a.OFCAIIF0% ivaaiH^ P5j i^i i©y m\ "%3AIM3WV .^0FCALIF(%, ^AavuaiH^ ,:WEUNIVERS/a tyMf ^03ITV3JO^ ^S]]U -\WEUNIVER ANGElty ^/0JIW3JO : \/£Yl 'M3AIN1V3WV iMfllVtf 5«3>^ &X* J OKW\ ■ % 5 "4 %a3AiNn-3\\v % ^AavaaiH^- \® y %hitcho^ % «$UIBRARY0/. \ojiivjjo^ CAtlF0% ^Aavaana^ ^WMJNIVERS/4 % , \\tf -UNIVERS/a 0= L2: ^3AIN0-3WV^ AvlOS-ANCElfj^ ^HIBRAR't vANCElfj> %a3AINrt-3\W S SOV^ SANCELfx> "%3AIM3WV vAQVaalri' ^UIBRAf, ^WOJIIVOJO^ *&AUV88ltt^ OO imm 'Mlfy } 1 «r THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA The Great Wall of China By William Edgar Geil, f. r. g. s. Author of ' 'A Yankee on the Yangtze ' ' etc., etc. WITH ONE HUNDRED FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS j|2tto fork STURGIS & WALTON COMPANY 1909 Copyright, 1909 By STURGIS & WALTON COMPANY Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1909 % NOTE The author has avoided telling the same story twice. The illustrations are inserted not only to substantiate the text but to make material additions to it. For in- stance, instead of a long, dry, detailed, laborious description of the various styles of wall, there are repro- ductions from photographs which will furnish the information, without encumbering the letter press. The illustrations should be carefully studied during the reading of the book. The Publishers. M5L t > .;* t i he Greal Wall of China Photos by Dr. Geil Curious Circular Tower outside the Malan Pass in the Province of Chihli. It is so situated that the near-liy Gate in the Greal Wall is effectually guarded s«4 A*sai&# a ms The only way to prevent people knowing it, is not to do it. 39 the age of mythology, and just awakening out of a slumber of centuries. But our eyes were promptly seized by some mighty influence and dragged down from the light above to the dark restless blue below, and we thought of the tragedies of the Great Wall. What are the beacon lights of history? — this history we find in the Wall? Is there a handwriting on the Wall? The hand of time is ever writing on the Wall, on every wall ; most people cannot read it. But is there another hand- writing on the Wall ? We shall watch for it as we travel along this Great Wall ! Hear one of the recent tragedies. We spent a night in the village of More-Fertilizer, and early the next morning pushed on the caravan toward Flowering- Obedience. But ere the sunset, gaunt smoke-smeared ruins of a foreign compound spoiled the lovely land- scape. Here had dwelt hapless innocents, guarded in a time of riot by four Chinese soldiers; they nobly refused to betray their trust to a mob, were themselves seized, overpowered, their bodies ripped open, and their brave hearts torn out to be offered in sacrifice. Heroes, all hail! At Flowering-Obedience, an ancient Buddhist temple sheltered us for the night, redolent of confusion and dreadful death. The mind was irresistibly drawn to those bloody days when two hundred Christians refused to lie and live. As the shadows of night engloomed the landscape, the pure light of the stars shone down through the silence on the grassy graves of these modern martyrs. Not even in death had they been 40 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA left at rest; the violent rage of the rioters passed or- dinary bounds. Hoping to deepen the agony of the living, and to involve even the dead in posthumous misery, they rifled the very graves of all Christian bones, that an endless unrest might beset those who had escaped their malice in this world. Before sunrise, accompanied by a body of horse, we galloped away from the gloomy old house of idols. The keen frosty air quickened the sluggish native blood, and soon we were on our way north of Tsunh- wachow. Here in the quiet landscape, silvered over with the morning frost, stood a Buddhist temple dedi- cated to the human virtue of almsgiving. And here an eyewitness told of dreadful doings he had been help- less to avert. A gentle girl had been torn from her humble home, with a lad of some sixteen years. They were haled to the temple of almsgiving, and were subjected to two ordeals. First to abjure the foreign faith, but no escape would be purchased by denying the Lord who suffered for them. Guilty then — of goodness! But what sentence? The Chinese dearly loves a gamble, and now chance is invoked to whet the appetite. Before the hideous idol are placed two bundles of incense, one dry, one soaked in lye. She may choose at random, and on her choice hangs life or — what? Should the chosen bundle burn freely, freedom is the lot, but otherwise a speedy death is to be hoped for. Is there no clatter of hoof, no heroic lover as in the days of yore to brave all odds and cleave a path through the bloody rabble? Is there no heart touched with the patient heroism to Don't bite off more than you can chew. harangue the mob and assuage their madness? Nay, she chooses, and most fittingly, for what Christian maiden would willingly select incense to burn at an idol shrine! It smoulders, it dies! And so must she! But now the cold cruelty of the mob pauses. Shall the death-stroke be given at once, and all the fiendish joy end at a blow? Cannot the agony be long drawn out? The lad divines the hellish torments, and who shall blame if nature shrinks? But the maiden rises to nobler heights and can find words of cheer that nerve him to endure all. Need we describe all? Insult after insult, virgin modesty outraged, buffeted, wounded, till the frail form is swathed in cotton, soaked in oil, lashed to a stake, to exhale the unconquerable soul in a chariot of fire! The days of heroism are to-day; the Church is still ennobled by the blood of her martyrs. Soon the Great Wall came into marvelous view! Lines of massive masonry interspersed with towers con- structed during the haughtiest age of the Chinese realm were still winding along the summits of mountains and ridges. Near the Mule-Horse gate in the Great Wall lies a quiet village, but we failed to inquire its name in our elation over this wonderful view of the only ruin in China. The rising sun crowned the lofty towers with glory, then burnished the battlements on the precipitous walls with jasper, and finally plunged the whole temple and mud-sided huts in the pass itself into a magic bath of an indescribable copper color! It was a picture to rav- ish the heart of a painter. 42 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA Shanhaikwan and Tsunhwa were easy to find, but the Y of the Wall was a troublesome matter. It was a long and difficult search. The explanation lies in two parts. The ascents were steep and hard to make; the locals even did not know where the Wall actually branched off, to Kalgan on the northwest and to Nan- kow on the southwest. Several times we were led astray by natives who affirmed they knew the exact spot where the Wall forked. In answer to their confidence, the climb was made, only to enjoy the superb scenery and to be disappointed in the quest for the junction of the two Walls from the west to the one Great Wall toward the east. There was also a chart error in the otherwise excellent map, which helped to lead us astray. The error consisted in the misspelling of a town name, and also in misplacing the Y by some miles, when con- sidered by angles with certain known towns. Our caravan of mountain mules had rested over night at the pass of "The Lily Pool," Lienhwa Ch'ih. Since there was no inn at the hamlet, we were taken in by the "rich man" of the place, with all the hospitality of a mountaineer. The whole population was permitted to come and look us over. As often as we have been subjected to that annoyance, we have never brought ourselves seriously to object to such a practice. Our arrival was to that hamlet what a circus, years ago, was to Doylestown, Pennsylvania. The size of my boots amazed the populace. At that we were not much sur- prised, for the size of them had often attracted my own attention ! The day was very young when we began the ascent of •- c It is not foolish to forgive; good will come of it bye and bye. the mountains in further quest of the lost Y. At one thousand feet above the Lily Pool, which, itself, was far above the sea-level, the scene enraptured all except the third muleteer; continuing the ascent, we came upon large sections of the Great Wall in almost perfect re- pair and in truly classic ensemble, which would rival that of ancient Greece. Not only the Great Wall but a solid tower, standing on the very verge of a steep cliff, and several hundred feet distant from the wall, and out- side, attracted our attention. The "rich man" acting as guide advanced two explanations. First : That the solid solitary tower had been used by soldiers for their horses. The tower being solid, this theory was explosive. The other explanation was the true one. Due south of this point lay the "Thirteen Tombs" or the Imperial Ming Reservation. The geomancers had reckoned it impera- tive to build such a tower in this high place in order to suck in good influences and concentrate the luck on the resting place of the Mings. How much of the "Fa- vorable" was converged by the tower on the Place of Tombs we could not learn. The sunrise end of the Great Wall is below the level of the sea. The Wall never again descends to the tide line. Soon after leaving the wet shore, it follows a course upward and northward, bearing off to the west. During the first one thousand // it is never on a level. Irregular in direction and altitude, it has been regular only in purpose. Built for peace and repaired for war, the Great Barrier has never been disappointing. Even the scenery is satisfactory. For one whole day we 44 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA passed through a chain of canyons of marvelous beauty often blending into the sublime. Eighty miles north of the over-estimated city of Peking, capital of the vastest empire of mortals, are location, altitude, and grandeur fit for the Olympian gods! From the tide to a height of nearly a mile this stupendous structure of sublimity keeps steadily on its westward course. After beholding China's wonder of the world, we would hesitate to cross the street to see Egypt's pyramids, for wonder pur- poses ! But the Great Barrier passes through regions pleas- ing to the scientist. The botanist can stock his her- barium as he travels from the sea to the Y through seven belts of flowers, in addition to shrubs, plants and trees. The ornithologist is in almost equal clover with six belts of birds, while the student of rocks and stones has awaiting him binary granites, sandstones and conglomerates of variety and design to exhilarate a Hugh Miller. The anthropologist will find abundant material among the "imperial tombs" where the empress dowager will be buried. The imperial reserve for burial purposes of the reigning family known as the Eastern Tombs is located against the Great Wall. Indeed, the Great Wall furnishes the inclosure with its protection on one side. A charming spot the geomancers marked out as "lucky" for the interment 1 of the rulers of the present dynasty. In the inclosure grow funereal pines, and death by strangulation is the penalty to any mortal who dares to cut or mar the trees. Here her late 1 A spot which is considered lucky for the burial of a king would have also been lucky for his birth. The Great Wall of China Photo by Harrison Saekett Elliot View of the Great Wall north of Peking', where the tourists go to see the most wonderful wonder in the world. Notice width, excellent work- manship, and different style of brick work arising from the terreplain * # s m a * m « A little impatience spoils great plans. majesty, the empress dowager, who fell dead in the presence of her eunuchs on the twenty-second of this Chinese moon, will be buried in a gorgeous grave palace. Then for the biologist is ready a list of a score or more of wild creatures that run about, several awaiting the call of a good gun. For mere unscientific people who love beauty and do not want exact knowledge let us just mention the peonies, roses, clematis, snow-in-the-moun- tains, white dandelions, with an armful of others in great profusion, growing amidst environments fit for the feet of Cherubim! Nature has done no better work anywhere than along the Great Wall, nor is there any work of man superior to this to be seen amidst forest-clothed mountain, streams, and ravines. Turning to human nature, much is to be desired. The people dwelling near the Great Wall are mostly poor. Our one thousand li of travel was through a thousand li of poverty; a thousand li of ignorance, for the natives knew as little of the history and condition of the only wonder of the Far East as an American University graduate! One thousand li of goiter! This disease we have seen in many mountain lands among different peoples, but never with the same proportion as among the people of the Great Wall. The effort necessary to provide the material (stone, brick and mortar), carry it and lay it, only impresses the traveler when he is attempting to scale the almost inaccessible portions of the Wall. And such portions occupy no small part of the whole. It was impreg- nable to the enemv because inaccessible. Often we 46 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA were hauled up by ropes, and many of the ascents were accomplished by holding on to the mule's tail. Yet it averages twenty feet in height and is wide enough for three or six mules to haul up three or six weary travel- ers abreast. As a sample of the mountain villages stowed away in the fastnesses of these heights along the Great Barrier may be mentioned "Thistle Ravine." Far from the "Barbarian Sea," as Euripides terms the "deep blue," there are two colors, the green of the mountains and the blue of the sky. These are, however, in almost infinite shades, for this bulge of a lofty valley is entirely sur- rounded by mountain peaks of strange and picturesque form. We asked a birth native how many families dwelt here, and he said: "Five or six." When we urged on him the ridiculousness of his not knowing the exact number in so small a place, and it the village of his birth from which he had never wandered, he replied: "Six"; laconic and correct. As there are not ten acres of flat land, every inch is under cultivation, and work extends well up the steep slopes where the tiller of the soil must brace himself when planting, to prevent sliding down. Along the Wall at regular intervals are the remains of garrison towns, but Thistle Ravine, three thousand five hundred feet above the ocean currents, was not one of these. At twilight we arrived, after a hard climb, at the only open end of the only street. There being no inn to shelter us, the kindly mountaineers placed a new house at the disposal of the expedition. This was called "The House of the Lucky Star." A red cloth with a bit of There is no fence that does not let the wind through charcoal dangled at the door to prevent evil spirits bothering us. When "The House of the Lucky Star" is finished a basket of cakes will be upset and a general scramble ensue, to insure and augment the good luck. We were amused to find on the main timber of this very modest mansion a happy saying: "This is a Great Work." We were, they said, the first foreigners who ever burst into that quiet valley. Our glasses interested them and they had never heard of false teeth. Vaccina- tion was unknown; an old man seeing our automatic Cordite rifles asked if they would shoot rabbits. We replied in the affirmative and then told him the best way to catch a rabbit was to put salt on its tail. Behold at last we had found a place where the old joke was new! A whole family had smallpox in full blast. These are handworking people, and on the Great Wall near by are slabs with inscriptions naming the head brick- men, blacksmiths and stone masons who directed the repairs on the Great Barrier centuries ago. These highlanders are religious people. Often along the Wall have we seen towers and temples erected to the tutelary gods of the Northern Boundary, but here we found a vacant shrine. No incense diffuses fragrance in the godless, mud-made cairn of Chihli K'ow. Near this idol-less, picture-less worship house, we came upon a native with an ugly gash upon his head. We asked him: "How came the gash?" He immediately replied: "That is an humiliating question." He had killed a badger and then entered into a quarrel with another hunter, with the result that the other struck first and 48 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA foully. There is one bird here, found nesting in the pear trees, which the mountaineers do not kill. One was pointed out by an old man. He said that years ago an emperor, whose early morning slumbers had been dis- turbed by the noise of this bird at his palace window, issued a decree, forbidding all feathered creatures of this description to screech within forty li of Peking. It is generally reported that these birds heard of the decree and obeyed the "Ruler of all under Heaven" until this day ! The Great Wall passes through a region which is now sparsely settled, but which was probably densely populated in ancient days. Indeed the Great Wall suggests that centuries ago in this part of the country, China supported a larger population than at the present. Here at Thistle Ravine is one of the most entrancing views to be had in any land, the wonderful festooning of the Wall exactly on the sky line from mountain peak to mountain peak, following an almost inaccessible ridge, seemingly hung there by the Maker of the moun- tains. How it was constructed is a mystery. But there it is, towers and wall, and it has been there for cen- turies and never idle for a moment, defying the frost and the rain, the snow and the wind, or protecting the mountaineers from a strong enemy, who might over- whelm their slender force of warriors, and overrun their meager farms; in more ancient time, helping the imperial legions to prevent the capital of the empire from falling into robber hands. Last night we saw this marvelous sight by moonlight. It has no equal except a moonlight night on the Isle of Patmos. This ponderous mass of masonry upon which we are A slave is the worst of masters. now looking lies like some mythical monster, prone upon the shadowy mountain and the dreary plain, as if prostrated by the blow of a proportionate foe. It does not suggest impious pride or sinewy force, but enor- mous might. It was evidently inspired less by rage than by the desire to prevent rage in an age of rage. The fierce Mongols between this heavy line and the frozen north, elate with unerring bow would gladly Aff' )''"""•"■ ,*'''?<>:■*'■ ..• tddgM v- " ■'■*•'. Mongols hunting in the desert north of the Great Wall. precipitate themselves on the plodding peasants of the southland. It seems to us that the Wall was designed to preserve peace, and as such, still stands the most pro- nounced effort of ancient or modern times. Which will be the more potent promoter of peace, the temple at the Hague, or the Wall of Chin? The builder even two thousand years ago was ahead of the senseless mil- itarism of Europe. Warful nations have disappeared but the peaceful Chinese continue through millenniums. The warlike spirit boomerangs and destroys its author — peace pays ! 4 50 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA It was then and is now madness to trust individuals or nations or the chance of blind impious luck! To avoid by peaceful means a dreadful fate to friend or foe, to make harmless the noisy and heedless passions of wild and wicked men, to impede rage, prevent horror, perfume wrath with hesitation, is fit achievement for gods and women! These chaste and admirable virtues are here found writ in stone, mostly in granite stone! A part then of this Great Wall is immortal. It can now boast a lengthy youth and an old age just begun. It has prevented many a "dreadful harvest of the sword," slaughter cumbrous and fresh, it has prevented many a shameful tribute to the unfathomed hatred of barbarian hordes! Great Wall, all hail! It remains true that it is better to lay stones than to throw them. A wall to protect the living is better than a ditch to cover the dead. Let immortal honors cluster and be- stow themselves to praise the virtue that conceived and constructed the greatest wall in the world which has for ages stood for peace and which has for ages diffused delay. Great Wall, all hail! CHAPTER VI The Ancient Architectural Wave Marvelous is this stupendous work of man. To read of it trailing its bulk along the edge of an empire is to court incredulity: to behold it climbing the sides of ravines, cresting the watersheds of ranges, striding across ravines, is to conceive a mighty admiration for its architect; to traverse it day after day for months is to grasp at the strenuous activity of the builders; to hear that every third able-bodied man of the empire was pressed into service to pile the massy stones, is to gain some idea of the limitless power of its designer; to listen to the legends of the remorseless speed of its construction, so that tardy workmen were immured in the sections they lingered over, is to realize the hatred inspired and handed on for generations. What danger threatened, or was it but the spirit of that age like ours millenniums later? Did this vast construction rise phoenix-like from the relics of a former barrier? or did it spring like Minerva full-orbed from the brain of one man? Was it the magnifying of similar indigenous monuments, a mere developing of Chinese ideas? or was it inspired by foreign ideals, by tales of barbarian doings in the west- ern world, by a determination to show that when the Son of Heaven condescended to look upon the works of the foreign devils, he could by one exertion of his 51 52 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA power utterly outshine all their puny efforts? Was this a contemptuous defiance of the Seven Wonders of the Holy Greeks, who hy the year 276 had just heard of "Thina," as the writings of Eratosthenes show? Scarcely one hundred years prior to the erection of the Great Wall the victorious phalanx of Alexander, the Flying Leopard, whom Daniel had foreseen in his vision, advancing eastward, ground under his heavy heel the beautiful "strong city Tyre," scattered the power of Persia and finally advanced into India in search of costlier conquests. He wisely avoided China! His ten years of military activity were not merely bril- liant maneuvers and series of bloody victories. The motives of Alexander-the-Great-Butcher must not be sought in martial movements. His conquests were for. the better purpose, for the spreading of Hellenisi among the nations of the earth. This Grecianizing Leaven aimed at physical and intel- lectual culture; beauty and liberty — which is why the Greeks planted among the conquered peoples cities — centers of this influence. Alexander himself built no less than seventy cities. Indeed, he stretched a chain of cities from Media to Sparta, to disseminate the prin- ciples of the Greeks. And under the quiet, happy rule of the Ptolemies of mummy fame, the Grecian towns near and within Egyptian borders fostered the new ideas and many cities sprang up between the two mother metropolises, Alexandria and Antioch. Like Palestine, Rome, that world-conquering empire which "made the Mediterranean a Roman lake," came under the influence of Grecian culture. But Grecian r It is easy to see the king of Hades, but not one of his imps. manners and customs brought with them luxury and nocturnal festivities which, coupled with unwonted wan- tonness, sapped the life of the nation, and the fatal fall of the mighty but immoral mistress of the world was hastened. At the time of the building of the Great Wall commercialism and materialism had so com- pletely undermined the morals of Rome that civil mar- riages and divorces were no longer uncommon. Cato the Elder, foreseeing the eventual ruin, gave this advice to his son: "The Greek race is very vicious, and believe this as the voice of an oracle, with its literature will spoil everything at Rome!" And he might have said every- where else except in the Far East. The temporary glory of Hellenism shone most re- splendently from Alexandria in Egypt, which was founded 332 B.C. by Alexander near the delta of the Nile, out of the village Rhakotis. Its growth was marvelous and it soon ranked as the model metropolis with regular streets, magnificent sky-scrapers (four stories high), palaces and parks, a city of 500,000 habitants. Here was the emporium of the western world, where the celebrated fine linen, so closely woven that its texture had one hundred and fifty threads to the inch, made by a secret process similar to that for which Sardis was famous, had an immense foreign sale. But Alexandria gloried most in her scholarship. She was the intellectual center. The Museum — the shrine where the Muses are to be worshiped — sheltered the various philosophic schools. There Aristarchus edited critical and grammatical works, and left commentaries 54 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA which are the basis of our investigations. Here also was the largest library on earth, containing five hundred thousand volumes. Most of these were originals which had been seized and for which copies had been given in return. The half -million volumes accumulated in this perfectly modern fashion were stored in the Temple of Serapis, the Serapeion. The city boasted of splendidly equipped observa- tories, zoological and botanical gardens. Philadelphus in 250 B.C. raised a temple here in honor of his father and placed therein statues of gold and ivory to be wor- shiped like gods. The feast which he gave at his acces- sion to the throne cost over $500,000, the most splendid festival ever seen, one in which the proud city of Alexandria enjoyed the most pompous pageants and the greatest games, "for the spoils of whole provinces were sacrificed to the curiosity of a single day to raise the frivolous admiration of a stupid populace." Among the men of the world, few have possessed the wealth ascribed to King Philadelphus, estimated at $750,000,000. During his reign he caused to be constructed among other projects the tomb to his sister Arsenoe. In this Dionachores, his architect, proposed to build a room of loadstone and place an iron statue of her, to be sus- pended without support in the air between roof and floor. 1 This plan, however, was not executed. The ancients kindly left this for moderns. "I would entreat thy company, To see the wonders of the world." 1 Did not the Moslem tradition of Mohammed's coffin originate here? The Great Wall of China Ph.. to by Dr. Geil Top of section of .Mountain Wall scaled with mortar and stone. Mule- Horse Pass m a m # m 55 The grass does not move when there is no wind. When the Great Wall of Chin was begun the narrow Hellenic world was discussing and admiring seven stupendous structures, the Seven Wonders of antiquity. Among these the greatest are the Walls and Hanging Gardens of "the Gate of God," Babylon. The walls of this ancient capital, said old Herodotus, were fifteen miles on the side, eighty-seven feet wide, and three hun- dred and fifty feet perpendicular, and built in fifteen daj^s. On each side were great gates of solid bronze which gave easy entrance to the inclosure. Towers, picturesque and powerful, rose at regular intervals ten feet above the parapet. The arrangement of the streets, each fifteen miles long, was so uniform that every well-compacted gate was joined directly to one lying opposite: the city having magnificent highways in each direction. 1 The Hanging Gardens built either by or for a woman stood within a triple mass of masonry in the ill-omened palace and formed a perfect square four hundred feet to the side. Terraces, one above the other, rose on vast arches, which were raised on other arches. A stair of stone gave ample access to these elevations, while the 1 "Already we know more of the glories of Babylon than Herodotus has been able to tell us, and a correct idea of the more important part of the city can even now be obtained. From the plans drawn up, we must dis- miss from our minds the picture of a four-square city with all the streets at right angles like those of the great cities of America, and gates to the number of a hundred giving access to the principal thoroughfares. Baby- lon was no larger, Delitzsch says, than Dresden or Munich, and the walls as traced by the explorers, though roughly rectangular, inclosed a very irregularly-shaped tract." T. G. Pinches (Journal R. A. S.) Which is correct, Herodotus or Pinches? 56 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA whole amazing garden was encircled by a wall seventy- two feet thick. Ponderous stones sixteen by four feet were laid over these strong and graceful arches, and upon them was spread a thick layer of reeds and bitumen; this again was covered with two rows of bricks cemented together by mortar made with slime from the Dead Sea. Lastly a thick covering of lead prevented the percolation of moisture from the mold that had been spread upon it. These unequaled gardens were adorned with gorgeous flowers, fragrant shrubs, and trees large and diverse. A pump placed in the upper terrace formed the water works. Wonder No. 2} Proud Kufu built the Great Pyra- mid at Gizeh as his tomb. Shifting every three months, a hundred thousand men were constantly employed for ten years in its construction, and a million dollars' worth of onions and other vegetables were consumed by these same workmen. Its original height was over four hundred and eighty feet, the length of its base seven hundred and sixty-four feet. Pliny considered these pyramids as "Regum pecuniae otiosa ac stulta ostentatio," a foolish and idle display of the wealth of kings. This is the only "won- der" remaining to this day. Wonder No. J. Third among the wonders of the ancient world was the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, dated originally 772 B.C. Built in the name and at the expense of Asia Minor, its construction, according to 1 In chronological order the Great Pyramid of Kufu came long before the glory of "The Gate of God." -mmmmmmw 57 The first time it is a favour, the second a rule. Pliny, took over two centuries. "Of this temple great speech was made throughout the world." It is of gigantic size, four hundred and twenty-five feet in length, two hundred and twenty-five feet in width; more than six score costly columns sixty feet high, each dedicated by a king, supported the roof of this marvelous building. Master artists vied with each other to excel in adorning the edifice. On the night Alexander was born, one Herostratus set it on fire for no other purpose than to make himself known to pos- terity. It was therefore a rebuilt temple that attracted sightseers in the days of Chin. Wonder No. 4. Next in time is the statue of Jupiter Olympus ; the work of Phidias, who carved it at Elis in 435 B.C. It is novel in this that it is the work of revenge. Forced to withdraw from Athens to escape the intrigues of his rivals, he began making a statue of Jupiter which should eclipse the statue of Minerva which he had carved for the Athenians. This he achieved. It was carved in gold and ivory, sixty feet high and wrought so well that it was believed nothing could ever surpass it. At the base were graved these words, a seal of approbation from the god, "Phidias the Athenian made me." Wonder No. 5. The fifth wonder of the world was the work of a woman, the beautiful tomb of Mausolus, known as the Mausoleum. His widowed wife caused it to be erected in 354 at Halicarnassus in Caria. The four most famous sculptors of the time adorned the beautiful structure, each embellishing a side. It was 58 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA oblong in shape, surrounded by six and thirty Ionic columns, crowned by a pyramid diminishing by twenty- four steps to the summit. A colossal marble quadriga crowned the top. The total height was one hundred and thirty feet. The marble lions, the magnificent frieze, its gorgeous color effect caused the admiration of all beholders. And this was all. For Mrs. Mausolus placed her husband's sacred ashes in costly wine and drank the hideous mixture, desiring that her husband's body should be buried in her own body. Wonder No. 6. The watch-tower lighthouse at Pharos, completed in 283 B.C. in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus. It stood on the island of Pharos, named after a pilot buried there. Its marble tower rose to a height of four hundred and fifty feet, and on its top a fire was kept burning which was visible at a distance of one hundred miles. This "wonder" endured for fifteen hundred years. Sostratus, commissioned to build it for the price of $800,000, carved his own name into the great pillar, neglecting to do honor to the king whose munificence was responsible for the erection of the lighthouse. Ordered to correct this neglect, he filled the hollow with mortar and carved therein: "King Ptolemy to the gods, the saviors, for the benefit of sailors." The mortar finally crumbled away and re- vealed the original inscription, showing the modern spirit of the architect who had carved: "Sostratus the Cnidian, son of Dexiphanes, to the gods, the saviors, for the benefit of sailors." Wonder No. 7. Closer to the time of the Great Wall came the Colossus at Rhodes, finished 280 B.C. after a £> Better give a mouthful to the hungry than a bushelful to the well-fed. twelve years of building. Chares of Lindus wrought this stupendous brass statue, — so tall that ships in full sail might have passed between its legs, but they didn't. It was one hundred and five feet high and occupied a place in the harbor. The thumb could hardly be clasped with both arms. A winding staircase led to the top of this Tor de Speechi whence by aid of glasses hung around the neck of the statue a view could be had off the shores of Syria. It cost $400,000. While the Great Wall was building an earthquake shook Greece and destroyed this gigantic figure. It was never built up again. The Seven Wonders, to quote a medieval, were big "prosperous edifices, of exagger- ated hugeness, dazzling and ruinous luxury." Four Great Roads. While Grecian architecture erected monuments of grace and beauty, Rome worked persistently along more useful lines; she began to build highways. The queen of roads, the Via Appia, most important and celebrated as a highway, was built in 312 B.C. under Appius Claudius Carcus and paid for with money collected as fines from rich estate holders. It put Rome into connection with such important towns as Capua and Brindisium, paved with blocks of lava for a distance of three hundred miles. A network of roads sprang into existence branching off from this great highway, and enlacing Italy. Then came the Via Latina, also running south. By it Rome had direct communication with Beneventum, one hundred and forty miles distant. Another ancient road, if not the oldest, was the Via Solaria, running 60 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA from the Colline Gate to Ancona on the coast of the Adriatic. Branch roads from this later crossed the Apennines to Picenum. In 220 B.C., while Chin was considering the project of building the Great Wall, Consul Flaminius fortified Italy by adding the Via Flaminia to the many military roads. The terminal points of it are Rome and Ari- minum to the northeast, about one hundred and fifty miles distant. Rome after the first Punic War saw her wealth in- creasing and with that her power. With the luxurious life also came the desire for larger architectural develop- ment. Durney suggests that Rome's art until then had been sacerdotal, i.e., it served merely for ornamenting the temples. But now moneys were appropriated to works of public utility ; an aqueduct was constructed by Carius, and after 275 a new mint was erected to coin gold instead of silver as before; new temples were reared more from a feeling of vanity in perpetuating the glory of a family than from a sense of piety and devotion. For a time this revival of art received a check through the coming of young Hannibal into Italy and his march toward Rome. Having sworn eternal hatred to Rome this Carthaginian leader of great genius crossed the Alps at precisely the time when a Chinese emperor, a greater genius, Chin Chihhuang Ti, is occupied with his building projects. Contrast these two historic charac- ters, one bent on massacre, the other on masonry. The terrible losses Hannibal sustained in crossing the Alps were not serious enough to prevent him engaging the A lost inch of gold may be found, a lost inch, of time never. Roman army at Lake Trasimene in 216. Victorious in this massacre the one-eyed general administered so crushing a defeat to the Romans at the bloody battle of Cannae in 216, when seventy-two thousand Roman soldiers, together with eighty senators and the flower of the army, fell, that it remained a black day in Roman history. In those days so many knights were killed that young Hannibal stripped from the fingers three bushels of red-stained rings and sent them to Carthage. The,xhief-characteristics of the epoch of the Great Wall seem to have been butchering and building. The Great Wall stands at the close of the greatest building age of antiquity. Athens, under Pericles, had risen to unwonted splendor. What a stately array of edifices were on the hill-crest of the Acropolis! Then was built the Parthenon, the edifice which critics of all schools have pronounced the most faultless in design and execution of all buildings erected by man. It cost $700,000! It is interesting and astonishing to learn of the spirit of enterprise which filled one of the ancient architects, Dinocrates, the later architect of Alexandria. He pre- sented plans and designs to Alexander so stupendous that they are hardly credible. Dinocrates actually pro- posed cutting Mount Athos into the form of a man who should hold a great city in his left hand and in his right a cup to receive all the rivers which ran from that mountain and to pour them into the sea. Alexander, alive to every great opportunity and fond of the stu- pendous, did not seem to have favored this undertaking. 9 62 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA In Egypt the Ptolemies were active. The engineer- ing projects of Philadelphus would do credit to modern engineering art. He planned a great canal one hun- dred and seventy feet wide and fifty feet deep which should connect Pelusium on the eastern branch of the Nile with the Red Sea, so that the vessels from the sea might be brought into the interior. Not only on land but on sea the stupendous pre- vailed. The types of naval architecture of that period both in point of luxury and comfort, would do credit to a modern nation. The Egyptians had one war vessel four hundred and twenty feet long, with fifty-seven feet beam, carrying forty banks of oars, weighted with lead at the handles to more easily move them. Four thousand rowers were required to propel this behemoth and four hundred sailors stood ready to shift its sails. On its deck enough room was left to draw up in rank two thousand soldiers and at its prow were seven beaks with which to strike the ships of the enemy. About the same time Hiero of Syracuse constructed under the direction of Archimedes, the inventor-philoso- pher, a vessel each side of which was divided into thirty apartments, besides quarters for the officers and the crew. All floors in these apartments were of mosaic representing scenes from the Iliad of Homer; the ceil- ings and other parts were also sumptuously finished. Between the upper decks was a gymnasium and prom- enades among arbors and gardens with plants and shrubs of all kinds beautifully arranged, both a hanging and a floating garden. One room had a floor inlaid with agate and precious stones, ceiling of cypress wood, Who thinks much of wealth and little of father and mother is not a son. and windows adorned with ivory and statuary. Nor was this all; there was a library and an observatory equipped with astronomical instruments. Finally it contained a bathroom of the most elaborate kind. But the vessel was not merely for pleasure, it was a man-of-war as well. For defensive purposes eight towers had been erected, from each of which men hurled missiles against the enemy from machines throwing stones three hundred pounds in weight. "These prodigies of art, and wondrous cost." 1 In the realm of the intellectual a galaxy of names have made the achievements of the past seem inimitable. Homer, Pindar and Sappho had left their legacy of poetry, Herodotus had begun to set down in writing the history of the glorious deeds of the Greeks. Law- givers like Solon and Draco, and philosophers, no lesser ones than Socrates, Plato and Aristotle had reasoned among their generation. The seven wise men of Greece had been gathered to their fathers, and the standards of Sophocles and Aristophanes and Aeschylus set by them for the drama had inspired those who after them aspired to honor. Greece had had her most powerful persuasive orator Demosthenes, while the four schools of philosophy 2 had been established, and the old Hebrew Testament, the most remarkable and valu- able of all ancient literature, was being translated into Greek ! The epoch of the Great Wall was a period of great thinking and colossal achievement! 'Odyssey, Book IV. 3 Peripatetics, Stoics, Epicureans and Academics. 64 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA Eratosthenes, about this time, makes an attempt to ascertain the length of a degree, and in 240 B.C. calcu- lates the magnitude of the earth, while Archimedes makes his calculations and inventions in Syracuse. Plutarch begins writing biography; medicine and surgery command new interest and attention. Botany and pure mathematics, also mechanics, advance with rapidity, while Tenodatus and Aristophus of Byzan- tium make their first philological discoveries. Pergamus, the rich capital of Mysia, vies with Alexandria in learning and sculpture. Her wealth is untold, for she harbors part of the plunder of Asia that Alexander had amassed. Her school of sculpture leaves the world the beautiful statue of "The Dying Gladiator." A century later Mark Antony is to give his precious parchment library of two hundred thousand volumes to Miss — or Mistress — Cleopatra of Egypt for a kiss. About 250 B.C. there sprang up a new independent kingdom in the East, to become a most powerful and formidable power, Parthia. Arsaces founded it after expelling the Macedonians. The new domain cor- responded to the modern Khorasam. The eminent French scholar Choisy holds that a wave of architectural ideas, starting from Chaldea and Egyj)t, swept eastward. The combined influence of Egyptian and Assyrian architecture is meant, for both countries influenced each other at an early period. In Persia are tombs built after the style of those in Egypt. The revival of architecture and building in India almost coincides with the building of the Great Wall in m Ui x- u m m 65 The great mountain does not reject the smallest dust. China. It is the inauguration of a new period in Indian architecture known as the Buddhist period. King Asoka was then ruler over Afghanistan, Hindustan, South India, and Ceylon. At first he was devoted to the worship of Brahma, but having come under the teaching of Buddha he embraced the new faith. Asoka (236-226 B.C.) according to Buddhist legends massacred a hundred sons his father had by sixteen different wives, and extended his empire. With him began the history of Buddhist architecture. He caused columns with inscriptions, commending loving-kindness, virtue, for- bearance, temperance to be erected after his conver- sion to Buddhism. From this time dates the Buddhist period. Choisy thinks that the remains of these temples clearly show the influence of Greek architecture, which may have come by way of Persia and Bactria. The wave of Greek influence did not touch China. That China in the origin of her art is indebted to Chal- dea we question. Mu-Wang, 1 when Chaldean art was at its zenith, caused terraced temples to be erected for astral worship, and the introduction of astrology. This may show the influence of the art he saw in distant lands. And it is possible that he also brought back with him the knowledge of painting on wood and the use of varnish and enamel which were known to the Chaldeans and the Egyptians. But the potter's art and brick 'The general opinion among scholars is that Mu-Wang did not go so very far afield after all— certainly nothing like so far as the Mediterranean. Mu-Wang himself is hardly more than semi-historical. 66 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA making were carried to great perfection in China in remotest times. 1 In the building of the Great Wall we have every evidence that the use of mortar was known, for entire parts of this Wall were constructed, or at least faced, with baked bricks by way of mortar. Outside of the Chinese the Persians seems to have been the only nation which employed mortar in construction. Rome made use of it only after she had come in contact with Persia. The nations east of the Euphrates from remotest times knew the use of unbaked brick; and Dr. Schliemann in his excavations at Troy found walls of houses with baked and unbaked brick forty-five centimeters square. The use of brick was necessary for the nations where wood was not in abundance and unavailable for build- ing purposes. Hence Egypt and Persia largely used brick ; Assyria, though having access to stone, preferred the use of brick. The brick-yards of Chaldea were a gigantic industry and the greatest structures in that country are made of brick pise, i.e. of wet clay bricks laid one on top of the other and then stamped down without any further cementing material. Here then we have abundant tokens of massive archi- tecture in the West. Whether of stone, of baked brick, or clay, there are huge piles which even in ruins excite the wonder of the present day. But did the West set the fashion for China? 1 Auguste Choisy, Histoirc de 1' Architecture, Vol. 1, p. 180. "La Chine et le Japon sont les contrees 6u Tart de la poterie s'est le plus developpe: la brique s'y fabrique avec una rare perfection et l'usage en parait fort ancien." The Great Wall of China Photo by Dr. Geil The veneering of cu1 stone has fallen away exposing the rubble construc- tion inside. This is peculiar l<> mountain regions. Northeast of the Thirteen Tombs It is too late to rein in your horse when on the precipice, and to mend a leak when in mid-stream. China was not addicted to taking hints from other peoples, and in this case all the evidence fails to link it up with even Bactria. The wave which started from Egypt and rolled on through Babylon, leaving behind it such huge deposits as pyramids, hanging gardens, towers of Babel, royal palaces, was split by the moun- tains. On the barriers of Afghanistan it dashed itself in vain, and India was left untouched by the art of the despised outcast. Thus through Asoka there came to China nothing of this cyclopean rage. Out to the east of the Caspian another part of the wave flowed into the desert, but there lost itself in the sands. We can trace nothing that joins on the plans of Chin and his conge- ners with Kufu or Nitocris or Alexander. Chin was original. Since China and India have come under the influence of nations where gigantic structures were in existence, and the cause of much admiration, the question has been raised why these two nations are now lacking in monu- mental works. The answer to this must be sought in the conditions and government of the people. Among the nations whose edifices we have mentioned, these monuments owe their existence largely to monarchs or individuals for the purpose of perpetuating their name and glory, whereas China and India, agricultural and therefore less vain, built largely for the present needs of the people. Thus we find outside of the at- tempt of Chih-Huang-ti to embellish his capital, no other but structures of utility like canals and highways, and structures of defense, among which the Great Wall 68 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA stands as the most conspicuous type of all times. The Great Wall marked a great epoch. Thus, satisfied as to the originality of Chin and the uniqueness of his conceptions, we resume our survey of the mighty monument to his glory, uncoiling and luring us westward toward the home state of its builder. «*r &m The Greal Wall of China Photo by P. E. Dilly, M.A., M.D. 'J'hc celebrated "Language Arch," <>r Hexagonal Gateway a1 the Nankow I'nss. The North Face is lure shown (the South Face is the same design). The \rcli, the crown and haunches of which form the sides of a hexagon, is 20 feel across .it the base, :io fV<-t through, and has 5 Bud- dhas on each side of the fla1 haunches. In the perpendicular wall <>n either side are large tablets of granite with inscriptions in divers languages CHAPTER VII From the Thirteen Tombs to Chinas Sorrow Tombs and a flood we sing; or at least that section of the Great Wall which is verged by two gruesome termini, the Thirteen Tombs and the Yellow River. The Eastern Y sends off its northern arm of the wall, a part of which we have seen. It passes from the Eastern Y through Kalgan, but is badly out of repair, while still farther to the north are the remains of yet another wall. Not far from Chu-yung is a famous marble arch spanning the road along the Government Pass; six centuries ago it was built, with carvings and inscriptions in no fewer than six languages. This has been visited and photographed so often that we be- lieved in its existence, and preferred to explore along a less known line of the Wall. The inner line of defense starts from the Eastern Y, joining the outer hundreds of miles to the west and not far from the Yellow River. Before we went far along, we came to the famous Thirteen Tombs of the Ming dynasty, the great line that re-fortified the wall and held it long against the Tartars. This mountainous mauso- leum is to be carefully distinguished from the Western Tombs of the present dynasty, to be described farther on. The Mings consulted an adept in the study of the Booh of the Blue Bag, a classic of geomancy some 69 70 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA thousand years old. He, by the aid of the magic tor- toise shell fixed upon a felicitous ground which the emperor approved, and re-named the Mount of Im- perial Longevity. Here was laid out the first of the Thirteen Tombs, and here most of the race were interred. Changling chien is the home of the hereditary tomb- guardians. The pride of their charge is the mound of the man who finished the northern capital, Yung Lo. There his corpse lay in state for a year while the pro- fessors of geomancy awaited a lucky day for the burial. Then it was put to its last home about thirteen miles from the Wall ; a huge mound was piled above, and in his soul tower a tablet was erected to his memory. One by one others were buried hard by, till the lucky num- ber of thirteen w r as complete by the last Ming slaying himself on the conical coal hill in the palace yard. The cemetery was garnished with a dozen gigantic mono- liths of men, and two dozen of animals: so impressive are they in their cold, silent majesty, standing naturally on the soil without pedestals, that a later emperor thought of transporting all to grace his own tomb; but a horrified chamberlain chipped a piece off each, and thus rendered them unthinkable as decorations for a new tomb. It was this dynasty which ended the bury- ing alive of wives and concubines ; perhaps these statues were erected in place of them. Our interest lay heavy on Lung Ch'ing, for along the Wall many tablets told us of his interest in the Great Barrier. The main spirit road does not lead directly to the Dr. W. A. P. Martin in the Western Hills near Peking The Great Wall of China Photo by A. M. Cunningham Coal Hill, inside the Imperial Palace Grounds, Peking, where the Last of the Mings hanged himself Playing the zither to an ass and talking astroloev to the blind. s/ sepulcher of Lung Ch'ing; the Thirteen Tombs lie in a valley mantled with pines and arbores vitac, into which lead half a score of picturesque passes, winding between thirteen hills, and forming a lovely theater for the imperial shades. As we approached the group of massive mounds, we noted another instance of how East and West differ: Menelaus spoke for the Egean: "For if the gods are wise They lightly scatter dust upon the tomb Of the brave man who by his foes is slain ; But pile whole mountains on the coward's breast." Here, however, the artificial mountain is piled by reverential men above a hero. And yet not all his sub- jects reverenced Lung Ch'ing. As we climbed up the very steep stone stairway to his soul tower, we were rewarded by the sight of the famous tablet, shattered. "Is is possible that after all the geomaneers made a mistake and chose an unlucky spot?" 1 The guardian wavered; either some indignant workmen thus vented their revenge on the tyrant who had forced them to slave on the Wall; or else a "clap of thunder" had come to the wrong shrine in mistake for the thunder temple. The geomaneers in their art of balancing the influ- ences of wind, water and hill, not only chose to put the imperial suicide beside Lung Ch'ing, but balanced the grave by a tablet with a moon upon it. This was reputed to wax and wane with the original in the sky, but the machinery is out of gear and there seems only 1 A mistake made in preparing the grave of the third emperor of the Sung dynasty defeated a conspiracy. 72 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA some moonshine about the incident. The Great Wall has fascinated these cemetery surveyors, for there are a very large number of graves hard by the Great Ram- part; indeed, some have actually been excavated in its thickness. Hence it has been fantastically termed: "The longest cemetery on earth." In the catacombs of Rome, amid the tombs of the dead, the living Christians sometimes sought shelter from the persecutions of the emperor or the fury of the mob. And so it was in this cemetery. Hard by here there were fugitive Christians who found safety a few years ago, hiding in the caves or the strong towers of the Great Wall, while others less fortunate lie buried not far away. While the refugees were here, they wrote loving messages on any material they could find, and some of these precious documents have been found; perchance more await the explorer who would trace the results of the recent madness. Men have wondered whether life has become too monotonous and gray for the purple of heroism to show itself; whether in this ease-loving age the severer tests of character would not excite solicitude and alarm. "Should the cycle of time return us to the martyr days with vast amphitheaters crowded to the parapet, what then? Lions, tigers, racks, boiling oil, slow fire, mutilation; will these elicit the Christian virtues?" No cycle of time is needed, only a change of place; Uganda and China have exhibited to this generation men in such straits, climbing the steep ascent of heaven through peril, toil and pain. On a spot north of this inner loop perished eleven white and thirty-two yellow Christians. For the whites In the prosperity and decay of the state a common man has his share. there was no option; death was certain, and was made attractive as an end of awful torture devised by an ingenious, implacable and atrocious foe; they met it with a calmness born of eternal hope. But in the yel- lows there was an opportunity to bow to Buddha ; a very few under unparalleled trials slipped through this loop- hole; most joined the victors who bear the palm-branch of victory. The whites were beheaded first, then, in horrid mockery of the Christian sacrament, the natives were obliged to kneel and drink their blood before they, too, received the death blow. Here then is one of the sacred spots of earth. The Invalides, Westminster, Mount Vernon? These entomb no martyrs for Christ. The tumuli of Croesus, the pyramid of Cheops, the thirteen Ming tombs, what are they beside these humble graves of Shan-si, where lie, between the two arms of the Great Wall, the Martyrs of the North? Are the Chinese bloody? In the last fifty years they have shed less gore than any nation half their size. These believers in the Sacred Edict with its sixteen maxims have taken fewer lives than followers of the Swordless Christ, believers in the Ten Commandments. The Civil War in America, Austrians, Prussians and French in central Europe, Russia and Turkey to the east, Britons in South Africa ! May not the Chinaman kill a paltry two hundred when Christendom slaughters a hundredfold! From the graves of the humble Christians, pass to the magnificent cemetery of their persecutors, the Western Tombs of the present dynasty. This is the third Im- 74 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA perial Burial Reserve we have met along the Wall; the first is the Eastern Mausolea, more popular of re- cent years; the second is the more ancient Graveyard of the Mings with their thirteen tombs; this is the Western Cemetery, southwest of Peking. Here are permanent camps where a garrison commanded by a prince of the blood keeps guard over the bones of his ancestors. A rugged mountain ridge forms the north- ern boundary; dark pines rustle over the wide ex- panse, whence gleam the red walls and gilded roofs of the edifices. Canals border off one plot from an- other, and stately marble bridges span them for roads to the tombs. Visit one of the older monuments. They face south to garner in the favorable influences. Inscriptions in Chinese, Manchurian and Mongol characters — for this dynasty is foreign — adorn the avenue. Pass over the waterway, along the paved road, under the arch- ways, and when expectation is kindling, behold an altar for the emperor alone to sacrifice upon, in a court reserved for his sole use. Seek the goal of this mag- nificent approach, and there is a throne, draped in yellow silk, whereon is mounted the tablet of the de- parted. Before it is a table with censors and with bowls for the blood of the sacrifices. Is this the end? Behind the building is the hill scarped vertical, and with a recess marking where the tunnel was driven in to receive the coffin of the dead ruler. Is it true that when the bearers carried in their ponderous burden, the masons waited not for their return, but walled up the quick and the dead together? .2 « Rebuke yourself as you rebuke others ; love others as you love yourself. Tao Ivuang, who died in 1850, is the last emperor entombed here, with his household grouped around. But since this journey along the Great Wall began the last sovereign of his race has been laid at rest among these Western Tombs of a dynasty that is marvelously transforming its realms after a vain struggle against the forces of change. 1 Many towers of the Great Barrier remain intact, and even much of the Wall. Thus far in our trip of six hundred miles we appreciate the work of the en- gineers who brought masses of stone, brick and mortar and built them solidly. But our native companions appreciate yet more highly the work of the geomancers who fixed the sites of the towers, and so brought down good influences on the fields around. One guide would never enter a tower without kotowing thrice and re- peating a formula for luck, a prayer to the god of war. The Wutai Shan is a lofty shrine near this Wall; and if the Wall is in a fair way to become sacred, the Wutai Shan has arrived. Only, strange to say, it is sacred to the Mongols, the people who were to be kept 1 In this Imperial Forest Reserve are various animals, including three varieties of wildcat, the long-haired, common, and spotted; three hamsters, the desert, striped and common; two jerboas, the dipus Sowerbyi, and the alactaga which has five toes, instead of three, and larger, longer ears. Then there are the interesting goitered antelope, badger hedgehog, mole, mole-rat, myotis, suslik or ground squirrel, chipmunk, and rodents. The hare and his near relation, the pika, enjoy the Western Tombs as do rats and nats. The large forest, a day's journey south of the Wall at Ningwufu, in addition to the above accommodates the roe deer, Peking stag, leopard, wild pig, David's squirrel, musk deer, and small mice, while north of the Inner Loop are mountain sheep, with enormous horns, who endure "the bold society of wolves and foxes." 76 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA out by the Wall, and yet it is within the circuit. Per- haps many centuries later it attracted them within and nerved them for the onslaught. If once again the hardy horsemen of the north seek to flood over the empire, this racial shrine may prove of crucial im- portance. If the Jewish fanatics rallied against the legions at Jerusalem, if a Christian assault on Mecca be almost unthinkable, let the Russian bear hesitate before provoking the Mongols by violating this sacred mountain, whence the more pious will return even a thousand miles, measuring their length on the ground. The Wall itself finds votaries all along its course. The mortar from its crevices works wonderful cures, especially for punctures of the dermis. "If you cut a mouth in your hand, take of the Magic Mortar quan- tum sufF. and pulverize, take an unborn mouse and mash it into the powdered lime; apply the ointment to the mouth. Should the mouse be not available, sub- stitute oil." The same mixture is good for burns — or is good to take off more skin. If applied internally it will cure stomach-ache; for an average stomach and an average ache take a pill the size and shape of a lotus- seed; for a baby, less. Life may be hard in China, but death seems harder if men will try such remedies as Boho, Frog-blood-extract, Mouse-mortar-pills. The pathos of life here was well illustrated by the gloom of a coolie met at a fork in a road. We asked which branch led to the Wall, and how far off it was; he told the way, and told correctly enough that it was three miles off. "But I have not seen it; to gather fuel takes me from early morning till toward sunset The Great Wall of China Tower No. 41 Ch'a Tzii at Tushancheng Phot. is by Dr. Geil mmmmmmm 77 A dragon floundering in shallow waters incurs the ridicule of shrimps. in the woods ; then the heavy burden prevents me from looking up, and I have never set eyes upon it." Yet how many Londoners have seen the Tower? How many Kentuckians their Mammoth Cave? Where solid facts are wanting, fluid fancy easily arises. John Gwadey here produced a tale of Chin and his big bludgeon. This was seven Chinese feet long, studded with knobs of metal — iron or gold — and precious stones. This had magic properties, so that when the Wall was built of any material that came handy, Chin struck it with his staff, and it all changed to one kind of stone — which remains to prove the story. More, it could make stones fly in any direction, and this properly proved disastrous. For when he flung one into the sea at Chefoo, it hit the sea god, who was incensed, and decided to take away the dangerous weapon. From these picturesque legends turn to solid fact. We discovered several tablets which record either the original construction of the Wall or the last rebuilding of it and of the towers. Here is one in the armory tower at Peh Shih K'ow. A complete translation follows : Built in the autumn of the first year of Wan Li, by Wang Tao Kung of Sihsien, inspector of Chi (Chicow) Liao (Yung ping Fu) and Paoting Border Affairs, junior vice-president of the Board of War, and associate president of the Court of Censors, Liu Ying-chieh of Weihsien, di- rector general of Military Affairs for Chi, Liao, Paoting and other Departments, controller of commissary supplies, associate president of the Court of Censors, and junior 78 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA vice-president of the Board of War, Sun Pei-yang of Fup'ing-hsien, governor of Paoting and other Depart- ments, commander-in-chief of Tze King (Purple Thorn Bush) and other passes, and associate president of the Board of Censors, Wang Hsiang of P'ingtu, associate governor of Chihli and supervising censor of Provincial Circuits. Kao Wen-chien of Ch'engtu in command of military functions at Tze King and other places and coun- cilor in the governor's office, Shantung, Fu Chin of Yensui, brigadier general of Paoting and superintendent of affairs Wang Fu Min of Yensui, adjutant general and associate commander of Tze King Pass and other places. Chang Chu of Nganning, assistant prefect of Paoting Depart- ment in control of the Tze King Pass, Chu Chia-Chiang of Chengting, junior captain in charge of Peh Shih (White Stone) Pass, Huang Sheng, deputy director of Hwei Yiin and Hsing Lan Ting, overseer of works, keeper of Yang Chuan Tze K'ow (Sheep Fold Pass) and brevet captain in charge of the Middle Post of the Advance Guard. Then in the same tower is a second tablet which records the building of the Wall; but the tablet is too defaced to allow of the exact translating of the whole text. This is certain; it accounts for the building of two pieces of First Class Wall; each piece was one hundred and forty-eight tens of feet long plus eight feet. It was built in the lucky days of the winter season in the third year of Wan Li. Or take a third: a tablet stands beside the Natural Tower, between Towers Number Fifty-three and Fifty-four Black Letter, Shui K'ow and reads: WALL RECORD General of the light brigade Tsui Ching, commanding the yeomanry under the jurisdiction of the governor by The Great Wall of China Photo by Dr. Geil How the Wall climbs the. ridge of Shweikow north of the Wut'ai Shan A woman with a lone tojigue is a ladder of woe. imperial appointment at Paoting, Ensign Shen Tzu Hsien of the above department, Ensign Sun Erh-Kuo, superin- tendent of works, Lui Ching, military contractor, and others to the number of one hundred and thirty names cooperated in building this extension of five hundred and ninety-one feet, six inches, of Third Class Wall, beginning on the north at the end of the Military Graduate Lung Kuang- hsien's portion of Tower Number Fifty-five of the Black Letter "Wu" series. The completion of the construction was reported by the Autumn Guard on the sixteenth day of the ninth moon, of the fourth year of Wan Li. Master Stone Mason Chao Yen Mei and others. Master Border Artisan Lu Huan and others. This stone w T as erected by the Autumn Guard on the sixteenth day of the ninth moon, 4th year of Wan Li. A fourth tablet is set in the Wall south of Shui K'ow and commemorates how: Li Pei, major of the Central Camp of Chen Tu Tang Hsiin, sergeant in command of the Department of the Right and brevet captain of the Shen Wu Right Guard, heading a battalion of one hundred and forty-one names, cooperated in constructing one hundred and seventy-one feet, eight inches of Middle Class Border Wall, be- ginning on the north of the mouth of the Wang Erh Hurry-Scurry Ravine, at the connection with Tower Num- ber Fifty-five of the Letter Wu series, and ending with the termination of the wall constructed by Sergeant Yang Hang, director of w T orks of the above-mentioned Department. The work was begun on the twelfth day of the third moon of the current year, and its completion reported on the twenty-fourth day of the fourth moon. This stone was erected by the Spring Guard in the 4th year of Wan Li. 80 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA These four tablets and others which we found witness to a simultaneous and hasty construction of Wall in the reign of Wan Li. They suggest that the old Wall had fallen into bad condition, but that the towers were in better order, and were carefully numbered. Perhaps they had been used as blockhouses for some time, but some fresh menace of invasion caused a general over- hauling of the defenses. First, the towers were put in thorough repair, then the wall between them was rebuilt at a speed that reminds us of Nehemiah's forced labor at Jerusalem. If, perhaps, the Wall in this part is of comparatively recent construction, the ancient engineers who laid out the line seem to have done their best in selecting natural, strong lines of defense, and then intensifying these. Indeed, they followed the line of greatest natural re- sistance. In parts more inland they had occasionally to deal with a mere plain, but here they had crags and mountain chains. Two level furrows were chiseled out in the solid rock, about twenty-five feet apart, and squared granite blocks were laid on this foundation some few feet up. Then special clay was chosen and molded by skilled workmen into bricks twenty-two and one half inches long. The unwieldy blocks, accord- ing to another local legend, were tied to goats, who dragged them up the almost inaccessible ridges. Here the bricklayers placed them, all as headers, not stretch- ers, and the two faces were filled with earth well rammed. As the Wall arose, it was seen that its pro- jecting faces formed a mutually defensive scheme of salients and curtains. The Great Wall of China A Picturesque View Words spoken in the fields, some one on the road hears. Through centuries of neglect this massive structure has endured, — a fit emblem of the Chinese character. Little by little it has gathered to itself legend and super- stition. If wells and trees, chairs and tables, are sup- posed to be the abode of spirits, how much more easy to imagine this Wall the home of a superior race. A tower or peak to the north of a home assures its good fortune, the Wall to the north of the empire must be propitious. And if the Wall have numerous pinnacles, these must bring special good influences down. The canny foreigner will know how to utilize this idea, and when he wants to put up a factory stack, but finds the esthetes object, he has only to locate it to the north of the factory and point out that he is insuring its good luck, and this reason will carry weight: ask the super- intendent of the arsenal if in 1873 this did not remove his obstacles. And thus the towers along the Wall, being properly located, add moral strength to its defenders. As we try to find one thousand different people along the Wall and get one thousand legends or opinions, we come at times across a few curious specimens. One legend is strangely utilitarian. "Chin went up to heaven and took hold of the frost tree ; he shook it and shook it till the country was covered de^p with frost 1 and all the young crops were ruined. Then he obliged the people to work on the Wall, but would not give them enough to eat." The old grumbler who produced this "'B.C. 238 in the 4th moon, there appeared a great frost in Tsln so that people died from it." Ancient Chinese MSS. 6 82 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA tale was overlooking that the Wall shut off some of the cold north winds, and shut out the desperate foragers from the Mongolian steppes. A little westward the scenery is wonderfully beauti- ful, as was recognized by an imperial censor about the year 1570. He caused an original ode to be incised upon a stone slab; the version following is due to Dr. Martin, founded on our rubbings, expressly for this expedition : Yon summit like an arrow head Appears to pierce the skies ; A rocky fortress westward looms, A battleground there lies. The northern sky is veiled in clouds, The harvest gathered in ; Our autumn rains, a precious boon, Will very soon begin. Peaceful the times, the flocks at ease O'er grassy plains may roam ; There's scarcely heard a falling leaf To mar our dreams of home. Wen Ju-chang, of the Board of Censors, in command of Border Garrisons, Imperial Commissioner on a tour of inspection. It seems a pity to descend to prose after such a spirited reproduction of the original. But for those who want a baldly literal version, here is a Bohn: The Arrowhead Mountain rears its vast mass against the crystal sky ; the rocky fortress to the west appears, jl m # s si@» 83 If you don't wonder at the wonderful it ceases to be a wonder. and farther away a well-known battleground. Two moun- tain ranges unite to inclose a camp of the ancient Chin Tartars (the Golden Horde). A stream of water flows athwart, with iron bridge and lock. The north is veiled in clouds, the ripe grain is all gathered in, the autumn rains from the northwest begin to increase. The times are tranquil ; from the Great Desert is neither smoke nor dust (from the camps or marching of soldiers). After sunset the drifting leaves alone disturb our dreams (of home). This poetical effusion with the vastness of the over- hanging space and the soul-enthralling earth scene, prompted my muse to vague yearnings. Here the works of nature and of man intermingle, sheer preci- pices affright, steep altitudes, up which winds the line of battlements jeweled by the massy towers, lead up the vision to the living light. In the grouping of the mountains, In the tracing of the valleys, In the shaping of the hilltops, And the arching of the heavens, There are scenes and deep impressions, Which the mighty mind of Milton Or the aged seer of Patmos, Both inspired and yet still human, Fitly might describe for mortals. But it must suffice to say that this picturesque pass is bounded on two opposite sides by friendly mountains on whose neighboring flanks the firs mantle the hard rock. Among the thronging hills and peaks winds the Great Wall; beyond a single bare valley lies a remote 84 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA and hazy horizon. But toward the rising sun a vista of ravines and heaps of heights rise loftier and ever more blue until the line of land is lost in the ocean of the sky. Could we but see the original design on which nature wrought when these majestic proportions came fresh from the creative hand; could we but study them in silence, alone upon this lofty summit where we stand among the sighing pines; could we but compare them with the present superb vision; what would be more inevitable than to ask, "What relation does the outward world bear to the unseen world of thought; the down- ward gaze prompts to upward musing, and leads to consciousness of conscience." And conscience is stirred by the sight of one human amendment to God's proposals. A film of blue smoke floating from a humble home enwraps a mud-walled, curved-roofed fane or temple, wherein are idols not fit for men to see, much less to worship. To contemplate the handiwork of God in this masterpiece of the Creator and then make deities of mud! Have the aborigines done this, or only half of this? We exclaim, "How has man fallen, or from what a fall has he not arisen!" Not mountain majesty, not heavenly expanse, not splendors of art, not miracles of science, can uplift men and nations. Beauty depends not only on the outward scene, nor on the seeing eye, but on the inter- preting mind and heart. Yet would that we had been able to photograph this wondrous landscape in all its glorious changes for one brief hour. It is not the still picture, but the fleeting '■5 V ^ s ^ £ 3 The door of charity is hard to open and hard to shut. shadows of the clouds, the light ever changing, which so enriched the vision. The dark cloud floats by; from the sun comes a gleam that gilds with glory the moun- tains and picks out the chain of Wall with its jewels of towers. Words fail to tell the splendors of this view above the pass of Ch'ach'ien Kow. Even "if life be granted me enough," however often my longing feet may draw me hither, there will be some fresh scene of magnificence, the scene in the same group of natural spires and these human buttresses of granite, yet ever new in the glory of the seasons and of the heavens. Here we have come across inscriptions of the reign of Wan Li, and seen the tomb of Lung Ch'ing. Let us investigate these two men and see what exactly they had to do with the Great Wall. Wan Li at least is so closely associated that in this part of the country many people speak not of the "Ten thousand li long wall" but of "Wan Li's Wall," both being pronounced Wan- lich'ang Ch'eng. Who was this great king? Wan Li "sat under heaven," as the Chinese phrase has it, for the lengthy period of forty-seven years. He was preceded by Lung Ch'ing, who occupied the throne for no more than six years, yet it was during his brief tenure that no fewer than one thousand two hundred forts were erected on the Great Wall, each garrisoned by one hundred men. Numerous tablets along the Wall testify to his activity in building and repairing. This renewed care of the huge bulwark betokens a menace of some sort in that direction. In fact the Chin Tartars, 86 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA sometimes called "the Golden Horde," had not for- gotten that they had once been masters of half the empire. They were watching for an opportunity to reassert their ancient claims. Foiled by the vigilance of Lung Ch'ing or his officers they had nothing left but to nurse their strength and bide their time. Unable to cross the Wall they wandered away to the east, and obtained a footing in Manchuria, where they reappeared under a new name as Manchus. What Wan Li accomplished in strengthening that incomparable fortification is in the history, which is supplemented by many stone tablets. During his long reign the forts were occupied and the towers were not allowed to go to ruin. In fact, the explorer finds that at many points new masonry was erected by him. Evi- dence is not wanting of the unsleeping vigilance with which the Chinese of that day kept watch on both the inner and the outer wall. Near the end of the dynasty and not free from the faults of a decadent period, Wan Li may not unfairly be taken as a type of the average emperor. Proclaimed heir apparent when an infant of six summers, he ascended the "Precious Seat" at the age of ten, but remained in tutelage until his sixteenth year when he was permitted to marry and to assume the reins of government. Of his early precocity the court chronicler gives the following instance: "When a child of five or six years, he one day saw his father gallop un- attended into the inclosure of the inner palace. Strik- ing an attitude he begged to remonstrate, not on the impropriety of an emperor galloping within those The Great Wall of China Photo by Dr. Geil Mark the Line of the Tower Wall at the left. Near Lienhwachih *p m & it 87 Amiability begets wealth. sacred grounds, but on the danger of his doing so. Said the child, 'Your majesty is "the Lord of all under heaven." If you ride alone at such a furious speed might you not fall, for which you and your people would be sorry?' " His mother, one of the secondary wives, was in the habit of taking him with her whenever she went to visit the empress. On such occasions the empress always took up some of the classics and asked the young prince questions. All of which he "answered like an echo." Not until the first year of his reign were the water- courses so improved as to admit of the tribute rice reaching the garrison of Miyiien, which is near Kupei- kow, the "ancient northern pass" in the Great Wall. This was really an extension of the great canal, a work which the Mongols had left unfinished, and large portions of which were completed by their Chinese successors. The official history of his reign presents us with a confused medley of occurrences, such as a child might jot from day to day, or a monk put down on his parch- ment, confounding trivial and important, local and general, fact and legend; but with no attempt at tra- cing connection or generalizing. The account of his first year is as follows: "In the second moon on the day Kuei Ch'ow, the emperor presided for the first time at an entertainment given to the higher literary graduates. On the third moon, Ping Shen Day, an edict, command- ing all officials whether of the capital or of the provinces to recommend men of ability from whom high military 88 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA officers might be chosen. Summer, fourth moon, I Ch'ow Day, the news comes of the suppression of a re- bellion near Swatow in Kwang Tung. On Keng Wu Day of the same moon, a distressing drought being re- ported the emperor commanded all his officers to culti- vate their virtues and examine their conduct. 1 In the fifth moon, on the Kia Shen Day, by decree he ordered all officials of the capital and provinces to be careful in imprisonments and the infliction of punishment. In the sixth moon, on Jen Shen Day, he ordered relief to be given to the settlers from floods in North Kansu. Seventh moon, day not given, the Yellow River burst its banks at Su Chow. 2 In the ninth moon, on the Kuei Wei Day, relief was given to three districts in Hupeh and Shangtung. News comes of the suppression of a revolt in Szechwan. He orders as an expression of joy the suspension of punishments. In the eleventh moon he commands the provincial officers to keep a careful journal of their movements in order to prevent loss of time. In the twelfth moon supplies were issued to suf- ferers from famine in Manchuria. This year the Siamese and Lewchewans came to the capital with tribute." Let this be sufficient for a specimen of the style from which the student of Chinese history is obliged to extract great truths and great principles. In Wan Li's third year, an eclipse of the sun taking 1 The Ecclesia or Assembly of Athens suffered a similar manipulation. "If any untoward sign occurred which seemed to indicate the displeasure of the gods, such as an earthquake, or thunder or lightning, or even rain, the sitting broke up at once." 2 We cannot find any town of this name on the Yellow River. There is a Suchow in Kansu, and a Siichow (not very far off the river) in Honan. » «* » # fi ft « 89 A great man is one who knows the times. place, his majesty wrote down twelve good resolutions for his own guiding, and suspended them on the right hand of his throne to be a perpetual monitor. They were as follows : "Heed the warnings of Heaven. Em- ploy the worthy and the able. Keep virtuous officers near your person. Put the vicious far away. Let re- wards and punishments be well defined. Be careful as to those who go in and out of the palace. Rise early. Be temperate. Recall your wandering thoughts. Be reverent toward Heaven. Listen to faithful admoni- tion. Beware of lavish expenditure." Had he lived up to these principles, what a paragon of virtue the world might have witnessed. Yet after studying his subsequent career we have to exclaim, "What an im- mense contrast between promise and performance!" His reverence for Heaven was mere superstition. An earthquake having occurred, or a strange appearance being observed among the stars, a comet, or an eclipse, a drought, or a flood, or even a fire in the palace, a de- cree always followed commanding the officers to look into their own faults. Seldom, indeed, did the emperor advert to his own. The custom of thus regarding un- usual manifestations in the course of nature is still kept up. In fact it is only during the present moon and since the accession of a new emperor that the beating of gongs to succor the "laboring moon" during an eclipse has been forbidden. If we compare Wan Li's conduct toward his officials with his loud profession, we are shocked by the contrast. One of his high officers implored him to name a successor, no doubt from 90 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA patriotic motives, in view of the danger which always accompanied a change of rulers. Yet Wan Li chose to regard the reference to his own death as unlucky, and insolent. He ordered the memorialist to be beaten with rods at the foot of the throne. In providing for the expenses of his sumptuous court, he had the habit of sending eunuchs as his official representatives into all the provinces, who not only op- pressed the people but exacted so large a portion of the legal taxes that the amount left was not sufficient for the provincial government. In the province of Yunnan the oppressed people rose in fury against the eunuch and not only put him to death, but burned his body. The present dynasty of Manchu-Tartars has taken a useful lesson from the experience of the Mings and made it an invariable law that no eunuch shall exercise any commission outside the palace. After the first years of his reign Wan Li seems to have fallen into a condition of hopeless indolence, oc- cupying his time with wine and women like another Sardanapalus. In the fortieth year of his reign one of his great ministers handed up a memorial to this effect : "The treasuries of the provinces are empty. All enter- prises are at a standstill. The emperor withdraws him- self from his people; for more than twenty years he has never called a council of his great ministers. The empire is in danger of revolution." To this earnest remonstrance he gave no answer, but during his few remaining years he more than once appeared in pub- lic and seemed to show a desire to retrieve his lost reputation. Granary School in Liaochao The Great Wall of China Photos by Dr. Geil A view in the Imperial Ming Reservation, situated north of Peking in the Metropolitan Province of Chihli ft ± #t T % * 91 He has mounted a tiger and cannot get down. "Forty-fifth year in the seventh moon, eclipse of the sun." This dire event seemed to presage a host of calamities, for it is added, "in the latter half of the year the two capitals, together with the provinces of Honan, Shantung, Shansi, Shensi, Kiangsi, Hupeh and Hunan, Fokien, Kwangtung, just half the empire, was re- ported as suffering from dire famine. During all the time an irregular warfare was kept up with the Tartars who had got possession of a large portion of Man- churia, and we are told that the imperial army, in- cluding the garrisons on the Great Wall, suffered much for the want of supplies. The cabinet officers besought the emperor to appropriate the funds received from the provinces for his army in that quarter. Their advice remained unheeded. The record adds: "In the ninth moon of the next year, the capital was shaken by an earthquake." The following year brought to a con- clusion this unhappjr reign, so full of strange occur- rences, recorded alongside the follies and extravagancies of the court and its officers. In the midst of his long period of puerilities we meet with one item of surpassing interest. "This year a man from the western ocean, by name Mateo Ricci, begged permission to offer the products of his own country; his request was refused!" That is, he was not permitted to come to the northern capital. Years pre- viously the Portuguese had found their way around the "Cape of Storms" to the coast of China. Xavier, the first of the Jesuit missionaries, after achieving triumphs in India and Japan had been refused the privilege of 92 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA setting foot on the soil of China, and died on a neigh- boring island. His successor in the arduous enterprise was this Mateo Ricci who, foiled in one attempt after another, eventually succeeded in finding his way to the secluded capital in the north. Here he pointed out the mistakes of the Chinese astronomers, won for himself a position at the head of the astronomical board, and secured for his fellow missionaries the opportunity of preaching the holy faith in the provinces of the interior. Wan Li was followed by two emperors, one of whom occupied the throne for just one month. The next, the last of the Mings, was Ch'ung Cheng, whose virtues stand out in contrast with his weak and wicked prede- cessors. Yet there was no possibility of retrieving the fallen fortunes of his house. Already during the reign of Wan Li the Tartars had occupied for a time the Outer Wall, from which they were dislodged only to take up a more commanding position in the region of Manchuria. The provinces of the interior were overrun by desperadoes who contended with each other for a throne which was soon to be left without an occupant. Li Tzu-Ch'eng, one of these rebels, getting possession of Peking, the emperor hanged himself on Prospect Hill in his garden, after having stabbed his favorite daugh- ter to the heart to prevent her falling into the hands of the rebel chief. His general, in charge of Shanhai- kwan, called the Tartars to avenge his master and expel the intruder. Once inside the Great Wall, they refused to retire and from that day the destinies of China have been united with the fortunes of the Ta Ch'ing dynasty. m & n m m m m h 9s Plant melons and you get melons, plant beans and you get beans. From that day this portion of the Wall has ceased to be a frontier or of much importance as a defense. The waves of invasion have come from the sea, whence the visitants in their causeless aggressions have earned the title of ocean pirates, which we render all too vaguely as foreign devils. But ere we take leave of Wan Li and his rehabilitation of the Great Wall, pause to con- sider its long value as a rampart of defense. CHAPTER VIII The Defense of the Great Wall To describe the warlike use of the Wall properly, a military historian is needed, who can set forth accu- rately and technically all the strategy involved, the weapons employed, the successes and the tactics. In default of him, a lay view may help the general reader. The very conception of a chain of thousands of strong blockhouses, linked by a rampart, and stretching over more than a thousand miles, betokens a mind that can conceive great measures. Great resources were needed to execute the idea, and to defend the Wall once erected. A wall would need an army of workmen to erect it, an army of soldiers to defend it. The trowel might be laid aside in a few months, the sword must be ever ready. A mere wall without men behind it, cannot delay an invader for a day. The Wall of China involved a stand- ing army. Kings in other lands may have surrounded them- selves with a few guards permanently; but only at a fitting season would they call to arms the able-bodied men and go out to war. David had so few guards that he fled in panic from his capital when rebellion raised her head. The kings of Egypt put a little wall across the isthmus of Suez, and that necessitated a corps of soldiers to garrison it. But the few hundreds there employed were as nothing to the myriads needed along 94 The Great Wall of China Photo by Dl , Geil The historic "Cliff Tower" at Sanholow. Notice the three distinct fashions of construction. Four thousand feet above the sea and about 300 miles from the Gulf of Chihli % A % ± 95 First impressions rule the min m A Z 6 " You may guess the minds of others by your own. the appearance of a double gateway, inner and outer. Be on your guard at all times with anxious care.' Such were the commands of the emperor." Tongking being subdued in the south, the Chinese acquired common and small arms called the Shen Ti, and the emperor established an army corps equipped with the Weapons of the Gods. To use these, Yung Lo established a special army corps. The cannon were made of hard and soft copper mixed, 1 others of soft iron, the latter preferred. Some were mounted on wheels, others rested on tripods; but on the whole, they were employed for defensive warfare, and so were specially useful at the Wall. Five cannon were mounted on the tops of certain mountains, and later on were placed at other points on the Wall. Such great importance was attached to these, that their very existence was long concealed from the enemy, just as modern powers try to keep secret their sub- marines or aeroplanes. Thus in the fifth year of Hsuan Te, the general in command of the northeast division was cautioned to use great discretion in employing divine weapons — "They must not be lightly given out." Despite the new resources, the defensive works needed renovation about 1436 a.d. under Cheng T'ung. The censor Chu Shun recommended repair of the bor- der defenses and the general in chief command, Tan Kuang, advised that the repairs should begin from the Dragon Gate and extend to the Black Cavern Pass, a stretch of five hundred and fifty li in which the work 'Does this mean bronze, "hard copper" being tin from near Tongking? 100 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA was an undertaking of extreme difficulty; reliance should be put on towers and forts rather than on walls and trenches; the emperor agreed and authorized the building of Purple City, forts and signal stations, a total of twenty-two new stations on that reach. At Ninghai, General Shih Kao reported that all his guards lay beyond the river, and eastward there were no effect- ive works of defense for some distance. It is not sur- prising that in the next reign under Ching T'ai, the border troubles increased, and cries for support multi- plied. Tartar chiefs invaded the provinces, and there was not a peaceful year. In the first year of Ch'eng Hua, the general at Shui K'ow reported that while to guard three hundred miles he had twenty-five regimental camps, yet each con- tained really only one hundred or two hundred men. Obviously one man cannot protect a hundred yards of frontier, night and day. Three years later the pressure became acute at the western end, under a chief named Manchuin. The troops succeeded in deflecting him northwards, but his people occupied what became hence- forward known as Manchuria, whence constant attacks were delivered. So Inspector Yu Tzu-Chuan erected many new forts. By the seventh year, however, the Tartars effected a lodgment within the loop of the river region, and could not be expelled for many years. Ch'eng Hua rose to the occasion, raised a large army on the land-grant principle, and gradually expelled the Tartars from the River Loop, then establishing military- agricultural colonies along the northwestern frontier, and protecting it by a new wall. Further, he threw out - is 5 % m *s a z & 101 Heaven never cuts off a man's way. a new Hami garrison beyond the end of the Wall, pro- viding it liberally with fields, cows, and seed grain. We find, too, that he reformed the old practice of impress- ing horses for the cavalry, and paid fair prices, thus conciliating the farmers, while the soldiery was con- stantly drilled, even in wind and rain. Under Chia Ching a further advance was made, and detached forts were thrown up outside the Wall, while large numbers of cannon were cast: at first these were known as Ta Chiang Chun, Great Generals; but they became known more popularly as Fo Lang Ch'i, For- eign Weapons. This was the time when Europeans first found their way to China by sea, and when their ships introduced to the Chinese the improved western ordnance. In the reign of Hung Chih, twenty-fourth year, Censor Ch'en Hao reported that the enemy had thrice invaded Shansi, and that a million soldiers had perished, while six hundred millions of taels had been spent, with- out "one inch of benefit." He advised an enormous levy and a decisive battle to regain the River Loop. This was apparently the time when the defenses along the Great Wall were most fully developed. The fron- tier must then have been protected by fully twenty thousand forts, with some ten thousand signal towers where solitary sentries watched for the approach of any foe. Such a line of buildings might well amaze the wild horsemen of the plains. In the reign of Wan Li, troubles became acute again. The Tartar chief An-hua pierced the Wall at Kupeikow 102 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA and invaded Chihli, the generals not daring to give battle, and his ravages were repeated in successive years. Fresh artillery was cast, and the arrival of Headless— fought with the gods, who, because of its impudence, cut oflf its head and buried it in a mountain. Drills with hatchet and shield. Breasts are his eyes. Naval is his mouth. Dangerous. Portuguese ships gave them cannon of unusual size, which were called after the foreigners, Red Heads. These were twenty feet long, weighing three thousand catties, the balls being able to batter down city walls. ri '•^fi £ 2 -t m # iE m m & "» When the top beam is not level, the lower ones are lopsided. So much valued were these, that a later emperor gazetted them as Great Generals, and sent officers to pay them divine honors. These were supplemented by more handy weapons, all with quaint titles: Flying Thunder, Fiery Wild Beast, Divine Mortar, Horse Killers, Invincible Hand Guns, Goose Bills, Seven Eyes — was this a revolver or Hotchkiss? — One Thousand-/^ Guns, Double Headed, Quick Firers, Fire Wheels, Nine Dragons, etc. These are nearly as curious as Drake, Culverin and other western names. With the arrival of the Jesuits, the emperor obtained men of culture and science; he therefore employed them to found cannon, and western artillery was soon mounted along the Wall. Yet the Chinese had no trained artillery men, and the results were not very successful. More to the point was a very old device: the iron chariots long employed for transport were now converted into military machines and driven against the foe with terrible success. 1 Nevertheless, the pressure from without was con- stant, and the generals gradually neglected the line of the Wall, professedly concentrating on protecting the Imperial Tombs and the gates of the capital. That the Wall was held, was due, the history says, rather to good luck than to valor. When the Chinese themselves rose in rebellion in many parts, a Manchu chief easily es- tablished himself within the empire. One band of rebels 1 Fighting chariots had been commonly used under the Chou dynasty, long before Chin Shih Huang's time. But they suddenly went out of use. 104 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA sacked the capital, whereupon the emperor slew his daughter and himself. After a period of chaos, the Manchus declared themselves emperors, and made good their claim. From that moment little reason remained for defending the Wall ; the northern invaders ruled on both sides ; and it became a relic of the past for most of its length. Only at the west, where the wild Turcomans of the desert ranged abroad, regardless of kin, with their brethren who had conquered the Land of Promise, was it needful to keep up garrisons and maintain the Barrier in good repair. But since the might of Russia has restrained these nomads, the whole problem of de- fense has been utterly altered; and China at present is preparing first to assert her supremacy in the East by a Mongol-Monroe doctrine; then perhaps to terrify Europe into erecting a Great Wall to shut off the men- acing myriads of the yellow race. Here, then, we have had a glance at the military effi- ciency of the Great Wall in its last and palmiest days. Though it may have fallen into disuse of late, there is here one of the oldest stretches along the line of the original feudal state of Ch'in — the Savoy, whence grew up the united Italy of China. Let us now traverse this section — the Loess Loop in the midlands. CHAPTER IX The Loess or River Loop, in Oldest China Land of Legend and of Dry Fog The Hwang ho is the second most important river in the land, and is popularly styled "China's Sorrow"; the reason for which soon developed itself. Hardly were we across its uncertain flow, before we found the land- scape obscured by a dry fog, enveloping the whole re- gion. 1 When this settles, it does not coat hedges and herbage with refreshing moisture, such as makes Ireland an emerald isle, but with a "ginger powder," as the Chinese call the yellow dust, ground to the tiniest par- ticles by the wind. So fine is it, that it will sift through the veriest cracks, even into the protected portion of cameras, dry-fogging the plates, or also into the deli- cate adjustments of the scientific instruments. The dry fog produces a dull twilight, like the light on the planet Neptune, — a dim and dreary world. This dust has created the fertility of northern China, and has con- verted the Hwang ho into its scourge. Transportation of dust hy the wind is no specially Chinese method. When Vesuvius first burst again into activity, the dust transported by the wind sufficed to bury Pompeii. On the uplands of the Andes there are 1 Changkai, who lived about a.d. 100, studied magic and managed to raise a fog seven li in diameter, for which uncanny performance the emperor threw him into prison. 105 106 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA large mounds of sand which are being slowly but stead- ily blown across country by the prevailing winds, and which assume the form of crescents. On a far smaller scale, every resident near a low sandy coast knows how the dunes are formed by the sea breeze blowing the sand inland. Now the center of Asia has inexhaustible sup- plies of sand and dry earth, where there is no moisture to cement it into a hard surface. It also has a large supply of wind, which appears to come down in the middle of the continent like a colossal down draft in the middle of a big public hall. It was some of this dust-laden wind that greeted us on the right bank of the Hwang ho ; water acts on dry fog as on witches, and stops its going farther. But as the wind drops, so does some of the dust it conveys, and so the rocky soil gets coated over with dust from afar. This process has gone on for a few millenniums, and the result is that the yellow dust is occasionally a thousand feet deep. It has embedded all sorts of decaying vegetation, and common sense would suggest that it must have em- bedded villages and even men now and again in a raging dust storm. 1 But while the Sahara, also swept by dust- laden winds, gets no rain and remains sandy, northern China gets plenty, and the rain not only lays the dry fog but hardens it into earth again. Thus the whole of North China, and far as the Hwang ho, is covered deep with yellow earth, or Huang-t'u, as the natives 1 "I saw a dust-storm at Kueichow which lasted for seven hours, burying some hovels and much agricultural country, and even producing a meta- morphosis of the rocky bed of the Yangtze." Bird Bishop in The Yangtze Valley and Beyond, John Murray, London. «>.* m ie Great Wall of Chins Photos by Dr. Gteil Two views of ruins of the Greal Wall at Shiching, Twenty li from Ging- pien, in the Ordos Country. The lower picture shows a house built into the Wall ft # k m & m p 107 Mischief all comes of much opening of the mouth. call it, though the Germans have taught the Western world to call it loess. Now, for agricultural processes, three things are needed by the farmer; seed, fertile soil, water. The soil spreads thickly over the surface, is fertile, and as it is being constantly renewed by a top dressing brought by the wind, it is constantly fertile. The water question is entirely separate in China, whereas in Egypt the annual top dressing is brought from Abyssinia by the Nile water, and is spread in fluid form with very little trouble to the farmer. In China the water is furnished by another department of nature, the clouds. When these work regularly, the soil is moistened, and the crops are amazingly prolific. So much is this the case that this district was settled early, and is the very oldest part of China. Indeed, because its prince was the Lord of the Yellow Earth, he took the title, Ruler of the Yellow, Huang Ti. And this re- mains one of the imperial titles to the present day. Now comes in the Hwang ho. This river, having started from the Sea of Stars and wandered about in the north, comes on to a soil of this mere dusty forma- tion. Of course it cuts through it easily and leaves the banks nearly vertical, as often happens in sandy forma- tions. But it takes up an enormous amount of the soil it displaces, and flows on, charged with yellow mud, like the Nile, the Mississippi, the Po. As the slope to the ocean is very slight, this mud always tends to settle, and raise the bed. In much of the lower course, the bottom of the bed is above the level of the country around, and 108 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA the banks have to be built up with millet stalks to con- fine the water. This is a difficulty with all rivers of this kind, but the floods caused by the Po, or even by the levees of the Mississippi bursting, pale into insignifi- cance alongside those caused by the Hwang ho. To say nothing of frequent minor floods, it has changed its course ten times within the period of history, and debouched into the ocean at many points separated by three hundred miles. Even to the end of its course it retains enough mud to discolor the ocean, which on the coast is therefore called the Yellow Sea. As it is silting up the gulf of Chihli, and has a bar of mud across it some eight miles up, another huge burst is quite imminent. A few Dutch engineers, familiar with the problem of rivers flowing much above the land level, might manage to avert the calamity, but the native engineers prefer to pocket the appropriations, not to dredge, nor pump from without, but merely tinker with the banks. Since beginning the third section of the journey along the Wall the mountains have yielded the landscape to a great elevated plain where for miles and miles the boundary may be seen stretching off in graceful curves toward the west. The plateau is intersected by numerous canyons with vertical sides, cleft down by rivulets or rivers. On a small scale the same phenomenon is seen in the Blue Mountains of Australia. For scores of years these barred all access to the interior, though low level can- yons wound in, and then terminated abruptly where streams plunge headlong down hundreds of feet. But < ^ o o >, -fWPlftlfi 109 A word once spoken the fleetest horse cannot over- take it. the Australian mountains are of hard rock, while the Chinese plateau is simply compressed dust. Occa- sionally the sides of the canyons are in long terraces, corresponding to various heights of the watercourses. Into the faces of these the villagers dig, and get ex- cellent cave dwellings, while stairs are easily carved from one level to another. An instance of the water difficulty we found at a hamlet called the Wolf Sleeping Ravine. This is on the side of a hill four miles from Chingpien Hsien. The villagers depend on a well more than live hundred feet deep, and are not too fond of drawing water from its cool recesses. "Mr. Vermilion," for all the people here belong to the Chu or Vermilion family, "will your honor be so gracious as to deign to bestow a drop of water on your insignificant visitor?" In a general way this would gain a quick response, but here it depends which day the request is proffered. The villagers will hand out food readily, but the water is only drawn every three or five days, and if supplies on the surface are running low, they will not anticipate the regular day for a chance traveler. In districts of this kind, where water is scarce and sand or loess is plentiful, the builders of the Great Wall had quite new problems to encounter. Where should they build, what sort of foundation could they secure, what sort of rampart should they erect? The engineers traced a line from the river to the river again, like an inverted bow, and strangely enough, unlike the engineers farther east, on the line of least natural 110 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA resistance. Finding that the dust drifted against it and sloped up on the desert side, they laid out a second wall behind, and in very wind-swept stretches even a third. 1 Not only so, but they sunk a moat, its width and depth being equal to the height and width of the wall, walling it on sides and bottom to try to make it water-tight. Having thus settled their direction, they built sometimes on the style prevalent in the East, but more often by scarping the natural formation. The fabric was either erected or cut out. For long stretches the natural state of the loess formation admitted of its being hewn down in the shape of a wall. They split the soil down vertically, and then veneered over with brick or stone. If the levels were not convenient for this, a wooden framework was erected, soil excavated from the moat, watered and rammed into the casing, which was presently removed and set up farther on, for another filling, while the rammed earth was cased with brick to protect it from the weather. This style of building is still practical in these parts. It has been sneeringly said that the Wall in Shensi and Kansu is only a heap of hard mud; but if mud will do to keep people out, why not use it? Earthworks were often good enough for the Romans and are often good enough for European and American fortresses. Even now, after long neglect, when our men measured the ruins, the remains were found in many places over fifteen feet high, nearly fifteen feet thick, with towers thirty-five feet square at the base and rising thirty feet. 1 These three walls should not he confused with the walls built by the three dynasties, Chin, Sung and Ming. The ramparts erected by the Chin and Sung dynasties have disappeared. Loess Cone of a Great Wall Tower. The brick veneering has wholly disappeared The Great Wall of China Photos by l>r. GeU The Ruins of the Last Tower in the Great Wall Fish see the bait, but not the hook ; men see the profit, but not the peril. This would be awkward to climb over at any time, but when men are waiting on them with something humor- ous, like boiling oil, for a welcome, they would seem to furnish a good defense. The action of the rain had been rather exciting just before our arrival. Two days before we reached Ning- tiao-Liang, enough fell to sweep away a large flock of sheep with the shepherds. Just west of the Level Village of the Li family, the innkeeper tried to detain us with tales of the sudden rises; but we took these to be of the Lie family. When we reached the brink of the flood, the usually quiet stream was a wild tempestu- ous rush of whirls. On the shore we tarried to await the subsidence of the waters, and after half an hour a native waded over. Him we at once engaged to lead our mountain mules over the ford, and in a few minutes the whole caravan was safely over. Not too soon; swirling down the narrow channel between the steep rocks, came a fresh volume of water quite four feet high, sweeping everything before it. To note that, despite such torrents, the line of the Great Wall lies high and distinct, is to conceive great admiration for the engineers who planned and built so well. Here the top dressing of dust was thin, and we saw the bare rock ; but southeast of Ching Hsien we found a mountain called the Wut'ai Ao, the Five-terraced Rambling Hill. Only a few families inhabit it, for the loess is here a thousand feet thick, and will not retain water. Going down the hill to fetch a pail of water does not commend itself to Chinese Jacks and Jills 112 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA when the distance is some miles; so they prepare cis- terns. On the hardest parts of the slope they dig pits scores of feet wide and deep, and ram the exposed surface to try to make it water-tight. Trenches are arranged to lead as much water as possible into the cisterns. But they have a prejudice against mere sur- face water, and to clarify it they collect all the manure of cattle, sheep, and pigs, which they blend with the contents. When well brewed, it is used for drinking, and has a smooth oily flavor as if a decoction of hemp. Here and there we found rock underlying the soil. The bed rock is mostly sandstone, sometimes a gray shale that is black when newly fractured. Hard sand varying to soft sandstone is found. Conglomerate occurs. The wild vegetation is not plentiful, nor varied. The willow tree is the only common one. Indeed Yu- linfu literally means "elm wood prefecture," but elms are certainly not the commonest trees. That name must have been given when the country was different, i.e. before the Ordos desert had covered up so much of the land. Willows alone can stand the sand well. Grass grows well, with bushy juniper and scrub-like Ameri- can sage brush; the natives can get fuel out of this, but no timber. Yet the Ordes plant gardens and find that when tended they will yield well. No afforestation is done, though it might be thought the deep roots of trees would get nutriment when the surface is bare, while the foliage might attract more rain and keep it from dash- ing away in devastating torrents. With the flora thus scanty, the fauna are not numer- ous. Rodents are well represented: the kangaroo rat Desert Hamster The Great Wall of China "Kangaroo Hat." .Terbou Drawings by A. deC. Sowerby. M.A. Every sect has its truth and every truth its sect. or jerboa suggests by its appearance that it is an evolu- tion due to the appearance of the Wall : a high obstacle demands high jumping powers, and only those rats which developed kangaroo-like legs could survive. Our scientific friend, Mr. Arthur de C. Sowerby, possesses several specimens of these "compensated rats" — indeed, he is the discoverer of the Dipus Sowerhyi. Another local curiosity is the dwarf desert hamster. This has not long legs, and so has to ascend the Wall by degrees : as the Wall is not well stocked with vegetables, the thrifty hamster has developed two pouches in his cheeks to carry his lunch for the expedition, usually in the form of millet or small seeds. The "sage brush" found among the sand hills is very valuable, for the seeds from this plant form the staple diet of our little four-footed friends, — desert hamster, meriones, jerboa. Birds be- longing to the finch family also depend upon these seeds for their daily food. In this region are to be found five other animals which carry lunch in their cheeks, whether in imitation of the desert hamster, or to compete with it in climbing the Great Wall, these curious and most interesting little creatures — mammalites — are silent. Their names deserve advertisement in a book on the mammoth masonry of Chin: striped hamster, common hamster, David's squirrel (Scuris Davidi), chipmunk, and mi- cromys (speciosus which has very small pouches). The natives here in oldest China speak of wild pigs, but these did not present themselves to us. Antelopes by the score were often seen pasturing on the ramps of 114 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA the Wall. As for birds, they abounded, the magpie be- ing peculiarly in evidence. Among the birds seen may be mentioned the red-tailed thrush, crested lark, plovers, geese, ducks, cranes, doves, swallows, wagtails, fly- catchers, wild pigeons, and sacred cranes. As for snakes, the traveler meets at Yulin two kinds : a brown one, the other a vivid green, with a row of bright red patches on either side of the neck getting smaller and smaller until they disappear near the tail. There are also two species of lizards, one of which is found pretty generally over the whole of north China; the other is found only in the Ordos, and is purely a sand inhabiting reptile. There is a species of toad prettily marked which inhabits the sand hills, while at least two species of frog are to be found in the streams near Yulin, in which water are also at least four species of fish. Insects are plentiful, especially beetles. We have often observed their antics with interest. There are four black varieties which infest the sand. Their nightly wanderings leave a network of pretty chains — their tracks — all over the sand hills. These beetles form the sole diet of the hedgehog and this prickly fellow seems to thrive on the hard-shelled creatures, for he is laden with fat and is most unpleasant to skin. The most remarkable product of this district in this line is the Chinese pigmies, or hairy wild men. We heard rumors of a wild and uncivilized people living to the south in mountain forests, — a sort of forgotten people, who in turn had forgotten the ways of the civil- ized. Unable to investigate in person these dwarfs, The Greal Wall of China Photo by Dr. Geil A Chinese "Pigmy" or Dwarf and a Giant near the Great Wall east of Yenkingchow It is easy to avoid a naked spear, but not a hidden sword. hairy and naked, as the story ran, we wrote to Philip Nelson, Esquire, and received this reply: "When living northeast of Pinchow, four hundred and fifty li, bird's way, I heard much about this wild people, who are as wild as wild can be. They have been uncivilized since the building of the Great Wall. They were badly treated, and being unable or unwilling to do the work set for them each day, numbers were thrown into the Wall and beaten down like earth. Unable to stand this treatment, some escaped to the woods, where they have ever since been. Only a few are left. I am told they do not wear clothes and are grown over the whole body with hair like wolves. Smaller than the common run of people, they are shy and run when anybody approaches them. There are also dwarfs living near here; I saw a married woman three feet tall." Having seen the pure pigmies in our explorations in the Forest of the Eternal Twilight in the heart of Africa, we had a great desire to visit the yellow pigmies, and hope to later. 1 While forced labor did not wreck the reason of the laborers who piled up the pyramids, or of the Hebrews who worked for Pharaoh, or of the Israelites who slaved for Nebuchadnezzar, or of the Jews who toiled at the Colosseum, doubtless there was terrible suffering when these vast fabrics were erected; the indignant workmen must have revolted under the lash, some may have lost their reason, others have broken away into the forest or into the desert. We have no doubt that men fled from 1 See A Yankee in Pigmy Land, by Dr. William Edgar Geil. 116 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA the hard, harassing labor on the rampart that grew like a rampired rock and, caught where they dare not emerge, there was this left — to live the life of vultures and night-nurtured vipers that eat in ambush. That habit still holds them! 1 The following from the Manchester Evening News seems too good to omit: "A Lesson to 'Work Shys.' An instructive moral may be drawn from the discovery of a pigmy race in central China by Dr. William Edgar Geil, The ancestors of the pigmies, Dr. Geil declares, fled to the mountains to escape the curse of labor in the shape of assisting in the task of building the Great Wall of China. Whether or not they were justified in acting thus does not concern us now, but the fact re- mains that the present representatives of the race have degenerated into hairy pigmies, living in a state of savagery. This awful example should be a warning to those people in civilized communities who, blindly refusing to recognize the blessings of labor, pine for a life of ease and idleness!" Revenons a nos moutons — to first-hand observation. As a sample village let into the perpendicular loess, take Wanyin Chien. Our party contains not only pale faces, but some yellow servants, a girl-faced boy, and a "Black Dog." The last mentioned kept a diary, and an extract may be welcome: "After passing through a town there was the Yellow River. We went ahead to 1 "Sang Wei Han, who lived 946 a.d., was a great minister but very short of stature; indeed, he was a dwarf. On one occasion he stood in front of a mirror and said, 'One foot of face is worth seven of body.' . . . He had a long beard and was so fiercely ugly that the 'sight of him made people sweat even in midwinter!'" The Great Wall of China Black Dog and the girl-faced Quin Photos by Dr. Geil A 5E 1m & £ £ li #n B # »< A dead man is terrible as a tiger, a dead tiger harm- less as a lamb. cross the river. When on a high bank we could see a dead man lying in the water. The corpse faced up- ward, and stopped in a cleft of the rock where it bobbed up and down with the motion of the water. The body looked as if it had been blown up with the wind. Truly, truly hard to look at also. . . . "We went forward to every hamlet and village just at the time the wheat was ripe and in full ear, until we came to Wanyin Chien and stopped; and directly it was the Sabbath. Before we arrived here it was one piece of sand hill land. If the wind rose big, the roads were hard to find. The original men of the place plant a tree for a sign. Wanyin Chien is near the Long Wall. The towers, which although ruined somewhat, are not much destroyed ; every li they are arranged one seat after one seat. We had worship on the side of the hill. The name of the inn was the Ten Thousand Flour- ishing Inn. The men-mouths of the Inn-Lord were very many and the place fiercely dirty, so we all slept on the roof of the mule house. When the Sabbath was past on the next day, we arose on our journey. ... I asked the governor of the inn about the Long Wall. He made answer, 'Chin Shih Huang without doctrine compelled the people to build it. He walked his horse and examined the boundary. Afterwards there was the husband of the Meng Chiang woman. Because he was building the Wall, he was compelled to die in it. The Meng Chiang woman, weeping for her husband, moved heaven and earth. The ten thousand li Long Wall with one cry, was wept down.' These words are with- 118 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA out evidence." This final comment of the Black Dog will win approval. In this village, untouched by civilization, ignorant of camera, where a photograph of a beautiful young lady affrighted the beholders, many interesting legends about the Wall were gathered. Chin, borne triumphantly across the empire on his horse of cloud, stamped thrice every li, and on each crushed spot sprang up a tower. And to this day, instead of the expression, "do it quickly," one hears "do it on horseback." Chin was a broken, bad, rotten man. The wall was erected in one day, being eighty thousand li long. It was ruined when one woman gave a scream, and it collapsed from the sea to Tibet. There were eighteen suns when Chin built; the men were kept working so long that grass had time to grow in the dust which lodged on their heads. The men worked so long that they fell asleep and were buried; when they awoke they were ancestors. Chin had mammoth shovels that threw up a li of wall at a scoop ; the men were twelve feet tall and broad in proportion ; nowadays men are small and could not build the Wall. John Gwadey, Esquire, furnished us the popular version of the ancient legend of the wonderful whip of Chin, or as he calls it, "The Magic Whip." We will quote John Gwadey's words: "A certain god up in heaven looked down and saw the people were being killed by the king and thrown into the Wall because they could not get the work done. So he pitied the people and came down from heaven with a magic thread which he gave the workmen to put about their wrists. #? a z- ft » m w — f *? 119 The good are short-lived, the evil last a thousand years. It gave them great strength, so that when the king came along he was surprised how fast and well the work was done. Inquiring the cause he found the work- men wearing the magic thread. So he took all these magic threads and out of them made a lash for his whip which thereupon became more wonderful still. With the woven magic threads it had great virtue. With it he could remove mountains or make the Yellow River stand back for his men to build the Wall. Indeed, when he wanted to run the Wall into the sea he simply swung his whip and a mountain tumbled into the sea and the Wall was built on it." Gwadey went on to say that Chin's horse was white and could fly with its legs as well as if it had wings. We asked a birth-native, "Was Chin a good man?" He replied, "He was a king. Look into the books; if the books say he was a good man then he was a good man." Not far away to the northeast is Yulin. Yulin, we might point out, is the great mule mart of the north. About the town and surrounding country cling many legends. Indeed, the folk-lore in the sec- tion between the Yellow River and the Christian city of Siaochao is as prolific as in charming Shetland — of a vastly different sort, of course. Seventy li west of Yulin is a natural stone bridge spanning a branch of the Wuting Ho. The water after passing under the arch, plunges down to the river bed below, forming a very pretty waterfall. The natives say that in this bridge was a mysterious room where the hermit of the Wuting Ho hid valuable treas- 120 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA ure. From the secret chamber ran an eyelet to the top of the bridge, and into this wee opening the people of the district continually poured oil which fed a magic lamp and kept it burning perpetually. Many attempts had been made to find a secret door which was said to furnish entrance to the heaps of gold stored in the room of the hermit. It had long been prophesied that some magic word would open the way to the treasure. A vagrant fellow bethought himself to practise on the room. He tried various words and one evening to his amazement the bolts slowly released themselves and the stone door mysteriously opened. Now he had taken the precaution to take a grain bag with him. When the light of the lamp fell upon untold treasure he leaped in with a muttered shout of joy. He rilled the bag and descended the stairs to the door only to find it closed in his face. Doomed to die of starvation, he fell to serious thinking, and concluded that covetousness had closed the door. He emptied half the gold and gems, but no, the word failed to work. Then more gold was flung out of the sack, and still the magic was not in the word. At last he took one shoe of silver and the word was with power. The door, opening, let him pass and as mysteriously closed again never more to be opened, for the gods carted off the treasure to prevent men destroying themselves. Moral, beware of covetousness! To Oldest China, local legends say, came Fu Su, the eldest son of the first emperor, who because he refused to acquiesce in the burning of the books was banished to the nortli where he aided in directing the building of TV- t w h f *^ THE BIRD OF THI GREAT WALL The Indian Blue Magpie m. # *» « # ® #« jm 121 Being good is like climbing, being bad like falling. the Great Wall. He was murdered immediately after his father's death by command of Li, the chancellor, that his younger brother might succeed to the throne. The building of the Wall was as good as a jail for the punishment of offenders. On not a few occasions The Only First deported dishonest judges to the north, con- demned to labor on the rampart as an expiation for their sins. Far away toward the west we stopped at a hamlet of four houses, known as the Water Grave Ravine. Here we patronized the Inn of Increasing Righteous- ness kept by a Boniface called Happy Son of Move- ment. This mine of folk-lore produced corroborative statements as to the giants of Chin's day. "Oh, yes, I know the men were over ten feet high ; the old men say so, and I have seen the bones in the Wall, four feet long below the knee." The truth of this is guaranteed, for Happy Son is clean, cheap, a widower, a goatherd, he does not shave, and he worships seven ancestral tablets. These bone stories awakened in us an interest in the Anaks of history. As a result we fell upon the Chinese historical records and found mention of men of height and might concerning which narratives we have no doubt save only that a few additional inches may have been added in some instances to their stature to intensify the native imagination. Shih Tien Tse, high minister of Kublai Khan, with a voice like a bell, stood eight feet high! In 297 a.d. lived the famous Mu-jung Huang, seven feet, eight inches. . . . Mu-jung Hui, 268 a.d., eight feet high. 122 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA . . . 336 a.d., Mu-jung Tse; eight feet, three inches. . . . 319 A.D., Mu-jung Tsun, fond of books, eight feet high. . . . The history often speaks of strong men. One such was the giant Chu Hai, a man of prodigious strength who was sent as an envoy to the court of Chin. The emperor threw him into a den of tigers. Whereupon Chu's hair stood on end and he took on such a hideous aspect and glared so fearfully at the tigers they did not venture to attack him. We also read of huge humans not only over seven feet high but otherwise developed in proportion. Goliath of Gath had progeny here. Then there was the old man Huang Mei Weng of the second century B.C., who is spoken of as follows: "An old man with yellow eyebrows, who told Tung-fang So that he lived on air, changed his bones and washed his marrow, cast his skin, and cut his hair once every three thousand years, and that he had done these things three times already!" These abnormally large men were provided with correspondingly liberal appetites, for they ate a bushel at a meal. We offer the legends this corroborative tes- timony: if the men who built the Great Wall were not giants they, when seen at a distance and on the sky line, appeared to be of unusual size. We saw men on moun- tain ridges who, by some atmospheric illusion, had every appearance of being a dozen feet tall. Often we re- marked this strange phenomena. Horses were also abnormally increased in size by some mirage-like con- trivance of nature. Opinions may differ as to there being giants in the days of Chin. We are convinced # ♦ % m a 123 In good works don't yield place to others. that more men of exceptional size existed then than now. The appearance of many of enormous stature as we passed along, due to some freak of nature, leads us to willingly credit the ancients with the human virtue of honesty in these semi-historical legends of the giants who built the Great Wall. Here we gathered a choice selection of local legends, showing many variants on a few themes of cruelty, love and magic. The line of the Wall was marked out not by Chin, but by Chin's white magic horse. A saddle was tied to its tail, and it was allowed to wander freely ; where it strayed, the architect followed and pegged out the line for the builders. John Gwadey improved on this by adding that at one point the workmen could not keep up with the horse, so stopped to drink tea. A dry fog blew meantime so that they could see neither the horse nor its footprints; so after tea they continued in the same line as before for ten miles. But not seeing the horse yet, they became suspicious, and sent one up a hill to look out. He found the horse far away to the northwest, heading in quite a different direction. So they abandoned the last stretch, returned to the tea camp and built a new wall after the horse. And to this day stand the abandoned forty H of wall to prove the story. Hear another. Hsuan Tung was a man employed on the Wall, but because he was not active enough, Chin had him thrown into it. His widow heard of the diffi- culty and came a long way to find the body. Weeping as she went along the line, her grief caused the Wall to 124 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA open and show many corpses. To identify her husband she bit her middle finger and let fall a drop of blood on each till one moved. This she drew out and gave proper burial, sorrowing for him the rest of her life. Once again. Chin planned to build this Wall a hun- dred yards high, so as to intercept all the gracious influ- ences from the south, and reflect them back on to his realm. So well did he succeed that for ten miles to the north nought but evil and terror reigned; no desert herdsman dared bring his cattle within thirty li of the Wall. Having thus arrived into the ancestral territory of Chin and all his family, it behooves us to winnow out the facts from the multitudinous legends. The Great Wall of China Photo by Dr. Geil John Gwadey, Esq. The small picture in the upper left hand corner shows him as he appeared when our Expedition reached Kiayiikwan CHAPTER X The Rise of Chin: The Seven Great Chancellors Although the Great Wall is the hugest of the works of men it did not prevent the Tartars, whom some think it was meant to exclude, from getting possession of the empire and holding it for two hundred and sixty- four years. And other branches of the race have held it in whole or in part for periods amounting to three or four centuries. Still it may be affirmed that there is no relic of antiquity more deserving of study than the Great Wall of China. And Huang Ti, the title of the autocratic sovereign, appears to be as changeless as the granite stones of the Wall. Historians are accustomed to speak of the rise of Ch'in as due to the influence of six great chancellors. We, on the other hand, are inclined to say that seven great chancellors were responsible for the fall of six kingdoms and the establishment of a vast and stable empire of China. In addition to the six to be men- tioned in this chapter, mention must be made of an- other, Wei Jan, who lived in the third century B.C. He "played a leading part in the aggressive policy which culminated later on in the triumph of the first emperor." Under the regency of the Dowager Hsiian, Jan ac- cepted the position of commander-in-chief of the armies of Ch'in. As a military leader he was successful. After destroying multitudes of men and seizing 125 126 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA seventy-six cities he handed over the command to General Po Ch'i and himself accepted the portfolio of the chancellorship. For upwards of forty years Jan exercised almost absolute power in the feudal state of Chin. During his term of office one hundred and thirty cities were permanently added to the realm of his mas- ter besides hundreds of li of territory; making alto- gether a vast accession to the prestige, power, wealth, and aggrandizement of the state of Ch'in. He deserves mention among the great chancellors who wrought the ascent of Chin the king into Chin the emperor. While the guest of Dr. Martin in the Western Hills before leaving for Tibet we asked the wizard of Pearl Grotto "who made the rise of Chin possible?" The great scholar at once launched out on the rise of Chin: the six great chancellors: the power behind the Great Wall, and its political significance. Impressed by the wonderfully informing conversa- tion of the brilliant author of A Cycle of Cathay, and not caring to risk a reproduction from memory, we were fortunate enough to procure from him the follow- ing sketch : The Problem. Who was the builder of this monster fabric? Who was the originator of the political system of which it stands as the appropriate symbol? Were they both achievements of one master mind? Or were they the result of ages of preparation? The Answer in General Terms. In answering these questions we must distinguish between achievement and preparation, between those triumphs in war and peace, which make the builder one of the greatest figures in The eight famous Churtons of Kumbum, on the borders of Tibet; also the Temple of the Golden Roof The Great Wall of China Photos by Dr. Geil The Beautiful Bridge at Chinchow, the ancestral house of the Chins The work beiug adequate, the result is a matter of course. human history, and on the other hand the occult processes, which made possible the existence of such a revolutionary autocrat ! This extraordinary personage, is he not a myth like Hercules with his twelve labors? So far from being veiled in obscurity, like the heroes of the classic West, he stands before us in such light as the Chinese histo- rians afford. They have supplied us with a mass of material from which it remains for us to extract a sketch of his life and character. Four imperishable monuments he has left behind him, each amply suffi- cient to keep his memory alive — the Wall which stretches from the sea to the desert, the island of Ching Wang Tao that bears his name and is visible from the eastern end of the wold, the empire which he molded into a compact body, and lastly the name China which, in spite of the objections drawn from Japanese and Indian sources, I take to be the name of Chin — his native state — which after absorbing all rivals stood alone between the mountains and the sea. To vindicate his title to these notable distinctions we shall have to allow him a pretty long space in the fol- lowing pages, although our special object is to point out the conditions and agencies which brought his career within the range of possibility, for it was the gradual rise of an obscure principality that prepared the way for Chin Cheng the "Tyrant of Ch'in." Would any one think of giving an account of Napoleon without referring to the French revolution? The arena which tempted the ambitions of Ch'in Cheng was as large as 128 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA half of Europe, filled with jarring elements seething and exploding like the crater of a volcano. He it was who enforced peace, making them at least compara- tively quiescent. The third great dynasty, that of Chou, had occupied the throne for six centuries when the ancestors of Chin Cheng began to make a figure in history. Already were its vassals yielding to centrifugal forces: which even- tually brought them into terrific collision with each other and precipitated the fall of the decaying house. In their combinations and conflicts they consulted their suzerain as little as the papal powers of Europe do the wishes of the pope of Rome. Heir to a venerable name, he had little territory and no army. Yet as a sort of high priest and the recognized fountain of honors, he was held in reverence long after the disappearance of his military force. The first seat of the Chous was on the upper waters of the Yellow River at or near Siangfu. Their dominions extended to the borders of the other great river, the Yangtze, but not a foot of what is at present the southern half of China proper acknowl- edged their sway and the whole of the territory swarmed with hostile tribes. Within this area their book of history opens auspiciously with a fair degree of good order. But the court was in one corner of the empire, and wisdom dictated a more central location; perhaps pru- dence, too, suggested removal to a greater distance from the frontier. Following the river they established their headquarters not far from Kaifeng in Honan. This was their eastern capital. The other capital was not - + * m - * & 129 An inch of time is an inch of gold. taken by the Tartars but quietly appropriated by the growing state of Ch'in. A sparsely peopled and semi-savage region on the northwest border was the domain of the Chins. There the ancestors of the first Huan Ti hardened themselves in conflict with still more savage foes — their people making equal use of spear and pruning hook, or follow- ing their plow armed with sword and crossbow. Of the five ranks of nobilit} r , theirs was the lowest; that of baronet or little baron. Nor were they regarded merely with disdain by those who wore the insignia of highest rank ; their people were despised by those of the more cultivated states. So deep were these sentiments that princes and people objected to admitting the Chins to a seat in their national conventions. Scorned and despised as they were, who could detect in those border ruffians the founders of an imperial house? The story of their transformation, of which we shall not give more than an outline, reads like a fairy tale. Aschen- puttel, Cinderella of the ash-heap, was to be the coming princess. Yes, history in retrospect discovers in them marvelous though gradual development. It is something like a law of nature — given a border state with adequate area for expansion, claiming kinship with people of higher culture and engaged in repelling the incursions of bar- barous tribes, and you have the conditions out of which have sprung more than one of the great powers of the world! What was Macedon but such a border state, claiming affinity with Greece, yet serving as a buffer 130 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA between the Greeks and the wild tribes of Scythia? Disowned by the Greeks and compelled by Xerxes to assist in his invasion, could it be doubted that the fore- fathers of Alexander cherished, even before the time of Philip, the dream of compelling the homage of Athens, and of crossing into Asia at the very point where the Persians crossed into Europe? Had they not before their eyes Xenophon's story of the "Ten Thousand" and had not the youthful hero the greatest philosophers of Greece to train his expanding intellect? Keep this parallel in mind, and it will help us to esti- mate the merit of a conqueror who led larger armies than those of Alexander, who vanquished as many kingdoms, and whose grandest exploit was the found- ing of an empire which did not break up at its founder's death, but endures after two thousand one hundred years. The Agencies of Foreigners. In Europe there was a time when soldiers of fortune roved from state to state and placed their swords at the service of those who paid best; but Europe furnishes no instance of an ambitious power taking its leading statesmen from abroad and shaping its policy by their advice. Yet this is what the chiefs of Ch'in persistently did through a period of more than two centuries. The Czar Peter did something of the kind under the influence of the same motives when he put himself under the guidance of the Genovese Le Fort and when he became an apprentice in the workshops of Holland. But Peter the Great stands among the Romanoffs as a solitary example, whereas among the chiefs of Ch'in ii$% mm mm ma ™ It is homely fare that feeds and coarse cloth that warms. there was a long line of Peters and half a dozen Le Forts clothed with the fullest powers. The Six Chancellors of Ch'in. The most noted of those foreigners who contributed to the upbuilding of the rising power will now claim our attention. They were Po-li Hsi, Shang Yang, more commonly known as Wei Yang though his real name was Kung-sun Yang, Chang I, Fan Chu, Lii Pu-wei and Li Ssu. 1 Names strange to Europe, but in the part which they played they answer to the MaZarins and Cavours. 1. Po-li Hsi. To remedy the disadvantage of a sparse population, the chiefs of Ch'in had been wise enough to open their gates to immigrants from the neighboring principalities. Of these many were em- ployed in grazing on the confines of Mongolia, the land of grass. "For safety they had to band together; and with them existence was one unceasing conflict — their principal enemy being the Tartar, always on the alert to swoop on an unprotected flock. By chance the name of Po-li Hsi came to the ears of Mu Kung, i.e., Baron Mu (of Ch'in). His merits were recognized alike by the settled people and the wandering strangers. A cowboy, like those of Colorado or Dakota, he had by courage, probity and talent made himself a king of men wanting nothing but the insignia of power. Finding 1 Besides Wei Jan, mentioned in this chapter, there has been omitted Su (.'h'in (see p. 134) ; Po-li Hsi, on the other hand, who lived in the seventh century B.C., is not usually included in this list. Even thus we get seven chancellors, namely: (1) Wei Yang; (s?) Su Ch'in; (3) Chang I; (4) Wei Jan; (5) Fan Chu; (6) Lli i J u-wei; (7) Li Ssu. The last named, however, was not made chancellor until 214 B.C., and might there- fore be omitted from the list of those who contributed to the rise of Chin. 132 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA him to be a man of real culture, ready wit and inex- haustible resource the baron, after a brief trial, invested him with the full honors of the premiership. Here is the eulogy pronounced a generation later in reply to one who was jealous of his fame. "Po-li Hsi, a stranger from Hupeh, 1 was lifted from a herdsman's booth. So poor was he when he entered the country that he sold (hired) himself for five sheepskins as his monthly wage. At the height of power he never forgot his primitive simplicity. To the rich he was a master; to the poor a friend ; and when death snatched him away after a tenure of six or seven years, the whole people wept from sincere sorrow. Shops were closed, there was silence in the streets and the whole state mourned for the man who was the first to make it conscious of its strength." 2. Shang Yang. With this example before his eyes Hiao Kung, the next chief of Ch'in, made public proclamation that any man, native or foreign, who had a wise scheme for augmenting the power of Ch'in, would be listened to and rewarded, and if his plans were adopted the highest honors would be heaped on him. Borne on the winds — without telegraph or news- paper — this appeal reached the ears of a young man from Honan 1 who, as the Chinese say, was "wagging his tail" before the door of a neighboring prince. A minister who had received him into his family and knew his worth, was on his deathbed, and being asked by the prince whom he would recommend to succeed to his portfolio he replied, "Here is Shang Yang; either 1 These names are anachronisms. o ■§> c cS s a d Rm#»Jrmmm i33 A foot of jade is not precious, but an inch of time is a thing to be struggled for. make him your premier or kill him before he enters the service of your northern rival." The advice was not heeded and the prince had occasion to regret that he had put a powerful weapon into the hands of his enemy. The chief of Ch'in was delighted with Yang's scheme for the aggrandizement of his country. "You," said he, "are the man to carry it out," and in a short time Yang found himself clothed with authority from which there was no appeal, except to the veto of the chief. For twenty-three years the chief stood by him while he was pushing forward the most drastic and unpopular reforms. He readjusted the tenure of land, rectified the mone- tary system in which the currency had become debased, and did the same for the weights and measures, placing fair standards in every market and making them ac- cessible to all. His most heroic performance was com- pelling certain privileged classes to bow to the majesty of the law. Like Achilles of old, they "denied that laws were made for them." And two members of the chief's family undertook to trample on the new regula- tions. One of them was branded on the face as a warn- ing and the other subjected to long imprisonment. So thorough was the reformation that violence and robbery were nowhere heard of, and it is added that "valuables might be left in the street, and no one would venture to pick them up" — a phrase used to describe the secu- rity of the golden age. Yet the people were not satisfied with a Draconian legislation, which though it was so severe as to look like 134 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA oppression, gave safety to the toiling multitudes; the privileged classes fomented discontent and on the death of his patron it broke forth, and Shang Yang, bound between two chariots, was literally torn to pieces. 1 By this time it had become apparent that nothing short of imperial power could satisfy the ambitions of Chin. Shang Yang was the first to perceive this and in a sketch of the situation fanned the flame, while he adroitly put forward his own merit. Had his chief, with whom his own star had such a fatal connection, but enjoyed a longer lease of life, no doubt the bold minis- ter would have attempted to win for him the rank of dictator, if not that of emperor. But other eyes were equally alert to discern the trend of Chin's policy which looked to the south instead of confining his attention to the Tartars. Su Ch'in and Chang I were fellow students in a political school, the existence of which was a sign of the times. It was located in a mountain gorge, called Kweiu, the Devil's Hollow, and its head masters were careful never to disclose their real names — though eager to attract students. They were not committed to any party; and drew aspiring youth from all the states. They were, no doubt, men who had filled high posts in cabinet or field, and who found consolation for vanished glory in training the youth for services; which could hardly be called patriotic, for their policy was 1 He first fled to the Wei state, but owing to his previous treachery was refused asylum. He then took refuge in his own fief of Shang and offered armed resistance, but was speedily overpowered and killed at the head of his troops, his body being subsequently torn to pieces. i * I + l» The Great Wall of China The Greal Wall north of Tsunhwafu Photo by Dr. Geil m m n % \n * m u& To the believer it is a fact, to the unbeliever a fiction. Machiavelian and the test of success, personal ad- vancement. Su was the first to emerge from the academic shade and like Shang Yang he proceeded to the court of Chin. Finding the new prince not so ready to adopt new methods as his predecessor had been, he left the court resolved to devote his energies to checkmating and de- feating his schemes of aggrandizement. On the east, says the chronicle, were six strong states; and on the south more than half a score of smaller ones. These strong states he proposed to form into a league for mutual defense, and by dint of superhuman effort and matchless skill he succeeded in forming a phalanx that seemed impregnable. Receiving a separate commission from each state, Su Chin brought all their chiefs together in one grand rally where, under his directions, the league was ratified by solemn rites, an ox being offered and each chief laying his hand on the head of the victim. 3. Chang I. A greater master of statecraft now ap- peared on the field, seeking to associate himself with Su in the honors and emoluments of the league. But Su treated him with such insolence that he betook himself to the court of Chin and pledged himself to undo the formidable confederation. Themistocles was not more subtle nor more unscrupulous. Commissioned to form a counter league, he soon had the six states at logger- heads, and Su had the mortification of seeing his proud structure collapse like a house of cards. 4. Fan Chii. A native of the same region and proba- 136 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA bly a student in the same "devilish school'' was the next to win the chancellor's seal. He might have said of him- self, like the Younger Cyrus, that no one should be more terrible in punishing his enemies or more generous in rewarding his friends. Sent by his own prince as secretary of legation to Shantung, he had been accused by the envoy of accept- ing a bribe, and on his return was condemned to be beaten to death. Seemingly dead, he survived to exact a terrible vengeance. Betaking himself to Chin he acquired such an ascendancy in the councils of the state that he made war on his own country, and reduced it to such extremity that it was glad to make peace by send- ing him the head of his enemy. The chief service which Fan Chii rendered to his master was the inauguration of a policy of encroach- ment on near neighbors in lieu of doubtful expeditions against remote rivals. 5. The fifth chancellor was Lii Pu-wei, a merchant of Hantan in South Chihli. Meeting at a foreign court of Ijen, a grandson of the prince of Ch'in, he ingratiated himself to such an extent that he was in- vited to the capital of Ch'in. There he pulled the wires so cleverly that he got his patron Ijen raised to the throne on the death of the old prince. The son of the new king was Chin Cheng, the builder of the Great Wall, then a youth of thirteen, and his mother, the princess regent, appointed Lii Pu-wei guardian of her son with the title of Ch'ungfu — second father. f>. The sixth chancellor was Li Ssu. Chosen directly by the young prince who thereby declared his own inde- i§ % m & n m m m 137 A boy without ambition is blunt iron without steel pendence, Li Ssu surpassed the other five in radical reforms, as much as his young master eclipsed his fore- fathers in the splendor of his achievements. He, like his master, built on the solid foundation slowly laid by those who had gone before. Some of the five had nursed a feeble state into a formidable power, others had prevented its overthrow and enlarged its borders at the expense of its neighbors. Nothing remained but to sweep the chessboard and to adopt measures for securing what was regarded as universal dominion. The house of Chou was stripped of its shadow of supremacy, and its last scion pensioned off as a de- pendency of Chin. Five of the greater states now laid down their arms and begged to be allowed to retain their lands as vassals of a new sovereign. To their sur- prise their petition was rejected because king and min- ister were bent on obliterating all the old landmarks and remaking the map of the empire. Here we have in a word the secret of the burning of the Confucian classics and the slaughter of Confucian scholars — two things which have led the official his- torians — all Confucians — to blacken the character of the greatest of China's emperors, by making him a bastard and a fool. The books were burned (they say) that Chin Cheng (or Lii Cheng, as they call him 1 ) might stand alone in his fancied glory as the first emperor, wilfully ignoring the fact that he was the first to wear the title of Huang Ti, which has continued to be worn by twenty-two dynasties. The scholars, they say, 'So-called on account of Lii Pu-wei's alleged paternity. 138 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA were put to death to ensure that the books should not be reproduced, whereas the books were burned by way of suppressing a feudal system, which is enshrined in their pages, and the scholars were slain because they plotted the overthrow of the new power. The Building of the Wall. The last of his rivals reduced to submission, the first Huang Ti, as we may now call him, turned his attention to the Tartars of the north. It was vain to think of subjugating them by force of arms. The best expedient would be to erect a barrier between them and China, which would enable a well-organized force to hold them at bay. This grand scheme, if not the suggestion of Li Ssu, met with his unqualified approval; otherwise how could he have con- tinued to retain the seals, as he did, to the very end of his master's long reign ? The building of the Wall was the chief work of the monarch's last twelve years, and his prime minister must have had much to do with it. The oversight of the construction was, however, en- trusted to Meng T'ien, one of his military officers, known for energy and success in the battlefield. It is curious that his name survives only in connection with the hair pencil, of which he was the inventor. In a revolutionary age, few of its reforms were more im- portant than that which substituted the pencil for the stylus and paper for cumbersome strips of bamboo. Tien pi Lun chih. "Meng Tien invented the pencil and Ts'ai Lun invented paper," is a line daily recited by boys in primary schools — preserving the memory of two inventions which have had much to do with the course of events in modern China. The Great Wall of China A Section of the Northern Loop of the Great Wall Photo by Dr. Geil iC » - *t = # « 139 A kind word keeps warm for three winters. Chin Huang Ti's Travels. Mu Wang, one of the Chous, was a great traveler. But poetry has had quite as much to do with the record of his journeys as with the creation of a marvelous whip beneath the lash of which the broad earth grew small. Chin's travels were often in connection with his military expeditions. His last journey was to the Shantung promontory, from which he looked out on the eastern ocean. Though he despatched a fleet to obtain tidings of those Isles of the Rising Sun (the literal meaning of Japan) of which he had only heard vague rumors, was he, like Alex- ander, longing for more worlds to conquer? or, as others than Chinese had done, foolishly seeking the elixir of life? A ballad based on a legendary story may here be added as a not inappropriate appendix to this historical disquisition. It was written a year ago. THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH OR CHINA'S GRAND ARMADA A Legend of the Wall Builder From a lofty tower the Tyrant of Ch'in Looked out on the Eastern Sea; When struck by a thought he at once started up, And awoke from his reverie. His vizier he bid a council convene In his tent on the top of the Wall ; All wondered what scheme had come into his head, As they met at their Master's call. 140 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA "My lieges," he said, "your help I require, My labors are only begun, The kingdoms subdued no faction I dread, The Wall defies traitor or Hun. "Yea, though my success might envy excite, Yet when I from earth pass away, The empire that I with so much pains have built up, I fear, will fall into decay. "Had I but a few years longer to reign I'd make China a permanent state, But old as I am, that end to attain, Myself I must first renovate. "In Nippon, 'tis said, there's a Fountain of Youth, There the flowers of amaranth bloom ; Could I from that fountain obtain but a draught, It might keep me out of the tomb. "Haste, rig out a fleet, those seas to explore, Not a soldier on board shall you take, With the fruits of our land in beautiful store, A gainful exchange you may make." So the fleet sailed away — not a soldier aboard — By maidens and boys it was manned, To seek for the Fountain of Youth it sailed, And it carried the youth of the land. Their teachers and books were not quite forgot, But the yards with garlands were hung, They looked like a school on a holiday cruise, With their flags to the breezes flung. — » Jl ft «S » JB U1 One piece of bad meat makes the whole pot smell. Away sailed the youth in gallant array, But their homes they saw never more ; At those Eastern Isles they safely arrived, And took root on a foreign shore. The Tyrant of Ch'in though on conquest bent, His spear point with roses concealed ; To the Isles of the East by that festive troop, He the learning of China revealed. So Japan in our day her debt to repay, Brings China the Fountain of Youth ; May China drink deep her youth to renew, And be led in the pathway of truth. CHAPTER XI Letters from NinghiaS Ninghiafu, 2 High Asia. June Dear Miss X, "Attend! for we must hold a long confabulation!" Thy fleet commands even though not urged by "the golden scourge" hasten our anxious quill. The dazzling prize of thy sweet smile allures tales of templed gods, of tall pagodas, of lofty ramparts, and other legends which, in these parts, submerge the common mind. Thy re- quest to know what Black Dog thinks of things shall be oppressive until with inverted commas it mitigates "the stings of woe," and from thy meager measure of en- joyment drives corrosive grief. In morsels shalt thou have the diary of the Dog. Later be introduced to an old-school Chinese doctor. Remember that the Celestials have a thousand drugs and give queer prescriptions. Indeed, they remind us of the skipper of a sailing ship, who was supplied with medicines numbered to correspond with a book of explanations. When he ran out of medicine number twelve and sickness number twelve developed itself in one of his crew, he simply 1 The letters in this chapter were addressed to a young lady. 2 A legend says that one Huangti, a leader of a band of immigrants, came in a remote age out of the west, died, and was buried here. This site seems to have had a dense local population away back in the misty cycles of antiquity. 142 * m & * tt 143 Deep waters run slowly. united medicines nine and three or ten and two and gave the compound to his patient! This is truly Chinese. In China, too, certain diseases are looked upon as inevit- able. 1 It is said that a Chinese mother does not count her children until they have had smallpox. The Arabs call the desert "the land of fear." It needs some such strong descriptive term. So we felt when at last we passed the barren wastes of scorching sand. Mandeville deposes thus concerning it: "The see that men slepen, the gravely see, that is all gravelle and sond withouten ony drope of watre." The desert is suggestive to all men. Mark the Hindi saying: Banda na ho pan jo gaun parko banjo — "If women manage a village it will become a desert." Does this explain the presence of buried cities beneath the wave-like sands of Gobi? The horror of the desert lies in its nakedness, empti- ness, aridity, in its deceitfulness and death-dealing power. But it has, too, its charms. It is not only the territory of death; it is also the realm of the "no-door life." Out-of-door life is good, but no-door life is better. A door speaks of limitations, ill-ventilation, a place wherein to cower from the outer world. But the no-door life we live on this vast rediscovered plateau — what could be more free? With the silent stars above, and below the noiseless dust and breezes as bodiless as drifting cold, here is life! Here too, is health, away 1 Cf. the proverb: "The doctor may cure disease, but he cannot cure fate." 144 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA from cramped quarters, with flickering candles and the horror of newly breathed germs from the diseased bod- ies of other men, and out in the midst of a great arched chamber, indescribably magnificent, illuminated by the steady lights of heaven, and fitted with air as pure as the spotless snow. We are inclined to exclaim: "Give us the no-door life and its serene advantages, revealed to savages and to a few others among men!" This is the fair side of the desert. Nevertheless we must confess that our weary caravan most gladly entered the fruitful fields surrounding the first city of importance along the Red Fort, as its builder called the Great Wall of China. Historical interest is now awakened, for at this pass Genghis Khan entered the oasis and seized Ninghia. If you are curious, read the life of Genghis Khan. It is more informing than Mr. Toole's account of the Great Wall: "The most im- portant building in China is the Great Wall, built to keep the Tartars out. It was built at such enormous expense that the Chinese never got over it. But the Tartars did. And the way they accomplished the feat was as follows — one went first and t'others went arter." Whatever opportunities for humor the Great Wall offers, it must not be forgotten that it is a stupendous monument to China's past greatness and a huge index finger pointing to a greatness still to come. We can- not believe that the long lethargy of the Mongolians is due to any decay of their vital forces. Are they truly a nation of Rip Van Winkles? There may yet be need for our western workers, too, to lie dormant for centuries, in order to recuperate the nervous energies of the pale A melon seller never cries " bitter melons," nor a wine seller " thin wine." pink race. Here there is before our eyes work enough produced by these wonderful Mongolians to defy com- parison with anything done by any people now living on our planet. Ninghia is a walled city. In the Chinese empire walled and bastioned cities number one thousand seven hundred, some put it at two thousand. 1 The Taipings captured six hundred and had just fairly begun their work. As for the total number of cities in China, that is an uncertain point. Nobody knows when a fish drinks water, and no one can tell when a Chinaman speaks the whole truth. The saying is funny but a fact, that no foreigner can tell the truth about China without lying. But, however, the cities lie, densely or sparsely, throughout the country. In following the Long Wall we visit five important centers of population. In a triangle of land made fertile by the magic of man stands the "City of Quiet Summer" — Ninghia on the maps. About this wondrous tract of ground, turned into an oasis by grace of the Yellow River, the sturdy farmer might, if he knew how, misquote the Odyssey: "I stretched my toil Through regions fattened with the flow" of Hwoang ho. 1 "There are over 2,000 walled cities in the eighteen provinces, but not one fourth of them have resident missionaries. To the 2,000 walled cities another 3,000 unwalled cities or towns must be added, and to these cities and towns almost numberless villages and hamlets. Among the teeming multitudes of these cities, towns and villages there is but one Christian to every 2,500 non-Christians. Yet it may be said that every place is now open to the messengers of the Gospel." — British and Foreign Bible Society of China. 10 146 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA When our caravan had crossed the yellow sand and the yellow soil, it crossed the Yellow River. Soon after two tall pagodas appeared on the green plain. One was originally erected at Cheng Chow, according to the legends, but one night it forsook that site and moved over to here, a distance of one thousand li. A rather rapid transit for a pagoda — over three hundred miles between two days. A competing legend declares that thirteen years were occupied in building the thirteen stories of the pagoda and that a notorious spider then made its way to the pinnacle, a spider possessing the uncanny power of turning the shadow of the pile toward the sun! The small north gate of Ninghia was closed forty years ago and never opened because the keeper for three hundred taels opened it and admitted the Mos- lems, who destroyed half the city and took the Taotai out of his Yamen, tied him to a horse's tail and dragged him through the city. And now for an extract from Black Dog's diary: "The city of Ninghia is not complete. There is the Water-Fire Pagoda. ... At night we stayed in the Happy Righteousness Inn. The inn governor, by name Wang, belongs to the temperance society. He explained the honorable doctrine of the temperance society . . . how it should be carried out. . . . He bore witness that the proceedings of the society could be seen by all men, and they know the root of the temperance door. When a man talks you want to see his deeds. From his deeds you may see his heart. Thus The Greal Wall of China Photo by Dr. Geil The South Pagoda of Ninghia City of the Quid Summer. Native skill and artistic design united to produce this strictly oriental structure. Its size and decorations command the admiration of the beholder. Like all pagodas it lias an odd number of stories Without the dryandra you cannot allure the phoenix. you distinguish the straight bottom of the doctrine, the is and the not is!" (Ah! the is and the not is! How long and how often have we sought in vain to discover the "is and not is." Black Dog is a philosopher.) The Christians also have a temperance organization called the "Abstain from Three Poisons Society." The three poisons are wine, opium and tobacco. A temple to piety bears this wholesome inscription : "Temperance and Long Life — both high." Wu Wang the ancient issued an announcement as to wine: "When small and great states come to ruin, it is also invariably wine that is the cause of the evil." The emperor threatened with death all prominent persons who failed to reform their conduct. The curse of drink is of ancient origin, and numerous examples of its disastrous effects are to be found in all literature. A native medicine man now made a seasonable ap- pearance. But my distemper is one which yields not to lotions or potions; it demands notions. So he told me tales. His tongue is intimate with stories. The conquests of love find in him an auspicious chronicler. You shall hear about him. But first we must away — to send two telegrams. Yes, even on the Gobi desert there are telegraph stations. The wise words of Max Miiller, said of India, are even more emphatically true of China. "You will find yourself between an immense past and an immense future." At half -past seven a clerk ushered us into a "reception room" and would have filled the water pipes with tobacco, had not Black Dog pre- 148 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA vented him. Two "wires" cost 4.99 taels. The oper- ator occupied twenty minutes figuring out the cost of the messages and weighing the money. It is but fair we should give the Chinese the telegraph, since they gave us the compass that made the discovery of America possible. For gunpowder and printing thank the Celes- tials, and for the bad divisions of an hour into sixty minutes vilify the Babylonians! Northeast of Ninghia are three jutments of the Great Wall toward the Yellow River. The main line here takes an angle of almost ninety degrees and passes on to the southwest. The city is at the corner of the Wall. 1 We wonder, shall the Great Wall have an ig- noble end ? Other walls, once the pride of capitals, have fallen into the itching hands of vandals and been made to serve purposes remote from the original. Witness the Turkish stone-cutters at ancient Laodicea carving marble pillars into tombstones, and fluted columns, once the glory of temples, into troughs for donkeys ! These Turks of Laodicea are descendants of the Tartars walled out of China. This leads us to inquire, what is the future of the Great Wall? We suggest, and the idea will meet with thine approval, thou disciple of Linnaeus, that the Flowery Empire make of it a huge hanging-garden of sunflowers! An artificial rampart of blossoms, excelling the lofty flower beds of Babylon! This may be achieved by a people whose ancestors made 1 "How lovely is the retiring girl ! She was to await me at the corner of the Wall. Loving her and not seeing her, I scratch my head and am in perplexity." From the Shih Ching (Book of Poetry 1 ). The Greal Wall of China Spurs run <>fl' from the main Line of the Greal \V;ill to protect a hill over- looking the east and west structure. The ahove is one of many between the Yellow Sea and the Yellow River All human affairs are my affairs. the Chentu sand plain blossom in the west, and whose neighbors, the Japanese, in the east planted whole mountain ranges with trees. Let us hope one day to ascend in a balloon and view a flower bed twelve hun- dred miles long! Here another idea strikes us, the hanging gardens of Babylon (which, you know, were built by Nebuchad- nezzar for his Median bride Amytis) were the first sky- scrapers of history — sky-scrapers of an agricultural brand, the farmer for once being on top! Why not extend the plan in modern life? One day we may find the world so densely populated as to require hanging or many-storied farms. Can you not see the picture of our gigantic office buildings with their sides knocked out and the floors fields of grain? And every roof yielding corn and every sidewalk growing food creepers ? This city of Ninghia is four thousand feet above the tide, and the climate is good. But the fish for which it is famous are bad. We ate some, because we followed the highly recommended but dangerous plan of Thoreau, who when asked at a dinner which dish he preferred replied, "The nearest!" Well, we ate some and then fell ill for several days. The trouble with people always is that they do not take proper precau- tions and then the} 7 blame probably the climate. You know the Irishman's saying: "They eat, they drink, they die, and then they write home and say the climate killed them!" We look forward to a pleasant summer, riding on 150 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA these high plateaus towards the home of the Tibetans. To-morrow the quill shall write again. P.S. The Great Wall has just reminded me of a strange custom somewhere in India, told in these words : "When my husband is pleased with me he throws a brick at me." Here is a fine use for the unnumbered bricks in the Great Wall! If you like statistics, I have worked out a sum. The city walls of China somewhat resemble the Great Wall. Seventeen hundred cities, with an average of four miles of wall, would aggre- gate six thousand eight hundred miles. Add to this the two thousand five hundred miles of the Great Wall, and we have nine thousand three hundred miles of wall, or more than the diameter of the earth! Ninghia, To-morrow, a.m. Greetings from the Desert ! The medicine man is still with us. About him lingers "the breath of the desert." He is sad and portentious. His eyes are like those of a discouraged frog. It is lucky for him his father was born first. This is not our vagrant fancy. He reminds us of the desert sunshine on dusty days — illuminated darkness. He comes from the silent sands. (But the sands are not silent; theirs is the active stillness of a summer's day.) He belongs to solitudes. Here is one of the legends which the mysterious man told us in the City of the Quiet Summer : "Chin's famous horse was coal black, with a red mane and tail of flame, eyes resembling bright lamps and flashing forth terrible light; mouth large as a winnow- m % * fat m m isi Cutting down a weed is not so good as uprooting it. ing fan, teeth "fiercely" big, ears only an inch long! He ran one thousand li a day. The small ears made speed convenient. The pagoda made equal time, but traveled at night." (It is not at all surprising that the superstitious generation have invested the Great Barrier and its re- mote builder with all sorts of powers and companions.) "The horse was a Dry Dragon, and his hair pointed forward. When Chin engaged in a battle, he rode the horse between the opposing lines, whereupon the animal gave a horrible screech, leaped into the air toward the enemy and then dropped on the enemy, stamping until the earth and the heavens shook, and the fire wind sprang up and swallowed the stupefied warriors. Chin thus conquered six kingdoms and the others submitted." This is what an Ordos scholar called "Long Wall wild talk." Watch the mail for another tale to-morrow. Ninghia, Day after To-morrow. The Doleful Traveler salutes Thee ! Attend! The medicine man tells of grain in a secret granary in the Great Wall. It was good to eat and plant when eight hundred years old ! "Times of peace and anarchy ordained by heaven are not constant. Great victories are not continual. Exceeding good things will certainly perish. From of old this is a general principle. However, in the reign of T'ung Chih, Ninghia was confused. The Mohamme- dans rebelled twice. The second rebellion was under the intrepid fearless leader Tang Men, who, traveling 152 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA by Lan Chow and Liang Chow, caused the people to eat bitterness. He fired the temples, destroyed the gods, seized the silver, drove off the cattle, burned the houses and robbed the inhabitants of their sons and daughters. For three years the fields were not culti- vated, the aged died in the ditches, men ate men, dogs ate dogs, and there were no travelers! "Now, in the tenth year of the reign a star of salva- tion appeared. It was a strange incident. In a gorge of the mountains lived Liu Chi, who, having no elder or younger brothers, was the only son. His mother was sixty, his wife was thirty, and his daughter was younger than either of the parents! The famine be- came worse and worse and the rebels more and more active. The people fled to the cities. Liu Chi, weak- ened by hunger and unable to carry his three women, with their little bound feet, thought over the situation, but could not fix his mind. Just then a black dog came into the courtyard. He killed it, cooked it, ate it and said: 'To-day we have eaten the black dog. To-morrow?' "Perplexed, he determined to kill his wife and daughter and carry his mother to the city. Now, near the Great Wall was a dried-up well. He told his wife and daughter that in the well was a sheep. They went with him, and while they were looking into the well he put forth all his strength and threw them in. He then took portions of the earthen core of the Long Wall and proceeded to bury them. As the earth fell away a great surprise awaited him — a door, on which was an in- scription: 'In the third year of Tang Tsao, 1 the ninth 1 We cannot find this name among the emperors or their year-titles. The -WUfP-wUftf 153 A word may make a state and a word may mar it. moon, a lucky day.' . . . Then Liu Chi saw the golden grain, stored eight hundred years before by a wealthy man, who purchased it for only three cash a bushel. Then Liu Chi, remembering the ancient saying, 'The grain of Liang Chow is good for one thousand years,' held the mouth-to-mouth saying true. The reason for hiding the grain was this. A tribe of barbarians outside the Long Wall were dangerous and the wise, wealthy man was providing against a surprise. "In the spring Liu Chi distributed the grain. It was planted and yielded heavily and the famine was over." All because Liu Chi liked his Ma! The thread fol- lows the needle. Ninghia, Second Day after To-morrow. My dear Young Lady of the West! The salutation is admirable. Once upon a time there lived a Chinese "Royal Lady of the West" (we are in the "West" now.) She grew peaches in her garden that ripened once in three thousand years, and con- ferred immortality upon those who ate them. Please raise peaches! This letter finds itself growing in the Lucky Public Inn. Which is lucky, the inn or the public — who do not stop there? As early as the fifth century B.C. an innkeeper, by the name of Ch'in, received a communica- tion from an old customer who presented him with a mysterious drug, of which he was to take a dose every tenth year of T'ung Chih is 1871, 800 years before this takes us to the reign of Shen Tsung of the Sung dynasty. 154 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA day for thirty days. After that he would know "the nature of things"! By experience we have learned the "nature of things" that crawl and walk and run and bite, particularly at night. We would like to supply this innkeeper with the drug so that he might know the "nature of things." We will away from insignificant matters to a subject of profound and permanent moment. "The Yellow River protects Ninghia!" It certainly protects nothing else. This then is a distinction. There are pagodas here, tall ones, square ones, brick ones. Rugs are manufactured in Ninghia, rugs of design and color. Sixty thousand lambs' skins are exported each year, one thousand two hundred tan of licorice root, produced in the surrounding country, is collected in numerous ox carts and sent eastward to the sea. This one-time capital of the province contains fact and fic- tion to fit the fancy of historian and novelist. West is the Ala Shan range, and beyond are the wide wastes of Tartary, where the Gobi stretches out its embalming sands over cities once alive with human activity, in the days when patient irrigation kept droughts at bay. Is it not curious to reflect that the countries which have harbored most of the ancient civilizations are regions of deficient rainfall and compulsory irrigation? Wit- ness Egypt, Persia, Arabia, and China, all contiguous to deserts. On the fringe of this desolate desert dwells the noto- rious Prince Tuan, who led the bad "Boxer" business. Here he is expiating his crimes. But from such m t$ # m t§ ^ l55 An honest heart begets an honest face. thoughts the traveler gladly turns to contemplate better things. In the City of the Quiet Summer lives a lone "white" lady. Her brother, his wife and child were foully murdered on the plains of Mongolia. Her husband's brother, his wife and children also met an untimely fate as did other friends. By this time a gloom envelopes your kindly mind. But the Lone Lady of Ninghia is the opposite of gloomy. She laughs easily, heartily, frequently, and is full of fun. She plays and sings for the Mohammedans, doctors the families of mandarins, drinks tea with the cultured Chinese, and preaches the gospel to everybody. Ah! We have failed to say she belongs to the sacred order of missionaries. The unconscious devotion of this Lone Lady to the needs of humanity and to the teaching of her Master, whom she reverently calls "Christ," is worthy of all praise and beyond it. Devotion without advertisement ! This modern Tabitha does not know that she is heroic, devoted, sublime! Here is a queen who deserves a palace for herself and her work. Three thousand pounds of "the assistant god" (as money is called in Hindi), invested here by those who believe in Christian mission work, would be a good investment. Thirty thousand people live in Ninghia, and thousands more round about, but this is the only mission station at the apex of this fertile triangle. Let some munificent person erect a memorial building here and support it until it becomes self -sup- 156 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA porting! The work now being done is admirable, 1 and the Lone Lady is waiting for companions to assist her. We met a big rug manufacturer, who was a poor man when he came to the Lone Lady for medicine to kill the desire for "foreign smoke." He was cured and ever Double-pig — Head at each end of the body — brings famine. Need a wall to keep them out. since has prospered, until now he employs many persons in the making of beautiful rugs. A sugar loaf is sweet on all sides, and Christianity benefits the whole man in his relations. Before continuing our journey we called to bid the Lone Lady good-bye. As always, so then her old peo- ple were with her. We urged her away for a rest. She replied, "The Lord will lead!" She believes it. We lifted our hats and said: "Lone Lady of the Quiet Sum- mer, fare thee well!" And now, Young Lady of the Noisy Winter, fare thee well! 1 The following figures of the total distribution of the Bible in China, which have been collected with great care, may he given here: Total circu- lation of Scriptures to the end of 1907, 35,799,672. The Great Wall of China Photo by \V. M. Belcher One of the two large Pagodas of Liangchow, Kansu. This beautiful bit of scenery is immediately in front of the Buddhist Convent of Nuns CHAPTER XII Genghis Khan, the Red Raider, who passed through the Great Wall at Ninghia Soon at the head of myriads, blind and fierce As hooded falcons, through the universe I'll sweep my darkening desolating way, Weak man my instrument, curst man my prey. Among the mighty Mongol men bloody Temujin, Genghis Khan, was first but not last. After Genghis the Marauder came Kublai the Civilizer. These two complicated, convulsive characters were to the Mongols what Pike's Peak and Long's Peak are to the Rocky Mountain lovers, most distinctly seen and longest on the receding landscape. In the whole range and plain of Mongol history there are not other two such cragf ul, strong, and bloody 1 leaders of the men of Mongolia as Genghis and Kublai: great Khans of the East. But Kublai, however interesting and important in himself, with the Great Wall has little to do ; we pay our respects to him and bow him out. Genghis, forward! At times regarded by friend and foe as supernatural, the words of Genghis Khan wrought like magic and his presence was as potent as a legion of loyal bowmen. He shed a lake of human blood — crimson lake; he had what Horace called "gigantic boldness," — and what 1 Kublai was, comparatively speaking, a mild and temperate ruler — wonderfully so for a grandson of Genghis. 157 158 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA evil tendency did he not possess? This Mongol monster massacred millions of men and stands to-day the great- est slayer or wholesale murderer of human history. A man of elemental fury, violent and savage beyond the sweep of twentieth century imagination, he let slip such dogs of war as never before or since have barked to battle. His thought by day and dream by night was personal power. He massed his mounted headmen, and with terrible impetuosity and irresistible charge destroyed any tribes or peoples who dared resist him. His bloody career did not end until he had ruthlessly slain as many people as now live in all New England, New York and Pennsylvania. Of human blood he shed 23,000,000 gallons — enough, if pumped into the mains and pipes of New Orleans, to supply that city for twenty- four hours; if poured into the channel of Niagara it would require fifteen seconds, as a crimson cataract, to pass the falls. He let enough human gore to float the largest modern battleship. And while he did not spill sufficient blood to paint the planet red he approached that feat more nearly than any other one of the sons of men. Genghis Khan was a masterful man whose sagacity concentrated into a supreme selfishness. Nothing found in the course of his progress was too sacred for vigorous and even violent demolition. In comparison with Gen- ghis Khan, the faithless, bloody Napoleon was a saint. But Genghis was more than a human revolver, he was an epoch! To get the date of bloody Genghis Khan, set back the time lock to 1162. As you swing » m w ^ w « ® ^j l59 Speak of Tsao Tsao and Tsao Tsao appears. the globe around to reach his place, catch a glimpse of hapless Henry of Anjou in England engaged in his fitful fight with the Church, in which the leading popu- lar incidents are the murder of Archbishop Thomas a Becket and the scourging of the king by the Canter- bury monks. Over on the mainland is the keen Kaiser Frederick Redbeard, also occupied fighting the pope's authority. Across the Baltic the Norsemen are re- luctantly settling down to their new faith, changing the hammer of Thor for the cross of Christ, and drinking wassail to the Lord. The great military orders are busy offering baptism or death in Prussia. A new city has just arisen at Moscow, destined to supersede the old Russian capital of Kieff, but unlike the latter, Christian from the start, with all the gorgeousness of Byzantine worship. In northern latitudes Moscow is the last outpost of anything that could be called civilization. But a southerly sweep down the Volga past the Caspian Sea encounters another great empire, founded on the debris of ruined states which had occupied the valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris. This fertile soil once tilled by Assyrians and Babylonians with their documents of brick, overrun by the wandering Medes, graced by Persian art, leavened with Greek versatility, held down by Parthian cavalry, rejuvenated by a Persian renais- sance, is now in the power of the Muslims. At Baghdad the caliphs hold their court, made famous once by Aaron the Just, immortalized in the Arabian Nights. Here Omar Khayyam is writing his wonderful poems with 160 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA their gloomy views of life, only brightened by the influence of wine and women. One of his stanzas is unconsciously prophetic of Genghis Khan: Ah, Love, could you and I with Fate conspire To grasp this sorry scheme of things entire, Would we not shatter it to bits, and then Remould it nearer to the heart's desire? To the northeast lies a great empire of the Khoras- mians with such mighty cities as Bokhara and Samar- cand. This, too, is ruled by Muslims, one king bearing the picturesque name of Aladdin, though this has been softened and Gallicized from his religious title of Allah-ed din-Muhammed. This "Faithful Servant of God" has extended his power from the borders of Syria to the Indus, and from the Persian gulf north- wards to the Jaxartes, flowing into the Aral Sea. Farther to the east is Hindostan, where also the Muslims are rooting themselves under Malimud of Ghazni. Here the beliefs of the people are being molded anew by the teachings of Ramanand, bringing from the Christians of Cochin a doctrine of faith destined to raise the religion of the natives and teach them not to fear their gods, but to love and heartily obey. Up the Himalayan slopes in the mysterious mountain land of Tibet, the Buddhist monks are taking over the externals of worship from the Christian church of St. Thomas, which has outposts all through mid- Asia. And within the flowery land of the central kingdom of China, the Taoists are manufacturing pills for immortality. m sg m n i* a @ w l61 Happiness and misery are not fated but self-sought In the great sweep of Asia between China, India, Persia and Russia, of civilization there is little. Here rove hordes of hardy horsemen, called indifferently Tatars or Mongols. Of these "Tahtars" the Chinese stand in fear. 1 Fortunately for the Mongols, the devitalizing com- forts met in Cathay, — as China was called after the Khitai — were not transported out into the wilds. There the herds of horses constitute all wealth; food, fuel, clothes and homes, all come from the animals. The milk of the mares is fermented into kumiss, the staple beverage; the dung of the herd provides warmth; the hides and hair are turned into leather and felt for clothes and tents. Just as a thousand years earlier the rich Roman em- pire attracted the hunger and greed of the tempestuous Teutons, who rushed at the Roman walls and tried to burst into the fertile fields behind; so the wild, warlike Tatars are always ready to follow any great leader and precipitate themselves with terrific fury on the nearest prey. The Christian Patriarch of Babylon in his uneasy seat at Baghdad had not been forgetful of these wan- 1 Central Asia was the home of two great allied races, the Turks and the Mongols. Distant cousins, the Finns, Lapps, and Hungarians, had migrated to Europe already, where they still remain as undigested morsels. The Turks were pressing westward by a more southerly route. The Mongols had not yet risen to great eminence, though the Chinese had experienced the ravages of a particular tribe, which they called Ta-ta or Tahtar. The Chinese name for the Mongols is Meng-ku. "Tartar" became the general name for all the nomadic tribes, embracing on the one hand the Huns, Turks, Ouigours and Mongols, and on the other the Khitans, Tunguses, "Ku-chens, from whom the Manchus are descended. 11 162 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA derers. Frequent embassies had gone forth from Persia into the Mongol wilds. One visited the Uigurs, and reduced their uncouth language to writing. The Keraits had been won to the gospel, and their pictur- esque prince was of sufficient force for his fame to filter into Europe, where he gave rise to the myth of Prester John. All the savage Tatar tribes had a vague belief in one god, but many worshiped with idols, made, like much else, of felted hair. Such is the scene of our story. Now for the dramatis personae. The metropolis of Mongolia was Karakoram, about two hundred and fifty miles south of the modern Irkutsk. Here dwelt the real Prester John, known locally as Wang Khan, ruling over the Black Tatars, Kara Khitai. These included a clan of some forty thousand families, infesting the district between the Amur and the Great Wall of China, governed by a chief called Yezonkai Behadr, "The Ninth Hero." The ancestry of Yezonkai is vague, but there are two notable touches of genius in the pedigree prepared by their Royal College of Heralds for his descendants; apparently in Asia long ago, just as in London to-day, a genealogy can be faked for any one with sufficient dollars. According to these George Washingtons, a certain Budantar, eight generations back, was the off- spring of a widow unassisted by any mate. And the poets, who are always licensed to draw on their imagi- nation, make the ultimate father of the tribe a great blue wolf: this beats Romulus and Remus fairly out of court. It is not necessary to swear an affidavit that these *j«*»a»0#A 163 Treat self severely, others leniently stories are believed before the reader may proceed far- ther. But he is entitled and requested to accept the statement that in 1162 Yezonkai became the happy father of baby Temujin. 1 He was born on the shore of the river Amur, immediately after a bloody battle, and with clotted blood in his hand, the son of a stolen woman. It is customary in out-of-the-way parts for fairies to come to a birth festival, and the nearest that could be done here was to produce an astrologer, who called him- self Son of Heaven, and won the heart of the happy sire by predicting that the new arrival should become a great warrior and have a wonderful career. This was a safe sort of promise, for the most sanguine would not prophesy beauty for a Tatar, and academic distinctions were not valued in those parts; besides, some twenty years might reasonably elapse before any fulfilment could be demanded, and in a score of years there was ample time to hedge, or to escape. As a matter of fact, the magician priest soon died and his son was appointed to train the lad, and did it on the most approved lines of physical exercise and athletics. Marvelous tales are re- lated of his boyhood days. The future Genghis Khan by nine years of age was a daring, dashing youngster who could ride a rapid horse without using the reins 1 Temujin, or the Emperor Genghis Khan, had four sons of importance: Yughi, who rode in a pie (whose son Baku ravaged half Europe), Jagatai, Agotai, the second emperor (whose son Kuyuk became third emperor), and Tuli. Tuli had three sons to be reckoned with, Mangu the fourth emperor, Kublai the fifth emperor, who transmitted the power to his chil- dren, and Hulaku the conqueror of Baghdad. The five emperors ruled during the thirteenth century. 164 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA and shoot arrows before, behind, to the right and to the left. He also had visions. "Temujin dreamed one night that his arms grew out to a prodigious length, and that he took a sword in each of them, and stretched them out to see how far they would reach, pointing one eastward, the other westward. In the morning he re- lated this dream to his ambitious mother. She inter- preted it to him that he was to become a great conqueror, whose exploits history would record." So precocious was he, that at the age of thirteen the future king of kings took a wife, and in two years accumulated a pair of children. Heavier responsibili- ties were soon thrust on him. His father quarreled with neighboring tribes behind the Great Wall and was captured. He escaped, but soon died. He died of poison and a civil war followed. Confronted by a con- dition rather than a theory, the likely lad of fourteen proved himself a wise general, defeated the rebels and was acclaimed supreme chief. On the strength of this promotion, bloody Temujin invested in a second wife. While he was absent asserting his authority, the beauti- ful bride was carried off to Karakoram and handed over to Wang Khan. The young chief Temujin, re- turning from his furious foray, sent for his new wife, who was promptly expressed to him. On the way she gave birth to a wee laddie, and as cradles were scarce they made a mass of dough and embedded the little morsel, so that he should be saved from the jolts of the journey in the cart. The chief welcomed the youngster in the pie and decided that being thus early invested with the dough, he must be well bred. + £****& 165 An inch of gold cannot buy an inch of time. It was perhaps on this occasion that the poet laureate produced the following effusion, of which a distorted version is current in western lands : Sing a song of sixpence, A pocket full of rye, A fat little Tartar boy Made up into a pie. When the pie was opened, The boy began to sing; Was not that a funny dish To bring to Temujin? But though he illustrated his manly prowess, bloody Temujin's youth proved still a difficulty, and he at last handed over the management of the tribe to his uncle and his mother, starting off himself with an escort of six thousand warriors and desperadoes for the court of his suzerain. With him the bonds of friendship were tightened by adding to the wives a daughter of Wang Khan, to the great annoyance of another chief, who wanted her. The disappointed suitor hatched a conspiracy to get rid of the upstart and of the ungrate- ful king. In the true oriental fashion, of which we get a glimpse in Abraham's proceedings, the plotters slew a horse, an ox and a dog, and imprecated on them- selves a death of like fashion should they be untrue to their engagements. At first the scheme succeeded, the capital was taken, and the king put to flight. But the genius of the bloody chief Temujin cast a spell over his followers, 166 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA and little by little the cunning conspirators were over- come in battle and out-maneuvered in counsel. When the lad had reached the age of twenty-two danger seemed over. To celebrate the peace, a pair of marriages was arranged ; a boy of the chief wedded a daughter of the king, and a girl of the chief wedded a son of the king. The boy and the girl could not be more than nine years old, while the daughter and the son were older than their father-in-law. It would appear also that the rules of the Church were neglected on this occasion. Wife number three became sister-in-law to her stepson and her stepdaugh- ter; the young hero became brother-in-law to his son- in-law and his daughter-in-law, his daughter and his son; and various other interesting consequences follow which can be worked out at leisure by the inquiring mind. Family jars are notorious, and it was after these complicated matrimonial alliances and a gift of jars of mare's milk that the two fathers fell out. Wang Khan decided to crush the rising chief, but his plans were betrayed. Temujin fiercely fought two great battles, smote down all his enemies and made himself undis- puted ruler in the northeast. Temujin marked the victory by mounting the skull of Wang Khan in silver and using it as a drinking cup. At Karakoram bloody Temujin now proceeded to organize his government and his army. Such discipline as he introduced was new to the Tatars, with com- panies, regiments and brigades, all subjected to regular drill, which gave the legions terrible efficiency ; military — r - eg a m ® # m m m A biting dog does not show his teeth. forts and roads were constructed by labor; army sup- plies were stored up. It was decreed that the people should labor one day a week on public works such as roads, fortifications, canals, et cetera. Then came codes of law, division into provinces, establishment of a postal service and the machinery of civil government. And when all the new constitution had been outlined, a great Constitutional Convention was summoned to ratify and to elect the first king. No American ring could better hocus-pocus the people into thinking that they were free to elect, and that no machine would dictate to them. Of course, there was only one nomination, and by acclamation bloody Temu j in was installed. Out stepped a hoary old priest, claiming to be inspired, and de- clared that he was commissioned by Allah to predict that the new ruler should quickly conquer the world and found an everlasting empire. In token of this he hailed Temu j in by the Chinese title of Ch'eng-shih, Perfect Warrior, while all the princes came and paid homage. His Mongol title from now on was Genghis (Mighty) Khan, signifying King of Kings. This "great merger of interests" occurred about 1206, a few years before the English barons made John sign the charter; the hero was now in the prime of life, some 44 years old ; at the height of his wisdom he issued an edict commanding all to believe in one supreme God. As Genghis entered on active life at the age of 13, his school days had been short; and it will not be sur- prising under the circumstances that spelling was not 168 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA a strong point with him. So if any reference is found to Genghis, Gengis, Zengis or Jinghiz Khan, it will be understood that the same gentleman is intended. After all, did not Shakespeare pass under various aliases, to say nothing of epithets such as the Bard of Avon and Divine William? Speaking of spelling: the Uigur Tatars had been converted to Christianity and had their own version of the Bible. Such civilization in the way of letters as Genghis ever acquired, came to him from them. In the midst of the lake of blood he was fast forming Genghis Khan had time for else. The "King of Kings," a genius in both war and religion, established a custom later adopted by the Mormons, that of marry- ing for the dead, or even marrying the dead. Two families having no living offspring, but desiring to be made legally one, could do so by marrying the dead son of one family to the dead daughter of the other. Gen- ghis Khan, who claimed to exercise authority in both worlds, declared the wedding ceremony solemnized by the parents binding in the Land of the Spirits! First bloody Genghis investigated Cathay, and this proved, as ever, an inviting prey to human vulture. He overcame all difficulties, passed the Great Wall, and overran China. But even Napoleon at Moscow found it easier to defeat armies and capture cities, than to hold the people permanently in subjection, or even to secure an honorable peace. If the European powers learned this early in the century at Peking, Genghis Khan had some experience at the same place. Three great hordes swept in over the Tatar half &£#*-#I»l***-*W 169 A royal minister will not serve two dynastic kings, nor a virtuous woman wear two wedding rings. of China, crushing all resistance, nor did Genghis him- self stop till he had crossed Shantung past Wei-hai-wei, and halted where in after days the German archangel should withdraw his mailed fist from the beehive of Kiao-chao. Twice was this operation repeated, and on the second occasion the few cities which held out at first were captured. But gory Genghis had no thought of establishing himself within the Great Wall, nor even of placing a vassal king to pay him tribute. Instead of a yearly dish of golden eggs, he preferred one gor- ging meal on roast goose, and so ravaged without dis- crimination. Then he withdrew to his own elevated plains away in the heart of the continent, with a pair of Chinese princesses and a few hundred girls for him- self, besides abundant plunder for his army. Flowing back, obedient to the call "Westward, Ho!" he dealt with some mutinous tribes near the headwaters of the Yenisei, and looked around for additional ad- ventures. In those days there was no Captain Mahan to point out the advantage of sea power, but the rulers of Siberia have often felt instinctively the need of an outlet to the south and its warmer climes. Now, after many revolutions, the chief potentate in these parts was Sultan Aladdin. He had quarreled with the Muslim pope, Nasir the caliph of Baghdad, and set up an oppo- sition candidate. The caliphs were both spiritual and temporal dignitaries, like the famous prince-bishop immortalized in the Ingoldsby legends; and cursing having failed, they tried ordinary negotiations. These were contemptuously rejected, and then the caliph sent 170 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA an invitation to Genghis Khan to come and deliver him. Nothing could have suited him better than a request to crush a state which reached right down to the warm shores of the Persian Gulf. A pretext was not hard to find; the families of Mongol merchants who were murdered across the border, were pleasantly surprised to find how earnestly their grievance was taken up. An embassy was dispatched to seek redress, but Sul- tan Aladdin in an unlucky hour had read about David and Hanun, the son of Nahash, without drawing the correct moral. He clipped the head off the chief am- bassadors and the beards off the rest and sent them back in this undignified plight. Did the Roman envoys at Tarentum declare that the filth cast on their robes should be washed out in the best of Greek blood? So, too, did Genghis arise in wrath with his Tatar chivalry. As their coursers charged the wind And the white ox-tails streamed behind, They looked as if the steeds they rode Were winged, and every chief a god. Yughi-who-rode-in-a-pie was put at the head of seven hundred thousand men, and sent to punish the sultan. The first great city he met was Bokhara, a famous Mohammedan center, where students flocked from all mid- Asia. It was girt around with a strong wall, and even the suburbs were defended by an outer rampart, the whole ten miles across. It took the Mon- gols nine months to force the outer defenses ; and as no relief from without could rescue the doomed city, the garrison lost heart, and most stole away, receiving the t * # * * J* m Be resolute and the thing is done. natural result of cowardice by being cut to pieces in the open. The citizens were ready to surrender but found a harsh conqueror. First by torture they were compelled to bring forth all their treasure; then they were driven out and the city burned. Genghis Khan was a dazzling, dashing, fearless leader and merciless in the treatment of enemies. On one occasion he captured a horde of foes and disposed of them by placing huge caldrons over fires, boiling the water and throwing in the chiefs of the van- quished army. As Nero fiddled while Rome burned, so while the victims scalded to death, the mighty, mas- terful Mongol looked on, — superior to the Roman in this that he made no glee, and Yughi-who-rode-in-a- pie was a chip off the old block. So the onward march experienced no dull uniformity, except in the uniform success. A stubborn resistance was met at Kojend on the Sur, which empties into the Aral Sea. King Timur had torn up the roads and wrecked the bridges, after filling the town with eatables. On the river he had a fleet of flat- bottomed boats armed with the best artillery. The general detached to assail the city, repaired roads and bridges, and then brought stones and timbers twelve miles to dam the river and hinder naval operations. Timur sent fireboats down and burned the dam, and with his garrison embarked on a new flotilla protected with clay against a counter attack by fire. Despite a check in some shallows, he escaped with his family; but the wretched town suffered the usual horrors. The 172 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA temper of the savage victor may be pictured by Feramorz : He sits in savage loneliness to brood Upon the coming night of blood, With that keen second scent of death By which the vulture snuffs his food In the still warm and living breath. While such were the successes of the army detached under son Yughi-who-rode-in-a-pie, Genghis himself marched on Samarcand and the sultan. In the Ara- bian Nights the famous Aladdin was comparatively helpless and worthless, apart from the jinns of the ring and of the lamp. His namesake, the sultan, was no more eminent by himself, and though this city was a gem of the realm, he was content to send an army of a hundred thousand to defend it, but he did not go forth to head his troops and in person oppose his assailant. Genghis found that the town was Sebastopolized — de- fended by extemporized earthworks; but dissensions within the city led to the citizens surrendering, whereon he massacred all the garrison except a few who cut their way out with the governor. At one of these sieges the people pleaded for a rais- ing of the blockade, and Genghis Khan's general with grim humor promised to do so if they would send him ten thousand swallows and a thousand cats. They were not well versed in the story of Samson and his foxes, and sent out the creatures required. To their tails bunches of blazing tow were attached, and soon the town was in flames. There is not much variety in the other sieges. Balkh, tt m * # t fit 173 When there is a cart ahead there is a track behind. Merv, Nishapur, all fell to the Tatar lot; the new Sul- tan Jalaluddin retreated and great battles were fought at Ghanzi, and on the Indus. When the sultan saw that he was losing this latter fight, he mounted a fresh horse, leaped twenty feet off an embankment into the river, and swam to the other bank, to the admiration of Genghis Khan. Realizing, however, that "however magnificent, it was not war," he sent his best horsemen in puisuit. But the mad riders galloping through the night failed to capture the fugitive. Exhausted by the heat of the plains he gave all the northwest of India to be looted by the Mongols and returned to Ghazni. This had been the capital of a great Turkish kingdom for many centuries, so Genghis was residuary legatee of many monarchs. He may have passed through the famous gates to which the legend attached that when they were removed the power of the state would collapse. But, unlike Lord Ellenborough, he destroyed the state first and left the gates alone. While resting, he heard that Herat, which had quietly surrendered, had now revolted. He sent an army which besieged it half a year; then was inaugu- rated a week of horror, when one million six hundred thousand people were massacred within its walls. A detached army was climbing the Caucasus, striking terror into the head of Europe. "Who are these new enemies ?" "Tatars," was the reply. And when Europe heara of their deviltry, they declared that they Mere well named "Tartars," from Tartarus the ancient hell. 174 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA And this jesting perversion has set the fashion for our spelling their name. It were wearisome to recount more horrors; an esti- mate of eighteen and one half millions of people has been made, put to death by this human centipede, in his carnival of carnage. The crimson lake of Genghis Khan was nearly full of human blood! The days drew near that Genghis, too, must die. Like Herod of old, he decided that there ought to be mourning at his death, if not for it. And so as the procession moved to his ancestral home, every one met was killed. The time and manner of his death are unknown, but the tomb has lately been discovered. An oblong court incloses two circular felt tents, still guarded by his descendants. Here they kept three festivals yearly, the greatest being on the twenty-first day of the third lunar month. Then a man of a family which once insulted Genghiz is buried up to the arm- pits for three days and left without food or drink. His power did not die with him. The sons agreed to act in concert, and north China soon fell into their power. Thus the Mongols ruled from the Pacific to the Danube. And if their power in China has since shrunk, the family of Genghis still retains the peculiar privilege of riding into the Chinese palace and claim- ing a princess as wife. The red reign of Genghis was destructive. He was a cold, ambitious, venomous human monster. But two great results followed, the transplanting the civiliza- tion of China to the barbarians of Europe and the spread of Christianity from Baghdad over all the Mon- 5 « H 3 85 he a "a o — ■ 3 K 4J *n A *n m % % 'il> 175 We know men's faces, not their minds. gol dominions. It was during the thirteenth century that through the Mongols, Europe learned the use of the mariner's compass, of gunpowder, of paper money, of playing cards, of block printing, — all of them of ancient use in China. And on the other hand the "Patriarch of Babylon," head of the Christians of Saint Thomas, sent forth his missionaries throughout the new empire, and planted churches everywhere. At one time it seemed as if the Golden Horde and other divisions of the Tatars would join with Louis of France and Edward of England in crushing Islam. But then arose another ravager, Timur, who repeated the awful tale of devastation. And when the storm died, it was Islam that remained, and Christianity had been uprooted. And for Asiatic civilization in general — Where the Tartar hoof hath trod, The verdure flies the bloody sod. CHAPTER XIII The Desert Loop: Kansu In our journey from the sea to the mountains of Tibet we have followed various loops or inverted bows of the Great Wall. Looking at the map one is struck by the resemblance of the line of the Wall to three stupendous festoons. First in the mountains, second in the loess, and now in the desert. This interesting por- tion of the Great Wall reaches from Ninghia via Tapa Ying to Liangchow. It is a curious instance of the strong local feeling here that the people do not speak of the Ten-thousand-/^ Wall, but call it only the Eight- hundred-/z Wall. While muling along on a level road, following the ruined boundary line, a sturdy blacksmith fell in with us. We lost no time in plying him with questions. "Chin," said he, "did not finish the Great Wall; the reason was that he lost his whip, his magic whip; the great misfortune fell in this wise. The emperor treated the common people with great cruelty. This worked upon the mind of a charming young daughter of a master workman. Chin took a fancy to the beautiful girl, and wanted to marry her, to which she objected, because she sympathized with the poor overburdened workmen on the Wall; she avoided matrimony by com- mitting suicide. On arrival in the lower regions, the Dragon King inquired how the Great Wall was getting 176 m *• m % i - k m Hats don't differ by a foot. on, when she up and told him how the mighty monarch with his wonderful whip was erecting the masonry. Nor did she stop with furnishing the news, but fell upon her knees and begged the Lord of Perdition to pity her people and to send up some spirit who should prevent further cruelty. The Dragon King ordered his own wife, a crafty and charming woman, to make her way to the earth, win the emperor's affections and marry him. She was to wait an auspicious moment, and then make off with the wonderful whip. The female devil played her part well, stole the whip, and that is the reason Chin never finished the Wall." The honest smith ceased his tale. In coming from Ninghiafu to Ta Pa Ying, the road is level and good enough for a bicycle. A wire which parallels the Wall speaks of the present, as the masonry of the past. The modern will quickly pronounce which of the two may best be relied on to protect the empire. The wire was being used not only for messages but also for birds. Never have we seen so many birds in a straight line. The feathered folk rested on the wire for several li so closely together that the metal took a deep sag. As numerous as the birds above were the frogs below. Millions of frogs — the number is purely an estimate, but there was a sufficient number of them to cover the face of the land. They were of one size, as if hatched out on a lucky day by some mammoth frog incubator. We do not say that the hatching was by artificial means, and conducted by the great frog medicine concern that 12 178 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA has made Liangchow famous. The mystery remains unexplained, but my friend John Gwadey, Esquire, who, curiously enough, popped up away out here in the desert, just when he was wanted, repeats an ancient legend which declares that Chin had a huge frog, ob- tained when he visited America. It was a rain-making frog, evidently the forerunner of the Yankee rain- making machinery. The Kangaroo rat, which grew long hind legs, so it could jump the Wall, is called by the natives "the son of a jump." We wonder what the frog is called. Gwadey goes on to say that all the people hereabouts believe the moon story about Chin the First. Chin was sleeping on a costly rug. It was when the darkness of the night was densest that he had a soul-stirring dream. His soul made a journey to the moon while his body remained on the earth. While on that lunar orb the bodyless Chin looked about him and then down on the far-off planet where he had left his body. From that distance his kingdom was as small as a dot. Then and there it was that Chin took the idea of building the Great Wall, and in the midst of the moonshine he decided to construct a boundary line round his kingdom that it might become as one family. The soul of Chin traveled from the moon to the earth, took on again its body, drafted men, put them to work, and intended to construct the Big Barrier so as to in- close an area vastly larger than the kingdom that it might thus be encouraged to grow. The moon legend suggests the reason why Chin built the Wall. There are other reasons. The Great Wall is the southern boundary of the Gobi desert — the soul- You have a myriad tricks and turns, I, one settled plan. appalling desert. We asked the question, "Why is the Gobi desert?" The answer more properly belongs to the geologist than the geographer. And yet, as we look at the sands of Mongolia the problem of aridity pre- sents itself, and we wonder if they were deposited by wind action or precipitated by water. The evaporation here is very much in excess of the precipitation, so that the limit of the desert has been much extended during this present geological age, i.e. the post-glacial period. In historic times lakes have become in Central Asia terrible deserts. Desiccation continues. The most depressed sheet of water in the world is the Dead Sea. But here is lofty dead land. This region is in process of being dried. When a shovel goes down below the yellow, level, moist- less surface it is soon wet. There is a wet desert under the dry desert. Shave off the top of the plateau and you will have a lofty plain containing a damp desert. But it is not our purpose to discuss scientifically the origin and development of the Gobi. We should like to write the biography of a grain of sand, and tell how a bit of rock requires a journey of thirty-five hundred miles in order to be rounded into a grain of sand. We should like to speak of the hardness of sand, and its ability to liberate oxygen and make sparks; of its weight ; that gold-bearing sand is the heaviest, and gold is the only precious metal found in sand. Silver and copper are never found in sand; hence the ancients at Sardis had the River of the Golden Sand. There are as many different colors of sand as of rice. White 180 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA sand, like that covering the graves of the Friendly Islanders under the southern cross; black sand, into which the metal is cast; yellow sand and red sand, and the sand in human character. It would be interesting to speak about the uses of sand, — to measure time; to make glass and sandpaper; to furnish resistance either for a locomotive or a cannon ball; to mix in mortar or in sugar. A canary requires an ounce of sand per month in order to sing sweetly. Sand produces the feathered songster's ability to issue liquid notes on the desert air. The desert also seems to make men mad. Why is it that people go crazy on the great waste places of the earth? Many desert dwellers descend into madness and become violent; solitude is more than many can endure. Here is the reason for people in civilization huddling together in tenement houses, flats and fashionable man- sions, being unable to control their own mental move- ments. While it is true that on the vast sand plain there are no sky-scrapers, no trams or other earth- scrapers, no scramble to reach the top and annex it, one is in a free land, which nobody owns and nobody wants to, and there is no sign, "Keep off the sand"; the very freedom endangers the sanity of the mind. If the Gobi is bad enough to give a camel two humps, it is not surprising that the desert should be considered the birthplace of demons. Witness a bit of Gibbon: "A fabulous origin was assigned, worthy of their form and manners, that the Witches of Scythia, who, for their foul and deadly practices, had been driven from society, had copulated in the desert with the Infernal Spirit ; and There is nothing difficult under heaven, if men will only do it. that the Huns were the offspring of this execrable con- junction. The tale, so full of horror and absurdity, was greedily embraced by the credulous hatred of the Goths." Chin had an astute mind, and may it not be that the Great Wall was constructed for the purpose of pre- venting the devils of the desert entering the Central Kingdom ? The English traveler, Atkinson, called these steppes "the cradle of invasions." The longer we fol- low this Great Barrier the more are we led to believe that it was intended to be a materialized dragon stretched along the entire northern boundary of the empire to protect it from demons and devilized human beings. This stupendous structure may be considered the incarnation of the supreme religious idea controlling the motives of Chin. At Ta Pa Ying is the first wet engineering feat, con- spicuous and important on the line of the Long Wall. It is a large and ancient irrigating scheme. During the day and a half of our investigation we copied a large housed tablet telling of the repairing of the canals, locks and bridges of the system. We recollect that the engineering feats of the sons of Chin, omitting roads and bridges, are classified under three heads, and the most conspicuous representatives of these three heads are the Great Wall, the Grand Canal, called "River of Flood Gates," and the irrigating plant. The Yankee Department of Commerce and Labor, a prompt and useful bureau, issued recently a pamphlet from The Summary of Commerce and Finance for January, 182 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA 1905, under the title of "The Great Canals of the World." We sent for a copy of this pamphlet, expect- ing to find considerable reference to the Grand Canal of China. Imagine our surprise to find the world's greatest canal not even mentioned, except briefly at the tail end. "The Great Canals of the World" mentions such pigmy affairs as the Suez, the Kaiser Wilhelm, and some Canadian cut creeks, and a few Yankee ditches like the Erie Canal. Shade of George Wash- ington, the great canals of the world! Look at the Grand Canal of the Chinese, built by the Tartars and constructed on the two fundamental prin- ciples of political economy: the easy production of wealth, and its easy distribution. Here we find both ends attained by the same construction. Even apart from the transportation, the Chinese have been re- markably clever at appreciating the importance of irri- gation. In the third century B.C. the plain of Ch'engtu, once a mere stretch of boulders, was changed over nearly three thousand square miles into splendid agricultural land, now producing five crops a year. Here at Ta Pa Ying, next to the Shentu Plain, is the best place for studying their irrigating system. Here follows a translation of the inscription on the large slab monument at Ta Pa Ying, province of Kansu, dealing with irrigation near the Great Wall of China: "I, the Emperor, since ascending the imperial throne, have spared no pains in seeking the welfare of my poor people, even putting on my clothes in the evening and eating my food at night. Because the source of food and clothing for the people is convenient water, in the fourth A Fortified Farmhouse near Tu Men Tse in the Province of Kantsu. The Great Wall of China Photos by Dr. Geil A Picturesque Pailo at Yungchang Hsien in Kansu Province Affi&Jft&ftffiC 183 The man who takes no thought for the distant, has sorrow near at hand. year of Yung Cheng, the sixth moon, I definitely com- manded my councilor, along with the statesman Shan Chow- shu, holding office at Ninghia, to examine the territory of Han tou Hu for the purpose of re-opening the two irri- gation schemes Hui Nung and Chang Yiin, and to dig a new canal to enrich the two countries that doors and mouths (families) may be induced to settle and cultivate the land. "This great work was completed in the eighth year of Yung Cheng, in the fifth moon. We have received the holy favor in thus remembering the three irrigations of the Ta Ch'ing, Han and T'ang dynasties, from which comes the food supply of Ninghia Fu. The locks and branches of these rivers have fallen into ruin, and if not repaired would ere long be past remedy. We take advantage of the ex- perience of the statesman who has already constructed canals at Ninghia. He will naturally understand every detail. A meeting of officials was called to investigate and consult about the undertaking. With the imperial sanction they made careful investigations, and it was seen that the work of repairing all three rivers at one time was too great to be accomplished. "They reported this to the Emperor and requested that the canal of the T'ang be first repaired. Having received the imperial decree, and in accordance with their own de- cision, they prosecuted the work of re-opening the T'ang canal. The canal divided from the river and entered the mouth of the stream below the One Hundred and Eight Pagoda monastery at Ching Tung Chia, and from Ta Pa it flowed round Ninghia, past P'inglo, and entered the West river, in length three hundred and eight li. It touches the He Lan Mountains, and impartially waters all the adjoining land. "By examining the book of records we find that the name of this irrigating river is Lai (Come). During the Yuan 184 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA dynasty Chung Tung- Wen sought to carry out this labor- saving plan of irrigating rivers. The work of deepening the bed of the stream was completed, but the locks and their foundations were still made of timber. In the reign of Lung Ch'ing of the Ming dynasty the wood was replaced by stone. One hundred and sixty years afterwards, al- though there was a law that every year these works should be repaired, the overseeing official neglected his duty and the locks and foundations fell into a ruined condition, while the body of the river filled with mud. The great statesman, having received the command of the Emperor, again repaired it. In the reign of Yung Cheng, ninth year, second moon, twentieth sun, forty efficient military and civil officials, together with all the officials of Ninghia, including the Taotai, prefect and magistrates, organized themselves and divided the work between them. Starting from the mouth, where the water entered the river, they simultaneously began operations." The tablet goes on to relate that the breakwater erected where the irrigation river branched off from the Yellow River was repaired, and that an aqueduct three hundred feet long to carry off the overflow was en- larged, and thus reduced the rapid current in the main stream. Locks were repaired, stone walls reconstructed. The inscription continues : "From the entrance of the water into the irrigation canal to the main lock, a distance of nine It, three divisions and eighty feet, all stopped up with rock and sand was counted one contract." The names of the various termini of the contracts are interesting: Moon Tooth Lake, Gemmy Fountain Bridge, Great Ferry Mouth, Harmonious Eminent The heart is like a race horse on a plain, easy to let go, hard to rein in. Tower, Three Canal Bend, Opening Light Bridge. As the body of the canal was narrow, and the lips much silted up, it was divided into three contracts. There seems to have been a great deal of difficulty with the tail of the canal, but this was remedied by the engineer. There were seventeen bridges in all, and at the new tail of the canal two new bridges were constructed for the passage of the comers and goers. The places tend- ing to silt up were examined, and twelve pieces of stone buried at the bottom caused the water to flow more swiftly. "On the fourteenth sun of the fourth moon the work of completing the channel was finished. All are deeply touched as they look up at the immeasurably loving intentions of the Emperor on behalf of his people, and at his using his utmost strength in carrying them out. There was not one who was not pleased with all the officials, large and small, at Ninghia ; they beat drums and danced without end. Ninghia contributed materials costing eighteen thousand ounces of gold. From the opening of the work to the setting free of the water there were fifty-three days, and the people did not feel the work heavy. After the great work was finished, the irrigation system presented a new aspect. The water flowed smoothly, and the lands, whether high or low, all felt the benefit of abundant moisture. "The ten thousand names rise up in their joy, and the multitude sing songs ! "Date. Ninth year of Yung Cheng, being the year Hsin Hai, in the fifth moon, on a lucky day, this stone was erected." On the walls were various sentences inscribed by trav- elers. As a sample there was this: 186 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA "The suns and the moons change and depart, Men are born for a few dots of time, They meet with wealth and forget justice; What will their future be? When their evil is strung together to the full, They will transmigrate and become donkeys." Another traveler, who may have had an experience with an innkeeper, wrote: "The men on this earth are no good." The Great Wall is in ruins, but large and conspicu- ous, even where the decrepitude of old age appears, the circumvallation of China excites admiration. Immedi- ately we passed beyond the influence of the irrigating system the desert was entered. At Chungwei the Great Wall branches, one line crossing the Yellow River and passing southward to Lanchow, while the other, along which our caravan proceeded, ran a westward course toward the ultimate gate of China. Had we elected to follow the rampart as it wound on toward the south, the caravan must have passed the valley in which is nestled the small village of Ts'in- huang Chuan, which name means "King Chin's stream." Named in honor of the First Emperor, the locals say, some of his descendants have for generations lived there; indeed, the natives claim that Chin's ancestors dwelt where they now live. This we cannot accept as more than legend. Aside from its association, at least by name, with the Great Wall builder the place is interesting because of the depth of the wells, which are said to be over four The Great Wall of China Photo by Dr Gdl The Great Wall at the Shweikwan Pass. Notice the extraordinary curve in the masonry and admire the grit and skill of the men who planned and built ■smm^-mmMm 187 In the presence of a dwarf don't use short words. hundred feet deep. The water buckets are drawn up by donkeys. From the name one would expect to find a stream near by, but at the present time there are no signs of it. Moving westward our caravan met many well- mounted but wild-looking men, and a sand storm which overtook us obliterated the track and we lost our way. These two incidents suggested that if the engineers who constructed the Great Wall surmounted difficulties in the mountains and on the loess plateau, they also had need to exercise their engineering skill in this land of sand. Probably for the two purposes of protecting against drifting sand and foraging barbarians the Great Barrier was constructed. This Wall suggests that the population of the world has not merely increased but that the center of population has shifted. During Chin's lifetime, north of the Wall were cities, important centers of population. These lie beneath the sands of Gobi — a much denser population inhabited the "out- side" then than at present. Our caravan now entered bad lands, — dry stretches where in the day the sun scorches with an arid atmo- sphere, while after a brief ghostly twilight there gath- ers a darkness that fills the caverns of the sky. To do justice to the dreariness of the journey, Black Dog's diary may be drawn upon again: "From this, going up the sand mountain truly was not easy. Going up just at the middle of the hill's waist, was a mat tent. In front of the tent was a large water jar, one piece; in this was water. Passers-by when tired and thirsty 188 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA might use it. I asked what place possessed the man that put it there. It was answered, from below the sand hill ten li away, he comes here to carry out this meri- torious deed. One said, 'As he has no son he does this to store up secret merit that he may ask for a son.' But the man, although his deed is perfectly right, his prayer is one-sided. What he does though it is good, it does not come from orthodox doctrine." Poor Black Dog; how comforted he would be to know that many western- ers, too, prefer orthodox doctrine to charitable deeds. It was his relaxation in this forsaken road to jot down his impressions. "We went round a hill and then looked for some one that we might strike an inquiry. Alas, there was not even half a man!" Was he think- ing of the dwarfish Chinese vizier who was heard to reflect, as he stood before a mirror, that a foot of face was worth seven feet of body? At Ta Ching he noted how "we stayed the night in the Inn of Increasing Justice. The name of the controller was Chin. In the midst of the city was a lama temple. In the temple was the dead corpse of a lama. On the outside was fashioned a mud village. The word was this ; the lama, seeking to become a living genius, sat in the midst of the temple where he hoped to change. Afterwards came here a great official named T'ien Kung, who entered the temple to worship. The lama paid him no attention, so the enraged official took his sword and cut off the lama's head, which fell to the ground. But the priest picked up his head and put it on again. When T'ien Kung again cut off his head, from the lama's neck came forth white breath which went up to heaven. Now the ?c«r.0E«r.aE 189 Heaven has not two suns, nor the people two kings. people dare not open the north gate lest the dead lama destroy the city with fire." These saffron-vested monks are quite an ingredient in the population here. Some people think that the Chinese encourage Buddhism among the dwellers in this desert land; for if the people largely turn lamas, and remain bachelors, the population must be kept down, below the danger point. Despite the optimist views of Black Dog, we pushed on past forsaken villages and deserted towns, one of which testified in its name to the progressive civiliza- tion in these parts, the "Dry Son of a Dyke." It was a relief when we sighted the city of Liangchow and entered its gateway. In a period of rest after this toilsome march, came an opportunity for clarifying ideas on the topic of the walls we had passed. On the map the Wall looks indeed like three great festoons, but there are some odd tassels as well; about these we made diligent inquiry. While our concern is chiefly with the original Wall of Chin, and with the final defenses of the Mings, yet we gath- ered up many fragments of story as to other walls, a trifle earlier or in between. From the official records we glean these translations: The beginnings of the Long Rampart were about the time of the contending states 1 when the well-and- fields method of dividing land had fallen into disuse, 1 The period of the contending states is variously given as 403 or 481- 255 b.c. By others it is limited to the years immediately following, 255- 221 b.c. 190 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA and when chariots were abolished and cavalry substi- tuted. Ch'i Ming-wang constructed a defense in the form of a Long Rampart from north of the Tsi River (Kwoh Lu) to the eastern sea. Also the records of Mount T'ai state that from Mount T'ai west there was a Long Embankment along the Yellow River past Mount T'ai to Lang Ya (Ts'in- chow Fu) . This is the Long Rampart of Tsi. The state of Wei also built a Long Rampart from the Chen to the Loh, because of the large city on the north. Therefore Su Ch'in said to Wei Hsiang Wang, "on the west is the boundary of a Long Rampart." This is the Long Rampart of Wei. The annals of Han (continued) state that in Chuen Hsien, Honan, there was a Long Rampart passing Wu Yang to Mih. This is the Long Rampart of Han. The "Water Classic" says that from the east bound- ary there was an ancient Rampart on the south and north several hundred It, called by some the Square Rampart, by others the Long Rampart. The annals of the Prefectural State also say that Sheh Hsien has a Long Rampart and a Square Rampart. This is the Long Rampart of Ts'u. In the sixth year of Chao Chen Hou the people of Chung San constructed a Long Rampart. Shu LIou in the seventh year also did the same. These are the Long Ramparts of Chao and Chung San. From this it may be seen that the Long Ramparts of China were not con- fined to the northern frontier. That on the north from Tsao Yang to Siang Ping was the Long Rampart of Yen. Hsiian, dowager of S97)ti&I 191 A near neighbour is better than a distant relative. Ch'in, commanded I Chu to seize Lung Hsi (Kansu), Shang Chun and other places, and built a Long Rampart to keep out the Hu (Mongols). This is the beginning of the Long Rampart of Ch'in. Afterwards The Only First (Chin) united the Six States and sent Meng T'ien with a hundred thousand men to fight the northern Mongols; he took the country south of the Yellow River, making the river a boundary. Through more than forty Hsien (magistracies) from Kiu Yuen to Yun Yang was this Rampart constructed by cutting through the streams and following along the hills from Ling Tiao to Liao Tung "ten thousand li and a rem- nant." This is the Long Rampart of Chin, who united all under heaven (China). Afterwards Han Wu-ti (140 B.C.) sent Wei Ch'ing and others to fight the Hsiung-nu or Huns. He built on the north and put in repair the old-time Boundary of Chin along the river for security. Others there were like Wei Yuan ti who built a Long Rampart from Chang Chuen south to Chih Chen, east to Wu Yuen, more than five thousand li. Ch'i Hsiian-ti (550 a.d.) began to build a Long Rampart from Hwang Lu Pass north to Sie Ping, more than four hundred li. Chou Hsiian-ti (578 a.d.) sent people from all the Chou cities of Shantung to repair the Long Rampart, and erected towers west to Yen Men (Wild Goose Gate), east to Hsieh Shih. Sui Wen-ti sent Tsui Chung-fang with thirty thou- sand men to the north. 192 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA Ling Wu ordered the board of farmers to make a Long Rampart east to the Yellow River, west to Sui Chow, south to Poh Chu Pass, winding seven hundred li, built by "ten times ten thousand and a remnant men." Then under the Ming dynasty the process was re- peated. In the ninth year of Chang Wa, Yii governor of Yen Sui built an addition from Ts'ingshui Ying westward to Hwame Chih, one thousand seven hundred and seventy li, called the East Long Wall. In the seventh year of Chia Ching, Governor Wang Chiung, of the Three Borders, built a new Wall from Hwaraa Chih westward to Heng Chen to the river border, establishing custom-houses to regulate the trade in- side and outside; this was the New Long Wall. Twelve years later the governor of Tinghsia built a Wall from Hasan Shan to Ninwei Hsin, westward forty li; this was the West Long Wall. Another section to the north of Pinglo Hsien ten li to the mountain to Sand Lake, fifty li; called the North Long Wall. There is also the Rampart, now mostly in ruins, which leaves the southern arm northeast of the Wut'ai Shan and stretches southward on the boundary line between Chihli and Shansi. While, however, we gladly gather up and record all these fragments of information as to the repairs and the variations of line, we adhere to our determination to learn about the Great Wall of Chin, and to follow the Barrier Rampart of the Mings. So, then, it will be seen that every dynasty had its Long Rampart broadening out in the time of Chin, and added to by Han and Sui. At present in Kansu may pf_t&%$l***p 193 The hairless lip in managing affairs is apt to slip. be seen the old ruins of a frontier Wall (the Chinese character here differs from the one translated rampart in the original text) . At Kaolan Pin, Fanku Lang boundary, they use it as a protection against the Sung Shan (pine hill people). In Kansu, Ninghai, it is for a defense against the Ho T'ao. It all was repaired in the Ming dynasty. Some building and repairs were completed in the beginning of this dynasty (Ch'ing). The Rampart separates the Mongol barbaroi from the sons of Han (Chinese). If one considers this to be the Long Rampart of Chin, he is very much mistaken, because the Long Rampart of Chin begins at Ling Tiao — now Ming Chow. Said an old man, "Many of these foundations bequeathed to us cannot now be identified (or distinguished)." We may safely say that the Chinese people have built, during the last twenty-two centuries, more than a dozen Great Walls ! And that the masonry exhibited almost as many varieties of construction. 13 CHAPTER XIV Chin Shih Hwangti: First Universal Emperor of China Historico-Economic Study of Chinas Greatest Ruler "A colossal soul: he lies vast abroad on his times, uncomprehended by them, and requires a long focal distance to be seen: suggests, as Aristotle, Bacon, Sel- den, Humboldt, that a certain vastness of learning, or quasi omnipresence of the human soul and in nature are possible." This estimate, if drawn up for another man, aptly describes our hero. He created an empire, he protected it with a Wall, he destroyed the classics. Let these achievements be looked at separately. His great-grandfather was a chief with imperial blood in his veins a thousand years old. He fought his way to the head of a state which roughly covered the basin of the Yellow River, and established himself there in 255 B.C., dethroning the last Chou ruler and dissolving his empire into seven independent states. Chin's grand- father became a "guest in heaven" after a reign of three days, and was joined by his father in three years. Our hero came to the throne at the age of thirteen, in the year 246 B.C. Alexander of Macedon had been dead about eighty years, and the Asiatic part of his empire was now ruled from Antioch. Parthia was just estab- lishing her independence; Asoka was patronizing Buddhism in India; far to the west the Romans and 194 ff f '"■■> < t 1 " --"-— -~g5p s The Greal ' " ms Photo by Dr. Gteil •I asked a1 Liangchow and words replied: "In the year of the Moham- medan Rebellion the faces of the dead could not be recognized, so they collected the whitened bones and erected the White Hones Pagodas to remember them."— Black Dog's Diary *«t**4&#fl*J**S 195 A careless beginning means a repentant ending Carthaginians were in their first grapple. That may help us to understand the time, but for all the influence they had on Chin, we might as well quote what the man in the moon was doing! His career was much like that of William the Nor- man, on a larger theater. He found himself in youth at the head of a rebellious feudal state, and his first care was to consolidate it. He did away with all the dukes, marquises, counts and barons so far as their titles implied any territorial jurisdiction, and reduced the whole of his inheritance to an absolute dependence on himself. Indeed, he was even more thorough than William, for the latter could not avoid vassals in some form or other, but Chin made an end of the whole sys- tem. He divided up the whole unified state into pre- fectures, and sent a royal commission to take charge of each for a term of years or at his own pleasure, with no right either to be promoted to a different prefecture or to hand on the prefecture to his son. It is worth noticing that in Persia the same thing had been done three centuries before, with the same effect, breaking the power of too formidable vassals and concentrating the power into the royal hands. But Chin's areas were much larger, for while Ahasuerus or Xerxes "reigned from India even unto Ethiopia, over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces," Chin, when his dominions had grown to their full extent, onh'- had thirty-six prefec- tures, and each would compare with a European state of the second rank. For he not only reorganized his hereditary domain, 196 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA he looked southward, and warred on one petty state after another, till about a score had been annexed. What happened to their rulers is not always known; perhaps some ran away, some were killed, some accepted Portrait of Chin shih Huang Ti, procured by Lionel Giles, M. A. from among illustrations in the Lung Chow Lieh Kuo, a well-known historical romance. Whether it conveys an accurate presentment of the Emperor's features we cannot say. There is some character in it. honorary titles and cash and rank in the civil service. But Chin's realm grew like Louis XIV's, swallowing up everything to the south until he reached the ocean; from being a ruler only of one river basin, like the £ & % fc K % it 197 He painted a tiger, but it turned out a cur. Chous before his great-grandfather, he became lord of all the east of Asia. The China of to-day is the crea- tion of Chin, and most deservedly has his name been given to it. He was thoroughly conscious of the novelty of his proceedings and in the spirit of the man who had no ancestors, but intended to be an ancestor, he assumed the title Shih Huang ti. The old title of king seemed too feeble now that he had dethroned all kings he could hear of, and abolished all duchies, marquisates, etc. ; he assumed a new title. The principles of his rule were not those of the obsolete Chous, and he expressly repudi- ated their titles. This new departure may be dated 221 B.C. To mark his scorn for the Chous who had, like their predecessors, revered fire, seven, violet; he chose as his emblems water, six, and black. He was not their successor but a new beginning. To unify the empire he proceeded to abolish many local customs ; thus one system of weights and measures was introduced over the whole area. Even to-day the traveler by the oriental express across Europe finds these varying most perplexingly ; but Chin did away with the old standards. To ascertain the resources of his dominions he had an elaborate inventory made, a doomsday book ; then to make trade easier he caused great roads to be built, with smooth stones laid parallel at fixed distances apart — a series of railways except that there were no flanges to the rails or to the wheels. The greatest of these radiated out for six hundred miles, a colossal enterprise even to-day; canals were laid out across country and everything was done 198 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA to make the new provinces realize that they were bene- fiting by the loss of their independence. Such an empire demanded a new capital. Hebron was good enough for David, vassal of the Philistines over Judah, but when he governed all Israel he took Jerusalem and converted it into a federal capital. Chin chose what had been a petty capital of one of the north- ern states before his great-grandfather had founded his dynasty and laid out a new capital, known to-day as Hsienyang, in the province of Shensi. It was in the hereditary dominions, but well to the south, was on a river, but not on the capricious Hwang ho itself. Many miles long did he build it, with magnificent fortifica- tions. Nothing like it had been seen in those parts, and it is very doubtful if he had heard of Nebuchadnezzar's plans for Babylon, which alone in Asia could compare. From the capital roads led out in every direction to link the most distant provinces direct with the emperor. Soon the palaces within the walls numbered over two hundred, while four hundred villas were in the suburbs. For such a capital a magnificent palace was inevitable, and it arose by the labor of half a million eunuchs. The entrance hall was five hundred paces by fifty and the upper story held ten thousand people and a rem- nant. This is clearly a round number. About the palace was a park, the gate of which was miles away on a mountain peak. Quite on the plan of Ahasuerus he sent out for all the most beautiful women of the empire and as they came provided each with a suite of rooms. These annexes were erected to form a map of the skies between the north star, Aquila and the milky way. ^ g m t^ r$L # 199 Without sorrow none become saints. It is regrettable to say that Chin could not make up his mind to choose one Esther and keep to her; he never let it be known where he intended to spend the night, and so frustrated all plots that might build upon his hours of ease to take advantage of his being off guard. Put all these things together, and we can tell what an outstanding man was Chin. If nothing else stood to his credit, we see that he welded a group of vassal states into one realm, that he conquered others and trebled the size of his dominions, that he so organized the whole as to create one empire which has for two thousand years been acknowledged as a unity. What other man in the world has done as much? But there are two special points about his doings, constructive and destructive; he built a Wall, he burned the classics. For five hundred years before Chin the wild tribes of the desert had been a terror to the more settled peo- ple of the Yellow River basin. They were the Bedouin of the East, fierce and untamed, preying on the labors of the peaceable agriculturists. Such people are the despair of all civilized rulers abutting on deserts. They have compelled one ruler after another to embark on wars of self-defense which involved seeking out the marauders and punishing them in their own wide steppes, and which have led too often to annexation in spite of all wishes and promises to the contrary. The bounds of the Roman Empire thus widened, though ruler after ruler saw the risk of stretching too far; the Indian Empire has grown on every side in order to 200 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA control the border tribes who would raid, and could only be controlled by being annexed and disarmed; Egyptian rulers have been obliged to go into the Sudan and ad- minister it; Russia has been compelled to flow steadily on into Asia; the United States have absorbed the Indian lands to keep the Indians quiet; it is the same story wherever civilization and thievery adjoin. Now the peculiarity of Chin is that he struck out a different line. Rather than flow out over all Asia, he decided how far he would go, and decided that the Tartars should not come this side of his line. On his line he built a Wall, and along the Wall he quartered an army in permanent garrison. He defined a clear and explicit Monroe doctrine for eastern Asia, and marked the boundaries with a visible token that the most dull of visitors could not fail to understand ; nor did he rest his case on a reserve of moral force, but backed it with a grand display of available physical force. To say "Thus far and no farther" is easy, but Canute found the sea paid no heed; to build masonry to dam out the tide shows that the fiat is no empty boast; but in the last resort it is the men behind the masonry that will tell. A Wall across half a continent ! A wall from Phila- delphia to Kansas City! A wall from Constantinople to Marseilles! Talk about the "long walls" of Athens, talk about the Thermopylae — there is no comparison. Thermopylae was a narrow pass with every advantage for its defenders, yet they were beaten in three days. Chin had to deal with a vast plain for hundreds of miles, yet he undertook to wall in a section and defend it; and •%mm sm h gmm#}&%# 201 In days of plenty, think of days of poverty ; don't wait till days of poverty to think of days of plenty. his work was effectual for centuries, so long as there were men who felt the importance of making a stand. Nothing daunted Chin in carrying out this project; were the mountains a mile high, his engineers crowned them with his rampart ; was the plain a mere dust heap, then a series of ha-has made an effectual barrier. Dis- appointment generally awaits the mortal who has heard much about some celebrated object, and dares visit it, as seldom does the reality come up to the expec- tation. But the Great Wall is not overrated. Behold it bjr starlight or moonlight, gaze on it in twilight or in sunlight; view it through the haze of a dust fog or the spindrift of a rain shower or between the flakes of a snow storm ; ever is the Wall one great, gray, gaunt, still specter of the past, cresting the mountain peak or re- posing in the shady valley. So vast is it, that perhaps alone of all man's handiwork it could be discerned from the moon. So vast is it, that were its materials disposed around the world at the equator they would provide a wall eight feet high and three thick. When we reflect on the labor needed to erect it, we slowly divine the toils exacted from countless thousands, the sweat and tears and blood that must have been shed; and we are pre- pared to hear that after two millenniums the name of Chin is cursed all along the Wall by the descendants of those who were driven to the hateful task, who labored in deathly fear lest when flesh and blood failed to re- spond to the task-master's scourge, that flesh and blood should be hurled into the mass of concrete to provide 202 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA more material for the all- devouring monster. It is a wall of blood! Chin burned the books! What possessed him to do it? Did he object to penny dreadfuls corrupting the minds of the boys, and halfpenny yellow papers debauching his subjects? Was he a Henry VIII, afraid of the heretical notions of some Tyndale and Luther? Quite the contrary; he was very progressive, and the books were too conservative. Three centuries before Chin, Confucius had undertaken to sift over all the literature that was extant, and to produce classic editions of what was worth having. This generation has seen big syndi- cates at work on the same sort of selection; the best hundred books, the historian's history of the world, etc. Now, ever since Confucius put out a closed canon of classic literature, all production had been cramped. Boys were obliged to learn it by heart, and to compose essays in the same style. Men were obliged to behave in a certain way because a duke of Chou a thousand years earlier had recommended this way; and his Book of Rites prescribes what every person ought to do in every conceivable situation. Chin saw that his kingdom was stereotyped on a pattern already three hundred years old, and he wanted men to think for themselves and adapt their lives to the ever-changing problems of life. Of course he failed to convince the scholars of this ; reverence for the past was ingrained too deeply. Now Chin had already fallen foul of the scholars on a personal matter. At the age of twenty-two he found that his mother had forgotten her royal rank and had contracted a marriage with a commoner, whom she had W- W. = R % * — B 2: IS 203 Ice three feet tbick is not frozen in a day. loved before his own birth. This aspiring husband was slain, the erring mother was banished. This was so against the ideas of filial duty inculcated by Confucius that several scholars expostulated. An edict forbade the matter to be referred to again, and when some of them ventured to plead for her, twenty-seven were exe- cuted for disobedience. Such is the story that their friends tell, but we may imagine that Chin could add a few highly relevant facts. Chin decided to have the question of policy openly settled, and he did it in a characteristic fashion. To a great feast he invited all the chief officers of his empire and all the leading scholars. After dinner he requested general criticism of his doings, and three typical speeches are reported. A civil servant gave his opinion, which was of unbounded satisfaction with the results of the new regime. A scholar took a very different view, contrasting the methods with those of earlier days; this was highly impolitic when Chin's pride in his originality and his antagonism to earlier methods were so notorious ; Chin therefore interrupted him and called upon his chancellor Li-Ssu. This man had been trained, not by the scholars, but in a sort of seminary for ministers of state, conducted on novel principles by a private man; he had presented himself to Chin when an edict was issued for the expulsion of foreigners, professedly to take his leave ; but in that interview persuaded Chin that the project was suicidal. He was requested to stay and soon became Chin's Bismarck, inspiring the policy of conquest, now so successful. The speech he now de- 204 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA livered was a tremendous philippic against scholars; here are its chief points: "Beware these idling scholars. Bred on the past with senseless veneration of everything that is old, they can- not appreciate anything fresh. If you issue an edict, they criticize its language; if you order a new project, they declare it is unprecedented. Their one test is, has it been done before? They go about sowing unrest and sedition among your subjects. Their influence must be broken if the empire is to prosper. It is founded on books; destroy then the books. Their occupation will be gone, and none can arise to succeed this generation of them. Some books of course there are which are of value. Preserve all that relate to medicine, husbandry and divination; preserve also the records of this illus- trious reign. Let all else be destroyed, break with the past. Especially let search be made for all books on manners, and for all the annals of history that deaden the mind to present needs; let them utterly perish. Law, too, there must be, but let it not be the dead hand of the past; gather the edicts of this reign and cause them to be codified as a guide for the future. Then with natural science, religion, medicine and law, be content, and let the mere literary classics cease to curse the land!" The speech of the chancellor fell upon willing ears, and the edict went forth as he advised. Drastic as the policy was, it well-nigh met with success. Printing was not yet invented, nor was till 600 a.d. Nor yet was writing in our sense; the literature was carved on bam- boo tablets, and this was evidently a slow process, while The Great Wall of China Photo by Dr. Geil A superb view of the Great Wall ascending from the lofty Huangho Lu Pass # ffl. % itn ® tf? 205 Obedience is better tban reverence. the result was very combustible and very bulky. "Books," if we may call them so, were slow to produce, hard to conceal, easy to destroy; and he ordered a wholesale destruction. Thirty days of grace were given, and then any one owning a book should be branded and sent to work at the Wall for four years. In the thirty days great were the perturbations. A few copies were buried or hidden among rafters or sunk in rivers. The scholars feared personal violence, and a descendant of Confucius was advised to flee into con- cealment. With the bravery of innocence he replied that he should live a quiet and loyal life, awaiting a summons when Chin found out his mistake. His coun- sel did not persuade his brethren, and when Chin found that there was an organized resistance to his edict, he buried alive more than four hundred of the scholars as a warning that he intended to break with the past and to begin anew. He was the "Only First," and woe betide those who tried to go behind him and fetter his people with the dead hand. Out of all the classic literature he permitted only the medical, agricultural and divination books to be saved. Of course "religion" had been a very curious thing in China, especially since the agnostic reforms of Con- fucius; Buddhism had not penetrated round the Hima- layas as yet, and the religion was little better than magic and divination. But compare what Chin condemned and what he saved ! The paralyzing Book of Rites was to go; the Book of Changes, which is an incomprehen- sible system of philosophy supplemented with some 206 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA inexplicable chapters by Confucius; the Book of His- tory, which professes to begin two thousand two hundred years before Chin, but details chiefly imaginary conver- sations between kings and their viziers; the Book of Odes, which, indeed, are rather harmless and beautiful folk-songs; and the dreariest Book of Annals conceiv- able, where every petty incident that happened to a miniature court for two hundred and fifty years is set down without comment. Add to these five classics the four books, whose refrain is "Walk in the trodden paths," and you see that Chin was not badly advised when he decided to warm up his people with the bundles of bamboos that inculcated such teaching. On the other hand, he recognized the benefits of medicine, he wished to conserve the art of tillage, and he honored the best that he knew of religion. All praise to Chin for his discrimination ! Unfortunately for the success of his measures, he had planned them rather too late in his career. He was but fifty years of age, and might have hoped for a time of rest and consolidation; but he had lived the strenu- ous life, and weakened his constitution. To the last, however, he was a busy and energetic ruler, and death overtook him as he was on a tour of inspection far from his capital, in the province of Shantung. His last mes- sage was to his eldest son, then at the Great Wall. In the seventh moon of the thirty-seventh year of his reign he joined his ancestors, ascending to the heavens from Sha Kuan near Shuntehfu. Thus ended the career of the great hero. How did his project fare of ending the tyranny of the past, and *7 j&r..-- *****■> The Great Wall of China Photos by Dr. Qeil Two views of the same Tower at Shichingtsi, Province of Kansu. The pictures show how the Wall was joined on to the Towers $ * IS & * ff 'k 2 °7 A glassful of water cannot quench a cartful of burn- ing grass. throwing China on its present resources? Much as it fared with the French revolution, when after Napoleon was untrue to its principles, the Bourbons came back, having forgotten nothing and learned nothing. The scholars had been put upon their mettle by Chin, and they circumvented him. Instead of bamboo they used silken fabric, instead of a sharp stylo they used a brush, invented by the very general who superintended the building of the Wall, and they painted copies of the classics on a material not hitherto suspected of connec- tion with literature, capable of being hidden in small compass. Thus the indirect result of Chin's fires was to make literature far more accessible and much more easily recorded. He very nearly rooted out some of the old rubbish, but one old man was found to have memorized twenty-eight per cent, of the Book of His- tory, and a girl contributed another section, while, when the house of Confucius was being restored a century later, a copy of the whole work came to light. To avert any further destruction, the Five Classics and the Four Books were carved on stone tablets, which yet adorn the court of the Hall of the Classics, Peking. By that time woven silk had been found too expensive, and had been replaced by a paste or thin felt of cheap fibers, made from twine, rags, bark — in a word, by paper. And so to Chin and his fight with the scholars we owe this material which is now used by all the civilized world for literature. It is bad for a man to quarrel with the students and writers of books. If he can destroy every book and 208 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA every scholar, he has won; but if he leaves one scholar, that embittered man can slander him to all posterity. The wise man will subsidize the wishes and writers of books ; he will endow universities and hope that the pro- fessors will wink at his doings; he will build libraries, and give scholarships to students who will be naturally grateful and will honor his memory. The men who have been crushed out of business may curse him, the employees who have been ground down to starvation wage may rise in revolt and be slain outright; but if they have not the means to get into literature, the mat- ter will blow over. Then the scholars will write well of the good points in their benefactor, and the libraries will perpetuate his name. But let a man oppose the students and adopt a progressive policy; the monk stu- dents will distort his deeds in their chronicles, and the scribe students will plot his death; the scholar students will write down the great Chin as a tyrant! But the spirit of Chin is awake to-day. The halls of the schools are once more swept of the classical rubbish, and the people are being taught again to face the living present. The defenses of the empire are being set in order against the hordes from Siberia and Russia. Roads are being made of steel to bind together the provinces, and enable the empire to realize herself. Chin was the man of his age, and if another Chin arise to-day to attract the veneration of his people, China will be the first of the nations. Whatever nation shall dash itself against her will stumble; whatever nation China precipitates herself on, will be ground to powder. CHAPTER XV The Mound of Chin The mighty Chin had passed away far from the cen- ter of his realm. But before his death a site had been chosen for his body to rest in, ninety li from his capital in a lucky spot designated by those professors whose magic he had respected. Here great preparations had been made, and it devolved upon his son and heir only to finish the work and celebrate the obsequies in state. How legend has gathered about the tale we have al- ready noted, and from the lips of peasants on the spot shall recount again here. For who in studying the Great Wall of Chin can neglect paying respects at the great Mound of Chin? Feared he may have been rather than revered, slan- dered by the whole caste of effete students of the clas- sics, unable to comprehend how great a ruler had been in their midst. But at least filial piety reared in his honor this massive Mound, which, after two millen- niums and more, attests the greatness of the man to whose honor is heaped this greatest of all monuments. Heaped of sand earth as it was, it could not tower at a sharp angle like the Egyptian pyramids, but each side of its base is half as large again as the largest of these. The Mound of Chin first becomes visible from high ground on the farther side of Sulphur City, Eintung, four miles away. From that distance it looks like a 14 209 210 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA foothill of the Black Horse Mountain, though it is, in reality, about a mile from the mountain range. The height of the Mound, including its base, which varies from six to twelve feet, is estimated at one hun- dred and twenty feet. But it is not so much for its height that the Mound is noticeable, as for its size. Each of its four sides measures nearly three hundred and fifty yards in length, making a square of three hun- dred and fifty yards or something over twenty-five English acres. This is only the actual Mound, the sides of which follow the four cardinal points. ^5E fk CH'IN WANG LING KING CHINS MOUND 3 r '0 YARDS SIDE Chinese drawing: of the Mound of Chin. Bare earth edge all around . . . rock- stone here and there just above the edge. . . . Shown by the compass to have sides exactly North, East, South, West .... 2000 years ago the cardinal points were known. . . . Said to have contained, as all Imperial Mounds, a palace, and valuables. . . . The first attempt to break it open was soon after its making but was unsuccessful. . . . Later it was rifled. . . . His power was suggested by his "Boots," "Magic Whip," "Measuring Rule," which were likely buried in this Mound anil afterward stolen Chin has been regarded as the "Unprincipled Prince." Surrounding the Mound is a wall called the "inner encompassing wall," which contains about eighty acres. As the country is somewhat terraced, it is difficult to #4HSI#ff#:*iiJM& 211 Learning is like rowing up stream, not to advance is to drop back. estimate the so-called boundaries (except perhaps the very pronounced hump to the south), which do not in- close a perfect square, as in the case of the Mound proper. But still we have not viewed the whole area con- nected with the imperial tomb. There was said to have been an "outer encompassing wall" which was supposed to contain over one hundred and ninety acres. No wonder the farmer, a third of a mile away in the direc- tion of the mountains, can point to a spot just below his house as the outer boundary. The legend says that from the outer boundary a connected cave runs into the mountain, and that at the end of this cave is a sea of quicksilver. To return to the actual Mound: there is no wall or monument to be seen. The outer edge, however, being slightly raised all around, shows there was once a wall. Then, again, the four "humps" on the lines from the top to the four corners, suggest that the Mound was once terraced, as seen in the surrounding country, and very pronouncedly in the mound of a certain general, Han, who lived a few tens of years later. There is a distinct elevation line visible across one side and is more or less distinct on the other sides. It is remarkable that there should be no monument, nor the usual stone tigers and stone men in pairs. The filial emperor Ch'ien Lung (1736-1796 a.d.) had monu- ments erected, if lacking, in the case of every other imperial tomb in the district. This absence of a stone was remarkable when we consider that other founders 212 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA of dynasties, as the T'ang, have several. Eighteen miles away lies the stone in honor of the Kan emperor who actually finished the Wall; prone and split, it yet remains. It is reported among the Chinese that the reputation of the king was so bad that no one would erect a monument to his memory. For the same reason, so it is said, there are no sacrifices offered at set periods in his honor, as is the usual custom. The Mound has not the regular surface so marked in the mound of the first Han eighteen miles away; not only is there the inward dip, or bay, in each side as con- trasted with the pronounced rise of the line to the cor- ners ; there are also various minor humps. The Mound is constructed of sand brought by soldiers who stood in a line from the River Wei, sixteen miles north of this place, and passed it on from one to the other. The various grasses and flowering plants found on the Mound have very descriptive and graphic names. As they were plucked, the natives standing by readily called out "old woman's needle," "ox knee," "sow's ear," "blacksmith's brush," "scorpion's sting," "rice flower jar," "weasel grass," "sheep's-fat bush," "parrot frame," "horse hoof," "tiger's claws," "hare flower," "cat's eyes," and so on ad infinitum. So even the deso- late Mound of Chin, in spite of the bits of rock scattered here and there, has its flowers and grasses suggestive of animal life. But the villagers say that no animal will eat the grass. On ascending the Mound, being careful to avoid the burrows which frequently occur, large enough to be the lairs of the fox or the wolf, the summit will be The Great Wall of China A Picturesque View m m 51 m n f# n & m a 213 A teacher can lead us into the porch, but culture depends on self. found to be a comparatively level rectangle, in size twenty-eight yards east and west by fourteen yards north and south. Situation of Mound of Chin: Standing on the top the view is ricli in historical and legendary associations. On the north flows the Wei River, by which the abo- rigines, when hard pressed, went south in days of yore ; and farther on are the Northern Mountains with the Camel's Hair Mountain standing out by itself to the northwest; south is the Black Horse Mountain Range stretching for miles and miles east and west. On the east is the guard station of Hsienfung, called the Silver Treasury, six miles off on the great road ; beyond it the city of Weinan, and at the extreme end of the pass of T'ungkwan, where the provinces of Shense, Shansi, and Honan meet at the Yellow River, ninety miles from the capital. To the west, two and a half miles, is the city of Lint'ung, noted for its sulphur springs over against the mountains where the water issues, hot to the hand. This was made more famous by the visits of the emperor and empress dowager when flying from the hated "outsider" in 1900. These visits meant hope of life to the famine-stricken inhabitants because of the grain distributed. Fifteen miles west of Lint'ung is famous Sian, said to have been longer the capital than any other city, and even now called the best governed city in the empire, with its huge gate towers containing forty-eight eyes, or port-holes, above fourfold, two- leaved gates leading into a broad street three miles long. 214 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA South of the Mound are two small temples erected to one of the Chinese Triplets, and so called the Three Kings' Temples. The nearer of these two temples is by a locust tree, and faces a corner of the Mound at a slight elevation above the general level. Within are the tawdry forms of the three mud-made gods, and one or two attendants. These gods are Yo Wang, the medicine king, who is interested in human ills; Ma Wang, the horse king, who looks after the ailments of horses, mules and donkeys; and Niu Wang, the cattle king, who attends to the diseases of cattle. Yo Wang was originally a certain Sun Ssu Miao, who was deified for healing the wife of Tai Tsung, of the T'ang dynasty, under whom Christianity was intro- duced, as recorded on the Nestorian tablet in the forest of monuments at Sian. Sun, as is recorded on the mon- ument near Yao Chow, forty odd miles away to the north, gave the empress four doses of medicine, and, to use the Chinese expression "saved the peril." The emperor offered him a bushel of gold and silver, which he declined with the request that the Son of Heaven would deify him as medicine king, in payment for his services. T'ai Tsung consented, and gave him a yellow gown and a winged hat, which Sun, thanking the king, put on and set off on his return to Yao Chow. But T'ai Tsung had an honored statesman, called Ching Tei, 1 who was very jealous and displeased; riding a tiger, he took five thousand soldiers to pursue Sun and kill him. Sun, seeing from afar the soldiers pursuing him, quickly crushed down the wings of the hat and turned the yel- 1 Cannot identify. m§k—mMmm.-- 1$ 3 215 With money you are a dragon, without it a grub. low gown inside out to make it a red gown. When Ching came up and saw this he could say nothing, but simply asked Sun where he was going. Sun answered, to the mountains near Yao Chow to perfect holiness. "If you are entering on holiness," said Ching Tei, "I will stand beside you and serve you." The name of the horse king was Huang Wentan. 1 This man in descending from his horse was injured by the goblins possessing the horse. After death his spirit was not dissipated, but saw the Pearl Emperor, who pitied it and gave it a sword with which to behead the goblins, a seal to overturn the heavens, a looking-glass with which to daze the goblins, a map of the great extreme, and a fire calabash. Half of the map of the great extreme was Yang, the male principle, and the other half was Yin, the female principle. By holding this map face upwards it would conquer the most violent spirits. The fire gourd was full of fire and would send its light a great distance and destroy evil spirits. The Pig of the Eight Commandments has a sow's head and human form and takes its name from its observance of the eight commandments of the Buddhists. The Pearl Emperor helped Huang Wentan and deified him as Horse King. As to the cattle king: at the time of the feudal king- doms there was a man named Yao Hsieh whose master had an enemy named King Ching, upon whom Yao Hsieh wished to wreak vengeance. For this reason he 1 Cannot identify. 216 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA deserted to King Ching, wishing, he averred, to serve him. The king, suspecting treason, refused his services, for he feared he was a spy. Yao Hsieh returned to his master saying, "Slay my wife, burn the corpse in the road where all may see it, and then cut off my right arm." The second time Yao Lee went to deliver him- self to King Ching the king had already heard how his master had slain his wife and cut off his arm, and forth- with received Yao Lee to eat and drink with him, wish- ing to know his master's private affairs. King Ching and Yao seated themselves together in a boat, and when they reached deep water Yao with one thrust of his spear pierced King Ching through the heart. This is called "Yao's piercing of Ching." After Yao died the Pearl Emperor deified him as Cattle King to look after the cattle that plow the fields. South of this temple to the Three Kings are two vil- lages of the Ch'en clan, who are as prosperous as their persimmon, apricot and apple trees. They also have varnish, locust, and numerous elm trees. In the back- ground stretches the Black Horse Mountain Range, on a hump of which is the "Old Mother" hall. It is said that in the beginning there was an opening in the heav- ens and the Old Mother smelted stone and filled up the gap. She afterward formed the world ! The natives have a tradition that in the first year of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 a.d.) there appeared on the Mound of Chin, every night after the third watch, midnight, an earthen lamp which became by the fifth watch bright beyond measure. And it is held that the golden fowl belonging to the Old Mother of the Black tit 5E to ft # * to 217 It is the good swimmer that gets drowned. Horse Mountain flew into this mound, and every night there was a long-continued cry! In the second year of the reign of Chia Ch'ing of this Great Pure Dynasty (1797 a.d.) , Yao Chi-Fu, head of the robbers of the White Lily sect, and a woman, Chi Wang-hsi, and others created a disturbance. Chou Chi- Shan, a member of another sect, hearing of their strange behavior, first buried a phoenix and two lamps in the Mound of Shih Huang and afterwards entered the robber's cave and suggested a stratagem. "The Great King wishes to take the capital of Shensi. My teacher says, 'A great jar cannot be broken into without a rent, and celery cannot be cooked without fire.' ( Now Shensi's old name was 'the Jar Prefecture.' Shensi is also called Chin, Chou, and Chin, celery). If you wish to take Shensi's capital, first dig into Shih Huang's Mound from the southwest corner and find a phoenix and a golden lamp." The soldiers were forthwith bidden to go with Taoist priests, and on opening the Mound they discovered the phoenix and brass lamp. The Taoist Chi Shan said "Feng (a phoenix) is the equivalent of Feng (a seam) . Lamp signifies 'have a fire.' ' There- upon Yao Chi-Fu and the widow Chi used fire and burned all the villages of Shensi and the two pagodas south of Sianfu. In the third year of Hsien Feng (1853) , the chief of the Long-haired Robbers, the small King Yen (a Chinese Pluto), named Chang Tsung-Yu, entered Shensi with eighty thousand soldiers. With him was a great general, Lao San- Shun, who inquired for a won- 218 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA derful man — T'ien Chia Ching, of Chianwang, a village east of Sian. T'ien said, "I have received Liao Kung's Buddhist dictionary and am well versed in strange de- vices and can obtain Chin Shih Huang's 'Drive the Mountains Whip,' 'Ascend the Clouds Boots' and 'Sword for Dividing the Ground' which the robber Hu- ang Tsao left in the grave." Lao San Shun then ordered a powerful general to take all the soldiers under his com- mand and get these important historical articles. Just as they had finished digging a path into the southeast corner of the Mound of Chin, thirty-five feet or more in length, a violent storm of wind, rain, hail, thunder and lightning arose. All the frightened robbers quickly fled, seeing as they left only smoke rising like fog from the opening. Arising from this smoke was a yellow dragon holding in its mouth a string of fifteen large pearl cash. On each cash face was written, "Thou must obey Heaven and leave this place. Those who forcibly open my grave will be visited by Heaven-sent calamity." On receiving this command from the Yellow Dragon, Lao San Shun thought that this language applied to himself, and became presumptuous, styling himself Shuh T'ien Wang — the King who obeys Heaven, and carved in the faces of his soldiers the three characters, Shen T'ien Ping, the Soldiers of Heaven. There was a palace in Chin's grave, and behind it and under the mountain a quicksilver river, about twelve feet in depth and a half a mile wide. Floating on this river was Chin's coffin within an outer case varnished yellow and shaped like a little boat. At its side a skilled artificer had made a powerful bow, and, as soon as any *S : 8f# : a?»f*A±A 219 Without tasting the bitterest we never reach the highest. one reached the spot an arrow sprang out, thus killing many soldiers. The soldiers, desiring to obtain this coffin, thought of the device of putting on iron clothes. But as soon as the coffin was touched it floated eastward and on iron hooks being used to push it toward the east, it suddenly floated toward the west. As the sol- diers were about to seize it there was a mighty noise of thunder and they were frightened away. The robber, Huang Tsao, being unable to rifle the grave, gave the command to cover it up again. It is handed down that a woman, Yang Hu-hsi by name, who had been a vegetarian for many years, dreamed that the Old Mother of the Black Horse Mountain said to her, "Divest yourself quickly of your body and you may become a goddess." Early, there- fore, in the fifteenth day of the sixth moon she dashed herself down from the Cliff of Self-devotion. Falling in a great stone manger, her body was crushed and her blood dyed the stone crimson. Whenever rain falls in this hollow it becomes red like blood, for which reason the stone is called Blood Water Basin. The Basin of Valuables is on the Black Horse Moun- tain and is wonderful, for whatever is cast into the basin becomes multiplied indefinitely. The Temple of Hu- man Origin on Black Horse Mountain, some distance west of Chin's Mound, is interesting, as it contains a woman supposed to be the common world ancestor. On returning from Black Horse Mountain and go- ing toward the west one who has lived on the plain can- not but be at once struck by the number of rocks and 220 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA stones on the road for the first six miles, and by the low stone walls around the fields. On the plains there are few stones or walls, and a mere boundary stone is con- sidered enough to distinguish one piece of land from another. Two and a half miles farther on the traveler comes to Lint'ung, so named from the two streams east and west of the city, which is peculiar in that it has only three gates instead of four as usual. It is noted for its sulphur springs, although these springs are not uncommon in China. There is one piece of west- ernism introduced here — policemen, having as resting places little boxes painted red and green and containing a straw seat. At the top of the box is the name of the city, characters on one side meaning "patrol and in- spect" and on the other "take your turn without idle- ness." One also sees an apology for street lamps which serve only to make the darkness visible. Near by is a tree worshiped for its curative proper- ties and on this tree is written, "The efficacious pill re- lieves the world." On the lower road every ten H is a beacon. About 775 B.C. the Emperor Yu, of the Chou dynasty, lit fires on these beacons along the road be- cause his beautiful concubine, Pao Ssu, would not smile, and he hoped that by raising an alarm so many persons would gather together, as if in defense of the empire, that his favorite, pleased with the excitement of the scene, would smile, as was indeed the case. The high nobles, resenting the false alarm, afterwards refused to answer to the beacon when it was lit on account of a real in- vasion. In consequence of this the emperor, being unaided, was slain, and the selfish Pao Ssu, being Photo by C. J. Anderson The Great Wall of China The Club House and Stock Exchange in Sianfu, where the exchange price of Silver is fixed every day g prW^*ffl^Pl-B*fi? 221 Soldiers may not be needed for a hundred years, but cannot be dispensed with a single day. taken captive, strangled herself. Of this story there are many versions. A few miles farther on is a prosperous village called Hokow, north of which was a palace on a piece of ground about two acres in size and containing an octagonal well, famous for its curative properties. This palace King Yu built for Pao Ssii. North of Hokow King Yu was slain, and the spot is called Kill His Excellency Monastery. The common saying is that Pao Ssii's one smile lost the empire. West of Hokow is the Temple of the Serpent's Egg. Near this place a girl picked up a serpent's egg on an old grave. She took it home, wrapped it in a warm cloth, and soon two serpents were hatched out. These she fed with hen's eggs until they became large serpents which devoured the village people, so that all complained of the maiden. Getting angry, she tried to cut off the heads of the serpents, but they coiled about her sword and killed her. The Pearl Emperor pitied her and deified her as the Lady of the Serpent's Egg. Farther on is the Pa River, over which is a bridge of seventy-two arches nearly a quarter of a mile in length. Passing on through a region full of legends we find another bridge over which stands a stone monument set up in honor of the devoted widow, the Woman of Hsia, in remembrance of her determination to cast herself into her husband's tomb to be buried alive with him. E\ r en mandarins worship at this tomb ! Sian is now entered. The name signified "Western Peace." It is in the center of the fertile plain of Sian 222 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA which is watered by the rivers Tsan, Pan Wei and Ching, all easy of access. South of Sian is the noted great pagoda containing two Buddhist monuments of 653-654 a.d. which relate how a Buddhist Hsiian Tsang went to the Ganges in India in quest of sacred books. Northwest of Sian are two mounds, the larger one being terraced, and said to be the resting place of the general Han Hsin; the smaller one, with its sides embraced by nine roots of a tree that grows out of its top, containing his head. Of Han Hsin, who helped to secure the throne for Liu Pang, it is written that he went out to fight against Ch'en Yii of the kingdom of Chao. Leading ten thousand soldiers across the river, he destroyed all his boats, drew up his soldiers in battle array with their backs to the river and gave them bread to pass from hand to hand to eat while they were fight- ing, saying, "When you have destroyed the kingdom of Chao you may feast to your heart's content." In Chingcheng K'ow he routed two hundred thou- sand of Ch'en Yii's soldiers and the same day destroyed Chao Kwei and beheaded Ch'en Yii. North of the Wei River and near Hsienyang, Chin's capital, are the grave mounds of Wen and Wu, two of China's sages 1 who lived about 1200 B.C. Somewhat to the east is the fine massive mound of the first of the Hans, Liu Pang, who put the finishing touches on the Great Wall. Just across the ferry is a monument so valuable that rubbings of it sell at a high price in Peking, as the writing was done by a Chinese stylus, Liu or Willow, who lived one 1 This hardly descrihes them sufficiently. They were the founders of the Chou dynasty, father and son: "King Literary" and "King Martial." **&:*#»»«)**# 223 A single strand does not make thread, nor one tree a forest. thousand years ago. Thirty miles north of Sian is a plateau containing the mounds of three kings of the T'ang dynasty (618-907), also seventy grave mounds of the heroes who placed the T'angs on the throne. East of this place is the mound of the father of Liu Pang. Toward the northern mountains is an exceedingly large natural mound used as the grave of Chung Tsung, a T'ang emperor, who was imprisoned by the empress dowager of that day! There are other places of note, but we cannot deal with this region fully. Our design is to show the environment of the great Chin's Mound as well as to describe it. As to the villages around the Mound of Chin, in the direction of the mountains there are two of the Ch'en Clan, Ling Nan Ch'en Chia, and Chen Chia Yao. East of the Mound is San Lieh Chiao Chia. From this place they say a young woman, called Chiao Chin Hua, went out and built a thatched house in front of the village, and sat within it in contemplation for ten years, then died! She was immortalized and her cottage is called Ts'ao T'ang Si, or Grass Hall Retreat. Yet another village in this vicinity is Yang Chia Chwang. West of Yulin Fu, at Wu Chwang Tsun, there was a scholar, Tu Jang, who helped Chin to build the Great Wall. Chin, seeing that he had but little strength, buried him in the earth. His wife, Meng Chiang, see- ing her husband's pitiful end, wept bitterly until her tears became blood. As she reviled Chin Shih Huang for 224 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA his cruelty, she struck her head on a stone near the Wall, killing herself. The western Han emperor in whose reign Christ was born, had a statesman, Wang Mang, who poisoned him and became emperor in his stead, under the name of Hsin Wang. The daughter of Wang Mang was given to Wu Han, a great general, in marriage. Wu Han led twenty thousand soldiers to T'ungkuan to hold it for Wang Mang. At this time Liu Hsin, emperor of the eastern Hans, wished to pass from Honan to Ch'ang-An, planning to slay Wang Mang. When Liu Hsin reached T'ungkuan he was seen by Wu Han, who arrested him, intending to take him before Wang Mang to show his own prowess. Wu Han was a dutiful son and took leave of his mother. She said to him, "Your father's name was Chao, a censor of P'eng Ti, and was slain by Wang Mang twenty-three years ago. I rescued you from danger and changed your name to Wu. Wang Mang is the enemy who slew your father. You now capture Liu Hsin, wishing to show 5^our cour- age to an enemy. Truly you are not the equal of the birds and beasts." So saying, she grasped a sword and killed herself. After bewailing his mother Wu Han buried her, and then killed his wife, the king's daughter. He next slew Wang Mang and became a general in the army of Liu Hsin in Honan. The T'ang Empress Wu bore a son with the head of an ass and the body of a man, called the Ass-Headed Heir Apparent, who was very courageous and could overcome ten thousand men. Our resolution to interview at least one thousand dif- ferent persons during the study of the Great Wall has $L * % M ¥ 225 The fiercest tiger does not eat its own young. never been suffered to fall into abeyance. As this is one of a half dozen most important burial mounds on earth we held it worth the time and effort to discuss the Mound of Chin with some fifteen or twenty natives liv- ing near the famous tomb. The original chronology of the conversations is preserved, as well as the abrupt- ness. The fact that for the most part the natives are superstitious when many questions are asked concern- ing graves and precious things accounts for the appar- ent failure of the interviews to reach a natural climax. For the following interesting items, as well as for the measurements of the Mound, we are under great obliga- tion to that brilliant scholar and successful educator, Frank Madeley, Esquire, M.A., of Birmingham, Eng- land, who, when the author was taken ill of fever, con- sented to continue the investigations. The interviewer spent two nights with the farmer who owns the farm lying between the Mound of Chin and the Black Horse Mountain. What all sorts of peo- ple said when asked about the Chin Shih Huang Ti (the Great Chin) and his grave, will now find record here. The landowner, Ch'en Ming, who has his hundred acres of land, when asked about the mound said, "It is Shih Huang Ti's (the First Emperor's). "Is his reputation great?" "Yes. Who doesn't know the Mound of Chin Shih Huang? He has a bad reputation. There is no monument." Mr. Ch'en said the outer en- compassing wall of the Mound passed just below his place, and the cave thence into the mountains runs under his farm, and according to the vulgar saying, 226 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA valuables are beneath the house. When Mr. Ch'en was further inquired of valuables under his house he skilfully evaded the question, saying, "I can't see." Mr. Ch'en continued, "The Mound is only the mouth of the grave. Chin is buried in the mountain earth." Another Mr. Ch'en, a scholar, interposed, "He was buried beneath the Mound. How could he be buried in the Black Horse Mountain?" A sweet seller of "horse candy," a kind of spiral bread fried in oil and made brittle, said that the Ch'ens of the Mound South Ch'en family are descendants of Emperor Chin. Their family name was like his, Ying, but it was altered to Ch'en because his reputation was bad. Several persons in the district, when asked their name, replied "Ch'en." Women were surprised and highly complimented by being inquired of by the foreigner. One woman when asked about the Mound said, "I don't know"; another, 80 years of age, which fact points out that the bad reputation of the Mound owner has not interfered with folks' longevity, said, "It's Chin Shih Huang's Mound." Still another, "It is King Ch'en's Mound." A man standing by corrected her, saying, "It is not King Ch'en's but King Chin's Mound." And he added, "Women don't read." The old woman went off, chuckling. Why? At the very idea of expecting a woman to know anything. Women's life in China reminds the Bible student of John 4:27 — "His disci- ples marveled that He talked with a (not the) woman." But the significant fact about the old lady's reply is that it confirms the saying that the village ancestors trME7>ff# 227 An image maker never worships idols. changed the family name to Ch'en, for if the old woman understood herself to be a descendant of the great king, while remaining in ignorance of the change of name, she would naturally suppose the king's name was Ch'en. Farmers almost to a man could not imagine it possi- ble for a man to know anything outside of their usual lives. One, a youth, when questioned, said, "I have not seen him — years many" (i.e., since Chin's time). An- other youth, "Can't remember, years many." A man said, "It's Chin Shih Huang's Mound. It's a good many thousands of years, I can't guess it." Another, when asked how it was possible for soldiers to fetch enough sand from many miles away to build the huge Mound, replied, "If Chin could get the Myriad Mile Wall built, then to bring sand from the Wei River was easy." A furrier with ear caps on, showing he knew how to take advantage of his own trade to keep himself warm in winter, said, "I don't know him (Chin). It is the First King's Mound; he built the Boundary Wall, ten thousand li long, running outside the mouth." The peo- ple who live adjoining the Wall at certain points call it the Great Boundary Wall). When asked, "Was Chin bad or good?" he replied, "How can I know? You read the books and know about the sacred worthies." When asked how old the Mound is, "It's a thousand years up. Chin was king of man and lord of land." He com- pared him unfavorably with the first king of the T'angs. 228 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA A carter said, "It is the First Emperor's Mound." But the marks of opium on his face furnished the reason why he knew little about the dead or the living, except so far as nature compelled him to work to live. A general dealer who is a Christian was well in- « 'SUffc. ±\ C C „s § | .S ^ ^ — 4- O S ■*- * f * =H ° | I ^ r s' o "*" e5 s -m l r-i ^ O T3 = c u £ O e =o "^ 4/ fat £ J= t. CO « O Q £ S £ 5 4) S* C s - .2 <= +■> ^ -5 **" a u a S 3 ^? _. rfS it X fe ££ c c a, -r SL r. = •= 8 .5 B ■? ^ s e i, u - "V -= 5 ■£ £ S = £ s ~ fc, ^ x - £ S: mmmm 235 Diligence can make up for doltishness. as an excuse for paying men who are set to do it. It is but lately that Indian engineer officers have planned out great relief works such as canals and tanks, so that men who are put to excavate these in famine times, are thereby doing something to prevent famines in future. £/* The Laughing Lower Lipper. When he sees a man he laughs until his lower lip covers his eyes, else he'd laugh himself to death. The usual relief work too often testifies to the unpre- paredness of the authorities, who waste good labor and produce something barely ornamental and barely use- ful. If the Great Wall were simply a relief work, it would be a colossal blunder, but one of a common type. Was it more than this, — a boundary? From early 236 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA ages we have heard of landmarks, and know what im- portance was attached to these, so that the Hebrews imprecated curses on any one who moved them, and the Romans put them under the protection of a special god Terminus. Was the Wall, then, simply erected to define the Chinese Holy Land, so that all within it should be blossoms of the Flowery Kingdom, while beyond were mere weeds and thistles of the wilderness? It is awk- ward to have no limits, to see a gradual shading off of town into country, of useful land into desert, of king- dom into kingdom. Perhaps this Wall was just put up as a clear definition where China ended, as nature gave no hint in this direction. All sorts of curious artificial boundaries have been known for this purpose. Hedges, stone walls, piles of logs, — all mark the limits of farms or fields. Children at play will scratch a line on the ground to mark the base; footballers put up lines of flags, baseball teams throw down bags to mark off their diamond. Prisoners of war have seen a boundary of mere wires to show the line beyond which they may not pass, unless they are prepared to risk being shot with- out further notice. There some moral force came to restrain; the boundary itself was but a slight thing. Was the Wall just to show where the desert was to be left behind, with desert manners, while civilization was to begin? That is viewing it from the north, looking at the hint it gave to the barbarians outside. But walls have two sides and this Wall may be a boundary to remind the Chinaman of his privileges and to promote his patriot- ism. "Within this ring is your home, the abode of art When times are easy we don't burn incense ; but when stress comes we embrace the feet of Buddha. and learning: beyond is the outer darkness with which no son of the Flowery Kingdom has aught to do!" Was that the suggestion of the Wall ? Japan would not suffer her sons to wander over seas till of late. Britain would not let her scanty population trickle away in the Stuart times ; licenses were needed before any one might take ship. Possibly, then, the Wall had the message to those beyond the boundary, "Keep out!" and to those within, "Stay here!" At least we can see that within this line there has been a growth of character that is unique; southward of the Wall we find one type of civilization ; northward is little but barbarism, till of late other waves have flowed in from west to east. The Wall has served as a clear line of demarcation that all could understand. For the United States, the Atlantic was such an obvious boun- dary, while westward the settled land shaded off into the wilds of nature. Beyond the Alleghanies lay other settlements; beyond the western desert lay yet others; France and Spain had sent in their driblets of colonists ; but from the firm base of the Atlantic, the wave of Anglo-Saxons swelled and surged across, submerging all others as it came. So from the solid background of the Wall, the wave of true Chinese rolled southward, engulfing others met by the way, till another boundary was found at the ocean, and all from Wall to water owned the sway of the sons of Ch'in. Perhaps from the first the Wall was meant as more than boundary, — was meant as rampart. "Have no fear of the tiger from the south; beware the rooster from THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA the north." How old is that proverb we cannot say, but older than the Mings. The feeble folk on the Yangtze were no danger to the dwellers by the Hwang ho, but the wild riders of the northern steppes were not mere Man's body, dragon's head— goes round the abyss. When he goes out or in there is a hurricane or worse. Lives north of the Great Wall. crowing cocks, they were fighting cocks too. Ramparts of this description have often been erected. If a Roman legion halted for the night, it cast up some kind of an earthen bank with a ditch, which may remain after centuries to show what mighty builders were these people. When the limits of the empire seemed toler- 3cTfl**-»JSS 239 A crow is black the world over. ably fixed, permanent traces were made, and along them arose in a few cases defensive works. Thus in Germany the emperors of the second century dug a slight ditch and drew a low wall along to indicate the mere boundary of the territory where Roman law held. And the same device was adopted in Britain; where Three-faced nation — man's head, three faces, one shoulder — dangerous- Lives in the Great Wilderness. Enemy of men. the Solway suggests a boundary, a ditch was hollowed out, and the clods of earth were piled neatly into a turf wall. But the barbarians of the north did not respect this, and it became necessary to erect a real fortification which should actually bar the passage. The same dis- 240 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA tinction may be recognized at Gibraltar, where the civil boundary is marked only by a row of sentry boxes, but behind them is a real defensive wall. And so from Wall's End on the Tyne, along the moors to the north, along the edge of the steep cliffs of basalt, not always following the line of the earlier boundary, arose a sub- stantial stone wall protected by a dry ditch in front; v i^ 7 Ox tail— rabbit face— barks like a dog, eats men. Lives in the northern mountains. behind it ran a good road for the movement of troops, fenced by the earthen mounds on either side. About every five miles there was a stone walled fort covering a few acres. From several of these, southern roads con- centrated at three or four garrison towns whence rein- forcements could be poured to any threatened point. Now these arrangements are strikingly parallel to those along the Chinese Wall. This also does not follow ^PTtlffif 241 Don't ask your guest if you may kill a fowl for him. any line obvious as a mere boundary, nor as a probable route for traders. It has towers along it at frequent intervals, while in the rear are larger camps. The con- clusion is obvious, that this present Chinese Wall, like the wall of Severus in Britain, was intended for actual defense by real soldiers against very genuine invaders or border raiders. But this is only one point gained: we are sure now that the British stone wall of Severus came only after a turf boundary wall. The Chinese Wall during the time of the Mings was undoubtedly a barrier, but does that settle what it was used for at a previous stage? There is to-day in Peru a splendid monastery of mas- sive stone, where for centuries the Dominicans have dwelt and worshiped ; but for centuries before they went there the Inca priests ministered there in what was then the Temple of the Sun. There is to-day in Paris a fine block of government offices where ministers of state and their clerks manage the business of a department; but till a few months ago it was the official residence of an archbishop. On a Devon moor is a forbidding ring of granite walls, behind which dwell for definite periods the worst of English criminals; but the walls were erected to guard safely the prisoners taken in the wars of Napoleon. So when we are certain that the last use of the Great Wall was as a frontier fortification, it still invites inquiry whether we have probed the purpose of its builders. Were they guarding against two-legged invaders or four-legged? Was this, at first, simply a glorified sheepfold, to keep out bears and wolves that 16 242 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA behind its shelter the domestic cattle might browse in peace, and the crops might be safe from the wild cattle in search of succulent pasture? Or was the original purpose still less material? Was it to guard not against seen foes, but against unseen? not against the creatures of this world, but against the powers of the air? Was the Wall originally a spiritual defense, a religious monument, a landmark of super- stition ? Such a thought may seem amazing till we reflect a little on the great buildings that rise in other lands in the name of religion, till we recollect that the Chinese had practically no temples till Buddhism made its foot- ing good, till we see how superstition dictates even at the present day many of the Chinese buildings. In any city to-day are not some of the most conspicu- ous buildings consecrated to religion? Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, and St. Paul's are among the most obvious features of London. The glory of Cologne is the "Dom" and in Strasburg also it is the minster which dominates the city. Far more was this the case in antiquity, when Karnak and Mem- non and the obelisks were all dedicated to religion in Egypt; when the tower of Babel was devoted to the service of the Seven Gods of Babylonia. In the plains of the Ganges are such modern structures as the Jumna Musjid at Delhi or the Pearl Mosque at Agra, or the countless temples of Benares. In the south of the Deccan are miles of colonnades and halls given over to worship, in some cases with covered ways mounting the hillsides up to some high place on the peak. In the 243 In prosperity strangers claim kin ; in adversity kindred become strangers. islands of the sea, Ceylon and Java, are rambling piles of stone carved into myriads of statues, all for assisting the devotions of the Buddhists. In the ancient worl^l we have abundant tokens that religion was a potent factor in creating vast buildings. i( lLdJ± Nine-headed snake— possesses tremendous strength. When we turn to China and seek for the correspond- ing buildings, we put aside the late edifices due to Islam, to Taoism, to the Indian art of Buddhism, and we find simply the Confucian halls and the antique Temple of 244 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA Heaven. This last is indeed a splendid testimony to the inspiration of religion, but the halls due to the teachings of the Chinese sage are mere plain empty buildings, with tablets in memory of one hundred and sixty illus- trious men. It is difficult to think that these simple edifices are all that the ancient religion of China ever erected. Once we think of this, and remember how fine is the line between religion and superstition in early days, we have abundant evidence of the power of superstition. Louis XI of France has been immortalized by Walter Scott with a row of leaden images in his hatband, and an astrologer in his train. Now the Chinese, even to the present day, are steeped in all manner of belief in charms and good luck, which have been interwoven into Taoism, but have also a hold on many who disclaim that form of religion. Whoever has watched a Chinese pro- cession, knows the fine figure cut by the dragon, which may wind its lengthy way through one or two streets at once; yet this is but one specimen of their mytho- logical menagerie. Scaly creatures, uncanny beasts, magic mammals, flying fiends — such is an unscientific catalogue of the fauna familiar to the imagination. It is too evident that these are not seen every day nor in ordinary places, and as to the Chinese mind it is axio- matic that they exist, their habitat must be away in the desert. What then more obvious than to erect a magic boundary against them, and to endow it with spells which would arrest their progress? Let us make sure how deeply these notions possess the average Chinaman. A visitor at Kiating was awak- Photo by Dr. Geil The Great Wall of China A binary granite base resting on igneous rocks partially supports a Wall making an almost perpendicular ascent You can't get ivory out of a dog's mouth. 245 ened one night by a banging of doors and windows; it turned out that this was to frighten away a nine- headed monster flying overhead, which dropped blood as it passed, the blood causing the death of any one on whose house it fell. The western visitor quite failed to convince the people that what they saw was but a flock of wild geese at some height: the legend was well- <&> "Double-Double"— The monster has three heads, green or black color, body red. Lives on the edge of the desert. known and a nine-headed monster there must be! De- mons pervade the air, and have to be guarded against at all turns; as the western horseshoe is unknown, a roaring trade is driven in a picture of the Taoist chief- priest framed in vignettes of caterpillars, snakes, in- sects, flies, with a verse describing the center figure : 246 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA At noon on the fifth of the fifth, The Pope astride of his Tiger ; His mouth all red, Clear sky overhead, To the land of the shades all the demons have fled. Then certain localities are labeled by the demon- managers as malignant. If a house must face one of these, special precautions must be taken, and a design of a sunrise must be painted on a large board over the door. Many houses hang a mirror above in hopes that the ugly demons will see themselves as others see them, and turn away in disgust. If a house acquires the reputation of being demon-haunted, a demon-trap of plaited bamboo will be hung up to intercept the visitants. Now modern instances of this abound; but it is very important to know that Chin was deeply permeated with these beliefs. He heard of a man who could make himself invisible, and sent an embassy to get hold of him. 1 He heard of a fountain of youth and sent an expedition to discover it. He desired his physicians to compound a pill of life, and was so much in earnest about it that he was ready to slay a thousand boys and a thousand girls that their blood might concentrate all its essence of vitality for his benefit. Was not this the sort of man to conceive the idea of a gigantic demon-barrier? He destroyed much literature that had come down to his age, but preserved one book 1 An ch'i Shc-ng was a legendary magician. He possessed the power of making himself visible or invisible at will. Chin sent to find him as did also the Han emperor Wu Ti. m m m m If Wealth adorns the house, virtue the person. 247 that dealt in all this demon-lore with its preservatives against demon influences. What a splendid idea for an emperor to do for his whole realm what each man was laboriously doing for his tiny house! To shut out of the whole empire the Dangerous baldheaded nation. Face of man, wings of bird. Can fly and has a deadly peck. whole tribe of desert jinns with their baleful powers; to guard the land entire from the ravages of the devils — this would be a task worthy of an emperor. Xo work could be esteemed too hard for such an end, no toil too difficult, no wall too long or too lofty. Did it 248 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA need scores of feet of stone piled up, did it need towers to rise far above the mere wall? Yet if these could ren- der it impossible for any hideous bearer of evil to cross the line, if it confined the moral pestilence to the dreary desert, no price would be too high to pay. May we not find in this train of thought the primary reason why the superstitious Chin caused the Wall to arise? This may account in some measure for its existence, but then there remains the problem of its shape. This is not to be accounted for merely by the recollection that he used a few previous walls and linked them up; he was not the sort of man to be influenced only by utilitarian motives. To make one decent pair of trou- sers out of three or four worn-out knickerbockers will be a tedious and expensive job. If Chin simply wanted to cut off the sweet influences of the south and confine them to his own domain, why not run a screen right along a line of latitude and save time? That was the plan of the Russian Czar who ruled a straight line from St. Petersburg to Moscow to save the time of engineers in laying out the railroad. But the Wall twines and coils and winds its length up and down, round and round, till on the map it resembles nothing in heaven or earth — except the serpentine band in the heavens or the mythical dragon of the East. Have we hit it? Chin was given to symbolical building. His vast Imperial Forest Park was dotted over with his wives' palaces so disposed as to give a map of the heavens bounded by the Milky Way. Was the Wall meant to depict this same strange band in the skies? A man irr@ % © M Wi % ft 249 Bliss does not come alone, nor does woe walk single file. who was capable of building in a park of two hundred miles a map of the heavens, might perhaps have con- ceived a yet more colossal representation of the most striking celestial phenomenon. Loup: leg nation— one arm is Ions and the legs measure SO feet. Live in the Nortli wilderness. But rather perhaps was he thinking of the great ter- restrial emblem of the empire, a dragon, and seeking to portray across hundreds of miles a vast monster fraught with magical protective influences. 250 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA Remember that Chin became a Taoist. He definitely broke with the Confucian agnostics, and proclaimed himself an adherent of that system which seems to have gathered up all the folk-lore and magic and superstition of the people. Now nothing is more closely entwined with the popular imagination than the dragon, even at the present day, when the national flag displays it. When did this association begin? Peer back into the hoary records, those which Chin spared from destruc- tion just because of their superstition, and we find that centuries before his time the dragon was one of a set of twelve symbolic animals. The fact that the other eleven are real genuine creatures of those days have set some naturalists inquiring whether the dragon of those days was not a genuine creature too; whether it was not perhaps a crocodile. If popular fancy can evolve for Britons a unicorn like a graceful horse with a sword-fish's snout, out of a genuine rhinoceros, pop- ular fancy in China was surely equal to evolving a mythical dragon out of a genuine serpent. 1 We need not however linger over that question. Real or imaginary, the dragon bulked largely in the minds of the people as possessed of magical power. Was there a drought, then the Ying dragon must be made, and as soon as the heavenly dragon sees this image of himself acknowledging his power, and imploring his help, so soon will he cause the rains to come and bless the land. Now in the ancestral home of Chin droughts are not infrequent and are terrible. The na- 1 The serpent is a likely prototype. The Chinese themselves say: "It is hard to distinguish a dragon from a serpent." jfnwftf 251 A brave father breeds brave sons ture of the loose soil causes it soon to dry and pulverize again into dust. Suppose that instead of a dragon of wicker and tinsel, made for a special occasion, destined soon to perish, there be a permanent dragon of brick and stone ever to appeal to the heavenly original. Sup- pose that instead of one petty dragon for this town, and another for that town, the whole population unite to manifest their unity, and construct one vast dragon on behalf of the whole land. Such reasoning would appeal to Chin, the first emperor of China, the Taoist devotee. Such reasoning would appeal to the profes- sors of Feng-Shui, who would see their principles hon- ored, and would gladly aid by making out the Lucky Line along which the mystic-dragon-image should wind his interminable length. Such reasoning would appeal to the myriad peasants who suffered from the drought, and were accustomed to mold a protective dragon in appeal to the mercy of the monster above. But such reasoning would not appeal to the Con- fucian scholars, who viewed with contempt the super- stitions of the populace, and would not deign to record any such motive, though the accomplished result might compel notice. A Masonic Temple may be built to-day and the fact receive attention, but the meaning of all the parts will not be expounded by or for outsiders. A Christian cathedral may slowly arise, with symbolism in its every part; but the newspaper will not explain to its readers what is typified. The rustic celebrations of St. John's Eve may be witnessed or described by many who never take the trouble to find out that they 252 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA are survivals of ancient superstition. So then, although the Confucians have dropped no hint as to any religious purpose in this building, we see ample reason why they would refuse so to do, even though they knew it. We are inclined to assert positively that Chin had such an idea dominant in his mind, for when we think over the possible reasons for his undertaking so colossal a structure, we can see no other that is as worthy, no Hole-in-the-Breast Nation. These men have a hole in the breast and live east of Russia. It is a very common thing for missionaries in China going to new districts to be asked if they belong to these particular peoples, and the bolder of interested parties will actually feel at the missionary's breast expecting to find a hole there. This very hoary tradition shows vitality even in these latter matter-of-fact days. What then must have been the force of them in the time of Chin. The modern coolie carries a load on his shoulder but these barbarians put the pole through the chest. other that so fully explains his action. Nor do we claim that one purpose only swayed him; few are the people whose lives are so simple that a single motive suffices. But if he had at his disposal a vast amount of labor; if he wished to show clearly how far his author- The ('-odd Luck Pailo which stands two Ii east of Kiayiikwan, which city is seen in the distance — _ The Great Wall of China Photos by Dr. Geil The Last C'.ate of the doomed city of Ku Chang Tsi, situated <>o li west of Shan Tan, Kansu *r ® nt ± A 253 In beating a dog have regard to its master ity should extend, to treat outsiders as of a lower rank and to assert himself over those within ; if he approved the previous attempts to build a Rampart against in- vasion; yet all these purposes might blend and be crowned by the claims of religion. This might be the quickening impulse, that brought all else to fruition. And this, in an age when the misinterpreted teachings of Confucius were deadening all sense of mystery and of a Power outside men, may be the supreme rec- ognition of a Ruler in the heavens, who will respond to the appeal of a people, and will be merciful to those who call upon him. CHAPTER XVII The "9 by 3" City Liangchowfu "Liangchow produces three precious things: Mutabilis, Rhubarb, and Licorice Stems." — Old Saying. Liangchowfu, the "9 by 3" city, lingers in our mem- ory, because of Buddhist nuns, frog medicine, Chris- tian missionaries, and legends, for which four it is noted. The Chinese speak of it as "9 by 3" for this reason, which is after the approved oriental fashion — north and south the dimension is QXfe li, and east and west IV2 K. The "9" signifies the combined measure- ments of the north and south walls, and the "3" the length of the two east and west walls. Although "9 by 3" has a reputation for opium (whose acreage we are glad to say is being restricted) , stirrups and scissors, yet the nuns and frog medicine stand out as distinctly in the memory as the ant hills on the landscape of Yakusu-on-the-Congo. The Great Wall, when approaching Liangchowfu, takes a turn to the north and west, for which eccentric- ity is abundant legendary explanation. The line of the Barrier is crooked and the ruins lack picturesqueness, but what is lost to the eye is made up to the ear. The legends are many. We are now in the second city of importance along the Great Wall, counting from east 254 31 it £ ft 255 Right makes one bold. to west, which is the course of this exploration. Liang- chowfu boasts seventeen modern schools, and one hun- dred old style; several tens of temples, and an intel- ligent magistrate, who told us, "We do not worship idols. We worship Confucius as you do Jesus." That is likely true of the educated, who are already ashamed of the senseless images, but the common people regard with superstitious awe the old mud gods of hideous aspect. Men of clear mental vision see the handwriting on the wall; idolatry is doomed! Crafty arts and active graves are among the curi- osities of this important business center. Seven mon- asteries, eight large temples, and seven active graves, constitute the sights of the city. The Eight Wonders of Liangchowfu include a suspended sword which points toward a pass in the South Mountains, whence issue waters from the melting snow. As long as the sword points in that direction, those waters cannot enter and submerge the metropolis! Liangchowfu has "patent" remedies in variety and quantity. It also has one hundred and ten doctors who practise on the twenty thousand families who live inside the strong walls. The physicians treat disease according to the medicine book which was written long ago by a medicine man who became the medicine god after his death. He is worshiped on his birthday, the nineteenth sun, fourth moon. The doctors report many "cures of the sickness." They cure the sickness and not the pa- tient. The Chinese are ignorant of surgery, hence we have seen but two one-armed men in all our travels and 256 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA those lost the member by foreign surgery. When an arm goes wrong they bury the whole man. Speaking of surgery, reminds us of barbers. Of these there are two hundred, who pay their devotions to a god of their own, a distinguished alchemist who in 1700 attained immortality at the age of fifty. The tonsorial artists are prosperous and popular, and are organized in a guild, but they occupy a low social position. Indeed, so degraded are they socially, that only after several generations may they hope to obtain public office. The Chinese barber carries a pole as he goes about serving his clients. Xot unlikely the modern barber's pole originated in China. When we suggested to the good missionary, Belcher, a visit to the nuns, he was evidently surprised at our audacity. Insistency won. The residence of the nuns adjoins a frog pond. Beside this miasmatic incubator stood a young native who showed us to the door of the sacred sisterhood. After rapping and receiving no re- ply, we ventured to give the door a gentle push. When it yielded we entered. The superior nun thereupon became visible. We explained that we were on an ex- ploring expedition and accustomed ourselves to first- hand information. We further specified that, having heard things good and not good concerning the holy order, we had come to the source of information and begged to be shown through, and to be told about the aims and ambitions of the society. This speech modified her facial expression and she proceeded to show us about the place. She represented the two thousand nuns of Liangchowfu. She also represents the nuns of China. m =f # ft * 4n * a 257 Bringing up a son without teaching is just like bringing up a mule. The number she did not know. In 845 a.d. there were nearly forty-five thousand temples and monasteries destroyed and forty-two thousand monks, nuns and minors thrown out of employment, or rather into em- ployment. She became pleasant, but a certain pro- nounced reticence continuing, we apportioned to her some of our supply of silver, whereupon like magic the doors flew open and we had the run of the nun- nery! From that moment there was volubility. Par- ticularly now, when all China rubs its eyes, yawns, and prepares to awake out of a sleep of centuries, it is of interest to know just how much house cleaning will be necessary before the supreme change can come. Religion is all-important. Hence we took time to see and hear at this nunnery, center and adjunct of Buddhism, the religion largely responsible for China's backward state. The favorite temple of the nuns is kept locked to prevent a competing body of nuns worshiping there. A quarrel taking place, certain females moved upstairs and started a goddery of their own. The first-floor deities consisted of two goddesses with a god between. The felt prayer dial was located in front of the male deity, the sisters evidently having more confidence in one of the stronger sex. They worship twice a day. "We have no clock. When the spirit of worship is on us we come." So said nun number one. She told us the nuns perform no works of mercy. "We do not nurse the sick, care for the insane, or conduct a school for girls. We only pray, burn incense and beg." The 17 258 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA oculist goddess was hung about the neck with painted eyes. "She likes to have people whose eyes she has healed bring eyes of their color and hang them on her neck." On the fifteenth sun of the eleventh moon they offer sacrifices. Nun number one bade us enter the Ten Princes of Hell Temple. We asked, "What advantage to worship the ten princes of hell?" She laughed, "Everybody does it and we do it. Don't know any good that comes from it." She explained that the cow- faced and horse- faced figures burn incense in the bottomless pit to the ten princes of hell. The ten princesses next obtained our attention. These are sometimes called Heavenly Holy Mothers! Here were many stolen idols indicating that vows for sons were answered. When children have measles their cure is effected by carry- ing them through a dark passage behind the idols. This is known as the "tube for curing measles." Al- though not so qualified we decided to take the journey through the tube. It was enough to give a body some sort of sickness. In that abode of darkness we noticed twelve arches under which we had to stoop to pass. These represented twelve children cured by the jour- ney. At each end of the tube is a god named "The Controller of Measles." . . . About two thousand short-haired nuns live in "9 by 3." The stock of nuns is replenished in divers ways. The wife of a mandarin recently ran away and joined the sisterhood because her husband had taken on an additional wife; he came and took her home. In competition with these two thousand nuns, ignorant — a 2 'X W Ji< $ UK 259 A single spark can burn a whole prairie. and unclean, are two Christian ladies, who are doing a satisfactory work for the women and girls of the city. The girls of China have need of higher truth than nature has gifted them with. A new day dawns in the minds of the women on the Hills of T'ang. That the new desires are separate, disordered, and il- logical is nothing strange. The conception of deity which has for centuries held in bondage the females of China has been a physical rather than a spiritual idea. What a distance of difference between the two thou- sand nuns, individually and collectively, and the two cultured Christian English ladies! When the whole environment is considered, the success the English ladies have attained is little short of the miraculous! Outside -the city the Roman Catholic mission with a resident bishop is working hard, and a good measure of success attends their efforts to bring the Chinese into the church. Among the many legends, historical and otherwise, abounding in this region, we have selected one that tells of the finding of a large quantity of gold in the Great Wall. It would be possible to write it into bet- ter English and indeed a recast of the plot might better please the reader, but our aim is to display as much of the idiom of the native as possible, and at the same time carry the sense to the mind of the foreigner, simply omitting tedious tautology. "When the Mings were kings the village of Hong Water lay a few li from Liangchow with the Great Wall on one side and the quicksands of the Red River 260 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA on the other. Indeed the whole region was unsafe. One thousand families occupied caves and caverns in the ample sides of the Great Barrier. This appro- priated fifty li of the Rampart. Among these cave- dwellers was a sturdy, well-meaning man named Wang, who had a sister Kin, and a widowed mother. The mother, a woman of lofty motives, steadily refused to marry again. She devoted her whole time and thought to her son. She had a brother who was worthless, be- ing a drinking man. He was a gambler and squan- dered much of his nephew's estate. He it was who urged his sister to marry, hoping thereby to obtain money to continue the evil habit of gambling. She de- clined. Her husband had left her one hundred acres of land, oxen and carts, and a faithful servant, Ma Er Ma. Ma Er Ma engaged suitable servants for the house and also men to watch the sheep and cattle and perform agricultural duties. Ma Er Ma was a success; every- thing he touched prospered, and eight years passed like a weaver's shuttle. "Constantly schemes were applied to persuade by craft or argument the widow to marry. It was hinted that Ma Er Ma was too polite to the widow. He retired to his own farm, just what the enemies of the woman wished. From that time the farm began to fail, and the poor widow's poverty was consummated by the wild Tibetans, who swept over the border on a foraging expedition and stole everything she had left. "The Mings had ordered that the soldiers guarding the Great Wall should also do farming, but the Tibetan attacks becoming frequent the land was neglected, and # ft ffy -%■ im # SS fti 261 A good hearer is better than a good speaker. the whole strength of the garrisons kept on duty. Now it fell to the lot of the son of the widow to be stationed on the fort Tsh Tsen, on the Wall. The wicked uncle and another worthless fellow were detailed with him to hold the northeast corner. When the Tibetans charged the fortifications the two threw the son into their midst, hoping thus to get rid of the hindrance to their diabolical plans. But High Heaven was watchful. Instead of being killed he fell into an old well, but the two conspirators were cut to pieces by the wild horse- men, who dismounted and carried the fort by storm. A large Tibetan seized the two women, threw them across his horse, and was riding off when the animal stumbled and threw the living load into the dark bush. The warrior, not seeing them, concluded they were killed and rode off. The two women recovering from the stun of the fall found themselves in a well, empty save that one other person was in there. What joy when they discovered the whole family safe and to- gether ! "Hearing loyal troops passing they cried aloud; the three were rescued and returned to their place only to see the smoke-seared ruins. They sought a cave in the Great Wall and settled down to live by gathering roots and desert cabbage, desert onions, and cereals resem- bling bird's eyes, good for flour. "In a few days sufficient had been garnered to last the winter through. To store this valuable harvest it was necessary to dig a cave in the Great Wall. They worked long and hard, until striking some substance 262 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA a resonant sound reached their ears and gave them pause; it was wooden, and thinking it a coffin the son ceased his work, but the mother dug on until it was plainly a door. On it was an inscription. Treasure had been hid there long before. It was a cavern of gold! The dutiful son reported the matter to the high magistrate, who in turn notified the viceroy, who in- formed the Son of Heaven. The emperor was de- lighted, not because of the find of treasure, but because Wang was a dutiful son and loyal subject. The throne ordered Wang a general, the mother a peeress, the daughter, wife of a great man, and an edict directed the erection of a temple to Goodness and Virtue, where- on was inscribed the widow's name with great honor. The descendants of Wang Kuang are innumerable!" Thus endeth the tale of gold in the Great Wall, quite possibly founded on fact. We have seen many caves in the structure which are now being used as residences. Of these the Chinese say: "Those who live in earthen dugouts have three things which cannot hap- pen; in the summer they cannot be hot, in the winter they cannot be cold, and when the cave falls in they cannot be found." We have hesitated to mention the products of the fields about Liangchowfu, and the various articles of merchandise from foreign countries offered in the public streets, because others have trav- eled this way, and have given considerable space cata- loguing the commercial articles and fabrics of "9 by 3." There are, however, three brought from beyond the Wall, — sableskins, ginseng, and Wula grasses, — the drug roots. CHAPTER XVIII Yung Lo, Who "Moved the Urns of Empire" When Yung Lo, the great Ming, ascended the "Di- vine Utensil," ancient throne of the Chins, with a saga- city worthy of the Greatest Huang Ti he arbitrarily decreed the shifting of the center of empire from the comfortable south to the windy north. Kublai Khan had built his capital, Kambaluc, inside the Great Wall, that, if necessary, he might promptly defend that struc- ture from its friends. Yung Lo constructed Peking hard by the Mongol site to facilitate his personal de- fense of the Great Wall from its ancient foes. We may safely assert that the modern capital of this vast empire is now in the north because the Great Wall dictated a policy necessitating the permanent presence there of the sovereign. To alter the center of empire, or, as the Chinese would say, "move the urns of empire," is only less important than to interfere with the original distribution of the races of men. After the dynasty that founded the Great Wall, that whose history is most closely associated with the enormous structure, is the dynasty of Ming, some fif- teen centuries later. Of its sixteen emperors, those who had most to do with the mighty defense were Yung Lo, Ch'eng Hua, Lung Ch'ing and Wan Li. 1 1 These are only their nien-hao or "year-titles." Their dynastic titles are, respectively, Ch'eng Tsu, Hsien Tsung, Mu Tsung and Shen Tsung. 263 264 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA Here we speak of the first, the creator of Peking, the first Chinese to rule the empire thence. The Mongol Tartars under Genghis Khan had bro- ken through the Wall and placed their yoke on the Chinese — first foreigners so to subdue the proud race. Kublai Khan had organized his empire, and left his mark in two vast structures: the Great Canal, and the capital of Khan baligh, Kambaluc, whence he ruled as far as Moscow and the Levant. Of the capital, Longfellow has told how Into the city of Kambulu By the road that leadeth to Ispahan, At the head of his dusty caravan, Laden with treasure from realms afar, Baldacca and Kelat and Kandahar, Rode the great captain Alau. But this capital was superseded by Yung Lo and his father, as will presently appear. The excavation of the Grand Canal may be compared with the Great Wall in magnitude. Under the Mon- gols the Wall had ceased to be useful. They were constantly at war with the Japanese. An attempt to conquer the Islands of the Rising Sun had turned out a disastrous failure. Their Armada had been shattered by a storm, their naval forces drowned or slain by the enemy, and the whole seaboard was left exposed to the raids of men who were fighting on their native element. For these the nomads of the north were no match. The powers at Xandu felt the necessity for inland transportation for the tribute of South China which was !£!wti#*:**niif6ffi« 265 When the mantis catches the cicada he does not know that the oriole is just behind. paid in the produce of its fertile fields. Already were those fields covered with a network of canals whose prin- cipal use was the irrigation of crops. For local trans- port these channels were universally employed. Why not connect them together by cutting through the hills or ridges by which the different river systems were separated? The idea had everything to recommend it. It offered not merely a safe route for supplies, but additional facilities for the movement of troops. It was at once an economic and military necessity — destined to link north and south together as a unit, as never before, by the bonds of mutual advantage. From the Dragon Throne went forth the fiat, "Let a canal be built to connect the northern capital with Nanking, Hangchow and Canton." It was to be one thousand six hundred miles in length, almost exactly as long as the Great Wall, measured by longitude, but I dare not assert that the hydraulic en- gineers charged with its construction ever thought of taking the Wall as standard of measurement. Passing through great provinces, the gems of the empire, it was to reach almost to the borders of Tonquin. By means of the Hwang ho, the Yangtze Kiang and the West River, all coming from the west, it was to afford access by water to the whole of the other provinces. What more magnificent scheme could spring in the brain of a mighty potentate ? What more beneficent enterprise could he undertake for the good of a great people? Unhappily the ruler undertook to build the Grand Canal much as Chin built the Wall or 266 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA as the Pharaohs built the pyramids, by the forced labor of his subjects. The people who in the end were in- tended to be greatest gainers, unable to endure the miseries of an unpaid, ill-fed corvee, would gladly have fled their country like the Hebrews of old, had it been possible to do so. Debarred from that recourse, they hailed the standard of revolt, resolved to die as soldiers rather than perish as ignominious navvies. The Grand Canal was thus the ruin of one generation and the salvation of thousands, more truly than the Great Wall, of which that is so often asserted. Like the latter it proved the destruction of the tyrannical power which had undertaken to carry it through by unwise and in- human methods. For the scepter of Kublai fell into weak hands, and the Chinese lost the sole advantage they had received from foreign rule. Revolts occurred in many places, and at last a Bud- dhist priest named Hung Wu 1 commanded enough con- fidence to be accepted as a national leader. From a robber chief he developed into an emancipator, protect- ing the people from robbery and extortion. Then, secured by general good-will, he marched boldly on Kambaluc to destroy the waning prestige of the Mon- gol emperors. The craven tyrant abandoned his palace and fled beyond the Wall, which once again regained importance as a boundary between China and the hated barbarians. Vengeance was wreaked on the foreign city which had enthralled the realm — like Alexandria holding J Chu Yiian-ehang, who afterwards assumed the "year-title." (Here of course the year-title cannot be used). Hung Wu is the year-title of the Emperor T'ai Tsu. + «^#5B*1S-»!* 267 The ten fingers cannot be all one length. down Egypt. But when Kambaluc had fallen, it was still felt that the district had been wisely chosen, and that since the Great Wall had revived in importance as a barrier against the expelled Mongols, there should be a strong Chinese center not far from it, to serve as a fortress and base of supplies for the defenders. And so about nine li south of the ruined site of Kambaluc there arose a first-class city which has been famous ever since as Peking. Here the conqueror left his second son, Chu Ti, with the title of Yen Wang (i.e., Prince of Yen) , a revival of an old style in the local kingdom before the days of Chin. Chu Ti had the special duty of guarding the frontier against the late Mongol tyrants, while Hung Wu returned to his native district in the Yangtze basin, and chose the city of Nanking, which had al- ready been a capital more than once, as the seat of his restored Chinese Empire, now to be reorganized after the long foreign tyranny. Chu Ti from his vantage in the north would quickly recognize the importance of the old Great Wall, and could not but avail himself of its strength to exclude the foe who had trespassed over its boundary. But he had not long exercised his functions as viceroy, and strengthened his defenses, ere a swift courier brought the tidings that the mighty conqueror, his father, had yielded to a Mightier than he. For his father he grieved no doubt sincerely, but to his proud spirit it was gall and wormwood to be called on to bend the knee and knock the head before an infant 268 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA son of his elder brother. To his brother he might have rendered willing fealty; but the brother was dead, and he persuaded himself that his own merits had been cruelly ignored, while the throne which he had aided to establish was put in jeopardy by leaving the scepter in the feeble grasp of a child. Disguising his intentions under the cloak of homage he repaired to Nanking with an immense retinue, throw- ing the court off its guard by a show of loyalty. Se- cretly abetted by many of the grandees as well as by his own soldiers, he succeeded in getting possession of the palace, which he set on fire, and the hapless boy perished in the flames. Not even then did he throw off the mask, but finding a charred corpse which he asserted to be that of the unfortunate Chien Wen, he gave it a sumptuous funeral and immediately "Ascended the Summit," proclaiming himself Emperor of China under the title of Ch'eng Tsu, with the year-title Yung Lo, which expressed a hope of a "long and joyous reign." 1 The reign was signalized by great monuments, such 1 There is considerable doubt about the fate of Chien Wen. When Chu Yiin-wen (Chien Wen) succeeded to the throne in 1398, he at once took measures to deprive of power his uncles, who were princes of various parts of the empire. But Ti, prince of Yen, who ruled modern Chihli, rebelled in 1399, marched southwards, and in spite of several earlier reverses in Shantung crossed the Yangtze in 1403 and entered Nanking in triumph. The young emperor disappeared in the confusion which followed upon the entry of the troops into his palace and was never seen again. It is sup- posed that he fled to Yunnan in the garb of a monk, left to him, so the story runs, with full directions by his grandfather. After nearly forty years' wandering, he is said to have gone to Peking and lived in seclusion in the palace until his death. He was recognized by an eunuch from a mole on his left foot, but the eunuch was afraid to reveal his identity. (See Giles' Chinese Biographical Dictionary.) «AW&1St*«# 269 Murder may be condoned, but discourtesy never. as the city of Peking, which he now proceeded to en- large till it became beyond compare the most formidable fortress China knew. The massive walls, sixteen miles in circuit, remain after these centuries, fit memorials of a mighty monarch. An inner line of fortification inclosed a triple hill now known as Kingshan, a finer ornament for a city than Rome possessed in her far- famed Mons Capitolinus. And then Yung Lo determined on the striking pol- icy of making his new fortress into the capital of the whole realm. It is a dangerous experiment to "move the urns of empire," as his father had done, away from the Kambaluc district. Turin, Milan and Flor- ence have grudged their reduction to mere provincial towns, even though sentiment spoke for Rome. There was no modern sentiment yet engendered for Nanking; it lay a waste, as it still is. But also there was none at all for Peking, a new creation. His proceedings can only be compared with Constantine, who was com- pletely remodeling the old empire, consolidating under one head, and strengthening with the sanctions of a new religion. Constantine felt that the old capital was permeated with traditions which he intended to break with, so he built a new city in the Christian provinces and made that the new capital. There were other motives too; the external enemy to Constantine lay in the east, and he felt it wise to have his center nearer to the dangerous frontier, at an impregnable site. Yung Lo was breaking with the tradition of the Mongols, and with their religion — they were leaning 270 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA to Christianity — and he wished to be in person near the frontier over which they had fled. So it was ex- pressly proclaimed in 1403 that the main forces, under the direct command of His Majesty, were to be can- toned near the northern boundary in order to repel possible invasion; Peking therefore would become the capital, and Nanking would revert to its previous im- portance as the mere seat of a provincial governor. If this is the chief monument to Yung Lo, yet his sepulcher also claims admiration. It is the most mag- nificent of the thirteen tombs of the Mings. His tumu- lus is like a pyramid for height; its wall incloses an amphitheater so vast that its grove of funereal pines presents the appearance of a forest. Its weather- beaten halls are supported on huge pillars of Siamese teak wood which seem to defy the tooth of time, and to suggest a doubt whether columns of marble would be equally adapted to sustain the seismic convulsions which are frequent in this region. There are bridges of granite and tablets of marble whose carved wreaths, I blush to say, are frequently defaced by occidental tourists who, like the Greek fool in our school books, desired to carry away a piece of stone as a specimen of the house. Beside these tangible repositories of Yung Lo's sa- cred dust there are two monuments which do him great honor, the Grand Encyclopedia, and a Collection of Laws. As for "the Grand Encyclopedia — the Yung Lo Ta Tien — it is — or, alas! was — the greatest literary marvel in the history of the world," says the brilliant orientalist, Mr. Lionel Giles, M.A. (of the British mm&mM%%'g & ® 271 Generals and ministers are not ready-born but self made. Museum). "I say this without the least fear of con- tradiction. Here are a few authentic figures. For a fuller account I must refer you to my father's article on the subject in the Nineteenth Century, April, 1901 (vol. 49, pp. 659). This gigantic collection of litera- ture on every conceivable subject was originally pro- duced (in MS.) at Nanking in 1408 a.d., by an imperial commission consisting of five chief directors, twenty sub-directors and no fewer than 2,169 subordi- nates. It comprised 22,877 separate parts and an in- dex of 60 parts in 11,100 bound volumes, each half an inch thick, 1 foot 8 inches long and 1 foot broad. Laid fiat one on top of another, the volumes would make a column over 460 feet in height, or considerably higher than St. Paul's Cathedral. There were, roughly, 917,- 480 pages in the whole work. Each page contains 16 columns averaging 25 characters to each, or a total of 366,992,000 characters. In 1421, the encyclopedia was transferred to Peking. The work of printing was found to be too costly, but in 1567 two complete copies were made, and the original, together with one of the copies, sent back to Nanking, where they perished by fire in 1644, at the downfall of the Ming dynasty. The other copy was housed in the Hanlin College at Pe- king, where it was destroyed by the Boxers in 1900. A few odd volumes were saved by foreigners. One of these was sent home and presented to the British Mu- seum by my brother, and two others have recently been acquired by the same institution. They are in an excellent state of preservation." 272 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA In the records of his reign there are constant ref- erences to the guard posts on the line of the Great Wall. He repaired its breaches and it is highly prob- able that many of the Martello, or spy towers, still to be seen were constructed by the Emperor Yung Lo. CHAPTER XIX The Southern Loop of the Great Wall "The tongue is soft and constantly remains in; The teeth are hard, and fall out." — Lanchow Proverb. The highest altitude reached by the Great Wall is on a pass between Liangchow and Lanchow, where ten thousand feet 1 above the tide runs the line of the Barrier. This southern loop along which we are now traveling is a deep festoon attached to the main line of the Great Barrier at Chungwei and Liangchow. The whole fabric is in ruins, considerable, and grass covered. The generation living in the day of Chin the First is called in history "The Generation of War," because fighting was constantly proceeding. When Chin as- sumed the imperial title, the employment of cavalry instead of war chariots greatly enlarged the scope of active operations. Chariots limited battles to fiat and unobstructed stretches, but with cavalry fewer places were free from attack. Thus the difficulty of guard- ing the country having increased, it was suggested that walls be erected or connected to facilitate the movement of troops and to prevent surprise, as well as for the purpose of marking clearly the northern boundary of the empire. 1 In round numbers. 18 273 274 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA It is a question how much of the present work is due to Chin. Emerson reminds us "that whenever we find a man higher by a whole head than any of his contemporaries, it is sure to come into doubt what are his real works." There were walls to three feudal states before his day, which he linked up and covered the ground from Minchow to the Gulf of Liaotung. And the many foundations traceable point to the conclu- sion that every pure Chinese dynasty has had a wall of its own against the northern foes. What we are on here is certainly not of earlier date than the Great Wall of the Mings, which follows more or less the lines traced by Chin. Between the two Chows, Liangchow and Lanchow, there is little worthy of attention, unless the traveler is seeking copper, or other valuable minerals, which abound in this rough region. Otherwise, aside from the superb scenery, there remain in the mind prominently but three objects of a special interest, the lofty pass, Wushi Ling, the medical meteor, and the Big Bar- rier, about all of which cling ancient traditions. As to the lofty pass, a temple occupies a strategic spot be- side the Great Boundary. Gods guard the Great Wall at its highest elevation above the sea. Although our visit was early in the eighth moon the winds were already cold. The old priest informed us that formerly the winds were still colder. That was a few years ago, when five ice dragons lived in the Nanshan cathedral spires, and breathed their frigid breath on the passers- by. It was a male fairy that reduced the number to two. Surely an original character in mythology! In ffi*7Wii 275 Rotten wood cannot be carved. the temple on the altar are jars containing bamboo sticks, on which are cut Chinese characters. Their use is twofold — to gather money and to fool the people. Drop ten cash in the box, pray to the mud image, pull out a stick. We did not cast cash into the box, we of- fered no petition to the hideous mud figure, but we did purchase of the keeper four of the magic pieces of wood. On two were the words "Outside the skin," and on two, "If the baby has trouble consult No. 25 and No. 21." Not having any baby we did not stop to examine the book to find what ailed it. But the Wushi Ling deserves notice in addition to its holding the Great Wall up toward the stars. It is the watershed that separates the drainage areas of the Hei Ho and the Yellow River. Black Dog evolved the following wise saying while shivering in the breath of the ice dragons: "When it is cold every person feels his own cold; but when it is hot the great family is hot." Plainly spoken the statement intended by Black Dog would read, when the weather is cold some have on warm clothing and feel it not, but when the atmosphere is hot the rich and poor are equal. We were proceeding along the great northwest road which reaches from Lan to Kashgar. Two other im- portant roads enter Lanchow, one i>om Ninghia, the other from Sining and the Koko Nor. The population from Liangchow had been sparse, but as we approached the capital it was denser. But the country would be better for pastoralists than for agriculturalists like the 276 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA Chinese. At last we came upon the white meteor, which in reality is a large white boulder, say fifteen feet in diameter, and unlike other stones or rocks above ground. The surface is worn smooth by people rubbing against it. A man was taking off chips, and we asked him questions, to which he replied, "It is a god-stone. This stone came from Kanchow, not flying, but by stages, traveling only at night. It is very precious. These chips will cure dyspepsia." We asked the rustic worshiper of the white stone if it cured dyspepsia by falling on the patient. "Grind up the chip and swal- low it with hot water." We did not do it. This so- called meteor when approached from the southeast strongly resembles a white elephant. The Great Wall following the crest of the hills comes down to Kulang and then returns to the summits for thirty li until well past this white elephant. Superstition played a big part when the Great Wall was built and not unlikely this magic boulder sent the masonry on detour. High above the white elephant, perched in an almost inaccessible cleft of the rocks, is a temple to twelve widows. One of Chin's great generals was in the region to repel an attack by the Tibetans through a near-by pass, and was about to be captured by the enemy when a dozen widows came to his rescue and led him away. Even they lost their direction till an antelope arriving on the soene offered to be their guide. The dozen widows, after this was all over, went and died, and the temple commemorates their efforts to get a man. On arrival in Lanchow, one of the important cities a ~ •< fSjt^flf 277 Like father like son. of the "Empire of the Center," our caravan was ex- tended a cordial greeting by Messrs. Andrew and Preedy and their households of the English mission. And here we met once again, after six years, Detective Moore, a man of genius who possesses a real scent for criminals and who had before him a still more brilliant career than his past, although it was his skill and integ- rity that caught the arch criminals of Shanghai and un- earthed and abolished one of the most successful and dangerous gangs of robbers in the whole history of the coast of China. Moore has left his fine career and good pay to become a missionary at a salary far less than he was receiving, and infinitely less than he would by this time have had at his command. This fearless, heroic son of Anak will do vigorous work as a propa- gandist and will have at least one great advantage of not being fooled by the oriental duplicity which sur- rounds every missionary worker in the Far East. An honest and exceptionally brilliant detective like Moore might have served his generation and his Master in that capacity. And yet, who can name the future? Clough, the gifted engineer, resigned his profession for missionary work in India, and when a famine came sug- gested its arrest. His canal scheme was adopted by the government, and saved thousands of lives, dough's friends called him a fool for quitting engineering for heathen-converting efforts, but the last proved the first. The decision to follow conscience was right. But the great detective was not the only old friend met here, for John Gwadey, as lively as ever, turned 278 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA up with a dog and a tale. The latter was a story of a grave in the Great Wall. "Sixty li toward sunrise is the P'inting shan, where Shu Fan Wang and his an- cestors of many generations lie buried in lucky spots. The old men say that in the reign of Tao Kuang, of this present dynasty, no rain fell in all this region, and because of the failure of the wheat and vegetable harvests people were starving. Clods of earth turned into rats, men ate men, and parents exchanged their children and ate them. "In the seventh moon, man and wife, living in the P'ingting Mountains, were busy, in their native village, catching rats for food. While thus engaged a large snake appeared. Li, the husband, seized a shovel and made after the tasty morsel, but it escaped into a hole. When the sun was nearly even with the west, wearied by the labors of the day, they rested before starting new work. Bemoaning the escape of the snake, they were overjoyed to see its head show up in the scorched grass. With fresh vigor the two dug hard and fast to unearth the reptile, but after digging down six feet, a stone door confronted them. It was night, and they rested. "Early in the morning, with the assistance of neigh- bors, and after further excavations, the mysterious door was wrenched open; it disclosed a long arched passage along which the party passed cautiously. After five hundred paces they were stopped by another and a stronger stone door, on the lintel and door posts of which were inscriptions, saying that it opened into the grave of Fan Ching Wang. Having forced an en- n & & t§ a a 279 An oppressive government is worse than a fierce tiger. trance they found themselves in a connected cave a li long. When once well in this gallery a dread fell on the party, their bodies became cold and a hasty retreat to open air resulted. On deliberation they decided to take lamps and reenter. "After proceeding over a mile underground through a carefully cut tunnel, a well was reached; down this the party descended to the bottom by stone stairs and entered another uncanny tunnel, which they followed for two miles, till a third stone door impeded farther progress. On either side of the portal were ancient characters. This door also was forced and admitted the workmen into a cave excavated in the solid rock, meas- uring ten feet wide, seven feet high and extending for more than fifty tens of feet. This was a palace consist- ing of five rooms, without doors or windows. In the midst stood a table of solid gold on which were costly articles of design. Behind the table stood a bedstead built of precious stones, and on either side of the golden table were three coffins. "Afraid to molest the caskets of the dead, the party entered still another cavern to the left of the golden table, wherein stood two iron carts curiously engraved. These also they left as the roadway would hardly let them out. But on the other side a door led into another cavern which contained a trough of gold and silver ingots. With a triumphant shout of joy that sounded strange in that erstwhile silent chamber of the dead, each greedily helped himself to the treasure that glit- tered in the light of their torches. 280 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA "When the superior magistrate learned of the find he weighed the precious metal that was left, and re- ported two hundred thousand ounces of gold, a great amount of silver, and bushels of precious stones. All of this by order of the emperor was distributed in grain to the starving multitudes." Gwadey paused ofter this tale, meditated, and instead of a mere hope that such wonders would recur, deliv- ered himself of the surprising opinion: "The snake led the way, but was not Heaven directing it ? Strange, strange, this grave connected with a stone gallery that opened into the Great Wall." Poor old John Gwadey held firmly to the belief in a kind Providence. In his darkened mind was this ray of light. May other rays soon penetrate there. The closing words of "Helen" spring to mind: The gods perform what least we could expect, And oft the things for which we fondly hoped Come not to pass ; but Heaven still finds a clue To guide our steps through life's perplexing maze, And thus does this important business end. Fifteen thousand families reside in lofty Lanchow, the capital of Kansu, which has a varying elevation of four thousand to twenty thousand feet. An excep- tionally large shifting population furnishes a difficulty for the missionaries who are laboring zealously. Fort Ticonderoga was taken because the assailants directed many impacts at the same spot and addressed their iron to a limited circle, but with men here to-day and away to-morrow the perpetual hammering on one conscience mn?if$ 28i One does not lose by asking his way. which is advisable, cannot obtain. Nevertheless the Christianizing of the Chinese proceeds without abatement. Here the ancient and modern are mixed, the supersti- tions of the past and the progress of the present. We felt inclined to take a census of the public idols of the city, and to that end employed an educated and reliable gentleman, who, after w T eeks of work, furnished these interesting figures : Temples and ancestral halls number one hundred and seventy-four, idol shrines ninety-three, and public idols two thousand four hundred and twenty. Out of ten parts of land six parts are given to raising tobacco! There are twenty-four government schools and a real effort is making to modernize the education. Along the forty-two streets are found letter-boxes, a new dozen just going up as we passed by, and four banks do the exchange business of the city. Two thou- sand four hundred and twenty public idols! There is also a sacred tree worthy of mention, over eight hundred years old, and associated with Genghis Khan. It is on the Tsangmen Kwan and has a god living inside it. Beside the tree is an altar, on which incense is constantly burning. The old man opened a secret door and showed the heart of the tree; in the hollow was a vile-smelling liquid. "This is the life juice or essence of the tree; this tree will cure any kind of a disease." All you have to do is to go there, burn incense, knock your head on the ground, drink some of the tree juice, pay a few cash, and you are a new man. Smell the juice and the most incredulous will admit a kill or a cure. Pasted 282 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA over the tree and for yards at the side are eight hundred red placards of silk and satin covered with characters, hung there by the cured. From the old tree we went along a main street to the new bridge, joining Golden Hill to Lanchow. The American engineer, Coltman, 1 who is in charge of the three hundred Chinese, building a steel truss bridge across the Yellow River to take the place of the world- renowned bridge of boats, is doing an epoch-marking piece of work. He well knows how to use a padded crowbar when dealing with the Chinese. For instance, while putting down one of the steel pneumatic caissons, it got under the dragon's tail and that was the reason why a drought occurred. This superstition did not, however, impede the work, for the viceroy bade Colt- man and Dello proceed and he himself would undertake to look after the dragon's tail. The bridge contract calls for one hundred and sixty-five thousand taels and the government will also transport the materials from the railroad to Lanchow. The machine shop is in the tem- ple of the river god, and the big city temple is used for storing the superstructure. At first it was suggested that a blacksmith's shop in the City God Temple showed irreverence to the spirits of the temple, but a diplomatic arrangement provided for the spirits and the work has proceeded with remarkable agility. Here the old and new are side by side. The old bridge is composed of twent}^-four wooden boats lashed to piles by twelve straw cables six inches in diameter, and two iron chains fastened to iron posts. The bridge 'Robert Coltman, 3rd, B. A., C. E. nmmw-^mm^ 283 The stoat only bites the sick duck. of boats is sixty years old and must be removed in the winter and replaced in the spring. During the winter the ice is crossed, but when a break-up occurs a danger- ous ferry is used. The piers of the new steel bridge go down to sandstone and the contract calls for the bridge to be kept there by the bridge company for a hundred years, unless the dragon destroys it, when the company shall not be held responsible ! Here at Lanchow are two of the wonders of the land, the Yellow River and the Great Wall. The one is a marvel of nature — a river thousands of miles long, not fit for navigation, hardly for irrigation, always flooding the land, China's Sorrow. The other is a marvel of science — a Wall hundreds of miles long, not meant for decoration, hardly for renovation, always defending the land, China's Bulwark. Here they meet — the Wall at its most southerly point — and intersect one another. Half the river lies within, and half without the massive Rampart. For centuries the incompetence of engineers or the carelessness of the people or the corruption of contractors, has allowed the river to be a scourge to the land ; for centuries the Wall has stood as a token that a far-seeing ruler can command competent engineers and faithful workers. When shall the skill that built the Wall be applied to control the river? Here at Lanchow the two compel a contrast; when shall the lesson from the one be applied to the other, that the river may de- velop as the Wall has protected ? CHAPTER XX China before the Great Wall Here we stand at the southern point of intersection of the Great Wall and the Great River of the North. On one side stretch the plains of Mongolia, on the other the fertile fields of the laborious Chinese. We imagine ourselves transferred to the epoch of the Builder where we can look backward and forward. Looking backward with our eyes turned to the south we behold the rise of the Chinese Empire and the development of its culture. Twenty centuries in the past loom up before us and through their dim perspective we seem to perceive a growing multitude moving forward under four different banners. The first bears on its ample folds the name Republic ; the second, the Throne ; and the other two likewise have the Throne emblazoned as the chief object that strikes the vision, but each with in- signia of its own. What signifies the marvelous device of a Republic! Does it mean that the people have a share in their own government or what peculiar oriental signification can it possess? A voice comes out of the past and answers the question. It is that of the vener- able Yao, "I live for my people; the state exists for their benefit." Such was the theory during the period of one hundred and sixty years over which extend the three reigns of Yao, Shun and Yii. 1 1 Yao's reign lasted one hundred and two years, Shun's fifty, but Yii's only eight. 284 W**JBA*»&£JlJft 285 Rain and dew are mercies, so are ice and frost. Yao was the father of his people. When he heard them singing and boasting of their independence be- cause they lived by their own labor he rejoiced to be forgotten! But so far from forgetting them, he early chose for his successor a man who would continue his policy; and set aside his own son, who was imbecile or worthless. He did not accept the new candidate with- out careful inquiry into his antecedents. "What has he to recommend him?" was the question addressed to his ministers. Their unanimous reply was, "This young man has had a hard experience in his own family, con- stantly persecuted by a cruel stepmother (tristis no- verca) t a jealous brother, and a father not only blind of eye but still more blinded in his heart, who made himself an instrument of perpetual persecution. Yet Shun bore it all with unresisting patience. Often was he heard while at work in the fields to lift his voice in solemn appeal to Heaven, but never did he utter a mur- mur in the hearing of father or mother. Gradually both parents and his brother, touched by his affection and dutiful forbearance, ceased from annoying him, and soon after stood up for him and eventually they all be- came united in one common bond of affection." "Glorious victory," exclaimed the old monarch. "If he can do that for all the families of my people he shall be my successor. But he has no wife and children him- self; he has shown his qualities as a son and a brother, he has yet to be proved as a husband and a father. Here are my two daughters." To increase the severity of the trial he was given both of them at once. So the 286 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA young man was taken, like Cincinnatus, from the plow 1 as an apprentice to an emperor. Enough to say he stood the trial to the perfect satisfaction of the old monarch, and after an apprenticeship of twenty-eight years, he was adopted as the heir to the throne. A great flood occurred in the reign of Yao, B.C. 2297, unprecedented in the history of China. The Yellow River had become obstructed in its course. And the waters rose threatening over the plains, and in the lan- guage of the ancient book, "They climbed the sides of the mountains and seemed to threaten heaven itself." Who shall deal with these unruly streams ? The answer was, "Here is Kuan, a man of skill and ability." Kuan made the trial without success, and he was set aside. Again the question came, "Who shall take his place and bear the burdens of so huge a task?" The ministers replied, "Who but his son, the energetic youth?" Yii's efforts proved more successful. He spent nine years in the great task, during which in his voyages from north to south, he three times passed his own door with- out entering. "That," said Shun, "is the man for me. My son has no such talents. The throne shall descend to the man who saved the people from the flood." Thus Yu became the successor in the monarchical Republic, and nobly did he exercise his high office. Al- ways holding himself accessible to his people, he sus- pended a bell at the door of his palace, or hut if you choose to call it so, and any one who wished to see him could obtain an instant interview. Whilst partaking 1 Yet his father is said to have been a descendant of the Emperor Chuan Hsu. Shun is one of the twenty-four examples of filial piety. lltwft 287 Old ginger is the most pungent of one meal, says the Chinese writer, he "would three times leave the table to answer the questions of his peo- ple, and sometimes rush out of the house with his long locks grasped in his hands without taking time to comb or braid them." Yii, the great engineer, the model of diligence, the third in the series of self-forgetting monarchs who lived only for their people, became the first who established a new type of monarchy. He transmitted his throne to a worthy son, laying thus the foundation of a dynasty which lasted over five hundred years, but with many unworthy successors. Its general character, though not one of cruel despotism, was that of a master towards a nation of slaves. Things went from bad to worse until, the condition of the people becoming unendurable, an avenger appeared on the scene in the person of Ch'eng T'ang; 1 a new dynasty was the result which lasted for a longer period. During this period something like a feudal system began to manifest itself, great barons exercising more or less sway within their own prin- cipalities. It was not, however, until 1120 B.C. that the feudal idea took shape in its fullest and most perfect form. This was under the famous dynasty of Chou. It began with a Regent 2 in whom appeared an unselfish ruler who has become the ideal of succeeding regencies, Chou 1 "T'ang the Completer" or "the Successful." 2 The founders of the dynasty were Wen Wang and his son Wu Wang. It was during the minority of the latter's son, Ch'eng Wang, that Chou Kung (his uncle) itcted as Regent. ; 288 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA Kung the famous Duke of Chou, regarded as amongs the sages of the Empire. The tenure of the land during this period was a emblem of the state. The fields were square, inter sected by two lines east and west and two lines north and south, thus making nine divisions; the central sec- tion belonged to the state and taxes were paid by cul- tivating that portion for the public treasury. So loyal were the people that they lifted their heads to the rising clouds and prayed to Heaven, "Send your first showers down on our central plot, and then let a few drops fall on our own." The Kingdom was laid out on the same plan, the royal domain occupying the central position surrounded by the fiefs of feudal barons. As Con- fucius describes it, "Just as the north star sits on his throne while all the other stars revolve around it." The well-known name of Middle Kingdom for the empire of China, which should be Central Kingdom, is derived from this source. In this designation there is no allu- sion to the supposed map of the earth but only to the distribution of the feudal states with reference to the central throne. Another early name for China is Chung- yiian, "Central Plain," which apparently refers to the great fertile plain of Honan. Confucius, on another occasion, expressed his enrap- tured admiration for the feudal system in language no less emphatic. Speaking of the development of the previous dynasties, when asked what will be the form of government in coming generations he replied, "For a hundred generations to come the form can be no other than the present." Yet this was one of the wise man's A & * *• W * *' ■* «'•■ 289 Men do not live a hundred years, yet harbour the griefs of a thousand. limitations. For to our wider view it is apparent that a feudal government is necessarily unstable. During the latter part of the long tenure of the Chous, the Central Monarch lost control of his unruly princes, be- coming merely a figurehead clothed with priestly func- tions, and loudly complaining that the barons had ceased to consult him except when a sacrifice to heaven became necessary. Under these circumstances wars and conflicts between the several states became inevit- able, and for two centuries internecine strife was the prevailing characteristic of the times, which were hap- pily terminated by the system of consolidation intro- duced by the builder of the Great Wall. It was during the third dynasty that the Chinese mind began to exhibit its greatest intellectual activity. As we look back again through the mist of ages three venerable figures emerge from the darkness, those of Lao Tzti, Confucius, and Mencius. The first was founder of the Taoist system which has exerted an immense influence on the condition of China past and present. The second was author of China's ethical sys- tem, embracing the individual, the family, and the state. The third was renovator and apostle of the teachings of his great master Confucius. Lao Tzu signifies "the Old Master," so called because he was the senior of Confucius and because Confucius sought light and knowledge from him. 1 His specula- 1 When Lao Tzii died, Confucius was still a young and practically unknown man. The alleged meeting of the two philosophers, as told in the Historical Record, carries no conviction and is almost certainly a later invention. 19 290 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA tions were, however, too wild and fanciful to suit the taste of a practical mind like that of Confucius, and seemed to have had no influence whatever in giving shape to the doctrines of the latter. The doctrines of the Tao Te Ching which go by his name are higher, purer and more idealistic than the so-called Taoist re- ligion. The central idea of later Taoism is the acqui- sition of such a power over material nature as to enable man to transform the elements at will, and to become transformed himself into an immortal; it soon degen- erated into a mass of jugglery and fraud. Perhaps the noble conceptions of Lao Tzu may be grasped and resuscitated under the influence of Christianity and true science. Among the followers of the Taoist sect the control of the elements was directed toward alchemy, the literal making of gold! In these researches their aspirations for personal immortality led them to turn their backs on human society, and resort to ascetic dis- cipline as well as to occult artifices and jugglery. A Chinese poet well describes their spirit and aim in words like these: "A prince the draught immortal went to seek And finding it he soared above the spheres. In mountain caverns he had spent a week: Of human time it was a thousand years." Sorcery and witchcraft naturally became engrafted in a stock so congenial to their spirits. The Taoist sect have consequently had through all these ages a mo- nopoly in the way of incantations and theurgy. The demon world is regarded as subject to their control. m & % m m m & m a m 291 Where no money is spent there no grace is gained. They have a high priest who dwells in a kingly palace on the top of a mountain in Kiangsi ; he professes to be able on any complaint from any part of the empire, even though it should come from the extremity of the Great Wall, to capture an unruly demon and hold him prisoner. All this, be it understood, for a fee, which realizes the Taoist idea of making gold ! Less imaginative and more thoroughly constructive 1 in the cast of his mind, Confucius from his early years set his heart on the regeneration of human society. This he sought to effect by securing the patronage of the feudal princes of his day. The Duke of Lu, his own native state, employed the wise man to recast his admin- istration. Things ran smoothly for three months when a neighboring prince, as Chinese authors say, for the very purpose of counteracting his influence sent to the prince a bevy of dancing girls. The philosopher was thrown into the shade and in disgust he threw up his commission and sought the patronage of other princes. Happily for posterity not one among the princes of the empire was willing to listen to him. Under these circumstances he gave himself up to the work of teach- ing, editing and composing those text-books 2 which x Not so in one sense. Confucius truly said of himself: "My function is to indicate rather than to originate." And again: "I am but one who loves antiquity and is earnest in the study of it." 2 His sayings, known as the Confucian Analects, in which his ethical system is set forth, were not written down until a generation or two after his death. He edited some of the classics — the Book of Changes, the Book of Poetry, and perhaps the Book of History, — but the only work actually composed by him is the Ch'un ch'in, Spring and Autumn Annals of the Lu state, a very dry record of the barest facts. 292 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA have rendered his name immortal and his influence pro- found. The purest system of non-Christian ethics that the world has seen, they exhibit no feature of striking originality. Human relations are set forth generally in their true character with the advantage of combin- ing the conciseness of proverbial philosophy with the literary finish of an elegant writer. The doctrines have accordingly been treasured in the memories of the youth in schools for seventy generations. Confucius showed himself deeply conscious of responsibility to God, whom he called Heaven. But he inculcated no system of re- ligion. It is an error to speak of "the Confucian religion," as he confined his teachings solely to the duties of the present life. It was in consequence of the vacancy left by the omission of any religious element, that Buddhism succeeded so easily in finding a footing in China. Mencius, more fortunate than his great master who had lived nearly two hundred years earlier, was wel- come at the courts of princes. He propagated his doctrine with courage and with eloquence, upholding everywhere the principle that "honesty is the best policy" and that unselfish virtue has its own reward. One cannot refrain from heaving a sigh that the thou- sands of scholars who repeat his words by rote have no conception of his spirit. Among the mandarins of China some have learned his great lesson that "honesty is the best policy." Appreciating the excellence of the teachings of the Confucian school, we regret that they have never been able to penetrate the mind of China thoroughly, or to Qtttfmfo&mwfWfmn 293 Do no wrong by day and you will fear no demon knocking at your door by night. effect the regeneration of which their authors dreamed. The builder of the Great Wall and his masterly minister looked upon them as positively mischievous. Did they not consecrate feudal misgovernment as the ne plus ultra of human wisdom and would it not be impossible to wipe out that objectionable system as long as these books maintained their supremacy in the schools of China? Hence the burning of the books and the slaughter of the scholars. And never since have those teachings regained their influence. Chin performed a service for his nation which in the age of modern scholarship, now just dawn- ing, will be appreciated. CHAPTER XXI The Three Chins Don't adjust your shoes in a melon patch, Or straighten your hat under a plum tree. Chinese Proverb. Our design to visit Chinchow was prospered beyond the expectation of the most hopeful. The journey from Lanchow ran through a brigand-infested region, but we saw none; the days were rainy, but we were not bogged ; the loess landscapes were lively, but except for a muleteer falling and several mules slipping, no acci- dent occurred. The muleteers were of exceptional merit, or were in an exceptionally good mood owing to a vigorous lec- ture. As a rule, missionaries are worse treated here than other travelers. On the principle that "a gentle horse is easy to ride; an honest man easy to cheat," the very kindness and long-suffering of the missionary causes him to be imposed upon. But as true kindness does not consist in letting every man do as he likes, the wise Preedy of Lanchow gave these men a manly talk; then there was no need for correction, nor even of a word of punishment from me all the way. Mules appear to be reverenced here. We passed a temple where a Golden Mule used to be on exhibit ; but a foreigner visited it, and no one since has beheld the 294 tf I ffi Vj E 295 Slow work makes a skilled workman. Golden Mule, while the good luck of the valleys dis- appeared also. Three places bear the name of the Great Emperor: Chinan, Chinchia Tsui, Chinchow; two of these we visited. 1 We hunted for the ancestral home of the Chins, and also for any surviving relations of the hero. This expedition led us over seven mountains where, despite some "starved ignoble nature," most things seemed to have no hard struggle for life. Trees might be scarce and stunted, but the farms indicated industry, thrift and bounteous harvests. The peculiar landscape of the loess suggested a land of amphitheaters, one be- ing large enough to seat the whole ten millions of Kansu. At Chinchia Tsui, some twenty li north of Chinan, dwell many families named Chin; some "make the fields," some are scholars. Within the four square walls of Chinan dwell one thousand families and nearly as many more in the suburbs. Some are descendants of Chin. A leading clothier of this kin was invited to call on us at the Inn of Perpetual Peace, but he hesitated and finally stayed away. The conduct of Adam, as reported in the region where we are now writing, is worthy of loud and long applause. The ancestors of Chin were rich and his descendants are prosperous. That they have held their position in the social and political world so well speaks for the ability transmitted to them and by them improved for J The imperial post spelling is Tsinan, Tsinkia Tsui, Tsinchow, Kan. 296 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA "the descendants of an emperor sink a degree in the social scale in every generation, until they reach the rank of the common people." Black Dog has described the journey to Chinan and to my surprise has made exceptional advancement in exact and valuable observation as the following extract will testify: "This day was truly bitter. The heavens fell rain one day and did not cease. A cold wind blew until our bones were numb and sour! The road was muddy and the hills steep. Once, not watch feet, it meant a summersault, enough to make one laugh. "When we reached Chinan I walked in the street. Speak- ing of men they were not dirty, speaking of houses they were clean. "The five grains that were being cultivated in the fields were all complete. The fruit-wood was all very liberal. The men were correct and the land rich. This is the kind of place of which it might be said, 'the country is peaceful and the people at rest.' "On the new books of Chinan from the eighteenth year of Tao Kuang to the present there were doors, i.e. families, 1,395. There were mouths, 18,523. Inc. public and pri- vate land, 88,532 acres. Paid Summer taxes each year, 26,015 bushels; paid Fall taxes, 28,182 and more bushels; straw, 4,766 bundles ; mulberry trees, 2,679. Duties on iron, 2,000 catties ; on copper, 67 catties ; tin, 45 catties ; lead, 50 catties ; beeswax, 80 catties ; madder, 40 catties ; white powder, 5 catties ; red coloring, 3 catties ; 2 oz. red tassels, 70 catties ; goatskins, 40 pieces ; goat horns, 70 catties; deer skins, 90 pieces; cow horns, 5^/2 catties ; glue, 130 catties; sheep, 35 ; silver, 130 ounces. All these were sent to the Board of Revenue and Ceremonies, Peking. But there were 5 fur garments sent to the Provincial Treasurer. m j- - 1 tfe j® - w A word is enough for a wise man, and a flick of the ■whip for a fleet horse. 297 "The productions are corn, millet, wheat, hemp, buck- wheat, mustard, celery and other cereals and vegetables. Near the city watermelons grow. Flowers — tulip, peony, cinnamon, solid bamboo, chrysanthemum, many grasses and medicines, ten and more fruits, many birds and animals, panthers, wolf, deer, fox, hare, etc." That the first man made his first appearance near Chinchow in the Valley of Red Peppers is strongly held by the populace. Now it fortunately fell to the lot of our caravan to pass through the Hot Valley en Dragon body, man's head. Drum in the Stomach. Thunder strikes extravagant persons, hence a coolie will not step on a grain of rice. route from Chinan to Chinchow. Located thirty li from the latter city, and known locally as the Valley of the Three Lights, by us remembered as the Vale of Red 298 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA Peppers, is the celebrated temple built in honor of Fu Hsi, "the first ruler of Chinese legendary history. The period commonly assigned to the beginning of his reign is B.C. 2852. He instructed the people in the arts of hunting, fishing and pasturage. He invented the eight diagrams, established the laws of marriage, and con- structed musical instruments." Let this be fiction, nevertheless the story is here unconsciously told of the secret of China's everlasting life. The Great Wall was built by an endless race. But why endless? The black-robed Chin "established the laws of marriage." And then made organs. The establishing of the family life was the beginning of the nation's eternal life! The history goes on to say: "In that golden age the rulers needed but to be expert in the use of the instruments to assure peace and perfect harmony in every part." Crime was then unknown, locks and bars were unnecessary, travelers slept by the wayside as securely as at home, not even taking the pre- caution of covering their purses. Such is the power of harmony! The exalting of the family idea must ac- count largely for the continued existence of this vast empire. It is easily seen that present peoples who slight the family life are fast becoming extinct! The local name of Fu Hsi is "Ancestor of Mankind." His image is attired in a skirt of fig leaves. His wife is believed to be hiding in a cave near by, dissatisfied with the fig-leaf skirt! This temple is held to contain the original of the Eight Diagrams. No one has ever fully explained them and the persons who have tried to do so get as far as saying : "The explanation of the whole * it ffi * m 5C * 29 9 The biggest hand cannot hide the heavens. thing is," when the words freeze on their lips and they sink down dead! Through the Valley of the Three Lights flow two rivers. On the soft mud between these rivers the first man is said to have experimented in making the com- plicated ideographs of the Chinese. This is where the puzzling characters began and since that no one man has ever learned all about them. A "rain of grain" occurred when the characters were traced in the mud of Red Pepper Valley and the demons ran away. It does not stand alone in the royal records of the celestials. But this was no doubt responsible for the sarcastic promise of The Only First when in speak- ing to Tah, son of Prince Hsi, detained as hostage in the state of Ch'in, the First Emperor promised to release him when it rained grain, when crows had white heads, and when horses had horns ... all of which the historian says came to pass ; according to the royal word he was released. Later there is a rain of cash reported. One Hsiung Kun, censor, lost his wealth; reduced to poverty, he prayed for rain of cash, which fell for three days and enabled him to provide decent burial for his father. More credible is the rain of hail in the days of Fei Tsz, the horse breeder of Chin, when cattle and horses were slain and the Yangtze was frozen. Near the bank of the larger river in whose mud were the characters, and at the foot of Temple Hill, is a smooth stone with two grooves made by the Chinese Eve when washing her husband's clothes. This shows that fig leaves were not the only attire; and indeed one legend 300 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA tells that the Chinese Adam confined himself to them in order that others might have the right to wear clothes • — a sort of vicarious suffering. There is, however, an alternative reason assigned for this scant attire, that he lost all his clothes in the flood! What an historical lo- cality ! the first organ factory ; the first writing ; the first Eight Diagrams; the first farming; the first marriage; The Only First! This is astonishingly romantic and ancient. At the foot of the Hill of Eight Diagrams stands a small native Christian church built and supported wholly by native money. The leader of this Christian community is a well-to-do doctor who is plotting to di- vert the funds expended on a theater in honor of Adam to the opening of a public school for the benefit of the villagers. From the days of the First Chin this region has been a hotbed of superstition. Strange tales are told of demon possession. One of these is vouched for by the English missionaries at Chinchow, who assert that this sort of demoniacal display came only after the arrival of gospel teachers. The whole affair is so uncanny and unusual that we venture to put one instance thus on record, all the information coming from unquestioned sources, and no comment of our own being added. "One moon ago the doctor was called to see an old man of seventy-five, who developed signs of demon possession during the night: For a long period the patient stood on his head on the hong, with his feet up the wall, stretched to their utmost length. He had al- ways been a respectable gentleman. The doctor arrived mn*ti&nxm 301 When the flight is not high the fall is not heavy and preached to the bystanders and then told the old man's son that if he would kneel down he would pray for the patient. This done, the demon was commanded to leave the patient. The victim now lay on the brick bed with arms tossing and eyes rolling wildly and said: "I am going to fight a battle with you to-day!" This excited Dr. Footstep, who shouted: "Fight with me if you dare. The Lord conquered you on the cross, and will now." Then placing the patient in a sitting pos- ture, a great fear came over the physician, w r ho called: "Lord, help! Help!" Whereupon the fear left him and the old man turned and said: "When is Jesus com- ing?" The doctor replied: "I do not know, but when He does He will bind you and fling you into the bottom- less pit." The reply was, "I know it." But the old man did not know it. He knew nothing about the Lord Jesus coming to earth again. The doctor then commanded the demons in the name of Him who died on the cross to be gone. And they went, leaving the patient frightfully weak." We reluctantly left the Valley of Red Peppers and went into the city of Chinchow, whose origin was on this wise. People condemned for picking turnips that did not belong to them were sent there from Nanking to repeople the region which had lost its population and in the meantime had become a vast forest. In remote ages a dense population seems to have inhabited this country, and many great battles have been fought in the neighborhood. It seems certain that western China had a highly developed civilization when there was in- 302 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA tellectual darkness farther east in Asia. The city has been variously named by the different ages. It was known as "Heavenly Water" and then in the Han dynasty, as "The Imperial City," when it was the capital of the Duke of Wei, the Little Duke. The original name of Chin was dropped by the influence of the lit- erati after Chin burned the books and buried alive the scholars. Like many eastern cities, this has been rebuilt more than once on rather different sites. To begin with, the prognosticator fixed on a lucky spot thirty li from the present town. A sheep was sacrificed, its head placed on a flag-staff to mark the site, and building operations were begun. But perhaps some one was disappointed at finding no unearned increment accrue to his lord; anyhow, one morning the flag-staff was not to be seen. On search it was discovered ten miles up the valley, and the omen was accepted that they must follow the flag. The ancient site, or village of Ch'en, is supposed to be the ancestral home of the Chins. But one night a flying hill came on a visit, and effectually blotted out the whole village. This tale may be a vivid account of a real earthquake; but the old village is as effectually obsolete as Sodom. The Imperial City would give more trouble to get rid of in this way ; it was on a hill, northeast of the present town. The moderns still quarry in the ruins and dig up pottery or old iron; one old Christian excavated a bar of iron which he threw under a corn bin, but noticing a glow he hauled it out and scraped it; it proved to be gold. — a m & sr ± m & 303 When two men's minds shall agree, common earth will golden be. The present city is an agglomeration of five, each complete with its walls and gates, so that the general ground plan is of a boat with a rowlock projecting on either side. Ten li to the west dwell the descendants of the miller who ground flour for the founders; by im- perial decree they pay no taxes. This is fortunate, as the children here have a strange appetite for other food, the Po hsi or white earth from the flying hill or the sliding mountain. The Chinchow children nibble the window-sills on which they lean, and the beds on which they sleep. As one young lady says: "I cannot stop eat- ing it." Some develop a taste for ashes or charcoal; the indulgence in or the craving for the earth turns them an earthy color, till they die. If the children have one morbid custom, the parents have another. They con- sider it an insult to Mother Earth to bury a child under two years of age; so the frail little body is consigned to the fire in the hong, and serves to warm the brick bed on which the family sleeps. Black Dog's diary on Chinchow says: "I read a day (i.e. kept the Sabbath) then on the eigh- teenth sun of the ninth moon we took up our bodies, arose on the road, and arrived at Chinchow before the sun was even with the west. Chinchow may be considered a place with an ancient name. It was said that this place has six sights. In the ancient times it was a place with a name ; to-day it also is a place with a name. We saw the land-earth wealthy and thick, the inhabitants careful, the mountain water nourishing the land, perpetually having power. On the day of our arrival this place was repairing the Wall and erecting the T'ai Shan Temple; truly a beauty of oil 304 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA painting, a sight worth seeing. The head of the managers had in his bosom the subscription book! Every door and every shop must subscribe. On it was written 'Ten thousand good deeds gather together here.' "We see that the men who worship the idol-gods do not offer money to repair temples out of a good intention. It is not more than asking by force and carelessly giving. Alas ! contributing money and erecting temples is no more than wasting substance and in vain occupying a piece of good ground. "Again strolling at the Gemmy Fountain Temple I saw above it a large writing saying 'The Gate of Heaven.' On the street there were many persimmons, walnuts, cotton goods, pears and such things." Many legends declaring emphatically that large numbers of men were buried in the Great Wall have led us here in the ancestral home of the builder to make inquiries. That a wide-spread custom of the sort pre- vailed at certain periods in remote ages is unquestioned. The Fijians, Dyaks, Indians, Aztecs, and Africans practise similar sacrificial rites. The reason was never far to find, to propitiate evil spirits and to attract good luck, as well as to inaugurate the victim into the mys- teries of a spirit policeman! "In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in (on or upon) his first-born." "In the German exca- vation at Megiddo there was found under a tower the skeleton of a young girl deposited in such a way as to leave no doubt that it was essentially connected with the foundation of the building. We cannot take seriously, however, the Chinchow legend, which relates with every horror of detail the story of how the taskmasters put * $& ^ m m i* m 305 Water may run in a thousand channels, but all returns to the sea. lime into the food of the workmen to induce less eat- ing and finally, death, in order that their bodies might be thrown into the Wall to appease the general and local gods, including the whole host of evil spirits which might be expected to attend in unheard-of numbers when a fabric so vast was being erected, to prevent their coming out of the north to feed and fatten their un- earthly presences on the souls south of the boundary line. Superstition played a great part in the making of the Northern Rampart, for the Wall mysteriously mounts to the loftiest summits, dives into the deepest ravines, twists and squirms in such an altogether unnec- essary fashion, that we have been put to our wits' end to explain the performance. Had the military engineers of that warlike day alone designed a stable and effective fortification in the north to resist assaults of hardy horsemen, then certainly many towers and connecting walls on wholly inacces- sible precipices would have been omitted, — unless those ancient warriors were familiar with the fall of Sardis and similar military feats. We must seek beyond the plans of army experts for the reasons that brought this strange, stalwart "titanic fence" into evidence in a fenceless land. We have confirmed our opinion that "Wise Men" ordered the curves and contortions of the Wall of Chin. They doubtless consulted constellations, skulls, and a score of uncanny divining devices. Indeed, should the history of the devil be written it would likely contain a highly surprising and interesting chapter on the Great Wall. 20 CHAPTER XXII Medieval China: since Chins Great Wall to the Present Dynasty By medieval we mean the period extending from the dynasty of Chin, who created China, to the accession of the Manchus who conquered it. From a Chinese point of view it is all comprehended in "modern history," the Great Wall being the dividing line in chronology as it is in geography. A marked change took place in the leading aspects of Chinese life, no less than in the sys- tem of government. The scepter fell from the nerve- less hand of Chin Erh Shih, the son of the tyrant; even had he possessed the talents of his father, they would not have served to prolong his reign. An irri- tated and vengeful populace rose in all the provinces to expel a government under which they had suffered untold miseries. Many chiefs fought for power, no one distinctly aiming at the throne. At length Liu Pang of P'ei (in modern Kiangsu) made himself conspicuous and sought the reins of empire. He was almost wholly illiterate, but a man of native genius, capable of broad views, possessed of indomitable perseverance, heroic courage, and withal, a great share of human kindness. After more than ten years of conflict, he became ac- knowledged as the founder of a new dynasty and was canonized by the title of Han Kao Tsu, "the High An- cestor of the House of Han," as the name signified. He 306 Irrigating wheels in the Yellow River. Hoisting the water slightly higher than the fields, it is led to the desired points by shallow trenches The Great Wall of China Photos by Dr. Geil An Evangelist of the China Inland Mission who labors near the Great Wall m - m m m - u m * m % ™ Each blade of grass has its own dew drop. originated on the banks of the river of that name, and his dynasty became so conspicuous that it has become the native name for the whole empire, which to outsiders recalls his predecessor, Chin. Even at the present day, when Manchus and Chinese are spoken of in contra- distinction to each other, they are described as "Man and Han," and the people are known as the sons of Han. A strong man is described by them as Hao Han Tzu, "a good son of Han." One of his ministers suggested to the emperor that now was the time to re-open the schools and to give a stimulus to education. "What do I want with schools?" replied the emperor, "I got the empire on horseback." Said the minister, "True, through your own valor, but can you govern the empire on horseback, and by your sword alone?" Not much, however, was accomplished in the way of culture until the next reign, when a dili- gent search was made for the books which had been destroyed. Some were found hidden away in the cran- nies of old walls, and others were reproduced from the memory of old scholars. But after all that could be done, there were great gaps in the continuity of the Confucian classics, so much so that when the western scholar speaks of far-reaching discovery as unknown to China, the Chinese scholar replies, "Ah, but that must have been well known in ancient times, and the books that treated of it were burned up." Such is the explana- tion which they are prone to give for China's failure to keep pace with the world in scientific progress. So pathetic was their reliance on books until lately, that 308 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA even when Confucius says, "The progress of knowl- edge depends on the study of nature," we find a note by the commentator, "the treatise on the Study of Na- ture was lost." The books were restored, but the Confucian ideal of government never reappeared. It was obliterated as completely as if his chapters in praise of feudal govern- ment had never risen from their ashes. The wise founders of the new dynasty appreciated the wisdom of the great conqueror in welding the provinces to- gether as a unit, and binding them, as by a chain of iron, with the Great Wall itself. Yet beyond that Barrier the hostile power of the north had also made progress. The Tartars had made innumerable forays on the peaceful principalities prior to the building of the Wall. And now they still were a perpetual menace to the peace of China. Something like unity had taken place among their scattered tribes. They had a com- mon sovereign who called himself Shan Yii, and who claimed to be the equal of the Son of Heaven. Em- bassies came and went between the Tartar north and the Chinese south, this incipient diplomatic intercourse being varied by the frequent detention, imprisonment and occasionally decapitation of the ambassador. One of those ambassadors best known was Su Wu, man of fame for his literary genius. He has left a touching little poem, his farewell to his wife, on his setting out for the court of the barbarous Tartar monarch, which Dr. Martin thus renders: Twin trees whose boughs together twine Two birds that guard one nest, n ?e z- & m it 309 Better be alive and poor than rich and dead. We'll soon be far asunder torn, As sunrise from the West. Hearts knit in childhood's innocence, Long bound in Hymen's ties: One goes to distant battlefields ; One sits at home and sighs. Like carrier bird, the seas divide, I'll seek my lonely mate: But if afar I find a grave You'll mourn my hapless fate. 100 B. C. Another illustration of the relations subsisting be- tween Tartar and Chinese at that epoch may often be seen exhibited on the boards of a Chinese theater, in the shape of an affecting drama called "The Princess Chao crossing the Border." The princess was a court beauty, the favorite of one of the Han emperors. The Tartar monarch, hearing of her fame, demanded her hand as a condition of peace. The emperor unwill- ingly consented and the story represents the grief of the court beauty, the humiliation of the Chinese which that implied and the exultation of the Tartars at this splendid evidence of something like a military triumph. It may well be asked, Where was the Great Wall all this time? A sufficient force might always maintain the peace of China, but the surprise or destruction of a single garrison might at any time open the way to an enemy, and the Chinese declined to pass beyond the 310 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA frontier so clearly marked out, to ravage their foe in his own steppes. The ancient dynasties were all of long duration; the modern dynasties ran a shorter career. Those like the Han, the T'ang, the Sung, the Ming and the Ch'ing, the present house, had in general a tenure of from two hundred and fifty to three hundred years. The reason of this difference is not apparent, though we may sup- pose that feudal chiefs when left to their own inde- pendent action are content to recognize a nominal suzerainty, whereas a centralized government which has put but one power on the throne always presents a temptation to usurpation or revolution. There is, of course, another explanation, that the earlier history is false. Admittedly the earlier records were destroyed by Chin, and the Book of History which has been re- stored only deals with the fortunes of part of the Yel- low River basin. How far can we rely on the correct restoration of the text? How far can we trust the chronology of the annalists? The certain history since Chin shows short-lived dynasties ; does not this suggest that the earlier history, which may perhaps be correct in fact, is yet out of perspective — like so much that is Chinese — and has been not foreshortened, but hind- lengthened ? Short and partial dynasties limited to different por- tions of the empire are reckoned in the succession, but they are mostly to be regarded as occupying a transi- tion period. Of these there were five, two of whom were of Tartar origin. After one of these intervals, occurs what is called the Minor Han, which was itself * % 3? m ^ ?e «i ^ « ^, 311 God does not starve the blind sparrow only partial and temporary. The sphere which it occu- pied, for two reigns only, was the modern province of Szechwan ; the rest of the empire being divided between two other rival houses. The wars between these houses form an heroic age for China immortalized by the greatest of their historical fiction, the so-called "History of the Three Kingdoms." Of the three heroes of the later Han, one was Kuan Yii, subsequently canonized and deified as Kuan Ti the god of war, special pro- tector of the present dynasty. Not to speak of the uncertainty of his origin, in an historic romance, the fact that the present dynasty has been beaten in most of its foreign wars, ought, perhaps, to shake their confi- dence in their redoubtable protector! 1 Of the great dynasties each one may be said to have a distinctively literary character. The Hans were marked by the restoration of letters, the T'angs by the most perfect development of poetic culture, the Sungs by the most subtle philosophic speculation and literary criticism, the Ming by elegance in prose composition, and the Ch'ing by the incipient influence of western science. A great event which marks the period of the Hans and colors that of all succeeding history was the intro- duction of Buddhism. The Emperor Mingti dreamed that he saw a golden man holding in his hand a bow and two arrows. The Daniels of his court were summoned 1 This applies only to recent wars with European powers and Japan. The present dynasty has suppressed numerous rebellions, some of them among the most formidable ever known in history. It has conducted marvelously successful campaigns in the heart of Central Asia, and added vast territories to the empire. The expedition against the Gurkhas in 1790 was one of the most extraordinary enterprises ever carried out by man. 312 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA to explain the dream. One of them replied, "It ex- plains itself; is not the man with a bow and two arrows obviously the hieroglyphic 'foh,' i.e. Man-Bow-Buddha, which consists of these elements?" The emperor joy- fully accepted the interpretation, and despatched an embassy to India in quest of Buddhist priests and Buddhist books. To some extent both had found their way already to China, but the favor of imperial sun- shine gave an immense impulse to their missionary enterprise, and the omission of a religious element in the Confucian culture left a vacancy to be occupied. This was in the year 66 a.d. Fancy strives in vain to picture the condition of things which might have taken place if the Chinese embassy, instead of stopping at India, had, like the other wise men from the East, made its way to Palestine and obtained one or more of the apostles, along with the Old and New Testaments of the Christian faith. The Buddhist books suggested the dream, and the missionary effort of the Buddhist priests had brought India into prominence as a source of wis- dom and culture by which China has since been influ- enced far more than the world generally supposes. Under the T'ang dynasty about five centuries later, Christian missionaries also made their way to China. Though not summoned by an imperial embassy they were welcomed at the imperial court, built churches by imperial command in the capital itself, and won con- verts by hundreds of thousands in many of the prov- inces. But sad to say, a solitary stone in the capital of the T'ang near the northwest portion of the Great Wall remains as the only evidence of their early inva- 58 w * T * m « 313 A good general has no bad soldiers. sion, which failed to issue in a permanent conquest. Traces, indeed, of the Syrians or "Nestorians" and their faith, continue to show themselves in later periods, but they disappear with the last of the Mongols at the beginning of the fourteenth century. In looking towards the period of T'ang, when the whole of Chin's empire was reunited after nearly four hundred years, we discover two bright poetic stars which blend their luster, and throw into the shade the genius and achievements of later poets. They are Li T'ai-Po 1 and Tu Fu. The name of the first signifies "The Morning Star," a title bestowed by an emperor who declared that that luminary must have been incor- porated in his person. The legendary history of China is full of stories of his genius and his eccentric habits. His great rival, if less brilliant, is scarcely less es- teemed, and was more profound and learned. His merits being recognized late in life, he indulged in a review of his fortunes beginning with the comical con- fession, "For thirty years I've ridden on a donkey, and now I find myself mounted in a chariot." He might have said on Pegasus, but Chinese poets seem to know but little of the flying steed. The T'ang period, roughly 600-900 a.d., was the brightest in the Chinese annals, and shows China incon- testably the foremost nation then on earth. The empire had been newly surveyed and districted on the system that still holds, the south coast was permanently incor- porated, an oversea traffic was developed by the enter- 'His name was Li Po; T'ai-po was his "style" or familar appellation. 314 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA prise of the Arabs and the wild tribes to the west were subdued. Literature and history were fostered, print- ing was invented, education was promoted throughout the land, the laws were codified and the judicial system improved. Fifty-three years of chaos succeeded before a strong leader reunited the petty kingdoms and founded the Sung dynasty. In their days the scholars and the administrators had much dissension as to the benefit of Confucian principles in actual affairs, and this diverted literary taste away from sterile classics to more practical subjects or to deeper problems. Hence the sky of the Sungs was lit up by a constellation of philosophers, five of whom shine as stars of the first magnitude. Their names are Chou, Chang, Ch'eng, Ch'eng, Chu. 1 The most eminent was the last, Chu Hsi, a prodigy of learn- ing, who escaped the danger of mere erudition, and retained to the last a broad and free spirit of specula- tion. He is now the authorized expositor of the classical learning of China, and from his opinions it is heresy to dissent. He has, indeed, in our estimation, somewhat perverted the teachings of earlier sages and we at least feel at liberty to differ from him in his interpretation of the word T'ien, i.e. heaven. This, he says, is a prin- ciple, thus denying virtually the existence of a conscious God, a doctrine which pervades the ancient literature of China, and without which it becomes unintelligible. As, for example: Emperors have been enthroned with advertisement that they accept the appointment by the will of Heaven. 1 Chou Tun-i, Chang Tsai, Ch'eng I, Ch'eng Hao, Chu Hsi. ^■mjsm^mmwtmm 315 Carters, boatmen, innkeepers, carriers and yam£n runners though crimeless should be killed. Rulers have ascended the altar of Heaven, prayed, made sacrifice, and in the flame burned paper containing the names of criminals condemned to death, that the smoke and flame might ascend to Heaven as an appeal to the supreme power to ratify the act. From the beginning, this great dynasty was harassed by invasions of semi-barbarous tribes from beyond the Great Wall. Gradually driven back, the northern prov- inces were left in the hands of the invaders, and the native capital was again fixed at Nanking. 1 After a lapse of time they were compelled to retire farther south to Hangchow, and not long after, the last of the Sung disappeared from the arena, leaving the empire to the Chin Tartars and their Mongol rivals. The Wall had ceased to avail the Chinese. 1 It had previously been at Kaifeng in Honan. 316 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA Sketch Map by Henry French Ridley TIBETAN LOOP OK THE GREAT WALL CHAPTER XXIII The Tibetan Loop of the Great Wall Fast Horse Caravan into Tibet The discovery of a Y in the Great Wall near the Lofty Pass, decided us to journey into Tibet, both to search for more Great Wall, and to study the descend- ants of those foes against whom the Great Wall was constructed. The journeys into the higher lands lying toward the west were taken on fast horses. Two routes are open to the traveler from Lanchow to Sining. We selected the shorter, more beautiful, and more dangerous; and accomplished the six days' jour- ney in three and one-half days going; but returning, broke every record by doing the distance in three days! The ancient city of Sining acted as a base from which various expeditions were made in search of the Tibetan arm of the Great Wall of Chin Shih Huang Ti. The first excursion was to Gumbum. Gumbum, "the seat of ten thousand images," is the most important lamasery on earth next to Lhasa, the home of the founder of the present system of Bud- dhism: and the lounging place of thirty-six hundred lamas. Leaving Sining by the West Gate we passed under the lee of the Funghwang Mountain, named in honor of the legendary bird of China, and rode up the pictur- esque Southern Valley, passing pilgrims who, like our- 317 318 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA selves, were on their way to Gumbum. There was, however, this difference: they were actuated by reli- gious zeal which helped them to tramp along the dusty road, whereas we were incited to action merely by curi- osity and science. Indeed, had it not been for the hope of finding remains of the Great Wall, important as Gumbum is, we must have desisted. Our well-mounted caravan trotted on to Shangsin Chwang, the Upper New Village, where we came upon the reputed remains of the Great Wall. These were measured and photographed and studied. At this point the Wall is known by the following names: Pien Ch'iang, the Boundary Wall, Ch'ang Ch'iang, the Long Wall and Wu Ling Ch'iang, the Five Ranges Wall; this latter signified that it passes over five ranges of mountains or hills. The Long Wall follows the foot- hills from the Pass to Kia Ya, where it ascends and fol- lows the crest of the mountain in a northwesterly direc- tion behind the lamasery of Gumbum, thence to Tsa Ma Lang, where we purpose to examine it en route to Tibet. At a point ten 7/ southeast of Gumbum the ruins measured ten feet at the base and twenty feet in height. Five li from Gumbum are remains of a moat, which paralleled the Long Wall on the Tibetan side. As the Tibetans cannot walk, the combination of moat and wall was effectual in preventing a charge by the fierce horsemen. This ruin does not date back to remote times, but is not improbably on the line of an ancient structure. Strangely enough the history of Sining District makes no mention of the Long Wall in its own writing, but The Great Wall of China Photos by Dr. Geil Two views of the ruins of the Tibetan or Sining Loop of the Great Wall. This stretch does not appear on the present maps /, M & 5* fx 319 We wed a wife for her virtue, a concubine for her looks. refers to books no longer extant! Scholars are of opin- ion that these ruins represent a structure of the Chin Dynasty. 1 The brick and stone veneering have disap- peared, leaving it naked and exposed to atmospheric changes. We take pleasure in calling the attention of chartographers to the Tibetan loop, and possibly some pride in adding two hundred miles of Great Wall to the map of China. Our first view of Gumbum was disappointing, so we pushed on into the town itself. The first object visited was the famous tree of healing. The lamas carefully gather up all the fallen leaves and sell them to all and sundry who desire healing. One poor cripple bent dou- ble was hoping that the leaves would straighten him out. How dastardly to deceive the poverty-stricken cripple! One pilgrim was measuring his body on the ground as he made a pilgrimage about the palace. Merely as a matter of exercise it was admirable. A visit here at this center of Buddhism will disgust a thinking person with the whole exhibition of the re- ligion. The deception practised by the leaders is beyond belief, and the sincerity of the "common herd" corres- pondingly pitiable and pathetic. The ignorance of the lamas is dense. We asked the simplest questions, but they did not know the answers. How would a visit to London or to St. Anne de Beaupre strike a Bud- dhist, we wonder. 1 In the Ashley collection of voyages mention is made of a foreign trav- eler who passed into Sining a.d. 1661 and who saw "a vast wall" on the top of which people "traveled from the gate of Sining to the next at Sochow, which is 18 days' journey!" 320 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA On scrutinizing a group of fifteen lamas, we felt the faces could be duplicated in any large American prison. Those faces indicated either that they were actual criminals or at least capable of criminality ! One lama indeed was executed in the Yamen at Kweite for murder and robbery. Another sent to a missionary for medicine to commit race suicide. The opportunity presented to the Christian for teaching wholesome truth was seized with avidity. But not all lamas are criminals though the lamaseries are sanctuaries for such ; we did see one face that really suggested the religious recluse or esthetic. Those who are inclined to favor Buddhism, should visit their headquarters in Gumbum during the Butter Festival and see the revelry of men and women. Was ever a Turkish harem worse? Bud- dhism has not only failed to arrest the descent of its priests into immorality, but has utterly failed to supply China with moral growth. China needs Christianity. One point is commendable, that after a service those present tell the absentee what has been taught. Other- wise there was no trace of schools, hospitals, or anything else of advantage to the human race. Thirty-six hun- dred lazy lamas, ignorant and unclean, constitute the religious inhabitants of the second most important cen- ter of Buddhism on the surface of the globe! The Kalkhas affirm that their Kantouktou has al- ready seen sixteen generations, and that his physiog- nomy changes with the phases of the moon. At new moon, he has the appearance of a youth, at the full, of a man in the prime of life, and appears quite old in the last quarter. & # ffi B5 Z- & % 321 Soldiering depends on training not on numbers. Again we passed out of the historic West Gate of Sining, and stopped at Ta Ha Leng to measure the remains of the selfsame Barrier we met on the road to Gumbum. This done, the caravan started for Tibet. Just what emotions close in upon the mind of one who for years had longed to visit on the Roof of the World the mysterious men who even before the days of Chin were not to be trifled with, eludes description. We had looked upon "Sweet Galilee," fairest sea in all the world, Lake Lucerne, Victoria Nyanza, Albert Edward Ny- anza, Windermere, Michigan, Loch Katrine, and a mul- titude of "waters" more or less prominent in the popular mind ; but in Tibet is a lake nine thousand feet above the tide, and reflecting the sky that arches the wonder land, the danger land, the lama land of Tibet. We went to see the blue-green Koko Nor ! From the Yellow Sea to the lofty heights containing the highest point on the earth's surface is a gradual slope upward. On this vast ascent lies the whole length of the Great Wall. And between the Great Wall and Mount Everest, whose summit cuts the sky at twen- ty-eight thousand feet, is the closed land, and hence the mysterious land, of wild horsemen. Closed lands have an attractiveness born of uncertainty. Although it was but early in September, we took precautions of dress, carrying a wardrobe well stocked with heavy woolens and furs. The ascent was gradual until an altitude of ten thousand feet was reached. Hour followed hour in rapid succession as our horses carried us toward the water-shed of Central Asia. And 21 322 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA when at last we stood on Ta Obo Shan and saw before us vast latitudes of white, brown and green, amidst which lay the beautiful Koko Nor, the entire caravan was silenced with admiration. Behind us was oceanic drain- age and before us the beginnings of the drainage of Central Asia. Behind us the valleys and rivers of the vast slope toward the Pacific Ocean; before us the descent into the inland lakes of the heart of Asia. The three great rivers of China flow eastward, hence China constitutes the Pacific slope of the Asian conti- nent. Standing on Ta Obo Shan a marvelous view greeted the eyes at every turn. To the right stretched the massive northern mountain range, snow-capped and superb; behind us the Sun and Moon Mountains, on the foothills of which lay quaint, quiet, fortified Ha Lah Ku Tu ; to the left the Yao Mo Shan ; to the south Koko Nor. A cloudless sky looked down on a houseless, fenceless scene of white and green and blue and black. Over the undulating landscape roamed flocks of sheep and herds of yak, the latter of exceptional size. They pastured on sweet grasses amidst which grew the bluest flowers the eyes had ever beheld. The whole country is gay with color. To match nature, the Tibetans clothe themselves in materials of rich tint, yellow and red and orange; and gaudy flags flutter from many lofty points. They are fiercely patriotic. Their Monroe doctrine has long been announced with fervor and enforced with vigor. Few foreigners may penetrate into their country ; some have risked their lives and come out again to *" * * & j) % * fe % B 323 The grief of age over the neglect of youth is vain. give us glimpses of the forbidden land ; but our knowl- edge of it is less until the Younghusband expedition than our knowledge of Japan before its seclusion was invaded. These fierce horsemen are a lofty line of proud ancestry. Their food is good, their location admirable, their muscles strong. They can ride and that right nobly, realizing almost the ancient fable of the Centaurs. It is an exaggeration to say they cannot walk ; their heavy, clumsy foot-gear prevents comfortable progress on the feet; but then they are naturally cavalrymen, and per- haps will become as good artillerymen. Chin exercised wisdom when he erected a Great Wall between these hardy, daring, mounted warriors, and the quiet, home- loving, plodding peasants of his own fertile kingdom. But they pondered over his policy, and reversed it. They have drawn an impalpable barrier around their own land, and now there are roads leading out of Tibet, but none leading in. Where else in the world do we find single-action roads of such a kind? Look at this sample face! Quickly does it change; passions powerful and precipitate dwell behind that bright red scarf. Always handy is the sword, ever loaded is the gun. No bells herald the approach of these horsemen, as in China; silently they sweep through the night, or rush through the day. Ready are they to meet a foe, or rob a friend, with the utmost jollity of demeanor. But patriotism is excelled by one other sentiment, religion; and all the bright coloring we rejoice in is symbolic of this also. The various tints tell of the 324 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA various orders of monks, just as in medieval Europe, but instead of black, white and gray friars, they have red, orange and yellow monks. Strange has been the connection between these Buddhists and Christians. It was the Buddha who first worked up hermits into an order of monks, whence the idea spread westward and was acclimatized in Syria and Egypt, in Asia Minor and Italy, and at last over all European Christendom. But the Syrian missionaries to China a thousand years later brought a western wave of influence, which deeply modified the Buddhist customs in Tibet, so that they adopted many rites of worship from the Christians. And when the Abbe Hue found the full-blown ritual in these highlands, he could but wonder how the devil had inspired these idolaters to parody Christianity. Deeply religious are these Tibetans; gladly they give their sons to the lamasery, and thousands pass at least a part of their lives, if not the greater part, as celibates busy at prayer, or are ingenious enough to harness wind and water to grind their prayer-mills, while they idle in "mystic contemplation." With such a capacity for religion, do they not deserve the best to be had? They are of such quality that many heroic souls have for years been living on the border, waiting for the oppor- tunity to ascend into this Asiatic Switzerland, and cause a purer light to irradiate its uplands. Infested as this region is with robbers, we were loath to leave the superb scenery, the invigorating atmos- phere, and the heroic-looking mountaineers. Probably we shall have more to say about Tibet at some future time. Meantime we signalized our departure by a fight .fi — icm&'BiMwm 325 One cash may overthrow a hero. with some fierce Tibetan dogs, and retired in good order down to the great frontier which was the base of our exploration. Inside the recently re-discovered Tibetan loop of the Great Wall the city of Sining occupies an important position, and its antiquity is sufficient to warrant it having had six different names. It began as Hwang Chung, which signifies, "In the Midst of Cold Water." The aborigines who founded the city so called it be- cause of the snow-drainage flowing in divers channels hard by the site. This ancient name is perpetuated by the local cavalry regiment. But the Chinese of the Han dynasty changed the name to Kin Chen Kuin, "The Golden City"; the reason remains remote. There being much non-mountainous land near about, it was next named Sip'ing or "The Western Plain." The reason for these frequent changes was not given in the history consulted. Shanchow was followed by Ts'ing Tan Chen, "The Clear Boasting City" — most prosper- ous places possess that undesirable quality. The sixth name was Sining, "The Peaceful West." A name less appropriate could hardly have been invented, for in the province of Kansu each generation has a rebellion of its own. The whole Chinese people are warlike. During the last two thousand years, there have been fifty real rebellions or wars, making the astonishing average of one fighting period in every forty years, or about the same as the United States, and rather fewer than Great Britain. And yet careless observers tell the ignorant that China hates and avoids war. She prefers peace to war, 326 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA but when the latter is forced upon her, she awakens the ancient spirit to tremendous activity and success. Few cities can boast scenes of confusion and bloodshed equal to those witnessed in the "Peaceful West." Horrors past the power of pen and pencil to depict, have been enacted within these curving walls. Beautiful for situation, resting softly on the gentle slopes of the Nan Shan foothills, looking out upon four broad fertile valleys, Sining occupies a strategic posi- tion. High massive brick-faced walls, with bastions, towers, battlements, and four gates, strong and heavy, constitute the fortifications. The East Gate deserves particular mention, for in addition to the ordinary por- tal is a portcullis of a thousand catties' weight. If the East Gate is interesting itself, the West Gate furnishes a thrilling story of tragedy. Here eight lead- ers of a rebellion, after being court-martialed, were led out to execution. As they passed between the inhuman populace lining the two sides of the streets, they were subjected to the horrible experience of sword and spear thrusts until, mangled and bleeding, the place of execu- tion relieved them of their heads and their sufferings. But this was not all. No sooner had the hapless heads fallen on the pavement, than the executioners ripped open the bodies, tore out the hearts and ate them, as morsels reckoned to transfer the heroic spirit of the enemy to their own hearts ! Not far from the West Gate one sees many quaint water-mills furnished by artificial canals and run on the ancient principle of horizontal lever action with a tremendous waste of power. They are perched on half XmMt&MMiKM*. 327 To a frog in a well, heaven is only a sieve in size. a dozen piles, the wheel is horizontal, built of wood, and attached to a perpendicular shaft, at the upper end of which is the millstone. The water flows down a trough wide at the top, narrow at the bottom, striking the broad spokes at less than a right angle, and grinds grain. The tariff is two hundred cash a bag, or if money is not forthcoming, the miller keeps the bran. Two of these picturesque mills grind tobacco stalks, which are then pressed with the leaves and shaved. All the way to Tibet we came upon similar quaint flour factories often nestled in the most fascinating bits of scenery. The South River is crossed by ford or ferry except for a few months when temporary bridges are constructed by the inhabitants living on the shore. One bridge, how- ever, is always ready for use by the Ambam, the Imperial Resident, who governs the northern portion of Tibet. On the north hills, in the red loess earth, are many caves. One of the hills was formerly occupied by groups of temples which have not been rebuilt since the last Mohammedan rebellion. The fact that these weak gods and their houses remain demolished suggests the decadence of the faith of Buddha. The passing of Buddhism is also indicated by the many temples out of repair. Sining is a city of temples and yamens. Here one is likely to find evidences of the ascent or descent of the idolatrous worship of monstrous images. Buddhism is a godless religion, but can there be a religion without a god? The north wall of the city is full of curves. When being constructed, before it was well set, a heavy fall 328 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA of snow descended, whereupon the dragon came and laid himself along the wet wall, causing the great masonry to yield to the shape of his body. The wall is forty feet in height, thirty feet thick at the base and fifteen on top. Along the battlement are heaps of white cobblestones ready to be used in resisting an assault. The interest of the visitor is sustained, on whatever side of the city he happens to be. By the North Gate is a spring of pure, cold drinking water of capacity suffi- cient to supply the city suburbs. Strange to relate, a blind people's courtyard is provided by the government which supplies each sightless person living there with half a pound of flour per day; any other support is obtained by begging. The granaries are busy and interesting places. We visited one where grain is stored for a year. Like Joseph in Egypt, the officials store it up against a famine or a rebellion. A supply to provide for twenty thousand additional people who may flock to the city for safety, is provided. The schools in the city, which have adopted modern methods, are three in number, two being high schools. The teachers, unfortunately, have had but one year's training in Lanchow, and naturally only the most ele- mentary teaching can be done. The subjects are geog- raphy, mathematics, geology and drills. The sum total attendance is two hundred. This is a small beginning, but indicates that the reform movement which is sweep- ing over this vast empire has reached the borders of Tibet. Other evidences of reform are the change in tr m m * jh •& is 329 When the mule is beaten the horse is scared. the style of clothing ; narrower sleeves and shorter, semi- foreign fashion, and small straw hats have evidently come to stay. Then there is the newly organized police force, and the modernizing of the troops. For Sining is not only a city of temples and yamens, but of barracks. Here are quartered two hundred horse and two thousand foot soldiers. If there are many yamens there are many officials, including the Amban. Many Tibetans visit the city, bringing in borax, rhubarb, musk, antlers, wool, and the beautiful Tibetan sable furs, for which they purchase foreign calico of bright colors, colored thread, beads, and Khata, which is the Scarf of Blessing, made of silk, and pale blue in color. Fish from the Koko Nor are sold on the street. Among the sights of the city is the Confucian temple. Within the precincts of this temple have been enacted scenes which will live in history. Here thousands of bleeding men were ministered to by three foreigners who were living in the city at the time of the recent rebellion. Their names and themselves deserve public recogni- tion at the hands of the imperial government. Henry French Ridley, his heroic wife, and James C. Hall, day after day for months went to the Confucian temple and operated on the wounded soldiers, often under the most disgusting conditions, but with eminent success. When diphtheria broke out, horror was added to horror. Then came smallpox; Ridley himself was stricken down with illness. But for nine months the mission- aries labored with a courage and heroism uneclipsed in 330 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA the annals of war, and yet they have been left without the Decoration of the Dragon or any proper acknowl- edgment on the part of the imperial power. The nervous strain endured by this faithful trio is beyond human language to describe, and their service beyond all praise. Over five thousand people died of disease during the siege. Children were thrown into the streets, and were later thrown into a hole outside the West Gate. The sanitary conditions beggar description. When, each day, the refuse in the streets thawed out, the stench was almost unendurable. The last and most important site in the city of Sining is the China Inland Mission, with its heroic servants, the English missionaries. Here is the most beautiful chapel in Kansu, and the only chapel in China, so far as we know, built entirely by money contributed by ex- plorers and travelers, including the gifts of Roman Catholics. In this chapel may be found at almost any service Mongolians, Tibetans, aboriginals, Chinese and foreigners. The church membership is growing, and the whole aspect of the movement is that of success. The prosperity of Christian missions on the borderland of Tibet is a fair sample of the success attending such efforts throughout China. Considering the mental and spiritual surroundings, we hold this mission a miracle of modern times. Here is just the place for a physician skilful in sur- gery, proficient in medication, and true as a Christian. His services would carry his name into the far fastnesses of mysterious Tibet, where would be told the story of Christian philanthropy. Even in the Panhandle of tt&.m$i%^&% 331 Birth and death are decreed, wealth and honour are with God. China we heard of the brilliant surgeon, H. S. Jenkins, and his gifted confederate, at Sianfu, many days' jour- ney toward sunrise ! Why are medical men selfish ? In America are hundreds of doctors to spare. We can think of no better opportunity for gifted surgeons of culture and generous Christian spirit to serve this day and generation, than right here, seven thousand feet above the sea at Ridley's mission, situated inside the Great Wall on the high road leading into the mysteri- ous Land of the Lamas. CHAPTER XXIV The Chin Tablet: "One of the most remarkable Relics of Antiquity. 3 ' The Great Emperor established his capital near Kwan- chung, known to-day as Sianfu. The site had already been a petty capital for nearly nine centuries, but he transformed it into a city of the first magnitude. It was the operation that Nebuchadnezzar performed on Babylon, Augustus on Rome — finding it of brick, and leaving it of marble — Constantine on Byzantium, or that which in the new world has produced Ottawa where only Bytown stood before, Chicago where was but an army post. Chin traced an outline, and erected walls the representative of which have stood for two millen- niums defying all assailants. When Kufu finished his great pyramid near the Nile, he carved an inscription ; and this fashion has per- sisted in all ages and places. The obelisks of Egypt, the clay cylinders of Chaldea, the Persian crosses on the coasts of India, all prepare us to hear that Chin, too, erected a monument with some record of his doings. It is not every one who has the restraint to say, as of Chris- topher Wren, "If you would see his monument, gaze around" St. Paul's Cathedral. Chin, therefore, encouraged his prime minister Li Ssii to compose an inscription. It recorded the ascent of Chin from mere kingship to the sway over the six 332 The Great Wall of China Photo by Dr. Geil Henry French Ridley, hero of Sining, in Tibetan Costume 3S Z- m % $ ^ 333 Jade unpolished does not make a gem. kingdoms, his stopping war and bringing peace to all the black-headed race, his personal visitation of his con- quests. It edged in a neat complimentary reference to the ministers who had carried out his measures, but it failed to take account of the weakness of Chin, desiring to be known as The Only First. When, therefore, it was submitted to him for approval, he marked the omission, so that his observant courtiers hastily begged to be allowed to amend it in this respect. Very few inscriptions had been carved on stone at that date. There is indeed some writing on the rocks at Kan-lan-shan, which was first seen in the year 1210 a.d., and is supposed by some to date from 2200 B.C.! But it names nobody, and many Chinese scholars regard it as really executed, at the earliest, fifty years after Chin, and inspired by this very undertaking. There were, how- ever, ten low pillars, with lettering describing a great hunt which had taken place about six hundred years before Chin, near the seaboard, so that there was some precedent for carving in stone. Yet there were no other relics of antiquity in any such imperishable material. The huge rock inscription of the Hittites or of Darius in western Asia, cannot be paralleled at this time in any part of Chin's empire. The art of writing was still in its childhood; the com- mon material was bamboo, the implement was a knife which scratched the letters. And as we know, against the literature thus painfully recorded, Chin issued an edict of destruction. He, in effect, opened a new era in the development 334 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA of writing within his domains, when he ordered that the record drawn up by Li Ssii and amended by himself, should be carved on a stone tablet and erected on a low pedestal. Between scratching on bamboo, with a grain that tempted the graver to work across it, and carving on stone which yields equally to the chisel in all direc- tions, there is of necessity a difference. This reflects itself in the shape of the letters, for on stone it is far easier to carve in straight lines than to execute a curve. The peculiar script adopted for Chin's tablet is known to-day as the seal characters. It will be recollected that in a short time woven silk was adopted for the material, and a soft brush was used to paint on it. This rapidly modified the style of writing into graceful curves, while the seal character was reserved for graving on stones, whether large or small, whence the modern name. The monument was duly executed in this lapidary script, and on Mount I was erected to proclaim the glories of Chin. We are of opinion that two copies were inscribed at the same time, one of which was situ- ated in the capital of Chin. It set a new fashion, and gradually other monuments were clustered around it, as on the Sieges Allee of Berlin there grew up a perfect forest of tablets, mostly commemorating the glories of the rulers. It is rather amusing to recollect that Chin was particularly averse to the classics selected by Confucius, and then to find that the Thirteen Classics have been inscribed on a set of tablets erected here, while a full-length portrait of that sage has been sculptured hard by. Europeans often seek this eastern Westminster Ab- The Great Wall of China Photo by Dr. Geil This photograph of the modest but beautiful China Inland Mission home at Chinchow was taken from the roof of the church ^»Hff^*n*^ffl-» 335 The myriad schemes of men are not worth one scheme of God. bey, to study there the famous Nestorian tablet, seven feet high by three wide, which was erected a thousand years after Chin, telling in Syriac and Chinese the story of a great Christian mission from Babylon, inaugurated 653 a.d. The Chinese antiquary finds in this park original records of every period from the time of Chin till about 1600 a.d. Early in the tenth century, one such antiquary named Hsu Hsiian, a retired cavalry colonel of the guards, who had long made a hobby of penmanship, obtained a rubbing of Chin's tablet. To a westerner, at first sight, it is a little curious to find a soldier devoting himself to such literary pursuits. But when we consider how some of our ex-colonels spend their leisure, we may, perhaps, think it more praiseworthy to turn to letters than to advocate some novel fad. In China, too, until lately, the avenue to all rank in the army was by passing exam- inations in the classics, and not only the subject matter of these, but the form, — in the most explicit sense, the penmanship, — was a matter of great importance; so much so, that the Chinese minister at London himself painted an inscription recently for an exhibition. Hsu Hsiian then, in his old age, merely revived the studies of his youth, which he had never intermitted. Already re- nowned for his beautiful handwriting, he now changed his style, and modeled it anew on this archaic character. Evidently his influence may be compared to those modern type-founders who studied the masterpieces of early printers, when great scholars and calligraphists were enlisted to furnish models for the cutters, so that 336 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA at the De Vinne press we, to-day, have antique forms revived. Thus Wen Pao, a pupil of the colonel, fired by zeal, devoted himself to this branch of learning. Having been twice plucked when trying for his doctor's degree, he quitted home and decided to seek knowledge in first- hand investigation. His master had only seen the rub- bing of this stone; could he find the original? For ten days he roved through the thickets that overspread the mountain, only to feel at the end of his search that the revered record was lost to his generation. Imagine the disappointment of the scholar who had heard of a Moabite stone, with a valuable ancient inscription, but arrives too late to find it whole! What did the French Clermont-Ganneau do when the original had been de- stroyed? He fell back on his "squeeze" and with its aid he reconstructed the stone, working in the fragments that survived. In this he merely trod in the steps of the devoted Wen Pao, when the Mountain of I failed to yield up the original tablet. Eighteen years elapsed after the scholar's fruitless search; perhaps the examiners accepted his thesis, in- complete as it was, and granted him his doctorate. His foot felt the rungs of the official ladder; he won the decoration of the Quiver of Red Fishskin; he was ap- pointed to the transport department; he gained a pre- fecture ; he came back at length as Minister of Religion — apparently with special supervision of the Christian churches — to the province of Shensi, whose capital was Sianfu, known at this period as Chang-an, where is now the Forest of Monuments. It was a clear call of ^ * m '& m 337 A son is never disgusted with his father's ugliness. Providence to resume his reverential work, and in the year 994 a.d. he took his precious rubbing, and caused it to be engraved anew. In one trifle he passed an error, a variation as slight as that from a to an inverted v, which has given the meaning "six" where the sense demands "great." Then to the reconstructed text he appended the history of the original and of his repro- duction, and presented the replica to the university! This monument itself is now in its tenth century, and deserves study both for its own sake as showing the ideals of Wen Pao's age, and for its faithful preserva- tion of what was the second oldest Chinese inscription. Chin's original tablet may have been extant in the days of Colonel Hsu, but if the archaeologist, eager to win his degrees, could not find it a generation later, it is rather hopeless to expect it still survives above ground. But the Chinese fidelity in copying, which has passed into a proverb, assures us that we may rely on the in- scription of Wen Pao. Who, then, is equal to deciphering and translating it? Chinese scholars, of course, we appeal to first, but even in that land of classics, those who can make any- thing of these antique forms are few. Even to recog- nize and pronounce them is a difficult achievement; at the court of Belshazzar the natives had to call in a learned foreigner before they could utter the sounds correspond- ing to the script upon the wall! Then to construe the ancient language into the vernacular of two thousand years later is another problem ; it is not every schoolboy nor every Doctor of Literature who could render into 338 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA modern English the laws of Alfred or the Dooms of Edward the Confessor. How striking it is then to hear that there are some few western scholars who have mastered this venerable character and can comprehend its ancient diction. Three of these have been good enough to study our rubbing of this monument for the purposes of this book. Where should we find such learning and such kindness combined? John Wherry, M.A., D.D., is a missionary, whose talents are directed to literary work in this literary land. Like the early Persian missionaries whose suc- cesses are chronicled in the Forest of Tablets, he is busy at Bible translation, but has found time to make a ver- sion of this inscription. But with that modesty that characterizes the truly great, he desired his work to be checked by other experts. To the president of a college he turned, and in Dr. Sheffield is another missionary grown gray in his arduous toils. From Dr. Sheffield he looked also to the ex-president of the Imperial Univer- sity, a grandsire of over fourscore years; and in him behold another Presbyterian missionary like himself, Dr. Martin ! Here in the land where of all others liter- ary scholarship is esteemed, the Chinese own that in the front rank of their own peculiar studies stand three venerable missionaries from abroad. What a passport for them and for the message they live to utter! Here, then, is a part of a letter sent last April from Peking: "I inclose translations of both the seal characters and the modern script of the Ch'in tablet. I found some difficulty in making out all the seal characters, but by -nQDI >fft / ^§5?M^#fe yggflgStflttSfiiTO iMfe" a/Sk ™ apfe'aigri * ^'teW «;'*?«: '•w-OTfc AI»*f 2^ 339 A parent never knows his son's defects. patience my Chinese writer and myself have at last made sure of every one. There is an evident error in the cutting of one character, that is "great" for "six." To make absolutely sure of the fidelity to the original of my translation, I showed it to both Dr. Martin and to Dr. Sheffield. Both after careful study approved of it as faithful both in letter and spirit. Dr. Martin thinks the tablet is one of the most remarkable relics of antiquity. You will see that it is Ch'in Shih Huang's own apology for assuming imperial power. . . . "The originals are both delicate compositions, and it would be easy to destroy the spirit in translation. Dr. Martin's and Dr. Sheffield's approval of my translation extends to the language as well as the substance. . . ." Now we introduce the version for which these three distinguished scholars stand sponsors: Translation of the Ch'in Tablet, Forest of Monuments, Sianfu "When our August Sovereign first set up his kingdom, His seat was at Feng. At His succession He assumed the title of Prince, and planned measures to suppress disorder and rebellion in the States. His majestic bearing inspired awe to the four borders. He was martial, public-spirited, straightforward, upright. His ministers of war receiving the royal mandate, in a brief time put an end to the great tyrannical and overbearing states. In His twenty-sixth year He conferred on His Ancestors the August Title (Emperor) — a brilliant illustration of filial duty. Having presented this offering of Grand Achievement, He conferred on the empire special benefits of His own. In person He made a tour of inspection to distant parts of His dominions. 340 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA "When He had ascended Mount I, His ministerial retinue with one mind turned their thoughts to the distant past. Looking backwards they recalled the former ages when men first partitioned the soil and founded states, thus open- ing the way to the reign of strife, in which new wars arose daily, and blood flowed on battlements in streams. From the beginning in remote antiquity, succession to the throne had never descended beyond a few generations ; and down to the Five Sovereigns none had been able to stay this per- petual change. Only from the present onward, now that imperial power is unified in a single line, will wars cease to arise. With the calamitous Chou blotted out, the black- haired people will live in quiet and peace. The advantages and benefits secured to them will long endure. "The brief eulogy of the reign prepared by the ministers was at first confined to the musical odes in which His enter- prises and achievements were set forth. The Emperor said, 'Only a commemorative stone is adequate to the First Emper- or's administration. Now that I have adopted the Imperial title, unless early inscription on monumental stone celebrate the far-reaching benevolence of the First Emperor, the suc- cessors to the administration will not acknowledge My meritorious achievements and abounding virtues.' His prime minister (Li Ssu), His minister Ch'u Chi, and His minister and censor and officer Ten, braving death, begged permission to inscribe a stone in accordance with the decree just pronounced, and thus to show forth the splendors of this newly risen Orb of Day. Braving death the ministers so prayed : the rescript said, 'So let it be !' " Appendix to the Seal Characters of the Ch'in Tablet "The tablet at Mount I, the inscription on which was written by Ch'in's prime minister, Li Ssu, should, both by its uniqueness and its antiquity, be highly prized by all the *5 m m m # tu m * m %, & 341 The cleverest wife cannot make congee without rice. world. The late commander of the Light Horse Guard, Mr. Hsu Hsiian, who had for nearly half a century taken the keenest delight in caligraphy, in which in his age he had no peer, in his late years obtained possession of a rubbing of the Mount I tablet. Thenceforth, modeling his penman- ship on this rubbing, he felt himself soaring to the border land between gods and men. On this account (he ordered X's) antique relics to be burned or thrown away. "I, Wen Pao, schooled at the Gate of Hsu, and in a measure stimulated to emulate his course, in the spring of the fifth year of the era T'ai P'ing Hsing Kuo, 1 having for the second time failed to attain a Doctor's Degree, set out eastward to Ch'i and Lu. On a visit to the city of (Tsou), I ascended Mount I to look for the Ch'in tablet. It was nowhere to be seen. For ten full days, with painful anxiety, I groped in a jungle of thorns and weeds, only in the end to sigh that so divine a relic should be lost to the world. "I have now had the rubbing which I received from Hsu engraved on stone for the School of the Sons of the Nation, at the old capital Chang-an. It may serve as an index to men of learning and culture, of the spirit of the old-time scholar. "This record is made on the fifteenth day of the eighth moon of the fourth year of the era Ch'un Hua 2 by Cheng Wen Pao, by imperial appointment Prefect and Minister of Rites of West ... in Shen Fu . . . land, Assistant Controller of Transport products, decorated with the Red Fishskin Quiver." 1 a.d. 976. 2 a.d. 994. CHAPTER XXV In the Panhandle of China: Kanchow "The lies of Liangchow are great : but : The lies of Kanchow are greater." — Old Saying. Loath to leave lovely Liangchow and its Eight Won- ders, the mule-litter caravan drew slowly out of the city at cock-crowing and set off on the long journey to Kanchow, Suchow and the western end of the Great Wall. Before the setting of the first sun we had occa- sion to record "A day of fords"; eighty times the ani- mals waded through snow-water fresh from the lofty mountains on our left. And this though the high road has for centuries been traversed daily — Sundays not excepted — by long caravans of camels and divers other beasts of burden. Outside the East Gate of Yungchang one of our in- terpreters announced an "oil tablet." The interest awakened led us to pay a hasty visit to the oil tablet. What had it to say about a certain American corpora- tion and the illustrious founder? For we reasoned there can be no oil tablet without mention of those famous names perhaps even in prophecy, if the tablet be ancient. The tablet stood on a stone tortoise by the roadside, and passing carters dropped on its hard nose a sphere of oil to insure "good luck." Beyond the West Gate of Yung- chang two picturesque pagodas occupy geomantic sites. 342 * m * # * m * & 343 If the pennies do not go, the pounds will not come. One is designed to prevent sand submerging a city one hundred and forty li away! Between the desert and the threatened city is a mountain range and the Great Wall! . . . The Great Wall passes through four states or prov- inces. Kansu is the most western. It is also a province of skeletons ; numerous towns have been abandoned ; the walls still standing present a scene of desolation not easily forgotten. Several times we came upon walled cities, as we supposed, only to find neither buildings nor people inside the battlements. Doubtless certain of these were primarily protected camps, but many were thickly populated walled towns wasted by the scourge of war. Over the East Gate of one, carved in stone, was the motto, "Lift up your thoughts." Near Sin Ho, and between the ruins of the Great Wall and the mountains, herds of graceful antelopes expressed appreciation of the good grass. On our approach they cleared the Great Wall and made off for a distant ridge, when a Winchester procured delicious meat for our next meal. . . . The Great Wall, once incased in brick and stone, exhibits now only the loess core. Its course is in a wide and lofty valley, over broken hills and upon mountains; frequently follow- ing the line of least natural resistance. At Sin Ho a rustic, when asked why the people do not repair the Boundary Wall, replied, "We cannot repair our own city, how then the Great Wall? — only eighty families live in Sin Ho!" He also ventured the assertion that the mammoth Barrier was built to prevent a barbarian 344 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA race on the north bringing their mules and donkeys in to eat peas! The Temple of the Broken Stomach was the next sight. Carpenters were repairing it, for a priest had tramped about the country awakening the faithful to their duty. In former times these fanatics drove nails into their flesh and otherwise worked on the sympathy of the devotees to obtain cash for the gods. Through rain we pushed on to the interesting city of Kanchow. There are four "Joes" as the word "Chows" is pro- nounced, Liangchow, Kanchow, Suchow and Lanchow. — all cities of some importance. All have had to con- tend with the disasters of rebellion. Kanchow originally stood beside the Great Boundary. We were unable to learn why it was moved to its pres- ent site, unless it be for the good luck of the present location. Such is the local opinion, though a western traveler may dwell on evidence to the contrary. Here are mosquito-breeding, miasmatic swamps in the midst of the city! Here are curing hides strung along the streets drying in the sun and incidentally emitting odors of a substantial kind! Here are open street sewers giving out a stench which suggests the immediate pres- ence of the East and West Hell Temples. Do these conditions preserve the good luck of a metropolis? Many maladies oppress the people in this dusty, dirty, sin-cursed city. Travelers fifty li off can tell the loca- tion of Kanchow by the dust that usually hangs over the place. The Chinese take seriously a conundrum often heard in the streets, "What is it the more you wash it the dirtier it becomes?" Answer, "Water!" & n t m m t> 7 & 345 A doctor may cure disease, but he cannot cure fate Little water is used. The city should be moved back to its original site beside the Great Wall, where the fifteen thousand families might live to a good old age. Dust and dirt are found everywhere in China, and the hirsute customs of the people hardly form much safeguard against their carrying germs into mouth and nose. The beards are too straggly to act as sieves, though they may perhaps gather up many microbes. But the queues! It is quite impossible to cleanse these, and the one point of comfort is that they hang behind and do not introduce their inhabitants to the lungs. If the Chinese only shake their own hands, and never kiss one another, they, to this extent, impede the general circulation of the dust. The Hsien Yamen was polite and cordial and fur- nished us the following information: "This is a rich agricultural region, — wheat, peas, beans, melons, are all raised in quantities. . . . Opium raising is decreasing, although this year ten thousand Chinese acres are culti- vated. . . . When manufactures are spoken of, Kan Chow is famous for woolen bags used for transporting goods on camels and mules, exported at the rate of ten thousand a year. The bags are coarse and durable. Licorice is also exported, but in no large quantities. Hemp is extensively cultivated and linseed oil is pro- duced. A few years ago a large trade was done in hogs' bristles, which were sent to the coast and shipped to foreign countries, but this trade, for some apparently unknown reason, has disappeared. Sheep and goat skins are dealt in and incense is manufactured in large 346 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA quantities near the North Gate of the city. Googhee is also exported in large quantities. The city is noted far and wide for its lies ! We, there- fore, despatched one of our attendants to visit all the temples and report on the religious teaching and wor- ship in the city. For we held that a decay in the virtue of truth telling is likely traceable to some lack in the practice of religion. He brought in the following list of religious houses: Temple of the Present Dynasty, City Guardian Temple, Dragon King Temple, Earth Lord Temple, Three Stars Temple, Two Bridegrooms Temple, Eight Candle Temple, White Garments Mon- astery, Three Officials Temple, Temple of the Great White Horse God Temple, Cow God Temple, Temple of Literature, Fire God Temple, Monastery of the Universal Door, East Hell Temple, Loyal Chaste Monastery, East Hell Temple, Abundant Virtue Mon- astery, Wind God Temple, Protect the Righteous Temple, and a Temple to the Goddess of Mercy! He also reported on the schools of the city. He found three important places of instruction, namely: Sweet Spring School, High Class Small School, and Exhortation to Study School; also many small low- grade schools. An effort is making for modern edu- cation but a real difficulty obtains when suitable teachers are sought, as two schools are actively experiencing. From this myrmidon and his report, we turned to the other and culled this typical extract from his diary: "The men of my country, their mouths are like living fountains. Even those things they do not know they fool- ishly speak about with their whole heart. On the road we -% • - vsi* ?:% a # ^^ iMfe :l % "%3MNH3WV aof-caii y 0AavnaiH^ ?r •30^ "tfUJIIVJ ^OKAUFOfl *%ran# AttE-UNiVERty)