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Li Hung Chang. 
 
CHINA 
 
 AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 ALFRED STEAD, F.R.C.I. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION 
 
 BY 
 
 His Excellency BARON HAYASHI 
 
 JAPANESE MINISTER IN LONDON 
 
 "In making a candle we seek for light, in reading a book 
 we seek for reason ; light to illuminate a dark chamber, reason 
 to enlighten men's hearts." — Chinese Proverb. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 HOOD, DOUGLAS, & HOWARD 
 
 Clifford's Inn, E.C. 
 
 1901 
 
MAIN LIBRARY 
 
 JOHN FRYER 
 
 CHINESE LIBRARY 
 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 4 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 I. THE ANTIQUITY OF CHINA 13 
 
 II. THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF CHINA 20 
 
 III. THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA . . . . 3 1 
 
 IV. THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA AND THEIR EFFECT 
 
 UPON THE NATIONAL LIFE .... 42 
 
 V. SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE 5 1 
 
 VI. THE CHINESE PRIDE OF RACE AND THEIR SYSTEM 
 
 OF EXAMINATIONS 6l 
 
 VII. CHINESE DYNASTIES 7 1 
 
 VIII. FOREIGN INTERCOURSE WITH CHINA ... 84 
 
 IX. GREAT BRITAIN AND CHINA 98 
 
 X. CHINA AS THE LAND FOR SPOLIATION. . . 109 
 
 XI. THE YELLOW PERIL Il6 
 
 T^i ftflQ 
 
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK AND ALL MY LIFE 
 
 TO HER 
 
 WHO HAS MADE ALL THINGS POSSIBLE, 
 
 AND TO WHOM I OWE ALL 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 THE oldest historical records of the Chinese 
 people go back to a period distant more 
 than four thousand years from our own time. They 
 consist chiefly of collections of memoranda of the 
 sayings and actions of the emperors and princes, 
 and of their ministers, and of proclamations made 
 by them on the eve of battle. 
 
 From about the eighth century B.C. China 
 possesses written histories in an unbroken series, 
 giving every detail not only of the events in the 
 political and social life of the nation but also of 
 the individual lives of persons of note. Hence it 
 is comparatively easy for an author to write a 
 voluminous history of the country, but the very 
 abundance of the material makes it difficult to 
 present it in a concise and, at the same time, 
 an interesting form. 
 
8 INTRODUCTION 
 
 The present work of Mr. Alfred Stead is 
 eminently successful in this respect; it is compact, 
 yet it indicates with great clearness the main 
 features of the evolution of Chinese history. 
 These I venture to summarise in the following 
 lines. 
 
 In ancient times the central authority in China 
 was very weak. The hereditary dukes and barons 
 were in reality independent sovereigns in their 
 respective States. Opinion on philosophical and 
 ethical subjects was as much decentralised (if such 
 an expression may be allowed) as was political 
 power. This circumstance causing active competi- 
 tion in every department of social life, China had 
 made a wonderful and varied progress in civilisation, 
 which might be compared not unfavourably with that 
 of her contemporaries, the Greeks and Romans. 
 
 But after the unification of the whole Empire 
 by Shi- Hwang- ti (the first Emperor of the Ts'in 
 dynasty) in the third century B.C., and the subsequent 
 establishment of a strongly centralised government 
 by the Emperors of the Han dynasty, the doctrines 
 of Koon-fu-tze (Confucius), raised as it were into a 
 State religion, to the exclusion of all other systems 
 of philosophy and ethics, assumed a paramount 
 
INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 authority, and exercised unbounded influence in 
 moulding the moral and political ideas of the 
 Chinese. 
 
 The essential feature of the political teaching of 
 the great sages is the supreme importance attached 
 to the individual morality of the ruler, and its pre- 
 vailing spirit is that intense reverence for antiquity 
 which constitutes the extreme form of Conservatism. 
 
 The Chinese mind was so utterly enslaved by the 
 influence of these doctrines, and regarded them as 
 the precepts par excellence^ that the idea of instituting 
 a comparative study of political or ethical questions 
 was altogether banished therefrom. The inevitable 
 result was the careful preservation of the civilisation 
 acquired during a period of greater receptivity, but 
 a complete cessation of all further progress. 
 
 The number of dynasties that have ruled over 
 either the whole or a part of the Chinese Empire from 
 the time of the Ts'in dynasty to that of the Manchus, 
 which reigns at the present day, is about thirty. The 
 length of time during which each of these held sway 
 varies greatly, namely, from a period of several 
 centuries to one of a few years only. But, when a 
 dynasty continued in power for any length of time, 
 it was invariably the case that the earlier members 
 
io INTRODUCTION 
 
 of it enjoyed to the full peace and tranquillity, as 
 the rulers who raised themselves to the throne 
 were, without exception, men of extraordinary ability 
 and wisdom, and took care to gain the affection of 
 the nation by making the administration of the 
 government conform as nearly as possible to the 
 ideal upheld by Koon-fut-ze; but the later princes 
 of the same dynasty, brought up in the midst of 
 opulence and luxury, became demoralised by self- 
 indulgence. Often a favourite mistress or an 
 ambitious eunuch usurped the sovereign power, and 
 by the abuse of it fomented the discontent of the 
 people. Whereupon some popular minister or 
 general, or, in modern times, a foreign conqueror, 
 would displace the old dynasty and establish 
 his own. 
 
 Thus the truth of the old saying that " history 
 repeats itself" is amply exemplified in the case of 
 China, even the foreign dynasties of the Tartars 
 and Mongols experiencing the vicissitudes of fortune 
 in the same way as the others. 
 
 Another point not less remarkable in the history 
 of China is the fact that, although the imperial 
 succession is hereditary, the founders of each new 
 dynasty were generally self-made men, and not. of 
 
INTRODUCTION n 
 
 high extraction, purity of blood not being considered 
 of importance by the Chinese. According to their 
 political creed the Emperors are the chosen ministers 
 of Heaven, placed over them as their guardians. 
 The natural gifts of wisdom and ability are, in 
 their opinion, the most incontestable evidence of 
 the favour shown by Heaven to the person who 
 possesses them. 
 
 Careful readers of the work now presented to 
 them by Mr. Stead will find all the prominent 
 features of Chinese life lucidly set forth therein, 
 and will be put in possession of knowledge that 
 will greatly assist them to understand the general 
 direction of the ideas and sentiments of those many 
 hundred millions of Chinese who are now becoming 
 an important factor in international politics. 
 
 HAYASHI. 
 
 November I, 1900. 
 
CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE ANTIQUITY OF CHINA 
 
 THERE is a Chinese proverb which is most 
 suitable to be placed at the beginning of an 
 account of the most ancient and wonderful history of 
 China. " Ancient and modern times," it says, " form 
 but a single age of the world ; under the entire expanse 
 of heaven, all beings are one family." This saying 
 has been borne out in the history of the Chinese, 
 who, although undoubtedly the oldest nation in the 
 world, still are practically the same as they were 
 several thousand years before the Christian era. 
 Though all the rest of the world might change, 
 and even though foreign conquerors ruled over 
 them, the Chinese continued always the same, and 
 the foreigners conformed to their ideas and became 
 Chinese to all intents and purposes. 
 
i 4 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 The beginning i of : Chinese history is buried in 
 obscurity, and the earliest records, being purely 
 legendary, give small clue as to the origin of the 
 race. There are many students who believe that 
 the forefathers of the Chinese first started from 
 near the south of the Caspian Sea. Proof would 
 seem to be forthcoming that these early settlers 
 came from Babylonia, and there are certainly 
 many striking similarities to be found. From the 
 Babylonian monuments we learn that the early 
 Turanian inhabitants were an industrious, law- 
 abiding people ; that they delighted in peace, and 
 considered war an uncultured accomplishment ; 
 they were also skilled in mechanical arts. In 
 stature they were short and thick -set, with black 
 hair and slanting eyes. Besides the fact that this 
 description exactly fits the case of the Chinese, 
 there are additional proofs to be found in the 
 language and the written characters. Such an 
 explanation of the origin of the Chinese settlers helps 
 greatly to an understanding of the early civilisation 
 to be found among them. The legendary records 
 simply announce that such and such a king intro- 
 duced a certain invention as a fait accompli ; there 
 is never any mention of gradual development in the 
 ancient history of China. 
 
 However that may be, and wherever the early 
 settlers came from, there is small doubt that the 
 
THE ANTIQUITY OF CHINA 15 
 
 history of China dates back as early as 2852 B.C. 
 Before this date there are several purely mythological 
 characters, such as P'an - ku, who first gave the 
 heavens and the earth their shape ; Yu-chau, 
 originator of the idea of house-building ; Sui-jin, the 
 producer of fire and introducer of cooking — he also 
 invented the system of recording events by means 
 of knots in strings, a method which has travelled 
 through many lands since then. From 2852 to 
 1 1 o 1 B.C. may be described as the legendary 
 period. 
 
 The first of the legendary rulers was Fuh-ti, who 
 spent the hundred and fifteen years of his reign in 
 introducing numerous benefits to his people. He 
 instituted the laws of marriage, and invented the 
 lute and the lyre. Chief among his innovations 
 must be counted the invention of the six classes of 
 written characters ; these were chiefly symbolic, and 
 from them have grown the six classes of characters 
 in use at the present day. Fuh-ti also divided the 
 people into clans and taught them to fish with nets 
 and to rear domestic animals. 
 
 His successor, Shen-nung, was known as the 
 " Prince of Cereals," owing to the developments he 
 introduced into farming. He invented the plough, 
 and examined the different qualities of soil in his 
 dominions, and instructed the farmers what to 
 cultivate in each kind of soil. He also discovered 
 
16 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 many medicinal herbs, and is said to have written a 
 pharmacopoeia. 
 
 However inaccurate the accounts of these early- 
 rulers may be, they are of undoubted interest as 
 giving an indication of the advance of civilisation 
 even at that early date. 
 
 In 2697 B.C. Hwang-ti was elected Emperor, 
 after the overthrow of the ancient dynasty by the 
 feudal chiefs. This ruler was the first to assume 
 the title of Emperor, and was a wise and able man. 
 He introduced the decimal system into the weights 
 and measures as well as into the administration. He 
 invented also the Chinese cycle of sixty years, which 
 has been used since his day. His queen inaugurated 
 the silk industry, and her image is still to be found 
 in the great silk districts of China. Hwang-ti taught 
 his subjects to work in wood, pottery, and metal, 
 and also how to make carts and boats. Chinese 
 historians dwell upon his memory with unfailing 
 praise. 
 
 With the Emperor Yao the legendary period 
 comes to a close, and we have the records of 
 Confucius to assist us. With this ruler begins the 
 first of the great dynasties, which have successively 
 ruled China. Before dealing with them we will 
 glance hastily at the general condition of China in 
 the early ages. 
 
 The most striking facts with regard to Chinese 
 
THE ANTIQUITY OF CHINA 17 
 
 history are its remarkable unity, perpetuity^ and 
 also the utter state of isolation in which this great 
 nation has existed. The great extent of country 
 covered by the Empire enabled the Chinese to be 
 self-supporting and self-contained ; they therefore 
 never felt the need of intercourse with the outside 
 world. 
 
 Even if they had wished to open up relations 
 with other countries, nature had made it extremely 
 difficult. On the land side there were almost 
 insurmountable ranges of mountains, while from 
 their coasts the Chinese could see no land. The 
 sea was not used even for transportation, the internal 
 waterways being well -developed and sufficient. 
 Thus there were no temptations for the Chinese to 
 leave their own country in search of others ; it is 
 certain that they never felt the longing to do so. 
 
 The Chinese Empire has undergone many 
 vicissitudes and passed through many trials, but 
 these have never succeeded in breaking away any 
 portion of the people, or in affecting in the slightest 
 degree the Chinese civilisation. The Chinese have 
 frequently extended their boundaries, and nearly 
 always by means of peaceful settlement rather than 
 by wars of conquest. A strong virile race, they 
 speedily outnumbered the original inhabitants of the 
 country in which they settled, and became the 
 leading power in the new territory. A study of 
 
i8 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 these pages of Chinese history will reward all those 
 who are desirous of encouraging the immigration in 
 large numbers of Chinese labourers into sparsely- 
 populated countries. 
 
 As may be seen from the brief accounts of the 
 early rulers the Chinese possessed many forms of 
 civilisation more than two thousand years before 
 the Christian era. It was, however, after the year 
 206 B.C. that Chinese civilisation reached its highest 
 point. At this point advancement ceased, and 
 civilisation remains to-day where it was two thousand 
 years ago, absolutely uninfluenced by the discoveries 
 and changes of the outer world. 
 
 However much modern European civilisation may 
 affect to look down upon Chinese civilisation, it has in 
 the past drawn many of its most important inventions 
 from China. Thus we find that the Chinese knew 
 of and used such things as the compass, porcelain, 
 gunpowder, and movable type for printing, long 
 before the people of the Western civilisation dreamed 
 of such inventions. It is not surprising, though 
 possibly not pleasing to Europeans, therefore, to 
 learn that the Chinese regard them and their 
 civilisation with contemptuous pity, refusing for a 
 moment to consider them as other than inferior 
 races. It is inevitable that such should be their 
 feeling, and its extent may be gauged by the pride 
 of superiority which a European country feels over 
 
THE ANTIQUITY OF CHINA 19 
 
 a savage nation, almost entirely without civilisation 
 and culture. It is the kind of pity which a superior 
 being feels for an inferior one. In the case of 
 China the superior being has not mixed with other 
 nations, and has for thousands of years occupied a 
 position far above that of any of the neighbouring 
 states. 
 
 Though existing records might lead us to believe 
 that the Chinese were born as a nation with their 
 civilisation ready-made, there is no doubt, even if 
 this were the case, but that they owe its perfection 
 to their industry. No work was too great for them, 
 no period of time too long to devote to the accom- 
 plishment of a certain end. Whatever faults may 
 be laid at the door of the Chinese, their industry 
 and patience from time immemorial have been the 
 wonder of the world. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF CHINA 
 
 THE Chinese Empire occupies nearly one- tenth 
 of the whole surface of the globe, and con- 
 tains over 400,000,000 inhabitants! It is difficult 
 adequately to realise the magnitude of these numbers, 
 and still more impossible to imagine how so large a 
 portion of this earth could have remained a practi- 
 cally terra incognita to everybody outside its frontiers. 
 Yet the very size of the Chinese Empire helps to 
 explain how easy it was for the inhabitants to remain 
 independent of the outside world. There was ample 
 space for every necessary of life within the Empire, 
 and many sparsely inhabited districts for those who 
 desired change of abode. Of course in the early 
 ages the Empire did not embrace the extent of 
 territory it now has. 
 
 The Chinese divide their Empire into three 
 great parts, and diverse forms of government 
 obtain within the three divisions. These divisions 
 are — 
 
THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF CHINA 21 
 
 I. The Eighteen Provinces, or China 
 Proper. 
 II. Manchuria, the native country of the 
 Manchus, lying north of the Gulf of 
 Liantung. 
 III. Colonial Possessions, including Mongolia, 
 Hi (composed of Sungaria and Eastern 
 Turkestan), Koko-nor and Tibet. 
 
 The Eighteen Provinces is the division to which 
 other nations have given the name of China, and 
 which is inhabited by the Chinese Proper. It is 
 curious to note that the name " China " is not used 
 by the Chinese at all ; when speaking of China 
 Proper they call it either the Eighteen Provinces or 
 else the Middle Kingdom. It is probable that the 
 name " China " had its origin in the family of Ts'in, 
 famous in the earlier history of the country, and 
 whose chiefs obtained complete sway in 250 B.C. 
 
 The Eighteen Provinces lie on the eastern slope 
 of the high tableland of Central Asia, in the south- 
 eastern angle of the Continent. They compare 
 favourably with any other portion of the world for 
 fertility, climate, navigable rivers, and variety of 
 productions. Their area is 1,297,999 square miles. 
 
 The whole of the Empire may be divided into 
 the mountainous and hilly country and the Great 
 Plain. The Great Plain lies in the north-east, and 
 
22 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 forms the richest part of the Empire, while the 
 mountainous country lies west of the meridian, 1 1 2° 
 to the borders of Tibet ; the hilly country is found 
 east of the meridian and south of the Yang-tse-kiang 
 Valley. The Plain has an area of about 210,000 
 square miles, which is about equal to the Plain of 
 Bengal drained by the Ganges. The Great Plain 
 is for the most part extremely fertile, and produces 
 large quantities of silk, tea, cotton, grain, and tobacco. 
 It is most densely populated, the census of 1862 
 giving its inhabitants as 177,000,000. North of 
 the Great Plain the country is dry and sandy, though 
 capable of producing millet, wheat, and vegetables. 
 
 Except to the west of Yunnan and on the border 
 between Hi and the Kirghiz Steppe, there is a 
 natural wall of mountains enclosing the Empire. 
 To this natural wall is due to some extent China's 
 ability to maintain her isolation for so many 
 hundreds of years. There was no easy approach to 
 the Empire, either by land or by sea. There are 
 four great mountain chains within the confines of 
 the Empire beside those forming its frontiers. It 
 will thus be seen that a great portion of China is 
 mountainous; in fact four-fifths of the Empire is 
 mountainous or hilly — if we leave out of account 
 the vast desert of Gobi ; and, for the most part, the 
 country is fertile and capable of abundant produc- 
 tion under the labour of the husbandman. 
 
THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF CHINA 23 
 
 Nearly 1,200,000 square miles of the Empire 
 are occupied by the vast desert of Gobi or Sha-moh 
 (signifying " Sandy Sea "). While there are some 
 portions of this desert which are not quite sterile, 
 the greater part is best described in the words of a 
 Chinese author, who says : " There is neither water, 
 herb, man, nor smoke ; if there is no smoke, there 
 is absolutely nothing." 
 
 The glory of China is her rivers, and they are 
 also the main source of her prosperity. China 
 possesses four great rivers — the Amour, the Hoang- 
 ho, or Yellow River, the Yang-tse-kiang, and the 
 Chu-kiang; by means of their main trunks and of 
 their tributaries water communication is easily kept 
 up both east and west, north and south. 
 
 The Yellow River is the most celebrated, though 
 not the most useful or the largest of Chinese rivers. 
 Its early course is wonderfully winding, as may be 
 judged from the fact that near its source it flows 
 south 30 miles, then east 160, then west about 
 1 20, and lastly north-east. During its course to 
 the Great Plain, the waters of the Hoang-ho 
 become tinged with the clay which gives it both 
 its colour and its name. The area of the basin of 
 the Yellow River is estimated at 700,000 square 
 miles, and its length from source to mouth is nearly 
 2500 miles, although much of this is spent in 
 windings, the direct distance being 1290 miles. 
 
24 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 The furious current renders it practically useless for 
 navigation, and endangers the cities built near its 
 bed. In past centuries the river has frequently- 
 overflowed its banks, and changed its course with 
 disastrous effect upon the neighbouring population. 
 In the earliest legends of Chinese history mention 
 is made of great leaders who first obtained promi- 
 nence through their success in restraining the Yellow 
 River. 
 
 The Yang-tse-kiang (" Son of the Ocean "), has a 
 length of nearly 3000 miles, though there is little 
 known of its early course or of its source. This 
 river is quite different in character from the Yellow 
 River, being uniform and deep in its lower courses. 
 Thus we find that it is available for boats 1700 
 miles from its mouth, while large vessels can safely 
 reach Nanking 200 miles from the coast. The 
 banks of the Yang-tse-kiang are more stable, and 
 there is never much danger of inundations. Many 
 of its tributaries are also navigable ; indeed there 
 is no river in the world which exceeds this for the 
 arrangement of its subsidiary streams, which render 
 the whole basin accessible. The Yang-tse-kiang 
 has been termed the Girdle of China, from its almost 
 central course, and from the number of provinces 
 through which it passes. 
 
 The value of the river and its valley may be 
 estimated from the fact that when Great Britain 
 
THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF CHINA 25 
 
 succeeded in establishing a sphere of influence 
 over the Yang-tse-kiang Valley, a leading Russian 
 diplomatist described it as being worse for his 
 country than if she had been beaten in two great 
 wars and had had to make ruinous conditions of 
 peace. 
 
 The Chu-kiang River drains the southern portion 
 of China, although its form is much less regular 
 than those of the two great rivers. This river is 
 formed by three principal branches, respectively 
 known as the East, North, and West Rivers — all of 
 which are navigable for the greater part of their 
 courses. All these rivers flow into the sea at 
 Canton. 
 
 There are innumerable other rivers of lesser 
 importance flowing, from the west to the east of 
 China, which all aid in the water communication so 
 essential to the welfare of the Empire. 
 
 The coast-line of China is extremely dangerous, 
 being lined with multitudes of islands, from Hainan 
 to the mouth of the Yang-tse-kiang, while northward 
 to Liau-king the shores are low and abound in 
 shouls. The shores of the Yellow Sea are unap- 
 proachable, and vessels of any size have to anchor 
 miles out from land. At Taku it is recorded that 
 a Japanese ambassador to Peking was not aware of 
 the fact that the forts were saluting him until a boat 
 came from the forts to inform him of the fact — the 
 
26 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 anchorage was too far away to allow of the guns 
 being heard ! 
 
 The chief trading ports are Hongkong, Amoy, 
 Shanghai, although only the first of these can be 
 called a good harbour. Then there are the naval 
 bases so eagerly sought by Western powers, Kiaou- 
 chau, Wei-hai-Wei, Port Arthur, and Chemulpo. 
 To add to the difficulties of navigation in the 
 Yellow Sea, the silt brought down by the Yellow 
 River and the Yang-tse-kiang is gradually filling it 
 up. 
 
 However lavish nature may have been with the 
 Chinese in respect to rivers and harbours, it must 
 be admitted that the industry of the people has 
 enhanced the gifts of nature in the most remarkable 
 degree. The public works of China have not their 
 equals in the world. In many cases they have 
 altered entirely the natural aspect of the country — 
 the Great Wall, for example, is said to be the only 
 artificial structure which would arrest attention on a 
 hasty survey of the surface of the globe. Though 
 this is a great work, there are others as great to 
 look at, and of still greater actual importance to the 
 country. The Great Wall was built about 220 B.C., 
 by Hwang-ti of the Ts'in dynasty, to protect his 
 dominions from the incursions of the Northern 
 tribes. The Chinese name for the wall signifies 
 the " Myriad-mile Wall," and certainly its length of 
 
THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF CHINA 27 
 
 1250 miles justifies such a title. That it has stood 
 for over two thousand years is sufficient proof of the 
 excellence of its materials and construction. The 
 Wall varies in size in different parts of its course, 
 the eastern wall being more substantial than the 
 western. It is generally composed of a mound of 
 earth and stones, faced with masonry, the height 
 being from 15 to 30 feet. In thickness the wall 
 varies from 2 5 feet at the base to 1 5 feet at the top. 
 There are brick towers upon it at irregular intervals, 
 of about 40 feet in height ; they are independent 
 structures, about 40 feet square at the base and 30 
 feet at the top. While it is probable that this wall 
 served its purpose to some extent in the past, at 
 present it is simply a geographical boundary, and is 
 not kept in repair except at the passes. 
 
 One writer gives the following description of the 
 general effect produced upon the spectator by this 
 one of the hugest works of man : — 
 
 " It asserts its individuality by stretching away on each side 
 of the valley, up steep slopes, and from peak to peak, until it is 
 lost to view at the top of those high and picturesque mountains. 
 There in the Pass is the view of the Wail commonly given in 
 books, impressing the imagination of the youth as he studies 
 his geography. One sees at a glance what herculean efforts 
 must have been put forth to raise so much brick and mortar 
 to such heights, and build it there — a great work of national 
 defence at the time, and a wonder for all subsequent ages to 
 behold. A proverb says that 'building the Great Wall spoiled 
 one generation, but saved a thousand.' 
 
28 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 "If the weather is good, the wall almost gleams in the sun- 
 shine, extending like a light grey ribbon along the ridge of the 
 mountains, waving up and down, reaching from summit to 
 summit, surmounted at its highest points by a square tower 
 that stands out against the sky, defying wind and weather, as 
 it once defied the Mongol hordes. The wall stretches away 
 from Ch'a Tao to the south-west, and the eye can follow it for 
 twenty or thirty miles, except where it crosses deep valleys or 
 is hidden behind the nearer peaks. . . ." 
 
 The other great public work of China specially- 
 deserving of mention is the Grand Canal, which, 
 however, has in recent years lost much of its 
 original value as a waterway owing to neglect. 
 Formerly, by its means, together with the rivers 
 which flow into it, an almost entire water com- 
 munication across the country from Peking to 
 Canton was obtained. Its connection with the 
 great rivers enabled goods to pass from the capital 
 to nearly every large town in the riverine basins. 
 The Grand Canal was the work of Kublai, one of 
 the monarchs of the Mongol dynasty. Begun in 
 1282 A.D., it was completed in seven years. There 
 had been various channels before this date, and 
 additions were made to the canal under the Ming 
 dynasty. 
 
 The total length of the Grand Canal is about 
 650 miles, and it is quite unique to this day in Asia. 
 It passes through alluvial soil all along its course, 
 and thus the chief labour was expended in con- 
 
THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF CHINA 29 
 
 structing embankments, not in digging a channel. 
 The northern terminus of the canal is generally 
 given as Tientsin, although it actually begins at 
 Lintsing-chau in Shantung. The canal flows into 
 the Yellow River 70 miles from its mouth, and then 
 reaches the Yang-tse-kiang by means of a 90 mile 
 embankment not less than 20 feet above the sur- 
 rounding country ! The greatness of this work may 
 be appreciated better when we consider that the 
 canal is about 200 feet wide, and has a current of 
 three miles an hour ; the embankments are of earth, 
 held together by stone walls, and frequently a thick- 
 ness of 100 feet is to be found. Though much of 
 the mechanism of the canal would appear rude to 
 our eyes, we must remember that the objects desired 
 are all fully gained, and that the very simplicity 
 of the means rather adds to the merit of the 
 achievement. 
 
 There are several other canals in the Empire, but 
 none at all equal to the Grand Canal. In a country 
 where nearly all the travel is by water, it is only 
 natural to find that the public roads are neglected. 
 
 The difficulties of obtaining a correct census of 
 the population of China are immense ; the inhab- 
 itants do not assist the officials in their work, and 
 frequently the latter are content to fill in their 
 reports with imaginary numbers, generally an in- 
 crease upon the efforts of the last census-taker. 
 
3 o CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 The census taken in 1 8 8 1 by the officials of the 
 Chinese Customs may be regarded as being as 
 nearly accurate as is possible in the present state 
 of China. This census gives the population at 
 380,000,000 for China Proper; Tibet, Eastern 
 Turkestan, and Manchuria are not included. 
 
 The following extract is taken from a North 
 China Herald of 1890, and is interesting in as far 
 as it throws much light upon the causes of the 
 increase of about 2,500,000 a year: — 
 
 " The causes of increase are always at work. They are the 
 thoroughness of agriculture, the fertility of the soil, the anxiety 
 of parents to see their sons married by the time they are 
 eighteen, the willingness of the women to be married about 
 seventeen, the equality of the sons as heirs to property, the 
 thrifty habits of the people, and their adaptability to a variety 
 of occupations requiring skill and industry. The conclusion at 
 which we arrive is that none of the provinces are populated up 
 to the point at which the soil cannot maintain the inhabitants. 
 When drought and war occur, the people fly to the next 
 province. The provinces take their turn in being thickly or 
 thinly populated, and with new aids against famines and civil 
 wars they might, it would seem, support 800,000,000 without 
 much difficulty." 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA 
 
 THE theory of the Chinese Government is 
 patriarchal, as in the earliest days of its history 
 when Yao ruled as a patriarchal chieftain. The 
 Government is to-day what it has always been ; 
 there are practically no changes to record. 
 
 The Emperor is at the head, then follow his Court 
 and the Bureaucracy ; the people come last. The 
 Emperor reigns supreme over all ; he is " the sole 
 head of the Chinese constitution and government; 
 he is regarded as the viceregent of Heaven, especially 
 chosen to govern all nations; and is supreme in 
 everything, holding at once the highest legislative 
 and executive powers, without limit or control." 
 The Emperor holds himself superior to all gods, 
 and even condescends occasionally to grant titles of 
 honour to them, and to promote them in their 
 hierarchies. " He is the head of religion, and the 
 only one qualified to adore Heaven ; he is the source 
 of law and dispenser of mercy ; no right can be held 
 
32 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 in opposition to his pleasure, no claim maintained 
 against him, and no privilege protect from his wrath." 
 He is also the Buddha of the present day to his people, 
 a title which carries more weight in Mongolia and 
 Tibet than in China itself. 
 
 The following quotation from the inaugural pro- 
 clamation of one of the recent Emperors is of interest, 
 showing as it does the position to which the ruler 
 considers himself entitled : — 
 
 " Lo ! now, on succeeding to the throne, I shall 
 exercise myself to give repose to the millions of my 
 people. Assist me to sustain the burden laid on 
 my shoulders ! With veneration I receive charge of 
 Heaven's great concerns. Ye kings and statesmen, 
 great and small, civil and military, everyone be 
 faithful and devoted, and aid in supporting the vast 
 affair — that our family dominion may be preserved 
 hundreds and tens of thousands of years, in never- 
 ending tranquillity and glory ! Promulgate this to 
 all under heaven — cause everyone to hear it ! " 
 
 While the right of succession is by custom 
 hereditary in the male line, it is not usual to 
 announce the name of the heir-apparent during the 
 reign of the Emperor. 
 
 With all his power, and though he ranks as 
 Celestial, the present Emperor, (Kwang-Su = one 
 possessed of complete virtues, and able to act on 
 heavenly principles), is practically a prisoner in the 
 
The Canal through the Court before the Emperor's Palace. 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA 33 
 
 Imperial Palace at Peking. The grounds are a 
 microcosm of the Empire, but this does not make 
 the captivity more enjoyable. Seldom does the 
 Emperor emerge from that isolation which has 
 earned him the title of Kwa jin, the solitary man ; 
 when he does, all his subjects prostrate themselves, 
 and do not dare to look him in the face. 
 
 The hereditary aristocracy of China consists of 
 but few and unimportant members. There are also 
 five higher orders of nobility and four lower, con- 
 ferred without distinction on Manchus, Mongols, 
 and Chinese, both civil and military. The higher 
 orders are Kung, Hou, Pih, Tzu, Nan, generally 
 rendered in English by duke, marquis, earl, viscount, 
 and baron ; the four lower orders may be classed as 
 knighthoods. Unless titles are conferred in per- 
 petuity, they lose one degree of nobility with each 
 step of descent. Thus the title of Kung, or duke, will 
 reach the lowest round in twenty-six generations, 
 and so on. 
 
 The nobles have not necessarily any share in the 
 government. This is wholly in the hands of the 
 mandarins — officers belonging to the people, who are 
 supposed to owe their positions to success in the 
 examinations. The Imperial Government has, how- 
 ever, found it necessary to reward those who subscribe 
 large sums of money for relief works, by granting 
 them official positions. It is probable that about 
 3 
 
34 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 one-half of the mandarins in China have received 
 their positions by this method. 
 
 So minutely are the gradations of ranks enforced, 
 and so strict is the surveillance exercised by every 
 man over his neighbour, that the power of conspiracy 
 has been reduced to a minimum, and is less than 
 in any other despotic country in the world. 
 
 The Empire is divided into eighteen provinces, 
 fifteen of which are grouped into eight viceroyalties, 
 the other three are administered by governors. 
 The viceroys and governors are practically monarchs 
 in their own provinces, and so long as they forward 
 the regular quota of taxes to Peking, they have a 
 free hand allowed them. 
 
 When it is understood that a viceroy of a 
 province as large as a European kingdom only 
 receives about £6000 a year, it is evident that it is 
 almost a necessity for the official to squeeze extra 
 payment from his taxpayers. These latter do not 
 grumble at this course ; justice is a matter of price, 
 and the official reaps his harvest during his three 
 years of office. 
 
 According to tradition the people are the most 
 important part of the Empire, and the Emperor the 
 least. This, however, is not borne out in actual 
 practice, and the necessity for providing positions 
 for the ever-swelling ranks of mandarins renders, 
 year by year, the lot of the common people more 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA 35 
 
 and more overburdened. It is a significant fact 
 that there is no word in the Chinese language to 
 express " liberty." 
 
 Mandarins are frequently taken from the people, 
 and many cases have occurred where wood-cutters 
 or labourers have risen to high positions. The 
 democratic system of examination enables the 
 poorest to obtain official positions ; when the poor 
 man becomes a mandarin it is harder than ever for 
 his old companions and friends. 
 
 There are civil and military mandarins ; both 
 classes are divided into nine grades. These grades 
 are distinguished by the colour and nature of the 
 button worn on the official cap, by the pattern 
 embroidered on the official robes, and by the girdle 
 clasp. The military class is much lower than civil ; 
 indeed, the Chinese regard the profession of arms 
 with disdain, and do not dream of expecting the 
 same literary knowledge from those following it as 
 they would from aspirants after civil honours. The 
 military have no part in the central government. 
 
 Although the Emperor is supreme, he has two 
 imperial councils to advise him, and to enable him 
 to be in touch with the people. These councils are 
 deliberative bodies, and the active administration 
 rests upon six subordinate boards. The two 
 councils are the Nuiko, or Cabinet, and the ChiivA- 
 Chu, or Council of State. The former consul giving 
 
36 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 Chinese and three Manchu councillors, together with 
 many mandarins of the highest degrees. Its duties are 
 " to deliberate on the government of the Empire, to 
 proclaim abroad the imperial pleasure, and to regulate 
 the Canons of State, together with the whole adminis- 
 tration of the great balance of power, thus aiding 
 the Emperor in directing the affairs of State." The 
 councillors meet every morning with the Emperor, 
 and present the State Papers necessary for the 
 administration to him. After he has passed them, 
 they are handed to one of the boards for execution. 
 The Cabinet is essentially an advisory body, and 
 originates nothing. 
 
 The Council of State, on the other hand, de- 
 termines policies and decides on the course of action 
 to be pursued in all branches of the administration. 
 Its members are appointed by the Emperor, and 
 generally are four in number, two Manchus and two 
 Chinese. Their decisions on ordinary matters are 
 forwarded to the Cabinet for promulgation, but 
 secret orders pass through the Board of War. 
 
 From the carefully kept minutes of this council 
 the Peking Gazette is published. In this are found 
 the imperial edicts, official announcements, etc. ; it is 
 one of the oldest journals of the world. 
 
 The six boards deal with all the administrative 
 "-tails of the Empire. It will suffice to give the 
 ^ ^ J ~ each board from the official books. 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA 37 
 
 1 . The Civil Office. — Its duties include " whatever 
 appertains to the plans of selecting rank and official 
 gradation, to the rules determining degradation and 
 promotion, to the ordinances of granting investitures 
 and rewards, and the laws for fixing schedules and 
 furloughs, that there may be a full and constant 
 supply of officials." 
 
 2 . The Board of Revenue " directs the territorial 
 government of the Empire, and keeps the lists of 
 populations, in order to aid the Emperor in nourishing 
 all people ; whatever pertains to the regulations for 
 levying and collecting salaries and allowances, to 
 the rates for receipts and disbursements at the 
 treasuries, and to the rights of transporting by land 
 and water, is reported to this board, that sufficient 
 supplies for the country may be provided." 
 
 This board has as its principal work the taking 
 of the census ; the mint also comes under its juris- 
 diction. 
 
 3. The Board of Rites " examines and directs 
 concerning the performance of the five kinds of 
 ritual observances, and makes proclamation thereof 
 to the whole Empire, thus aiding the Emperor in 
 guiding all people. Whatever appertains to the 
 ordinances for regulating precedence and literary 
 distinctions, to the canons for maintaining religious 
 honour and fidelity, to the orders respecting inter- 
 course and tribute, and to the forms of giving 
 
38 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 banquets and granting bounties, is reported to this 
 board, in order to promote national education." 
 
 4. The Board of War is entrusted with " the 
 duty of aiding the sovereign to protect the people, 
 by the direction of all military affairs in the 
 metropolis and the provinces, and to regulate the 
 affairs of the State, in accordance with the reports 
 received from the various departments regarding 
 deprivation of, or appointment to office, succession 
 to or creation of hereditary military rank, postal or 
 courier arrangements, examination and selection of 
 deserving official candidates, and the accuracy of 
 returns." 
 
 The postal service is practically confined to 
 official despatches and the provincial and household 
 troops under special authorities, so the duties of 
 this board are not so important as they seem. 
 
 5. The Board of Punishments "has the govern- 
 ment and direction of punishments throughout the 
 Empire, for the purpose of aiding the sovereign in 
 correcting all people. Whatever appertains to 
 measures for applying the laws with leniency or 
 severity, to the task of hearing evidence and giving 
 decisions, to the rights of granting pardons, reprieves, 
 or otherwise, and to the rates of fines and interest, 
 are all reported to this board, to aid in giving dignity 
 to national manners." 
 
 The laws affecting this board are full of mercy 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA 39 
 
 and fine justice, but its acts are hated everywhere 
 for their injustice and cruelty. Even Chinese critics 
 condemn the system in vogue in the prisons under 
 this board. 
 
 6. The Board of Works " has the government and 
 direction of the public works throughout the Empire, 
 together with the current expenses of the same." . . . 
 
 This board is one of the most incapable of 
 Chinese institutions. The Yellow River, the Grand 
 Canal, and the high roads, once the admiration of 
 travellers, now all tell the tale of corruption and 
 incompetence in the Board of Works. 
 
 The Tsung-li- Yatnen, or Foreign Office, is quite a 
 modern institution, and was created after the war in 
 i860; before that date the Colonial Office had dealt 
 with all foreign affairs. There are eleven officials 
 in the Tsung-li-Yamen, all of whom hold other offices. 
 It is with this office that the ministers of the Powers 
 deal, and formerly they were obliged to present their 
 credentials to the Tsung-li-Yamen instead of to the 
 Emperor. The war with Japan, however, gained for 
 the representatives of the Powers the right of direct 
 presentation to the Emperor. The members of the 
 Tsung-li-Yamen have shown wonderful skill in 
 procrastination and in the playing off of the various 
 Powers against each other. 
 
 In the Tu-chah-Yuen, or Censorate, there is 
 found a curious example of Chinese contradic- 
 
40 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 tion. Its duties are the " care of manners and 
 customs, the investigation of all public offices within 
 and without the capital, the discrimination between the 
 good and bad performance of the business transacted 
 in them, and between the depravity and uprightness 
 of the officers employed ; the duty of urging its 
 members to utter each his sentiments and reproofs, in 
 order to cause officers to be diligent in attention to 
 their daily duties, and to render the government of 
 the Empire stable." Everyone knows that to carry 
 out these duties would mean the rightful impeachment 
 of almost every mandarin in China. There are fifty- 
 six censors in the eighteen provinces, and, realising as 
 they do that it would be useless to act up to their 
 full duties, they devote their energies to a few 
 flagrant cases, or else work up fussy little grievances. 
 The censors may denounce anybody — even the 
 Emperor, and on occasion they do so ; it is, however, 
 hardly wise to denounce the Emperor of a despotic 
 country. 
 
 The Colonial Office was formerly entrusted with 
 the whole of the foreign relations of the Empire, but 
 is now practically confined to Mongolia and Tibet. 
 
 The government of China is a curious example 
 of how a stable if not a good rule may be main- 
 tained, thanks to a minutely worked-out system of 
 surveillance and mutual responsibility. Every man, 
 knowing that he is watched, fears to do anything 
 
THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA 41 
 
 out of the regular run of life, lest he be denounced as 
 a conspirator or a dangerous character. Again, every 
 official is responsible to the official just above him, 
 who must answer for him to his superior. The fact 
 that the mandarins extort money raises up hosts of 
 spies and informers ; thus, there is always a check 
 upon rapacity, because in eastern despotic countries 
 officials fall easily and quickly. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA AND THEIR EFFECT 
 UPON THE NATIONAL LIFE 
 
 IT is most difficult, if not absolutely impossible, to 
 state which is the religion of the Chinese. It 
 would seem that the Chinaman does not possess 
 religious sentiment to any great extent. Thus, from 
 the three great religions or schools of teaching in 
 China — Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism — he 
 prefers to evolve an amalgam suited to his daily 
 life. Thus we see that he moulds his religion upon 
 his life much more than his life upon his religion. 
 
 Professor Douglas in his book, Society in China^ 
 says of this question : — 
 
 " Religious sentiment is not a characteristic of the Chinese. 
 Their views on the subject of faith are wanting in definitiveness, 
 and are so indistinct and blurred that it might surpass the wit 
 of man to determine what is the prevailing religion of the 
 country. The multitude of Buddhist temples which cover the 
 face of the land might naturally suggest that the majority of the 
 people profess the religion of Buddha, while conversations with 
 native scholars would unquestionably lead one to believe that 
 
 42 
 
THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA 43 
 
 the educated classes were to a man Confucianists. Taoism, 
 the third religion which holds sway in China, does not make 
 the same pretension to popularity as do the other two faiths. 
 As a matter of fact, however, it would probably be difficult to 
 rind many Chinamen who are Confucianists pure and simple, 
 or many who rest contented with the worship provided in 
 Buddhist temples. A combination of the two— an amalgam in 
 which the materialism of Confucius and the religious faith of 
 Sakyamuni mutually supplement one another— enters into the 
 life of the people at large, while Taoism supplies a certain 
 amount of superstitious lore which these lack." 
 
 The opinion of a missionary of the North China 
 Mission may be of interest ; he speaks of " the 
 almost entire earthliness of the native mind, and its 
 contentedness with a peaceable and industrious 
 existence. The Chinaman does have one, and only 
 one, belief about the future. ' The better we do here 
 the better for us there, if there is a there.' This too 
 scanty creed generally satisfies the shrivelled mind, 
 and thus expediency becomes the highest standard, 
 and of this every man is his own judge." 
 
 Both these extracts give the opinion of foreigners 
 upon the religious beliefs of China, and may be at 
 fault, from the fact that it is difficult for one of our 
 Western civilisation to get so thoroughly in touch 
 with Chinese ideas as to enable him to deliver a 
 really final judgment. 
 
 Let us, therefore, contrast their opinions with 
 those of a Chinaman himself. They are interesting 
 in that they supply some points which are ignored 
 
44 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 in the criticisms of the Europeans. Speaking of 
 the three religions professed in China, this writer 
 says : — 
 
 " The religious system of Lao-tze, of which the adherents are 
 called Taoists, admits metempsychosis ; its disciples are 
 chiefly found among the unlettered classes. 
 
 "The system of Fo, better known under the name of 
 Buddhism, is a metaphysical doctrine pregnant with vast and 
 profound speculations. 
 
 "Finally, the religion of the literary class is that of Confucius ; 
 it is a pure morality, preaching the most elevated sentiments, 
 and having for its ultimate object the perfection of man by the 
 education of his moral sense." 
 
 Passing on to the subject of ancestral worship in 
 China this educated Chinaman gives his opinion of 
 at least one point in Western civilisation in such a 
 way as may call us to the remembrance that many 
 of our religious creeds and institutions must seem 
 curious indeed in the eyes of the Eastern peoples. 
 The writer continues : — 
 
 " It is to this system of religion and philosophy that the 
 worship of ancestors owes its chief support, though more or 
 less it is practised throughout China, independent of religious 
 belief. 
 
 " In the West, forgetfulness of the dead is, I believe, quite 
 the rule. They are buried in cemeteries, where their tombs 
 are forgotten, and in a short while destroyed to make room 
 for new-comers : these cities of the dead are as melancholy 
 as places accursed. Our dead are never forgotten ; we 
 carry them to the hills, nearer to the skies, and there, in the 
 midst of eternal nature, they sleep undisturbed their eternal 
 sleep. Their memories are ever kept fresh, and their deeds 
 
THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA 
 
 45 
 
 are recorded as an example to future generations. The cult is 
 spread among rich and poor alike, and every individual feels 
 that he is a part of a whole, and not a mere isolated being on the 
 face of the earth : he feels that behind him are ascendants 
 beseeching him to do his duty as a man and as their 
 descendant, and to educate his progeny in the path of 
 righteousness and virtue, so that they in their turn may hand 
 down to future generations the traditions of honour and 
 nobility that alone can give vitality and strength to a race." 
 
 Which all tends to show how much depends upon 
 the point of view. 
 
 Confucianism is the only one of the three systems 
 which originated in China; it was formulated by 
 one man, and is one of the most wonderful testi- 
 monies possible to his intimate knowledge of the 
 character of his fellow - countrymen. Confucius 
 devoted his system to expounding the duty which 
 each man owes to his fellow-man, and ignored the 
 obligations under which man in general is in relation 
 to society. 
 
 Confucius was born in 551 B.C. in Shantung. 
 Most of his life was spent in wanderings throughout 
 China, in which he endeavoured to discover some 
 ruler who would be willing to model his govern- 
 ment upon the Confucian ideas. As these were 
 essentially peaceful, and as the times were rilled 
 incessantly with the clash of arms, each state striving 
 to maintain its station against the attacks of its 
 neighbours, it is small wonder that Confucius did 
 
46 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 not find an abiding home. Since his death, how- 
 ever, he has received ample recognition ; he has been 
 deified, and instead of directing one small state 
 he has come nearer to directing the Chinese Empire 
 than has any other religious teacher. 
 
 Confucius held that man was born good, and 
 that it was therefore always possible for him to 
 remain so by resistance to the contaminations of 
 the world. Man, according to him, was to work 
 out his own salvation, unaffected by any supreme 
 power. Thus, in his system of philosophy there 
 was no Deity, no theory regarding death. He 
 himself said to a disciple : " When we know so little 
 about life, how can we know anything about death ? " 
 He advised his followers to keep spiritual things at 
 a distance. His teachings are good in so far that 
 they taught the highest morality. Truth, sincerity, 
 righteousness, and virtue were amongst the main 
 themes of his philosophy. 
 
 While Confucianism was essentially of the earth 
 and suited to the normal state of the Chinese mind, 
 many of the precepts taught are quite on a level 
 with Christian teaching. Thus we find that he 
 exhorted his disciples " to do unto others as you 
 would they should do unto you." 
 
 Laotzu, who lived at the same time as Confucius, 
 brought into China another system of philosophy 
 with so decided an Indian colouring that it is 
 
THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA 47 
 
 impossible not to believe that he came from the far 
 Western provinces of the Empire, and was not a 
 Chinaman at all. Two quotations from Confucian- 
 ism and Taoism^ by Professor Douglas, will give 
 some idea of the doctrine taught by this philosopher. 
 
 " His main object," says Professor Douglas, " was 
 to explain to his followers the relations between the 
 universe and that which he called Tao. The first 
 meaning of this word is ' the way/ but in the teach- 
 ings of Laotzu it was much more than that. It 
 was the way of the way goer. It was an eternal 
 road ; along it all beings and all things walked, but 
 no being made it, for it is being itself; it was every- 
 thing and nothing, and the cause and effect of all. 
 All kings originated from Tao, conformed to Tao, 
 and to Tao they at last returned." And again, Tao 
 was " unconditioned being, which, as an abstraction 
 too subtle for words, is the origin of heaven and 
 earth, including God Himself; and, when capable of 
 being expressed by name, is the mother of all 
 kings." 
 
 Laotzu preached humility and peace, war was 
 abhorrent to him, and consequently his philosophy 
 did not meet with favour during his own time. So 
 much did his teaching depend upon Laotzu that 
 immediately after his death it became debased. 
 His doctrine that life and death were but phases of 
 the same existence encouraged people to devote 
 
48 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 themselves solely to the pleasures of the present. 
 Quickly following this the Taoists felt the needs of 
 visible objects of worship ; they deified Laotzu, and 
 gradually added news gods for special needs, until 
 now Taoist temples are literally overflowing with 
 gods. Thanks to a skilful playing upon the super- 
 stitions of the people Taoist priests reap a rich 
 harvest, and there is never any lack of candidates 
 for admission into the order, which is most powerful 
 throughout the land. Laotzu himself would never 
 recognise in present-day Taoism the effect of his 
 preachings for humility and forgetfulness of self. 
 Neither Confucianism nor Taoism enabled people to 
 have any glimpse into the future, so that the advent 
 of Buddhism from India supplied a felt want. After 
 an unsuccessful attempt in 219 B.C. a Buddhist 
 mission was established in China in 61 B.C. 
 Despite the opposition of the philosophers of the two 
 schools, the new religion soon gained many adherents 
 amongst the Chinese people. The Buddhist priests, 
 or rather monks, imitated the Taoists in professing 
 to be adepts at magic, and thus made their calling 
 very profitable. 
 
 The average Chinaman does not concern himself 
 much with the five commandments of Buddha. 
 
 " Thou shalt not kill. 
 Thou shalt not steal. 
 Thou shalt not commit any unchaste act. 
 
THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA 49 
 
 Thou shalt not lie. 
 
 Thou shalt not drink any intoxicating liquor." 
 
 However, a large portion of the people believe in the 
 transmigration of souls, though not too implicitly. 
 Amongst the idols adorning Chinese temples the 
 trinity of Buddhas is always given the first place. 
 
 That all their gods do not inspire the Chinese 
 with reverence is shown by what happened at 
 Foochow. The people, exasperated by a long 
 drought, took a paper effigy of the god of sickness, 
 placed it on a junk on the river and set fire to him. 
 
 While there are small numbers of both Moham- 
 medans and Christians in China, neither of these 
 religions can be said to influence the life of the 
 country in any way. 
 
 From Foochow, in 1890, a lady missionary (Miss 
 H. Woodhull) wrote what is probably the truest 
 summing up of the real attitude of the Chinese 
 people towards Christianity. She wrote : — 
 
 " I regard the masses of the Chinese as hating the Christian 
 religion and foreigners as much as they have always done, and 
 that the toleration which is exercised toward us is due to the 
 fact that they have become convinced that we are harmless 
 though misguided enthusiasts." 
 
 Professor Douglas then sums up the present state 
 of religious feeling in China in the following extract 
 from his Society in China : — 
 4 
 
50 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 "The people, disregarding the distinctive features of the 
 three creeds — Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism — take 
 from each such tenets and rites as suit their immediate views 
 and necessities, and superadding numerous superstitious observ- 
 ances, which have existed from before the time when Confucius 
 and Laotzu were, have established a religious pot-pourri which 
 happily satisfies all the needs of which they are conscious." 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE 
 
 IN China there are many races of people. Of 
 these the Chinese are the most important, but 
 there are others who must not be forgotten. Among 
 these are the Miautz, or aborigines of the southern 
 provinces, the Manchus, the Mongols, and the 
 Tibetans. 
 
 The Chinese men are of average European height 
 and weight, but the women are disproportionately 
 small. Their colour is a yellowish, sickly white, 
 varying according to the exposure and the amount 
 of heat endured. Chinese eyes are always black, as 
 is also their hair. Their eyes appear to be oblique ; 
 this is owing mainly to the fact that the inner angles 
 of the eyelids cannot open as wide as in the case of 
 Western races. 
 
 The Chinese may be divided into four classes, if 
 we exclude the officials and nobles. We give these 
 in the order of estimation in which they are regarded 
 by the Chinese. First in order come the literati. 
 
52 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 The great examinations for obtaining official posts 
 produce a far greater supply of graduates than even 
 the Chinese Government can provide posts for. 
 These graduates spend their lives in waiting for the 
 official position which does not come, and it is 
 beneath their dignity to take to trade. It was 
 estimated recently that there were over twenty-one 
 thousand unemployed graduates waiting for the 
 impossible to happen. These men frequently usurp 
 powers belonging only to officials, and very often 
 the people meekly submit to this new and illegal 
 imposition. 
 
 The unemployed literati of China have much 
 in common with the poor whites of South Africa. 
 There the children or grandchildren of Dutch 
 farmers — whose land has been subdivided amongst 
 the family until the several portions are too small 
 to support the owner — might be seen in the towns, 
 hanging around the street corners, idle, too proud to 
 work, but not too proud to beg. In both cases there 
 was much danger in their idleness ; indeed, it may 
 be said that many of the massacres in China have 
 been initiated by these educated ne'er-do-weels. 
 
 After the literati come the farmers > who form the 
 vast proportion of the Chinese nation. In China 
 agriculture has always been held to be one of the 
 highest possible callings. One of the earliest of 
 Chinese books was an agricultural calendar, written 
 
SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE 53 
 
 some seventeen centuries before the birth of Christ ! 
 The farmers are worthy of the highest praise for 
 the wonderful ways in which they wrest the full 
 benefit from the soil. Nearly all of them however, 
 suffer from the general maladministration of the 
 laws. Hence in many cases their excessive poverty. 
 
 The extent of China being so great, there are 
 naturally, owing to the differences of climate in 
 the farm districts, many various products cultivated 
 by the farmer. Rice, silk, opium, and tea are the 
 best known and most important. Opium, smoked 
 or eaten, is universally used. Where there has 
 been so much discussion and so many accusations 
 and counter-accusations it is difficult to express 
 an opinion upon the merits or demerits of the 
 question. With reference to the import of Indian 
 opium into China, there are authorities who con- 
 sider that Indian opium is better for the Chinese 
 than is their own inferior variety of the drug. The 
 evils of drunkenness in England would probably im- 
 press a Chinaman far more than the results of the 
 opium habit are able to impress foreigners. 
 
 Tea is universally drunk throughout China, and 
 there tea-houses are everywhere to be found. The 
 export of tea to England grew from 4713 lb. in 
 1678 to 48,073,781 lb. in 1 89 1. It must be 
 stated, however, that Ceylon and Indian teas are 
 doing great harm to the sale of China teas — more 
 
54 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 so because of the carelessness of many Chinese 
 planters, who have neglected their trees shamefully. 
 
 After the farmers come the mechanics^ who are 
 equally industrious and yet more poverty-stricken. 
 They work incredibly long hours and still employ 
 the old tools of their craft, abhorring any innovations 
 and labour-saving appliances. A large proportion 
 of the mechanics earn their living on the streets. 
 Tailors, barbers, blacksmiths, all may be seen wan- 
 dering about the streets waiting to be hired. 
 
 Last of all came the merchants^ who however 
 are those who have made China rich. The 
 merchants of China have won everywhere the 
 highest respect and admiration of all with whom 
 they have come into contact. Their integrity and 
 honesty are unimpeachable. 
 
 The trade guilds of China are the most powerful 
 organisations, and generally succeed in obtaining any 
 reforms which they wish ; the mandarins dare not 
 defy a whole trade throughout the Empire. 
 
 China may be said to be a country without doctors. 
 There are many quacks, and most wonderful con- 
 coctions are administered tG patients, but the art 
 of medicine is not really practised. Surgery, the 
 Chinese will have none of, because it is vital to pass 
 from this world complete with every member of the 
 body. 
 
 An interesting feature of Chinese life is the system 
 
SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE 55 
 
 of village communities which exists throughout the 
 Empire. In these communities the head of each 
 household holds absolute sway over all its members ; 
 the patria potestas is complete, life and death are in 
 the hands of the paterfamilias. For the well-being 
 of the community a hereditary headman is respon- 
 sible, assisted by the elders of the village. These 
 latter adjust many civil disputes occurring in their 
 village, and sometimes even criminal cases never 
 get further than their decision. This is illegal, but 
 the law officials wink at methods which, however 
 irregular, save much trouble and work. 
 
 The position allotted to Chinese women is essen- 
 tially that of mothers of sons for the worship of the 
 family ancestors and the good of the nation. In ancient 
 days women used to receive an education much more 
 full than is now the case. Of course, amongst the 
 poorer classes, women do not receive any real edu- 
 cation at all. Daughters cannot offer sacrifices to the 
 family ancestors, because when married they pass into 
 the husband's family. There is no joy in a Chinese 
 household at the birth of a daughter. The correct 
 average between sons and daughters in a family is 
 held to be five to two. Infanticide is very common, 
 and millions of Chinese girl children have been 
 " married to the river spirits," in other words, 
 drowned. The ever-increasing pressure of poverty 
 is an added temptation to parents to dispose of the 
 
56 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 surplus of female children. The present Manchu 
 dynasty has done as much as was possible to 
 stop the dreadful practices, but without marked 
 success. 
 
 The Chinese girl first feels the disabilities of 
 sex at the age of seven, for she is then separated 
 from her brothers; and is expected to submit her 
 feet to the bandaging process, which is in time 
 to turn them into the " golden lilies," considered 
 so desirable among all but the lowest classes. 
 Indeed, even in the orphan schools established by 
 both Catholic and Protestant missionaries, the 
 Chinese girl children implore their kind friends 
 to bandage their feet, for they are well aware that 
 otherwise they will not be able to marry among 
 their own class. What may be styled the little- 
 foot custom, widespread though it be, does not 
 obtain all over China. The Manchus, who are 
 the sovereign race of China, have never bandaged 
 the feet of their women ; but although it is not 
 unusual to see a Manchu marry a Chinese woman, 
 it is extremely rare to see a Chinaman marry a 
 Manchu lady. 
 
 On the whole, Chinese parents are very indulgent 
 and kind to their children, especially until the 
 latter attain the age of reason. 
 
 Where infanticide is not practised it is frequently 
 only because it is found more profitable to sell 
 
SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE 57 
 
 the female children into slavery — sometimes in 
 the open market, sometimes not. 
 
 A Chinese proverb declares that marriage is the 
 most important thing in life, and as soon as a 
 Chinese girl has attained her twelfth year her 
 parents begin to look out for a suitable parti, and 
 once he is found a solemn betrothal takes place, 
 which cannot be annulled without grave conse- 
 quences to one or other of the two parties. The 
 engagement often takes place some months before 
 the marriage itself, and not infrequently children 
 are informally affianced almost in their cradles. 
 So important is the marriage question considered 
 that post - mortem unions are very frequent. 
 Astrology plays a certain part in marriage 
 arrangements, and the astrologer also fixes the 
 day and the hour which is considered propitious for 
 the ceremony. The bridegroom never sees his 
 betrothed until she is actually his wife; indeed, 
 until she is at home. She is handed over to him 
 closely veiled, and his first real sight of her is 
 during the reception which follows the simple 
 ceremony. 
 
 The only real requisite of a Chinese marriage 
 would seem to be the delivery of the bride into 
 the house of her husband — it is not necessary even 
 that he should be there to receive her ! 
 
 It frequently happens that a secondary wife 
 
58 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 will be taken, though in her case there is but 
 little ceremony at the wedding. 
 
 Although Confucian teachings contain no guidance 
 as to what happens after death, the Chinese people 
 have faith in an after life, in which there are 
 modified versions of heaven and hell. As in olden 
 days in Europe, the authors of Chinese religious 
 works delight in expatiating upon the dreadful 
 tortures which await the spirits of evil-doers. The 
 funeral ceremonies are very elaborate; the period 
 of mourning is supposed to be twenty-seven months, 
 although this is frequently curtailed. 
 
 The Chinese have only one coin, which we 
 know as cash, and which has a value of about 
 one-tenth of a halfpenny, though this varies ac- 
 cording to local conditions. The " cash " are made 
 with square holes in their centre, in order to 
 facilitate carriage. The difficulty of carrying a 
 great sum in " cash " is considerable owing to its 
 weight — a dollar's worth weighs nearly eight lb. 
 To obviate the necessity of carrying such great 
 loads, recourse is had to cast lumps of silver, 
 the value of which are reckoned by weight ; when 
 smaller values are desired, broken silver is used. 
 Even in the very old times the use of bank notes 
 found place in China ; in the British Museum 
 there is one issued between 1368— 1399. 
 
 Since there are always so many unemployed 
 
SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE 59 
 
 members of society, in the form of literati and 
 women, it is essential that some forms of amuse- 
 ments should exist. The Chinese take great delight 
 in theatrical performances, and any excuse is good 
 enough to make the engagement of a company 
 necessary. Rain after excessive drought or the 
 end of an epidemic, both need to be celebrated 
 by a theatrical display. The whole village 
 contributes to the expenses of the company, and 
 the theatre is generally situated in the courtyard 
 of one of the local temples. The plays continue 
 for days together, which makes it necessary for 
 every actor to give a full description of himself 
 and his position when he appears upon the stage. 
 The general effect of Chinese plays cannot be said 
 to be beneficial to the audience. 
 
 But far more popular than the theatre, or than 
 conjuring and gymnastic displays, is gambling. 
 Really it would almost seem as if gambling were 
 part of the Chinese nature rather than a mere 
 amusement. Bets are laid on the most trivial 
 incidents, and many itinerant sellers of food carry 
 dice so that customers may be able to chance 
 having their meal free, or may lose both meal and 
 money. 
 
 Fan-tan is the great gambling game of China, 
 and it may be found wherever there are Chinese. 
 Its principle is very simple. The banker takes 
 
60 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 a handful of " cash " from a bag and places them 
 on the table ; the players stake their money on one 
 of four numbers — one, two, three, and four, usually 
 indicated by four sides of a square. The banker 
 removes the " cash " from the pile by fours and, 
 the number left over, whether four, three, two, or 
 one, determines the winners. This game, though 
 simple, is intensely interesting, and players can lose 
 large sums in a comparatively short time. 
 
 Cards are played by ladies, and generally in 
 the dwelling-houses. The Chinese pack contains 
 more cards than does an English one, and lends 
 itself to an infinite variety of games. 
 
 As may be seen from this brief outline, the 
 life of the majority of the Chinese people is a 
 struggle with poverty from birth till death. 
 Comforts they have none, and only their un- 
 paralleled industry enables them to live at all. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE CHINESE PRIDE OF RACE AND THEIR 
 SYSTEM OF EXAMINATIONS 
 
 THE white races in their endeavours throughout 
 the centuries to penetrate into China have 
 always taken it for granted that the Chinese must 
 be proud to be brought into contact with such 
 highly civilised people, as the Western nations 
 consider themselves to be. The Chinese were 
 ranked with savages in this respect, and everyone 
 knows that savages never have any pride of their 
 own in order that they may at once be proud of 
 the excellence of that civilisation which the white 
 man knows it is his burden to spread. 
 
 The Chinese, however, are very far from being 
 without pride. They possess a pride in their race 
 and in their civilisation which forbids them to look 
 upon other races as equals. The feeling inculcated 
 into every Chinaman by the classics and by their 
 system of examinations, which enforces a knowledge 
 of those classics, is that the civilisation of China 
 
62 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 has always been the highest possible, and that the 
 " Barbarians " round about were inferior races. 
 China was, when the others were not. The more 
 of European history that is taught in China the more 
 will this sense of superiority grow in strength in 
 the hearts of the Chinese. 
 
 Those who seek to get nearer to the Chinese by 
 adopting their customs and dress only earn for 
 themselves a contemptuous pity, and help to confirm 
 the Chinaman in the belief that his customs are 
 superior to those of the white man — because, he 
 says, does not this latter seek to adopt them, 
 neglecting his own ? The Chinese never adopt the 
 habits of white men, however closely they may be 
 associated with them. The pride of the Chinese 
 would therefore appear to be greater than that of 
 those nations who would thrust their civilisation 
 upon them. A writer in the Forum of November 
 1899 gives the following as the results of his 
 investigations : — 
 
 "Thirty years of more or less familiarity with California's 
 Chinese of all degrees, from the merchant to the man who 
 hires himself out as a domestic, has convinced me that they 
 one and all look with contempt upon western achievements ; 
 and even when compelled to employ the conveniences 
 created by the ingenuity of Americans and Europeans, they 
 regard them either as a necessary evil or as something to be 
 made use of in exploiting the people among whom they live." 
 
 In the Missionary Herald for September 1888, a 
 
THE CHINESE PRIDE OF RACE 63 
 
 writer shows very clear insight into some of the 
 causes of the pride which the Chinese feel in their 
 race : — 
 
 "Such was her position and development among the 
 surrounding kingdoms that China's superiority soon became 
 recognised, and she was an acknowledged teacher and leader 
 among them. Her laws, culture, civilisation, and Sacred 
 Classics became the model for the surrounding nations, and 
 in some instances were adopted. This was especially true of 
 her C/assics." 
 
 " The inevitable effect of all this on the nation must not be 
 overlooked. Proud of her attainments, proud of being a 
 teacher of others, she became haughty, conceited, arrogant, 
 self-contained, and self-satisfied. Her doors of exclusion and 
 inclusion were barred as well as closed. She looked with 
 contempt on the little ignorant kingdoms fringing her borders, 
 and thought she had no superior in all the earth. Thus she 
 settled down contented, to pamper her conceit, to nourish her 
 prejudices, to stagnate, and to decay." 
 
 To the Chinese the attempts of the Western 
 Powers to impose conditions upon their Government 
 must appear as impertinent as an attempt by the 
 chief of an island in the South Seas to direct the 
 policy of the British Empire would appear to us. 
 
 Even to this day no opportunity is lost of show- 
 ing to the foreigners, the " foreign devils," that 
 they are not on a level with the Chinese, and are 
 classed as barbarians. Till the year i860, in fact, 
 the same office which dealt with the barbarian 
 races of Central Asia was considered quite competent 
 to treat with the representatives of the Western 
 
64 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 Powers. It is interesting to see what were the feel- 
 ings of the Chinese with regard to the earliest 
 British official mission (that of Lord Macartney) 
 to Peking. From the following letter, addressed by 
 the Emperor to George III., much information may 
 be gained : — 
 
 " Your Majesty's kingdom," wrote the Emperor, 
 " is at a remote distance beyond the seas, but is 
 observant of its duties and obedient to our laws, 
 beholding from afar the glory of our Empire, and 
 respectfully admiring the perfection of our govern- 
 ment. Your Majesty has despatched messengers 
 with letters for our perusal : we find that they are 
 dictated by appropriate sentiments of esteem and 
 veneration ; and being therefore inclined to fulfil 
 the wishes of your Majesty, we have determined 
 to accept the whole of the accompanying offering. 
 With regard to those of your Majesty's subjects 
 who for a long course of years have been in the 
 habit of trading with our Empire, we must observe 
 to you that our Celestial Government regards all 
 persons and nations with eyes of charity and 
 benevolence, and always treats and considers your 
 subjects with the utmost indulgence and affection ; 
 on their account, therefore, there can be no place 
 or occasion for the exertions of your Majesty's 
 Government." 
 
 Both Confucius and Mencius taught the Chinese 
 
Soldier inspecting one of the " Sacred Grottoes." 
 
THE CHINESE PRIDE OF RACE 65 
 
 to regard foreigners as inferiors rather than as 
 equals. The former advised " indulgent treatment 
 of men from a distance," while Mencius gave the 
 following as his estimate of foreign nations : — 
 
 " I have heard of men using the doctrines of our 
 great land to change barbarians, but I never yet 
 heard of any being changed by barbarians. I 
 have heard of birds leaving dark valleys to remove 
 to lofty trees, but I have not heard of their 
 descending from lofty trees to enter into dark 
 valleys." 
 
 If it be the audience question or any other 
 question between the Chinese and the foreigners 
 which is examined, they all lead to the same 
 conclusion : that the Chinese consider themselves 
 the superiors of all other nations and treat them 
 accordingly. 
 
 The pride of the Chinese might be taken to 
 constitute a safeguard against any alliances between 
 the Empire and other powers. Chinese history, 
 however, shows us that occasionally they have 
 made use of barbarians as allies, only to crush 
 them later, after the desired effect is accomplished. 
 
 The system of examinations — introduced 178 
 A.D., by which the officials of China are largely 
 selected — has much to do with keeping alive this 
 pride of race. Whether the examination system 
 is good or bad for the country we need not discuss, 
 5 
 
66 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 certainly it does not seem to be disastrous. The 
 most ancient rulers of China all taught the same 
 lesson as did Confucius and all Chinese teachers, 
 that of harmony in all relations. Whether between 
 man and wife, neighbour and neighbour, official and 
 farmer, harmony it was which was essential. To 
 this teaching may largely be ascribed the stability 
 and immutability of the Chinese nation. 
 
 The education of the Chinese begins at the age of 
 six, and consists very largely of memorising. The 
 training received in this way develops to a most 
 amazing extent the retentive faculties of the Chinese. 
 
 The rules defining the instruction of children are 
 contained in sixteen discourses of the Emperor 
 Yong-Tching, called The Holy Edict. Some of 
 them are interesting: 1 — 
 
 " All the efforts of education during the earliest age should 
 tend to cultivate the attention, and fight against bad habits. 
 Among the latter the Emperor instances — 'The habit of 
 repeating with the lips, while the heart (mind) is fixed on 
 something else.' He advises that children should be taught 
 not to be too easily satisfied, but to ask questions, so that they 
 may acquire the wish to know. 
 
 " Then the Emperor teaches parents what they should do to 
 direct this education, to be obeyed by their children, and rule 
 them wisely until the age when studies will begin to have an 
 object. 
 
 "The first thought that should occupy a student's mind is 
 this, 'To form a resolution.' It is admitted that when a 
 resolution is firmly made, the desired end will be attained. 
 
 1 The Chinese Painted by Themselves, by Col. Tcheng-ki-Tong. 
 
THE CHINESE PRIDE OF RACE 67 
 
 " I know no principle more efficacious than this, to make 
 success in studies depend on the will alone, joined to per- 
 severance ; such principles not only direct the efforts but 
 prepare the character. 
 
 "The advice we are to follow possesses also great value, 
 from the point of view of study in itself, and I offer it to the 
 attention of all students who desire to attain success with 
 certainty : — 
 
 " To analyse the work done every day. 
 
 "To repeat every ten or twenty days what has previously 
 been acquired. 
 
 "To begin study at five o'clock in the morning, and give as 
 much attention to it as a general gives to the operations of his 
 army. 
 
 " Not upon- any pretext to cease study for five or six days. 
 
 "Not to fear being slow, but only to fear stopping. And 
 finally, one last warning — 
 
 "Time passes with the swiftness of an arrow; a month is 
 gone in a twinkling, another follows it, and presently the year 
 is finished." 
 
 The subjects in which students are examined 
 are practically confined to classical literature and 
 history. Occasionally mathematical questions creep 
 in, but only very seldom. 
 
 The following are the books upon which the 
 examinations are based : — 
 
 The Conversations of Confucius, which contain 
 much of the Confucian teachings in a form similar 
 to the gospel narratives ; The Great Learning and 
 The Doctrine of the Mean y also embodying the 
 teachings of Confucius ; The Book of Cha?iges, which 
 is the oldest book in China, and partakes more of 
 
68 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 the nature of a treatise on divination ; Mencius, 
 containing the conversations of that sage; The 
 Book of Odes, consisting of a collection of ancient 
 national ballads ; The Book of History, edited by 
 Confucius; The Spring- and Autumn Annals, a 
 history by Confucius of his native state of Lu ; 
 and The Book of Rites, compiled in the twelfth 
 century B.C., and still the authority on matters of 
 ceremony and etiquette. 
 
 The examinations are open to nearly all the 
 Chinese people (only children of actors and a few- 
 special classes are debarred), and thus the system 
 cannot be said to be any test as to the character 
 of the graduates, however much it may testify to 
 their industry. 
 
 The first examination is held before the magis- 
 trate of the district, and those successful in it go 
 at once before the Prefect to undergo a second 
 examination, lasting five days. The successful 
 candidates have the title of Suifsai, which corre- 
 sponds to our degree of Bachelor of Arts. It 
 must be added that so insufficient is the number 
 of the posts to be awarded that only very few 
 Suifsai ever obtain any official position. 
 
 Every three years there are held provincial 
 examinations, at which those successful at the 
 local tests compete. Success in this entitles a 
 student to be called Chujen. In these examina- 
 
THE CHINESE PRIDE OF RACE 69 
 
 tions the students are confined in cells during two 
 days. The cells are 4 feet wide, 5| feet deep, and 
 6 feet high ; from them the student may not stir 
 until the two days of examination are over. This 
 system is adopted to make certain that no outside 
 assistance is given to the students. Despite all 
 the precautions taken, much is done contrary to 
 the rules ; in many cases poor graduates impersonate 
 the student and render his success more certain. 
 There are three examinations of two days each, 
 with intervals of one day. 
 
 The successful candidates travel to Peking, where 
 they are examined for the degree of Tsin-shih. 
 There are generally about six thousand competitors, 
 and the average of graduates is only five per cent. 
 From the successful amongst this small remnant 
 four are chosen, who receive titles equivalent to our 
 Senior Wrangler, are presented to the Emperor, 
 and receive high official positions. 
 
 While there are so many unemployed literati in 
 the country it seems strange that there should be 
 such eagerness to pass the examinations. So 
 anxious are many that they assist their ignorance 
 with judicious corruption ; indeed, the system is 
 honeycombed with dishonest practices. 
 
 There are also military examinations, but they 
 are very easy, as far as the literary portion is con- 
 cerned. The practical part of the examination 
 
70 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 for officers is archery on foot and on horse, and 
 lifting heavy weights. 
 
 China is fortunate in possessing a very fine code 
 of laws, but this good fortune avails little, the course 
 of justice being continually perverted, owing to the 
 necessity for officials to obtain the wherewithal to 
 live. It is not only in China that good laws are 
 useless owing to the fact that they are not enforced. 
 This lack of justice, and corruption of officials, comes 
 very heavily upon the poor in China, and the bulk 
 of the Chinese are poor. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 CHINESE DYNASTIES 
 
 THE dynasties of China come and go without 
 producing any appreciable change in the 
 life and customs of the nation. Even when new 
 dynasties of a different and distinct race have been 
 installed, the power of immutability possessed by the 
 Chinese people has engulfed them, and they have 
 conformed to the customs of their conquered 
 subjects. It would be curious to observe how far 
 this process would continue if the white races 
 established dominion over China. Would they 
 have to bow before the customs of centuries and do 
 as do the Chinese? This ability to bring even 
 foreign dynasties into line with their ancient 
 civilisation, has naturally not at all lessened the 
 pride of the Chinese in their race. 
 
 All Chinese dynasties have practically the same 
 history. The early rulers are virtuous, strong, and 
 capable men, who do much good to the country ; 
 their successors, however, gradually drift from the 
 
72 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 path of virtue, which, Confucius teaches, is necessary 
 to a ruler of people. Finally, after the dynasty 
 has existed for a varying number of years, the 
 last ruler is deposed or killed, and the new dynasty 
 comes into power. Then for a period reforms 
 are prosecuted energetically, and frequently military 
 expeditions are despatched to clear the frontiers 
 of barbarian tribes. After this period the reforms 
 decrease persistently and the abuses grow apace. 
 It has, however, seldom been the people, those who 
 feel the abuses, who have risen against their rulers ; 
 it has nearly always been some neighbouring chief, 
 or perchance some high dignitary at Court. It is 
 only in the later centuries that popular risings have 
 taken place, and they have seldom resulted in change 
 of dynasty. 
 
 After the Age of the Five Rulers, from 2852 to 
 2255 B.C., there came the rulers of the Hia dynasty, 
 who reigned from 2205 to 1766 B.C. The great 
 Yu or Yao was the first of his dynasty, and is still 
 held in great reverence for the excellence of his 
 government. The sixteen rulers who succeeded 
 him gradually sank into insignificance, and in 
 1766 B.C. T'ang founded the Shang dynasty, which 
 lasted until 1 1 2 1 B.C., and of which there were 
 twenty-nine rulers. Chow Sin, the last ruler, was 
 not only an incapable emperor but also a very 
 debased one, and Wu (the warlike prince) raised a 
 
CHINESE DYNASTIES 73 
 
 rebellion against him, seizing the throne and 
 founding the Chow dynasty (1 122 to 255 B.C.). 
 
 Before the end of the reigns of the thirty-eight 
 rulers of this dynasty all the goodness of the early 
 Emperor had vanished, and abuses were very rife. 
 It must be remembered that, at this time, the 
 country was divided into many states, each with a 
 sovereign, and owing allegiance to the Emperor only 
 so far as his might could enforce it. In 255 B.C. 
 the chief of one of these states made war on the 
 imperial state and assumed the supreme power. 
 He founded the T'sin dynasty, 255 to 206 B.C. 
 Amongst the six rulers of this dynasty Shih 
 Hwang-ti was the only one of importance. He, 
 having proclaimed himself universal sovereign, was 
 much displeased at the opposition of the literati, 
 and ordered the destruction of all books; many 
 literati died in their attempts to prevent this decree, 
 but in vain. This Emperor began the building of the 
 Great Wall of China as a defence against the inroads 
 of the Tartars in the north. He also constructed 
 many fine roads and bridges ; all this in a reign of 
 three years. 
 
 Following him came the Han dynasty, 206 B.C. 
 to 25 A.D., with fifteen rulers. This dynasty is the 
 most celebrated of any, and the Chinese to this day 
 delight to be the " Sons of Han." Kau Ti, the first 
 ruler, continued the title of Universal Monarch but 
 
74 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 restored the literature destroyed by his predecessor. 
 So thoroughly was this done that, in place of no 
 literature in 206 B.C., there were two in 1 A.D. : 
 3123 works on classics, 2705 on philosophy, and 
 1383 on poetry. During this dynasty, Buddhism 
 was introduced into China, and the Chinese armies 
 wandered as far as the Caspian Sea ; Cochin-China 
 and the Liaotung Peninsula were also conquered. 
 In the After Han dynasty, 25 A.D. to 190 A.D., 
 there were twelve rulers. 
 
 Following this halcyon period in Chinese history 
 came a time of bitter internecine strife between the 
 rulers over the States of Shuh, Wei, and Wu. This 
 strife was brought to a close by the establishment 
 of the Western and Eastern T'sin dynasties, which 
 lasted from 265 A.D. to 419 A.D. In the one 
 hundred and sixty years after 419 A.D. there were 
 endless struggles between six states for mastery, 
 and the Sung, T'si, Liang, Chen, and Sui dynasties 
 held sway. In the last named the reign of Yang 
 Ti occurred, a ruler to whom China owes much of 
 her elaborate system of canals. 
 
 The Tang dynasty, 618 to 907 A.D., with its 
 twenty-three rulers, covers a period which may well 
 be called the Augustan age of Chinese literature. 
 This was marked by a strong stand made by the 
 followers of Confucian teachings against the spread 
 of Buddhism. The only ruler of note was the 
 
CHINESE DYNASTIES 75 
 
 Empress Wu, who usurped the throne and ruled 
 in peace for twenty years. After this dynasty 
 followed shorter ones until the Sung dynasty in 
 960 A.D. The rulers of this dynasty were con- 
 tinually struggling against overwhelming foes, 
 principally the Mongols under Jenghiz Khan and 
 his successors. 
 
 Jenghiz Khan it was who conquered Moscow and 
 Kiev before possessing himself of the northern 
 portion of China. To his grandson Kublai was it 
 left to conquer China, and to place himself on the 
 Chinese throne in 1276 A.D. About this great 
 leader we hear much, thanks to the narrative of 
 Marco Polo, a Venetian who spent many years at 
 the Court of the Mongols. Kublai encountered 
 much resistance from the Chinese during his 
 progress, but overcame every obstacle, over- 
 running the land till he conquered Burma. He 
 despatched two great expeditions against the 
 Japanese, but they were unsuccessful, as many as 
 100,000 soldiers being lost in the second attempt. 
 Kublai was very tolerant of all religions, though 
 his leanings were toward Buddhism. In the south 
 of China the incursion of the Mongols had been 
 much more resented than in the north, and there 
 rose up an able leader in Chu, by whose aid the 
 Chinese were able to drive out the Mongols under 
 one of Kublai's successors. Chu founded the Ming 
 
76 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 dynasty, taking as his title, Hung-wu. Peking, which 
 had been the Mongol capital, was adopted by the 
 Mings as the seat of the Chinese Government 
 Hung-wu codified the laws of China, and also 
 founded the famous Han-lin College, membership 
 of which was only granted to the highest scholars. 
 During this dynasty wars with Tartars were con- 
 tinual, and the Japanese descended upon the coasts 
 in the fashion of the Vikings in Europe. The 
 Ming dynasty really gave place to the Ts'ing in 
 I 563, though there were still Ming sovereigns in the 
 south of China until 1628. 
 
 The Ts'ing dynasty is the present reigning house, 
 and is Manchu not Chinese. During the Ming 
 dynasty the Manchus had consolidated their power 
 under Nurhachu, and in 161 8 crossed the frontiers 
 of China. The Chinese were characteristically un- 
 prepared, and the Manchus, though numerically much 
 inferior, pursued the war with varying success. The 
 occupation of Peking by Chinese rebels necessitated 
 the calling in of the Manchus to aid the Chinese 
 armies, and in 1644 a Manchu ruler ascended the 
 Chinese throne at Peking. The adherents of the 
 Mings fought vainly for many years in the south, 
 but had no competent leaders. Kang-hi, one of 
 the greatest of the rulers of China successfully 
 quelled rebellions in the south, west, and north, 
 and also conquered Formosa. As in the British 
 
CHINESE DYNASTIES 77 
 
 Empire there is always some war going on, so it 
 was in the Chinese Empire of that day. The 
 Tartars and the Russians advanced upon China 
 but were defeated, and Kang-hi made a treaty 
 with the Russians, fixing the limits of their advance 
 southward. The Tartars were defeated again and 
 again, and finally quieted in 1721, the year in 
 which Kang - hi celebrated his diamond jubilee. 
 His successor, Yung-Ching, made the great 
 mistake of withdrawing his troops within his 
 frontiers instead of maintaining an aggressive 
 defence. This ruler was very much opposed to 
 missionaries. 
 
 Following him came K'ien-Ling, who was a most 
 capable man. He conquered Eastern Turkestan, 
 reduced Burma to a tributary state, crushed the 
 Miautz (aboriginal tribes) in Western and South- 
 western China, pacified Formosa with fire and 
 sword, and carried through successful wars with 
 the Mongols and with the Gurkhas of Nepal, 
 who had invaded Tibet. During his reign 
 Lord Macartney came on a mission of peace 
 and goodwill from the British Government (see 
 Chap. IX.). 
 
 Kiaking, who succeeded Kien-Ling, was a very 
 degenerate ruler, and only resembled him in his 
 hatred of the foreigners. Owing to his weakness, 
 much trouble was experienced with risings insti- 
 
78 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 gated by secret societies, principally in the south. 
 Lord Amherst's mission arrived during this reign 
 {vide Chap. IX.). 
 
 Under Tau-kwang, who succeeded in 1820, the 
 foreigners were in no better position than under the 
 other rulers of this dynasty. So acute did the 
 relations between Tau-kwang and the British 
 become that the first China war resulted (see 
 Chap. IX.). The penalties attendant upon this war 
 were not calculated to encourage a love of the 
 foreigner in the heart of the Chinese Emperor. 
 The secret societies again gave much trouble, and 
 there arose one Hung Hsuits'uan, who preached a 
 divine mission, and assumed the title of " The • 
 Heavenly King." His followers were called the 
 T'aip'ings, and he led them with such success that 
 Nanking, the ancient capital of China, fell into his 
 hands after a slaughter of some 20,000 Manchu 
 soldiers. In 1853 tne T'aip'ings set out on a 
 march to Peking, and reached Tientsin, mainly, it 
 must be confessed, owing to the incompetence of 
 the imperial troops. 
 
 It is in connection with this march that Li Hung 
 Chang first appears upon the stage of Chinese 
 history. He raised a regiment to oppose the 
 T'aip'ings, and thus was brought in prominence and 
 favour. The T'aip'ings were unable to capture 
 Tientsin, and were beaten and dispersed. 
 
CHINESE DYNASTIES 79 
 
 The reign of Hien-Fung, who succeeded in 1 85 1 , 
 was marked by the second China war and the war 
 of i860 {see Chap. IX.), both of which arose largely 
 from his intensely anti-foreign sentiment. In con- 
 sequence of the war the Emperor spent much of his 
 reign at Jehol in Mongolia, the actual government 
 being carried on by Prince Kung. On the death 
 of Hien-Fung, in 1861, his son of four succeeded 
 him. Unfortunately, the minority of the ruler vested 
 vast powers in the Council, which was bitterly anti- 
 foreign. 
 
 Thanks to these wars between the Chinese and 
 the white races the T'aip'ing rebels had recovered 
 strength, and under the successful leadership of 
 Chung-Wang the T'aip'ings captured towns and 
 defeated imperial armies. 
 
 The Chinese Government employed two Americans, 
 Ward and Burgerine, to organise an army to crush 
 the rebellion. These raised a force, known as the 
 " Ever Victorious Army," in which many whites 
 served, attracted by the prospect of loot. This was 
 plentiful, and the army met with fair success until 
 the death of Ward, when Li Hung Chang, then 
 governor of the province, quarrelled with Burgerine. 
 The Chinese Government appointed Major Charles 
 George Gordon (the hero of Khartum) in supreme 
 command of the " Ever Victorious Army." The 
 position was a most difficult one, and the record 
 
80 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 of his successful leadership reflects the greatest 
 credit upon Major Gordon. His campaign cul- 
 minated in the capture of the city of Soo-chow. 
 Li Hung Chang treacherously killed the T'aip'ing 
 chiefs, who had surrendered under Gordon's promise 
 of a safe-conduct, and Major Gordon resigned his 
 command. He resumed it, however, on hearing that 
 Burgerine had joined the T'aip'ings, and finally 
 Nanking was taken, and the rebellion was ended. 
 The "Ever Victorious Army" was disbanded, though 
 there was much work for it ready at hand. The 
 whole 107,000 square miles of the province of 
 Yunnan were in a ferment ; and consequent upon 
 Mohammedan revolts there, and the stern repressive 
 measures of the Chinese, the Yunnan has never 
 recovered its old prosperity. In Central Asia re- 
 bellions had broken out, but they were crushed 
 deliberately and completely, after the manner of 
 the Chinese. 
 
 After the war of i860 the office of the Tsung-li- 
 Yamen was brought into existence, to meet the need 
 of dealing with the foreign nations. 
 
 In 1872 Tung-Chih ascended the throne, and 
 reigned for three years. During these years serious 
 trouble arose with Japan with reference to some 
 claims in Formosa, war being only averted by the 
 action of Sir Thomas Wade, British Minister at 
 Peking. 
 

 t 
 
 
 .,• 
 
 »» y . 
 
 ._ 
 
 
 ft AUK Jff 
 
 -L IT K ' 
 
 English Detachment marching through the Audience Hall of the 
 Ejuperor's Palace* wfure na white man hail been be fort- 
 
« ,1 C ' * 
 
CHINESE DYNASTIES 81 
 
 On the death of Tung-Chih, the Dowager 
 Empresses chose as successor Kwang-Su, the son 
 of Prince Chang, putting aside the claims of the son 
 of Prince Kung. Kwang - Su, who is the present 
 Emperor, has never been very self-assertive, even 
 after his coming of age in 1889. In 1881 trouble 
 arose between China and Japan in Korea, and 
 an arrangement for the withdrawal of the forces 
 of both nations was arrived at. Several far-seeing 
 Chinese pointed out the dangers likely to result 
 to China from the rapid development of Japan, 
 but no action was taken in the Celestial Empire. 
 Meanwhile, the French were causing trouble 
 in Annam. The Chinese, with their customary 
 desire for peace, offered to treat with them, 
 and had in fact arranged terms, when a conflict 
 arose by mistake between the confronting forces. 
 There followed a war, during which the diplomatic 
 relations were not broken off. The French fleet 
 destroyed the inferior and badly armed Chinese men- 
 of-war at Foochow, and Sir Robert Hart was called 
 in to arrange terms of peace. By these France 
 obtained a colony, and China was rid of an 
 encumbrance. 
 
 Following this came more trouble in Korea, and 
 
 the Japanese occupied Chemulpo. However, the 
 
 matter was settled peaceably. China then bestirred 
 
 herself and bought men-of-war, guns, and munitions 
 
 6 
 
82 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 of war. No great steps were taken, however, to train 
 the soldiers on modern lines. 
 
 In 1894 the Chinese violated their agreement 
 with Japan as to Korea, and hostilities began by the 
 memorable incident of the sinking by Japanese 
 cruisers of the transport Kowshing, laden with 
 Chinese soldiers. In the war that followed the 
 untrained Chinese had no chance against the 
 Japanese, who swept through Korea, captured Port- 
 Arthur and Wei-hai-Wei, and destroyed the Chinese 
 fleets. Negotiations ensued, and Li Hung Chang 
 again appeared as commissioner for China. The 
 terms of peace were, that Japan should receive 
 Formosa, the Pescadores, and the Liaotung Penin- 
 sula, with Port Arthur, besides an indemnity of 
 200,000,000 taels. Russia, Germany, and France 
 however intervened and prevented the cession of 
 the Liaotung Peninsula. Since the war China 
 has relapsed into her former state of indifference 
 to foreign ideas and invention, though the grabbing 
 policy of the various Powers has probably been 
 the cause of much contemptuous amusement to the 
 yellow man. 
 
 With regard to recent events, there is no need to 
 say anything. The power of the Empress Dowager 
 grew steadily more important, until finally the 
 Emperor ceased to have even the semblance of power 
 which formerly appertained to him. Of the rising of 
 
CHINESE DYNASTIES 83 
 
 the Boxers and the actions of the Imperial Chinese 
 Government, no opinion can be expressed until the 
 true facts are known, and until time allows the 
 historian to gain that perspective so necessary for 
 true history. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 FOREIGN INTERCOURSE WITH CHINA 
 
 AS early as the second century after Christ 
 an embassy was sent to China by Marcus 
 Aurelius from Rome, and during the reign of the 
 Tang dynasty, 618—907 A.D., embassies arrived 
 from Persia, Nepal, and the See of Rome. The 
 kings of Cochin-China and Korea sent ambassadors 
 to the Court of the Chinese Emperor in 1 122 A.D. 
 None of these advances from outside nations were 
 welcomed sufficiently to encourage further inter- 
 course with China. 
 
 In 1245-47 A.D., during the reign of Jenghiz 
 Khan, the great Mongol chief, Catholic missionaries 
 arrived at the Mongol Court, and were not mal- 
 treated. It is from Marco Polo, a Venetian 
 merchant, that most is learned about China in 
 those days. Marco Polo arrived at Kublai's Court 
 (Kublai was Jenghiz Khan's grandson) with his 
 father and uncle in 1 2 7 1 . The Venetians were 
 wonderstruck at the magnificence and oriental 
 
FOREIGN INTERCOURSE WITH CHINA 85 
 
 splendour of the Court. Kublai Khan welcomed 
 them cordially, and took a great fancy to Marco 
 Polo. The latter lived in China for sixteen years, 
 during this time holding many high offices of State. 
 So well did the Khan like him that he would 
 scarcely permit him to return to Venice. However, 
 in 1295, Marco Polo and his relations again reached 
 Italy. His description of the Chinese civilisation 
 was ridiculed, but has been verified by time. A 
 priest, John de Monte Corvino, also visited China 
 about this period, and remained, at Kublai Khan's 
 invitation, until his death in 1328. 
 
 The first attempts at trade between Europe and 
 China took place in 1 5 1 1 , when several Portuguese 
 traders arrived off the south coast. Six years 
 later another expedition arrived, under Senor 
 d'Andrade, who visited Canton and later Peking, 
 where he resided for some time as a sort of un- 
 official ambassador, keeping an eye upon the 
 interests of his fellow-countrymen. The relations 
 between the Portuguese and Chinese were fairly 
 good until a second Portuguese fleet appeared off 
 the Chinese coasts and took to piracy. This so 
 enraged the Chinese that d'Andrade was seized, 
 thrown into prison, and later, in 1523, executed. 
 
 Macao was founded in 1560, but even here the 
 Portuguese traders held but a precarious foothold, 
 due chiefly to their superior weapons of defence. 
 
86 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 A curious refutation of the theory, that the 
 Chinese regard all foreign religions with a violent 
 hatred, is found in the fact that for a considerable 
 time a Jesuit priest and his successors held positions 
 of trust and influence at the Chinese Court. 
 Probably China was never nearer being Christianised 
 than in the century following 1 600 A.D. And it is 
 interesting to note that all the success obtained by 
 Ricci, Schall, and Verbiest, the Jesuit priests, was 
 due to the fact that they were men of the highest 
 education, and that they were ready to adapt their 
 teaching to fit the special case of China. Thus the 
 Jesuits allowed the study of Confucian philosophy 
 and the worship of ancestors, saying that they were 
 political and civil customs, not religious. This 
 opinion was supported by an edict of the Emperor 
 Kang - Hsi, who was very well - disposed towards 
 all religions and religious teachers. 
 
 Francois Xavier died before he reached China, 
 but in 1600 Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit priest, reached 
 Peking after working in the south since 1582. 
 On his way north from Macao he was imprisoned 
 for six months, but in Peking he was well received. 
 His learning and intimate knowledge of Chinese 
 enabled him to take up a position amongst the 
 students, and to write books, one of which in later 
 years was included in the hundred best books of 
 China. Ricci died at the age of fifty-eight, in 1 6 1 o. 
 
FOREIGN INTERCOURSE WITH CHINA 87 
 
 A suitable successor was found in Father Longo- 
 bardi. 
 
 In the early days of the Tartar rule in China, 
 the Jesuits held a high position. This was chiefly 
 due to the abilities of Johann Adam Schall, who 
 reached Peking in 163 1, specially invited by the 
 last Emperor of the Ming dynasty because of the 
 fame of his learning. He was installed as Court 
 astronomer, and accomplished the work of revising 
 the calendar. This success caused much jealousy 
 amongst the Chinese scientists, but they were 
 powerless to touch Schall's position. When the 
 Tartars were threatening the Empire, Schall was 
 forced to start a cannon foundry, much against his 
 will. Wonderful to relate, Schall remained as high 
 in favour under the new Tartar dynasty as he had 
 been under the Mings. The quarrels of the 
 Dominicans and Franciscans, who envied the Jesuits 
 their power, brought trouble upon the head of 
 Schall and of his disciples. This most able and 
 learned man died in disgrace in 1669, and his 
 disciples were scattered throughout the land. 
 
 Following him came Father Verbiest, who had 
 the awful experience of spending six years in a 
 Chinese prison. When, however, Kang-Hsi gained 
 his majority Verbiest was released, because of his 
 knowledge of astronomy and kindred sciences. 
 He also was forced to cast cannon. By engraving 
 
88 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 images of saints on the breeches Verbiest was 
 in the habit of consecrating each piece of ord- 
 nance. For this method of making the best of a 
 necessity he was praised by the Pope. Verbiest 
 was the maker of the bronze mathematical instru- 
 ments which still exist in Peking, and which are 
 the admiration of present - day visitors. He died 
 in 1688. 
 
 The Dominicans, envious of the Jesuits, sent 
 missionaries to China. They insisted upon the 
 giving up by the Chinese of Confucianism and of 
 ancestral worship. This brought dissension into 
 the ranks of the Christians and trouble into their 
 dealings with the Chinese. 
 
 That Kang-Hsi was not inimical to the Christian 
 religion may be judged by the following edict : — 
 
 " As we do not restrain the Lamas of Tartary or the bonzes 
 of China from building temples and burning incense, we 
 cannot refuse these having their own churches and publicly 
 teaching their religion, especially as nothing has been alleged 
 against it as contrary to law. Were we not to do this we 
 should contradict ourselves. We hold, therefore, that they 
 may build temples to the Lord of Heaven, and maintain them 
 wherever they will ; and that those who honour them may 
 freely resort to them to burn incense and to observe the rites 
 usual to Christianity." 
 
 So enraged, however, did Kang-Hsi become at 
 the support of the Dominicans by the Pope that 
 
 1 China, by Professor Douglas, p. 105. 
 
FOREIGN INTERCOURSE WITH CHINA 89 
 
 he ordered the persecution of these missionaries 
 and the protection of the Jesuits. His son, Yung 
 Cheng, encouraged the persecution of all missionaries, 
 and the time of the Jesuit power was over. For 
 some considerable time, however, thanks to their 
 methods of incorporating existing institutions, there 
 was a great chance that Christianity in China might 
 rank at least equally with the present great religions. 
 Mr. A. B. Mitford, in the preface to his excellent 
 book, The Attache at Pekmg, writes on the subject 
 of missionary enterprise in China : — 
 
 " If missionaries are to be successful, it must be by the 
 power of masterly talent and knowledge. They can only work 
 on any scale through the lettered class, and in order to 
 dominate them must be able to give proof of superior attain- 
 ments, as the old Jesuits did." 
 
 .And again — 
 
 "Above all things an accurate and scholarly knowledge of 
 the language is necessary. There have been not a few 
 excellent scholars among our missionaries. But there are 
 many more whose ignorance in that respect has been fatal, 
 covering themselves and the religion which they preach with 
 ridicule. Fancy a Chinese Buddhist mounting on the roof of 
 a hansom cab at Charing Cross and preaching Buddhism to 
 the mob in pidgin English ! That would give some measure 
 of the effect produced on a Chinese crowd by a missionary 
 whom I have seen perched upon a cart outside the great gate 
 of the Tartar city at Peking, haranguing a yellow crowd of 
 gapers in bastard Chinese, delivered with a strong Aberdonian 
 accent. The Jesuits knew better than that." 
 
 This writer does not believe that the bulk of the 
 
go CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 Chinese people hate Christianity, rather that they 
 regard it with apathy. The mandarins and literati, 
 however, are united in violent opposition to the 
 teaching of a creed which seems to them to 
 involve too radical a change in present circum- 
 stances. They regard the missionaries very much 
 as does Lord Salisbury, and unfortunately their 
 past experience has but served to deepen their 
 belief in this opinion. Buddhism and, to a minor 
 degree, Mohammedanism, came into the country 
 from the outside, and were received with nothing 
 approaching to the opposition which has met the 
 Christian missionaries. These other religions sought 
 for no temporal power, and were not backed by 
 powerful nations. 
 
 If this idea be true, it would seem that the many 
 unfortunate massacres of missionaries which have 
 taken place in China, aimed rather at the defeat 
 of the temporal power sought by the Christian 
 religion, than at the religious teaching of the 
 missionaries. It has been seen how the Jesuits 
 succeeded, so long as they were content to cut 
 themselves loose from their temporal power, and work 
 amongst the Chinese simply as learned men. It 
 would be well for missionaries going to China to read 
 Mr. Mitford's preface, and fit themselves to be real 
 workers for the advancement of their religion, rather 
 than objects of contemptuous ridicule to the Chinese. 
 
FOREIGN INTERCOURSE WITH CHINA 91 
 
 It would be impossible to give accounts of all 
 the massacres of missionaries that have taken place 
 in China, but it is safe to say that, without exception, 
 they have not arisen from any hatred of the mis- 
 sionaries personally. They are rather the results 
 of the efforts of the mandarins and literati who, 
 anxious for their positions, stirred up the ignorant 
 people, by imaginary stories of diabolical cruelty, to 
 attack the foreigners. How easy a task this is may 
 be imagined from the ease with which, for example, 
 European mobs are excited and led on to the murder 
 of unoffending Jews. It is well to remember our 
 own faults while judging the Chinese for their 
 massacres of innocent men and women. 
 
 In Yang-chow, in Tientsin, and in the Fuhkien 
 Province, not to mention other places, there have 
 been massacres at various times, involving the death 
 of a greater or less number of white missionaries 
 and native converts. Sad and deplorable as are 
 these incidents, the student of China and Her 
 Mysteries must be careful to remember that they 
 are only incidents, and he must not magnify them 
 to the rank of great historical occurrences. 
 
 The dealings of the various European Powers with 
 China have been uniformly discouraged by the 
 Chinese, who have occasionally, it must be confessed, 
 had plenty of excuse for the attitude of hostility 
 which they have taken up. The Portuguese, in 
 
92 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 particular, behaved so shamefully that the Chinese, 
 regarding them simply as pirates and adventurers, 
 never paid any serious heed to their claims to be 
 treated as equals. The Spaniards followed the 
 Portuguese, and occupied the Philippine Islands. 
 Here they were soon alarmed at the crowds of 
 Chinese emigrants, and adopted most cruel repress- 
 ive measures. Many thousands of Chinese were 
 massacred by the comparatively small body of 
 Spanish settlers in the islands, and the unfortunate 
 yellow men were hunted and harried without mercy. 
 Such action on the part of the Spaniards, and the 
 reprisals on the Spanish missionaries in the Fuh- 
 kien province, naturally put a stop to any cordial 
 relations which might otherwise have come about 
 between Spain and China. 
 
 The Dutch sent an embassy to the Manchu Court 
 in 1656 at the same time as did the Russians. 
 These were the first European embassies to reach 
 China. The Dutchmen, anxious to obtain trading 
 concessions, agreed to kowtow to the Emperor, 
 which action the Russians wisely refused to perform. 
 The Dutch ambassador received nothing, was hustled 
 from the palace, and even now his embassy is 
 remembered with ridicule. The Russian envoy also 
 received nothing, but was treated with more respect 
 than his fellow-ambassador. 
 
 The Portuguese refused to allow the Dutch to 
 
FOREIGN INTERCOURSE WITH CHINA 93 
 
 settle in Southern China, and the latter accordingly 
 crossed to the island of Formosa, where they 
 established a colony. 
 
 With Russia, China has always had better 
 relations than with any of the other powers. Mr. 
 Boulger, in his Short History of China, thinks that 
 " this is explained partly by the fact of neighbour- 
 ship, and partly by Russia seeking only her own 
 ends, and not advantages for the benefit of every 
 other foreign nation." In 1689, after the defeat of 
 the Russians in their advance upon China from the 
 north, the Emperor Kang Hsi concluded a treaty 
 with them at Nertchinsk. This treaty was the first 
 convention concluded between China and a European 
 Power, and in it the limits of Russian advance 
 southward were set forth. The relations between 
 the two Empires have always been more cordial than 
 might have been expected, and, even during the 
 second foreign war, friendly relations were main- 
 tained between Russia and China. It is probable 
 that the Chinese recognise in the Russians a race 
 more nearly like themselves, in their singleness of 
 purpose and the immutability of their preconceived 
 plans. The Russians have shown the greatest good 
 sense in their dealings with the Chinese Government, 
 and none of their ambassadors has ever degraded 
 himself by kowtowing to the Emperor. In 1805, 
 indeed, a Russian embassy retraced its steps to 
 
94 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 Russia when, on reaching the Great Wall, the 
 ambassador was informed that he would have to 
 kowtow to the Emperor. 
 
 As early as 1727 a treaty between China and 
 Russia, or rather a revision of the Nertchinsk Treaty, 
 contained provisions for the establishment of a 
 Russian College at Peking, where students studied 
 the Chinese and Manchu languages. In some way 
 or another relations have always been maintained 
 between the Empires, even during the reigns of the 
 most anti-foreign Emperors at Peking. 
 
 The successes of Frenchmen in China have lain 
 more in the realm of literature than of trade or 
 warlike conquest. It is largely due to the earlier 
 French missionaries that the world now knows so 
 much about China and China's history. 
 
 In Annam, in the south, the French established 
 themselves at Saigon in 1858. After the Franco- 
 German War of 1870, this city was used as a base 
 for expeditions, whose object was to acquire in- 
 fluence over the neighbouring province of Tonking. 
 The Tonkingese reported this action of the French 
 to the Chinese Emperor, who endeavoured to prevent 
 an outbreak of war. Li Hung Chang was appointed 
 as representative of the Emperor, but his recom- 
 mendations were rejected both in Pekin and in 
 Paris. In 1884 the French became more aggressive, 
 and although terms of settlement were almost 
 
FOREIGN INTERCOURSE WITH CHINA 95 
 
 arranged, fighting broke out. The French were 
 completely defeated, thanks to the tactics of the 
 Chinese troops, who had the assistance of German 
 instructors. These latter hurled bodies of untrained 
 men, armed only with obsolete weapons, upon the 
 French troops, causing them to exhaust their 
 ammunition. Then the trained Chinese soldiers, 
 armed with rifles, came into action and overcame 
 the ammunitionless French. In 1885 war broke 
 out in earnest ; the Chinese fleet was destroyed at 
 Foochow, and the Pescadores were occupied by the 
 French fleet. In Ton king, however, a guerilla war 
 did not bring any glory to the French troops. 
 Thanks to Sir Robert Hart, a treaty was signed in 
 June 1885 by Li Hung Chang and the French 
 Minister at Peking, by which a portion of the territory 
 in question was ceded to France. 
 
 Germany has not had many relations with China 
 until comparatively recent years. Germany it is 
 who initiated the policy of grab in the Far East, and 
 there are many who predict that she will insist upon 
 having Shantung Province as a sphere of influence. 
 Such action on her part, they think, would be but a 
 prelude to attacks upon British interests in the 
 Yang-tse-kiang Valley. 
 
 Between Japan and China there have been 
 constant struggles, ever since the first descent of 
 Japanese pirates upon the Chinese coasts. The 
 
96 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 Chinese have never been able to claim conclusive 
 victories over the Japanese, while, on the sea, they 
 have invariably been hopelessly outmatched. 
 
 The question of the reception of the Foreign 
 Ministers at Peking by the Emperor, and of the 
 performance of the kowtow has been a continual 
 bone of contention between China and Europe. Lord 
 Macartney, in 1793, was received by the Emperor 
 of China atjehol in Mongolia,and presented hiscreden- 
 tials, bending upon one knee, into the imperial hands. 
 In 1873, when the Emperor Tungchi gained his 
 majority, the Tsung-li-Yamen was forced to consider 
 how the Foreign Ministers should be received in 
 audience. The latter refused even to bend the 
 knee, and the Chinese therefore decided that they 
 should not be allowed within the imperial city, but 
 should be received in the pavilion outside the gates 
 of the palaces, where envoys of superior tributary 
 states were received. Here the Ministers of 
 England, France, America, Russia, and Holland, 
 and the ambassador of Japan were received by the 
 Emperor. In 189 1 the Ministers were again 
 received in the same hall. These receptions did not 
 add at all to the dignity of the Ministers nor of their 
 countries ; it would have been better far if they had 
 refused to be received under such conditions. 
 
 After the Japanese -Chinese War the Ministers 
 were received in the palace, as were also their wives. 
 
FOREIGN INTERCOURSE WITH CHINA 97 
 
 The latter ceremony was a great mistake, and did 
 incredible harm to any small amount of respect 
 which the Chinese might have acquired for the 
 representatives of the foreign nations. The fact 
 that foreign women should be so anxious to be 
 received by the Chinese Empress was taken as 
 another recognition of Chinese superiority. The 
 ceremony itself afforded much amusement to the 
 Chinese, and not much pleasure to the ladies 
 themselves. 
 
 There has been too much imploring for audiences 
 by the European representatives ; it would be better 
 for credentials never to be presented, than that the 
 ceremony of presentation should partake of the 
 nature of a giving homage to China. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN AND CHINA 
 
 COMMERCIAL relations between Great Britain 
 and China have existed for nearly three 
 hundred years, and now the trade has reached an 
 annual value of £12,000,000. Through all these 
 years it would be difficult for anyone to point to a 
 wise and continuous diplomacy on the part of Great 
 Britain. Wise actions there have been, no doubt, 
 but they were always preceded and followed by 
 so many follies, that they lose the particular value 
 belonging to themselves. The whole story of the 
 dealings between Britain and China presents a 
 pitiable display of incapacity on the part of our 
 countrymen. Not only have unwise actions been 
 perpetrated, but it would almost seem as if the 
 British had felt bound to go out of their way to 
 lower themselves in the eyes of the Chinese. So 
 persistently has this course of self-abnegation been 
 carried out that it is small wonder that the Chinese 
 
 feel that they have not to do with an equal but with 
 
 98 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND CHINA 99 
 
 an inferior race. This is a mortifying discovery for 
 any Englishman to make, and yet it must be 
 realised, and the knowledge must bring change of 
 plans before anything of real value can be effected 
 in our relations with China. 
 
 The morbid dread of offending China early 
 became a mania. Now we have reached a state of 
 action of which it has been said that " Britain in 
 China has no policy, but only a prejudice." For 
 it seems as though British statesmen consider it 
 first necessary to set two other nations by the 
 ears before proceeding to deal with the Chinese 
 Government. Professor Douglas, writing on British 
 policy in China, says : — 
 
 "In the relations between ourselves and the mandarins we 
 have in all cases been the suppliant, and they the dispensers of 
 privileges. Their haughty attitude of stand-ofFwardness has in 
 these circumstances had its effect, and our communications 
 with them have been too often marked by undue deference. 
 The attitude of our Government towards Li Hung Chang during 
 his recent visit, to this country was an instance in point. 
 Neither his official position nor his private character entitled 
 him in any way to the adulation which was shown him, and 
 which he, after the manner of the Oriental, repaid by acts of 
 grave discourtesy. Nevertheless, these last were entirely over- 
 looked by a mistaken consideration, and he doubtless left our 
 shores satisfied that his countrymen are correct when they hold 
 that we are but hangers-on to the imperial bounty of the " Son 
 of Heaven " and his ministers. 1 
 
 1 China, p. 378. 
 
ioo CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 One of the worst instances of this foolish policy 
 is that which occurred after the occupation of 
 Burma in 1886. Burma was a tributary state of 
 China, and, for fear of hurting Chinese feelings, the 
 British continued for some time to forward the 
 tribute to Peking. By this they placed themselves 
 directly in the position of tributary chiefs, an even 
 lower position than they formerly held in Chinese 
 minds. The effect upon our relations with China 
 may well be imagined. 
 
 It was in the reign of Queen Elizabeth that the 
 first British expedition left England to trade with 
 China. The four small ships composing it, however, 
 came no nearer than the West Indies. Four years 
 later a charter was granted to a company of 
 merchants, empowering them to trade with China 
 and the neighbouring states. James I. and Oliver 
 Cromwell also granted trading charters. 
 
 In 1635 Captain Weddell arrived at Macao 
 with a few ships and a letter of recommenda- 
 tion from the Portuguese Governor of Goa. This 
 served him in bad stead, the Portuguese having 
 behaved so badly to the Chinese that they looked 
 with distrust on anything or anybody with Portu- 
 guese recommendation. Weddell sailed up the 
 Canton River, and, being fired upon by the Chinese 
 from the Bogue Forts, landed his men and captured 
 the forts. Though no trade resulted from Weddell's 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND CHINA 101 
 
 expedition he was the first white traveller to reach 
 Canton. 
 
 Little was done in the way of developing trade 
 until the accession of the Manchu dynasty., -when, in 
 1 664, factories were opened at Ashoy, and the 
 exportation of tea began. (Te is ifi'e southern nafoe, 
 for tea in China, and C/ii, the' northern ; thus 
 the Russians who come to China from the north 
 use the word chi, while we call it tea.) The mer- 
 chants had to labour against great disadvantages, 
 and were practically confined to their factories, 
 under the strictest regulations until the Treaty in 
 1842. 
 
 In 1792 Lord Macartney arrived in China on a 
 mission of peace and goodwill to the Emperor. 
 He was very well received, and was personally quite 
 charmed with his treatment. In reality, however, 
 the Chinese treated him only as an ambassador 
 from a superior tributary state. When ascending 
 the Peiho River Lord Macartney's ship bore a flag, 
 with the inscription, in Chinese characters, " Tribute 
 bearer from the country of England." The Chinese 
 Emperor not being at Peking, the mission proceeded 
 to his hunting palace at Jehol in Mongolia. Lord 
 Macartney refused to kowtow to the Emperor, and 
 after prolonged discussion was permitted simply to 
 kneel, as before his own monarch. The mission was 
 not at all successful, the only result being an assur- 
 
102 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 ance that British merchants might trade, though 
 under sufferance, as before. 
 
 In 1 8 14 an educated Englishman, named 
 Manning,, arrived in Canton. He was acquainted 
 with 'the Ghirfese language, and hoped for employ- 
 rfiep t> under -the Government. He was, however, 
 disappointed, and travelled into Tibet, where he was 
 allowed to enter the sacred city of Lhasa, a feat 
 accomplished by no other Englishman. 
 
 A second mission under Lord Amherst was 
 despatched to Peking in 18 16, but with the worst 
 results. There was no civility shown the English- 
 men, and naturally enough no concessions were 
 granted them. 
 
 The difficulties under which the foreign merchants 
 in the south laboured were so great that in 1834 
 Lord Napier was appointed special Minister to 
 China, and the charter of the East India Company 
 was cancelled. Lord Napier, after many unavailing 
 attempts to obtain an interview with the Viceroy at 
 Canton, died at Macao. His successor, Captain 
 Elliott, endeavoured to conciliate the Chinese 
 Government, while at the same time striking a 
 blow at the illicit opium traffic by giving up over 
 £2,000,000 worth of the drug. This, naturally 
 enough, only made the Chinese more sure of their 
 power, and at last the assistance of the fleet under 
 Sir John Brenmer had to be called in. Brenmer 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND CHINA 103 
 
 fought a few engagements on the Canton River, 
 then occupied Chusan and sailed to the mouth of 
 the Peiho River. Any good that might have 
 accrued was negatived by Elliott's acquiescence to 
 the Chinese proposals. 
 
 Things drifted from bad to worse, and in 1841 
 Sir Henry Pottinger captured Amoy, Chusan, 
 Ning-po, Shanghai, and Chin-kiang. He was 
 preparing to bombard Nanking when the Chinese 
 sued for peace. A treaty was signed on August 
 29, 1842, by which Hongkong was ceded to 
 Britain, and Amoy, Foochow, Ning - po, and 
 Shanghai were opened to foreign trade. This 
 treaty was the first which gave foreign traders any 
 rights in China ; before they were only allowed on 
 sufferance. 
 
 Provisions of the Treaty of 1842 : — 
 
 " ( 1 ) Lasting peace between England and China. 
 (2) The opening of the ports of Canton, 
 Amoy, Foochow, Ning-po, and Shanghai to 
 Englishmen for trade and residence, all of 
 whom were to be under the jurisdiction of 
 British consular officers. (3) The cession of 
 Hongkong. (4) Payment of an opium 
 indemnity of six million dollars. (5) Three 
 million dollars to be paid for debts due 
 English merchants. (6) Twelve million 
 dollars for the expenses of the war. (7) 
 
104 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 The entire amount to be paid before 
 
 December 1845. (8) All prisoners of war 
 
 to be released by the Chinese. (9) An 
 
 amnesty for all Chinese who had assisted 
 
 the English in the war. (10) A regular 
 
 tariff to be drawn up. (11) Official 
 
 correspondence to be conducted on terms 
 
 of equality. (12) Conditions for restoring 
 
 the places held by the English, to be 
 
 according to the payments of the indemnity. 
 
 (13) etc." 
 
 Trouble soon arose, however, near Canton, and, 
 
 subsequent to an attack upon some British subjects 
 
 in 1 847, Sir John Davis, Governor of Hongkong, 
 
 made a demonstration before Canton. He succeeded 
 
 in obtaining a promise that Canton should be 
 
 opened to the foreigners in 1 849. When the 
 
 time for the fulfilment of this pledge arrived, the 
 
 Chinese refused to act, and Sir George Bonham, 
 
 Davis' successor, allowed himself to be cajoled into 
 
 doing nothing. In 1854 Sir John Bowring 
 
 received instructions from Lord Clarendon to insist 
 
 upon the fulfilment of the promise of 1 847. The 
 
 Governor of Canton refused to meet Bowring in the 
 
 city. Soon after this there occurred the Arrow 
 
 incident, which aroused so much feeling. The 
 
 Arrow was a British boat on the Canton River, 
 
 which was seized by the Chinese, who tore down 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND CHINA 105 
 
 the flag and made the crew prisoners. When 
 knowledge of this outrage reached the British 
 authorities, the fleet under Sir Michael Seymour 
 advanced to Canton, and the British forces broke 
 into the city. The force under the admiral was 
 too small for effective occupation, and a retreat was 
 necessary. The Chinese promptly claimed a victory, 
 burned the foreign settlements, and killed several 
 foreigners. 
 
 Lord Elgin was appointed Minister, and troops 
 were sent to enable him to enforce his will. Owing 
 to the Indian Mutiny these troops were diverted, and 
 the Chinese gained the impression that the British 
 feared them. To disillusionise them, in the interval 
 Admiral Seymour destroyed their fleet at Fatshan. 
 On the arrival of the troops, Lord Elgin captured 
 Canton, and then proceeded to Shanghai, where he 
 announced himself as being ready to meet a 
 Chinese Commissioner. The Chinese refused to 
 treat, and the fleet advanced to Taku, captured the 
 forts, and the expedition then pushed on to Tientsin. 
 The Chinese promptly granted every demand, but 
 when, in the following year, Sir Frederic Bruce 
 arrived at Taku for the ratification of the Treaty, 
 his ships were fired upon by the forts. A punitive 
 expedition was at once resolved upon. 
 
 A French and British expedition assembled at 
 Talienwan, and the war of i860 began. The Taku 
 
106 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 Forts were captured, and Tientsin was occupied. 
 Lord Elgin and Baron Gros (the French Minister) 
 entered into negotiations with Prince Kung, the 
 Emperor having left Peking. Seeing that all the 
 Chinese desired was to protract the settlement until 
 the winter, the Allies advanced on Peking. In this 
 advance it was that Sir Harry Parkes, Sir Henry 
 Loch, and several others were captured treacherously 
 by the Chinese. After imprisonment and much 
 cruel treatment they were released upon the approach 
 of the Allies to Peking. The Emperor's Summer 
 Palace, outside the city, was destroyed by the Allies, 
 and all its wonderful treasures of art vanished in the 
 flames. This action has been denounced as unneces- 
 sary, but it is probable that it was the wisest step 
 that could have been taken to convince the Chinese 
 of the serious intentions of the Allies. 
 
 After the entry into Peking the Treaty of 1858 
 was ratified. By it additional rights were granted 
 to missionaries and to traders and travellers. New- 
 chwang, Teng-chow, Formosa, Swatow, and Kiung- 
 chow were opened to foreign trade. 
 
 In 1847 tne Indian Government despatched an 
 expedition through Burma into Yunnan, the object 
 being to encourage commercial enterprise along 
 the route taken. The Chinese Consular Service 
 sent a Mr. Margary, a good Chinese scholar, to 
 assist Colonel Browne, who was in charge of the 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AND CHINA 107 
 
 expedition. To the surprise of Colonel Browne 
 and Mr. Margary large bodies of Chinese gathered 
 to oppose the advance. Margary rode forward 
 to explain away any misunderstanding which might 
 have arisen, and was murdered by the Chinese. 
 Colonel Browne was forced to withdraw his force 
 towards India. Sir Thomas Wade, British Minister 
 at Peking, made the strongest representations to the 
 Tsung-li-Yamen as to the necessity for punishing the 
 murderers. The usual delay occurred, and finally 
 Sir Thomas Wade left Peking and sailed for 
 Shanghai. This step appears to have alarmed the 
 Chinese, and Li Hung Chang, who had already 
 conducted negotiations without any authorisation, 
 was sent to Chefoo to meet Sir Thomas Wade. The 
 result of the negotiations was known as the " Chefoo 
 Convention," which however remained unratified for 
 twelve years. By this treaty the ports of Ichang, 
 Wuhu, Wen-chow, Pak-hoi, and Ching-kiang were 
 opened to foreign trade. This was a great step 
 towards the object of British ambition, to open up 
 China as a great market for British goods. 
 
 In 1886 Great Britain occupied Burma, and thus 
 became near neighbours of the Chinese Empire. 
 During one of the many periods of trouble in 
 Korea, the British occupied Port Hamilton, an 
 island off the south coast of Korea, as a protective 
 measure against Russian aggression. However, 
 
108 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 matters were arranged with Russia and China, and 
 the British flag ceased to fly over Port Hamilton in 
 the following year. 
 
 The greatest achievement of Britain in China has 
 been the appointment of Sir Robert Hart to the 
 post of Inspector-General of Customs. His position 
 is one of the greatest importance, and as British 
 interests are essentially commercial, it was of the 
 utmost value to be able thus to ensure the carrying 
 on of the business of the Customs. In 1898 Great 
 Britain joined the Western nations in their demands 
 for ports, and leased Wei-hai-Wei. 
 
 Since its possession by the British, the trade of 
 Hongkong has grown enormously, and the island 
 is now the trade centre of the Far East. In recent 
 years more land has been acquired in the Hinter- 
 land — a most necessary precaution, as, before, the 
 town of Victoria was at the mercy of whoever might 
 hold the mainland. 
 
 Looking back upon the course of British relations 
 with China, we must confess that it has nearly 
 always been the latter country which has scored 
 materially. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 CHINA AS A LAND FOR SPOLIATION 
 
 THE white races have pursued a policy with 
 regard to the Chinese Empire which is as 
 foolish and as suicidal to them as it is good and 
 life-giving to the Chinese race. The wild rush of 
 Power after Power to tear a morsel from China's 
 living body has no parallel in history. There was 
 no question of what might China think, or what 
 would be the feelings of the inhabitants? They 
 were left out of count. Thus we see the Western 
 races forcing themselves upon a proud, isolated race, 
 taking such districts as satisfy their greed, and 
 blaspheming righteously because the Chinese do not 
 rush out to meet the spoiler to give away their best 
 harbours and possessions. 
 
 To gain some idea of the effect of the grabbing 
 policy of the West upon the Chinese mind, it is well 
 to think what we should say if the Chinese, the 
 
 Japanese, the Zulus, and the Malays were to come 
 
 109 
 
no CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 and take possession of suitable harbours round our 
 coast. Having taken them, when they looked for 
 the smile which always characterises the ready 
 giver — would they find a smile, or would they 
 see a very angry John Bull advancing to throw 
 them out? What would happen is, that every 
 Briton would be a " Boxer," by whatever other 
 name he might be called, and he would be most 
 astonished to find anyone calling him a rebel and 
 an assassin. " What," he would say, " may I not 
 defend my own country against these barbarians, 
 without being called a rebel ? " That sentiment 
 expresses exactly the feelings of the Chinese nation 
 with regard to the attempted spoliation of their 
 Empire by the " foreign devils." The Chinese 
 consider the white races as inferiors and barbarians, 
 and are therefore not likely to appreciate their 
 conduct any more than would the people of 
 England appreciate the conduct of savage races, 
 as shown in the above case. 
 
 So much depends upon the point of view, that 
 whereas British, or German, or Russian " Boxers " 
 would be patriots, Chinese " Boxers " are rebels, 
 and no name is hard enough for them. It would 
 be a curious exercise to draw up a list of those 
 nations who, as " Boxers," would be patriots and 
 who rebels. 
 
 For China herself, it is far safer to have two 
 
CHINA AS A LAND FOR SPOLIATION in 
 
 stolen ports than one, better four stolen than two j 
 and the Chinese know this well enough. They 
 know that the more they can allow the rights of 
 one predatory nation to overlap those of another, 
 the more likelihood is there of peace for China, while 
 the two advance agents of civilisation fight out their 
 own differences. 
 
 Each Power, whether it be Great Britain, Russia, 
 Germany, or France, seems to regard China as the 
 one place in the world where every other Power is 
 always on the point of stealing a march upon her. 
 Thinking this over, each Power discovers such 
 wonderfully disagreeable things that the other 
 Powers might do, if they only thought of them, 
 — and, of course, they must think of them, — that 
 it is necessary to rush out and secure something 
 first before those wicked thieving nations have 
 taken everything. It is just the case of a 
 man who, sitting in his house, thinks it will rain, 
 and intends to go to a shop to buy an umbrella. 
 He remembers that he saw several which he 
 rather liked. Suddenly the thought flashes across 
 his mind that Jones and Smith and Robinson 
 also want umbrellas, and they always buy them 
 at the same shop as he does. Dear, dear, he 
 thinks, they will go and get all the best um- 
 brellas, and I shall have none ! I must rush to 
 the shop and get one at once ! In a fever of 
 
ii2 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 anxiety he rushes out and runs down the street. 
 His evident anxiety calls the attention of all his 
 neighbours to the fact that he is going to buy an 
 umbrella, and they are struck with the same thought, 
 namely, that there is that fellow who is always 
 trying to get ahead of them. So they rush out to 
 get an umbrella before he can. So excited are 
 they by the time the shop is reached, that each 
 catches up an umbrella and rushes home with it, 
 quite forgetting to pay for their prizes. Afterwards, 
 when people come and ask them why they did such 
 a foolish thing, they excuse themselves, and explain 
 that, if they had not rushed, the other fellow would 
 surely have got this very umbrella — an underhand 
 man, always, the " other fellow." When asked why 
 they should forget to pay, they change the subject 
 abruptly. 
 
 The European nation to begin the spoliation of 
 China and the obtaining of naval bases was Germany. 
 Thanks to the opportune murder of a German mis- 
 sionary in Shantung, the German admiral was given 
 an excuse for steaming into Kiao-chau Bay and 
 taking forcible possession of the port. Some time 
 back there appeared in a German comic paper a 
 little story, in three pictures. First was depicted 
 the departure of some missionaries for savage lands, 
 while the Government noted down their names and 
 destinations. Then came the killing of the mis- 
 
*- 1 <#* 
 
 Mandarins watching in astonishment the Desecration 
 of the Sacred City, 
 
CHINA AS A LAND FOR SPOLIATION 113 
 
 sionaries, with a little picture showing the joy that 
 the news produced in the Berlin Colonial Office. 
 Finally, there was a picture of the German soldiers 
 and warships taking possession of the land where 
 the murdered missionaries lay ; and the officials in 
 Berlin crossed out the name of the missionary, and 
 wrote the name of the new German colony opposite. 
 It was a quaint little story. 
 
 The curious part of the occupation of Kiao-chau 
 by Germany lay in the fact that Russia had already 
 received a lease of the bay from the Chinese 
 Government. The Russian officials in China were 
 quite bewildered when they heard that the Czar had 
 assented to the German occupation. " But we have 
 the lease," they said, " it is ours ! " As, however, 
 they could not have Kiao-chau, they obtained 
 Port Arthur and Talienwan in the Liaotung 
 Peninsula. 
 
 Then, in an evil moment, Great Britain was 
 beguiled into taking over the lease of Wei-hai-Wei 
 from the Japanese, and now she spends her time 
 deciding whether the port shall be made a fortified 
 base, or whether it shall be a secondary base only. 
 France, not to be left in the lurch, obtained posses- 
 sion of Kwang-chow Bay in Kwang-tung. Italy 
 attempted to obtain Sammun Bay, but failed. 
 There were rumours of Belgian, Austrian, and 
 Spanish designs upon the coast of China, but these 
 8 
 
ii4 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 Powers did not press any demands which they may 
 have made. 
 
 The Chinese opened several more treaty ports, in 
 the hope, apparently, that thus some, at least, of her 
 ports might be left her. This move was good for 
 the trading nations, though, as it is attempted to be 
 shown elsewhere in this book, trade with China will 
 probably never assume the great proportion that 
 optimists dream of. 
 
 One ominous feature of the spoliation of China by 
 the nations is the way in which it leads inevitably 
 to new complications and new dangers. Thus we 
 see that the possession of Port Arthur by Russia 
 brings matters between that country and Japan 
 into a very critical state. Korea is the key to 
 both countries, — speaking, of course, of Russia's 
 Far Eastern possessions, — and each nation sits 
 watching, watching, until such a moment as the 
 other shall make a motion towards Korea. Then 
 there will be war, and the Chinaman will smile 
 pityingly at the foolishness of these barbarians, 
 and will count up the gains likely to accrue to 
 himself. 
 
 As it is with Russia and Japan in the north, 
 so it is with England and France in the south, 
 with Germany and any Power in the intervening 
 country. 
 
 The Chinese are likely to have good cause to be 
 
CHINA AS A LAND FOR SPOLIATION 115 
 
 thankful for the opportune death of that missionary 
 in Shantung before the " allied " armies return to 
 their native lands. The dragon's teeth have been 
 sown, and already the armed men are springing 
 up. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE YELLOW PERIL 
 
 EVER present in the dreams of the white 
 nations of the world is the fear of the 
 yellow races, with their countless millions of men 
 and their untiring perseverance. Sometimes this 
 nightmare takes the shape of military aggression on 
 the part of the Chinese millions, by which an irre- 
 sistible flood of fatalist soldiers shall sweep over the 
 world, and by sheer weight of numbers destroy 
 Western civilisation. While there is small doubt 
 that the Chinese could sweep the world, if properly 
 organised and led, it is not this form of the yellow 
 peril which is the most serious. 
 
 Those who know China best prescribe for 
 her revolutions and yet more revolutions, to be 
 succeeded by a period of anarchy extending over 
 several years. They say that such a period would 
 sweep away all the present forms and rules of 
 appointing governing officials, and would enable the 
 men of true merit to come forth and lead the 
 
 116 
 
THE YELLOW PERIL 117 
 
 Chinese. If this were to happen, and great leaders 
 were to arise, then indeed would Europe and 
 America have to look to their safety and their very 
 existence. The Chinese are naturally a peaceable 
 people, content to till the soil, to marry, and to die, 
 without committing any act of aggression. That 
 they can fight however, on necessity, has been seen 
 over and over again in the course of their history. 
 If well led, and especially if fired by some religious 
 fervour, the Chinese could accomplish much, as 
 soldiers. But even if there were no warlike desires 
 kindled in the purgatory of anarchy, the greater 
 danger would be much more to be feared. 
 
 Make China progressive and a competitor with 
 Western nations, and the chances are, that the 
 seal has been placed upon the death-warrant of 
 Western trade and civilisation. The white races 
 have everything to lose and nothing to gain by 
 disturbing China from that self-satisfied state of 
 mind in which she has existed for thousands of years. 
 
 Let us look for a moment at what would be the 
 effect of completely opening up China to the 
 influence of Western civilisation and trade. It must 
 always be remembered that all rational trade is 
 based on the idea of exchanging surpluses. In 
 China the greatest surplus of all is the surplus of 
 labour, and it is this surplus which the white races 
 will receive from China, not raw materials. 
 
u8 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 Those who favour most the opening up of China 
 say that the Empire will become a great market 
 for Western goods. They forget entirely that the 
 greater portion of the 400,000,000 of inhabitants 
 gain only their bare living from the tilling of the 
 ground. They have no money to buy luxuries, and 
 even if they had, there would not be any of that 
 waste which constitutes so large a part of the trade 
 among white races. Mr. Colman, the mustard 
 manufacturer, said always that he made his money, 
 not by the mustard people ate but by what they 
 left on their plates, and the saying was very true. 
 In China there is never any mustard left unused 
 on the plates, and this constitutes the great 
 difference between China and the world to which 
 we are accustomed. 
 
 Then again there is the fact that the Chinese do 
 not wish to use the articles which we would press 
 upon them. They do not want machinery to drive 
 out hand power, and deprive a large proportion of 
 the people of the opportunity of earning their 
 living. Even in Europe we find working men 
 opposed to the introduction of labour - saving 
 machines — because, they urge, the machines will 
 deprive them of employment. Is it, then, to be 
 wondered at that the Chinese, who, many writers 
 tell us, are now " self - sufficient " and " mostly 
 prosperous," will jump at the idea of what their 
 
THE YELLOW PERIL 119 
 
 relatively poorer and less prosperous white brother 
 turns up his nose at ? 
 
 Much good will result from an observation of the 
 Chinese when away from their land and exposed to 
 the influence of Western methods and civilisation 
 without intermission. Surely if China itself is to 
 change so completely, thanks to railways, trade, etc., 
 these outposts of the Chinese race will have already 
 adopted the civilisation of the West. Take, then, 
 the case of the Chinese in California, about 1 00,000 
 — of whom 30,000 are in San Francisco. Are 
 these Chinese changed? Not a bit of it; they 
 have not altered their dress, their form of life, or 
 their food, in the slightest degree. They buy all 
 their necessaries in San Francisco naturally, but 
 from Chinese merchants. Fifty years of Western 
 environment has been unable to accomplish in 
 California what many think will occur all at once 
 by the opening of China to the world. As in Cali- 
 fornia, so everywhere else where there are settlements 
 of Chinese, or indeed where there is a Chinaman. 
 In the very heart of Melbourne we find a narrow 
 street inhabited by Chinamen — living their own life ; 
 and so utterly indifferent to the white people around 
 them, that it is not safe for anybody but a detective 
 to penetrate into Little Bourke Street at night. 
 
 Though the Chinese never adopt Western customs, 
 they are ready to make articles for the white people's 
 
120 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 use, though inwardly despising their foolishness in 
 employing them. 
 
 The availability of Chinese labour for manufactur- 
 ing purposes will not be seriously questioned by any- 
 one who has seen the success achieved by this 
 people in such industries as that of shoemaking by 
 machinery, and the fashioning of men's and women's 
 garments of all kinds. 
 
 Thus the opening of China and the development 
 of her resources is likely to lead to the establishment 
 of Chinese manufactories, which will necessarily seek 
 to dispose of their wares outside of China — because 
 the Chinese do not desire for themselves anything 
 except their daily food. Thus, whichever nation or 
 nations wake in the Chinese, by force or otherwise, 
 a desire to manufacture, will raise up an almost 
 irresistible competitor in the race for the world's 
 markets. 
 
 In China labour is so cheap and so abundant 
 that goods may be manufactured at absurdly low 
 prices. In the cotton mills already established at 
 Shanghai the highest wage paid to a native male 
 employee is 50 cents silver (is. 4d.), while the 
 average wage was 20 to 34 cents silver (5d. to 
 8Jd.) without food ; when women are employed 
 they receive from 5 cents to 20 cents silver (ijd. 
 to 5 d.). 
 
 There are no laws in China concerning hours of 
 
THE YELLOW PERIL 121 
 
 labour, the employment of children, or Sunday 
 observance. The Chinese will work twelve or 
 fourteen hours a day; and parents are willing to 
 hire out their children at as early an age as it is 
 found profitable to employ them. This is no hard- 
 ship to the children, who come from a class with 
 whom the alternative lies between vicious idleness 
 and unremitting toil. 
 
 The manager of one of the mills made the state- 
 ment that one American hand would tend six looms 
 and the Chinaman only one. Six times fourpence 
 — the wage of a tender in that mill — makes only 
 two shillings a day, so that Chinese labour is still 
 far cheaper than white. 
 
 If China is opened up and forced into activity we 
 have to face the fact that these industrious, thrifty, 
 and cheap labourers will flood the labour markets 
 of the world to the exclusion of anybody else. Of 
 course their rate of wages will go up, but never as 
 high as the white man's. The latter spends more 
 than half his wages in waste, whereas the Chinaman 
 does not waste at all. Then, again, the Chinaman 
 is far happier sleeping in a crowded, ill-ventilated 
 room, even when he is earning as much as ten 
 shillings a day, than if he had the sleeping accom- 
 modation thought necessary by white labourers. 
 In every way the Chinese labourer is desirable to 
 the manufacturer. The danger is that the employers 
 
122 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 of labour in Europe and America, wearied out by 
 the incessant bickerings and strife in their relations 
 with their white employees, may be inclined to take 
 advantage of Chinese labour to replace them. It is 
 in this way that the true Yellow Peril will come to 
 us, more than by war, or by competing manu- 
 facturers in China. It will be an ill day for the 
 white working men of the world when China is so 
 far roused as to send her surplus population out to 
 monopolise the labour markets of the world. 
 
 A short survey of the Chinaman as a workman 
 and as a business man will be of interest. A 
 Chinese writer gives the following description of the 
 training of the young Chinese merchant : — 
 
 " His father will not fail to make him see on every occasion 
 that the tradesman must not aim at large profits on a given 
 article, his object in business being, above all, to effect a sale, 
 and that nothing so facilitates a sale as the lowest possible 
 profitable price. To sell cheaply, in order to sell much, such 
 has ever been the principle of our traders, and, from having 
 been put in practice from all time and in all parts, has become 
 a national habit, which has largely contributed to the prosperity 
 of our merchants. I must not omit the following fact : — If a 
 small profit contents our merchant, it is because, on the other 
 hand, his wants are not great. Every one knows that the 
 Chinese race is essentially a sober one. Sober and economical, 
 without vanity or ostentation, the trader of my country has a 
 right to content himself with little. The patriarchal life he 
 leads saves him from the extravagant outlay which follows the 
 desire to make an appearance and to dazzle." 
 
 This extract gives a good idea of the ways in which 
 
THE YELLOW PERIL 123 
 
 Chinese merchants would necessarily compete suc- 
 cessfully with their Western rivals. 
 
 After the anti-Chinese disturbances in America 
 some years ago, a Government inquiry was held in 
 California, British Columbia, and in Hawaii, in order 
 to judge if there were any truth in the crimes of 
 which the Chinese were accused. Many portions 
 of the report are full of interest, the following 
 extract especially so : — 
 
 " California is indebted to the hand labour of the Chinese for — 
 
 11 The railway communication with the Eastern States. 
 
 " The rapid bringing into cultivation of large tracts. 
 
 " If not the existence, at least the present development, of 
 the fruit and vine culture. 
 
 "The creation of inexhaustible polders by the drainage of 
 vast swamps, which could not have been drained except by 
 Chinese working up to their middle in water, their heads sur- 
 rounded by clouds of mosquitoes. 
 
 " The progress of its manufactures. 
 
 "The increase in the trade with Asia." 
 
 Moreover, the report shows the Chinese work- 
 men to be very trustworthy, very intelligent, faithful 
 to their engagements, temperate, active, honest, all 
 able to read and write, sober, enjoying good health 
 by reason of their cleanliness, and that they take 
 a bath every night. What is more, the Chinese 
 require no sort of assistance on the part of the 
 whites. 
 
 The Chief- Justice of British Columbia, Sir 
 
i2 4 CHINA AND HER MYSTERIES 
 
 Matthew Begbie, gave the following opinion upon 
 the Chinese, which appears in the report : — 
 
 " Industrious habits, economy, sobriety, and respect for the 
 law, these make up the four most remarkable qualities of the 
 Chinese, on the confession of both their friends and their 
 enemies. ' Idle, drunken, extravagant and turbulent, 5 that is 
 just what they are not. The cause of their unpopularity lies in 
 this, their steady and unceasing industry can only be compared 
 to that of the ant. I cannot remember ever having seen or 
 even heard of an intoxicated Chinaman." 
 
 Another witness, Dr. E. Stevenson, adds — 
 
 " It would indeed be surprising if the Chinese nation, sober 
 and industrious as it is, were not morally superior to a people 
 among whom one meets so many lazy and drunken individuals. 
 After an experience, extending over a quarter of a century, I 
 calmly and deliberately assert that such is the case." 
 
 Many of the witnesses testified to the excellence 
 of the Chinese, and then proceeded to expostulate 
 against such moral people being allowed to enter 
 into competition with white men ; in the words of 
 one witness — 
 
 " The Chinese nation being decidedly sober and industrious, 
 it becomes necessary to protect the intemperance of the whites 
 against Oriental temperance." 
 
 The Yellow Peril is very real indeed, and much 
 to be feared when Chinese workmen are so superior 
 to whites that the latter plead to be protected 
 against them. No wonder that the Chinese nation 
 
THE YELLOW PERIL 125 
 
 looks down upon the white nations of the world and 
 does not regard them as equals, and there are many 
 excuses for such sentiment 
 
 Until the Western nations have reached a higher 
 state of morality, or until the Chinese have sunk 
 considerably below their present level, we had better 
 let China sleep on, and spend our time making 
 certain that no tumult shall ever wake her into an 
 activity which may so easily be fatal to us all. 
 
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