I I 13 ' h CHINA I . ■ C ■ \ ' B R A IN . HOMSOM THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES THROUGH CHINA WITH A CAMERA THE KWO-TZE-KEEN, OR NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, I'EKlNt Fronlispicc t- ?3% THROUGH CHINA WITH A CAMERA BY JOHN THOMSON, F.R.G.S. AUTHOR OF "THE ANTIQUITIES OF CAMBODIA "" ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHINA AND ITS PEOPLE" " THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE OF CHINA " ETC. WITH HJf ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON AND NEW YORK HARPER fc? BROTHERS 45 ALBEMARLE STREET, W. [S99 Stack Ann«X -r H% INTRODUCTION Had the great Venetian traveller, Marco Polo, been able to confirm by a series of photographs his account of the wonders of Cathay, his fair fame would have escaped the discredit cast upon it for centuries, and indeed until comparatively recent investigation confirmed his story. Since the time when I made my first journey into Cambodia to examine its ancient cities, it has been my constant endeavour to show how the explorer may add not only to the interest, but to the permanent value of his work by the use of photography. The camera has always been the companion of my travels, and has supplied the only accurate means of portraying objects of interest along my route, and the races with which I came in contact. Thus it came about that I have been able to furnish readers of my books with incontestable pictorial evidence of my bona fides and to share with them the pleasure experienced in coming face to face for the first time with the scenes and the people of far-off lands. Some parts of this volume have been published in a more costly form. In the present instance the photographs have been repro- duced and transformed into printing blocks by a most effective half-tone process, so that nothing in the original plates is lost. The letterpress has been carefully revised and brought up to date and in part rewritten. I have kept myself an courant with the course of events in " Further Asia." Hut in China and in ( 'hinese institutions there is no well-defined change to place on record. Western civilisation with its aggressive activities appears to be opposed to the genius of the people, who fain would be left alone to follow their time-worn methods, social and political. vi INTRODUCTION To those of my readers interested in photography I may add a note on my method of working. All my negatives were taken by the wet collodion process, a process most exacting in its chemistry, especially in a land where the science is practically unknown. Some of my troubles are recounted in these pages, and may prove interesting to the amateur who works along the line of rapid plates and films, and who, after making his exposure, may retain the plate with its latent image for an indefinite period before development. With such plates and films ready to his hand, the explorer ought to be in a position to produce work of the highest artistic and scientific value. I must here thank my former publishers, Messrs. Sampson Low and Marston, for their courtesy in allowing me to make use of such matter as I required for the present volume. J. THOMSON. April 1899 INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION Thi-: favourable reception accorded by the Public and the Press to the first edition of "Through China with a Camera" has suggested the reissue of the volume in an attractive though less costly form. In the work of revision I have been careful to condense where possible, and to supplement the chapters dealing with the system of education prevailing in China, the art of the Chinese, and their social condition. The supplementary matter takes the form of a series of suggestive notes rather than an exhaustive account of the subjects under review. This course is forced upon me, first by lack of space, and also because a treatise on art or education would be " out of place " in a popular account of China. It is gratifying to note that the views I expressed in the first edition on the subject of financial reform in China have been embodied as one of a series of resolutions passed by the Hong- kong branch of the China Association on December 28, 1898. I set this down as simply a coincidence of opinion, as supplying one of the chief factors to be employed in solving the Chinese problem. Ching-Chi-tung, the Viceroy of Hupeh and Hunan (see p. 1^ ) has recently written a work on Chinese reform which is reported to have had a circulation of over 200,000 copies among his countrymen. While the author displays an intimate knowledge of the history of his own country, he appears to have cultivated some acquaintance with the usages of Western nations, and to have so largely discounted their prospective advantage when applied to China that he urges the people to proceed with all diligence with the time-honoured study ol the Chinese classics as viii INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION affording the only safe guide to reform. He is careful, however, to enjoin that it might not be harmful to ingraft some delicate shoot from the tree of Western knowledge on to the dead trunk of Confucian culture. While such a work is read with avidity rebellion runs riot in the south, in the provinces of Kwang-tung and Kwangsi, fomented by one Dr. Sun-Yat-sun of chequered history, whose fame was spread abroad by his arrest in London by some members of the Chinese Legation, and subsequent release. Even as this sheet goes to press he is so spreading disaffection that many of the Imperial troops sent to crush the insurrection are said to have joined his standard. All the illustrations for the work were taken by the "wet collodion process." The plates had to be prepared and de- veloped on the spot, with this advantage — that the negative so taken could be at once scrutinised, finished, and packed for car- riage. The practice of such a process in a country where one had to prepare chemicals from raw material implied difficulties unknown to the modern photographer, and in no way lessened by having to work among a people hostile to foreigners, and all the more offensive because of their superstitious dread of the white man's " Black Art." My impedimenta required for its transport a retinue of from eight to ten bearers, frequently men of evil repute, and dangerous to manage. Objection has been taken to the absence of dates in my narrative. My travels in China were ended in 1872, but, as already noted, I have been careful to bring my matter up to date. China and its cherished institutions are not subject to sudden change, and the Chinese themselves do not love innovation ; their manners and customs, their arts, literature, and their' physical characteristics remain nearly as they were two thousand years ago. CONTENTS CHAT. l'A(iE I. A Brief Sketch of the Condition of China, Past and Present ....... i The Great Examination Hall, Canton — Social Charac- teristics of the People. II. The Chinaman at Home and Abroad ... 24 Chinese Guilds — Hongkong — Native Boats— Shopkeepers — Chinese Art and Artists — Music Halls. III. The Chinaman at Home and Abroad (continued) 42 Gambling — Typhoons — The Floating Population of 1 [ong- kong — North Branch of the I 'earl River IV. Canton and Kwang-tung Province 55 Tea — Foreign Hongs and Houses — Schroffing. V. Canton (continued) ........ 63 Its General Appearance — Its Population Streets - Mode of Transacting Business — Signboards — Work and Wages — The Willow-pattern Bridge — Juilin, late Governor- General of the Two Kwang Clan Fights Ilak-kas — The Mystic Pills -Dwellings of the Poor The Lohany- tang — Buddhist Monastic Life On Hoard a lunk. x CONTENTS CHAP. VI. Canton {continued). Macao. Swatow. Chao-chow- fu — Amoy ......... The Charitable Institutions of China — Macao — Descrip- tion of the Town — Its Inhabitants — Swatow — Foreign Settlement — Chao-chow-fu — Swatow Fan-painters — Modellers — Chinese Art— Village Warfare— Amoy — The Native Quarter — Abodes of the Poor — Infanticide — Manure-pits — Human Remains in Jars— Lekin — Roman- tic Scenery — Ku-Lang-Su — The Foreign Settlement. VII. Formosa .......... Takow Harbour, Formosa — La-mah-kai — Difliculties of Navigation — Tai-wan-fu — The Taotai — His Yamen — How to Cancel a State Debt — The Dutch in 1661 — Sylvan Lanes — Medical Missions — A Journey to the Interior — Old Watercourses — Broken Land — Hak-ka Settlers — Poah-be — Pepohoan Village — Baksa Valley — The Name " Isla Formosa" — A Long March — The Central Mountains — Bamboo Bridges — " Pau-ah-liau " Village — The Physician at Work — Ka-san-po Village — A Wine-feast — Interior of a Hut — Pepohan Dwellings — A Savage Dance — Savage Hunting-grounds — La-lung Village — Return Journey. VIII. FOOCHOW AND THE RlVER MlN ..... \2J The Japanese in Formosa — Cause of the Invasion — The River Min — Foochow Arsenal — Chinese Gunboats — Foochow City and Great Bridge — A City of the Dead — Its Inhabitants— Beggars — Thieves — Lepers — Ku-shan Monastery — A Hermit — Tea Plantation on Paeling Hills — Voyage up the Min — Shui-kow — An Up-country Farm— Captain Sheng and his Spouse — Yen-ping City— - Sacrificing to the Dead — Shooting the Yen-ping Rapids — A Native Passenger-boat. IX. Shanghai. Ningpo. Hankow. The Yangtsze . 159 Steam Traffic in the China Sea— In the Wake of a Typhoon — Shanghai — Notes of its Early History — Japanese Raids — Shanghai Foreign Settlement — Paul CONTENTS xi Sii, or " Su-kwang-ki " — Shanghai City — N'ingpo — Native Soldiers — Snowy Valley — The Mountains- Azaleas — The Monastery of the Snowy Crevice — The Thousand-fathom Precipice — Buddhist Monks — The Yangtsze Kiang — Hankow — The Upper Yangtsze, Ichangj — The Gorges— The Great Tsing-tan Rapid — Mystic Mountain Lights— A Dangerous Disaster — Kwei-fu — Our Return — Kiukiang — Nanking: Its Arsenal— The Death of Tsing-kwo-fan— Chinese Superstition. X. Chefoo. Tientsin. Peking. The Great Wall . The Foreign Settlement — The Yellow River —Silk- Its Production — Taku Forts— The Peiho River — Chinese Progress — Floods in Pei-chil-li — Their Fffects — Tientsin — The Sisters' Chapel — Condition of the People — A Mid- night Storm — Tung-chow — Peking — The Tartar and Chinese Divisions of the Metropolis — Its Roads,. Shops, and People— The Foreign Hotel — Temple and Domestic Architecture — The Tsungli Yamen — Prince Kung and the High Officers of the Empire — Literary Champion- ship — The Confucian Temple — The Observatory — Ancient Chinese Instruments — Yang's House — Habits of the Ladies — Peking Enamelling — Yuen-Ming-Yuen — Remarkable Cenotaph — A Chinese Army — Li-hung- chang — The Inn of " Patriotic Perfection " — The Great Wall— The Ming Tombs. APPENDIX. The Aboriginal Dialects of Formosa .... 250. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FULL-PAGE PLATES The Kxvo-tzc-kcen, or National University, Peking Examination Hall, Canton . Military Mandarin .... Kowloon City, Mainland, opposite Hongkong Group of Chinese Labourers, Hongkong Chinese Houses, Hongkong . Chinese Curio Shop, Hongkong . Chinese Child-play .... Sections of an Old Scroll painted on Silk Irrigation and Pulling Cotton-pods Hoii> the Chinese portray Themselves . Chinese Street Industries Street Gambling ..... Chinese Bridge, Kivang-tung Province, Chim In a Chinese Tea-Hong, Canton . Chinese Tea Dealers .... Distant View of Foreign Settlement, Canton Garden, British Consular Yamen, Canton Physic Street, Canton .... Pavilion in Pun-slii-chcng's Garden, Canton Pun-shi-chcng's Garden, Canton . Buddhist Monks at Chess . Chinese Garden-gateway Frontispiece /•'acini; page 4 8 16 28 30 32 34 36 36 38 40 42 5° 56 5« 62 60 68 7-i 74 7(> So LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Macao ..... Approach to Buddhist Temple, Macao Bridge at Chao-chow-fu Chinese Pagoda, Kwang-tung Province The Kwang-tung Slipper-boat Buddhist Temple, Amoy Mountain Gorge, Island of Formosa Right Bank of Lalwli River, Formosa Open Altar of Heaven, Foochoiv . Yuen-fu Monastery, Fukien Province Buddhist Monks .... Up-country Farm, Fukien Province Rapids near Yen-ping City, River Min My Native Boat, Upper Yangtsze Near the Mitan Gorge, Upper Yangts Mountain Scene, Province of Hupeh Mountain Scene, Szechuan . Ie-ho-yuen, Peking Street Scene in Peking, after Rain Pialo, or Memorial Arch, Peking Marble Bridge, Peking (now closed to Foreigners) Members of the Tsungli Yamen, Peking Great Gateway, Temple of Confucius, Peking Ancient Astronomical Instruments on the Wall of Peh Marble Bridge, Yucn-ming-yuen . Bronze Temple, Yuen-ming-yuen . Sculptured Terrace, Yuen-ming-yuen (recently restored Empress Dowager) . Wo-foh-sze Monastery Li-hung-chang .... Buddhist Temple, Pe-yiin-sza Avenue Leading to the Ming Tombs, North of Pekin t Temple of Ching-lsoo, Ming Tombs ng by the LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS Civil Mandarin in Official Chair Military Mandarin Canton Boat-Girl and Chao-chow-fu Female A Venerable Student . Chinese Artist Cantonese Girl . Pepohoan Woman, Formosa Chinese Sawyers . Chinese Pedlar . Suburban Residents, Canton Schroffing Dollars Female Coiffure, Canton Opium Smoking . Reeling Silk Buddhist Monk . Amoy Natives Primitive Soldier Native Herbalist Natives, Fukicn Province Foochow Female . Chinese Seamstress Chinese Tomb Szechuan Hermit Lepers The Motning Bell — Yuen-fit Monastery Fishing with Cormorants Knife Grinder Art Dealers Chinese Costers . Wayside Gambling Our Native House-boat, Upper Yangts-t Night Watchman, Peking . i 7 jo, 31 38 39 44 45 48 49 59 61 64 69, 149 73 77 92 93 '32 133 >3 r > 137 139 142 M3 14S 15" '57 162 227 1 71 ■7') 21 j LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Chinese Archer .... Chinese Coolies .... Collector of Printed Scraps . Ancient Bronze Bell, Peking Native Plough .... Travelling Cook .... Chiropodist, Peking Manchu Tartar Lady . Peking Peep-show Manchu Lady and Maid Manchu Lady and Maid Native Actors. Bride and Bridegroom Manchu Bride and Maid .... Female Compressed Foot and Natural Foot . Sculptured Panel on Buddhist Cenotaph, Peking Mongols ....... Native Litter, Nankow Pass Chinese Bronze Lion, Yuen-ming-yuen . Funeral Bannennen ..... PAGE 213 2l6 217 220 221 224 225 228, 24O 229 241 242 243. 2 44 • 245 248 • 249 252 • 253 25G • ■ 257 Tsze Hsi hwangtai how u pi chih pao. The sign 7>ianual of the Imperial handwriting of the Empress Dowager Tsze Hsi. (See Cover.) THROUGH CHINA WITH A CAMERA CHAPTER I A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE CONDITION OF CHINA PAST AND PRESENT • The Great Examination Hall, Canton — Social Characteristics of the People "The Chinese are so ancient in the world that it fares with them, as to their original, as with great rivers whose source can scarce be discovered." It is over two centuries since this was written by Le Comte, and the origin of the Chinese is still wrapped in obscurity. It is held by native scholars that Chinese history supplies a fairly accurate record of the Kings and Emperors who have reigned for the past four thousand years, and that their annals, dealing with an earlier period, are largely mythical. The primitive sovereigns of the race are represented as the sources of the wisdom and probity supposed to characterise the Govern- ment of the present day. They were certainly not without influence in moulding the political and social institutions which have kept the Chinese together for so many centuries in inde- pendence and isolation. The cause, however, of the permanency of the Chinese Government has afforded ample scope for con- troversy to sinalogues and students of history, some affirming that it is solely due to the principle of paternal authority that forms the basis of the Chinese system, while others attribute its con- 2 THROUGH CHINA WITH A CAMERA tinuity to traditional methods followed in selecting officials. " It is solely owing to a principle which the policy of every successive dynasty has practically maintained, in a greater or less degree — viz., that good government consists in the advancement of men of talent and merit only to the rank and power conferred by official posts." This view Mr. Meadows supports by the authority of Con- fucius, who says : " Good government depends on obtaining proper men. Justice is what is right in the nature of things, its highest exercise is to honour men of virtue and talent."* But other maxims are not wanting in the works of Confucius to prove that good government, to be enduring, must be based on the duties of universal obligation between " sovereign and minister, between father and son, between husband and wife, between elder brother and younger brother, and those belonging to the intercourse of friends." f It would appear, therefore, that the persistency of the Chinese system of government must be attributed to more causes than one, in some measure to the patriarchal system, as well as to the principle embodied in selecting the most accomplished scholars for the service of the State. Be that as it may, the reader is probably aware that the system of government examination for civil and military pre- ferment is one of the most ancient institutions of the Empire. All official posts, theoretically, are open as the rewards of dis- tinguished scholarship. Examinations are periodically held in the chief cities of the Empire, and the subjects for examination, and methods followed by the examiners, are practically the same as they were two thousand years ago, with this difference, that a scholarly acquaintance with the classics takes now first rank, while the result of the moral teaching of the sacred text-books is hardly recognised, and is left to the somewhat elastic conscience of the successful candidate for office. These examinations are open to all grades of society, excepting the most depraved sections of the community, those having no recognised social status. On the surface, this appears to be the * Meadows' " Notes on China." f " Chinese Classics," vol. i. p. 103. — Prof. Legge. LITERARY GRADUATES 3 one democratic institution of the country, but in its practical operation it proves no exception to the purely conservative basis upon which all Chinese institutions are reared. Literary graduates, when selected for the Imperial service, are at once cut adrift from the people and form a caste by themselves, CIVIL MANDARIN IN OI-'KH'IAI. CIIAIK whose sole interest lies in maintaining the ancient policy of the Government, to the exclusion of such measures of progress and reform as would bring the country abreast of the times and foster the permanent interests of the community from which they sprang. The system is nevertheless popular, and the examination hall full of infinite possibilities, affording a strong incentive to parents to educate their children, with the result that the schoolmaster is found in every village in the Empire. He is himself a student, an expectant, or unsuccessful candidate for office, who is treated 4 THROUGH CHINA WITH A CAMERA with the honour befitting the dignity of his position, and supported with much self-sacrifice by the villagers. A description of the Great Examination Hall, Canton, will afford some insight into the Chinese method of conducting examinations. The Canton hall has no pretensions ; it is simple and well adapted for the accommodation of the candidates for whom it was designed. It is here that the triennial examinations are held, at which all graduates of the first degree are required to attend. There are similar buildings in all the provincial capitals. It stands within the walls at the south-east corner of the city, and covers an area of 1300 feet by 583 feet, hedged round by a high wall pierced by gateways on the east and west, and by a main entrance. The space is divided into two ; one section contains rows of cells for candidates, and the other, apartments for super- intending officers. Entering the great gateway, (2) on the plan, and passing the door called "Equity" (3), and the Dragon-gate (4), one is admitted to the central avenue, a sort of paved boulevard, flanked on each side by rows of cells, each row by a colossal character taken from "The Thousand Character Classic." On the east are seventy-five rows made up of 4767 cells; on the west eighty-six rows numbering 3886 cells. Each row carries a sloping roof facing south, and six feet above the ground at its lowest part. A narrow passage divides the rows and admits of access. Each cell has an area of six feet by three feet, and the walls are grooved to carry planks which serve as tables and seats during the day and unyielding beds at night. While the students are at work doors are fixed at the ends of the rows, and each candidate is isolated absolutely as if in prison. They are, indeed, officially sealed into their cells, the seal only being broken when the task is completed. The accompanying native woodcut repre- sents only a sixteenth part of the whole number of cells. In the central avenue a high stone building (5) commands a view of this beehive, and is provided in the top storey with an image of the god of Eiterature, who is supposed to supervise the whole. A very large contingent of officers superintend these examinations. There is "The Hall of Integrity" for the chief commissioner with his seven satellites, with whom the essays are lodged, and who, in VLt^M D mm B :r iTv7 ■('/, -fiZ ■iX''l .77 tub fcsLlSLL L o r- r -M?*£'. M'tfk rfiA *t« rnlit] nr a tin*. 3hi^ miBE ** XT i — J EH ■:}L *&£ 35 Jig Vi ll r ftk ElBES M yi ir ^i opr of i * 3 ■-«(* _HZJ p > ffl -^ f /^A * T "IT IT TT rrr rrrrrnn . rrrr] rTTTri TTTl Mo{£*~*SM -IK- EXAMINATION haii D CANTON CHINA J* THE GREAT EXAMINATION HALL, CANTON 5 return, give passes to enable students to leave by the Dragon- gate. Slovenliness, faulty composition, inelegance of style, and violation of classical rules procure polite but certain dismissal. The names of " plucked " aspirants are posted outside the gates, effectually barring further admission. The essays are weeded out by scrutineers until the elect are deposited in the " Hall of Restraint " for the decision of the chief examiner. The final test is carried out in the "Hall of Auspicious Stars" (10), where their fate is finally settled. On the first day texts are selected from " The Four Books," when three essays and one poem are required ; on the second day tile " Five Classics," requiring five essays of three hundred words each. The third day is taken up by the preparation of five essays on general subjects. Each student during the examination has placed in his cell pen, paper, and ink only, and the most simple diet. Every precaution is supposed to be taken to prevent cribbing, or smuggling in of authorities, and all unfair dealing. But corruption is rife, and men who have but scant knowledge of classical lore fill many lucrative posts in the Empire. For all that, this old method of selecting the wise men of the land for preferment has worked well for the Chinese for many centuries, and has been a potent factor in keeping the Empire together, as it is certain to prove of its dismemberment. It is curious to note that the corruption that has crept into the system has not been without its element of usefulness. Men there are who, not being fettered by the dead matter of the classics, obtain rank by pur- chase — men of affairs who by practical methods have amassed wealth, and who bring into their position qualities of solid value to the State ; that is, assuming that they have some degree of integrity, and do not utilise their opportunities entirely to further their own ends. Judging from personal experience, few Chinamen are wholly illiterate, while the majority are too poor to procure anything beyond elementary training It is from thir untutored class that our colonial settlements draw their supplies of labour, the class par excellence showing capacity and determination to adapt themselves to new surroundings and to profit by the 6 THROUGH CHINA WITH A CAMERA methods of Western progress. They are naturally free from the retarding influence of cultured prejudice, which characterises the Chinese literati. To this humbler section of the race, engaged in trade and tillage, one is forced to look for the ultimate re- generation of China, rather than to the accomplished followers of Confucius. It is within my knowledge that some of these emigrants and their descendants, the latter having been trained in foreign schools, have risen to opulence and launched, on foreign lines, abroad and in their own country, commercial undertakings of great magnitude and importance. In the hands of such men as these, perchance, lie the destinies of China, which must either move forward or drift and be dismembered by powers over which she has no control. The experience of the last quarter of a century, and especially the results of the last war, are far from reassuring, and do not encourage the hope that China at the eleventh hour will "set her house in order." She would have to reorganise her whole system of administration, excepting her Imperial Maritime Customs under Foreign Commissioners, which might well serve as a model, or an honest foundation upon which to rear the new fabric of government. In regard to the pressing necessity for reform of a drastic type, the reader may draw his own conclusions from a perusal of the recent Times corre- spondence, or still more recent British Consular Report, on " The Revenue and Expenditure of the Chinese Empire. 1 ' The political as well as the fiscal outlook are there set down in the most sombre colours. Will China face the position boldly and at once ? A native scholar once remarked that it takes more than a thousand years to introduce a new tone into the Chinese language. Should this estimate afford some clue to the ratio of political and social progress, it is difficult to limit the time required to cast off the chrysalis of antiquity in which the Empire is shrouded. Signs of forward movement, however, have not been wanting, but they are solely due to pressure from without, not unfrequently applied at the point of the bayonet. There has been no spontaneous advance. The Chinese have spent their efforts and resources in futile endeavours to safeguard their ancient institutions. Arsenals, Naval and Military Schools and CLASSICAL TEXT-BOOKS 7 Colleges have been founded, a fleet and armaments purchased, and untold wealth lavished on useless defences which have left the Empire at the mercy of her foe>. Still, with all these reluctant and costly innovations, the Chinese to-day place implicit faith in CHINESE MILITARY STATION their time-worn methods of training for Government service, civil and military. The nine books of the Classics arc the Examination Textbooks, just as they were two thousand years ago, and on them they have staked their existence, five of the books were written before the days of Pythagoras, and the remaining four compiled by Confucius and his immediate disciples. In these sacred tomes the authors are supposed to have completed the 8 THROUGH CHINA WITH A CAMERA circle of human knowledge, and left to their countrymen a store of wisdom sufficient for all time. All discoveries in Science and Art should conform to, and be tested by these primitive stan- dards, sources which were frozen up during what may be termed the glacial epoch of Chinese progress. Confucian philosophy stands at the opposite pole to that of Bacon, and if not in- operative as a means of cultivating the mind, is useless for all work of human development. It is the modern Great Wall, hedging round the ignorance and superstition of the race. The moral maxims of Confucius "are excellent, but they have not made the Chinese a moral people." * While his doctrine is full of faultless ethical teaching, it is placed on record that the teacher himself failed in his integrity when personal interest was involved. " He broke an oath he had sworn at a place called Pfoo, on the plea that it was a forced oath, and the Spirits do not hear such."f He also enjoined concealment of truth, if by that means a father or friend might escape the consequences of their own misdeeds. This touches upon a phase of national character which accounts for much official malfeasance. The cultured disciples of Con- fucius have not failed to profit by the few isolated passages which record the backsliding of the Master, while the scrupulous cor- rectness of his conduct as a whole, and excellence of his moral teaching have had little or no effect in moulding the character of his modern followers. If the ancient rulers of China were remarkable for wisdom and probity, the morality of the modern Mandarin is mainly confined to polite phraseology and posturing. This outer sem- blance of virtue and integrity presents a phase of Asiatic cha- racter with which foreigners in their Chinese experience are not unfamiliar. It is the polished husk presented to the outer barbarians with all due ceremony, and which has proved so unsatisfying as to have led to reprisals which have brought China to the verge of bankruptcy. But foreigners are not the only sufferers by such methods of official procedure. The provincial Governors enjoy a quasi-financial independence in the collection * " The Religions of the Chinese." — Dr. Edkins. t "The Chinese Classics," vol. i. p. 101. — Prof. Legge. Mil II \ K N \| \M> \U1 N IMPERIAL MARITIME CUSTOMS 9 and administration of a large part of the Imperial revenue. Foreign and native trade alike suffer from the irregular mode practised in levying and collecting taxes. The policy of the pro- vincial officials in dealing with the revenue is to retain as much as possible for local expenditure and to remit as little as possible to Peking. Things are made to appear what they are not ; a considerable portion of the revenue never finds its way into the official returns, while many of the large items set down for military and naval expenditure are so manipulated as to leave a large residue in the pockets of the provincial rulers and their numerous retainers. For this the Government is in some measure respon- sible, as the official salaries of Mandarins are merely nominal. That, for example, of the governor-general of a province about equals the salary of a city clerk, while his supplementary allow- ances are indefinite and elastic, affording ample scope for the exercise of predatory habits. It is indeed difficult, and, from the Oriental point of view, impossible, for the official to carry on his administration with clean hands. Besides, his tenure of office is short, while his present and prospective wants are immeasurable. The safeguarding of a system that tolerates this state of official corruption accounts in part for the dread of innovation and intolerance of foreigners and foreign intercourse. The one branch of the Imperial service carried on with honesty is, as I have noticed, the Imperial Maritime Customs, under the direction of Sir Robert Hart. This yields an ever increasing revenue. The average annual return is over 23,000,000 taels, while the native Customs, with many more stations and irregular imports, produce about 10,000,000 taels, an amount which always remains about the same, irrespective of war, famine, pestilence. or fluctuations of trade. In the Kwang-tung province the foreign Customs collect at four ports 3,000,000 taels, while the native Customs returns from forty ports and stations less than half a million taels.* The work accomplished by the Foreign ( urn- missioners has met with scant appreciation at the hands of the Chinese, and although it supplies the most important item of * "Far Eastern Question." — Val Chikol io THROUGH CHINA WITH A CAMERA revenue of the Central Government, has led to no reform in other branches of the administration. Corruption is still the rule, sapping the strength of every modern effort, whether in reorganising the army, founding arsenals, or the purchase of a fleet. In justice, however, it must be recorded that the ruling classes are not wholly corrupt. There are exceptions ; men in authority who are famed for honesty rather than for stores of ill-gotten gain, and men like the Viceroy of Hupeh and Yunan, Ching- Chi-tung, who, in a patriotic attempt to benefit his country, squan- dered his fortune in founding gigantic iron and steel works, which were to provide the railroad plant of a line from Hankow to Peking. The works were to be managed entirely by Chinese, while the foreigner was to look on with mingled envy and appre- hension. But, as might have been foreseen, for lack of know- ledge the project had to be abandoned. It may be noticed that this Viceroy, so it was said, was not unacquainted with the promoters of the pseudo-republican rising in Formosa, which gave the Japanese some trouble when they entered into possession of that inland. Since the close of the war with Japan, reforms are in the air, just as they were a quarter of a century ago. A new fleet is to be purchased and the Chinese navy organised under a British officer, Commander Dundas, R.N. The army, too, is to be remodelled by English and German officers. It is to be supposed, before this step was taken, that a suitable guarantee was obtained that the officers in question will be accorded better treatment by the Chinese Government than fell to the lot of Captain Lang, who became simply a naval instructor,, subordinate to the native officials, who embraced every oppor- tunity of misapplying funds supposed to be devoted to rendering, the fleet efficient. If the new fleet, yet to be purchased, and the army, yet to be formed, are to be of service, the funds set apart for their organisation and maintenance should be administered by Europeans as a guarantee that they will be applied to the purpose for which they are intended. Should this precaution fail to be taken, history will repeat itself, as the next war will prove. What has become of the army of 600,000 fighting men, supposed to THE CHINESE NAVY n have existed before the war with Japan, an army sufficiently organised to require regular rations and payments? In travelling all over the country I saw no evidence of the existence of any great military force. In the official pay-sheets it figures as a very formidable host. Apart from the numerical strength named, a considerable force does exist in the north, brought together and maintained by Li Hung Chang, when Viceroy of Pechili. The navy, before the war broke out, numbered about one hundred vessels of all sorts, from sea-going ironclads to torpedo- boats. This fleet, which does not now exist, will probably be re-created at great cost, and before officers or men can be trained for service, a matter, indeed, which does not disturb the Chinese mind. I do not know what the last navy cost the Government, but I do know that neither ships, officers, nor crews were ever fit for fighting. The Chinese trusted entirely, after the manner of their renowned chieftains of old, to the outward show of force, rather than to force itself, to defeat their foes. As for the army, on paper it is a costly machine. In the provinces and capital a considerable part of the revenue is annually expended on this line of defence, and yet, in order to make some show of resistance during the war, the force herded to the front was mainly from the fields ; men engaged in tillage, who had never handled a weapon more formidable than a hoe, were pushed forward, musket in hand, and many of them left to raid their own countrymen for rations, until brought to the shambles on the battlefields, or disbanded. Chinese reform, to be effective, should begin, not in wild schemes for arming the Empire in defence of the very institutions which are the cause of her impotency, and of a system of corrup- tion which would render her land forces and fleet useless in a struggle against any third-rate Power, but begin with the Govern- ment itself. The system of administration must be made worthy of respect, so as to be supported by the patriotie endeavour of the whole nation. This can never be the case in China so long as the Govern- ment figures as one in the first rank of Asiatic despotisms, so long as there are no railways, no public press, no public opinion, iz THROUGH CHINA WITH A CAMERA no modern facilities for intercourse, and no encouragement for the development of great industries, except what China has been forced to concede by treaty stipulations, notably by clauses contained in the Treaty of Shimonosaki, which has thrown open some new ports to trade. Under Article VI. it is stipulated that Japanese subjects shall be free to engage in all sorts of industries in the cities and open ports of the Empire, and be free to import machinery for manufacturing purposes. By the provisions of the Treaty of Tientsin, Great Britain and all other Powers under the most-favoured-nation concessions, share in the benefits conferred upon Japan. China, indeed, has again been reluctantly thrust forward as the direct result of her own immobility. But in order that she may hold together, and voluntaiily proceed along the path of progress, it is essential first that the Government should conduct its affairs with honesty and discretion. For this end there should be a central fiscal administration accountable for the whole income and expenditure of the Empire, and a Court of Exchequer having a thoroughly experienced foreign Chan- cellor as a guarantee of efficiency. This would naturally lead to a complete revision of official salaries, which would be so supple- mented as to remove the necessity for peculation and secure the whole revenue for the purposes of the Government, measures which would at once place China in a sound financial position, enabling her not only to meet all the liabilities resulting from the late war, but to have a considerable surplus in reserve. It is estimated that from one-half to two-thirds of the revenue disappears in the process of collection and transmission. Other essential reforms should follow, such as a complete survey of the land, in order to secure a proper adjustment of the land tax and return of the legitimate proceeds accruing from that source. The unification of the whole of the Customs under the present Imperial Maritime Customs Commissioners would sweep away the system of farming inland transit dues, and levying illegal imposts on foreign goods, by which they are still so burdened as to become unsalable in many of the inland marts. The total abolition of native collectorates would add greatly to the internal resources, as returns from those quarters are always much below LI HUNG CHANG 13 actual collection.* The entire revenue of the Central Govern- ment of China, roughly speaking, is about one-fourth of that of India, although in area of productive soil and in population India is at a disadvantage, while at the same time the burden of taxation borne by the people under British rule is lighter and less oppressive, and is not subject to fluctuations arising from the necessity, caprice or avarice of Mandarins. In India every facility is afforded for the development of the resources of the country and for the expansion of trade by a net- work of railways and trade routes, and by the safeguarding of the interests of the entire population. In China there are no facilities for inland transport, save by river and canal navigation, which the Chinese discovered to their cost during the late war, no railroads of any commercial importance and no roads worthy of the name. This in a land having boundless stores of wealth in coal, iron and minerals, and an unlimited supply of efficient labour ; a land famed for the minute economy of its people, who derive warmth and fuel from charcoal and millet-stalks, while millions of tons of coal lie undisturbed beneath their feet ! The people are remarkable for their utilisation of waste products in food and in tillage, while their rulers can boast of the waste of their country's resources. Mandarins hold commerce in con- tempt, and may not stoop to trade at the peril of losing caste, and yet some there are who add to their wealth by a quasi-con- nection with trade, as in the case of Li Hung Chang and the China Steam Navigation Company, and who, while denouncing foreign opium as a curse to the people, foster the cultivation of the native- drug for their individual profit. Li Hung Chang has acquired great wealth by methods sanctioned by custom and best known to himself. He is also not without fame as the figurehead of the modern school of China, from whom better things were expected than the complete collapse of her armaments, for which he is held in a great measure responsible. It can hardly be expected that the Government will so warily guide the helm of State as to clear the shoals which beset their course on all sides. On the north and north-east, Russia, who used her influence successfully in modify- ' Sec British Consular Report, Pari. i>