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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
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Frontispiece. 
 
 A STREET IN THE NORTH OF CHINA. 
 
 Page 194. 
 
CHINA. 
 
 BY 
 
 ROBERT K. DOUGLAS, 
 it 
 
 OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM, AND PROFESSOR OF CHINESE AT KING'S 
 COLLEGE, LONDON. 
 
 WITH MAP. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, REVISED. 
 
 PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE 
 
 OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION APPOINTED BY THE 
 
 SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 /CTNIVERSITTV 
 
 Ca lifornia ^ 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, 
 NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, W.C. ; 
 
 43, queen victoria street, e.c. j 
 26, st. George's place, hyde park corner, s.w. 
 
 BRIGHTON : 135, north street. 
 
 New York : E. & J. B. YOUNG AND CO. 
 
 1887. 
 
J17 
 i**l 
 
 kL&J 
 
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. 
 
 THE demand for a second edition of this work, the 
 first being now out of print, has afforded me an 
 opportunity of revising and supplementing its pages. 
 The advance which has been made since 1882 in his- 
 torical and philological researches with regard to the 
 Chinese has enabled me to affirm statements which 
 I was then only able to make hypothetically, and 
 to amend others which were dependent on dates 
 which have since proved to be untrustworthy. The 
 record of recent events, also, has been brought down 
 to the present time, and chapters on Modern Pro- 
 gress ; Manufactures, Coins, and Games ; and Chris- 
 tianity in China, have been added to the original 
 work. 
 
 ROBERT K. DOUGLAS. 
 
 King's College, London, 
 April 12, 1887. 
 
 \a\o 5 0~J 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. A Sketch of the History of the Chinese 
 
 Empire ... ... ... ... ... i 
 
 II. Modern Progress... ... ... ... 56 
 
 III. The Government of China ... ... ... 63 
 
 IV. Marriage ... ... ... ... ... 83 
 
 V. The Nurture and Education of Children ... 101 
 
 VI. Food and Dress ... ... ... ... 124 
 
 VII. Agriculture ... ... ... ... ... 147 
 
 VIII. Medicine ... ... ... ... ... 166 
 
 IX. Music... ... ... ... ... ».. 174 
 
 X. Architecture ... ... ... ... 186 
 
 XL Manufactures, Coins, and Games ... ... 203 
 
 XII. Drawing ... ... ... ... ... 217 
 
 XIII. Travelling ... ... ... 224 
 
 XIV. Honours ... ... ... ... ... 240 
 
 XV. Names ... ... ... ... ... 250 
 
 XVI. The Chinese Year ... ... ... 258 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 XVII. Superstitions ... 
 
 XVIII. Funeral Rites 
 
 XIX. The Religions of China 
 
 XX. Christianity in China 
 
 XXI. The Language 
 
 XXII. The Literature ... 
 
 PAGE 
 299 
 
 316 
 
 331 
 
 356 
 
 365 
 
 389 
 
OF THE ** >. 
 
 r ERSITT) 
 
 tTKIVERSITT 
 C^UFOKNl* 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE CHINESE 
 EMPIRE. 
 
 HE first records which 
 we have of the Chinese 
 represent them as a 
 band of immigrants 
 settling in the north- 
 western provinces of 
 the modern empire of 
 China, and fighting their way amongst trie 
 aborigines, much as the Jews of old forced 
 their way into Canaan against the various 
 tribes which they found in possession of 
 the land. It is probable that though the 
 Chinese all entered China by the same route, 
 they arrived at the threshold of the empire in suc- 
 cessive bands, one of these, that one which has left 
 
CHINA, 
 
 us the records of its history in the ancient Chinese 
 books, apparently followed the course of the Hwang- 
 ho, and, having crossed that river near Tai-yuen, 
 settled themselves in the fertile districts of the modern 
 provinces of Shansi and Honan. 
 
 The question then arises, where did these people 
 come from? and the answer which the recent re- 
 searches of Dr. Terrien de Lacouperie gives to this 
 question is, from the south of the Caspian Sea. In 
 the chapter on the language we shall give the philo- 
 logical reasons which have led to this discovery. 
 Here we will merely say that, in all probability, the 
 outbreak in Susiana of some political disturbance, in 
 about 2283 B.C., drove the Chinese from the land of 
 their adoption, and that they wandered eastward until 
 they finally settled in China and the countries south 
 of it. Such an emigration 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 last century, of 
 a body of 600,000 Kalmucks from Russia to the con- 
 fines 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 know- 
 ledge of writing and astronomy, as well as of the arts 
 which primarily minister to the wants and comfort of 
 mankind. The invention of these civilizing influences 
 is traditionally attributed to the Emperor Hwang-te, 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 3 
 
 who is said to have reigned from 2697-2597 B.C. 
 But the name of this sovereign leads us 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 phonetics 
 which read Nak-kon-ti. The resemblance between 
 this name and that of Nakhunte, 1 who, according 
 to the Susian texts, was the chief of the gods, is 
 sufficiently striking, and many of the attributes 
 belonging to him are such as to place him on an 
 equality with the Susian deity. In exact accordance 
 also with the system of Babylonian chronology he 
 established 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 balance the surplus time. He further, we 
 are told, built a Ling tai, or observatory, reminding 
 us of the Babylonian Zigguratu, or house of observa- 
 tion, "from which to watch the movements of the 
 heavenly bodies." 
 
 The primitive Chinese, like the Babylonians, recog- 
 nized five planets besides the sun and moon, and, 
 with one exception, knew them by the same names. 
 Jupiter, which among the Chaldeans was called " The 
 planet," appears among the Chinese as " The one." 
 
 1 Susian Texts, translated by Dr. J. Oppert, in "The 
 Records of the Past," vol. vii. 
 
CHINA. 
 
 To Babylonians, and Chinese also, Mars was " King " 
 and " Criminal;" and Saturn "King" and " Righteous- 
 ness," while among the first Venus was known as the 
 " Queen of the defences of heaven," and among the 
 latter as "Soldiers waiting." 1 Mercury, in both 
 countries, was recognized by different names, from 
 which fact it may possibly be inferred that it was 
 discovered by both peoples at a comparatively recent 
 date. The various phases of these planets were 
 carefully watched, and portents were derived from 
 every real and imaginary change in their relative 
 positions and colours. A comparison between the 
 astrological tablets translated by Professor Sayce 
 and the astrological chapter (27th) in the She ke, the 
 earliest of trie Dynastic Histories, shows a remarkable 
 parallelism, not only in the general style of the fore- 
 casts, but in particular portents which are so con- 
 trary to Chinese prejudices as a nation, and 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 " desert," 
 the adverse fortunes of the empire, and the common 
 occurrence of such expressions as " Soldiers arise." 
 But the most curious coincidence is the occurrence of 
 
 1 Sayce's Astronomy and Astrology of the Babylonians, in 
 the "Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology," 
 vol. iii. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 5 
 
 the forecast " Gold is exchanged " in both chronicles. 
 Professor Sayce, being uncertain as to the exact 
 translation, adds a query to the rendering just given, 
 and in the Chinese we have but the words Tui, 
 " (Coin) is exchanged," and Puh tui, " (Coin) is not 
 exchanged." 
 
 In the reign of Chwan Hu (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 solar year, and a comparison between the ancient 
 names of the months given in the Urh ya y the oldest 
 Chinese dictionary, with the Accadian equivalents, 
 shows, in some instances, an exact identity. For 
 example, in Chinese, the fifth month was called Haou, 
 " 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, "heavy dew or rain." Turning 
 now to the Accadian, we find that these months were 
 respectively known as Dhe dhegar, "fire making 
 fire;" Yanyamia, "thick clouds ;" Abba suddu, "the 
 cave of the rising of the sun ; " " the malediction of 
 rain;" 1 and lastly, "the month of mists." Again, 
 the artificial features of the two countries bear a 
 striking similarity, and the following description of 
 Babylonia as revealed by its ruins, might, without the 
 
 1 " Les Origines de l'Histoire d'apres la Bible." Par Francois 
 Lenormant. 
 
CHINA. 
 
 alteration of a word, be read for that of China : " The 
 greatest feature of the country was its agriculture, 
 which was mainly carried on by artificial irrigation, 
 the whole country being intersected with canals, some 
 of them navigable and of a great size, their banks in 
 some places being from twenty to thirty feet high. 
 The long deserted lines of mounds which even now 
 exist in hundreds, marking the lines of these artificial 
 rivers, form far more remarkable objects than the 
 ruined cities and palaces. Once these channels 
 teemed with life and industry, and were lined with 
 cities containing thousands of people." 1 These 
 parallelisms, together with a host of others which 
 might be adduced, all point to the existence of an 
 early relationship between Chinese and Mesopota- 
 mian culture ; and, armed with the advantages thus 
 possessed, the Chinese entered into the empire over 
 which they were ultimately to overspread themselves. 
 But they came among tribes who, though somewhat 
 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 men of the Le tribe to calculate the 
 equinoxes, and a man of the Kwei people to 
 determine the five notes of music. Remnants of 
 these Kwei exist to this day in northern Cambodia, 
 
 1 " The History of Babylonia." By George Smith. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 7 
 
 and it is interesting to find that they still preserve the 
 gamut as it was originally arranged. 
 
 Among such people, and others of a lower civiliza- 
 tion, such as the Jungs of the west, and the Teks, the 
 ancestors of the Tekke Turcomans, 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 duodenary feudal system of 
 Susa with their twelve Pastor Princes. To Yaou 
 succeeded Shun, who carried on the work of his pre- 
 decessor 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 specially, but with the ordinary forms, to 
 Shang-te ; sacrificed with purity and reverence to the 
 six Honoured ones ; offered appropriate sacrifices to 
 the hills and rivers, and extended his worship to the 
 host of spirits." Much controversy has arisen as to 
 the interpretation to be put upon 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 ; and certainly many of his attributes 
 are the same as those belonging to the Jewish God. 
 He was believed to exercise a minute and personal 
 control over the fortunes of the Chinese. It was by 
 his favour that kings rose to power ; and when, in 
 consequence of their iniquities, he withdrew his aegis 
 
CHINA. 
 
 from them, they fell to make room for others better 
 than they. He was the supreme ruler. About the 
 derivation of the character 'jjjj* te, there has been as 
 much difference of opinion as about the meaning of 
 Shang-te. No satisfactory Chinese etymology has 
 been found for it, and it is in all probability nothing 
 
 more than the eight-pointed star of the Accadians ^ 
 
 meaning "ruler." Combined with the character 
 Shang, it may be translated supreme ruler, but we find 
 it like the Accadian character applied also to temporal 
 rulers among the Chinese. Of the six Honoured ones 
 Chinese writers have not been able to offer any ex- 
 planation. 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 in- 
 undated most of the provinces of the existing empire. 
 The waters, we are told, rose to so great a height, 
 that the people had to betake themselves to the 
 mountains to escape death. The disaster arose, as 
 many similar disasters, though of a less magnitude, 
 have since arisen, in consequence of the Yellow River 
 bursting its bounds, and the " Great Yu " was ap- 
 pointed to lead the waters back to their channel. 
 With unremitting energy he set about his task, and 
 in nine years succeeded in bringing the river under 
 control. During this period, so absorbed was he in 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 9 
 
 his work that, we are told, he took heed neither of 
 food nor clothing, and that thrice he passed the door 
 of his house without once stopping to enter. On the 
 completion of his labours, he divided the empire into 
 nine instead of twelve provinces ; and tradition repre- 
 sents him as having engraved a record of his toils on 
 the celebrated stone tablet on Mount Heng, in the 
 province of Hoopih, the characters of which, however, 
 bear in their forms conclusive evidence that they can- 
 not have been engraved earlier than the fifth century 
 B.C. As a reward for the services he had rendered to 
 the empire, he was invested with the principality of 
 Hea, and after having occupied the throne conjointly 
 with 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. 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 the 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 estab- 
 lished himself as the chief of the sovereign state of 
 the empire. By empire it must not be supposed that 
 the empire, as it exists at present, is meant. The 
 China of the Chow Dynasty lay between the 33rd 
 
io CHINA. 
 
 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, Shense, 
 Honan, Keang-se, and Shan-tung. Not until the 
 third century B.C., when the Chinese political power 
 was in the hands of the Prince of Ts'in, were his 
 followers permitted to cross the Yang-tsze Keang. 1 
 This territory was re-arranged by Woo Wang into the 
 nine principalities established by Yu, and in accord- 
 ance with his right as sovereign, he appointed over each 
 a member of his own'family or following, with the ex- 
 ception 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 model monarchs of antiquity. He dwelt, 
 we are told, with great earnestness on the importance 
 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 ; and (5) 
 friend to friend : of their being well fed, and of the 
 proper observance of funeral ceremonies and sacrifices. 
 In his administration of the affairs of the empire he 
 was ably seconded by his brother, the Duke of Chow, 
 who, on the death of Woo, divided the government of 
 the kingdom with the imperial successor, Ching (11 15 
 B.C.). Under the next ruler, K'ang (1078-1053 B.C.), 
 1 Cf. " Cradle of the Shan Race." By Terrien de Lacouperie. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. n 
 
 the empire was consolidated, and the feudal princes 
 one and all acknowledged their allegiance to the 
 ruling house of Chow. But under succeeding sove- 
 reigns, jealousies and strifes broke out among them, 
 and their loyalty to their liege lord fluctuated with 
 the power he exercised over them. From all accounts 
 there speedily occurred a marked degeneracy in the 
 character of the Chow kings. History tells us little 
 about them, and that little does not generally redound 
 to their credit. Among the most conspicuous of the 
 early kings was Muh (1001-947 B.C.), who has rendered 
 himself notorious for having promulgated a penal 
 code, under which the redemption of punishments 
 was made permissible by the payment of fines. The 
 charge brought against him by historians, that this 
 enactment first opened the door to the system of 
 bribery and corruption which has since produced such 
 evils in China, may possibly be well founded ; but, how- 
 ever this may be, it, at the time, only added one more 
 source of evil to the growing disorder of the State. 
 
 Already a spirit of lawlessness was spreading far 
 ■and wide among the princes and nobles, and wars 
 and rumours of wars were creating misery and unrest 
 throughout the country. But, notwithstanding this, 
 that- literary instinct, which has been a marked 
 characteristic of the Chinese throughout their long 
 history, continued as active as ever. At stated inter- 
 vals, officials, we are told, were sent in " light car- 
 
12 CHINA. 
 
 riages " 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 pre- 
 sented to the officials of the sovereign state appointed 
 for the purpose collections of the odes and songs of 
 each locality, in order, we are told, that the character 
 of the rule exercised by their several princes should 
 be judged from the tone of the poetical and musical 
 productions of their subjects. The odes and songs 
 thus collected were carefully preserved in the royal 
 archives, and it was from these materials that, as is 
 commonly believed, 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 diffi- 
 culties in the way of administering the kingdom, and 
 was fostering a tendency to separation among the 
 various peoples. In addition to this, the ancient cha- 
 racters of the language had, for reasons which will be 
 hereafter explained, become to a great extent unin- 
 telligible. To correct these evils, King Seuen (827-781 
 B.C.) 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 conformity 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 13 
 
 with a system of a certain number of strokes, in order 
 to establish a recognized centre of literary unity in 
 the use of the written characters. Such an artificial 
 system could only be made to serve the object pro- 
 posed under the rule of a succession of supremely 
 powerful sovereigns, and, as such were denied to China 
 at that period, it failed entirely. 
 
 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 neighbour, and a constant 
 state of internecine war succeeded the peace and 
 prosperity which had existed under the rule of Woo- 
 wang. In the social relations was reflected the dis- 
 order into which the political world had fallen. Filial 
 piety had almost ceased to be, and great laxity in 
 the marriage relations gave rise to deeds of reckless 
 licentiousness and atrocious violence. The example 
 set by the princes of taking with their brides eight 
 other ladies at once was followed without scruple in 
 this degenerate age ; and chiefs, bent on the prosecu- 
 tion of their own ambitious schemes, trod underfoot 
 the rights of the people, and hesitated not to use up 
 the lives and property of their subjects in pursuance 
 of their ends. "A host marches," says Mencius, 
 speaking of this period, "and stores of provisions 
 are consumed. The hungry are deprived of their 
 
14 CHINA. 
 
 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 current ; or they urge 
 their way against it ; they are wild ; they 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 day 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. This is leading on beasts to 
 devour men." A story, illustrative of the uncared-for 
 state of the country and the oppression under which 
 the people groaned, is told of Confucius. It chanced 
 that on one occasion, as the Sage was journeying 
 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 her the cause of her grief. "You weep," said 
 Tsze-loo, "as if you had experienced sorrow upon 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 15 
 
 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 remarked, " My children, remem- 
 ber this, oppressive government is fiercer than a 
 tiger." 
 
 But 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 admonitions were passed unheeded by men 
 who held their fiefs by the strength of their right 
 arms, and administered the affairs of their principali- 
 ties surrounded by the din of war. The main article 
 of Confucius's political creed was the primary import- 
 ance of strengthening and rehabilitating the kingdom 
 of Chow in its supremacy over the surrounding states ; 
 but the incompetency of its successive rulers levelled 
 with the ground this castle in the air which he per- 
 sisted 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 the more vigorous states. 
 As time went on and the disorder increased, super- 
 natural signs added their testimony to the impending 
 
16 CHINA. 
 
 crisis. The brazen vessels upon which Yu had en- 
 graved the nine divisions of the empire were observed 
 to shake and totter as though foreshadowing an 
 approaching change in the political position. Mean- 
 while Ts'in on the north-west, Ts'oo on the south, and 
 Tsin on the north, having vanquished all the other 
 states, engaged in the 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 acknowledged ruler 
 over the "black-haired" people. Only four years 
 were given him to reign supreme, and at the end of 
 that 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, the 
 first Emperor of China. The 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 counte- 
 nance which had been given to that system by Confu- 
 cius and Mencius made it desirable — so thought the 
 emperor — to demolish once for all their testimony in 
 favour of that condition of affairs, which he had decreed 
 should be among the things of the past. With this 
 object he ordered that the whole existing literature, 
 with the exception of books on medicine, agriculture, 
 and divination, should be burned. The decree was 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 r? 
 
 obeyed as faithfully as was possible in the case of so 
 sweeping an ordinance, and for many years a night of 
 ignorance rested on the country. The construction 
 of one gigantic work — the Great Wall of China — has 
 made the name of this monarch as famous as the de- 
 struction of the books has made it infamous. Finding 
 
 the Heung-nu Tartars were making dangerous inroads 
 into the empire, he determined with characteristic 
 thoroughness to build a huge barrier which should 
 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 endeavour was 
 
 C 
 
18 CHINA. 
 
 made to hasten its completion, he died (209) leaving 
 it unfinished. His death was the signal for an out- 
 break among the dispossessed feudal princes, who, 
 however, after some years of disorder, were again 
 reduced to the rank of citizens by a successful leader, 
 who adopted the title of Kaou-te, and named his 
 dynasty that of Han (206). 
 
 From that day to this, with occasional interregnums, 
 the empire has been ruled on the lines laid down by 
 Che Hwang-te. Dynasty has succeeded dynasty, but 
 the political tradition has remained unchanged, and 
 though Mongols and Manchoos have at different times 
 wrested the throne from its legitimate heirs, they have 
 been engulfed in the homogeneous mass inhabiting 
 the empire, and instead of impressing their seal on the 
 country have become but the reflection of the van- 
 quished. The dynasties from the beginning of the 
 earlier Han, founded, as stated above, by Kaou-te, 
 are as follows : — vrN 
 
 
 B.C. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 \ 
 
 The earlier Han Dynasty 
 
 206 - 
 
 A.D. 
 
 " 25 
 
 X 
 
 The late Han „ 
 
 25 - 
 
 - 220 
 
 
 The Wei ■ 
 
 220 - 
 
 - 280 
 
 
 The western Tsin „ 
 
 265 - 
 
 ~ 317 
 
 
 The eastern Tsin „ 
 
 317 - 
 
 - 420 
 
 
 The Sung „ 
 
 420 - 
 
 - 479 
 
 
 1 Simultaneously with this dynasty there existed that of the 
 Minor Han in Sze-chuen in 220-263, and that of Wu 222-277. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 
 
 
 
 A.D. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 The T'se Dynasty 
 
 
 479 
 
 — 502 
 
 The Leang „ 
 
 
 502 
 
 — 557 
 
 The Ch'in „ 
 
 
 557 
 
 - 589 
 
 Simultaneously with these — 
 
 
 
 The northern Wei Dynasty 
 
 386 
 
 — 534 
 
 The western Wei 
 
 )) 
 
 535 
 
 — 557 
 
 The eastern Wei 
 
 ?» 
 
 534 
 
 — 550 
 
 The northern T'se 
 
 jj 
 
 55o 
 
 — 577 
 
 The northern Chow 
 
 j> 
 
 557 
 
 - 589 
 
 The Suy 
 
 •>> 
 
 589 
 
 — 618 
 
 /£ The T'ang 
 
 » 
 
 618 
 
 — 907 
 
 4m The later Leang 
 The later T'ang 
 
 5) 
 
 907 
 
 — 923 
 
 55 
 
 923 
 
 — 936 
 
 The later Tsin 
 
 V 
 
 936 
 
 — 947 
 
 U. The later Han 
 
 )) 
 
 947 
 
 — 95i 
 
 <4 The later Chow 
 
 3) 
 
 95i 
 
 — 960 
 
 U The Sung 
 
 )) 
 
 960 
 
 — 1127 
 
 The southern Sung 
 
 » 
 
 1127 
 
 — 1280 
 
 U The Yuen 
 
 » 
 
 1280 
 
 — 1368 
 
 The Ming 
 
 V 
 
 1368 
 
 — 1644 
 
 The Ts'ing 
 
 J) 
 
 1644 
 
 
 Simultaneously with some of these — 
 
 The Leaou Dynasty 907 — 1125 
 
 The western Leaou „ 1125 — 1168 
 
 The Kin „ 11 15 — 1280 
 
 The present Manchoo rulers of China are descen- 
 dants 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' N. lat. and 129 50 
 
2o CHINA. 
 
 E. long. Under a succession of able leaders the 
 tribe gained power and territory, and as time went 
 on even reached the point of carrying 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 with 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 dynasty 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 A.D.) 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 
 humour any such presumptuous folly, left the capital 
 without opening negotiations. 
 
 In 1661, the Emperor Shunche became a "guest 
 in heaven," or, in other words, died, and K'ang-he, 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 21 
 
 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 Eleuths were successfully 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 
 M Sixteen Sacred Maxims," which are taught in every 
 school throughout the empire, and which every can- 
 didate at the competitive examinations is expected to 
 know by heart, together with the commentary thereon, 
 by the imperial author's son and successor : — 
 
 1. " Esteem most highly filial piety and brotherly 
 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." 
 
 3. "Cultivate peace and concord in your neigh- 
 bourhood, 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." 
 
22 CHINA. 
 
 7. " Discountenance and banish strange doctrines, 
 in order to exalt the correct doctrine." 
 
 8. " Describe and explain the laws, in order to warn 
 the ignorant and obstinate." 
 
 9. " Exhibit clearly propriety and yielding courtesy, 
 in order that manners and customs may be perfected." 
 
 10. " Labour 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, 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." 
 
 15. "Combine in hundreds and tithings, in order 
 to put an end to thefts and robbery." 
 
 16. " Study to remove resentments and angry feel- 
 ings, 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 of a 
 new era in the intellectual life of the people. Under 
 the guidance of the Jesuit missionaries 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 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 23 
 
 labour and vast sums of money. By his appointment 
 a commission of scholars compiled a dictionary of 
 the language, which is the best work of the kind, and 
 which is called by his name ; and another illustrious 
 company edited a vast encyclopedia, containing 
 articles on every known subject, and extracts from all 
 works of authority dating from the twelfth century 
 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 possession of the trustees of the British Museum 
 will be the only complete copy existing. A cold, 
 caught on a hunting excursion in Mongolia, brought 
 his memorable reign of sixty-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 wisdom 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 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
24 CHINA. 
 
 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 dis- 
 comfitures, and even the Meaou-tsze tribes of Kwei- 
 chow and Kwang-se proved themselves troublesome 
 antagonists. During his reign, which extended to 
 sixty years — a full Chinese cycle — the relations of 
 his government with the East India Company were 
 extremely unsatisfactory. The English merchants 
 were compelled to submit to many indignities and 
 wrongs ; and for the purpose of establishing a better 
 international understanding, Lord Macartney was sent 
 by George III. on a special mission to the Court of 
 Peking. The ambassador was received graciously 
 by the emperor, who accepted the presents sent him 
 by the English king ; but, owing to his ignorance of 
 his own relative position and of the alphabet of inter- 
 national 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 abdicated in 
 favour 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 (18 16), 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. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 25 
 
 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. Meanwhile the internal affairs of the country 
 were even more disturbed than the foreign relations. 
 A succession of rebellions broke out in the northern 
 and western provinces, and the seaboard was ravaged 
 by pirates. While these disturbing causes were in 
 full play Kea-k'ing died (1820), and the throne de- 
 volved 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 Society, which 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 instigation. At the same time the 
 mandarins continued to persecute the English mer- 
 chants, and on the expiry of the East India Company's 
 monopoly in 1834, the English government 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 vexa- 
 tions connected with his post, and he died at Macao, 
 after a few months' residence in China. The opium 
 
26 CHINA. 
 
 trade was now the question of the hour, and at the 
 urgent demand of Commissioner Lin, Captain Elliot, 
 the superintendent of trade, agreed that all opium in 
 the hands of English merchants 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 3rd of April, 1839, 
 20,283 chests of opium were, in accordance with this 
 agreement, handed over to the mandarins, 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 our hands, and Commissioner Lin's 
 successor sought to purchase peace by the cession of 
 Hong-kong and the payment of an indemnity of 
 6,000,000 dollars. This convention was, however, 
 repudiated by the Peking government, and it was not 
 until Canton, Amoy, Ningpo, Chapoo, Shanghai, and 
 Chin-keang-foo had been taken by our troops, that 
 the emperor at last consented to come to terms. 
 These, as was only just, were now far more onerous. 
 By a treaty made by Sir Henry Pottinger in 1842, 
 the cession of Hong-kong was supplemented by the 
 opening of the four ports of Amoy, Fuh-chow-foo, 
 Ningpo, and Shanghai, to foreign trade, and the 
 indemnity of 6,000,000 dollars was increased to 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 27 
 
 21,000,000. Death put an end to Taou-kwang's reign 
 in 1850, and his fourth son, Heen-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 dynasty. 
 This is one of those traditions which are apt to bring 
 about their own fulfilment, and in the beginning of 
 the reign of Heen-fung the political air was rife with 
 rumours that an effort was to be made to restore the 
 Ming Dynasty to the throne. On such occasions 
 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 the title of T'een-tih, "heavenly 
 virtue," to head the movement. But T'een-tih had 
 not the capacity required to play the necessary part, 
 and the 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 — energy, enthusiasm, and religious 
 bigotry. Having been converted to a pseudo-Chris- 
 tianity, he professed himself 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 
 
28 CHINA. 
 
 captured Woo-chang-foo, the capital of the last-named 
 province, and a city of great commercial and strategi- 
 cal importance, situated as it is at the junction of the 
 Han river with the Yang-tsze-keang. Having made 
 this place secure, he advanced down the river and 
 made himself master of Gan-ting and the old capital 
 of the empire, Nanking. Here, in 1852, he established 
 his throne and proclaimed the commencement of the 
 T'ai-ping Dynasty. For himself he adopted the title 
 of T'een-wang, or " heavenly king." For a time all 
 went well with the new dynasty. The T'ai-ping 
 standard was carried northward to the walls of Tien- 
 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 on the English flag perpetrated on board 
 the lorcha Arrow at Canton, in 1857, having been 
 left unredressed by the mandarins, led to the procla- 
 mation 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 following 
 spring the Taku forts at the mouth of the Peiho 
 having been taken, Lord Elgin, who had in the mean- 
 time arrived as plenipotentiary, advanced up the 
 river to T'ien-tsin on his way to the capital. At 
 that city, however, he was met by imperial commis- 
 sioners, and, yielding to their entreaties, he concluded 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 29 
 
 a treaty with them, which it was arranged should be 
 ratified at Peking in the following year. But the 
 evil genius of the Chinese still pursuing them, they 
 treacherously fired on the fleet accompanying Sir 
 Frederick Bruce, Lord Elgin's brother, when pro- 
 ceeding, in i860, to Peking in fulfilment of this agree- 
 ment. This outrage rendered another military 
 expedition necessary, and, in conjunction 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 
 entrenchments in rear, captured them with but a 
 trifling loss. This success was so utterly unexpected 
 by the Chinese, that, leaving T'ien-tsin unprotected, 
 they retreated rapidly to the neighbourhood of the 
 capital. The allies pushed on after them, and, in 
 reply to an invitation sent from .the imperial com- 
 missioners at Tung-chow, a town twelve miles from 
 Peking, Sir Harry Parkes and Mr. Loch, accom- 
 panied by an escort and some few friends, went in 
 advance of the army to make a preliminary conven- 
 tion. While so engaged they were treacherously 
 taken prisoners and carried off to Peking. This act 
 precipitated an engagement, in which the Chinese 
 were completely routed, and the allies marched on to 
 Peking. After the usual display of obstinacy, the 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 CALIFORNIA- 
 
30 CHINA. 
 
 Chinese yielded to the demand for the surrender of 
 the An-ting Gate of the city. From this vantage- 
 point Lord Elgin opened negotiations, and, having 
 secured the release of Sir Harry Parkes, Mr. Loch, and 
 the remaining prisoners who had survived the tortures 
 to which they had been subjected, and having burnt 
 Yuen-ming-yuen, the summer palace of the emperor, 
 as a punishment for their treacherous capture and 
 for the cruelties perpetrated on them, he concluded a 
 treaty with Prince Kung, the representative of the 
 emperor. By this instrument the Chinese agreed to 
 pay a war indemnity of 8,000,000 taels, and to open 
 the ports of New-chwang, Che-foo, Kiu-keang, Chin- 
 keang, Hankow, Pak-hoi, 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 suppression of the T'ai-ping 
 rebellion. Fortunately for themselves, the apparent 
 friendliness with which they greeted the arrival of 
 the British Legation at Peking enlisted the sym- 
 pathies of Sir Frederick Bruce in their favour, 
 and inclined him to listen to their request for the 
 services of an English officer in their campaign 
 against the rebels. At the request of Sir F. Bruce, 
 General Staveley selected Major Gordon, since gene- 
 rally known as Chinese Gordon, for this duty. A 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 31 
 
 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 Burgevine, another American. Over this force 
 Gordon was placed, and at the head of it he marched, 
 in conjunction with the Chinese generals, against 
 the T'ai-pings. With masterly 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 of Soochow opened 
 the gates of the city to him on condition that he would 
 spare their lives. When, however, these men presented 
 themselves before Le Hung-chang, the present Viceroy 
 of Chih-li, to offer their submission to the emperor, 
 they were, with cruel treachery, seized and beheaded. 
 On learning how lightly his word had been treated 
 by the Chinese general, Gordon armed himself, for 
 the first time during the campaign, with a revolver, 
 and sought out the Chinese head-quarters, intending to 
 avenge with his own hand this murder of the T'aiping 
 leaders. But Le Hung-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 im- 
 possible to continue to act with so orientally-minded 
 a colleague. 
 
32 CHINA. 
 
 After considerable negotiation, however, he was 
 persuaded to return to his command, and soon suc- 
 ceeded in so completely crippling the power of the 
 rebels that, in July, 1864, Nanking, their last strong- 
 hold, fell into the hands of the Imperialists. T'een- 
 wang was then already dead, and his body was found 
 within the walls wrapt in imperial yellow. Thus 
 was crushed out a rebellion which had paralysed 
 the imperial power in the central provinces of 
 the empire, and which had for twelve years seriously 
 threatened the existence of the reigning dynasty. 
 
 Meanwhile, in the summer following the conclusion 
 of the treaty of Peking, the Emperor Heen-fung 
 breathed his last at Jehol (1861) — an event which 
 was, in popular belief, foretold by the appearance of 
 a comet in the early part of the summer — and was 
 succeeded on the throne by his only son, who adopted 
 the title of T'ung-che. Being quite a child at the 
 time of his accession, the administration 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 increas- 
 ingly hostile spirit towards the Christian missionaries 
 and their converts, which culminated, in 1870, in the 
 "T'ien-tsin massacre." In some of the central pro- 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 33 
 
 vinces reports had been industriously circulated that 
 the Roman Catholic missionaries were in the habit of 
 kidnapping and murdering children, in order to 
 make medicine from their eyeballs. Ridiculous as 
 the rumour was, it found ready credence among the 
 ignorant people, and several outrages were perpe- 
 trated on the missionaries and their converts in 
 Keang-se and Sze-chuen. Through the active inter- 
 ference, however, of the French minister, the agita- 
 tions were locally suppressed, but only to be renewed 
 again at T'ien-tsin. Here also the same absurd 
 rumours were set afloat, and were especially directed 
 against some sisters of charity who had opened 
 an orphanage in the city. For some days before 
 the massacre on the 21st June, reports increasing 
 in consistency reached the foreign residents that 
 an outbreak was to be apprehended, and three times 
 the English consul wrote to Chung How, the super- 
 intendent of trade for the three northern ports, call- 
 ing upon him to take measures to subdue the gather- 
 ing passions of the people, which had been further 
 dangerously exasperated by an infamous proclamation 
 issued by the prefect. To these communications the 
 consul did not receive any reply, and on the morning 
 of the 2 1st, a day which had apparently been de- 
 liberately fixed upon for the massacre, the attack 
 was made. The mob first broke into the French 
 consulate, and while the consul, M. Fontanier, was 
 
 D 
 
34 CHINA. 
 
 with Chung How, endeavouring to persuade him to 
 interfere, M. and Mad. Thomasin, M. and Mad. 
 Chalmaison, and Pere Chevrien were there murdered. 
 On his way back to the consulate, M. Fontanier 
 suffered the same fate. Having thus whetted their 
 taste for blood, the rioters 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 
 least for the orphans under their charge, the mob 
 broke into the hospital, and having " insulted, 
 stripped, impaled, ripped open, and cut to pieces" 
 the sisters, smothered from thirty to forty children in 
 the vaults, 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 these victims, a Russian gentleman, 
 with his bride and a friend, who were unfortunate 
 enough to meet the rioters on their way to the 
 cathedral, were ruthlessly murdered. No other 
 foreigners were injured, a circumstance due to the 
 fact that the fury of the mob was primarily directed 
 against the French Roman Catholics, and also that 
 the foreign settlement, where all but those engaged 
 in missionary work resided, is at a distance of a 
 couple of miles from the city. 
 
 When the evil was done, the Chinese authorities 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 35 
 
 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 twenty of the active 
 murderers should be executed. 
 
 By these retributive measures the emperor's govern- 
 ment 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 subjugation 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 
 purpose of attempting to enlist the sympathies of the 
 English government in the Panthay cause, no doubt 
 added zest to the action of the mandarins, who, after 
 a short but vigorous campaign, 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, 
 tranquillity reigned throughout " the eighteen pro- 
 vinces." 
 
 As in every act in the life of a Chinese emperor, 
 
36 CHINA, 
 
 the marriage of Tung-che was surrounded with 
 numerous and complex ceremonies. The bride had 
 first to be chosen from the daughters of Manchoos 
 who were 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 process of sifting the candidates 
 the lady, Ah-lu-te, was chosen as the " Phoenix " 
 to mate the " Dragon." While these matters were 
 proceeding, 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 Astro- 
 nomical Board fixed upon the night between the 
 15th and 16th of October for the supreme cere- 
 mony. As the time approached, the lady, Ah-lu-te, 
 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 examinations, and 
 four other ladies, who were destined to form the 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 37 
 
 nucleus of the imperial harem, were lodged in a 
 palace especially prepared and beautified for them in 
 the imperial city. The road between this palace 
 and the imperial abode was carefully levelled and 
 constantly sprinkled with sand, of the yellow imperial 
 colour, and each morning long processions 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 mandarins and troops, 
 forming a daily spectacle for the idlers in the capital. 
 
 On the 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 Phcenix Chair," passed 
 along to the bride's palace. At its head rode a 
 Manchoo prince, attended by lesser chiefs en grande 
 tenne y the prince carrying in his hand the jade sceptre 
 which is constantly held by the emperor. Thirty 
 white horses followed closely on these imperial in- 
 signia, and the rest of the cavalcade was made up of 
 officials carrying banners, triple umbrellas adorned with 
 embroidered representations of dragons and phcenixes, 
 fans, and " golden melons " stuck on long poles. 
 
 At eleven o'clock the same evening, the same pro- 
 cession, with the addition of the bride and the golden 
 
38 CHINA. 
 
 tablet, the sceptre and the seal, started for the im- 
 perial 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 an official of the Astronomical Board carry- 
 ing a lighted joss-stick, so marked as to indicate 
 portions of time, by means of which he regulated the 
 pace of the procession, in order that it might arrive 
 at the imperial palace at the fortunate moment of two 
 in the morning. On arriving at the palace, u the Great 
 Pure Gate " was thrown open, and Ah-lu-te' 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 dowager empresses came 
 out to receive the bride. In her hands they placed 
 pieces of uncoined gold and silver, and crossed them 
 over her breast in such a way as to enable her also to 
 carry a vase containing wheat, maize, rice, emeralds, 
 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 the marriages 
 of commoners, and thus Ah-lu-te' became an empress, 
 and her father, catching a reflection of his daughter's 
 greatness, was made a Duke. 1 
 
 1 " Meeting the Sun," by William Simpson, F.R.G.S. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 39 
 
 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 entrance on the north of the 
 palace. The Book of Rites of the present dynasty, 
 which regulates every official observance in China, 
 ordains that the number of these ladies should be 
 increased 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 the empress, who alone 
 is entitled to enjoy the society of the emperor at 
 the time of full moon, and who, in theory at least, 
 apportions to each of her attendant ladies the special 
 household duties pertaining to her rank. 
 
 The cost of maintaining so large and extravagant 
 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, during the preceding year, 370 rolls of satin, 
 500 rolls of brocaded satin, 3400 rolls of silk gauze, 
 600 large handkerchiefs, 800 catties of sewing silk, 
 500 catties of white silk, and 3000 pieces of fine calico, 
 had been furnished by the imperial purveyor at Nan- 
 king, besides the immense stores which were poured 
 in from Hang-chow and Soochow. From the imperial 
 
40 CHINA. 
 
 porcelain factories at Kin-tih-chin 11,838 articles, 
 consisting 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, and destined 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 29th of June, 1873. "Very 
 early, therefore, on the morning of that day the 
 ministers were astir, and were conducted in their 
 sedan-chairs to the park on the west side of the 
 palace, where, having 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 favour 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 of 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 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 41 
 
 foreign ministers entered the audience-chamber in a 
 body. The emperor was seated, facing southwards. 
 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 together ; they then advanced in line a little 
 further and made a second bow ; and when they had 
 nearly reached the yellow table — on which their cre- 
 dentials were, as arranged, to be deposited — they 
 bowed a third time ; after which they remained erect. 
 M. Vlangaly, the Russian minister, then read a con- 
 gratulatory address in French, which was translated by 
 an interpreter into Chinese, and the ministers, making 
 another 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 honour 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 da'fs to the foreign ministers, 
 and respectfully repeated this in Chinese. After this, 
 he again prostrated himself, and in like manner re- 
 ceived and conveyed a message to the effect that 
 
42 CHINA. 
 
 his Majesty hoped that all foreign questions would 
 be satisfactorily disposed of. The ministers then 
 withdrew, bowing repeatedly until they reached the 
 entrance." 1 
 
 Thus ended the only instance during the present 
 century of Europeans being received in imperial 
 audience. Whether under more fortunate circum- 
 stances the ceremony 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 finally succumbed to 
 the disease on the 12th of January, 1875. With 
 great ceremony the funeral obsequies were performed 
 over the body of him who had been T'ung-che, and 
 the coffin was finally laid in the imperial mausoleum 
 among the eastern hills beside the remains of his pre- 
 decessors, 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 per- 
 form regularly 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 descen- 
 dant of a posterior generation. It was necessary 
 1 Pall Mall Gazette, May 21, 1874. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 43 
 
 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 years 
 old, was chosen to fill the vacant throne. Kwang-sii, 
 or " an inheritance of glory," was the title conferred 
 upon him, and it remains to be seen whether the 
 events of his reign will justify so high-sounding a 
 promise. 
 
 Scarcely had the proclamation gone forth of the 
 assumption of the imperial title by Kwang-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 despatched to meet an expedition sent by 
 the Indian Government, under the command of 
 Colonel Horace Browne, to discover a route from 
 Burmah into the south-western provinces of China. 
 A more thoroughly competent officer than Mr. Mar- 
 gary could not have been selected for the under- 
 taking, and the choice made was fully justified by 
 the way in which he performed the journey to Bhamo, 
 in Burmah, in spite of illness and of the many ob- 
 stacles thrown in his way by the native officials. He 
 left Shanghai, on his journey westward, on the 23rd 
 August, 1874, and reached Bhamo, where he met 
 Colonel Brown's party, on the 17th of the following 
 January. On the 18th of February, he once more 
 turned his face eastward, in company with the Indian 
 
44 CHINA. 
 
 Expedition. Scarcely, however, had they begun their 
 march, when rumours 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 Chinese 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 neighbourhood of the town, he was 
 treacherously knocked off his pony 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 Sir Thomas Wade 
 was able to adduce proved too strong to be ignored 
 even by the Peking mandarins, and, eventually, they 
 signed a convention in which they practically acknow- 
 ledged their blood-guiltiness, under the terms of which 
 some fresh commercial privileges were granted, and an 
 indemnity, part of which, viz. ;£ 10,000, was handed 
 over to the family of Mr. Margary, was paid to the 
 English Government. At the same time, the "ex- 
 pectant Vice-President," Kwo Sung-taou, was sent to 
 England to apologize for this breach of international 
 amity, and to establish an embassy on a permanent 
 
UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 45 
 
 footing at the Court of St. James's. With the conclu- 
 sion of this agreement the friendly relations between 
 the two governments, which at one time during the 
 negotiations 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 Ts'eng Ta-jin, a son 
 of the celebrated soldier and statesman Ts'eng kwo- 
 fan. 
 
 The new minister had no sooner landed in Europe 
 than he found himself immersed in a sea of political 
 troubles. The dispute between his country and 
 Russia, which Chung How, his predecessor at St. 
 Petersburg, had attempted to settle by a treaty which 
 gave Russia the fruitful valley of the Tekke River, 
 important passes in the T'ienshan, and the city of 
 Yarkand, besides some enviable mercantile advan- 
 tages, had arrived at an acute stage in consequence 
 of the refusal of the Chinese to ratify the ill-advised 
 document. To the Marquis Ts'eng was entrusted the 
 delicate duty of inducing Russia to tear up the con- 
 vention which she had extracted from Chung How, 
 and to substitute another which should be acceptable 
 at Peking. This he succeeded in doing, and was able 
 to forward for ratification to Peking a treaty by which 
 Russia gave up nearly the whole of the contested 
 territory in Hi in return for the payment of nine 
 million roubles towards the military expenses incurred 
 
46 CHINA. 
 
 by Russia in holding and protecting the province 
 since 187 1. The contrast between these terms and 
 those proposed by Chung How was great enough 
 to make them eminently acceptable at Peking, and 
 on the 19th of August, 1881, the ratifications were 
 exchanged. 
 
 While conducting these negotiations at St. Peters- 
 burg, news reached the Marquis that the French were 
 about to put into execution their long-cherished 
 scheme of occupying Tungking (Tonquin). Against 
 this invasion he energetically protested, and was met 
 by an announcement from Gambetta that France 
 had now determined to enforce the treaty concluded 
 with the King of Annam in 1874. In furtherance of 
 this scheme, Captain Riviere was, in the beginning 
 of 1882, despatched from Saigon to insist on the 
 opening up of the country, and especially of the 
 opening of the Red River leading to the Chinese 
 province of Yunnan. On arriving at Hanoi, Riviere 
 found the authorities hostile, and to his demands that 
 all transit dues should be abolished, that free passage 
 should be given to French ships in the inland waters 
 of Tungking, and that all Chinese troops should be 
 withdrawn from the country, they returned decided 
 negatives. Upon this he presented an ultimatum, 
 and as the mandarins refused to subscribe to its con- 
 ditions, he attacked and captured the citadel of Hanoi. 
 Not content with this achievement, he besieged and 
 
(university) 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 47 
 
 took the town of Nam Dinh, and was meditating 
 further victories, when the news that the Black Flags 
 were becoming aggressively troublesome in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Hanoi, recalled him to that city. So 
 threatening was the attitude of the Black Flags that 
 he deemed it advisable to make a sortie upon them, 
 and on the 19th of May he sallied forth at the head of 
 a small force to attack the enemy. At first all went 
 well, but, falling into an ambush, he and his second in 
 command were killed on almost identically the same 
 spot at which Gamier had met his death nine years 
 before. 
 
 The news of this misadventure produced consterna- 
 tion at Saigon, and General Bouet was sent thence to 
 take command in Tungking. On the 16th of June, this 
 officer arrived at Hanoi, and at once began to fortify 
 his position, and to make preparations for a fresh 
 campaign. Before long he captured Hai Dzuong and 
 Phu-Binh, and seriously contemplated an attack on 
 Sontay. Against this project the Marquis Ts'eng 
 protested in Paris, warning the government that such 
 an expedition would be tantamount to a declaration 
 of war with China. Disregarding this notice, the 
 French attacked and took Sontay, without entailing 
 the serious consequence threatened by the Marquis, 
 who appeared to have been thrown over by his govern- 
 ment. Practically, however, war was already declared 
 between the two countries. The French invaded 
 
48 CHINA. 
 
 the island of Formosa, and occupied Kelung. But 
 as in Tungking, so their position in Formosa was 
 one of danger and difficulty. In the engagements 
 they fought they were not by any means always 
 successful, and disease was rife among them. The 
 coal mines, which had been the object of their invasion 
 of Formosa, had been rendered valueless by having 
 been purposely flooded by the Chinese, and altogether 
 their expedition to the island entailed on them more 
 loss than profit. Meanwhile the war dragged on in 
 Tungking. The French, after several successes, which 
 were by no means unchequered by disasters, advanced, 
 in March, 1885, and captured Lang-son, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the Chinese frontier. An incautious 
 advance, however, turned the victory into a serious 
 defeat, and the French were driven by the Chinese 
 through and beyond Lang-son, with the loss of their 
 ammunition, baggage, and prisoners. At sea they 
 were more fortunate, and in the preceding month 
 they engaged the Chinese fleet in the neighbour- 
 hood of Shapoo, and sank a frigate, the Yukwan, 
 twenty- two guns, and a corvette, the Cheng-king, ten 
 guns. At Foochow, also, the Chinese suffered a 
 severe defeat at the hands of the French fleet, which 
 destroyed the forts and sank the shipping. 
 
 Victory, however, did not declare in any sense 
 emphatically for either side, and both governments, 
 weary of the war, gladly accepted, in April, 1885, 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 49 
 
 proposals made by Sir Robert Hart, the Inspector- 
 General of Customs, for the re-establishment of peace. 
 By the terms eventually agreed upon, the protectorate 
 over Tungking was conceded to France, Formosa was 
 evacuated, and a commercial treaty favourable to 
 French interests in Tungking was arranged. By a 
 certain clause in this treaty the importation of opium 
 was prohibited. This proviso was originally inserted 
 in hostility to English commerce, but subsequent ex- 
 perience of the financial importance of the opium 
 trade induced the French to desire its repeal, and 
 they therefore now refuse to ratify the treaty, so long 
 as it contains this obnoxious clause. The Chinese, 
 on the other hand, being genuinely anxious to ex- 
 clude the drug from the province, insist on its being 
 maintained, and, as neither side is disposed to give 
 way, the treaty remains practically in abeyance. The 
 last conspicuous victim to the unhealthy climate of 
 Tungking has been Paul Bert, the French resident, 
 who only entered on his duties in the early part of 
 1886. During the short time he held office he did 
 much to pacify the country, and by utilizing, as far 
 as possible, the native administrative machinery, he 
 soothed the susceptibilities of the officials, and gained 
 the confidence and respect of the people. That, how- 
 ever, the present condition of the country is unsatis- 
 factory, the following letter, which lately (January, 
 1887) appeared in the Times, is sufficient to testify : — 
 
 E 
 
<;o CHINA. 
 
 " Although the death of Paul Bert has not entailed 
 any evil consequences, and counts for nothing with 
 regard to current events, never was the army of occu- 
 pation so busily employed. Everywhere there is 
 fighting, on the borders of Kwangtung, Kwangsi, and 
 Yunnan, to oppose a regular invasion of bands of 
 ancient regulars and Chinese irregulars (perhaps even 
 still in the pay of China). On the upper Black River, 
 we have constantly to deal with the partisans of the 
 ancient king of Annam, who, under the ex-Regent, 
 Thuyet, have been engaged with us so long. Again, 
 on the southern frontier we have opposed to us the 
 ex-king himself, at the head of an insurrection in the 
 province of Than-Hoa. These separate movements 
 are going on concurrently, and the situation cannot 
 be termed brilliant. The rebels entice many from 
 the ranks of our Tonquinese sharpshooters by bribes 
 of gold, piastres, and titles. Men desert with arms 
 and ammunition (a gun is worth 21 of., and a packet 
 of cartridges four, while an officer's head is rewarded 
 with one and even two bars of gold). Some posts 
 have been successfully held against the enemy, but it 
 is only through providential accidents that they have 
 not fallen into their hands." 
 
 In Korea, the large influx of Japanese settlers 
 consequent on opening the country to foreign trade 
 produced, in 1884, much uneasiness and disturbance. 
 The king's father, who had intrigued against the 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 51 
 
 Chinese, was already a prisoner in China ; but in 
 order still further to preserve order, Le Hungchang, 
 with the sanction of the Peking Government, de- 
 spatched an army to the neighbourhood of Seoul, 
 the capital, and appointed Herr von Mollendorf, Vice- 
 President of the Board of Foreign Affairs. These 
 measures did not, however, prevent a revolutionary 
 outbreak. On the evening of the 4th of December, 
 1884, a party of rebels rushed into the palace, and 
 asserting that the Chinese troops had revolted, urged 
 the king to throw himself on the protection of the 
 Japanese Minister. This the king refused to do ; and 
 his partisans, who desired to communicate with the 
 Chinese commander outside the city, were murdered 
 when their intention became known. Meanwhile 
 Japanese troops had arrived for the protection of the 
 king, whose abdication was proposed by the rebels. 
 With unaccountable tardiness, the Chinese commander 
 did not appear upon the scene until the 6th, when he 
 demanded an audience with the king. This being 
 denied him, he marched troops into the city, and, 
 after some fighting, got possession of the person of 
 the king. The people now turned on the Japanese, 
 whom they accused, rightly or wrongly, of having 
 been the cause of the disturbance. They destroyed 
 the Legation, and drove the minister and his escort 
 out of the city. With great difficulty the fugitives 
 made their way to the coast, where they embarked on 
 
52 CHINA. 
 
 one of their country's ships. One hundred and fifty- 
 Koreans, nine Chinese, and thirty-eight Japanese, lost 
 their lives in the e'meute. 
 
 Under the new regime, by which negotiations have 
 been substituted for war, the questions in dispute 
 were submitted to a conference of Korean, Chinese, 
 and Japanese Commissioners, who agreed that the 
 king should apologize to the Japanese Government ; 
 that the murderers of Captain Nobuyashi, one of the 
 victims, should be punished ; that the king should 
 pay 1 10,000 yen compensation for wounds and loss of 
 property; and a further sum of 20,000 yen towards 
 rebuilding the Legation ; and that barracks for the 
 Japanese escort should be built near the Legation. 
 With the conclusion of this arrangement peace was 
 restored, and the only subsequent event of importance 
 has been the removal of Herr von Mollendorf from 
 his post at the Korean Foreign Office, in consequence 
 of the support he gave to some Russian proposals 
 which were considered to threaten the integrity of the 
 country. 
 
 The disorganized condition of Burmah, consequent 
 on the maladministration of Thebaw, which ulti- 
 mately led to his deposition, forced upon the Chinese, 
 in 1884, the necessity of making themselves masters 
 of Bhamo if they were to maintain their trade with 
 the country. Having once acquired possession of the 
 town, they resisted all the attacks made upon them 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 53 
 
 by the Burmese, and retired from it only on the 
 advance of our troops after the occupation of Man- 
 dalay. The fact, however, of their having held a 
 footing in Burmah, gave them a claim to some com- 
 pensation at our hands, and the unquestionable 
 suzerainty which had been held over Burmah, en- 
 titled them, from their point of view, to a continuation 
 of the decennial presents from us as successors to 
 Thebaw. Their first proposal was that Bhamo 
 should be ceded to them, and the presents be sent as 
 usual. But it was held by the military authorities 
 that the position of Bhamo, from a strategical point 
 of view, made it important that it should remain 
 Burmese territory. It was agreed, however, that a 
 frontier should be defined by a commission appointed 
 for the purpose, and that decennial presents should be 
 sent to Peking, not by the British, but by the highest 
 Burmese authority in Mandalay. Unfortunately, the 
 disturbed state of the country has hitherto prevented 
 anything being done in the way of delimiting the 
 frontier. The latest news is, however, more reassuring. 
 Trading caravans are beginning to arrive at Bhamo 
 from China, thus indicating that the roads are again 
 becoming safe ; and there appears, therefore, to be a 
 prospect of returning peace and prosperity. 
 
 The straightforward honesty with which the Eng- 
 lish Government had carried on the negotiations with 
 China, with reference to Burmah, was fully appreciated 
 
54 CHINA. 
 
 by the Marquis Ts'eng, who, possessing eminent 
 diplomatic ability, with a high sense of honour, was 
 always willing to recognize similar qualifications in 
 those with whom he was brought into contact. The 
 result was that, at his advice, China agreed to give a 
 constant support to the British rule in Burmah, and 
 further consented to open Tibet to British trade from 
 India. Early in 1886, an expedition was prepared to 
 enter Tibet, under the direction of Mr. Macauley, but 
 owing to misunderstandings that arose in consequence 
 of the military character of the undertaking, the pro- 
 ject was at the last moment abandoned. Meanwhile, 
 some Chinese traders, attracted by the advantageous 
 prospect of a trade with Tibet from the west, arrived 
 in India with the intention of establishing places of 
 business as near as possible to the frontier. 
 
 The prominence which, as will be seen from the 
 above, has been given of late to the position of the 
 countries tributary to China, has induced her states- 
 men to take into consideration the permanent attitude 
 which it behoves her to assume toward her dependent 
 states. The discussion of this subject formed a leading 
 feature in an article contributed by the Marquis 
 Ts'eng to the Asiatic Review (January 1, 1887), and if 
 we may accept his views on the subject as those of his 
 government, we must expect to see shortly a decided 
 move made in the direction of drawing more closely 
 the bonds which bind the feudatories to the sovereign 
 state. 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 55 
 
 The only fiscal measure of importance which has 
 of late been introduced into the otherwise unchang- 
 ing system of Chinese government, is the opium 
 convention, which has been arranged through the 
 instrumentality of Sir Robert Hart. For a long time 
 the collection of the opium duties at the inland custom 
 houses had been a source of continual annoyance, 
 both to the foreign merchants and the native traders. 
 It opened the door on the one hand to extensive 
 smuggling, and it induced the Chinese authorities on 
 the other to adopt stringent preventive measures, 
 such as that which was popularly known as the 
 " Hong-kong blockade," to secure the collection of 
 their just dues. By this convention, a fixed lekin 
 duty of eighty taels per chest, payable at the port of 
 entry, has been substituted for the irregular taxation 
 variously imposed at inland barriers. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 MODERN PROGRESS. 
 
 HE experiences of our last war with 
 China, and the very material assist- 
 ance which the imperial forces re- 
 ceived from foreign officers and 
 arms during the T'ai-ping rebellion, 
 first opened the eyes of the Chinese 
 to the necessity of reforming their 
 ways if they were to maintain them- 
 selves as an independent nation. 
 In the year 1861, while yet our forces were occupy- 
 ing T'ien-tsin, the Chinese Government asked for the 
 loan of certain English officers to drill their men, 
 and procured the translation of some of the English 
 artillery manuals. A year or two later, they made an 
 abortive attempt to establish a foreign navy, com- 
 manded by Captain Sherard Osborn, and about the 
 same time Le Hungchang founded an arsenal at 
 
MODERN PROGRESS. $7 
 
 Nanking, under the superintendence of Sir Halliday 
 Macartney, who from that day to this has been firm 
 in his support of every measure calculated to promote 
 the welfare and safety of China. At this arsenal, which 
 was the first established in China, and which is purely 
 a military manufactory, the energies of the employes 
 have been devoted to the production of guns, rifles, 
 gatlings, Hale rockets, powder, and torpedoes, and 
 both in quantity and quality the munitions turned 
 out have been excellent. 
 
 At a later day, a dockyard was opened at Foo- 
 chow, directed by Mons. Giguel, a French naval officer, 
 of whom it may fairly be said that he accomplished all 
 that it was within the power of man to do with the 
 materials at his command. Subsequently, there were 
 established an arsenal and dockyard at Shanghai, 
 presided over by Messrs. Hearson and Walker, of the 
 Royal Navy ; an arsenal at Canton, and another at 
 T'ien-tsin, to which is attached a naval school and a 
 school of naval engineering. From all these factories 
 large supplies of munitions of war have for years been 
 issued, with the result that both the land and sea 
 forces are now almost entirely armed with the newest 
 and best weapons. The experience of the last few 
 years has, however, shown that the best arms of pre- 
 cision are comparatively valueless in the hands of 
 Chinese soldiers as at present drilled and manoeuvred. 
 During the war with France, with the powerful and 
 
58 CHINA, 
 
 heavily armed fleet and numerous torpedo boats at 
 their disposal, the Chinese commanders did nothing in 
 opposition to the French ships, and though on land 
 the possession of rifles made the Chinese troops 
 somewhat more formidable than in the days when 
 their most destructive weapon was the gingal, they 
 did not emphasize the difference in the way in which 
 it was confidently expected they would have done. 
 
 It is, however, in the matter of ships that the 
 Chinese have made the most appreciable advance. 
 The old war junk, which until 1 860 was the only type 
 of man-of-war carrying the Chinese pennant, has now 
 become a thing of the past, and the very latest pro- 
 ductions of the yards of Yarrow and Stettin have 
 taken their place. (A list of the Chinese navy as it 
 at present stands, on the authority of Lloyd's " Uni- 
 versal Register of British and Foreign Shipping, 
 1887," is given on pages 60, 61.) 
 
 But the recent maritime ventures of the Chinese 
 have not been confined to ships of war. Chinese 
 merchants have of late invested largely in foreign 
 steamers, and in the third quarter of 1886, out of 
 1295 foreign-built ships which entered and cleared at 
 Shanghai, 337 were Chinese owned. The eager way 
 in which steamers still continue to be bought up 
 argues that private owners find them more profitable 
 than the several native merchant shipping companies 
 have done. One and all these have been failures, 
 
MODERN PROGRESS. 59 
 
 though in some instances they have been supported 
 by powerful official influence. 
 
 With a due regard to the safety of the enhanced 
 native wealth now sent to sea on the coast of China, 
 as well as of the enormous fleets of foreign vessels 
 which annually visit the treaty ports, the imperial 
 customs authorities have established seventy-nine 
 lighthouses and lightships along the coast, together 
 with sixty-two buoys. 
 
 In addition to the torpedo boats above mentioned, 
 there is one now being built at Yarrow, which will 
 have a speed of twenty-six miles an hour, and will 
 surpass both in speed and in manoeuvring power the 
 celebrated English boat, No. 79, which is the finest 
 and best in the British navy. As a matter of fact, 
 China will soon have one of the largest torpedo ser- 
 vices afloat. At Port Arthur, a torpedo school has been 
 established under Commander Reginald Scott Rogers, 
 R.N., and one of the features of the northern fleet com- 
 manded by Admiral Lang is the torpedo department. 
 
 The rapid adoption of telegraphs in China has 
 been almost as remarkable as that of foreign-built 
 ships. The Russian difficulty some years ago first 
 gave an impetus to their construction, and when once 
 their value was definitely experienced, it was deter- 
 mined to lay down lines along the leading thorough- 
 fares through the country. One of the first to be 
 made was one for Shanghai, via Chin-Kiang to 
 
NORTH COAST 
 Sea-going 
 
 Description. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Material. 
 
 o P 
 
 Rig. 
 
 Where Built. 
 
 Date of 
 Launching. 
 
 Barbette I 
 
 Chen-Yuen 
 
 Ting- Yuen 
 
 King- Yuen 
 
 (Not yet named). 
 Tsi-Yuen 
 
 Steel.... 
 »» • • • • 
 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 
 
 Stettin 
 
 1882 
 
 
 !88i 
 
 ( 
 
 
 1886 
 
 Turret < 
 
 
 Building . . 
 1883 
 
 Ships... ( 
 
 
 Cruisers, ( 1 Chih Yuen. . 
 1st class \ \ Ching Yuen. 
 
 Deck Protected 
 
 „....! 2 I I Elswick ... I 1886 
 
 » «... I 2 I I „ I 1886 
 
 Torpedo 
 
 1 Steel Torpedo Gun Boat (building) 200 feet long, by 25 feet broad, with 
 Elbingen, 164 feet long, by 20 feet broad, with 1500 I.H.P., and speed of 22 
 1500 I.H.P., and speed of 23*9 knots; 3 Torpedo Boats, built at Stettin, no 
 Stettin, no feet long, 13 feet broad, and speed of 20 knots; 2 Torpedo Boats, 
 Boats, built at Elbingen, 85 feet long, 10 feet broad ; 4 Torpedo Boats of 
 
 Unprotected 
 
 Gun Boats. 
 
 Alpha . . . 
 Beta 
 Gamma . 
 Delta . . . 
 Epsilon . 
 Zeta 
 
 Eta 
 
 Theta. . . 
 Iota 
 
 Kappa . . 
 Lambda. 
 
 Iron .... 
 
 2 
 
 Schooner 
 
 ,, .... 
 
 2 
 
 ,, 
 
 » • • • • 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 " 
 
 " ••'• 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 " 
 
 Steel!!!! 
 >» • • • • 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 >> 
 
 Newcastle. 
 
 1876 
 
 1879 
 
 Cruisers 
 
 Gun Boats 
 
 \ 
 
 Despatch 
 Transports 
 
 (Not yet named) . 
 
 (Not yet named). 
 (Not yet named). 
 
 Chao Yung 
 
 Nan Shuin 
 
 Nan Ting 
 
 Yang-Pao 
 
 Yang Wei 
 
 Ye-Sin... 
 
 Chen-Hai 
 
 Mei-Yun 
 
 Tsing-Yuen 
 
 Chao-Yu 
 
 Hai-King 
 
 Kang-Tzi 
 
 Tai Ngan 
 
 Teng- Yin-Chen . . 
 Wan-Niang-Tsing 
 
 Way- Yuan 
 
 Yuan-Kai 
 
 Frigate .... 
 Armed Gun ' 
 
 Boat 
 Floating 1 
 
 Batteries ] 
 
 Hai-An . . . 
 Tien-Sing . 
 
 Nos. 1 to 6 
 
 Steel.. 
 
 Comp. . . 
 
 Steel 
 
 Comp. . . 
 Wood .. 
 
 Comp. . 
 Wood.. 
 Comp. ., 
 Wood.., 
 
 Comp. .. 
 Wood... 
 
 Wood... 
 
 Schooner 
 
 Schooner 
 
 China. 
 Stettin 
 
 L. Walker. 
 Kiel 
 
 Foochow . . 
 L. Walker. 
 Foochow . . 
 
 1869 , 
 1877 . 
 187S ■ 
 Paddle Despatch Boats 
 
 Foochow 
 1884 
 
 Building 
 
 Building 
 1872 .... 
 
 1872 
 1878 
 
 1873 
 1879 
 1876 
 
 Hai- 
 
 Shanghai 
 
 1872 
 
 187S 
 
 1883 
 
 Transports — Chi-Hai, 
 
 Gun Boats — Chen-To, 350 tons, 1 6" M.; Ching-Tsing, 180 tons, 
 
 Kua-Sing, 3 guns ; Kuang-An, 120 tons, 4 guns ; Ling- Feng, 3 guns ; 
 
 160 tons, 4 guns ; Tsing-An, 120 tons, 2 guns ; Tsing-Po, 180 tons. 
 
SQUADRON. 
 Armour Clads. 
 
 i 
 
 c 
 a 
 
 Length. 
 
 Width. 
 
 ■So 
 
 Armaments. 
 
 B = breech-loader. 
 
 M = muzzle-loader. 
 
 T = tons. 
 
 
 fl 
 
 3£ 
 
 •0 
 
 0) 
 
 I 
 
 in 
 
 7,280 
 
 7,280 
 2,850 
 2,850 
 2,320 
 
 Feet. 
 310-0 
 3100 
 
 270*0 
 270*0 
 246*0 
 
 Feet. 
 60 
 60 *o 
 40*0 
 40*0 
 35*4 
 
 Feet. 
 20 '0 
 
 20*0 
 
 16*0 
 16 
 i5'i 
 
 4 12" 37-t. B. 2 6" 4-t. B ; 2 b ; 2 T. 
 2 84" 10-t. B. ; 26" 4-t. B. ; 4 T. „ 
 2 8J""io-t. B. ; 1 6" 4-t. B ; " 
 
 7,600 
 7,600 
 4,400 
 4,400 
 3,000 
 
 Tons. 
 1,000 
 1,000 
 325 
 325 
 230 
 
 Knots 
 i5'4 
 
 16*0 
 14-0 
 
 Cruisers. 
 
 2,300 
 2,300 
 
 250 o 
 250*0 
 
 38*0 
 38*0 
 
 i5'o I 3 8" 12-t. B. ; 2 6" 4-t. B 1 5,500 ] 500 
 
 w I »» »» I 5.5oo I „ 
 
 Vessels. 
 
 2700 I.H.P., and 
 knots ; 1 Torpedo 
 feet long, 13*5 feet 
 built at Stettin, 86 
 smaller sizes, built 
 
 Squadron. 
 325 
 
 425 
 440 
 
 Squadron. 
 
 2,480 
 
 1,300 
 1,300 
 1,400 
 2,200 
 
 "5'o 
 
 27*0 
 
 7'5 
 
 120*0 
 
 30*0 
 
 8'o 
 
 120*2 
 
 ,, 
 
 ,, 
 
 I25*0 
 
 29*0 
 
 9'5 
 
 125*7 
 
 ;; 
 
 9*9 
 
 II 
 
 »» 
 
 11 
 
 235 
 
 40 
 
 270 
 
 50 
 
 35o 
 
 80 
 
 ;; 
 
 11 
 
 450 
 >» 
 
 60 
 
 #1,400 
 
 2,500 
 
 580 
 560 
 
 580 
 
 1,210 
 
 1.450 
 
 1,210 
 1,260 
 
 >. 
 
 1,450 
 
 1,210 
 1,260 
 Tong-Yun and Chang-Sheng. 
 
 Flotilla. 
 
 2,630 
 
 speed of 19 knots ; 1 Steel Torpedo Gun Boat, built at 
 Boat, built at Elbingen, 144*3 feet long, 164 feet broad, with 
 broad, and speed of 19*9 knots ; 4 Torpedo Boats, built at 
 feet long, 10*4 broad, and speed of 18*2 knots; 10 Torpedo 
 at Stettin, and 5 built at Elbingen. 
 
 1 io" 2 6i-t. M 
 
 1 12*'' 38-t Ml .".!.".!'.!!! '. '.'.'.'. 
 1 n""35-t. M 
 
 » ••• ••• 
 
 ii 10" 16-t. B. ; 1 6\" 6-t. B. ;■) 
 
 1 6 6" 4-t. B ] 
 
 2 6" 4-t. B.; 5 4f'B 
 
 2 10" 25-t. B. ; 44" 4-t. B. . . . 
 2 8J"io-t. B. ; 8 4 |"B 
 
 2 8J""io-t B. ; 8 45" B.." '.'.'.'.'.'. 
 
 2 10" 25-t. B. ; 4 4" 4-t. B 
 
 3 8i" 10-t. B. ; 7 4 f" B 
 
 i63"M.; 5 i"B 
 
 i6J"M.; 24}" M 
 
 1 6$" M. ; 4 4 £" M 
 
 i7f"M 
 
 i6£"M.; 4 4i"M 
 
 1 6J ""M. ; 4 4 ""m. . '. '. '. '. '.'.'.'. '. '. 
 
 6 5i''M\\\\\\\\\^'.'.'.'.V.'.'.'.'. 
 
 1 7 t"M 
 
 x6J"M.; 44" M 
 
 260*0 
 
 40*0 
 
 15 '0 
 
 217*0 
 
 3 I*0 
 
 
 217*0 
 
 3 I*0 
 
 
 2IO"0 
 
 32*2 
 
 xjS'o 
 
 253'o 
 
 36*0 
 
 18 *o 
 
 210*0 
 
 32*2 
 
 i5'o 
 
 253'° 
 
 36*0 
 
 15*5 
 
 160*0 
 
 26*0 
 
 105 
 
 170*0 
 
 20*0 
 
 io*o 
 
 i6o'o 
 
 26*0 
 
 10*5 
 
 2I0"0 
 
 30' O 
 
 i2"5 
 
 200 '0 
 
 33'o 
 
 ,, 
 
 210*0 
 
 30*0 
 
 ,, 
 
 200"0 
 
 33'o 
 
 "•5 
 
 223'0 
 
 30*0 
 
 13*0 
 
 210*0 
 
 30*0 
 
 125 
 
 200*0 
 
 33*o 
 
 US 
 
 299*0 
 
 42 "0 
 
 20 *7 
 
 105*0 
 
 20*0 
 
 6-5 
 
 i35"o 
 
 36'0 
 
 ii*8 
 
 2 8 J" 10-t. B. ; 20 4f" if-t. B.. 1,750 
 i6i"6-t. B 340 
 
 3 12-t. M 
 
 Pu Hu, and Way-Kiang 
 
 6 guns ; Chun-Tong, 150 tons 
 
 Ngan-Lan, 350 tons ; Peng-Chen-Hai, 600 tons, 4 guns 
 
 6 guns ; Tsing-Po, 100 tons, 3 guns. 
 
 18*0 
 
 10 o 
 9'5 
 io*o 
 
 3,000 
 
 
 3,000 
 
 
 2,900 
 
 250 
 
 2,400 
 
 
 2,900 
 
 .... 
 
 2,400 
 
 480 
 
 250 
 
 400 
 
 480 
 
 
 750 
 
 600 
 
 
 750 
 
 600 
 
 
 750 
 
 600 
 
 •••• 
 
 16.8 
 
 15-0 
 
 i6'5 
 i5'o 
 
 io'o 
 8*o 
 
 IO'O 
 II'O 
 
 9-0 
 II 'o 
 10*0 
 IO'O 
 
 9-0 
 n*o 
 
 IO'O 
 
 12 O 
 IO'O 
 
 2 guns ; Ken-Che, 180 tons, 5 guns ; 
 Sai-Tsing, 
 
62 CHINA. 
 
 T'ien-tsin and Peking. On the outbreak of the war 
 with France, this line was extended to Canton, and 
 another line was laid to Yunnan Fu. A wire has 
 also been carried into Manchuria, in the direction of 
 Kirin, and it is probable that before long the frontier 
 of Korea will be crossed. It is not generally known 
 that during our occupancy of Port Hamilton, a sub- 
 marine line was laid from the Saddle Islands to 
 that station. This wire still lies at the bottom of the 
 sea, and is ready for the use of whatever power may 
 ultimately succeed to the possession of the island. 
 
 To railways the Chinese appear at present to have 
 an objection. The only one in existence, beyond the 
 toy line laid down at T'ien-tsin, is that which connects 
 the Kai-ping coal-mine with the head of the canal 
 leading to Pehtang. Short as this railway is, it is 
 doing excellent service, and will, no doubt, be the 
 precursor of others so soon as the Chinese are able to 
 construct them for themselves. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. 
 
 HINESE government may be described 
 as being in theory a patriarchal des- 
 potism. The Emperor is the father of 
 his people, and just as in a family the 
 father's law is supreme, so the emperor 
 exercises complete control over his sub- 
 jects, even to the extent of holding, 
 under certain recognized conditions, 
 their lives in his hands. But from 
 time immemorial it has been held by the highest 
 constitutional authorities, by Confucius and Mencius 
 among the rest, that the duties 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 beneficent, it is equally incumbent on 
 
6+ CHINA. 
 
 them to resist 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 (i 661-1722) and 
 K'een-lung (173 5-1 795), the second and fourth sove- 
 reigns of the present dynasty, the ruler's influence is 
 more felt than when less energetic men hold the 
 sceptre ; but the throne of China is so hedged in with 
 ceremonials, and so padded with official etiquette, that 
 unless its occupant be a man of supreme ability, he 
 cannot fail to fall under the guidance of his ministers 
 and favourites. To assist him in the government 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 the Grand Secre- 
 tariat ; the Tsung-le Yamun, or Foreign Office ; the 
 six boards, viz., the Le poo, or Board of Civil Office ; 
 the Hoo poo, or Board of Revenue ; the Le 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 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. 65 
 
 provinces into which the empire is divided. Fifteen 
 of these provinces are grouped into eight viceroyal- 
 ties, and the 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 with the very minute regulations 
 laid down for their guidance. The principal function 
 of the Peking government is to see that these regula- 
 tions are carried out, and, in case they should not be, 
 to call the offending viceroy or governor to account. 
 Subordinate to the viceroys are the governors of 
 each province, under whom again are intendants 
 of circuits, prefects and sub-prefects, next district 
 magistrates, and after them a whole host of petty 
 officials. Each viceroy raises his own army and navy, 
 which he pays, or sometimes, unfortunately, does not 
 pay, out of the revenues of his government. He levies 
 his own taxes, and, except in particular cases, is the 
 final court of appeal in all judicial matters within the 
 limits of his rule. But in return for this latitude 
 allowed him he is held personally responsible for the 
 good government of his territory. If by any chance 
 serious disturbances break out and continue unsup- 
 pressed, 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. Of himself he has 
 
 F 
 
66 CHINA. 
 
 no power to remove or punish subordinate officials, 
 but has to refer all complaints against them to Peking. 
 The personal responsibility resting upon him of main- 
 taining order makes him a severe critic on those who 
 serve under him, and the Peking Gazette bears evidence 
 to the frequency with which junior officials are im- 
 peached and punished at the instigation of their chiefs. 
 The following decree, which appeared in the Peking 
 Gazetteofthe 13th of September, 1877, furnishes a good 
 example of the usual charges and customary punish- 
 ments 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 retirement, respectively, 
 of certain incapable or unworthy 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 
 reputation — of Le Tsang-yaou, district magistrate of 
 E-ch'eng, declared to have set official prescription at 
 naught in his business arrangements, and to have 
 made himself unacceptable to the people — and of 
 Niu Fuh-kea, declared to be inspired with a false and 
 treacherous disposition, and to have employed deceit- 
 ful representations in his transaction of affairs ; the 
 sentence is that the delinquents be forthwith stripped 
 of their rank and office. Chang Han, sub-prefect of 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. 67 
 
 Han-Yang-foo, being decrepit from age, and beyond 
 the possibility of active exertion, is to be compulsorily 
 retired." 
 
 Other charges, such as of opium-smoking, misap- 
 propriation 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 this nature, the lieutenant-governor of the province 
 of Honan was dismissed from his office, and the 
 governor was degraded three steps of rank for having 
 countenanced his proceedings. 
 
 As has been already said, the affairs of each pro- 
 vince 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 country where public opinion finds only 
 a very imperfect utterance. Official purity and justice 
 must be treated as comparative terms in China. The 
 constitution of the civil service renders it next 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, 
 
68 CHINA. 
 
 and the consequence is, that in some way or other 
 the officials are compelled to make up the deficiency 
 from the pockets of those subject to them. Every 
 legal precaution is taken to prevent this nefarious 
 system, with the exception of the only one which 
 might be expected to put a stop to it All appoint- 
 ments are tenable 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 discon- 
 tent among the people ; on the other hand, it must 
 be admitted that this regulation is apt to tempt a 
 greedy and unscrupulous mandarin to make the most 
 he can from each district over which he may hold one 
 of 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 is this rule appears from an edict lately 
 published in the Peking Gazette, in which the governor 
 of the province of Kwei-chow was rebuked for not 
 having reported to the throne that he was about to 
 connect himself with the family of an intendant of 
 circuit in the same province by the betrothal of his 
 third son to the intendant's second daughter, and in 
 consequence of which proposed alliance the ambitious 
 intendant was ordered to another province. But all 
 such regulations are powerless to prevent extortion in 
 face of a positive necessity, and it would be just as 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. 69 
 
 useful to decree that black should be henceforth white, 
 as that men, whose salaries are insufficient to pay the 
 wages of their underlings, should hold their hands 
 when abundance 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 remark- 
 able instance of a fortune thus acquired, and of the 
 retributive "fleecing" which is not unfrequently in- 
 flicted on the possessors of such plunder, occurred in 
 the case of Hang Ke, who was superintendent of 
 customs at Canton prior to the year 1859, when he 
 resigned office. This man's salary was 2400 taels, or 
 about ;£8oo a year ; the necessary expenses of his 
 yamun or official residence were about 8000 taels per 
 month, and yet, when he resigned his seals of office, he 
 retired with a fortune of 300,000 taels, or £ 100,000. 
 As is not unusually the case when a high official 
 retires from his post, more especially 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 £100,000 had passed into 
 the hands of members of the government. Well may 
 we ask, Quis custodiet custodes ? But the old proverb 
 that one man may steal a horse, and another man 
 may not look over the fence, is peculiarly true as 
 regards official extortion in China, as many less 
 
70 CHINA. 
 
 discreet men than Hang Ke have found to their cost. 
 Not long since, a district magistrate in the province 
 of Kwei-chow was put to death by strangulation for 
 having levied an illegal assessment of 6050 taels 
 only from certain communes of the Meaou-tsze 
 aborigines within his district. The immunity which 
 some mandarins enjoy from the just consequences 
 of their crimes, and the severity 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 bribery 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 an English standard, corrupt 
 to the core. The people, however, are very lightly 
 taxed, and they readily submit to limited extortion 
 so long as the rule of the mandarins is otherwise 
 just and beneficent. But how rarely does a mandarin 
 earn 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 done so. Arch- 
 deacon Gray states in his " China " that during his 
 residence of a quarter of a century at Canton he only 
 met one man who had entitled himself to the regret 
 of the people at his departure. On his leaving the 
 city the inhabitants rose en masse to do him honour. 
 " In the imposing procession which escorted him to 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. 71 
 
 the place of embarkation, and which took at least 
 twenty minutes to pass a given point, were carried 
 the silk umbrellas which had been presented to him 
 by the people, and the red boards — of which there 
 were probably three hundred — upon which high- 
 sounding titles had been inscribed in honour of the 
 faithful minister. The route was spanned at fre- 
 quent intervals by arches. From these banners were 
 suspended which bore, in large letters, painted or 
 embroidered, 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 compli- 
 ments with them, and to partake of the refreshments 
 provided for the occasion. But the formal arrange- 
 ments could not speak so clearly to his popularity as 
 the enthusiasm of the people. The silence generally 
 observed when a Chinese ruler passes through the 
 streets was again and again broken by hearty ex- 
 clamations 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 frequently 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 that 
 city. The people accompanied him beyond the gate 
 on his road to Peking with every token of honour, 
 
72 CHINA. 
 
 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 particularly obnoxious 
 mandarin and drive him from the district. But 
 Chinamen are essentially unwarlike, and it requires 
 some act of gross oppression to stir their blood to 
 fever heat. 
 
 A potent means of protection against oppression 
 is granted to the people by the appointment of im- 
 perial censors throughout the empire, whose duty it 
 is to report to the throne all cases of misrule, in- 
 justice, or neglect on the part of the mandarins 
 which come to their knowledge. The same tolerance 
 which is shown by the people towards the short- 
 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 the emperor on his 
 throne to the police-runners in magisterial courts. 
 Nor is their plain speaking more amazing than the 
 candour with which their memorials affecting the 
 characters of both great and small are published in 
 the Peking Gazette. The gravest charges, such as of 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. 73 
 
 peculation, neglect of duty, injustice, or incompetence, 
 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 publica- 
 tions 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 warn- 
 ings against wrong-doing than as hints as to what 
 particular evil practices to avoid, and especially 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, more 
 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 decision of the pre- 
 siding mandarin is too often influenced by the sums 
 of money which find their way into his purse from 
 the pockets of either suitor. But the greatest blot 
 on Chinese administration is the inhumanity shown 
 to both culprits and witnesses in criminal 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 between the shoulders, beating the jaws 
 with thick pieces of leather, or the ankles with a 
 
74 
 
 CHINA, 
 
 stick, are some of the preliminary tortures applied to 
 witnesses or culprits who refuse to give the evidence 
 expected of them. Further refinements of cruelty- 
 are reserved for hardened 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 en- 
 durance, and death releases the victim from his 
 miseries ; but, as a rule, in the " severe question," life 
 is preserved, but at the expense of crippled limbs. 
 The Turanians are so obtuse-nerved by nature that 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. 75 
 
 they probably do not feel pain as acutely as more 
 sensitive races, and their nerves survive shocks 
 which would prove fatal to a more finely organized 
 people. It is this which enables them to pass 
 through the horrors of the torture-chamber alive. 
 It must, of course, be understood that, though these 
 tortures are unfortunately common, their intensity, 
 and even their use, vary with the disposition of each 
 mandarin in whose power it is to inflict them. To 
 many, no doubt, their employment is as repugnant 
 as it would be to an English judge, but to have to 
 look for mercy on the chance of the presiding man- 
 darin being 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 punish- 
 ment inflicted on criminals must be proportionately 
 cruel. Death, the final punishment, can unfortunately 
 be inflicted in various ways, and a sliding scale of 
 capital punishments 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 che, or 
 "ignominious and slow" death. In the carrying out 
 of this sentence, the culprit is fastened to a cross, 
 and cuts, varying in number, at the discretion of the 
 judge, from eight to a hundred and twenty, are made 
 first on the face and fleshy parts of the body, next 
 
76 CHINA, 
 
 the heart is pierced, and finally, when death has been 
 thus caused, the limbs are separted 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 sufferer, a circumstance which 
 adds a weird horror 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 executioner in almost 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 finished their task in less than two minutes, 
 neither of them having once failed to sever the head 
 from the body at the first stroke. The culprits were 
 brought on to the ground heavily chained and in 
 baskets, each basket being carried between two men 
 and slung on a bamboo pole. On arriving at the ap- 
 pointed spot, the men were more thrown than lifted 
 out of the baskets, and were placed in a kneeling 
 position. They were then arranged one behind the 
 other in two rows, and at a given signal by the pre- 
 siding mandarin, the executioners, who had taken 
 up their positions between the rows at each end, 
 struck right and left. 
 
 Another death, which is less horrible to Chinamen, 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. 77 
 
 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 demand 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 favour 
 extended to him. The " silken cord " was sent to 
 him in his cell in the Board of Punishments, and he 
 was left to consummate his own doom. But his 
 nerve forsook him, and the jailors were ultimately 
 compelled to carry out the sentence of the law. 
 
 Other and summary extra-judicial executions are 
 carried out by the people with the silent consent of 
 the officials in the case of kidnappers and others 
 taken red-handed, and their nature is to a great 
 extent moulded by circumstances. 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 lynching is to bind the 
 condemned 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. 
 Seasons of war and political disturbance, when the 
 sword is bare and the executioner's hands are full, 
 
78 . CHINA. 
 
 are generally times of reckless gaiety and thought- 
 less living, and so in countries such as China, where 
 human life possesses, neither in the eyes of the judges 
 nor of the people, the sacredness with which it is 
 viewed in Europe, the people, far from being weighed 
 down with a 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 way 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 certain proportion on whom 
 it is his 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 execution, 
 the jailor enters the prison and reads out the names 
 of the unfortunate ones, who are then taken before 
 the judge to be officially identified, after which they 
 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 carried 
 off to the execution-ground. The names of those 
 left in prison are sent up to Peking with the next 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. 79 
 
 batch, and those who are lucky enough to escape 
 the vermilion pencil two or three times are generally 
 sent off into banishment for life. When any great 
 public work, such, for instance, as the great wall, is 
 being carried on, criminals of this sort are sent to 
 labour at it ; but in ordinary times they are banished 
 beyond the frontiers into either Mongolia or Manchuria. 
 It maybe 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. Asiatics are almost 
 invariably careless about the sufferings of others, and 
 Chinamen are no exception 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 jailors, the miserable diet, and the entire absence 
 of the commonest sanitary arrangements, make up 
 a picture which it is too horrible to draw in detail. 
 During the war of i860, as before stated, two of our 
 countrymen, Sir Harry Parkes and Mr. Loch, were 
 treacherously taken prisoners, and were confined in 
 the prison of the Board of Punishments at Peking. 
 The extraordinary fortitude of these men and the 
 horrors of their surroundings may be imagined from 
 the following passages from Mr. Loch's " Narrative 
 of Events in China " : — " The discipline of the prison 
 was not in itself very strict, and had it not been for 
 
8o CHINA. 
 
 the starvation, the pain arising from the cramped 
 position in which the chains and ropes retained the 
 arms and legs, with the heavy drag of the iron collar 
 on the bones of the spine, and the creeping vermin 
 that infested every 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 prison 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 ; 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 certainty of a fearful, lingering, 
 and agonizing death before him." In the provincial 
 prisons, the condition of the wretched culprits is 
 even worse than in 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 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. 81 
 
 never forget the sight which met their gaze. In one 
 foul dark den, men in whom life yet lingered, were 
 lying by the side of a corpse in an advanced stage 
 of decomposition, and so pestilential was the atmo- 
 sphere that it was only possible to endure it for a 
 moment. 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 
 suffering. 1 And there is no reason to suppose that 
 the Canton prisons are not typical of the prisons 
 throughout the empire ; on the contrary, the gross 
 neglect and abominable cruelty of magistrates and 
 jailors which are occasionally shown up in the 
 Peking Gazette point to the conclusion that other 
 jails are as foul, and other warders as brutal, as 
 those of Canton. 
 
 Chinese law-givers have distinguished very markedly 
 between crimes accompanied and unaccompanied 
 with violence. For offences of the latter description, 
 punishments of a comparatively light nature are in- 
 flicted, such as wearing the wooden collar, known 
 among Europeans 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. Frequently the 
 1 " China," by Wingrove Cooke. 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 criminals, bearing these signs of their disgrace, are 
 paraded up and down the streets where their offences 
 were committed, and sometimes, in more serious cases, 
 they are flogged through the leading thoroughfares 
 of the city, preceded by a herald, who announces the 
 nature of their misdemeanours. But to give a list 
 of Chinese punishments would be to exhaust the 
 ingenuity of man to torture his fellow-creatures. 
 The subject is a horrible one, 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. , 
 
A PRISONER IN THE CANQUE. 
 
 Page 82. 
 
■ 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 E have said that the government of 
 the empire is modelled on the gov- 
 ernment 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 historians state that the 
 rite of marriage was first instituted 
 by the Emperor Fuh-he, who reigned in the twenty- 
 eighth century B.C., and who ordained, as a preliminary, 
 that the intending bridegroom should present his 
 future bride with a pair of prepared skins as an earnest 
 of their engagement. But before this period there 
 is abundant evidence to show that, as amongst all 
 other peoples, the first form of marriage in China 
 was by capture. The modern character ffi ctiii 
 
84 CHINA, 
 
 meaning to marry, is said to bear in its construc- 
 tion a reference to this old practice, made up as it is 
 of an ear ~££, a hand jj£, 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, according to 
 the Marchu rite, 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 compartments 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 
 bridegroom chases his wife on horseback. But whether 
 the pursuit is in a Siberian tent or on a Central Asiatic 
 steppe, the result is the same, the bride gives in at 
 last, and becomes the property of her pursuer. Among 
 ourselves, no doubt, 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. 
 
 But at the present day marriage is probably more 
 universal in China than in any other civilized country 
 
MARRIAGE. 85 
 
 in the world. It is regarded as something indispens- 
 able, and few men pass the age of twenty without 
 taking to themselves a wife. Chinese legislators 
 have at all times encouraged early marriages as 
 having a pacifying effect upon the people. A man 
 who has given " hostages to fortune " in the shape of 
 a wife and children has a greater inducement to 
 follow in 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 think of, and is 
 without any immediate ties. But 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 the most 
 deplorable calamity that could befall one, and the 
 discharge of the last service a most holy duty." 1 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 that can overtake a Chinaman, and he seeks to 
 avoid it by an early marriage. But " 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, however, among the ancient Jews 
 the necessity of securing an heir is of such vital im- 
 portance that in such cases the first wife has not 
 1 Becker's G alius. 
 
36 . CHINA. 
 
 unfrequently to make way for a second, and the 
 practice of adoption comes to the relief of those to 
 whom children are hopelessly denied. The Chinese, 
 however, being monogamists, it is necessary that, 
 before taking another wife, a man should divorce the 
 existing one. Nor is this 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 marriage 
 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 being considered a grave 
 breach of etiquette for 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 overture 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 and makes a 
 formal proposal on behalf of the would-be bride- 
 groom's parents. If the young lady's father ap- 
 proves the proposed 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 year when the young 
 people were born, and the maiden names of their 
 
MARRIAGE. S7 
 
 mothers. Astrologers are then called in to cast 
 the horoscopes, and should these be favourable, 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 family within three days of the engagement, 
 the circumstance is considered to be sufficiently un- 
 lucky to warrant the instant termination of the nego- 
 tiations. But should things go smoothly the bride- 
 groom's father writes a formal letter of agreement 
 to the lady's father, accompanied by presents, con- 
 sisting in some cases of sweetmeats and a live pig, 
 and in others of a goose and gander, which are re- 
 garded as emblems of conjugal fidelity. At the same 
 time the bridegroom 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 sent to the lady, appears a phoenix. 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 engagements for all marriages under 
 
 OF THC 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
88 CHINA. 
 
 heaven, and in my pocket I have red cords with which 
 I connect the feet of those who are to become hus- 
 band and wife. When these cords are once 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 vegetables 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 afterwards, the prefect of 
 the town where Hwuy Ko then lived, gave him in mar- 
 riage a beautiful young lady whom he affirmed was 
 his own daughter. Seeing that his bride always wore 
 an artificial flower over one of her eyebrows, Hwuy 
 Ko 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 every pair in 
 China. 
 
 Following on the exchange of these cards, presents 
 varying according to the rank and fortune of the 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 89 
 
 suitor are vicariously presented by him to the lady. 
 Recourse is then again had to astrologers to fix a 
 fortunate day for 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 — 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 
 burning charcoal, or a red-hot coulter, laid on the 
 
9o 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 threshold by two " women of luck," whose husbands 
 and children must be living. Sir John Lubbock 
 
 states that this ceremony of lifting a bride over the 
 threshold exists in the four continents, and we know 
 
MARRIAGE. 91 
 
 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 possibly 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 dafs, 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 exchanging a word, they seat them- 
 selves side by side, and each tries to sit on a part of 
 the dress of the other, it being considered that the 
 one who succeeds in so doing will hold rule in the 
 household. This trial of skill over, the pair pro- 
 ceed 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 demeanour 
 of the bride. This ordeal is the more trying to her 
 since etiquette forbids her to eat anything — a prohi- 
 bition which is not shared by the bridegroom, who 
 enjoys the dainties provided as his appetite may 
 suggest. The attendants next hand to each in turn 
 a cup of wine, and, having exchanged pledges, the 
 
CHINA. 
 
 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 
 propounded 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 contrary 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 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 infanti- 
 cidal tendencies of their parents — and this they will 
 certainly do unless the household is hard pressed by 
 poverty, and even then the chances are greatly in 
 favour of their surviving — they are regarded as secon- 
 dary considerations compared with their brothers. 
 The philosophers, from Confucius downwards, have 
 all agreed in assigning them 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 
 
MARRIAGE. 93 
 
 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 congenial 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 dis- 
 favour upon the practice of concubinage, except in 
 case of the wife being childless, it still frequently 
 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 has any, belong by law to the 
 wife. The lawgivers, accepting the general view of 
 the inferiority of women, which is sufficiently indi- 
 cated by the fact that they are marketable com- 
 modities, have provided that a husband may divorce 
 his wife for any one of the following seven faults : — 
 
 (1) Disobedience to father-in-law or mother-in-law, 
 
 (2) Barrenness, (3) Lewdness, (4) Jealousy, (5) Lep- 
 rosy, (6) Garrulousness, and (7) Stealing. 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 result of this very 
 one-sided legislation is, no doubt, to promote that 
 courteous, humble, and conciliatory address and 
 
94 CHINA. 
 
 manner which moralists say should mark a wife's 
 conduct towards her husband ; and the same autho- 
 rities hold that in no case should she do more than 
 gently remonstrate with him on any departure from 
 " right principles," and never so as to annoy or irritate 
 him. 
 
 So many are the disabilities of married women, 
 that many girls prefer going into Buddhist or Taouist 
 nunneries, or even committing suicide, to trusting 
 their future to men of whom they can know nothing 
 but from the interested reports of the go-betweens. 
 Archdeacon Gray, in his work on China, states that, 
 in 1873, eight young 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 tributary stream of the 
 Canton river." 
 
 The re-marriage of widows is regarded as an im- 
 propriety, and in wealthy families is seldom practised. 
 But among the poorer classes necessity often compels 
 a widow to seek another bread-winner. The leading 
 paraphernalia of the first marriage is, however, denied 
 her. Instead of the red wedding sedan, borne by 
 four or more men, she has to go to her new home in 
 a common, small, black or blue chair, carried by two 
 bearers, and unaccompanied by the music which 
 
MARRIAGE. 95 
 
 cheered her on her first journey on a similar errand. 
 Some, however, having been possibly unfortunate in 
 their first matrimonial venture, refuse to listen to any 
 proposal for a re-marriage, and, like the young girls 
 mentioned above, seek to escape by death from the 
 importunities of relatives who desire to get them off 
 their hands. 
 
 A reverse view of matrimonial experiences is sug- 
 gested 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 mourn their loss. Such devotion 
 is regarded by the people with great approbation, 
 and the deed of suicide is generally performed in 
 public, and with great punctiliousness. The follow- 
 ing account of one such suicide at Fuhchow is taken 
 from the Hong-kong Daily Press of January 20th, 
 1861 :— 
 
 14 A few days since," says the writer, "I met a Chinese 
 procession passing through the foreign settlement, 
 escorting a young person in scarlet and gold in a 
 richly decorated chair ; the object of which, I found, 
 was to invite the public to come and see her hang 
 herself, a step she had resolved to take in conse- 
 quence of the death of her husband, by which she 
 had been left a childless widow. Both being orphans, 
 this event had severed her dearest earthly ties, and 
 she hoped by this sacrifice to secure herself eternal 
 
96 CHINA, 
 
 happiness, and a meeting with her husband in the 
 next world. Availing myself of the general invi- 
 tation, I repaired on the day appointed to the indi- 
 cated spot We had scarcely arrived, when the same 
 procession 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 very 
 numerous. I and a friend obtained a bench for a 
 consideration, which, being placed within a few yards 
 of the scaffold, gave us a good view of the perform- 
 ance. The procession having reached the foot of 
 the scaffold, the lady was assisted to ascend by her 
 male attendant, and, after having welcomed the 
 crowd, partook with some female relatives of a repast 
 prepared for her on a table on the scaffold, which she 
 appeared to appreciate extremely. A child in arms 
 was then placed upon the table, whom she caressed 
 and adorned with a necklace which she had worn 
 herself. She then took an ornamented basket con- 
 taining 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 perform- 
 ance of the last act of her existence, when a delay 
 
MARRIAGE. 97 
 
 was occasioned by the discovery of the absence of a 
 reluctant brother, pending whose arrival let me de- 
 scribe the means of extermination. 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 embracing 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 ap- 
 pear, the widow now proceeded to mount on a chair 
 placed under the noose, and, to ascertain its fitness for 
 her reception, deliberately placed her head in it ; then, 
 withdrawing her head, she waved a final adieu to the 
 admiring spectators, and committed herself to its 
 embrace for the last time, throwing the red handker- 
 chief over her head. Her supports were now about 
 to be withdrawn, when she was reminded by several 
 voices in the crowd that she had omitted to draw 
 down the ring which should tighten the cord round 
 her neck ; smiling in acknowledgment of the re- 
 minder, 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 strangu- 
 lation separated them and she was dead. The body 
 was left hanging about half an hour, and then taken 
 
 H 
 
98 CHINA. 
 
 down by her male attendants, one of whom imme- 
 diately 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 proof of her demise. Arrived at the 
 Joss house, the body was placed on a couch, and the 
 handkerchief withdrawn from the face disclosed un- 
 mistakable proofs of death. This is the third instance 
 of suicide of this sort within as many weeks. The 
 authorities 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 unfre- 
 quently 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 
 repetition of so annoying a hoax. The monuments 
 generally raised to these suicides consist either of a 
 tablet in one of the neighbouring 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 forty 
 or fifty years, and for such the imperial approbation 
 is generally sought for and obtained, the edict an- 
 
MARRIAGE. 99 
 
 nouncing the gracious answer of the Emperor always 
 appearing in the Peking Gazette. The only ancient 
 bar to marriage in China was consanguinity, as 
 evidenced by the possession of identical surnames, 
 but later legislation has declared marriages with a 
 cousin on the mother's side, or a step-daughter, or a 
 mother's sister, illegal, and, strictly speaking, punish- 
 able with death by strangulation. 
 
 The picture here given of married life in China has 
 been necessarily darkly shaded, since it is as a rule 
 only in its unfortunate phases that it affords oppor- 
 tunity for remark. As has been said of an empire, 
 that household is fortunate which has no history, 
 and without doubt there are many hundreds of 
 thousands of families in China which are in that 
 happy condition. The placid natures of Chinamen 
 make them comparatively safe depositories of power 
 in domestic life.. A man who has been accustomed 
 from his youth 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 etiquette which surrounds his daily life as 
 a stain upon his character, is less likely to be actively 
 cruel and violent than more unceremonious and 
 warlike people ; and Chinese wives doubtless benefit 
 by the peaceful tendencies of those observances. 
 Happiness is, after all, a relative term, and Chinese 
 
IOO 
 
 CHINA, 
 
 women, knowing no higher status, are, as a rule, 
 content to run the risk of wrongs which would be 
 unendurable to an English woman, and to find hap- 
 piness under conditions which are fortunately un- 
 known in western countries. 
 

 tXNlVERSITT 
 
 California. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 
 
 HE main object of marriage being, as 
 has been said, to obtain descend- e 
 ants, the accomplishment of the 
 desire is attended with rejoicing, 
 and with a multiplicity of strange 
 observances. Even before the in- 
 fant appears on the world's stage it 
 is the object of superstitious rites. 
 It is currently believed that every 
 woman is represented in the other world by a tree or 
 flower, and that consequently, just as grafting adds to 
 the productiveness of trees, so adopting a child is 
 likely to encourage a growth of olive branches. But 
 if this method fails, it is held that the soil round the 
 roots of the tree in the unseen region requires 
 changing, and a sorceress is hired to proceed thither 
 to change the earth. Another method of securing 
 
io2 CHINA. 
 
 the longed-for blessing of children is " to obtain from 
 the temple of the goddess of children a shoe which 
 has been worn by her. This is taken home, and 
 being placed beside the image or tablet of the 
 goddess, receives equal worship ; and should the 
 desired object be attained, a pair of shoes exactly 
 resembling the one obtained must be returned to the 
 temple." On becoming satisfied of the probable ful- 
 filment of her wishes, the expectant mother's next 
 desire is to discover of which sex her child will be. 
 And to gain this knowledge, she adopts the simple 
 expedient of adding to the number of the years of her 
 age that of the month, day, and hour on which she was 
 born. Thus, if twenty years old, and she was born in 
 the sixth hour of the third day of the second month, 
 she would have a total of thirty-one. She then takes 
 a series of pictures of the thirty-six assistants of the 
 goddess of children, sold for fortune-telling purposes, 
 and, according to the sex of the child in the arms 
 of the thirty-first, concludes that her child will be a 
 boy or a girl. If the number of her age, etc., exceeds 
 thirty-six, she commences to count the first picture 
 as number thirty-seven, and so on. 
 
 If, however, she desires to make sure that her child 
 will be a son, she gets up one morning at dawn, and, 
 having put on her husband's clothes and cap, goes to 
 the nearest well, and walks round it three times, 
 always towards the left hand, and while so doing 
 
NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 103 
 
 watches her shadow in the water. If she gets back 
 to the house without having been seen, and without 
 any one having known of her mission, the desire of 
 her heart, so says the current belief, will be gratified. 
 The day and hour on which the baby is born are 
 considered as portentous for the future good or evil 
 of the child, as among our own north-country folks. 
 A child born on the fifth day of a month, and more 
 certainly if on the fifth of the fifth month, will either 
 commit suicide in after-life, or will murder his parents. 
 But apart from these and some other ill-omened 
 days, a child born at noon is believed to be a sure 
 inheritor of wealth and honour, and he who first sees 
 the light between nine and eleven will have a hard 
 lot at first and afterwards great riches ; while the un- 
 fortunate infant who appears between three and five 
 is doomed to poverty and woe. As has been said 
 by Mr. Dennys, in his " Folk-lore of China," " if the 
 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 blithe and bonnie, and good and gay.'" 
 
io4 CHINA. 
 
 The cries and movements of babies are carefully 
 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 that if his cries are con- 
 stantly 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 disposition, 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-pervading principle 
 of the season. For instance, should the time of year 
 be spring and summer, then the life-producing prin- 
 ciple is abroad, and it is of the utmost importance 
 that the baby should be protected from the 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 everything 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 birth the baby is 
 washed for the first time. The occasion is one of 
 
NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 105 
 
 great moment, and the relations and friends are in- 
 vited 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 to 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 sacrifices to the goddess 
 of children for the mercy she has vouchsafed. 
 
 At the end of a month the mother leaves her 
 room for the first time, and the ceremonies of naming 
 the baby, and of shaving its head, whether girl or 
 boy, are gone through on the occasion. In contra- 
 distinction to this rational and civilized regard for the 
 mother, the aborigines in the Province of Kwei-chow 
 preserve the curious custom, known as couvade, which 
 is, or was, also practised by the Basques among other 
 peoples. The mother among these tribes gets up 
 immediately after the birth of the 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 goddess of matrons — to return 
 thanks for the possession of a child. On its first 
 
io6 CHINA. 
 
 birthday, if the child be a boy, he is seated in a large 
 sieve, in which are placed round him a set of 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 implements and ornaments ; and 
 the assembled friends watch to see which object he 
 first handles, in order to gain an indication of his 
 future career. The brightest hopes are entertained 
 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 children 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 
 ignored. 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 poorer classes to an alarming extent. 
 Not only do the people acknowledge the existence 
 of the practice, but they even go the length of de- 
 
NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 107 
 
 fending it. What, they say, is the good of rearing 
 daughters ; when they are young they are only an 
 expense, and when they reach an age when they 
 might be able to earn a living, they marry and leave 
 us. Periodically the mandarins inveigh against the 
 inhumanity of the offence, and appeal to the better 
 instincts of the people to put a stop to it ; but a stone 
 which 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 praiseworthy endeavours. 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 son to death, shall receive a hundred 
 blows with the bamboo, and that sixty blows and a 
 year's banishment shall be the punishment inflicted 
 for the murder of a disobedient child or grandchild. 
 So firmly is respect to parents imbued in the minds 
 of every Chinese boy and youth, that resistance to 
 the infliction of cruel and even unmerited punish- 
 ment is seldom or ever offered, and full-grown men 
 submit meekly to be flogged without raising their 
 hands. The law steps in on every occasion in sup- 
 
io8 CHINA. 
 
 port of parental authority, and prison doors are readily 
 opened at the request of parents for the reception of 
 disobedient sons, with one curious exception, viz., a 
 father cannot send his son for perpetual imprison- 
 ment 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 
 contrarywise the son, if by any means possessed of 
 property, is obliged to pay his father's debts. 
 
 Filial piety is the leading principle in Chinese 
 ethics. It is the point upon which every teacher, 
 from Confucius downwards, has most strongly in- 
 sisted, and its almost universal practice affords ground 
 for the belief held by some that in the long con- 
 tinuance of the empire the Chinese are reaping the 
 reward held out in the fifth commandment of the 
 Mosaic decalogue. " Filial piety," said Confucius, 
 " consists in obedience ; in serving one's parents when 
 alive according to propriety ; in burying them when 
 dead according to propriety ; and in sacrificing 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 
 
NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 109 
 
 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." x 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 immediate 
 parental control is when a son takes office. The 
 Emperor then stands to him in loco parentis, and 
 though he is bound to conform to the recognized 
 national customs with regard to parents, he is eman- 
 cipated from their jurisdiction. When either of them 
 dies he is compelled to retire from office for three 
 years, which in practice is by a fiction reduced to 
 twenty-seven months. But in private life, so long as 
 his parents live, he holds himself at their disposal, 
 and is guided by them in the choice of his occupations 
 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 unques- 
 tioned. The selection of a lucky day for beginning work 
 is confided to astrologers, who avoid above all other 
 days those upon which Confucius and Ts'ang Hieh, 
 the reputed inventor of writing, died and were buried. 
 The stars having indicated a propitious day, the boy 
 1 " Confucianism and Taouism." [S.P.C.K.] 
 
no 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 presents himself 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 being no alphabet in Chinese, 
 
 the pupil has to plunge at once in medias res and 
 begins by learning to read the San tsze king, a 
 work written in sentences of three characters, 
 each containing a scrap of elementary knowledge. 
 Having mastered the mysteries of this book he is 
 
NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN, in 
 
 taught the Ts'een tsze king, or the thousand character 
 classic, which deals with somewhat more advanced 
 subjects. The next step is to the " Four Books," 
 known as the Lun yu, or Confucian Analects ; the 
 Ta heo, or the Great Learning ; the Chung yung, or 
 
 the Golden Medium ; and the Mdng 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 Ch'un ts'ew, or Spring and Autumn 
 Annals ; " the She king, or Book of Odes ; and the 
 
H2 CHINA. 
 
 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 com- 
 mentaries upon them, and the power of turning this 
 knowledge to account in the shape of essay-writing 
 and verse-making is nearly 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 engraved on the memory. This 
 course of instruction has been exactly followed in every 
 school in the empire for many centuries, and the result 
 is that there are annually turned out a vast number 
 of lads all cast in the same mould, all possessed of a 
 certain amount of ready-made knowledge, and with 
 their memories unduly exercised at the expense of 
 their thinking powers. The choice of a future calling, 
 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 respect- 
 ability and education can follow, namely, the man- 
 darinate 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 charlatans, who prey on 
 the follies of their fellow-men, and dispense such 
 
NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 113 
 
 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 sufficiently 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. 
 
 Should he prefer winning fame and gaining official 
 rank, he loses no time in perfecting himself in the 
 books he studied at school, and in practising the art 
 of writing essays, and penning verses. So soon as he 
 considers himself sufficiently prepared to undergo the 
 first ordeal, he presents himself 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, grand- 
 parents, and great-grandparents, and giving a descrip- 
 tion of his appearance, and especially the colour 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 frequently 
 number two or more thousands, according to the size 
 of the district, go at daylight to the K'aou-pung-tsze, 
 or examination -hall, in the magistrate's yamun. 
 
 I 
 
14 CHINA. 
 
 When all are assembled — the magistrate having 
 taken his seat at a table covered with red cloth 
 at the upper end of the hall — a notice-board is dis- 
 played, on which appear three passages from the 
 four 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 perpendicularly. The next examination, which 
 lasts five days, takes place after only a short interval. 
 The compulsory 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 pub- 
 lished, and to these the magistrate gives a congra- 
 tulatory feast. The scene is next changed to the 
 literary chancellor's yamun in the prefectural city, 
 where those 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 is conducted exactly as those at the 
 
NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 115 
 
 magistrate's yamun, the subjects being taken from 
 the same books. In the same way it is customary 
 for the prefect to entertain those who pass best at a 
 dinner, and with this feast his part in the examina- 
 tion ceases. The literary chancellor next examines 
 those whose numbers — 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 they 
 are expected to write from memory one of the six- 
 teen edicts of the Emperor K'ang-he, with the com- 
 mentary thereon by his son, Yung-ching. This 
 completes the examination, and on those who have 
 survived the various tests is conferred the degree of 
 Siu-ts'ai, or " Elegant Scholarship," which may be 
 said to be the equivalent of our degree of Bachelor 
 of Arts. Having donned the dress 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 masters of ceremonies, 
 they perform the Ko-t'ow three times. Subsequently 
 they pay the same honour to the prefect, and they 
 then disperse to their various homes. 
 
 The examination for the next degree of Kii-jin is 
 held in each provincial capital by two commissioners, 
 especially sent for the purpose from Peking. These 
 
n6 CHINA. 
 
 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 pre- 
 ceding the examination, or very early on the morning 
 of the day, the graduates, who generally 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 corresponding 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 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 bed- 
 stead 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. 
 So 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 
 favour, in the approaching ordeal, the work begins 
 by the issuing to each student of four texts from the 
 
NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 117 
 
 " 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, each essay, as it is completed, 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, they mark it with a red circle, 
 and forward a copy of it to the prefect, who, on 
 receiving it, beats the " recommending drum " sus- 
 pended at his office. The original manuscript is in 
 each case handed over to the custody of the governor, 
 the copy only coming before the commissioners, in 
 order to prevent the possibility of their recognizing 
 the handwriting of any possibly favoured competitors. 
 After a day's interval, the students reassemble, and 
 with the same formalities write four essays 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 essays and 
 
nS CHINA. 
 
 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 thousand 
 officials and servants who are employed by the govern- 
 ment for the regulation and service of the hall, pour 
 out into the city. So soon as the commissioners 
 have satisfied themselves on the relative merits of the 
 papers, they issue a list of the names of those to 
 whom they award the degree of Kii-jin, or Master of 
 Arts. 
 
 To the new Kii-jin the governors of each province 
 offer dubious hospitality in the shape of a feast, known 
 as Luh ming, or Belling of the Deer, a name given 
 to it from the fact, that an ode from the book of 
 poetry bearing that name is chanted on the occa- 
 sion. The elaborate pretensions of this festival are 
 in inverse ratio to its merit, but in exchange for the 
 honour 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. 
 Immediately on winning their degrees, each graduate 
 receives 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 really good articles and of the 
 
NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 119 
 
 trash sent to the graduates remains in the treasurers' 
 pocket. In the same way the money actually spent 
 on conducting the examinations bears no proportion 
 whatever to the amount charged on the imperial 
 exchequer, but not a coin of the unexpended balance 
 ever finds its way back to the treasury. 
 
 The successful candidates, on returning to their 
 homes, are received with every mark of honour, and 
 the parents-in-law of each give a grand entertainment 
 in commemoration of the event. The honour attach- 
 ing to literary degrees is so great, and the desire to 
 possess them is so universal, that to suppose that the 
 examinations are, unlike every other institution in 
 China, free from bribery and corruption, is to mis- 
 judge the tendencies of fallen human nature. It is a 
 well-known fact that the officials of all grades con- 
 nected with the examinations 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 may always be found 
 means by which the essays of certain favoured indi- 
 viduals find their way to the examiner who is in- 
 terested in the success of the writers. Sometimes 
 again, a candidate, distrustful of his abilities, suc- 
 ceeds, with the connivance of the necessary officials, 
 in passing in a clever writer as a substitute to win 
 honour for him. If such practices are discovered, the 
 
120 CHINA. 
 
 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 honour. These candidates have to undergo 
 a test-examination, known as Fu she, before being 
 allowed to enter at the Hwuy she, or metropolitan 
 competition. Those who are successful in this last 
 trial obtain the provisional title of Rung 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 provincial ex- 
 amination, and the essays are examined by a special 
 commission of imperial revisers. The candidate who 
 passes first at this examination receives the title of 
 Chwang-yuen and a post in the Han lin yuen, or 
 " College of the Forest of Pencils," the highest literary 
 body in the empire. The news of his success is carried 
 with all speed to his native place, where the announce- 
 ment is received with universal rejoicing, as conferring 
 a lasting honour 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 
 
NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 121 
 
 Chwang-yuen, as the eye is below the forehead. The 
 third is entitled T'an-hiva, or " searcher for a sprig of 
 the olea fragrans," a plant which is held to symbolize 
 literary success. 
 
 Of the remaining successful candidates about one 
 in three are admitted to the Han-lin College, and 
 the remainder receive the degree of Tsin-sze. Sub- 
 sequently a final examination, known as the CJiaou 
 K'aou, or Court-examination, is held in the palace, at 
 which a theme chosen by the Emperor is given out to 
 the competitors. Finally, the graduates are admitted 
 to an audience by the Emperor, who entertains them 
 at a feast. Those Tsin-sze who are not admitted to 
 the Han-lin College receive appointments either to 
 provincial offices, or to posts in connection 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 a descendant of 
 one such within three generations : 1st, Prostitutes ; 
 2nd, Actors ; 3rd, Executioners, and the servants of 
 mandarins ; and 4th, Jailors. The theory with regard 
 to these people is, that prostitutes and actors being 
 devoid of all shame, and executioners and jailors 
 having become hardened by the cruel nature of their 
 offices, are unfit, in their own persons, or as repre- 
 sented by their descendants, to win posts of honour by 
 means of the examinations. Not long since, an edict 
 
122 CHINA. 
 
 appeared in the Peking Gazette, ordering the instant 
 removal from the rank of Kii-jin of a man named 
 Nin Kwang-to, on its being discovered that his father 
 had been a gate-keeper 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 fraudulently gain access to the privilege of 
 examination ; and it is most necessary that severe 
 punishment should be meted out in this case." If 
 no reward beyond the possession of the degrees 
 attached to success at the competitions, the probability 
 is that no great stress would be laid on the enforce- 
 ment 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 the eyes 
 of the law, that shameless and cruel persons should 
 not be allowed to exercise rule over their fellow-men. 
 The military examinations are held separately, and 
 though the literary calibre of the candidates is tested 
 much in the same way as at the civil examinations, 
 the same 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 ex- 
 pected to show their proficiency in the use of the bow 
 and arrow on foot. Those who succeed in passing 
 
NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 123 
 
 successfully through 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 skill in the use of swords, weighing 
 from a hundred to a hundred and eighty pounds, is 
 put to the test, and their strength is further tried by 
 having to lift heavy weights and to draw stiff bows. It 
 is illustrative of the backwardness of the Chinese in 
 warlike matters that, though they have been acquainted 
 with the use of gunpowder for some centuries, they 
 revert, in the examination of military candidates, to 
 the weapons of the ancients, and that while theoreti- 
 cally they are great strategists, strength and skill in 
 the use of these same weapons are the only tests re- 
 quired for commissions. 
 
'A, V/^I/^IAIAIAIAIAI/VA1/^ 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FOOD AND DRESS. 
 
 N a country covering so large an area 
 as China, with every variety both of 
 climate and soil, it is difficult to 
 generalize on such a subject as the 
 food of the people. And yet in 
 China, owing to the homogeneousness 
 of the inhabitants, there is less differ- 
 ence in this respect than might be ex- 
 pected. To begin with, the staff of 
 life in China is rice. It is eaten and 
 always 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 eaten by the people, 
 and is accompanied by vegetables, fish, or meat, 
 according to the circumstances of the household. 
 
FOOD AND DRESS. 125 
 
 Among some people 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 naturally avoid 
 partaking of the flesh of any animal, 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 cabbages, 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-basin is placed opposite each 
 person, and by the side a pair of chop-sticks, while in 
 the middle of the table stands a big bowl of steaming 
 rice., Each person fills his basin from this bowl, and, 
 holding it up to his chin with his left hand, he shovels 
 its contents into his mouth with his chop-sticks with 
 astonishing rapidity. The chop-sticks are held between 
 the first and second, and the second and third fingers ; 
 and constant practice enables a Chinaman 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 skilful use is well nigh impossible, 
 
26 CHINA. 
 
 and at the houses of officials and others who are in 
 the habit of entertaining " foreign devils," it has now- 
 become the practice, in deference to our awkwardness, 
 to furnish us with knives and forks. But to return to 
 the small cottage dinner. Dotted about on the table 
 are small bowls containing vegetables, or fish, or 
 meats, as the case may be, chopped up fine, and 
 seasoned with soy and other sauces. Each diner 
 helps himself as he is inclined from these common 
 dishes with his chop-sticks 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 
 pheasants, and, in the north, deer and hares. But in 
 some parts of the country it must be confessed that 
 less savoury viands find their places 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 
 tendency 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. Describing from personal 
 acquaintance one of these establishments, Archdeacon 
 Gray says in his " China," " The flesh is cut into 
 
FOOD AND DRESS. 127 
 
 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 attention 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 following 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 .. \\ „ 
 
 Congee, one basin ... ... ... 2 cash. 
 
 Ketchup, one basin 3 „ 
 
 Black dog's grease, 1 tael ... ... 4 cents. 
 
 Black cat's eyes, one pair 4 „ 
 
 All guests dining at this restaurant are requested to be 
 punctual in their payments." 
 
 The flesh of black dogs and cats, and notably the 
 former, are preferred as being especially nutritive ; 
 and on a certain day in the beginning 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 dis- 
 ease. In the province of Shantung, 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 
 
128 CHINA. 
 
 for this particular food. In the immense encyclo- 
 paedia compiled under the direction of the Emperor 
 K'ang-he there is a receipt for hashed dog, which, by 
 the number of condiments, the quantity of wine, and 
 profusion of adjuncts which are prescribed, indicates 
 that it was made by some one who 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 fish 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 can- 
 died ; 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 the small wine-cups, which are not much bigger 
 than thimbles, to their lips with the right hand, 
 touching them with the left, and drink off the con- 
 tents. Next follows a succession of courses, each 
 consisting of a single dish, between each of which 
 pipes are handed round and a few whiffs enjoyed. 
 Frequently the dinner is enlivened by the presence 
 of singing-girls, or a play is performed for the amuse- 
 ment of the guests. In the absence, however, of all 
 such attractions the game of Ch'ai-mei, the Italian 
 Mora, sometimes serves to make the interval between 
 
FOOD AND DRESS. 129 
 
 the courses seem shorter. Mr. Giles, in his " Chinese 
 Sketches," 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 mushrooms. 
 Sliced sea-slugs in chicken broth, with ham. 
 Wild duck and Shantung cabbage. 
 Fried fish. 
 
 Lumps of pork fat fried in rice-flour. 
 Stewed lily-roots. 
 
 Chicken mashed to pulp, with ham. 
 Stewed bamboo-shoots. 
 Stewed shell-fish. 
 Fried slices of pheasant. 
 Mushroom 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 people, 
 and are, it is needless to say, very good eating. They 
 are caught with a rod and line, with a young live 
 frog lately emerged from the tadpole stage, as bait. 
 The young frog which is tied on 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 corners of the 
 
 K 
 
130 CHINA. 
 
 streets frying locusts over portable fires, just as among 
 ourselves 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, mackerel, soles, shark, 
 herring, shad, mullet, crabs, tortoises, turtles, prawns, 
 craw-fish, shrimps, etc., are yielded up 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 ingenuity of Chinamen has enabled them to 
 secure the greatest quantity of fish with the least 
 possible trouble. The net and line are generally 
 used ; but in places where it is difficult to drag a net, 
 or where the fish do not easily yield themselves up as 
 victims to the line, they bring other agencies 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 its neck, 
 and when the man has paddled the raft into a likely 
 spot he gently pushes one of the birds into the water. 
 The bird instantly dives, and, having caught its prey, 
 
FOOD AND DRESS. 131 
 
 rises to the surface and swims towards the raft. As 
 it approaches, the man throws a landing-net over 
 both the bird and the fish, and lifts them on 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 intelligence, 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, having a white varnished board inclining from 
 the side to the 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 
 varnished board, they spring at it, and generally 
 over it into the boat. The fear felt by fish at noise 
 and the attraction they feel for light are well known, 
 and trading on these peculiarities, Chinamen drive 
 them, by beating the water, into nets set for their 
 reception. Sometimes, at night, a circular net is 
 thrown off from boats. In the centre, a boat is sta- 
 tioned, on the bows of which a bright fire is kept 
 burning. The other boats surround the outside of the 
 circle at some little distance, and their occupants beat 
 the water with bamboo poles. The fish, frightened 
 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 
 
132 CHINA. 
 
 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 any size have tanks of water 
 on board, into which the fish are thrown the instant 
 they are caught, and are thus carried fresh to market, 
 where the same care is generally taken to keep them 
 alive until they find purchasers. But 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. So soon 
 as the young fish appear, they are caught in nets, 
 and put into tanks in boats, where they are most 
 carefully fed and tended until they are large enough 
 to be transferred to the ponds prepared for them. 
 Here they are fed with paste and the yolks of hard- 
 boiled eggs, until they are drawn out to repay 
 their nurses for the trouble they have had in rearing 
 them. 
 
 Oysters and cockles are also regularly fished for, 
 and form a common article of food, and so with 
 mussels, which, however, are sometimes turned into 
 another source of gain. When fresh caught, minute 
 images of Buddha are put into the shells, and the 
 mussels are thrown into ponds, where they are 
 allowed to remain for some time. On being fished 
 
FOOD AND DRESS. 133 
 
 up again and opened, the little images are found 
 covered with a coating of mother-of-pearl, and, in 
 this state, have a ready sale among the superstitious. 
 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 only 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 
 them and prepare them for the market. Many 
 thousands are often to be seen in the establishments 
 of these traders. Sometimes the purchaser is owner 
 of a duck-boat, on which he keeps his numerous 
 broods. Once or twice a day he lands them on the 
 river-bank to feed, and they soon learn to walk with- 
 out hesitation along a plank between the boat and 
 the shore. Immense quantities are thus reared on the 
 rivers in China, as an instance 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 of a mile the surface 
 of the Canton river was crowded with them." 
 Poultry-farms are also numerous and large. The 
 eggs are never eaten as among ourselves, but, when 
 intended for the table, are boiled hard and preserved 
 by one of several processes until they are six weeks 
 
134 CHINA, 
 
 or two months 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, how- 
 ever, drink it freely, and also make a kind of rancid 
 butter from it of which they are very fond, a con- 
 clusive proof of the wide gulf which separates their 
 tastes from ours. 
 
 In matters of dress, with one or two exceptions, 
 the Chinese must be acknowledged to have used 
 a wise discretion. They wear nothing that is tight- 
 fitting, and make a greater difference between their 
 summer and winter-clothing than is customary among 
 ourselves. The usual dress in summer of a coolie 
 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 the northern provinces, 
 a sheepskin robe, superadded to an abundance of 
 warm clothing intermediate 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 coming down to the ankles. Often these 
 are fastened round the waist by a belt, to which are 
 
FOOD AND DRESS. 135 
 
 attached a number 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 purpose of pockets. 
 The expression " a sleeve-full of snuff" is not at all 
 uncommon in Chinese poetry, and small editions of 
 books, especially of the classics, are called " sleeve- 
 editions," in reference probably to the practice, com- 
 mon 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 incon- 
 venience from the great heat. 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 
 hang down the back in the ordinary way. 
 
 The dress of the mandarins is strictly defined 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 tops of their 
 caps. The civilian badges are representations of birds ; 
 while those worn by military men, as indicating the 
 fierceness of their nature, are likenesses of beasts. 
 Thus the first of the ten civilian ranks wears a Man- 
 churian crane ; the second, a golden pheasant ; the 
 third, a peacock ; the fourth, a wild goose ; the fifth, 
 
136 CHINA. 
 
 a. silver pheasant ; the sixth, a lesser eyret ; the 
 seventh, a mandarin duck ; the eighth, a quail ; the 
 ninth, a long-tailed jay ; and the tenth, an oriole 
 The military officers have only 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 
 rhinoceros. 
 
 Since the establishment of the present dynasty, 
 distinguishing buttons have been added to the caps 
 of both civil and military mandarins, and these 
 are distributed among the nine ranks in the follow- 
 ing order : — The first two, red coral ; the third, clear 
 blue ; the fourth, lapis lazuli ; the fifth, quartz crystal ; 
 the sixth, opaque white stone ; and the last three, 
 gilt. In cases where the same coloured stone is 
 worn by two ranks, that on the cap of the inferior 
 one is carved, the Chinaman having the taste to 
 consider the plain stone the most distinguished. 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 fixing the day upon which 
 the summer costume is to be adopted throughout 
 the empire, and again, as winter draws near, the time 
 for putting on the winter-dress is announced in the 
 same formal manner. Fine straw or bamboo forms 
 
FOOD AND DRESS. 137 
 
 the material of the summer-hat, the outside of which is 
 covered with fine silk, over which again falls a tassel of 
 red silk cords from the top. At this season also the 
 thick silk robes and heavy padded jackets worn in 
 winter are exchanged for light silk or satin tunics. 
 The winter-cap has a turned-up brim, and is covered 
 with satin, with a black cloth lining, and, as in the 
 case of the summer-cap, a tassel of red silk covers 
 the entire crown. 
 
 The wives of mandarins wear the same embroidered 
 insignia on their dresses as their husbands, and their 
 style of dress, as well as that of Chinese women 
 generally, bears a resemblance 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 occa- 
 sions they wear a richly embroidered petticoat 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 the young girls pro- 
 claim their unmarried state by cutting their hair in 
 a fringe across their foreheads after a fashion not 
 unknown among ourselves. In most parts of the 
 country, flowers, natural when obtainable, and arti- 
 
38 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 ficial when not so, are largely used to deck out the 
 head-dresses, and considerable taste is shown in the 
 choice of colours and the manner in which they are 
 arranged. Thus far there is nothing to find fault 
 
 TYPES OF CHINESE GIRLS. 
 
 with in female fashion in China, but the same cannot 
 be said of the way in which they treat their faces 
 and feet. In many countries the secret art of remov- 
 ing traces of the ravages of time with the paint-brush 
 
FOOD AND DRESS. 139 
 
 has been and is practised ; but by an extravagant, 
 and to European eyes hideous, use of pigments and 
 cosmetics, Chinese girls not only conceal the fresh 
 complexion of youth, but produce those very dis- 
 figurements which furnish the only possible excuse 
 for artificial complexions. Their poets also have 
 declared that a woman's eyebrows 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 tweezers, 
 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 
 bedizened Chinese lady is a miserable sight. The 
 ghastly white of the plastered complexion, the 
 ruddled cheeks, the artificial eyebrows, and the bril- 
 liantly 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 repul- 
 sive. 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 thousandfold. 
 
 But the chief offence of Chinese women is in the 
 matter of their feet. Even on the score of fashion 
 
J4o 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 it is difficult 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 attempt 
 servilely to imitate the peculiarly shaped foot of a 
 certain beautiful empress; others that it is a device 
 intended to act as a restraint on the gadding-about 
 tendencies of women. But, however that may be, 
 
FOOD AND DRESS. 
 
 141 
 
 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 upwards and backwards. At the 
 
 same time, the shoes worn having high heels, the foot 
 becomes as it were clubbed and loses all elasticity. 
 The consequence is that the women walk as on pegs, 
 and the calf of the leg, having no exercise, shrivels up. 
 The degree of severity, however, with which the feet 
 
142 CHINA, 
 
 are bound, differs 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 from 
 walking at all, and are dependent on their sedan- 
 chairs, and sometimes even on the backs of their at- 
 tendants, for all locomotion beyond their own doors. 
 But even in this case habit becomes a second nature, 
 and fashion triumphs over sense. No mother, how- 
 ever keen may be her recollection of her sufferings 
 as a child, or however conscious she may be of the 
 inconveniences and ills arising from her deformed 
 feet, would ever dream of saving her own child from 
 like immediate torture and permanent evil. Further, 
 there is probably less excuse for such a practice in 
 China than in any other country, for the hands and 
 feet of both men and women are naturally small 
 and finely shaped. But there is no idol which it is 
 more difficult to overthrow than established custom, 
 and there must needs be a complete revolution in the 
 national tastes and ideas before the much-persecuted 
 Chinese women will be allowed free use of the very 
 pretty feet with which nature has endowed them. 
 
 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 
 
CTNIVERSIT 
 
 FOOD AND DRESS. 143 
 
 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 intended as a 
 badge of conquest, and as such was at first unwillingly- 
 accepted by the people. For nearly a century the 
 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, these 
 bribes were discontinued, and the converse action 
 of treating those who refused to conform with severity, 
 completed the conversion of the empire. At the 
 present day every Chinaman who is not in open 
 rebellion to the throne shaves his head, with the 
 exception 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, espe- 
 cially 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 de- 
 ficiency 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 only to tie the ends of the queue plaits 
 with a piece of silk. But among all classes great 
 value is attached to the possession of the queue, and 
 
144 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 in the commonest forms of abuse there is generally- 
 claimed for the object of opprobrium an additional 
 title to infamy in the 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 particular as to their 
 appearance do not allow their hair to grow half that 
 time. As it is impossible for a man to shave his own 
 head, the barber's trade is a large and flourishing one, 
 and is carried on in shops, and in the streets by 
 
FOOD AND DRESS. 
 
 H5 
 
 itinerant barbers, who carry suspended at the two 
 ends of bamboos slung on their shoulders, all the 
 implements of their calling, together with stools for 
 the customers to sit upon during the operation. 
 Among the rich it is customary to summon a barber 
 to their houses, and to most large yamuns there is a 
 
 member of the fraternity attached, who gains his 
 livelihood by keeping the heads of the occupants in 
 order. The Chinese razor consists of a short blade, 
 somewhat in 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 shaving, 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 which is extended to the down on the cheeks. A 
 Chinaman's face is singularly devoid of hair. Whiskers 
 are very seldom seen, and the moustache 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 neglect shaving 
 the hair for three months as a sign of mental dis- 
 traction, 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 VII. 
 
 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 UT though trade practically holds its place 
 as next in estimation to the mandarinate, 
 in theory it should follow both hus- 
 bandry and the mechanical arts. From 
 time immemorial the Chinese have held 
 agriculture in the highest esteem as 
 being the means by which the soil has 
 been induced to supply the primary 
 want of the people of the empire — 
 food. All land is held in freehold from the Govern- 
 ment, and principally by clans, or families, who pay 
 an annual tax to the Crown amounting to about one- 
 tenth of the produce. On the death of the proprietor 
 of a property, it descends to his eldest son, but his 
 succession is hampered by the law, which permits all 
 his younger brothers and their families to settle on 
 parts of the inheritance. Very often an arrangement 
 
148 CHINA. 
 
 is arrived at by which the cadets are bought off, but 
 otherwise the heir has to submit, nolens volens, to their 
 presence. On the occasion of a property changing 
 hands, the fact has to be registered at the office of 
 the district magistrate, and the new owner becomes 
 responsible for the payment of the Crown-tax. So 
 long as this tax is paid regularly, the owner is never 
 dispossessed, and a property thus remains in the hands 
 of a clan and family for many generations. 
 
 In order to see that farming-operations are pro- 
 perly conducted, agricultural boards are established 
 in almost every district, consisting of old men learned 
 in agriculture. By these veterans a careful watch is 
 kept over the work done by the neighbouring 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 which he considers proportionate to 
 the offence. It is illustrative of the mechanical in- 
 genuity of the Chinese, as well as of their absence of 
 scientific knowledge, that their appliances for irrigating 
 the fields and winnowing the corn are excellent, 
 while those for getting the most out of the land are 
 of a rude and primitive kind. The plough, which is 
 generally drawn by a buffalo or ox, does scarcely 
 more than scratch the surface, and even this is only 
 used in the large fields, the farmers of small en- 
 closures being content to break up the soil with 
 
AGRICULTURE. 149 
 
 their hoes. Spades find no place among the weapons 
 of farmers and gardeners, who know also nothing 
 of wheelbarrows 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 which 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 
 consist 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 appropriate to it. 
 Agriculturally, China may be said to be divided into 
 two parts by the Yang-tsze Keang. South of that 
 river, speaking generally, the soil and climate point to 
 rice as the appropriate crop, while to the north lie vast 
 plains which as clearly are best designed for growing 
 corn. Over the huge tract of loess country in northern 
 China, little or no cultivation is necessary, neither is 
 the use of manure required. A sufficient scratching 
 of the light friable soil to enable the farmer to sow 
 his seed is all that is needed in favourable years to 
 secure a good crop. But throughout nature there 
 are always disadvantageous circumstances, or contin- 
 
i5o CHINA. 
 
 gencies, attached to otherwise exceptionally favoured 
 spots. And this "Garden of China" is dependent 
 for its fruits on the fall of 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 downfalls forms, 
 therefore, the kind of moisture best suited to it. 
 When these fail, the crops fall off, and after dry 
 seasons famine necessarily follows. The surface being 
 far above the water-level, irrigation is next to im- 
 possible, 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 alluvial 
 plain of Chih-li the crops are not as large as those 
 gathered on the loess in a good year, but on the 
 other hand they are not liable to the same extreme 
 vicissitudes. Droughts are as severe in Chih-li as in 
 Shanse, but the extremity of want occasioned by them 
 is much more severely felt in the latter province, and 
 in those others covered with loess, than in Chih-li. 
 Millet and Indian corn are largely grown in the 
 northern half of the empire as well as wheat and 
 barley. 
 
 An entirely different system of agriculture is pur- 
 sued 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, 
 
AGRICULTURE. 151 
 
 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 
 not sown generally over the field, but in one corner 
 of it, and the plants, as soon as they have grown 
 to a sufficient size, are transplanted out in straight 
 rows. 
 
 The necessity for a copious supply of water con- 
 tinues 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 irriga- 
 tion is largely resorted to. In securing the constant 
 supply of water thus needed, the mechanical genius 
 of the people has full play, and the contrivances 
 invented and employed by them are ingenious and 
 effective. If the difference of level between the supply 
 of water, be it either a river or a pond, and the field 
 to be irrigated, is 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 difference of level is such 
 as to make this plan impossible, a water-wheel and 
 an endless chain-pump are used. This ingenious 
 
152 CHINA. 
 
 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 
 neighbouring fields. This box is open at the top 
 and both ends, and made 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 perpen- 
 dicular posts. One or more persons, steadying them- 
 selves by leaning upon a horizontal pole four or five 
 feet higher than the shaft, and by walking or stepping 
 briskly 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 donkeys are 
 employed to turn the water-wheels, by means of 
 horizontal cogged wheels which turn the shaft over 
 which the buckets pass. Occasionally, when prac- 
 ticable, 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 upright 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 
 
AGRICULTURE. 153 
 
 on the other extremity is fastened 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 of rice is generally fit to cut in a hundred 
 days after the seed is put in. When it 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 ourselves ; but in some parts of the country 
 only the ears 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, 
 in different parts of the country. Sometimes the 
 thresher takes a double handful of the corn, and 
 strikes it against the bars of an open frame in such a 
 way that the grain falls through to the ground ; some- 
 times, instead of an open frame, a tub is used, against 
 the inside of which the corn is struck. In other 
 places the corn is carried to a carefully swept 
 threshing-floor, and is then threshed out with 
 flails. Not unfrequently, also, the corn is trodden 
 out by buffaloes, mules, or ponies, or is separated 
 from the ear by means of rollers drawn by beasts of 
 
154 CHINA. 
 
 draught. Winnowing, in its most primitive form, is 
 practised by many of the smaller farmers. A windy 
 day is chosen to throw the grain and husks up in the 
 air from the threshing-floor, with the usual result. 
 But quite as generally, machines, not unlike those in 
 use among ourselves are used. Most of these are 
 turned by hand, but others draw their motive power 
 either from water-wheels, or from oxen or donkeys. 
 The mills for grinding the corn are worked by the 
 same agencies. Tobacco, beans, tea-oil, sweet pota- 
 toes, turnips, onions, fruits, and tea, are among the 
 best-known products of Southern China. 
 
 The tea-plant, which resembles a whortleberry, is 
 grown from seed which is gathered in the winter 
 months, and dried in the sun. In the beginning of 
 the following spring the seeds are moistened and 
 dried again, until they begin to sprout, when they are 
 lightly covered with earth. So soon as the plants 
 have grown four or five inches in height they are trans- 
 planted to the plantations, where they are arranged 
 in rows at a distance of two or three feet apart. No 
 manure is used in the cultivation, but great care is 
 taken to keep the ground clear from weeds. The 
 blossom is white, and is not unlike the orange-flower, 
 and blooms in November. The plant itself, which 
 is an evergreen, is allowed to grow to heights varying 
 with the necessities of the plantations. In high and 
 exposed positions, the plant is kept low, that it may 
 
AGRICULTURE. 155 
 
 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 care is taken not to 
 exhaust 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 youngest are first picked, the earliest 
 gathering is the best. Women and children are 
 mainly employed in this work. Having been first 
 dried in the sun, the leaves are then trodden out by 
 naked-footed labourers, in order to break the fibres 
 and extract the moisture. This done, they are heaped 
 up and allowed to heat for some hours, until they 
 have become a reddish-brown colour. They are next 
 rolled up by the hand, and are afterwards again 
 exposed to the sun should the weather be propi- 
 tious, 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 carefully sifted, the leaves of dif- 
 ferent 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 processes 
 differ slightly in the case of some teas, but they are 
 
156 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 all dried, trodden on, baked, and rolled, excepting 
 green tea, which is not dried in the sun, but is fired, 
 and is rubbed with the hands instead of being trodden 
 on. The principal kinds of tea exported are Congou, 
 which is grown in the provinces of Hoonan and 
 Kwang-tung ; Souchong, the best of which is pro- 
 
 duced in the north-eastern part of the province of 
 Fuh-keen ; Flowery Pekoe and Oolong, or " Black 
 Dragon," which also come from Fuh-keen ; scented 
 Orange Pekoe and scented capers from Kwang-tung 
 and Fuh-keen ; and green tea from the neighbourhood 
 
AGRICULTURE. 
 
 157 
 
 of Wooyuen in Gan-hwuy. Tea is drunk universally 
 throughout the empire by all except those who are too 
 poor to buy it ; but this was not always the case. In 
 
 some places, as at Hang-chow, for example, wine- 
 shops used to be as numerous as tea-shops are now. 
 To the honour of the temperance of the people it is to 
 
158 CHINA, 
 
 be said, that when tea-shops were first introduced, 
 they were received with such favour, that the publi- 
 cans had to shut up their establishments. The price 
 of teas in the country varies enormously, the common 
 kinds being very cheap, while some of the choicest 
 sorts fetch among native epicures such prices as make 
 the export of them impossible. The orthodox way 
 of making tea is to put a pinch of the leaves into a 
 cup and to pour boiling water on them, the drinker 
 being protected from swallowing the leaves by an 
 inverted saucer, which covers the cup, and which is so 
 held as to keep back the leaves during the act of 
 drinking. Among servants and the poorer classes, 
 however, when tea has to be made for a number of 
 persons, tea-pots are used, and the landlords of way- 
 side inns, and charitable people who seek to win for 
 themselves a happy future, by attending to the com- 
 forts of travellers here on earth, provide at stations 
 along the high-road brews of the compound in large 
 vessels. 
 
 In point of antiquity the use of tea cannot com- 
 pare with the cultivation of silk. History tells us that 
 Se-ling-she, the wife of Shin-nung (2737-2697 B.C.), was 
 the first spinner of silk and weaver of cloth, for which 
 discovery she has been canonized, and is annually 
 worshipped on a certain day in the ninth month. On 
 that occasion the empress and her ladies worship at 
 her shrine, and just as the emperor sets an example 
 
AGRICULTURE. 159 
 
 of industry to the agriculturists throughout the 
 empire, by ploughing a piece of land at the opening 
 of spring, so the empress and her court stimulate the 
 busy fingers of Chinese housewives, by going through 
 the form of collecting mulberry-leaves, feeding the 
 palace silk-worms, and winding off some cocoons of 
 silk. 
 
 The eastern central and southern provinces of the 
 empire are the home of the silk industry. There the 
 mulberry-trees flourish, and there the climate best 
 suits the insects. Great care is taken by the breeders 
 in the choice and matching of the cocoons, and un- 
 healthy or in any way deformed moths are destroyed 
 so soon as they free themselves from their shells. 
 "The number of eggs which one moth lays," says 
 Archdeacon Gray, "is generally five hundred, and 
 the period required for her to perform so great a 
 labour is, I believe, about seventy-four hours. The 
 females often die almost immediately after they have 
 laid their eggs, and the 'males do not long survive 
 them. The egg of the silk-worm, which is of a 
 whitish or pale ash-colour, 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 
 earthenware bowl. During the autumnal months 
 
i6o CHINA. 
 
 the eggs are carefully kept in a cool chamber, the 
 sheets of paper or pieces of cloth being suspended 
 back to back from bamboo-rods, placed in a hori- 
 zontal position. In the tenth month of the Chinese 
 year . . . the sheets are rolled up, and then de- 
 posited in a room, which is well swept, and free from 
 all noxious influences. On the third day of the 
 twelfth month the eggs are again washed, and then 
 exposed in the air to dry. In the spring of the year, 
 the eggs being now ready to be brought 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 bamboo, the wood of which emits no 
 fragrance, aromatic wood being especially avoided 
 as unsuitable for the purpose." 
 
 As soon as the worms are hatched they are carefully 
 tended and fed. Twice every hour during the first 
 few days of their existence, they are given chopped 
 mulberry-leaves. Gradually 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 
 
AGRICULTURE. 161 
 
 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 colour, and about the thick- 
 ness of a man's little 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 envelop 
 themselves in cocoons. When completely enclosed 
 they fall into a state of coma, and become chrysalides. 
 The shelves on which they are arranged are then 
 placed near a fire to kill the chrysalides, which, when 
 accomplished, the silk is unwound and the chrysalides 
 are eaten. 
 
 As many superstitions surround the cultivation 
 of silkworms as encumber every other occupation 
 in China, and, as might be expected, most of 
 them are founded on natural coincidences. Such are 
 the beliefs based on the silkworm's love of clean- 
 liness, that persons, before entering 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 generally, the male principle is 
 
 M 
 
162 CHINA. 
 
 believed to be congenial to them, and the female 
 principle to be the reverse. If this be really so, they 
 are most unfortunate insects, since they are attended 
 to almost exclusively by women and girls. They are 
 said also to be peculiarly susceptible to thunder, and 
 to all sudden and violent noises. 
 
 The looms for weaving the silk are simple in con- 
 struction, and are similar to the hand looms used in 
 Europe. The principal seats of the silk manufacture 
 are Soo-chow, Hang-chow, Nanking, and Canton. The 
 three first-named places are noted for the beauty of 
 their silk stuffs, and they are those from which the 
 imperial palace receives its annual stores of silks and 
 satins. The number of different qualities and patterns 
 they produce is marvellous. In a collection recently 
 made by the Commissioner of Customs at Shanghai, 
 he succeeded in bringing together four hundred dif- 
 ferent specimens from the looms of these and other 
 neighbouring cities. 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 
 favoured parts of the empire, a kind known as 
 " the wild silkworm," which feeds as surrounding 
 circumstances determine, on either the leaves of the 
 pepper-tree, or the ash, or a particular kind of oak. 
 This species is far less manageable than its mulberry- 
 fed relative, and is infinitely more hardy. Much less 
 
AGRICULTURE. 163 
 
 trouble is bestowed on the worms by the breeders, 
 but though the return of silk they yield is consider- 
 able, it is not to be compared with the other kind, 
 either for beauty or fineness. In the province of 
 Shantung, 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, 
 yet in strength and durability Sze-chuen silk is far 
 superior, and is able to compete successfully with it 
 in the market. Being purely a Chinese product, silk 
 was introduced into Europe 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 which is peculiar to China is 
 white insect wax. This curious substance is pro- 
 duced exclusively in the prefecture of Kea-ting Foo, 
 in Sze-chuen, the climate of which district appears to 
 favour the propagation of the disease, which is be- 
 lieved by the natives to be the cause of the secretion 
 of the wax. This belief is supported by the fact that, 
 in the districts where the insects breed, only a small 
 quantity of wax is made, and experience has there- 
 fore taught the natives the advantage of breeding 
 the insects in one district and removing them to 
 another to produce the wax. The neighbourhood of 
 
164 CHINA. 
 
 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 and ovate leaves. At the end of April, the 
 breeders start, each with a load of the insects' eggs, 
 for the district of Kea-ting Foo, a journey 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 
 egg 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 labour 
 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 growing, 
 the surface of the twigs becomes encrusted with 
 a white wax ; this is the wax. No care whatever 
 is required. The insect has no enemy, and is not 
 even touched by ants. In the latter half of August, 
 the twigs are cut off and boiled in water, when 
 
AGRICULTURE. 
 
 165 
 
 the wax rises to the surface. It is then melted and 
 poured into deep pans. It cools down to a trans- 
 lucent and highly-crystalline substance. Two taels 
 weight of eggs produce from two to three catties 1 
 of wax." 
 
 1 A Tael = i& oz., and a Catty = 16 Taels. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MEDICINE. 
 
 HE medical art in China has a long 
 ancestry, and dates back to the time 
 when Hwang-te is said to have in- 
 vented music and many other arts 
 which added to the elegancies and 
 comforts of life. The prevalence of 
 disease and death among his sub- 
 jects so affected him that, it is said, 
 he wrested from nature a know- 
 ledge of the operations of her opposing principles, 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," 
 which contained such a fund of medical knowledge 
 that disease lost half its terrors, and the length of 
 human life was extended. 
 
MEDICINE. 167 
 
 Chinese authors assume, with that complete self- 
 complacency which is common to them, that the 
 wide medical knowledge which was imparted to the 
 world by Hwang- te has since been so vastly in- 
 creased that at the present time the science of 
 medicine in China has reached its highest develop- 
 ment. An acquaintance, 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 empirical, and 
 is based neither on accurate observation nor scientific 
 research. Of physiology, or of human and compara- 
 tive 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 examina- 
 tions, prevents the possibility of their acquiring any 
 accurate knowledge of the human frame, and their 
 notion of the position of the various organs is almost 
 as wild as their idea of their different functions ; 
 which is saying a good deal, when one recollects that 
 they consider that from the heart and pit of the 
 stomach all ideas and delights proceed, and that the 
 gall-bladder is the seat of courage. So firmly is this 
 last belief held, and so strange is the perversion of 
 their ideas on the subject of the processes through 
 
68 CHINA. 
 
 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 enlighten 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 differences to be observed in each pulse. And 
 this they profess to account for by saying that the 
 different parts of the pulse reflect the condition of 
 the organs which they represent. For example, the 
 pulse on the left wrist is believed to discover the 
 state of the heart, small intestines, liver, gall-bladder, 
 kidneys, and bladder ; while that on the right wrist 
 reflects 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, of the approach of 
 death, and each of the seven passions is represented 
 by pulsations 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 colours, five metals, and 
 
MEDICINE. 169 
 
 five viscera. To keep these five antagonistic prin- 
 ciples in harmony is the duty of the physician, and 
 to restore the equilibrium when any one of them is 
 in excess or deficiency is the main object of his 
 endeavours. 
 
 The medical profession in China is in every sense 
 an open one. There are no medical colleges, and no 
 examination-tests exist to worry the minds of the 
 would-be practitioners. And neither are diplomas 
 asked for or granted. Any quack or the most igno- 
 rant bumpkin may become a 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 classifi- 
 cation is intelligible when it is remembered that the 
 practice of medicine is not based on any well-ascer- 
 tained 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 
 England has as useful a pharmacopceia as the most 
 prosperous Chinese doctors, who, however, supple- 
 ment the more efficacious remedies they possess by 
 others which have no remedial qualities at all. For 
 example, among many herbal medicines, which un- 
 
 fNIVERSITt 
 
 California 
 
17 o CHINA. 
 
 doubtedly are more or less tonics, we find that the 
 same qualities are ascribed to stalactite, fresh tops 
 of stag-horns, dried red-spotted lizards, silkworm 
 moths, black and white lead, tortoise-shell, and dog's 
 flesh. By the same stretch of the imagination the bones 
 and teeth of dragons, oyster-shells, loadstone, talc, 
 and gold and silver leaf are regarded as astringents ; 
 while verdigris, 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 
 Dr. Henderson, that out of the whole Chinese phar- 
 macopoeia, 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 indifferent, 
 are sanctioned by the medical board at Peking, 
 which has, in the exercise of its wisdom, 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 mercy of these ignorant pro- 
 fessors of the art of healing, inflammatory diseases, 
 
Of THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
 &LUFQ RN&, 
 
 MEDICINE. 171 
 
 to which are attributable three-fifths of the mor- 
 tality in England, are 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 popula- 
 tion. 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 Chinese by Sir 
 George Staunton. Previously, inoculation' by putting 
 the virus up the nose was employed, as it still is, 
 by all, except those few who have been shown the 
 better way by Sir G. Staunton. Cancer is by 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 bene- 
 ficial results. 
 
 The scale of doctors' fees is low, being from about 
 sixpence in the case of poor people to five shillings 
 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 doctor never sees his patient except in extreme 
 cases, and is content to form his opinion of her 
 ailment by feeling the pulses of her wrists, which are 
 
72 CHINA. 
 
 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 dangerous 
 than when otherwise applied for dyspepsia. In such 
 cases it is thrust into the abdomen, regardless of the 
 injury which it is likely to do 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 lead to dangerous results. Occa- 
 sionally patients are admitted to the foreign hospitals, 
 suffering from injuries to intestines and liver inflicted 
 by the needle, but these do not, as a rule, enter any 
 more serious category than that of troublesome cases. 
 Madness is by no means uncommon in China, but 
 it is less conspicuous than in western lands, owing to 
 the repressive treatment which the patients receive. 
 On the first symptom of violence, 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 wander about, and 
 in the northern provinces, where insanity seems to 
 
MEDICINE. 173 
 
 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 unknown, and the 
 malady is so little recognized by the mandarins that 
 madmen are held responsible to the law for their acts 
 prompted by mania. 
 
 The ignorance prevailing among Chinamen of 
 chemistry and anatomy makes their occasional 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 coroners, " in the 
 remains of Koh P'in-leen that there is no reddish 
 exfoliation on the surface 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 yellowish-white colour; . . . through the 
 remainder of the body the bones of all sizes are of 
 a yellowish-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 ourselves was in their knowledge 
 of the value of mercury. 
 

 
 
 
 &S) 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MUSIC. 
 
 USIC, like some of the other sciences, 
 is said to have been invented by 
 the Emperor Fuh-he (2852-2737 
 B.C.). He it was, we are told, who 
 introduced the She, a sort of lute. 
 At first this instrument had twenty- 
 five strings ; but, according to the 
 legend, the Emperor Hwang-te 
 was on one occasion made so 
 melancholy by an air performed by a damsel in his 
 presence, that he ordered the number of the strings 
 to be reduced by one-half, in the hope that the de- 
 pressing effect of the music might be thus minimised. 
 To Fuh-he belongs also the credit of being the inventor 
 of the KHn y another form of lute, which stands in 
 popular estimation at the head of Chinese instruments. 
 The name which was originally given it of Lung K'in 
 points to the fact, which we have abundant evidence 
 
MUSIC. 175 
 
 to prove, that the aborigines of China were musicians 
 before the arrival of the Chinese. The Lung were a 
 powerful tribe occupying a portion of south-western 
 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. 
 The K'in was known also among the ancients as " a 
 reminder of distant affairs," which would seem to in- 
 dicate 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-Chinese stage, but with 
 the reign of Hwang-te the Chinese element is intro- 
 duced. The account of Hwang-te's musical efforts 
 are very interesting, and bear out in a remarkable 
 degree the supposition that he was one of the rulers 
 of the race when they had their homes in the south 
 of the Caspian Sea. We are told that he sent his 
 minister Ling-lun from the west of Ta hea to a par- 
 ticular valley in the Kwan-lun mountains, where he 
 was ordered to make choice of bamboos fitted for 
 musical pipes. Ta hea we know to have been Bactria, 
 
176 CHINA. 
 
 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 arranged 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 found in the south- 
 western provinces of the empire, retain the same 
 passion for music and dancing which made them 
 famous in the time of Fuh-he, and subsequently. 
 
 Chwan Hii, the next Emperor but one to Hwang-te, 
 was born, we are told, at the Jo 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 Jo water to imitate the 
 sounds of the eight winds. The Fei-lung (Flying 
 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 
 
MUSIC. 177 
 
 (Fire Dragons), the Ho-lung (River Dragons), etc. 
 The existence of these prefixes has served to conceal 
 the fact that the compound expressions represented 
 tribal names, and has encouraged in their incredulity 
 those who looked on all mentions of the Lung as 
 so many myths. But in point of fact, they serve as 
 confirmations in the opposite sense. In his recent 
 work of travels in Cambodia, Mons. De-la-porte says 
 that he encountered in his journeys several sections 
 of the Kwei tribe, who " se divise en tribus, vouees 
 chacune a une profession speciale d'ou elle tire son 
 nom ; il y a par exemple les ' Kouys (kwei) du fer,' " etc. 
 The Fei-lung who was sent by Chwan Hii on the 
 difficult mission of reproducing the sounds of the 
 wind, is said to have been successful. By means of 
 which instrument 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 used for the purpose by the Fei-lung. 
 
 Stringed and reed instruments, such as are used by 
 the aboriginal tribes of China at the present day, were 
 the earliest 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 have preceded metal as a musical substance. 
 In the earliest classics we have mention of musical 
 
 K 
 
178 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 stones, which were sixteen in number, and were hung 
 from a frame by cords. They were cut somewhat in 
 the shape 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 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 the louder-tongued horn, 
 
MUSIC. 179 
 
 which is used only as a military call, and in pro- 
 cessions. Bells were originally made of six parts of 
 copper to one of tin. Tongues were never used, but 
 sound was emitted by striking with a stick on the 
 rim, or, in after-times, on the knobs with which the 
 bell was studded, and which were so arranged as 
 to give out the different musical notes. The form 
 of the most ancient bells was square, but in sub- 
 sequent ages they assumed the round 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 ingenuity 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 litur- 
 gical work. The bell is one of a set of five which 
 were cast by order of the Emperor Yung-loh (a.d. 
 1403-142 5). One of 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 voluntarily 
 
180 CHINA. 
 
 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 resulted from a shot from one 
 of the guns of H.M.S. Encounter having 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 generally sounded with 
 drums. In the She-king we have constant mention 
 of bells and drums being used on the occasions of 
 bringing home brides, or in royal processions. Some- 
 times we hear of them concerted with other instru- 
 ments, as when speaking of the expedition of King 
 Yew to the Hwai the poet says — 
 
 " IC in k?in the bells peal on, 
 
 And the lutes in the concert we hear. 
 Deep breathes the organ tone ; 
 
 Sounding stones join their notes, rich and clear. 
 The while through the vessel there ring 
 
 The Ya and the Nan which they sing, 
 And the dancers with flutes now appear." x 
 
 They were sounded also at the opening and the 
 closing of sacrificial rites, and were even attached to 
 the sacrificial knives. It was customary also to fasten 
 them to the harness of horses driven by potentates, 
 and to carriages and banners. 
 
 A more popular instrument than the bell is the 
 1 Legge's She-king. 
 
MUSIC. 181 
 
 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, which is a small 
 kind used to strike the watches. At religious ser- 
 vices, 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 
 consequently used with telling effect on all occasions 
 when it is considered advisable to get rid of evil in- 
 fluences. When a vessel puts to sea, when it returns 
 to harbour, when a house is supposed to be haunted, 
 or when any unnatural phenomena occur, such as an 
 eclipse, the gongs are vigorously sounded to dispel 
 the malign influences which are believed to be present. 
 On the outbreak of a fire they are used as signals, 
 first of all to indicate what quarter of the town is 
 threatened ; next, by the rapidity of the beats, to 
 make known the progress and fierceness of the fire, 
 and again, by 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 pipes are inserted. These 
 reeds have holes near the base to prevent their 
 
CHINA. 
 
 emitting sounds, until stopped by the performer. The 
 mouthpiece, which is not unlike the spout of a kettle, 
 is inserted in the side of the gourd, and the instru- 
 ment is played either by drawing in the breath or 
 by blowing. 
 
 But the favourite instruments of the Chinese are 
 stringed instruments. The She and the Kin, of 
 which mention has already been made, are the chief 
 among these. " The K'in," says Dr. Wells Williams, 
 in his " China," " is very ancient, and derives its name 
 from the word K'in, to prohibit, ' because it restrains 
 and checks evil passions, 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 ninth 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 Kin is made up of fifths. Each of 
 
MUSIC. 183 
 
 the outer strings is tuned a fourth from the alternate 
 string within the system, so that there is a major 
 tone, an interval tone less than a minor third, and a 
 major tone in the fifth. The Chinese leave the 
 interval entire, and skip the half-tone, while we 
 divide it into two unequal parts. It will, therefore, 
 readily appear, that the mood or character of the 
 music of the K'in must be very different from that of 
 western instruments, so that none of them can exactly 
 do justice to the Chinese airs. One of the pecu- 
 liarities 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 K'in there are several 
 kinds of fiddles and guitars, among the best-known 
 of which are the P'i-P'a, a four-stringed guitar, which 
 is played with the fingers, the Yueh K'm $ or " Moon 
 K'in" 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-c/iun, or " standard 
 lute," with twelve strings, yielding exactly the notes 
 of the twelve Luh or pipes 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 regarded as potent, 
 and, according to a celebrated saying of Confucius, 
 it gives the finish to the character which has first been 
 established by the rules of propriety. So marked 
 
MUSIC. 185 
 
 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 pitcher, the influence of the Shaou music, 
 and hurried on to the capital of the state that he 
 might enjoy its excellencies to perfection. On another 
 occasion, we are told that he perceived with delight, 
 in the sound of stringed instruments and the singing 
 at Woo-shing, the effect produced on a people tur- 
 bulent by nature, by the rule of his disciple, Tsze- 
 yew. But in this, as in other matters, Confucius 
 only 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 disso- 
 lute Chow Sin, the last emperor of the Yin Dynasty 
 (11 54-1 122 B.C.) was that, to gratify his consort, the 
 notoriously vicious T'an-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 careful watch is 
 kept over the efforts of composers by the Imperial 
 Board of Music, whose duty it is to keep alive the 
 music of the ancients, and to suppress all compositions 
 which are not in harmony with it. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 T is a curious circumstance that in 
 China, 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 monu- 
 ments and remains, China has 
 nothing which illustrates a past 
 age, except possibly a few pagodas scattered over 
 the land. No emperor has sought to hand down his 
 name to generations yet to come by the erection of 
 any building, useful or ornamental. It would seem 
 as though their original nomadic origin haunted them 
 still, and that the recollection of their old tent-homes 
 which were pitched to-day and struck to-morrow, 
 still dominates their ideas of what palaces and houses 
 
ARCHITECTURE. 187 
 
 should be. That there is an abundant supply 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 yet they have reared no building 
 possessing enduring stability. Neither do they pos- 
 sess any respect for ancient edifices, even when they 
 have the odour of sanctity attaching to them. If 
 any house in the empire should have been preserved, 
 it should have been Confucius's, and yet we are told 
 that in the reign of Woo-ti (140-86 B.C.), a prince of 
 Loo pulled it down to build a larger one in its place. 
 But not only does the ephemeral nature of the 
 tent appear in the slender construction of Chinese 
 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 the wooden pillars, not the walls, 
 which only serve to fill up the intervening spaces, 
 and form no addition 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 outwards, streets in the 
 fashionable parts of cities have a very dreary aspect. 
 The only breaks in the long line of dismal wall, are 
 the front-doors, which, however, are generally closed, 
 or if by any chance they should be left open, movable 
 
CHINA. 
 
 screens bar the sight of all beyond the doors of the 
 mwishang's or doorkeeper's rooms. If, however, we 
 pass round one such screen, we find ourselves in 
 a courtyard, which may possibly be laid out as a 
 garden, but more frequently 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 descent 
 of two or three steps lands us in another courtyard, 
 in the rooms surrounding which 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 the 
 courtyards 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 already said, wooden 
 pillars support the roofs of the building, which are 
 a reminiscence of the earlier tent, and the intervals 
 between these are filled up with brickwork, but often 
 so irregularly, as to point plainly to their being no 
 integral part of the construction. The window- 
 frames are wooden, over which is pasted either paper 
 or calico, or sometimes pieces of talc are substituted, 
 the better to transmit the light. The doors are 
 almost invariably folding doors, and turn in wooden 
 
A MANDARIN S YAMUN 
 
 Paze it 
 
ARCHITECTURE. 189 
 
 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 mitigate its 
 advantages. Ceilings are not often used, the roof 
 being the only covering to the rooms. As a rule, 
 the roof is the most ornamental part of the building. 
 The woodwork which supports it is intricate and 
 handsome, the shape is picturesque, and the glazed 
 tiles which cover it give it 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 colour commonly used, both 
 for temples and such 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 porcelain 
 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 purposes are 
 unknown. In the north, where, in the winter, the 
 cold is very great, portable charcoal stoves are em- 
 ployed, in addition to the heated k'angs, and small 
 chafing-dishes are carried about from room to room. 
 But the main dependence of the Chinese for personal 
 warmth is on clothes. As the winter approaches, 
 garment is added to garment, and furs to quilted 
 
190 CHINA. 
 
 vestments, until the wearer assumes an unwieldy and 
 exaggerated shape. Well-to-do Chinamen seldom 
 take strong exercise, and they are therefore 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 unyielding divans, covered pos- 
 sibly 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, whose hair, 
 which is only dressed at intervals of days, and which 
 is kept in its grotesque shapes by the abundant use 
 of bandoline, would be crushed and disfigured if lain 
 upon for a moment. Women, therefore, who make 
 any pretension of following the fashion, are obliged 
 to sleep at night on their backs, resting the nape of 
 the neck on the pillow, thus keeping the head and 
 hair free from contact with 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 colours shall be used. No 
 
ARCHITECTURE 
 
 let or hindrance, however, is placed in the way of in- 
 ternal 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 execution. The shapes 
 of their cabinets and ornamental pieces of furniture 
 are very tasteful, and the rare beauty of their bronzes 
 and articles of porcelain-ware, with which they delight 
 to fill their rooms, are too well known to need men- 
 tion here. On a hot day, the large reception-hall in 
 a wealthy Chinaman's house, shaded from every ray 
 of sun by the wide overhanging roof, lofty and spacious, 
 is a welcome retreat, while the absence of carpets, 
 and "stuff" from the furniture, gives it a refreshingly 
 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 unneces- 
 sary, while, by contracting their width, the sun's rays 
 have less chance of beating down on the heads of 
 passers-by, and are the more easily altogether excluded 
 by the use of awnings stretched across from roof to 
 roof. It is true that this is done at the expense of 
 
192 
 
 CHINA, 
 
 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 
 
ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 193 
 
 cities present a very animated appearance. Crowds 
 of pedestrians, sedan-chairs carrying members of the 
 wealthy and official classes, horsemen, and coolies 
 carrying their loads balanced at each end of bamboos 
 slung across their shoulders, jostle one another in 
 
 the narrow thoroughfares, in such close and constant 
 proximity, that it is due only to the untiring patience 
 and good-humour of the crowd that any movement is 
 possible. 
 
 This inconvenience is avoided in the wide streets of 
 the cities in the north, where the necessities of wheel- 
 
 O 
 
194 CHINA. 
 
 traffic make more room imperative. But in the present 
 degenerate condition of municipal regulations the wide 
 streets are not an unmixed good. Though profess- 
 ing to be macadamized, they are destitute of " metal," 
 with the natural consequence 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 unfavourably 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 of the better 
 class of houses being enclosed within high blank walls, 
 the existence of the palaces belonging to the imperial 
 princes, instead of brightening the aspect of the town, 
 serves only to add to its dreariness. These palaces, 
 or " foos," of which there are fifty at Peking, are 
 given in perpetuity to certain princes of the blood 
 for signal services, and also to the sons of the Emperor 
 for their lives and two later generations, the great- 
 grandson of the original recipient being in each case 
 obliged to resign the gift again to the sovereign. The 
 general plan of one of these " foos " is thus described 
 by Dr. Williamson : " A foo has in front of it two 
 large stone lions, with a house for musicians and for 
 gatekeepers. Through a lofty gateway, on which 
 
ARCHITECTURE. 195 
 
 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 depen- 
 dents may be ranged in reverential position before the 
 prince, who sits as master of the household, in the 
 hall. Behind the principal hall are two other halls, 
 both facing, 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 partitioned off to make rooms. Beyond 
 the gable there is usually an extension called the 
 wi-fang, literally, the ear-house, from its resemblance 
 in 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 garden of a foo is on the 
 west side, and it is usually arranged as an ornamental 
 park, with a lake, wooded mounds, fantastic arbours, 
 small Buddhist temples, covered passages, and a large 
 open hall for drinking tea and entertaining guests, 
 which is called Hwa-ting. Garden and house are 
 kept private, and effectually guarded from the intru- 
 sion of strangers by a high wall, and at the doors 
 by a numerous staff of messengers. The stables are 
 usually 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 
 
196 CHINA. 
 
 abundance. A prince or princess has a retinue of 
 about twenty, mounted on ponies or mules." 
 
 As these foos are built on an officially prescribed 
 plan, there is very little variety among them, and 
 the same sumptuary laws which regulate their con- 
 struction, take cognizance also of the country mansions 
 of the great. These were originally occupied only 
 by " kung " or dukes, and were built on much the 
 same model as the foo, except that their grounds 
 were more extensive, and the detached pavilions and 
 summer-houses more numerous. The gardens sur- 
 rounding these and other large country houses are 
 wonderfully "landscaped." Every inequality of 
 nature, whether hill or valley, rock or dale, is repre- 
 sented in them, while artificial water, caverns, 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 to turn back the tide 
 of war. These walls vary in height and state of 
 repair with the circumstances of each city. 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, which is 
 defended by massive battlements, is well paved, and 
 is kept in excellent order. Over each of the twelve 
 gates is built a fortified tower between eighty and 
 
A CHINESE GARDEN. 
 
 Page 196. 
 
ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 197 
 
 ninety feet high, and each portal is further defended 
 on the outside by a large semicircular enceinte, with 
 walls of the same dimensions as those of the main 
 wall. Seen from the wall, the city, like all Chinese 
 towns, presents an uninteresting appearance. The 
 
 dwelling-houses, being both in height and construc- 
 tion almost identical, the scene is one of curious 
 monotony, which is broken only by the up-lifted 
 roofs of temples and palaces. 
 
 In every city the temples form a noticeable feature, 
 and prominent among them are invariably those dedi- 
 cated to Confucius. The law provides that at least 
 
198 CHINA. 
 
 one of these should be built in every city and market- 
 town throughout the empire, and it is ordained with 
 equal fixity that it should consist of three court- 
 yards, built one behind the other, and all facing south. 
 The entrances should be on the eastern and western 
 faces of the outer courtyard, and only when a native 
 of the district has won the highest honour at the 
 competitive examinations, viz., the title of Chwang- 
 yuen, is the southern wall, which is always painted 
 red, pierced for a gateway. Even when this is done, 
 the right of passing through it is reserved only for 
 emperors and Chwang-yuens, who alone also have 
 the right of crossing the bridge which spans the 
 semicircular pond which occupies part of the lower 
 end of the courtyard. In the right-hand corner, at 
 the upper end, is the house where the animals for 
 sacrifice 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 hall runs a 
 large hall, in the middle of which is the " Gate of 
 Great Perfection," and through which, only those who 
 are privileged to enter the temple by the southern 
 wall and to cross the bridge are allowed to 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 
 
A GITV GATE. 
 
 Page 
 
ARCHITECTURE. 199 
 
 the worshippers prostrate themselves before the tablet, 
 or, in some cases, image of the Sage, which rests 
 on an altar in the " Hall of Great Perfection," which 
 faces southward. On either side of the high altar 
 are arranged the tablets and altars of the four prin- 
 cipal disciples of Confucius, and of the twelve " Wise 
 Men." In the hindermost court, stands the " Ances- 
 tral Hall of Exalted Sages," which contains the 
 tablets of the five ancestors of Confucius, of his half- 
 brother, of the fathers of his principal disciples, and 
 of other worthies. The largest Confucian temple at 
 Peking is a very handsome structure. The roof, 
 which is painted an azure blue, is elaborately deco- 
 rated, and rows of cedar-trees, which are said to be 
 upwards of five hundred years old, adorn the court- 
 yards. But 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 Yaou and Shun 
 (2356-2205 B.C.), but, unfortunately for this theory, 
 the forms of the characters point to their having been 
 cut at a considerably later period, probably in about 
 the seventh or eighth century B.C. 
 
 The Buddhist temples differ little in general con- 
 struction from the Confucian temples. Like them 
 they are built in a succession of courtyards, the 
 minutiae of which are different, and in the all-impor- 
 tant point of the objects of worship they are, of 
 
200 CHINA. 
 
 course, dissimilar. In place of the tablets of Con- 
 fucius 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 
 Buddha. In some few of the larger temples stand 
 Dagobas, containing relics of the founder of the 
 religion. "On each side," says Archdeacon Gray, 
 " of the large courtyards, 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 are 
 Buddhist pagodas, which were first built on the 
 introduction of Buddhism into China from India. 
 Originally they were designed as depositaries of 
 relics of Buddha, but in later ages numbers have been 
 erected to form the tombs of celebrated Buddhist 
 priests, or as memorials of saintly personages, 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 walls are 
 double, and between the inner and outer walls winds 
 the staircase leading to the summit, from which, by 
 
ARCHITECTURE. 201 
 
 means of doorways, access is also obtained to the 
 chambers on each flat. The outer wall, which in- 
 variably tapers, is usually octagonal, and its surface 
 is broken by the projecting roofs of tiles which sur- 
 mount the different stories. These roofs, turned up 
 at the corners, covered with green glazed tiles, and 
 hung about with bells, form the most attractive 
 feature of the building. In some pagodas containing 
 relics of Buddha, as is the case with one at How- 
 chow, no stories divide the interior of the pagoda, 
 but in the centre of the ground-floor rises a marble 
 pagoda-shaped column, beneath which rests the relic, 
 and upon the sides of which are carved 10,000 small 
 images of Buddha. 
 
 The most celebrated and magnificent pagoda ever 
 built in China was the well-known porcelain tower 
 at Nanking, which was erected by the Emperor 
 Yung-loh (1403-1425), to commemorate the virtues 
 of his mother. The outer walls were built of bricks 
 of the finest white porcelain, and the inner walls of 
 ordinary bricks encased in richly enamelled yellow 
 and red tiles. In shape it was an octagon. It con- 
 sisted of nine stories, and stood about 270 feet in 
 height. The pinnacle 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 
 
202 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 ^200,000 were spent in building this unique struc- 
 ture, which, after standing for about 450 years, was 
 destroyed by the T'ai-ping rebels in 1856 so com- 
 pletely, that one brick was not left standing on 
 another. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 MANUFACTURES, COINS, AND GAMES. 
 
 HE manufacture which is most com- 
 monly associated with China, and 
 which is ordinarily known by the 
 name of the country, is that of 
 porcelain. Johnson tells us in his 
 dictionary that this word " is said to 
 be derived from pour cent annies y 
 because it was believed by Euro- 
 peans that the materials of porcelain 
 were matured under ground one hundred years." 
 Later authorities have preferred to consider that it is 
 derived from the Italian porcellana, or cowrie shell, 
 which takes its name from its resemblance in shape 
 to diporcella, or little pig. 
 
 The art of manufacturing porcelain is said by the 
 Chinese to have existed at a very early period. But 
 according to the most trustworthy authorities it 
 
204 CHINA. 
 
 appears to have commenced during the Han dynasty, 
 that is to say, during the period from 206 B.C.-A.D. 25. 
 The first kiln was opened at Sinping, in the province 
 of Honan, but for a considerable period very little 
 advance was made in the manufacture. Under the 
 Tsin dynasty (A.D. 265-419) blue seems to have been 
 the prevailing colour of the pieces produced, and 
 under the Suy dynasty (A.D. 581-618) green. During 
 the enlightened rule of the sovereigns of the Tang 
 dynasty which succeeded the Suy, and during which 
 literature, science, and art flourished abundantly, much 
 attention was given to the manufacture of porcelain, 
 and mention is made of six different kinds as having 
 been in use at this period. One is said to have re- 
 sembled jade or ice, another was blue, and two others 
 were white. 1 
 
 In obedience to an order of the Emperor Shih- 
 tsung (A.D. 954), all porcelain made for his palace was 
 to be " blue as the sky after rain when seen between 
 the clouds." This kind was highly valued. But a 
 further impetus was given to the manufacture during 
 the Sung dynasty, and especially during the reign of 
 King-tih (a.d. 1 004- 1007), when the still celebrated 
 factories were established at a spot in the province of 
 Keang-se, which was named King-tih-chin after that 
 Emperor. Another factory was established at Pien- 
 
 1 Franks's introduction to his " Catalogue of Oriental Porce- 
 lain." 
 
MANUFACTURES, COINS, AND GAMES. 205 
 
 leang a few years later, and from both these work- 
 shops pieces were issued of the moon-white, pale blue, 
 and dark green colours which were peculiar to this 
 period. During the Yuen and Ming dynasties the 
 manufacture flourished, and in the latter epoch four 
 reigns were especially conspicuous for the beauty of 
 pieces produced, viz., that of Yung-loh (1403-1425), 
 Seuen-tih (1426-1436), Ching-hwa (1465-1488), and 
 Kea-ts'ing (1 522-1 567). The most highly esteemed 
 kinds during the reign of Hung-woo (1 368-1399) were 
 blue, black, white, and dark blue with gilt ornaments ; 
 during the reign of Yung-loh, cups within which were 
 either painted lions rolling a ball, or a pair of birds, 
 or flowers ; during the reign of Seuen-tih, vases of a 
 brilliant red, or with pale blue flowers ; and during 
 the reign of Ching-tih, pieces coloured with a peculiar 
 red, and with a very fine blue pigment. 1 
 
 In the rulers of the present dynasty the manufac- 
 turers have found patrons as munificent as any of the 
 most enlightened sovereigns of the preceding periods. 
 During the long reign of the Emperor K'ang-he 
 (1661-1722), much attention was paid to improving 
 and beautifying the articles made, and from that 
 period to the outbreak of the T'aiping rebellion the 
 works at King-tih-chin and elsewhere were fully em- 
 ployed. Unfortunately, in the confusion occasioned 
 by the T'aiping rebellion King-tih-chin was destroyed, 
 1 Franks's introduction to his " Catalogue." 
 
2o6 CHINA. 
 
 the kilns were broken up, and the million workmen 
 who were said to have been employed in the manu- 
 facture were dispersed abroad. Gradually, however, 
 the kilns have been rebuilt, and the factories are now 
 in full work again. 
 
 But King-tih-chin is not by any means the only 
 factory in China. In thirteen out of the eighteen 
 provinces porcelain is manufactured. In Honan there 
 are as many as thirteen places where it is made, in 
 both Che-keang and Keang-se there are eight, in 
 Chih-le, Keang-nan, and Shan-se there are fifteen, 
 five in each, and in the remaining seven provinces 
 there are thirteen factories. The prevalence of the 
 manufacture in Honan, Che-keang and Keang-se, is 
 due to the presence in large quantities of the two 
 principal materials of which porcelain is made, viz. 
 Pih-tun-tsze and Kaou-lin. Pih-tun-tsze or " white 
 clay bricks " is a mixture of felspar and quartz. It 
 is white in colour, is fusible at a low temperature, and 
 is obtained by repeated washing of a powder produced 
 from a pounded rock. The powder thus prepared 
 is placed between cloths and dried under a slight 
 pressure. Kaou-lin, which is named after a range of 
 hills in the neighbourhood of King-tih-chin, is a 
 hydricated silicate of alumina. It is infusible, and is 
 prepared in a similar way to the Pih-tun-tsze. For the 
 purpose of the manufacture these two materials are 
 kneaded together by the action of either the feet 
 
MANUFACTURES, COINS, AND GAMES. 207 
 
 of men or buffaloes, and the paste thus prepared is 
 then handed on to the potters. When the pieces have 
 been shaped and the glaze applied they are packed 
 in clay seggars and placed in the furnace. The fires 
 are then lighted, the entrance to the furnace is walled 
 up, and for twenty-four hours the stoves are kept well 
 supplied with wood fuel. At the end of that time 
 the furnace is allowed to cool, and the porcelain is 
 taken out and handed over to the painters for adorn- 
 ment. A second baking process at a low tempera- 
 ture has then to be gone through, and the work is 
 complete. 
 
 Lacquer ware is also a product mainly of China 
 and Japan. The varnish is procured from a kind of 
 sumach, and is collected on summer nights from in- 
 cisions made in the bark. The foundation of lacquer- 
 ware is generally deal, which is carefully planed and 
 covered with lint or paper. The varnish is put on in 
 successive coats after each has dried, and the last coat 
 is put on in a dark room, where it is left to dry. The 
 gilding and painting are subsequent operations. 
 
 Cloisonne wares or enamels are made by soldering 
 strips of copper which are arranged so as to intersect 
 one another, and thus form a number of cells, on 
 the sides of smooth copper vases. Into these cells 
 the enamel, which is reduced to a paste, is inserted 
 by means of brushes and styles, and the pattern 
 is thus formed. The ingredients of the enamel are 
 
2o8 CHINA. 
 
 kept a profound secret by the artists who prepare 
 them. 
 
 COINAGE. — The first idea of money possessed by 
 the Chinese was, as among all other peoples, any 
 exchangeable merchandize, but on their arrival in 
 China they readily adopted, for the sake of convenience, 
 the currency of the tribes among whom they estab- 
 lished themselves, and which consisted for the most 
 part of cowrie shells. Other shells, such as tortoise- 
 shells and the purple Cyprcea shells were used in 
 states where cowrie shells were difficult to obtain in 
 sufficient quantities, but these last formed by far the 
 most universal currency. During the Shang dynasty 
 (1766-1401 B.C.) pieces of metal known as Tsuen were 
 introduced as a medium of exchange, but no settled 
 system was adopted until the establishment of the 
 Chow dynasty, when the Duke of Tsi, in 1103 B.C., 
 ordered the issue of cubes of gold weighing a kin y 
 copper plates weighed by drachms, and pieces of silk 
 cloth, two feet two inches wide and forty feet in length. 
 The next new coinage was introduced about the tenth 
 century B.C., and consisted of copper hwan> or rings, 
 weighing six ounces each. These were, however, 
 soon superseded by coins cast in the shape of agri- 
 cultural implements, such as spades, bill-hooks, etc. 
 A wide discretion seems to have been used in the 
 choice of the implements represented, and when the 
 commonest shapes were exhausted, bridges, combs, 
 
MANUFACTURES, COINS, AND GAMES. 209 
 
 and half-moons were accepted as fitting designs. In 
 the fourth century, a return was made by King Hwuy- 
 wan of Ts'in to a ring coinage, but with only partial 
 success. Meanwhile, in the state of Tsi, the people 
 of which were notorious for their enterprise, a knife 
 coinage was issued, and seems, from the legends in- 
 scribed on the pieces, to have been especially designed 
 as a medium of exchange between mercantile associa- 
 tions in the several towns of the principality. In 
 other and poorer states, "leaf" money of copper and 
 gold was the common currency. But with the absorp- 
 tion by Ts'in of the other states, a system of round 
 copper money with a square hole in the middle was 
 adopted throughout the Chinese states. This is sub- 
 stantially the coin of the present day. 
 
 Under the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 25) a re- 
 currence was had for a short time to " leaf" money and 
 gold weights, but the round money soon reasserted 
 itself, and though for some centuries great irregulari- 
 ties prevailed, they were finally put an end to by the 
 issue, in A.D. 622, of the Kai yuen tung paou, the 
 standard coin of the T'ang dynasty. From that day 
 to this the same system of coinage has been main- 
 tained. Under the present dynasty considerable im- 
 provement has been made in the uniformity of the 
 coins, which are now composed of equal parts of copper 
 and zinc. On the obverse, they bear the name of the 
 reigning emperor under whom they are issued read 
 
 P 
 
2io CHINA. 
 
 from top to bottom, and the words fung paou, or 
 current money, from right to left. 1 
 
 Almost all the copper used for the purpose of 
 making money is brought from the province of 
 Yunnan, and is converted into coins at twenty mints, 
 the localities of which are indicated in the following 
 quatrain, which serves as a memoria technica. 
 
 T'ung, Fuh, Lin, Tung, Keang, 
 Suen, Yuen, Soo, Ke, Ch'ang, 
 Nan, Ho, Ning, Kwang, Cheh, 
 T'ai, Kwei, Shen, Yun, Chang. 
 
 These, when written in full, are to be read — 
 Tung-chow Foo, Fuh-keen, Ling-kwei Foo, Shantung, Keang- 
 se, Suen-hwa, Tai-yuen, Soochow, Ki-chow, Wuchang, Hunan, 
 Honan, Keang-ring, Kwang-tung, Cheh-keang, Formosa, Kwei- 
 lin, Shen-se, Yunnan, and Chang-chow. 
 
 Printing. — According to the best obtainable 
 authorities, printing appears to have been invented in 
 the sixth century ; and the first distinct mention which 
 we have of the art is contained in a decree published 
 by the Emperor Wan-ti (A.D. 593), ordering the exist- 
 ing classical texts to be engraved on wood and printed 
 for circulation among the people. Little mention is, 
 however, made of the art until the establishment of 
 the Sung dynasty (a.d. 960-1 127), when a blacksmith, 
 named Pe Ching, rendered himself for ever famous 
 by introducing a system of movable types. " This 
 inventor," writes M. Julien, "used to take a paste of 
 1 " The Coinage of China," by Terrien de Lacouperie. 
 
MANUFACTURES, COINS, AND GAMES. 211 
 
 fine and glutinous clay, and make of it regular plates 
 of the thickness of a piece of money, on which he 
 engraved the characters. For each character he 
 made a type, which he hardened at the fire. He then 
 placed an iron plate on the table, and covered it with 
 a cement composed of resin, wax, and lime. When 
 he wanted to print, he took an iron frame, divided by 
 perpendicular threads of the same metal, and placing 
 it on the iron plate, ranged his types in it. The 
 plate was then held near the fire ; and when the 
 cement was sufficiently melted, a wooden board was 
 pressed tightly upon it, so as to render the surface 
 of the type perfectly even." 1 
 
 It was not long before a still further improvement 
 was introduced by the substitution of metal for the 
 clay type invented by Pe Ching. We have no record 
 as to when metal type was first adopted in China, 
 but as we find the Koreans printing with metal type 
 in the beginning of the fifteenth century, it is safe to 
 assume that the Chinese, from whom they borrowed 
 it, were in possession of the art at a considerably earlier 
 time. Movable type has, however, never superseded 
 wooden blocks, which are still commonly used, more 
 especially for the lighter kinds of literature. 
 
 Games. — Games of chance and of skill are ex- 
 tremely popular among all classes of Chinamen. 
 The gambling instinct is innate in them. Not only 
 1 " Language and Literature of China," by the Author. 
 
212 CHINA. 
 
 the rich and idle, but the poor and industrious also 
 delight in hazarding their fortunes on the throw of 
 the dice ; and it is by no means uncommon to see 
 a workman risking his breakfast money at the stall 
 of an itinerant restaurant keeper on the chance of his 
 either winning a sumptuous meal or going back 
 hungry to his work. One of the commonest gam- 
 bling games is known in the south by the name of Fan 
 tan, and consists in the players guessing the number 
 of coins which will remain over after the croupier has 
 counted out into four equal heaps the handful of 
 money which he begins by placing under an inverted 
 bowl. Cards are also much used, and furnish mate- 
 rials for an infinite variety of games. They are much 
 narrower than ours, being not more than about an 
 inch wide, and are more numerous. The best and 
 most popular games of skill are chess, Wei-k'i, and 
 draughts. All three games are spoken of as being 
 ancient, and stand high in the estimation of the 
 educated classes. With, however, a modesty un- 
 usual to them, the Chinese only claim to have in- 
 vented chess at a period (1120 B.C.) more than a 
 thousand years after it was known in India, to which 
 country Europe is indebted for the game, as the 
 etymology of the word 1 " chess " shows. In Sanscrit, 
 it is Chaturanga ; in Persian and Arabic, Sha- 
 
 1 It is a curious coincidence that the Chinese name for a 
 chess-man is chetsze. 
 
MANUFACTURES, COINS, AND GAMES. 213 
 
 tranj ; in Italian, Scacchi ; in German, Schach ; and 
 in French, Echec. The Chinese chess-board is 
 divided into two equal parts, by " a dividing river," 
 on each side of which are thirty-two squares. The 
 men, thirty-two in all, are round flat pieces, on each 
 of which is inscribed a name indicating its value. 
 As these pieces stand on the intersection of the lines, 
 and not on the squares, there are on the back line 
 nine, instead of eight, as in European chess. In the 
 centre stands the general, on either side of whom is 
 a Sze or counsellor. In the Persian game there is 
 but one counsellor to each king, who is named Firz. 
 This word became latinized into Farzia or Fercia, and 
 was converted by the French into Fierce, Fierge, and 
 Vierge, hence the idea of a female counsellor, or 
 queen. In China, the two counsellors are flanked by 
 two elephants — the Pil and Fil of the Persians and 
 Arabians, and the Fol or Fou of the French — these by 
 two horses, and these again by two chariots. In front 
 of each horse, at an interval of one intersection, is placed 
 a cannon, and at an interval of two intersections are 
 arranged five soldiers in front of the chariots, ele- 
 phants, and general. The moves of the elephants, 
 horses, and chariots, are somewhat similar to those of 
 our knights, bishops, and castles. The cannons com- 
 bine the powers of our knights and castles, and the 
 soldiers are the equivalent of our pawns. Like our 
 king, the general cannot be taken, and the game is 
 
214 CHINA. 
 
 won by the player who is first able to checkmate his 
 adversary's general.' 
 
 Wei-k'i is even a more complicated game than 
 chess.' It is played on a board containing 324 
 squares, and about 300 pieces, 1 50 on each side, take 
 part in the game. As in the Chinese chess, the 
 pieces are placed upon the points where the lines of 
 the squares intersect one another. The object aimed 
 at by each player is to take possession, by a process 
 of surrounding, of so many of the 361 points of 
 intersection as possible. 
 
 " For instance, place a white pip (or piece) on any 
 cross (or intersection) near the middle of the board, 
 and surround it with four black pips, placed on the 
 nearest or connecting crosses. White having no move 
 left, may be taken up, and the space inclosed becomes 
 the property of black. Black's four pips remaining 
 in statu quo surround them with eight white pips 
 placed on the eight crosses immediately connecting 
 (with black's four pips). As, however, there is still 
 a vacant cross — i.e. a move in the middle — black is 
 'alive/ and cannot be taken up by white. But at 
 white's next move he may put down a pip in that 
 middle space and take up black, who is now hemmed 
 in on all sides, and has no move left. The space thus 
 inclosed becomes the property of white. Nor could 
 black fill up that middle space with one of his own 
 pips, as he would be himself cutting off his only 
 
MANUFACTURES, COINS, AND GAMES. 215 
 
 claim to existence, and be at once taken up by white. 
 It is plain, therefore, that such a space inclosed by- 
 only four pips is not safe from an irruption of the 
 enemy. . . . And now, supposing the board to be so 
 covered with pips that neither party can play another 
 move without putting down in the adversary's ground, 
 where they are sure to be immediately taken up, or 
 in his own ground, where, if already safe from hostile 
 inroads, they are of course perfectly useless, then 
 the game of Wei-k'i is at an end, and it only remains 
 to see who is the winner. This is effected by counting 
 the crosses occupied and inclosed by the pips of 
 either player." * 
 
 Dominoes, which are identical in shape and number 
 with those in use among ourselves, are very com- 
 monly played, and supply a ready means of gam- 
 bling. Fighting crickets and quails also are kept 
 and trained by the sporting community, who not 
 unfrequently lose and win as much money on a con- 
 test between their champions as changes hands at an 
 English county race-meeting. At feasts, a very 
 favourite game is cHai mei, or mora, which consists 
 in one player showing one or more fingers to the 
 other and calling out a number, when his opponent 
 has, at the instant, to show and call out the number 
 of fingers which make up the difference between the 
 number first named and ten. For instance, if the 
 
 1 " Historic China and other Sketches," by Herbert A. Giles. 
 
 ^'^ 
 
216 CHINA. 
 
 first player names three, his antagonist must show 
 seven fingers, calling the number at the same moment. 
 If he fails to show and call the right number, he pays 
 a forfeit, either by drinking a cup of wine, or in some 
 other way agreed upon. In Japan, the game used to 
 be much in vogue among the attendants at the tea- 
 houses, where the forfeit usually consisted in the 
 loser taking off an article of clothing. By those who 
 observed the rigour of the game these forfeits were 
 carried to the extreme limit. 
 
 As gymnasts the Chinese are great proficients, and 
 perform feats on the cross-bar which would win 
 applause in any gymnasium. It is notable in this 
 connection that, at the present time (1887), a Chinese 
 student at Cheltenham College has proved himself 
 to be the champion gymnast at the public schools' 
 competition for the year. The power possessed by 
 their athletes in lifting weights is also remarkable, 
 but they have no game of active skill which brings 
 opponents into direct conflict, as in rackets, cricket, 
 football, etc., unless it may be said that the battledore 
 and shuttlecock, which is played in the southern 
 provinces by men who use their feet as battledores, 
 is a game of the kind. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 DRAWING. 
 
 HE art of drawing is 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. The 
 art claims for itself a great anti- 
 quity, and as is the case with 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 
 increased the sum of Chinese civilization, is credited 
 with having 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 
 the Jung river in Honan, and Hwang-te is said to 
 
218 CHINA. 
 
 have obtained a likeness of Ts'ang Hieh, the inventor 
 of writing, from the Lo river. These and other tradi- 
 tions appear to prove that the inscriptions drawn on 
 the banks of the rivers by the aborigines of that part 
 of China served not only as materials for the forma- 
 tion 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 impossible to deny that 
 they are possessed of great skill in producing won- 
 derful effects with a few strokes of the pencil. They 
 have never understood perspective, but at the same 
 time some of their landscapes are admirable for 
 their picturesqueness and for their life-like repre- 
 sentations of nature. Their studies of trees, boughs, 
 and flowers are exceedingly accurate and tasteful, 
 and their use of colours is highly effective. But after 
 all there is a sameness in their drawings which sug- 
 gests that the art is mechanical, and a study of their 
 works on drawing fully confirms this suspicion. In 
 these we find detailed directions for representing 
 every kind of scenery 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 varying circumstance of season and 
 weather. The ideal mountain should have a cloud 
 
DRAWING. 219 
 
 encircling its "waist," which should hide from view 
 a part of the stream which should pour over rocks 
 and waterfalls, down its sides. A temple or house, 
 shaded and half-concealed by a grove, should be 
 nestled in its embrace, and a high bridge should span 
 the neighbouring torrent, over which a winding road, 
 bordered by trees, should lead round the mountain. 
 At intervals travellers should be seen mounting to 
 the summit. 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 always be dotted with sails. A 
 solitary city in the distance and 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 of either smoke or cloud, 
 nor should woods have too many trees. On a snowy 
 
220 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 day no cloud or smoke should be seen, and when 
 rain is falling distant mountains should be invisible. 
 Such are some of the directions given for landscape 
 
 HI 
 
 drawing, and a glance at Chinese pictures of scenery 
 is enough to show how closely the rules of the 
 text-books are followed. 
 
DRAWING. ii\ 
 
 Writers on art advice artists, before beginning to 
 paint a flower, to examine it carefully from above, so 
 as to become thoroughly acquainted with its every 
 aspect ; and, if their subject is a bamboo, to watch the 
 shadow cast in bright moonlight by a tree of the kind 
 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 sum- 
 mer, they congregate in profusion ; in autumn, they 
 are intermittent 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 desiring to make 
 themselves proficient in any direction will find full 
 instructions in the manuals published for their 
 guidance. Admirable, however, as some of the 
 effects produced are, the result of drawing by rule is 
 to produce a considerable amount of purely mechan- 
 ical skill, and to reduce the exercise of the imagina- 
 tion 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, are 
 really the products of patient and repeated imitation, 
 and the probability is, that the artist whose birds or 
 flowers we all so much admire, would be quite unable 
 to draw a dog or a house, if suddenly called upon to 
 do so. The books enforce the doctrine that there is 
 no difference between learning to write and learning 
 
222 CHINA. 
 
 to draw. It is possible, by constant 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, it is said, a certain 
 artist of the third century in representing insects, that 
 having carelessly added the form of a fly to a picture 
 he had painted for his sovereign, the Emperor, on re- 
 ceiving the painting, raised his hand to brush the 
 insect away. 
 
 The rules which are laid down for landscape draw- 
 ing cannot, of course, apply to portrait painting, in 
 which the artist has to follow a fresh model in every 
 picture ; and for this reason Chinese portraits are not 
 generally successful. Occasionally, artists have arisen 
 who have deservedly won renown in this branch of 
 the art. One of the earliest of these was Maou Yen- 
 show, 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 falsified the lineaments of 
 the lovely Chaou Keun on being denied a bribe ; and 
 subsequently, on the lady's real beauty being dis- 
 covered by the emperor, to have fled with her true 
 portrait to the Khan of the Hiung-nu. The Khan, 
 fired by the hope of obtaining possession of so peerless 
 a beauty, invaded China in irresistible force, and only 
 consented to retire beyond the Wall when the lady 
 
DRA WING. 
 
 223 
 
 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 boundary, 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 remains covered with un- 
 dying verdure." 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 TRAVELLING. 
 
 RAVELLING in China is slow and 
 leisurely. Time is of little or no 
 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 them- 
 selves about the pace at which they 
 journey. The prevailing modes of 
 conveyance vary in accordance with the nature of the 
 country. In the north, where the country is level and 
 open, the existence of broad roads enables the inhabi- 
 tants to use carts for the conveyance of passengers 
 and goods. These carts are rude in construction 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, 
 
TRA FELLING. 225 
 
 and the passenger sits cross-legged on the bed of the 
 cart, exactly above the axle, without any support for 
 his back. Even on good roads such conveyances 
 would be uncomfortable ; but in China, where the 
 roads are rarely, if ever, mended, and are either stone 
 causeways or unmade tracks, they are, to all those 
 who are not accustomed to them, instruments of tor- 
 ture. The great art in travelling in them is to sit 
 bolt upright, and to allow the body to sway to and 
 fro with the motion of the cart, and to avoid touching 
 the sides. In Peking 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 immediately above the 
 axle, are avoided. Carts for the carriage of goods 
 generally have only two wheels, though there are also 
 waggons 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 be more manage- 
 able, and when taught, as they generally are, to 
 amble, their pace is easy and expeditious. History 
 tells us that horses are not indigenous to China, and 
 this statement is borne out by the fact that the 
 
 Q 
 
226 CHINA. 
 
 hieroglyphic now used for a horse was originally 
 drawn to represent a donkey, the ears being long out 
 of all proportion to those of a horse. Messengers 
 and bearers of official despatches generally ride, but, 
 as a rule, travellers prefer going long journeys either 
 by cart or by boat. In the province of Shantung, 
 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 thus carry the 
 palanquin between them. 
 
 But the most general way of travelling throughout 
 the empire is by boat. In every 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 cir- 
 cumstances. They are built rather for comfort 
 than for speed, and their clean and comfort- 
 able cabins and easy motion form a most desirable 
 contrast to the jolting of carts, the monotony of posi- 
 tion necessary in a sedan-chair, or the fatigue of 
 riding. The official junks in which mandarins travel 
 are very like floating houses. They are 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 adverse. On 
 all such boats the flag of the mandarin on board is 
 hoisted on the mast. 
 
TRA VELLING. 
 
 227 
 
 Less distinguished passengers have to put up with 
 less commodious junks, but what these lack in com- 
 fort, they make up in superior facilities for travelling. 
 Unlike the mandarin junks, which are so constructed 
 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 Portsmouth wherry. They are considerably 
 lighter also, and are consequently 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 these conceal, serve as sleeping- 
 
228 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 places for 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, leaving no room to pass round 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 
 
TRA YELLING. 229 
 
 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 lines. They 
 are high 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 the eye of Osiris, which was painted 
 on the Egyptian funeral-bark that carried the dead 
 across the lake to the western burial-place. The 
 Canton-English-speaking Chinese of Hong-kong have 
 another explanation 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 carry- 
 ing several thousand tons of cargo. They are gene- 
 rally three-masted, and carry a huge main-sail made, 
 like the others, of matting. The rudder projects 
 considerably beyond the stern, and is larger in pro- 
 portion than those of European vessels, giving the 
 helmsman immense power of turning the vessel where 
 he listeth. The choice of felicitous names by which 
 to christen the junks is a matter of serious considera- 
 tion to the owners, who love also 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 obser- 
 
230 
 
 CHINA, 
 
 vations, and consequently they are compelled to hug 
 the land, or, where that is impossible, to trust them- 
 selves entirely to the guidance of the compass until 
 they reach some coast with which they are acquainted. 
 In these circumstances it may readily be imagined 
 
 rf =^ 
 
 that the loss of junks and lives on the 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, which sweep the seas affected by them 
 
TRAVELLING. 231 
 
 of every junk outside the shelter of harbour, and 
 which, even within these limits, do incalculable 
 damage. In 1862 and 1871, the neighbourhood of 
 Canton was devastated by two such storms, and, 
 says Archdeacon Gray, " these were, if possible, sur- 
 passed in violence, and in the number of casualties 
 which attended them, by a typhoon which visited 
 Hong-kong and Macao in the month of September, 
 1 874. According to the inhabitants, this destructive 
 cyclone was the greatest calamity which had befallen 
 Hong-kong and Macao within the memory of man." 
 It has been reckoned that 20,000 persons perished 
 in the seas and rivers of the province of Kwangtung 
 on that occasion. 
 
 The immense number of people who live in boats 
 on the rivers in this part of China render typhoons 
 especially destructive. For the most part these boat- 
 people are not of Chinese origin, but are remnants 
 of the aborigines of the country. They are known 
 as Tanka, and are possibly related to the Meaou-tsze 
 of southern and western China. At the present day 
 there is not much in their appearance to distinguish 
 them from the Chinese, except that they are more 
 vivacious in manner, and brighter in countenance ; 
 and they have so entirely discarded their own lan- 
 guage in favour of Chinese that their speech in no 
 way betrays them. They are regarded with an 
 affectation of contempt by the Cantonese, who have 
 
232 CHINA. 
 
 nicknamed them Shwui ke y " Water fowl," or Hoi 
 cEat, " Sea otters." At various times they have been 
 much persecuted, and attempts have not been want- 
 ing to subject them to complete ostracism. Even 
 now marriages between the Tankas and Cantonese 
 are rarely celebrated, and their youths are not allowed 
 to compete at the literary examinations. That the 
 race has ever survived is a constant wonder, seeing 
 the hourly and almost momentary danger of drown- 
 ing, 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 circumstances. 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, 
 they may be kept afloat until help arrives. Hardly 
 a less cause for amazement is the way in which 
 whole families and large families pack away in 
 their boats. A space which would appear infinitely 
 cramped and confined to one of ourselves serves a 
 father and mother, sometimes a mother-in-law, and 
 a host of children, for every purpose of life. They 
 are born in their boats, they marry in their boats, 
 and die in their boats. 
 
 One great advantage of travelling by boat in 
 China is, that by so doing the traveller avoids the 
 necessity of going to inns. He carries everything 
 
TRA VELLING. 
 
 233 
 
 he wants with him. The stove which cooks the 
 boatmen's dinner cooks his also, and even in the 
 smallest passenger boats he may sleep comfortably, 
 protected by a mat-covering from rain and cold. 
 Compared with the accommodation commonly found 
 in village inns, boats are clean and commodious. 
 
 Except in very large inns, a single courtyard sur- 
 rounded 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 them- 
 selves. In the north of China, the most conspicuous 
 
234 CHINA, 
 
 object in a room of an inn is the k'ang, or raised 
 brick bed-place, which generally extends along the 
 whole side of the chamber. Being built hollow, it 
 admits, in cold weather, of a fire of brushwood being 
 lighted inside. The caloric thus communicated quickly 
 heats the bricks through, and the weary traveller 
 finds a warm place on which to roll himself in his 
 bedding. But even when thus comfortably placed 
 he must be a hardened sleeper who can forget in 
 slumber the noises which are constantly going on 
 around him. It is seldom 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 
 instrument, which would be provocative of sleep 
 were it not for the shrill long drawn-out notes which 
 diversify Chinese airs, wail through the rooms. 
 When at last these cease to disturb, the silence 
 which follows only makes more audible the quarrels 
 and fights between the ponies and mules which 
 stand in the stable, or sometimes in the open court- 
 yard. When towards morning these sounds have 
 died away the traveller is fortunate if he is not tor- 
 mented with the crowing of cocks, which not un- 
 frequently 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. 
 
 One other means of travelling remains to be 
 
A WHEELBARROW WITH SAIL. 
 
 Page 235. 
 
TRAVELLING. 235 
 
 noticed, and one which is 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 wheelbarrow, which 
 is propelled by a man or men, whose labours are 
 lightened when going with the wind by a sail which 
 is hoisted on a movable mast. Dr. Williamson, in 
 his " Journeys in North China," thus describes these 
 means of conveyance : " Here we met many of 
 their extraordinary wheelbarrows moving along on 
 dry ground with a sail set, each barrow having a 
 great wheel in the centre, finely balanced. Those 
 we saw were laden 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 at- 
 tached to a hook close to the driver. We have 
 never seen these wheelbarrows without pity ; the 
 strain to the men who manage them is enormous ; 
 indeed, we have never witnessed human beings under 
 such heavy labour. 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 human labour 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." 
 
236 CHINA. 
 
 Another traveller, writing on this 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 was engaged in driving two mules and 
 one ass, which were fastened abreast to the front part 
 of the vehicle, in order to assist in its progress." 
 
 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 officials 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 subject of 
 introducing railways and telegraphs into the " flowery 
 land." The advantages of railways also, in a military 
 sense, will be a powerful argument for their adoption, 
 and in the physical features of the country few ob- 
 stacles will be found to their construction. Over the 
 vast plains of northern China scarcely a gradient 
 would be necessary, and through the hilly and moun- 
 tainous districts the routes marked out by the existing 
 highways would easily yield to the engineer's skill. 
 Both from their natural aptness, and from the fact 
 
TRA FELLING. 237 
 
 of their 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 degenerate 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 
 through the great wall at Chang-kea Kow ; another 
 enters Mongolia through the Koo-pei Kow, and passes 
 in a north-easterly direction to Fung-ning, where it 
 turns north-west and continues on to Dolanor; a 
 third strikes eastward by way of T'ung-chow, Yung- 
 ping Foo, Shan-hai-kwan, King-chow-Foo, Moukden, 
 Kirin, Ning-gu-ta, and on to Poissiet, a Russian port 
 on the eastern coast of the continent ; and a fourth, 
 which trends in a south-westerly direction to Paou- 
 ting Foo, Tai-yuen Foo, Tung-kwan, the celebrated 
 fortress at the point where the Yellow River, after 
 pursuing a southerly course, turns eastward to the 
 sea, and Se-ngan Foo in Shen-se. At this point it 
 bifurcates, one branch turning north-west 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 
 
238 CHINA. 
 
 Foo on the Po-yang Lake, where travellers 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 passages through mountain-passes and 
 hilly districts were in all cases ably executed, often 
 in spite of 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 signal-tower, on which, in bygone 
 days, when evil threatened, fires were lighted, which 
 at night gave warning of danger by their flames, and 
 in the daytime were made to emit dense clouds 
 of smoke to serve the same purpose. At frequent in- 
 tervals are the remains of guard-houses, where soldiers 
 used to be stationed for the protection of travellers, 
 and wherever it is necessary wells and troughs 
 are provided for the use of men and their beasts. 
 Inns and tea-houses repeat themselves constantly 
 along the lines of route, and 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 
 
(university) 
 
 TRA VELLING. 239 
 
 travel over two hundred English miles a-day. When 
 on the road, they carry a few hen's feathers fastened 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, in his 
 " River of Golden Sand," 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 morning ; 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 lasped into its normal 
 silence." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 HONOURS. 
 
 HE question of what should be done 
 to the man whom the king de- 
 lighteth to honour is one which 
 receives different answers in almost 
 every country in the world. In all, 
 however, some accession of dignity 
 or insignia of honour are the re- 
 wards awaiting those who have de- 
 served well of their country. The 
 satisfaction arising from popular fame is short-lived, 
 and some more lasting evidence is therefore demanded 
 of the favour of the sovereign. In China, the highest 
 rewards for military services are unlike all other 
 official honours, which die with the wearer, and are 
 hereditary. Nine titles of nobility, viz. Kung, or 
 duke, How, or marquis, Pik, or earl, Tsze, or viscount, 
 Nan, or baron, and KHng ck'e Too-yii, K'e Too-yil, Yun 
 
HONOURS. 241 
 
 ICe-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 hereditary during a specified 
 number of lives, ranging from twenty-six for a Kimg 
 to one for a Yuu K'eyil. They have the peculiarity 
 also, on occasions, of not only descending to future 
 generations, but of reverting to the dead, and espe- 
 cially to those who have been killed in battle. 
 
 The system of conferring posthumous honours of 
 various kinds is, however, 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 honour which are not hereditary, and which may 
 be either conferred on the meritorious individual in 
 person, or granted to him posthumously, or may be 
 bestowed on his wife, or his parents, or his grand- 
 parents. As in the case of the hereditary 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 Ink ta foo, b. Yung 
 luh ta foo ; 2 a. Tsze ching ta foo, b. Tung fung ta 
 foo ; 3 a. T'ung e tafoo, b. Chung c ta foo ; 4 a. Chung 
 hien ta foo, b. Ctiao e ta foo ; 5 a. Fung ching ta foo, 
 b. Fung chih ta foo ; 6 a. CJiing tih lang, b.foo lin 
 
CHINA, 
 
 lang; 7 a. Wan lin lang, b. Citing sze lang ; 8 a. Seiv 
 chih lang, b. Sew chih tso lang ; 9 a. Ttf/z^* .y<s# lang, 
 b. 7#/j£- £& ta? lang. The wives of officers on whom 
 these titles are conferred are styled respectively, 
 1. Yih fin foo jin, 2. Urh fin foo jin, 3. Slink jin, 
 4. Rung jin, 5. E jin, 6. Ngan jin, j.Joojiti, 8. Pa 
 finjoojin, 9. Kiufinjoojin. 
 
 These titles are highly prized by those upon whom 
 they are bestowed, and invariably accompany the 
 mention of their names in all state papers and family 
 records, as well as on their funeral cards, ancestral 
 tablets, and tombstones. "The patents," says Mr. 
 Mayers, in his " Chinese Government," " are inscribed 
 on long scrolls of damask silk, woven in five colours, 
 with figures of the phoenix in relief, upon which the 
 particulars of the grant are inscribed successively in 
 the Chinese and Manchu languages." On military 
 officers, not only are honorary titles, such as Tseang 
 kenn, "General," etc., conferred as rewards for dis- 
 tinguished services, but articles of clothing, among 
 which the most coveted is the yellow riding-jacket. 
 This jacket is supposed only to be worn when in 
 attendance on the Emperor, and though it is invariably 
 called " yellow," the colour, as a matter of fact, follows 
 that of the banner to which the recipient belongs. 
 Only two Europeans have been granted this dis- 
 tinction, namely, General Gordon, and M. Giguel, the 
 Commandant of the Foochow Arsenal. 
 
HONOURS. , 243 
 
 To General 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-coloured camlet coat, a 
 moon-coloured satin collar, a sea-dragon court-cap, a 
 purple cap button, a jadite holder for peacock's 
 feather on cap, a peacock's feather, an untrimmed 
 court-cap, a purple quartz button, a white jade holder 
 for 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-coloured spring camlet robe, a moon- 
 coloured gauze collar, a floss silk cap, a coral button 
 of the first rank, a white jade holder for 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," con- 
 sisted of a pale silver Nanking camlet robe, a heavenly 
 blue Nanking camlet jacket, a spring gauze robe of 
 the colour of " lake water," a fringed official summer- 
 cap, a red coral button of the first rank, a flesh- 
 coloured holder for 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 a small purse, and a pair 
 
244 CHINA. 
 
 of satin boots. And the fourth, or " walking-suit," 
 consisted of a blue Nanking* camlet robe, a yellow 
 Nanking riding-jacket, a spring camlet robe of the 
 colour of " lake water," a drab felt fighting-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 decoration 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 Shzvang 
 yen hwa-ling, or "double-eyed peacock's feather," is 
 bestowed upon lesser dignitaries, and for less con- 
 spicuous merit. And the third, the Tan yen hwa- 
 ling, or " single-eyed . peacock'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 insignia 
 of imperial favour " single-eyed peacock's feathers " 
 have been freely purchased. One other kind of 
 feather, known as the Lan ling, "blue feather," or 
 more commonly Laou kwa ling, "crow's feather," is. 
 
HONOURS. 245 
 
 reserved for all officials under the sixth rank who 
 have won their spurs on the battle-field, and, accord- 
 ing to regulation, it is a distinction which is open 
 also to the rank and file of the imperial guard. But 
 more commonly private soldiers receive as a reward 
 for merit an oblong plate of thin silver, on which is 
 inscribed the character Sha7ig, " reward." 
 
 During the present dynasty a Manchoo title of dis- 
 tinction has been imported into the Chinese service, 
 and is now much coveted, both for the honour it brings, 
 and for the increased allowances which the bearers 
 of it enjoy when on active service. Ba-foo-roo, 
 " Brave," is a title which by imperial order is added 
 to the names of soldiers who have performed acts of 
 gallantry in the field, and, in cases of more than 
 ordinary merit, it is supplemented by prefixed epi- 
 thets, such as " magnanimous," " heroic," etc. 
 
 As an additional mark of the imperial appreciation 
 for military services rendered, it is permitted to cer- 
 tain officers to ride on horseback a certain distance 
 within the outer gateways of the palace when bidden 
 to an audience, instead of being obliged to dismount 
 at the gates of the rt 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 honours and privileges 
 may at any time withdraw them, and each and all of 
 the distinctions mentioned are revocable by imperial 
 
J46 CHINA. 
 
 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 of Ba-£oo-roo, 
 etc., or reducing the number of eyes in peacock's 
 feathers, or changing the colours of the buttons worn 
 by them, either temporarily or permanently. 
 
 But the bestowal of imperial honours is by no 
 means confined to officials of either service, or to 
 members of the male sex. In every city in the empire 
 are to be seen Pai low, or " honorary portals," stretch- 
 ing across the streets, which have been erected by 
 imperial order to perpetuate the virtues of some 
 filial daughter or chaste widow. It might be argued 
 that the existence of these laudatory monuments 
 points to the rarity of the virtues which they com- 
 memorate. And this is, to a certain extent, no doubt 
 true ; but at the same time, the formalities to be gone 
 through and the expenses incurred in obtaining the 
 necessary decrees are so burdensome, that doubtless 
 the friends of many fit candidates for the honour 
 are fain to allow them to waste their sweetness on the 
 desert air of obscurity. 
 
 As an instance of the merit in such cases demanded, 
 and of the rewards granted, the following edict in the 
 Peking Gazette of May 25th, 1877, affords a good 
 example. Le Hung-chang, the Viceroy of Chih-li, 
 there reports the case of a Miss Wang, who, from her 
 
HONOURS. 247 
 
 earliest youth, " exhibited a decorous propriety of 
 conduct 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, 
 with which she wrote a sentence declaring her inten- 
 tion 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 second brother, who had perished at 
 the taking 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, her 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 obsequies were 
 completed, and her mother and elder brother were 
 anxious that she should marry ; but she steadfastly 
 refused to do so, and devoted herself to attending 
 upon her mother, with whom she shortly afterwards 
 removed to Choh-chow, on her brother receiving an 
 appointment at Peking, as a reward for his services. 
 She allowed no other hands but her own to wait 
 upon her mother, and when, in 1862, her parent was 
 
248 CHINA. 
 
 attacked with a 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 
 supervened, and she cut a piece of flesh from her 
 right thigh on this occasion, recovery ensuing as 
 before. On subsequent occasions, when her parent 
 was attacked with slight ailments, she applied burn- 
 ing 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 with difficulty per- 
 suaded at length to take food. Her brother shortly 
 afterwards died, whereupon she escorted his remains 
 to the ancestral home at Kao-yeo, and afterwards, 
 returning thence, 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 opposite 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 honour under im- 
 perial sanction. — Granted by rescript." 
 
 Similar honours are frequently conferred on young 
 ladies who, their betrothed having died before mar- 
 riage, devote themselves to a life of single blessed- 
 ness, and to the discharge of filial duties towards 
 the parents of their proposed husbands. Even the 
 
HONOURS. 249 
 
 passive virtue of longevity comes within the far- 
 reaching circle of imperial favours. The Chinese 
 and especially Chinese women, are not long-lived, 
 and when, therefore, a case occurs of a lady living to 
 an unusual 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 the 
 Han-lin College, is the least honour which is conferred 
 upon her. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 NAMES. 
 
 IKE most institutions in China, sur- 
 names have a long ancestry. Thou- 
 sands of years before the Aryan races 
 adopted the haphazard epithets which 
 serve them for surnames, the Chinese 
 had established for themselves tribal 
 names, which are the true surnames. 
 History tells us, that the Emperor 
 Hwang-te (2697 B.C.) was the first 
 to introduce sing or surnames. He 
 had, we are told, a family of twenty-five sons by 
 four wives. To thirteen of them he gave his own 
 traditional name of Ke, and to the remaining twelve 
 he gave eleven sing, namely K'e, Yew, Tang, Chin, 
 Jin, Senn, He, Kih, Hivan, and E. Following the 
 example thus set, succeeding emperors conferred 
 names on meritorious subjects, taken either from 
 
NAMES. 251 
 
 their native places, countries, or cities, or chosen on 
 account of epithets attaching to them, or in virtue of 
 their titles, trades, dwellings, or personal characteristics. 
 The earliest sing are said to have been derived from 
 the mother's side, and for this reason, in most of them r 
 the hieroglyphic for a woman enters into the com- 
 position 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 China- 
 man has, down to the present day, ever had a right 
 either to adopt or change a sing without imperial 
 sanction. So fully is this recognized, and so strictly 
 tribal are the sing, that an inexorable law forbids a 
 man from marrying a woman bearing the same sing 
 as himself. It is not quite clear when this law was first 
 instituted. It is certain that during the Shang and 
 earlier dynasties there existed no such bar to inter- 
 marriage, but we find it in force during the Chow 
 dynasty, and since that time it has been rigidly 
 adhered to. As years went on, the list of sing rapidly 
 increased, until, at the present day, there are, according 
 to K'ang-he's great encyclopaedia, 3038 single sing, 
 and 1619 double ones. Wells Williams gives only 
 1678 and 176 respectively. Legend says that 
 Hwang-te arranged the sing which he conferred 
 on his sons by the notes which he blew from a 
 jewelled flute. Like many other early Chinese legends, 
 
CHINA. 
 
 however, it is probable that this one arose from a 
 misapprehension of the original Ku wan text, and 
 that the fact of the number of the musical notes 
 fixed by Hwang-te agreeing with the number of his 
 son's sing has given currency to it. At the present 
 day, the surnames in the well-known work on the 
 Pih si?ig are, following this tradition, arranged under 
 the twelve musical notes. The Chinese pride them- 
 selves much on the possession of surnames, and no 
 foreigner, not even the countrymen of the reigning 
 Manchoo sovereigns, are allowed to borrow them, or 
 even officially to use their own surnames in China. 
 In the same way, the Annamese flaunt their pos- 
 session of sing as a badge of superiority over the 
 Cambodians, who are not so privileged, and who are 
 thus driven to distinguish each other by names crys- 
 tallizing either physical or mental characteristics. 
 At the present day there yet linger traces of the old 
 tribal associations in China. Such names of places as 
 Le kea chwang 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 wan or bay where the allied fleets rendezvoused 
 in i860 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 clan, and where the great family re- 
 
NAMES. 
 
 unions, especially that known as the autumnal sacrifice, 
 are held. 
 
 It is customary for the members of a family estab- 
 lishing an ancestral hall, to subscribe 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 house- 
 holds 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 round the tablets 
 in the principal room, and with joined hands together 
 bow and worship before the tablets of their ancestors. 
 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 performed, 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 delusion that, by 
 so doing, the things they represent will pass to the 
 dead, who will thus be prepared to withstand the 
 cold of the approaching winter. But the principal 
 festival is later in the autumn, when the sacrifices 
 offered and the ceremonies performed are of a more 
 
:54 CHINA, 
 
 important and formal kind than on other occa- 
 sions. Describing a particular festival of this kind, 
 Mr. Doolittle, in his " Social Life of the Chinese," 
 says : " A professor of ceremonies 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 some six or eight years old, being the 
 -eldest son of the eldest son, etc., of the remote male 
 ancestor from whom all the Chinese, having his ances- 
 tral name, living in the city claim 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 some 
 straw placed in the bottom of a certain vessel. These 
 cups were then refilled 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 pre- 
 
NAMES. 255 
 
 sented ... in like manner, and then taken away and 
 placed upon a table. The professor of ceremonies . . . 
 knelt down, and read, or rather chanted, a kind of sacri- 
 ficial prayer to the spirits of the departed ancestors 
 of the company present. They, being 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 representatives of the families 
 interested in the hall took their seats, and partook of 
 the feast provided in the presence, as they believed, 
 of their ancestors. All of them were males, no 
 female being allowed to be present or participate 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 be- 
 lieved that those who partake of it are likely to 
 become 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 his arriving at the 
 
CHINA. 
 
 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 Jiaon, pseudonyms, to his other names, 
 which not unfrequently he uses on the title-page of 
 his works, thus considerably adding to the difficulty 
 of identifying him. The well-known philosopher 
 Choo He affords an instance of the number of names 
 which a Chinaman may accumulate. To his sing, 
 Choo, was added his ming, He. Subsequently he 
 adopted the tsee, Yuen-hwuy, and Chung-hwuy, and at 
 different times, afterwards, christened himself with the 
 pseudonyms Hwuy-gan, "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 arc 
 chosen for the ming and isze, and, as generally, the 
 pseudonyms adopted by authors bear depreciatory 
 meanings, or references to their dwellings. For ex- 
 ample, we meet with such ming as " The fairy guest ; " 
 " The pacifier of the age ; " " Protracted longevity ; " 
 or "The shield of the empire," the ming borne by 
 
NAMES. 
 
 ■$7 
 
 the father of the late Chinese ambassador; and 
 among pseudonyms we find " The dull scholar ; " 
 " The obscure student ; " " The stupid old man ; " as 
 well as " The western river ; " " The mountain valley,"" 
 and " The five mountain peaks." 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE CHINESE YEAR. 
 
 ROM time immemorial, that is to 
 say, from a date anterior to the 
 arrival of the " black-haired " race 
 in China, the Chinese divided their 
 year into twelve lunar months, 
 with an occasional intercalary 
 month to make up the required 
 number of days for the full year. 
 The earliest written character for 
 a year represented a stalk of wheat (X), which symbol 
 is still preserved in the modern form of the same 
 character, 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 lexico- 
 grapher gives the list without attempting to elucidate 
 
THE CHINESE YEAR. 259 
 
 them. The first is T'soiv, " The north corner ; " the 
 second Joo, " As, Like ; " the third Ping, " To start 
 in sleep ; " the fourth Yu, * I ; * the fifth Haou, 
 " Bright ; " the sixth TsHeh, " Sacrificial Table ; " the 
 seventh Seeing, " To examine, to assert, to watch ; " 
 the eighth Chzvang, "Stout, Strong, Abundant;" the 
 ninth Huen, « Dark ; " the tenth Yang, " Bright," * The 
 sun," "The day;" the eleventh Koo, "A crime," "A 
 failure ; " the twelfth Tsoo t " Heavy dew or rain." 
 But though the source from whence these names 
 were derived is hidden from the Chinese, 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 these 
 names at least may be explained. In accordance 
 with the Babylonian custom, also, the year of the 
 ancient Chinese began with the third month of the 
 solar year. 
 
 The modern year is lunar in its divisions, though 
 regulated by the sun in so far that New Year's Day 
 is made to fall on the first new moon after the sun 
 enters Aquarius. It thus varies between the 21st of 
 January and the 19th 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 
 
260 CHINA. 
 
 year a thanksgiving service is performed in each 
 household, before the shrine of the tutelary deity of 
 the dwelling, in acknowledgment of the safety and 
 comfort enjoyed during the past year ; and, among 
 traders of all kinds, extreme anxiety is manifested 
 to get in outstanding debts, and to provide money 
 for the payment of sums due. To be a defaulter 
 on New Year's Day is to lose credit and reputation, 
 and, rather than begin a new year under such ill- 
 omened circumstances, shopkeepers often offer their 
 stocks-in-trade at prices which not only leave them 
 without a profit, but which are, not unfrequently, 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 sacrifice, with many genuflections 
 and prayers, to heaven and earth, and to their 
 tutelary gods. After each service crackers are dis- 
 charged 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 ancestors 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 provinces ; and, at the 
 capital, the male members of the imperial household 
 
THE CHINESE YEAR. 261 
 
 and the high officers of state prostrate themselves 
 before the Emperor, and offer to him their congratu- 
 lations and good wishes. In theory, this ceremony 
 should be observed by every official in the empire ; but, 
 as this is impossible, the mandarins of each city repair 
 to the Emperor's temple, and there perform the cere- 
 monies of devotion before a throne made in exact imi- 
 tation of the Dragon Throne, and 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 tenanted but by an ascriptive tablet, is 
 highly suggestive 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 obsequiousness is required of acquaintances 
 when meeting in the streets, and an invariable law 
 makes it obligatory 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 day for making matrimonial engagements, 
 marrying, setting out on a journey, ordering new 
 
262 CHINA. 
 
 clothes, beginning repairs to a house, or laying the 
 foundations of one, for entering into business con- 
 tracts, for sowing, 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 woman is only one 
 degree better than to meet a Buddhist priest, who is 
 regarded as foreboding the worst possible fortune. 
 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 year 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 them with the dawn, in pre- 
 paration for which they seek to bind fortune to their 
 chariot-wheels by the performance of endless super- 
 stitious observances, and by calling down blessings, 
 on one another. In some parts of the country, boys, 
 on the last day of the year, shout out in the streets 
 Mai saou y " I will sell my idle ways," with the osten- 
 
THE CHINESE YEAR. 263 
 
 sibly laudable desire of devoting the new year to 
 busy diligence. On the accession of an emperor, 
 his reign counts only from the first day of the year 
 following the decease of his predecessor, who is 
 regarded as sitting on the throne for the remaining 
 months of the year in which he died. On each suc- 
 ceeding 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 pro- 
 strates himself before heaven and earth, and after- 
 wards, as mentioned above, receives the congratula- 
 tions of his ministers and the members 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 of state, as well as the imperial princes, are 
 invited. 
 
 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 paying visits, exchanging presents, 
 and feasting. 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 
 the same sound as the word meaning " Good for- 
 tune," * and the streets of cities are thronged with 
 
 1 The Chinese are very fond of this kind of symbolism ; two 
 of the commonest instances of which, especially on porcelain, 
 
264 CHINA. 
 
 servants carrying sweetmeats and cakes from house 
 to house. But from superiors to inferiors presents of 
 a more substantial value pass, and considerable 
 sums of money are bestowed by the wealthy on 
 their servants and dependents. 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 merry-making. From the fourth to the seventh 
 day they worship at the shrine of the goddess who 
 presides 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 presented, the will being accepted, with com- 
 mon 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 the use of the Bat (Fu/i), to signify "happiness," and of the 
 sonorous stone {King), to emblematize " prosperity." 
 
THE CHINESE YEAR. 265 
 
 are highly coloured and are shaped in every con- 
 ceivable mould. From the ordinary round shape, to 
 the most grotesque figures of men or animals, the 
 changes are rung on 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 pre- 
 viously been 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 
 accompanying sacrifice to the worship of the tutelary 
 deity of the household are transferred to the dining- 
 table, and with copious supplies of sarnshu form 
 the family supper. As the 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 illuminations 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 rebuses, but these 
 have little to do with the interest which is shown 
 in the amusement 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 
 
266 CHINA. 
 
 twentieth of the month the New Year festivities may 
 be said to come to a close, and the 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 their seals of office 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 performed the kotow 
 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 kotow on the part of the mandarin. Four im- 
 pressions 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. So soon as 
 these forms have been gone through, the mandarin 
 goes to the yamun of his next superior, and there 
 takes part in an identical ceremony. With him 
 again he goes to the next in rank, and so on until 
 officials of all grades take part as witnesses in the 
 opening of the vice-regal seal in the yamun of the 
 provincial governor-general. In the southern pro- 
 vinces of the empire discharges of cannon and crackers 
 announce the opening of the seals ; and, as no busi- 
 ness is entered upon until the next morning, the latter 
 
THE CHINESE YEAR. 267 
 
 part of the day is devoted to complimentary visits 
 and merry-making. 
 
 According to a very ancient tradition, New Year's 
 Day is called the fowl's day, the second the dog's day, 
 the third the pig's day, the fourth the sheep's day, 
 the fifth the cow's day, 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 consequence 
 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 impor- 
 tance, and, if fine, it is said to presage a plenteous 
 year, and, if the reverse, scanty harvests and misfor- 
 tunes. In all parts of the empire it is celebrated 
 with honour. Figures, intended for the igods of 
 happiness, rank, and longevity, cut out and dressed 
 in many-coloured garments, are hung up at the doors 
 as omens of good luck, and, in some districts, pic- 
 tures representing rats contracting marriages with 
 women are hung up, curiously to relate, with the same 
 object. Generally it is a day devoted to feasting and 
 merry-making, and in the south, where the climate 
 admits of outdoor 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 remain there three 
 days, to distribute its contents among the household, 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
268 CHINA. 
 
 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 twenty-nine and thirty days each, and as 
 these periods represent with sufficient 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 prob- 
 ably written in the 23rd 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 three 
 periods, known as the grass-springing period, the 
 tree-reigning period, and the tree-decaying period. 
 Under the influence of the higher culture of the 
 Chinese, these divisions disappeared, and the twelve 
 months became the recognized parts of the year. 
 The Chinese do, however, divide the year by seasons 
 as well as by months, and recognize eight main 
 divisions and sixteen subsidiary ones, " which corre- 
 spond to the days on which the sun enters the first 
 and fifteenth degrees of a zodiacal sign ; when an 
 intercalary month occurs, they are reckoned on as in 
 other years, but the intercalation is made so that 
 
THE CHINESE YEAR. 269 
 
 only one term shall fall in it. Their names and 
 approximate positions in the foreign year are here 
 given : — 
 
 Feb. 5. Lih ch'un, commencement of spring. 
 
 „ 19. Yii shut, rain-water. 
 March 5. King chih, the torpid insects are excited. 
 
 „ 20. Ch'un fun, the vernal equinox. 
 April 5. TsHng ming, clear brightness. 
 
 „ 20. Kuhyii, grain rains. 
 May 5. Lih hea, commencement of summer. 
 
 „ 21. Seao nvwan, the grain begins to fill. 
 June 6. Ma?ig chimg, the grain is in ear. 
 
 „ 21. Hea che, the summer solstice. 
 July 7. Seao shoo, slight heat. 
 
 „ 23. Ta shoo, great heat. 
 Aug. 7. Lih ts'iu, commencement of autumn. 
 
 „ 23. Cttoo shoo, limit of heat. 
 Sept. 
 
 n 
 
 23. Ts'iu fun, autumn equinox. 
 
 Oct. 8. Han loo, cold dew. 
 
 >> 
 
 23. Seang keang, hoar-frost descends. 
 
 Nov. 7. Lih tung, commencement of winter. 
 
 „ 22. Seao such, little snow. 
 Dec. 7. Ta siieh, heavy snow. 
 
 „ 22. Tung chi, winter solstice. 
 Jan. 6. Seao han, little cold. 
 
 „ 21. Ta han, severe cold." 1 
 
 It is considered among the Chinese that these 
 periods very accurately mark the changes in the 
 atmosphere which directly affect the constitution. 
 For this reason it is customary for people who have 
 both wealth and time to devote to such considera- 
 
 1 Dr. Wells Williams's " Dictionary." 
 
270 CHINA, 
 
 tions to fortify themselves against the evil effects 
 of atmospheric changes by eating nourishing and 
 invigorating food. Ginseng soup is largely consumed 
 on these occasions, and it is said that in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Canton the flesh of black dogs is sought 
 after as possessing eminently strengthening properties. 
 The greatest festival of the year, next to that at 
 the New Year, occurs at the first great division, the 
 commencement of spring. Agriculture has always 
 held a high place in the estimation of the Chinese. 
 It is said to have been taught to the people by 
 the Emperor Shin-nung (2737-2697 B.C.), who has 
 been canonized as its patron-god, and this imperial 
 ancestry has entailed on each succeeding emperor 
 the duty of leading the way for his subjects in the 
 agricultural year. In obedience to this custom, on 
 the arrival of Lih ck'un, the Emperor, attended by his 
 court, goes out of the east gate of the capital to a 
 temple set apart for the purpose, "to receive the 
 spring." In like manner, as representatives of their 
 imperial master, the officials in every provincial capital 
 head processions, composed of the leading gentry of 
 the district, accompanied by bands of music and gay 
 banners, and in this array having marched through 
 the principal streets, they pass out by the east gates 
 to the appointed temples. Here the clay and paper 
 images of oxen, and in some cases men and ploughs, 
 which have been carried in the procession, are placed 
 
THE CHINESE YEAR. 271 
 
 on the altar, and sacrifices are offered up to the god of 
 spring. This done, the images of the oxen are beaten 
 with sticks by the officials, and are then destroyed, 
 those made of paper by fire, and those of clay by 
 being broken to pieces. These customs vary slightly 
 in different districts. In some, a young lad is chosen 
 who must be without spot or blemish, and who, 
 having been dressed in green clothes, is sent out into 
 the country through the east gate. After a certain 
 interval the official procession starts in the same 
 direction, and meets the lad, whom they worship as 
 the god of spring, and with whom they return to the 
 city in triumph. A fine day is earnestly desired for 
 the Lih cliiui procession, and the saying runs that, 
 " if rain falls on the oxen in the procession, it will be 
 wet for a hundred days." 
 
 Connected with the Lih cJiiui is the turning of the 
 first sod by the Emperor. On the appointed day, 
 attended by his court and all the high officials of the 
 capital, the Emperor again goes out of the east gate 
 to the temple of Earth, in the grounds of which, with 
 his own hand, he ploughs up nine furrows, while 
 officials follow at his heels casting seed into the 
 newly turned earth. As soon as his allotted task is 
 finished, the imperial princes, holding yellow ploughs, 
 go through the same formality, and following on these 
 the attendant high officials perform the like duty, but 
 with red ploughs in place of those coloured with the 
 imperial yellow. 
 
272 CHINA, 
 
 Similar ceremonies are performed in the provinces, 
 and Archdeacon Gray gives the following account 
 of the ceremonies witnessed by him on one such 
 occasion at Canton : " The governor-general, the 
 governor, the treasurer, the commissioner of customs, 
 the literary chancellor, and the criminal judge of that 
 city repair at an early hour, on the fifth day of the 
 ploughing season ... to the temple in honour of 
 Shin-nung, the god of agriculture. This temple is 
 situated at an English mile beyond the eastern gates 
 of the city. Its principal shrine is two storeys high. 
 In the courtyard, enclosed by walls of brick, there 
 are three chambers, in the first of which certain 
 implements of husbandry are kept ; in the second, 
 grain for seed and offerings ; in the third, stalled 
 sheep or swine, intended victims in honour of the 
 god. The officials, having arranged themselves be- 
 fore the altar, proceed to perform the kotow. The 
 governor-general then offers to the god, as expiatory 
 sacrifices, a sheep and a pig. Nine kinds of grain 
 and vegetables are also presented as thank-offerings. 
 The kotow is then performed once more, the officials 
 knocking their heads upon the earth nine times. 
 Upon rising to their feet, a letter addressed by them to 
 the idol of the god of agriculture is read aloud in the 
 hearing of all assembled, the reader looking towards 
 the idol. The letter, which is written according to a 
 form prescribed by the Board of Ceremonies, runs 
 
SACRIFICIAL PLOUGHING. 
 
 Page 273. 
 
THE CHINESE YEAR. 273 
 
 thus : ' Upon this auspicious day, we, the principal 
 officials of this city and province stand, O god, before 
 thy altar, and render to thee, as is just, heartfelt 
 homage. We depend upon thee, O god, to grant 
 speed to the plough, and to give food sufficient for 
 the wants of the people over whom we rule. As high 
 as the heaven is above the earth, so great are thy 
 virtues. The ploughing season has this day begun 
 and all agriculturists are now prepared to prosecute 
 their labours with diligence. Nor is his imperial 
 majesty, the Emperor, though so high in rank, at all 
 behind in his preparations for the discharge of such 
 important duties. We therefore, the officials of this 
 city, pray to thee as in duty bound, to grant us 
 favourable seasons. Grant us then, we fervently 
 beseech thee, five days of wind, and afterwards ten 
 days of rain, so that each stem may bear two ears of 
 grain. Accept our offerings, and bless us, we pray 
 thee.' When they have again performed the kotow, 
 knocking their heads nine times upon the ground, 
 the officials put off their tunics, and proceed to certain 
 government lands, which are adjacent to the temple, 
 for the purpose of ploughing nine furrows each. 
 Here each official, having been presented with a 
 whip, is escorted to a plough to which a buffalo is 
 yoked ; and when the word is given by a conductor 
 of ceremonies, the ploughs are set in motion. At the 
 head of each buffalo, to direct its course, a peasant 
 
 T 
 
274 CHINA. 
 
 is stationed, who is permitted on this occasion to 
 wear a yellow jacket. Behind each of the illustrious 
 ploughmen walk three or four officers of the civil 
 service, whose duty it is to sow, at each step, seeds 
 of grain in the newly made furrows. While the 
 governor-general and his colleagues are engaged in 
 ploughing, youths in gay dresses, stationed at each 
 side of the field, sing, at the very top of their voices, 
 paeans in praise of the god of agriculture. In a long 
 line at the south end of the field stand aged husband- 
 men, wearing gay garments suited to the occasion ; 
 while at the north end are a body of graduates." 
 
 At the period Ts'ing ming, which, as stated above, 
 falls generally at the beginning of April, is performed, 
 the rite of worshipping at the ancestral tombs. This 
 is regarded as the most sacred duty, and he who 
 would wilfully fail in performing it would be looked 
 upon as an outcast. On the morning of the day in 
 question the male members of each household repair 
 to the family graveyard, and, having weeded and 
 swept the tombs, light incense, and arrange in front 
 of the grave sacrificial offerings consisting of boiled 
 pork, fish, poultry, cakes, tea, and wine. The family 
 representative then performs the kotow in honour of 
 the deceased, and each in turn follows his example. 
 Crackers are then fired and paper-money burnt, 
 on the ashes of which is poured a libation of wine. 
 A second time the kotow is performed, and this 
 
THE CHINESE YEAR. 275 
 
 brings to a close the ancestral worship, which is a 
 mixture of homage and prayer. It is the universal 
 belief that the spirits of ancestors watch over and 
 protect their descendants during life, and that they 
 pass backwards and forwards between their resting- 
 places in the graves and the dwellings of their repre- 
 sentatives. It is obviously important, therefore, that 
 there should be no let or hindrance to their power of 
 ingress and egress to and from the tombs, and the 
 first object of the visitors to the graves is to clear 
 away all and every obstruction which may have 
 accumulated during the preceding twelve months. 
 The kotow and sacrificial offerings satisfy the pre- 
 vailing idea of homage and prayer, and by their due 
 observance are supposed to secure the protection and 
 support of the dead. 
 
 Having reached this stage, it is considered necessary, 
 for the comfort of the spirits, to propitiate the local 
 deity by the presentation of offerings consisting of 
 meat, wine, and paper-money. With a strange 
 mixture of superstition and materialism, they further 
 follow in imagination the ancestral spirits into Hades, 
 and picture them seated at table enjoying the viands 
 presented to them, but subject to annoyance from 
 the numbers of beggars who haunt the unseen 
 regions. To relieve the spirits from the importunities 
 of these unfortunates, they offer to them sacrifices 
 of cakes, paper clothing, and paper-money. The im- 
 
276 CHINA. 
 
 mediate and prospective well-being of the ancestral 
 spirits having thus been provided for, the living 
 worshippers seat themselves on the ground, and make 
 a hearty meal of the sacrificial meats, from which 
 the spirits are supposed to have extracted only the 
 essential and immaterial elements. 
 
 It is, perhaps, due to the belief in the necessity 
 of not allowing any obstruction to grow up between 
 the tomb of an ancestor and the dwelling of his re- 
 presentative, coupled with a regard for the health of 
 the inhabitants, that the Chinese never bury within 
 a city wall. Graveyards are almost invariably made 
 in the open country, either on the sides of hills or 
 on plains. The feeling against confining the dead, 
 even temporarily, within city walls, is so great, that 
 the relatives of an inhabitant of a city who dies away 
 from home are not allowed to bring the corpse back 
 to its former dwelling. As a rule, funeral processions 
 from houses in cities are bidden by law to take the 
 most direct route from their starting points to the 
 nearest city gates, and only in the case of a meri- 
 torious official who dies in harness is permission 
 ever given, and then only by a special decree from 
 the Emperor, for the procession to make a progress 
 through the principal streets of the city where he 
 died. 
 
 At the Ts'ing ming festival, as at most high days 
 and holidays, superstitions connected with the willow 
 
THE CHINESE YEAR. 277 
 
 are brought prominently forward. Bunches of willow- 
 branches are used for sweeping the tombs, and other 
 branches are hung at the eaves of houses or over 
 the doorways. Women wear sprigs of it in their 
 hair, " to keep their eyes clear and to ward off blind- 
 ness." These customs plainly point to the common 
 belief that the willow possesses power over demons, 
 and can drive them off or raise them, as the occasion 
 demands. Thus, at a wedding, fruits are handed to 
 the bride and bridegroom on willow plates ; and 
 spiritualist mediums make use of images carved out 
 of willow-wood to communicate with the spirit-world. 
 Of the bunch of willow-branches hung at the eaves 
 of houses, a more rational explanation is sometimes 
 offered. It is said by some, that they are placed 
 there to welcome and attract the swallows which first 
 arrive about that time. One custom practised by the 
 Chinese at TsHng ming finds a parallel in the custom, 
 which is followed in country districts in England, at 
 nearly the same time of the year. While English 
 girls and women are observing the time-honoured 
 institution of " Mothering Sunday," Chinese young 
 married women "return for rest" to their mother's 
 roof. 
 
 If it were not that Buddha's birthday is commemo- 
 rated during the fourth month, no distinctive festivals 
 would mark that period. As it is, the rites are con- 
 fined to Buddhists, and more especially to the confra- 
 
278 CHINA. 
 
 ternities of priests and monks. On the eighth, the day 
 on which it is said that Buddha was taken from the 
 side of his mother, the ceremony of " bathing Buddha " 
 is performed. A small image of the god is placed in 
 a vessel, partly filled with water, in each temple 
 devoted to his worship, and on the head of this image 
 devotees are expected to pour a handful of copper 
 cash and several ladles of the surrounding water. 
 These acts are accompanied by adoration and prayer, 
 and at least have the effect of adding to the revenues 
 of the temples. On the same day, novices are ad- 
 mitted to the priesthood, and, as a sign of their new 
 office, submit to have their heads burnt in the pre- 
 scribed manner. Dried leaves of the artemisia are 
 rolled up into small balls, and placed on the head on 
 the places to be burnt. The balls are then ignited, 
 and the fire burns away the skin. This ceremony 
 having been performed, the presiding priest gives 
 the new brother his credentials as a member of the 
 priesthood, and from that time forth he enjoys immu- 
 nity from punishment for past offences against the 
 law, should he have committed any, and all the 
 privileges and perquisites of his order. 
 
 The fifth month opens with the festival, called by 
 the Chinese, King, or " Cautious searching," and 
 which is known among foreigners as the dragon-boat 
 festival. On the fifth of that month, in the year 298 
 B.C., a faithful minister, of the State of Ts'oo, named 
 
THE CHINESE YEAR. 279 
 
 K'ii Yuen, drowned himself in the Me-lo river, an 
 affluent of the Yang-tsze-keang, to avoid witnessing 
 the disasters which he saw were coming upon his 
 country, and which the fatuity of his sovereign, Hwai- 
 wang, rendered him powerless to prevent. By the 
 people his death was regarded as a national calamity, 
 more especially as the misfortunes which he had 
 predicted befell the state in rapid succession. With 
 pious zeal the inhabitants near the spot where he 
 plunged into the Me-lo offered sacrifices to his manes, 
 while boatmen traversed the river in search of his 
 body. With that respect for virtue and reverence for 
 tradition which characterizes the Chinese, the anni- 
 versary of his death has since been strictly observed 
 throughout the empire. On the day in question, on 
 most rivers, especially in the neighbourhood of large 
 towns, boatmen traverse the rivers backwards and 
 forwards, as though in the act of searching, in long 
 boats which, from their shape, are called dragon-boats. 
 Each boat holds about twenty rowers, who regulate 
 the speed of their stroke by the beat of a drum 
 placed in the centre. At the bow stands a man 
 waving a flag, who is supposed to be on the look-out 
 for the body of K'ii Yuen, and throughout its length 
 the boat is decorated with flags. No doubt, at first, 
 the progress of the boats was merely a procession ; 
 but before long the presence of numbers, and the 
 desire to excel which is instinctive everywhere caused 
 
28o CHINA. 
 
 it gradually to develop into a series of races. At the 
 present time a keen rivalry exists between the owners 
 of the several boats in a district, more especially 
 when they are the property of different clans, and 
 intense interest is excited in the results of the races. 
 At first starting, the drum is beaten to a slow and 
 regular beat, but as the men warm to their work the 
 beat becomes faster, and with an accompaniment of 
 clashing gongs, deafening shouts, and waving flags, 
 the men, with their short paddles, send the boats 
 along at a great rate. Not unfrequently disputes, 
 arising out of the contests, end in fights, in prepara- 
 tion for which sticks and stones, as well as gongs and 
 flags, are shipped before starting. 
 
 In cities remote from large rivers, all obvious re- 
 ference to the origin of the observance has, speaking 
 generally, disappeared, and the racing alone remains. 
 At Peking, for example, the day is celebrated by 
 horse and cart races, which are held in an open space 
 in the outer city. But throughout the empire the day 
 is kept as a holiday, and after midday all shops and 
 places of business are, as a rule, closed. 
 
 On this day -falls also the beginning of summer, 
 when it is necessary to take precautions against the 
 evil influences which accompany the supposed change 
 of weather, and the insects which begin to abound at 
 this season. Yellow charm papers, pasted on the 
 doorposts and bedsteads, and bunches of garlic and 
 
THE CHINESE YEAR. 28 1 
 
 other herbs hung at the front-doors of houses, are 
 believed to be efficacious in accomplishing the first 
 object ; and the sulphurous smoke from a particularly 
 pungently composed fire-cracker is said, and probably 
 with good reason, to be a complete antidote against 
 the plague of obnoxious insects. 
 
 The sixth month, like the fourth, is without any 
 marked observance of interest ; but with the begin- 
 ning of autumn, in the seventh month, superstition 
 again proclaims itself in the customs of the people. 
 On the seventh day is commemorated a curious legend. 
 A certain star, called by the Chinese " the spinning 
 damsel," and which is identified as a Lyra in our 
 system, was, many centuries ago, sent on a mission to 
 earth. There she fell in love with a cowherd, whom 
 she ultimately married. Before long, however, she 
 was recalled to her place in the heavens, and on her 
 way thither her grief at leaving her husband found 
 vent in bitter tears, which fell upon the earth as rain. 
 Unable to bear his separation from his wife, the cow- 
 herd died of grief, and as a reward from his exemplary 
 life was transformed into the star /3 Aquila, separated 
 only by the milky way from his wife. Once a year, 
 namely, on the seventh day of the seventh month, 
 magpies have since that time formed themselves into 
 a bridge across the milky way, over which the spinning 
 damsel passes to the cowherd. 
 
 On the evening of this day, Chinese women offer 
 
282 CHINA. 
 
 sacrifices, consisting of melons and fruits, to the 
 spinning damsel, and pray that she would vouchsafe 
 to them skill in needlework. They then go up to the 
 upper storey, if there be one, of the house, and thread 
 seven needles with coloured thread, by the light of 
 the moon. If they succeed, it is understood as a 
 favourable omen from the goddess. Water drawn 
 from wells on this evening is supposed to impart 
 clearness and purity to the complexion, and is con- 
 sequently much used by the devotees of the spinning 
 damsel. 
 
 That there is intimate communion between the 
 dead and the living is a leading article in the Chinese 
 creed, and at this time of the year a festival is held, 
 which is known as that of "Feeding the hungry 
 ghosts," which has for its object the clothing and 
 feeding of the ghosts of those who have died by mis- 
 adventure, or have perished friendless and alone, and 
 who are therefore without those supplies for their 
 comfort which are furnished to the more fortunate 
 dead by surviving relatives at the festival of " visiting 
 the tombs." On this occasion, as on that, paper- 
 money and clothes are offered up, and burned before 
 the ancestral tablets, while the members of each 
 family go through the service of the worship of the 
 dead. Now, also, substantial viands are placed on 
 the ancestral altar, to be transferred to the family 
 dining-table as soon as the " hungry ghosts " have 
 
THE CHINESE YEAR. 283 
 
 abstracted their share, in the shape of the immaterial 
 essence. Meanwhile, at the Buddhist and Taouist 
 temples a succession of services are said for the repose 
 of the destitute spirits, and in the evening large boats, 
 brilliantly lighted, pass up and down the rivers, from 
 which rice is thrown into the stream, to assuage the 
 hunger of the ghosts. On board these vessels, priests 
 chant their liturgies and offer up paper-money and 
 clothes. The ghosts, or Pretas, for whom this work 
 of charity is performed, are divided into thirty-six 
 classes, " and are represented like Titans in size, with 
 mouths like needles' eyes." Their condition forms 
 one of the six paths of transmigration, and their 
 office is that of gaolers in hell. No doubt, in the 
 rites observed on their behalf, there is a desire to 
 propitiate spirits which might be troublesome if 
 hostilely inclined, as well as a charitable wish to 
 satisfy the wants of those who are deprived of their 
 natural supply of comforts from dutiful descendants. 
 But, in the main, the idea is a humane one, the very 
 general observance of which reflects credit on the 
 national kindliness, though at the expense of the 
 national intelligence. 
 
 Legend says that many centuries ago, on the four- 
 teenth of the eighth month, a certain doctor was 
 gathering medicinal herbs on a mountain-side, when 
 he saw a youth take from a many-coloured bag a 
 bunch of herbs, which he dipped in dew, and with 
 
284 CHINA. 
 
 which he then anointed his eyes. On being asked 
 his reason for doing so, he explained that it was to 
 keep his eyes bright. Having said this, he disap- 
 peared and the doctor returned, wondering at what 
 he had seen and heard. The prescription thus com- 
 municated was regarded by the people as being 
 something more than human, and ever since on the 
 anniversary of this day they anoint their eyes with 
 dew applied with herbs kept in gaily-coloured bags. 
 On the same day children's heads are marked with 
 red paint, known in superstitious language as " Hea- 
 ven's cauterization," as a preventive against disease. 
 
 On the next evening falls the festival of the moon, 
 which is accompanied with a display of illuminations 
 second only in brilliancy to the Feast of Lanterns in 
 the first month. Every house is lighted up, and the 
 inhabitants crowd on to the upper verandahs and 
 roofs, to gaze on the object of their adoration. At 
 intervals they worship before the ancestral altars, 
 and feast on cakes, some made round to imitate the 
 moon, and others shaped after all sorts of fantastic 
 designs, among which representations of pagodas 
 find a prominent place. Remarking on this custom, 
 Mr. Dennys says, "The moon, it is well known, 
 represents the female principle in the female cos- 
 mogony, and she is further supposed to be inhabited 
 by a multitude of beautiful females ; the cakes made 
 in her honour are therefore veritable offerings to this 
 
THE CHINESE YEAR. 285 
 
 Queen of the heavens. Now, in a part of Lancashire, 
 on the banks of the Ribble, there exists a precisely- 
 similar custom of making cakes in honour of the 
 1 Queen of heaven,' — a relic, in all probability, of the 
 old heathen worship, which was the common fount of 
 the two customs." 
 
 The ninth month is fruitful in curious observances. 
 It is the end of the autumn, and on the ninth occurs 
 one of the Tsieh, or divisions of the year, upon which 
 the Chinese lay such stress. At court, the Emperor, 
 on this day, opens the hunting season, and goes to 
 cover dressed in white, driving white horses, and 
 surrounded with white flags. If he follow the rules 
 laid down for his guidance in the book of rites, his 
 meals at this time will consist of a preparation of 
 hemp and dog's flesh. By his subjects the ninth is 
 spent on the highest bit of ground or the loftiest 
 roofs within their reach, and is employed in flying 
 kites and drinking wine in which the petals of chrys- 
 anthemums have been soaked. The origin of this 
 custom has to be sought for nearly a thousand years 
 ago. Legend has it, that a scholar named Joo Nan 
 was suddenly warned by a heavenly messenger to 
 betake himself with his family to a high mountain, 
 to escape a calamity which was suddenly to overtake 
 the district in which he lived. On the mountain-top 
 he was bidden to wear a bag containing bits of 
 dog-wood, and to drink wine in which the petals of 
 
286 
 
 CHINA, 
 
 chrysanthemums had been soaked, to ward off all 
 evil influences. These injunctions he obeyed to the 
 
 fl v.A ^ 
 
 letter, and was rewarded by escaping from an over- 
 whelming catastrophe which destroyed his flocks and 
 
THE CHINESE YEAR. 287 
 
 herds in the plains below. In memory of this signal 
 deliverance, people on this day go up the mountains 
 and hills in imitation of Joo Nan. The kite-flying, 
 which is now invariably associated with these expe- 
 ditions, finds no foundation in the original fable, and 
 was very likely suggested by the combination of 
 circumstances — a high elevation, and a fresh autumn 
 breeze. The sight of men of all ages flying kites at 
 this time of the year is one which is always astonish- 
 ing to foreigners, who are accustomed to regard such 
 amusements as childish, and in this instance the 
 apologists for the custom cannot even find a super- 
 stitious origin for it. The injunction given to Joo 
 Nan to wear a bag containing pieces of dog-wood is 
 now generally obeyed by Chinese women, who look 
 on the charm as a sure safeguard against disease. 
 
 The approach of cold weather at the beginning of 
 the tenth month suggests the necessity of providing 
 for the dead suitable covering for the coming winter, 
 and the ancestral tombs again witness assemblies of 
 survivors eager to pay their respects and to consider 
 the comfort of the departed. On this occasion paper 
 clothes are carried to the graves, and burnt before 
 them, in the belief that through the fire they reach 
 the dead. Food is also, as at the spring festival, 
 offered up, and as a matter of fact is, as then, eaten 
 by the sacrificers. 
 
 On the first of the month, in some parts of the 
 
288 CHINA. 
 
 country, farmers set free their sheep and cattle. The 
 origin of this custom seems to be unknown, and its 
 perpetuation unintelligible. The twelfth of the month 
 is a day of great festivity in the palace of the Em- 
 peror. For days beforehand preparations are made 
 for a great theatrical display, which at the time ap- 
 pointed keeps the court amused " from morn to dewy 
 eve." First of all, the high officials of the palace 
 present themselves before their imperial master dis- 
 guised as birds and beasts, and dance and pose in a 
 somewhat monotonous ballet. This custom probably 
 owes its existence to the historical references to the 
 appearance at court of ambassadors of the Lung 
 (Dragon), Fung (Phcenix), and other tribes of abori- 
 ginal China, whose names have been treated by his- 
 torians and commentators as though they actually 
 stood for the beasts and birds they happen to signify. 
 In succession to these disguised mandarins come 
 conjurors, dancers, and acrobats, whose skill is won- 
 derful, and who, if native records are to be trusted, 
 realize to the full the extraordinary accounts cur- 
 rent of the legerdemain and activity of Eastern 
 magicians. 
 
 The winter solstice, which generally falls in the 
 eleventh month, is one of the most noted sacrificial 
 periods of the year. The Emperor is supposed to 
 spend the night before the shortest day in watching 
 and meditation at "the Hall of Fasting," adjoining the 
 
THE CHINESE YEAR. 289 
 
 sacrificial altar known as the Yuen kiu, or " Round 
 mound," outside the southern gate of the capital. 
 The altar, which is of marble, is built in three terraces, 
 and is ascended by twenty-seven steps. The summit 
 is paved with marble stones arranged in nine con- 
 centric circles, in the centre of which is a round stone 
 upon which the Emperor kneels ; " and thus," as is re- 
 marked by Dr. Edkins in his account of Peking, "he 
 is surrounded first by the circles of the terraces and 
 their enclosing walls, and then by the circle of the 
 horizon. He thus seems to himself and his court 
 to be in the centre of the universe . . . Round him, 
 on the pavement, are the nine circles of as many 
 heavens, consisting of nine stones, then eighteen, 
 then twenty-seven, and so on in successive multiples 
 of nine, till the square of nine, the favourite number 
 of Chinese philosophy, is reached in the outermost 
 circle of eighty-one stones." 
 
 Very early on the solstitial morning, the Emperor, 
 who on the previous day has examined the sacrificial 
 offerings, consisting of a bullock, a sheep, a pig, and 
 other animals, puts on his sacrificial robes, and, at- 
 tended by his court, ascends to the second terrace of 
 the altar, where he kneels in prayer. This is a signal 
 for setting fire to the burnt sacrifice in honour of 
 Shang-te, and for the musicians to breathe appropriate 
 music. The Emperor presently ascends to the summit, 
 and there again kneels, and burns incense to Shang-te 
 
 U 
 
290 CHINA. 
 
 and his ancestors. While performing these acts of 
 adoration he offers up " bundles of silk, jade cups, 
 and other gifts." A prayer composed for the occasion 
 is next read by an official, to which the Emperor listens 
 on his knees, and emphasizes his approval by bowing 
 three times to the ground. " At this point," says Dr. 
 Edkins, " certain officers bring forward what is called 
 the ' flesh of happiness ' to the front of the tablet 
 of Shang-te, and hold it up. The Emperor then goes 
 to the spot for drinking the l cup of happiness ' and 
 receiving the ' flesh of happiness,' and prostrates him- 
 self three times, receiving the cup and flesh kneeling." 
 
 On his return to his palace the Emperor receives 
 in audience all the high officials of his court, who con- 
 gratulate him on their knees on the return of the 
 winter solstice, and express the wish which has 
 greeted the ears of Oriental sovereigns through all 
 time, that he may live for ever. In the provinces a 
 repetition of the ceremonial which accompanies the 
 arrival of spring takes place. The mandarins, while 
 it is yet dark, assemble at the local imperial temples, 
 and there, in solemn silence, except for the words of 
 command given by the master of ceremonies, bow the 
 knee and strike their foreheads on the ground before 
 the empty throne of the Emperor. 
 
 By the people the day is observed by sacrificing to 
 their ancestors. Offerings of cooked meat, fish, etc., 
 are presented before the ancestral tablets in each 
 
THE CHINESE YEAR. 291 
 
 house, and each member of the household in order 
 of seniority bows to the ground in adoration of, and 
 as an expression of thanks to, his progenitors for the 
 return of the winter solstice. The offerings having 
 played their part on the altar are then feasted upon 
 by the household, and the rest of the day is given 
 up to merry-making. On this day, also, numerous 
 minute domestic observances are followed, among 
 others the occasion is taken of pickling ducks' eggs 
 for consumption in the following year. 
 
 The eighth of the last month in the year is set apart 
 as a solemn thanksgiving-day for the mercies received 
 during the year. From time immemorial it has been 
 customary for the Emperor to proceed in state to an 
 altar to the south of the capital, and there to offer 
 up sacrifices and thanksgivings for the mercies vouch- 
 safed to the empire. An. ancient prayer used on 
 these occasions ran thus : " May the earth remain 
 at rest, and the rivers return to their beds. May the 
 myriad insects forget to be harmful, and trees and 
 shrubs grow only in waste places." Especial honour 
 used at the same time to be paid to cats for destroy- 
 ing field-mice, and tigers for keeping down wild 
 boars. These passages have dropped out of the 
 modern observance, but with equal exactitude the 
 Emperor now as then testifies his gratitude to heaven 
 and earth for the past, and beseeches their protection 
 and favour for the time to come. 
 
292 CHINA. 
 
 Following the example thus set them, the people 
 throughout the empire offer sacrifices and thanks- 
 givings to the gods of the hearth and before the 
 ancestral tablets. The offerings having been arranged, 
 accompanied with burning incense, on the family 
 altar, the head of the family prostrates himself before 
 it, and returns thanks in the name of the household, 
 for the food, clothing, and mercies of the past year. 
 At this time also, in preparation for the new year, rites 
 are performed for exorcising evil influences. Proces- 
 sions, formed of the townspeople, divided into com- 
 panies, and dressed and painted in all kinds of 
 grotesque disguises, march through the streets of the 
 cities. The distortions of form and feature thus pro- 
 duced, coupled with the beatings of drums, the clash- 
 ing of gongs, and the shouts of the people, are 
 supposed to frighten away evil demons. By strict 
 right, the processions should pass through and through 
 the yamuns, or official residences, to clear them of all 
 evil, and for the rest it is but considered necessary to 
 parade the streets. In some places, a paper boat is 
 carried in the procession, which, at the end of the day, 
 is carried down to the river's edge, and is launched, 
 burning, on the water, the idea being that it bears 
 away the malign influences which have been collected 
 in it while passing through the streets. Having thus 
 got rid of the existing evil spirits, care is taken to 
 prevent their return by pasting up peach-charms over 
 
THE CHINESE YEAR. 293 
 
 the doorways of the houses. The peach and willow- 
 trees are supposed to exercise control over spirits, 
 and it is a common thing, in cases of illness which are 
 believed to be due to possession by the devil, to have 
 the bed and furniture of the sick-room beaten with 
 bunches of peach and willow-twigs, in order to drive 
 out the arch-fiend. But the peach-charms are but 
 pieces of paper cut into the shape of peach-leaves, and 
 bearing on them certain characters designed to protect 
 the houses at which they are displayed. 
 
 The eighth of the last month, being the day upon 
 which Buddha " perfected his doctrine," is chosen as a 
 fortunate one on which to shave the heads of children 
 and to bore the ears of women. What connexion 
 this last act can have with the saintship of Sakya- 
 muni it is difficult to say, unless it be that the inflic- 
 tion of pain on members of the sex, which assailed 
 him so pertinaciously with temptation, may be con- 
 sidered pleasing to the saint. 
 
 On the twentieth of the month, the ceremony of 
 sealing up the seals of all the offices is performed. 
 Unlike the opposite rite, when in the first month the 
 seals are opened, those of the highest officials are 
 sealed up first. Before daylight all officials inferior 
 to the highest, in each city, go to the yamun of their 
 chief, who, dressed in full uniform, prostrates himself 
 before the seal, which stands surrounded with incense 
 on the official table. The senior secretary next reve- 
 
294 CHINA. 
 
 rently lifts the seal with both hands, and, kneeling 
 before his master, wishes him long life and promotion. 
 The seal is then deposited in a box, which is care- 
 fully sealed up, and the ceremony is brought to a 
 close. This done, the yamun of the next highest 
 dignitary is visited by all his subordinates, who are 
 called upon to witness the same formality, and thus 
 with an ever-decreasing crowd the yamuns of every 
 official are visited, until that of the lowest is reached. 
 In each instance, before the seal is finally locked up, 
 several impressions are taken, to be used in cases of 
 emergency, should such arise, during the closed 
 month. 
 
 Towards the end of the month, generally on the 
 23rd, the festival in honour of the kitchen-gods is 
 celebrated. It is the popular belief that these deities 
 ascend to heaven on this day, to report to the supreme 
 ruler on the conduct of the households over which 
 they have presided, and the desire is equally general 
 to propitiate them on the eve of their departure. To 
 this intent, sacrificial meats, fruits, and wine are 
 placed on a table in the kitchen, before a picture of 
 the particular deity to be worshipped, and are offered 
 up to him with prayer and thanksgiving. Each 
 member of the family prostrates himself before the 
 god, while crackers are exploded to frighten off all 
 ill-disposed spirits. The ceremony over, the picture 
 which has done duty during the past year is torn 
 
THE CHINESE YEAR. 295 
 
 down and burnt, together with the paper-money 
 presented to the god, and the toy-horse which is 
 provided to carry the god heavenwards. 
 
 On the following evening a new picture of the deity 
 is pasted up in the kitchen, and a congratulatory 
 sacrifice of vegetables is offered up to him. This, it is 
 thought, will secure his goodwill and favourable coun- 
 tenance towards the household for the coming year. 
 
 But what year ? How do the Chinese designate 
 and compute their years ? Having no fixed starting- 
 point of chronology, as among ourselves, they are 
 obliged to point to the individual years by a kind of 
 circumlocution. To each emperor is given a Neen- 
 Jiaoiiy or title, or sometimes two or three in succession, 
 for his reign, which may be considered in the light of 
 adopted names, much as a pope, on attaining to the 
 pontificate, assumes a title other than his patronymic. 
 These Neen-haou are perfectly known by every one 
 making any pretence to education, and it is sufficient 
 therefore to say that such an event occurred in such 
 and such a year of such and such a Neen-haou, to 
 enable every Chinaman approximately to arrive at 
 the date which is referred to. For instance, the 
 present year is the thirteenth year of the reign of 
 Kwang-su, and is known to every Chinaman as 
 Kwang-sii shih san neen. 
 
 Another mode of computing the years is by 
 reckoning by sexagenary cycles. This system was, 
 
296 CHINA. 
 
 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 year of the first 
 cycle, and the present year (1887) is therefore the 
 twenty-fourth of the seventy-sixth cycle. In order to 
 express the years of the cycle in writing, the plan 
 was adopted of taking two sets of twelve and ten 
 characters respectively, and combining them in suc- 
 cession, by means of which process the two last 
 characters of the two series are combined to indicate 
 the last year of the cycle. This will be made plain 
 by the following table : — 
 
 The ten characters, or celestial The twelve characters, or ter- 
 stems. restrial branches. 
 
 1. Keah. 6. Ke. 1. Tsze. 7. Woo. 
 
 2. Yueh. 7. Kang. 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. Shin. 11. Suh. 
 
 6. Sze. 12. Hai. 
 
 The first year of the cycle would therefore be 
 Keah tsze, the second Yueh ch'ow, and so on 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 Wu 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. But these designations 
 only refer to the years in each cycle, and in no sort 
 
CFTHE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 THE CHINESE YEAR. 297 
 
 of way point to which cycle they belong. To obviate 
 this difficulty, recourse is again had to the Neen haou, 
 and any given year is fixed by its cyclical name 
 preceded by the Neen haou during which it occurred. 
 As stated above, Kwang-sii is the present Neen haou, 
 and, this being the twenty-fourth year of the cycle, it 
 would be described as Kwang-sii Ting-hat neen, or the 
 Ting-hai (twenty-fourth) 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 began 
 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, K 'ang-he Jin yin neen. But, as it was necessary 
 that some distinction should be made between them, in 
 order to avoid confusion, the character yew, meaning 
 " repeated," or " for the second time," was prefixed to 
 the cyclical characters referring to the second date, 
 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." 
 
 The first thirty, or twenty-nine, as the case may 
 be, of the same cyclical characters are used to denote 
 the days of the month, and the twelve divisions of the 
 days are indicated by the twelve " terrestrial branches." 
 
298 CHINA. 
 
 The European hour is unknown in China, and its 
 place is taken by a period which corresponds to 
 1 20 minutes. In speaking of these periods, however, 
 the practice, which was originally introduced into 
 China by the Mongols, of substituting for the twelve 
 stems the names of the twelve animals which are 
 held to be symbolical of them, is commonly adopted. 
 Thus the first period, that between 1 1 p.m. and 1 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 hours' duration, 
 beginning with the period of the Dog, 7 to 9 p.m., 
 and ending with that of the Tiger, 3 to 5 a.m. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 SUPERSTITIONS. 
 
 UPERSTITIOUS observances are 
 always found existing among a 
 people in inverse 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 
 accidental coincidences. For ex- 
 ample, the common superstition in 
 England that it is unlucky to see magpies flying singly 
 in spring-time, 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 sea-gulls inland, 
 which is rightly interpreted to mean that there is 
 rough weather at sea, is attributed to their having 
 
3oo CHINA. 
 
 been driven landways 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 natural 
 food, seek on shore to supply its place with worms 
 and grubs. 
 
 There are, however, a host of superstitions, some 
 of which are met with all over the world, which are 
 the results of accidental coincidences, and do not 
 yield to any explanation from natural causes. One 
 of the most universal of these is the belief in the 
 malign influences of comets. During the Middle 
 Ages, and even later, these " broom-tailed stars " 
 were regarded in Europe as fortelling war and 
 disaster, and more especially calamities to the ruling 
 houses. Throughout the East the same belief pre- 
 vails, and in China it is firmly held by all classes of 
 the community. It is curious to notice, and cannot 
 be denied, that occasionally circumstances have justi- 
 fied its existence. At the same time, it is a belief 
 which not unfrequently finds its own fulfilment by 
 suggesting to rebellious and unruly spirits the idea 
 that the time is favourable for the prosecution of 
 seditious designs. No such explanation is, however, 
 to be found for the coincidence, which was much 
 commented on by the Chinese, of the appearance 
 of the comet of 1858, and the totally unexpected 
 outbreak of hostilities between China and the allied 
 
SUPERSTITIONS. 301 
 
 forces of England and France in that year, or three 
 years later, of the appearance of another comet, and 
 the immediate death from illness of the Emperor, 
 who up to that time had been in good health. 
 
 Similar superstitions exist 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 
 favour 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 would devour the sun or moon as 
 the case may be. The danger, therefore, to the em- 
 pire is great, and the intervention of every official 
 in the country is 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 subordinates, so that, when the 
 time arrives, an army of mandarins stands prepared 
 to avert the disaster. Their procedure is simple, and 
 as neither the sun nor moon have ever been devoured, 
 it is regarded as efficacious. At the appointed time, 
 the mandarins assemble at the yamun of the senior 
 official, and arrange themselves before an altar set up 
 
302 CHINA. 
 
 in the courtyard, and on which incense is burning. 
 At a given signal they fall down on their knees and 
 perform the kotow, after which the attendants 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 
 on to the roofs of their houses, and add to the 
 din which issues from the yamuns, by beating every- 
 thing which is capable of emitting resounding noises. 
 
 The different phases of the planets are watched 
 with equal solicitude, and portents are derived from 
 every real or imaginary change in their relative posi- 
 tions and colours. 
 
 In an astrological sense Mars symbolizes fire, and 
 rules the summer season. It is the author of punish- 
 ments, and is the producer of sudden confusion. 
 Saturn represents earth, and, when it meets Jupiter 
 in the same " house," it portends good fortune to the 
 empire. If, however, Saturn, with the four other 
 planets, should appear white and round, mourning 
 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 
 represents gold, and is deemed a complacent planet ; 
 but, while in many of its phases it foretells peace and 
 
SUPERSTITIONS. 303 
 
 plenty, 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 nationaLibrces 
 will be weak, and if contrarywise, they wittoe strong. 
 If it appears large and extended, trouble will fall 
 upon princes and nobles, and military expeditions 
 then undertaken will begin fortunately and end 
 in disaster ; but, if it should appear compact and 
 small, campaigns which begin in misfortune will end 
 successfully. 
 
 Mercury symbolizes water, and when, seemingly, 
 of a white colour, it forecasts drought ; when yellow, 
 the crops will be scorched up ; when red, soldiers will 
 arise ; and when black, floods are at hand. If it 
 appears 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. 
 
 Such are some of the innumerable portents which 
 are based on the movements and appearances of the 
 planets. But, not content with peering into the 
 future lying before the nation and its rulers, Chinese 
 astrologers busy themselves with the fortunes of 
 individuals, and the Imperial Board of Astronomers 
 so far gives its sanction to this inquisitorial astrology 
 
304 CHINA. 
 
 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 under- 
 taken with advantage on those days which are 
 described as kih, or lucky. For instance, the first day 
 of the first month is appropriate for sacrificing, begin- 
 ning to learn, and bathing. The second is an un- 
 lucky day, and nothing of importance should be 
 done upon it. The third, on the other hand, is 
 suitable for meeting friends, marrying, taking a con- 
 cubine, asking names, cutting out clothes, putting 
 up pillars, trading, opening granaries, and burying. 
 The fourth is lucky for cutting toe and finger nails, 
 shaving the head, sending for doctors, taking medi- 
 cine, receiving appointments, entering on official 
 posts, starting on journeys, etc. And, just as certain 
 doings are appropriate to certain lucky days, so other 
 specified undertakings should on no account be 
 begun on such days which may not be otherwise 
 unlucky. The prognostics for each day are carefully 
 set out, and are eagerly studied by the educated 
 among the people. Those who have not this in- 
 valuable source of information ready at hand have 
 recourse to the professional fortune-tellers, 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 
 
SUPERSTITIONS. 305 
 
 calling. With these " properties " they daily establish 
 themselves in the outer courtyards of much-frequented 
 temples, or by the sides of crowded thoroughfares. 
 
 Their modes of procedure are various. The most 
 ancient and approved methods of divining the future, 
 and reading the will of the gods, are by means of the 
 Kzuei, or Tortoise, the S/ie, or Millfoil, and the She f 
 or a kind of Mayweed. The questions put through 
 the instrumentality of these media are as multifarious 
 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 follow 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 matrimonial project will turn out favourably or 
 the reverse, whether he will gather in good crops or 
 not, whether disease will be rife, whether war be at 
 hand, whether he of whom he has requested an inter- 
 view 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 prayers offered to the god, find their 
 answers in the attitude of the divining-tortoise. The 
 direction of the animal's gaze, the extent to which he 
 stretches his neck, the attitudes which he assumes 
 
 X 
 
3o6 CHINA. 
 
 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 made. 
 
 No less ancient is the system of inquiring into the 
 future by means of stalks of millfoil. This process 
 is complicated by an application of the lots to the 
 diagrams of Fuh-he, in connection with which, by ob- 
 serving the various combinations of whole and parts 
 of lines which they form when cast from the hand, 
 the diviner finds as certain a response as in the atti- 
 tude of the tortoise. The mayweed is used in the 
 same way, but has especial efficacy attaching to it as 
 coming from the grave of Confucius. The stalks from 
 the shrubs growing 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 divina- 
 tory purposes. 
 
 But in modern times, other and readier systems 
 have come into vogue, and the probability 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 characters, and 
 to infer 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 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 contain- 
 
SUPERSTITIONS. 307 
 
 ing a single written character. The client, after paying 
 the necessary fee, is required to draw out one of these 
 pieces of paper. This the fortune-teller unfolds, and 
 reads the character contained in it, which he proceeds 
 to resolve into its component parts. The character 
 Ti/i y " to obtain," is generally one of the characters 
 which finds its place in the box. 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. The 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 directs his efforts to acquiring literary fame, or to 
 gaining wealth by mercantile enterprise. In this kind 
 of rough-and-ready dissection of characters consider- 
 able skill, gained by constant practice, is sjiown by 
 the learned diviner, who enlarges with much fluency 
 on the meaning of the several parts, and on the inter- 
 pretations which, in accordance with the rules of his 
 art, are to be placed upon them. 
 
 Another curious way of giving oracular responses 
 to seekings after knowledge of futurity is by means 
 of a bird, which is trained to pick out at random 
 two out of sixty-four cards which are laid before it. 
 On each card is drawn either a god, a bird, a beast, 
 
3o8 CHINA. 
 
 or a man, and on the reverse side is written a stanza 
 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 inquirer'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 deduced 
 symptoms of the destiny of the individual, as well as 
 the nature of his disposition. Masters of this art pro- 
 claim their profession to passers-by by a sign bearing 
 representations of the human countenance, which 
 may be seen suspended over stalls in the bye-ways 
 of cities, as well as outside shops. Books for the 
 guidance of the professors are numerous, and are 
 minute in their details. The following gleanings have 
 been gathered from one of the best-known native 
 works on this curious subject : — 
 
 The face of a man favoured by fortune should 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 distinguished is likely to prove a 
 
SUPERSTITIONS. 309 
 
 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 meeting him face 
 to face, ask who he is, for he is a somebody. If you 
 cannot see the jawbones of a man under like circum- 
 stances, ask where he comes from, that you may avoid 
 him. A large face and a small body are signs of 
 happiness, and the reverse is an omen of evil. He 
 who has no vestige 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. A man with a narrow head 
 and long hair will encounter difficulties, and death 
 from starvation will overtake him whose hair grows 
 long down to his ears. He vyhose hair turns white at 
 an early age will not be fortunate ; but for him whose 
 hair after turning white should recover its original 
 colour, great happiness is in store. 
 
 History asserts that in antiquity no instance was 
 known of a man with thick hair, becoming prime- 
 minister. Women with ultramarine-coloured hair, 
 
CHINA. 
 
 like Buddha's, will marry men of distinction, and she 
 who is the owner of glistening hair and a round and 
 sleek face, will enter the Emperor's harem. People 
 with dimples, .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 sepa- 
 rated will be rich and prosperous ; but if they be thin 
 and yellow in colour, though he may be fortunate at 
 first, misfortune is sure to overtake him. 
 
 The eyes, we are told, are to the body 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 important features, and are dis- 
 tinguished 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 
 longevity, and ears broad and large belong to men of 
 ability and wealth. 
 
 The mouth is " the door of the heart, and out of it 
 
SUPERSTITIONS. 31 r 
 
 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 honour. 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 starvation. And among the many animal-like 
 mouths, possessing peculiar characteristics, is noted 
 that like a mouse's, which, we are told, belongs to an 
 envious and jealous man, and is the channel for vili- 
 fying words which scorch like fire. 
 
 Such are some few of the points of feature particu- 
 larly observed by Chinese physiognomists. 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 
 millfoil, it can boast of an ancestry which, to us, seems 
 far-reaching. We read, for example, in history, that 
 on one occasion, Kaou-tsoo, the first emperor of the 
 Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 25), when a young man, 
 and before 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 features 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. 
 
312 CHINA. 
 
 I have a daughter, the fairest and the wisest in the 
 empire ; take her as your wife." The man's pre- 
 science was justified by the event, and had its reward. 
 Kaou-tsoo rapidly acquired fame, and, before long, 
 the prophet's daughter was proclaimed empress. 
 
 Not content, however, with divining by the out- 
 ward appearance and by external signs, the Chinese, 
 like some among ourselves, resort to spiritualism, 
 and in some cases invite the invoked 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 
 has to be pronounced: "Magic pencil most efficacious, 
 daily possessing subtle strength, now I take thee to 
 reveal clearly everything," and a mystic character has 
 to 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 seance, 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- 
 dressed to the Great Royal Bodhisattva, informing 
 him that the sacrifices are prepared, and requesting 
 that one of the great spirits wandering through the 
 clouds should be sent to the house of the writer. 
 This petition is burnt before the shrine of the deity, 
 
SUPERSTITIONS. 313 
 
 and the name and address of the petitioner are posted 
 up outside the door for the information of the spirit. 
 
 " Later in the evening, two or three of the company 
 assembled go to the door, burn there some gold 
 paper and make an indefinite number of bows and 
 prostrations, receiving, as it were, the spirit on entering 
 the house. Having conducted him into the hall, an 
 arm-chair is moved to the table, whilst incense and 
 candles are lighted. At the same time the medium 
 approaches, the handle of 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 hands near the head of the 
 table, and, addressing the spirit with becoming re- 
 verence, says, ' Great spirit, if you have arrived, be 
 pleased to write the character " arrived * on this table.' 
 Immediately the magic pencil begins to move, and 
 the required character appears legibly written on the 
 sand, whereupon all present request the spirit to sit on 
 the large arm-chair, whilst the deity, which is supposed 
 to have conducted him hither, is likewise politely 
 asked to sit down on another chair. The whole 
 company now bow and prostrate 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 
 
314 CHINA. 
 
 honourable name, what offices were you invested 
 with, and under which dynasty did you live on 
 earth?' Immediately the magic pencil is seen mov- 
 ing, and answers to these questions appear written 
 in the sand. After this every one of the assembly 
 may put a question one after the other, but each 
 question is to 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 cha- 
 racters 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 deciphering a sentence, 
 the magic pencil moves again and writes on the 
 sand the two characters ■ That's it.' When a sentence 
 is finished in this way, the sand on the table has to 
 be smoothed again with a bamboo roller, and whilst 
 this is being done, the whole company address flatter- 
 ing 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 
 reverence, the spirit writes down some sentences 
 containing a sharp rebuke. The motions of the 
 
SUPERSTITIONS. 315 
 
 pencil are quite extraordinary, and apparently not 
 produced by the medium on whose open palms the 
 handle of the pencil 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, addressing the whole company, writes on the 
 table, ' Gentlemen, I am much obliged for your liberal 
 presents, but now I must beg leave to depart.' To 
 this, all persons present reply, saying, ' Please, great 
 spirit, stop a little longer,' but the spirit jots down, 
 as if in a great hurry, the two characters, ' Excuse 
 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." * 
 Clairvoyantism, 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 superstitious people of China. 
 
 1 " Notes and Queries on China and Japan.'' 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 FUNERAL RITES. 
 
 HE disposal of the dead has never 
 been a vexed question in China. 
 From time immemorial they have 
 buried their dead out of their sight. 
 The grave of the Emperor Fuh-he 
 (2852-2737 B.C.) is still pointed out 
 in Honan, and the last resting-places 
 of his succesors are to this day re- 
 cognized by tradition. What rites 
 accompanied funerals in very primitive times we 
 know not, but we have evidence in the She king 
 and elsewhere that under the Chow dynasty the 
 practice of immolating men at the tombs of the de- 
 parted great was at least occasionally carried out. 
 The probability is that the Chinese adopted the 
 custom from the aboriginal tribes ; but, however that 
 may be, we read that at the funeral of Duke Ch'ing, 
 
FUNERAL RITES. 317 
 
 in the 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 177 men were immo- 
 lated 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 told 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 persons 
 with the deceased to serve him in the regions below. 
 The thing being referred to Tsze-k'in, he proposed 
 that the widow and steward should themselves be 
 the victims of their own affectionate zeal, upon which 
 the matter was dropped. After many centuries of 
 disuse, it was, according to Dr. Wells Williams, re- 
 vived by Shun-che, the first emperor of the present 
 dynasty (A.D. 1 644-1 661), who ordered thirty persons 
 to be immolated at the funeral of his empress. On 
 a like occasion in the career of his son and successor, 
 K'ang-hc, four persons offered to sacrifice themselves 
 at the tomb of their imperial mistress. But K'ang-he 
 forbade it, and since then there has been no recurrence 
 of the barbarous practice. 
 
 Of these living sacrifices the rituals make no men- 
 tion ; 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 red Indian's 
 
18 CHINA. 
 
 horse, canoe, and paddle are made to share his tomb, 
 that they may 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. In the same way 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 minister, 
 whose resting-place was guarded by Lwan-trees (a 
 kind of malvaceous tree) ; an official lay under only 
 half that height of earth, and under the shadow of 
 ebony-trees ; while the people were forbidden to 
 raise any mounds on their graves, and were allowed 
 only to plant willow-trees at their tombs. 
 
 Even the very name of death — the great leveller 
 — was not, 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 pick Ink, " 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 central door of the 
 palace, weeping morning and night. But courtly 
 funerals are far too cumbersome in ceremonial and 
 elaborate in detail to be described here, and even in 
 the homes of the people the rites are so numerous 
 
FUNERAL RITES. 319 
 
 that it will be impossible to follow the mourners 
 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 
 by all present. On the approach of death, the sufferer 
 is carried into the principal hall, where subsequently 
 the processes of washing the corpse and placing it in 
 the coffin are gone through. The water used for the 
 washing is "bought" from the nearest river. The 
 purchaser, who is the chief mourner, goes in proces- 
 sion, supported by his friends and accompanied 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 the River 
 King. The washing being over, the corpse is dressed 
 in handsome silken robes, three being the number 
 allowed by the sumptuary laws to officers 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 
 
32o . CHINA. 
 
 presence of the assembled family ; the women stand- 
 ing 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 care is taken that 
 this position should be maintained by filling in the 
 empty spaces with clothes, and any object or objects 
 which may have been personally prized by the 
 deceased. This is intelligible enough, but it is 
 difficult to understand 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 arrang- 
 ments 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 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 suppo- 
 sition, a sedan-chair is transmitted for his use to the 
 other world by the act of burning a paper effigy of 
 one in the courtyard. 
 
 On the third day, also, the mourners put on their 
 
FUNERAL RITES. 321 
 
 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 bamboo staff, on which he leans as though 
 overcome by sorrow, when mourning for his father, 
 and a t'ung (elaococca sinensis) staff when mourning 
 for his mother, the bamboo being symbolical 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, twenty-seven 
 months, the sons holding official appointments resign 
 their posts, and such as are candidates for examina- 
 tions refrain from competing. All scenes of festivity 
 are avoided, and even the procreation of children is 
 regarded as a slight on the deceased. 
 
 On the seventh day 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, approaching the bier, make obeisance before it, 
 at the same time presenting incense. While thus 
 paying their respects, the family keep up an accom- 
 paniment of wailing and stamping with the feet. 
 
 Each morning fresh water is poured into the basin 
 placed by the coffin, and before beginning each meal 
 
 ctniversity) 
 
322 CHINA. 
 
 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 command that the coffin should remain 
 in the hall for forty-nine days (and as a matter of 
 fact it is more often than not 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 morticed together 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 lower grades, and, to 
 the people, lacquer of any kind is forbidden. 
 
 The notions which Chinamen entertain concerning 
 the future life rob death of half 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 
 according to the approved fashion, is duly recognized, 
 and as men approach their three-score years and ten 
 this consideration not unfrequently impels them to 
 buy their own coffins, which they keep carefully by 
 
FUNERAL RITES. 323 
 
 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 neighbouring temple. 
 
 The next event of importance is the choice of a site 
 for the grave. This has to be determined by a pro- 
 fessor of the " Fung-shuy " superstition, who, compass 
 in hand, explores the desired district to find a spot 
 which combines all the qualities necessary for the 
 quiet repose of the dead. This should be at the junc- 
 tion 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 from 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 favoured 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. 
 Another occasional cause of delay is the rule that 
 
324 CHINA. 
 
 the funeral should not take place while any lady in 
 the household is enceinte. Archdeacon Gray men- 
 tions a case within his own knowledge, where a lady 
 remained unburied for several years because one or 
 other of the ladies of the family were constantly in 
 that condition. 
 
 But, as soon as the site is chosen and the other 
 rites are completed, the chief mourner goes with 
 workmen to the spot to dig the grave. Before begin- 
 ning he worships the genii of the mountain, and reads 
 aloud a notification addressed 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 our 
 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 respectfully beg to present to you 
 offerings of fruits and wines, which be graciously 
 pleased to accept." This letter having been sent on 
 its way, by being burnt to ashes, the work begins, 
 and, when the requisite depth is attained, the bottom 
 of the grave is protected from damp by a layer of 
 lime mixed with charcoal. 
 
 Everything being now ready for the interment, 
 a special service is held before the ancestral tablet of 
 the deceased, and the following announcement is 
 made to the spirit : " Perpetuating the rite of removal, 
 
FUNERAL RITES. 325 
 
 and the propitious hour no longer delaying, we are 
 now about to escort the funeral car, and thus reve- 
 rently to walk in the paths of our ancestors." The 
 assembled family then prostrate themselves before 
 the tablet, with tears and loud lamentations. 
 
 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 
 they beat loudly at intervals, to give warning of the 
 approach of the cavalcade ; and sixteen musicians, 
 immediately followed by men with flags, and by 
 others carrying red boards with the titles of the 
 deceased and of his ancestors inscribed on them in 
 letters of gold. . . . The ancestral tablets are fol- 
 lowed by four richly carved and gilded canopies — 
 carried sometimes by horses, sometimes by 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-chair, with a wooden 
 
326 CHINA. 
 
 tablet inscribed with the names of the deceased. 
 Then follows a man called Fung-loo-chun-jin, who 
 scatters, at intervals, pieces of paper supposed to 
 represent ingots of silver and gold. This mock money 
 is intended for hungry ghosts, i.e. y for the souls of 
 men who have died at the corners of the 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 
 living creature which 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 credited. 
 The argument is, that as cocks are birds of the East, 
 and as the East is the door of life, they can best con- 
 tain 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 family. 
 
 If the distance to the grave is short, the mourners 
 walk in the procession, with the exception of the small- 
 footed women, who are, for the most part, carried on 
 the backs of their female attendants. But, when the 
 distance is considerable, -the mourners, both male and 
 female, travel in sedan-chairs, if in the south of China, 
 and in carts or on horseback, if in the north. On 
 arrival at the grave the mourners perform the kotow 
 1 Archdeacon Gray's " China," vol. i. 
 
FUNERAL RITES. 327 
 
 before the coffin, the men on the left and the women 
 on the right. The coffin is then lowered into the grave, 
 and the Fung-shuy professor, having satisfied himself 
 that it is in exactly the right position, proceeds to 
 burn a quantity of mock money, carriages, and 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 to it during the 
 first hundred days of mourning, the mourners s;it 
 down to the baked meats of the funeral feast. At 
 the end of a hundred days, the sons and near relatives 
 shave their heads and exchange their white shoes and 
 white silken additions to their queues for blue ones, 
 that colour being the next stage towards a return to 
 the ordinary colours of everyday life. By a common 
 fiction the period of three years' mourning is reduced 
 to twenty-seven months, at the end of which time the 
 family return to the use of red visiting-cards, and 
 remove from their dwelling and attire all traces of 
 their grief. Sons holding official rank return to their 
 posts, candidates for examination present themselves 
 before the examiners, and the pent-up ceremonies of 
 marrying and giving in marriage are entered upon 
 with alacrity. 
 
 On the anniversary of the death of the deceased, 
 and also in the third month in each year, the family 
 
328 CHINA. 
 
 go to the tomb to offer sacrifice at it. The tombs, 
 which are all designed, not according to the taste 
 of the survivors, but in obedience to recognized 
 rules, vary in size and in various particulars, ac- 
 cording 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 O, which, if it were not 
 traceable to the requirements of Fung-shuy, might be 
 supposed to have been adopted from the conven- 
 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 ranks must 
 be content to lie within a boundary of one hundred 
 and ten yards long, with 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. 
 
 A sliding-scale is also provided in the matter 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 larger, and of granite. The tombstone, which 
 records the name and titles of the deceased and the 
 
FUNERAL RITES. 
 
 329 
 
 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 
 Shan-se 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 monument 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 emperors of the Ming dynasty was in 
 the neighbourhood of Nanking, while the sovereigns 
 
33° 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 of the present line repose among the mountains to the 
 north-east of Peking. 
 
 But, universal as the practice of burying may be 
 said to be in China, there are exceptions to it. The 
 Buddhist priests prefer, as a rule, cremation ; and this 
 custom, which came with the religion they profess 
 from India, 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 disinter them. On such occasions, 
 they go, accompanied by their friends, to the grave, 
 and open the tomb. They then take out the bones, 
 and, after having brushed and washed them carefully, 
 they return them to their resting-place wrapped in 
 cloth. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. 
 
 HE Chinese describe themselves as 
 possessing three religions, or more 
 accurately, three sects, namely foo 
 keaou, the sect of Scholars ; Fuh 
 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 generally 
 called, Confucianism, represents 
 pre-eminently 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 Chinese race. 
 Hwang-te (2697 B.C.) erected a temple to his honour 
 and succeeding emperors worshipped before his shrine. 
 The very uncertain light that history throws on the 
 condition of the empire during the Hea dynasty and 
 the preceding centuries makes it impossible to pre- 
 
332 CHINA, 
 
 dicate anything of the relations in which the sove- 
 reigns and people stood to Shang-te ; but with the 
 rise to power of the Shang dynasty (i 766-1401 B.C.), 
 we find a belief prevailing in the personal interference 
 of Shang-te in the affairs of man. It was due to 
 him that, as a reward for virtuous and godly living, 
 men were raised to the throne, and, contrariwise, his 
 was the avenging hand which drove into obscurity 
 those sovereigns who had deserted the paths of recti- 
 tude. Thus we read in the 'Skoo king that, " moved 
 with indignation at the crime of King Show, Great 
 Heaven (i.e. Shang-te) charged King Wan (the 
 twelfth century B.C.) to display its majesty, and to 
 destroy the tyrant." 
 
 But, during the troublous times which followed 
 after the reign of the first few sovereigns of the Chow 
 dynasty, the belief in a personal deity grew indistinct 
 and dim, until, when Confucius began his career, 
 there appeared nothing strange in his atheistic doc- 
 trines. He never in any way denied the existence 
 of Shang-te, but he ignored him. His concern was 
 with man as a member of society, and the object of 
 his teaching was to lead him into those paths of 
 rectitude which might best contribute to his own 
 happiness, and to the well-being of the 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- 
 
THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. 333 
 
 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 knowledge ; those who learn, 
 and so readily get possession of knowledge ; those 
 who are dull and stupid, and yet succeed in learning ; 
 and, 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 the u sage " 
 is open. Man has only to watch, listen to, under- 
 stand, and obey the moral sense implanted in him by 
 Heaven, and the highest perfection is within his 
 reach. The self-cultivation of each man was the 
 root of his system which is thus epitomized in the 
 " Great Learning," by Tsang, one of Confucius's 
 disciples : * The ancients who wished to illustrate 
 illustrious virtue throughout the empire, first ordered 
 well their own states. Wishing to order well their 
 own states, they first regulated their 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. 
 Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first 
 extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such 
 extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of 
 things. When things were investigated, knowledge 
 became complete. Their knowledge being complete, 
 
334 CHINA. 
 
 their thoughts became sincere. Their thoughts being 
 sincere, their hearts were then rectified. Their hearts 
 being rectified, their persons were cultivated. Their 
 persons being cultivated, their families were regu- 
 lated. Their families being regulated, their states 
 were rightly governed. Their states being rightly- 
 governed, the whole 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 manifested in the exercise of filial 
 piety, which is the corner-stone of the Confucian 
 edifice. 
 
 But in this system there is no place for a personal 
 God. The impersonal Heaven, according to Con- 
 fucius, implants a pure nature in every being at his 
 birth, but, having done this, there is no further super- 
 natural interference with the thoughts and deeds of 
 men. It is in the power of each one to perfect his 
 nature, but 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 was 
 quite content to occupy himself with the study of his 
 fellow-men, and was disinclined to grope into the 
 
THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA, 335 
 
 future or to peer upwards. No wonder that his sys- 
 tem, 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 so soon as princes and statesmen had 
 satisfied their curiosity about him they turned their 
 backs on his precepts and would have none of his 
 reproofs. 
 
 Succeeding ages, recognizing the loftiness of his 
 aims, eliminated all that was impracticable 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 doctrines of filial 
 piety, brotherly love, and virtuous living. It is ad- 
 miration 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 to be the Mecca of Confucianism, and has adorned 
 every city of the empire with temples built in his 
 honour. 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 
 
336 CHINA. 
 
 mortal men there has not been thine equal. All 
 kings honour thee. Thy statutes and laws have come 
 gloriously down. Thou art the pattern of this im- 
 perial 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 im- 
 perial master. But concurrently with the lapse of 
 pure Confucianism, and the adoption of those prin- 
 ciples which find their earliest expression in the pre- 
 Confucian classics of China, there is observable a 
 return to the worship of Shang-te. The most mag- 
 nificent temple in the empire is the Temple of 
 Heaven at Peking, where the highest object of Chinese 
 worship is adored with the purest rites. The Em- 
 peror, as representative 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, and accompanied by 
 his princes and ministers, to the Palace of Fasting 
 adjoining the temple, and spends the night in medi- 
 tation. At dawn of day he ascends the Altar of 
 Heaven. There he prostrates himself before the 
 tablet of Shang-te, and, having presented the sacri- 
 
THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. 337 
 
 fices prescribed in the rituals, he offers up a prayer, 
 in which he humbles himself before the deity, and 
 beseeches 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, 
 since it finds its expression in those ancient classical 
 works from which alone the scholars of the empire 
 draw their faith and wisdom. 
 
 But 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 neighbours, 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 appeals only to the intellects of a small 
 body of scb :>lars. 
 
 Side by side with the revival of the Joo keaou y 
 under the influence of Confucius, grew up a system of 
 a totally different nature, and which, when divested 
 of its esoteric doctrines, and reduced by the prac- 
 tically minded Chinaman to a code of morals, was 
 
 z 
 
338 CHINA. 
 
 destined in future ages to become affiliated with the 
 teachings of the Sage. This was Taouism, which 
 was founded by Laou-tsze, who was a contemporary 
 of Confucius. An air of mystery hangs over the 
 history of Laou-tsze. Of his parentage we know 
 nothing, and the historians, in their anxiety to conceal 
 their ignorance 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 nor of his declining 
 years, they suggest the possibility that he was a 
 foreigner, or perhaps a member of an aboriginal 
 frontier tribe. This supposition finds some counte- 
 nance 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 
 village of Keuh jin (" oppressed benevolence "), in the 
 parish of Le ("cruelty"), in the district of K'oo 
 (" bitterness "), in the state of Ts'oo (" suffering "). 
 This K'oo is commonly identified with an ancient 
 city of that name, which stood near the modern 
 
THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. 339 
 
 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 honour. 
 
 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 had its home in a part of the 
 same province. Here we find him, surrounded by a 
 band of disciples, teaching a system which embodied 
 so many of the leading doctrines of the Indian phi- 
 losophers, 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 com- 
 munication 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 his office at the Court of Chow, 
 and passed westward through the Han-koo Pass. 
 The object of his teaching was to induce men, by the 
 practice of self-abnegation, to arrive at being ab- 
 sorbed in something which he called Taou, and which 
 bears a certain resemblance to the Nirvana of the 
 Buddhists. The primary 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. 
 
34o CHINA. 
 
 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 things originated from 
 Taou, conformed to Taou, and to Taou at last re- 
 turned. " 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 endangered. It is ever inactive, and yet leaves 
 nothing undone. . . . Formless, it is the cause of 
 form. ... It is the ethical nature of the good man 
 and the principle of his action. If, then, we had to 
 express the meaning of Taou, 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 u Mother of all things " 
 that Laou-tsze aimed at. And this end was to be 
 attained to by self-emptiness, and by giving free 
 scope to the uncontaminated nature which, like Con- 
 fucius, 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- 
 1 " Confucianism and Taouism." 
 
THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. 341 
 
 tsze said, Return to the manners of the time before 
 vice had made names necessary, 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." But these subtleties, like the more ab- 
 struse speculations of Confucius, were suited only to 
 the taste of the schools. To the common people 
 they were foolishness, and, before long, the philo- 
 sophical doctrine of Laou-tsze as to 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 prolongation of the time 
 when those pleasures could be enjoyed. Legend 
 said that Laou-tsze had secured to himself 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 de- 
 generated 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 
 emperors, and all the unselfish and virtuous teachings 
 of Laou-tsze were forgotten. 
 
 The superstitious credulity of the people almost 
 
342 CHINA. 
 
 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 attempt to avert those ills of life, 
 disease and poverty, which have pressed so hardly on 
 humanity through all ages, took the place of vain 
 seekings 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 blessings 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 sayings of Laou-tsze, which 
 differed little from the popular aspect of Confucianism. 
 The concessions thus made were met by correspond- 
 ing concessions on the part of Confucianists, who 
 have practically adopted into their cult the worship 
 of many of the gods which were invented by the 
 Taouists. Wan ctiang te kenn, the god of literature, 
 for example, receives imperial worship twice in each 
 year, and is universally invoked by competitors at the 
 literary examinations on behalf of their efforts. The 
 monopoly which Taouist priests enjoy, as the expo- 
 nents of the mysteries of nature, make them indispen- 
 sably necessary to all classes, and the most confirmed 
 Confucianist does not hesitate to consult the shaven 
 followers of Laou-tsze on the choice of the site for 
 his house, the position of his family graveyard, or a 
 
THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. 
 
 343 
 
 fortunate day for undertaking an enterprise. Apart 
 from the practice of these magical arts, Taouism has 
 become assimilated with modern Confucianism, and 
 
 is scarcely distinguishable from it. But in its more 
 debased and superstitious form it is as far removed 
 from Confucianism as Shamanism is from the teach- 
 ings of Sakyamuni. 
 
344 CHINA, 
 
 The teachings of Laou-tsze having familiarized the 
 Chinese mind with philosophical doctrines, which, 
 whatever were their direct sources, 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 of Buddha was, accord- 
 ing to an author quoted in K'ang-he's Imperial 
 Encyclopaedia, the thirtieth, year of the reign of She 
 Hwang- te, i.e., 216 B.C. The story this writer tells of 
 the difficulties which the first missionaries encountered 
 is curious, and singularly suggestive of the narrative 
 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 
 original sutras in Brahma's [Fan] characters. Being 
 foreigners, they were examined by the officials, and 
 by the Emperor's orders were thrown into prison as 
 " strange customers." But Le-fang and his comrades 
 continued chanting the Maha Prajna Paramita Sutra, 
 when suddenly a brilliantly bright and shining light, 
 accompanied by an auspicious halo, permeated into 
 and filled the prison. And at the same time appeared 
 a deity, bright as gold (Jit., golden deity), holding in his 
 hand a sceptre with which, with exceeding majesty, 
 he struck the prison [walls], which shivered to atoms 
 at his blow. Le-fang and his companions then came 
 forth, and the Emperor, alarmed at the miracle, re- 
 
THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. 345 
 
 pented of his sin, and treated his quondam prisoners 
 with every sign of marked respect. 
 
 But what became of them we are not told ; pos- 
 sibly, disgusted with the reception they had met with, 
 they returned whence they came. At all events, 
 they left no mark on the minds of the people, and 
 the next reference to Buddhism, or what is claimed 
 for Buddhism, is found in the history of the reign of 
 Woo-te, who in 120 B.C., sent General Ho K'u-p'ing 
 with a large force against the Heung-noo Tartars. 
 This officer, we are told, having crossed the Yen-k'e 
 Mountains (in Turkestan ?), defeated the enemy, and 
 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 instruction in the religion was received 
 with it, and it was reserved for the Emperor Ming-te, 
 a hundred and eighty-two years later, to introduce a 
 knowledge of that system which, in purity and lofti- 
 ness 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 Forty-two Sections, and, what was more important, 
 
346 CHINA. 
 
 the mission was accompanied by the Indian, Kasyapa 
 Matanga, who, on his arrival at Loyang, translated 
 the sutra into Chinese. Kasyapa Matanga was fol- 
 lowed by Fa-lan, who brought with him, among other 
 works, the Dasabhumi Sutra and the Lalita Vistara. 
 These, in conjunction with his fellow-labourer, he 
 translated into Chinese, and from this time Buddhism 
 grew and prevailed in the land. 
 
 During the next few centuries constant additions 
 were made to the number of the Indian missionaries, 
 who were indefatigable in their work as translators. 
 But 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 translated 
 sutras made. For this purpose Kumarajiva, a learned 
 Indian priest, was invited to the Court of Tsin, 
 where he was given office, and where, with the help 
 of eight hundred 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 countrymen. By a some- 
 what circuitous route by the Steppes of Tartary, 
 Khoten, and Afghanistan, he reached the goal of his 
 desires. With all the zeal of a convert, he visited, 
 with devotion, the spots made sacred by the presence 
 of Buddha, never, however, forgetting the main object 
 
THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. 347 
 
 of his journey, and finally returned to China by sea 
 from Ceylon, after an absence of fourteen years, laden 
 with books. 
 
 But, besides books and images, relics of Buddha 
 were brought to China, and were received with every 
 token of honour. The priest, Hiuen-tsang, who 
 visited India rather more than two centuries 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 even now, in a dim glass 
 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 disciples, who have the mind of Buddha, 
 this precious relic appears to be of a yellow colour, 
 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 done against Chris- 
 tianity ; but the instinct of the nation declared 
 against them, and they had the mortification of 
 seeing pagoda after pagoda 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 thousand Indians in 
 China, and it was at this time that B6dhidharma, the 
 first of the six patriarchs, arrived at Canton by sea. 
 
348 CHINA. 
 
 By his teaching was first brought to the knowledge 
 of the Chinese the Mahayana system, which was the 
 outcome of the change which Buddhism had under- 
 gone in India. It was prophesied by Buddha that for 
 five hundred years the purity of his doctrine would be 
 maintained, but that a thousand years after his time 
 men would depart from the true path and wander in 
 the 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 charity of which 
 his system consisted, and turned aside in pursuit of 
 philosophical and abstrusely metaphysical ideas, and 
 in search of ritualistic emblems and idolatrous sym- 
 bolism. The non-existence of existence, and the un- 
 reality 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 alorfe they believed would enable them 
 to suppress lust, to conquer the sensations, and to 
 attain bliss. For nine years B6dhidharma sat with 
 his face to a wall at a monastery in Loyang, earn- 
 ing for himself a high reputation for spirituality by 
 so doing, and when the time came for him to die he 
 departed in the full odour of sanctity. " Where are 
 you going ? " inquired Sung-yun, the traveller, of his 
 corpse, as it lay in the coffin, holding one shoe in its 
 
THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA, 
 
 349 
 
 hand. "To the western heaven," was the confident 
 and ghostly reply. 
 
 For with the introduction of the Mahayana system 
 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 is there a sevenfold row of railings 
 or balustrades, thirdly a sevenfold row of silken 
 nets, and lastly a sevenfold row of trees hedging in 
 the whole country. In the midst of it there are 
 
350 CHINA. 
 
 seven precious ponds, the water of which possesses 
 all the eight qualities which the best water can have, 
 viz., it is still, it is pure and cold, it is sweet and 
 agreeable, it is light and soft, it is fresh and rich, 
 it tranquillizes, it removes hunger and thirst, and 
 finally it nourishes 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 coloured transparent jewels. On the surface 
 of the water there are beautiful lotos-flowers floating, 
 each as large as a carriage-wheel, displaying the most 
 dazzling colours, and dispersing the most fragrant 
 aroma. There are also beautiful birds there, which 
 make delicious enchanting music, and at every breath 
 of wind the very trees on which these birds are resting 
 join in the chorus, shaking their leaves in trembling 
 accords of sweetest harmony. . . . This music is 
 like Lieder ohne Worte ; its melodies speak to the 
 heart ; but they discourse on Buddha, Dharma, and 
 Samgha, and wake an echo in every breast, so that all 
 the immortals that live in this happy land instinctively 
 join in hymns of praise, devoutly invoking Buddha., 
 Dharma, and Samgha." 1 
 
 Such was the blissful region to which Bodhid- 
 harma declared himself to be marching on, and such 
 is the heaven which Chinese Buddhists of the present 
 1 Eitel's " Lectures on Buddhism." 
 
THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. 351 
 
 day hope to reach. But this goal is not to be at- 
 tained by any effort, however praiseworthy, which 
 would only contaminate the mind, but is to be won 
 solely by abstracting the mind from everything beyond 
 itself, by sitting before a wall, if not actually, as the 
 first patriarch did, yet mentally, by seeing nothing, 
 hearing nothing, and thinking of nothing. The in- 
 vention 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 ordinary Chinaman can realize 
 But its existence is obviously inconsistent with the 
 orthodox belief in Nirvana. However much schools 
 may differ as to what Nirvana is, they must be all 
 agreed that it is not a material paradise, such as 
 the "pure land in the West," which, like Dan and 
 Beersheba, consecrated by Jeroboam, is presented as 
 an easily attainable substitute for the Jerusalem of 
 Nirvana. 
 
 To that school of Buddhists which regards Nirvana 
 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 surrounding 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 widely. 
 
352 CHINA. 
 
 There are those who believe in the annihilation 
 theory, and there are those who hold that the an* 
 nihilation 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 enjoy ages of happiness before it 
 has again to enter the circles of metempsychosis, and 
 by a fresh course of virtue to win its way to the 
 supreme bliss of Nirvana. 
 
 But such a theme admits of the wildest speculations, 
 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 annihi- 
 lation, and quote a noted saying of Sakyamuni's, 
 "the name Nirvana does not imply that it is a state 
 of annihilation ; " but they 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 annihilated 
 nor non-annihilated. Nirvana is to them a state of 
 
THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. 353 
 
 Avhich nothing can be said, to which no attributes 
 can be given ; it is altogether an abstract, devoid 
 alike of all positive and negative qualities." x 
 
 But, just 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 Mahayana school, 
 a system which should appeal 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 pro- 
 claimed themselves adepts in witchcraft and sorcery. 
 By magic incantations they exorcised evil spirits, and 
 dissipated famine, pestilence, and disease. By the 
 exercise of their supernatural powers they rescued 
 souls from hell, and arrested pain and death. In the 
 services 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. 
 
 But, while that inexorable taskmaster, Superstition, 
 compels even the wise and the learned to pay their 
 homage to folly, there is scarcely an educated China- 
 
 1 " The Chinese Recorder," vol. iii., No. 1. 
 
 2 A 
 
354 CHINA. 
 
 man who would not indignantly repudiate the impu- 
 tation of being a follower of Buddha ; and, though 
 the common people throng the temples to buy 
 charms and consult astrology, they yet thoroughly 
 despise both the priests and the religion they profess. 
 But Buddhism has after all been a blessing rather 
 than a curse in China. It has, to a certain extent, 
 lifted the mind of the people from the too-exclusive 
 consideration of mundane affairs to the contempla- 
 tion 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 neighbours. 
 
 From what has been said it will be seen that no 
 clearly defined line of demarcation separates the 
 three great sects of China. Each in its turn has 
 borrowed from the others, until at the present day it 
 may be doubted whether there are to be found any 
 pure Confucianists, pure Buddhists, or pure Taouists in 
 China. Confucianism has provided the moral basis 
 on which the national character of the Chinese rests, 
 and Buddhism and Taouism have supplied the super- 
 natural elements wanting in that system. Speaking 
 generally, then, the religion of China is a medley of 
 the three great sects, which are now so closely inter- 
 laced that it is impossible either to classify, localize, 
 or enumerate the members of each creed. 
 
 The only other religion of importance in China is 
 
THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. 
 
 >S5 
 
 Mahommedanism, which is confined to the south- 
 western and north-western provinces of the empire. 
 In this faith, also, the process of absorption into the 
 national pot ponrri of beliefs is making way, and 
 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 XX. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA. 
 
 E have no record as to the date when 
 the earliest Christian missionaries 
 reached China. In the 6th century 
 of our era we know that Nestorian 
 monks arrived at Constantinople 
 from China, but of their mission 
 in the East we are without any 
 account, and if it were not for the 
 • celebrated tablet at Se-ngan Foo, 
 we should be left without a trace of the early Nes- 
 torian Church in China. That tablet, which is dated 
 A.D. 781, and which sets forth the fundamental doc- 
 trines of Christianity, is signed by "Adam, deacon, 
 vicar episcopal, and pope of China," and was dis- 
 covered in 1625, at Se-ngan Foo, in Shense, by a 
 sympathetic native, who, to rescue it from decay, 
 had it built into a brick wall outside the city. It has 
 lately been suggested by Dr. Terrien de Lacouperie 
 
 ft-— 
 
 1p 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA. 357 
 
 that this stone should be procured for the British 
 Museum, and negotiations have been set on foot for 
 the purpose of carrying out this proposal. 
 
 That no trace of the Nestorians beyond this in- 
 scription should be existing is sufficient evidence that 
 the success of the missionaries was not great ; and 
 the field was, therefore, practically open to the Roman 
 Catholic emissaries, when under Pope Nicholas IV. 
 the proselytizing zeal of the church was at full tide. 
 By a commission from that pontiff, John Montecorvino 
 visited the court of Kublai Khan, at the end of the 
 thirteenth century, and, having been well received by 
 that monarch, he built a church at Cambaluc, the 
 capital. For eleven years he carried on his mission 
 work single-handed, and in that time he baptized six 
 thousand persons and instructed a hundred and fifty 
 children in Latin and Greek. At the beginning of the 
 fourteenth century, the Pope, Clement V., appointed 
 him archbishop, and sent out seven suffragan bishops 
 to his aid. For a time the work thus successfully 
 begun, flourished ; but with the decline of the Mongol 
 power the imperial countenance which had been given 
 to the missionaries was withdrawn, and during the 
 troublous times which preceded and succeeded the 
 advent of the Ming dynasty to supremacy, their work 
 was entirely suspended. 
 
 But China was never lost sight of, and when the 
 Ming emperors had fully established themselves on 
 
353 CHINA. 
 
 the throne, the Superior of the Jesuits despatched 
 Michael Ruggiero and Matteo Ricci to gather up the 
 threads which had been dropped by Montecorvino's 
 successors. With some difficulty the two missionaries 
 succeeded in gaining a footing in Shaou-king, in the 
 Canton province, but in 1598, Ricci reached Nanking, 
 and three years later he established himself at Peking. 
 There he was favourably received by the Emperor, 
 Wan-leih, under whose benign influence he made 
 numerous proselytes. Among them was a wealthy 
 native, named Sii, who assisted Ricci in translating 
 Euclid into Chinese, and whose daughter, baptized 
 under the name of Candida, built thirty-nine churches 
 and printed one hundred and thirty Christian books 
 in her native tongue. Ricci died in 1 610, and was suc- 
 ceeded by Longobardi, who, in many respects, was well 
 qualified to wear the mantle of his great precursor. 
 He was not strong enough, however, to withstand 
 the persecutions which broke out in 161 6, and which 
 culminated in a decree ordering the missionaries to 
 leave the country. This mandate was only partially 
 obeyed, and so industriously did the priests work in 
 and after their seclusion, that by 1636, they had pub- 
 lished as many as three hundred and forty treatises 
 in Chinese on religion, philosophy, and mathematics. 
 By the exertions of Sii, the decree of 161 6 was 
 reversed in 1622, and Schaal, a German Jesuit, was 
 received by the court at Peking in 1628. But 
 
(UNIVERSITY) 
 
 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA. 359 
 
 troublous times were now falling on the country. 
 The Ming dynasty was approaching its end, and in 
 1644, Shun-che, the first emperor of the present 
 Manchoo line, ascended the throne. With this monarch 
 Schaal found favour, and was appointed by him 
 President of the Astronomical Board. But, on Shun- 
 che's death, the enemies of the missionaries, taking 
 advantage of the division which existed between the 
 Jesuits and the Franciscans and Dominicans, presented 
 a memorial to the regents which procured a second 
 edict ordering the expulsion of the priests. The 
 disappointment occasioned by this misfortune was 
 too much for Schaal, who died of grief and suffering 
 in 1665, at the age of seventy-eight. Many of his 
 companions were imprisoned, and twenty-one Jesuits, 
 with some of the other sects, were expelled from the 
 country. Six years later the wheel of fortune again 
 turned in favour of the missionaries. According to 
 Magaillans, the revulsion was due to the effect pro- 
 duced on the Emperor by an earthquake which shook 
 Peking to its foundations, but it may probably have 
 been but the expression of the liberal views of the 
 Emperor K'ang-he, who further released Verbiest, one 
 of the imprisoned priests, and appointed him Imperial 
 Astronomer. For thirty years Verbiest resided in 
 Peking, and during the whole time retained the favour 
 of the Emperor and the esteem of all with whom he 
 was brought into contact. 
 
360 CHINA. 
 
 It was during the period of Verbiest's supremacy 
 that the dispute between the Jesuits and the Fran- 
 ciscans and Dominicans on the subject of ancestral 
 worship came to a head. The dictum that this worship 
 was idolatrous had been pronounced by the Propa- 
 ganda with the approval of Innocent X. But repre- 
 sentations made by the Jesuits in China had induced 
 Alexander VII. to reverse the decree of his pre- 
 decessor, and the question therefore made a pretty 
 quarrel as it stood. In this condition of things, the 
 missionaries appealed to the Emperor, who issued the 
 somewhat oracular decree, that " T'een meant the true 
 God, and that the customs of China were political." 
 This did not advance matters, and so bitter became 
 the feud between the priests that, notwithstanding 
 the excellent work done by them in surveying the 
 country and regulating the calendar, K'ang-he was 
 at length, in 1718, compelled to issue an order for 
 their banishment from the country. This decree was 
 followed up by his successor, who published an edict 
 strictly prohibiting the "religion of the Lord of 
 Heaven," which he declared to be a mischievous creed, 
 and from that time to the conclusion of the treaty 
 of 1858, the missionaries carried on their work with 
 their lives in their hands and under every condition 
 of discouragement. 
 
 The protection given by France under the treaty to 
 Roman Catholic missionaries of all nationalities, gave 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA. 361 
 
 a great impetus to the cause, and in 1 870, there were 
 as many as 254 foreign bishops and missionaries in 
 China, 138 native priests, and 404,530 converts. 
 Beneficial as the protection of France proved to be 
 in time of peace, it became far otherwise when war 
 broke out between France and Tungking. The hatred 
 which was then generated towards France, extended 
 to the Roman Catholic missionaries of whatever 
 nationality, and the receipt of a letter addressed by 
 the Pope to the Emperor, pleading for the safety of 
 his emissaries, suggested a proposal on the part 
 of the Chinese government, that for the future they 
 should be represented at Peking by a Papal Nuncio. 
 This idea was vehemently opposed by the French 
 government, who saw that its acceptance would 
 materially diminish its influence in China, and after 
 lengthened negotiations, the Pope was induced to 
 withdraw his consent to the arrangement, the French 
 government at the same time agreeing to the removal 
 of the Pih-t'ang cathedral from the imperial city 
 to a site beyond the sacred enclosure. 
 
 The Protestant missionaries arrived on the scene 
 at a comparatively late period. It was not until the 
 beginning of the present century that Dr. Morrison, 
 the pioneer apostle, arrived in China, and it was still 
 some time before active measures were taken to 
 instruct the people. Morrison, and after him Milne, 
 who reached Canton in 18 13, devoted themselves 
 
3^2 CHINA. 
 
 to the study of the language, and in the case of 
 Morrison to the formation of a Chinese and English 
 dictionary. This work was published between the 
 years 1815 and 1823, at the cost of the Directors of 
 the East India Company and of English merchants 
 in China, who together contributed ;£i 2,000 to the 
 undertaking. Meanwhile, with the assistance of Dr. 
 Milne, he published a translation of the Bibie and a 
 number of religious pamphlets. Dr. Morrison died 
 in 1834, leaving behind him a rich legacy of acquired 
 knowledge and of systematized work which had 
 already produced results in the unsympathetic soil in 
 which it was carried on. In the same year, Dr. Parker, 
 the first medical missionary, arrived at Canton and 
 established a hospital. Subsequent experience has 
 shown that hospitals are most useful auxiliaries to 
 mission establishments. The desire to be cured of 
 their bodily ailments has in cases beyond number 
 brought natives to hospitals who would never other- 
 wise had entered a mission house, and while there the 
 influence of the missionaries and of their instructions 
 has very commonly been the means of converting 
 idolaters into Christians. This was eminently the case 
 in the hospitals established by Dr. Lockhart, at Ting- 
 hai (1840), Shanghai (1844), and Peking in 1861. Dr. 
 Medhurst paid a visit to China in 1835, and after 
 working in connexion with the missions there for 
 twenty-one years and publishing ninety-three works 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA. 363 
 
 in Chinese and English, he retired from the field. Dr. 
 Legge arrived at Hong-kong in 1841, and in addition 
 to his mission labours, translated the Chinese classics 
 into English, besides publishing numberless tracts in 
 the Chinese language. Without ceasing, every oppor- 
 tunity was taken by these men and their devoted 
 fellow-helpers to impart the truths of Christianity to 
 the Chinese, and immediately on the conclusion of the 
 treaty of 1858, attempts were made to penetrate into 
 the interior of the country. A society known as the 
 China Inland Mission was established with this par- 
 ticular object, and the members of it, who all wear the 
 native dress, have already met with considerable suc- 
 cess. Two years ago (1885), the ranks of these devoted 
 men were swelled by the arrival of a party of five 
 Bachelors of Arts from Cambridge and of two young 
 ex-officers who have determined to consecrate their 
 lives to the evangelization of the Chinese. 
 
 At the present time, at all the treaty ports there 
 are mission establishments representing the principal 
 sections of the Protestant Church, together with 
 hospitals, schools, and in many instances printing 
 presses. Thousands of Christian tracts and portions 
 of the Scriptures are published annually, and are dis- 
 tributed in the interior by colporteurs. One of the 
 most successful of these agents, Mr. Murray, sold 
 13,226 copies of parts of the Bible, in 1883, and lately 
 lie has been eminently successful in teaching blind 
 
364 CHINA. 
 
 people in Peking and the neighbourhood to read 
 books published in the blind alphabet. 
 
 In 1877, there were 478 foreign Protestant mission- 
 aries in China ; of this number 242 were British sub- 
 jects, 210 were American, and 26 were German. In 
 a country such as China, where the people are well 
 educated, and where either some form of religion or the 
 Confucian system of morality exercises most beneficial 
 influences over the lives of the natives, Christianity 
 must always have an uphill war to wage. It is far 
 easier to convert an Australian savage who worships 
 stocks and stones than to persuade a Chinese Buddhist 
 or Confucianist of the truths of Christianity. For the 
 same reason the missionaries find their most attentive 
 listeners among the common people, who, when left 
 alone by their superiors, hear them gladly. Com- 
 paratively' few converts belong to the highly educated 
 classes, and these will not be reached until they can 
 be taught that the wisdom in which they have trusted 
 for so many centuries is foolishness. But, though the 
 missionaries have had to encounter many and divers 
 difficulties, they can fairly claim many great and strik- 
 ing results. Fifty years ago there were scarcely any 
 Protestant converts in China, and at the present time 
 there are upwards of a hundred thousand recognized 
 members of different branches of the Protestant 
 Church, and twenty-two thousand communicants. 1 
 1 "Wanderings in China," vol. ii. p. 242. 
 

 
 
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 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE LANGUAGE. 
 
 T is a curious circumstance that the 
 Chinese, who have such a respect for 
 antiquity, and who are so proud of 
 their writing, should have no clear 
 account of its origin. As has 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 namely, hieroglyphic. But no such 
 inscriptions exist, showing that the writing had 
 already passed the purely hieroglyphic stage before 
 its introdution into the country. But, 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 
 
366 CHINA. 
 
 rude lines and marks which some of the aborigines 
 used to express their thoughts. And of this process 
 we have some 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 (2852- 
 2737 B.C.). These figures, which consist alternately 
 of whole and broken lines, and have been made the 
 basis of an ancient system of philosophy, suggest a 
 resemblance to notched sticks, or wands of divination. 
 But they have never been read. They bear no resem- 
 blance to Chinese characters, and therefore the state- 
 ment made in the Tsse heo peen of the T'oo shoo tseih 
 ching, that " Fuh-he imitated the Kwei writing, and 
 made the eight diagrams," is worthy of consideration 
 in lieu of any better derivation of them. But what 
 was the Kwei writing? In Ts'ai Yung's (a.D. 133— 
 192) work on the lesser seal characters, he says, in 
 terms which suggest a faded and restored tradition 
 of cuneiform characters : " The Kwei writing was 
 written irregularly and comb-wise, like a dragon's 
 scales. It hung down like drooping ears of millet, 
 and was as abstruse as the tangled web of insects. 
 Whether in combination or not, it was like drops of 
 rain finely drawn out and freezing as they fall. Seen 
 from a little distance they look like a flock of geese 
 and swans wandering in a continuous line. How- 
 
THE LANGUAGE. 367 
 
 ever 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 Lo River, which empties, 
 itself into the Ho. Now, one of the commonest 
 expressions used in Chinese books, in describing the 
 origin of writing, is that writing came from the Lo 
 (Lo shoo), and drawing from the Ho (Ho t'oo). The 
 localities from which these were derived are, there- 
 fore, sufficiently plainly indicated ; the next question 
 is, Who were their authors ? 
 
 By common consent, Chinese writers declare that 
 Ts'ang Hieh, a minister of Hwang-te (2697-2597 B.C.), 
 invented writing, but we are also told that he imi- 
 tated the coloured writing of the Kwei of Lo, and 
 developed 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, invented written characters — a statement 
 which may possibly have reference to cup-marks 
 which existed at a very early date in China, and to 
 
CHINA. 
 
 a restoration of the lost system of cuneiform writing. 
 According to tradition, he was a resident in what 
 is now Honan, and what more natural, therefore, 
 that he should have borrowed the rude attempts at 
 writing carved by the Kwei aborigines on the banks 
 of the Ho and Lo, and have moulded them into 
 characters. 
 
 The probability is, then, that such was the case, 
 and very possibly Fu-he's diagrams may have owed 
 their existence to the same origin. But such characters 
 merely supplemented the writing which the Chinese 
 brought with them into China, and we may dismiss, 
 therefore, as legendary the statement that the writing 
 ever went through the primitive hieroglyphic stage in 
 China. That had long been passed, 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 sounds 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 head-quarters of 
 the race, dialects sprung up, differing phonetic values 
 were given to the characters and their component 
 parts, and thus things were called by different names 
 in different parts of the country, and the characters 
 underwent modifications as the original pronunciation 
 of their parts suffered change. 
 
THE LANGUAGE. 369 
 
 Such was the state of things when She Chow, the 
 minister of Seuen Wang (827-781 B.C.), attempted 
 to remodel the system of writing, and for this purpose 
 invented the u large seal characters," to which he im- 
 parted more pictorial and symbolical features than 
 had existed in the earlier script. The project, how- 
 ever, was only partly successful. The inevitable laws 
 which govern the growth of language were not to be 
 confined within arbitrary limits, and the same process 
 of change which had metamorphosed the Koo wan, 
 or ancient writing, wrought havoc also with the large 
 seal characters. But 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 questioned by feudatories, who sought vi et 
 annis 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 
 Shivo wan, " ruled by violence, and ceased to be con- 
 trolled by the king ; they hated rites and music, 
 and did injury to them. Departing from the canoni- 
 cal records, they divided the empire into seven states. 
 They changed the measurements of the arable fields ; 
 they changed the wheel-gauge of the carnages ; they 
 changed the code of the statutes and commands ; 
 they changed the fashions of clothes and caps ; and 
 
 2 B 
 
37o CHINA. 
 
 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 cumbrous than the large seal 
 characters. These new characters, which were known 
 as Seaou chuen, or " small seal " characters, were less 
 complicated and less square than the older forms. 
 But as public business and the corresponding neces- 
 sity for writing increased, the Seaou chuen was voted 
 too elaborate, and a 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 further the 
 •shapes of some characters, in obedience to the changes 
 which had taken place in their pronunciation, under- 
 went modifications. To the Le shoo and Tsaou shoo, 
 or "running hard," succeeded the K'eae shoo (the 
 fourth century) of the present day. 
 
 Chinamen are ignorant of the science of philology, 
 and lack that power of critical observation 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: ist. Seang hing, or hieroglyphics, 
 which are the primitive characters of the language. 
 
THE LANGUAGE. 371 
 
 2nd. Chesze, or characters intended to represent ideas 
 to the mind by the position of their parts. Thus a 
 character composed of parts representing the sun 
 above a straight line stands for the dawn. 3rd. 
 Hivuy e y or signs formed by writing two or more sig- 
 nificant characters to suggest a new idea. For in- 
 stance, the character Sin, "sincere," is made up of 
 the signs for "a man" and "words," 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 
 combination of the signs for a star and the moon, 
 and is identical with the modern Turkish imperial 
 emblem. Chinese writers say that the smaller cha- 
 racter of the two is that of the sun, but they have 
 forgotten that in the Koo wan the characters for sun 
 and star were identical in form ; and the fact of its 
 being completely overshadowed by the moon is an 
 argument against its having been originally intended 
 for the greater light. 4th. Chuen c/100, 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 pro- 
 nounced yd. 5th. 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 
 
372 CHINA. 
 
 to the point." 6th. Keae shing, 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 writing 
 is found to deteriorate, and nothing proves more 
 conclusively that the Chinese characters were no 
 invention of the people themselves than the fact 
 that the first time they attempted a modification 
 of them they took a step backwards. Up to the 
 time of She Chow a well-defined and elaborate 
 system of syllabic writing had been in vogue, but 
 in the hands of the Chinese reformer this retro- 
 graded in the direction of ideographic writing, 
 and the Keae shing characters were brought into 
 existence. These, speaking generally, consist of two 
 parts — a phonetic element and an ideographic cha- 
 racter. To illustrate this system of formation we 
 may take the phonetic ^fe, Ngo, which stands for 
 the first personal pronoun, and which, by combina- 
 tion with twenty-seven ideographic characters, pro- 
 duces as many derivations having the same phonetic 
 value. In this way — combined with the ideograph 
 [[[ (originally y^VQ , "a mountain," it becomes 
 |[}g£, ngo, " a high mountain ; " with -h*, " a woman," 
 $$> *g°> " f a i r >" " beautiful ; " with M (originally 
 ff) "grass," ^ ngo, "a certain herb;" with JL 
 "a bird," f|§, ngo, "a goose," and so on. From 
 these examples it will be observed that the ideo- 
 
THE LANGUAGE, 373 
 
 graphic characters in combination with their phonetics 
 form an exact parallel with many Egyptian and 
 Assyrian idiophonetics. I am indebted to the late 
 Dr. Birch, of the British Museum, for the following 
 example in Egyptian, showing precisely the same 
 formation in the composition of the characters and 
 in the respective value of their parts, as is seen in 
 the Chinese instance I have just referred to. ^=a» 
 
 /WWW 
 
 Uu y means in Egyptian " a hare ; " combined with 
 the ideograph "™£ it becomes Mftf Un, " to open ; " 
 
 and with this j V 7w5^ f V Un, " a mirror." 
 
 Speaking of Assyrian hieroglyphics, Sir Henry Raw- 
 linson 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 animals, of metals, of 
 months, of the points of the compass, and of dignities 
 are thus accompanied. The sign prefixed or suffixed 
 may have 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 indicate 
 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 
 
374 •'■ CHINA. 
 
 in. which She Chow set to work to modify existing 
 characters, and to invent new ones. We may sup- 
 pose, 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 pos- 
 sibly the hieroglyphic J| ma, " a horse," and would 
 combine with it the ideographic character ^ mith, 
 meaning " wood." The new character would then 
 stand thus, ^g, and the reader would at once re- 
 cognize that it was to be read as ma, and the ideo- 
 graphic 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 some 
 few others, have been taken by lexicographers as 
 offering the best means of classifying 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 every character in Chinese), 
 under which to arrange the 50,000 characters, more 
 or less, of which the language consists. As the 
 language is without an alphabet, some such system 
 was necessary, and this one probably answers as well 
 as any other. Most of these radicals or determi- 
 natives, as they have been variously called, being 
 primitive characters, are hieroglyphics, and include, 
 
THE LANGUAGE. 375 
 
 as might have been expected, " the most remark- 
 able 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 body, 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 ad- 
 mirably 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 part 
 combined with the radical is composed. For example, 
 under the radical /f; milk, " wood," the first character 
 is tJc in which only one stroke is added to the radical, 
 and the last is j| which consists of twenty-two strokes 
 besides the radical. 
 
 That such a cumbersome system of writing should 
 have remained unimproved argues a strange inability 
 to advance in the people. And this inability is 
 noticeable, not only in the writing, but in every 
 institution and in every branch of knowledge. They 
 have advanced up to a certain point — a point to 
 
376 CHINA. 
 
 which they have been led by others — and beyond 
 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 they thus possessed. If 
 they have moved either way, it has rather been back- 
 wards, so that their reverence for the wisdom of the 
 ancients is a genuine, though melancholy, confession 
 of their national incompetence. 
 
 But though the characters in the language are 
 numerous beyond all comparison, numbering, as has 
 been said, 50,000 in all, the sounds they represent are 
 out of all proportion few. The various dialects differ 
 in the number of vocables they each possess, but the 
 richest, that of Canton, contains only about 700 
 sounds. It follows, therefore, that frequently a num- 
 ber 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 appro- 
 priate character. The confusion with which such a 
 system 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, when the principal 
 word is a noun substantive, made up of that word 
 with a classifying term pointing generally to the 
 1 eading characteristic of the object. " These classi- 
 
THE LANGUAGE. 377 
 
 fiers bear some resemblance to our expressions 
 herd, head, fleet, troop .... For example, the word 
 ffii P a i ' to grasp with the hand,' is used as a classi- 
 fier to precede anything which is held in the hand, 
 such as a knife, a spoon, a hatchet, etc. Instead of 
 expressing a knife by yih taoit, which might either 
 mean a knife, a small boat, or a fringe, the classifier 
 is introduced to show which taoa is meant, and a 
 speaker would say yih pa taou, literally, ' a grasped 
 knife.' In like manner ^ keen, a ' space,' is used as 
 a classifier for houses and enclosures ; $* kan, ■ a 
 root,' for trees, poles, clubs, etc. ; and so on." 
 
 It is difficult to point definitely to the origin of the 
 double-words referred to above. It is possible that 
 they may be survivals of polysyllabic words which, 
 owing to phonetic decay, have lost their full expres- 
 sion in the characters which represent them on paper. 
 But, whatever their origin, they serve a useful pur- 
 pose in defining the meaning of the speaker, and in 
 pointing out which of the many words having the 
 same sound he intends should be understood. For 
 instance, if a Chinaman were writing the verb "to 
 see," he would write J^ keen; but, if he were using 
 the word in conversation, he would say ^prJH, 
 kau keen, which would mean, literally, " to look and 
 see," and by which combination he indicates that 
 keen, " to see," is the keen which he means. 
 
378 CHINA. 
 
 But there are other combinations of characters, 
 which unmistakably represent polysyllabic words, 
 whether native or foreign, and a close examination 
 of any of the dialects shows that these words bear 
 no inconsiderable proportion to the entire number 
 of words. In Pekingese these polysyllabic words 
 are very numerous, partly owing, no doubt, to 
 the introduction of Manchoo and Mongolian words 
 into the vocabulary. But there are, also, quite 
 enough native polysyllabic words to redeem the 
 spoken language, at least, from the charge of mono- 
 syllabism. A study of a few pages of Sir Thomas 
 Wade's Tzfi erh chi is instructive reading on this 
 point. 
 
 There are, however, other combinations of cha- 
 racters besides those just mentioned, which often 
 add considerably to the difficulty of translating 
 Chinese texts. Such are compound words composed 
 of two or more characters, having traditionally ac- 
 quired meanings to which the characters used to 
 express them afford no clue. For instance, we find 
 the expression Fu ma, which, translated literally, 
 would mean either " to help a horse," or " a helping 
 horse," but which is invariably used to denote "the 
 son-in-law of the Emperor." Or, again, the combi- 
 nation Heuen fang, the first character of which the 
 dictionaries tell us means " a kind of onion," and the 
 second "a hall." But together they have acquired 
 
THE LANGUAGE. 379 
 
 the signification of " a mother," from the facts that 
 married women carry about them roots of the Heuen, 
 under the impression that they promote pregnancy, 
 and that the hall is the proper place for the mistress 
 of the house. The same remark applies to a number 
 of single characters, which, from association of ideas, 
 have assumed meanings to which their primary sig- 
 nifications bear no apparent resemblance. Such a 
 word is yen, " a swallow," which, by a curious coin- 
 cidence, means also "to swallow." A number of 
 others might be quoted having " a plurality of signi- 
 fications which depend upon their combination with 
 other characters, upon the branch of science of which 
 the work treats, as also upon the period when the 
 same was written." 
 
 Turning to the language, we find that it bears all 
 the characteristics of an Ural-Altaic origin. As in all 
 such languages, so in Chinese the subject in every 
 sentence comes first, then the verb, which is followed 
 by the complement direct and the complement in- 
 direct. In the same way every word which defines 
 or modifies another invariably precedes it. Thus the 
 adjective precedes the substantive, the adverb the 
 verb, the genitive the word which governs it, and 
 the preposition the word governed by it. 
 
 But in speaking of the language we must be under- 
 stood to be speaking of it as we now find it. Even 
 at the present day it is, as has been shown, less 
 
380 CHINA. 
 
 purely a monosyllabic language than has generally 
 been supposed, but in bygone ages there are evi- 
 dences that it was polysyllabic. We find, for instance, 
 many words with aspirates in them, which point to 
 the loss of a syllable. For example, such a word as 
 Ivan leads us to the conclusion that in all probability 
 it was originally Kalian. And it must be remembered 
 that while there is no example on record of a mono- 
 syllabic language, we are surrounded by evidences of 
 phonetic decay in our own and every other language. 
 
 For instance, the g in the German words hagel and 
 regen disappears in our hail and rain. In Greek also 
 the o- falls out in the genitive of such neuter nouns in 
 oq as ytvog, 7£V£(toc, contracted to yevovg. Again, in 
 the Romance language, the elision of d and t is very 
 common ; eg., French pere, mere, ion pater and mater; 
 rpe'e for espede, etc. 
 
 Chinese is, then, a language which, like many 
 others, has suffered loss through phonetic decay, and, 
 as we now see it, it is equally poverty-stricken in a 
 grammatical sense. It is without inflexions or even 
 agglutination, and there is nothing, therefore, to mark 
 the grammatical value of a word except its position 
 in a sentence, since very few words absolutely belong 
 to one part of speech. The result is that the same 
 word is often capable of playing the part of a sub- 
 stantive, an adjective, a verb, or an adverb. But 
 when this is so, it not unfrequently happens that the 
 
THE LANGUAGE. 385 
 
 transition from one part of speech to another is 
 marked by a change of tone in the pronunciation. 
 
 To illustrate these rules and this peculiarity we will 
 take the word ^ haou, which means " to love," 
 " good," " excellent," « goodness," " well," etc. If, then, 
 following the rules laid down above, we find it in such 
 a connection as the following ||| ^ l^t ^ ^ jjff 7 
 Kivei kee?i chih kea che haou, we recognize it at once 
 as a substantive, since, were it an adjective, it would 
 be followed by a substantive ; were it a verb, it would 
 be followed by its complement, and also because it 
 follows the substantive chih kea, to which is added the 
 particle che, the sign of the possessive case. The sen- 
 tence should then be translated kw'ei keen, " to peep 
 and see," chih kea che, " the apartment's," haon, " ex- 
 cellence." But in the sentence ^ffl jjft jjft 'jS, 
 Joo haou haou sih, we see by the position of the two 
 liaons that the first must be a verb, and that the 
 second must be an adjective, since it is followed by a 
 substantive, with which it forms the direct complement 
 to the verb. The meaning of the sentence then is 
 Joo, " as when," haou, " we love," haou sih, " excellent 
 beauty." But, in reading this sentence, the dictionaries 
 tell us that, having recognized the first Jiaou as the 
 verb "to love," it must be pronounced in a falling 
 tone of voice, whereas, when it occurs as an adjective, 
 a substantive, or an adverb, it is sounded in an 
 ascending tone. 
 
382 CHINA, 
 
 These tones, which add so greatly to the difficulty 
 of learning to speak Chinese, vary in number in 
 almost every dialect, from the four in Pekingese to 
 the eight in Cantonese. In his introduction to the 
 Tzii erh chi, Sir Thomas Wade, speaking of the four 
 tones in use in Peking, says : " In the first tone, the 
 upper even, it may be enough to observe, the vowel 
 sound, whether the word be pronounced quickly or 
 slowly, proceeds without elevation or depression. . . . 
 In the second tone, the lower even, the voice is 
 jerked, much as when in English we utter words ex- 
 pressive of doubt and astonishment. In the third 
 tone, the ascending, the sound becomes nearly as 
 abrupt, but more resembling what with us would 
 indicate indignation or denial. In the fourth tone, 
 the receding, the vowel sound is prolonged, as it 
 were, regretfully. . . , The sounds of a syllable re- 
 peated in the above order form a sort of chime which 
 can only be learnt by the ear, but which it is not 
 difficult to learn. . . . We will hazard but one 
 parallel for better or for worse. Let A, B, C, D be 
 four persons engaged in conversation, and a question 
 be put by B, regarding the fate of some one known 
 to them all. In the four lines below, I have supposed 
 A to assert his death in the 1st tone; B to express 
 his apprehension that he has been killed in the 2nd 
 tone ; C to scout this suspicion in the 3rd ; and D 
 to confirm it sorrowfully in the 4th. 
 
THE LANGUAGE. 383 
 
 1st tone. 
 
 A. 
 
 Dead. 
 
 2nd tone. 
 
 B. 
 
 Killed ? 
 
 3rd tone. 
 
 C. 
 
 No! 
 
 4th tone. 
 
 D. 
 
 Yes." 
 
 In Cantonese, in addition to these tones are four 
 others having the same " chime," but on a lower scale. 
 Many explanations have been offered for the existence 
 of the tones in Chinese, and, though they now un- 
 doubtedly serve the very useful purpose of distin- 
 guishing the meanings intended by the speaker when 
 making use of the same syllable to express different 
 things, it is impossible to suppose that they were 
 invented with that object. In no language in the 
 world has such a refinement ever been attempted ; 
 and that they are of natural growth and of no arti- 
 ficial origin is shown by the facts that they vary in 
 different dialects, that they are constantly changing, 
 and that they may be said to. follow the fortunes of 
 the initial and final consonants of the words. The 
 most reasonable explanation of their being is, then, 
 that they are the natural compensations necessary 
 to counterbalance the contractions caused in the 
 simple and compound vocables of the language by 
 that muscular sloth which belongs to the Chinese 
 people and the races in the extreme East more or 
 less related to them, as well as to some of the African 
 tribes. It is a noteworthy fact, that wherever tones 
 
384 CHINA. 
 
 are found, there exist also obvious signs of phonetic 
 decay. 
 
 In the absence of all inflexion, it is, as may be 
 imagined, necessary to indicate gender and number 
 by prefixes or affixes. The word Jin, for example, 
 is man in its generic sense, and to distinguish man 
 from woman it is necessary to prefix nan, male, in 
 the one case, and nil, female, in the other. In the 
 same way, Kung, " noble " or " superior," is prefixed 
 to denote the male of birds, and moo, mother, to 
 indicate the female. But] number is not so definitely 
 marked, and as often as not the context has to 
 supply the information whether one or more is meant. 
 
 The numerals are very simple, seventeen supplying 
 all the combinations necessary to reckon any number. 
 They begin with . — yiJi * one," ^ urh, ■ two," 
 ]=T san, "three," |JUJ sze, "four," j£ woo, "five," 
 ^ luh, " six," -fo ts'eih, " seven," /\ pa, " eight," 
 % keiv, "nine," -f* shih, "ten." With these 
 numerals every number up to a hundred is counted. 
 Thus ~H— • is " eleven," and so on to twenty, which 
 is expressed by ZL ~JT " two tens '" etc W /**» 
 is " a hundred," =f- ts'een, " a thousand," $| wan, 
 "ten thousand," >f|| yih, "one hundred thousand," 
 3)fc chaon, "a million," Jj* king, "ten millions," 
 and ig kae, "a hundred millions." The four last 
 are now very seldom employed.^ The character wan, 
 as has already been pointed out, derives its numerical 
 
THE LANGUAGE. 38> 
 
 significance from its original meaning of a " bee," 
 the numbers in the swarms of these insects being 
 past counting. 
 
 As in all oriental languages, the complimentary 
 and self-depreciating style of conversation used in 
 Chinese leads to the adoption of a vast number of 
 equivalents for the personal pronouns. In the per- 
 sonal pronouns themselves no distinction of gender 
 is made. Colloquially the third person, whether man, 
 woman, or thing, is spoken of as Ta, Ne is the 
 second person, and Ngo the first. But in polite con- 
 versation it would be considered a breach of etiquette 
 either to address one's interlocutor as Ne, or to speak 
 of one's self as Ngo. Should your friend not be an 
 office-holder, he must be addressed as " Master," or 
 " Elder," or * Your Honour." Should he be in the 
 junior ranks of the mandarinate, custom provides 
 that he must be addressed as Laou yeh, or " Old 
 Father." If he be above a certain rank, he becomes 
 Ta laou yeh, " Great Old Father ; " and the title of 
 Ta jin, " Your Excellency," belongs by right to 
 officials in the higher grades. Meanwhile, for Ngo 
 is substituted such humble expressions as "The little 
 one," " The mean one," " The stupid one," or " The 
 cheap one." The same kind of phraseology is em- 
 ployed in the use of the possessive personal pronouns. 
 All that belongs to another is " Honourable," " Wor- 
 shipful," or " August." " Where is your honourable 
 
 2 c 
 
CHINA. 
 
 abode ? " asks one stranger of another. " My un- 
 worthy dwelling is at such and such a place," is the 
 reply. Another's house is " an illustrious mansion ; " 
 one's own is " a vile hovel." One's friend's father is 
 "your honoured noble one," and his mother "your 
 honoured loving one." But here respect for parents 
 steps in and prevents the use of any depreciatory 
 terms being applied to one's own father or mother.- 
 One of the commonest complimentary questions put 
 to an acquaintance is, "What is your honourable 
 age ? " and " I congratulate you on having acquired 
 wealth," is a usual form of salutation to a passing 
 stranger on the road regardless of his possible rags 
 and tatters. 
 
 But quite separate and apart from all other forms 
 of the first personal pronoun, is the expression chin, 
 which is reserved especially for the Emperor's use, 
 and has been the imperial " We " since the time of 
 Che Hwang-te of the Ts'in dynasty (221 B.C.). But 
 not always does he feel himself entitled to use this 
 imperial "We." In times of national misfortune he 
 chooses to believe that his own remissness is the 
 cause of the evils which have overtaken the country, 
 and then it is customary for him to designate himself 
 Kzvajin, " The unworthy man." In addressing the 
 Emperor, the ministers speak of themselves as " slaves," 
 or "we who are beneath the steps of the throne,'' 
 in reference to the position they are accustomed to 
 
THE LANGUAGE. 387 
 
 occupy when receiving imperial orders. " Prostrate, 
 they beseech that the imperial glance may fall " on 
 their memorials, and Wan suy yeh, " Lord of all 
 ages," is one of the common epithets applied to his 
 Majesty. In letter and despatch writing compli- 
 mentary expressions find their fullest development, 
 and if the recipients of such documents realized the 
 wishes expressed for their happiness and advantage, 
 their "abundant prosperity would flourish and in- 
 crease," "the good fortune which follows on their 
 footsteps would be increasingly magnified," and 
 11 length of days, riches, and honour would be their 
 lot." 
 
 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 con- 
 text or by the addition of certain prefixes or suffixes. 
 
 For example, in the sentence 1|£ j|£ -4- . £%i 
 
 lUj^ $|[ JeL Kaou-tsoo sJdh yih neen chu Qiin-he, 
 " Kaou-tsoo, in the eleventh year (of his reign), killed 
 Ch'in-he," 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 ^ ^ fjjs ^ § 
 Kin e choo Choo Leu, " Now he has killed Choo Leu," 
 the verbal particle e is required to mark that the action 
 is past, since without it the meaning might be, " Now 
 he kills, or will kill, Choo Leu." In the literary style, 
 several other particles are used to express the past 
 
338 CHINA. 
 
 tense, which may be said to resolve themselves in the 
 colloquial to the suffixes ~J Icaou, " to complete," and 
 )@ Kwo, " to pass over." 
 
 In the same way with the future tense ; in such 
 a passage as ^q ,A !§U i|j" 3E >2 $ecn juli Kivan 
 chay wang che, " He who first enters the pass shall 
 rule over it," the context shows 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 
 jj^ tseang, " to take," is sometimes prefixed to make 
 the meaning clear, as in the sentence ^ j|^ f^ ^ 
 Ngo tseang wan die, " I will (tseang) ask him." In the 
 colloquial the verb 3E yaon, " to want," is commonly 
 prefixed in place of tseang. 
 
 By 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 meaning of the writer becomes plain to the patient 
 student. A difficulty of certainly equal importance, 
 with which he has to contend, is the absence of all 
 punctuation in most Chinese books. But even here 
 he is helped by the use of final particles which, either 
 as signs of affirmation, exclamation, or interrogation, 
 frequently mark the close of a period. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE LITERATURE. 
 
 N the literature of a civilized country t 
 is reflected the national mind. And 
 more especially is this the case with 
 a people so addicted to the use of 
 pen, ink, and paper, as the Chinese. 
 In the countless volumes which have 
 appeared and are appearing from 
 the many publishing centres, we see 
 mirrored the temperament 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 imagination, and to an inability to 
 rise beyond a certain degree of excellence or know- 
 ledge, while at the same time we have displayed the 
 characteristics both of matter and manner which 
 
39o CHINA. 
 
 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 varying force of expression which 
 are found in languages capable of inflexion and of 
 syntactical motion. The stiff angularity of the written 
 language, composed as it is of isolated, unassimilat- 
 ing characters, robs eloquence of its charm, poetry of 
 its musical rhythm, 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. 
 And hence to all but the Chinese mind, which knows 
 no other model of excellence, the poetical and fanci- 
 ful 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 
 a course of literature for more than three thousand 
 years, and yet failing to display greater progress in 
 thought and style than Chinese authors have done. 
 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 ex- 
 pression have in no wise increased, at least, since the 
 
THE LITERATURE. 391 
 
 revival of letters under the Han dynasty (206 B.C.- 
 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 believe that it took its rise 
 from the rock inscriptions cut by the Kwei and Ma 
 tribes of aborigines on the banks of the Hwang and 
 Lo rivers, or, as the legend is now understood, from 
 the inscriptions brought out from the waters of those 
 rivers on the backs of a tortoise (Kwei) and a horse 
 (Ma) ; but we may safely assume that the Chinese 
 not only brought a knowledge of writing with them 
 into China, but that they brought also books with 
 them, — and there is internal evidence to support the 
 assumption that parts of the Yih kin^ or Book of 
 Changes, the book for which the Chinese claim the 
 greatest antiquity, was among these writings. That 
 it belongs to a very early period, is sufficiently proved 
 by the fact that until now the key to its interpreta- 
 tion has been entirely lost, and that, though the ablest 
 native scholars of all ages, including Confucius, have 
 attempted to explain it, they have one and all failed 
 
392 CHINA. 
 
 to offer a satisfactory interpretation of its pages. But 
 that which Chinese scholars have been unable to do 
 Dr. Terrien de Lacouperie has accomplished, and it 
 turns out that this work, instead of being a mysterious 
 depository of deep divinatory lore, is a collection of 
 syllabaries such as are common in Accadian literature, 
 /interspersed with chapters containing astrological for- 
 mulae and ethnological facts relating to the aboriginal 
 tribes of the country ; but all taking the form of 
 vocabularies, and therefore as untranslatable in the 
 sense in which every commentator, from Confucius 
 downwards, has attempted to translate them as John- 
 son'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 from the rock inscriptions 
 of the Kwei and Ma tribes. Following each hexagram 
 occur a few sentences of the original text, which, how- 
 ever, have been largely supplemented from the ortho- 
 dox commentaries upon them. The deviser of the 
 hexagrams is said to have been Fuh-he ( 28 5 2-2737 B.C. ), 
 to whom also the authorship of the original text is 
 attributed by some critics. The commentaries which 
 are now embodied with the text are, by common tra- 
 dition, believed to have been the work of Wan Wang_ 
 {1231-1135 B.C.), his son Chow Kung, and Confucius. 
 
 The Yih king is, then, the oldest book extP n t ^ 
 
THE LITERATURE. 393 
 
 the Chinese language ; and in the long 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 Sanfun, " the three records of the emperors 
 Fuh-he, Shin-nung, and Hwang-te (2852-2597 B.C.), or 
 rather a portion of it, and the Hea seaoit 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 li^ht on the condition 
 of the aboriginal tribes at the time of immigration of 
 the Chinese, and though through a confusion which 
 has arisen owing to the tribal names being read idio- 
 graphically instead of phonetically it is generally 
 regarded both by native and foreign scholars as a 
 collection of idle legends, it yet supplies much ethno- 
 logical information of importance. The same remark 
 applies, though not to the same extent, to the Hea 
 Calendar ; but what is additionally interesting in 
 this work is the evidence it furnishes of the influence 
 exercised upon the Chinese language by its contact 
 with tongues of a different morphology. Nothing, as 
 has been remarked in the preceding chapter, is more 
 marked and immutable in Chinese than the construc- 
 tion of a simple sentence. As in English, the subject 
 comes first, then the predicate, and, lastly, the object. 
 
 (university 
 
394 CHINA. 
 
 But in the Hea Calendar we find the position of the 
 subject and predicate occasionally reversed, and if 
 any other evidence were required to point to such an 
 arrangement being foreign to Chinese, the remarks of 
 the commentators on such passages would supply it. 
 Among the signs of the ninth month the Hea Calendar 
 says Te hungye?t } literally, " migrate, the wild geese." 
 This reversal of the recognized order of the words is 
 so conspicuous that the commentators would fain find 
 a reason for it ; and they can offer no better explana- 
 tion 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 
 naturally follow the order of his thoughts ! 
 
 But though only a few ancient works are extant,, 
 we know from references which they contain that 
 both the Chinese and the aborigines possessed con- 
 siderable literatures. We have the titles of a number 
 of Chinese works which would now be invaluable 
 aids to clearing up many obscure points 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 ab- 
 original 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 dif- 
 ferent parts of the Chinese states to note and collect 
 
THE LITERATURE. 393 
 
 the various dialectical differences as they developed, 
 and for many centuries it was customary to collect 
 the popular songs current in the several principalities 
 for the purpose, as we are told, of judging 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 S he king , or " "PW' ^f Pd^" *)~ 
 forms the second of the nine classical works. The 
 odes, as might be expected from the above account 
 of their origin, refer principally to local affairs, both 
 political and social. The picture they draw of the 
 condition of the states is not unfavourable. They 
 teach us that side by side with occasional tyranny, 
 violence, 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 respect- 
 ful 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 
 
396 CHINA. 
 
 is a compilation, and shares with that work the re- 
 putation of having been edited by Confucius. It is 
 stated in the history of the Suy dynasty, that 
 •" Confucius 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 
 (2356-700 B.C.), he preserved the best among them and 
 rejected the others. Beginning with Yu and coming 
 down to Chow, he compiled together a hundred books, 
 and made a preface to them." Whether this author, 
 who in the above sentence reproduces a common belief, 
 was right or wrong in attributing the compilation of 
 the records to Confucius, his account of their nature 
 and scope is at least correct. Like everything else in 
 ancient Chinese history the laws for the compilation 
 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 
 latter with that of narrating facts. The contents of 
 the Soo 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 chapters, are extremely interesting, and 
 throw considerable light on the early history of the 
 settlement of the Chinese in China, as well as on the 
 
THE LITERATURE. 397 
 
 scientific knowledge they possessed and the religious 
 sentiments they professed. 
 
 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 religious professions 
 among the Chinese in China. They step on to the 
 stage as full-grown scientists and religionists in the 
 Chinese sense. There is no beginning with the A B 
 C of knowledge or religion. That 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 this were not so, it would be 
 startling tojead. in the first- chapter nf tVi^ Sit 00 ^ 7 'vs> 
 the glib utterances of Yaou (2356-2255 B.C.) on the 
 subject of the equinoxes and the solstices, and the 
 position of the stars. But scarcely less striking is 
 the high moral tone which pervades every utterance 
 of sovereign and minister. No higher system of 
 morality could possibly be devised than that 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. J 
 Such a conjunction is manifestly inconsistent. In the 
 early stages of society elevated sentiments find their 
 utterance in isolated deeds and inspired expressions, 
 not in evenly maintained and well-thought-out dis- 
 courses of a highly moral order. 
 
 Imagine, for example, such sentiments as the follow- 
 
598 CHINA. 
 
 ing, 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, the 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 nowhere lie hidden ; no 
 man of virtue and talents will be left neglected away 
 from court; and the myriad states will all enjoy 
 repose. But to ascertain 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 
 straitened and poor — it was only the Emperor Yaou 
 who could attain to this.' " 1 
 
 Either, then, we must imagine that these speeches 
 
 ^.e were invented for the speakers many centuries after 
 they were supposed to have been uttered, or that the 
 
 ^---^ Chinese had r eached t he high level which they in- 
 dicate before they entered unina. 
 
 An instance of a work by an historian of the right 
 hand is furnished by the one work of which we know 
 Confucius to have been the author, and in which, 
 under the title of the Ch'un Ts'ew, or " Spring and 
 Autum n Annals, " he records the history of his native 
 ~State of Loo extending over 242 years. This being 
 the undoubted work of the sage, an unusual interest 
 at first sight attaches to it, and one's expectations 
 1 Legge's "Shoo King/' Book II. 
 
THE LITERA TURE. 399 
 
 are certainly not lessened by the statements of the 
 author, and of contemporary scholars concerning it. 
 u The world," says Mencius, " was fallen into decay, 
 and right principles had dwindled away. Perverse 
 discourses and oppressive deeds were again waxen 
 rife. Cases were occurring of ministers who murdered 
 their rulers, and of sons who murdered their fathers. 
 Confucius was afraid, and made the Ck'un Ts'ezv." 1 
 So soon as it appeared, we are told that rebellious 
 ministers quaked with fear, and undutiful sons were 
 overcome with terror. " Its righteous decisions," said 
 Confucius, " I ventured to make." 
 
 Such statements naturally prepare us to expect to 
 find in the ChUun Ts'ew a history in which the narra- 
 tives of events would be interspersed with sage reflec- 
 tions and deep-sighted criticisms. We should expect 
 to find praise and blame distributed with a severely 
 discriminating pen, and crimes denounced, and good 
 deeds commended, with impassioned earnestness. 
 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 reflection, the 
 events are strung together without any attempt to 
 point a moral, or to weave them together in a con- 
 1 Legge's " Chinese Classics," vol. v. part i. 
 
4oo CHINA. 
 
 nected history. Each chapter consists of a number 
 of short paragraphs, embodying as many facts, con- 
 cerning which the reader is left to draw his own 
 conclusions. The following, which is the first chapter, 
 may be taken as a specimen of the whole work : — 
 
 " [His] first year [began], in the Spring-reigning 
 first month. 
 
 " In the third month the Duke and E-foo of Choo 
 made a covenant in Meeh. 
 
 " In summer, in the fifth month, the Earl of Ch'ing 
 overcame Twan in Yen. 
 
 " In autumn, in the seventh month, 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 officer of 
 Sung made a covenant in Suh. 
 
 " In winter, in the twelfth month, the Earl of Chai 
 came [to Loo]. Kung-tsze Yih-sze died." 
 
 This specimen of the style of the Ctiuu T'sezc 
 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 notoriously suppressed and misrepresented. 
 But notwithstanding 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 countrymen. 
 
THE LITERATURE. 401 
 
 The fifth of the Five King which, with the Four 
 Shoo, make up the nine classics, is the L&^&r-ox 
 " Book of Rites." As in the case of the majority of 
 the ancient books, its authorship is uncertain, but it 
 is generally attributed 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 procedure, but for the 
 every-day social and domestic 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 — the Board of 
 Rites — is especially charged with the duty of seeing 
 its precepts carried out throughout the empire. 
 Speaking of this work, Cal^ery says : " In ceremonial 
 is summed up the whole soul of the Chinese, and to 
 my mind the ' Book of Rites/ is the most exact and 
 complete monograph that this nation can give of 
 itself to the rest of the world. Its affections, if it 
 has any, are satisfied by ceremonial ; its duties are 
 fulfilled by means of ceremonial. Its virtues and 
 vices are recognized by ceremonial ; the natural rela- 
 tions of created beings are essentially connected with 
 ceremonial ; in a word, for it ceremonial is man, the 
 man moral, the man politic, and the man religious, in 
 their numberless relations with the family, society, 
 the state, morality, and religion." 
 
 2 D 
 
402 CHINA. 
 
 r 
 
 Such was the existing literature at the time of 
 Confucius, and so great was the influence of his 
 teachings and opinions, that almost immediately 
 after his death, the Five King, all of which had 
 received his imprimatur, and one of which, as has 
 been said, was actually written by him, were 
 generally accepted as containing the true basis of 
 all knowledge and morality. To these were added 
 four books which were subsequently written by the 
 disciples and followers of the sage, viz., the Ta heo r 
 or " Great Learning ; " the Chung yimg, or " the Doc- 
 trine of the Mean ; " the Luu yu, or " Confucian 
 Analects ; " and the Mang-tsze, or the " Works of 
 Mencius." The first three directly embody the teach- 
 ings 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 of minute 
 criticism, and through the many centuries, during 
 which competitive examinations have/ been in vogue, 
 they have formed the principal subjects for examina- 
 tion. / 
 
 But, notwithstanding that this foundation of a 
 national literature had been laid, little of importance 
 was added to it during the centuries which imme- 
 
THE LITERATURE. 403 
 
 diately succeeded the time of Confucius. Literature, 
 like every other art, requires 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 to it. Un- 
 fortunately, 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 rumours of wars, government 
 had ceased to exist, and all rights, whether political 
 or social, were trodden underfoot 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 con- 
 sequent on Laou-tsze's Taoa 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 establishment 
 of an empire under She Hwang-te (221-209 B.C.), 
 far from advancing the cause of letters, brought about 
 the greatest calamity that has ever befallen a national 
 literature. By the advice of his ministers, in order that 
 he might build up his empire on a tabula rasa, She 
 Hwang-te decreed the destruction by fire of all books 
 except those of his native state, as well as works on 
 medicine and divination. How great was the de- 
 struction caused by this enactment, we shall never 
 
4Q4 CHINA. 
 
 know ; but as it could only be put in force within 
 the area of the Chinese principalities, it is probable 
 that the literature 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 dialectical dif- 
 ferences and variations of the language ; and all the 
 records of and in the Koo wan perished at the hands 
 of the executioner. 
 
 But 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 (221-206 B.C.) ended 
 with the sack and burning of the capital, at which time 
 the flames, we are told, raged among the palaces and 
 public buildings for the space of three months. Thus 
 the probability is that most of the books which were 
 exempted from the flames fired by She Hwang-te 
 perished in the conflagration which heralded the 
 overthrow of his successor. 
 
 But no sooner had Kaou-tsoo, the founder of the 
 Han dynasty, shown a disposition to encourage 
 letters than phcenix-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 the tyranny of She Hwang-te 
 
THE LITERATURE. 40S 
 
 should be overpassed. What these sources failed 
 to reproduce, old men came forward to supply from 
 their well-stored memories, and thus were kept alive 
 the torches which had been lit by the genius of 
 bygone 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 (480-221 B.C.), truth and falsehood 
 were still more in a state of warfare, and a sad 
 confusion marked the words of the various scholars. 
 Then came the calamity inflicted under the Ts'in 
 dynasty, when the literary monuments were de- 
 stroyed 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 carefully 
 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-woo 
 (139-86 B.C.), 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 
 
4o6 CHINA. 
 
 a plan of repositories in which the books might be 
 stored ; and he further appointed officers to tran- 
 scribe all works of the various scholars, and directed 
 that the manuscripts thus obtained should be placed 
 in the repositories. The Emperor Ch'ing (31-6 B.C.), 
 finding that some of the books were still dispersed 
 and missing, commissioned Ch'in Nung, the superin- 
 tendent of guests, to search for undiscovered books 
 throughout the empire, and by special edict ordered 
 the chief of the banqueting-house, Lew Heang, 
 to examine the classics, together with the commen- 
 taries on them, the writings of the scholars, 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 examine 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 the Emperor. While the 
 undertaking was in progress, Lew Heang died, and 
 the Emperor Gai (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 Resumes; 2nd, the 
 Six Arts ; 3rd, Philosophical Works ; 4th, Poetry ; 
 5th, Military Works ; 6th, Mathematics ; and 7th, 
 Medicine. 
 
THE LITERATURE. 407 
 
 In this way were collected 3123 sections on the 
 classics, 2705 on philosophy, 13 18 on poetry, 790 
 on military matters, 2528 on mathematics, and 868 on 
 medicine. Strange stories are told of the way these 
 treasures were unearthed. The text of four of the 
 classics, together 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 unintelligible to all but a few 
 ripe scholars. By these, however, they were tran- 
 scribed, and were eagerly studied by the people. 
 The impetus 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 for 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 
 dynasty, history found exponents who have never 
 been surpassed in China, either before or since, for 
 arrangement of material and comprehensiveness of 
 detail. On philosophical subjects the writers of this 
 period, among whom the names of Kea E, Lew 
 Gan, Yang Heung, and others, stand conspicuous, 
 are pre-eminent at the present day ; and in the light 
 literature of the time was established a style which 
 
4o8 CHINA. 
 
 has been a model for all future ages. Tales of the 
 imagination then first found their expression on 
 paper, and in the festive poems of the wine-bibber, 
 philosopher, and musician, Ts'ai Yung, are fore- 
 shadowed the wine-extolling poems of Too Foo and 
 other poets of the T'ang dynasty. 
 
 From this period the tide of literature has flowed 
 onward in an ever-increased volume, checked only, 
 every now and again, 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 ruth- 
 lessly on such occasions these intellectual centres 
 have been destroyed, one of the first acts of the suc- 
 cessful founders of succeeding dynasties has been 
 to restore them to their former completeness and 
 efficiency. 
 
 But though, as has been said, the works of the 
 ancients were the foundation of all succeeding litera- 
 ture, and though, therefore, the same main lines have 
 been observed through all subsequent ages, certain 
 prominence has under different dynasties been given 
 to particular branches of letters. Historical and philo- 
 sophical research marked the Han period ; under 
 the T'ang dynasty there arose generations of elegant 
 prose and brilliant verse writers, at the bidding of 
 
THE LITERATURE. 409 
 
 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 com- 
 pile encyclopaedias which has been so marked during 
 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 prominent 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 which has gathered round them. 
 Unfortunately, the immense industry which has 
 served to produce this huge literature has been too 
 often mis-directed. The Chinese are singularly 
 wanting in real critical ability. They will split 
 hairs 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 remembered that 
 
4io CHINA. 
 
 the latest of the classics was written in a character 
 which underwent two very marked changes, before it 
 assumed its present form — has robbed most of that 
 they have written of any value. In matters on which 
 history can throw light, the remarks of the commen- 
 tators are often apposite, but it is obvious that where 
 the entire text is misunderstood, " from the egg to the 
 apples," as in the Yih king, 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 has been reserved for a learned China- 
 man of the present day to see in Confucius's mention 
 of the Yang and Yin, or the male and female prin- 
 ciples of nature, a direct reference to positive and 
 negative electricity. 
 
 The historical literature of China is the most im- 
 portant branch of the national literature. Bearing in 
 mind that the ancients considered 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 Annals, they have re- 
 frained from all reflections, drawn no inferences, and 
 abstained from even remarks. By so much is the 
 reader probably benefited, since the historian is not 
 
THE LITERATURE. \\\ 
 
 tempted to distort events in order to support a 
 favourite theory, and the student is left to draw his 
 own inferences from a plain statement of facts. The 
 She ke y or " Historical Record," by Sze-ma Ts'een, 
 and the Han shoo, or " History of the Han Dynasty," 
 by Pan koo, are the models upon which all future his- 
 tories have been written. First came the Imperial 
 Records, which contain the purely political events of 
 each reign. Then follow sections on chronology, 
 rites and music, jurisprudence, political economy, 
 state sacrifices, astronomy, elemental influences, geo- 
 graphy, literature, biographies, and records of the 
 neighbouring countries. 
 
 On all these subjects the dynastic histories contain 
 an immense store of valuable and varied information, 
 and considering that the record of each dynasty is pub- 
 lished under its successor, they display an impartiality 
 and absence of bias which is in every sense admirable. 
 The plan of dividing the histories into sharply defined 
 sections, while possibly 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 have 
 to be narrated which have already appeared in the 
 Imperial Records, and in the same way chronology, 
 astronomy, and literature must frequently trench on 
 each other's special domains. But notwithstanding 
 these imperfections, the " Twenty-four Imperial His- 
 
412 CHINA. 
 
 tories " of as many dynasties form a worthy monu- 
 ment of the indefatigable industry of the imperial 
 historiographers. As to their accuracy, it is very 
 difficult to speak with any degree of certainty, as the 
 published authorities, by which it would be possible 
 to verify the statements they contain, are practically 
 nil. Large portions of Sze-ma Ts'een's history have 
 no surer basis than tradition. Much of its contents 
 deal with a period when written records were of un- 
 certain value, and which, if existing at the time of 
 Sze-ma Ts'een, must have been wholly or in part 
 unintelligible to him. But beginning with Pan Koo's 
 history of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 25) down 
 to the history of the last, or Ming dynasty, which 
 came to an end in 1644, the annals have been based 
 on the imperial records, and though accuracy is not a 
 virtue generally enjoyed by Chinese authors, they may 
 fairly be accepted as generally correct. 
 
 A geographical counterpart to these dynastic his- 
 tories 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 
 exceptions, classified under twenty-four headings, 
 viz.: — (1) A table of the changes which the district 
 to be described has undergone during the successive 
 dynasties, from the Han downwards ; (2) Maps ; (3) 
 
THE LITERATURE. 413 
 
 A list of the distances from the various places to the 
 chief town of the department ; (4) The astronomical 
 bearings of the district : (5) Its ancient geography ; 
 (6) Its geographical position and its notable locali- 
 ties ; (7) The manners and customs of the inhabitants ; 
 (8) Its fortified places ; (9) Its colleges and schools ; 
 (10) The census of the population ; (1 1) The taxes on 
 land; (12) Its mountains and rivers ; (13) Its antiqui- 
 ties ; (14) Its means of defence ; (15) Its bridges ; (16) 
 Its dykes; (17) Its tombs and monuments ; (18) Its 
 temples and ancestral halls ; (19) Its Buddhist and 
 Taouist temples; (20) Biographies of patriotic native 
 officials, from the time of the Han dynasty down- 
 wards ; (21) Celebrated men and things; (22) Illus- 
 trious women ; (23) Saints and immortals ; and (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 we have no descrip- 
 tion of the lie or general aspect of the country, or 
 the appearance of the towns. The power of such 
 description does not accord with the narrow train of 
 thought which is the outcome of the Chinese system 
 of education. Detail is dear to the Chinese mind, 
 but accurate generalization is beyond it. This is 
 plainly shown in the inability of Chinamen to draw a 
 
4H CHINA. 
 
 map. Set down to draw a town, or a mountain, or 
 a village, and they may be trusted to do it correctly, 
 but, if told to draw a map of the tract of country 
 in which these occur, 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 renders them valueless as guides to travellers. 
 
 Besides these topographies are copious works on 
 the water-ways of China, the rivers of Manchuria, 
 Mongolia, and Tibet, as well as the outlying depen- 
 dencies 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 Chinese 
 there exists the same desire to add that " new terror 
 to death" which among ourselves is represented by 
 " Lives." Statesmen of eminence, literary men who 
 have gained notoriety, Buddhist or Taouist priests 
 who have died in the odour of sanctity, all leave 
 behind them those who are eager to make the nation 
 share their appreciation of the virtues of the dead. 
 
 Chronology and catalogues are also favourite themes 
 with Chinese authors and compilers. Their early know- 
 ledge of astronomy, and of the sexagenary cycle, has 
 given them the means of calculating times and seasons 
 back to a very early date. But, as with the cata- 
 
[USTIVERSITT 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
 
 THE LITERATURE. 415 
 
 logues, the chronologies belong to the modern phase of 
 the literature, when compilation became more general 
 than original authorship. The Chinese are great 
 bibliophiles and antiquarians, and in the houses of 
 the wealthy and educated classes there are often to- 
 be found splendid libraries and museums. The cata- 
 logues 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 contents of the imperial library. This work r 
 which is entitled, K y in ting sze k y oo ts'cuen shoo tsnng 
 mnh, " 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 books, there are 
 appended to the titles of the works short epitomes of 
 their contents. 
 
 The philosophy of China mainly relates to the 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 ortho- 
 dox 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 in- 
 fluences. In the absence of these seductive lures it 
 advances in spotless purity, until virtue becomes so 
 
4 i6 CHINA. 
 
 confirmed a habit that it is proof against all attacks 
 of evil. The object, 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 promo- 
 tion to places of honour only of men of virtuous 
 lives, and by rigid adherence to the laws of social 
 order, to cultivate that nature which is the heaven- 
 sent gift to every man, and by the firm establishment 
 of which man reaches a secure perfection. 
 
 Such were the views of the leading philosophers 
 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. i 130-1200) 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 middle 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 necessary to the 
 existence of nature itself, so good and evil are in- 
 separably present in the heart of every human being. 
 
 It is sometimes difficult to understand the systems 
 of literary classification pursued by the Chinese, and 
 
THE LITERATURE. 417 
 
 by what process of reasoning they include encyclo- 
 paedias and essays with works on agriculture, astro- 
 nomy, and the arts, under the head of philosophy, it is 
 impossible to say. Agriculture, being a pursuit which 
 is regarded with peculiar veneration, as being pro- 
 ductive of the food of man, has found many exponents 
 on paper, and imperial authors have not thought it 
 derogatory to describe the processes of ploughing, 
 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 the weaving of pieces of silk, are described 
 by engravings and verses of poetry. 
 
 Astronomy has from time immemorial been a 
 favourite study with the Chinese, and the literature 
 on the subject is large. Their knowledge of this 
 subject, which is of Chaldean origin, is considerable 
 though not profound. It has enabled them to cal- 
 culate eclipses and to recognize the precession of 
 the equinoxes, but it has left them with confused 
 notions on subjects which are matters of common 
 knowledge among western peoples. The earth, ac- 
 cording to their notions, is flat, immovable, and 
 square, measuring about 1 500 miles each way. The 
 sun, the diameter of which is 333 miles, stands at a 
 
 2 E 
 
41S CHINA. 
 
 distance of 4000 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 = 1 mile), 
 30 paces, five feet, three inches, and six-tenths of an 
 inch ! The months and seasons are determined by 
 the revolution of Ursa Major. The tail of the con- 
 stellation 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 calculating the seasons becomes more in- 
 telligible, when it is remembered that in ancient 
 times the Bear was much nearer to the north pole 
 than now, and revolved round it like the hand of a 
 clock. 
 
 Scarcely inferior in bulk to the literature on astro- 
 nomy is that on medicine. Here, again, their know- 
 ledge lacks a scientific basis, and their practice is 
 purely empirical. Of surgery they know next to 
 nothing, and their diagnoses of diseases are primitive, 
 to say the least. 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 contains, besides several entire works of note, 
 a large assemblage of prescriptions by celebrated 
 physicians, and full directions for understanding 
 
THE LITERATURE, 419 
 
 aright the indications furnished and imagined to be 
 furnished by the pulse. 
 
 On drawing and painting much has been written, 
 and the books on this subject present a very interest- 
 ing study. They lay bare the secrets of the art, and 
 place us en rapport with the feelings and intentions 
 of the artists. Probably of no country in the world, 
 with the exception of China and Japan, would it be 
 possible to say this. But Chinese and Japanese art, 
 for they are one and the same, is mainly mechanical. 
 The graceful bamboo sketches which appear to be 
 traced with such individual freedom, the birds, the 
 trees, the picturesque landscapes, etc., all of which 
 seem to be the result of inspiration, are, after all, 
 drawn according to fixed rules and after long-con- 
 tinued practice from authorized models. Read by 
 the light of such works as the Leih tai tning hwa ke t 
 every Chinese picture is explained, and we are able 
 to recognize that there is nothing new under the 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 that period are distinguished for origi- 
 nality, research, and elegance. But from that time 
 there has, until quite lately, been a marked decline. 
 Men have given up thinking for themselves, and, 
 instead of seeking new fields of knowledge, they have 
 studied only how to reproduce the results gained by 
 
420 CHINA. 
 
 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 productions of such compendiums 
 is likely rather to content itself with mastering results, 
 than to step out on the thorny paths of knowledge. 
 
 The first work which really deserves the name 
 of encyclopaedia is the Wan keen twig Kaon, which 
 was compiled by Ma Twan-lin in the fourteenth 
 century. It consists of three hundred and forty-eight 
 books, and contains a resume of the existing know- 
 ledge on the government, history, literature, religion, 
 and language, as well as the colonial and tributary 
 states, of the empire. " One cannot cease to admire," 
 says Remusat, "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 pre- 
 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 confraternity, 
 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-loh determined to signalize his reign 
 by the publication of an encyclopaedia, which was 
 
THE LITERATURE. 421 
 
 intended to throw Ma Twan-lin's undertaking into 
 the shade. An imperial commission, consisting of 
 upwards of two thousand members, was appointed 
 to carry out the work, and at the end of four years 
 they were able to report to the Emperor the com- 
 pletion of their labours, which were represented by an 
 encyclopaedia in 22,937 books. Whether the difficulty 
 and expense of printing so huge a compilation 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 mouldered 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-loh's project, 
 and like that Emperor he appointed a commission 
 to give effect to his design. Their orders were simple, 
 though their work was colossal. It was required of 
 them that they should extract from every work of 
 authority, from the Yih king downwards, all passages 
 bearing on the 6109 headings, which it was the will 
 of K'ang-he should be illustrated. For forty years 
 the commissioners toiled. Meanwhile K'ang-he " be- 
 came 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 
 
CHINA. 
 
 last page of the 5020th volume of the KH11 ting koo 
 kin too shoo tseik ctiing, " Imperially ordered complete 
 collection of ancient and modern literature, with 
 illustrations." Tradition says that only a hundred 
 copies of this work were printed. However this may 
 be, the copies issued were few in number, and were 
 all distributed as imperial presents among princes 
 of the blood and the highest officials in the empire. 
 It was thus many years before a copy found its way 
 into the market, and it has only been in obedience to 
 stern pecuniary pressure that of late two or three 
 copies have been offered for sale at Peking by the 
 descendants of the original recipients. Fortunately, 
 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, when the prevalence in China 
 of the agencies destructive of libraries — fire, careless- 
 ness, thieves, and insects — is remembered, may very 
 probably before many years prove to be the only 
 possessors of a complete copy of this rare and 
 valuable work. 
 
 In arranging their materials, the commissioners 
 adopted six general categories, which they sub- 
 divided into thirty-two sections, as follows : Cate- 
 gories— (1) The heavens; (2) The earth; (3) Man- 
 kind ; (4) Inanimate nature ; (5) Philosophy ; and 
 (6) Political economy. Sections — (1) The heavenly 
 
THE LITERATURE. 423. 
 
 bodies ; (2) The calendar ; (3) Astronomy and ma- 
 thematical 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 
 buildings; (11) Official institutes; (12) Domestic 
 laws; (13) Private relationships; (14) Genealogy 
 and biography; (15) Mankind; (16) Womankind; 
 (17) Arts and divination; (18) Religion and pheno- 
 mena ; (19) The animal kingdom ; (20) The vege- 
 table kingdom ; (21) Canonical and general literature ; 
 (22) Education and conduct ; (23) Belles-lettres ; 
 (24) Etymology; (25) The official examination sys- 
 tem ; (26) The system of official appointments ; (27) 
 Articles of food and commerce ; (28) Ceremonies ; 
 (29) Music; (30) Military organization; (31) Ad- 
 ministration 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 collective wisdom of every writer of 
 note on the subject of his study. The accuracy of 
 the quotations forms a marked contrast to all other 
 works of a similar kind, and we have therefore col- 
 lected in one thesaurus a trustworthy and exhaustive 
 resume of Chinese literature. 
 
,424 CHINA. 
 
 Next to a knowledge of the classics essay-writing 
 is the most important aim of education in China. It 
 is by essays that the degrees are mainly determined 
 at the competitive examinations, and it is as essayists 
 that men win the highest renown in the field of 
 literature. According to the cut-and-dried model 
 upon which every essay should the framed, the writer, 
 after stating his theme, gives a short " analysis " of it, 
 and then an " amplification " in general terms. Next 
 follow an " explanation " with a postscript, the " first 
 argument," a " reassertion 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 in- 
 exorable laws of essay-writing, confirmed by centuries 
 of habit, have made their outward observance indis- 
 pensable ; 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 the canonical books. 
 Competitors know, therefore, the style and drift of 
 the texts on which they will have to write, but they 
 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 lite- 
 
THE LITERATURE. 425 
 
 rature. Unfortunately the circumstances of their 
 production, and the prejudices 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 four charac- 
 ters each. When the language lost its polysyllabic 
 character, such a measure was plainly inadequate to 
 give the rhythm which is necessary for polished versi- 
 fication, 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 Tang dynasty (A.D. 618-907), the 
 golden age of poetry, and has since continued the 
 favourite measure. 
 
 But, though it is true that the spoken language is 
 by no means monosyllabic, the characters do as a 
 
426 CHINA. 
 
 rule represent single syllables, and it may therefore 
 at first sight appear strange that lines of seven mono- 
 syllabic words can ever be rhythmical. But the laws 
 of Chinese verse-making are such as to ensure a 
 pleasing cadence in the lines, and the tones of the 
 characters give a musical intonation to them. Strict 
 rules are followed in the arrangement of the cha- 
 racters, and in verses of seven syllables a caesural 
 pause occurs after the fourth syllable, which serves 
 to divide also the grammatical sense of the verse. 
 Rhymes are observed at the ends of lines, but in 
 Chinese an element in rhyming exists apart from the 
 identity of sound which is unknown in European 
 languages ; and that is, that in order to constitute a 
 rhyme the similarly sounding syllables must be in 
 the same tone. For example, ^ Fang and ^fc 
 Kwang rhyme because they are both pronounced in 
 the even tone, but a poet who attempted to make 
 5jy Fang (even tone) and ]|| Kwang (rising tone) 
 rhyme would be scouted as an ignorant fellow. 
 As a rule, all the lines do not rhyme. More com- 
 monly 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 
 
THE LITERATURE. \V 
 
 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 hwang tai shang — fung hwang yew 
 The phoenixes are on the tower — the phoenixes wander. 
 
 Fung k'ii t'ai k'ung — keang tsze lew 
 The male bird goes, the tower is empty — the river alone flows by. 
 
 Woo kung hwa tsaou — mai yew king 
 [So] in Woo's palace the flowers and shrubs — bury the hidden 
 paths, 
 
 Tsin tai e kwan — ch'ing koo kew 
 [And 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. 
 
 Urh shuy chung fun — pih loo chow 
 The two streams midway divide — for the white egret's isle. 
 
 T'sung wei fow yun — nang 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 character- 
 istics of Chinese poetry. The last syllable of the first 
 line gives the cue to the rhyme which is followed in 
 the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth lines, by the 
 words lew, kew, chow, and fsow, which are all in the 
 same tone, the 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 
 
428 CHINA. 
 
 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 dynasty;" we have the "three moun- 
 tains in half separate," and " the two streams midway 
 divide." But not only is this a good specimen of 
 the mechanical 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 thought or 
 sentiment ; such merits are seldom met with ; the 
 main object being to conform as closely as possible 
 to the recognized canons of the art, and to perfect 
 the diction. But this perfunctory way of manufac- 
 turing poetry is inevitable in a country where every 
 student has as a part of his education to learn to 
 write poetry. By the flood of indifferent verses 
 which annually inundate the empire the national 
 taste is destroyed, and the ordinary run of poetry has 
 been reduced to the level of schoolboys' exercises. 
 So entirely is this practically recognized, that dic- 
 tionaries of poetical quotations are as essentially 
 a part of the poet's literary tools as a Gradus ad 
 Parnassum is of a fourth-form English schoolboy's 
 aids to knowledge. 
 
 Under the present dynasty poetry as well as other 
 branches of literature are held to have revived, and 
 the following quotation has been taken from a collec- 
 
THE LITERATURE. 429 
 
 tion as a specimen of the present condition of the 
 muse in China : — 
 
 u Shan kii tsin jih — woo kaou muh ; 
 She nii k'een lo — foo maou wuh. 
 Fang ts'aou ch'un she — shin pe mun ; 
 Yue ming tsze pan— mei hwa suh. : ' 
 
 " In the mountains I live all the day — humble and rude is my 
 
 lot; 
 The creepers my maiden entwines — which cover my primitive 
 
 cot. 
 In spring-time the sweet-smelling plants — completely the door 
 
 over-creep, 
 The moon's beams alone fill the sky — 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 alter- 
 nate lines ; irregular poems, termed Ts'oo ts'ze, where 
 the rhyme recurs at the end of lines of various lengths ; 
 and Ts'ze, a kind of roundelay, in the extempore com- 
 position of which scholars amuse themselves at their 
 festive gatherings. 
 
 The drama received a comparatively late develop- 
 ment in China, as it was not until the latter end of 
 the T'ang dynasty that a Chinese Thespis arranged 
 the wild dances and songs, the precursors of the 
 drama, into connected 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 
 
430 CHINA. 
 
 excellence. But even in the most finished works of 
 the best period there is 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 mo- 
 tives which sway men in the concerns of every-day 
 life, and novelists and playwrights, therefore, are con- 
 tent to make their characters move, act, and converse 
 at will, without troubling themselves to make a psy- 
 chological study of the thoughts which influence 
 them. Thus even in the best plays the characters are 
 moved about in a somewhat disconnected and arbi- 
 trary way to suit the designs of the author, too often 
 in defiance of the probabilities, and with a total dis- 
 regard of the old-fashioned unities. But, if they are 
 unable to reach a high standard of dramatic writing, 
 they show considerable skill in inventing incidents 
 and in introducing clever and humorous dialogues. 
 Thus they startle and amuse more than they interest, 
 and cater for the eye and ear rather than for the 
 mind." l 
 
 The absence of all scenery on the Chinese stage 
 necessitates the awkward expedient of putting into 
 the mouth of each character as he appears on the 
 stage a monologue explaining who he is, where he is, 
 and the object of his being there. In the same way 
 
 1 " The Chinese Drama," by the Author. See Contemfio7'ary 
 Review, January, 1880. 
 
THE LITERATURE. 431 
 
 a change of scene has to be indicated by the actor 
 announcing, " Now I am at such and such a place." 
 These interruptions materially mar the literary effect 
 of a Chinese play, which otherwise is often not with- 
 out merit. The best collection of dramas is known 
 as the " Hundred Plays of the Yuen Dynasty." 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 considered coarse. But, though the moral teach- 
 ing may not be all that could be desired, the audience 
 are yet taught that a sure Nemesis follows on evil 
 deeds, and that to live happily one must live vir- 
 tuously. 
 
 The same poverty of imagination which marks the 
 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 colours. No 
 softening lines or gradual shadings mitigate the 
 villainy of the profligate characters or the supreme 
 excellence of the virtuous personages. These are as 
 incapable of doing anything but evil as those are of 
 doing anything but good. They are all either very 
 black or very white. The hero, who in every case is an 
 
432 CHINA. 
 
 Admirable Crichton, is perfectly virtuous, as strong as 
 Hercules, as brave as Achilles, and a very Nestor for 
 wisdom. As the end of all Chinese novels is to pro- 
 claim the triumph of virtue, it becomes the invariable 
 role of the hero to defend the oppressed, 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 honours, and rises to a supreme position in 
 the state. Imperial favours 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 final discomfiture. 
 
 The best novel which is translatable is the Haou 
 K'ew chuen, which has been rendered into English by, 
 among others, Sir John Davis. In this work the chief 
 interest centres in a succession of endeavours made 
 by the villain of the story to prevent the marriage of 
 the heroine with the hero, and to carry her off as his 
 own bride. The inevitable result follows ; 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 the following gratifying end. In 
 the words of Sir John Davis's translation, "Teih- 
 chungyu, 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 re- 
 
THE LITERATURE. 433 
 
 ceived their orders, and as they filed off in pairs, the 
 ornamental lanterns in all their radiance, the har- 
 monious band in full sound, and the marshalled 
 banners in their variegated splendour, 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.' " 
 
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