of houses are enclosed within high blank walls, the existence of the palaces belonging to the imperial princes, instead of brightening the aspect of the town, serves onh' to add to its dreariness. These palaces, or "foos," of which there are fifty at Peking, are given in perpetuity to certain * Proken stones used for making roads are known in England as " metal." Foo» and their Compartments. 267 princes of the blood for signal services, and also to sons of the emperor for their lives and for two later generations, the great grandson of the original recipient being in each case obliged to resign the gift again to the sover- eign. The general plan of one of these "foos" is thus described by Doctor Williamson: "A foo has in front of it two large stone lions, with a house for musicians and for gate-keep- ers. Through a lofty gateway, on which are hung tablets inscribed with the prince's titles, the visitor enters a large, square court, with a paved terrace in the centre, which fronts the principal hall. Here, on days of ceremony, the slaves and dependants may be ranged in rev- erential position before the prince, who sits as master of the household, in the hall. Behind the principal hall are two others, both fac- ing, like it, the south. These buildings all have five or seven compartments divided by pillars which support the roof, and the three or five in the centre are left open to form one large hall, while the sides are petitioned off td make rooms. Beyond the gable there is usually an extension called the wi-fang, lit- erally, the ear house, from its resemblance in 268 Architecture. position to that organ. On each side of the large courts fronting the halls is a side-house, *siang fang,' of one or two stories. The gar- den of a foo is on the west side, and is usually arranged as an ornamental park, with a lake, wooded mounds, fantastic arbors, small Buddhist temples, covered passages, and a large, open hall for drinking tea and entertaining guests, which is called Hwa-tiiig. Garden and house are kept private, and effectually guarded from the intrusion of strangers by a high wall, and at the doors a numerous staff of messen- gers. The stables are usuall}"^ on the east side,' and contain stout Mongol ponies, large Hi horses, and a goodly supply of sleek, well-kept mules, such as North China furnishes in abun- dance. A prince or princess has a retinue of about twenty, mounted on ponies or mules." As these Foos are built on an officially pre- scribed plan, there is very little variety among them, and the same sumptuary' laws which regulate their construction, take cognizance also of the country mansions of the great. These were originally occupied onl}' by " Kung " or Dukes, and were built on much the same model as the Foo, exce|)t that their grounds IN A CHINESE GARDEN Summer-Housei and Walls. 271 were more extensive, and the detached pavil- ions and summer-houses more numerous. The gardens surrounding these and other large country houses are wonderfully "landscaped." Every inequality of nature, whether hill or valley, rock or dale, is represented in them, while artificial water, ciaverns, and grotesque bridges, complete the microcosm they are intended to represent. Every Chinese city is surrounded by a wall, which in the present state of the military knowledge of the people, is often sufficient ta turn back the tide of war. These walls vary very much in height and state of repair with the circumstances of each cit}'. Those surrounding Peking are probably the finest and best kept in the empire. In height they are about forty feet, and the same in width. The top, whichi is defended by massive battlements, is welH paved, and is kept in excellent order. Over each gate, and there are twelve of them, is built a fortified tower between eighty and ninety feet high, and each is further defended on the outside by a large semi-circular enceinte, with walls of the same dimensions as those of the main structure. Seen from the wall, all 272 Architecture. Chinese cities present quite an uninteresting appearance. The dwelling-liouses, being almost identical, both in lieight and construction, the scene is one of curious monotony, wliich is A WAR-TOWER. broken only by the uplifted roofs of temples and palaces. In every city the temples form a noticeable feature, and prominent among them are invari- ably those dedicated to Confucius. The law provides that at least one of these should be built in every city and market-town through- A CITY GATE Privileges of Grates. 275 out the empire, and it is ordained with equal rigidity that it should consist of three court- yards, built one behind the other, and all fac- ing south. The entrances should be on the eastern and western faces of the outer court- yard, and only when a native of the district has won the supreme honor at the competitive examinations, viz., the title of Chwang-yuen, is the southern wall, which is alwa3'S painted red, pierced for a gateway. Even when this is done, the right of passing through it is re- served only for emperors and Chwang-yuens, who alone also have the right of crossing the bridge that spans the semi-circular pond, which occupies part of the lower end of the court- yard. In the riglit-hand corner, at the upper end, is the house where the animals for sac- rifice are kept, and on the opposite side is the pavilion where the chief worshipper rests when first entering the temple, and where he dons his official clothes. Across the northern end of the passage runs a large hall, in the mid- dle of which is the " Gate of Great Perfec- tion," and through which those only who are privileged to enter the temple by the southern wall, and to cross the bridge, are allowed to 276 Architecture. pass into the next or principal court. On each side of this are covered passages, containing the tablets of illustrious Confucianists, famous for their piety and learning. Cypresses grow in the intervening space, and here the wor- shippers prostrate themselves before the tablet, or, in some cases, the image of the Sage which rests on an altar in the " Hall of Great Per- fection," that faces southward. On either side of the high altar are arranged the tablets and altars of the four principal disciples of Confu- cius, and of the twelve "Wise Men." In the hindermost court, stands the " Ancestral Hall of Exalted Sages," which contains the tablets of the five ancestors of Confucius, of his half- brother, of the fathers of the principal dis- ciples, and of other worthies. The largest Con- fucian temple at Peking is a very handsome structure. The roof, which is painted an azure blue, is elaborately decorated, and rows of cedar-trees, which are said to be upwards of five hundred years old, adorn the courtyards. Its most interesting contents are a set of ten stone drums, on each of which is inscribed a stanza of poetry. It is currently believed that these drums were first shaped in the days of Buddhist and Confucian Temples. 277 Yaou and Shun (b. c. 2366-2205), but, unfortu- nately for this theory, the forms of the characters point to their having been cut at a later pe- riod, probably the seventh or .eighth century b. c. The Buddhist temples differ little in general construction from the Confucian temples. Like them, they are built in a succession of court- yards, minutiae of which are different, and in the all-important point of the objects of worship they are, of course, dissimilar. In place of the tablets of Confucius and his four disciples, stand images of Buddha, Past, Present, and Future, and the shrines of the twelve Wise Men are exchanged for a number of idols representing the numerous incarnations of Bud- dha. In a few of the larger temples stand Dagobas, containing relics of the founder of the religion. " On each side," says Archdeacon Gray, "of the large courtj-ards, in which the principal halls of the temple are erected, are rows of cells for the monks, a visitors' hall, a refectory, and sometimes a printing-office, where the liturgical services used by the priests, new .works on the tenets of Buddha, and tracts for general distribution, are printed." Among the most ancient buildings in China 278 Architecture. are the Bmidhist pagodas, which were first built on the introduction of Buddliism from India. Originally they were designed as de- positories of relics of Buddha, but in later ages many have been erected to form the tombs of celebrated Buddhist priests, or as piemorials of saintly parsonages, or again, to secure beneficial geomantic influences for the surrounding districts. Pagodas are generally built of bricks, and are made to consist of an uneven number of stories; five, seven, and nine being the most common numbers. In most cases the vs^alls are double, and between the inner and outer masonry winds the stair- case leading to the summit, from which, by means of doorways, access is obtained to the chambers on each flat. The outer wall, which invariably tapers, is usually octagonal, and its surface is broken by the projecting roofs of tiles which surmount the difi^erent stories. These roofs, turned up at the corners, covered with green glazed tiles, and hung about with bells, form the most attractive features of the build- ing. In some pagodas containing relics of Buddha, as is the case with one at How- chow, no stories divide the interior of the The Most Magnificent Pagoda. 279 pagoda, but in the centre of the ground floor rises a marble pagoda-shaped column, beneath which rests the relic, upon the sides of which are carved ten thousand small images of Buddha. The most celebrated and magnificent pagoda ever built in China was the well-known por- celain tower at Nanking, which was erected hj the Emperor Yung-loh (1403-1425), to com- memorate the virtues of his mother. The outer Avails were built of bricks of the finest white porcelain, and the inner walls of ordinary bricks encased in richly-enameled yellow and red tiles. In shape it was an octagon. It consisted of nine stories, and stood about two hundred and seventy feet in height. The pin- nacle was surmounted by a large gilt ball fixed to the top of an iron rod, which was encircled by nine iron rings, and on the roof were fastened five large pearls for the purpose of protecting the city from as many evils. Nineteen years and a million dollars were spent in building this unique structure, which, after standing for about four hundred and fifty years, was so completely destroyed by the Tai-ping rebels in 1856, that one brick was not left standing on another. CHAPTER X. DRAWING. ^T^HE art of drawing i& held in great esteem in China, and the works of the most renowned artists are eagerly sought after, and are as carefully treasured as those of Raffaelle or Rubens are among ourselves. Drawing claims for itself a great antiquity, and as is the case with some other arts, it seems to have had its origin among the aborigines. It is curious also to observe that Honan, the cradle of much that has since in- creased the sum of Chinese civilization, is cred 280 Artistic Crrowth. 288 ited with haviug been the home of drawing as well as of the written character. Fuh-he, who invented the , celebrated eight diagrams, made drawings and plans, we are told, in imitation of the records he found at tiie Jung river in Honan, and Hwang-te is said to have obtained a likeness of Ts'ang Hieh, the inventor of writ- ing, from the Lo river. These and other tradi- tions appear to prove that the inscriptions drawn on banks of the rivers by the abori- gines of that part of China, served not only as aids for the formation of new characters by the Chinese, but also as patterns for designs. From that beginning, the art of drawing grew, and though it cannot be said that the Chinese are an artistic people, it is equally untrue to deny that they are possessed of great skill in producing wonderful effects with a few strokes of the pencil. They have never understood perspective, but some of their land- scapes are admirable for their picturesqueness and for their life-like representations of nature. Their studies of trees, boughs and flowers are exceedingly accurate and tasteful, and their use of colors is highly effective, but, after all, there is a sameness in their drawings which suggests 284 Drawing. that the art is mechanical, and a study of the works on drawing fully confirms the suspicion. In these we find detailed directions for repre- senting every kind of scenery and under all circumstances. In all such works mountains and streams are described as the highest objects for the painter's skill, and the student is told how to depict their beauties under every vary- ing circumstance of season and weather. The ideal mountain should have a cloud encircling its " waist," which should hide from view a part of the stream which should pour down its sides, over rocks, in waterfalls. A temple, or house, shaded and half-concealed by a grove, should be nestled in its embrace, and a liigh bridge should span the neighboring torrent, over which a winding road, bordered by trees, should lead around the mountain. At intervals travellers should be seen mounting to the sum- mit. Three sides of a rock, if possible, should be shown, and water should appear as though ruffled by wind. A ford is a fitting adjunct to a precipitous bank, and smoke and trees add to the picturesqueness of a stretch of water. A large sheet of water should alwajs be dotted with sails. A solitar}- city in the distance, and CHINESE ARTIST AT WORK. Rule8 of Art. 287 a market town at the foot of the mountain, may be introduced with advantage. Houses should always form part of forest scenery, and an old tree with broken and twisted roots is an appropriate finish to a rocky cliff. The boughs of trees having leaves should be supple, but if bare, should be stiff. Pine bark should be drawn as fishes' scales and cedar bark is always, it should be remem- bered, entwining. The branches on the left side of a tree should be longer than those on the right. Rocks should be heavy above and slight beneath. There should never be too much either of smoke or cloud, nor should woods have too many trees. On a snowy day no cloud or smoke should be seen, and when rain is falling distant mountains should be invisi- ble. Such are some of the directions given for landscape drawing, and a glance at Chinese pictures of scenery is enough to show how closely the rules of the text-books are followed. Writers on art advise artists, before begin- ning to paint a flower, to examine it carefully from above, so as to become thoroughly ac- quainted with its every aspect ; and to watch the shadow cast in bright moonlight by a 288 Drawing. bamboo-tree on a white wall. The different aspects of the clouds in the four seasons should be carefully noted. In spring, clouds appear in harmonious concord ; in summer, they con- gregate in profusion ; in autumn, they are in- termittent and light, and in winter, they are dark and cold. With the same minuteness every branch of the art is legislated for, and young artists de- siring to make themselves proficient in an}^ di- rection, will find full instructions in the manuals published for their guidance. Admirable, how- ever, as are some of the effects produced, the result of drawing by rule is to produce a con- siderable amount of pure!}' mechanical skill, and to reduce the exercise of the imagination to a minimum. The birds and flowers, mountains and streams, which seem to have been struck off in a few lines as the spirit of the artist moved him. ;ire really the products of patient and repeated imitation, and the probabilit}' is, that the artist whose birds or flowers we all so much ndmire, would be quite unable to draw a dog or a house, if suddenly culled upon to do so. The books enforce the doctrine that there is no difference between learning to write Striking Effects. 289 and learning to draw. It is possible, by con- stant application, to learn to write characters correctly and elegantly, and the same is the case with pictures. This is not art of a high order, but it produces striking and well arranged effects. So skilful was a certain artist of the tiiird century in representing insects, that it is said that having carelessly added the form of a fly to a picture he had painted for his sovereign, the emperor, on receiving the paint- ing, raised his hand to brush the insect away. The rules laid down for landscape drawing cannot, of course, apply to portrait painting, in wliich the artist has to follow a fresh model in every picture ; and for this reason, Chinese portraits are not generally successful. Occasion- ally, artists have arisen who have deservedly won renown in this branch of the . art. One of the earliest of these was Maou Yen-chow, who, in the words of Mr. Mayers, "having been commissioned by Yuen-te, of the Han Dynasty (48-32 b. c), to paint the portraits of the beauties of his harem, is said to have fal- sified the lineaments of the lovely Chaou Keun on being denied a bribe, and subsequently^ on the lady's real beauty bein^ discovered hy 19 290 Drawing. the emperor, to have fled with her true por- trait to the Khan of the Hiuug-uu. The Khan, fired by the hope of obtaining possession of so peerless a beauty, invaded China in irre- sistible force, and only consented to retire be- yond the Wall when the lady was surrendered to him. She accompanied her savage captor, bathed in tears, until the banks of the Amur were reached, when, rather than go beyond the bonndry, she plunged into the waters of the stream. Her corpse was interred on the banks of the river, and it is related, that the tumulus raised above her grave remained covered with undying verdure." CHAPTER XL TRAVELLING. irpE A YELLING in China is ..: slow and leisurely. Time is of little or uo object to the fortunate inhabitants of that country, who are content to be carried for long distances by cart, boat, sedan-chair, or on horseback, without the least troubling themselves about tlie pace at which they journey. The prevailing modes of conveyance var}' in accord- ance with the nature of the country. In the north, where the country is level and open, the existence of broad roads enables the inhabitants to use carts for the conve5^ance of passengers and goods. These carts are rude in construction 291 292 Travelling. and extremely uncomfortable. Those used as carriages consist of the bed of the cart, with a tilted cover and two wheels. They are entirely destitute of springs, and the passenger sits cross- legged on the bed of the uart, exactly above A CHINESE JUNK. the axle, without any support for his back. Even on good roads such conveyances would be un- comfortable ; but in China, where the roads are rarely, if ever, mended, and are either stone The Great Art in Travelling. 293 causeways or uiiraade tracks, they are to all those who are not accustomed to them, iustru- meuts of torture. The great art in travelling in them is to sit bolt upright, to allow the body to sway to and fro with the motion of the cart, and to avoid touching the sides. In Pe- king, and other large cities, the private carriages of rich men sometimes have the wheels placed behind the cart, so that the cart itself is swung as it were, between the animal drawing it and the axle. In this way, the severe jolts, which harass the passenger seated immediatel}'" above the axle, are avoided. Carts for the carriage of goods generally have only two wheels, though there are also wagons with four. Mules are generally driven in private carriages and in the best hack carts, but other carts are drawn by ponies, donkeys, or oxen, as the convenience of the owner dictates. For riding purposes, also, mules are preferred to ponies. They are considered to he more manageable, and when taught, as they generally are, to amble, their pace is easy and expeditions. History tells us that horses are not indigenous to China, and this statement is borne out by the fact that the hieroglyphic now used for a 294 Travelling. horse was originally drawn to represent a don- key, the ears being long — out of all proportion to those of a horse. Messengers and bearers of oflBcial despatches generally ride, but, as a rule, travellers prefer going long journeys either by cart or by boat. In the province of Shan- tung, and in other mountainous districts in Northern China, a kind of horse palanquin is used by travellers. Either two ponies or two mules are harnessed in the poles, one in front and one behind, and they thus carry the palan- quin between them. The most usual way of travelling throughout the empire is by boat. In everj' direction the natural "water highways" dissect the country, and in parts where these fall short of the wants of the people, they are supplemented by canals. The boats are admirably adapted to the people and the circumstances. They are built rather for comfort than for • speed, and their clean and comfortable cabins and easy motion form a most desirable contrast to the jolting of carts, the monotony of position nec- essary in a sedan-chair, or the fatigue of rid- ing. The official junks in which mandarins travel are very like floating hon^es. They are Junk» of Various Sorts. 296 fitted up with every convenience, and are manned by an army of boatmen, who tow, pole or row the vessel along, as the case may be, when the wind is adver.se On all such boats the CHINESE BOATS. flag of the mandarin on board is hoisted on the mast- Less distinguished passengers have to put up with less commodious junks, but what they lack in comfort, they make up in superior facilities for travelling. Not like the masts of mandarin 296 Travelling. juuks, which are so arranged that the sail can only be hoisted when the wind is "right aft," the rig of the smaller passenger-vessels is such as to enable them to sail as near the wind as A MANDAKIN'S JUNK. a Portsmouth wherr}-. They are considerably lighter also, and are consequent!}^ far more easily towed. The fore part of such vessels consists of a flush deck, the boards of which are movable, and the holds, which, in the day- time, these conceal, serve as sleeping-places for Sea-going Junks. 297 the crew. Captain Gill, in his " River of Golden Sand," thus describes the above-deck arrange- ments of the boat in which he lived during a part of his voyage up the Yang-tsze keang ; — " The bows, for a space of twenty feet, were uncovered ; aft of this a house about twenty feet long was built right across the deck, leav- ing no room to pass around the sides. There was a small open space aft of the house, and right over the stern another high building, where our skipper lived, was piled up to a great height. The house was about seven feet high, and was divided into four compartments, giving us a living room and two bedrooms for ourselves, and a room for the servants." The sea-going junks are very much larger than the river craft, and are built on different tlines. They are higli at both ends, and are square at bow and stern. On the latter is painted a phoenix standing on a rock in the midst of the ocean, and at the bows two large staring eyes, reminding one, as Mr. Tylor has pointed out, of tlie eye of Osiris, which was painted on the Egyptian funeral-bark that car- ried the dead across the lake to the western burial-place. The Canton-English-speaking Chi- 298 Travelling. uese of Hong-kong have another explauation of the custom. " No have got eye," they say, *' how can see ! no can see, how can savey ! " * All junks of this kind are divided into water-tight compartments, and are capable of carrying several thousand tons of cargo. They are generally three-masted, and carry a huge main-sail, made like the others, of matting. The rudder projects considerably beyond the stern, and is large in proportion compared with those of European vessels, giving the helmsman im- mense power of turning the vessel. The choice of felicitous names by which to clnisten the junks is a matter of serious consideration to the owners who love to adorn the masts and rudders with mottoes of good omen. Though possessed of the compass, Chinese sailors are without the knowledge necessary for taking nautical observations, and consequently they are compelled to hug the land, or, where that is impossible, to trust themselves entirely to the guidance of the compass until they reach some coast with which they are acquainted. In these circumstances it may readily be im- agined that the loss of junks and lives on the • Having no eye, how can it see ? not seeing, how can it know ? Typhoons Sweep the Sea. 299 China coasts is annually very large. Not only are there the ordinary difficulties of navigation to be contended with, but the southern waters are periodically visited by typhoons, whioh CHINESE COASTING VESSELS. sweep the seas affected by them of every junk outside the shelter of harbor, and even within these limits do incalculable damage. In 1862 and, 1871 the neighborhood of Canton was de- 300 Travellinff. vastated by two such storms, and, says Arch- deacon Gray, " these were, if possible, surpassed in violeuce, and in the number of casualities which attended them, by a typhoon wliich visited Hong-koug and Macao in the month of Sep- tember, 1874. According to the inhabitants, this destructive cyclone was the greatest ca- lamity which had befallen Hong-kong and Macao within the memory of man. it has been reck- oned that twenty thousand persons perished in the seas and rivers of the province of Kwang- tung on that occasion. The immense number of people who live in boats on the rivers in this part of China render typhoons especiall}' destructive. For the most part these boat-people are not of Chinese origin, but are remnants of the aborigines of the countr3\ They are known as Tanka, and are nearly related to the Miaou-tsze of Southern and Western China. At the present day there Ls not much in their appearance to distinguish them from the Chinese, except that they are more vivacious in manner, and blighter in coun- tenance ; and they have so entirely discarded their own language in favor of Chinese that their speech in no way betrays them. They Tankas Ostracised. 301 are regarded with an affectation of contempt by the Cantonese, who have nicknamed them Shwui ke, " Water fowl," or Hoi cKat., " Sea otters/' At various times they have been ra,uch persecuted, and attempts have not been want- ing to subject them to complete ostracism. Even now marriages between the Tankas and Can- tonese are rarely celebrated, and their youths are not allowed to compete at the literary exam- inations. That the race has ever survived is a constant wonder, seeing the hourly and al- most momentary danger of drowning in which the children live on board their boats. That they do not all fall overboard from the unpro- tected decks is only another proof that human beings can adapt themselves to any circum- stances. The only precaution that is ever taken, even in the case of infants, is to tie an empty gourd between their shoulders, so that, should they fall into the water, the}'^ may be kept afloat until help comes. Hardly a less cause for amazement is the way in which whole families and large families pack themselves away in their boats. A space which would appear infinitely cramped and confined to one of us serves a father and mother, sometimes a njother- 302 Travelling. in-law, and a host of children, for every pur- pose of life. Tliey are born in their boa,ts» they marry in their boats, and they die there. An important advantage of travelling by boat in China is, that by so doing one avoids the necessity of going to inns. He carries PASSEUGKK BOATS. everything he wants with him. The stove that cooks the boatmen's dinner cooks his also, and even in the smallest passenger boats he may sleep comfortabh', protected from rain and cold by the mat-ccvering. Compared with the A Raised Brick Bed-place. 308 accommodatiou commonly found in village inns,. boats are clean and commodious. Except in very large inns, a single courtyard surrounded by mean and dirty rooms is all that is at the disposal of travellers. The kitchen and offices adjoin the entrance, and in the four or five other apartments live the host and his family^ and there also are lodged the travellers who present themselves. In the north of China the most conspicuous object in a room of an inn is the kang, or raised brick bed-place, which generally extends along the whole side of the chamber. It is built hollow, so as to admits in cold xyeather, of a fire of brushwood being lighted inside. The caloric thus communicated quickly heats the bricks through, and the wear}' traveller finds a warm place in which to roll himself in his bedding. Even when thus com- fortably placed he must be a hardened sleeper who can forget in slumber the noises which are constantly going on around him. It is sel- dom that among the inhabitants of an inn there is not a guitar and a guitarist, and long into the night the melancholy notes of this in- strument, which would be provocative of sleep were it not for the shrill, long drawn-out notes 304 Travelling. which diversify Chinese airs, wail through the rooms. When at last these cease to disturb, the silence which follows only makes more au- dible the quarrels and fights between the ponies and mules which stand in the stable, or some- times in the open courtyard. When towards morning these sounds have died away the trav- eller is fortunate it" he is not tormented with the crowing of cocks, which not unfrequently landlords, and those of their guests who wish to make an early start, tie beneath their beds, and which, as may be imagined, keep up a shrill chorus on the approach of day. Another means of travelling remains to be noticed, and one peculiar to China, namely, by wheelbarrow. On the plains, in the northern portion of the empire, it is not at all unusual to see one or two persons seated on a wheel- barrow, which is propelled by a man or men, whose labors are lightened when going with the wind by a sail whidh is hoisted on a mov- able mast. Doctor Williamson, in his " Journeys in North China," thus describes these means of conveyance : — " Here we met manj^ of their extraordinary wheelbariows moving along on dry ground with a sail set, each barrow having a Wheelbarrows with Sails. 306 great wheel in the ceiiire, finely balanced. Those we saw were loaded heavily, and had a large sheet of cloth set on a framework in front; many of these sails were so rigged as to be capable of being raised or reefed at pleasure, the ropes or braces being attached to a hook close to the driver. We have never seen these wheelbarrows without pity. The strain to the men who manage them is enor- mous : indeed, we have never witnessed human beings under such heavy labor. We met many with fourteen bean-cakes on one barrow, equal to seven small donkey-loads; and often saw six bales of cotton on one barrow, though two are considered sufficient for a mule : but hu- man labor is cheaper than animal. In many cases there were two men to one barrow, one dragging and another pushing: but in such cases the load was increased.'* Another traveller writing on the subject, also speaks of the enormous loads carried on these * barrows: — "We saw a large wheelbarrow so heavily laden that, while it required only one man to guide and manage it from behind, two men were employed, one on each side, to steady and force it along, while a fourth man wa? 20 {J06 Travelling, engaged ii» driving two mules and one ass^ which were fastened abreast to the front part of the vehicle, in order to assist in its pro- gress." At the present day, however, there are not wanting signs that before long the "iron horse" will have to be added to the list of the means of travelling in China. The knowledge of the material results of Western civilization which has been gained of late years by the oflQcials of China, with the example set by Japan of the practicability'^ of their adoption in Eastern countries, has stirred the minds of some of the most powerful men in China on the sub- ject of introducing railways and telegraphs into the " Flowery Land." The advantages of rail- ways also, in a military sense, will be a power- ful argument for their adoption, and in the physical features of the country, few obstacles will be found to their construction. Over the vast plains of Northern China scarcely a gra-^ dient would be necessary, and through the hilly and mountainous districts the routes marked out by the existing highways would easilv yield to the engineer's skill. Both from their natural aptness, and from the fact of their A WHEELBARROW WITH SAIL. 307 Magnificent System of Highivays. 309 striking all the great centres of trade, these highways will, when the time comes for laying down the rails, probably direct the course of the lines. Nothing is more suggestive of the former greatness of the empire, and of its present de- generate condition, than its magnificent system of highways, and the uncared-for, miserable state in which they now are. From Peking, as the political centre of the " Middle Kingdom," four great main roads radiate. One goes north to Urga by way of Seuen-hwa Foo ; passing the Great Wall at Chang-Kea Kow ; another enters Mongolia through the Koo-pei Kow, and passes in a northeasterly direction to Fung-ning, where it turns northwest and continues on to Dolanor; a third strikes eastward hy way of Tung-chow, Yung-ping Foo, Shan-hai-kwan, Kiug-chow-Foo, Moukden Kirin, Ning-gu-ta, and on to Poissiet, a Russian port on the east- ern coast of the continent ; and a fourth whicli trends in southwesterly direction to Paou- ting Foo, Tai-yuen Foo, Tung-kwan, the cel- ebrated fortress at the point where the Yellow River after pursuing a southerl}' course, turns eastward to the sea, and Se-ngan Foo in 310 Travelling. Shen-se. At this point it bifurcates, one branch turning northwest to Kan-suh and Tibet, and the other continuing the original direction through Sze-chuen to Siam. At Paou-ting Foo also, two highways diverge from the main road, one leading to Nanking and another to Nan- chang Foo on the Po-yang Lake, where travel- lers embark on the Kea River for Canton. The original construction of these roads was as masterly as their design was magnificent. The bridges by which they cross all but the largest rivers were all well built, and many of them were handsome structures ; the passage through mountain-gorges and hilly districts was in all cases ably executed in spite of often great engineering difficulties ; and the width of the roadways, from seventy to eighty feet, gave ample room for the passage of camels, carts, sedan-chairs, and beasts of burden which frequented them. Many of these roads are planted on each side with rows of trees, and at every ten Chinese miles there stands a sig- nal-tower, on which, in by-gone days, when evil threatened, fires where lighted, whicii at night gave warning of danger by their flames, and in the day-time were made to emit dense clouds In Cases of Emergency. 811 of smoke to serve the same purpose. At fre- quent intervals are the remains of guard-houses, ■where soldiers used to be stationed for the protection of travellers, and wherever necessary -wells and troughs are provided for the use of men and beasts. Inns and tea-houses repeat themselves constantly along the lines of route, 4ind post-horses stand ready prepared in the stables of the frequent post-houses to relieve at the instant the tired steeds of the official •couriers. In cases of emergency these men are said to travel over two hundred English miles a day. They carry a few hen's feathers fas- tened to the top of their lanterns as a signal of their commission, and their despatches are tied in a parcel on their backs. The speed -with which they travel is illustrated by the following mention made by Captain Gill, of a nocturnal visit of one at a little village in Western China: — "The clatter of an imperial despatch from Peking awoke the echoes of the slumbering village at three o'clock in the morn- ing; a few dogs barked, a cock crowed, but in less than a minute the rattle of the hoofs was lost in the distance, and the place lapsed into its normal silence." CHAPTER XII. HONOBS rpHE question, What shall be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honor ? is one which receives different answers in al- most every country in the world. In all, how- ever, some accession of dignity, or insignia of honor, are the rewards awaiting those who have deserved well of their country. The satisfaction arising from popular fame is short-lived, and some more lasting evidence is therefore demanded of the favor of the sovereign. In China, the higiiest rewards for military services are unlike all other official honors which die with the wearer, 312 Titles of Nobility. 813 and are hereditary. Nine titles of nobility, viz., Kung^ or duke, Hoiv, or marquis, Pih,, or earl, Tsze^ or viscount, Nan^ or baron, and King ehV Too-yii^ E^e Too-yii Yun K'^-yii^ and Ngan K'e-yii^ which may be considered equivalent to as many degrees of knighthood, are set apart for military heroes. With the exception of the last title, all these are heredi- tary during a specified number of lives, rang- ing from twenty-six for a Kung, to one for a Yun Ke-yii. They have the peculiarity also, on occasions, of not only descending to future generations, but of ennobling the dead, and especially those who have been killed in . battle. The system of conferring posthumous hon- ors of various kinds is very common, and is not by any means confined to the victims of war. It is practised in the case of officials who lose their lives at sea or in the inland waters while travelling on duty, of virtuous sovereigns, of chaste widows, of filial sons, and of patriots. Such rewards are often only titles of honor, which are not hereditary, and which may be either conferred directly on the meritorious person, or granted to him posthu- mously, or may be bestowed on his wife, his 814 Honors. parents, or his grandparents. As in the case of the liereditaiy patents mentioned above, these titles are divided into nine ranks, each of which is subdivided into two grades, and are as follows : — 1 a. Kwang luh ta foo , b. Yung luh ta foo; 2 a. Tsze ching ta foo^ b. Tung fung ta foo\ 3 a Tung e ta foo^ b. Chung e ta foo ; A. a. Chung hien ta foo^ b. CKaoe ta foo; 5 a. Fung ching ta foo^ b. Fung chih ta foo ; 6 a. CKing tih lang, b. Joo lin lang ; 1 a. Wan lin lang, b. CKing' sze lang; 8 a. Sew chih lang, b. Sew chih tso lang ; 9 a. Tang sze lang, b. Tang sze tso lang. The wives of officers on whom these titles are conferred are styled, respectively, 1, Yih p'in foo jin, 2. Urh p'in foo jin, 3. Shuh jin, 4. Kung jin, 5. E. jin, 6. Ngan jin, 7. Joo jin, 8. Pa p'in joo jin, 9, Kin p'in joo jin. These titles are highly prized by those upon whom they are bestowed, and invariably ac- company the mention of their nam^s in all state papers and famil}' records, as well as on their funeral cards, ancestral tablets, and tomb- stones. "The patents," says Mr. Mayers, in his "Chinese Government," "are inscribed on long scrolls of damask silk, woven in five colors, The Yellow Riding-Jacket. 315 with figures of the phoenix in relief, upon which the particulars of the grant are inscribed success- ively in the Chinese and Manchoo languages." To military officers, as rewards of distinguished services, are conferred, not only honorary titles,, sucli as Tseang keun, " general," etc., but ar- ticles of clothing, among which the most cov- eted is the yellow riding-jacket. This jacket is supposed to be worn only when in attendance on the emperor, and though it is invariably called "yellow," the color, as a matter of fact, follows that of the banner to which the re- cipient belongs. Only two Europeans have been granted this distinction, namely. Colonel Gordon, and M. Giguel, the Commandant of the Foo- chow Arsenal. To Colonel Gordon also were presented by the emperor four "suits" of clothes, the first of which, a " suit of court-clothes," consisted of an embroidered robe, a heavenly-blue satin jacket embroidered with insignia of office, a moon-colored camlet coat, a moon-colored satin collar, a sea-dragon court-cap, a purple cap button, a jadite holder for a peacock's feather on the cap, a peacock's feather, an untrimmed court-cap, a purple quartz button, a white jade- S16 Honors. holder for a peacock's feather, a peacock's feather, a necklace of golden amber beads, a girdle, a sash-purse, and a, pair of satin boots. The second, or variegated suit was made up of a silk robe embroidered with four-clawed dragons, a heavenly-blue Nanking camlet jacket, a rice- colored spring camlet robe, a moon-colored gauze collar, a floss silk cap, a coral button of the first rank, a white jade-holder for a peacock's feather, a peacock's feather, a peach- stone necklace, a stone-blue silk girdle, a sash- purse, and a pair of satin boots. The third, or "-suit of ordinary clothes," consisted of a pale silver Nanking camlet robe, a heavenl}- blue Nanking camlet jacket, a spring gauze robe of the color of " lake water," a fringed official summer-cap, a red coral button of the first rank, a flesh-colored holder for a peacock's feather, a peacock's feather, a white jade girdle- clasp, a stone-blue silk girdle, a small knife, a red snuff-box, a purse, a letter-case, a fan-case, a large and small purse, and a pair of satin boots. The fourth, or " walking-suit,'" con- sisted of a blue Nanking camlet robe, a yellow Nanking riding-jacket, a spring camlet robe of the color of "lake water,'" a drab felt fighting- Peacock's Feathers. 317 coat, a "victorious cap," a foreign porcelain button of the first rank, a long crane-shaped red holder for a peacock's feather, a peacock's feather, a set of double-forked sable tails, a stone-blue silk girdle, a WAist-knife, a walking sash-purse, and a pair of satin boots. Next to the yellow jacket, the peacock's feather is the imperial reward which is most highly prized, and of this distinguished decora- tion there are three ranks. The highest is the San yen hwa-ling, or three-eyed peacock's feather, which is conferred only on imperial princes, or nobles of the highest degree, or for the most signal military services. The second, the Shwang yen hwa-ling^ or "double-eyed pea- cock's feather," is bestowed upon lesser dignita- ries, and for less conspicuous merit. And the third, the Tan yen hwa-ling^ or " single-eyed pea- cock's feather," is given as a reward for good service, without regard to rank. Of late years the necessities of the imperial exchequer have been such as to compel the government to sell rank in the open market, and among other in- signia of imperial favor " single-eyed peacock's feathers " have been freely purchased. One other kind of feather, known as the Lan ling, 318 Honors. "blue feather," or more commonly Lao hwa ling, " crow's feather," is reserved for all officials under the sixth rank who have won their spurs on the battle-field, and, according to regulation, it is a distinction which is open also to the lank and file of the imperial guard. More Qommonly private soldiers receive as a reward for merit an oblong plate of thin silver, on which is inscribed the character Shang, " re- ward." By the present dynasty a Manchoo citle of distinction has been imported into the Chinese service, and is now much coveted, both for the honor it brings, and for the increased allow- ances that the bearers of it enjoy when on ac- tive service. Ba-t' oo-roo. " Brave," is a title which by imperial order is added to the names of soldiers who have performed acts of gal- lantry in the field, and, in cases of more than ordinary merit, it is supplemented by prefixed epithets such as ''magnanimous ' and "heroic." As an additional mark of the imperial ap- preciation for military services rendered, it is permitted to certain officers to ride on horseback a certain distance within the outer gateways of the palace when bidden to an audience, instead Honorary JPortah. 319 of being obliged to dismount at the gates of the "forbidden city," as all officials now are who do not possess this privilege. In China, as elsewhere, it is fully recognized that the same power which grants honors and privileges may at any time withdraw them, and each and all of the distinctions men- tioned are revocable by imperial decree ; nor is this power allowed to remain a dead letter. The Peking Gazette frequently contains edicts stripping offending officials of their yellow jackets, their patents of nobility, and their titles Ba-foo-roo, etc., or reducing the number of eyes in peacock's feathers, or changing the colors of the buttons worn by them, either temporarily or permanently. The bestowal of imperial honors is by no means confined to officials of either service, or to members of either sex. In every city in the empire are to be seen Pai low, or "hono- rary portals," stretching across the streets, which have been erected by imperial order to perpetuate the rare virtues of some filial daugh- ter or chaste widow. It might be argued that the existence of these laudatory monuments points to the rarity of the virtues which they 320 Honors. commemorate, and this is, to a certain* extent, no dbubt true; at the same time, the formali- ties to be observed, and the expenses incurred in obtaining the necessary decrees, are so burdensome that doubtless the friends of many fit candidates for the honor allow them to waste their sweetness on the desert air of obscurity. As an instance of the merit in such cases de- manded, and of the reward granted, the fol- lowing edict in the Peking Gazette of Ma}' 25th, 1877, affords a good example. Le Hung- chang, the Viceroy of Cliih-li, there reports the case of a Miss Wang, who, from her earliest youth, " exhibited a decorous propriety of con- duct and a love of study. She was a diligent reader of Lew Heang's 'Lives of Virtuous Women,' and the poems of Muh Lan. At the age of thirteen it was proposed to betroth her. At the first hint of this reaching her ears, she retired to her room, and drew, with a pointed instrument, blood from her arm, witli which she wrote a sentence declaring her in- tention to remain single in order to devote herself to the care of her parents. At the age of eighteen she refused in like manner; and when, in 1852, the remains of her father and ''She Gashed Her Arm:' 321 second brother, who had perished at the tak- ing of Woo-ch'ang by the rebels, were brought back to Kao-yeo, she exclaimed, amid her tears, that since she could not follow her father to the tomb, her mother being still alive, jier blood should at least serve to varnish his coffin; so saying, she gashed her arm with a knife, allowing a stream of blood to mingle with the lacquer of the coffin. She had reached the age of twenty-six when her father's obse- quies were completed, and her mother and elder brother were anxious that she should, marry ; but she steadfastly refused to do so, and de- voted herself to attending upon her mother with whom she shortly afterwards removed to Choh-chow, on her brother's receiviilg an ap- pointment at Peking as a reward for his ser- vices. She allowed no other hands but her own to wait upon her mother, and when, in 1862, her mother was attacked with dangerous illness, she cut a piece of flesh from her left thigh to be administered as a remedy. In less than a year a fresh attack of illness super- vened, and she cut a piece of flesh from her right thigh on this occasion, recovery ensuing as before. On subsequent occasions, when the 21 322 ffonors. parent was attacked with slight ailments, she applied burning incense-stick to her arms, and used the calcined flesh to mingle with the remedies prescribed, with invariably successful results. After her mother's death, in 1872, she refused all sustenance during a period of three days, and .was at last with difficulty per- suaded to take food. Her brother shortly af- terwards died, whereupon she escorted his re- mains to the ancestral home at Kao-yeo, and on returning performed the same journey once more in attendance on her mother's coffin. The devotion and energy she has displayed exceed what might be expected from one of the op- posite sex, and it is solicited, in view of the wide repute which has been gained by her virtues at Choh-chow, that a monument may be erected to her honor under imperial sanction. — Granted by rescript." A similar honor is frequently conferred on young ladies who, their betrothed having died before marriage, devote themselves to a life of single blessedness, and to the discharge of filial duties towards the parents of their proposed husbands. Even the passive virtue of lon- gevit}' comes within the far-reaching circle of Conspicuously a Glory. 323 imperial favors. The Chinese, and especially Chinese women, are not long-lived, and when, therefore, a case occurs of a lady living to an extraordinary age, the circumstance is regarded, in the words of the usual edict issued, as "'conspicuously a glory to our reign, and an auspicious omen for our people," and a tablet, inscribed in obedience to the order of the emperor by the Imperial Studio and thei Han- lin College, is the least honor which is con- ferred upon her. CHAPTER XIII. NAMES. LIRE most in- J stitutioiis in China, sur- names have a long history. Thousands of years before the Aryan races adopted the haphazard epi- thets which served them for surnames, the Chinese had established for them- selves tribal names, which are the true t?ur- iiames. History tell us that the Emperor Hwang-te (b. c. 2697) was the first to intro- duce sing or surnames. He had, we are told^ a family of twentj'-five sons by four wives. 324 The Earliest Sing. . 326 To thirteen of them he gave his own tradi- tional name of Ke, and to the remaining twelve he gave eleven sing, namely K'e, Yui, T'dng^ Clan, Jin, Kow, Le, Kih, Hwdn, and E. Fol- lowing the example thus set, succeeding em- perors conferred names on meritorious sub- jects, taken either from their native places, countries, or cities, or chosen on account of epi- thets attaching to them, or of tlieir titles, trades, dwellings, or personal characteristics. Tlie earli- est sing are said to have been derived from the mother's side, and for this reason, in most of such, the hieroglyphic for a woman enters into the composition of the compound characters which express them in writing. It is noticeable that, from the earliest times^ the sing were conferred by the emperor, and no Chinaman has, to the present day, ever had a right either to adopt a sing or to change it, without imperial sanction. So fully is this recognized, and so strictly tribal are the sing, that an inexorable law forbids a man from mar- rying a woman bearing the same sing as him- self. When this law was first instituted is not quit« clear. It is certain that during the Shang and earlier dynasties there existed no such 326 Names. bar to intermarriage, but we find it in force during the Chow Dynasty, and since that time it has been rigidly adhered to. As the years went on, the list of sitig rapidly in- creased, until at the present da}' there are, according to K'ang-he's great encyclopaedia, three thousand and, thirty-eight single sing, and one thousand six hundred and nineteen double ones. The late Professor S. Wells Williams, of Yale College, gives only one thousand six hun- dred and seventy-eight and one hundred and seventy-six respectively. Legend says that Hwang-te arranged the twelve sing which he conferred on his sons by the notes he blew from a jewelled flute. Like many other early Chinese legends, however, it is probable that this one arose from a misap- prehension of the original JCu wan text, and that the fact that the number of the musical notes fixed by Hwang-te agreed with the number of his son's sing gave currency to it. At the present day, the surnames in the well-known work on the Pih sing are. following this tradition, arranged under the twelve musical notes. The Chinese pride them- selves much on tha possession of .surnames, and A Badge of Superiorit() . 327 no foreigner, not even the countrymen of the reigning Maiiclioo sovereigns, are allowed to borrow them, or even officially to use their own surnames in China. In the same way the Annamese flaunt their possession of sing as a badge of superiority over the Cambodi- ans, who are not so privileged, and who are thus driven to distinguish each other by names crystallizing either physical or mental char- acteristics. At the present day there yet linger traces of the old tribal associations. "Sucli names of places as Le kea chivang and Chang kea wan recall the time when the Le family were in possession of the first-named village, and the Chang family owned the shores of the tvan or bay where the allied fleets rendez- voused in 1860 before the attack on the Taku forts. In every town and large village, also, every family has its ancestral hall, in which are placed the tablets of the deceased heads of the various households which constitute the famil}', and where the great family re-unions, especially that known as the autumnal sacri- fice, are held. It is customary for the members of a fam- ily establishing an ancestral hall, to subscribe 328 Names. together a sum for the purchase of a piece of land, the income of which is devoted to the maintenance of the hall. This land, as well as the hall and its furniture, are vested in the entire family, and can be alienated only by the unanimous consent of the elders of all the households interested in them. The first annual festival of any importance is held on one of the early days of the first month, when the representatives of the various households stand in a circle around the tablets in the prin- cipal room, and with joined hands, together bow and worship before the tablets of their ances- tors. After this and other ceremonies have been performed, the assembled worshippers sit down to a feast. From the eleventh to the fifteenth of the same month, acts of worship are per- formed, and in the second month the vernal sacrifices, consisting of meats, vegetables, and fruits, are offered before the shrines of the deceased. In the seventh month mock money and mock clothing are burnt, under the delu- sion that, by so doing, the things they rep- resent will pass to the dead, who will thus be prepared to withstand the cold of the ap- proaching winter. The principal festival is ''Three Cups of Wine.'' 329 later in the autumn, when the sacrifices offered and the ceremonies performed are of a more important and formal kind than on other occasions. Describing a particular festival of this kind, Mr. Doolittle, in his "Social Life of the Chinese," says: "A professor of cere- monies was present, directing the worshippers, when to kneel, bow, and rise up. The faces of these worshippers were turned towards the^ tablets. The head person among them was a lad of some six or eight years old, being the eldest son of the eldest son, etc., of the re- mote male ancestor from whom all the Chi- nese, having his ancestral name, living in the city claimed to have descended. He was the chief of the clan, according to the Chinese law of primogeniture. This lad, instructed by a professor of ceremonies, took the lead in the worship, all the rest kneeling down when he knelt, bowing their heads towards the ground when he bowed his head, and rising to their feet when he rose. The head man, at the proper time during the ceremony, while on his knees, all the rest of the worshippers being also on their knees, received three cups of wine, which he poured out, one by one, upon 330 Names. some straw placed in the bottom of a certain vessel. These cups were then re-filled and replaced on a table before the tablets, whence they were taken by the professor of ceremonies. Before the wine was poured out, he lifted the cups up reverently in front of him, as though offering them to the spirits supposed to be in the tablets. Three bowls of vegetables were presented ... in like man- ner, and then taken away and placed upon a table. The professor of ceremonies . . . knelt down, and read, or rather chanted, a kind of sacrificial prayer to the spirits of the departed ancestors of the company present. They, be- ing all the while on their knees, then bowed down their heads towards the ground three times, when several rolls of coarse silk, or something in imitation of silk, were burnt. The great drum was beaten. All rose up at the command of the professor, and left their allotted places. The cooked provisions intended for the feast were soon arranged on tables, in the proper . . . manner at feasts. The rep- resentatives of the families interested in the hall took their seats, and partook of the feast provided in the presence, as they believed, of The Milk Name. 831 their ancestors. All of them were males, no female being allowed to be present or to par- ticipate in the festivities or solemnities of such occasions. At the close of the feasting, each representative took home with him some of the flesh of the pig which had been offered whole before the tablets."' The flesh thus taken home is highly prized, it being believed that those who partake of it are likely to be- come the parents of sons. In addition to the Sing, every Chinaman possesses one or more personal names. In his infant days a designation known as his " milk name " is conferred upon him, and subsequently, on hi!S arriving at the age of puberty, a ming, or cognomen, is given him. In after-life, more especially if he becomes an author, he takes a tsze, or literary appellation, and it is by this that he is afterwards best known in every- day life and in the literary world. Often, again, he adds one or more haou, pseudonyms, to his other names, which not unfrequently he uses on the title-page of his works, thus considerably adding to the difficulty of identi- fying him. The case of the well-known phi- losopher Choo He affords an instance of the 332 Names. number of uames which a Chinaman may ac- cumulate. To his Sing^ Choc, was added his minff. He. Subsequently, he adopted the tsze, Yuen-hvvu}^ and Chung-hvvuy, and at different times, afterwards, christened himself with the pseudonyms Hwuy-gau, " The dark cottage "" ; Hwuy-ung, " The obscure gentleman " ; Ts'ang- chow t'un ung, "The concealed gentleman of Ts'ang-chow " ; Yun kuh laou jin, " The old man of the cloudy valley"; and Tsze yang, from the name of his study. As a rule, high-sounding or felicitous names are chosen, for the 7ning and tsze^ and, gen- erally, the pseudonyms adopted by authors bear depreciatory meanings, or indications of their dwellings. For example, we meet with such ming as " The fairy guest " ; *' The pacifier of the age"; "Protracted longevity"; or "The shield of the empire," and among pseudonyms we find "The dull scholar " ^ "The obscure student " ; " The stupid old man " ; as well as " The western river " ; " The mountain val- ley," and " The five mountain peaks." CHAPTER XIV. THE CHINESE YEAR. full vear. *ROM time im- memorial, that is to say, from a date anterior to the arrival of the "• black- haired " race in China, the Chi- nese divided their year into twelve lunar months, with an occasional inter- calary month to make up the re- quired number of days for the The earliest written character for a ;33;^ 334 The Chinese Year. year represented a grain of wheat, which is preserved in the modern form of the same char- acter which is now pronounced nien. The months were in those early days called by names the origin of which has, according to the author of the earliest Chinese dictionary, the Urh ya^ been lost, and, in default of any intelligible explanation, the lexicographer gives the list without attempting to elucidate them. The first is Tsow^ " The north corner " ; the second Joo. " As, like " ; the third Ping, " To start in sleep"; the fourth Yu, "I"; the fifth Hao, " Bright " ; the sixth Tsieh, " Sacrificial Table " ; the seventh Seang, " To examine, to assert, to watch " ; the eighth Chwang, " Stout, Strong, Abundant " ; the ninth Huen, " Dark " ; the tenth Yang, " Bright, " ; " The sun," " The day " ; the eleventh Koo, " A crime," " A failure"; the twelfth T'soo, "Heavy dew or rain." Though the source from whence these names were derived is hidden from the Chi- nese, the affinity, as has already been shown, which we now recognize as existing between early Chinese and Accadian gives us a clue by means of which some of them at least may be explained. In accordance with the National Rejoicing. 335 Babylonian custom, also, the year of the an- cient Chinese began, as at the present time, with the third month of the solar year. The fact of the introduction of an interca- lary month in about once every thirty months causes a considerable variation in the day on which tlie first day of the year falls. It varies between the middle of January and the last part of February, but whenever, it occurs it is the signal for national rejoicing and in- dividual merry-making. All public offices are closed for the space of twenty days, and, in like manner, the doors of warehouses and shops are shut in the faces of customers. A day or two before the end of the old year a- thanksgiving Service is performed in each household, before the shrine of the tutelary deity, in acknowledgment of the safety and comfort enjoyed during the past year; and, among traders of all kinds, extreme anxiety is manifested to collect outstanding debts, and to provide money for the payment of sums they may owe. To be a defaulter on New Year's Day is to lose credit and repu- tation, and, rather than begin a new year under such ill-omened circumstances, sliopkeep- 336 Tlie Chinese Year. ers often offer their stocks-in-trade at prices which not only leave them without a profit, but which are, not unfrequeutly, less than cost-price. The last night of the year is de- voted to preparations for the ceremonies of the morrow. Before daybreak the members of each household offer sacrifices, with many genuflec- tions and prayer, to Heaven and Earth, and to their tutelary gods. After each service crackers are discharged in the street or road with so universal a consent that the morning breaks perfumed with sulphur and saltpetre. Next to the tutelary gods the deceased ances- tors of the household, and after them the living elders of the family, receive homage from their kinsfolk. Early in the day the provincial mandarins pay their respects, when practicable, to the governors and viceroys of their respective prov- inces ; and, at the capital, the male members of the imperial household and the high officers of state prostrate themselves before the em- peror, and offer to him their congratulations and good wishes, in theory, this ceremony should be observed by every official in the empire ; but as this is impossible, the man- Neiv Year's Calls. 337 darins of each cit}^ repair to the emperor's temple, and there perform the ceremonies of devotion before a throne, made in exact imi- tation of the Dragon Throne, on which is placed a tablet bearing the inscription, " May the emperor reign ten thousand years, and ten times ten thousand years." The fact of many hundreds of thousands of mandarins throughout the empire simultaneously prostrating themselves in humble adoration before thrones, each ten- anted by ail ascriptive tablet only, is highly auggestive of the power wielded by the sovereign, and of the extent of the superstitious awe with which he is surrounded. In private life, after the morning sacrifices have been performed, the men of the family go out to pay complimentary visits to their friends. A more than usual cordiality is re- quired of acquaintances when meeting in the streets, and an invariable law makes it obli- gatory for every one to appear on New Year's Day in his best attire. On a day of such importance and ceremony superstition is sure to be busy. Astrologers have laid it down that it is a fortunate time for making matrimonial engagements, marrying, setting out on a jour- 22 338 The Chinese Year. ney, ordering new clothes, beginning repairs, to a house, or laying the foundations of one, for entering into business-contracts, for sow- ing, planting, and grinding, and, in fact, for almost every enterprise. To students of folk- lore the Chinese superstition of the " first foot " of the person first seen on New Year's Day will be familiar. To meet a fair man when first going out is an omen of good luck, but to meet a women is only one de- gree better than to meet a Buddhist priest, who is regarded as foreboding the worst pos- sible fortuue. In the same way, on New Year's Night, a person wishing to peer into the future, places a sieve on an empty stove, and on the sieve a basin of water and a looking-glass. Having made these arrangements, he steals out and listens for the first words spoken by passers-by, and gathers from them an omen of good or evil for the coming twelve months. The leading idea among the Chinese, at New Year's time, is that with the new yea.v a fresh lease of life begins. The account of all the thoughts, words, and deeds of the past year has to be closed, and a new era breaks upon Boys Shout out. 339 them with the dawn, in preparation for which the)' seek to bind fortune to their chariot- wheels by the performance of endless super- stitious observances, and by calling down bless- ings on one another. In some parts of the country, on the last day of the year, boys shout out in the streets, Mai saou, " I will sell my idle ways," with the ostensibly laud- able desire of devoting the new year to use- ful labor. On the accession of an emperor his reign counts onl}^ from the first day of the year following the decease of his prede- cessor, who is regarded as sitting on the throne for the remaining months of the year in which he died. On each succeeding New Year's Day the emperor is re-enthroned, amidst a display of imperial insignia and the strains of music. In a pavilion in the palace he then prostrates himself before heaven and earth, and afterwards, as mentioned above, receives the congratulations of his ministers and the mem- bers of his household, and separately the obeisances of the imperial princesses and the ladies of the court. A state banquet follows, to which all the high officers, as well as the imperial princes, are invited. 340 ' The Chinese Tear. The evening of New Year's Day by no means brings to a close the festivities of the season, which are prolonged until after the fifteenth day. The first week is spent in pay- ing visits, exchanging presents, and featiting. Loose-skinned oranges are common presents in the south of China, at this period, from the fact of the native name for them having exactly tlie same sound as the word meaning "Good fortune," * and the streets of cities are thronged with servants carrying sweetmeats and cakes from house to house. From su- periors to inferiors presents of a mere sub- stantial value pass, and considerable sums of money are bestowed b}' the wealthy on their servants and dependants. Beggars reap a rich harvest at the houses of the well-to-do, and itinerant musicians levy a compulsory tax on their rich fellow-townsmen. Ladies break through the monotony of their lives at this season and give themselves up to feasting and merr3-making among themselves. From the fourth to the seventh day they worship at the shrine of the goddess who pre- ♦ The Chinese are very fond of this kind of symbolism ; two of the commonest instances of which, especially on porcelain, are the use of the Bat {Fuh), to sij{- nify " happiness," and of the sonorous stone (AT/V^), to emblematize " prosperity." \ " Obviou8 Paint and Cosmetics J" 341 sides over marriage, and on the seventh they go in large numbers to the public gardens, where they show themselves off in their best attire and in the full disfigurement of obvious paint and cosmetics. When paying New Year's visits, it is customary for ladies to carry with them to their friends sticks of sugar-cane which, however, as a matter of fact, are seldom pre- sented, the will being accepted, with common consent, for the deed. The evening of the fifteenth day of the first month, when the Feast of Lanterns is celebrated, is another ladies' night. For days previously, the lantern shops are crowded with purchasers, who indulge in wild fancies in the choice of the lanterns they buy. All are highly colored and are shaped in every conceivable mould. From the ordinary round shape, to the most grotesque figures of men or animals, the changes are rung in every variety ; and no less divergent than the forms are the prices asked. The poorest is sure to find some to suit his pocket, while others covered with gauze or silk, and tastefully painted, are within the reach of the wealthy only. When the night arrives the lanterns, which have previously been 342 The Chinese Year. hung up, are lighted, and give the signal for the commencement of the festivities. The viands which have been placed on the family altar as an accompan^'ing sacri- fice to the worship of the tutelary deity are transferred to the dining-table, and with copious supplies of samahu form the family supper. As night advances crowds, among whom are numbers of ladies, who on no other occasion venture out after dark, throng the street to gaze at the illumination and, in some instances, to guess the riddles which are inscribed on lanterns hung at the doorways of houses. Prizes, such as parcels of tea, pencils, fans, etc., are given to ,the successful solvers of the rebusses, but these have little to do with the interest which is shown in the amuse- ment which, partaking of the nature of a literary exercise, is well suited to the national taste. With the opening of the official tribunals on the twentieth of the month the festivities may be said to come to a close, and the active work of the new year to begin in earnest. Very early on the morning of that day the lowest mandarins, both civil and military, open The Ko-t'ow Repeated. 343 their seals of oflBce in the presence of their subordinates. The yamun is 'brilliantly lighted on the occasion, and with due ceremony the box containing the seal is placed on a table in the tribunal surrounded by burning candles and incense. The mandarin then having per- formed the Ko-t'ow * before it, the principal clerk lifts the box reverently above his head, and offers his congratulation to his chief. The seal is next taken out of the box and placed on the table, and again becomes the object of the Ko-t'ow on the part of the mandarin. Four impressions of the seal are made on a piece of red paper bearing an inscription of good omen, which is hung up at the gate of the yamun. As soon as these forms have been observed the mandarin goes to the yamun of his next superior, and there takes part in a similar ceremony. With him again he goes to the next in rank, and so on until officials of all grades have participated as witnesses in the open- ing of the vice-regal .seal in the yamun of the provincial Governor-general. In the southern provinces of the empire discharges of cannon and crackers announce the opening of the seals; * Ceremony of prostration. 344 The Chinese Year. and as no business is entered upon until the next morning, the latter part of the day and the evening are devoted to complimentary visits and merr3-making. According to a very ancient tradition, New Year's Day is called the fowl's day, the sec- ond the dog's day, the third the pig's day, the fourth the sheep's day, the fifth the cow's da}', the sixth the horse's day, and the seventh man's day. During the first six days the flesh of all those animals to whom the days are dedicated are forbidden as food, and the con- sequence is that feasters at New Year's time have mainly to content themselves with such viands as vegetables and fish. The seventh day is one of great importance, and, if fine, it is said to presage a plenteous year ; if the reverse, scanty harvests and misfortunes. In all parts of the empire it is celebrated with honor. Figures, intended for the gods of iiappiness, rank, and longevity, cut out and dressed in many-colored garments, are hung up at the doors as omens of good luck, and, in some districts, pictures representing rat& marrj'ing women are hung up, curiously to re- late, with the same object. Generally it is a Health-yiving Beans. 345 day devoted to feasting and merry-making, and in the south, where the climate admits of out- door pleasures, picnics are common among the people. One of the many customs peculiar to the day is to put a new cloth bag full of red beans, in a well, and after allowing it to re- main there three days, distribute its contents among the household, the men eating seven of the beans each, and the women fourteen. This is supposed to secure them against illness during the year. As stated above, the year is divided into twelve months, of twentjMiine and thirty days each ; and as these periods represent with suf- ficient exactness the lunar month, it follows that the new moon falls on the first of every month, and that on the fifteenth the moon is at its full. The month is thus associated with the moon, and is called by the same name, and is written with the same hieroglyphic. In an ancient work, entitled the San fun^ part of which was probably written in the twent}'- third century B. C, there is evidence that among some of the aboriginal tribes of China the year was, as among the Egyptians and some of the peoples of India, divided into 346 The Chinese Year. three periods, known as the grass-springing pe- riod, the tree-reignii)g period, and the tree-decuy- ing period. Under the influence of the higher culture of the Chinese, these divisions disap- peared, and the twelve months became sthe recognized parts of the year. The Chinese do, however, divide the year by seasons as well as b}' months, and recognize eight miiiu di- visions and sixteen subsidiary ones, " which cor- respond to the da}' on wliich the sun enters the first and fifteenth degree of a zodiacal sign ; when an intercahiry month occurs they are reckoned on as in otlier years, but the inter- calation is made so that only one term shall fall in it. Their names and approximate posi- tions in the foreign year are here given: — LiH ch'uk, commeiicemeut of spring. Yii shut,- rain-water. King chih, the toipid insects are excited.. Ch'un fun, the vernal equinox. TsHng ming, clear brightness. 20. Kuh yii, grain rains. LiH HEA, commenceuient of summer. Seao mwan, the grain begins to fill. Mang chung, the grain is in ear. Hea CHE, the summer solstice. Seao shoo, slight heat. Ta shoo, great heat. Feb. 5. (( 19. March 5, >( 20. April 5. (( 20. May 5. << 21. June 6. which is referred" to. For instance, the year (1882) was the seventh year of the reign of Kvvang-sii, and is known to every Chinamen as Kwang-sU ts'ih neen. Another mode of computing the years is by reckoning by sexagenary cycles. This system was, according to native historians, introduced by the Emperor Hwang-te in the sixty-first year of his reign (2637 B. c), which was the first ye-AY of the first cj'cle, and the year (1881) was therefore the eighteen tli of the seventy-sixth cycle. In order to express the years of the cycle in writing, the plan was Sexagenary Cycles. 888 adopted of taking two sets of* twelve and ten cliaracters respectively, and combining them in succession, by means of which process the last two characters of the two series are com- bined to indicate the last year of the cycle. This will be made plain by the following table: The ten characters, or celes- The twelve characters, or ter- tial stems. restrlal branches. 1. Keah. 6. Ke. 1. Tsze. 7. Woo. 2, Yueh. 7. K&ng. ■ 2. Ch'ow. 8. Wei. 3. Ping. 8. Sin. 3. Yin. 9. Shin. 4. Ting. 9. Jin 4. Mao. 10. Yew. 5. Woo. 10. Kwei. 5. 6. Shin. Sze. 11. Suh. 12. Hai. The first year of the cycle would therefore be Keah tsze^ the second Yueh ck'otv, and so oh to the tenth, Kwei yew. But the eleventh would be Keah suh, the twelfth Yueh hai, the thirteenth, Ping tsze, the fourteenth Ting ch'ow, the fifteenth Wit yin, the sixteenth Ke mao, the seventeenth Kang shin, the eighteenth Sin sze, and so on until we come to the sixtieth, which is Kwei hai. These designations refer only to the years in each cycle, and in no sort of way point to which cycle they be- long. To obviate this difficulty recourse is 384 The Chinese Year, again had to the Neen-hao, and any given year is fixed b}- its cyclical name preceded by the Neen-^hao dnrijig which it occurred. As stated above Kwang-sii is the present Neen- hao, and, 1881 being the eighteenth year of the cycle, it would be described as Kwang- sii Sin-sze-neen, or the Sin sze (eighteenth) year which occurred during the reign of Kwang- sii. Within modern times it has once happened that an emperor has reigned over sixty years, K'ang-he, who sat on the throne from 1662 to 1723 was this fortunate sovereign. He be- gan his reign in the cyclical year Jin yin (the thirty-ninth), and ruled through the whole of the cycle, until, in 1722, the same year {Jin yin) recurred. Both these years would therefore be, in the natural order of things, Kang-he Jin yin neen. But, as it was nec- essary that some distinction should be made between them in order to avoid confusion, the character yetv, meaning " repeated," or " for the second time," was prefixed to the cyclical characters, and 1722 was consequently known as K^ang-he Yew Jin yin neen, the " Jin yin year which occurred for the second time during the reign of K'ang-he." Long Hours. 386 The first thirty, or twenty-nine, as the case may be, of same cyclical characters are used to denote the days of the month, and the twelve divisions of the day are indicated by the twelve "terrestrial branches," The European hour is unknown in China, and its place is taken by a period which corresponds to one hundred and twenty minutes. In speaking of these periods, however, the practice, which was originally introduced into China by the Mon- gols, is commonly adopted, of substituting for the twelve stems the names of the twelve animals which are held to be symbolical of them. Thus the first period, that between eleven p. m. and one A. M., is known as the Rat, the second as the Ox, the third as the Tiger, the fourth as the Hare, the fifth as the Dragon, the sixth as the Serpent, the seventh as the Horse, the eighth as the Sheep, the ninth as the Monkey, the tenth as the Cock, the eleventh as the Dog, and the twelfth as the Boar. The night is* divided into five watches, each of two hqurs' duration, beginning with the period of the Dog, seven to nine p. M., and ending with that of the Tiger, three to five a. m. 25 CHAPTER XV. SUPERSTITIONS. OUPERSTITIOUS observ- ances are always found exist- ing among a people in in- verse ratio to the extent of their scientific knowledge. They are often, in fact, based on crude observation of the processes of nature, or more commonly upon ac- cidental coincidences. For example, the common super- stition in England that it is unlucky to see magpies flying singly in springtime, is founded on . the fact that in stormy or cold weather one bird remains in the nest to keep the eggs warm, while the other goes in search of food, and the omen, therefore, foretells rain and storms. In the same way the appearance of .386 Broom-tailed Stars. 387 sea-gulls inland, which is rightly interpreted to mean that there is rough weather at sea, is attributed to their having been driven laud- ways by the force of the wind ; whereas the true explanation is, that during storms fish leave the surface of the water and go deeper, and the gulls, being thus deprived of their na- tural food, seek on shore to supply its place with worms and grub. There are, however, a host of superstitions, the results of accidental coincidences, which do not yield to any explanation from natural causes. Some of them have been common all over the world. One of the most nearly uni- versal of these is the belief in the malign influ- ences of comets. During the Middle Ages, and even later, these "broom-tailed stars" were re- garded in Europe as foretelling war and disaster, and especially calamities to the ruling houses. Throughout the East the same belief prevails, and in China it is firmly held by all classes of the community. It is curious to notice, and cannot be denied, that occasionally circum- stances seem to have justified its existence. At the same time, it is a belief which not unfrequently finds its own fulfilment by sug- 388 Superstitions. gesting to rebellious and unruly spirits the idea that the time is favorable for the prose- cution of seditious designs. No such explana- tion is, however, to be found for the circum- stances (which were regarded by the Chinese as cause and effect) of the appearance of the comet of 1858, and the totally unexpected out- break of hostilities between China and the allied forces of England and France in that year, or three years later, of tlie appearance of another comet, and the immediate death from illness of the emperor, who up to that time had been in good health. The same superstition exists with regard to the eclipses of the sun and moon; and, on rare occasions, when expected eclipses have either not taken place, or have been invisible in China, the circumstance has been regarded as a direct intervention of Heaven in favor of the emperor, its sense of whose virtue it thus signalizes. The popular notion with regard to an eclipse is that some monster is attacking, and unless prevented, will devour the sun or moon as the case may be. The danger, therefore, to the empire is great, and the in- tervention of everv official in the countiv is A STREET FORTUNE-TELLER. Eclipses and Noises. > 391 called for to save the threatened luminary. Some months before the expected eclipse, the Board of Astronomers notifies the exact date of its , appearance to the officials of the Board of Rites, who in turn announce its approach to the viceroys and governors of the provinces. These transmit the message to all their sub- ordinates, so tliat, when the time arrives, an army of mandarins stands prepared to avert the disaster. Their precedure is simple, and as neither the sun nor moon have ever been de- voured, it is regarded as efficacious. At the' appointed time, the mandarins assemble at the yamun of the senior official, and arrange them- selves before an altar set up in the court- yard, on which incense is burning. At a given signal they fall down on their knees and perform the Ko-t'ow, after which the at- tendants beat drums and gongs, to frighten away the oppressive monster, while priests move in a procession round the altar chanting prayers and formulas. To assist the mandarins in their patriotic efforts, the people mount to the roofs of their houses, and add to the din which issues from the yamuns, by beating every- thing capable of emitting resounding noises. 392 Superstitions. The different phases of the planets are watched with equal solicitude, and portents are derived from every real or imaginary chance in their relative positions and colors. In an astrological sense Mars symbolizes fire and rules the summer season. It is the author of punishments, and is the producer of sudden confusion. Saturn represents earth, and, when it meets Jupiter in the same astrological "house," it portends good fortune to the em- pire. If, however, Saturn, with the four other planets, should appear white and round, mourn- ing and drought are in store for the country ; if red, disturbances are to be expected, and troops will take the field ; if green, floods are to be looked for; if black, sickness and death will spread over the land ; and if yellow, a time of prosperity is at hand. Venus repre- sents gold, and is deemed a complacent planet; but, while in many of its phases it foretells peace and plent}', it at other times presages the movements of troops, and the disruption of the empire. If it at first looms large, and afterwards small, the national forces will be weak, and if contrarywise, they will be strong. If it appear large and extended, trouble will Innumerable Portents. 393 fall upon princes and nobles, and military ex- peditions, then undertaken, will begin fortunately and end with disaster; but, if it should ap- pear compact and small, campaigns which be- gin in misfortune will end successfully. Mercury symbolizes water, aud when, seem- ingl}', of a white color, it forecasts drought ; when yellow, the crops will be scorched up ; when red, soldiers will arise ; and when blacky floods are at hand. If it appear large and white in the East, troops beyond the frontier will disperse ; if red, the middle kingdom will be victorious ; in certain conjunctions with Venus, it portends great battles in which strangers will be victorious ; and if it approaches Venus, several tens of thousands of men will meet in strife, and the men and ministers of the ruler will die. I Such are some of the innumerable portents which are based on the movements and ap- pearances of the planets. Not content with peering into the future lying before the na- tion and its rulers, Chinese astrologers busj' themselves with the fortunes of individuals, and the Imperial Board of Astronomers so far gives its sanction to this inquisitorial astro- 394 Superstitions. logy as to publish annually an almanac, in which are given the lucky and unlucky days throughout the year, and the kind of business which may be undertaken with advantage on those days which are described as kih, or lucky. For instance, the first day of the fii-st month is appropriate for sacrificing, be- ginning to learn, and bathing. The second is an unlucky day, and nothing of importance should be done upon it. The third, on the other hand, is suitable for meeting friends, marrying, taking a concubine, asking names, cutting out clothes, putting up pillars, trading, opening granaries, and burying. The fourth is lucky for shaving the head, sending for doc- tors, taking medicine, receiving appointments, entering on official posts, starting on journeys, etc. As certain doings are appropriate to cer- tain luck}' days, so other specified undertak- ing should on no account be begun on such days which may not be otherwise unlucky. The prognostics for each day are careful]}' set out, and are eagerly studied by the educated among the people. Those who have not this invaluable source of information ready at hand have recourse to the professional fortune-tell- Fortune-telling. 395 ers, of whom there is no lack in every city in the empire. Some of these mystery-men occupy shops, but a great majority of them are possessed of only a small portable table, and the usual stock-in-trade of their calling, and with these they daily establish themselves in the outer courtyards of much-frequented temples, or by the sides of crowded throughfares. Their modes of procedure are various. The most ancient and approved methods of divin- ing the future, and reading the will of the gods, are by means of the Kwei, or Tortoise, the She, or Millfoil, and the She, or a kind of Mayweed. The questions put through the instrumentality of these media are as multi- farious as are the wants of man. Whether the inquirer should embark in trade or no, whether he will be able to catch the thieves who have left him destitute, whether he should fol- low the bent of his wishes in some matter or not, whether he should take office, whether he should live in his father's house, whether his mat- rimonial project will turn out favorably or the reverse, whether he will gather in go6d crops or not, whether disease will be rife, whether war be at hand, whether he of whom he has 396 Superstitions. requested an interview will grant it, whether he will be able to find that which is lost, whether he will be successful in hunting and fishing, whether he will encounter thieves on the journey he' is about to undertake, these and a host of other questions, when incense has been duly burnt, and pra3ers offered to the god, find their answers in the attitude of the divining-tortoise. The direction of the ani- mal's gaze, the extent to which he stretches his neck, the attitudes wOiich he assumes with his feet and toes, and other indications of the same kind, serve to guide the fortune-teller to sure and ready answers to the inquiries put him. No less ancient is the system of inquiring into the future by means of stalks of Milfoil. This process is complicated by an application of the lots to the diagrams of Fuh-he, in con- nection with which, by observing the various combinations of the whole and parts of lines which they form when cast from the hand, the diviner finds as certain a response as in the attitude of the tortoise. The Mayweed is used in the same way, but has especial efficacy attaching to it as coming from the grave of Fortune-tellers' Modes. 397 Confucius. The stalks from the shrubs grow- ing around the tomb of the sage are gathered and made up into parcels of sixty-four, the number of Fuh-he's diagrams, and are sold for divinatory purposes. In modern times other and readier sys- tems have come into vogue, and the proba- bility is that an itinerant fortune-teller would be sorely perplexed if called upon to interpret the movements of a tortoise. He finds it easier to dissect written chai'acters, and to in- fer from their component parts the future of his client. Those who affect this particular branch of the profession require only, as their stock-in-trade, a piece of cloth spread on the the ground, on which they arrange pencil, ink, and paper, and a small box, in which are placed a number of bits of folded paper, each containing a single written character. The client, after paying the necessar}' fee, is required to draw out one of these pieces of paper. This the fortune-teller unfolds, and reads the char- acter contained in it, which he proceeds to resolve into its component parts. The char- acter Tih, "to obtain," is generally one of those which finds its place in the box. 398 Superstitions. This, the fortune-teller points out, is composed of " two men walking," " the sun," and " an inch." From the first he assures his customer that he will agree well with his fellows, and will mate with a congenial wife. Tiie sun is life and light bringing; his lot will therefore be to live to a bright old age ; and whereas the character for "inch" is almost identical with that meaning " talented," a brilliant future lies before him, whether he direct his efforts to acquiring literary fame, or to gaining wealth" by mercantile enterprise. In this kind of rough and ready dissection of characters considerable skill, gained by constant practice, is shown by the learned diviner, who enlarges with much fluency on the meaning of the several parts, and on the interpretations which, in accordance with the rules of his art, are to be placed upon them. Another curious way of giving oracular re- sponses to inquirers after knowledge of futurity is by means of a bird, which is trained to pick out at random two of sixty-four cards which are laid before it. On each card is drawn either a god, a beast, a bird, or a man, and on the reverse is written a stanza Birds and Cards. 399 of poetry. When all the cards have been spread on a table, the bird is let out of his cage, and forthwith picks up two cards, one after the other, and presents them to his master, who, after studying the pictures and the poetry, deduces from them an answer to the inquiry laid before him. To another class of fortune-tellers the in- quirer's own person supplies the materials from which his horoscope is cast. Not only are the face and head, as among ourselves, studied to afford answers as to the mental capacity and leading characteristics of the inquirer, but; from the features of the whole body are de- duced symptoms of the destiny of the indi- vidual, at well as the nature of his disposition.. Masters of this art proclaim their profession ta» passers-by b}-^ a sign bearing representations of the human countenance, which may be seen suspended over stalls in the by-ways of cities, as well as outside shops. Books for their guidance are numerous, and are minute in their details. The following gleanings have been gathered from one of the best-known native Avorks on this curious subject : The face of a man favored by fortune should 400 Superstitions. be long and square ; but for the man with a face pointed at each end like a date-stone, poverty is in store. High cheek bones are a sign of a cruel disposition, and a matron so distin- guished is likely to prove a husband-killing wife. A broad chin belongs to a man born to wealth, and a pointed chin to a man whose lot it is to be poor. A man whose jawbone is so wide as to be seen from behind the ears, has a heart full of poison. The possessor of a high forehead will be held in esteem, and will live to old age ; but he whose nose is long is a man devoid of a fixed purpose. If you cannot see the ears of a man when meet- ing him face to face, ask who he is, for he is a somebody. If you cannot see the jawbones of a man under like circumstances, ask where he comes from, that you may avoid him. A large face and a small body are signs of happiness, and the re- verse is an omen of evil. He who has no ves- tige of hair on the bone above the neck is unrighteous, and will be destitute of relations. A man who does not move his head when walking, nor bend it when sitting, will come to poverty, and the possessor of a small head and long hair will leave no traces behind him. hair^ Dimples and Eyebrows. 401 A man with a narrow head and long hair will encounter difficulties, and death from starva- tion will overtake him whose hair grows long down to his ears. He whose hair turns white at an early age will not be fortunate ; but for him whose hair after turning white should recover its original color, great happiness is in store. History asserts that in antiquity no instance was known of a man with thick hair becom- ing prime-minister. Women with ultramarine- colored hair, like Buddha's, will marry men of distinction, and she who is the owner of glis- tening hair and a round and sleek face will enter the emperor's harem. People with dim- ples, both men and women, will marry more than once. Long hair in the eyebrows indicates long life, but thick and coarse eyebrows mean poverty; while a man who has the misfortune to have eyebrows which are unruly as well as coarse, is a man not to be spoken of. The possessor of eyebrows widely separated will be rich and prosperous ; but if they be thin and yellow in color, though he may be fortunate at first, misfortune is sure to overtake him. The eyes, we are told, are to the body 26 402 Superstitions. what the sun and moon are to the earth. They are also the resting-places of wandering spirits. Long, deep, and brilliant eyes belong to men of consideration. A woman with much white in her eyes will probably murder her husband, and a boy so disfigured will be stupid. Noses are also very important features, and are distinguished as cows' noses, monkeys' noses, dogs' noses, hawks' noses, etc. A man with a dog's nose will live long, and the marrow of the heart of the man will be evil whose nose is like a hawk's beak. The growth of hair inside the ear holds out a promise of lon- gevit}', and ears broad and large belong to men of ability and wealth. The mouth is " the door of the heart, and out of it proceed blessings and cursings ; " its shape, therefore, is an important indicator of the individual. A man with a mouth shaped like a horned bow will enjoy the sweets of office, and he who is blessed with a broad and full mouth will attain to riches and honor. The possessor of an evenly-shaped mouth with lips which are neither thick nor thin, will have through life enough to eat and drink, but a man with a horse's mouth will die of starva- A. Successful Physiognomist. 403 tion. The mouse-like mouth is noted among those resembling the mouths of animals, pos- sessing peculiar traits. It belongs, we are told, to an envious and jealous man, and is the channel for vilifying words which scorch like fire. Such are some few of the points of feature particularly observed by Chinese physiogno- mists. The art is at the present day a very popular one, and though it cannot claim the sanction of antiquity which belongs to the practice of divination by the Tortoise and the Milfoil, it can boast of an ancestr}'- which, to us, seems far-reaching. We read, for ex- ample, in history, that on one occasion, Kaou- tsoo, tlie first emperor of the Han Dynasty (b. c. 206-25 A. D.), when a young man, and be- fore he had attained to any eminence, was met on the road by a physiognomist, who fell on his knees before him and thus addressed him : — "I see by the expression of your fea- tures that you are destined to ascend the throne, and I offer you in anticipation the tribute of respect, that a subject owes to his sovereign. I Ijave a daughter, the fairest and the wisest in the empire ; take her as your 404 Superstitions. wife." The man's prescience was justified by the event, and had its reward. Kaou-tsoo rap- idly acquired fame, and, before long, the prophet's daughter was proclaimed empress.* Not content, however, with divining by the outward appearance and by external signs, the Chinese, like some among ourselves, resort to spiritualism, and in some cases invite the in- voked spirit to reveal the future by writing on a sand-covered table with a peach-stick. Great care is necessary in the choice of this stick. It must be bent at the end, and must be cut from a branch pointing towards the East; but before cutting it off the following magic formula must be pronounced: "Magic pencil most efficacious, daily possessing subtle strength, now I take thee to reveal clearly ev- erj'^thing," and a mystic character must be cut on the tree. The stick having been secured, is then \ fastened into a cross-piece of wood, about six inches long. At the time of the siance two tables are prepared, on one of which are placed sacrificial wine, fruit, and confectionery, and on the other fine red sand is strewn. A petition is then written, ad- ♦This version of the story differs from that found in Chinese history. Spiritualism. 405 dressed to the Great Royal Boddhisattwa, in- forming him that the sacrifices are prepared, and requesting that one of the great spirits wandering through the clouds should be sent WOMEN OK SOUTHERX CHINA. to the house of the writer. This petition is burnt before the shrine of the deity, and the name and address of the petitioner is posted 406 Superstitions. up outside the door for the information of the spirit. "Later iu the evening, two or three of the company assembled go to the door, buru there some gold paper and make an indefinite num- ber of bows and prostrations, receiving, as it were, the spirit on entering the house. Hav- ing conducted him into the hall, an arm-chair is moved to the table, whilst incense and can- dles are lighted. At the same time the medium approaches, the magic pencil resting on the palms of both hands, but so that the end of the twig touches the surface of the table strewn with sand. He places his outspread handg near the head of the table, and, ad- dressi.ig the spirit with becoming reverence, says, * Great spirit, if you have arrived, be pleased to write the character " arrived " on this tJible.' Immediately the magic pencil be- gins to move, and the required character ap- pears legibly written on the sand, whereon all present request the spirit to sit on the large arm-ch&ir, whilst the deit}', which is supposed to have conducted him thither, is likewise po- litely asked to sit down on another chair. The whole company now bow and prostrate A Magic Pencil Writes. 407 themselves before the seats of both spirits, and some pour out wine and burn gold paper. Then the medium approaches again with the magic pencil on the palms of his hands, whilst all assembled say with one voice, '' Great spirit, what was your august surname, what your lionorable name ; what offices were you in- vested with, and under what dynasty did you live on earth?' Immediately the magic pencil is seen moving, and answers to these ques- tions appear written in the sand. After this every one of the assembled may put a ques- tion one after the other, but each question is t ) be written on a slip of paper and burnt, together with some gold paper. As soon as each paper is fairly consumed by the fire, the magic pencil writes down the answer to it, generally in poetical form, and each sentence is followed by the character, 'I have done,' whereupon the pencil ceases to move. Then all assembled try to read the characters aloud. If they fail to decipher them, the pencil moves again and writes the same sentence more distinctly, until it is intelligible. As soon as one of the assembly succeeds in de- ciphering a sentence, the magic pencil moves 408 Superstitions. again and writes on the sand the two char- acters, ' That's it.' When a sentence is fin- ished in this way, the sapd on the table has to be smoothed again with a bamboo roller, and whilst this is being done, the whole com- pany address flattering speeches to the spirit, praising his poetical talents, to which the magic pencil replies by writing on the table the characters ' It's ridiculous.' If any one present behaves improperly, displaying a want of rev- erence, the spirit writes down some sentences containing a sharp rebuke. The motions of the pencil are quite extraordinary, and appar- ently not produced by the medium on whose bare palms its handle rests, and who merely follows the spontaneous movements of the magic pencil. In this way' conversation is kept up without flagging until midnight (when the male principle begins to be active). Then the spirit breaks off the conversation, and, ad- dressing the whole company, writes on the ta- ble, ' Gentlemen, I am much obliged for your liberal presents, but now I must beg leave to depart.' To this all persons present reply, say- ing, 'Please, great spirit, stop a little longer,' but the spirit jots down, as if in a great Clairvoyance. 409 hurry, the two characters, ' Exuse me, I am off.' Then all assembled say, 'If there was any want of respect or attention, great spirit, we beseech thee, forgive us this sin.' All walk then to the house-door burning gold paper, and there take leave of the spirit with many bows and prostrations."* Clairvoyance, mesmerism, and palmistry are commonly practised to discover that which is beyond the reach of man's ken, and, in fact, ' it may be said, that there is no magical art which is not known to the grossly supersti- tious people of China. ^ ♦ " Notes and Queries on China and Japan," CHAPTER XVI. FUNERAL RITES. ^"pHE disposal of the dead has never been a vexed question with the Chinese. From time immemorial they have buried their dead out of their sight. The grave of the Emperor Fuh-he (B.C. 2852-2737) is still pointed out in Honan, and the last rest- ing-places of his successors are to this day recognized by tradition. What rites accompanied funerals in very prim- itive times we know not, but we have evi- dence in the She king and elsewhere that under the Chow Dynasty the practice of im- molating men at the tombs of the departed great was at least occasionally carried out. The probability is that the Chinese adopted the custom from the aboriginal tribes ; but how- 410 Burying Alive. 411 ever that may be, we read that at the funeral of Duke Ch'iug, iii tlie tenth century b. c, sixty-six persons were buried alive in his tomb, and even this number was exceeded on the occasion of the entombment of his brother, the Duke Muh, when one hundred and seventy- seven men were immolated at the grave. The custom never seems to have become a regular practice, but to have been conformed to at the caprice of the survivors. It is re- lated of Tsze-k'in, a disciple of Confucius, that on the death of his brother the widow and major-domo wished to bury some living per- sons with the deceased to serve him in the regions below. The matter being referred to Tsze-k'in, he proposed that the widow and steward sliould themselves be the victims of their own affectionate zeal, upon which the matter was dropped. After many centuries of disuse it was, according to Doctor S. Wells Williams, revived by Shun-che, the first em- peror of the present dynasty (A. D. 1644-1661), who ordered thirty persons to be immolated at the funeral of his empress. On a like oc- casion in the career of his son and successor, K'eng-he, four persons offered to sacrifice them- 412 Funeral Rites. selves at the tomb of their imperial mistress. Bat K'ang-he forbade it, and since then there has been no recurrence of the barbarous prac- tice. Of these living sacrifices the rituals make no mention ; but, according to them, it was the habit among the ancients to bury suits of clothes with the dead for their use in the other world, just as the American Indian's horse, canoe, and paddle are made to share his tomb, that they ma}'^ serve him in the hunting-grounds of the blessed. An emperor's trousseau for the next state of existence was fixed at a hundred and thirty suits, a prince's at a hundred, a minister's at fifty, and an official's at thirty. After the same style of gradation the mound on an emperor's tomb was raised thirty feet high, and surrounded by fir-trees ; that of a prince was not to be more than fifteen feet, and surrounded by cypresses ; eight feet were allowed to a minis- ter, whose resting-place was guarded by Lwan- trees (a kind of malvaceous tree) ; an official lay under onlj' half that height of earth, and under the shadow of ebon3'-trees ; while the people were forbidden to raise any mounds on Death and Mourning. 413 their graves, and were allowed onl}' to plant willow-trees at their tombs. Even the very name of death — the great leveller — was npt, and still is not, common to all. Emperors pang, or " fall as mountains fall"; princes hung, or "demise"; ministers tsuh, or " come to an end " ; officials puh luh, '' resign their dignities " ; while the common people sze, " die." When an emperor " falls " the rituals prescribed that the mourners should live for seven days in huts outside the cen- tral door of the palace, weeping, morning and night. Courtly funerals are far too cumbersome in ceremonial and elaborate in detail to be de- scribed here, and even in the homes of the commoner people the rites are so numerous that it will be impossible to follow the mourn- ers through all the observances proper to the twenty-seven months of mourning. Great importance is attached by the Chinese to the presence of the whole family at the death-bed of the head of the household. His last words are eagerly listened to, and are written down as they are spoken, and when the silver cord is loosed and the golden bowl is broken a loud wail of lamentation is uttered 414 Funeral Bites. by all present. On the approach of death the sufferer is carried into the principal hall where subsequently the corpse is washed and placed in the coffin. The water used for the wash- ing is " bought " from the nearest river. The purchaser, who' is the chief mourner, goes in procession, supported by his friends and accom- panied by musicians to the water's edge, whence he throws four cash, and sometimes also a live fish into the stream. The cash is payment for the water taken, and the fish is supposed to vouch for the receipt to tlie River King. The washing being over, the corpse is dressed in handsome silken robes, three being .the number allowed by the sumptuary laws to officials of the first, second, or third rank, and two to officers of a lower grade. At the same time five small valuables, such as pearls, precious stones, bits of jade or gold, are placed in the mouth of the deceased. The encoffin- ment takes place on the third day after death, in the presence of the assembled family ; ithe women standing on the west side of the coffin and the men on the east. Great pains are taken to place the corpse exactly straight in the coffin, and this position is maintained by Parings of the Nails. 415 filling in the empty spaces with clothes, and any object or objects which may have been personally prized by the deceased. This is in- telligible enough, but it is difficult to under- stand the obligation the survivors are under of placing the combings of his hair and the parings of his nails in the coffin. In some parts of the country, two cash are put into the sleeve of the deceased, and are then shaken out, to test his satisfaction, or the reverse, at the arrangements made for his future comfort. If the cash fall with the same side upwards, it is taken as a sign of approval ; if not, as a sign that something has been omitted. The coffin is placed in the centre of the hall, with the head facing towards the south, which in all houses of any pretensions, is in the direction of the door. On the right of the coffin the portrait of the deceased stands, and by it his clothes, washing-basin, towels, etc., are arranged as though he were yet alive. In contradiction, however, to this supposition, a sedan-chair is transmitted for his use to the other world by the act of burn- ing a paper effigy of one in the courtyard. On the third day, also, the mourners put 416 Funeral Rites. on their mourning, which consists of coarse white sackcloth, white shoes, and a "strip of sackcloth tied round the head. The eldest son supplements this attire by carrying a bam- boo staff, on which he leans as though over- come by sorrow when mourning for his father, and a t'ung (elaococca sinensis) staff when mourn- ing for his mother, the bamboo being symboli- cal of great grief, and the t'ung of less overwhelming sorrow. For a hundred days men allow their hair to grow, and leave their finger-nails uncut; and for the whole period of mourning for a parent — that is, twent}-- seven months, the sons holding official appoint- ments resign their posts, and such as are candidates for examination refrain from com- peting.* All scenes of festivity are avoided. On the seventh da}' letters announcing the death are sent round to all relations and friends, who at once proceed to the house of mourning, bringing with them presents of money, incense, viands, or other things likely to be useful on such an occasion. On entering the house they put on mourning-clothes, and, ap- proaching the bier, make obeisance before it, * This is true of civil officers only. Wailing and Stamping. 417 at the same time presenting incense. As at each and all the innumerable ceremonies, the family- keep up an accompaniment of wailing and stamping with the feet while the visitors pay their respects. Every morning, fresh water is poured into the basin placed by the coffin, and before be- ginning each meal rice and other viands are put within reach of the bier. On the same table also are placed smaller quantities of the same food to propitiate the " little devil " who is supposed to serve the dead man in the land of spirits. * As the rites demand that the coffin should remain in the hall for forty-nine days (it is oftener kept very much longer above ground) it is necessary that it should be made both substantial and air-tight. The planks, which are cut from the hardest and most endurable trees, are from four to five inches thick, and are not only strongly and accurately mortised to- gether and caulked on the outside, but are cemented over on the inside. The coffins of men of high rank are covered with coatings of red lacquer, while black lacquer is pre- scribed for mandarins of the low^er grades, and 27 418 Funeral Rites. to the people, lacquer of any kind is forbid* den. The notions that Chinamen entertain con- cerning the future life, rob death of lialf its terrors, and lead them to regard their funeral ceremonies, and the due performance of the proper rites by their descendants, as the chief factors in their future well-being. Among other things, the importance of securing a coffin ac- cording to the approved fashion, is duly rec- ognized, and as men approach their three- score years and ten this consideration not un- frequently impels them to buy their own coffins, which they keep carefully by them until their time comes.* The present of a coffin is considered a dutiful attention from a. son to an aged father, and in cases where it is inconvenient, from want of room, to keep it in the house, a resting-place is willingly given it in the neighboring temple. The next e\'ent of importance is the choice of a site for the grave. This has to be de- termined by a professor of the •' Fung-shuy " superstition, who, compass in hand, explores the desired district to find a spot which com- * Some eccentric men have been known to sleep in them. The SouVb Movements. 419 bines all the qualities necessary for the quiet repose of the dead. This should be at the junction of the two supposed magnetic currents which are known as the "azure dragon" and the " white tiger," whose presence is made known by the configuration of the ground. It must be perfectly dry, and be free from white ants and all such disturbing influences arising from conflicting heavenly or terrestrial elements as may interfere with the soul's unrestricted egress and ingress. When such a favored spot has been discovered, a Taouist priest is called in to determine a lucky day for the burial. This is by no means an easy matter, and it often happens that the dead remain unburied for months, and even for years, on account of the difficulties in the way of choosing either fortunate graves or lucky days. It is probable that the increased fees demanded by protracted investigations do not tend to hasten the process. As soon as the site is chosen and the rites are completed, the chief mourner goes with work- men to the spot to dig the grave. Before be- ginning he worships the genii of the moun- tain, and reads aloud a notification addressed 420 Funeral Rites. to those spirits, in these words : " We, the sons and relatives of such and such a one, who died on such and such a day, intend to bury his remains here, and, as now it is oar desire to make ready the tomb, we pray you not only to grant your sanction to such a proceeding on our part, but at all times to care for and prosper us. Moreover, we respect- fully beg to present to you offerings of fruits and wines, which be graciously pleased to ac- cept." This letter having been sent on its way, by being burnt to ashes, the work be- gins, and, when the requisite depth is attained the bottom of the grave is protected from damp by a layer of lime and charcoal. Everything being now ready for the inter- ment, a special service is held before the an- cestral tablet of the deceased, and the fol- lowing announcement is made to the spirit : " Perpetuating the rite of removal, and the propitious hour no longer delaying, we are now about to escort the funeral car, and thus reverently to walk in the paths of our ances- tors." The assembled family then prostrate themselves before the tablet, with tears and loud lamentations. Dangerous Grhosts. 421 As the coffin is lifted the members of the family rush into the adjoining rooms lest the ghost of the dead man should, owing to some sin of commission or omission, strike them in his wrath, with sickness or a curse. At the door of the house the coffin is placed upon a bier, and the procession, which varies in length and arrangement according to the wealth of the mourners and the part of the empire, marches off in the following order : " two men bearing large lanterns, recording the family name, age, and titles of the deceased ; two men, each bearing a gong, which he beats loudly at intervals, to give warning of the ap- proach of the cavalcade ; and sixteen musi- cians, immediately followed by men with flags, and by others carrying red boards with the titles of the deceased and of his ancestors in- scribed on them in letters of gold .... The ancestral tablets are followed by four richly carved and gilded canopies — carried sometimes by horses, sometimes bj' men — under each of which are arranged offerings for the dead. The portrait of the deceased comes next, carried in a sedan-chair, and followed by a band of musicians. Next comes a sedan- 422 Funeral Rites. chair, with a wooden tablet inscribed with the names of the, deceased. Then follows a man called Fung-loo-chun-jin, who scatters, at in- tervals, pieces of paper supposed to represent ingots of silver and gold. The mock-money is intended for hungry ghosts, i. e., for the souls of men who have died at the corners of streets .... Next come the sons of the deceased," * immediately in front of the bier, which is followed by the rest of the relatives, both male and female. The only animal wliich is carried in the procession is a white cock, which is supposed to be the depository of one of the three souls with which men are cred- ited. The argument is, that as cocks are birds of tlie East, and as the East is the door of life, that they can best contain that part of man which is immortal. At the brink of the grave the cock is either sacrificed, by which means the soul is released into the tomb, or it is made to incline forward three times into the grave, by each member of the familj". If the distance to the grave is short, the mourners walk in the procession, with the ex- "Ardxleacon Gray's "China," Vo). I. Funeral Bake-meats. 423 ceptioii of the small-footed women, 'who are, for the most part, carried on the backs of their female attendants; but when the dis- tance is considerable, the mourners, both male and female, travel in sedan-chairs, if in the south of China, and in carts or on horse- back, if in the north. On arrival at the grave the mourners perform the Ko-t'ow before the coffin, the men on the left and the women on the right. The coffin is then lowered in the grave, and the Fung-shuy professor, hav- ing satisfied himself that it is in exactly the right position, proceeds to burn a quantity of mock-mone}^ carriages, images of men-servants and maid-servants, for the use of the deceased in his next existence. The procession returns to the house in the order in which it went out, and the ancestral tablet having been placed in the position proper for it during the first hundred days of mourning, the mourners sit down to the baked meats of the funeral feast. At the end of a hundred days the sons and near rela- tives shave their heads and exchange their white shoes, and white silken additions to their queues, for blue ones, that color being the 424 Funeral Rites. next stage towards a return to the ordinary colors of every-day life. 'By a common fiction, the period of three years' mourning is reduced to twenty-seven weeks, at the end of which time the family return to the use of red vis- . iting-cards, and remove from their dwelling and attire all traces of their grief. Sons hold- ing official rank return to their posts, candi- dates for examination present themselves before the examiners, and the intermitted ceremonies of marrying and giving in marriage are again entered upon with alacrity. On the anniversary of the death of the de- ceased, and also in the third month in each year, the family go to the tomb to sacrifice at it to their ancestors. The tombs, which are all designed, not according to the taste of the survivors, but in obedience to recog- nized rules, vary in size and in other par- ticulars, according to the rank of the deceased and the part of the empire. In the southern provinces, and on the plains in the north, the tombs and graveyards are shaped in the form of an omega, which, if it were not traceable to the requirements of Fung-shuy, might be sup- posed to have been adopted from the conven- Sepulchres. 425 tional symbol for the end among the Greeks. A duke, marquis, or earl, is entitled to a sepulchre one hundred and thirty yards in circumference, with four entrances ; officials of the first and second rank must be con- tent to lie within a boundary of one hundred IN A CHINKSE CEMETEUY. and ten yards long, and to possess only two doors; officials of the third, fourth, and fifth ranks are reduced to a hundred yards; and the still lower grades to sixty yards. Funeral Rites. A sliding-scale is also provided in the mat- ter of the avenues of stone figures which lead up to the sepulchres of the great. For every one, from a duke to an official of the second rank, it is decreed that their tombs may be protected by two stone men, two horses, two tigers, and two rams, besides two pillars at the entrance. The figures are generally made life-size or laiger, and of granite. The tomb- stone, which records the name and titles of the deceased and the dates of his birth and death, stands on the back of a stone tortoise, and above the inscription is carved the figure of a weird-looking, hornless dragon. In Shanse and other parts of the empire the sepulchral monuments vary very much in shape. Black glazed tiles generally cover the tombs in Shan-se, and a not infrequent form of monu- ment is that of a huge lighted candle. The imperial tombs infinitely excel the tombs of the highest nobles in size and grandeur. The burying-place of the eniperors of the Ming Dynasty was in the neighborhood of Nanking, while those of the present line repose among the mountains to the northeast of Peking. Universal as the practice of burying may Cremation, 427 be said to be in China, there are exceptions to it. The Buddhist priests as a rule, prefer cremation ; and this custom, which came from India with the religion they profess, has at times found imitators among the laity. In Formosa the dead are exposed and dried in the air, and some of the Meaou-tsze tribes of Central and Southern China bury their dead, it is true, but after an interval of a year or more, having chosen a lucky day, they dis- inter them. On such occasions they go ac- companied by their friends, to the grave, and, having opened the tomb, they take out the bones, and, after having brushed and washed them clean, they put them back wrapped in cloth. CHAPTER XVll. THE RELIGIONS OP CHINA. ''pHE Chinese describe them- selves as hav- i^ ing three re- igions. More J accurately, there are three sects, namely, Joo keaou^ the sect of Schol- ar 8 ; Fu h keaou^ the sect of Buddha ; and Taou keaou^ the sect of Taou. Both as regards age and origin, the sect of Scholars, or as it is gener- ally called, Confucianism, represents pre-emi- nently the religion of China. It has its root in the worship of Shang-te, a deity which is associated with the earliest traditions of the 428 The Views of Confucius. 429 Chinese race. Hwang-te (2697 b. c.) erected a temple to his honor, and succeeding emperors worshiped before his shrine. The very uncer- tain light that history throws on the condition of the empire during the Hea Dynasty and the preceding centuries, makes it impossible to pre- dicate anything of the relations m which the sovereigns and people stood to Shang-te; but with the rise to power of the Shang Dynasty (b. c. 1766 - 1401), we find a belief prevailing in t;he personal interference of Shang-te in the affairs of man. It vas due to him that, as a reward for virtuous and godly living, men were raised :o the throne, and contrariwise, bis was the avenging hand which drove into obscurity those sovereigns who had deserted the paths of rectitude. Thus we read in the Shoo-king that, "moved with indignation at the crime of King Show, Great Heaven (i. e. Shan-te) charged King Wan (the twelfth century b. c.) to display its majesty, and to destroy the tyrant." During the troublous times which followed after the reign of the few "first sovereigns of the Chow Dynasty, the belief in a personal deity grew indistinct and dim, until, when 480 The . Religions of China. Confucius began his career, there appeared nothing strange in his atheistic doctrines. He never in any way denied the existence of Shang-te, but he ignored him.* His concern was with man as a member of societj', and the object of his teaching was to lead him into those paths of rectitude which might best con- tribute to his own happiness, and to the well- being of that community of which he formed part. Man, he held, was born good, and was endowed with qualities which, when cultivated and improved by watchfulness and self-restraint, might enable him to acquire godlike wisdom, and to become " the equal of Heaven." He divided mankind into four classes, viz.. those who are born with the possession of knowl- edge ; those who learn, and so readily get pos- session of knowledge; those who are dull and stupid, and yet succeed in learning ; lastly, those who are dull and stupid, and yet do not learn." To all these, except those of the last class, the path to the climax reached by ♦ Confucius did not profess to be a religious teacher, or prophet, nor to receive revelations. He confessed that there was a Supreme Being. More than that he did not profess to know. He avoided speculations, and said in one of his maxims, "To know what one does know, and not to know what one does not know, IS knowledge." The author seems to fail to appreciate the character of Confucius perfectly in the above remarks. A, BUDDHIST ABBOT. Self Cultivation. 433 the " Sage " is open. Man has only to watch, listen to, understand, and obey the moral sense implanted in him by Heaven, and the higliest perfection is within his reach. The self-cultivation of each man was the root of the system which is thus epitomized in the " Great Learning," by TsSng, one of Confucius's disciples : — " The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue tliroughout the empire, first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order well their own states, they first regulated their own families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. Wish- ing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things. Wlien things were investigated, knowledge became complete. Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts became sin- cere. Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified. Their hearts being rectified, their persons were cultivated. 28 434 The Religions of China. Their perions being cultivated, their families were regulated. Their families being reg- ulated, their states were rightly governed. Their states being rightly governed, the wliole empire was made tranquil and happy." Like the widening ripple caused by dropping a stone into a pool, all these consequences were to flow from self-cultivation, the effect of which finds its expression in words and conduct. Principally, however, it is expressed in the exercise of filial piet}', which is the corner- stone of the Confucian edifice. In this system there is no place for a per- sonal God. The impersonal Heaven, accord- ing to Confucius, implants a pure nature in every being at his birth, but, having done this, there is no further supernatural interference with the thoughts and deeds of men. It is in the power of each one to perfect his nature, and there is no divine influence to restrain those who take the downward course. Man has his destiny in his own hands, to make or to mar. Neither had Confucius any inducement to offer to encourage men in the practice of virtue, except virtue's self. He was a matter-of-fact, unimaginative man, who The Worship of Shang-te. ' 435 was quite content to occupy himself with the study of his fellow-men, and was disin- clined to grope into the future or to peer up- wards. No wonder that his system, as he enunciated it, proved a failure. Eagerly he sought in the execution of his official duties to effect the regeneration of the empire, but beyond the circle of his personal disciples he found few followers, and as soon as princes and statesmen had. satisfied their curiosity about him they turned their backs on his precepts and would none of his reproofs. Succeeding ages, recognizing the loftiness of his aims, eliminated all that was impractica- ble and unreal in his system, and held fast to that part of it that was true and good. They were content to accept the logic of events, and to throw overboard the ideal "sage," and to ignore the supposed potency of his influence ; but they clung to the doc- trines of filial piety, brotherly love, and vir- tuous living. It is admiration for the emphasis which he laid on these and other virtues which has drawn so many millions of men unto him ; which has made his tomb at Keo-foo-heen the ' Mecca of Confucianism, 436 The Religions of China. and has adorned every city of the empire with temples built in his honor. Twice a year the emperor goes in state to the Kwo- tsze-keen temple at Peking, and having twice knelt, and six times bowed his head, to the earth, invokes the presence of the sage in these words: — "Great art thou, O perfect Sage ! Thy virtue is full ; thy doctrine is complete. Among mortal men there has not been thine equal. All kings honor thee. Thj* statutes and laws have come gloriously down. Thou art the pattern of this imperial school. Reverently have the sacrificial vessels been set out. Full of awe we sound our drums and bells." On the same dates, in the spring and autumn, the officials in every city go to the local temples, and there imitate the reverence and worship of their imperial master. Con- currently with the lapse of pure Confucianism, and the adoption of those principles which find their earliest expression in the pre- Confucian classes of China, there is observ- able a return to the worship of Shang-te. The most magnificent temple in the empire is the Temple of Heaven, at Peking, where the Taouism. 437 highest object of Chinese worship is adored with the purest rites. The emperor, as repre- sentative of the empire, alone worships at this sacred shrine, where no trace of idolatry finds a place. Thrice a year he proceeds in state to this azure-tiled holy place, as well as on other special occasions. The evening before the day of sacrifice, he goes in an elephant carriage, accompanied by his princes and ministers, to the Palace of Fasting adjoin- ing the temple, and there spends the night in meditation. At dawn of day he ascends the Altar of Heaven, which consists of three round marble terraces, and is reached by twenty-seven steps. Here he prostrates him- self before the tablet of Shang-te, and hav- ing presented the sacrifices prescribed in the rituals, he offers up a prayer, in which he humbles himself before the deity, and be- seeches him to bestow his blessings on the land. What is popularly known in Europe as Confucianism is, therefore, Confucianism with the distinctive opinions of Confucius omitted — the play of Hamlet without the ghost; and is far more correctly described by the Chinese denomination of Joo keaou, or sect of scholars, 438 The Religions of China. since it finds its expression in those ancient classical works from which alone the scholars of the empire draw their faith and wisdom. This worship of Shang-te is confined only to the emperor. The people have no lot or heritage in the sacred acts of worship at the Altar of Heaven. Their part in the Joo keaou is to reverence their parents, to love their brothers, to obey their rulers, to be content with the knowledge placed within their reach, to live peaceably with their neighbors, and to pay their taxes. These are the main points insisted on in the sixteen Maxims of the Emperor K'ang-he, and they are the popular outcome of an impossible system, which ap- pealed only to the intellects of a small body of scholars. Side by side with the revival of the Joo keaou, under the infiuence of Confucius, grew up a system of a totally different nature, which, when divested of its esoteric doctrines, and reduced by the practically-minded China- men to a code of morals, was destined in future ages to become aflBliated with the teachings of the Sage. This was Taouism, which was founded by Laou-tsze, who was a Laou-Tsze. 439 contemporary of Confucius. An air of mys- tery hangs over the history of Laou-tsze. Of his parentage we know nothing, and the histo- rians, in their anxiety to conceal their igno- rance of his earlier years, shelter themselves behind the legend that he was born an old man. He certainly first appears on the stage when past middle age, and in this he affords a marked contrast to his great rival, about whose birth, childhood, and youth, we have abundant detail. His appearance also was unusual. His ears were large, his eyebrows were handsome, he had large eyes, a double- ridged nose, and a square mouth. These are very un-Chinese features, and, coupled with the fact that nothing is known either of his early days or of his declining years, they suggest the possibility that he was a foreigner, or perhaps a member of an aboriginal fron- tier tribe. But this supposition finds some countenance in the name of Le, which he assumed, that being the name of one of the most powerful tribes in ancient China. By some it is said that he was born at the vil- lage of Keuh jin ("oppressed benevolence"), in the parish of Le, ("cruelty"), in the district 440 The Religions of China. of K'oo ("bitterness"), iu the state of Tt^'oo ("suffering.") This K'oo is commonl}' identi- fied with an ancient city of that name, which stood near the modern Kwei-tih Foo, in the province of Honan. At K'oo-yang, which now occupies the same site, a house is shown in which Laou-tsze is said to have lived, and his memory is still further preserved there by a temple which is dedicated to his honor. This is all that his biographers have to tell us of him until he appears as Keeper of the Archives at the Court of Chow, which occupied a part of the same province. Here we find him, surrounded by a band of disci- ples, teaching a system which embodied so many of the leading doctrines of the Indian philosophers that the question suggests itself, whether or no he might not have become, in some way, imbued with the tenets of those men. We know that communication with India was open, even at that period, and it might be that he was either a native of that country or of one of the intervening states. If this were so, it would account for the existing ignorance of his family history, and for his being lost to sight when he resigned An Eternal Road. 441 his uffice at the Court of Chow, and passed westward through the Haii-koo Pass. The object of his teaching was to induce men, by the practice of self-abnegation, to become at last absorbed in something that he called Taou^ which bears a certain resemblance to the Nirvana of the Buddhists. The pri- mary meaning of Taou is, " The way," " The path,'' but in Laou-tsze's philosophy it was more than the way, it was the way-goer as well. It was an eternal road ; along it all beings and things walked ; it was everything and nothing, and the cause and effect of all. All !}hihgs originated from Taou^ conformed to Tdou^ and to Taou at last returned. '•''Taou is impalpable. You look at it, and you cannot see it ; you listen to it, and you cannot hear it; you try to touch it, and you cannot reach it ; you use it, and you cannot exhaust it. It is not to be expressed in words. It is still and void ; it stands alone and changes not; it circulates everywhere and is not en- dangered. It is ever inactive, and yet leaves nothing undone Formless, it is the ofluse of form It is the ethical nature of the good man, and the principle of his 442 The Religions of China. action. If, then, we had to express the mean ing of Taov^ we should describe it as the. Absolute ; the totality of Being and Things ; the phenomenal world and its order; and the ethical nature of the good man, and the principle of his action,"* It was absorption into this "Mother of all things " that Laou-tsze aimed at. And this end was to be attained by self-emptiness, and by giving free scope to the uncontam- inated nature which, like Confucius, he taught was given by Heaven to all men. His was a more radical cure for the evils of the age than that of his rival. Confucius said that the great reformation necessary was to rectify names. Laou-tsze said. Return to the man- ners of the time before vice had made names necessar}^ before disobedience to parents had given rise to the expression "filial piety," and before family contentions and rudeness had made men formulate the terms "brotherly love and propriety." These subtleties, like the more abstruse speculations of Confucius, were suited only to the taste of the schools. To the common people they were foolishness, and, * " Confucianism and Taouism." A System of Magic. 443 before long, the philosophical doctrine of Laou- tsze of the identity of existence and non- existence, assumed in their eyes a warrant for the old Epicurean motto, " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." The pleasures of sense were substituted for the delights of virtue, and the next step was to desire pro- longation of the time when those pleasures could be enjoyed. Legend said that Laou-tsze had secured immunity from death by drinking the elixir of immortality, and to enjoy the same privilege became the all-absorbing object of his followers. The demand for elixirs and charms produced a supply, and Taouism quickly degenerated into a system of magic. Mountains were searched for life-giving herbs, and the seas were swept to discover the " Isles of the Blest." Magicians and sorcerers occupied high places at the courts of empe- rors, and all the unselfish and virtuous teach- ings of Laou-tsze were forgotten. The superstitious credulity » of the people almost exceeded belief, but had at last, as far as the elixir of immortality was concerned, to yield to the stern logic of facts, and the at- tempt to avert those ills of life, disease and 444 The Religions of China. poverty, which have pressed so hardly on humanit}' through all ages, took the place of vain seekiugs after perpetual youth. Charms and magical formula were invented to abolish want and sickness, and gods were called into being to preside over the distribution of bless- ings to mankind ; but, while this was the facet of the many-sided religion which caught the eye of the vulgar and illiterate, there was shown to the educated and upper classes an ethical system, moulded out of the moral say- ings of Laou-tsze, which differed little from the popular aspect of Confucianism. The con- cessions thus made, were met by corresponding concessions on the part of Confucianists, who have practically adopted into their cult the worship of many of the gods which were in- vented by the Taouists. Wan cKang te keun, the god of literature, for example, receives imperial worship twice in each year, and is universally invoked on behalf of their efforts by competitors at the literary examinations. The monopoly which Taouist priests enjoy, as the exponents of the mysteries of nature, make them indispensably necessarj- to all classes, and the most confirmed Coufucianist The Monopoly of Taouism. 445 does not hesitate to consult the followers of Laou-tsze on the choice of the site for his house, the position of his family grave- Si KO A CHINESE SHRINE. yard, or a fortunate da.j for undertaking an enterprise. Apart from the practice of these magical arts, Taouism has become assimilated 446 The Religions of China. with modern Confucianism, and is scarcely- distinguishable from it; but in its more de- based and superstitious form it is as far removed from Confucianism as Shamanism is from the teachings of Sakyamuni The teachings of Laou-tsze having familiar- ized the Chinese mind with philosopJjical doc- trines, which, whatever were their direct source, bore a marked resemblance to the musings of Indian sages, served to prepare the way for the introduction of Buddhism. The exact date at which the Chinese first became acquainted with the doctrines t)f Buddha was, according to an author quoted in K'ang-he's Imperial Encyclopaedia, the thirtieth year of the reign of She Hwang-te, i. e., B. c. 216. The story this writer tells of the difficulties which the first missionaries encountered is curious and singularly suggestive of the nar- rative of St. Peter's imprisonment. The Western Shaman, Le-fang, with seventeen others, arrived, we are told, at Loyang, in the year mentioned, bringing with them origi- nal sutras in Braham's [Fan] characters. Being foreigners, they were examined b}' the officials, and by the emperor's orders, were Introduction of Buddhism. 447 thrown into prison as "strange customers;" but Le-fang and his comrades continued chant- ing the Maha Prajiia Paramita, when sud- denly a bright and shining light, accompanied by an auspicious halo, permeated into and filled the prison. At the same time a deity appeared, bright as gold {literally^ golden deity), holding in his hand a sceptre with which, with exceeding majesty, he struck the prison [walls], which were shivered to atoms. Lefang and his companions then came forth, and the emperor, alarmed by the miracle, repented of his sin, and treated his quondam prisoners with every sign of marked respect. What became of them we are not told; possibly, disgusted with the reception they had met, they returned whence they came. At all events, the}'^ left no mark on the minds of the people, and the next reference to Buddhism, or what is claimed to be Bud- dhism, is found in the history of the reign of Woo-te, who, in b. c. 120, sent Gen- eral Ho K'ii-p'ing with a large force against the Heung-noo Tartars. Tliis officer, we are told, having crossed the Yen-k'e Mountains (in Turkestan?), defeated the enemy, and 448 The Religions of China. carried back with him, as a trophy of his , victory, a golden image which had been the object of the king Heo-t'u's worship; but even if the image was that of Buddha, no in- struction in the religion was received with it, and it was reserved for the Emperor Ming-te, a hundred and eighty-two years later, to in- troduce a knowledge of that system which, in purity and loftiness of aim, takes its place next to Christianity among the religions of the world. One night he dreamed that a monster golden image appeared, and address- ing him, said: "Buddha bids you* send to the Western countries to search for him, and to get books and images." Ming-te obeyed, and sent an embassy to India, which returned after an absence of eleven years, bringing back images, drawings, and the Sutra of fort3^-two Sections, and, what was more im- portant, the mission was accompanied by the Indian, Kasyfipa Matanga, who, on his ar- rival at Loyang, translated the Sutra into Chinese. Kasyapa Mataiiga was followed b}' Fa-lan, who brought with him, among other works, the Dasabhumi Sntra and the Lalita Vistara. These, in conjunction with his fellow- Missionaries from India. 449 laborer, he translated into Chinese, and from this time Buddhism grew and prevailed in the land. During the next few centuries constant ad- ditions were made to the number of the In- dian missionaries, who were indefatigable in their work as translators. In many cases their zeal was greater than the accuracy of their knowledge of the Chinese language, and in the beginning of the fifth century it was deter- mined to have a revised version of the trans- lated Sutras made. For this purpose Kiimara- jiva, a learned Indian priest, was invited to the Court of Tsin, where he was given office, and where, with tlie help of eight hun- dred priests, he revised three hundred volumes. While this work was in contemplation, a Chinese Buddhist, Fa-heen by name, started on a journey to India, to procure the texts of Buddhist works yet unknown to his coun- tryme)!. By a somewhat circuitous route by the Steppes of Tartary, the Country of the Ouighurs, and Afghanistan, he reached the goal of his desires. With all the zeal of a convert he visited, with devotion, the spots made sacred b}- the presence of Buddha, never, how- 29 450 The Religions of China. ever, forgetting the main object of his jour- ney, and finally returned to China by sea from Ceylon, after an absence of fourteen years, laden with books. Besides books and images, relics of Buddha were brought to China, and were received with every token of honor. The priest, Hiuen-tsang, who visited India rather more than two cen- turies later than Fa-heen, carried back with him a hundred and fifteen bits taken from Buddha's chain. At other times bones of the Saint aroused the religious rapture of the Chinese converts, and at the present time, in a dim glnss case in a temple on the Sacred Mount of Teen-tai, near Ningpo, there is shown a scrap of the body of Buddha, which was saved from the burning. To those devout dis- ciples, who have the mind of Buddha, this precious relic appears to be of a yellow color, but to those of less spiritual discernment no such golden hue is vouchsafed. The literati protested against the worship of the relics as vehemently as they have since objected to Christianity ; but the instinct of the nation declared otherwise, and thej' had the mortification of seeing pagoda after pagoda Bodhidharma arrives. 451 raised to cover a bone, or a scrap of the flesh, or, it may chance, a hair of the head, of Buddha. At the beginning of the sixth century it is said that there were three thou- sand Indians in China, and it was at this time IN A TEMPLE. that Bodhidharma, the first of the six patri- archs, arrived at Canton b}* sea. By his teach- ing was first brought to the knowledge of the Chinese the Mahayana system, whicli was the outcome of the change which Buddhism had 452 The Religions of China. undergone in India. It was prophesied by- Buddha that for five hundred years the purity of his doctrine would be maintained, bat that a thousand years after his time men would depart from the true path and wander in tlie labyrinths of heresy. Even before the time foretold by the saint his professing followers began to weary of the moral asceticism and active self-denying chanty of which his system consisted, and turned aside in pursuit of philosophical and abstrusely metaph3'sical ideas, and in search of ritualistic emblems and idolatrous symbolism. The non- existence of existence, and the unreality of everything beyond the mind, were the texts on which these men loved to enlarge, and when weary with disputations they retired to cloistered cells and mountain-caves, to practise that abstraction of the mind which alone, they believed, would enable them to suppress lust, to conquer the sensations, and to attain bliss. For nine j'ears Bodhidharma sat with his face to a wall in a monastery at Loyang, and earned for himself a high reputation for spirit- uality by so doing, and when the time came for him to die he departed in the full odor The Mysterious Nirvdna. 453 of sanctity. "Where are you going?" inquired Sung-yuu the Traveller, of his corpse, as it lay in the coffin, holding one shoe in its hand. "To the western heaven," was the confident and ghostly reply. With the introduction of the Mahay ana sys- tem the mysterious Nirvana had, as a reward for virtue, been supplemented by a "Pure land >in the West," where there is "fulness of life, and no pain nor sorrow mixed with it; no need to be born again, no Nirvana even. There are there, also, a sevenfold row of railings, or of balustrades, a sevenfold row of silken nets, and a sevenfold row of trees hedg- ing in the whole country. In the midst there are seven precious ponds, the waters of which possess all the eight qualities which the best water can have, viz., they are still, pure and cold, sweet and agreeable, light and soft, fresh and rich ; they tranquilize, remove hunger and thirst, and nourish all roots. The bottom of these ponds is covered with golden sands, and round about there are pavements constructed of precious stones and metals, and many two- storied pavilions built of richly-colored tran- sparent jewels. On the surface of the water 454 The Religions of China. there are beautiful lotos-flowers floating, each as large as a carriage-wheel, displaying the most dazzling colors, and dispersing the most fragrant aroma. There are also beautiful birds which make delicious enchanting music, and at every breath of wind the very trees on which these birds are resting join in the chorus, shak- ing their leaves in trembling accords of sweet- est harmony .... This music is like Lieder ohne Worte ; its melodies speak to the heart ; but they discourse on Buddha,* Dharmo, and Samgha, and wake an echo in every breast, so that all the immortals that live in this happ}"^ land instinctively join in hymns of praise, devoutly invoking Buddha, Dharma, and Samgha, Such was the blissful region to which Bod- hidharma declared himself to be marching on, and such is the heaven which Chinese Budd- hists of the present day hope to reach ; but this goal is not to be attained by an ejffort, however praiseworthy, which would only con- taminate the mind. It is to be won solely by abstracting the mind from everything be- yond itself, by sitting before a wall (if not actually, as the first patriarch did, yet men- * Eitel's " Lectures on Buddhism." Pure Nothingness. 'ibb tally), by seeing nothing, hearing nothing, and thinking of nothing. The invention of this pure region has, no doubt, been of infinite advantage to the cause of Buddhism in China, since it presents a practical reward for merit, and is one that the ordinar}'^ Chinaman can realize ; but its existence is obviously inconsis- tent with the orthodox belief in Nirvana. However much schools may differ as to wliat Nirvana is, they must all be agreed that it is not a material paradise, such as the Pure land in the West, wliich, like Dan and Beersheba consecrated by Jeroboam who made Israel to sin, is evidently intended as an easily attain- able substitute for the Jerusalem of Nirvana. To the school of Buddhists which regards Nirvdna as absolute annihilation, the idea of a paradise into which neither pain nor sorrow nor death can enter, where there is perfect happiness and rest, and where every surround- ing is but a note in one harmonious melody of peace and joy, is a temptation strong enough to try the orthodoxy of the staunchest Budd- hists, but in China, as elsewhere, the views held by Buddhists on the subject of Nirvana differ widel}'. There are those who believe in the 456 The Religions of China. annihilation theorj^ and there are those who hold that the annihilation refers only to the material body of man, and that when this is extinguished, " like the flame of a lamp," the spiritual body enters into a state of absolute and complete purity, where it is free from the circles of metempsychosis, and is beyond the reach of all sin and passion. Some, again, hold that the Pure land in the West is but a preliminary stage on the way to Nirvana, and that there the righteous soul is allowed to en- joy ageSx of happiness before it has again to enter the circles of metempsychosis, and b}^ a fresh course of virtue to win its way to the supreme bliss of Nirvana. Such a theme admits of the wildest specula- tions, and the philosophers of each school have given full rein to their imaginations in the exercise of their sophistical casuistry upon it. The followers of the Mahayana system dissolve every possible proposition on the subject of Nirvana into a thesis and its antithesis, and deny both. Thus they say that Nirvana is not annihilation, and quote a noted saying of Sakyamuni's, the "name Nirvana does not im- ply that it is a state of annihilation ; " but Sakyamuni on Nirvdna. 459 tliey also deny its positive objective reality. According to them, the soul enjoys in Nirvana neither existence nor non-existence, it is neither eternal nor non-eternal, neither anni- hilated nor non-annihilated. Nirvana is to them a state of which nothing can be said, to which no attributes can be given ; it is al- together an abstract, devoid alike of all posi- tive and negative qualities. * As it was found necessary to invent a ter- restrial paradise to suit the material aspiration of the people, so it was imperative to develop out of the extreme transcendentalism of the Mahiyana school, a system which should ap- peal to their superstitious materialism. Like the Jews of old, they were eager after signs, and self-interest made their spiritual rulers nothing loth to grant them their desire. From the mountains and monasteries came men who claimed to possess the elixir of immortality, and proclaimed themselves adepts in witchcraft and sorcery. By magic incantations they exor- cised evil spirits, and dissipated famine, pesti- lence, and disease. By the exercise of their supernatural powers they rescued souls from ♦"The Chinese Recorder."' Vol. iii. No. i. 460 The Religions of China. hell, and arrested pain and death. In the ser- vices of the church they added ritual to ritual, and surrounded with tawdry ceremonial the worship of their multiplied images. By such means they won their way among the people, and even sternly orthodox Confucianists make use of their services to chant the liturgies of the dead. While that inexorable taskmaster, Supersti- tion, compels even the wise and the learned to pay their homage to folly, there is scarcely an educated Chinaman who would not indig- nantly repudiate the imputation of being a follower of Buddha; and though the com- mon people throng the temples to buy charms and consult astrologers, they yet thoroughly de- spise both the priests and the religion they profess. Buddhism has after all been a bless- ing rather than a curse in China. It has, to a certain extent, lifted the mind of the people from the too exclusive consideration of mun- dane affairs, to the contemplation of a future state. It has taught them to value more highly purity of life; to exercise self-constraint and to forget self; and to practise love and charity towards their neighbors. A CHINESE MAHOMEDAN The Three Q-reat Sects. 463 From what has been said it will be seen that no clearly defined line of demarcation separates the three great sects of China. Each has borrowed from the others, until it may be doubted whether there are to be found any pure Confucianists, pure Buddhists, or pure Taouists. Confucianism has provided the moral basis on which the national character of the Chinese rests, and Buddhism and Taouism have sup- plied the supernatural elements wanting in that system. Speaking generally, the. religion of China is a medley of the three great sectSy, which are now so closely interlaced that it. is impossible either to classify, localize, or enumerate the adherents of each creed. The only other religion of importance in^ China is Mahomedanism, which is confined! to the southwestern and northwestern prov- inces of the empire, but since the suppression of the Panthay rebellion in Yunnan, there has been a gradual decline in the number of the followers of the Prophet. CHAPTER XVni. THE LANGUAGE. NE curious circum- stance connected with the Chinese is, that though they have a great respect for antiquity, and are proud of their writing, they liave no clear account of the origin of their written language. As lias been said, there is evidence to show that the Chinese brought a knowledge of writing with them into China. If this were not so, we should expect to find in China inscriptions in the most primitive form of writing, which was hieroglyphic ; but no such inscriptions exist, 464 M The Chinese Characters. 466 showing that the language had already passed the purely hieroglyphic stage before its intro- duction into the country. Though the Chinese brought a knowledge of writing with them, it is quite possible that they added to their stock -of characters by adapting to their own purposes the rude lines and marks which some of the aborigines used to express their thoughts, and of this process we have traces in the accounts which the Chinese give of the invention of writing. The earliest combination of lines of which we hear in Chinese works is found in the eight diagrams which are said to have been drawn by Fuh-he (b. c. 2852-2737). These are formed by whole and broken lines drawn al- ternately, and have been made the basis of an ancient system of philosophy and divina- tion; but they have never been read. They bear no resemblance to Chinese characters, and therefore the statement made in the Tsze heo peen of the T^oo shoo tseih ching., that, "Fuh-he imitated the Kwei writing, and made the eight diagrams," is worthy of con- sideration in lieu of any better derivation of them. What was the Kwei writing? In Ts'ai 30 466 The Language. Yung's (A. D. 133-192) work on the lesser seal characters he says: — '*The Kwei writing was written irregularly and combwise, like a drag- on's scales. It hung down like a dropping ear of millet, and was as abstruse as the tangled web of insects. Whether in combina- tion or not, it was like drops of rain finely drawn out and freezing as they fall. Seen from a little distance it looks like a flock of geese and swans wandering in a continu- ous line. However long it is studied, its intricacies cannot be reckoned. Seen further off, its divisions cannot be distinguished." Such was the writing of the Kwei people, who were scattered over the district, part of which is now known as the Province of Honan. This tract of country is bounded on the north by the Hwang-ho, Yellow River, or, as it used to be called, Ho, or The river, and is traversed by the Loh River, wliich empties itself into the Hd. Now, one of the commonest expressions used in Chinese books, in describing the origin of writing is, that writing came from the Loli (Loh shoo), and drawings from the Ho (Ho t'oo). The locality from which these were derived is, therefore, The Kwei Hieroglyphics. 467 sufficiently plainly indicated ; the next ques- tion is, Who were their authors? By common consent, Chinese writers declare that Ts'ang Hieli, a minister of Hwang-te (b. C. 2697-2597), invented writing, but we are also told that Ts'ang Hieh imitated the col- ored writing of the Kwer of Loh, and devel- oped from it his characters. This statement is repeated over and over again in varying forms. Ts'ang Hieh, we are told, looking up to heaven and observing the constellations, and down to the earth and examining the Kwei writing and the footprints of birds, in- vented written characters. According to tradition, he was a resident in what is now Honan, and what more natural, therefore, than that he should have imitated the rude attempts at writing carved by the Kwei aborigines on the banks of the Ho and Loh, and moulded them into characters. Though the Kwei hieroglyphics were rude, they were yet suffi- ciently explicit to be used to record events, since, as we are told, during the reign of Yaou, when the Yu6-chang people visited the court, they brought with them a sacred tortoise (Kwei), which was said to have been a 468 The Language. thousand years old, upon whose back was in- scribed a legend, which contained a narrative of events from the creation downwards. Yaou, it is said, ordered this primitive history to be transcribed, and called it the " Kwei Annals." Again of tlie same writing Ts'ai Yung, in his work on the large seal characters, says : — "The oldest characters were those of the Yu6-chang people. They consisted of a thou- sand varieties, and of ten thousand shapes either resembling dragons or fishes. There was no phrase which did not occur in them, nor was there anything which was not men- tioned in them." We know, therefore, on the faith of Chinese writers of antiquity, that the Kwei used characters, and that these were found on the banks of the Loh and of the Ho. We are further told, in the Shih chow ke, that when Yu regulated the waters, he employed work- men to carve an inscription on a rock, and that beneath this inscription were tadpole characters which were not such as were writ- ten by Chinamen. Tiie JKwang poh with che tells the same story. The probability is, therefore, that Ts'ang Phonetic Writing. 469 Hieh, or one of tlie early Chinese, did adopt as his own the Kwei characters which he found on rocks and the banks of rivers and very possibly Fuh-he's diagrams may have owed their existence to the same origin ; but such characters merely supplemented the writing which the Chinese originally brought with them into China, and we may dismiss, therefore, as legendary, the statement that the writing ever went through the primitive hiero- glyphic stage in China. That had long passed away, and had been succeeded by a system of phonetic writing, by which the component parts of the characters were so arranged as to give the sound of the words, which in those days were as often as not polysyllabic. By degrees, however, as the Chinese colonies advanced further and further into the country, and separated themselves more and more from the headquarters of the race, dialects sprung up, differing phonetic values were given to the characters and their component parts, and consequently things were either called by dif- ferent names in different parts of the country, or the characters representing them under- went a series of gradual modifications as the 470 The Language. origiual pronunciation of their parts changed. Such was the state of things when She Chow, the minister of Seuen Wang (b. c. 827-781), attempted to reimpose a uniform system of writing, and for this purpose in- vented the " large seal characters " with which his name will be for ever associated. The project, however, was only partly successful. The inevitable laws which govern the growth of language are not to be confined within arbitary limits, and the same process of change which had metamorphosed the Koo wSn, or ancient writing, wrought havoc also with the large seal characters. This was essentially a period of change. The feudal system, which, until then had prevailed in the country, was fast disappearing to make way for an empire. The right of the sovereigns of Chow to the supremacy among the states was openly ques- tioned by feudatories, who sought vi et armis to usurp their throne. Loyalty had ceased to exist, and might was made the measure of right. " The nobles," says Heu Shin, in his preface to the Shwo wan, "ruled by violence, and ceased to be controlled by the king; they hated rights and music, and did injury to The Time of the Empire. 471 them. Departing from the canonical records, they divided the empire into seven states. They changed tlie measurements of the arable fields; they changed the wheel-gauge of the carriages; they changed the code of the stat- utes and commands; they changed the fashions of clothes and caps; and they changed the sounds of the words and the forms of the characters." On the establishment of the empire under the Ts'in Dynasty, Le Sze attempted again to introduce a fixed system of writing, and one which should at the same time be less cum- brous than the large seal characters. These new characters, which were known as Seaou chuen, or "Small Seal" characters, were less complicated and not square like the older forms ; but as public business and the corre- sponding necessity for writing increased, the Seaou chuen was voted too elaborate, and the modified form of character called Le shoo was introduced in its stead. In the Le shoo a tendency is observable to convert the curves of the Seaou chuen into angular strokes, and the shapes of some characters, in obedience to the changes which had taken place in their 472 The Language. pronunciation, underwent modifications. To the Le shoo and Tsaou shoo^ or "running hand,'' succeeded the K'eae shoo (the fourth centur}) of the present day. Chinamen are ignorant of the science of philology, and lack that power of critical ob- , servation which might enable them to arrive at the true history of their written characters. Their tendency has been, therefore, to deal only with their later forms, and these they have classified and arranged in the six following classes: — First, Seang king, or hieroglyphics, which are the primitive characters of the lan- guage. Second, Che sze, or characters intended to represent ideas to the mind by the posi- tion of their parts. Thus a character com- posed of parts representing the sun above a straiglit line stands for the dawn. Third, Hwuy e, or signs formed by writing two or more significant characters to suggest a new idea. For instance, the character Sin, "sincere," is made up of the signs for "a man" and "woi-ds," a collocation of ideas which at least speaks well for the theoretical morality of the people. Another character in this class is Ming, "brightness," which is composed of a combi- Six Linguistic FormB. 473 nation of the signs for a star and tlie moon, and is identical with the modern Turkish im- perial emblem. Chinese .writers say that the smaller character of the two is that of the sun, but they liave forgotten that in the Koo wan the characters for sun and star were iden- tical in form ; and the fact of its being com- pletely overshadowed by the moon is an ar- gument' against its having been originally in- tended for the greater light. Fourth, Chuen choo, or characters which, being inverted either in form or sound, assume different meanings. Thus the character which, when read Lo means "pleasure," means music when pronounced i/o. Fifth, Kea tsieh, or characters having borrowed meanings. As an illustration of this class Chinese writers adduce the character She^ an arrow, which, from the straight course of an arrow, has come to signify " direct," " right," " a word spoken to the point." Sixth, Keae shincf, or Phonetic. The adoption of these characters was a cardinal feature in the change effected in the writing by She Chow. It is seldom in the history of nations that a writ- ing is found to deteriorate, and nothing proves more conclusively that the Chinese characters 474 The Language. were no invention of the people themselves, than the fact that the first time they at- tempted a modification of them they took a step backwards. Up to the time of Slie Chow a well-defined and elaborate system of syllabic writing had been in vogue, but in the hands of the Chinese reformer this retrograded in the direction of ideographic writing, and the Keae shirig characters were brought into ex- istence. These, speaking generally, consist of two parts — a phonetic element and an ideo- graphic character. The ideographic characters in combination with their phonetics form an exact parallel with many Egyptian and Ass}-- rian ideophoneties. I have been favored by Doctor Birch, of the British Museum, with an example in Egyptian, showing precisely the same formation in the composition of the char- acters and in the respective value of their parts, as is seen in the Chinese. Speaking of Assyrian hieroglyphics, Sir Henry Rawlinson says, " Certain classes of words have a sign prefixed or suffixed to them, more commonly the former, by which their general character is indicated. The names of gods, of men, of cities,' of tribes, of wild animals, of domestic Significant Suffixes. 476 animals, of metals, of months, of the points of the compass, and of dignities are thus accom- panied. The sign prefixed or suffixed may have A CHINESE TEACHER AND PUPIL. originally represented a word ; but, when used in the way here spoken of, it is believed that it was not sounded, but served simply to in- 476 The Language. dicate to the reader the sort of word which was placed before it." Marking, then, the forces of the two parts of the Keae Shing characters, it is easy to imagine the way in which She Chow set to work to modify existing characters, and to in- vent new ones. We may suppose for instance, that a tree to which he wished to give a name on paper was known to him colloquially as Ma. He would then, in the first place, choose a common phonetic possessing that sound, very possibly the hieroglyphic wa, "a horse," and would combine with it the ideographic charac- ter muh^ meaning " wood." The reader would at once recognize that the new character should be read as ma, and the ideographic character prefixed would make him aware that it was either the name of a tree or of something made of wood. These ideographic signs, with the addition of a few others, have been taken by lexico- graphers as offering the best means of classi- fying the characters of the language. Two hundred and fourteen of such signs have been chosen (one or more of which enter into the composition of everj' character in Chinese), A Cumbersome /System. 477 under which to arrange the fifty thousand char- acters, more or less, of which the language consists. As the language is without an alpha- bet, some such system is necessary, and this one probably answers as well as any other. Most of these radicals or determinatives, as they have been variously called, being primi- tive characters, are hieroglyphics, and include, as might have been expected, " the most re- markuble objects of nature, such as the sun, moon, a river, a mountain, fire, water, earth, wood, a stone, etc. ; the chief parts of the human bod}', as the head, the heart, the hand, the foot, the eye, the ear, etc. ; the principal parts of a house, as the roof, the door, etc. ; domestic animals, such as the sheep, the cow, the horse, the dog, etc. ; the primary relations of society, as father, mother, son, daughter, etc. ; qualities, such as great, small, crooked, high, low, long, etc. ; and actions, such as to see, to speak, to walk, to run, to stop, to enter, to follow, etc. ; They are thus admirably adapted to form generic terms, and this is the part they play in composition." In the dictionaries the characters are arranged under each radical, in order of the number of strokes- of which the 478 The Language. part combined with the radical is composed. For example, under the radical muli^ "wood," the first character is one in which onl}' one stroke is added to the radical, and the last consists of twentj-two strokes besides the radical. That such a cumbersome system of writing should have remained unimproved argues a strange but characteristic inabilit\- of the people to advance. And this is noticeable, not only in the writing, but in every institution, and in every branch of knowledge. They have ad- vanced up to a certain point — a point to which they have been led by others — and be- yond this they are unable to go.. On their first arrival in China, they brought with them a knowledge of the arts and sciences of the West, but, during all the centuries they have lived in China, they had added nothing to the knowledge the}^ thus possessed. If they have moved either way, it has rather been backwards, so that their reverence for the wis- dom of the ancients is a genuine, thougli mel- ancholy, confession of their national incompe- tence. Though the characters in the language are Double Words. 479 numerous almost beyond belief, amounting, as has been said, to fifty thousand in all, the sounds they represent are not numerous in proportion. The various dialects differ in the number of vocables they each possess, but the rich- est, that of Canton, contains only about seven hundred sounds. It follows, therefore, that frequently a number of objects and ideas are expressed by the voice by the same sound, though, when written on paper, they are each represented by a distinct and appropriate char- acter. The confusion with which such a .sys- tem is fraught is mitigated somewhat by the constant use in conversation of double words, in some cases bearing the same, or nearly the same meaning, and in others, being made up, when the word used expresses a noun substan- tive, by combination with a classifying word pointing generally to the leading characteristic of the object. " These classifiers bear some resemblance to our expressions herd, head, Jleet, troop .... For example, the word pa, 'to grasp with the hand,' is used as a classifier to precede anj^thing which is held in the hand, such as a knife, a spoon, a hatchet, etc. In- stead of expressing a knife by yih taou, which 480 The Language. might either mean a knife, a small boot, or a fringe, the clas:t." As the verb in common with every other part of speech is without inflexion, the force of the past and future tenses has either to be expressed by the context or by the addition of certain prefixes or suffixes. For example, in the sentence Kaou-tsoo shih yih neen chu Chin-he, " Kaou-tsoo, in the eleventh year (of his reign), punished Chin-he," with death, the context is sufficient to show that the verb choo is in the past tense, and no prefix or suffix is necessary. But in the phrase Kin e choo Choo-Leu, " Now he has punished Choo- leu with death," the verbal particle e is re- quired to mark that tlie action is past, since without it the meaning might be "Now he punishes, or will punish, Choo Leu with death." In the literary stj-^le, several other particles are used to express the past tense, which may be said to resolve themselves in the colloquial Chinese Punctuation, 493 to the suffixes leaou "to complete," and Kwo "to pass over." In the same way with the future tense ; in such a passage as Seen juh Kwan chay wang che, " He who first enters the Pass shall rule over it," the context sl^ows us that wang " shall rule " is in the future tense ; but when the context fails to point to the time of the action, the particle tseang "to take" is some- times prefixed to make the meaning clear, as in the sentence Ngo tseang wan che, " I will (tseang) ask him." In the colloquial the verb yaou "to want," is prefixed in place of tseang. Bv similar devices the different moods are 'with more or less distinctness indicated, and though it not unfrequently happens that, in the absence of added verbal particles, the mood and tense of the verb may be a matter of uncertainty, yet, speaking generally, the mean- ing of the writer becomes plain to the patient student. Another difficult}^ is the absence of all punctuation in some Chinese books ; but even here he is helped by the use of final par- ticles which, either as signs of affirmation, exclamation, or interrogation, frequently mark the close of a period CHAPTER XIX. THE LITERATUBE. N the literature of a civil- iy^ ized country is reflected the national mind. ]VJ,ore especially is this ^'&'. case with a people so addicted to the use of pen, ink and paper, as the Chinese. In the countless voJumes which have appeared and are appearing from the many publishing centres, we see mirrored the tem- — perament of the people, their excellencies, their deficiencies, and their peculiarities. Abundant evidence is to be found of their activity in research and diligence in compilation, nor are signs wanting which point to the absence of the faculty of imag- 494 Grace of Style Wanting. 496 illation, and to an inability to rise beyond a certain degree of excellence or knowledge, while at the same time we have displayed the characteristics both of matter and manner, which most highly commend themselves to the national taste. As a consequence of the very unplastic nature of the language, there is wanting in the literature that grace of diction and vary- ing force of expression which are found in languages capable of inflexion and of syntacti- cal motion. The stiff angularity of the written language, composed as it is of isolated, unas- similating characters, robs eloquence of its charm, poetry of its musical rhj'thm, and works of fancy of half their power ; but in no way interferes with the relation of facts, nor the statement of a philosophical argument. Hence to all but the Chinese mind, which knows no other model of excellence, the poetical and fanciful works of Chinese authors offer fewer attractions than their writings on history, science, and philosophy. Unlike the literatures of other countries, one criticism applies to the whole career of Chinese letters. It is difficult to imagine a nation of busy writers pursuing 496 The Literature. a course of literature for more thau three thousand years, and yet displaying so little progress in thought aud style as Chinese au- thors have. That their works vary in quality no one who has read two Chinese books can doubt ; but the variations are within limits, and, except perhaps in a few modern works in which the effect of European influence is observable, the width of thought and power of expression have in no wise increased, at least, since the revival of letters under the Han Dynasty (B.C. 206-a.d. 25). The fragments which we have of an earlier literature make it difficult to institute a comparison with them. We have the nine classics — of which more anon — the early Taouist literature, and a few scientific works ; but these are all that remain to us of the very considerable literature which existed in what is now China, prior to that period. If we were to accept the accounts given us by the people themselves, of the origin of their literature, we should be compelled to be- lieve that it took its rise from the rock in- scriptions cut by the Kwei and Ma tribes of aborigines on the banks of the Hwang and The Most Antique Booh. 497 Lo rivers, or, as the legend is now understood, from the inscriptions brought out from the waters of those rivers on the backs o^ a tor- toise (Kwei) and a horse (Ma); but we may safely assume that the Chinese not only brought a knowledge of writing into China, but that they brought also books, and there is internal evidence to support the assumption that parts of the Yih king, or Book of Changes, the book for wliich the Chinese claim the greatest antiquity, were among these writ- ings. That it belongs to a very early period, is sufficiently proved by the fact that until now the key to its interpretation has been entirely lost, and that, though the ablest native scholar of all ages, including Confu- cius, have attempted to explain it, they have one and all failed to offer a satisfactory in- terpretation of its pages. That which Chinese scholars have been unable to do M. Ter- rien de la Couperie has accomplished, and instead of being a mysterious depository of deep divinatory lore, it turns out to be a collection of syllabaries such as are common in Accadian literature, inteispersed with chap- ters of astrological formulae, ephemerides, and 32 498 The Literature. others dealing with ethnological facts relating to the aboriginal tribes of the country ; all takiug the form of vocabularies, and therefore as impossible to be translated in the sense in which every commentator, from Confucius down- wards, has attempted to translate them as Johnson's Dictionary would be. The work consists of sixty-four chapters, at the head of each of which stands a hexagram composed of straight, whole, and divided lines, which may very probably have been derived fiom the rock inscriptions of the Kwei and Ma tribes. Following each hexagram occur a few sentences of the original text, which, however, have been largely supplemented by the ortho- dox commentaries upon them. The deviser of the hexagrams is said to have been Fuh-he (b. c. 2852-2737), to whom also the authorship of the original text is attributed by some critics. The commentaries which are now em- bodied with the text are, by common tradition, believed to have been the work of WSn Wang (b. c. .1231-1135), his son Chow Knng, and Confucius. The Yih king is, then, the oldest book ex- . tant in the Chinese language; and in the long Ligld on the Aborigines. 499 interval which separates it from the Confucian period when most of the other early canonical works took their present shape, but few works appeared of which we know more than the name. Among those, however, which have maintained an existence from a remote period are the San fun, " the three records " of the emperors Fuh-he, Shin-nung and Hwan-te (B.C. 2852-2597), or rather a portion of it, and the Jffea seaou ching, or " Calendar of the Hea Dynasty," which bears evidence of having been written about 2000 b. c. The first of these works throws considerable light on the condition of the aboriginal tribes at the time of immi- gration of the Chinese, and though through a confusion which has arisen owing to the tribal names being read ideographically instead of phonetically, it is generally regarded both by native and foreign scholars as a collection of idle legends, it yet supplies much ethnological information of importance. The same remark applies, though not to the same extent, to the Hea Calendar ; but what is additionally inter- esting in this work is the evidence it furnishes of the influence exercised upon the Chinese language by its contact with tongues of a dif- 500 The Literature. ferent morphology. Nothing, as has been stated in the preceding chapter, is more marked and less mutable in Chinese than the construction of a simple sentence. As in English the sub- ject comes first, then the predicate and, lastly, the object; but in the Hea Calendar we find the position of the subject and predicate occa- sionally reversed, and if any other evidence were required to point to such an arrange- ment being foreign to Chinese, the remarks of the commenters on such passages would supply it. Among the signs of the ninth month tlie Hea Calendar says Te hung yen, literally " migrate, the wild geese." This reversal of the recognized order of the words is so con- spicuous that the commenters would fain find a reason for it ; and the}' can offer no better explanation than that the act of emigration would probably produce the first effect upon the mind of the writer, and afterwards the fact that the emigrants were geese, and they suggest that the writer's pen would follow the order of his thouglits! Though only a few ancient works are ex- tant, we know from references which they con- tain that both the Chinese and the aborigines The Book of Odes. 601 possessed considerable literatures. We have the titles of a number of Chinese works which would now be invaluable aids to clearing up many obscure poiuts in the early history of the Chinese and their language ; and we have also mention made of Kwei records, and books of the Lung, Ma, Pung, Yue-chang, and other aboriginal tribes. On all sides there seems to have been a certain literary activity. We read, for example, of officials being sent at regular intervals into different parts of the Chinese states to note and collect the various dialec- tical differences as they developed, and for many centuries it was customary to collect the popular songs current in the several principali- ties for the purpose, as we are told, of judg- ing from them of the character of the rule exercised by the princes. In this way three thousand odes were collected in the royal archives. Of these a careful selection was made either by Confucius, as is very generally believed, or by one of his contemporaries, which now under the title of She king^ or " Book of Odes," forms the second of the nine classical works. The odes, as might be expected from the above account of their origin, refer princi- 502 The Literature. pally to local affairs, both political and social. The picture they draw of the condition of the states is not unfavorable. They teach us that side by side with occasional tyranny, vio- lence, and outrage, there existed political loyalty and many social virtues, and, in fact, that then as now the Chinese were a patient, industrious, and law-abiding people. Of their poetical value it is difficult to speak, owing to the impurity of the text and the changes which the characters have undergone in sound. By the Chinese they are regarded with re- spectful reverence, and endless commentaries manifest the interest taken in them. The Shoo king, or " Book of History," the third of the classical works, also took its present shape about the time of Confucius. Like the She king, too, it is a compilation, and shares with that work the reputation of having been edited by Confucius. It is stated in the history of the Suy Dynasty, that " Con- fucius inspected the documents in the library of the state of Chow, and having found the records of the four dynasties of Yu, Hea, Shang, and Chow (b. c. 2356-700), he preserved the best among them and rejected the others. Historical Work. 503 Beginning with Yu and coming down to Chow, he compiled altogether a hundred books, and made a preface to them." Whether this au- thor, who in the above sentence reproduces a common belief, was right or wrong in attrib- uting the compilation of the records to Con- fucius, his account of their nature and scope at least is correct. Like everything else in ancient Chinese history, the laws for the com- pilation of history were minute and definite. The historians were court officials, and among them were historians of the left hand and historians of the right hand. The former were charged with the duty of recording imperial charges, ministerial speeches, etc., and the lat- ter with that of narrating facts. The contents of the Shoo king mark that the compilation was the work of an historian of the left, since they consist only of the speeches and charges of the rulers and their ministers. These, and especially those contained in the earlier chap- ters, are extremely interesting, and throw con- siderable light on the early history of the settlement of the Chinese in China, as well as on the scientific knowledge they possessed and the religious sentiments they professed. 504 The Literature. As has been already pointed out in the case of the language, we have no traces of an early growth of either scientific knowledge or re- ligious professions among the Chinese in China. They step on to the stage as full-grown scien- tists, in the Chinese sense, and religionists. There is no beginning with the A, B, C, of knowledge or religion. Tliat was worked out for them by a people in Western Asia, among whom they sojourned, and of the results of whose toil they possessed themselves. If tliis were not so, it would be startling to read, in the first chapter of the Shoo king, the glib utterances of Yaou (2356-2255 B. c.) on the subject of the equinoxes and the solstices, and the position of the stars. Scarcely less striking is the high moral tone which per- vades every utterance of sovereign and min- ister. No higher system of moralit}- could po.ssibly be devised than tliat which is put into the mouths of these men whom, if we were to follow the Chinese belief, we should be compelled to regard as the pioneers of a struggling civilization. Such a conjunction is manifestly inconsistent. In the early stages of society elevated sentiments find their utterance Inconsistent Moral Utterances. 505 in isolated deeds and inspired expressions, not in evenly-maintained and well-thougbt-out dis- courses of a highly moral order. Imagine, for example, such sentiments as the following, uttered at the dawn of history of any nation : — " Yu said, ' If the sovereign can realize the difficulty of his sovereignship, and the minister can realize the difficulty of his ministry, government will be well ordered, and the people will sedulously seek to be virtuous.' The emperor said, ' Yes ; let this really be the case, and good words will no- where lie hidden ; no man of virtue and tal- ents will be neglected away from court ; and the myriad states will enjoy repose. To ascer- tain the views of all, to give up one's own opinion and follow that of others, to refrain from oppressing the helpless, and not to neglect the straightened and poor : — it was only the Emperor Yaou who could attain to this.' " * Either, then, we must imagine that these speeches were invented for the speakers many centuries after they were supposed to have been uttered, or that the Chinese had before *Legge's "Shoo King." Book 11, 506 The Literature. they entered China reached the, high level at which they appear. An instance of a work by an historian of the right hand is furnished by the one book of which we know Confucius to have been the author, and in wbich, under the title of the CKun ts'ew^ or " Spring and Autumn Annals," he records the history of his native state of Loo extending over two hundred and forty-two years. This being the undoubted work of the sage, an unusual interest at first sight attaches to it, and one's expectations are certainly not lessened by the statements of the author, and of contemporary scholars concerning it. "The world," says Mencius, "was falling into decay, and right principles had dwindled away. Perverse dis- courses and oppressive deeds were again waxen ripe. Cases were occurring of ministers who murdered their rulers, and of sons who mur- dered their fathers. Confucius was afraid, and made the CKun Ts'ew.''^ As soon as it ap- peared, we are told that rebellious ministers quaked with fear, and undutiful sons were overcome with terror. " Its righteous deci- sions," said Confucius, "I ventured to make." Such statements naturally prepare us to ex- Confucius's CKun Ts'ew. 507 pect to find in the CA'mw Ts'ew a history in which the narrative of events would be inter- spersed with sage reflections and deep-sighted criticisms. We should expect to find praise and blame distributed with a severely discrim- inating pen, and crimes denounced, and good deeds commended, with impassioned earnest- ness. But most of all we should expect to find the history strictly accurate. On each of these points the reader will be disappointed. Taking the strictest view of his duty as an historian of the right-hand, Confucius confined himself entirely to the barest narration of facts. Absolutely without a remark or reflec- tion, the events are strung together without any attempt to point a moral, or to weave them together in a connected history. Each chapter consists of a number of short para- graphs, embodying as many facts, concerning which the reader is left to draw his own con- clusions. The following, the first chapter, may be taken as a specimen of the whole work: " [Hisl first year [began], in the Spring-reigning first month. " III the third month the Duke and E-foo of Choc made a covenant in Meeh. 608 J The Literature. "In summer, in the fifth month, the Earl. of Ch'ing overcame Twan in Ten. " In autumn, in the seventh mouth, the Heavenly King sent the administrator Heuen with a present of carriages and horses, for the funerals of Duke Hwuy and his [wife] Chung-tsze. "In the ninth month [the Duke] and an oflScer of Sung made a covenant in Suh. " In winter, in the twelfth month, the Earl of Chal came [to Loo]. Kung-tsze Yih-sze died." This specimen of the style of the CKun Txew makes further remark on the subject unnecessary, but something might still be said for it, if it were a faithful record ; but even here it is found wanting. Facts are notori- ously suppressed and misrepresented, but not- withstanding this, so great is the faith of the Chinese in Confucius that it is enshrined among the classics, and has not even yet ceased to excite the admiration of his coun- trymen.* *It is difficult for a European, with his moral training, to appreciate the CVuH Ti'ew or to understand the admiration that has existed fur it among the Chinese for twenty-five centuries. Its apparent inaccuracies or wilful perversions of the truth are a part of the author's plan to shield the vices and wickednesses of sovereigns of his state, of whom, accord- ing to his creed, no evil should be uttered. To a Chinese, the specimen in the text seems rather a travesty than a translation, for the delicate shades of msaning and the position of the words in the original, which The Book of Riies. 509 The fifth of the Five King which, with the Four Shoo, make up the nine classics, is the Le ke^ or "Book of Rites," As in the case of the majority of the ancient books, its au- thorship is uncertain, but it is generally at- tributed to the Duke of Chow, in the twelfth century b. c. As its name implies, it deals with the rites and ceremonies of the nation, and so minute is it in detail, that it provides not only for courtly pageants and royal pro- cedure, but for the every-day social and do- mestic relations and duties of the people. At the present day it is still the ultimate court of appeal in all doubtful ceremonials, and one of the six governing boards at Peking — tlie Board of Rites — is especially charged with the duty of seeing its precepts carried out throughout the empire. Speaking of this work, Gallery says: — "In ceremonial is sum- med up the whole soul of the Chinese, and to my mind the ' Book of Rites ' is the most exact and complete monograph that this na- give a dew to the moral nature of the act are lost in the English rendering. The author only echoes the sentiments of Dr. Legge in his misjudgment of the philosopher. The commentaries on the C/t'un Ts'ew, written some time after it, explain and unfold the principles by which Confucius was guided in writing it, and no Chinese is deceived by it. 510 The Literature. tion can give of itself to the rest of the world. Its affections, if it has any, are sat- isfied by ceremonial ; its duties are fulfilled by means of ceremonial. Its virtues and vices are recognized by ceremonial ; the natural re- lations of created beings are essentially con- nected with ceremonial ; in a word for it ceremonial is man, the man moral, the man politic, and the man religious, in their num- berless relations with the family, society, the state, morality, and religion." Such was the existing literature at the time of Confucius, and so great was the influence of his teachings and opinions, that almost im- mediately after his death, the Five King, all of which had received his imprimatur, and one of which, as has been said, was actually written b}' him, were generally accepted as con- taining the true basis of all knowledge and morality. To these were added four j^ooks which were subsequently written by the dis- ciples and followers of the sage, viz., the TaJieo, or " Great Learning ; " the Chung yung, or " the Doctrine of the Mean ; " the Lun yu, or " Confucian Analects ; " and the Mang-tsze^ or the "Works of Mencius." The first three The Q-reat Mencius. 611 directly embody the teachings of Confucius, and the fourth those of his great successor, Mencius. Through all succeeding ages these nine works have been regarded as the sum total of all wisdom ; they have been the primary objects of study of every succeeding generation of scholars; their texts have been commented on until almost every word has been the subject CHINESE STREET AMUSEMENTS. of minute criticism, and through the many centuries, during which competitive examina- tions have been in vogue, they have formed the principal subjects for examination. Notwithstanding that this foundation of a national literature had been laid, little of im- portance was added to it during the centuries wliich immediately succeeded the time of Coiv- 512 The Literature. fucius. Literature, like every other art, re- quires congenial surroundings, that it may flourish and grow. Peace and freedom of thought are as essential to its well-being as turbulence and political uncertainty are destructive of it. Un- fortunatel}', the disorder in and the rivalries between the Chinese states, which Confucius had striven to avert, increased in virulence after his death. On all sides were wars and rumors of wars, government had ceased to ex- ist, and all rights, whether political or social, were trodden under foot by armed men. At such a time scholars were not likely to gain a hearing, and beyond some dissertations on the classics, and commentaries on, and musings consequent on Laou-tsze's Taou tih king, or Sutra of Reason and Virtue, which appeared probably in the lifetime of Confucius, little was written which needs mention. Even the restoration of peace and the estab- lishment of an empire under She Hvvang-te (B. c. 221-209), far from advancing the cause of letters, bronght about the greatest calamity that has ever befallen a national literature. By the advice of his ministers, in order to build up his empire on a tabula rasa, She Destruction of Books. 518 H\vaiig-te ordered the destruction by fire of all books except those of his native state, and works on medicine and divination. How great was the destruction caused by this enactment, we shall never know ; but as it could only be put in force within the area of the Chi- nese principalities, it is probable that the litera- ture current in the outlying states escaped the flames, but all the works which had been collected in the state libraries during the Chow Dynasty relating to the history, science, and art of the people ; all the works on the dia- lectical differences and variations of the lan- guage ; and all the records of and in the Koo wan perished at the hands of the ex- ecutioner. As if every change in the condition of the empire was to be equally hostile to literature, the contest which brought about the fall of the short-lived Dynasty of She Hwang-te (b. c. 221-206) ended with the sack and burning of the capital, when the flames, we are told, raged among the palaces and public buildings for the space of three months. Thus the probabilit}^ is that most of the books which were exempted from the flames fired by She 33 514 The Literature. Hwaiig-te perished in the conflagration which heralded the overthrow of his successor. No sooner had Kaou-tsoo, the founder of the Han Dynasty, showji a disposition to encourage letters than phoenix-like the old literature rose from its ashes. From the walls of houses, from caves in the mountains, and even from the beds of rivers, the people produced their literary treasures which had been hidden away until tiie tyranny of She Hwang-te should be overpassed. What these sources failed to re- produce, old men came forward to supply from their well-stored memories, and thus were kept alive the torches which had been lighted by the genius of by-gone writers. "After the death of Confucius," says the historian of this period, " there was an end to his exquisite words ; and when his seventy disciples had passed away, violence began to be done to their meaning." Thus it came about that there were five different editions of the " Spring and Autumn Annals," four of the " Book of Odes," and several of the " Book of Changes." Amid the disorder and collision of the warring states (b. c. 480-221), truth and falsehood were still more in a state of war- AT BREAKFAST. Collecting the Books. 517 fare, and a sad confusion marked the words of the various scholars. Then came the cal- amity inflicted upon the Ts'in Dynasty, when the literary monuments were destroyed by fire, in order to befool the ' black heads ' {i.e.^ the people). But the Han Dynasty arose, and reversed the ruin wrought by Ts'in, and care- fully gathered together the (bamboo) slips and tablets, and threw wide open the way for the bringing in of books. In the time of the Emperor Heaou-wu (b. c. 139-86), portions of books being wanted and tablets lost, so that ceremonies and music were suffering great damage, he was moved to sorrow, and said, ' I am grieved at this : ' and forthwith he formed a plan of repositories in which the books might be stored ; and he further ap- pointed officers to transcribe all works of the various scholars, and directed that the manu- scripts thus obtained should be placed in the repositories. The Emperor Ch'ing (b. c. 31-6), finding that a portion of the books were still dispersed and missing, commissioned Ch'in Nung, the superintendent of guests, to search for un- discovered books throughout the empire, and by special edict ordered the chief of the ban- 618 The Literature. queting-house, Lew Heaug, to examiue the classics, together with the commentaries on them, the writings of the scholais, and all poetical works ; the guardian of the city gates, Jin Hwang, to examine the books on the art of war ; the grand historiographer, Jin Heen, to ex- aniine the books on divination ; and the imperial physician, Le Ch'u-kwo, to examine the books on medicine. As soon as a work was completed, Lew Heang arranged it, indexed it, and made a digest of its contents, which was presented to tile emperor. While the undertaking was in progress Lew Heang died, and the emperor Gal (B. C.-A. D.) appointed his son Hin, a master of the imperial carriage factory, to complete his father's work. On this Lew Hin collected the books, and presented a report of them under seven categories, viz. : 1st., General Rdsum^s ; 2d, the Six Arts ; 8d, Philosophi- cal Works; 4th, Poetry; 6th, Military Works; 6th, Mathematics; and 7th, ^ledicine. In this way were collected 3,123 sections on the classics, 2,706 on philosophy, 1,318 on poetry, 790 on military matters, 2,628 on mathe- matics, and 868 on medicine. Strange stories are told of the way these treasures were un- Concealed Books Discovered. 619 earthed. The text of four of the classics, to- gether with a work on filial piety, were 'found concealed in the walls of the house which had been Confucius's; but so long and dark had been the night which had settled down on the literature of the country since the time of the sage, that these recovered works were un- intelligible to all but a few ripe scholars. By these, however, they were transcribed, and were eagerly studied by the people. The im- petus given to literature by these discoveries was prodigious. It was as though in the long period of apparent sterility men's minds had been gaining depth and force preparatory to the first appearance of spring after the long winter of their discontent. In Sze-ma Tseen, the Herodotus of China, as he has been called, and Pan Koo, the historian of the Han Dy- nasty, history found exponents who have never been surpassed in China, either before or since, for arrangement of material and comprehensive- ness of detail. On philosophical subjects tlie writers of this period, among whom the names of Kea E. Lew Gan, Yang Heung. and others, stand conspicuous, are pre-eminent at the pres- ent day; and in the light literature of the 620 The Literature. time was established a style which became a model for all subsequent ages. Tales of the im- agination then first found their expression on paper, and in the festive poems of the wine- bibber, philosopher, and musician, Ts'ai Yung, are foreshadowed the wine-extolling poems of Too Foo and other poets of the T'ang Dy- nasty. From this period the tide of literature has flowed onward in an ever-increasing volume, checked only, every now and then, by one of those signal calamities which have from time to time overtaken the imperial libraries of China. In times of political tumult the capital for the time being has not once nor twice been burnt to the ground with its palaces and libraries : but it is noteworthy that however ruthlessly on such occasions these intellectual centres have been destroyed, one of the first acts of the successful founders of succeeding dynasties has been to restore them to their former complete- ness and efficiency. Though, as has been said, the works of the ancients were the foundation of all succeeding literature, and though, therefore, the same main lines have been observed through all subse- CROCODILE POINT, SI-KIANG RIVER Divisions of Chinese Literature. 523 quent ages, certain prominence has under differ- ent dynasties been given to particular branches of letters. Historical and philosophical research marked the Han period ; under the T'ang Dy- nasty there arose generations of elegant prose and brilliant verse writers, at the bidding of whose pencils the angularity of the language yielded to their well-turned periods, and the short, formal lines of the earlier poetry were exchanged for more musical and plastic verses. Under the Sung Dynasty philosophy again held sway, while dramatic writings distinguished the succeeding Mongol Dynasty, and during the Ming Dynasty arose that desire to compile encyclopaedias which has been so marked dnr- ing the last four centuries. Of late years, however, there has been displayed a keenness of research and power of independent criticism which will give the present period a promi- nent place in Chinese literature. The Chinese divide their literature into four divisions, viz., classical, philosophical, historical, and belles-lettres. Of the nine classics we have already spoken ; but though they alone are styled King, or classics, they form but the nucleus of the immense mass of literature 524 The Literature. which has gathered round them. Unfortunately, the remarkable industr}-, which has served to pro- duce this huge literature, has been too often misdirected. The Chinese are singularly want- ing in real critical ability. They will split straws about an expression, and find fifty reasons for supporting an opinion, however absurd it may be ; but they are incapable of genuine antiquarian research, and are equally incapable of judging of the true value of facts. This, coupled with the loss of the original texts of the classics — for it will be remem- bered that the latest of them was written in a character which had undergone two very marked changes, before it assumed its present form — has robbed most of what they have written of any value. In matters on which history can throw light, the remarks of the commentators are often apposite, but it is ob- vious that where the entire text is misunder- stood, "from the egg to the apples," as in the Yih Mng^ or where it is corrupt, as in the She king., there is abundant room for the career of any hobby-horse and the flight of any fancy. Wonderful things have been evolved from the Yih king ; but it was reserved for Historical Compositions. 525 a learned Chinaman of the present day to see in Coufucius's mention of the Yang and Fm, or the male and female principles of Na- ture, a direct reference to positive and nega- tive electricity. The historical compositions of China form the most important branch of the national litera- ture. Bearing in mind that the ancients con- sidered that an historian of the left hand to record speeches, charges, etc., and an historian of the right to record facts, were all that were necessary to compile history, writers have generally confined themselves to the lines thus traced out for them. Following the example of Confucius in the Spring and Autumn An- nals, they have refrained from all reflections, drawn no inferences, and abstained from even remarks. By so much is the reader probably benefitted, since the historian is not tempted to distort events in order to support a favor- ite theorj^ and the student is left to draw his own inferences from a plain statement of facts. The She ke, or " Historical Record," by Sze- ma Ts'een, and the Han shoo, or " History of the Han Dynasty," by Pan koo, are the mod- els upon which all future histories have been 626 The Literature. written. First come the Imperial Records, which contain tlie purely political events of each reign. Then follow sections on chronol- ogy, rites and music, jurisprudence, political economy, state sacrifices, astronomy, elemental influences, geograph}^ literature, biographies, and records of the neighboring countries. On all these subjects they contain an immense store of valuable and varied information, and considering that the history of eacii dynasty is published during the following one, they dis- play an impartiality and absence of bias whi<;h is in every sense admirable. The plan of dividing the histories into sharply -defined sections, while possibl}^ in some instances convenient, gives a disjointed air to the compilations, and neces- sitates a considerable amount of repetition, since in the biographical portions, for example, events are necessarily narrated which had already appeared in the Imperial Records, and in tlie same way chronology, astronomy, and literature frequently trench on each other's special domains. Notwithstanding these imperfections, the " Twen- ty-four Imperial Histories " of as many dynasties form a worthy monument of the indefatigable industry of the imperial historiographers. As Topographical Works. 627 to their accuracy, it is very difficult to speak with any degree of certainty, as there are al- most no published authorities by which it would be possible to verify the statements they contain. Large portions of Sze-ma T'seen's history have no surer basis than tradition. Much of its contents deal with a period when written records were of uncertain value, and which, if existing at the time of Sze-ma Ts'een, must have been wholly or in part unintelli- gible to him, but beginning with Pan Koo's history of the Han Dynasty (b. c. 206 - A. d. 25) down to the history of the last, or Ming- Dynasty, which came to an end in 1644, th& annals have been based on the imperial records,. and though accuracy is not a virtue generall3r displayed by Chinese authors, they may fairly be accepted as generally correct. A geographical counterpart to these dynastic histories is found in the topographies which are officially published of each province, each prefecture, each department, and each district, throughout the empire. In these publications, also, a systematized plan of arrangement is followed, and their contents are, with excep- tions, classified under twenty-four headings, 528 The Literature. viz : — 1. A table of the changes which the district to be described has undergone during the successive dynasties, from the Han down- wards. 2. Maps, 3. A list of the distances from the various places to the chief towns of the department. 4. Astronomical bearings of the district. 5. Its ancient geography. 6. Its geographical position, and notable localities. 7. Manners and customs of the inhabitants. 8. Fortified places. 9. Colleges and schools. 10. The census of the population. 11. The taxes on land. 12. Mountains and rivers. 13. Antiquities. 14. Means of defence. 15. Bridges. 16. Dykes. 17. Tombs and monuments. 18. Temples and ancestral halls. 19. Buddhist and Taouist temples. 20. Biographies of patriotic native officials, from the time of the Han Dynasty downwards. 21. Celebrated men and things. 22. Illustrious women. 23. Saints and immortals. 24. Products of the soil. Here, again, the same evils result from the division of subjects as has been noticed in the histories. There is a great assemblage of isolated detail, but no general view. Dry statistics and bald, unconnected facts meet one at every turn, but there is no description of Biographical Work^. 529 the lay of the land or general aspect of the country or the appearance of the towns. The power of such description do^s not accord with the narrow train of thought, resulting from the Chinese system of education. Detail is dear to the Chinese mind, but accurate gener- alization is beyond it. This is plainly shown in the inability of Chinamen to draw a map. Set down to draw a town, or a mountain, or a village, they may be trusted to do it cor- rectly ; but, if told to draw a map of the tract of country in which these are situated, and to place them in their true, relative positions, they are at once at fault. It is this that makes Chinese maps so untrustworthy, and valueless as guides to travellers. Besides these topographies, there are copious works on the water-ways of China, the rivers of Manchuria, Mongolia, Tibet, and of the outlying dependencies of China, from the Great Wall to Kuldja and Kashgaria, and from Szechuen to the frontiers of India. These possess the same excellencies, and the same faults, as the topographies. Biographies form a considerable section under the general heading of histories. Among the 34 530 The Literature. Chinese there exists the same desire to add that " new terroi- to death " which among our- selves is represented by " Lives." Statesmen of eminence, literary men who have gained notoriety, Buddhist or Taouist priests who have died in the odor of sanctit}', all find those who are eager to make the nation share their appreciation of tlie virtues of the dead. Chronology and catalogues are also favorite themes of Chinese authors and compilers. Their early knowledge of astronomy, and of the sexagenary CN'cle, has given them the means of calculating times and seasons back to a very early date ; but, as \Vith the catalogues, the chronologies belong to the modern phase of the literature, when compilation came to be preferred to original authorship. The Chinese are great bibliophiles and antiquaries, and in the houses of the wealthy and educated classes there are often to be found valuable libraries and museums. The catalogues of the most celebrated of these have been published, and give a good general idea of the literary and antiquarian treasures existing in the empire. The largest and most celebrated literary catalogue is that published by order of the Emperor K'een-lung of the CHINESE SCENERY NEAR HA-NGAN. Catalogue Work. 533 contents of the imperial library. This work, which is entitled Kin ting sze koo tseuen shoo tsung mUh, " A catalogue published by imperial order of all the books in the four treasuries (i.e., classics, history, philosophy, and belles- lettres) of literature." In this work, which consists of two hundred volumes, there are appended to the titles of the works short epit- omes of their contents. The philosophy of China mainly relates to th^ art of government, and proceeds, except in the writings of a few heretics, on the lines laid down by Confucius and Mencius. Man's nature, according to the orthodox view, is in its origin entirely good, and its natural course is along the paths of virtue. From these paths it is only induced to stray by evil example and influences. In the absence of these seduc- tive lures it advances in spotless purity, until virtue becomes so confirmed a habit that it is proof against all attacks of evil. The ob- ject, therefore, of a ruler should be, to keep his people in a state of primitive simplicity, and, by the force of his own example, by the promotion to places of honor onl}'^ of men of virtuous lives, and by rigid adherence to 534 The Literature. the laws of social order, to cultivate that nature wiiich is the heaven-sent gift to every man, by the firm establishment of which man reaches a secure perfection. Such were the views of the leading philoso- phers of the Han and Sung Dynasties, of Ch'ing Haou, Ch'ing E, and Choo He; but taking this view of man's nature, the question naturally suggests itself: — Whence, then, is the source and prevalence of evil? To this point Choo He (A. D. 1130-1200) addressed himself, and expounded his theories on the subject in numerous treatises. He opposed himself strenuously to the theory, held by a school of philosophers led by Seun, that the nature of man was evil, and adopting a mid- dle course, between that and the theory of the orthodox Confucianists, that the nature of man was perfectly good, he taught that good and evil were present in the heart of every man, and that, just as in nature a duality of powers is necessar}' to the existence of nature itself, so good and evil are inseparably present in the heart of every human being. It is sometimes difficult to understand the systems of classification pursued by the Chi- Chinese Classification. 535 nese, and by what process of reasoning they include works on agriculture, astronomy, and the arts, encyclopaedias and essays, under the head of philosophy, it is impossible to say. Agriculture, being a pursuit which is regarded with peculiar veneration, as being productive of the food of man, has found many exponents on paper, and imperial authors have not thought it derogatory to describe the processes of plougliing, of seed-time and harvest. In two well-known works by the Emperor K'een-lung, every act of the farmer in the cultivation of rice, from the time that he first turns the soil with his buffalo-drawn plough to the time when he threshes out the grain, and every act in the cultivation of silk, from the first stage of the silk-worm to tlie weaving of pieces of silk, are described by engravings and verses of poetry. Astronomy has from time immemorial been a favorite study with the Chinese, and the literature of the science is large. Their knowl- edge of this subject, which is of Chaldean origin, is considerable, though not profound. It has enabled them to calculate eclipses and to recognize the precession of the equinoxes. 636 The Idterature. but it has left them with confused views on subjects which are matters of common knowledge among western peoples. The earth, according to their notions, is flat, immovable, and square, measuring about one thousand five hundred miles each way. The sun, the diam- eter of which is three hundred and thirty-three miles, stands at a distance of four thousand miles above it, but considerably below the sidereal heaven, the distance of which from the earth has been found, by " the method of right-angled triangles," to be 81,394 le (3 le equal to 1 mile), thirty paces, fiye feet, three inches, and six tentlis of an inch ! The months and seasons are determined by the revolution of Ursa Major. The tail of the constellation pointing to the east at nightfall announces the arrival of spring, pointing to the south the arrival of summer, pointing to the west the arrival of autumn, and pointing to the north the arrival of winter. This means of calcu- lating the seasons becomes more intelligible, when it is remembered that in ancient times the Bear was much nearer, to the north pole, and revolved round it like the hand of a clock. Scarcely inferior in bulk to the literature Literature of Medicine and Art. 537 of astronomy is that of medicine. Here, again, the knowledge of the Chinese lacks a scientific basis, and their practice is purely empirical. Of surgery they know little, and their diagnoses of diseases • are quite primitive. One of the most celebrated medical works is the "Golden Mirror of Medicine," which was published by a commission appointed by the Emperor K'een- lung. It consists of ninety books, and con- tains, besides several entire works of note, a large assemblage of prescriptions by celebrated physicians, and full directions for understand- ing aright the indications furnished, and imag- ined to be furnished, by the pulse. On drawing and painting much has been written, and the books on this subject present a very interesting study. They lay bare the secrets of the art, and place us en rapport with the feelings and intentions of the artists. Of no country in the world, with the excep- tion of China and Japan, would it probably be correct to say this; but Chinese and Jap- anese art, for they are one and the same, are mainly mechanical. The graceful bamboo sketches which appear to be traced with such individual freedom, the birds, the trees, the 538 The Literature. picturesque landscapes, etc., all of which seem to be the result of inspiration, are, after all, drawn according to fixed rules and after long- continued practice from authorized models. Every Chinese picture is explained, if seen in tlie light of such works as the Leih tai ming hwa ke, and we realize the fact that there is nothing new under tlie sun in Chinese drawing and painting. During the Sung Dynasty (A. D. 960-1127) Chinese literature reached its high-water mark. The writings of authors of tliat period are dis- tinguished for originality, research and elegance. From that time there has, until quite lately, been a marked decline. Men have given up thinking for themselves, and, instead of seek- ing new fields of knowledge, the}' have studied onl}' how to reproduce the results gained by others. One symptom of such a decline in a nation's literary career is the appearance of encyclopaedias of ready-made knowledge. It is always easier to remember than to think ; and the state of mind which led to the produc- tion of such compendiums is likely rather to content itself with memorizing results than to step out on the thornj' paths of knowledge. Encyclopcedias. 539 The first work which really deserves the name of encyclopaedia is the Wan keen tung kaou, which was compiled by Ma Twan-lin in the fourteenth century. It consists of three hundred and forty-eight books, and contains a r^sumd of the existing knowledge of the government, history, literature, religion, and lan- guage, as well as of the colonial and tributary states, of the empire. " One cannot cease to admire,' says R^musat, " the depth of research which the author was compelled to make in order to collect his materials, the sagacity he has shown in the arrangement of them, and the clearness and prt^cision with which he has- presented this multitude of objects in every light." With some qualification this praise is fairly earned by the compiler of this immense work, but, like most of his confrater- nity, he lacks accuracy. His references are often faulty, and in all cases it is necessary to turn to the passage quoted to verify his readings. A century later, the Emperor Yung-lo determined to signalize his reign by the publication of an encyclopaedia, which was intended to throw Ma Twan-lin's undertaking into the shade. An imperial commission, con- 640 The Literature. sisting of upwards of two thousand members, was appointed to carry out the work, and at the end of four years they were able to re- port to the emperor the completion of their labours, which were represented by an ency- clopaedia in twenty-two thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven books. Whether the difficulty and expense of printing so huge a compila- tion, were considered to be insurmountable, or whether the emperor had grown tired of his project, history does not tell us, but for some reason the MS. was never sent to press, and was allowed to lie barren and useless in the imperial library, where such portions of it as have not moulded into dust remain to this day. Three centuries later, K'ang-he (1612-1723), the second emperor of the present Manchoo Dynasty, conceived the idea of renewing Yung- lo's project, and like that emperor he ap- pointed a commission to give effect to his de- sign. Their orders were simple, though their work was colossal. It was required of them that they should extract from everj^ work of authority, from the Tih king downwards, all passages bearing on the six thousand one hun- A CHINESE GENTLEMAN. Forty Years' Work. 543 dred and nine headings, which it was the will of K'ang-he should be illustrated. For forty years the commissioners toiled. Meanwhile K'ang- he " became a guest on high," and his son, Yung-ching, had been five years upon the throne when the weary commissioners were able to write " Finis " on the last page of the 5,020th volume of the Kin ting koo kin t^oo shoo tseih ching, " Imperially ordered ^ com- plete collection of ancient and modern litera- ture, with illustrations." Tradition says that only a hundred copies of this work were printed. However this may be, the copies is- sued were few in number, and were all dis- tributed as imperial presents among princes of the blood and the highest officials in the em- pire. It was thus many years before a copy found its way into the market, and it has only been in obedience to stern pecuniary pres- sure that of late two or three copies have been offered for sale at Peking by the de- scendants of the original recipients. Fortu- nately, through the instrumentality of the late Mr. Mayers, Her Majesty's Chinese Secretary of Legation, one of these copies was secured for the trustees of the British Museum, who. 644 The Literature. when the prevalence in China of the agencies destructive of libraries — fire, carelessness, thieves, and insects — is remembered, may very proba- bly before many years prove to be the only possessors of a complete cop}' of this rare and valuable work. In arranging their materials, the commission- ers adopted six general categories, which they sub-divided into thirty-two sections, as follows : Categories — 1. The Heavens , 2. The Earth ; 3. Mankind ; 4. Inanimate nature ; 5. Piiil- osophy ; and 6. Political econoni}-. Sections — 1. The heavenly bodies; 2. The calendar; 3. Astronomy and mathematical science ; 4. Astrology; 5. The earth; 6. The dominions of China ; 7. The topography of the empire ; 8. The frontier nations and foreign countries ; 9. The imperial court ; 10. The imperial build- ings ; 11. Official institutes ; 12. Domestic laws ; 13. Private relationships ; 14. Genealogy and biography ; 15. Mankind ; 16. Womankind ; 17. Arts and divination ; 18. Religion and phe- nomena ; 19. The animal kingdom ; 20. The vegetable kingdom ; 21. Canonical and general literature ; 22. Education and conduct ; 23. Belles-lettres ; 24. Etymology ; 25. The official Ensay Writing. 54d examination system ; 26-^ The sj'stem of official appointments ; 27. Articles of food and com merce ; 28. Ceremonies ; 29. Music ; 30. Mili tary organization ; 31. Administration of justice and 32. Handicrafts. These headings sufficiently describe the scope of the work, which contains very little original matter, but consists as designed by K'ang-he, of literary extracts bearing on each subject, which are arranged in chronological order, so that the reader has laid before him the col- lective wisdom of every writer of note on the subject of his stud3\ The accuracy of the quotations forms a marked contrast to all other works of a similar kind, and we have therefore collected in one thesaurus a trust- worthy and exhaustive rdsum^ of Chinese lit- erature. Next to a knowledge of the classics essay- writing is the most important aim of educa- tion in China. It is by essays that the de- grees are mainly determined at the competitive examinations, and it is as essayists that men win the highest renown in the field of litera- ture. According to the cut-and-dried model upon which every essay should be framed, 35 546 The Literature. the writer, after stating his theme, gives a short " analysis " of it, and then an " ampli- fication " in general terms. Next follow an " ex- planation " with a postscript, the " first argu- ment," a "re-assertion of the theme," the "second argument," and the " third argument." These last divisions are more formal than real, and it is difficult to see any difference in the subject-matter between the first, second, and third arguments ; but the inexorable laws of essay-writing, confirmed by centuries of habit, have made their outward observance indispen- sable ; and a competitor at an examination would as soon dream of throwing doubt on the wisdom of Confucius as of disregarding them. As has already been said, the themes given at the examinations are invariably texts taken from th6 canonical books. Competitors know, therefore, the style and drift of the texts on which they will have to write, but tliey find further help in the immense quantity of suc- cessful essays which are constantly published. These, with the essays by celebrated writers, which are to be found in their collected works, form quite a literature. Unfortunately the cir- cumstances of their production, and the preju- Poetry before Prose. 647 dices which surround their authors, rob them of that freedom of expression and breadth of thought which might be expected to give them point and value. It is fair to assume, though dates altogether fail to help us, that as in all other countries so in China the first literary efforts of the people were in the shape of poetry. Some of the odes of the She king carry us back to very remote times, and even before these found expression in words, there probably existed a still earlier stratum of verse. As has already been explained, it is very difficult to criticise minutely the merits and measures of these old odes, owing to the changes which both the sounds and the characters have undergone; but we find that the lines for the most part consisted of only four characters each. When the language lost its polysyllabic character, such a measure was plainly inadequate to give the rhj'^thm which is necessar}- for polished versification, and consequently the common metre was changed to lines of five characters, and later still to lines of seven. This last metre was generally adopted by the poets of the T'ang Dynasty (A. D. 618-907), the golden 548 The Literature. age of poetry, and has since continued the favorite measure. Though it is true that the spoken lar.gnage is by no means monosyllabic, tlie characters do as a rule represent single syllables, and it may therefore at first sight appear strange that lines of seven monosyllabic words can ever be rhythmical ; but the laws of Chinese verse- making are such as to ensure a pleasing ca- dence in the lines, and the tones of the char- acters give a musical intonation to them. Strict rules are followed in the arrangement of the characters, and in verses of seven syl- lables a csesural pause occurs after the fourth syllable, which serves to divide also the gram- matical sense of the verse. Rhymes are ob- served at the ends of lines, but in Chinese an element in rh^^ming exists apart from the identity of sound which is unknown in European lan- guages ; and that is, that in order to constitute a rhyme the similarly sounding syllables must be in the same tone. For example. Fang and Kwang rhyme because they are both pronounced in the even tone, but a poet who attempted to make Fang (even tone), and Kwang (rising tone), rhyme, would be scouted On the Phoenix Tower. 649 as an igorant fellow. As a rule, all the lines do not rhyme. More commonly than not, alternate lines beginning with the second are made to rhyme, while no regard is paid to the sounds, apart from the tones, of the concluding syllables of the intermediate verses. The following is an example of a stanza in eight lines, in which it will be observed that the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth lines rhyme, while the first, as is often the case, gives the cue to the rhyming syllable.. The ode is by the celebrated poet of the T'ang Dynasty, Le Tai-pih, and is entitled " On ascending the Phoenix tower at Nanking": — Fung hwaiig tai shang — fung hwang yew The phoenixes are on the tower — the phoenixes wander. Fung kii t'ai k'ung — keang tsze lew The male bird goes, the tower is empty — the river alone flows 'by. Woo kung hwa tsaou — mat yew king [So] in Woo's palace the flowers and shrubs — bury the hidden paths, Tsin tai e kwan — ch'ing koo kew .jAnd methinks I see] Tsin dynasty clothes and caps — filling the ancient hill. San shan pan loh — ts'ing t'een wai The three mountains in half separate — and the azure sky is beyond. 550 The Literature. Urh shuy chun fun — pih loo chow Thr two streams midway divide — for the white egret's Isle. T'sung wei fow yun — niiig pe jih In all directions are floating clouds — sufficient to obscure the sun. Ch'ang-ngan puh keen — she jin ts'ow Ch'ang-ngan is out of sight — and the envoy is sorrowful. In this stanza we have all the leading char- acteristics of Chinese poetry. The last syllable of the first line gives the cue to the rhj-me which is followed in the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth lines, by the words lew^ keu\ chou\ fsow, wliich are all in the same tone, tlie even tone. After the fourth syllable in each line is a marked csesural pause, by observing which the rhythmical harmony of the verses is much increased, and which coincides with a break in the sentence. There is also the parallelism in which Chinese poets delight. "We have " the flowers and shrubs of the Woo Palace," and " the clothes and caps of the Tsin Dynastj- ; " we have the " three mountains in half j^epa- rate," and " the two streams midway divide." Not only is this a good specimen of the me- chanical peculiarities of Chinese poetry, but it gives a fair idea of the kind of stuff Chinese poetry is made of. There is nothing striking in Perfunctory Poetry. 551 thought or sentiment ; such merits are seldom en- countered ; the main object being to conform as closely as possible to the recognized canons of the art, and to perfect the diction. This perfunc- tory way of manufacturing poetry is inevitable in a country where every student has as a part of his education to learn to write it. By the flood of indifferent verses which annu- ally inundate the empire the national taste is destroyed, and the ordinary run of poetry has been reduced to the level of schoolboys' exer- cises. So fully is this recognized, that diction- aries of poetical quotations are as essential to a poet's literary workroom as a Gradus ad Parnassuni is to the equipment of a fourth-form English schoolboy. Under the present dynasty poetry as well as other branches of literature is held to have revived, and the following quotation has been taken from a collection as a good speci- men of the present condition of the muse in China : — Shan ku tsin jih — woo kaou muh ; She nii k'een lo — foo maou wuh. Faug ts'aou ch'un she — shin pe mum; Tue miug tsze pan — niei hwa suh. 652 The Literature. In the mountains I live all the day — humble and rude is my lot; The creepers my maiden entwines — which cover my primitive cot. lu spring-time the sweet-smelling plants — completely the door over-creep. The moon's beams alone fill the slcy — while the plum-blossoms peacefully sleep. In addition to the regular poetry spoken of above there are a kind of poetical composition known as Foo^ which has a metre of four and six feet in alternate lines ; irregular poems, termed Tioo tsze^ where the rhyme recurs at the ends of lines of various lengths ; and Ts'ze, a kind of roundelay in the extempore composition of which scholars amuse themselves at their fes- tive gatherings. The Drama received a comparatively late development in China, as it was not until the latter end of the T'ang Dynasty that a Chi- nese Thespis arranged the wild dances and songs, the precursors of the drama, into con- nected and orderly plays. From this period the art of dramatic writing improved until the time of the Mongol Dynasty founded by Jenghiz Khan, when it may be said to have reached its highest excellence ; but even in The Chinese Drama. 553 the most finished works of the best period there is, as tlie author has stated in another connexion, a want of " those touches of fancy and that play of imagination which we look for in the works of European playwrights. No great author has arisen to teach them to analyze the motives which sway men in the concerns of every-day life, and novelists and playwrights, therefore, are content to make their characters move, act, and converse at will, without troubling themselves to make a psychological study of the thoughts which in- fluence them. Thus even in the best plays the ' characters are moved about in a some- what disconnected and arbitrary way to suit the design of the author, too often in defiance of the probabilities, and with a total disre- gard of the old-fashioned unities. If they are unable to reach a high standard of dramatic writing, they show considerable skill in invent- ing incidents and in introducing clever and humorous dialogues. Thus they startle and amuse more than they interest, and cater for the eve and ear rather than for the mind." * * " The Chinese Drama," by the Author, in the Contemporary Review, for January, 1880. 654 The Literature. The absence of all scenery on the Chinese stage necessitates the awkward expedient of. putting into the mouth of eacli character as he appears a monologue explaining who he is, where he is, and the object of his being in that particular place. In the same way a change of scene has to be indicated by an explicit an- nouncement by the actor, in some such form as the following : — " Now I am at such a!id such a place." These interruptions, as may well be understood, materially mar the literary effect of a Chinese play, which otherwise is often not without merit. The best collection of dramas is known as the "Hundred Plays of the Yuen Dynast}'." The tone of these is higher and 'purer than most of the modern dramatic writings, which are too often grossly indecent, but even in these, many of the incidents introduced would, if judged by a European standard, be consid- ered coarse. Though the moral teaching may not be all that could be desired, the audience is yet taught that a sure nemesis follows evil deeds, and that to live happilv one must live virtuously. The same poverty of imagination whicli No Characterization in the Plays. 555 marks tbe poetry is observable also in the novels and tales. A Chinese novelist never attempts to make analyses of his characters, and there is no interweaving of a subtle plot in his pages. His canvas is covered with a succession of incidents more or less isolated, all of which are depicted in the broadest colors. No softening lines or gradual shad- ings mitigate the villainy or the profligate characters, or the supreme excellence of the virtuous personages. The bad are as incapable of doing anything but evil as the other sort are of doing anything but good. They are all either very black or very white. The hero, who in every case is as marvellously accom- plished as an Admirable Crichton, is per- fectly virtuous, as strong as Hercules, as brave as Achilles, and a very Nestor for vrisdom. As the end of all Chinese novels is to pro- claim the triumph of virtue, it becomes the in- variable rSIe of the hero to defend the op- pressed, to make straight the crooked paths of corrupt and vicious officials, and to redress every wrong that presents itself to him. At the examinations he takes the highest honors, and rises to a supreme position in the state. 556 The Literature. Imperial favors are lavished on him, or, if for a moment the wiles of the first villain cloud his career, the mist is soon cleared away, to his additional renown and to his enemy's infinite discomfiture. The best novel which is translatable is the Haou K'etv ehuen, which has been rendered into English by Sir John Davis, among others. In this work the chief interest centres in a succession of endeavors made by the villain of the story to prevent the marriage of the heroine with the hero, and to carry her cff as his own bride. The inevitable result fol- lows ; the villain is defeated, and the hero and heroine receive at the hands of the emperor the reward of their deeds ; and the work comes to a gratifying end which can, perhaps, be best shown b}^ a quotation. In the words of Sir John Davis's translation, " Teih-chungyii, his bride, and the assembled court then bowed down and acknowledged the imperial bounty, and the hum of joy and gratulation resembled the distant roll of thunder. The attendants had received their orders, and as they filed off in pairs, tlie ornamental lanterns in all their radiance, the harmonious band in full sound, Joy and G-ratulation. 657 and the marshalled banners in their variegated splendor, escorted the renowned and happy- couple as they proceeded homewards, attended by a vast company." The choicest bud, unblown, exhales no sweets, No radiance can the untried gem display ; Misfortune, like the winter cold that binds The embryo fragrance of the flower, doth lend A fresher charm to fair prosperity. CHAPTER XX. SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE FROM 1875 TO 1894 inclusive.* [-HUNG-CHANG, who as governor of Kiang-Su had aided Gordon to crush the Taiping rebellion — during which it has been estimated twenty million persons perished — and who was known by the name of Li-Futai, succeeded to the office of Prime Minister. The Formosa difficulty with Japan was now settled, in accordance with the terms, however, as dictated by the Mikado, viz., the withdrawal of the Japanese troops and the acceptance of one hun- dred and fifty thousand pounds as indemnity. With characteristic inclination for attacking foreign- ers some Chinese soldiers at Ching-Kiang assaulted the American Consul and his wife, further trouble only being averted by the prompt dispatch of American and British men-of-war from Shanghai, when the reparation demanded was unhesitatingly extended. The great Weising lottery scheme, for the drawing of names of the ♦Continued from page 86. 558 Li-Hung- Chang. 559 successiul candidates at official examinations, became a public scandal in 1875. The profits were found to be enormous, eight hundred thousand dollars of which — according to Boulger — found its way into the pockets of the Viceroy of Canton, as hush money. These flagrant abuses, together with the inadequate system of examina- tion, induced Li-Hung-Chang to petition for the intro- duction of western studies in the schools, and the exam- ination of candidates in the sciences. In his memorial, he said: — "Since the opening of our connection with foreign nations, our literary men and officers have con- tinued to adhere to traditional ideas. In arrogant language and high-sounding phrases they have derided foreigners, and regard it as beneath their dignity to notice them, and they are therefore at a loss what to do when foreign affairs have to be disposed of." China still continued to be the theatre of chronic re- volt and endemic disaster. In 1876, Jakub Kushbegi — Yakoob Beg — the Amir of Kashgaria, with an army of forty thousand, defeated the Chinese troops sent to sup- press the rebellion, and an additional tax was levied to quell the local uprisings in Kwang-Tung and Shansi. At Gumti, the Kashgarian rebels were later bombarded and defeated with a loss of six thousand men, and Urumtsi surrendered. After a great loss of Chinese troops, commanded by Kinshun,who, in 1874, under the 560 The Tungan Annihilated. direction of Tso-Tsang-Tang, had commenced his march across the desert from Sou chow, the stronghold of Manas, finally capitulated, and Haiyen, the Mahomed an leader, left the shelter of the fort and came out with three thou- sand of his men to negotiate for terms of peace, "Bear- ing arms, and with their women and children in the center of the phalanx, the Chinese became suspicious," or at least offered the plea of doubt in extenuation of their subsequent barbarity. The Tungan were surrounded, and as they attempted to cut their way out were ruth- lessly annihilated. Contemporaneously with these events drought and famine had overtaken the district of Houan, flanking the course of the Yellow river, creating an unparalleled dearth, while a fearful flood visited Foo-Chow, five thousand bodies being discovered at one point alone, aft«r the assuaging of the water. The first railway constructed in China was completed in 1876. Eleven miles being equipped between Shang- hai and Woosung, but the congratulations of its pro- jectors were of short duration; the native officials stopped further operations, on the pretense of assuming its management, and the rails were finally removed to Formosa. A perceptible spirit of progress and im- provement was now visible. Kiungchow, on the Island of Hainan, was made a treaty port, as was also Paklui, Wuhu and Wenchow, together with Ichang, one thou- Treaty Ports on the Yang-tse-Kiang. 561 sand miles from the sea, the eiitrep6t for the province of Szechuen, the " land of plenty," and for the flanking valley of the navigable Yang-tse-kiang with its millions of industrious people. By the pacific opening up of new territory through the humanizing influence of trade, travelling was now attended with less danger. Captain Gill, who undertook a journey through Southwest China into Burmah, expe- riencing no practical opposition. Another famine of still greater severity than that of the previous year, and consequent upon the destruction of the crops, now appeared in Shantung. The sale of cloth- ing succeeded the sale of children, and underground pits of refuge were constructed for shelter from the cold. In the city of Chung-Chow four of these contained nearly three hundred persons, and notwithstanding the deaths that resulted from the foulness of the atmosphere, and the indescribable filthiness, as fast as a corpse was borne to the surface, crowds half frozen and famished, men and women, would struggle for the vacatit place. Tso-Tsang-Tang, having pacified the Northwest and overthrown the Turgani, now marched onwards to Sun- garia, described by R^clus as "the broad gateway leading from the Chinese to the western world." Ya- koob Beg having died in May, little resistance was offered by his two sons, who were busy with an internecine 562 Conquests in Turkestan and Manchuria. war, and after feeble opposition the city of Kashgar was taken, on December 17th, by an army of twelve thousand men under the generalship of Lien-Sho-Daryn. After ten years of insurrection, and a joint display of "unexampled cowardice and unheard of barbarities," the Chinese had at last brought to a " triumphant con- clusion, the campaign undertaken for the reassertions of their authority over the Mahomedan rebels." Not sat- isfied, however, with their conquests in Eastern Tur- kestan, the Imperial troops, flushed with their successes, pushed yet further beyond the Great Wall and Man- churia, into the more remote metropolitan province of Hi, with a view of its ultimate recovery from the tempo- rary custody of Russia. To facilitate the accomplish- ment of this design, Chung How was dispatched upon the delicate mission of plenipotentiary to St. Petersburg, to negotiate for its possible official and pacific transfer. Though Kashgar was in the hands of the Chinese, Kuldja was still retained by the Russians, but held subject to pledged evacuation so soon as China had shown her ability to restore and maintain order by force of arms. But Kuldja was a place of some strategical importance, and the disinclination on the part of Russia to surrender her authority led to complications which threatened to interrupt the hitherto friendly relations existing between the two governments. Chung How, Russia Cedes Kuldja. 663 unfortunately for himself, regarded territorial expansion as a quite secondary consideration, and thought little of frontier defences or lines of demarkation, so upon his uncalled for return with a promise of the acceptance of a five million rouble indemnity, he was charged with " disobeying instructions," and would have lost his head, but for the timely intercession of the British sovereign. The Marquis Tseng, by a subsequent and successful dis- play of diplomacy, succeeded in 1880 in obtaining from Russia " the almost unqualified territorial concession of Hi." Kuldja was retroceded to China, and the capital transferred to Suitung. But Russia exacted an ' indem- nity of ten million roubles, and twelve thousand four hundred and sixty square miles of territory on the Black Irtysh, in the Tekkes river valley, besides retaining special treaty rights, and a Russian Consul remains in residence at Kashgar. There is little doubt but that the valuable commercial privileges conceded to Russia at this time alone pre- vented war. Besides Kalgan, another right of way at the western end of the Great Wall at Souchow was per- mitted. The Russian fleet concentrated at Vladivos- tock was the " most powerful ever sent to Eastern seas," while a small intermediary force of Russian troops could have cut off all communication from the Chinese Central Asian army of sixty thousand men — with the Chinese 564 Chinese Turkestan and Mongolia. frontier. Had hostilities eventuated, Russia could readily have occupied Northern Corea, and seized Port Lazareff with its unequalled harbor, situated only one hundred miles south of the boundary of Russian Tar- tary, on the sea of Japan, Colonel Gordon, who had been summoned to advise with Li-Hung-Chang, declared, much to the ill-concealed chagrin of the Chinese soldiers, that " they had deceived themselves aa to their boasted progress in the military art, and were entirely deluded in their belief that their army and munitions of war were on a par with those of European nations, for, as a matter of fact, they were as defective and primitive as ever." Of the area and population of Chinese Turkestan little is known, the trade from India having to enter by the lofty pass of Karakoram at an altitude of eighteen thou- sand five hundred feet, or by the obstacle route through Kashmir and Hunza, or by the alternative and almost inaccessible passes of the Hindu Kush. The western boundary lies in the debatable land of the Pamirs. Of greater Mongolia, with its elevated plateau of extraordi- nary altitude, seldom less than ten thousand feet, and its millions of a nomad population of Buddhists, still less is known. Lhassa is the religious center and capital, and the Mongols still acknowledge the sovereignty of the Grand Lama of Tibet. Trade tirith India and the United States. 565 Notwithstanding the imperial edict forbidding the cultivation of the poppy in Kashgar, and the official de- struction of the crop, the evil continued with little real abatement. The importations from India steadily in- creased, and as the crop, is seven times more remunera- tive than grain, "its suppression was, a problem." While its importation into both Russia and the United States was forbidden by treaty, the income from its cultivation had reached nine million pounds in 1881, in the face of a tariff, the prohibitory usefulness of which, however, was nullified by the qualifying provision of a "maximum rate." Despite the malign influence of the drug, the industrial influences of machinery continued to attract the people. In 1879, the first steam cotton- mill was established, with a factory containing one hun- dred looms. Whether this contributed to the enormous falling off in the importations of American cotton-goods — they declined from six hundred and thirty-three thou- sand pieces in 1879 to one hundred and seventy-two thousand pieces in 1880-— or whether an increased do- mestic demand in the United States was solely responsi- ble, the fact remains, that a measure of industrial prog- ress hitherto "retarded by the abuses of Chinese officialism, as well as by the conservative prejudices of the people," was now apparent in the adoption of west- ern arts and commercial methods. 566 Death of the Dmvdger Empress Tsi An. A revolt, which for a time assumed a threatening character, occurred in 1879 among the Hakkas, a tribe from Central Asia, practically a band of interlopers, who became dissatisfied with the lands allotted to them on the Island of Hainan, a part of the province of Can- ton. They were soon subdued. In May of the same year General Grant visited China, and was made the re- cipient of attentions, such as were never before bestowed upon a foreigner ; he was banqueted at Tientsin and Pe- king. A treaty, relating chiefly to the status of the Chinese in Cuba, was concluded with Spain, as were also two others with the United States in 1880, providing for the treatment of Chinese emigrants, and trade relations. The navy was reinforced by four new iron-clads of Eng- lish build, and thirty-nine miles of telegraph lines were constructed. The regretable death of the Dowager Em- press Tsi An, remarkable for her firmness and resolution, left the Empress Tse Hi sole regent, and preluded the complex condition of affairs in Corea, the "forbidden land " which China was called upon to face. The King of Corea, fearful of Russian aggression, readily accepted a proposed treaty with China as an alternative and lesser evil, and announced — acting under Chinese coercion — ^that " under the guidance of Chinese encouragement" he was prepared to throw open the Co- rean porta to outside trading countries. The text of this China, Japan and the Corea. 567 treaty was carried to the court of Seoul by Commodore Schufeldt, an American naval officer, and was duly signed. The dominant and equally transparent policy of Li-Hung-Chang at once aroused the jealousy of Japan, who claimed to have equal voice with China in the Corean control and hurried a fleet and army to threaten the Corean capital and assert its rights. This was followed by a counter-display on the part of China with a fleet of gun-boats and five thousand troops, and the question of the undivided suzerainty of the penin- sula was at last made a living bone of contention, des- tined to culminate later on in the great war of 1894-95 and China's complete humiliation. The intervention of foreign diplomatists averted the threatened rupture, though China, determined upon asserting in some way its right to material acquisition, seized the person of Tai- Wung-Kun, the father of the king, and bore him as a temporary hostage to the palace at Peking. The open- ing of the treaty ports to the powers, gave an excuse for a cessation of belligerent display, and once again the old time jealousies of China and Japan were permitted to slumber. In 1882, the French decided to establish a definite protectorate over Tonquin. " Indo-China was an invit- ing field," writes Boulger, "and the weakness of the kingdom of Annam was too great a temptation." 568 Temporary Commercial Panic. French expansion in China had long been regarded aa a field for "great advantage at little comparative risk." These and other domestic troubles seriously affected trade and helped to precipitate a commercial panic. A financial crisis followed and interest rose to thirty- five per cent. Innumerable joint stock enterprises had been exploited. Paper, glass, and cotton factories, and gold and silver mines, had tempted excessive specu- lation, and the reckless investment of native capital under native management proved disastrously unprofit- able, while owing to a disease which attacked the silk- worms the quantity of silk exported amounted to less than one-half of the shipments of former years. Anti- European riots disturbed Canton, and were only checked by the presence of British and French gun-boats. Shanghai, however, distinguished itself by its encourage- ment of higher education, the American University established by the Rev. Professor Allen receiving the lib- eral support of the Chinese merchants. The French meanwhile had discovered that the Songcoi or Red river presented facilities for penetrating the rich province of Yunnan, its mineral wealth was a sore temp- tation, and so, under guise of establishing " a protectorate of China, they captured the town of Hanoi, the nominal capital of Tonquin, and situated at the delta of the river. The relation of Tonquin to China was similar to that French Invade Tonquin. 569 borne by Corea. After the death, in July, 1883, of King Tuduc, who had become "subservient to the French," the Annamese, encouraged by certain reverses of the French troopS near the capital were encouraged into a display of hostility, but which proved of brief duration. The court city of Hue surrendered, and by the terms of a promptly concluded treaty the new king became in due turn a dependent of France. Meanwhile the engage- ment with the Black Flags at Sontag resulted in the de- feat of the Chinese troops, and a treaty of peace on behalf of France was entered into in May, by Admiral Four- nier and the Chinese government. But the treaty did not serve to unravel the diplomatic tangle. China announced an " unofficial war with France," and threat- ened, through Marquis Tseng, to declare actual war if its garrisons were attacked, while M. Ferry retaliated by threatening the exaction of an indemnity for the irregu- lar hostilities in Tonquin. Aft«r the capture of Bacninh, the occupation of Langson was stipulated for, and a French force under Colonel Dugenne advanced upon the place, declining to await the receipt by the Chinese of instructions from Peking authorizing its evacuation. The place was captured, a misunderstanding in regard to dates being the excuse offered for its premature seizure. Neither government being able to come to terms the President of the United States was appealed to by China 570 Bombardment of the Min Forts. to act as mediator in accordance with the terms of the treaty. The request was acceded to upon the condition that it could be proved that China had not violated the terms of the convention. To this France objected, and through M. Jules Ferry demanded the absurd indemnity of two hundred and fifty million francs. This was in- dignantly refused, and a compromise offer of three mil- lion five hundred thousand francs was subsequently offered and accepted. During a quasi period of peace the French fleet under Admiral Courbet.on an alleged pacific mission, had, by a stratagem, taken up a position beyond the Chinese arsenal and fleet on the Min river above Foochow, from which strategic point, on the 18th of July, immediately after the announcement of hostilities and the French ultima- tum, took advantage of its position and raked the Min forts, which were unable to train their guns in reply. This lamentable lack of French chivalry resulted in an estimated loss to the Chinese of one thousand killed and three thousand wounded. The French lost seven ! Hitherto there being no formal declaration of war the French had made use of Hong-Kong as a base of pro- tective operations. The manifest unfairness of the Min episode was resented by Sir Harry Parkes, the British representative, who now issued a proclamation declaring that the action of the French fleet at Foochow was tan- France Occupies Tonquin. 571 tamount to a declaration of open hostilities. The Teng- yuen and the Chen- Yuen steel armor plated ships, built at Kiel, and other armored cruisers, were added to the Chinese fleet, which under protest from France was now largely officered by Germans; Krupp guns were also purchased and the one hundred and twenty thousand men under command of two German generals were armed with the Mauser rifle. While both nations still refrained from a formal declaration of war, France, " in order to starve the Chinese government into submission," hastened to proclaim rice as " contraband of war," a sweeping meas- ure that was not unqualifiedly permitted to prevail by the neutral powers. By the final recapture of Langson on May 5th, 1885,' and other fortresses, and after great loss of life, and many reverses owing to China's stub- born resistance, France finally established its supremacy in Tonquin, but at a monetary cost of four hundred and seventy million francs. A treaty of peace was executed at Tient-sin, June 9th, 1885, between M. Patrenoti;e and Li-Hung-Chang. The question of China's suze- rainty over Annam " being vaguely treated, leaving the sentimental and historical claim of China precisely where it was," granting no further concessions than those obtained by the Foumier convention, but " giv- ing France a free hand in the establishment of her pro- tectorate." 572 British Seize Port Hamilton. "Little was learned," says Boulger, " from this cam- paign, of China's fighting strength, for the regulars had no opportunity of showing their quality." The chief weakness seemed to rest in the " incapability of the ofii' cers to conduct a campaign," yet they still gave a " very good account of themselves against one of the greatest powers in Europe." Had the war been fiirther prose- cuted without outside interference, there seems but little question as to what would have been the final result, "though China," according to a writer in Appleton, " in the improved condition of her army and coast de- fences, was in a better position to continue the struggle, notwithstanding her impoverished exchequer, than was the French government, the temper of the nation for- bidding the expenditure of the military strength of France in colonial adventures." While Russia was neglecting no opportunity to foment strife between Japan and China, with alert regard for her own obvious interest in Corea, a British Admiral acting under instruction of the minister at Peking occupied — without definitely annexing — Port Hamilton, closing all the entrances to the harbor but one. As all the sea-routes between the Yangtse-Kiang, and northern parts of China and treaty ports of Japan, converge her«> and the fort commanded the approach to the ^.ossian arsenal at Vladivostock, it seemed to possess Dismissal of Prince Kung. 573 certain strategic advantages. The cost and difficulty of its proper fortifying having been reported upon un- favorably, it was retroceded to China two years later. Prince Kung, who had been regarded as the most influentially powerful man in China since the treaty of Pekin, was summarily dismissed from office by decree of the Empress Regent, and Prince Chun, a man of imperious will, became a prominent figure in the new Board of National Defence. The administration of naval matters was now centralized with Li-Hung-Chang and Marquis Tseng in active control, and Admiral Lang, the English officer who had retired from the command of the navy sooner than take up arms against France, was re-engaged, and five new war-ships purchased. The efibrt made by the Pope in 1886 to establish a permanent representative of the Vatican in China, was unsuccessful. France objecting on jealous grounds owing to China's previous refusal to permit French protection of Chinese Catholic converts, and threaten- ing the home separation of Church from State if the Pope persisted. With the slow delimitation of the Tonquin frontier, the commercial concessions anticipated by France were stoutly resisted by China, who now had little fear of the resumption of hostilities. The barrier tax on opium, however, which had been fixed by con- vention in London, was finally removed, the cultivation 574 Educational Progress. of the drug was formally legalized by imperial edict, and Tonquin-grown opium was permitted to be imported into Southern China, Greater attention than ever be- fore was now directed to the development of educational facilities, and various technical institutions received the encouragement of the government, notably the Tong Weng College in Peking, a state institution under the presidency of an American Scientist, Professor W. A. Martin. Military and naval schools were also opened at Tientsin, Foochow and Shanghai. Although all but the very lowest of the poorer classes can read more or less, not ten per cent, of the women can either read or write, and " higher education," says Whitaker, "consists in acquiring a knowledge of the Chinese language." Entirely wrapt up in themselves they still continue to know nothing of the affairs of other nations, whom they yet speak of, although no longer officially, as " barbarians." The local railway at the Kaiping mines declared a div- idend, and at last, permission was obtained to extend it to Tientsin, while another to Petang was also undertaken. In 1894 the much projected railway from Tientsin to Tungchow, a point about fifteen miles from Peking, still appeared on paper only. At the close of the same year the railway from Tientsin had reached Shan-Hai- Kuan — a distance of two hundred miles — where the " China's Sorrow." 575 Great Wall touches the sea. The Formosa, sixty-five miles of road, has, however, proved both successful and profitable. The practical and foremost supporter of railway construction, and indeed of all public improve- ments, being Li-Hung-Chang, the viceroy of the prov- ince, and for a time commander-in-chief of the Chinese Army in the war (1894) with Japan. A commercial treaty with Portugal was concluded, and later during that same year — 1888 — a commission was appointed to investigate into the condition of the Chinese in the Philippine Islands, Borneo, Singapore and other places, several million of whom were reported to be engaged in labor or business, and all of whom were subjected, it was claimed, to discriminatory and unfair treatment. Towards the close of the year the civilized world was shocked to hear of the awful loss of life which accompanied the overflowing of the Yel- low river, "China's Sorrow." Hundreds of villages and walled cities were destroyed. One million six hundred thousand persons were believed to have per- ished, and five millions rendered destitute, the majority of whom subsequently succumbed to inevitable privation. Ten million dollars and the labors of sixty thousand men were fruitlessly expended in an attempt to coax the river into its original channel. In the province of Yunnan an earthquake destroyed five thousand people. 576 Antir Christian Riois. On February 25th, 1889, the Emperor Kwangsu, having attained his eighteenth year, married Yeh-ho- no-la, the daughter of a Mandarin General, and on March 4th assumed the reins of government, the Em- press Regent relinquishing the direction of state affairs and passing into retirement. The death of the Marquis Tseng, the diplomatist, occurred early the following year, and in 1891 Prince Chun, the newly appointed Presi- dent of the Board of National Defence, died most unex- pectedly. The Emperor had barely succeeded to the throne when he declared, unmistakably, in favor of rail- way extension, and the construction of the eight hundred miles of road between Pekin and Hankow was sanctioned. Serious anti-Christian riots marked the early days of his reign. Outbreaks occurred in the valley of the Yaugtse- Kiang in May, and at Wahu and other places which to- gether aggregated a population of one hundred thousand Catholics. An excuse for the unprovoked persecution being offered, in the fact that it was a flagrant breach of morality for the opposite sexes to sit together during re- ligious ser^nces, and to punish the transgressors, missions, churches and hospitals were burned to the ground. At Wusneh, a missionary and the customs ofiicer were wan- tonly murdered, and three women were assaulted; at Ichang similar disturbances and great destruction of prop- erty took place, while even in remote Manchuria, the Right of Imperial Audience. 57'i Belgian priests were put to the sword. The government "admitted its inability to cope with the uprising," which was traced to the machinations of the Kolao Hui and other secret societies, and confessed that if the foreign powers insisted upon the extirpating of the organizations, "anarchy and disruption of the empire would ensue." The naval forces of Great Britain and France were strengthened and satisfaction and redress demanded. The right of audience and personal reception of the foreign ministers by the Emperor, which, for some years had been strenuously insisted upon by the powers but al- ways denied, was accorded March 5th, 1885, owing to the united stand taken by the European representatives, and the diplomatic corps of " Barbarians " was admitted in person — but in a body — to the imperial presence. In return for this concession China demanded the right, so far as Great Britain was concerned, to establish consu- lates at Hong Kong, Singapore and other places. The national obeisance before the sovereign, and one rigidly exacted, is the Ko-tow, consisting of nine prostrations. Indeed, it is the inflexible rule that any one official meeting another who has just left the imperial presence must perform the Ko-tow. In the case of the foreign ministers — and at a great sacrifice of imperial prestige — the performance of the Ko-tow, it is almost unnecessary to add, was not made obligatory. While the Emperor C7 578 United States Minister, Blair. of China is an absolute monarch, his powers, as defined by the greatest jurists of the country, are identically the same as those awarded to "the Christian sovereigns of Europe who rule by right divine." The will of the Em- peror of China is held in check by the "accepted code of Confucius," which lays down the governing rules of con- duct for both sovereign and subject, and at all times sub- ject to the unsparing criticism of the Board of Censors. "An educated public opinion," writes Boulger, "acts, as history clearly shows, as an excellent brake on the impetuosity of any man entrusted with irresponsible power," a power in this instance no greater however, than that of Czar or Sultan. Upon the appointment of Henry W. Blair as United States Minister to Peking, strong objections were raised by the Chinese government on the grounds that the newly appointed minister had advocated in Congress the ex- clusion of Chinese from the United States, and helped to secure the passage of legislation hostile to Chinese immi- gration. The Emperor refused to see Mr. Blair, and President Harrison declined to recall his representative. Following upon this incident and in order, perhaps, to accentuate his displeasure, the Emperor relaxed ceremony so far as to receive Mr. O'Conor, the British representa- tive, at the imperial residence of "peace and plenty" within the " Forbidden City," a concession hitherto never Trade and Finance. 679 extended, and a mark of favor which became " a standing grievance with the other ministers at Peking." Early in the present decade the construction of tele- graph lines was pushed with vigor, and connection with the Russian trans-continental system was affected by means of which messages can now be sent all over west- ern Asia and Europe cheaper than by cable. In the spring of 1894 the masterful floods of the great Yangtse- Kiang again overflowed its banks, and the loss of life on the adjacent low lands was enormous. The value of the foreign and domestic trade of China is hard to obtain. In 1875 it was estimated at about two hundred and five million dollars, in 1893 the total trade, conducted by only seventeen of the twenty treaty ports, alone amounted to about one hundred and forty- eight million nine hundred and ninety-seven thousand seven hundred and eighty dollars. Imports and exports, one hundred and fourteen million eight hundred and nine thousand nine hundred and thirty dollars. As regards revenue and expenditure no trustworthy statements exist. In 1875 the revenue was supposed to have amounted to one hundred and twenty-five million dollars. In 1874 the first foreign loan was contracted. It was for the sum of six hundred and twenty-seven thousand seven hun- dred and sixty-five pounds obtained at ninety-five per cent, and bearing eight per cent, interest, secured by the 580 A Corrupt Civil Service. custom's duties. Of the three foreign loans in all there was outstanding in January, 1892, only three million seven hundred and fifty-five thousand pounds, while the internal debt does not exceed eight million seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds. From this it will be seen that China's national debt is surprisingly inconsiderable. Unlike Japan, she has borrowed liitle. Of the revenue, most of that which is raised in the Provinces is applied, apparently, to local purposes, but a small proportion ever reaching Peking for the use of the central government. Of the revenue at the present day which is placed by good authority at a possible four hundred million dollars, Peking is said to receive one-third. Out of this the Emperor has to pay court ad- ministration, the expenses of the Army and Navy, and contingencies, the remainder is squandered with the as- sistance of a corrupt government and a dishonest civil serv- ice. Some twenty thousand officials comprise this latter body, whose names appear according to seniority in an ofi!icial Red Book published periodically. While the or- ganization of the bureaus is pronounced admirable, " cor- ruption is-all pervading." The great and " crying evil of China's civil ser\uce are the hordes of expectant ofii- cials, who, awaiting their turn by right of success at examinations, for appointments promised, but which never come, pass their time in levying blackmail on the The Suzerainty of the Corea. 581 unsophisticated masses." Over ninety thousand duly- qualified young men are said to present themselves yearly for final examination, which would entitle them to oflSce, in a service which at the most liberal estimate does not contain more than twenty-two thousand paid members. The quasi dependent condition of Corea, and the un- settled state of its affairs, measurably owing to China's standing claim of suzerainty, and which, for years had been a bone of contention between the Chinese govern- ment and that of the Island Kingdom of Japan, at last became the excuse for open rupture between the two countries. Up to the time of the commencement of the present Avar, Corea was considered to be doubtfully sub- ject to a somewhat indefinite suzerainty on the part of China, acknowledged by the sending of the customary annual tribute-missions t(f Peking. Japan, however, claimed, by the Treaty of Tientsin of 1885, to have se- cured an admission from China of "equality of rights in Corea." In 1876 Corea had, as already related, invited foreign intercourse, and the cities of Chemulpo, Fusan and Gensan, were, by the king's orders, " acting," as was then announced, "under the guidance of Chinese encour- agement," thrown open as treaty ports to the outside trading world. From this time forward Japan had sub- stantial and increasing interests in Corea. But the aims of the two powers were radically different, Japan desiring 682 (hrea Attacks Japanese Invaders. but China being unwilling to introduce necessary reforms into the peninsula. Progress versus retrogression were swaying in the balance. Upon the 22nd of June, 1894, in pursuance of the ex- pressed policy of protecting its subjects and promoting its interests, Japan landed large bodies of troops in Corea. Four thousand soldiers were stationed at Chemulpo and fifteen thousand at Seoul, the capital. On July 25th, the Corean army — instigated, it is alleged, by the Chinese government — made an unprovoked attack upon the Jap- anese force at Seoul, the battle resulting in the defeat of the Coreans and the flight of Li Hsi, the king. The kingdom of Corea, which measures some six hundred miles from north to south and one hundred and thirty- five miles from east to west, contains an area estimated at upwards of eighty thousand square miles, and a popu- lation "variously " estimated at between six and eighteen million, but reckoned according to the "last government census" at ten million five hundred and twenty-nine thou- sand. Seoul, the capital, has a population of two hundred thousand. After the lapse of a few weeks, when affairs seemed to be approaching a point *of pacific settlement between Japan and Corea, China insisted that the Japanese should withdraw their fleet, and that failing to do so, they threatened to advance upon the Japanese army of Japan and China Declare War. 583 occupation by land and sea. Japan was given until the 20th of July for purposes of reflection. The respite was not necessary, her mind was already made up, and in- terpreting the message as an ultimatum, without further ceremony, when she saw the Chinese war ships advanc- ing upon her fleet on July 27th opened fire, destroyed one of the opposing vessels and dispersed the enemy, sinking at the same time a transport flying the British flag. On the 1st of August an apology was tendered the British for sinking the transport which was fired upon owing to a misunderstanding, and a formal declaration of war was declared against China. Upon the follow- ing day the Emperor of China issued a manifesto, ac- cepting the invitation to fight, but placing the entire blame and responsibility on Japan for percipitating the conflict. The governments of the United States and Great Britain now declared their neutrality and Corea its independence of China, later entering into a treaty of alliance with Japan, to be terminated, however, as soon as a treaty of peace should be concluded between China and Japan. In October, the seat of war was transferred to the Chinese mainland, Japan assuming the aggressive, and landing forty thousand troops on the coast of Manchuria, threatening the safety of Moukden the ancient capital and twin seat of gov- 584 Japanese Victories. ernment with Peking. At Wie Ju the opposing forces came into collision and the Chinese army was routed, the Mikados fleet meanwhile having obtained command of the strategic advantages offered by the Gulf of Pechili. On November 4th, Andong and Fong-wong, outworks of Port Arthur, succumbed to the superior gunnery of the Japanese, the Chinese soldiers being accused of cowardice, six general officers deserting their posts, followed by fifteen thousand of the rank and file of Chinese chivalry, while the conquering Japanese con- tinued their victorious march into the interior. The Chinese army at this time represented on paper one million soldiers, for the most part equipped with arms out of date, and consisting principally of untrained men. This numerically immense force was comprised of seventy thousand Manchus, eighty thousand Mongols and some seven hundred thousand Chinese or Green Flags. Li-Hung-Chang's model army corps, known as the "Black Flag," and numbering fifty thousand, was utilized for garrisoning such forts as Port Arthur and Taku. Peking was garrisoned by the Manchus. Of the two hundred thousand Green Flag soldiers at Moukden about one-third was armed with Win- chester rifles. The maintenance of this poorly organ- ized and ill-equipped army costs over one hundred million dollars annually. China's Naval Strength. _ 585 With the navy, as with the army and the revenue, it is almost impossible to distinguish between that which is strictly imperial and the vessels that are the property of or subject to the control of the viceroys of the mari- time provinces. Whitaker reports that numerous officials — such as the Salt Commissioners and others — maintain armed gunboats to assist them in the collection of duties on certain articles over which they have a monopoly. What, however, is recognized as the navy proper is the fleet which cruises around Cheefoo, Tientsin and Port Arthur, and the southern fleet which acknowl- edges Shanghai or Foochow as its naval headquarters. According to the most recent returns the Chinese navy comprised the following vessels. The Chinese northern squadron in 1893 consisted of four barbette armorclads, one of nearly ten thousand tons, one turret ship, five deck protected cruisers of two thousand two hundred tons, four torpedo cruisers, twenty-three first class torpedo boats, and eleven gun- boats. At Foochow nine cruisers, three gunboats, and nine dispatch boats. Of the Shanghai "Armada," an armorclad, a gunboat and six floating batteries, an- swered to the roll call. The Canton flotilla was com- prised of thirteen gunboats. During the same year the services of Admiral Lang, who was for a long period engaged in organizing the naval force, and those of 586 Japan's Army and Navy. Gen. Von Haneken,* a German military engineer, were dispensed with, and Chinamen were appointed in their place. Japan's movable, offensive and defensive fight- ing capabilities consisted in 1891 of a total military en- Tollment of two hundred and sixty-two thousand six hundred and twenty, with three hundred and fifty thou- sand three hundred and sixty-nine under conscription, twenty thousand of which force was kept in active service. The navy department consisted of thirteen thousand and ninety-two officers and sailors on active service. The aggregate tonnage of the war ships amounted to sixty-one thousand tons displacement, representing seven- ty-six thousand one hundred and fifty-one horse-power, the vessels themselves mounting three hundred and twen- ty-four cannon of modem make, manned by five thou- sand seven hundred and twenty-six officers and "blue jackets." China, now thoroughly alarmed at the successes of the courageous islanders, was disposed to negotiate for terms of peace. On the 21st of the same month Port Arthur was captured, and the Chinese Dictator, Prince Kung, calmly avowed the impotence of the Chinese army to withstand the attacks of the Japanese troops, and pro- claimed China's complete willingness to abdicate its claims to Corean sovereignty, and pay a reasonable war * Reappointed in 1894, at the time of the declaration of war with Japan. China'a Humiliation. 587 indemnity. Japan expressed its readiness to negotiate if China would accede to its demand, namely, two hun- dred million dollars as compensation and if it would formally sue for peace. These terms China unequivo- cally refused. By December, the amount of indemnity demanded was increased to four hundred million dollars, and in addition to a national suing for peace, the cession of the territory occupied by the Japanese army was also insisted upon. While the more broad-minded of the Japanese were ready to listen to any reasonable negotiations for peace, believing that the punishment and the humiliation of China was complete, the military and the masses were too intoxicated with the successes of the troops to call upon the government to desist. But King Kwang-su and his counselors though de- spairing yet remained stubborn, and the Japanese army under Field Marshal Oyama commenced its triumphant overland march, while its successes by sea were no less phe- nomenal, and Asiatic history continued to be manufac- tured at an unprecedent rate. The prowess of Japanese arms, however, at the taking of Port Arthur, was sadly shorn of military prestige in the eyes of the civilized world by the atrocities reported to have been inflicted upon the conquered and defenseless inhabitants. This inexcusable relapse into savage barbarism has been 588 China Sues for Peace. endeavored to be explained away by the fact that the Jap- anese soldiers only resorted to butchery as a retaliatory measure, when inspired by the sight of the indescribable indignities that had been imposed upon their own sol- diers, and upon the Japanese prisoners who had fallen into the hands of the enemy. Then the officers lost all control and the men lost all restraint. With the advent of the year 1895 Japan had three completely equipped army corps in the field, and ex- pressed its intention of withholding all terms of peace until its troops should have occupied Peking. In Janu- ary, China at last awaking to the gravity of the accumu- lating disasters, which threatened the autonomy of the empire, dispatched a peace commission to the court of Japan. These envoys, who reached Hiroshima on the 30th, were accompanied by the Hon. John W. Foster, ex-secretary of state of the United States, not represent- ing the government, but in the capacity of private ad- viser, being selected — and esjiecially well- fitted — for the responsibilities of the position, owing to his experience as a diplomatist and his wide knowledge of Chinese affairs. Upon the manner of the reception of these envoys by the Japanese government, and the disposition of the momen- tous issues at stake, the future integrity of the Chinese Empire will largely depend.* The commission was re- ♦ See^ note, page 590. Japan^s Extraoi-dinary Achievements. 589 ported to have been vested with plenipotentiary powers and authority to arrange for absolute surrender if neces- sary, and to stipulate for an immediate armistice. While the Japanese, during the present campaign, have exhibited superior fighting qualities, and in the handling of their war ships have evidenced a better knowledge of naval tactics and the art of modern war- fare than has been displayed by the Chinese, the contest between the two nations — though demonstrating these facts and leaving no doubt as to the ultimate issue of the war — has not been an uninterrupted round of Japanese successes. The disparity of the total losses up to the close of 1894, as summarized by a Japanese paper, and after allowing a liberal discount for partiality, establishes the unmistakable fact, however, that while upon the one side there has been "a display of Japanese skill, general- ship, discipline, dash and courage, upon the other there has been a display of Chinese ignorance, conceit, lack of tactics, discipline, cowardice and panic." While there is no suspicion of doubt as to the outcome of this extraordinary struggle for supremacy, between a nation whose population numbers three hundred million and another of thirty million, there is still less doubt as to the incalculable moral value of the conflict as regards the lessons taught in the interest of commercial progress and civilization. 690 Present Conditions. " There is no country in the world," writes Douglas, " where practice and profession are more widely separated than in China. The Empire is preeminently one of make believe. From the Emperor to the meanest of his subjects a system of high sounding pretension to lofty principles of morality holds sway, while the life of the nation is in direct contradiction to these assumptions." It is reasonable to assume that out of the present "seeming evil" good may be educed, and that the bitter blow to Chinese blind belief in her own omnipotence and superiority to the "barbarians of the outer world," as administered to her by Japan, may lead to the complete unlocking of her trade gates, and her moral and thorough rehabilitation. Note.— The commission referred to on page 588 was recalled, the Japanese refusing to treat with the representatives delegated by China upon the ground that they were not clothed with the neces- sary plenipotentiary powers. As the result, however, of further negotiations Li-Hung-Chang was subsequently appointed Envoy Extraordinary, and vested with complete authority to conclude terms of peace, he arrived at Semonisaki, March 19, 1895, with an Imposing retinue, and accompanied by the Hon. John Foster. Un- ofiScial statements as to the conditions Japan is likely to impose, place the war indemnity at $250,000,000, the cession of the Island of Formosa, and the military occupation of the already invested terri- tory on the mainland. Whether the European powers, however, notably Great Britain and Russia, will consent to the dominant occupation of any portion of the mainland, which would seemingly constitute a possibility of Japanese supremacy in Eastern Asia, yet remains to be seen. Central Administration. 591 There are a few facts of material value, only briefly referred to in the preceding chapters, but of present ad- ditional interest, in view of the invasion of China by Japan, an enumeration of which should be of use in the fiiture study of China's governmental "machine," and the physical characteristics of her territory. Under the Emperor the central administration con- sists of what may be termed two Inner Cabinets and a number of Subsidiary Boards, controlling separate de- partments of state. These two cabinets are the Grand Secretariat or Nin-Koh, and the General Council or Kiun-Ki-Chu. The former consists of four Grand Sec- retaries — two of whom are Manchus and two Chinese — and two assistants. The Senior Grand Secretary had,, up to the time of Li-Hung-Chang's appointment, always been a Manchu, he being the first Chinese accorded this, preeminent office. The staff numbers about two hun- dred. The Nin-Koh is in closest touch with the Emperor. To him it submits all papers, and from him it receives all instructions and edicts. It is also the custodian of the twenty-five imperial seals, necessary for the various documents issued by the several departments. The General Council consists of the heads of the de- partments and some others, subject to the call of the Em- peror for consultative purposes. It frames the imperial 592 The Chinese Empire. edicts for signature and meets in daily conclave. It hands over all papers passed upon, to the Peking Gazette for publication, which is the oldest current official paper in the world, it having been in existence continuously for over one thousand years. Extracts from this are made by native literati, who make a living by selling the same to those of their countrymen who cannot afford to buy a copy of the complete paper. The General Coun- cil has offices in the interior of the " Forbidden Palace," and transacts its business between the hours of five and six A. M. Under these two councils are six administrative Boards viz: the (1) Civil Office, (2) Board of Kevenue, (3) Rites, (4) War, (5) Punishment, (6) Public Works. Each of these Boards has two presidents and two vice-presidents. The Chinese Empire may be divided into China "within," and China "beyond the Wall" — China within or Chinese proper, with it* eighteen provinces, is known more or less to everyone. Beyond the Great Wall the. country is girdled by mountains. Northward at the sea of Okhotsk by the Yabloni, westward in a semi-circle by the ranges of the Saian, the Altai, Tian-Shan, Tsungling and Hima- layas, which unite in constituting a fairly continuous ftontier-line of six thousand miles to Yunnan, the south- Resources and Agriculture. 593 west province of China proper.* This vast territory winch includes Manchuria, Mongolia and Dzungaria in the north, and Eastern Turkestan and Tibet in the west, together with China proper and her independent dependencies, covers an area of four million four hundred and sixty-eight thousand seven hundred and fifty square miles. From its mountain ranges flow some of the larg- est rivers in the world which with their tributaries fur- nish an unrivalled internal water communication. Enor- mous deserts and lofty table-lands constitute its highland features, on the skirts of the mountains alone are there any arable lands, and these present their gentle and inviting slopes on the north side of the mountains only. Over two-thirds of the land in China at the present day — 1895 — is cultivated by tenants on the metayer, or one-half profit system. Nine-tenths of the population are engaged in agriculture. The principal crops consist of rice, which is the staple food, and sugar, which is the chief article of export, and sweet potatoes, pulse, garden vegetables, peanuts, indigo, sesamum, ginger, grass-cloth plant, tobacco and wheat. Each acre of ground contrib- utes, on an average, about one dollar and a half an- nually to the imperial treasury. The owner of one acre is regarded as having a competence ; the owner of ten acres is considered wealthy. Few own a» *nuch as ♦Landsell's Central Asia. 38 594 China's Mysterious Future. two hundred acres, while from one-tenth to one-half an acre is the average holding. Farm lands are worth from three hundred dollars to eight hundred dollars an acre, and rice fields are quoted at six hundred dollars. The chief cost of cultivating land is its fertilizing, crushed oil-less beans being used, at an average expenditure of twenty-four dollars to an acre. No buttermilk or cheese is either used or raised, and the farm animals consist of a water buffalo or a zebu. One acre of land will pro- duce, on an average, three thousand six hundred and forty-eight pounds of clean rice. The cost of food aver- ages about one dollar per month per head, and five dol- lars will keep an ordinary man in clothing, and one acre of land will sustain six persons. Adele Fielde cites the case of a man who inherited a farm of two acres. Himself, wife, son, daughter-in-law, four daughters and two grandchildren lived on the product. He managed to pay three dollars and sixty cents taxes a year, sold twenty dollars worth of rice, and had two hundred dol- lars invested drawing eighteen per cent, interest. At one-half the rate of production, but at the same rate of consumption, the arable area in the state of New York would support the whole of the present population of the United States. If a proper conception of China's possibilities appears to be a complex task, or a matter of mysticism, there can China's Trade Influence. 696 be little doubt that she presents a vast field of profitable opportunity within her boundaries. As wholly unde- veloped as she is little understood, it is manifest that she only awaits the introduction of western methods to mate- rially influence the policy of all the nations and the entire current of the world's trade. INDEX. Aborigines, the, musical 240. Accadian Babylonian equivalents, 34. Accadian parallelisms, 497, 334. Acupuncture, practice of, 236. Agriculture, boards of, 202 ; esteem for, 348, 350; great festival of, 348; re- spectability of, 200, •. Alphabet, the, lacking in Chinese, 146, 477-. Amencans, the, in China, 49. Amherst, Lord, in China, 55. Anatomy, ignorance of, 237. Ancestors.honors 10,239,330; sacrifices to the. 376 : worship of, 81. Ancestral hall, the, 328. Ancestral tombs, worship at, 355, 365. Annals, Spring and Autumn, 506. Annam, settlements in, 18. Annihilation, theory of, 455. Anniversary ceremonies, 424. Application versus inspiration, 289. Architecture, Chinese, 255. Art, literature of, 537. Artificiality in Chinese art, 287. Asceticism and charity wearisome, 452. Assyrian parallelisms, 474. Astrology and matrimony, 119. Astronomy studied, 51 : and writing, 19; early know>ledge of, 530; a favor- ite study, 535. Asylums for lunatics unknown, 237. Autumn, beginning of the, 363. Babies, cries and movements of, 138. Baby, ceremony of washing, 130. Babylonian astronomy and Chinese, 20 ; parallelisms, 334. Ballet of the beasts, 373. Bandoline, use of, 188, 263. Banishment, punishment by, 107. Barbers, trade of, 197. Bastinado, the, loi, 102. Beans, health-giving, distributed, 345. Beggars, harvest of, 340. Beheading, process of, 104. Bell, the Great, at Canton, 26, 246 ; the Great at Peking, 245. Bells, uses of, 244. Bill of fare, a Chinese, 169. Biography, Chinese, 529. Birds, fortune-telling by means of, 399. Birth, importance of the hour of, 138. Birth, portents of, 137. Birthday, the first, 140. Blood, circulation of the, 231. Boat, travelling by, 294. Boat-people, numbers of, 200. Boat-races, 362. Bodhidharma arrives from India, 451; gains a reputation for spirituality, 452. Bodv, the i.uman, elements of, 232. Book of Odes (She King), 36. Book, the oldest, 498. Books, categories of Chinese, 518, 544. Books burned, 42, 512 ; quality of, 496 ; search for, 517, 519. Bow and arrow, use of, 162. Bribery in civil cases, 100 ; in examina- tions, 156. Bridal gifts, 74, 119. Bride, reception of the by the groom, 125 ; selection of a, 71. Bridges, the handsome, of old times, 310. Brigands, murder charged to, 85. British, the, in China, 49. Brown, Prof. Francis, translator, 25. Bruce, Sir Frederick, 60, 65. Buddha, ceremony of bathing, 359; images of in mussels, t 78 ; repudi- ated, 460 ; the sect of, 428. Buddhism, introduction of, 446, 463. Buddhist temples, 277. Buildings, no ancient in China, 255. Burial, custom of ancient in China, 410. Burial of the living, 411; omitted a calamity, 115; rites, importance of, 116. Burials not permitted in cities, 357. Buttons, use of as marks of distinction, .85. Calendar, the Hea, 499. Calling, choice of a, 148. Calls on New Year's Day, 337, 340. Canals used for travel, 294. Canque, punishment by the, 112. Canton, fall of, 60; opened to trade, 49 ; prisons in, iii. Capture, marriage by, 1 14. Cards, ensragement, 120. Carpets and stoves, 262. Carriages destitute of springs, 292. Caspian sea, origin of the Chinese on, 18. Catalogues, love for makini;, 530. Cats, honors to, 377. Cattle, freeing of the, 372. Catty, defined, 222. Ceilings and roofs, 261. Celibacy in women honored under cer- tain circumstances, 322. 596 Index. 597 Censors, imiierial, 99. Cereals, cultivation of, 204. Ceremonial in China, 88 ; rules of, 510. Ceremonies, a professor of, 329 ; at ' marriage, 1 16 ; prescriptions of the Board of, 351. Ceremony of washing the baby, 139. Civil service, examinations, 19, 149 ; corruption of the, 93, 96. Chaldea, the source of Chinese astron- omy, 535. Chaldean year, beginning of the, 24. Changes, Book of, 497. Characters, combinations of, 480 Characters of Chinese writing, 465. Che Hwang-te, dynasty of, 41, 44. Chemistry, ignorance of, 237. Children completely subject to parents, 142. Children, life of in boats, 301. Children, omens regarding, 137. Children, selling, 141. Chinese desire peace with England, 57 ; not artistic, 283; race, origin of, 17, 18; temperament phlegmatic, 102, 236. Chopsticks, use of, 167. ! Chow, Duke of, 509. .Chow djjnasty, the, 30. Chow, rights of the sovereign of, 470. Chow, sceptre of, waning, 41. Christianity, an idea of obtained, 59. Christians massacred, 6^, 68. Chronology, Chinese, indefinite, 381 ; favorite with Chinese writers, 530. Chrj'santhemums, legend concerning, 371- Ch'un Ts'ew, the, (Spring and Autumn Annals) 506. Clairvoyance and mesmerism, 409. Classification, Chinese, 535. Classics, the five, 147. Cleanliness, love of the silkworm for, 221. Clothes depended upon for warmth, 262. Clothes, the first of an infant, 139. Cock-crowing, disturbance of, 304. Coffins, ceremonies regarding, 415, 4t8. Comets, superstitions about, 387. Comfort unknown in Chinese homes, 2*12. Compilation, activity in, 494. Complexion, water that will make clear, 364- Complexions, artificial, 189. Compliments, use of in conversation, 490. Concubinage, 128. Concubines, the imperial, 75. ■ Confucius approves the Five King, 509, 510 ; as a historian, 507 ; attempts to explain ancient literature, 497 ; edits the book of historv, 502 : example of in historical writing, 525 ; house of roilled down, 2^6; lofty aims of, 435 ; .isisjudgment ui, 508, 509. Confucius on music, 253 ; on filial piety, 143; on women, 127: political creed of, 40; state of letters on death of, 514; a story of, 39; views concerning man's nature, 534 Confucianism defined, 430 ; the religion of scholars, 428, 463. Confucian temples, 276. Conjugal fidelity, emblems of, 120. Conservatism, Chinese, 478. Conservatism in letters, 41^6, 546. Consolidation of the empire, 26. Conversation, self-depreciation in, 489. Constellations, notions regarding the, 536. Coohe, dress of a, 180. Corn, Indian, production of , 205. Corpse,the,of Bodhidharroa speaks, 453. Cosmetics, use of, 188, 341. Courage, seat of, 231. Couriers, speed of the official, 311. Couvarde, custom of, 140. Cremation, practice of, 427. Criminals, inhumanity to, loi ; punish- ment of, 103. Crimes, discrimination of the laws re- garding, I 12. Cycle, the full Chinese, 52. Cycles, the sexagenary, 382. Cyclone, the. of 1874, 300. Daughters, small good of, 142. Day, the night before the shortest, 373. Days, lucky and unlucky, 394. Dialects, the Chinese, 36, 479. Diet among the wealthy, 171. Dinner, the bridal, 126; a cottage, 168; menu, a, 172 ; singing at a, 171. Dinner-party, a Chinese, 171. Disease, antidote against, 367, 372. Diseases, classes of in China, 234. Disturbances, suppression of, 90. Divination by the tortoise, 403. Divining the future, modes of, 395. Divorce, grounds of, 128. Death, approach of, 232. Death by degrees, punishment of, 103. Death, euphemisms for, 413. Death, notices of, 416. Death preferred to marriage, 129. Death-bed ceremonies, 413. Degeneracy, an age of, 37, 38. Degrees, scholarly, 151, 157. Deities, some Chinese, 28. Deity, belief in a personal, 429. Demons, ceremony of exorcising, 378. Demons raised by the willow, 358. Depreciation cf self in conversation, 489. De Quincey's Flight of a Tartar Tribe, 19. Dew, potency of the, 366. Dragon-boat festival, the, 360. Drawing, the art of, 280. Drums, sorts of, 243. Doctors, classes of, 233 ; their fees, 235. Doctrine and diet, 167. Dugs' flesh, diet of, 169 ; how prepared for food, 170 ; strength derived Ijcm the flesh of, 347. 598 Index. Dojrwood, an antidote against disease, 372- Drama, the, in China, $$i. Dress always loose, i8o. Drowning girls, 142. Duck's eggs, day for pickling, 376. Dynasties, the Chinese, 44 ; literary traits of the different, 523. Dynasty, natural limit of a, 58. Early to bed, 144. Earth, notions regarding the, 536. East India Company, 52. Eclipses, superstitions regarding, 388. Education a stereotyped system iollowed for centuries, 147; of the young, 137, 145.. Egyptian parallelisms, 474. Elgin, Lord, minister, 60. Encyclopaedia, an, edited, S'- Encyclopaedias, age of, 538 Engagement, how to break an, 119. Engagements, horoscopes of, 119. English in China, 55. Empire, establishment of the, 471. Empiricism, medical, 230. Emperor, the Chinese, the" father "of his people, 87. Epicureanism in Taouism, 443. Essays, canonical laws of composition, 153- Essay-wnting, the art of, 149 ; profici- ency in, 545. Estates, transmission of, 201. Etiquette before marriage, 119; official, 88. Examinations, classes excluded from, i6i ; military, 162. Extortion, official, 94. Eyebrows, treatment of, 189. Eyes, superstitions regarding, 401. Faces and feet among Chinese women, 188. Faces, fortunes in, 400. Facts, disconnected, gathered with dili- gence, 528. Family life, 113. Family, pride of, 327. Fancy wanting in Chinese writings, 553. Fanners freeing their cattle, 372. Fasting, ceremonies of the Hall of, 374. Father.debts of the, 143 ; power of, 141. Feast, the, of graduation, 155. February, rejoicings in, 335. Feet, Chinese, small, 195. Feet and faces, in China, 188. Feet, the, of the women, 189, 190. Feudal system, disappearance of, 470. Feudalism abolished, 42. Fiddles and guitars, 250. Filial piety, i43- Filial piety the cornerstone of Confu- cianism, 434. " First-foot," omen of the, 338. Fish, diet, a, 175 ; marketed alive, 178. Fishing in China, 175; with cormo- rants, 176. Five King, the, approved by Confucius, 510. Flogging prisoners, 101. Flood, the "great," 28. Flower, how to paint a, 287. Food and dress, 164. Food, nourishing, taken at certaia times, 347. Foos, palaces, 266. Formality in essay- writing, 546. Formosa, rebellion at, 56. Fortune-telling, 395. Fortunes made in office, 95. Frogs as an article of diet, 172. Funeral bake-meats, 357, 423. Funeral rites, 410. Funds, misappropriation of, 92. Fuh-he, invents music, 239. F'ung people, the, 26. Furniture, Chinese, 262, 263. Future tense, how indicated, 492. Game, production of, 179. Games at dinner, 171. Gardens in cities, 268. Gauzes produced at Canton, 225. Generalization not known to Chinese writers, 529. Geography in Chinese literature, 528. Ghosts, feeding the hungry, 365. Ginseng soup, value of in diet, 347. Girls of little value, 142. Girls, place for drowning, 142. _ God of literature, the, 444. God, the, of Confucius not a personal deity, 434. Gods of the kitchen, 380. Gongs, sorts of, 247. Gordon, " Chinese," 65 ; honored in China, 315. Government, the art of, 533 ; Chinese, a patriarchal despotism, 87; officers of, 89. Government, oppressive, fiercer than a tiger, 40. Grace wanting in the literature, 495. Grammar, poverty in, 484. Graves, importance of the sites of, 418. Graveyards, Chinese, always in the open country, 357. Great Seal characters, 36. Gunpowder, antiquity of, 163. Hades, the spirits in, 356. Hair, fortunes in, 401. Hair, modes of wearing, 188. Hair-dressing, 263. Hair restorer, a, 169. Hall, the ancestral, 328. Hats, materials for, 185. Hea, the dynasty of, 29 ; calendar of the, 499. Head, shaving the, 195. Heads uncovered, 183. Heaven, the, of Buddhism, 454; the impersonal of Confucius, 434. Heen-fung, emperor, death of, 67. Hexagrams in the book of changes, Hieroglyphic wnting, 469, 472. Hieroglyphics, Assyrian, 474. Highways, the good, of old times, yx^ Index. Histories, the imperial, 526. H istory the most important branch of literature, 525 : book of, 25, 502 ; on the back of a tortoise, 468 ; work iu, 503- .Hoang-ho river, the, iS. Home, rule in the, 126. Honan, the cradle of drawing, 280. Honan, home of the Kwei people, 466. Honan, people of, 466. Honors, Chinese, not hereditary, 312; posthumous,} [4 ; sold in open market, 317: withdrawn, 319. Horseflesh, diet of, 169. Horse races at Peking, 363. Hour, the, unknown m China, 385. Household, the imperial, 75. Households in the ancestral hjll, 329. Houses in art, 287; pleasant inside, 258; tent-like form of, 256. Humility assumed by the emperor, 491. Hung Sewtsuen, a leader of the discon- tented, 59. Hunting season, the opening of the, 368. Hwang-te, emperor, 19 ; burns books, 512; honors Confucius with a temple, 429; introduces surnames, 324, 326; studies medicine, 229 ; musical efforts of, 241. Ignorance, a time of, 43. Imagination, absence of, 494, 554 ; lack- ing in Chinese writings, 553; first tales of, 520. Imitation, skill in, 289. Immolation at funerals, 411. Immortality, the elixir of, 443, 459. Imprisonment, a strange, 447. Incense offered to a dead body, 417. India, an embassy to, 448. Industry misdirected, 524. Infanticide in China, 127; legally a crime, 141. Infants' first clothes, 139. Inflection, absence of, 488. Inhumanity to prisoners, loi. Inns on post-roads, 311; not desirable lodging-places, 303. Insanity, repressive treatment of, 237 Insects, fire-crackers an antidote for, 363. Interment of the dead, .120. Irrigation, modes of, 206, 208. Jade sceptre, the, 73. Jesuits at Peking, 51. Joss-stick, a, 74. Jungs, the, 26. Junks, names of, 298 ; sea-going de- scribed, 29;; ; travel by, 295. Justice, administration of, 100 ; little known, 92. Kalmucks, flight of the, 19. Kang, a, defined, 262 ; the, at the inns, 303- K'ang, rule of, 31. K'ang-he, long reign of, 49, 50, 51, 384. K'een-lung, 52, 55. Kidnappers, punishment of, 105. Kieh kwei, a monster of iniquity, 30. K'in, the, described, 249. Kin Tartars, home of the, 45. Kitchen gods, festival of, 380. Kites, tiymg of, J71. Knowledge, categories of Chinese, 544. Ko-t'ow, ceremony of, 46, 343, 350, 39', 423. Ku-jin, degree of, 152, 155. Kwang-se, a claimant of the throne, 58. Kwang-su, accession of, 82. Kwei people, the, 25. Kwei shoo, the, 26. Kwei writing^ the, 465, 469. Land tenure in China, 200. Language, the Chinese, 464 ; origin of, 482 ; refinement in the spoken, 487 ; uncertainty in using, 493 ; written, 470. Lanterns, feast of the, 341. Laou-tsze, account of, 439. Law, practice of unnecessary, 148. Lawlessness, spread of, 32. Legge's misjudgment of Confucius, 508. Legerdemain, 373. Legislation one-sided, 128. Le ke, the Book of Rites, 509. Lenormant, Frangois, " Les Origines de rhistoire, 25. Letters, Chinese fondness for, 32. Licentiousness, a period of, 37. Life, a fresh lease of, 338; future, notions of, 418. Ling che, the, 103. Linguistic forms, 473. Literature, Chinese, 494 ; complete col- lection of Chinese, 543, 545 ; decad- ence of, 539 ; divisions of, 523 ; the god of, 444; golden age of, 538; growth of, 520; improvement of, 514, 517: obliged to begin anew, 512; ongin of, 496; revival of, 551 ; slow growth of, 512 ; and science fostered, .50- Literary degrees, honors of, 156; ex- ercises delighted in, 342. Lotus flowers and birds, 454. Lovers' presents, 119. Lucky days, 394. Lunatic, execution of a, 104. Lute, the, of twenty-five strings, 239. Lvnching, 105. Macartney, lord, 52. Magical arts and Taouism, 445. Magistrates, punishment of, gi. Mahayana system, the, brought to China, 451. Mahomedanism in China, 463. Man, destiny of in his own hand, 434 ; nature of, theories of, 534 ; original nature of, according to Confucnus, 430- Manchoo rulers of China, 45. Manchoos, peace with the, 46. Manes, provisions for, the, 356, 365 ; sacrifices to the, 361. Manes, the, supposed to wander, 115. Mandarin, an honest, 96, 98. 600 Index. Mandarimite, admission to, 162. Mandarins, dishonest, punished by the people, 99; dressof, 184; notallowed to hold office in their native provinces, 93 : not punished for crimes, 96. Mandarins' wives, dress of, 187. Margary, expedition of to Yunnan, 82 ; death of, 86. Married life, dark picture of, 135. Marriage, a complex, 71-75 ; a leap in the dark, 127 ; at the basis of Chinese institutions, 113; by capture, 114; cards and red silk, 121 ; ceremonies, 114, 116; choice of the day for, 122; encouraged bjr legislation, 115; en- durable tr> Chinese, 136 ; institution of, 1 13 ; of those of the same " sing," 325; omens regarding,337 ; universal, "5- .Massacre, the T sien-tsm, 67. Matrimony abjured by Miss Wang, 320 ; professors of, 72. Maxims, the sixteen Sacred, of K'ang he, 49, 438. Meat, disinclination to, 167. Mechanical nature of Chinese art, 284, 288 ; traits of Chinese art, 537. Mechanics, ingenuity in, 202. Medicine in China, 229; literature of, 537 ; practice of empirical, 148. Mediocrity of Chinese literature, 495. Mediums, spiritualistic, 407. Meen dynasty, effort to restore the, 58. Memory unduly exercised in Chinese schools, 148. Mencius on the decay of the world, fo6 ; remarks on a p)eriod of Chinese his- tory, 38 ; teachings of, 511. Mercury, early knowledge of the value of, 238. Mesopotamian culture compared with Chinese, 25. Metaphysical heresies, 452. Mid-lent Sunday, 359. Milk of cows not used, 180. Milk name, the, 331. Missionaries, hostility to, 67, 68, 69. MongoKa, home of the Ottoman Turks, Mongolian words, introduction of, 481. Monogamy practiced, 116. Month, an intercalary, 20. Months, the Chinese, 24. 333, 334, 345. Moon, the, associated with the months, 345 ; festival of the, 367 ; eclipses of, 388. Morality, Chinese, 504: European and Chinese, 508; laxness in, 100. Mother of all things, the, 442. Mothering Sunday, 359. Mourning, ceremonies of, 416. Mouth, the, as indicating character, 402 Muh, penal code of, 32. Mules, the use of, 294. Museum, the British, Chinese works in the, 544. Music, invention of. 229, 239. Nak-kon-ti, chief of the Susians, 19. Name, the "milk," 331. Names, in China, 324; confusion of, 332. Nanking, fall of, 66. Napier, Lord, in China, 56. Nature, the mysteries of explainea by the Taouists, 445. Navigation dangerous, 299. Needle, use of in medical practice, 236. New Year's Day, the Chinese, 335, 337.339,343.344- New Year s Eve, celebration of, 336. Nirvdna and taou, 441. NirvSna not a material paradise, 455. Nobles, bad rule of, 470. Nobility, titles of, 313. Nothingness, pure, of Buddhism, 455. Novel, the best Chinese, 556. Novels, traits of Chinese, 554. Numerals, Chinese, 488. Nunneries in China, 129. Obedience of children, 144. Odes, antiquity of some, 547. Odes, Book of, 36, 501. Offerings to the god of agriculture, 350. Office-holders generally corrupt, 93 ; released from parental control, 145. Office-holding a favorite career, 148. Omens regarding birth, 137 : regarding matrimony, 337 ; regarding going to .school, 145. Opinion, public, imperfectly expressed. 92. Opium burned, 57 ; question, the, 56. Opium-smoking, punishment for, 92. Oppression, protection against, 99. Ostracism of river-jjeople, 301. Ottoman Turks, original home of the, 19. Pagodas, design of, 278. Pagoda, the most magnificent, 279. Paint, laws about, 263. Painting, literature of, 537. Palaces, the, of Peking, 266, 267. Palmistry, practice of, 409. Panthay rebels, the, 70. Parallelism in Chinese verse, 55c. Parallelisms between Indian and Chi- nese religions, 446. (See .'\ccadian and Babylonian.) Pardons, chance award of, 106. Parents, respect for, 143. Parkes, Sir Harry in a Chinese prison, 107. Past tense, how indicated, 492. Patience and good-humor in crowds, 265. Pause, the cassural, in Chinese vetse, 55°- Peach-trees, influence of, 379. Peacock's feather, reward of the, 317. Peking, burning of, 513: surrender of, 61. Penates, honors to the, 377. Pencils, College of the Forest of, 158. Pencil-writing by spirits, 406. People, the, called "black heads," 517. Perspective not understood, 283. Index. GOl Philology, ignorance of, 472. Philosophical speculation, 456. Philosophy of China, character of, 533. Phonetic decay, result of, 480, 484. Phonetic writing, 469, 473. Physiognomy, Chinese, 403. Physiology unknown in China, 230. Piety, filial, 143 ; the cornerstone of Confucianism, 434; of Miss Wang, 320. Pig-tail, the, 195, 196. Pisciculture, 178. Planets, how watched, 392 ; recognized by the Chinese, 20. Plays, Chinese, traits of, 553. Plowing, sacerdotal, 352. Ploughs, the Cliiiiese, 202 ; the imperial yellow, 350. Poetry, perfunctorj', 551. Politics, creed of Confucius regard'"", 40 ; music in, 250. Portents based on the appearance 01 me planets, 393. Portraits not successful, 289. Portuguese, the, in China, 49 Pottinger, Sir Henry, 58. Poultry, production of, 179. Poetry before prose in China, 5^7. Prefect, an honest, 98. Presents, birthday, 141. Priesthood, novitiates admitted to the, 360. Prisons in Canton, iii ; horrors of the Chinese, 107. Prize packages, 342. Professions, the liberal, unknown, 48. Progress, defici°ncy in, 478. Property, transfer of, 202. Prostration, ceremony of, 343 ; before royalty, 80. Progress, lack of in letters, 496. Provinces, government of, 89. PMnctiiation, absence of in Chinese books, 493. Punishment inflicted on criminals, 103. Purity, official, little known, 92. Quacks practicing medicine, 232. Queue, the, of men, 195 Railways, probable introduction of, 306 Razors, the Chinese, 198 ; use of the, •95- Rats, an article of diet, 169. Rebellions in China, 56. Reception, an imperial, 76. Reed instruments of music, 243. Relics, worship of, 450. Religion in China, ^2^: music in, 246; no stages of growth found in, 504. Remedies used in China, 233. Responsibility of officials, 91. Rhyme in Chinese verse, 549. Rice, cultivation of, 204, 205. Rice, the staff ot life, 164. Riddles at the bridal feast, 126. Riding, mules used in, 293. Rising, early, 144. Rites, the Board of, 509. Rites, the Book of, 75, 509; quoted, 144. Ritual for funerals, 413. Roads, the good oid,309 ; macadamized, 266, 291 Roofs and ceilings, 261. Rulers, incompetent, 40. Rules, dependence upon, 268; cut-and- dned of essay-writing, 546; of Chi- nese art, 284, 288, 537 ; regarding temples, 275. Sacrifices at the tomb necessary, n6. Sails on wheelbarrows, 304. Sakyamuni, saintship of, 379 ; teachings 01, 446, 459- Salaries, official, low, 93. Han fun, the " three records," 499. Satin, production of, 225. Sayce, Prof., compares Babylonian and Chinese astronomy, 23. Schaal, Adam, visits China, 46. Scenery in the Chinese theatre, 554. School life, 145. School books, 146. Science, no traces of growth in, 504: and literature supported, 50. Scholars, the sect of, 428. Seal characters (large), the, 468, 470, 471 ; (small) the, 471. Seals, ceremony of closing the, 379. Sedan-chairs, 261;, 291. Seasons, the Chinese, 346; means of calculating the, 536 ; pervading prin- ciples of the, 139. Sentences, immutability of forms of, 500. Sexagenary cycle, early knowledge of, 382, 530. Shang dynasty, the, 29. Shansi, province of settled, 18. Shang-te, sacrifices in honor of, 375 ; who was he? 27, 28. Shawls of crape, production of, 225. She Chow, system of writing of, 36. She king, the " Book of Odes,'" 501. Shoo kitig, the " Book of History," 502. Shops, 264. Signs for words, 475. Silkworms, care of, 220; cultivation of, 218 ; weaving, 22.'. Silken cord, punishment of the, 104. Silkworm, the wild, 22s. Sing, the earliest. J25. Singing girls at a dinner, 171. Sins of omission or commission, danger from, 421. Sleeves, uses of, 183. Soap not used in shaving, 198. Sod, turning of the first, 349. Souls, transmigration of, 167 Sovereign and people, relations be- tween, 88. Spints, necessity of propitiating, 366 ; provisiiin for the comfort of, 356. Spiritualism, Chinese, 404. Spring and Autumn Annals, 506. Spring, great festival of, 348. Stage accessories in China, 554. Stars, science of the, 504.' 002 Index. Starvation in prison, 108, State, Council of, 89. Stones, musical, 243. Strangulation, execution by, 104. Streets and roads, 264, 266, 292 ; dreary aspect of, 257. Stringed instruments of music, 243, 248. Study, honor obtained for, 320. Success the standard of skill in medi- cine, 233. Succession, the royal, 81. Suicide of wives, 130. Suicides, state, formality of, 134. Summer, beginning of, 363. Sumptuary laws, 263. Sun, eclipses of the, 38?, 391 ; notions regarding the, 536. Sung dynasty, state of letters during, S3S. Superstitions, 386 ; of taouism, 443 ; of the willow, 35, 358; regarding the chrysanthemum, 371 ; regarding mar- riage, 337; concerning the silkworm, 221; tyranny of, 460. Surnames introduced, 324; pride in, 327- Susian, outbreak at, 18. Swaddling-clothes, essential, 138. Swallows w^elcome, 359. Swords, use of, 163. Syllabaries, a collection of, 497. Symbolism, fondness for, 340; of the planets, 393. Tael, defined, 228. Taheo (Great Learning), 510. Tai-ping dynasty, the, 59; rebellion, the, 59, 62, 66. Taku forts, the, taken, 61. Tanka, the, of the Chinese rivers, 300. Taouism, the religion of, 428 ; defined, 438. Taou-kwang, emperor, 56. Tartars, protection against, 43. Te, derivation of, 28. Tea, how to drink it, 217. Tea, varieties of, 215. Tea-plant, the, 210. Teks, the, 26. Temperance in China, 217. Temple, the most magnificent of China, 436. Temples prominent in cities, 272. Terrestrial paradise a, 459. Thanksgiving-day, 377. Theatre, the Chniese, 554. Threshing, process of, 209. Threshold, lifting the bride over, 125. Tibet added to the empire, 49. T'ien-tsin, massacre, 67, 70. Tigers, honors to, 377. Taou defined, 441, 463. Tombs, rules regarding, 424. Tombs, worship at the ancestral, 355, 365. Tombstones, regulations regarding, 426. Tones, value of in Chinese, 485. Topography, books on, 527. Tortures, loi, 102. Trade a favorite calHne, 148. Tradition the basis of much Chinese history, 527. Travel, by boats, 302. Travelling, in China, 291 ; the art of, 293- Treachery during the Taiping rebellion, 65. Treaty with England, 60, 62. Triad Society, the, 56. Trumpet, the, in China, 244. Tsing explains self-cultivation,as taught by Confucius, 433. Ts'm, state of, conquered, 41. T'ung-che, accession of, 67 ; marriage of, 71 ; death of, 81. Turks, home of the, 19. Typhoons, danger from, 299, 300. Uncertainty in the language, 493. Uniformity in Chinese dwelling, 272. Vaccination, introduction of, 235. Verb, result of war.t of inflection of, 492. Verse, traits of. 550. Verse-making, laws of, 548. Virtue always sustained in Chinese novels, 555 ; its own reward, 434. .Vocables, richness of the language in, 479- Wade, Sir Thomas, 86. Walking among women, 791. Wall, the Great, built, 43. Walls, the, of cities, 271. Wang, Miss, publicly honored, 320. War, backwardness of the Chinese in, 163. War, declared by England, 60. War predictions of, 388. Warmth obtained by adding garments, 262. Water for the complexion, 364 ; never drunk cold, 168. Water-ways, books on the, 529. Wax, white insect, 226. We, the imperial, 491. Wealth gathered in office, 95. Weather, influence of the changes of, 363 ; prayer for seasonable, 79. West, the Pure Land of the, 453, 455. Wheel-traffic unknown, 264 Wheelbarrow, travel by, J04. Wheelbarrows unknown in agriculture, 203. Widow, suicide of a, 131. Widows, may not remarry, 129. Willow, superstition connected with, 358- Willow-trees, influence of over demons, 379- Wine and chrysanthemums, 371. Winnowing, process of, 209. Winter solstice, feast of the, 373. Wives, devotion of, 130. Woman a beautiful, causes war, 290. Women, day for boring their ears, 379; disabilities of, 129; dress of, 187; dress of, 263; feasting of th^ 340; government by, 67 ; honors assigned tOi 3'9f 320; " inferiority " of, 128: Supplementary Index. 603 Women, lives of, 127 ; longevity of, 323 ; marketable commodities, 128 ; sacrifices of, 364. Woo Wang, prince of Chow, 30. Words, collecting, 32. Word^, compound, 481 ; signs for cer- tain classes, 474. Worship, ancestral, 81 ; official of Confucius, 436 Writing, a system of, 361 ; and astron- omy, 19 ; and drawing, 288 ; no clear account of its origin, 464 ; tra- ditions of the origin of, 467. Yamun, an official residence, 148. Yaou, emperor, 26. Year, the Chinese, 333, 345. Yellow, fondness for, 261. Yellow Jacket, order of the, 315. Yellow river, the, bursts its bounds, Yih ktt.^, the oldest book, 498. Young, education of, 137. Youth, perpetual, sought, 444. Yu, the great, leadsthe waters of the flood back, 29. Yung-ching, emperor, 52. Yunnan, Mahomedanism in, 463 ; murder in, 82 ; rebellion in, 70. SUPPLEMENTARY INDEX. American, Consul assaulted, 588 ; uni- versity, 568, 574. Agriculture, progress and process of, 593- Annam, surrender to France, of, 569. Army, strength of, 584 ; defeat of, by Japan, 587. Bacninh, capture of, 569. Blair, United States minister, 578. China, "Beyond the Wall," 592 ; de- clares war against Japan, 583. " China's Sorrow," 575. Civil Service examinations, 559 ; cor- ruption of, 580. Chun, Prince, appointed dictator, 573. Chung-How, envoy to St. Petersburg, 563- Commerce, 579. Commercial panic, 568. Corea, troubles in, 581-582; landing of Japanese troops, 581 ; declares its independence. Cotton nulls, steam, 565. Education, development of, 574. Empress RegentTsi-An, death of, 566. England, neutrality of, 583 ; transport sunk, 583. Envoys proceed to Japan, 588-590. E.xpenditures, 579-580. Foster, Peace Commissioner, Hon. Jno. W., 588-590. Germany, naval officers, 571. Gill, exploits of Captain, 561. Gordon, Colonel, 574. Grant, visit of General U. S., 566. Great Wall, Russian freedom of, 563. Hainan, revolt on Island of, 566. Hainoi, fall of, 567. Japan lands troops in Corea, 581; declares war against China, 583 ; lands troops in Manchuria, 583 ; army and navy of, 586. Kashgar, capture of, 56a. Kashgaria, war in, 559. Kolao Hui, secret society 01, 577. Ko-tow, observance of the, 577. Kuldja, retrocession of, 563. Kung, dismissal of Prince, 573. Kwangsu (Emperor), marriage of, 576 ; accession of, 576. Lang, Admiral, 573-585- Lhassa. 564. Li-Hung-Chang, 558-571. 573-575- Loans, 579. Lottery, Great Weising, 558. Manchuria, Japanese troops land in, 583. Manas, surrender of, 560; slanghter of Tungans at, 560. Min Forts, French bombard the, 570. Moukden, threatened byjapan, 583. Navy, 585. O'Conor, British minister, 578. Oyama, field marshal, 587. Opium, trade in, 565-574. Parkes, Sir Harry, 570. Peace envoys proceed tojapan, 588- 590. Port Arthur, Japanese take, 584; al- leged Japanese atrocities, 587. Port Hamilton, English occupation of, 572. 604 Supplementary Index. Portugal, treaty with, 575. Railroads, construction of. 560-574. Red Book, the official, 580. Resources, 593. Revenue, 579-580. Right of Audience, 577. Shantung, famine in, 561. Seoul, capture of, by Japanese, 581. Sungaria, invasion of, 561. Tibet. Grand Lama of, 564. Tientsin, treaty of, 56o>-s8i. Treaty Ports, 560, 581. Tseng Marquis, 563, 573, 576. Tso-Tsang-Tang. victories of, 561. Turkestan, conquests in, 562. United States, trade with, 565 : ap- pointment as arbitrator of. Presi- dent of, 569. Von Haneken, General, 585. Yakoob Beg, 559, 561. Yang-tse-Kiang, treaty, ports on the, 561. Yellow River, floods on. 560. Yunnan, earthquake in, 575. ^ M ^^ I 4: ^j nj 'o. ? M Fn' '^ A>:lOSANCEiai, 5 1 ir^i ^ ^ojiivDjo'^ ^ijojn ^OFCAllFOfllfc ;^-OFCA :lOSANCEl£r^ ^mmor^ ijNtiiBii •5^/. ^IIIBRAIIYG^, ^(!/OJnV3-:10>' ^