TSSOC 
 
 POLITIC 
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE
 
 
 
 
 ^erZ- ! '' •" 
 
 .i'. 
 
 .■•i 
 

 
 CHINA: 
 
 ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND 
 BBLIGIOUS LIFE. 
 
 FROM THE FRENCH OF 
 
 G. EUG. SIMON. 
 
 LONDON : 
 SAMPSON LOW, MAESTON, SEARLE, & KIVINCTON, 
 
 5t. Qunstan's ?t7oiisr. 
 Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C. 
 
 1887. 
 
 [All rights refervul.] 
 
 Ik /^//^/-B'^
 
 LONDON 
 PRINTKD BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, Limitkd, 
 
 STAMFOItn STREET AND CHARIKQ CROSS.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 THE FAMILY . 
 
 LABOUR 
 
 THE STATE 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT 
 
 PART I. 
 
 PAET II 
 
 PAET III 
 
 PART IV 
 
 PAGE 
 1 
 
 61 
 
 . 122 
 
 168 
 
 PART V. 
 THE OUANG-MING-TSB FAMILY 
 
 209 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 APPENDIX L 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 319 
 336
 
 CHINA: 
 
 ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND EELIGIOUS LIFE. 
 PART I. 
 
 THE FAMILY. 
 
 1 It has been said by celebrated men, such as Pascal, 
 Leibnitz and Bacon, that the human race may be 
 likened to a single individual, never dying and always 
 acquiring fresh knowledge ; and this that they have 
 asserted of humanity as a whole may, with equal truth, 
 be applied to that section of it which we call a family. 
 Men of science are daily recording facts and observ- 
 ing events, a process to which they have given the 
 name of Atavism, which go far to prove so close a 
 connection to exist between one generation and 
 another that there is but one step wanting to the 
 unity and identity spoken of by Pascal, Leibnitz and 
 Bacon, with whom may be included P. Leroux ; and if 
 what they have asserted of humanity at large is true
 
 2 CHINA: ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 in the instance of a single family, it is a fortiori true 
 of that larger family known as a nation. 
 
 Of all the nations of antiquity of which we have 
 any record, one alone survives, and is thus the elder 
 sister of all peoples now existing. But she is un- 
 known. 
 
 It may, it is true, be asserted that as all nations 
 inherit from their predecessors, so the origins of 
 France, England and even Eussia may he as remote 
 as it is possible for the mind of man to conceive ; but 
 while modern races are but the collateral successors 
 of those of antiquity, the one with which I propose to 
 deal is the direct heir of the generations which erected 
 it, and it is in this that its deep and original interest 
 consists. Its history shows the phenomena of heredity 
 in regular succession, neither modified nor obstructed 
 by change of medium, with the evolution of events 
 and ideas — an evolution as regular as that of living 
 beings, freely proceeding unshaken, and untroubled 
 by any exterior influence by which its direction might 
 have been altered or its development retarded ; and it 
 is here, I repeat, that we find the deep and original 
 interest of China, and perhaps also the secret of her 
 extraordinary longevity. 
 
 The progress and organisation, in short the civilisa- 
 tion attained by humanity under sucli conditions of 
 liberty of development, can scarcely fail to be an inter- 
 esting study, and we propose to devote the following 
 pages to its elucidation.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 
 
 Civilisation, as commonly spoken of, has different 
 meanings and objects, according to the sense in which 
 the speaker employs the word. We speak of that 
 State as most civilised in which on a given area the 
 largest possible number of human beings are able to 
 procure and distribute most equally among themselves 
 the most well-being, liberty, justice and security ; and 
 we propose to deal firstly with the condition of China 
 from these different points of view, and then with the 
 means and principles under which that condition was 
 attained. 
 
 According to this order, the extent of the population 
 first presents itself for examination, and this amounts 
 in the whole Chinese Empire to 537 millions, including 
 the nomad tribes of Mongolia, and the more or less 
 subject tribes of the neighbouring regions of Thibet 
 and Annam, and forms in the aggregate more than 
 the third of the population of our planet. We propose, 
 however, to limit the field of our inquiry to the 
 territory of China properly so called, bounded on the 
 east and south by the sea, by the mountains of Thibet 
 on the west, and by the Great Wall on the north, 
 where a population of 400 millions exists on an area 
 of 825 million acres, or from six to seven times that 
 of France. 
 
 B 2
 
 4 CHINA: ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 Europe, on an area four or five times larger, contains 
 scarcely 337 millions, while there are in China pro- 
 vinces as large as France and Germany, containing as 
 many as three inhabitants per acre ; and there are 
 districts as large as Belgium, where the density of 
 population reaches as high as six and even seven souls 
 on each acre. 
 
 In this respect no country in Europe, excepting 
 perhaps the island of Jersey and the province of 
 Valencia in Spain, can compare with China, and the 
 extent of the population seems so extraordinary that 
 the accuracy of Chinese statistics has been frequently 
 contested. 
 
 But no traveller who has been fortunate enough to 
 cross the vast territory of the Chinese Empire can 
 have any doubt on the point. I myself frequently 
 passed through cities containing from 500 to 1,500,000 
 iuhabitjints even up to the frontiers of Thibet ; while 
 in the more distant provinces I travelled frequently 
 with crowds proceeding to market, and blocking, to the 
 number of fifteen to twenty thousand persons, roads on 
 which perhaps on the previous evening an occasional 
 innkeeper was the only person visible. 
 
 From one end of China to the other, so to speak, 
 villages, hamlets and cottages followed eacli other 
 so closely upon my line of route as to be comparable 
 only to the suburbs of some of the great cities of 
 Europe. 
 
 Frequently the water is converted into laud, and the
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 5 
 
 lakes covered with gardens and fields resting upon 
 rafts, while the rocks furnish their share towards the 
 harvest. Sugar, silk, tea, wax, and other products 
 requiring much toil and care in their cultivation, are 
 found everywhere, and the fertility of the soil is such 
 that even the distant valleys render a return of twelve 
 to fourteen thousand kilogrammes of rice, and give the 
 land a value of 25,000 to 30,000 francs for each 
 hectare. 
 
 In regard to population, therefore, the Chinese far 
 exceed us, and while we complain of the extent of ours, 
 which we endeavour to restrain by wars, celibacy, and 
 voluntary sterilisation, the Chinese continue to mul- 
 tiply as if the earth were without limits. 
 
 Correctly enough, they have no fear of the result, for 
 the fertility of the land depends not upon its extent 
 but upon the extent and value of the labour applied to 
 it. An excellent proof of this is afforded by China, 
 where the provinces now containing the largest 
 number of inhabitants originally neither possessed nor 
 were capable of supporting a larger population than 
 the districts now most sparsely inhabited, and where 
 barren mountains and rocks have been converted into 
 regular terraces of flowers and fruits. 
 
 Nor must it be forgotten that the Chinese are most 
 economical in their use of all fertilising products, nor 
 do they waste what would augment the wealth of their 
 country by allowing the contents of their sewers to 
 poison their rivers, but carefully collect them, and believe
 
 6 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 they are but obeying the laws of natural justice in 
 carefully returning to the soil whatever they obtain 
 from it. 
 
 Further, as roads, canals, and railways are less 
 costly, the expenses of government less heavy, and 
 waterways both larger and more easy of construc- 
 tion, in a thickly populated country, so it follows 
 that in Chinese opinion an increase of population 
 leads most surely to an increase of public and private 
 wealth. 
 
 We may thence conclude that the expenses of a 
 country are both in direct ratio to its extent and in 
 inverse ratio to its population, and as a matter of 
 fact, while the taxation in France amounts to 90 
 or 100 francs per head of the population, that of China 
 comes to barely 3 francs. Even with this sum of 
 taxation, innumerable and extensive public works are 
 and have been constructed, and we may confess with 
 shame that the roads, canals, railways, and otlier 
 public works of the West, without taking into consider- 
 ation their recent origin, compare very unfavourably 
 with the innumerable canals, and with that wonderful 
 and enormous hydraulic system of China which irri- 
 gates the land of the peasant over an extent of i^OO 
 leagues of country from the West to the sea. It may, 
 be objected that the Chinese individually enjoy but 
 moderate prosperity, but the extent of population is 
 almost sufficient answer, for we may conclude that if 
 the Chinese were unhappy in their condition they
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 
 
 would, like us, have found some means of preventing an 
 undue increase of their population, nor is there any 
 more exact measure of the misery or well-being of a 
 people than its criminal returns. 
 
 Here we have facts to deal with ; and I can state 
 that in Hankow, a town in which I lived for some 
 time, only one murder took place in thirty-four years ; 
 and that in Chihli, a province containing 25,000,000 
 inhabitants, there were in 186G to 1867 but twelve 
 capital sentences. It should be noted that a third 
 conviction for theft is punished with death, that no 
 extenuating circumstances are admitted, and that Pekin, 
 the capital of China, is situated in this province. The 
 reader would be better able to judge of the condition of 
 the Chinese population were I able to show him the 
 small farms and the cottages of the peasants, who have 
 so often extended their hospitality to me, and point out 
 to him the cleanliness of the dwellings, the varnished 
 furniture, and read over to him the records which I 
 have collected of their wealth and resources. 
 
 I may quote the case of an individual owning a plot 
 of land of the extent of three hectares and a half, who 
 was able to save annually 1500 to 1800 francs, after 
 providing for the subsistence of himself and his family ; 
 while another, farming one hectare, saved yearly from 
 700 to 800 francs. I wish also I could enable the 
 reader to see them at their meals, sufficient in quantity, 
 and composed of much more varied materials than 
 those forming the subsistence of our field labourers.
 
 8 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 while all, however poor their lodging may appear, are 
 able to indulge themselves with a few cakes for dessert 
 and to offer to a friend. Especially should I like to 
 enable him to compare the light, frank and easy 
 bearing of the first Chinese peasant he might meet 
 with the heavy, overburdened, awkward and shame- 
 faced demeanour of most of our small agriculturists 
 and our petty farmers of Brittany, Sologne, Auvergne 
 and Savoy, not to mention those of the South, Their 
 very appearance shows that there exists between 
 rich and poor, or rather the less well-to-do — between 
 the countrymen and townsmen— much less distance 
 and difference than among ourselves, and that there 
 is amongst them an equality of long standing, in 
 the atmosphere of which everyone moves and breathes 
 easily, and which brings about a politeness and 
 kindness in their relations with each other, with 
 which a stranger cannot fail to be struck. The 
 following example will show how they behave and 
 speak to each other. Among the methods of loco- 
 motion employed in China, the most convenient in 
 hilly districts where canals arc rarely met with, is 
 that of the coolie-chair or palanquin, in which I have 
 travelled from six to seven hundred leagues. 
 
 Each palanquin requires four coolies, or porters, and 
 a journey of eight or nine leagues a day can be easily 
 accomplished, but every burden, even sliared among 
 four, becomes heavy in the long run, and this is a fact 
 well known to the })oor people of China. The following
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 
 
 conversation is an example of the behaviour of those 
 whom we happened to meet on our journey. ' Sir,' 
 they would say, addressing one of our porters, ' we 
 have not been able to gain our livelihood to-day ; will 
 you allow us to take your place and relieve you for a 
 little ? ' ' With pleasure, sir ; but we earn little, and 
 cannot pay you much.' * Do not let that be a hindrance ; 
 we will leave that to you.' The chance bearers would 
 then, for one or two leagues, take the places of the 
 others who, relieved of their burden, sang as they 
 followed us. 
 
 It should be remarked that this title of ' sir ' — ' sieu 
 sen ' — is only used between people unacquainted with 
 each other; among intimates it is usual to add the 
 term brother to what we should style the christian 
 name. I should find it difficult to state how far this 
 general politeness can extend towards the stranger, or 
 the European who may have succeeded in obtaining 
 the confidence of the Chinese — not an easy task to 
 achieve, and one especially difficult at the time I first 
 travelled in China. It was very shortly after our war 
 with them, and after the execution of the treaty we 
 forced upon them, and I suffered in consequence from 
 a watchfulness on the part of the Chinese officials, 
 which, however disguised, was the source of much 
 inconvenience to me. But when once I had been able 
 to persuade the authorities of the needlessness of this 
 watchfulness in view of the inoffensive nature of my 
 mission, and to obtain authority for my distant ex-
 
 lo CHINA: ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 ploration of the districts bordering on Thibet, I hardly- 
 dare to tell the reader how the humble author of these 
 pages was treated. Is not the right of pardon the 
 highest and the most enviable of all the prerogatives of 
 sovereignty ? That right was mine. The authority of 
 the officials of any village I might enter disappeared 
 before the rank which had been conferred upon me. 
 They continued to govern and to administer justice, 
 but it was in my name, and on leaving the house I 
 had temporarily made my home, I found the convicted 
 prisoners of the previous day, for whom I could obtain 
 sometimes a free pardon, sometimes a mitigation of 
 sentence. But far preferable to these honours were 
 the simple and cordial reception, and the quiet and 
 humble hospitality shown me in the villages and 
 hamlets. 
 
 Often, leaving our baggage in our palanquins or boat, 
 with directions to meet us at the next stopping-place, 
 we wandered alone among the fields and paths, without 
 taking any further precaution than that of wearing 
 our Chinese costume ! ^ 
 
 We used to walk leisurely, stopping as we liked and 
 conversing with the first passer-by about the rain, the 
 weather, the harvest, and kindred subjects. I remem- 
 ber well a certain tree, under which we had one day 
 
 ' I was accompanied on one of my journeys by M. L, I'xmrret, 
 wlio liad been ai)iH)inte(l by the French nicrcliants of Shantjb;ii, at 
 my re(HU'st, to study the commercial products of the coiuitrios I 
 intended visiting.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 
 
 seated ourselves, exhausted with heat and fatigue. 
 There was a little grass, real grass — a very uncommon 
 object among the universal cultivation of the plains of 
 China — around its roots, which made us a most delight- 
 ful seat, on which we stretched ourselves with the 
 greatest comfort. We had, however, unfortunately not 
 noticed two women, slightly hidden by some shrubs, 
 working in a little garden close by, who had not seen 
 us. It must be remembered that it is unusual for strange 
 men to stop long in the presence of women, and we 
 knew we were not in our proper place, but were 
 unwilling to leave the shade for the sun. "We tried to 
 ward off the danger. * Good-morning, ladies,' said 
 the interpreter in his most seductive tones. * Good- 
 morning ; but what are you doing there ? Move on 
 further.' 
 
 ' But, ladies,' he observed, ' we are very tired, and 
 the other trees are far off.' 
 
 ' These are barbarians — they do not know how to 
 behave. Move on further, and do not compel us to tell 
 you again,' said one of our neighbours. 
 
 We rose, abashed and confused, to go, when the 
 interpreter, recollecting himself and showing his pipe, 
 said, ' At all events you will be good enough to give 
 me a light.' 
 
 ' If you will move on it shall be brought you,' was 
 the reply. 
 
 We walked on slowly, and were soon overtaken by a 
 small boy who brought us a light. I rewarded him
 
 12 CHINA: ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 ■with a small knife worth about fourpence, and we sat 
 down again a few steps further on. In a few minutes 
 the child reappeared, bringing four oranges. I gave 
 him a packet of sewing needles and he went away, but 
 we were not long alone, as he soon returned, accom- 
 panied by an old man and two or three others, who 
 addressed us politely and invited us to rest in their 
 house. We readily accepted the invitation, and before 
 au hour had elapsed we were the best friends in the 
 world. 
 
 The women unconcernedly went on with their occu- 
 pations in our presence. One brought some food while 
 the other prepared the table, whilst we conversed with 
 the villagers, who had by this time joined our hosts. 
 The subject of our conversation was, so to speak, the 
 East and "West and all that is interesting and proper 
 to man between these two points. We spoke of Europe, 
 and of our relations, for it is always thus that a 
 conversation commences, and at last we took our leave 
 of these good people, carrying with us a recollection 
 of the day which twenty years have been unable to 
 efface. 
 
 Nor shall I ever forget the welcome I received from 
 a poor Chinese peasant who had emigrated to the 
 border of the desert of Gobi from Mongolia on the far 
 side of the Great Wall. We were travelling towards 
 a village named Li-Wang-tse, having left Chang-kia- 
 kow about five o'clock in the morning, and up to 
 eleven or twelve o'clock had been unable to find in that
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 13 
 
 dismal country a single place or house where we could 
 stop for rest and refreshment. 
 
 We had certainly passed through several miserable 
 hamlets, but either because the inhabitants were 
 occupied out of doors, and for some other reason, 
 scarcely a single person was to be seen. 
 
 At last towards midday we arrived in the midst of a 
 group of houses rather more considerable than those 
 through which we had passed, but also with their 
 doors closed. 
 
 We were standing there, men and animals, in the 
 teeth of the wind, asking ourselves whether we should 
 not be compelled to camp under some wall, when we 
 perceived a peasant hastening towards us, who accosted 
 us much in the following manner : — 
 
 ' This village, sir, is very small and we are very 
 poor, and you will search in vain for a house fit to 
 receive you. I myself am poor and unworthy, but if 
 you will do your younger brother the honour of 
 stopping at his house, he will do his utmost for you. 
 The house is there.' 
 
 The house was somewhat larger than the neighbour- 
 ing ones, and was extremely clean. He left us as soon 
 as w^e had entered, and we saw him chasing fowls, 
 when, guessing his intention, we begged him to desist, 
 assuring him that we had all necessary provisions and 
 only required shelter ; not, however, before he had 
 killed two. 
 
 We had some conversation within while our meal
 
 14 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 was being prepared, and I could not help admiring his 
 quiet and modest bearing and his manner of speaking, 
 which was simple and dignified and respectful without 
 being servile. When our meal arrived, he and his 
 eldest son, a child of from ten to twelve years of age, 
 attended upon us in such a charming manner that, in 
 spite of myself, I could not help making comparisons 
 which grieved me between them and the French 
 peasantry. 
 
 When our meal was over and it was time to start 
 I wished to bestow some remembrance of our visit upon 
 our host, but I was unable to prevail on him to accept 
 anything ; all he asked for being leave to introduce 
 his family, consisting of a little girl of four years old, 
 and another of two, besides the boy who had helped 
 his father to wait upon us. 
 
 These little ones were as polite in their manners as 
 the best educated grown-up persons. 
 
 II. 
 
 It is the opinion of many Europeans that the 
 iiovcrnment of China is essentiallv a desi)otisni ; but a 
 country can scarcely be styled despotically governed 
 where there are but from twenty-five to thirty- 
 thousand officials to a population of five liuudred
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 15 
 
 million souls, and where tlie government relies for 
 support upon an army of a hundred thousand Tartars, 
 almost lost in such a crowd. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the government and ad- 
 ministration of China is carried on by the Chinese 
 themselves ; in the family by all the members of the 
 family, and in the township by duly elected delegates, 
 only presided over, so to speak, by the officials. Nor 
 do they hesitate to dismiss the presidents should they 
 have cause to complain of them, as they occasionally 
 do after a somewhat original manner. 
 
 In one of the most populous departments of a 
 province I once visited, the approaching arrival was 
 announced of a prefect who had left an evil reputation 
 behind him wherever he had been. The fact was well 
 known, the people became excited, the Departmental 
 Council was called together, and petition after petition 
 was sent to the Viceroy begging him to reconsider his 
 unfortunate choice. 
 
 The Viceroy, however, was obstinate, and it soon 
 became known that the prefect was within a few 
 leagues of the town. The Council thereupon reas- 
 sembled, and caused a tent to be erected at the 
 entrance of the city, where the usual repast and 
 refreshments were prepared, and the customary escort 
 ordered, while at the same time four palanquins with 
 fresh and willing porters were made ready. On his 
 arrival the prefect was courteously received, and 
 invited to rest and refresh himself, being at the same
 
 i6 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 time plainly given to understand that the people would 
 not receive him, that he could not be allowed to enter 
 the town, and that three delegates of the Council 
 intended to have the honour of escorting him on his 
 return journey to the capital. This programme was 
 carried out, and the ease with which it was accom- 
 plished shows plainly that, so far from being an 
 exceptional instance, it was in accordance with the 
 customs of the people. The opinion of their legislators 
 and philosophers on this point is worthy of attention. 
 The monarch, according to them, is but the mandatory 
 of the people, and any sovereign conducting himself 
 contrary to their well-being and will, is regarded by 
 them as a calamity, and may be dethroned in spite of 
 the authority he possesses. This has been laid down 
 by Confucius, the greatest and most popular of their 
 philosophers, moralists, and legislators. 
 
 The Chinese, however, possess not only political 
 liberty, but liberty of conscience, religion and edu- 
 cation, and among all ranks of their officials are found 
 Mohammedans, Jews, and Christians, as well as 
 Buddhists and men professing no religion in particular 
 except that perhaps of ancestral worship. 
 
 The Government never meddles with religious 
 questions unless they are mingled with civil matters, 
 and interfere with the civil government. From time 
 to time the Chinese need to mistrust religions, singular 
 as it appears to Europeans, may be read in the 
 instructions addressed to the people by the Emperor,
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 17 
 
 the viceroys, or tho governors, and it is hence that the 
 reproach of atheism levelled for a long time past at 
 the Chinese nation has been derived. Farther on it 
 will be seen that no reproach has less foundation. 
 The Grovernment is equally liberal in matters of public 
 instruction. It is open to all to establish a school, and 
 to avail themselves of it or not as they please ; and it 
 is worthy of remark, the reason of which will shortly 
 be given, that there is scarcely a single Chinese who is 
 unable to read, write, cast accounts, and draw. Those 
 desirous of pursuing a literary career, the opening to 
 the public service, are amenable only to examiners 
 from the University of Pekin, which, though supported 
 by the State, is absolutely independent of the Govern- 
 ment. As far as freedom of meeting and association 
 are concerned, I should imagine its right, at all events 
 for several centuries past, has never been questioned 
 by any Chinese Grovernment. Public meetings take 
 place, and associations are formed without notice or 
 previous authority, and I believe that in no country 
 in the world are associations of all kinds so frequent, 
 so numerously attended, and so easy of access as in 
 China. And in no country in the world, as I hope to 
 show later 0:1, do there exist such proofs of force and 
 vitality as in China. Nor is there any limit to the 
 freedom of the press. I made a collection during 18G3, 
 in the province of Sze-chuen, of proclamations of great 
 violence against the Emperor and the Government 
 after the execution of the treaty forced upon them by
 
 1 8 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 tlie Europeans after the plunder of the Summer Palace 
 and the burning of the great library. The mandarins 
 were content with causing their removal, they did not 
 dream of prosecuting the authors. 
 
 Nor do passports exist in China, nor licences on 
 industries or trade. There is no octroi except a tax 
 of from five to eight per cent, ad valorem levied on 
 certain articles of foreign manufacture at the entrance 
 to each town. We have here the most real and 
 complete freedom of industry, calling, trade and 
 thinking, that it is possible to imagine. 
 
 I have deferred mentioning until now one particular 
 form of freedom, perhaps the most exalted and delicate 
 of all, the most ennobling to the conscience of man, 
 and the one which in my opinion contains all others, 
 though perhaps to us Europeans the most difficult of 
 comprehension. I allude to the power of self-judgment, 
 or what may be termed self-jurisdiction. I shall 
 explain shortly how it is exercised by the Chinese. I 
 confine myself for the present to stating its existence ; 
 nor does the State interfere with its exercise unless 
 especially called upon to do so ; and a strong proof 
 that its intervention is neither so necessary nor so 
 i'rcqucnt as might be supposed, exists in the absence 
 of any special magistracy. It would be impossible 
 to bring forward more complete proof of the free- 
 dom enjoyed by the Chinese people than tin's very 
 absence of all judicial, priestly, scholastic, and military 
 caste.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 19 
 
 It has been stated above that there is nothing in my 
 opinoin more capable of elevating the conscience, and 
 developing the idea of justice, than the exercise of 
 judiciary power. 
 
 It is well known that agriculture is, so to speak, the 
 national profession of China, and that almost all 
 Chinese may be said to be born peasants, while at all 
 events there is not one who is not directly interested 
 in the prosperity of agriculture. The cultivation of 
 rice, which occupies two-thirds of the land, is the 
 foundation of their agriculture, and this can only be 
 carried on in water and by means of irrigation. Water 
 being from its very nature easy to divert and steal, we 
 may ask how it would be possible to cultivate rice 
 without justice, and conclude that the regular dis- 
 tribution of water is in itself a proof of great loyalty 
 to each other. 
 
 Michelet has laid it down that there can be no culti- 
 vation without order. Justice is born of the furrow ; 
 and Ceres, who at Thebes and Athens assembled the 
 people and laid down the laws — Ceres, who seems no 
 other than Themis — Ceres is the serious consideration 
 of agricultural peoples. Nor is it only to rice that 
 the Chinaman does justice, but to all the harvest, to 
 the earth which produces, and to the bufl'ulo and the 
 'ox which help him in his labours. He repeats the 
 words of the ancient law of Russia, ' Do justice to a 
 plant, bull and horse ; bo careful that the cow does not 
 complain of you, and that you are not ungrateful to 
 
 c 2
 
 20 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 the dog. The land has a right to he tilled, if neglected 
 it becomes a curse, if manured it repays it with liber- 
 ality. To him who has ploughed it from light to left 
 and from left to right it will say, " May your fields 
 produce copiously and your villages be numerous and 
 abound in all requirements." ' The Chinaman repeats 
 to himself, ' Work and sow ; the man that sows with 
 purity fulfils the law.' 
 
 Good faith or credit is another form of justice in 
 the ordinary afi'airs of life. I can give several in- 
 stances, as I was frequently compelled to refuse ofi'ers 
 made to me by mandarins and rich inhabitants of 
 loans without interest and on verbal security. ' Sir,' 
 they would say to me, 'it is a long time since you 
 left your fellow-countrymen, you are probably in want 
 of money; if so, make use of us.' Once even I was 
 obliged to return to a mandarin a sum of 8000 francs 
 which, in spite of my having declined his kindness, he 
 had caused to be placed in an out-of-the-way corner of 
 my lodging. 
 
 That I was a foreigner shows all the more clearly 
 the prevalence of the idea of moral credit among the 
 Chinese ; in Europe no foreigner would be compelled 
 to decline a similar offer. In China, however, I expect 
 such offers are not uncommon, and, of course, much 
 more frequent between persons well acquainted with 
 each other. It is also a common custom with Chinese 
 banks to advance to any of their clients who may 
 request it double the amount standing to their credit,
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 21 
 
 on current interest, for a term wliich may extend from 
 three days to six months. But perhaps the best 
 example of the extent to which the idea of personal 
 credit extends among the Chinese is to be found in 
 the numerous small societies of almost daily creation, 
 which lend money without interest, or at low rates, to 
 provide for all the wants of the people — the student too 
 poor to complete his education ; the peasant in need of a 
 buffalo for his holding ; the small shopkeeper starting 
 in business ; up to the mother desirous of providing for 
 the marriage expenses of her daughter. 
 
 Another form of justice is that due to the infirm, 
 mutes, blind and deaf, who may be termed the dis- 
 inherited of the world, and who are to be found in 
 China, though perhaps in less number than in any 
 country in Europe. They are no more forgotten there 
 than elsewhere, and I may say that the establishments 
 provided for them, whether founded and supported by 
 the State or by private charity, might well serve as 
 models to countries where more is sacrificed to pomp 
 and appearance than to the comfort of the inmates. I 
 have seen instances in Chinese establishments of 
 patients being allowed each a small enclosure of two 
 rooms, with permission to have one of their relatives 
 with them as a nurse. 
 
 Children abandoned by their parents are similarly 
 treated ; but so much has been said, and for the most 
 part so wrongly on this subject, that I may be par- 
 doned for devoting some space to it. According to
 
 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 the agents of the ' Societe de la Sainte-Enfance,' to 
 give it its proper name, infanticide has been raised in 
 China to the dignity of an institution, tolerated or 
 even authorised by the laws, and contempt of human 
 life has reached such a point, that parents have no 
 hesitation in throwing to the pigs any of their children 
 who may be a burden to them. Pictures illustrative 
 of such stories are to be seen in the Catholic schools, 
 and in some of the churches banners similarly decorated 
 are occasionally displayed. These calumnies have, 
 however, been frequently denied by missionaries in 
 the last century, and by others now living, and I may 
 especially refer to a letter from Father Amyot, a 
 Jesuit priest, published about 1790 in the fourth 
 volume of the Memoires Concernant les Chinois, which 
 should have brought a blush to the faces of the in- 
 ventors of these stories, though so long as they bring 
 in from five to six million francs per annum to the 
 ' Societe de la Sainte-Enfance,' it is unlikely they will 
 be discontinued. 
 
 Speaking as one who passed ten years in China, and 
 travelled through the country from north to south, 
 and east to west, I can declare that I have never 
 known a case of infanticide cither in tlic places in 
 which I have resided, or their neighbourhood. I do 
 not say that such a crime is never committed, but I 
 have no hesitation in asserting that it is much less 
 coniinon in China than in Franco, and that it is nothing 
 short of an abominable and atrocious calumny to infer
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 23 
 
 the existence of an habitual and voluntary crime from 
 a single accidental and involuntary instance of an 
 infant being devoured by a pig; and in speaking so 
 strongly I have no fear of being contradicted by any 
 Europeans acquainted with China other than those in- 
 terested in such fables. 
 
 There are also material facts which contradict these 
 stories, and which a little reflection would show to be 
 sufficient to demonstrate their falsehood. There is, 
 for instance, the continual increase in the population 
 of China, which consisted of 360 millions in 1812, and 
 amounts now to 537 millions, and which in itself 
 appears a sufficient and peremptory contradiction. In- 
 fanticide, furthermore, results generally from misery 
 and births outside wedlock, and I have already dealt 
 with the relative comfort and misery of the Chinese ; 
 while, if any further argument were necessary, I could 
 assert that nowhere perhaps do there exist so few 
 beggars as in China. There are certainly many in 
 Pekin whose importunities are most distressing ; but 
 they are far below the 400,000 assisted poor of Paris, 
 leaving out of consideration those making a trade of 
 beggary. 
 
 In the country there are next to none, while in 
 the towns of the interior, from information I have 
 gathered, and from my personal observations, I do not 
 believe the mendicants amount to more than from 
 20 to 25 among populations of from 150 to 200,000 
 souls.
 
 24 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 As regards the second cause of infanticides, men- 
 tioned above, it may, as will shortly be shown, be 
 said to be non-existent, marriage in China being from 
 a social, political, and religious point of view so 
 binding and sacred a duty that the number of bache- 
 lors above twenty-four years of age is hardly worthy 
 of notice. 
 
 Although unavoidable famines might suddenly plunge 
 families into misery, and compel them to consider a 
 new birth as a disaster, there would still be no need 
 for them to rid themselves of their children by death, 
 since the necessity of abandoning them is considered 
 such an extreme misfortune for the parents as not to 
 be punishable by the State, and whilst there exist, as 
 there have been from very remote antiquity, orphan- 
 ages and establishments where such children are re- 
 ceived, and kindly and sagaciously cared for. Such is 
 the case in China, and it is a grave error to think that 
 the children died like dogs in the streets previous to 
 the arrival of the Catholic missionaries, and that there 
 is no salvation, pity, or charity outside the Roman 
 Catholic and Apostolic Church. 
 
 The reader must judge for himself; but before pro- 
 ceeding to explain the difference between the Catholic 
 and Chinese systems as followed in their respective 
 orphanages, I must repeat my opinion that, lor the 
 reasons here given, infants arc more rarely abandoned 
 or exposed in China than in Franco. I was informed 
 in lbC2 by Father Chevrier or Chcrrier, a missionary
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 2$ 
 
 who was at the head of one of the institutions of La 
 Sainte-Enfance at Tientsin, a town of more than 
 300,000 souls, that during the three years that had 
 elapsed from its opening he had been unable to obtain 
 a single child. 
 
 Furthermore, in China the abandonment of a child 
 is not so definite as else^vhere, but often ceases 
 with the causes which have brought it about ; and 
 as poverty is sometimes temporary and not lasting, so 
 it very frequently happens that the parents are able 
 to demand their children back from the orphanages. 
 No difficulty is raised as to their return from the 
 Chinese orphanages, but it is different with the 
 Catholic, whence children once baptised cannot be 
 given back to non-Catholic parents. Hence the story 
 of the little Matara and the lamentable history of the 
 massacre of the French at Tientsin in 1870, which was 
 provoked by the refusal of the missionaries to return 
 to their families children they had obtained after the 
 inundation of the Yellow Kiver. Nor must it be 
 forgotten that the object of the Sainte-Enfance is 
 not to save the children from temporal but from 
 spiritual death, so that the ideal of this institution 
 would be that every infant should die as soon as 
 baptised, their surviving being simply impedimenta. 
 A bishop, M. Baldus, remarked on this point to 
 M. Delaplace, himself a bishop, who repeated the story 
 to me, that ' an epidemic was much to be desired to 
 relieve them of their orphans.' This was of course a
 
 26 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 joke, but still a joke which could only have entered 
 the mind of a Catholic missionary. The boys also 
 are provided with situations in the different pro- 
 fessions sufficiently lucrative to enable them to repay 
 the cost of their maintenance to the Sainte-Enfance. 
 It is different as regards the girls — there is little or 
 no employment for them, and marriage is only per- 
 mitted to them with Catholics. They are also more 
 numerous than the boys, while the latter do not always 
 remain Catholics, and thus the number of female 
 orphans has become a considerable obstacle to the 
 work of the Sainte-Enfance. It is quite otherwise 
 in the Chinese orphanages, where rich people often 
 seek children to adopt, or husbands for their daugliters, 
 or wives for their sons. Thus these orphanages, the 
 expenses of which consist mostly of advances which 
 they are liberally repaid, are in possession of very 
 large resources which enable them to afford the 
 children all possible care and comfort. This is so 
 true that Father Dergy, a Jesuit missionary of Foo- 
 chow, a town containing from five to six million souls, 
 complained to me of the competition which the Chinese 
 orphanage offered to the Catliolic. ' It is much better 
 off than we are,' he remarked ; 'it is able to afford coffins 
 to the little children who die there, while we can only 
 wrap ours in a bundle of straw. It is also very difficult 
 for us to obtain any children.' 
 
 There arc other reasons also on which the missionary 
 did not enlarge. Fewer infants by far die in the Cbiucsc
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 27 
 
 orphanages than in the Catholic, because they are 
 better and more intelligently cared for, and no nurse 
 is allowed to take charge of more than one child ; while 
 in the Catholic orphanages three or four, or, according 
 to a medical friend of mine who witnessed the case at 
 j\Iacao, even more are allotted to one woman ; nor does it 
 ever happen that a living child is mistaken for dead, 
 and thus buried, as must have occurred near where I 
 lived, but for the unforeseen presence of the bishop, 
 M. Delaplace, who saved the child. 
 
 Such an occurrence cannot be unfrequent, consider- 
 ing the little care shown for the children by the Sainte- 
 Enfance. Let them go to Heaven, and as soon as 
 possible, seems to be her motto. 
 
 I have omitted two points which may, up to a 
 certain point, explain the exaggerations current on 
 the subject of infanticide, and which are described in 
 the letter of the Jesuit whose name I have given. The 
 first is the necessity under which the Sainte-Enfance 
 finds itself compelled to rely blindly upon the asser- 
 tions of the midwives, whether Catholic or not, who 
 are authorised to baptise still-born children, and who 
 receive from twenty to twenty-five centimes for each 
 baptism ; while, as no control is possible, it is not to be 
 wondered at that they should be tempted to claim 
 larger sums than they have earned, laying upon the 
 custom of infanticide the blame of a larger mortality 
 than they could otherwise explain. 
 
 The second cause of exaggeration is the practice
 
 28 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 adopted by poor families, of exposing their dead 
 children, in order that their burial may be undertaken 
 by the orphanages. The Sainte-Enfance forms the 
 opinion that these children die from violence, but it 
 is a hypothesis quite without foundation. 
 
 In dealing with infanticide and the Sainte-Enfance 
 I have been drawn somewhat out of the order I had 
 arranged to follow, but it was difficult to speak of 
 infanticide without provoking many questions. I 
 wished to reply to them once for all, and I hope the 
 digression has not been useless. 
 
 To return directly to my subject, I should now 
 occupy myself with the question of security of life and 
 property, but I could add little to what I have already 
 said without trenching on what I shall have to say 
 later on. I will therefore pass on at once to another 
 matter. 
 
 in. 
 
 In China, as in other countries, the bases of the social 
 edifice are property and the family, while of these 
 property, by which land is understood, is the more 
 important. The township rests upon the hearth, but 
 it is on the soil that the hearth is built, and unless 
 the foundation is firm, all must fall.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. ^£9 
 
 On the other hand, the soil supports humanity ; if it 
 is not free, death is the result. In short, it is by 
 the labour and industry that man bestows upon it that 
 the soil shares in the personality of the individual ; to 
 violate this is robbery. 
 
 In China, as elsewhere, property in land underwent 
 transformation as the evolution of the human race 
 proceeded, being collective at the period when the 
 existing population was still tribal, pastoral, or at most 
 half agricultural, and becoming individual, as with the 
 increase of population, agriculture increased in extent. 
 Subsequently, between the first century before our era 
 and the third century a.d., reactionary measures were 
 taken, resulting from abuses of individual right, 
 which it would take too long to explain now, and, in 
 many cases, property again became collective, and was 
 placed in the hands of individuals, who were directed 
 to administer it for the common benefit. 
 
 The inevitable result followed, and these adminis- 
 trators took upon themselves the status of chiefs, and 
 made themselves masters of the land which had been 
 entrusted to them, becoming lords of the soil, and 
 condemning the others to a miserable condition of 
 vassalage. At last, after many painful experiments, 
 between the third and seventh century of our era 
 property underwent a last transformation, and became 
 at the same time collective and individual. It is in 
 this form that it exists to-day. 
 
 Before proceeding to deal with the constitution, I
 
 -o CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 must explain in what Chinese collectivism consists. 
 According to the Chinese, humanity is a whole, a 
 unity which the words ancestors-, living, and posterity 
 cannot divide, while the three tenses, past, present, 
 and future, which mark its existence, are incapable of 
 affecting its everlasting solidarity, or its everlasting 
 interests. Thus the unity and oneness of the human 
 race which are found at the base of other civilisations, 
 but are there contradicted by the idea we have of 
 individual death and salvation, exist in China on the 
 condition of being eternal ; and in order the more 
 strongly to affirm their method of conceiving this 
 unity and oneness, they go so far as to suppress one of 
 the moods, and speak of the living and their pos- 
 terity as the future ancestors, endeavouring thus to 
 expel from their minds the idea which divides the 
 everlasting humanity. 
 
 They go even further than this, as since they would 
 be unable to comprehend a oneness of humanity 
 resulting otherwise than from identity of generations, 
 they had at one time, and in some places still have, a 
 custom of causing the corpse to be represented by a 
 child, to whom the honours reserved for the corpse are 
 rendered, which is thus made to seem again to live in 
 tlie child. 
 
 The soil does not in Chinese opinion belong only to 
 the living, as they do not admit that labour and IIk^ 
 additional value it gives can absorb the fee-simple. 
 The living, an ephemeral part of humanity, have no
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 31 
 
 right in their opinion to squander the advantages 
 handed down to them from the past, nor the right to 
 use or abuse a part of the common property. They 
 are, on the contrary, only the stewards of posterity, 
 and at one time uncultivated property was confiscated. 
 Property in land is in fact a right of usufruct, and 
 this right, called by the Chinese tien-mien, is all 
 that can be bequeathed or alienated. The fee-simple, 
 tien-ti, remains the property of the community, or 
 collectively as represented by the State, which asserts 
 its right by levying a tax, or rent. Thus a person 
 selling or letting a plot of ground receives only a 
 price or a rent, representing the value which he and 
 his predecessors have by their labour added to the 
 land. The State or community, on the other hand, 
 has never arrogated to itself the right of increasing 
 the tax on the fee-simple on account of an increased 
 surface value. The tax on the fee-simple was fixed 
 according to the area, and not according to the value, 
 and is never altered. It is almost the only tax in 
 China.^ 
 
 Labour, and the result of labour, is held in such 
 respect, that no consideration will allow of its being 
 afi'ected either by an increase of rent, or by the 
 creation of other taxes. The particular tax referred to 
 
 ^ The other resources of the empire inchule the reveiiu' s of the 
 customs, those of the mines, and tlie salt monopoly. 
 
 The private revenues of the Emperor, constituting liis civil list, 
 are furnished by a j ortion of the salt monopoly, by his herds ia 
 Mougolia, and by states tributary to China.
 
 32 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 certainly falls upon labour, but it should be remem- 
 bered that it is only through its means that the State 
 has been able to carry out the extensive systems of 
 roads and canals, which in their turn offer to individ- 
 ual labour, facilities, without which, its development 
 would be diflBcult. 
 
 Although the land tax is, as has been stated, calcu- 
 lated upon the area, the comparative facility for 
 landed improvements is taken into due consideration, 
 and land situated in the plains, and in non-irrigated 
 portions of the mountains, pays a lower tax than 
 irrigated land, while reclaimed ground is exempted 
 from all taxes for a certain time before entering cither 
 of the four principal classes. There is, however, no 
 other basis of classification, as although of course the 
 products of the north are those suited to a colder, and 
 those of the south to a warmer climate, in the end the 
 two are of almost equal value. "Wheat, for instance, is 
 produced in less bulk than rice, but it is more valu- 
 able, and it is found that wheat land can afford to pay 
 as much as rice. 
 
 The State in China may be likened to a house-owner 
 who, after dividing his house into different floors, fixes 
 the rents he demands, according to their several 
 advantages, without concerning himself about the 
 resources and industries of his tenants. 
 
 The land tax varies, according to the class, 
 from 1 franc 50 centimes to 5 francs per hectare, 
 covering all demands, taxes, corvee, and charges, and
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 33 
 
 does not amount to more than 3 francs per Lead 
 of the population. Thus, for this moderate amount, 
 every Chinaman is perfectly free to undertake any 
 industry or trade he prefers, and to go where he 
 pleases. 
 
 He has no taxes on doors, or windows, no patent or 
 excise duties and no town dues to pay, he has no 
 formalities to fulfil, no hindrance to dread. He is as 
 free as the air he breathes. 
 
 This simple tax may in fact be called the security for 
 his freedom, and I shall shortly show with what religious 
 duty he pays it. 
 
 Any other tax would be considered by the Chinese 
 as directly injurious to labour, and there is nothing 
 which surprises them more than to learn that they 
 exist in other countries. As capital and savings are 
 derived from labour, so all revenues tend to stimulate 
 and develope it, while to tax either tends to reduce 
 their usefulness, to weaken the methods of acquiring 
 the products of the soil, and to lessen the require- 
 ments of commerce and industry — that is, either to 
 diminish the value of property in the hands of the 
 seller, or to elevate it unduly to the detriment of the 
 purchaser. 
 
 The Chinese tax, the metrical tax, while relieving 
 commerce and industry of all special taxes, has the 
 great advantage of exciting these two branches of 
 human activity to wonderful energy and power. 
 
 There are very few industrial products which the 
 
 D
 
 34 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 Chinese do not manufacture at a lower price than we 
 can, and very few European goods which they do not 
 sell cheaper than we are able to do. I have often seen 
 English, French, and German goods on sale in their 
 shops at a third lower price than would be asked by 
 our shopkeepers, while I have bought gaiters and felt 
 hats of Chinese manufacture for seventy-five centimes 
 or one franc for which I should have had to pay at 
 least three francs in Europe. 
 
 Chinese taxation is therefore not only a security for 
 freedom, it is also an instrument of progress, so that 
 it may be said that although it is advanced by the 
 cultivators of the soil, they are in their turn repaid by 
 the general progress of the country, while the tax 
 itself is so equally spread over the whole popula- 
 tion as to be scarcely sensible to each inhabitant. 
 The Chinese tax is also an instrument of justice, 
 the principle which caused its acceptance, that of 
 the respect due to labour, prevailing equally among 
 the private contracts between landowners and their 
 tenants. 
 
 However great may be the improvements effected by 
 a tenant in his holding, the landowner cannot require 
 from him an excess of rent over that laid down by this 
 principle, while if the cultivator desires to surrender 
 the land he is entitled to compensation for the enhanced 
 value created by his labour. 
 
 The Chinese system has thus produced results on 
 which I cannot enlarge without exceeding the limits
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 35 
 
 of this work. I will therefore content myself with 
 enumerating them. 
 
 It has, for instance, the advantage of facilitating the 
 acquisition of land by those desirous of cultivating it 
 themselves, while it acts as a deterrent to those wishing 
 to make use of it as an investment or speculation, as 
 the tax being levied upon the area, the soil is depreciated 
 in value to its amount while it remains in the hands 
 of inactive proprietors, but retains its full value to 
 those devoting their labour to it. It is in fact but a 
 fixed rent paid to the State instead of to inactive 
 owners, and while assuring to the producers the 
 benefit of all improved value resulting from their 
 labour, it stimulates at the same time their industry 
 and the fertility of the land to an extent often of 
 giving an additional value to the land over the fee- 
 simple of from 4U00 to 15,000 or 20,000 francs per 
 hectare, and of enabling several harvests to be gathered 
 in the same year. 
 
 Thus the Chinese system encourages the people to 
 remain upon the soil, instead of dissuading them from 
 cultivation and driving them towards the towns, as is 
 the efi'ect of the European systems, and, in short, favours 
 the development of a peasant proprietorship. This is 
 easily proved by dividing the total area of China by 
 the number of families, which is about 90,000,000. The 
 average extent of each holding will thus be found to con- 
 sist of three and a half hectares. As there is a large 
 number of families which do not own more than one 
 
 D 2
 
 36 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 and a half hectare, or even a half hectare, the differ- 
 ence goes of course to increase the property of the 
 richer classes. 
 
 I do not think, however, there are many families 
 whose holdings exceed twenty hectares, while there arc 
 very few amounting to 100 hectares, and properties 
 ahove that limit may be said to be non-existent. 
 
 In each province containing from 30,000,000 to 
 40,000,000 inhabitants it would be difficult to find 
 three or four properties of 300 to 5U0 hectares, while 
 in all cases those most carefully cultivated do not 
 exceed twelve hectares. 
 
 Landed property in China does not possess alone the 
 quality of common ownership conferred upon it by the 
 system of taxation. "Whether the legislator wished to 
 prevent any recurrence of the error which led former 
 administrators to believe that the rights over the 
 common domain were concentrated in them, and a 
 consequent return to the despotism which followed, or 
 for some other reason, he has within certain limits 
 conferred upon the improved value of property the 
 same privilege of non-alienation which attaches to the 
 national land. Every family or individual once in 
 ])ossession of a parcel of soil, found it privileged in 
 this manner, though in continually diminishing pro- 
 portions, and thus, while exercising the rights of the 
 community, became a guardian of the soil in riglit of 
 the fraction of humanity which it represented. These 
 plots of inalienable laud amounted originally to thirty
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 37 
 
 hectares ; they are now no more than three-quarters 
 of a hectare, and are styled patrimonial land. 
 
 From seventy to seventy-five of the 330 millions 
 hectares constituting the soil of China are held in this 
 manner. The patrimonial land not only assures his 
 liberty to each individual Chinaman, and guarantees 
 him against a return to despotism, but, as we find 
 in one of the canonical books of China, ' the worship 
 of Heaven has as its end the spiritualisation of 
 the earth.' 
 
 I cannot say whether this end is finally attained ; 
 but I cannot help remarking that the Chinese seem at 
 all events on the road leading to it, having regard to 
 the character of the institution of patrimonial land — 
 inalienable and inviolable, almost human, as sacred as 
 man, and no more for sale than he. 
 
 The house, hearth, and homestead, rest on the 
 patrimonial land, and it is upon it, if the family has 
 sufficient means for the purpose, that its burying- 
 place is situated, and a hall erected in which the 
 ancestral worship is performed twice a month, and 
 judgment passed upon any pleadings off'ered, or faults, 
 shortcomings, or crimes committed by its members, 
 while it is there that the archives and civil registers 
 are kept. Close to the hall or temple, a school and 
 library are established for the children belonging to 
 the family and neighbourhood. 
 
 Nothing now is easier than to imagine a picture 
 of the aspect of rural property, and of the appear-
 
 38 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 ance it gives to the country. The forests have dis- 
 appeared under the eflforts of a population of great 
 density, and have been replaced by villages as 
 numerous and crowded as those in the suburbs of our 
 large towns. 
 
 In the intervals a number of little hamlets have 
 been built on small plots of land, never exceeding in 
 extent 1\ acres, in the centre of which stand the 
 houses surrounded by the patrimonial land, planted 
 with trees and shrubs. The cottages almost touch 
 each other, and are even more closely connected by 
 the fact that the inmates of the smaller receive from 
 the larger, from whence they spring, the ready 
 assistance of the best possible form of association. 
 
 Every hamlet or group of cottages is constituted 
 upon a system ensuring to the inhabitants not only a 
 school, mayoralty, and family tribunal, but also 
 supplying their wants of labour — buffaloes, a mill, and 
 store-house, which the size of their holdings would not 
 afford them. Each is, nevertheless, in his own home 
 as much master of and respected in his home, as 
 independent of his neighbours and the State, and more 
 secure in his inviolable little cottage, than the most 
 powerful baron was in France during the middle ages. 
 There are certainly countries more majestic, more 
 splendid, more striking from a picturesque point of 
 view, but nowhere is Nature more touching, more 
 sympathetic. Here and there the gentle slopes of the 
 hills are covered with clumps of bamboo, with their
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 39 
 
 light and, graceful foliage. Bound the fields and 
 houses plantations give the country the charming 
 character of the country-side of the Loire, or in some 
 districts the aspect of our birches growing upon 
 mountains. 
 
 There are yet some remains of the old forests in the 
 neighbourhood of the pagodas and on a few summits 
 but the especially noticeable point is the presence of 
 flowers everywhere. Purple azaleas, rhododendrons, 
 scented gardenias, and glycinas hide the steeper slopes, 
 while roses, chrysanthemums, and a number of other 
 plants which we know because they come from China, 
 flourish and give out their scent at all seasons of the 
 year round the cottages. Nowhere else does the 
 visitor feel himself so intimately acquainted with his 
 surroundings. It would be vain to search for the sad, 
 resigned and sometimes despairing notes of our north- 
 ern workmen, in the songs which are heard in the 
 hamlets at the hour of rest. 
 
 There are no legends in China of the terrors of 
 flooded forests, and of terrible and frozen peaks. All 
 these are relegated to the back of the Great Wall, to 
 Mongolia and further still to the pole in Siberia. The 
 most popular air in China, the ' Sinfa,' is soft, lively and 
 full of peace and security, and there is no trace either 
 in it or in any other air, or, as has been stated, in any 
 legend, of a struggle against the implacable elements. 
 Nor is there any trace of the sufferings of our serfdom, 
 or of the agony and tortures of our wars of religion.
 
 40 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 During twelve hundred years at least the singers have 
 enjoyed a quiet which we shall not have long in 
 France. And on this united hase, affected neither hy 
 remorse for lost time and trouble, nor irritating 
 memories, nor hopes of vengeance and reprisals, has 
 been founded a code of public manners, the most 
 calculated to assure to all and every one an amount 
 of comfort from which we are still far removed in 
 Europe. 
 
 Eeverting to the matter in hand, I may remark that 
 there is no family in China which does not possess its 
 patrimonial land. 
 
 It is held as inviolable, and the individual through 
 whose instrumentality the unwelcome stranger enters 
 is regarded as having committed [sacrilege, while any 
 member of the family who may cause the intervention 
 of the State is accursed and excommunicated, while 
 his name is erased from the family records. 
 
 A governor or general who may have allowed one of 
 the hearths committed to his charge to fall into the 
 hands of the enemy commits suicide. 
 
 So much for the soil on which rest the hearth, the 
 family, and tlie town. I shall now proceed to speak of 
 the family itself.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 41 
 
 IV. 
 
 Having by the everlasting solidarity of generations 
 established the immortality of the soul, the Chinese 
 considered it contradictory that its separation from the 
 body should cause it to lose any of its attributes. The 
 soul has its memories and still loves. United with the 
 other souls of the house, and awaiting the time of its 
 reappearance upon the earth, it hovers with them over 
 the family, suffers and rejoices with it. If forgotten 
 it becomes sad, it complains, and its complaints are 
 warnings ; unhappy is he "Who neglects it ; he who 
 neglects to do proper reverence to the soul of his 
 father cannot think of his own, while a soul no longer 
 worshipped loses its sense of justice, and without 
 justice there can be no prosperity. The souls of 
 ancestors must not be forgotten, and it must be made 
 impossible that they should be forgotten, and as no 
 one can perform this duty if the family becomes 
 extinct, it follows that marriage is the first duty 
 of all. 
 
 Thus, so far from chaining, as has been often said, 
 the living to the dead, ancestral worship is on the 
 contrary a source of progress and its strongest 
 incentive, since in preparation for the future consists 
 its most pressing duty. The past which exists no 
 more for us, the present which passes away, the future
 
 42 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 which is not as yet, here united in one idea, become 
 the most marvellous and life-giving of realities. On 
 every side the same pressing and touching prayer is 
 heard ; ' See that our memory does not perish, and 
 that we may some day live to honour your spirit, and 
 to bless your memory.' The tomb lies upon the 
 cradle ; from both an incessant invocation arises to 
 life. Here we have no longer the mythical religions 
 of India and Egypt, but the virile self-assertion of 
 man responsible for his own salvation, and himself the 
 maker of it : of man victorious over death and oblivion 
 — the perpetual resurrection of humanity itself, con- 
 scious of its efforts and its destinies. 
 
 Thus the family institution becomes a true reli- 
 gion, which, though having nothing but the earth 
 in view, is assuredly not without its greatness, with- 
 out affecting the more comprehensive and elevated 
 worship connecting the creature with the Creator, of 
 which I shall speak later. 
 
 We must not forget that for the Chinaman there is 
 no penalty more terrible than exclusion from his 
 family community, none that so affects his imagina- 
 tion. To relieve himself from this nightmare he is 
 ready to make any sacrifice, even that of his life. I 
 lay especial stress upon this point. Driven from the 
 domestic hearth, he goes lost in the crowds of the 
 seaports, ready to undertake the most painful labour, 
 to live as best he can, to submit willingly to the most 
 extreme privations. He surrenders his liberty, and
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. ^i 
 
 may be seen on the most distant shores, a wandering 
 soul for life, undergoing all the scorn, harsh treatment, 
 and sufferings of the exile ; indifferent to all, except 
 — at all events among the larger proportion of immi- 
 grants to America and Europe — the fixed idea of gain- 
 ing rehabilitation by his labour. It is from among 
 these excommunicated souls that almost the whole of 
 the immigration to all parts of the world, except that 
 between Thibet, the sea, and the Great Wall, is re- 
 cruited. The number of Chinese annually leaving 
 China thus limited is estimated at 130,000, and of 
 these 50,000 are believed to return. According to 
 these figures the number of those rehabilitated is 
 sufiiciently great. 
 
 Nevertheless, many die without having obtained 
 their reintegration, many probably without having 
 earned it ; but there are others who, convinced of the 
 pardon of their near ones, too miserable to live in 
 foreign countries, slay themselves in order to enter 
 more speedily the bosom of their family. 
 
 I now come to the relative positions of the father, 
 mother, and children. Originally, and up to the 
 dynasty of the Tang, about 600 years before our 
 era, the father, as in Kome, possessed the power of 
 life and death, though even then side by side with 
 the laws. While there were laws which consecrated 
 this power, there existed others which mitigated it, 
 and parents whose children died from evil treatment 
 suffered punishment. This period exists no longer ;
 
 44 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 from the time of Confucius — that is to say, 400 years 
 before Christ — the personal absolute power has become 
 collective, the chief of the family being, so to speak, 
 no more than its representative or executive officer. 
 All decisions of any moment must be taken before an 
 assembly of the family. Confucius even directs children 
 to make as many as three representations to their 
 parents when they see them on the point of commit- 
 ting a mistake or fault. Thus, although the ancient 
 laws are still to be found in Chinese books, since there 
 exists a great objection to their repeal or alteration, 
 they may be considered as abrogated by custom. The 
 father cannot alone pronounce a judgment or celebrate 
 ancestral worship, while the mother can take the place 
 of the father in all ceremonies except those of religion, 
 in which, however, she should assist her husband. It 
 is her part to present to him the offerings with which 
 he does homage to ancestors, and in former times her 
 assistance was indispensable from a religious point of 
 view. Now her place is often taken by a relation. 
 But she, like her husband, presides over the family 
 assemblies and their verdicts. The Empress may be- 
 come regent, and the Emperor, even when of full age, 
 continues to render her the same duties which every 
 Chinaman owes to his mother. She is the purse- 
 bearer in most families, and provides her husband 
 daily with his pocket-money, while no expenses are 
 incurred without her opinion. At the father's death 
 she takes charge of the house, unless she prefers to
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 45 
 
 hand over its direction to a grown-up son, if there is 
 one. She takes a double share of the property with 
 the children if there is a division ; but this is merely a 
 life interest, which she loses if she re-marries. If a 
 widow without children, she retains a life interest in 
 the entire property, but does not succeed to the 
 ownership of it unless her husband has expressed his 
 wish to that effect. If the wife be barren, or bears 
 daughters only, her husband may take a second wife, 
 because it is necessary before all things to make sure 
 of succession to the family for purposes of worship ; 
 but the children of the latter are considered as those 
 of the first, who is the one legitimate wife. It is 
 unnecessary to add that the children of the second wife 
 have all the rights of those of the first. 
 
 Adoption is common among families without children, 
 or where it is not desired to incur the expense of a 
 second wife, who must be provided with a reasonable 
 dowry if dismissed. Boys and girls have not the 
 same position in the family. When at the death of 
 the father the eldest son is grown-up, he takes his 
 father's place in the ceremonies of worship, and by 
 the desire of his mother in other observances. If he 
 is a minor, it is the uncle or the nearest relative. 
 The eldest son has charge of the patrimonial land, but 
 all the other children continue to live there during 
 the lifetime of the father, and to share the produce. 
 If there be other property it is equally divided among 
 the sons, excepting the double share I have spoken of
 
 46 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 as reserved for the motlier. Should one of the sons 
 leave the common domicile to seek his fortune else- 
 where, he is bound to furnish the community with the 
 produce of his toil and industry, unless it has been 
 dissolved by division of the property, in which case 
 he has no obligation towards it, and it has none 
 towards him. 
 
 The dissolution of a community is postponed as 
 long as possible, and never takes place until the 
 children are of full age ; more often it comprises 
 several generations. There are many which have 
 existed for several centuries. The dissolution of a 
 community can only take place by consent of all, 
 and in all cases the division of property among those 
 possessing rights is performed without legal or other 
 cost. The married sons alone have a right to delib- 
 erate on family itatters, though the other children 
 have a right to be consulted. 
 
 If the women were permitted to inherit, the fixity of 
 the domestic hearth would be endangered, the latter 
 might even pass to a strange family, or at all events 
 the consequent diminution of the males' shares would 
 postpone or compromise the formation of other 
 hearths. The women, therefore, are excluded from 
 inheritance. They possess only the right, on their 
 marriage, to a small dowry in silver or furniture, 
 which the father or brothers give them, according to 
 their fortune and generosity. The least of these 
 dowries consists of a cupboard, and a small outfit. If
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 47 
 
 the bride has no dowry, it is the duty of the bride- 
 groom to provide one, which becomes the bride's 
 property. The husband must, at all events, supply the 
 bed. The women possess compensations for their want 
 of inheritance which they have not elsewhere. As 
 long as they remain in the family, the girls are treated 
 like the boys ; when married they retain no rights in 
 their own family, but recover them in that of their 
 bridegrooms. These rights are insured to them by 
 betrothal alone, should the death of the bride take 
 place before the date of the marriage, and she wish 
 to remain faithful to his memory. It often occurs 
 that the future parents-in-law themselves re-marry 
 the fiancee or widow of their son, as if she were their 
 daughter, to a man without fortune, and adopt the 
 children of this marriage. 
 
 f Statistics show the difference between the number 
 of male and female births in China amounts only to 
 from two to three per cent., the preponderance varying 
 in favour of one or the other in different provinces. As 
 ancestral worship makes marriage a sacred duty for 
 every male, it will be seen that the lot of women is 
 sufficiently assured. The mention of the bridal, to 
 which I have alluded, leads me to speak of the educa- 
 tion which children receive in the family. Young 
 persons are frequently betrothed from their infancy, 
 are reminded during adolescence of the engagements 
 made in their name, and are caused to accept them 
 and to love each other. The bridegroom feels himself
 
 48 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 married many years before the event ; after that, life 
 has no longer for him that vague, uncertain, distant 
 end it possesses for the children of other civilisations 
 — it is precise and present to him, and his thoughts 
 are cleared and penetrated by it. All that surrounds 
 him receives a value which nothing else could give 
 him, and he learns what life is with its duties, respon- 
 sibilities, and its joys. The young girl suffers none of 
 the restlessness, sadness, and exhaustion, which over- 
 whelm her in other civilisations, and too often hand 
 her over, without defence, to all temptation. This is 
 how the child learns to learn in China. It should be 
 remarked that, having once awakened his intelligence 
 to the real meaning of things, great pains are taken 
 to avoid counteracting or paralysing the efforts made 
 by false information. Nothing serves as a pretext for 
 disguising from him the truth as soon as he is old 
 enough to understand it. 
 
 The result of this system of education is a precocity 
 of judgment, astonishing to a European, but in no way 
 shocking, and one which it is difficult to avoid admir- 
 ing in serious conjunctures, Nor does this precocity 
 exclude any of the charms of infancy and youth. TLe 
 Chinese do not believe that ignorance is the best 
 method of preserving innocence, nor the greatest of 
 all charms ; they endeavour to obtain them from other 
 sources, and in their opinion the purest of these is 
 mutual respect. By never deceiving their children 
 they show them the respect in which they hold them,
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 49 
 
 ■while modesty is the form in which they exact it from 
 them. ' A well-brought-up child,' they say, ' does not 
 accost the schoolfellow of his father unless accosted, 
 does not speak to him except to answer him, and 
 leaves him only when permitted to do so.' 
 
 'Honour like your father all persons double your 
 age, and like your eldest brother any one ten years 
 your senior.' 
 
 There does not exist the same familiarity between 
 parents and children as with us, but there is more 
 real equality. Care is taken to prove it, by the esteem 
 in which the opinion of the children is held, the 
 expression of which is often solicited ; while this 
 equality tends, without their becoming aware of it, 
 to increase their respect for themselves. This first 
 point once arrived at, the other objects of education 
 are, in Chinese opinion, humanity, justice, obedience 
 to rites and usage, right-feeling and sincerity. This 
 constitutes the base of their education. These are the 
 feelings which they inculcate upon youth, and en- 
 deavour to strengthen at all ages, and they consider 
 that the young man who has them sufficiently devel- 
 oped, is ripe for the family and the town, and possesses 
 the qualities essential to the functions and duties which 
 they impose upon him. 
 
 But, in order to explain, now that I have detailed 
 all the elements, how the family observances are 
 carried out, I propose to introduce the reader into the 
 hall at the time of the assembly. I must first say a 
 
 £
 
 50 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 word on certain portions of their belief, which, without 
 forming an essential part of the family religion, are 
 nevertheless auxiliary to it. 
 
 . I have stated that the Chinese do not consider all 
 relations as interrupted by death, nor do they think 
 that the separation is either precipitate or immediate. 
 According to them, it is for several days only apparent, 
 and even after the body has become cold the soul is 
 not far distant. It may re-enter its earthly covering, 
 or, at all events, it hovers near it with regret at the 
 severance. The burial rarely takes place before three 
 months have elapsed, and for the first few days the 
 whole family implores the soul to return, employing 
 the most touching appeals and even reproaches. They 
 point to its empty place, which is always reserved for 
 three months, and once a fortnight during the suc- 
 ceeding year. 
 
 At last the body is conveyed to the burial-place of 
 the family, or, should there be no patrimonial land, to 
 a common cemetery, wliere it remains only until such 
 land can be obtained. The name of the deceased, the 
 date of his birth and death, are inscribed on a tablet 
 of lacquered wood ; and immediately after the burial, 
 which is fixed for one of the days of assembly, this 
 tablet is placed on a socket in the hall of ancestors. 
 This is where, twice a month, or at least once, meetings 
 of the family are solemnly celebrated. 
 
 Against the wall at the end of the hall stands a long 
 table of varnished wood, occupying almost the entire
 
 AND RELIGIO US LIFE. 5 1 
 
 length of the wall and forming an altar. On this altar 
 are placed steps supporting, in the order of their 
 dates, the tablets inscribed with the names of the 
 ancestors. Hanging on the wall immediately above is 
 the sign of the Divinity. In front of the tablets 
 torches and pastilles are kept burning. ^ At a little 
 distance from the altar stands a common square table 
 surrounded with seats ; in the middle of this table is a 
 register, flanked by books on either side. 
 
 Every one wears his holiday garments and attends. 
 The father and mother, who have prepared themselves 
 by fasting the previous evening, enter, followed by two 
 acolytes, and place themselves before the altar. They 
 address a short invocation to Heaven while the assis- 
 tants sing the usual hymn to the ancestors — but why 
 should I describe what all the world knows, and in 
 which is wanting nothing of the ceremonial usual in 
 Buddhist or Christian prayers. There is nothing new 
 in invocations to Heaven — prayers, offertories, medita- 
 tion, genuflexions, songs, and music. In China these 
 date from the origin of worship, from the beginning of 
 centuries, so to speak. 
 
 One thing is different : the object of worship, which 
 in China is humanity itself — that is to say, its spiritual 
 and immortal part, the ancestral soul with which 
 
 * In the Oriental section of the Art Exhibition of 1882, M. Biug 
 showed a beautiful altar of ancestors, of small size, such as the 
 Chinese, not rich enough to aflbnl a special hal', keep in tluir kst 
 room. 
 
 E 2
 
 52 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 will some day unite those of the living, or future 
 ancestors. 
 
 In other religions the object of worship is outside 
 conscience ; in the Chinese it is conscience itself, as I 
 shall shortly prove. In other respects the thought is 
 identical ; how in fact can it differ, rising as it does to 
 God himself ? It is thus that the officiating worshipper 
 begins. Then during the hymn of the ancestors he 
 evokes their soul. 
 
 *It is well known,' said the Emperor Kaug-Hi to 
 the legate of the Pope, Cardinal Tournon, ' that the 
 souls of the ancestors cannot come to inhabit the tablets 
 on which their names are inscribed, but we try to 
 persuade ourselves we are in their presence.' 
 
 Various offerings may be made, a pigeon, or a fowl, 
 fruits, wine, cereals, rice, or corn, according to the 
 agriculture of the district, or perhaps rice, corn, or 
 wine alone. Two acolytes bring the offerings, the wife 
 takes them and hands them to her husband, who, 
 having raised them above his head, lays them upon 
 the altar in token of gratitude. 
 
 The father then reads the names of the ancestors 
 inscribed on the tablets, and having recalled them 
 individually to the recollection of the family, he sum- 
 mons them from the tomb, and speaks in their name. 
 
 The grain and wine which he has previously conse- 
 crated to them as symbols of accomplished effort and 
 realised progress, he returns in the name of the 
 ancestors to the assistants as a sign of the indissolu-
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 53 
 
 bility of their union. The official then exhorts the 
 family to meditate on the meaning of this communion, 
 on the engagements which it implies and which all 
 are sworn to fulfil; and after a last prayer, a meal 
 is served at which the consecrated offerings are 
 consumed. 
 
 Such is the worship properly so called of the family. 
 But it is only the first part of the ceremony. 
 
 In the second part, the father, seated between hia 
 wife and the two eldest of his family, before the square 
 table, on which are placed the books I have mentioned, 
 opens first the one in the centre. 
 
 It is the family record, and consists of several 
 volumes, containing in one entries relating to civil life, 
 births, marriages, deaths, &c. ; in the others, the family 
 judgments, praises of the dead, their biographies and 
 wills. 
 
 It may readily be called the sacred book, the Family 
 Bible. It is not only the proof of its spiritual and 
 temporal existence, it also alone attests the civil status 
 of each Chinaman, and is received as evidence by the 
 authorities when necessary. There is in my opinion 
 no more noble and striking sign of the emancipation 
 and independence of the man and citizen. 
 
 For these reasons it is kept with a care which saves 
 the State from all interference and control, I might say 
 of all interest, save that which it has in knowing the 
 number of families and individuals. 
 
 The family book, which every Chinaman must some
 
 54 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 day keep, demands a certain amount of education. 
 He must know how to read and write. It is the first 
 of all conditions, and the first of all duties. For this 
 reason a school and a library is always, when possible, 
 attached to the hall of ancestors, which thus becomes 
 a true temple maintained by the wealthy among the 
 family. Returning to the meeting, the father, having 
 opened the first book, inscribes in it the events which 
 have taken place; it is there that the marriages, if 
 there are any, receive their consecration from the 
 father and mother with solemn rites. Then taking 
 another volume, he reads, or causes one of the assistants 
 to read, the biography of one of the ancestors. On 
 this he comments, drawing attention to the titles the 
 subject of the memoir possesses to the recollection 
 of posterity, and exhorts his hearers to follow the 
 example he has given. 
 
 A new biography is read at each meeting until 
 all are exhausted, when the series is recommenced, 
 so that every one soon knows them by heart, and 
 not one of the more meritorious ancestors is un- 
 known. There are few even humble peasants who are 
 ignorant of the history of their family for several 
 centuries. Then is read, in a Chinese Plutarch — the 
 libraries being very rich in books of this nature — 
 the life of an illustrious man belonging to that or 
 some other province, then a chapter from some moralist 
 or philosopher, and lastly a few articles from the 
 law.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 
 
 These lectures finished, as well as the comments and 
 explanations to which they give rise, the object of the 
 meeting changes, and the family is transformed into a 
 council, or if necessary into a tribunal. The father 
 again takes the family history, and addressing himself 
 to those present, inquires if any one is indebted to the 
 public taxes ; this is the first question, since the entire 
 family would consider itself dishonoured were one of 
 its members in arrears with the State, giving an 
 official the right to make a demand. If such should 
 be the case, the necessary advances are made to the 
 individual in arrear. 
 
 The second question is whether any of the members 
 of the family has any litigation, or difi'erence of 
 moment, with another family, in order that steps may 
 be taken for its peaceful solution, or if needful, for the 
 appointment of arbitrators. Lastly, any difi'erences 
 existing in the family itself are inquired into. Should 
 a misdemeanour or crime be in question, the accused is 
 at once separated from the others present, for trial, or, 
 if information has to be obtained or proofs collected, 
 he is remanded to the next or a special meeting. 
 
 It has already been stated that an appeal lies from 
 the judgments of these tribunals to those of the State, 
 but so great is the respect in which they are held that 
 this right is very seldom availed of. I have known a 
 married man, thirty-two years of age, the father of 
 three children, who had been sentenced to three months 
 in irons by his family tribunal, himself tender his
 
 56 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 legs to a European who had been chosen to carry out 
 the sentence, in order to spare a junior relative. 
 Even officials are amenable to their family tribunals 
 for acts committed by them in their public capacity 
 ■which would escape the laws. 
 
 The penalties inflicted by domestic tribunals are : 
 whipping, exile, and excommunication. Crimes in- 
 volving the penalty of death must be adjudged upon 
 by the State tribunals, but as their intervention would 
 be considered a violation of the family integrity, it is 
 usual to allow the culprit the choice between ex- 
 communication and suicide. There are few who do 
 not prefer the latter. 
 
 Such, in one of its divisions, is the system to which 
 it seems to me that China owes its moral and material 
 prosperity. 
 
 To complete the study, I shall shortly enter upon 
 an examination of first principles, the deep sources of 
 its civilisation, and explain the broader and more 
 general institutions arising out of those I have just 
 mentioned — the religion of the family becomes that 
 of humanity : labour raised to the dignity of a 
 worship. 
 
 I shall have finally to speak of the State, and its 
 conduct. These will be the subject of the succeeding 
 chapters. In the meantime, there are a few observa- 
 tions I may off'er here. What I have said of the 
 condition of women in China is directly at variance 
 with the accounts given by many travellers of the
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 57 
 
 inferiority in whicli they are placed by law and custom, 
 but the travellers in question have omitted to notice 
 the contradiction they have already given themselves, 
 by deriding the Chinese for their soft, polished, feminine 
 manners — a quality which most marks the influence of 
 woman. The truth is that, without being as apparent 
 as in Europe, the place of Chinese women in their own 
 civilisation is at least as considerable, and their power 
 as great as in other civilised countries. She it is who 
 by marriage, makes a man a citizen and gives him his 
 value. She is not overwhelmed with flattery as in 
 France, but is more respected, and is married instead 
 of being allowed to fall into misery and abandonment. 
 Man does not in China claim rights for her which 
 nature and her weakness render her incapable of exer- 
 cising or defending, but each is accustomed from 
 early infancy to consider himself as responsible for the 
 lot of one woman. 
 
 The reader can form his own judgment on these two 
 methods of dealing with the question. 
 
 Another matter on which I have a few words to say 
 is no less important. 
 
 Humanity, I said at the beginning, is like a man 
 always living and always acquiring knowledge, and 
 I added this was equally true of a family as of 
 humanity. 
 
 It may then be imagined what a man would become, 
 who, surviving for centuries, should retain his recollec- 
 tion of the periods, events, experiences, and revolutions
 
 58 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 which passed beneath his observation, and the supe- 
 riority he would acquire over his contemporaries, and 
 the degree of power to which his personal individu- 
 ality would be raised. Imagine a nation composed of 
 such men, and ask yourself whether the Chinese with 
 their ancestral worship do not form such a nation, 
 ending as they do each of their domestic ceremonies 
 by the study of the biography of one of their fore- 
 fathers, and of the great men of the country. Stated 
 thus, nothing more surely tends to the unity and 
 solidarity of a people than the proper study of tradition. 
 The common proverb, ' Happy is the people that have 
 no history,' is false. We are, as a consequence of 
 having been, and there can no more be a nation 
 without a history than a man without previous infancy 
 and youth. A nation without a history would not be 
 a nation, and it is essential that each should study the 
 history of his own country, since if he does not do so, 
 the history would be as non-existent, and would bear 
 no fruit. The man ignorant of history wilfully places 
 himself outside his own country, and loses his nation- 
 ality. History should be raised to the dignity of a 
 worship, and there can be no better or more practical 
 means of doing this than to cultivate the proper 
 traditions of each family, as is done in China. There 
 can be no family, however hnm])le, whoso annals, 
 considered with care and respect, do not form part of 
 national history. 
 
 There is no history of France at the same time
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 59 
 
 truer and more familiar, more particular and more 
 general, more human and touching than the history of 
 a peasant. Nor is this all. There are few men who, 
 having arrived at the ordinary term of existence, and 
 looking backwards on their lives, do not see success 
 and reverse almost equally mingled in their career ; 
 and there would be none at all if life, instead of the 
 small duration of human existence, embraced several 
 centuries. 
 
 This forms the domestic teaching of the Chinese. 
 
 Eeoccupied with their ancestors and posterity, they 
 accustom themselves to live in the past and the future, 
 as much as in the present. Neither good nor evil 
 fortune blinds them or brings them to despair. They 
 are not always happy or powerful, neither are they 
 always miserable or poor. Those who cannot go so 
 far as to identify themselves with preceding or succeed- 
 ing generations, retain from the knowledge of their 
 family traditions a method of looking at things, which 
 establishes a true equality between the strongest and 
 weakest, and destroys even the idea of social caste and 
 classes. 
 
 In every family there have been mandarins, viceroys, 
 peasants and workmen ; similar instances may occur in 
 the future. Hence, instead of envy and conceit, 
 hatred and annoyance, there arise that general kind- 
 ness, that gentleness of relationship, that real brother- 
 hood of which I have spoken. 
 
 Lastly, at a time when the necessity and difficulties
 
 6o CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 of judicial reform are occupying every mind in France, 
 the Chinese system with its sure, rapid and economical 
 self-jurisdiction cannot fail to have come under notice, 
 and more than one reader will be unable to avoid 
 regretting that the condition of our customs is such 
 that we cannot even dream of borrowing from it.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 6i 
 
 PAET II. 
 
 LABOUE. 
 
 SuPEKNATURAL religions, wlioever their founders, have 
 always held one doctrine concerning labour, that it is 
 a punishment. On this point all the ancient poly- 
 theism of the Greeks, the Indian, Jewish, Christian, 
 and Mohammedan theisms are agreed, and in the civil- 
 isations derived from these sources, each individual 
 endeavours to escape the common lot, but as it is work 
 alone which provides the means of living, the stronger 
 throw it upon the weak. 
 
 The priests who teach contempt of it, ally themselves 
 naturally with soldiers to oppress it, and these two 
 classes create others, in which they imprison without 
 hope of escape those they condemn to labour — not only 
 a shame, but a punishment. Thence arise the protests, 
 revolts, and sanguinary suppressions which fill the 
 history of Western humanity. 
 
 However, whether it be from a feeble glimmer of 
 justice and good sense in the minds of the privileged 
 classes, or whether they consider it advisable and
 
 62 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 politic to distinguish from the mass of workers learned 
 and literary men and artists, they have at all events 
 created for them the category of the learned profes- 
 sions. But manual labour is none the less con- 
 sidered servile, and this distinction will never be 
 effaced from either facts or thoughts. The least fatal 
 result of this theory is to discourage workmen and 
 peasants. All possess but one dream, to deliver them- 
 selves from labour, and to attain this end they recoil 
 before no sacrifice, desiring at least, if they cannot 
 succeed themselves, to carry away with them when 
 dying the hope that their children may be more for- 
 tunate. 
 
 This wretched contempt of labour has had many 
 other consequences, and it would not be difficult to 
 show that it is from it that have arisen the wars, 
 crimes, and violence of all kinds which are still a dis- 
 grace to European society. 
 
 All humanity has not, however, fallen into this 
 error. 
 
 There is a people with whom, thanks to the absence 
 of all supernatural religion, civilisation, founded on 
 natural principles, has not only escaped the classes, 
 and other causes of dissolution peculiar to the rest of 
 the world, but has become so powerful tliat all reli- 
 gious, commercial, and military attacks made upon it 
 by foreign civilisations, have met with notliing but 
 constant resistance. I propose to deal rapidly with 
 this latter point in the following pages, and shall then
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 63 
 
 pass on to the signification, the importance, and the 
 part played by labour among the Chinese, its organisa- 
 tion, means, and method. 
 
 It is commonly believed in Europe that Buddhism 
 is the natural religion of China, and that it both has 
 and does exercise over the institutions and spirit of the 
 nation the same influences as other religions on the 
 nations practising them. This is an error. 
 
 Buddhism is as a matter of fact the religion pro- 
 fessed by the great majority of the Chinese people from 
 the Emperor to the peasant, but only in the abstract, it 
 has no influence on the national institutions. • It is a 
 creed of indiff'erence and abstention which, with its 
 tenets of individual salvation, or absorption into Nir- 
 vana, could never have inspired either the idea of 
 absolute solidarity — such as I have shown to exist in 
 the Chinese family, and as I shall presently show devel- 
 oping itself further and further — nor of the system of 
 collective property, the foundation of the national con- 
 stitution, nor of the patrimonial land, the base of the 
 family organisation. It is otherwise as regards its 
 power over the individual ; and when the time comes to 
 speak of the defects and exceptions of Chinese civilisa- 
 tion, after studying its normal working, I shall narrate 
 the superstitions to which it has given rise.
 
 64 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 I must, however, state once for all that its influence, 
 even on individuals, is much less than is supposed. 
 
 I have inquired of Chinese with whom I have been 
 on intimate terms whether they believed in the efficacy 
 of their religious practices, receiving the following 
 reply : * Yours is a very embarrassing question. Some- 
 times we believe, often not; we laugh sometimes at 
 those who go on pilgrimages, while we often go our- 
 selves. It all depends.' 
 
 One day, shortly after my arrival in China, I came 
 at the breakfast hour to an out-of-the-way village where 
 there was no inn, and according to the usual custom in 
 such cases, was taken to the temple. 
 
 The temple, I should observe, is from time to time 
 used as a theatre, a club, a caravanserai, or a market. 
 It contains no other furniture than the altar and 
 the stools, on which rest the different forms of 
 Buddha. 
 
 It seemed a hardship to be compelled to rest on the 
 flagstones of the court, and I cast envious glances on 
 these seats, but could not see how to obtain one. I 
 thought of a jest. ' I have a great mind to invite their 
 excellencies to breakfast with me,' I remarked to the 
 crowd of peasants who surrounded me. 
 
 ' These are not men — they do not cat,' replied one of 
 them. 
 
 * Then,' replied I, ' if they do not cat, what do they 
 do at table?' I can still hear the burst of laughter 
 which followed.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 65 
 
 In the twinkling of an eye, everyone turning to the 
 work, the altar was freed and the figures laid upon the 
 ground without ceremony. 
 
 After that, whenever I found myself similarly situ- 
 ated, I begged one of the bystanders to render me 
 the same service, which was always done with great 
 readiness. 
 
 On another occasion, during a severe drought, I came 
 to a small town, almost all the inhabitants of which 
 were in procession in the fields, and went to pay the 
 usual visit to the sub-prefect. He was away, but 
 arrived towards evening, walking slowly, like a man 
 exhausted with fatigue. After apologies for his pre- 
 vious absence from home he observed, pointing to the 
 people present at the visit, ' All these people are as 
 stupid as geese ; they thought they would form a pro- 
 cession to get rain, and force me to accompany them. 
 It is stupid — they knew it quite well, and so do I — but 
 one is obliged from time to time to give way to their 
 fancies.' This was said good-naturedly, and everyone 
 laughed. 
 
 'How do you intend to live?' added he; 'they 
 have sworn not to eat meat while the drought lasts, 
 and the butchers are not killing any animals. It is 
 not just you should suffer from their folly ; I will have 
 an ox sent to you.' 
 
 He sent us an ox, some sheep, corn, fowls, and eggs, 
 enough to keep us for a long time. 
 
 It will be seen that Buddhists are sufficiently free 
 
 F
 
 66 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 in their belief, and know well enough when to keep to 
 
 it or not. 
 
 The manner in which Buddhism is reported to have 
 
 introduced itself into China is somewhat original. 
 
 ' From Paris to IVrn, from Rome to Japan, 
 'I'he most foolish thing methinks is man.' 
 
 Boileau is right in his views. From one end of the 
 world to the other, from one age to another, in all 
 latitudes, in a state of nature or civilisation, whether 
 dolichocephale, orthocephale, or brachicephale, with 
 woolly, smooth or crisp hair, man-white, black, yellow, 
 red or violet, is a prey to the same superstitious wants. 
 The great art of political men and philosophers is 
 to claim these beliefs and make them inoffensive, and 
 this was precisely the object which the philosophers 
 and politicians of China set before them in the first 
 century of our era. More than four hundred years 
 had elapsed since the death of Confucius, and the 
 false practices from which he had freed the national 
 worship threatened to invade it again. The danger 
 was to be avoided by unrivctting and canalising all 
 these beliefs, and a grand quest was undertaken. 
 Missions were sent to study the religions of all the 
 world known to the Chinese. ]3uddhism was the 
 religion brought back, with all its sects, especially 
 that of Fo. 
 
 In some ways Buddhism was well adapted to ancient 
 Chinese civilisation; it proscribes caste, teaches equality, 
 and possesses a very pure morality. But it requires a
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 67 
 
 priesthood, which the Chinese had never possessed, and 
 did not even comprehend. None could be found to 
 undertake the office, and the Government was eventu- 
 ally compelled to take out of prison a certain number 
 of individuals to whom they confided the spiritual and 
 temporal care of the new temples. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the bonzes or Buddhist priests 
 have never ceased to call themselves ' Condemned to 
 death,' and always wear the cap and yellow dress of 
 the galleys. The offices, celebrated in the Chinese 
 language, and very similar to those of the Catholic 
 Church so far as rite and costumes are concerned, 
 attract no one. 
 
 Buddhism has always remained what its introducers 
 desired, and its temples are nothing but drains into 
 which any one goes without troubling himself about 
 his neighbour, to clear his spirit of the impurities which 
 may have touched it. 
 
 After the Buddhists the Taouists are the most 
 numerous ; it is said there are 100 millions of them. 
 Taouism is not a religion ; it possesses neither temples 
 nor a priesthood. It is merely an interpretation, a 
 deuterose of the ancient sacred books, the true doc- 
 trines of which have been lost or mingled with all 
 kind of error. 
 
 Introduced by Lao-Tsee in his Tao-te-King, or Book 
 of the Eternal Person, it soon collected a large number 
 of disciples. 
 
 It might even have become general, but was soon 
 
 F 2
 
 68 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 eclipsed by that proposed by Confucius fifty years 
 later, wliicb I shall soon explain. 
 
 Among many very beautiful and pure passages which 
 have made it a classic and caused it to be added to the 
 six ancient Kings, the Tao-te-King contains passages 
 of so obscure a mysticism on the virtues and properties 
 of numbers, on immortality, and other subjects, that it 
 soon gave rise to beliefs as fantastic as those which its 
 author wished to confute. Its actual votaries are per- 
 suaded that the human soul can in its successive 
 re\'ivals pass, according to its merits or faults, into the 
 body of an animal or of a man, but that once arrived 
 at a certain degree of perfection it will undergo no 
 more transformations, and will remain always in the 
 same body. 
 
 I have heard it said that a certain number of Taouists 
 believe that this form of immortality can be obtained 
 directly from this life without transformations, and 
 that they are in search of a potion which will give 
 them the means. These varying views sufficiently 
 account for the want of success shown by Taouism. As 
 is the case with Buddliism, Taouism has no effect on the 
 social life of those who profess it. They observe the 
 Avorsliip of ancestors, and associate generally with their 
 neighbours in the national solemnities. 
 
 In a word, they are Taouists in the same way Chris- 
 tians are spiritualists. Judaism, Christianity, and 
 iMuhammedauism arc represented in China, but have 
 no real success there.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 69 
 
 Christianity was introduced for the first time by the 
 Nestorians towards the eleventh century, and does not 
 number more than 400,000 to 500,000 Catholic con- 
 verts ; the missionaries claim 600,000, but this figure 
 appears exaggerated, and is contradicted by the mis- 
 sionaries of the different orders themselves. 
 
 Thus the Jesuits claim 100,000 converts in two of 
 the provinces they evangelise — Kiang-Sou and Ngan- 
 Hoei — but this figure is questioned by the lazarists 
 and priests of foreign missions. The latter state they 
 have 70,000 converts at Se-Chuen, but this is ques- 
 tioned by the Jesuits in their turn. We next come to 
 Kouei-Cheou, which has had from 25,000 to 30,000 
 Christians during several months, but possesses now 
 only from 6000 to 8000. The converts in fourteen 
 other provinces, including Manchuria, may be calcu- 
 lated as amounting in each to from 4000 to 8000. 
 
 The quality of these converts is even more dubious 
 than their quantity. 'Every one knows,' M. Dela- 
 place. Bishop of Ning-Po, once said to me, ' how the 
 Jesuits manufacture their Christians. They patch 
 them up in a fortnight ; they confess them once, but 
 never see them again. Now, we devote two years to 
 them.' 
 
 But, whether it be a fortnight or two years, the 
 quality is the same. The gentleman who boasted of 
 the length and the severity of the tests he imposed on 
 his converts narrated to me with much indignation a 
 scandal which had taken place in his flock.
 
 70 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 The oldest, richest, and, up to then, the most faithful 
 of his flock had just taken a second -wife, during the 
 lifetime of the first ! 
 
 Despairing of a cliild by his legitimate wife, and 
 approaching his sixtieth year, he had resolved on 
 having one, and no consideration, neither the flames 
 of hell nor the greater excommunication, could make 
 him alter his determination. 
 
 Everlasting perdition ! "What could be worse than 
 to die without posterity, and never to be born again 
 to his own people on earth ? 
 
 ' May you never be reborn !' is the most terrible 
 malediction to a Chinaman. Between the threats of 
 the bishop and the promises of another world, which 
 no one had seen, and the salvation and resurrection 
 according to his ancient belief, he had chosen the 
 latter, and preferred the life with which he was ac- 
 quainted. 
 
 The missionaries themselves admit that if a body of 
 Christians were left to themselves for two years with- 
 out a visit, at the end of the period not a single Chris- 
 tian would be found. 
 
 Even the Chinese priests, recruited with difficulty as 
 they are, cannot be left to themselves. 
 
 There was no trace of the Nestorians when the mis- 
 sionaries returned to China in the twelfth century, and 
 of tlie latter there was but little when they returned 
 in 1842, after thirty years of expulsion. 
 
 Vrotestantism, more recent in China than Catholi-
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 71 
 
 cism, hardly makes any converts, and I do not think 
 their number surpasses a few thousands. 
 
 Mohammedanism dates from the conquest of Ghen- 
 ghis-Khan, by whom it was introduced in the thirteenth 
 century, or rather by whom it waa imposed upon a 
 certain number of Tartar-Mongol tribes, afterwards 
 annexed to the Chinese Empire. 
 
 Mohammedanism made a further entry into China at a 
 later date, and has converted a small part of the people 
 living in the neighbourhood south-west of India. It 
 has not, however, more than from 15 to 18 millions 
 of followers in all, and although more strongly estab- 
 lished than Christianity, in so far as it recruits its 
 clergy on the spot, it makes no progress. 
 
 The check to armed proselytism which took place 
 some years ago in the province of Yunnan gives no 
 reason for a contrary belief. 
 
 Judaism, brought to China, according to some au- 
 thorities, in the eleventh century before our era, and, 
 according to others, in the first century a.d., has not 
 spread beyond the posterity of those who brought it. 
 
 It does not possess more than a few million follow- 
 ers, of whom the largest number reside at Kai-Fong- 
 Fou, in the province of Cheu-Si. 
 
 Their presence may be recognised by a special class 
 of butchers, which the manner in which the animals 
 required for their food are killed compels them to have ; 
 they can be distinguished in no other way from the 
 rest of the population. This is worthy of remark ; in
 
 72 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 other countries the Jews have remained outside the 
 ordinary civilisation, either from their own choice, or 
 by the compulsion of the rest of the population. In 
 all cases they have created for themselves a separate 
 existence, which has caused them to be held in jealousy 
 and hatred. In China, I repeat, it is impossible to 
 distinguish them from the other inhabitants by their 
 practice of any special kind of profession. 
 
 But whether it be a question of Jews, Christians, or 
 Mohammedans, it is quite clear that all these religions 
 are in a condition of powerlessness and inferiority in 
 presence of Chinese civilisation. The least reproach 
 alleged against them by the Chinese is that they 
 destroy the homogeneity of the family, by investing 
 strangers with an authority which it should derive 
 only from itself, and by imposing laws already made 
 impossible to understand, and which destroy in man 
 the proper conscientious and intelligent research after 
 the law. I have asked learned Chinese with whom 
 I was well acquainted what they thought of us, re- 
 ceiving the reply, * You do not cultivate your soul.' 
 
 And, as a matter of fact, others think of it for us. 
 
 II. 
 
 War and soldiers are far from possessing the same 
 importance and prestige in China that they have in 
 Europe.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 73 
 
 The regular army consists of only 100,000 Tartars, 
 but there are in some of the provinces a certain 
 number of families descendant from the old military 
 families, in which the State can recruit a militia of 
 400,000 men in time of war. All are subject to the 
 Minister of War. 
 
 Officers have no precedence over civil functionaries 
 in ordinary times, and I should hold that they do not 
 seem to have an exaggerated idea of their dignity. 
 In one of my earlier journeys the Chinese Government 
 provided me with an escort of four men under the 
 command of a colonel. I never saw a colonel less 
 conceited with his grade and authority. 
 
 "We ascended the Yang-Tse-Kiang, and the current 
 was sometimes so strong that neither oars nor sails 
 were of any use. The crew then got out, and half in 
 the water, half on the vessel, pulled upon a cable fixed 
 to it. The good man seemed to take pleasure in 
 joining the boatmen, getting into the water, and helping 
 them, and he even took with equanimity the light 
 strokes with a cane which the boatswain laid about 
 him to encourage the sailors. 
 
 As to the people, he said military service seemed to 
 them so sad and dependent that the poorest considered 
 it the last resource. 
 
 The Chinese army is therefore evidently an army of 
 defence, and no one can fail to notice that numerically 
 weak as it is, and little thought of in public opinion, 
 it is not astonishing that the defensive force has often
 
 74 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 proved its insufficiency against Tartars, Mongols, and 
 Manchous, internal rebellions and European forces. 
 I cannot enter upon this view of ideas ■without diverging 
 from my subject. 
 
 My object in alluding to the Chinese army was to 
 point out that in spite of her small forces and her 
 enormous frontier of three or four thousand leagues, 
 China has been able to protect herself, her laws and 
 customs. The Manchous and Mongolians have fre- 
 quently invaded China, and have captured the throne, 
 but they have never annexed any Chinese territory, 
 nor established any principalities or duchies, nor any 
 new law, nor have they altered in any way the system 
 of taxation, nor the status of property, nor the lan- 
 guage. 
 
 On the contrary, they have been absorbed by the 
 Chinese. 
 
 After the invasion, and the invaders had established 
 themselves upon a throne which no one except the 
 tenants of dynasties, which succumbed less to the force 
 of the invaders than to the disaffection of the people, 
 defended, China surrounded them and swallowed them 
 up. Slie did more, she became in her turn the invader, 
 and took their place. Manchuria, properly speaking, 
 is nothing but a Chinese province, where the reigning 
 dynasty has much labour to maintain, I will not 
 say common custom, but even instruction in the Man- 
 chou language. It may be said that the Mongolians 
 and the Manchous were barbarians, but the German
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 75 
 
 hordes "which invaded Gaul in the first century and 
 even later were also barbarians, and we are still 
 suffering from the gross traces they have left upon 
 our civilisation. 
 
 Furthermore, China has suffered invasion at other 
 hands than those of Asiatics. Kussia at different times 
 has annexed vast stretches of territory on the north- 
 west and north-east of the Chinese Empire. 
 
 On the north-west there are merely vast steppes 
 inhabited only by tribes which are no more Chinese 
 or Manchous than Russian or Siberian. 
 
 Eussia has been able to keep these annexations, but 
 Bhe has been able to make no serious impression where 
 China has been installed for any time, or on her 
 penitential colonies. 
 
 There she meets a force stronger than her despotism 
 and armies, a force composed not of men only, but 
 of customs which she is unable to understand or to 
 reconcile with her own. 
 
 As regards the French and English, the events 
 which have recently taken place in Tonkin render it 
 unnecessary for me to recall those of 18G0. 
 
 All the world knows at what a price we bought the 
 successes we obtained over the Chinese, in spite of our 
 superior army and weapons. The resistance we met 
 with, and which would have eventually destroyed us, 
 did not come from their arms or their monetary 
 resources, neither comparable to ours, but from a 
 living wall, more solid and compact than all the
 
 76 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 fortifications in the world, enlightened by a secular 
 civilisation founded on justice and labour. 
 Foreign commerce will be our next subject. 
 
 III. 
 
 The first treaty of commerce was that concluded 
 between Portugal and China 350 years ago, but for at 
 least fifty years other European nations have been in 
 constant intercourse with China and have been com- 
 mercially represented there by their diplomats and 
 merchants. 
 
 During the last twenty years European goods have 
 freely penetrated the interior, and there is now not a 
 corner of that vast empire where the products of 
 Europe do not circulate freely, more freely than in 
 some countries of Europe or America, since the customs 
 dues, except for opium, which pays 33 per cent., do 
 not amount to more than 5 to 8 per cent. 
 
 Nevertheless the commerce of Europe and America 
 with China is much less extensive than the efforts which 
 have been made and the favourable conditions resulting 
 would lead one to suppose. 
 
 The statistics of the Chinese customs amount, it 
 is true, to the respectable figure of 16,000,000 to 
 17,000,000 of francs, but this amount includes the 
 interior trade transported from one part to another 
 by European vessels. 
 
 Deducting the value of this, there remains a total
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 77 
 
 of 11,000,000 to 12,000,000 francs, united exports and 
 imports, for the actual tjansactions between China and 
 Europe, a sum nearly the same as in 1860, The 
 treaties of commerce since concluded, and the opening 
 of several new ports, have failed to increase the volume 
 of trade, in spite of the ill-founded hopes of the 
 merchants, who have been obliged to increase their 
 expenses without adequate return. 
 
 Taking, therefore, 600 million francs as the amount 
 each of the exports and imports, the question arises of 
 what these imports are composed. 
 
 The most considerable is opium from India, which is 
 brought into China by the only ports open to foreigners, 
 to the amount of 280 or 300 million francs. I cite 
 these figures ; there is nothing to boast of in them. 
 Then come cotton goods to the amount of 200 or 220 
 million francs ; the remainder consist of a small 
 quantity of English and Kussian woollen goods, pig 
 and bar iron, a few Paris and Vienna goods, and food 
 products for the use of Europeans in China. Thus 
 an importation of 275 to 290 millions of useful pro- 
 ducts is the result of the united efforts of the diplo- 
 matists and merchants of Europe for three hundred 
 years, and the wars undertaken per fas aut nefas to 
 second them. It was really hardly worth the trouble. 
 What ! you call yourselves Europe — a collection of 
 nations each one of which believes itself more highly 
 civilised than the other, and the least of which thinks 
 it is far above the Chinese ; you boast of possessing
 
 78 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 the most powerful agents in the world — steam and 
 electricity; you charter steamers at enormous cost, 
 and if that he not sufficient, you send thousands of men 
 and cannon to demonstrate your superiority — and all 
 that in the end you may induce each Chinaman to huy 
 from you sixty centimes' worth of so-called useful 
 products ! Is it not a little humiliating? 
 
 It has heen said, and too often repeated, that the 
 poor results obtained are to be attributed to the small 
 wants and misery of the Chinese people. 
 
 That is not so ; in no country are the people better 
 off", and that is easily understood, because nowhere are 
 the people more industrious and less weighed down with 
 taxes. The reason lies simply in this question of 
 taxation, which is so moderate, so just and well divided, 
 while that of Europe is crushing. There is no octroi, 
 excepting the small customs dues between province and 
 province, no excise nor patents, no taxes on change of 
 abode, no authority to seek for, nor formalities to 
 undergo. Thus in spite of the common opinion of 
 Europe, not only agriculture, but industry and com- 
 merce, have an enormous development in China. Jt is 
 not so apparent, because there are no large manufac- 
 tories with tall chimneys as with us, no large collec- 
 tions of workmen, no whistling of steam, nor sound of 
 hammers ; but, beware ! every Chinaman has, perhaps, 
 five or six trades at his fingers' ends, and can become 
 at pleasure peasant, weaver, basket-maker, shoemaker, 
 or blacksmith.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 79 
 
 They can found cannon and shells, and statues sixty- 
 feet high, in sheds for which you would give hardly a 
 few francs. It is against this system that you hurl your 
 efforts, your commerce, your money, armies, engines, 
 and the rest. We are too heavily laden with taxes and 
 fetters of all kinds to be able to compete on even terms 
 with the Chinese. 
 
 It is not difficult to guess what they will do when 
 foreign importations cause them serious anxiety. It 
 will be as with opium, which they did not produce till 
 it was forced upon them by the English. They will 
 erect looms, mills, and steam machinery of all kinds, 
 as they have already done for silk and wool in two or 
 three provinces — if needful, obtain European assistance, 
 and dispense with European imports. It is to be 
 hoped they will stop there, because the day that they 
 take a fancy to engage in Western industry will mark 
 a disastrous day for Europe. Free from taxes, with 
 cheap and abundant labour, it will be impossible to 
 compete with them. 
 
 The workers set free by the use of steam will flood 
 the West in search of employment, and, if expelled by 
 arms, they will alter their tactics and drown the 
 markets of Europe with cheaper products than can be 
 produced there. The danger is real, and not so far 
 distant as some suppose. I gave notice of it twenty 
 years ago,i and I am sure few persons will be able to 
 
 ^ Balletin de la Societe de Geographic, 1809 : Carte Agricole de 
 la Chine.
 
 8o CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 refrain from smiling on reading this. Let them wait 
 for twenty years ! 
 
 It may, however, happen that the danger will be 
 confined to a diminution of our imports, and that at 
 the worst, we shall only be reduced to buy the silk and 
 tea for money instead of products. 
 
 Unless the Chinese are absolutely compelled, and 
 except in view of a revolution — in which they would 
 have as much to lose as to gain — it is not probable that 
 they will allow their industry to gain such an attraction 
 in their eyes that they will seek outlets for it in foreign 
 countries. 
 
 They are content with their condition as it stands, 
 and I do not think it probable that they will be disposed 
 to reverse the principles of their civilisation to adopt 
 ours. 
 
 I used often to boast to them of the wonders worked 
 by our industry, of our machinery, and the rapidity of 
 our communications. 
 
 They were full of admiration, but when I asked why 
 they would not adopt them, they used to answer, * All 
 that is very fine and perhaps excellent in your country, 
 but it does not suit us, and would be a hateful innovation. 
 Wo have numerous and magnificent canals wliich our 
 ancestors have bequeathed us ; they cost a great deal, 
 but have long since been paid for. Transport by their 
 means costs little, thanks to the winds and currents, 
 and though the traffic on our rivers is considerable, 
 the indispensable commodities arc produced equally
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 8i 
 
 throughout the country, and have scarcely ever any 
 great distance to travel. Our agriculture, as varied as 
 it is abundant, everywhere assures a subsistence to our 
 people ; where rice cannot be grown, we have corn, 
 sorgho, maize, millet, &c., while there is always a 
 sufficiency of less useful commodities, and in all cases 
 their transport does not require rapid carriage. 
 
 ' In a word, with us it may be said that, putting aside 
 accidents, production and consumption are equally 
 balanced. We suffer, it is true, from frequent floods ; 
 but do not you also ? It arises, as you know, from the 
 situation of our land, which is in many cases lower than 
 the beds of the rivers. We have provided against 
 them as much as possible by our canals, and by immense 
 embankments, and we are making further provision 
 daily by elevating the soil of our plains, so that floods 
 are less frequent than before. 
 
 ' How could railways deal better with such disasters 
 than the reserve granaries we have established where- 
 ever possible ? We do not hold the same views in 
 regard to steam industry that you do, and are unwilling 
 to manufacture more material than our land produces. 
 As matters stand, our people is agricultural and attached 
 to the land on which it thrives. Any industry whi^ 
 should seek raw material abroad, in order to manufac- 
 ture it for export, would, by detaching the population 
 from the soil, cease to be national. The people's interests 
 would be where they could find markets and outlets, 
 and any consequent complications which might arise
 
 82 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 would affect us without our being able to remedy them. 
 Furthermore, we should be obliged, in order to protect 
 our commerce, to keep up diplomatic envoys, and if 
 necessary to have recourse to force. All this would 
 cost much, and would not repay us. Do you consider 
 the commercial advantages you have obtained from us 
 adequate to the wars and sacrifices they have cost you ? 
 We are well aware that this view brings much reproach 
 upon us, and that we are accused of keeping ourselves 
 within walls and cantonments, of not being friendly to 
 other races, and of keeping ourselves outside the pale 
 of humanity. But all this is unjust : we have gone 
 further than you in regard to humanity. We have 
 addressed ourselves to unknown generations, and called 
 them to come among us. Our population is infinitely 
 larger and denser than that of any other portion of the 
 globe, and amounts to a third part of that humanity 
 we are accused of neglecting. We are influenced by 
 other considerations : your machinery is expensive, and 
 one of your manufactories represents a value of 200,000 
 or 800,000 francs (£8000 or £12,000). No single in- 
 dividual in our country is rich enough to build one. 
 A society alone could do it, and we do not like largo 
 societies — there are too many who are governed, and 
 too few who govern ; almost all are irresponsible. AVe do 
 not like that any more in industry than in politics, but 
 much prefer small or individual groups. After a largo 
 capital has been sunk in an industry, the owner is no 
 longer able to suit his manufacture to his wants. It is
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 83 
 
 absolutely necessary that these sums should bring in 
 interest, so that manufacture must be carried on at 
 any cost, and outlets and markets sought for in foreign 
 countries, which cannot always be kept if found. Large 
 industries, such as exist in your country, ruin the in- 
 dividuality of workmen, they become machines and 
 know only one trade ; if the factory is stopped the 
 hands are thrown out of work and die of hunger. In 
 our country every man knows several trades ; if one, 
 fails, he can fall back upon another. There is no \ 
 cessation of work. Is your industry much superior 01^^ 
 cheaper than ours ? Make out a list of most necessary 
 matters, and compare their prices. 
 
 ' We have two principles, which, until we have been 
 taught to give them up, will always compel us to oppose 
 the adoption of your great methods of industry — respect 
 for work, and for human life. 
 
 *No Chinese Government will ever dare to impose 
 permanent taxes to build railways, without mention- 
 ing other sources of expense, unless each one of us 
 recognises the absolute necessity of them. No Govern- 
 ment or individual will dare to incur the terrible re- 
 sponsibility of the accidents and mortality caused, 
 directly or indirectly, by the employment of your 
 machines — from those which shorten the existence of 
 the workers in your mines, to those which strike down 
 your stokers and engineers. 
 
 ' We have no Parliament like you,^ and no one can 
 * Later on it will be shown how laws are made in China. ' 
 
 G 2
 
 84 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 force upon us as progress, anything not approved of by 
 every one, still less cause us a fraction of expense, 
 
 ' That may be inconvenient in some ways, but there 
 are corresponding advantages : it may be possible to 
 obtain the consent of an assembly by surprise, it is not 
 possible to obtain that of a nation which possesses a 
 parliament in each family.' 
 
 The above is a faithful summary of what passed at 
 numerous interviews with diflferent Chinese. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Occasionally I went further, and spoke to them of 
 our dreams, showing them in the dim futurity humanity 
 relieved, thanks to machinery, from all the fatigue of 
 labour, freed by science from all material care and 
 trouble, and free to surrender itself to occupations 
 more conformable to its tastes, intelligence and destiny. 
 
 They smiled, as if they either did not believe me or 
 did not comprehend. ' With us,' they replied, ' labour is 
 just, pleasant and easy \ our dreams do not go beyond 
 that point.' 
 
 One of them once added a reflection which struck me, 
 and compelled me to reflect in my turn. 
 
 ' How difi'erent our ideas are ! You wish to suppress 
 labour, while we consider its suppression would be the 
 greatest of misfortunes, and the very idea of it a 
 blasphemy.'
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 85 
 
 This sentence, with another which I heard with much 
 surprise after my arrival, — ' Mistrust religion ' — were 
 continually recurring to my mind, and indicated so 
 total a transposition or transformation of religious 
 idea and sentiment, that I could not help meditating 
 upon it. 
 
 Here, I said to myself, is a people, a great people 
 which burns what others adore, and adores what others 
 burn, and yet it has existed for fifty or sixty centuries. 
 
 From that moment I began to form some compre- 
 hension of Chinese civilisation, and I confess that it 
 was not until then that my observations took a serious 
 shape. 
 
 There was for instance a ceremony, the meaning of 
 which I had always failed to grasp ; I allude to the 
 '■ Celebration of Husbandry,' performed yearly at the 
 vernal equinox by the Emperor and the grand function- 
 aries throughout the provinces. On that day the 
 Emperor and those who represent him outside the 
 capital, themselves holding the handles of the plough, 
 open the ground, and shed upon it the seeds of the five 
 species of cereals which grow in the different regions 
 of China. I had always heard that the object of the 
 ceremony was the honour of agriculture, and though 
 it seemed to me it might also possess a higher meaning 
 from the symbolic signification of the grain I had seen 
 employed, I was content with the explanation for want 
 of a better one. It was no longer sufficient for mo. I 
 made continual inquiries, and the answers I received
 
 86 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 led me to further researches, which eventually dis- 
 covered to me the principles and the philosophy of 
 Chinese civilisation. These principles are contained in 
 a work called Chi-Pen-Ti-Kang, an abridged encyclo- 
 pedia, in ten volumes, published in 1747, of which a 
 former Jesuit speaks as follows : * The missionaries 
 look upon it as very dangerous, and much opposed to 
 the teaching of the Gospel, as it confines itself to deism 
 and natural religion, and does not raise its teaching 
 above the level of reason and conscience, which it 
 renders too content to allow them to feel easily the 
 necessity of revelation.' This statement it seems 
 renders a translation much to be desired, but the writer 
 explains why none has been made. The work is not 
 to be found at the library in the Kue I\ichelieu, 
 whither, nevertheless, the ancient Jesuits, to do them 
 justice, sent many volumes. A knowledge of the 
 Chinese language is no longer now, any more than then, 
 a monopoly of the missionaries ; there are now very 
 many good French, English, German and Kussian 
 sinologues. But it is not sufficient always to know a 
 language and to know it well, and we may grant there 
 are many who may be said so to know Chinese as to 
 be able to interpret all its productions. A particular 
 kind of taste is required, with a complete absence of 
 vanity, and a certain simplicity of heart and mind. On 
 this account perhaps the Chi-Pen-Ti-Kang has never 
 been translated into any European language, and only 
 one European, to my knowledge, has spoken of it. Father
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 87 
 
 Amyot, whom I have just quoted. Another who has 
 read it, but does not say so, and has found in it some- 
 thing quite different to what really exists, is Father de 
 Eemare ; only, less independent than his colleague, he 
 read it in the quality of a Catholic desirous of bringing 
 the words of so great an authority into conformity with 
 his religious convictions. 
 
 It is from the Chi-Pen-Ti-Ivang, as well as from 
 the Tao-te-King, that he has drawn the matter of a 
 Latin memoir, sent to France towards the middle of 
 the thirteenth century, entitled Vtstiges of the Prin- 
 cipal Christian Dogmas after the Ancient Chinese 
 BooJcs. 
 
 It is sufficient to glance through the memoir to see 
 the pains which it has cost. Sometimes, for example, 
 he sees the description of the Person of Jesus Christ 
 in a character which to every Christian signifies man 
 unique, universal man, or humanity as a whole. Some- 
 times he is reduced to argue with Confucius and his 
 disciples, of whose doctrine the Chi-Pen-Ti-Kang is a 
 complete resume, and to prefer to them the more mystic 
 teaching of Lao Tsee. 
 
 In spite of all, however, he allows himself to be 
 drawn away by the evidence of the natural meaning of 
 the words, and thus brings upon himself the censure 
 of his editors. 
 
 I have not read the Chi-Pen-Ti-Kang, for I have 
 unfortunately no knowledge of literary Chinese, but I 
 have had the books which interested me read and
 
 88 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 explained to me at different times by different persons 
 — as good a method of arriving at a comprehension of 
 them as perhaps any other. 
 
 Chinese civilisation is not a dead civilisation like 
 those of Egypt and Assyria, and one is not reduced to 
 styles and palimpsests in order to reconstitute it. 
 
 Nothing really is required but the use of eyes and 
 ears, and I may add that it is much easier of compre- 
 hension than any other living civilisation. None offens 
 fewer contradictions and more unity. 
 
 Each and every part combines with the rest to form 
 one harmonious whole. An examination of its laws, 
 customs, philosophy and agriculture, its arts and 
 industry, has but one result, the absolute unity of 
 humanity and the family, in which this principle is 
 most clearly established. 
 
 I myself arrived at my knowledge of it by means of 
 agriculture, and it will shortly be seen how well chance 
 served me. A complete or even an extended exposition 
 of the doctrines of the Chinese Encyclopedia will 
 certainly not be expected of me — it is a task of which 
 only a savant would be capable. I will confine myself 
 to stating, in as few words as possible, exactly what I 
 myself sought to learn ; an explanation of facts I had 
 always before me. 
 
 The reader will be grateful for my moderation, and 
 
 he will passcss all the information necessary to check my 
 
 conclusions, and all that I had to enable me to form them. 
 
 The teaching set forth in the Chi-Peu-Ti-Kang has
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 
 
 this peculiarity, which is perhaps typical of the Chinese 
 race, that it possessed as a whole no liberator, founder, 
 nor was it the subject of any revelation. It is said 
 that it was contained in its entirety in the ' Kings.' ^ 
 
 The fact is that a certain number of philosophers or 
 politicians exercised their minds on these books, which 
 are written in characters of hieroglyphic conciseness 
 and obscure signs. They proposed interpretations 
 which were adopted or rejected by public opinion, 
 while some took advantage of the respect in which 
 these sacred books were held to ventilate ideas which 
 were really the product of their own brains. 
 
 However it was brought about, it was wanting in 
 unity, and many errors were mingled with it. 
 
 Confucius undertook to eliminate all that was dan- 
 gerous and useless from this medley. 
 
 He substituted for the interpretations which seemed 
 to him false, others which his genius dictated to him, 
 and with those which he retained he formed the harmo- 
 nious, simple and practical system accepted not only by 
 the Chinese but by many other peoples of the Far East 
 for more than 2200 years. 
 
 It is this system to which Europeans, unacquainted 
 
 * There are six books. The first and oldest is the Y-King, a book of 
 transformations ; the title is worth notice. The second, or Chou-King, 
 is historical, and may in some parts be compared with the Bible. 
 The third,theChi-King,abook of verses; the fourth, Li-King, a book 
 of rites; the fifth, the Yo-King, a book of music or harmony ; and 
 the sixth, or Chau-Siou, a book of spring and autumn. The fourth 
 and filth books have been lost.
 
 90 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 with it, have given the name of the religion of Con- 
 fucius. 
 
 When speaking of the universe it is important, accord- 
 ing to the Chinese, not to forget that the universe in- 
 cludes things visible and invisible, apparent and real, 
 and that they cannot be separated even in thought. 
 
 It is impossible, for instance, to separate from matter 
 the force of gravity, nor is it possible to separate the 
 idea of anything from the form appertaining to it. The 
 form may not be apparent, but it nevertheless exists ; 
 these are bodies spiritual.^ 
 
 The matter which makes them apparent to our eyes 
 merely fills the spiritual bodies, like water the form of 
 the vase which it fills.^ In this sense neither the 
 body nor the spirit are separable from each other ; nor, 
 speaking more generally, are the universe and the 
 reason of the universe separable. To misunderstand 
 this truth would be the gravest of all faults. 
 
 This granted, the entire universe, with its worlds, 
 forms a whole the parts of which hold the same rela- 
 tion to one another as the molecules of a sphere. All 
 are subject to the same laws, but the universe as a 
 whole possesses other laws and reasons than those of 
 the parts it contains. Each of these parts obeys a law 
 or reason which is up to a certain point exterior to it ; 
 and as we cannot conceive the forces, movement and 
 extent of the universe, we say that it is infinite. It 
 contains all law, but is itself governed by its reason, 
 ' Lao-tsse. ' ^ Li-tsse, 3'J8 n.c.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 91 
 
 which is infinite. The question arises whether this 
 reason possesses intelligence. Heaven and earth are 
 great, but they have colour, shape, number, and quan- 
 tity. Man is the possessor of something which has 
 neither colour, form, number, or quantity, and this 
 something is intelligence. Then, since the universe is 
 animated only by man, it must be at least animated by 
 the intelligence of man. But this intelligence, being 
 limited, can only be that of the universe. From whence 
 it appears that the universe possesses an intelligence 
 and is infinite.^ 
 
 The Chinese have no name for this intelligent and 
 infinite law and reason; it is merely distinguished 
 by metaphors. In ordinary language it is known as 
 Heaven or the Supreme Lord, Chang-ti. In philoso- 
 phical language it is called the ' Infinite,' Tai-ki ; or in 
 short, power, force, or energy, without shape, number, 
 or quantity. It does not exist without the earth or 
 the matter in which it is manifest, and from thence 
 comes another power, that of the earth — passive 
 energy. 
 
 The first, as it only exists in a potential state, cannot 
 manifest itself without passing into an active, and it 
 then constitutes a third power or energy, the liypos- 
 tase of the first — energy in an active condition. It is 
 man, but not the visible, incomplete and imperfect man 
 with which we are acquainted. There is a man, in 
 whom both the sexes and all the other men exist, and 
 ^ Kwaug-Yun-tse, 604 b.c.
 
 92 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 who is, as it were, the body spiritual of all humanity, 
 the one-man, man of humanity — Y-gen — whom the 
 Chinese also call the father-mother, Fou-mou, man- 
 hidden, invisible, heavenly, perfect — so pure from all 
 defect inherent to all material form — or, in short, the 
 saint. In ordinary language he is also known as 
 Tien-Hoang, the Lord of Heaven. 
 
 These three energies being inseparable, make one, 
 which calls itself Tai-Y, the great unity. They have 
 been co-existing from all eternity. 
 
 The saint is intermediary between Heaven and earth, 
 who unite in him. He is the word, and it is through 
 him that Heaven, or Tai-ki, speaks and acts.^ 
 
 The saint possesses the power of moving, trans- 
 forming and perfecting.^ 
 
 There is no other creation ; every man is made in his 
 image, with a spiritual body like him, exists only for 
 him and through him. In him are all men and all 
 creatures inseparably united through him to heaven 
 and earth. 
 
 The law for every man on earth is to imitate him, 
 which is done by conforming to unity, in never vio- 
 lating it by any act, in approaching it nearer and 
 nearer in spite of the condition of feebleness and im- 
 perfection which results from the union of our spirit 
 with matter. He is imitated by transforming and con- 
 tinually perfecting oneself and everything, and by 
 
 ' Man, Goethe said, is tlie first coiiiiminiuii of n iture witli Gud. 
 "^ Y-Kiti2 Tscc-IIou-tsee.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 93 
 
 directing oneself at the same time to the realisation of 
 this unity — that is, by labour. 
 
 This law contains all other, and is inherent to every 
 man, while whoever understands and obeys it will be 
 rewarded, and indeed is iym facto rewarded. There 
 is no crime or misfortune greater than to infringe it. 
 
 Labour, which is a condition of nature and of the 
 essence of man, is always a necessity, but when its end 
 is not understood it becomes a punishment. Unity, 
 such as has been defined — that is, unity of men among 
 themselves and of the earth with humanity and all 
 creation — is an absolute fact ; and therefore death, with 
 the consequences taught by other religions — as the 
 everlasting separation of body and soul, and the divi- 
 sion of men into elect and condemned ; the supposition 
 of a world beyond the universe ; a place of recompense 
 or punishment — are ideas without meaning for the 
 Chinese. 
 
 There are no worlds beyond those contained in the 
 universe, and there is no life for humanity except life 
 on earth, at all events so long as the earth exists ; and 
 it is in a succession of rebirths upon earth that man 
 will find, according to the condition to which he has 
 brought his soul in his previous existence, his punish- 
 ment or recompense. 
 
 If he has cultivated and perfected it he will be re- 
 born with all faculties, even physical and bodily, neces- 
 sary to ensure him happiness; while, if he has not 
 developed it, he will not be able to understand the
 
 94 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 qualifications needful for happiness, and everything 
 will he against him. These transformations and re- 
 births will be renewed and perpetuated for each of us, 
 until the part of the universe which we inhabit is 
 itself transformed, when the earth will be dissolved, 
 and the particles composing it will again enter chaos 
 until they form or join other worlds, and the human 
 soul, leaving its body, will pass into another sphere. 
 There it will reunite with matter and will live under 
 the same laws, but under more favourable conditions, 
 having regard, in the first place, to the degree of 
 unity it may have attained, and in the second to the 
 modifications to which matter may be subject in the 
 new spheres — that is to say, that there will be a more 
 perfect harmony between men, their senses and organs 
 will be more perfect, life will be more effective, pleasant, 
 and happier. 
 
 The above forms a very short resume of the philo- 
 sophical and moral system known in Europe as that of 
 Confucius, and the reader can judge for himself how 
 far it deserves the praise given it by Father Amyot, 
 and if it does not in fact arise from the doctrine ot 
 reason. 
 
 What is absolutely certain is that in China these 
 doctrines have formed the laws and customs under 
 which, for upwards of 2000 years, a people, now num- 
 bering more than 500,000,000 inhabitants, have lived 
 and died. 
 
 There is no other religion of which the same can be
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 95 
 
 said, for there is none which gives to the problems 
 which vex man the same clear and precise solutions, 
 at the same time so much in accordance with his 
 inmost hopes. 
 
 It is not correct to say, with Benjamin Constant, 
 ' that on this earth the different generations follow 
 each other as birds of passage, isolated from each other, 
 and driven by chance ; that they appear, suffer, and 
 die, with no link between them ; that no voice is carried 
 from the extinct to living races, while that of the 
 living will soon be lost in eternal silence.' 
 
 No ; the generations are conjoint to one another 
 absolutely and for ever in space and time ; they are 
 one, and live, for if they died they would cease to be 
 one, and to be solid. Death is but a transformation. 
 
 'Do not dream of a life beyond this, for you will 
 find no other, nor of a heaven beyond the universe, for 
 beyond the infinite universe there is nothing. Earth 
 is heaven, and paradise is on earth ; it is for you to 
 realise it. Cultivate your mind, honour your ancestors, 
 respect your traditions, let the past and the future be 
 both a living present to your mind. Identify yourself 
 with one and the other through humanity. Never 
 forget that you are one with the earth, with the uni- 
 verse, and take care no act of yours offends against this 
 unity. Endeavour, on the contrary, in all ways to draw 
 the bonds tighter. To labour is to transform and to 
 create. Transform all that surrounds you — create the 
 soil, the animal, and the plant. Create yourselves.'
 
 96 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 Such, in brief, is the catechism or religious code of 
 China, and it has so far entered the hearts and practice 
 of the population that the civil code is not much longer. 
 There is, however, a solemnity which resumes its 
 teaching even more briefly — that is, the celebration of 
 labour. On the day of the vernal equinox, the Emperor 
 is conducted to the Temple of Earth. 
 
 There, standing in front of the altar, surrounded by 
 the great dignitaries of the empire and of the people, 
 he offers to Heaven the five kinds of grain which are 
 grown, according to the climate, from the north to the 
 south of the land, and he implores a blessing upon 
 them. Thence he proceeds to a field within the temple 
 inclosure, where he traces five furrows with a silver 
 plough, in which he sows the five consecrated kinds of 
 grain, and the rite is accomplished. The offering of 
 the grain sets forth the communion of man, Heaven, 
 and earth. The grain itself is the symbol of regenera- 
 tion, or of unity of time ; the five kinds of grain are 
 the symbols of unity in space ; and the plough the 
 symbol of labour, without which the regeneration could 
 not be effected, and unity would be destroyed. 
 
 Hero we have a synthesis of the principles of 
 Chinese civilisation, and this solemnity of labour is 
 regarded as the greatest and most important. There 
 are three others, one of which recalls human solidarity ; 
 it is the Celebration of the Dead, which takes place 
 later on, and is officially celebrated as well as observed 
 by private persons.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 97 
 
 The people on tHat day do not confine themselves to 
 visits to family graves ; they go to the common ceme- 
 teries, and celebrate the funeral ceremonies on the 
 graves of those whose families have not removed their 
 ashes, and even on those of felons. 
 
 There are two other solemnities at the solstices of 
 summer and winter, the object of the one being to 
 entreat an abundant harvest, and of the other to thank 
 Heaven for its gifts. In former times these feasts 
 were celebrated in the open country ; they now take 
 place in the temples, which are the Temple of Heaven, 
 the Temple of Earth, the Temple of Light, and the 
 Temple of Thunder. 
 
 Of the last it may be of interest to remark that the 
 character which in the Y-King signifies thunder, sig- 
 nifies at the same time to move, change, or begin. It 
 is unnecessary to add that these temples have no 
 priest, and that when the Emperor goes there iit fixed 
 periods it is not as a minister of Heaven, but as the 
 representative of Chinese humanity. 
 
 The title he usually bears shows this also with suffi- 
 cient clearness ; he is called Father-Mother, Fuu-Mou, 
 which the reader will doubtless remember is one of the 
 denominations given to the Man of Humanity, or Uni- 
 versal Man. 
 
 I could say much regarding the symbolic significa- 
 tion of the colours of the prism which borders the dress 
 of the Emperor on certain occasions ; of the white, 
 which indicates mourning ; of the dragon Lung, wliich 
 
 H
 
 98 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 represents spiritual humanity ; but although not 
 foreign to the subject, it would carry me too far. 
 
 I prefer to invite attention to certain facts, which 
 show even more clearly than the systems of taxation, 
 property, and other public institutions, how far the 
 Confucian philosophy has penetrated the mind and 
 customs of the people. The reader will not have for- 
 gotten the custom observed at funerals, of causing the 
 corpse to be represented by the youngest child in the 
 family, in whom the reincarnation of the remains' is 
 regarded as already taking place, thus re-establishing 
 unity among the members of the family, suspended for 
 an instant by death. Another custom, supplementary 
 to this, exists : the early betrothal of infants from their 
 birth, intended not only to prepare the futuie spouses 
 for a more intimate union of feeling and thought, but 
 above all to re-establish, as soon as possible, the unity 
 of the sexes, or unity in space, as in the Man of Hu- 
 manity, or the Androgynous Man, 
 
 The idea of unity thus so deeply engraved on the 
 heart of man is found also on the walls both of public 
 buildings and private dwellings, where, on pendants 
 decorating the ceiling, such inscrij^tions as these are 
 frequently to be seen : — 
 
 ' Let no man call himself happy while another is 
 miserable.' 
 
 ' If one man lives in laziness, another will die of 
 hunger.' 
 
 But it is in the taste and ideas bestowed upon the
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 99 
 
 people in regard to labour, the tendency it has pro- 
 duced in all matters concerning it, that the profound 
 effects of the Confucian philosophy are to be seen, that 
 its genius is most clearly set forth, and its best and 
 most beautiful fruits borne. 
 
 There, is the apotheosis of its triumph. 
 
 V. 
 
 Existing without hope of any world beyond this, or 
 of any happiness unattainable here — labour the only 
 means open to them of realising that happiness, — it will 
 be readily understood that to approach it under the 
 most favourable conditions is to Chinamen the first 
 consideration of all. 
 
 Man is from the nature of his being a creator and a 
 worker, but it is not right that the inner tendencies of 
 his mind should be counteracted in his interest or his 
 dignity. 
 
 There exists no surer method of ennobling labour 
 than to show its intimate agreement with natural laws, 
 but the working of these laws must not be set at 
 nought by others civil and political. On this point the 
 Chinese have been most careful, and hence arise the 
 moderation of the taxes ; the property system which 
 grants the labourer the value of all he has created ; the 
 right of the State to resume possession of vacant lands ; 
 the freedom and honour accorded to labour, and the 
 
 u 2
 
 loo CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 labourer ; the absence of persons independent of work, 
 of the luxurious classes, and equally of slaves or serfs. 
 Labour is the common lot and privilege of all, and it is 
 labour to the same end, the continual reclamation of 
 land, and its products for good, or, as they say them- 
 selves, to the more constant and intimate communion 
 between Heaven and earth/ 
 
 The professions termed liberal in Europe are on the 
 same level as handicrafts.^ A working mason, peasant, 
 or carpenter is held in as high estimation as a doctor, 
 and is not less well paid. 
 
 The doctor receives 2i centimes (2J<Z.), sometimes 
 less, at the most 50 centimes (5^.), for a visit ; an en- 
 graver or painter earns by the day from 50 to 60 
 centimes (5fZ. to 6(Z.) ; a worker in art 50 centimes (5cZ.), 
 without food. In the country they earn only from 
 25 to 30 centimes {^\d. to 3^?.), but receive food, while 
 the ordinary field hand earns 15 to 20 centimes (\\d. 
 to 2cZ.) a day, with his food. An additional halfpenny 
 is paid for transplanting, and an additional penny for 
 threshing rice. It is clear that the equality of pro- 
 fessions is not simply a theory in China — not, perhaps, 
 a very encouraging circumstance for those desirous of 
 making out a pretext of relieving themselves of 
 
 ' Y-King. The communion is tyiufied by two triangles, one 
 wljite, the other black, intersecting ciich other at one of tlieir 
 n!ij;les. 
 
 - Iv\cei)tiiig in llnee in.stnnces, which, as I shall sliow later, have 
 no n lation to the naliu'c of the profession.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 
 
 manual labour, but no cause of complaint to genuine 
 artists. 
 
 In all eases, without attempting here to touch an 
 aesthetic question, in no way connected with money; 
 the system is not without its good effects in the public 
 interest. Thus, players not being more highly paid 
 than other workers, the theatre is a pleasure available 
 to all classes. A troop of thirty players, provided with 
 costumes, mostly very fine, will play for forty-eight 
 hours as many dramas, vaudevilles, and comedies as 
 may be desired for a sum of 150 francs (£6), though it 
 must be confessed that the stage and scenery are 
 generally left to the imagination. The ordinary seats, 
 however, do not cost more than 2 to 3 centimes (less 
 than ^d), while the best can be had for 15 to 20 cen- 
 times {X\d. to 2(^.). As the country is thickly peopled, 
 even the remotest hamlets are frequently visited by 
 wandering troupes, so that even the poorest may feast 
 their eyes several times a month on the grand historical 
 events of their country, or — for the truth must be told 
 — enjoy distraction from their labours in the coarsest 
 form of comedy. 
 
 It was stated above that all professions are equal in 
 China; there is, however, one which is above all the 
 others — that of letters and teaching. Later on, when 
 dealing with the State, I shall speak of the honours 
 and privileges accorded to it. I confine myself now to 
 pointing to the place it occupies in popular estimation ; 
 in no country, perhaps, are science and letters more
 
 I02 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 highly honoured than in China. Old age is the only- 
 qualification placed on a level with them. If among 
 the importunate crowds which surrounded me, I per- 
 ceived an old man, I used to ask him to approach, 
 and going before him, used to conduct him to the 
 place of honour. In an instant all gibes and grumbling 
 ceased, and the most complete silence reigned. I had 
 drawn between the crowd and myself that common 
 bond, the absence of which is frequently the cause of 
 the difficulties a stranger meets with, and in this 
 instance the common bond was the respect due to old 
 age. I was no longer a foreigner, but a guest. I 
 behaved similarly in regard to the literati, never 
 failing, on my arrival in a place, to make inquiries 
 concerning those of highest reputation, and, having 
 done so, to lose no time in paying them my respects. 
 By showing such marks of deference to established 
 feeling, I was soon able to transform indifference and 
 mistrust into friendliness and confidence. 
 
 A tutor invariably retains the right of reprimand 
 over a former pupil, even although the latter may have 
 arrived at very high rank, and it frequently occurs 
 that the people, having some ground of complaint 
 against an official, send for his former tutor, even from 
 a great distance, to be tlieir intercessor with tlie prefect, 
 governor, or viceroy, while his mediation always receives 
 respectful attention. 
 
 Unfortunately, if the literary career be the only one 
 held in such extraordinary esteem, it is also the only
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 103 
 
 one which produces what are known among us as the 
 uuclassed. 
 
 The examinations, or, rather, competitions, are very 
 severe, and there are but few who are successful, while 
 the number of places the Government has at its 
 disposal is correspondingly limited, so that, if without 
 sufficient resources to enable them to wait and continue 
 their education, the unsuccessful candidates are obliged 
 to seek some method of earning a livelihood. Some 
 become tutors, public writers, professors, &c. ; others 
 turn to commerce and agriculture, and contribute not 
 a little to elevate the intellectual standard of the 
 people ; but many unfortunately prefer to await a 
 chance, looking out for someone's disgrace and dis- 
 missal — intriguing like all the unclassed, and becoming 
 perfect pests. 1 must not, however, be construed 
 as stating that public office is the only aim of those 
 who embrace a literary career ; that is tj ue only up 
 to a certain point. Many literati desire to arrive 
 at office because it is the last and highest consecra- 
 tion of talent, and reflects honour upon the family ; 
 but many more officials than would be supposed resign 
 after two or three years' service, and retire into private 
 life. I knew a prefect who gave up his administrative 
 career at thirty-four or thirty-five years of ago and 
 became a schoolmaster. Such a case is not uncommon, 
 and it may be remarked that public employment in 
 China is very far from being a sinecure, and many 
 become weary of it ; while, besides voluntary and final
 
 I04 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 resignations, there are those temporary retirements 
 following upon the death of a father or mother, and 
 lasting for three years, the whole period of mourning. 
 The reader can now form for himself a general idea of 
 the ordinary conditions of work from a social and 
 economic point of view. He knows that there exists 
 no prejudice, no natural disgrace to prejudice what are 
 known to economists as the laws of supply and demand, 
 and thus produce more or less members than the different 
 professions have room for. He knows that taxation 
 and the system of property equally respect everywhere 
 the rights of labour, and that in that there is nothing, 
 not even the pleasures which are also the privileges of 
 dwellers in cities, to attract the peasant from the soil 
 on which he is born. 'J'he deduction is easy. 
 
 The doctrine of the unity of the earth and humanity 
 is a reality in each family, and for each individual. 
 Property in land inviolable and sacred, and a guarantee 
 of liberty, is to man a veritable savings-bank. He is 
 attached to the soil he has made, and he never leaves 
 it, except when necessary to transform its products. 
 This is the limit of industrial labour. To employ the 
 resources of the soil otherwise than in re-enriching it, 
 and to create a condition of affairs which would result 
 in drawing its elements from foreign parts in order to 
 return them thither for sale, would be to a Chinaman 
 like building castles in the air, and, besides being a 
 folly, an act of injustice and danger. 
 
 >«() doubt many will smile at this as political
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 105 
 
 economy, but the net result has been to make Chinese 
 soil the richest and most fertile in the world. As- 
 suming that the whole territory produces only rice, 
 corn, maize, sorgho and millet, its value cannot be less 
 than 1100 or 1200 milliards of francs ^ (£44,000,000,000 
 or £48,000,000,000), and would certainly reach 1800 
 milliards (£72,000,000,000) if to it be added the 
 additional value of lands cultivated with mulberries, 
 tea, sugar-cane, oranges, hemp, oil, wax, &c. 
 
 It amounts, as will be seen, in proportion to three 
 times the value of the soil of France, and once-and-a- 
 half more for each inhabitant. 
 
 It cannot be alleged that China and the Chinese are 
 .poor, and it should be noted that the value I have 
 given in French money, for want of another standard 
 of comparison, is much less than the real value, for far 
 more is obtainable for a franc in China than in France. 
 The value besides is real, and represents the amount of 
 savings and labour accumulated in the soil, the sum 
 of advances always employed, and always lent to the 
 existing generation by its predecessors. And it is a 
 wealth which is corrupted by neither moth nor rust, 
 nor can be carried away by a thief, nor affected by 
 conversion, and is continually increasing. Where is a 
 ledger like the soil to be found? — and the Chinese possess 
 no other. I do not remember what thinker wrote that 
 the virtue of a people may be estimated by the value of 
 
 ' DuJhtin de la Sociutc dt Gcwj rapine.
 
 lo6 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 its territory, but if this be true the reader can draw 
 his own conclusions. 
 
 But he may say to me, ' You have just said that 
 more can be obtained for a franc than in France ; 
 money, therefore, is more scarce ; where then are the 
 savings of which you spoke.' The savings are in the soil, 
 while circulating capital is certainly more scarce than in 
 France. There is nothing surprising in this, since the 
 owners of capital make use of it directly, and there are 
 no persons living upon their means as with us. Loan- 
 able capital is in such demand that interest amounts 
 often to thirty per cent., but I should add that this 
 amount is payable for only three years, and that after 
 that period the principal only remains due. This 
 statement appears directly contradictory to what I have 
 already said concerning the ease with which credit is 
 obtained ; but it is true, and I shall shortly show how 
 it works. I propose now to return to the subject 
 of labour. 
 
 I have shown that in China industry existed only in 
 agriculture, but as the soil is more fertile than in any 
 other country, and often returns four or five crops per 
 annum, it has there experienced a most extraordinary 
 development. Frequently, there is no division of 
 labour : the peasant himself prepares his sugar-cane, his 
 hemp ; manufactures his oil ; winds and divides his silk 
 cocoons with the assistance of his family. If the pro- 
 duce is insufiicient, as frequently occurs, it is added to
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 107 
 
 that of the neighbours, and a division is made pending 
 a favourable opportunity of sale. 
 
 Peasants in poor circumstances are often obliged to 
 sell their produce raw. Opportunities for the sale of 
 all kinds of produce are afforded by large markets, 
 which are held in different places eight or ten times a 
 month in a district of ten square leagues, and are 
 attended by merchants and manufacturers. The latter, 
 in spite of their occupation, by no means separate 
 themselves entirely from the soil ; if they live in towns, 
 at all events they come from villages, where they still 
 belong to the family community, or, should the com- 
 munity have been dissolved, they reserve or purchase 
 a plot of ground with the intention of eventually re- 
 tiring to it and making of it the patrimonial land — the 
 dream of every Chinaman. 
 
 I have already stated that there is no great industry 
 in China ; capital there is much divided, and only con- 
 centrated for commercial operations at short date. There 
 are houses which possess a working capital of from 
 10,000,000 to 1 2,000,000 francs (£400,000 to £ 1 80,000) ; 
 these are always companies. The most powerful ship- 
 ping company in China is a Chinese company, and 
 possesses an estimated capital of from 25,000,000 to 
 30,000,000 francs (£1,000,000 to £1,200,000). One 
 man, the Eothschild of China, is said to possess a for- 
 tune of 100,000,000 francs (£4,000,000), invested in all 
 kinds of agricultural, industrial, financial, and com- 
 mercial enterprises, but this is a very exceptional case.
 
 io3 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 Industries most requiring capital, sucli as forges and 
 iron foundries, are worked in China with funds varying 
 from 50,000 to 100,000 francs (£2000 to £4000), gene- 
 rally supplied by three or four partners. 
 
 I am acquainted with a foundry at Se-Chuen which, 
 with a capital of 50,000 or 60,000 francs (£2000 or 
 £i400), produces from 40,000 to 60,00 J kilogrammes 
 (393 to 590 tons) of smelting per day. If the day's 
 smelting amounts to 40,000 kilogrammes (393 tons), a 
 red flag is erected on one of the chimneys ; if to 45,000, 
 two ounces of meat are added to the pay of the work- 
 men ; if to 50,000, four ounces ; if to 60,000, four ounces 
 and two glasses of wine. The foundry employs twelve 
 workmen who have a right to these additions, and 
 emjiloys 300 others in mining and transporting the 
 mineral. 
 
 Since I have given so many details about this foundry, 
 I will add that it pays a tax of from 500 to 600 francs 
 (£20 to £30) annually, not on the manufacture, but as 
 royalty on the raw material, the mines being the pro- 
 perty of the State. This is a specimen of industry on 
 a large scale ; the most usual form is that of a family 
 assisted by one, two, three, six or eight workmen, with 
 one or two apprentices. The strange workmen do not 
 reside with the family ; if, as is most usual, belonging 
 to the place, they return to their homes at night; if not, 
 they make use of the village inn. It is a common custom, 
 in certain industries, for the masters to associate their 
 principal workmen with themselves, by giving them a
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. log 
 
 share of the profits ; while another form of labour in 
 much favour with the Chinese, both masters and hands, is 
 piece-work. Fixed wages are by no means usual, either 
 in industrial or agricultural work in China, industrial 
 property being largely modelled on the agricultural 
 system, and there being many more individuals and 
 families working for their own benefit than salaried 
 workmen. 
 
 I have above indicated the ordinary salaries, and I 
 will now give the prices of common necessaries. 
 
 A bowl of cooked rice 3 centimes Qd.) — two or three 
 are required for a meal ; beef per pound 10 to 15 cen- 
 times (Id. to ]^d.), pork 30 centimes (Sd.), fish 10 and 
 15 centimes (Id. and l^d.) ; a fowl 35 to £0 centimes 
 (3.^^. to 5d.), a duck 40 centimes (4^.), tea 1 centime 
 a bowl, rice or sorgho wine 10 centimes (id.) ; tobacco 
 25 to 75 centimes (^hd. to 7^''/,) ; a bed at an inn 
 4 centimes ; a pair of velvet shoes 2 francs 50 cen- 
 times or 3 francs (2s. to 2». 6d.) ; a cap of double felt 
 50 centimes to 1 franc (5d. to lOd.) ; a summer coat 
 2 francs to 2 francs 50 centimes (Is. 8d. to 2.s.) ; a 
 wadded dress for winter 7 to 10 francs (5s. 10^. to 
 Ss. 4:d.) ; leggings 2 francs 50 centimes to 3 francs 
 (2s. Od. to 2s. 6d.) ; a collar 50 centimes to 1 franc 
 {5d. to lOd.) ; a double sheepskin overcoat 8 to 10 francs 
 (6s. 8d. to 8s. 4'^.) ; a straw hat 5 to 10 centimes (^d. 
 to Id.) ; a pair of cord shoes 8 to 15 centimes.^ 
 
 The different professions form themselves into cor- 
 * These prices were all collected in the centre provinces.
 
 I lo CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 porations, masters of the one part, and workmen of the 
 other, where all disputes are decided by arbitration, 
 and whence all can, in case of need, obtain assistance 
 from the subscribed funds. A large number of persons, 
 skilled in various trades, become members of different 
 corporations ; there is no difficulty in membership, 
 which is necessary to avoid possible deprivation of 
 work. Accidents necessitating application for help, are 
 less numerous than with us, for several reasons ; the 
 houses are as a rule of one floor only, steam machinery 
 is not employed, and mines are never carried to any 
 great depth, while the Chinaman works leisurely, and 
 thus avoids many accidents. 
 
 Every corporation possesses a patron as with us, and 
 the pagoda containing his statue is the subject of 
 frequent meetings and pilgrimages, which are ob- 
 served as holidays by all concerned. The apprentice 
 is there inducted companion, and the companion 
 master, and there also their works are exposed to 
 public view. 
 
 I omitted to state that the usual duration of appren- 
 ticeship is three years. There is, it will be seen, much 
 analogy if not perfect identity between these customs 
 and these of the corporations of former times with us. 
 There is one especially, which in its exterior manifesta- 
 tions brings to memory those of our fishermen and 
 sailors. 
 
 At Se-Chuen and in Che-Kiang they have chosen as 
 patroness a young girl who six or seven centuries ago
 
 AND RELIGIO US LIFE. 1 1 1 
 
 dreamed that her father and brothers, occupied in fish- 
 ing at sea, were in danger of perishing in a storm. She 
 narrated her dream to her mother, who had awakened 
 her. They both aroused the neighbours and went to the 
 help of the fishermen, whom they found in great danger, 
 but whom they succeeded in saving. The chapel of 
 Notre-Dame-de la-Garde is not more decorated with 
 thank-ofi'erings than the pagoda in which they have 
 placed the image of this young girl. 
 
 The women do little work outside the family ; if 
 obliged to leave it, they enter others as domestic ser- 
 vants, and are treated as relations. In Shanghai, never- 
 theless, a large number are employed in the silk-works 
 which were established there about twenty years ago by 
 Europeans, but they are held in bad odour by the re- 
 mainder of the population. In the country I know 
 only three or four provinces where women are employed 
 on salary, and there they work by threes and fours in 
 small shops separated from the men. Much has been 
 said in Europe of the deformation of the Chinese foot, 
 and many have professed to see in it a sign of the 
 subjection of the women. I have often questioned 
 Chinese on this point, but have never been successful 
 in obtaining a serious explanation. Some answered 
 me with one of those jests which badly bred men of all 
 countries indulge in about women, while others knew 
 no more than we ourselves do of the deformation of the 
 head among the inhabitants of Toulouse, or of the bust 
 among those European women who indulge themselves
 
 fl2 CHINA: ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 in the use of the corset. Some say that the fashion 
 was first started seven or eight centuries ago, in imita- 
 tion of an empress afflicted with a deformed foot. But 
 however it may be, there are very few women who 
 have adopted it in the country, and it has been pro- 
 hibited nearly 300 years among the women admitted 
 to the presence of the Empress. 
 
 But it is often as difficult in China as elsewhere to 
 dispose of a custom, however evil in its effects, as it is to 
 bring about the acceptation of another, a hundred times 
 more conformable to the rules of hygiene and good 
 sense. 
 
 It is not difficult in China for a member to pass 
 from the freedom to the mastership of a company, 
 thanks to the remarkable habits of order, economy and 
 trust of its people, and this leads me to say a few words 
 concerning the institutions which stimulate and favour 
 the acquirement of these habits. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be known that the only token of 
 value current in China is a small piece of round bronze 
 pierced with a hole in the middle, called sapcque (cash) 
 by Europeans. It weighs about 7 grammes, and 1000 
 sapeques on a string are worth about 5 fr. (4s. 2cZ.). 
 
 The tael is merely the indication of a weight, equiva- 
 lent to one Chinese ounce, or 37 • 790 grammes of silver, 
 and after being verified for weight, it requires verifica- 
 tion for its distinctive title. 
 
 The sapeque or chien is stated to have been invented 
 2600 years before our era ; it is, as has been shown, a
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE, 113 
 
 heavy and clamsy coin, but it was the origin of fiduciary 
 money. 
 
 The institution of banking dates from the same 
 period, as it will be readily understood that the heavy 
 weight of the coin necessarily led people to think how 
 its transport could be avoided. It will readily be sup- 
 posed also that the light construction of Chinese houses, 
 and the fires to which their wooden materials expose 
 them, induced persons a long time ago to unite their 
 savings in special banks under the care of a clerk, whose 
 duty it was to take note of all payments made, and to 
 cash drafts when required. Here we have a banking 
 system. The existing banks in no way differ from their 
 primitive predecessors. They are above all banks of 
 deposit and withdrawal, and if they have made but 
 little progress in their method of operations, they have 
 on the other hand bepome so popular that there is no 
 merchant or farmer, or even established workman, who 
 has not an account current with some banking house. 
 Payments are made there by means of bankers, equally 
 ready to serve the merchant in his transactions of from 
 500,000 to 600,100 francs, and the small artisan bring- 
 ing his week's or day's savings. As a large deposit is 
 the principal element in the success of the banks, they 
 solicit it in every possible way ; they do not confine 
 themselves to granting interest on the daily balance of 
 their clients, they further undertake to grant them 
 advances when required. Custom, in fact, ordains that 
 a client may obtain at the rate of the day, on his note 
 
 I
 
 114 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 of hand and personal guarantee, a sum double that 
 standing to his credit. Every depositor has the right 
 to withdraw his deposit at will without previous notice, 
 and without suffering loss of interest up to the date of 
 withdrawal; and lastly, he may claim the guarantee of 
 his banker in ease of transactions with persons to whom 
 he is unknown, or belonging to another province. All 
 these conveniences must, of course, be paid for, but it is 
 none the less true that they are of considerable value in 
 the conduct of business which would be otherwise im- 
 possible. Thus, however little employment a work- 
 man may have had, he may find himself at twenty-two 
 years of age master of a capital of 300 or 400 francs 
 (£12 or £16), including interest, and has the right to 
 demand a corresponding advance from his banker. 
 ]\[uch may be done in China with 700 or 800 francs 
 (£28 or £32). He can also, if he is the possessor of a 
 piece of land, mortgage it by handing over to the 
 lender his title deed with an endorsement of the sum 
 borrowed. 
 
 There are also pawnbroking establishments which 
 will make advances to him upon his wages, at 7 or 8 
 per cent., which, though private enterprises, free from 
 any control, are perfectly trustworthy. Let us sup- 
 pose that the young man possesses no resources but 
 his own courage and a friend. He looks for this friend 
 and tells him what he requires ; the latter finds a third 
 and fourth, until ten are collected. The young man, 
 who makes the eleventh, invites them to a cup of tea.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. U5 
 
 tells them of his ideas and plans for the future, and if 
 these meet with approval, the eleven become partners. 
 
 The society thus founded is not intended to pursue 
 these projects in common. Generally speaking, large 
 companies of shareholders are as rare as small societies 
 of two to eight or ten individuals are common ; the 
 Chinese having a strong dislike to large societies, in 
 which they say all initiative, responsibility, indepen- 
 dence, and profit are lost. In the case in point it is 
 precisely these qualities which are most necessary to 
 the young man of whom we have spoken. All that is 
 proposed is simply to place the necessary capital at 
 his disposal, to be repaid by yearly instalments in a 
 given time. But as this motive is too disinterested to 
 induce persons, to whom the borrower is unknown, to 
 assist him, the Chinese have devised different combina- 
 tions, which, while assuring to each partner the re- 
 imbursement of his capital and interest, also secure to 
 him, during a time agreed upon, the use of a sum of 
 money equal to that first advanced. Each of the asso- 
 ciates, therefore, engages to continue his loan during 
 all the time necessary to enable each to have the use 
 of this sum, and repay it. The time agreed upon is 
 usually as many years as there are partners. Ten 
 numbers are then drawn by lots, which indicate to each 
 person the time at which he will be placed in posses- 
 sion of the common capital. 
 
 It is sometimes arranged that the capital shall 
 remain the same, and not be increased by interest ; at 
 
 I 2
 
 1 16 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 others that interest shall be added to it, while the 
 beneficiary of the year is sometimes eliminated from 
 the society, and at others continues a member, while 
 the elimination may commence with either the first or 
 last of the partners. In this case the amount of capital 
 due from each partner is necessarily difi^erent, and 
 depends upon the date of his entry into the use of the 
 whole. Thence arise other combinations which may 
 be of interest to the reader, and which will be found 
 in the tables at the end. All these societies rest upon 
 good faith and honour, and any person found wanting 
 would never be admitted into another. Examples of 
 bad faith are extremely rare. I should add that if one 
 of the members should find himself in difficulties in 
 providing his quota, he has little difficulty in obtaining 
 the use of the common capital from the one of his 
 colleagues to whom it becomes due that year, provided 
 he grants him his turn, and advises him some days in 
 advance. 
 
 Such, in a few words, is the most common kind of 
 partnership among the Chinese, and almost everyone 
 may be said to take part in it, since it is applicable to 
 all ends, from the student requiring assistance towards 
 his degree, the peasant desirous of entering upon a 
 holding or purchasing a buffalo, to the mother of a 
 family thinking of the marriage portion of her daughter, 
 and even to the street-boy who has begged a few cen- 
 t mes from passers-by. 
 
 The individual, unfortunate enough to be unable to
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. W] 
 
 offer his friend even this moral guarantee, the one 
 necessity of these small societies, has another resource. 
 He can emigrate to America or Australia, taking with 
 him the provisions of rice and salt fish, which he buys 
 with the advances made to him by the company which 
 engages him, and there soon saves, on the salaries of 
 two or three francs which he receives, enough to enable 
 him to return home and begin a small business on his 
 own account. 
 
 He requires little ; life is easy in China — 500 francs, 
 for instance, in the hands of a Chinaman are worth 
 4000 or 5000 in Europe. 
 
 The simplicity of the means he employs is great, 
 and his tools few and easy of construction. That, no 
 doubt, is one of the causes which cause him to be held 
 in such dread by Americans, and it is with these means 
 that he will some day prove a successful competitor 
 with Europeans. 
 
 He is accused of being too abstemious, but that is 
 because he knows a country, the memory of which 
 never leaves him, where the soil is more fertile, the 
 taxes less heavy, and the civilisation kinder than in 
 the foreign country in which the hardship of his lot 
 has compelled him to seek a temporary shelter. There 
 is really nothing astonishing in the fact that the 
 Chinese do not readily acclimatise themselves in foreign 
 countries. 
 
 The general conditions of Chinese civilisation are 
 particularly favourable to the young peasant if he
 
 118 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 needs credit. The proprietor who intrusts him with his 
 land well knows he will not destroy it, all he may ask 
 him to assure is the rent ; hut with a sum of 25 francs 
 he can ohtain enough to begin with, and every one 
 knows the value of Chinese land. For instruments a 
 spade suffices, and as for manure the land is suffi- 
 ciently nourished with what is rejected from day to 
 day. He hardly needs provisions while awaiting the 
 harvests, which succeed each other from day to day. 
 In the event of a hailstorm, he has other plants 
 previously sown and already advanced in growth, all 
 ready to be planted and take the place of those de- 
 stroyed. He loses a month or six weeks, that is all. 
 There is much difference between Chinese agriculture 
 and ours, and it is a grave error to imagine that clever- 
 ness can take the place of training, violence that of 
 justice, and large instruments that of manure. Chinese 
 peasants use instruments much less heavy, less power- 
 ful, and less brutish than ours. Their plough is of 
 wood, the mould-board is of wood, excepting sometimes 
 a small iron point when there are stones to turn aside, 
 even the coulter is more often of wood. 
 
 Their systems and methods are less scientific than 
 ours, and there is no pretension with it all. They are 
 not in the habit of doing violence to and ill-treating 
 the soil as wo are, uor of imposing on it any rule or 
 learned system ; they humbly, as it were, pray to it. 
 Nor do they take anythiug from it which they do not 
 return to it, not even a grain of rice without affording
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 119 
 
 it the means of repairing its effort, I said a short 
 while ago that their farming was a worship, it might 
 almost be said to be a caress. And the soil surrenders 
 itself to such tender care, and gives itself entirely up 
 to them. By gentleness, industry, and justice, they 
 get all they wish for, — more than we do. That is 
 Chinese farming; it cannot be said to have nothing 
 scientific in it, and yet it is not science. It is not 
 scientific, and it is more than science, — to use an old 
 term, it is wisdom, which forms itself slowly, and 
 cannot be quickly acquired like science. Unless a 
 man be prudent, foreseeing, laborious, good, and just, 
 he should not indulge in agriculture. Its knowledge 
 is not to be acquired, but is inherited from past ages. 
 Without a home, joined with peace, security, good 
 order, and honour, no man can make a good farmer. 
 Without traditions, and thoughtfulness for distant 
 generations to whom the fruit of his labours will 
 descend, no man, in spite of formulas and machines, can 
 rise to the level of the simple Chinese peasant. The 
 secret of the success of Chinese agriculture is summed 
 up in two words — labour and justice. 
 
 These are engraved on the heart of every Chinaman, 
 and he hardly notices the want of tools. 
 
 I wish I could show to the whole world the ardour 
 of this nation of peasants, to whom no task is repug- 
 nant; and how in the evening, when Nature herself 
 seems to have finished her day, one plies the weaver's 
 trade in front of the village houses, while another with
 
 I20 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 his lantern on his head continues his labour in the 
 fields. His most remarkable quality is perhaps, how- 
 ever, the care he bestows on his plants. No mother 
 could be more attentive to the wants of her child, nor 
 more anxious to satisfy them. The slightest indication 
 of pallor are warnings, and the sight of the peasant 
 carrying carefully the nauseous manure, which is 
 destined to restore the health of the harvest so dear 
 to him, shows conclusively that his heart is as much 
 in his task as his brains, and that the feeling 
 which animates him is one which no disgust can 
 discourage. 
 
 And especially wonderful is the cultivation from the 
 plain to the summit of the mountains, so clean and 
 carefully tended as to be comparable only to the finest 
 inlaid work and carved bronze. 
 
 He is equally just to his animals ; his mules and 
 buffaloes, so restive with us, are subdued to his hands 
 and voice. 
 
 Even the wild beasts do not fly from the Chinaman, 
 and all Europeans know that in districts where they 
 are not in the habit of shooting, pheasants and hares 
 are so tame as to be killed with a stick. 
 
 The Chinese, however, do not kill them. All animals 
 are created for man, says the Bible of Michelet ; the 
 eagle and sparrowhawk salute him at daybreak, the 
 dog follows and escorts him, the horse neighs to him, 
 the bull draws the plough for him, and the fragrant 
 heath of the soil answers for its fruitfulness — all are of
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 121 
 
 one mind, and all know that man is just and labours 
 for them. 
 
 Such is the spectacle presented by Chinese civilisation 
 in the interior of the country, and it is thus that they 
 have learned how to spiritualise the earth and the 
 worship of Heaven.
 
 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 PART III. 
 
 THE STATE. 
 
 I. 
 
 AccoKDiNG to the Chinese, the political body known 
 as a state is essentially based upon the intimate union 
 of the soil and its inhabitants, and upon the freedom 
 of both ; and no state can be considered democratic 
 without this fusion in the case of each inhabitant. 
 Then only is the individual a citizen properly so- 
 called, a person in politics and a part of the sovereignty. 
 Movable, and up to a certain point industrial, property 
 cannot in view of their instability be regarded as the 
 equivalent of the possession of the soil, nor conse- 
 quently be available towards the constitution of the 
 political body or personage. 
 
 The Chinese reached this form of constitution about 
 fourteen or fifteen hundred years ago, after wavering 
 for several centuries between the despotic state, during 
 which property in land, both fee-simple and usufruct 
 — tien-mien and tien-ti — remained collective in the 
 hands of the chief of the State, and the oligarchic form
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 123 
 
 in which it was divided among a number of princes. 
 I have already explained that the soil, while remaining 
 for the fee-simple the collective property of the people, 
 the individual enjoying the tenant right which his 
 labour has conferred upon it, is so much divided that 
 no one is excluded from its use. It is true that by no 
 means every individual exercises political rights, but 
 this applies only to those who, preferring to remain in 
 the family community, choose to delegate their autho- 
 rity to its representative. 
 
 Every member of a family, provided he has attained 
 his majority, either by age or marriage, can exercise 
 them directly by demanding the dissolution of the 
 community and establishing himself separately, while 
 the power of those preferring to remain in the family 
 is less lost than is supposed. They certainly do not 
 elect their political representative since he is naturally 
 designated by his rank, duty and charges in the family, 
 but it is well known that all questions interesting to 
 the family are examined in common by all those who 
 form a part of it, both men and women. The same 
 remark applies to all questions which the representa- 
 tive of the group may be called upon to decide else- 
 where, so that every member of a family may be 
 considered an elector of first instance. It would be 
 even more exact to say that in China political unity 
 consists in the family, working through its natural 
 mandatory, who may be a woman. 
 
 The representative or algebraic coefiicient of the
 
 124 CHINA: ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 family group is strictly a citizen, according to Chinese 
 conception. If the reader will recall what I have 
 written concerning the organisation of the family and 
 property, he will remember that nowhere is the union 
 of the citizen and the soil more complete, solid and 
 general, and that the citizen is nowhere assured a 
 more real independence and liberty. There is another 
 matter to consider in Chinese political elements — which 
 is, that the unity is not simple and abstract, but an 
 entity provided with all organs, religious, judicial and 
 civil, capable, in one word, of reproducing itself and 
 reconstituting the State. * A family,' say the Chinese, 
 ' should be a small State.' Autonomy can be carried 
 no further. They are so accustomed to this, that in 
 foreign countries where, as emigrants, there is no blood 
 relationship among them, their first care is to make 
 themselves into an artificial family or fraternity, in 
 which the elected council fulfils all the functions of 
 the natural family, and which they are sworn to obey. 
 The Chinese laws and customs by which such a 
 council is inspired are much more severe than those of 
 Europe and the different States of America frequented 
 by emigrants, and nothing would be easier than for 
 them to withdraw themselves from their operation, but 
 they prefer submitting to them to exposing themselves 
 to the violent, humiliating and clumsy intervention of 
 foreign justice, and they thus bring upon themselves, 
 in consequence of their strong and deep attachment to 
 the freedom and institutions of their country, the grave
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 125 
 
 reproach in the eyes of even such liberal foreign 
 Governments as that of the United States — the reproach 
 of forming a State within a State. 
 
 In China not only does this fear not exist, but the 
 independence of the citizen, such as it has been defined, 
 seems to make the very condition of the existence of 
 the State. The State, and the Government of the State, 
 must not be confused together, nor must the errors 
 and weaknesses of the second be allowed to compromise 
 the liberty and integrity of the former. Why should 
 a nation be exposed to perish entirely because struck 
 down in one of its elements ? 
 
 France and England in 1880 were able to defeat the 
 Chinese Government and impose a treaty upon it, but 
 they were unable to compel its acceptance by the 
 nation. The treaty was never published in the 
 provinces, and every time that it was sought to apply 
 an article contrary to the will of the people, the latter 
 protested and leclaimed their rights by demonstrations 
 similar to those of Canton, Tientsin, &c. On such 
 occasions as these it is not the lives only of Europeans 
 which are in peril, but also those of officials, and the 
 very existence of the Chinese GovernmeDt. 
 
 The assemblies of citizens are entirely free. They 
 take place whenever it is considered expedient, without 
 authorisation, and without being called together by 
 the Government or its agents. From their members 
 are elected the councils charged with the administra- 
 tion of the circumscription, commune, canton, arron-
 
 126 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 dissement, province, in which the citizens are esta- 
 blished. 
 
 The mandate of the councillors, of whom the pre- 
 sident somewhat resembles the mayor of one of the 
 communes, is for three years, and is renewable. But 
 the citizens do not in any way abdicate their rights ; 
 they can still assemble at pleasure, and do not lose the 
 control of their mandatories, whose privileges are 
 revocable at any instant. 
 
 The relations between councils elected from each 
 division are free and direct, and when a matter of 
 business has to be passed from one to another, two 
 or three members of council receive from their col- 
 leagues the mission to go and explain it before the 
 councils or competent functionaries. In the latter 
 case, if the matter requires submission to the State 
 official, the relations do not tease to be direct, but the 
 delegates receive, even here, those from the councils 
 elf cted for the division in which the functionary resides. 
 The representation of citizens is confined to the pro- 
 vinces. There is no elective assembly in Pekin, nor 
 any body at all resembling a legislative assembly, a 
 house of peers, or a senate. I shall show later in 
 what manner the places of these bodies are filled. 
 The duties of these councils are of several kinds. They 
 divide the taxes, which they receive and transmit to 
 the State official. They examine into the necessity of 
 public works in their locality, apportion the expenses 
 among the inhabitants, and solicit subscriptions from
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 127 
 
 the rich, to enable them to relieve the poorer from 
 their share. They propose the execution of works, the 
 interest of which may attach to several communes, and 
 put themselves into relations with the councils of these 
 communes in order to unify enterprise, and secure the 
 direction of such works ; or they refer them to the 
 special official of their district if they require the inter- 
 vention of the State. They are entrusted with the 
 surveillance both of the police and the inspectors, they 
 arbitrate between rival bank proprietors, and submit 
 grave litigation to the arbitration of the communes or 
 the jurisdiction of the State. They superintend public 
 charitable institutions, and are often called upon to 
 pronounce judgment in cases appealed from the dif- 
 ferent trade corporations. 
 
 In the frontier provinces, which are still exposed to 
 the inroads of uncivilised people, the elected councils 
 are charged with the organisation and recruiting of a 
 true national guard, paid by the richer inhabitants, 
 the chiefs of which are nominated without intervention 
 by the mandarins. And it is not a little remarkable 
 that these citizen soldiers, drawing their courage from 
 the hearth, are braver and fight better than the 
 Imperial soldiers. 
 
 Wherever there is a State functionary, under-prcfect, 
 prefect, governor, or viceroy, the elected councils are 
 put in communication with him, and thus constitute, 
 besides their ordinary functions, a consultative com- 
 mittee, which softens down and facilitates relations
 
 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 with the citizens, examines the measures instituted by 
 the Crovernment, advises for or against them, suggests 
 those it thinks good, controls the acts of the official, 
 and studies the litigation pending among the com- 
 munes. Such in its essence and means is the consti- 
 tution of the national sovereignty in China. 
 
 There are in the entire empire 18 provinces, 182 
 departments, 541: arrondissements, 1293 cantons, and 
 an indefinite numljer of communes. Taking the 
 poj^ulation at 537,000,000, the average amounts to 
 29,000,000 per province, 2,800,000 per department, 
 900,000 per arrondissement, and 430,000 per canton in 
 rouncl figures. 
 
 The canton is, as I have said, the smallest adminis- 
 trative area in which the State is represented by an 
 agent of the Government. In smaller places there are 
 only mayors, yang-yo, whom Europeans often mistake 
 for mandarins. In a canton, the agent is called che- 
 hien, in an arrondissement che-chow, in a depart- 
 ment che-fou, in a province tsung-tou. These agents 
 can be likened to our sub-prefects, prefects, governors, 
 and viceroys. Sometimes several arrondissements are 
 united in a single district, and in this case the Govern- 
 ment places at the head of it a tao-tai, a governor- 
 general, who has the prefects of the arrondissement 
 under his orders. 
 
 It sometimes O'-curs that two provinces are united 
 under a single viceroy, and thus there are (deven 
 viceroys for eighteen provinces, and there are vice-
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 129 
 
 royalties whicli contain as many as 70,000,000 or 
 80,000,000 inhabitants. 
 
 All these officials are at the same time administrators 
 and judicial officers, and from their double jurisdiction 
 an appeal lies to the superior jurisdiction up to the 
 Government of the Empire. Each viceroy possesses a 
 lieutenant, fou-yaen. 
 
 There are then eighteen lieutenants, although there 
 are only eleven viceroys. All other officials are sup- 
 plemented, according to the importance of their district, 
 with two, three, or four assistants or councillors, 
 who can fulfil all their functions. Besides these 
 agents, there is a receiver-general in each province 
 (pou-cheu-se), a criminal chief justice (gan-tcha-se), a 
 chief engineer of public works (fen-chow), and three 
 or four engineers of bridges and paths (fen-sin-tao). 
 These officers hold their appointments from the central 
 power. 
 
 II. 
 
 The State Government consists of six ministers : the 
 li-pou, or home ministry ; the hou-pou, or ministry of 
 finance ; another li-pou (the name of which is written 
 in Chinese with a different character from the first 
 li-pou), or minister of rites. The latter may in some 
 respects be likened to the ministry of the interior. 
 This official is also charged with the management of 
 foreign afiairs, which are the especial duty of one of the 
 
 K
 
 I30 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 divisions of the ministry, the tsoDg-li-ya-men ; the ping- 
 pou, or war minister, who himself nominates all his 
 agents and officers ; the hing-pou, or minister of justice ; 
 and the kong-pou, or minister of public works. Each 
 one of them provided with a consultative committee, 
 the members of which are taken from the great council 
 louy-ko, analogous to the Council of State, and divided 
 into as many services as the business in the department 
 requires. The ministers meet under the presidency of 
 one of their body, or, if the gravity of the occasion re- 
 quires it, under that of the Emperor. The Emperor 
 himself is assisted by a private council, kin-ki chou. 
 There is also a ministry of the Imperial house, but the 
 holder of the office does not form a part of the Govern- 
 ment, and has no share in the Cabinet. 
 
 All the officials, from the prefect to the Emperor, 
 bear a heavy responsibility, not only for their private 
 but their public acts, which extends to the acts of 
 citizens, and even to natural events prejudicial to good 
 order and peace. Tlius a murder committed in a sub- 
 prefecture brings with it not only a change in the 
 mayor of the commune, but also the ruin of the prefect 
 and sub-prefect. 
 
 The same effect follows upon droughts and floods, 
 and it seems difficult to find reasons for such severity, 
 though at the same time there are many disasters 
 which may be avoided with ordinary care and dili- 
 gence. For instance, floods and droughts may fre- 
 quently be avoided by the proper management of the
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 131 
 
 canals, and it is well known that the care of thtse forms 
 one of the principal duties of officials. The responsi- 
 bility alluded to, further prevents the official from 
 gradually ceasing to take an interest in events which 
 might affect the lot of the population, and creates be- 
 tween them an effective solidarity which is of consider- 
 able importance. It also affords the people an oppor- 
 tunity of ridding themselves of administrators who, 
 without having committed any grave fault, have ceased 
 to merit confidence. If a drought occurs the Chinese 
 do not blame Heaven or earth, but themselves. Every 
 one examines himself, and fasts. The officials cause 
 their confessions to be printed and placarded, and 
 'themselves point out their faults and negligences, and 
 those of the people whom their examples or advice 
 should have placed on their guard. They promise to 
 do better in future. Sometimes their apologies are 
 useless, and disgrace pours down like hail, and if it does 
 not come from a higher authority the people themselves 
 take it in hand. During a drought of which I have a 
 lively recollection, since being on my travels I was 
 obliged to fast like all the rest, I saw three or four 
 prefects or sub-prefects ruined and dismissed. In 
 another week the governor would have been dismissed 
 in his turn, but fortunately for him and the viceroy, 
 who would have shared his fate, rain began to fall. If 
 disasters are prolonged or too frequent, the Emperor is 
 replaced, and his dynasty dismissed. All have to pay, 
 by the loss of their posts or their throne, for what the 
 
 K 2
 
 132 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 people lose in comfort and the peasant in his harvest. 
 It is needless to say if such occasions offer opportunities 
 to the people to show their resentment, they are equally 
 availahle for offering sympathy to those who have heen 
 fortunate enough to conciliate them. No man is per- 
 fect, and an official prohably less so than most ; at all 
 events he is more complained of. The people are 
 jjatient for a long while, and content themselves with 
 remonstrances, until at last, wearied out, the country- 
 men refuse to pay the taxes, and the townsmen close 
 their shops. There is an end to business, and in three 
 days, if peace is not made in the meantime, the official 
 is ruined. All passes without disturbance. 
 
 A general who may have handed over a portion of 
 territory to an enemy ; a governor who has allowed an 
 entry into a town in his charge ; the ambassador who 
 has not been able to avoid a war, or whose signature 
 has induced the violation of his country's soil, are com- 
 pelled to commit suicide. The expiation here also 
 seems excessive, but the people are at all events 
 assured that no one will engage lightly in adventures 
 which may cost him his blood and his post, and that 
 if war should be necessary, it will be inevitable as a 
 measure of self-defence. All officials are divided into 
 nine orders, of two classes, and receive a fixed salary. 
 For those of the first order this salary rises from 1G20 
 francs and 180 baskets of rice, but they are authorised 
 to levy upon the taxes a certain sum, varying accord- 
 ing to the importance and wealth of the district or of
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 133 
 
 the department with which they are charged. For a 
 viceroy this sum may amount to 30,000 francs. This 
 right of assessment is the usual cause, though not 
 perhaps so frequent a one as people often say, of the 
 grievances of the people against their administrators. 
 I should add one interesting detail. All the ministries 
 and public offices are open from daybreak to sunset. 
 
 I have already stated that in China there is no legis- 
 lative body, nor anything resembling an assembly, 
 elective or non-elective, charged with the duty of 
 making laws, and which might recall a Senate or 
 House of Lords. 
 
 There is nothing astonishing in this, as in so ancient 
 a society all the laws either are made, or ought to have 
 been made. Nothing further is required but essential, 
 general and universal formulas, according to time, place, 
 and circumstances. The Chinese do not believe that 
 the essential, general and universal formulae, called by 
 the fine name of laws, should be the expression of the 
 will of a single individual. In their opinion law arises 
 from the existence of the individual or society. This 
 law is in man, and he has nothing to do but to allow 
 its free development. Freedom is the first law, or 
 rather the principle of all law. The second condition 
 of existence is solidarity, without which there can be 
 neither society nor individual. There is a third condi- 
 tion of existence, equality, without which solidarity 
 would be a meaningless term. Liberty, solidarity, 
 equality — this is the family in China. It is the image
 
 134 CHINA: ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 of the State, and its first phase. All that would lessen 
 the value of the family in the State would not be a law, 
 but a crime ; and no law is conceivable other than that 
 arising from the family. 
 
 The State, according to the Chinese, is nothing but 
 a large family ; and the conditions of the existence of 
 a family — that is to say, the moral principles of free- 
 dom, solidarity, and equality — or its unity, being the 
 same always, the character of every law is universal. 
 Holding such ideas, the decision of men coming from 
 distant points of so great an empire would be autho- 
 rity, and not law ; and to the Chinese there could be 
 nothing worse or tending more to dissolution than an 
 exclusively legislative assembly. With such ideas and 
 principles, I repeat, how is it possible to think, write, 
 and say, as is incessantly done in Europe, that the 
 social constitution of China forbids all relations with 
 strangers ? On the contrary, the truth is, it would be 
 impossible to find another so simple, so universal, and 
 consequently so scientific, so human, and so little 
 exclusive. 
 
 in. 
 
 It may, however, occur that the need of complemen- 
 tary laws, on a level with, or below those that are 
 essential, may arise, and in all cases the existence of a 
 society and the lot of a State may depend upon exterior 
 facts, phenomena, and questions whicli it is important
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 135 
 
 should not be left to be decided by chance or unskilled 
 persons. Their decision should not, of course, be in 
 opposition to or widely differ from the essential laws ; 
 and the secondary laws should, of course, be as scien- 
 tific in their nature as the others. There is only one 
 meeting, not of men, not of wills, but of learned men 
 which answers this requirement ; and as a matter of 
 fact the Academy of Sciences at Pekin is the only pos- 
 sible legislative power. Laws are made in this manner. 
 If an official notices in his district a custom which he 
 thinks might be generally observed with advantage, 
 he reports it officially to the Government, when the 
 minister of rites transmits it to the examination of 
 the Academy. If approved by that body, it is com- 
 municated to the different provinces for trial, and if 
 finally it is sanctioned by practice, and adopted by the 
 population, it is inscribed in the code and becomes law. 
 But this does not take place until the accession of a 
 new Emperor, so that the proposed law has sufficient 
 time to pass into custom, and if it does not do this it is 
 rejected. Every legal project emanating from the 
 initiative of the Government or of private individuals 
 is thus dealt with. It should be added that the num- 
 ber of these essential and necessary laws is so small 
 that, in spite of the centuries that have passed, the 
 whole of them do not require more than a few pages. 
 This remark applies only to the civil code ; the criminal 
 code will be dealt with in another place. It is much 
 longer.
 
 136 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 The preparation of laws, it is needless to state, is not 
 the main duty of the Academy of Han-Lin ; it is 
 charged with another, which, though not any more its 
 principal function, places it above the Government. 
 But before dealing with its different duties, I should 
 say a few words of its composition. The Academy 
 numbers 232 members, recruited by themselves from 
 among the literati and most eminent savants. Several 
 women have belonged to it already. The State guaran- 
 tees to each of them the use of a house and garden, 
 with a small money allowance. The surplus of the 
 Academy's resources comes from ancient public endow- 
 ments and gifts. It is entirely independent of the 
 Government, in spite of the assistance rendered, which 
 cannot be withdrawn. In some respects it may be 
 compared to our ancient universities. It supplies the 
 want of a minister of public instruction and for educa- 
 tion of a higher order and the second degree, but 
 possesses no monopoly. No one is obliged to receive 
 instruction in its colleges, and any person is at liberty 
 to open similar schools. All, however, who seek an 
 official career must submit to its examinations, and its 
 dignitaries, as well as its principal agents, are the only 
 ones which possess the rank and honorary title of 
 officials. But, from an educational point of view, its 
 chief object is to promote the education of the nation, 
 and its privileges have no other object than to facilitate 
 this task. 
 
 Under the direction of the Academy is a certain staff'
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. i37 
 
 composed as follows: — 18 (one per province) direc- 
 tor-administrators of studies, or rectors, hio-cheu-ta, 
 officials of the 4th order ; 189 departmental inspectors, 
 kia-cheou, of the 6th order ; 210 supervisors of the 
 colleges in the arrondissements, hio-cheu, 7th order ; 
 1111 principals of colleges of canton, kiao-yen, 8th 
 order ; 1521 chiefs of diiferent other institutions, libra- 
 ries, &c., huin-tao, 8th order. Without going further 
 into the details of the staff of public instruction, I will 
 now proceed to deal with the functions of the Academy 
 more closely connected with the subject under discus- 
 sion. I have shown how the laws are made. But it is 
 not sufficient to make laws — they must be obeyed, and 
 for this purpose there has existed from remote anti- 
 quity an institution which has no equivalent in any 
 other State : the Court of Censors. It is formed of 
 forty members taken from the Academy. Some are 
 placed with the Emperor, and supervise not only his 
 public acts but even those of his private life, which 
 may seem infractions of the fundamental principles of 
 the State, 
 
 Among the latter the gravest, and those most severely 
 censured, are any failures in duty to his ancestors or 
 family, and there is no fault which the censors do not 
 find means to attribute to such failures. 
 
 I will quote an example of the terms of reprobation 
 in which they address their sovereign. It occurred in 
 1860, when the allied armies of France and England 
 were threatening the capital. The Emperor, under the
 
 138 CHINA: ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 advice of courtiers who wished to fall in with his senti- 
 ments, spoke of leaving the palace of Yuen-Ming- Yuen 
 for that of Gehol in Mongolia, and as an excuse for his 
 flight caused hunting parties to be organised on the far 
 side of the Great Wall. One of the censors addressed 
 him in the following terms : ' I, Tsao-Yung-Yang, 
 Censor of the province of Hon-kuang, present this me- 
 morial to the Emperor.' Then after explaining the 
 condition of affairs, he continued : ' The proposal of the 
 Emperor to take command of the army would encounter, 
 according to the report of some persons, serious oppo- 
 sition. Disorder had reached its height, but nothing 
 produced so serious an impression as the report in cir- 
 culation to-day, that your Majesty proposed going 
 to Gehol. This rumour, which I refuse to credit, has 
 caused the greatest consternation. A great number of 
 officials have already in vain entreated your Majesty to 
 re-enter the capital ; a vague fear, which no one can 
 dispel, reigns in the minds of all. If the Emperor 
 really departs, the consequent evils will be irreparable. 
 How then does your Majesty consider the people, and 
 how value the ashes of your ancestors? Will you 
 abandon the heritage left to you, like an old garment ? 
 How will you be spoken of in history in years to come ? 
 Never up till now has a sovereign been found to choose 
 the moment of danger and distress to go hunting, under 
 the pretence that his departure will prevent compli- 
 cations. Let your Majesty therefore allow yourself to 
 be convinced, and return without delay to the capital.'
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 139 
 
 Another censor went so far as to predict that the Em- 
 peror if he went to Gehol would never return to China ; 
 while a third warned him that if he put his intentions 
 into execution the people would overthrow the burying- 
 places of his ancestors. At last, in one of the numerous 
 memoirs sent on this occasion, Chung-Kung, minister 
 of state, and twenty-three other dignitaries, censors, 
 &c., adjured the Emperor to return in these terms : 
 ' In moments of public distress a zealous servant 
 should be ready to die at his post in the interest of the 
 public' 
 
 Other members of the Court of Censors are sent, from 
 time to time, on special missions to the provinces, where 
 they inquire into the conduct, both public and private, 
 of the officials, and listen to any complaints of the 
 elective councils. 
 
 A certain number are charged with the duty of 
 collecting the materials and documents, serviceable 
 for the future history of the reign, for deposit in 
 a sealed coffer, only to be opened at the death of the 
 Emperor. 
 
 Matters of gravity and difficulty, such as a change 
 of reign, interior troubles, or differences with foreign 
 nations, are submitted to a great assembly or grand 
 council composed of all the members of the Academy, 
 ministers and influential personages, when the council 
 see fit to join with them.
 
 140 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 IV. 
 
 Thus first the nation, then the Academy with the 
 literati, form in reality the Government of China, and 
 as the number of the literati is immense in all the 
 provinces, there are, thanks to them, and to the consi- 
 deration and confidence which they enjoy, incessant 
 communication and a perfect interchange of views 
 and thoughts between the one and the other. The 
 views of the Academy arrive in the most remote 
 districts with astonishing rapidity for a country as 
 yet unprovided with electrical appliances, and the 
 population show the most remarkable unanimity and 
 readiness to follow them. 
 
 There occasionally break out, as lately at Canton, 
 threatening agitations directed not only against those 
 whose acts have brought about the intervention of the 
 literati, but also against the Government, to which 
 they are a source of serious embarrassment. 
 
 Beset by the representatives of foreign powers, urged 
 on by their threats and objurgations, and at the same 
 time perfectly conscious of the terrible responsibility 
 weighing upon them, ministers and officials seek by 
 temporising and doubtful expedients, by all possible 
 means in fact, to avoid war on one hand, or a humiliating 
 and onerous peace unacceptable to the people, on the 
 other. 
 
 Europeans unacquainted with the political customs 
 of China, do not understand the hesitation of the
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 141 
 
 officials, whom they accuse of rascality and duplicity — 
 ill-founded reproaches, alike unworthy and undeserved. 
 The day will come when, having ourselves adopted the 
 principles of true democracy, we shall regard other 
 governments in a better light. 
 
 If European countries were organised in the same 
 way as the Chinese, their governments would be as 
 much bereft of action and initiative as the latter, and 
 all war would be at an end to-morrow ; but unhappily 
 we have not arrived at that point yet. Our civilisa- 
 tions, composed of the different elements introduced 
 by the most varied immigrations, or the products 
 of genius the general tendency of which is towards 
 analysis, are so incoherent, that to preserve them 
 from dissolution we have always sought to provide 
 the unity and solidarity wanting to them by strong 
 political and administrative centralisation. Hence has 
 arisen such a habit of being governed, that we are 
 unable to believe society can exist without govern- 
 ment, and our highest dream is a good government, 
 that is to say, a strong one. Our ideal goes no 
 further, and such is our blindness to the existence of 
 what we ourselves do not possess, that we are incapable 
 of suspecting its existence with others. The vigorous 
 and regular breathing, which, coming from the deep 
 lungs of the Chinese nation, keeps all the organs to 
 their task, the healthy and active thought, which, 
 emanating from the Academy as from its brain, carries 
 feeling and life to all parts, seem to us but mysterious
 
 142 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 influences, a kind of occult power in which there is 
 nothing to foresee and everything to fear. 
 
 The contrary is the fact. In China, civilisation is so 
 synthetic — all institutions so much in unison one with 
 another, so harmonious, that the power of the State and 
 Government are practically non-existent.^ 
 
 It is absolutely indispensable for us to understand 
 this, and until we do we shall never be able to enter- 
 tain sure and profitable relations with China, but shall 
 be continually cheated and duped not by her, but by 
 the ignorance and versatility of our governments. And 
 yet how valuable her friendship, founded upon a com- 
 plete knowledge of her constitution and interests, would 
 be to us ! 
 
 China is certainly not a military power, but she 
 possesses a sufficient number of men for the slightest 
 movement on her part to disturb Europe, and compel 
 us to stand to arms. 
 
 At the other extremity of the double continent, what 
 services could she not render us at a given moment, 
 and what difficulties could she not place in the way of 
 another power nearer and readier to assist us ! 
 
 Nothing could be more unfortunate than the fatuity 
 of those who brought us into conflict. 
 
 However that may be, it would be both wise and 
 
 * There would apjiear to exist between Euro{x; and China the 
 same difference as between tlieir written cliuractcrs — the fir.st, ivli)lia- 
 betic and analytic ; the second ideograj)liic and synthetic. 'J'his 
 may exjjlain many things.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 143 
 
 dignified, especially on the part of the government of 
 a democratic nation, to endeavour, while there is time, 
 to guide its future policy with China, by the light I 
 have thrown upon its constitution and Government. 
 How many unfortunate mistakes would not have been 
 avoided. It is a puerile idea, at which Chinese 
 ministers themselves would smile if their fears would 
 allow them, to suppose that because a treaty has been 
 extracted from them pistol in hand, it will therefore be 
 accepted by the nation, if not commended to them by 
 the literati. The ambassadors should be accredited as 
 much to the Academy of Han-Lin as to the Emperor. 
 I have already observed that my visit to the literati of 
 the towns where I stopped were of more value to me 
 than the orders of the minister at Pekin. 
 
 It appears all the more necessary to insist on these 
 considerations, because very different views are attri- 
 buted to our government from those which should 
 guide it, in regard to the treaty it expects to obtain 
 from China. The following is the reasoning attributed 
 to it : ' China cannot attack us, and we can attack her ; 
 we will therefore blockade her ports, and England, now 
 favourable to China, will bring pressure to bear at 
 Pekin to avoid grave injury to her commerce. Our 
 plenipotentiary, with his treaty in his hand, will bring 
 forward the advantage to China of acquiring without a 
 blow a large part of the north of Tonkin, and with 
 the help of the unforeseen will obtain the signature of a 
 treaty sufficiently favourable to China.' I will not now
 
 144 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL POLITICAL, 
 
 discuss whether we are correct or not in thus counting 
 upon the intentions of England, and those of the other 
 powers interested in the commerce of the Far East. I 
 will even admit that the intervention of England may 
 succeed, and we obtain the wished-for treaty ; but will 
 the Chinese nation ratify it, and shall we possess 
 Tonkin after conquering it ? It has borne the seal of 
 China for fifteen or sixteen hundred years in its 
 customs, institutions and laws. Its system of property, 
 taxation, organisation, liberty and privileges of the 
 family, and worship of ancestors, are the same. The 
 language of the literati is Chinese, and that of the 
 people is derived from it. The Chinese and Tonkinese 
 belong, in one word, to the same family and the same 
 political group. Tonkin has not remained a depen- 
 dency of China, because it docs not enter into the 
 policy of the latter to maintain distant possessions, but 
 once having put down the incursions which the Ton- 
 kinese used to make into China, she organised and 
 civilised the country, and retired from it as soon as 
 possible. 
 
 The country owes to her its past prosperity and 
 its existence, and the danger to us is that she will be 
 welcomed there wlienever it pleases her to return. In 
 view of these circumstances it would appear singularly 
 difficult to seduce her by the oft'er of a i)arcel of terri- 
 tory which she now considers her own ; and though we 
 may compel the acquiescence of the Chinese ministers, 
 far from having concluded a treaty of peace, we shall
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. t45 
 
 merely have created a permanent state of war, which 
 will oblige us to maintain an army of 50,000 to 60,000 
 men in Tonkin. An inexhaustible and incessant supply 
 of recruits, whether trained or not in the regular army, 
 will come from the Chinese provinces bordering on the 
 impregnable country which divides them from Tonkin, 
 to supply the places of those killed fighting with us ; 
 and though the Chinese ministry will disavow their 
 proceedings, of which they will really be in ignorance, 
 we shall find ourselves at war with the most powerful 
 and irreducible nation in the world. We are following 
 this path, and rushing blindly into the dangers and 
 expenses to which it conducts us, while the probable 
 results are, in my opinion, far difierent from those 
 which we expect. Since, however, I have been led to 
 speak of the important Franco-Chinese question, I will 
 propose, at the risk of a short digression, to deal with 
 certain points which appear to have escaped the notice 
 of our rulers. 
 
 V. 
 
 Conquerors' reasons are always specious. Their aim is 
 always to make the genius of their country radiate afar, 
 to extend its influence, to open new markets to its 
 commerce and industry, and consequently to increase 
 the available labour and food for town-dwellers, to 
 bring the blessings of civilisation to backward popula- 
 tions, to free them from despotism, and obtain for them 
 liberty and dignity.
 
 '46 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 If these prospects appear somewhat doubtful, they at 
 all events appeal to future generations, but in the case 
 in point it so happens that the future has spoken, and 
 has not ceased speaking. There wants nothing but to 
 listen. The hopes with which we flatter ourselves are, 
 as a matter of fact, the same which inspired us on the 
 eve of our wars with Cochin China and China, in 1858 
 and 1863. That is nearly a quarter of a century ago, 
 and what has been the result ? It is not France that 
 trades with Cochin China, and as to China, I have 
 explained above that the exports from Europe have 
 remained nearly the same as previous to 1800, while 
 the exports from China have more than doubled. We 
 sell ou an average sixty centimes worth of our products 
 to each Chinaman, and there is no reason to suppose 
 we shall sell more to the Tonkinese. Assuming the 
 latter to amount to 12,000,000 souls, there will be 
 6,000,000 or 7,000,000 francs (£210,000 to £280,000) 
 worth of trade, when the country, armed and equipped 
 according to its requirements, shall have returned to its 
 normal condition. 
 
 Nor must it be forgotten that France will no more 
 possess the monopoly of trade there than in China, where 
 her share amounts to a few million francs at most. The 
 imports from Tonkin to Europe will be more consider- 
 able. China sends us 600,000,000 or 700,000,000 francs 
 (£24,000,000 to £28,000,000) worth of tea, silk, &c,, 
 and Tonkin will supply us with the same articles, 
 especially silk, in the same proportions.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 147 
 
 Here it should be noted that our southern peasants 
 complain greatly of the proximity of the market for 
 Chinese silks established at Lyons, too near the manu- 
 factory. I am not concerned here to inquire whether 
 they are wrong or right, only to point out that the 
 promised advantages are by no means uncontested or 
 incontestable. In what I have said I have taken into 
 consideration only the business possible with Tonkin 
 proper. The truth is, that outside our protectorate we 
 shall no longer be our own masters, and to discount 
 the trade we may be able to gain beyond it would be to 
 expose ourselves to possible grave errors, especially if 
 our relations with China, or rather with the Chinese 
 themselves, were not entirely cordial. If of her own 
 motion, or impelled by some exterior influence, she 
 closes her frontiers to us on that side, our castles in 
 the air at once come to the ground. Tonkin, which 
 properly speaking is but one road, becomes a blind alley. 
 A possible trade of 200,000,000 francs (£8,000,000) 
 with the western provinces of China, Yunnan, Kwei- 
 chow, Kwang-si, a part of Se-chuen, &c., has been 
 spoken of. 
 
 It is a large total for 50,000,000 inhabitants, consider- 
 ing that our united imports and exports amount to only 
 1,100,000,000 to 1,200,000,000 francs (£44,000,000 
 to £48,000,000) for the 500,000,000 which form the 
 total Chinese population. It should also not be for- 
 gotten that France will probably be unable to retain 
 more than the smallest part of this trade. It is alleged 
 
 L 2
 
 148 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 that we shall alter this state of things, but we shall 
 not be able to do so. Tonkin is not a desert country, 
 like the interior of Africa. Its population is at least 
 as dense as ours, and we shall not replace it, nor can 
 the customs of a people be any more changed than the 
 climate of a country. Some manufacturers, capitalists, 
 financial companies, more probably foreign than French, 
 or what not, realising the cheapness of cotton, silk, 
 iron, leather, tin, and other products of the soil of 
 Tonkin, the low price of hand-labour and the saving of 
 transport, will be certain to introduce steam machinery 
 from Europe, at a profit to no one but themselves. 
 Already the Manchester Chamber of Commerce is be- 
 coming alarmed at a few manufactories recently built 
 at Calcutta. Already the Chamber foresees the loss of 
 its Asiatic customers, the ruin of its national industry, 
 the misery of the workmen, &c., and the future dis- 
 placement of French, English and other industries for 
 the benefit of the Extreme East. There can be no 
 compensation for this, and no one can tell whether the 
 Tonkinese and Chinese will not eventually find their 
 way to Europe to partake and augment the distress 
 of our fellow-countrymen. Up to the present I have 
 only looked at the question from our point of view. 
 Have the Tonkinese any more reason for satisfaction ? 
 At present they are certainly far from happy, but it 
 seems to them that all their ills come from the plunder- 
 ing Annamites, who leave them nothing but their eyes 
 to weep with, and that they have nothing to desire but
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 149 
 
 to be freed from them. They would wish nothing more 
 than liberty to form their own government and adminis- 
 tration, fix, collect and expend their own taxes — enjoy, 
 in short, the liberty and gentleness of Chinese rule. 
 But between this rule and a government such as we are 
 accustomed to, is there not too great a difference for 
 reconciliation ? And besides, is it possible to suppose 
 that the Tonkinese would subscribe enthusiastically 
 towards the cost of a protectorate, not only to ensure 
 them against the Annamites, but which would be com- 
 pelled to assure itself against exterior enemies, and 
 thus require an expenditure on which they are far from 
 reckoning ? 
 
 Nor is this all ; as in China so in Tonkin, there is 
 neither great wealth nor great poverty, excepting that 
 which the Annamite dominion has produced ; both are 
 countries of small properties and minor industry. 
 There are but few salaried workmen, but there are 
 many small masters, earning their living at one or more 
 trades, happy and peaceful in the bosom of their families, 
 like persons for whom the morrow has no terrors. 
 
 Is it probable that this population will look on with 
 calmness, while masses of capital, accumulated in a 
 few hands aa in Europe, invade their country, and, in 
 the usual way, monopolise the land and industry, con- 
 vert the small masters into salaried workmen, and drag 
 them away from their families to herd in enormous work- 
 shops, and plunge them by degrees into the instability 
 and insecurity of the working populations of Europe ?
 
 \So CHINA: ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 Is it too dark a prophecy to say that a time will come 
 ■when a movement will take place in Tonkin against 
 foreigners similar to the anti-Semitic movement in 
 Europe ? I do not know, but the longer I consider the 
 matter the more sure I am that we have an evil task 
 before us in Tonkin. It may be asked if there was 
 nothing we could do there ; the answer is in the negative, 
 and we should have taken things differently from the be- 
 ginning. The one thing about Tonkin which is neither 
 a dream nor a picture, but a tangible reality, is not 
 Tonkin itself, but the mines situated outside Tonkin 
 proper, on the Chinese frontier, as well as in the 
 western provinces of China, which can be reached only 
 through Tonkin, that is to say, by means of the river 
 w4iich traverses it. There is also a trade which may 
 be opened up with these provinces by the same means. 
 Anything more is a delusion. But did China wait for 
 Franco to find the wealth hidden in her soil, and 
 acquaint her with the means of arriving at it ? Was it 
 France that discovered them ? A Frenchman certainly 
 made the first search, but, upon his report, China des- 
 patched him as chief of a mission to complete it, and 
 her Government, continually accused of apathy and 
 blind hostility towards Europeans, instructed him to 
 open up the navigation of the Iiod River, interrupted 
 for three hundred years, and to introduce European 
 industry, which would have been sufficiently repre- 
 sented by three or four financial companies. The 
 mission met with unexpected obstacles from the
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 151 
 
 Aimamites. Dupuis passed on, and conquered all re- 
 sistance, and his success would certainly have been 
 sustained and recompensed by China if he had not 
 addressed himself to France, who roughly intervened. 
 China then assumed an attitude of reserve. It may 
 be safely stated that but for this fault on the part 
 of our friend, all to the honour of his patriotism as it 
 was, China would have reached the end of her diffi- 
 culties, or would herself have driven out the Annamites, 
 and the four or five companies referred to would have 
 been in full operation for several years past. 
 
 This would have been all there was to do, and I 
 think it is much to be regretted that matters have 
 been differently managed, and that at this moment our 
 soldiers and money are engaged in an enterprise very 
 little to the true interests of the nation and its con- 
 tributories. 
 
 Perhaps the reader, following out my line of thought, 
 may be of opinion that if there be any method of re- 
 turning to the 8iaiu» quo ante, it should be adopted.^ 
 
 VI. 
 
 The impediments in the way of any Chinese Govern- 
 ment desiring to induce the nation to engage in any 
 enterprise opposed to its liberty and interests, do not 
 by any means all arise from its democratic constitution 
 
 1 This was written before the end of 1883.
 
 152 CHINA: ITS SOCIAL, POLITIC A L, 
 
 and its working ; there are more serious obstacles, in 
 the absence of a large army and monetary resources. 
 Several newspapers lately put the number of the 
 Chinese army at 2,000,000 ayailable men — a grand 
 mistake. The Tartar army does not number more than 
 80,000 eflfective soldiers, and the Chinese militia does 
 not exceed 400,000 men. In certain eventualities the 
 Government can, if the nation will consent to it, make 
 some addition to these figures, but a number of undrilled 
 men taken from the fields possess only a relative value. 
 The Government is exceedingly poor, although every 
 citizen possesses greater comfort than in any other 
 country. As a matter of fact, the revenues of the 
 State scarcely amount to 1400 or 1500 million francs 
 (£60,000,000), and cannot be increased. Whenever 
 the public expenses exceed the budget they can only 
 be met by means of a public subscription. If the 
 elected councils recognise these expenses as legitimate 
 and necessary, and especially if required for purposes 
 of defence, the subscriptions are abundant, and no doubt 
 as many men could be obtained as there are means of 
 supporting. 
 
 But if the demands of Government do not seem 
 justifiable, they are rejected without pity. It should 
 be added that the estimate and control of expenses are 
 made more easy by the fact that China possesses no 
 colonies, and its defence is therefore confined to its own 
 territory. 
 
 State borrowings, the ordinary expedient of govern-
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 153 
 
 ments, were unknown twenty years ago, and the basis 
 on which the Europeans who introduced the practice 
 have established it is such as to afford only small re- 
 sources. The administration of the customs in the 
 ports open to foreigners is entrusted to Europeans, and 
 from this source the Chinese Government receives 
 150 million francs yearly (£6,000,000), free from the 
 control of the nation. These revenues form the secu- 
 rity on which English, French, and German bankers 
 have issued loans at from nine to ten per cent., and 
 they may be termed the extraordinary resources of 
 the Chinese Government. It will be noticed that they 
 are both limited and contingent, which, under certain 
 circumstances, might be productive of grave conse- 
 quences. The ordinary resources are the produce of 
 the land tax, the revenue from mines, and the salt 
 monopoly. The civil list of the Emperor, as has already 
 been stated, is formed by the produce of his flocks in 
 Mongolia, by a part of the salt revenues, and by the 
 tributes of states vassal to China. 
 
 With such means as these, the sources of which have 
 never changed, the Chinese Government has been able 
 to satisfy the needs of the population for a period of at 
 least fifteen hundred years. 
 
 VII. 
 
 "We now come to a question which has often arisen 
 regarding the relations of Europe with China, and
 
 154 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 which at this moment presents itself with more force 
 than ever — and that is, the motive of the antipathies 
 shown to strangers, which are sometimes attributed to 
 an integral part of the Chinese constitution, which, 
 like the Jewish and Mussulman law, interdicts all rela- 
 tions with foreigners ; sometimes to a narrow egotism ; 
 and sometimes to ridiculous precautions, and well or 
 badly founded mistrust. The reader knows what to 
 think. What I have recently stated on the subject of 
 the State loans, is sufficient to show the real causes of 
 Chinese repulsion for foreigners. All governments 
 resemble each other, and that of China holds its own 
 only through the precautions with which the institu- 
 tions of the country have surrounded it. 
 
 Centuries, however, have been requisite to contrive 
 the needful guarantees against any attempts it might 
 be induced to make against the sovereigoty of the 
 people, and if it were offered the means of freeing itself 
 from all control, it may be feared it would accept 
 them, though doubtless only to use them, in the first 
 instance, against the difficulties and embarrassments 
 created by those who first proposed such expedients to 
 it. How would it be possible, however, to ensure that 
 they should not some day be turned against the citizens 
 whose peace and security are its first charge ? The 
 members of the Government are well aware of this, and 
 while bowing to the exigencies of the moment, they 
 owe us a grudge for the danger we are creating for the 
 State. The literati are well aware of the peril, and
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. igt; 
 
 lose no opportunity of acquainting the people of it, 
 who, in their turn, press it upon the Government. 
 
 This is but one point ; there are many others. Our 
 trade, though not taking any considerable product into 
 the country, disturbs the relations which centuries have 
 created between production and consumption, and upsets 
 a political economy the results of which, after all, are 
 at least equal to those we have been able to obtain in 
 Europe. Opium, a terrible plague to society, is also in- 
 troduced, and though opium-smokers are not so numerous 
 as is supposed, since the consumption of this article 
 does not exceed 400,000,000 francs worth (£16,000,000) 
 for 537,000,000 of inhabitants, it has already created 
 considerable disorder in the management of the soil. 
 The cultivation of the poppy, forbidden until 1860, has 
 been authorised since Europeans compelled the G-overn- 
 ment to admit its product, and occupies millions of 
 acres, which the people see taken away from more 
 necessary cultivation with much dislike. 
 
 It is alleged that opium was already among the 
 habits of the people, but all society contains the germs 
 of all possible vices. I shall give, later on, the moral 
 reasons of the development of this in particular, but 
 the physical reasons are among those which the 
 Government possessed the right and duty to restrain, 
 and Europe cannot escape the blame of disregard- 
 ing both this right and this duty. In 1881, when 
 in Japan, I heard a story of a ship bearing 100 
 opium-smokers, sent by a European house from
 
 1 56 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 Shanghai to introduce this vice. There is nothing 
 European, up to the noisy and pompous mode of life 
 of the small merchants in China, which is not an 
 aggression upon the simple, equal, and modest manners 
 of the Chinese. 
 
 Even oflScial relations, always courteous in Europe, 
 change their fashion in China. Our diplomatists often 
 show towards Chinese officials an attitude too much 
 impressed with the feeling of the superiority of the 
 civilisation they represent. But from this point of 
 view it must be confessed it is principally to the mis- 
 sionaries that we owe the worst conflicts we have had 
 with the Chinese. I do not speak of their doctrines, but 
 of their personal acts and the means to which they have 
 recourse, though by no means all are guilty in this re- 
 spect ; on the contrary, there are some who blame the 
 excess of zeal, the imprudence, and the abuses they 
 witness. The latter have mostly abandoned attempts at 
 conversion, and have given themselves up to the study 
 of the language and books. Living as peaceful inhabi- 
 tants of the villages to which they belong, and quietly 
 and. simply fulfilling the duties of their ministry in the 
 midst of their small Hocks, while retaining as much 
 leisure as possible for their studies, they receive from 
 the people and mandarins all the consideration usually 
 accorded to literati. From time to time they send to 
 Europe considerable works, the value of which as a 
 whole should be neither despised nor exaggerated, as I 
 shall cxphiin later on, but which contribute very largely
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 157 
 
 to the increase of our knowledge. Most of the ancient 
 Jesuits of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 
 — AmyotjEicci, Eemare, Verbiest, G-reubil and others — 
 belonged to this group. Learned men as well as literati, 
 these ancient Jesuits understood better than their suc- 
 cessors, what a formidable obstacle their propaganda was 
 meeting with, and they endeavoured to avoid it by con- 
 ciliating Christian worship with the two great national 
 worships of China ; and they were interested not only 
 in not speaking ill of the native religion, but in showing 
 it up in the light most favourable to their views. Their 
 panegyrists assure us, that if they had been left alone, 
 ' all China would be Catholic by to-day.' But a distinc- 
 tion must be allowed. If it is meant that Catholicism 
 would have ended by triumphing and becoming the 
 exclusive religion of the majority of Chinese, it is, in 
 my opinion, a pure illusion, of which the reader should 
 by this time be convinced. If it is meant that it would 
 have been able, like Buddhism, for example, to add its 
 fundamental ideas to Chinese civilisation, I have less 
 to say against it ; but that would involve the same 
 qualities as Buddhism, a complete renunciation of all 
 supremacy and domination, both temporal and political, 
 to which it is not probable the new Church would long 
 have remained resigned. However it may be, denounced 
 by the Dominicans and Lazarists, suspended and 
 suppressed by Pope Clement XI., the Jesuits were 
 obliged to renounce their plans, and the scandalous 
 and violent scenes which obliged the Chinese Govern-
 
 158 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 ment to expel all parties, are too well known to require 
 repetition. 
 
 Since the readmission of missionaries to China in 
 1840, those sent have been simply catechists, expressly 
 forbidden to meddle with any questions which might 
 tend to the renewal of old disputes. All scientific 
 research is prohibited, and the few who, in consideration 
 of exceptional ability, are permitted by their bishop to 
 occupy themselves with any other subject than their 
 duties, are strictly confined to linguistic studies and 
 compilations. In this manner they render, and have 
 rendered, great services, and I am by no means sure 
 that it is to be regretted that the field of their opera- 
 tions is more limited than before : the interests of true 
 science probably do not suffer thereby ; and what has 
 been already said of Father Eemare and his tendency 
 to force texts out of their meaning, is an instance of 
 the danger even the best instructed are liable to cause 
 to themselves and others. 
 
 Some even go further than to alter the meaning of a 
 character. There is extant a translation of the Y-King, 
 the principal book of the Chinese, made by Father 
 Regis, a former Jesuit, in which not only has the 
 meaning been incorrectly rendered, but some com- 
 mentaries added by Confucius have been replaced by 
 the author with his own.^ 
 
 That this unjustifiable proceeding is exclusively 
 
 * See the preface to Vestiges des Principaux Dogmes Chretiens, 
 by M. Boubelt, already referred to.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 159 
 
 attributable to the religious education of Father Kegis, 
 is not the opinion of some sinologues, according to ■whom 
 there are many of the laity quite capable of similar 
 faults. Knowledge of a language is not sufficient to 
 make a good translator, to it must be added indepen- 
 dence of mind and character and some preliminary 
 knowledge of the subject, and the combination of these 
 qualities, not common among the laity, is very rare 
 among priests. Nevertheless, however objectioDable 
 want of fidelity and consequent violence to the sacred 
 books of China may be on the part of a translator, they 
 have not, directly at all events, been the cause of blood- 
 shed, which is more than can be said of all the results 
 of the religious zeal of the missionaries. Those, more 
 numerous now than the first group, who make the pro- 
 paganda of the faith their sole aim and object, however 
 high their education and knowledge of the Chinese 
 language, are nothing but a plague, and the most 
 terrible agents European civilisation can have in 
 China. 
 
 Their motto is, ' Everything for the glory of God 
 and the Catholic, Apostolic, and Koman Church.' 
 ' We are Frenchmen, but Catholics first,' remarked 
 Father Lemaitre to me, and he made the same remark 
 to General Montauban. 
 
 As an instance of the application of this motto I will 
 give the following example. In 1880 our plenipo- 
 tentiary. Baron Gros, had as his senior interpreter 
 a priest of the foreign missiou, M. Delamarre, who,
 
 i6o CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 contrary to his duty and the trust reposed in him, 
 contrived to insert in the Chinese text of the treaty, 
 without the knowledge and against the will of the 
 plenipotentiary, a clause which might at any time have 
 provoked war between France and China, and which 
 has already done much harm.^ 
 
 This clause compels the Chinese Government to 
 restore to the existing missionary bodies the property 
 confiscated from the Jesuits 150 years ago. The diffi- 
 culty in the way of the restoration of this property, 
 which has since passed through many hands, has been 
 much divided, and is in many instances covered with 
 dwellings, is so great as to induce the Chinese Govern- 
 ment, true to its signature, although perfectly cognisant 
 of the fraud of Abbe Delamarre, to make every possible 
 sacrifice to redeem it. At Chong-King-Fou, for in- 
 stance, in Se-Chuen, they ofi'ered double the quantity 
 of land and suflicient funds for the construction of a 
 Catholic church. The missionaries unfortunately did 
 not show the same spirit of conciliation in the vindica- 
 tion of their rights. The answer given by M. Desfleches 
 to the proposal in question was that they desired the 
 land on which the true God had been worshipped, and 
 no other. Thence arose the disturbances and plunder 
 of the Christians in Chong-King in 1862, and the 
 consequent indemnity paid by the Chinese Govern- 
 ment, and thence arose also the murder of two mis- 
 
 ' I have this fact from soveral sources, among others from 
 M. Delamarre, who boasted of it.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. i6i 
 
 sionaries imprudently sent by M. Desfleches to a 
 village where these events, and the severity of their 
 repression, had produced a paroxysm of hate against 
 the missionary body in general.^ 
 
 In 1870 the Society of the Sainte-Enfance had, after 
 several years without success, collected at Tien-Tsin a 
 certain number of children whose parents had been 
 compelled to abandon them by the floods of the Yellow 
 Eiver. The parents, having recovered from their mis- 
 fortunes, reclaimed their children, but as they had 
 been baptised, the Sainte-Enfance refused to give them 
 up and for greater security despatched them to another 
 province. The consequence was the massacre not only 
 of the missionaries, but of the French residents at 
 Tien-Tsin and of the Consul. 
 
 * If I had been there,' remarked to me once M. Dela- 
 place, Bishop of Ning-Po, also a Lazarist like those in 
 charge of the orphanage at Tien-Tsin, ' this misfortune 
 would not have occurred.' ^ 
 
 I will tell another story which occurred in 18G0, 
 when, at the call of the missionaries, France sent an 
 army to China. The French arms were victorious, but 
 as it was for the missionaries' sake they came, so it was 
 
 ^ M. ^labileau, and another whose name I have forgotten. 
 M. Desfleches obtained a large indemnity for the murder of tliese 
 priests. 
 
 ^ It may be noted that M. Delaplace made no false boast. A 
 few years before, in 18GG, having committed the same error ui re- 
 fusing to return a bai)tised child to its parents, he had the gnod 
 sense to ask our advice, and the prudence to be guided l)y it.
 
 i62 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 tliey wlio were the conquerors, and as testimony to 
 their power, churches were built everywhere — at Ning- 
 Po, Shanghai, Canton, Pekin — out of the war indemnity, 
 assisted by the liberality of the French Government. 
 The Bishop of Canton desired to build, instead of a 
 church, a cathedral at a probable cost of millions of 
 francs, for what reason is not apparent, since the town 
 contains but 300 or 400 converts. With what funds 
 the desired consummation was to be efi'ected is also not 
 apparent, since he, like his colleagues, had received only 
 a portion of a sum of 100,000 francs (£4000). ' God 
 will provide,' said the bishop, and the foundations were 
 made with the money allotted, and the first stone laid, 
 at which ceremony the viceroy who had been duly in- 
 vited was present. This effected, the materials were 
 at an end. Application was accordingly made to the 
 Consul. * Would it not be possible to obtain authority 
 to take the stones which have fallen from such a hill, 
 and which obstruct the road not far from the town? 
 It would be doing a public service by opening the road.' 
 The Consul duly obtained authority from the viceroy, 
 and funds being wanting a further levy was made on 
 the war indemnity. Shortly after, the material again 
 fell short. 
 
 ' If the loose stones could be taken from the hill it 
 would prevent a public danger.' Authority was duly 
 obtained and a further levy made on the war indemnity. 
 Once more the stones fell short. 
 
 'Ah, Consul, if you could only get permission for
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 163 
 
 us to dig into the mountain. A mere nothing would 
 suffice.' ' Yes,' said the viceroy, ' but do not disturb 
 the burial-ground, and do not dig in front of it, or 
 you will endanger its safety, and the people will 
 be angered.' The operations proceeded, but so far 
 from a mere nothing being sufficient, they were 
 carried so far that the townspeople became annoyed 
 and gave free vent to their feelings. The viceroy gave 
 warning. ' Never mind, let us go on,' and the 
 operations proceeded, until one day the people attacked 
 the converts. 
 
 There are numerous instances of this kind. A child 
 is converted, for example, and in consequence renounces 
 ancestral worship and his contribution to its expenses. 
 His brothers and relations demand that he shall give 
 up his share of his inheritance, which he refuses to do. 
 A lawsuit follows, with which the missionaries inter- 
 fere ; they in their turn are requested to take their 
 departure. This is called persecution in the annals 
 of the propagation of the faith. 
 
 A criminal is being pursued, and requests baptism, 
 which is granted together with a temporary asylum. 
 The magistrate continues the pursuit and arrests the 
 guilty person. This again is called persecution in the 
 annals. 
 
 The dream of most missionaries is to possess the 
 right to administer justice to their converts, and they 
 would not hesitate to bring about a new war if they 
 could hope to obtain in a new treaty a clause giving 
 
 M 2
 
 i64 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 tliem this right, even if gained after the fashion of 
 M. Delamarre. 
 
 And was it not thus that at Kome Christianity made 
 its earlier progress ? 
 
 Power in every form is the object of the most ardent 
 desires of the missionaries, and in fact it is not only a 
 l?roof of success, it is the best means of retaining it. 
 M. Delamarre himself told me that on one occasion, not 
 being received by the viceroy with all the honours 
 reserved for mandarins of high rank, he entered in 
 a rage, struck the usher whoso business it was to see 
 that the countersign was respected, and violently cross- 
 ing the courts and apartments, presented himself before 
 the viceroy with threats in his mouth. He claimed, 
 certainly, the position of French delegate, but with 
 what object ? 
 
 M. Faurie, Bishop of Kwei-Chow, and the Bishop of 
 Chensi, take the insignia of the highest officials in the 
 towns they inhabit, and traverse the provinces sur- 
 rounded by escorts in which the cross, banners, mitre, 
 Catholic ornameiits, and red gowns of the choristers, 
 are confused with the fans, parasols, and all the 
 ])araplicrnalia of Chinese authority, provoking the 
 laughter and jests of some and the anger of others. 
 And the most remarkable point is that personally, 
 and whenever they can forget the motive of their pre- 
 sence in China, the missionaries are, as a matter of fact, 
 the best and most agreeable people in the world, very 
 amiable, and always ready to be of use.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 165 
 
 Looking upon their polished, gentle and courteous 
 demeanour, they appear the best of men, and listening 
 to their patriotic conversation, it is not to be wondered 
 at that their influence, however problematical, should 
 appear desirable. 
 
 But they are not to be trusted, and however devoted 
 and good they may seem, they lose their heads the instant 
 that the interest of their religion or congregation ap- 
 pears in danger. They then become false egoists, hard 
 and covetous, shrinking from no means, not even the 
 sacrifice of your life, to enable them to reach either 
 their own ends, or those imposed upon them by their 
 position. 
 
 I shall never forget the difficulties placed by M. Des- 
 fleches, the Bishop of Se-Chuon, in the way of my 
 journey in that province, or the tricks he played me 
 after my arrival there. He feared that I should show 
 the converts, preserved up till then from all profane 
 contact, that all Frenchmen did not frequent mass, nor 
 bend their knees before the bishops nor kiss their 
 pastoral ring. 
 
 I escaped his toils, however, and approached the 
 frontier of Se-Chuen, where I found a missionary 
 selected by the bishop, who accompanied mo every- 
 where as guide and interpreter, and showed himself 
 full of devotion. The rogue was playing me false. 
 The bishop, I discovered later, had caused a report 
 to be spread that I had come to investigate the details 
 of the rising against the converts, and io hasten the
 
 1 66 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 punisliment of the guilty, and this report was con- 
 firmed by the presence of the missionary at my side. 
 This was the object of his politeness ! Then one day, 
 in spite of my refusals, warnings, and precautions, I 
 found myself, without knowing how, in the midst of a 
 church on fire. He had been cleverer than I, and 
 though I returned from his province, he cannot be said 
 to have helped me. On the contrary, he did all he 
 could to leave me there. 
 
 I will give one more instance of a graver nature, since 
 it cost the lives of several Frenchmen and the humilia- 
 tion of our flag, without taking into consideration the 
 murder of thousands of natives. 
 
 This event took place in Corea. Father Feron, being 
 discontented with the king and government, resolved to 
 rei)lacc them. It was only a question of reaching, 
 during the night, the ancient and rich burial-places of 
 former kings, carrying away their contents, and re- 
 turning them only on certain conditions. He resolved 
 to make the attempt, and came to Shanghai, where he 
 chartered a Portuguese merchant vessel, the captain of 
 which was a thorough scamp, promised the plunder to 
 the crew, and departed with the ship. The effort failed, 
 and the missionaries who had remained in Corea were 
 hung. Father Feron was sent buck to Franco by the 
 legation. 
 
 Some time afterwards, the admiral commanding the 
 French squadron in Chinese waters, urged on by other 
 missionaries, determined to avenge the death of their
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 167 
 
 predecessors; he •went to Corea, whence he returned 
 beaten, with the loss of several men, killed' and 
 wounded. 
 
 With this narrative I will end this chapter, and I 
 trust the reader will not misunderstand the motives 
 which have led me to write it.
 
 i6S CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 PART lY. 
 
 THE GOYEKNMENT. 
 
 One word coDtinually recurs in Chinese conversation, 
 the word, gen^ which should be literally translated 
 as humanity, but to which the Chinese have given a 
 second meaning signifying solidarity. Gen is not an 
 aspiration to solidarity, a feeling or a virtue such as 
 charity, love, or fraternity : it is a fact, a condition. 
 Nor does it include only living beings, its tendency is 
 to cause to live, to call into life as many beings as 
 possible. Humanity, or solidarity, would in fact be 
 meaningless in a country where population was so 
 sparse that the inhabitants were scarcely acquainted 
 with each other. 
 
 Let me recall the religious precepts already quoted : 
 ' The past and future should bo as the present ; there 
 are things hidden, but they exist ; vou cannot see the 
 entire human race, but it exists, and it is your duty to 
 aid in its most complete manifestation.' If gen thus 
 defined can be made a reality, it is the source of all 
 ^ Prououiiced as in <r(iicTatiuu.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 169 
 
 happiness ; abundance, riches, peace, liberty, happiness, 
 all result naturally from it. If it is wrongly conceived, 
 solidarity does not cease, because its unity of essence is 
 indestructible, but it is solidarity in disunion, inequa- 
 lity, in evil, and the inevitable consequences, poverty, 
 war, slavery, misfortune of every kind, follow. There 
 is nothing surprising then in the frequent recurrence 
 of the word. 
 
 Gen has no other foundation than the unity of 
 Heaven, humanity, and earth, or the physical universe ; 
 and as, according to their doctrines, man is the inter- 
 mediary between Heaven and earth, and the incarnation 
 of both, the Chinese have named this method of con- 
 sidering matters, humanity. 
 
 Gen has not remained a purely ideal quality ; the 
 Chinese have brought all their institutions into con- 
 formity with it. Spiritually speaking, these are the 
 worship of Heaven, and of ancestors, and physically, 
 the pains they take that the union of the soil may be 
 a reality not only with humanity as a whole, but in, 
 and with each of its members. The family hearth 
 reposes on the patrimonial land, and the possession of 
 lands bestows a political value upon the citizen. 
 
 It is, in short, upon the right and duty, as absolute 
 one as the other, and as the idea from which they 
 both take their rise ; it is upon this right and duty 
 of each man to union with the soil that they have 
 established the collective ownershi]^ of the soil, the 
 system of usufruct of property, the return to the
 
 I70 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 State of uncultivated land, and the system of taxation 
 on area. 
 
 The^MS uti et abuti of the Koman law would be in 
 China a sacrilege and a crime. Free soil always free 
 has become with the Chinese the connecting link 
 between men, and the most efficacious instrument of 
 their multiplication and solidarity. Gen incarnated is 
 the foundation on which their civilisation has been 
 built, a civilisation which has borne fruit little known 
 elsewhere. 
 
 A population of a density so unknown to other 
 societies that it is as if the dead, called again to life, 
 augmented the roll of the living, has arisen without 
 encountering insurmountable obstacles. Not only has 
 its jjrogress been closely followed by an equivalent 
 increase in the produce of the soil, but it has been 
 able to provide for its moral needs, in a manner 
 unknown to any other nation. 
 
 If liberty, the first of their needs, is naturally one 
 which a people would know how to seek of its own 
 accord, no other people has brought the part of it which 
 it cannot keep to such an irreducible minimum as the 
 Chinese. 
 
 As r/e^i became a reality, and the density of the 
 population increased, taxation diminished for each 
 person until it reached its present minimum of 3 francs 
 (23. Gel.) per head, and as the territorial circumscrip- 
 tions became more and more thickly populated, the 
 action of Government became less and less perceptible.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. iji 
 
 until at present it is sufficiently assured by a single 
 official to more than 400,000 citizens. 
 
 Gen has therefore had two immense results. By the 
 rights and privileges necessarily attached to the family 
 institution of which it is the base, it encourages citizens 
 to preserve their independence, and by the nature of 
 the means Government holds at its disposal, not only 
 does gen lay down its functions and powers in a manner 
 which prevents any usurpation, but it incloses them in 
 such limits that the progress of things has reduced 
 them to almost nothing. 
 
 Oen, or, in other words, the social, political, econo- 
 mical, and religious conception, which is at bottom the 
 whole of Chinese civilisation, is of capital importance 
 from the point of view of the intervention and absten- 
 tion of Government in the State. 
 
 For this reason, before dealing with the functions of 
 Chinese government, I have devoted a small space to an 
 explanation of its nature. 
 
 I. 
 
 The Chinese did not discover the force and object of 
 their Government at the first attempt, and although 
 they had carefully preserved the doctrines which 
 former sages had laid down for their guidance, they 
 did not reach their goal till after numerous and painful 
 experiences. The application of the doctrines referred 
 to further required so great intelligence that for
 
 172 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 centuries it could only be directed by a small number 
 of individuals of exceptional gifts. 
 
 The Hites of the Dynasty of the Cheou} who seem 
 to have had especially allotted them the important 
 duty of initiation from the second to the fourth cen- 
 tury before our era, are simply a collection of laws 
 and rules directed towards the realisation of the union 
 of humanity and man with the earth. 
 
 Almost all the officials of that epoch were husband- 
 men. Some presided over the irrigations ; not only did 
 they cause the execution of the necessary works, they 
 indicated the favourable moment. It was the duty of 
 others to watch over the sowing, and to indicate the 
 most favourable crops to the people ; and of others 
 again to see that manure was properly prepared and 
 applied, and all waste provided against. Others again 
 formed, in the less populous parts of the territory, 
 military colonies, to which they taught the practice of 
 agriculture. 
 
 All agricultural operations were conducted with the 
 utmost attention to detail. Progress, civilisation, gen, 
 were developed despotically by authority. This initia- 
 tion lasted for centuries, but was eventually completed, 
 the Empire peopled, the earth animated and cultivated. 
 The breath of man and of tho soil ascended together to 
 Heaven. 
 
 ]>ut unfortunately, tho sovereign had acquired the 
 habit of despotism, and then commenced that long 
 ^ Translated in(o Fri'iuli liy Ed. liiot.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 173 
 
 series of reclamations and reactions, of which I have 
 previously spoken, and which ended, about the third or 
 fourth century of our era, in the formation of the 
 government which is the subject of this study. 
 
 The people gradually acquired more and more power 
 during this period of trial, and learned to add the 
 results of experience to the teachings of the Cheou. 
 It learned not only to unite its lot with the soil, but 
 to govern itself, and acquired from the land not only 
 life but freedom. It learned to think, compare, and 
 reason for itself. The literati rising up on all sides 
 added their own aphorisms, derived from observation, 
 to the philosophic and semi-sacred axioms of former 
 sages. 
 
 ' Order does not arise from power,' said they. 
 ' Society is governed from within to without.' 
 
 * The family is a small state, the State is a fede- 
 ration of families.' 
 
 ' The State is but a society of mutual assurance ; 
 the more numerous the assured the less are the risks, 
 and the lighter the charges.' 
 
 'Government is but the syndicate of society.' 
 
 ' Nothing is more difficult than to indicate the limits 
 of its action; its function should be to preserve existing 
 institutions from all internal and external attack, while 
 abstaining itself from meddling with them.' 
 
 ' It is no part of its duty to hinder the progress of 
 civilisation, but to keep it within the limits traced out 
 for it by tradition.'
 
 174 CHINA: ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 ' If Government conform to these rules, it will never 
 be tempted to infringe them.' 
 
 ' If it observe them, families will multiply, and will 
 themselves provide for the business of their communes 
 and provinces, with which Government will not then 
 be troubled.' 
 
 ' The best Government is that which is least seen.' 
 
 The Chinese seem hence to regard Government as a 
 foreign object, from which progress should either relieve 
 them entirely, or at all events reduce its functions to 
 the lowest possible point. 
 
 This may be accepted as their ideal, and the follow- 
 ing pages will show how far it has been realised. 
 
 IT. 
 
 The number of ministries forming the Government is 
 the first indication, — there are but six ; the enumeration 
 of the ministries is the second, — they are : personal, 
 finances, rites (that is, home and foreign affairs united), 
 army, justice, and public works. That is all. There 
 are therefore no ministers of religion, agriculture, public 
 instruction, fine arts, posts, commerce, marine, or colonies. 
 The duties of such ministries are not absolutely non- 
 existent, but are so light as not to require mention. 
 Some of course would be entirely superfluous. There 
 can be no necessity, for instance, for a ministry of public 
 worship in a state possessing no religion but that of 
 civilisation, nor other worship than a domestic form
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 173 
 
 such as the ancestral, and an official form consisting 
 of four or five annual solemnities presided over by the 
 Emperor. In such a civilisation, the ministry of public 
 worship is distributed everywhere, first in each family, 
 then among the other ministries, but has no special 
 place. The Chinese consider that to concern themselves 
 with the beliefs and superstitions of private individuals, 
 would be to afibrd them a countenance and importance 
 of which they are unworthy. None are suppressed, 
 because no one has the right to inquire into the creed 
 of individuals, but it would be unjust to make them a 
 charge on the public exchequer. They are permitted 
 perfect freedom on condition that they do not trespass 
 beyond the proper limits of thought into action detri- 
 mental to the common good. The Government thus 
 has occasionally confiscated Buddhist pagodas to return 
 them to the people, and steadily resists all encroach- 
 ment on civil authority by foreign religions. These 
 are the limits of the function of Government in religious 
 matters,^ and it will be observed that if the ministry 
 of public worship was originally an official institution, 
 
 ^ For the iiifonnation of any reader curious to know the cost to 
 the Chinese of these different private creeds, 'J'aouists, liuddhists, 
 Mohammedans, Chriotians, &c., I may add that, according to the 
 calculations of a Protestant niisaonary, the total cost equals the 
 taxation of the country, or three francs per head of the population, 
 all included. 
 
 It is considerable, but not excessive, if compared with that of 
 Christian worship, baptisms, burials, marriages, masses, not in- 
 cluding the official budget of public worship.
 
 176 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 it has long since been, so to speak, reabsorbed by the 
 nation. 
 
 A similar reabsorption, which has seemed to me one 
 of the most marked proofs of the success of Chinese 
 civilisation, is that of the ministry of agriculture. I 
 have already stated that under the Cheou dynasty it 
 formed the entire government. It has completely dis- 
 appeared, and yet nowhere is agriculture in so flourish- 
 ing a condition ; and this condition is due to justice. 
 I may be accused of repetition, and yet it is not to me 
 but to the elaborate Chinese civilisation that the fault 
 should be ascribed. But what higher praise can be 
 given it, or higher proof of unity aflbrded, than that 
 all its aspects should be lighted by the same rays, or 
 all its rays mingled in the same light. Do justice 
 to the soil, return to it what it yields to you. To 
 rob it of its remnant is a crime ; do not throw it into 
 the sea, do not export your land. The soil is the 
 body of humanity. Unite yourselves to it as the soul 
 to the body. Do justice to the peasant. Do not take 
 from him the fruit of his labour, of the sweat which 
 has fertilised your fields. Do not add a crushing 
 tax to the toil which already bends him. Let the land 
 reserved for pleasure pay at least as much as that 
 reserved for produce. Then the fruits of humanity, (jtn, 
 will be assured. And they have already borne them. 
 
 The generations have increased. Thanks to the 
 density of the population, the earth has reached a 
 degree of fertility hitherto undreamed of. Harvest
 
 AXD RELIGIOUS LIFE. \77 
 
 succeeds harvest, in the same field and in the same year, 
 and 500 men live in comfort here on an area where 
 only a few subsisted a thousand years ago. There is no 
 reason to suppose this number cannot further increase. 
 Given humanity, equity, unity, and good morals, as 
 Confucius required, and what more is needed will be 
 found in the heart, head, and limbs of every Chinaman. 
 All are born husbandmen ; religion, culture, in a word, 
 life, are in the blood of the people, and hence there is 
 no need for a minister of agriculture. 
 
 "With regard to public instruction a distinction must 
 be made between the primary and superior ; the former 
 is absolutely private, and is afforded either in the 
 schools attached to the ancestral temples, where such 
 exist, or in private schools, which any person is at 
 liberty to open at pleasure. 
 
 The domestic system, under which education is a 
 most important obligation, renders all compulsory 
 legal or governmental action unnecessary and useless, 
 and involves the incidental advantage that the Govern- 
 ment is not concerned with the lot of ihe teaching 
 staff, who are always certain of a sufficient number of 
 scholars. The richer parents pay for the poorer, and 
 there is not a child in China who cannot go daily to 
 school with more certainty than, alas ! ours to the 
 baker s. I have already mentioned the objects of 
 Chinese instruction, and I shall deal with the matter 
 in detail later on in a special chapter upon elementary 
 and secondary education. 
 
 N
 
 178 CHINA: ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 Before going farther, however, there is one point I 
 desire to bring under notice. It is well known that 
 Chinese writing is ideographic, that is to say, that each 
 character does not represent a letter as in phonetic 
 alphabets, or even a word, but an idea, and conse- 
 quently a child learning to read and write fills his 
 memory, not with words only, but with ideas, which 
 he is required to explain, comment upon, and compare, 
 a process which cannot fail to quicken his intelligence. 
 
 I have frequently witnessed the astonishment of 
 Europeans, when rallied on the awkwardness they have 
 displayed in dealing with difficult symbols, to find them- 
 selves set right by children of ten to twelve years ; and 
 who moreover showed wonderful correctness of judg- 
 ment. I have myself also been much surprised when 
 conversing with Chinese children on serious topics, to 
 note the clearness and justice of their answers and 
 reflections. 
 
 No doubt family teaching, with its regular readings 
 and fortnightly councils, the inscriptions visible in 
 profusion on all the buildings, and roads, the sides of the 
 canals, the approaches to the bridges, the public and 
 private cemeteries, all of which recall a duty, or an 
 inspiring thought, and above all, the judicial power 
 systematically exercised under their eyes by their 
 parents, suffice to explain the childish precocity which 
 is so striking to us. ]5ut it is a question worthy of 
 the reader's consideratioji, whether the writing, which 
 is at the base of this integral method of education and
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE, I79 
 
 instruction, is not in itself one of the principal eanses 
 of the fact to which I have drawn attention. How- 
 ever that may be, it is certain that the people possess 
 an amount of good sense, and a remarkable sum of 
 ideas, which we may suppose is due to their system of 
 primary instruction. 
 
 As for superior instruction, which is accessible to 
 all, but for which the taste and desire vary in different 
 persons, it would appear unfair that the Government 
 should be required to undertake the expenses of its 
 administration, for it would fall upon the general tax- 
 payer. It haa not, therefore, done so ; but as the matter 
 is one of too great importance to be left entirely to the 
 initiative of private individuals, its direction has been 
 placed in the hands of the Academy of the Han-Lin. 
 The Government contribution is limited to the strictly 
 necessary expenses, the others are covered by donations 
 and by the students of all ages, who with so dense a 
 population are always numerous. 
 
 Thus the directing staff already enumerated is paid 
 from the government subsidy, the teaching staff by 
 the pupils. 
 
 Nevertheless, though the State is so thrifty as 
 regards public money, it is sufficiently liberal in other 
 rewards to education. 
 
 All appointments, even the highest, are filled from 
 among the literati according to their several degrees, 
 and the senior graduate of the competition for tlie 
 doctorate may even aspire to the hand of a daughter 
 
 N 2
 
 I To CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 of the Imperial house. Should the Emperor possess 
 no daughter, he adopts the child of one of his ministers 
 and bestows her upon the fortunate man in marriage. 
 Among more positive advantages the doctor ranks with 
 a minister or viceroy, whose duties he fulfils after travel- 
 ling for two or three years in different provinces, where 
 he is always received with Imperial honours. He has 
 the right, accorded only to ministers, viceroys, and the 
 great inspectors of public instruction, of living in the 
 splendid palaces of the universities. His first duty is 
 invariably to visit his parents, to thank them for the 
 honour he owes to their care, and to take them marks 
 of distinction from the Emperor. 
 
 Fortunately or unfortunately, all the literati cannot 
 become doctors or even bachelors, for the competitions 
 are very severe, and even all bachelors cannot hope for 
 official appointments, which are few in number. The 
 rest fall back among the crowd, and contribute to the 
 raising of its intellectual level by the different profes- 
 sions they embrace. It is easy now to comprehend the 
 reasons against the representation of the fine arts in 
 the Government, or their official encouragement, as 
 although held in the highest esteem, and spoken of — 
 music especially — with the utmost enthusiasm by the 
 literati, they are not considered a part of the proper 
 business of the State. 
 
 One of the first emperors of tlic present dynasty paid 
 the French painters who decorated liis palace from his 
 privy purse.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. i8i 
 
 There is no official school of art, nor is any grant in 
 aid afforded to art in any form ; the Chinese consider 
 that its votaries are sufficiently repaid for any sacri- 
 fices they may elect to make, and that it would be 
 scandalous that any expense should fall upon the 
 public. There exists among the people, however, so 
 large a number of amateurs of art in all its forms, that 
 I do not think there are in proportion fewer musicians 
 than in Germany, or fewer draughtsmen or painters 
 than in France or Italy. All servants are acquainted 
 with some form of musical instrument, and almost all 
 workmen are capable of decorating a house. Many of 
 the bridges are as fine as any to be found in Europe, 
 and the canals are, as public works, inferior to nothing 
 existing in Europe previous to the tunnelling of the 
 Mont Cenis. I have already stated that the theatres, 
 even in the most distant parts, find a sufficiently nume- 
 rous public to enable them to play several times a 
 month. Nevertheless, if I were obliged to deal with 
 the £esthetic value of Chinese art, I could not defend it 
 from all points of view, and still less could I compare 
 it with that of Europe, in spite of the fact that the 
 latter has of late years borrowed much in decorative 
 effect from the Chinese. I am, however, convinced 
 that art, generally speaking, is more widely spread 
 among the people than in Europe ; and, in fact, if art be 
 of its very nature symbolic, how can a nation, where 
 every individual knows how to read and write so sym- 
 bolic a character as the Chinese, fail to be artistic ?
 
 i82 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 Among the favourite recreations of the Chinese is that 
 of hiring for the day a hoat on some large piece of 
 water in a beautiful part of the country. The party 
 start in the morning with pencils, ink, and paper, and 
 while away the time between meals in composing verses 
 on various subjects either set or chosen by each indi- 
 vidual at pleasure. Those who prefer music take part 
 in some lyric society, of which there are many. It will 
 be seen, in short, that art is no more neglected in China 
 than elsewhere, and that the Chinaman does not spend 
 his whole existence bowed down to the earth. Poetry 
 and music are not the only amusements ; I believe I 
 am still a member of a nautical society in virtue of one 
 or two prizes of eight francs each instituted by me 
 once when I arrived, during a regatta holiday, in the 
 neighbourhood of the small town- of Hou-Pe, on the 
 bank of the Yang-tse-Kiang. 
 
 The postal service is left to private energy, and, 
 thanks to the competition always existing in an active 
 and numerous population, I have never heard any 
 serious complaints of the exactitude of the service. 
 
 For State purposes the Government employs mounted 
 couriers, who cover enormous distances in an incredibly 
 short space of time ; I have been assured, for instance, 
 that the 400 or 500 leagues between Pckin and Hankou 
 or Chen-tou-sen can be traversed in urgent cases in 
 less than five days. Europeans, certainly, resident in 
 Shanghai have been more than once surprised by news 
 known and spread among the Chinese several days
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 183 
 
 before the arrival of steamers sent expressly to 
 bring it. 
 
 Each minister attends to the conveyance of his own 
 despatches. ' The best minister is all the world ' is a 
 common Chinese saying, and it appears especially true 
 of the ministry of commerce. If a people is numerous 
 it is because it is prosperous, and if it is prosperous it 
 is because business is active, and if business is active 
 there is no need for a ministry of commerce. The duty 
 of Government, therefore, is to place no impediment in 
 the way of the increase of the people, to provide them 
 with just laws, and fair and light taxation, and to leave 
 them as much as possible to manage their own affairs 
 without interference. 
 
 The Chinese, therefore, possess no minister of com- 
 merce. The custom-houses and statistics belong to 
 the department of the finance minister. It may be 
 alleged that though this system may have answered 
 well when China had no foreign commercial relations, 
 now that she has treaties of commerce with vrestern 
 powers she must need a special minister. I have already 
 replied to this. It must not be forgotten that the taxa- 
 tion amounts to but three francs per head of the popu- 
 lation, and a country so fortunately situated has but 
 little need of commercial treaties. What competition 
 has she to fear, or what imports, except perhaps that 
 of opium, to be afraid of? What exchanges would she 
 have to prohibit ? The views of the Chinese Govern- 
 ment are certainly not in conformity with those of
 
 i84 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 Europe ; but even in Europe there are persons wlio are 
 by no means satisfied as to the excellence of European 
 theories. In certain exceptional cases the Government 
 forbids the export of certain articles of first need, and 
 may thus inconvenience a few merchants and specu- 
 lators, but such measures are occasional, of short dura- 
 tion, and in no way weaken the general doctrines in 
 matters of exchange. Europe has imposed treaties of 
 commerce on China, and China in whose opinion such 
 treaties are contrary to true liberty, or at all events 
 opposed to the true interests of the people, first mis- 
 trusted these demands, and subsequently, when com- 
 pelled to yield, converted them into fiscal instruments. 
 She is sometimes rejjroached with abusing her rights 
 in this respect, but what is there with which she is not 
 reproached .'' 
 
 Before the establishment of Western commerce and 
 the treaties arising from it, tlie duties levied on foreign 
 imports from Annam, Siam, and neighbouring countries, 
 were lower than at present, and even now those on 
 European goods amount only to an ad v.ilorem duty of 
 5 to G per cent, for most articles, 8 to 12 on a few 
 others, and 33 per cent, on opium only. Omitting 
 opium, united Europe has succeeded with great diffi- 
 culty in eflccting a yearly sale of cotton and hardware 
 amounting to 50 centimes (acZ.) per head of the Chinese 
 population, while China sells at least 3 francs (2s. (kZ.) 
 worth of her products to each Frenchman. The 
 advantages hoped for from the treaties have come to
 
 Ai\D RELIGIOUS LIFE. 185 
 
 this, aud all efforts have been made in vain against the 
 small figure of 3 francs (2s. GtZ.) of taxation. 
 
 There is obviously no necessity for commercial 
 treaties, nor for a ministry to direct them. The three 
 francs of taxation, and the density of the population 
 — the Chinese rightly believe — are the best minister 
 del foruento. The trade of the interior, local pro- 
 duction and consumption free from taxation, and as 
 large as possible, their relations undisturbed by 
 foreign occurrences, are the immediate results of this 
 system. 
 
 Thirty years ago there was, so to speak, no navy in 
 China ; what there was, consisted only of junks of dif- 
 ferent sizes, whose duty it was to protect the coasts and 
 move troops from one province to another, by means of 
 the rivers and streams flowing from one to the other. 
 It was merely a defensive navy, and could not take the 
 sea. 
 
 After the defeats sustained at different times China 
 began to understand that these means were insuffi- 
 cient, and that, without departing from her defensive 
 system she must be in a position to contend against 
 well-equipped enemies. 
 
 Naval yards were constructed under the advice of 
 Frenchmen, Englishmen, and Americans, and several 
 steam war vessels were built, but latterly it has been 
 found more economical to purchase any ships that may 
 be required in Europe, than to keep up arsenals for the 
 construction of two or three ships a year.
 
 1 86 CHINA: ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 The navy, "whether composed of junks or steam 
 vessels, is a department of the war ministry. 
 
 China requires no navy for purposes of attack, be- 
 cause she has never desired to possess colonies. Until 
 about two hundred years ago, the Chinese were for- 
 bidden to emigrate even to islands bordering on the 
 continent, such as Chusan, and Hainan. There were 
 fisheries on the islands, and the fishermen resided 
 there during the season, but their families and homes 
 always remained on the continent. The islands, so 
 far as the Grovernment were concerned, were merely 
 strategic points on which it kept up flotillas or guard- 
 boats. 
 
 I was a long time in discovering the reason of this 
 j^rohibition. I was at first told that it was to avoid 
 administrative expense, but the Chinese administer 
 their own affairs with such ease that it was obvious 
 the answer was intended to get rid of an importunate 
 questioner. I was afterwards told that, according to 
 popular belief, souls never leave the land they inha- 
 bited when living, so that to die in a country removed 
 from the ancestral, was to run the risk of being for 
 ever severed from the eternal family. 
 
 This explanation was more plausible, but not entirely 
 satisfactory, as nothing would have been easier than for 
 the Chinese to bring back tlie bodies, as they do now 
 from San Francisco, and so compel the soul to return 
 to its ancestral home ; and besides, it is a matter of 
 j)ersonal feeling and not of government.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 187 
 
 I learned the truth when conversing, on the subject 
 of gen, with some Chinese friends. 
 
 ' Yes,' they said, ' whoever puts unknown space 
 between himself and the country in which he was born, 
 destroys the unity of humanity, immediately, and 
 perhaps eternally. The emigrant alone in uncultivated 
 countries says to himself, " This belongs to me," and 
 is from that moment outside the pale of humanity. He 
 builds barriers, ramparts and fortresses, and from being 
 a stranger becomes an enemy. He forgets that the soil 
 belongs to no one, and that man can only possess its 
 use on condition of cultivating it himself. Large pro- 
 perties which can only be tilled on a large scale lead to 
 serfdom, arrest and destroy the spread of the popula- 
 tion.^ And besides, when people cease to believe in 
 the same principles, and their hearts no longer respond 
 to each other, their mouths no longer use the same 
 tongue. It is thus, sir, that so many peoples de- 
 scended from a common source are now hostile to one 
 another.' 
 
 While my friends were speaking I was recalling to 
 my mind the history of European colonies, and I could 
 not prevent myself from thinking of the injustice of 
 which they have been the cause, and of the victims and 
 
 ^ There is a village contisting of thirty-four houses, Neuf-]\Ioulins, 
 on the road from Seulis to Montefontainc, now completely abandoned. 
 The lands of the village have been restored to a former seignorial 
 
 domain belonging to Madame C , and have relapsed into 
 
 prairie.
 
 l88 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 blood sacrificed to them. Nor, after despoiling others, 
 have the conquerors even remained faithful to their 
 mother country. Some, after existing for years under 
 the yoke of their fatherland, severed themselves from 
 her violently at last, laid down frontiers, established 
 custom-houses, raised armies, and may at any moment 
 be destroyed by the fleets which were their original 
 protectors. 
 
 Others, flotsam and jetsam, strewed upon the con- 
 tinent unknown till yesterday, already regard each 
 other with suspicion, and look forward to the time 
 when the stronger can absorb the weaker. 
 
 ' Our system of colonisation,' continued one of the 
 literati, ' is quite diff'erent. We draw closer and closer 
 to each other instead of separating. We do not lay 
 claim to any land we do not occupy. We water the 
 soil with our sweat, and we are one with it. It is thus 
 by the gradual increase of population that the country 
 has increased, and the hundred families have extended 
 themselves little by little as far as the mountains of 
 Thibet, the sands of the desert, and the sea. We con- 
 quered the land with tlio })l()ugh, not by arms, and we 
 defend it with the same we.ipou. In short, as I might 
 perhaps have said at first, we are not unhappy; our 
 fields readily return us tlie labour we expend on tliem, 
 and excepting persons of bad character we do not 
 sacrifice a man or a sa})equc to foreign colonics. Let 
 those who like to run the risks of fortune in foreign 
 countries go there at their own risk and peril. We do
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 189 
 
 not wish to do so, and we Lave nothing to expeet from 
 them,' 
 
 Such were the explanations given to me of the 
 systematic absence of colonies. 
 
 Within the last century or two, however, public 
 opinion seems to have relaxed a little from the severity 
 of these principles. 
 
 The Chusan archipelago now contains more than 
 300,000 inhabitants, and the island of Hainan also is 
 extensively populated, while Formosa contains a rela- 
 tively large number of Chinese. Hainan and Chusan 
 can no more be considered as colonies than Hyeres, 
 Mount St. Michael, and Corsica. Formosa is further 
 from the continent, but if, after being induced to take 
 possession of the island in order to destroy one of the 
 most extensive refuges of Malay pirates, the Govern- 
 ment has remained there, it is because the native 
 population proved itself so inept for any civilisation 
 that it was impossible to hand over the administration 
 of the island to them. 
 
 On the continent also China has been compelled to 
 take measures for her own safety. After having 
 repulsed the inroads made at different times by the 
 Tonkinese, the Annamites, the Coreans and others, she 
 began by establishing military colonies in their midst, 
 which initiated them into the ways of civilisation and 
 a sedentary existence, and then, reserving to herself a 
 by no means onerous suzerainty, permitted them again 
 to govern themselves. She is now pursuing a similar
 
 IQO CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 task in Turkestan and its neighbourhood on tlie north, 
 and she may end by annexation if the people prefer 
 it, as has previously occurred,^ or by retreat, on proper 
 guarantees of security being given. 
 
 At present her policy is confined to establishing 
 military colonies of no more importance than those 
 previously settled in Tonkin, and there is no reason to 
 suppose that even in the most secret motives of her 
 policy she has any intention of departing from her 
 ordinary line of conduct or of creating a ministry of 
 the colonies.^ 
 
 I have spoken of the ministries usual in Europe, 
 but non-existent in China, by their European names, 
 I propose now to examine the relations between the 
 actual ministries and the people. 
 
 ^ In the seventeenth century the Tugurts, numbering nearly 
 1,200,000 i^crsons, travelled several hundred leagues in order to 
 settle as near to China as possible and obtain the protection of her 
 laws. 
 
 ^ It may be worth while to call attention here to the foot that 
 while many persons in Euroi)e have despaired of ever bringing the 
 African Arabs under our civilisation, the Chinese have succeeded in 
 civilising not only the races in question, but many tribes of Tartars, 
 originally as nomad and disdainful of agricultural labour as the still 
 I)astoral Tartars, and the Arabs, whom they resemble in more tlian 
 one point. There is licre a most interesting subject of study fur 
 Frenchmen.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. I9I 
 
 iir, 
 
 The first ministry is the personal, but it was origin- 
 ally instituted under a more significant title — the 
 ministry of the population, the development of which 
 was its special charge. 
 
 Under the Chow dynasty, when the G-overnment 
 chiefly consisted of the ministry of agriculture, the 
 personal ministry was included in it. At that time 
 the people did not possess an hereditary right to the 
 lands given them to cultivate, and when under the 
 direction of Grovernment, the area allotted to each 
 family produced more than sufficient for its wants, the 
 ministry of population removed the inhabitants to a 
 more distant spot, as is now done in Japan. The 
 minister of population, with the assistance of special 
 officials, also taught the practice of agriculture. Its 
 special duty was thus the development of humanity, 
 and instruction in cultivation. 
 
 It has lost much of its influence now, and its 
 decline naturally dates from the period when the 
 extensive development of population, equally spread 
 over the surface of the land, became subject to merely 
 natural laws of increase. The people then took the 
 place of the ministry of population, which retains 
 only the direction of the personal staff, the names 
 and duties of which have been altered to suit the 
 altered requirements of the times. The census, formerly
 
 192 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 a part of the duties devolving upon it, have been since 
 added to those of the finance ministry. Tradition 
 and other causes have combined, however, to maintain 
 the ministry of population in its former position 
 as the first and most important of all. Of these 
 causes the first is that it possesses the bestowal of 
 all public offices, the rewards of talent and the main 
 aspiration on the part of all the literati ; and the 
 second is that in the eyes of the people it is the 
 court of reference from all ofiicials, and the authority 
 to which all complaints of their action should be 
 made. 
 
 When speaking of the ministry of commerce, I said 
 that, according to the Chinese, a people was best 
 governed by itself, and this remark applies equally to 
 the ministry of finance. We have in China a perfectly 
 unique sight, a State richer than any, a land worth 
 more than two thousand milliards of francs exclusive of 
 the value of the property it contains, and a Govern- 
 ment without finances. 
 
 The words, without finances, perhaps convey too 
 much, but excepting the land tax, the revenue from 
 the customs, salt monopoly, and mines, it has nothing 
 to administer. There exists no public or floating 
 debt, no savings-banks, no monopolies, no banks, no 
 pensions to pay, merely a staff of treasurers-general, 
 — that is the ministry of finance in China. It should 
 more properly be called the ministry of accounts. 
 The real financial administration is in the hands of
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 193 
 
 the people. The soil is the ledger and the savings- 
 bank, and every field is a page. There can, in my 
 opinion, be no stronger proof of real prosperity, and it 
 is incontestable that a people possessing such a power 
 of financial administration can be neither apathetic 
 nor flighty. 
 
 A young diplomatist attached to one of the Euro- 
 pean legations in Pekin was, however, of a diflferent 
 opinion ; he formed his judgment at a glance, immedi- 
 ately on his arrival. 
 
 A Government which could do nothing, because it 
 possessed no finances, and a people kept back because 
 the Government would not urge it forward, was m a 
 poor state of civilisation. He set to work, and in a 
 few days he presented to the Chinese ministry a 
 long and learned memorandum, explanatory of the 
 resources, the advantages, and the methods of state 
 loans. He was politely thanked for his trouble, 
 and nothing more was said, but one of the literati, 
 with whom I had some conversation, was much as- 
 tonished. 
 
 ' I am not acquainted,' he remarked, ' with the social 
 organisation of Europe, but state loans are impossible 
 for us. We have no system of perpetual loans. Loans 
 are made by private individuals to each other, some- 
 times without interest, and at a rate of 30 per 
 cent, if the parties are strangers to each other, for a 
 period of three years. At the end of that time the 
 capital must be repaid if the borrower is able and
 
 194 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 willing to do so. If it proves that he has acted in 
 bad faith, he never finds another opportunity of 
 borrowing. There is no other penalty. The laws 
 against usury are very severe, and favourable to the 
 debtor. 
 
 ' The Government could not borrow under such con- 
 ditions, and at so high an interest, nor could it 
 provide for the interest, since taxation is fixed ; nor 
 could it find lenders — there are no persons living on 
 their means. Every man uses his own capital, and 
 obtains from it a profit, larger than any that the State 
 could afi'ord to pay him. If heavy loans are usual in 
 the "West, it is evident that land and savings are 
 concentrated in the hands of a small number of people 
 incapable of using them themselves. This reflection, 
 I confess, suggests to me a serious doubt whether 
 justice is the law of the West. I have replied as well 
 as I am able to the question you put to me, and 
 perhaps you will allow me to say no more.' 
 
 Here, again, in the relations existing between the 
 people and the finances of Government, the Chinese 
 find a justification of their theories as to the influence 
 of gen on the development of humanity : on the one 
 hand a rich government, a concentrated property, and 
 a sparse population ; on the other a poor government, 
 property divided in many hands, and a dense popula- 
 tion, A fact which appears to confirm the judgment 
 of the gentleman I have quoted, is that, urged on by 
 exceptional necessity, and guided to issue loans by
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 19; 
 
 European influeEce, the Chinese Government have 
 been compelled to issue them in Europe. In 1868, if 
 I remember correctly, there were two loans amounting 
 in all to seventy or eighty millions of francs. 
 
 The ministry of rites has several duties. It repre- 
 sents, first, what may be termed the spiritual power 
 of civilisation, which it at one time possessed in its 
 entirety, though deprived of it in some measure by the 
 progress of civilisation itself. It is charged with the 
 care of the Temples of Heaven, Earth, Thunder or 
 Electricity and Light, as well as those sacred to 
 the memory of Confucius, and it directs and watches 
 over the necessary sacred functions. It is not con- 
 cerned with ancestral worship, which is simply the 
 individual application of doctrines which the sacred 
 functions are intended to call to mind, and which 
 has, after universal observance for millions of years, 
 become so integral a part of the national life that it 
 is sufficiently maintained by the promise it has always 
 fulfilled, and the hope it has never deceived. Tlie 
 development of the population, and the other results 
 brought about by its teaching, have given it a position 
 which it would not be possible to strengthen. The 
 ministry of rites, therefore, has no direct action upon 
 the religious and superstitious beliefs of the people, 
 without which it would be compelled to change its 
 name and denote itself the ministry of public worship. 
 It confines itself to recalling from time to time, and 
 preserving in their purity, the philosophic principles, 
 
 2 o
 
 196 CHINA: ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 the efficacy of which has been demonstrated during 
 forty centuries, and with this end it has instituted, 
 from the most remote antiquity, fortnightly instruc- 
 tions addressed to the people by means of the 
 mandarins or delegated literati. 
 
 I have mentioned elsewhere the principal char- 
 acteristic of all these instructions — ' mistrust re- 
 ligions.' 
 
 Old age is in China the object of a kind of worship, 
 which is one of the principal duties of the ministry of 
 rites. Men above the age of seventy years receive 
 public and official honours, and rich and poor are 
 invited by the officials of their districts to grand 
 banquets, at which the latter themselves serve them. 
 Old men of upwards of eighty years of age are 
 honoured by the highest officials, who seize the occa- 
 sion to reward them in some special manner for any 
 services rendered by them, however humble the in- 
 dividual. 
 
 About twenty years ago a Christian doctor was 
 living in a town in Kwei-Chow who had acquired a 
 great reputation for infant maladies. He had saved 
 the lives of many children, including one belonging to 
 the governor of the town. He invariably refused all 
 fees, even that offered him by the governor. The 
 latter, therefore, having ascertained the age of the 
 doctor, went himself, accompanied by his usual escort, 
 to his shop on the occasion of the feast of old age, and 
 bowing before him, handed him an inscription setting
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. T97 
 
 forth his own thanks and those of the country, and 
 invited him to a banquet to take place a fortnight 
 later. Public charity is a department of the ministry 
 of rites, and to it belongs the duty of apportioning the 
 amount of assistance to be granted to districts suffering 
 from natural plagues, in the shape of remission of tax- 
 ation, and loans of grain or money. 
 
 The reserve granaries and charitable establishments 
 founded and maintained by Grovernment are also ad- 
 ministered under the supervision of the ministry of 
 rites, which is also charged with the promulgation 
 and execution of laws, decrees, and regulations, which 
 by reason of their special or general character might 
 not be understood or observed by the public. I have 
 already mentioned that the relations of China with 
 foreign nations are part of its duties. 
 
 There is nothing to be said of the war ministry 
 that cannot be readily divined by every one. In a 
 country in which civilisation is founded upon the 
 development of humanity and on increase of popula- 
 tion — that is, on fraternity and a solidarity of fact, 
 not of words, — among a people from amidst whom the 
 very idea of war, as an institution, has so entirely 
 disappeared, that nothing is more odious to them than 
 its recollection, or the sight of anything that may 
 recall it — a war ministry must be either a violent, 
 formal, and constant contradiction of their civilisation, 
 or a simple ministry of defence ; and it is to the latter 
 that the role of the Chinese army is confined. It
 
 iqS china : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 should be added that the troops are always quartered 
 outside the towns, and are only permitted to enter 
 them upon requisition of the civil authorities. The 
 avmy, however, is doubtless insufficient from this point 
 of view, and it may be asked if this inferiority is 
 inherent to Chinese civilisation, 
 
 I should have something to say on this point, but I 
 prefer to reserve my observations for a critical ex- 
 amination of Chinese civilisation, which I intend to 
 publish separately. 
 
 It is even easier to conceive the duties of the 
 minister of justice than of the minister of war ; the 
 explanation already given of the family organisation 
 and the extent of its judiciary power will show clearly 
 enough how the jurisdiction of Government must be 
 limited to exceptional cases. It is an appellate and 
 criminal jurisdiction, limited to crimes deserving the 
 punishment of death, which cannot be awarded by the 
 family, and is also the natural civil and criminal juris- 
 diction over those isolated individuals whom accident 
 or expulsion has placed outside their family circle. 
 
 The extent of this work does not allow of ray 
 entering into as detailed an account as the subject 
 demands. I may, however, be permitted to give a 
 brief notice of it. 
 
 There is no public ministry with the State tribunals, 
 nor lawyers, except in cases of murder. The plaintiff 
 and defendant state the facts of their cases themselves, 
 or cause them to be explained by others as shortly as
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 199 
 
 possible, and the magistrate, assisted by two assessors, 
 pronounces an equitable judgment. The decisions are 
 public, and the audience is occasionally consulted. 
 Whatever the nature of the case before him, the 
 magistrate invariably begins by asking if it has been 
 adjudicated upon by the family, and he takes the 
 domestic verdict into consideration. 
 
 The penal code of China contains only three punish- 
 ments : death, with torture added, according to the 
 case — that is, by poison or suicide, strangulation or 
 decapitation, — personal punishment, and deportation. 
 There is no imprisonment, except that, as, no matter 
 how strong the evidence may be, the confession of the 
 guilty person is indispensable before sentence of death 
 can be pronounced — and it sometimes occurs that this 
 confession is refused, — in order not to permit a criminal 
 to return to freedom, he is remanded to prison until 
 he confesses. 
 
 This is, however, illegal, and the grave, though 
 possibly accidental, consequences of this procedure, 
 though perhaps devised in the favour of the accused, 
 may be easily imagined. 
 
 The code is very severe. A third conviction for 
 theft, or theft of a sum amounting to 200 francs (£8), 
 rape, adultery, and murder, are punished with death, 
 without extenuating circumstances. An accessory is 
 punished with the same rigour as the principal. 
 
 Political crimes are considered as the gravest of all ; 
 in so much as they are attempts against the uuity of
 
 200 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 society, are punished with death, often of a cruel kind. 
 Minor offences of this nature are punished with exile 
 or deportation to the districts of Illi.^ 
 
 All death sentences must receive the sanction of the 
 Emperor, who ohserves a fast of three days before 
 examining them. 
 
 The law, as has been stated, allows no extenuating 
 circumstances, though in cases of manslaughter, or even 
 sometimes of murder without malice or forethought, a 
 composition may be paid. 
 
 There is another exception, the reason of which I 
 have never been able to understand. In certain 
 circumstances, and when there has been no murder, the 
 law allows the convicted felon to procure a substitute. 
 The consent of the prosecutor, and, of course, of the 
 substitute, must be previously obtained ; but there is 
 little diflficulty in finding the latter. The family of the 
 condemned person addresses itself to one of the hundred 
 criminals of whom I have spoken, and offers him the 
 means of rehabilitating himself with his family whom 
 he has dishonoured, ruined, and reduced to the greatest 
 misery. He accepts the offer. Such a course is, 
 however, but seldom permitted. While in Pekin I 
 nearly witnessed the execution of a superior officer of 
 the army, who, convicted of the rape of a child, had 
 been unable to procure a substitute, in spite of the 
 
 * llli is a country on the north-west of China, tlie soil of which, 
 as it consists of a very deep valley, is of proverbial fertility. The 
 clunate is very mild, and the melons of llli are celebrated every- 
 T\bere.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 
 
 large sums he offered, his family not having consented 
 to the composition. 
 
 The condemned person is inyariably compelled to 
 exile himself. 
 
 Another curiosity of the Chinese criminal code is 
 legal suicide. 
 
 According to Seneca, death should not only be 
 courageously awaited, it should even be anticipated. 
 
 Voluntary death, said he, enables the most isolated, 
 feeble and weak individual to face the Master of the 
 world. The thought that he can always escape inspires 
 him with courage to resist unlimited power, and he is 
 saved from feeling himself a slave by the thought that 
 he can always die. In China there is no question of 
 escaping tyranny, but it may happen, as with us, that 
 a man may unsuccessfully exhaust all legitimate means 
 of obtaining justice, or even that accused of a crime, he 
 may be unable to prove his innocence, and then it is 
 that despair, the knowledge of his right and the law, 
 give the unhappy man a last resource of proving 
 himself in the right, against the strongest evidence. 
 He may affirm the truth of his statements by death 
 before the door of his accuser or persecutor ; the latter 
 will then be tried as guilty of murder. 
 
 A Chinaman had cleared and cultivated a piece of 
 land, forming part of a property belonging to the 
 Bishop of Pekin. The crops were plentiful, and the 
 converts consequently desired to recover the land. But, 
 according to law, a peasant is guaranteed the usufruct
 
 202 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 of the land. The converts therefore, with the intention 
 of disgusting him with his hargain, played him all 
 kinds of tricks, and finally gathered in his crops by 
 night. The peasant laid a complaint, but the suit, 
 owing to the prestige possessed by the bishop in 1862, 
 was so prolonged, that at last, desperate and weary of 
 the struggle, the peasant cut his throat before the door 
 of one of the converts. This took place in a village of 
 Mongolia, the far side of the Great Wall. I arrived 
 there the day the converts were arrested. 
 
 Another story is that of a man laden with sapeques, 
 who, when crossing a bridge, met a robber who took 
 his money and ran away. The aggrieved one cried out, 
 ' If you do not bring back my money I will drown 
 myself ! ' The robber brought back the money. 
 
 Whatever reflections the severity and strangeness of 
 Chinese law may occasion, it must not be forgotten that 
 in spite of its rigour the number of death sentences are 
 very small in ordinary times. In provinces containing 
 from 25,000,000 to 30,000,000 inhabitants, the death 
 sentences do not average more than twelve to fourteen 
 a year, and there are others containing as large a 
 number of inhabitants in which none have been pro- 
 nounced for several years. The fact should not be lost 
 eight of, that the criminals brought as a rule before the 
 ofiicial tribunals are of the worst type, and only such 
 as have been already driven out of tlicir families, after 
 pardon has been granted them over and over again. 
 In other countries a criminal driven out of society after
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 203 
 
 a first conviction is often driven by necessity to the 
 commission of another offence, but this is not the case 
 in China. 
 
 The real tribunals of the country are the domestic 
 ones, and the real justice the advice, admonitions and 
 punishments which keep in the ranks of humanity 
 the wandering souls whom pitiless right would drive 
 forth for ever, and the family justice, which even while 
 punishing a culprit with the utmost rigour, always 
 leaves the door open to repentance and rehabilitation. 
 That is the justice to be considered. 
 
 A very natural inquiry would be as to what are the 
 rules of these tribunals ; and — since the civil law of 
 China consists merely of a few articles indispensable 
 to formulate and assure the general principles of 
 society, the code being merely penal — what is the law 
 by which the domestic magistrates are inspired and 
 supported ? What sanction do their judgments possess, 
 and what force exists to constrain the condemned 
 person to submit himself to them ? There is but one 
 reply to both questions. The law which inspires the 
 judge is the law inherent to every man, and the force 
 which compels the guilty person to submit himself to 
 his decrees, is that sentiment of justice which the 
 guilty cannot long fail to recognise. 
 
 I have previously spoken of the respect in which the 
 family councils and their decisions are held. Some- 
 thing more, however, in no way difficult of explanation, 
 is re juired. The public magistrates listen, form their
 
 204 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 judgment, and condemn, but the domestic magistrates 
 clear up the matter before tendering their judgment* 
 The guilty are convicted and their dormant consciences 
 awakened before sentence is passed, and no force is 
 required. I have myself seen condemned persons 
 tender their legs to be fettered. 
 
 No doubt this presupposes an idea of justice carried 
 to an extraordinary pitch, but there is nothing in it 
 which need astonish those of us who are acquainted 
 with Chinese institutions and who remember their 
 customs relative to domestic justice. Someone has 
 remarked that each man is the sum of the race, and 
 the reader who acknowledges the hereditary trans- 
 mission of certain faculties can easily imagine the 
 accumulation produced in every Chinese as the result of 
 past centuries. 
 
 The Chinese, who claim to possess a highly developed 
 feeling of justice, explain it in a different way, and this 
 belief is after all no more mystical than the explanation 
 founded upon atavism. The reader can take his 
 choice. 
 
 * When a child is born, it is a man, and yet only a 
 child is visible. As he grows up, not only do his arms 
 and legs develope but also his ideas ; and it is the same 
 with humanity as a whole. No man can ever see it 
 in its entirety, but it nevertheless exists, and is an 
 entity in many members. All ideas are contained in 
 humanity, and there are none without, but their 
 manifestation takes place in proportion to her growth.*
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 205 
 
 The future of humanity, of Man (Y-gen) is de- 
 sirable, and every effort should be made towards it, for 
 it is the future of more and more complete justice. In 
 a word, the denser the population the greater the 
 development of the idea of justice. These are the 
 theories of the Chinese, and if they are correct, we 
 must acknowledge that no people has better reasons for 
 believing herself in possession of justice, and conse- 
 quently of dispensing with a ministry charged with its 
 application and administration. We may quit here the 
 question of atavism and Chinese doctrine. The fact 
 remains that a people must possess a singularly high 
 ideal of justice among whom a culprit surrenders him- 
 self to punishment without necessitating the employ- 
 ment of police or any public force, and among whom 
 an accused does not hesitate before suicide as a presump- 
 tion in favour of the justice of his cause. There is 
 another consideration. Chinese justice is very simple, 
 and concerns itself only with infractions of the essen- 
 tial principles of the conservation of human unity. 
 * Honour your father and mother ; commit no murder, 
 nor theft nor perjury, nor covet your neighbour's wife 
 nor his land.' 
 
 Such is the natural law of China, and it perhaps 
 explains why the public law is severe ; the latter does 
 not concern itself with private, artificial or conven- 
 tional arrangements. 
 
 It does not suffice the Chinese that the idea of 
 justice should be manifest in the relations of men to
 
 2o6 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 each other; it must pervade all their works, and 
 reign everywhere, on plants, animals and on earth, or 
 matter. This is the mission of * Man, Y-gen,' through 
 whom Heaven acts and transforms, its mediator with 
 the physical world. The more powerful humanity 
 is, or rather the more numerous, men, its method of 
 action, are, the easier it is to carry out this mission. 
 What remains for me to say about the ministry of 
 public works will be a last illustration. 
 
 What this ministry was, or rather what was the 
 action of Government, when the canal system, one of 
 the principal glories of China, was created, or when at 
 a less remote period the Great Wall was built, are suffi- 
 ciently explained by the immensity of these works 
 and the date of their execution. It is clear that the 
 Government, which could then dispose at pleasure of 
 the still sparse populations, transported them and 
 collected them in the neighbourhood of the places where 
 the works were being carried out. 
 
 Nothing but collective and simultaneous effort can 
 explain the gigantic results of canals extending for 
 several thousand leagues, and lakes of a circumference 
 of from thirty-five to seventy leagues. 
 
 For several thousand years past the same remark 
 applies to the public works as to the laws of China : 
 they are complete and no longer remain to be done. 
 The Government confines itself to tlieir care. I do not 
 say it acquits itself well of this duty, but it has no 
 other.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 207 
 
 Public works are executed according to the degree 
 of interest of each in them, by provinces, departments 
 or communes, by means of subscriptions, partly volun- 
 tary, and partly imposed by the elected councils accor- 
 ding to the wealth of the inhabitants, the poorer people 
 being relieved from all contributions. 
 
 It is not uncommon for some of these public works, 
 such as bridges, or roads, to be built at the cost of a few 
 rich people, who for all reward are content with the 
 inscription of their names on one of the stones. 
 
 The most astonishing works, however, are those 
 carried out daily by private enterprise. Considered as 
 a whole, nothing previously executed can be compared 
 with them, while they would appal the boldest engi- 
 neers and capitalists. What, for example, would be the 
 reply of the latter to a proposal to level all the moun- 
 tains ? And yet this is done daily by private individ- 
 uals, without a State guarantee or official aid. And the 
 reason is very simple, another effect of gen. Under the 
 effects of a population, growing denser and denser, 
 living under just laws, property is so subdivided, that 
 works, which with a scattered population would be 
 impossible, or would at all events require an enormous 
 concentration of force, when subdivided, are com- 
 paratively easily carried out by private individuals in 
 their spare time. No drop of water reaches the plains 
 without having been twenty times stopped on the side 
 of the mountains ; and all the terraces, which form 
 regular flights of steps from the summit to the base,
 
 2o8 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 are the work of the peasants. The gutters of our 
 towns are not so close together as those which water 
 the rice fields, and they are the work of the owners 
 themselves. 
 
 How often have I felt myself filled with admiration 
 when watching them executing, almost as if in play, 
 works which would be impossible elsewhere ! 
 
 How often, when watching them building, stone by 
 stone, buttresses intended to render the mountain land 
 as fertile as that of the valleys, or gathering rice or 
 corn from crevices where previously birds of prey built 
 their nests, have I cried to myself, 'Ah, the fine 
 fellows ! ' I was touched by what they were doing, 
 I was grateful to them ; and I triumphed with them 
 over the obstacles they had conquered ! 
 
 The fact which always seemed the most wonderful 
 to me, the fact of which these victories were after all 
 only the striking proof, was the progressive sub- 
 stitution of individual for collective action in all the 
 works of civilisation, from the simplest to the most 
 complex, from mental to material. 
 
 The individual freed from the slavery of collectivity, 
 independent, and free in unity, thanks to that unity, 
 is the salient fact apparent from the study of the 
 relations between the people, State, and Government 
 in China, and appears to me to justify the theories 
 prevalent there."
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 209 
 
 PART Y. 
 
 THE OUANG-MING-TSE FAMILY. 
 
 I. 
 
 Ouang-Mo-Khi is a group of seven or eight hundred 
 houses, situated between two of the hills forming the 
 mountains of Yang-Ping, fourteen leagues to the west 
 of Fou-Cheou in the province of Fokien. The country- 
 is beautiful, and the air healthy, while the heat is 
 much less in summer than at Fou-Cheou. Excepting 
 a hundred or a hundred and fifty tradesmen and 
 merchants, collected upon the banks of the Ta-Chouei- 
 Khi, which runs through the bottom of the valley, 
 the inhabitants have scattered their cottages in all 
 parts, leaving between them almost equal spaces occu- 
 pied by fields and gardens. The river, with its nume- 
 rous bridges, is covered with boats of different sizes 
 travelling between the numerous centres of population, 
 some of them towns of considerable importance, which 
 it traverses. The hills are cultivated and watered 
 almost to the summit by canals, which obtain their 
 water from the Ta-Chouei-Khi. The water of these
 
 2IO CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 canals, which run along the sides of the slopes at about 
 a third of their height, is raised by water-wheels 
 worked by men and bufialoes into another at a higher 
 level, and thence in the same manner into a third, 
 fourth, and fifth, spreading freshness and life on all 
 sides before returning to its bed. 
 
 When the rice is ripe, and the irrigation season 
 consequently over, such labour is no longer necessary, 
 the requirements of the other crops being sufficiently 
 supplied by the rain and rivulets, the water from 
 which is collected in properly constructed reservoirs. 
 Surveyed from above, these canals resemble belts of 
 silver. The peasants, compelled, as it were, to mould 
 the shape of their farms according to the windings of 
 the water and the bend of the hills, have given them 
 the most varied and unexpected forms, some almost 
 hanging on the sides of the hills, where they are held 
 by dry stone walls, in the interstices of which large 
 lianes have taken root, resembling gigantic holy- 
 water basins, advanced bastions, or balconies full of 
 verdure. 
 
 Rice, tea, cotton, sugar and oranges are the principal 
 products of the country, but there are others also 
 whicli add considerably to its wealth — such as hemp 
 from a palm whose large branches extend over six or 
 eight metres of land ; ' oil extracted from the seeds of a 
 tree whose knotted trunk, twisted branches, and rusty 
 leaves give it a most miserable appearance ; ^ tallow 
 ' Cluinicrrops excel.s;i. - Dryaudra coidata.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 
 
 yielded by a tree resembling in the distance a birch or 
 poplar ; ^ and the bamboo, probably the most useful 
 of all shrubs, certainly the most useful where stems 
 eight or ten metres in height wave their plumes to 
 the slightest breeze. There are also a few groups of 
 banana trees, five or six feet in height, but the fruit 
 is seldom eatable, and the trees seem merely intended 
 to contribute to the general ornamentation of the 
 country. 
 
 The hills of Ouang-Mo-Khi are not entirely cul- 
 tivated. There are heights which no man has yet 
 reached, and rocky slopes not yet brought into 
 submission to his hand. Nature has undertaken the 
 duty of their decoration, and covers them in the 
 spring, after the month of February, with the most 
 beautiful vestments. Purple, red, or golden azaleas, 
 white gardenias, blue clematis, primroses, caper-trees, 
 and camelias cover all the slopes. 
 
 Not an inch of soil is forgotten, there is not a gap in 
 the whole of this splendid mantle. 
 
 The country is here and there broken by small 
 groups of trees, from which arise, at break of day, 
 noon, and sunset, the silver notes which recall to the 
 mind of the traveller the Angelus of Christian coun- 
 tries. They are the bells of the twelve Buddhist 
 pagodas, whose triple roofs, with their yellow enamelled 
 tiles and spurred angles, are plainly visible against the 
 pure blue of the sky. 
 
 ^ Stillingia sebifera. 
 
 p 2
 
 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 These bells alone break tbe profound stillness, 
 untroubled by other sound than the songs of the birds, 
 and the echoes of the voices of labourers in the fields. 
 These sounds, songs, silence, perfume and colours, 
 unite to render this part of the world a perfect 
 paradise. There are no wheels grinding over a stony 
 pavement, no sounds of hammers, nor black and foul 
 smoke from chimneys. The eye and ear, all the senses 
 in fact, undisturbed by any strange and discordant 
 noise, acquire an unheard-of subtilty. The grass can 
 almost be heard to grow, and, to quote an expression 
 of a Chinese poet, almost the sound made upon the 
 ground by the shadow of the leaves stirred by the 
 wind. No v\ here is life so deeply felt, nor man and 
 nature more closely united. 
 
 The inhabitants of Fou-Cheou, and of the towns 
 within a circuit of thirty miles, delight in this spot, 
 and visit it every summer with their families. 
 
 There are several tents attached to each pagoda, 
 which can always be obtained by an early application. 
 People come even from Ning-Po and Shanghai, by the 
 canals which run up to the foot of the mountains. 
 
 The family Ouang-Ming-Tse reside here, whose 
 acquaintance I made as follows. It was the end of 
 March, and the first tea crop had just been gathered. 
 Two men were hoeing and manuring the roots of the 
 shrubs in a field. 1 watclicd them, set:ted under a 
 palm tree, near some clothes tbey had laid there, 
 and an enormous earthen teapot cuvered with plaited
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 213 
 
 straw, from which they refreshed themselves from 
 time to time. The eldest addressed me : ' Your younger 
 brother dares not offer you this poor drink.' 
 
 ' Thanks, elder brother ; I was thirsty just now, but 
 I have just eaten an orange, and I wish to keep the 
 taste of it.' 
 
 * Oh, the taste of tea does not spoil that of an 
 orange; I do not speak of such as this, it is not 
 very good. I should like you to try another. A-Pe-A, 
 A-Pe-A, go to the house and bring some tea of the new 
 crop.' 
 
 The house was close by. A-Pe-A soon returned 
 with a tray, some cups, a kettle of hot water, a small 
 brazier, a box of tea, and a stand on which he placed 
 them. While the water was boiling, my interlocutor 
 opened the box, and took out some leaves which 
 he put in each of the cups. He filled them with 
 water, and covering them with their saucers he said, 
 * It is not very dry yet, but it will only be better for 
 that.' Then, bowing to me, he carried the cup to his 
 lips, gently putting the saucer on one side, and slowly 
 drinking the contents. 
 
 I followed his example ; it was exquisite. The clear 
 liquor, as yellow as pale gold, and as fragrant as the 
 tea-flower, was pleasing to the eye and left a soft and 
 delicious flavour on the palate. He saw that I liked 
 it. ' Is it not good, sir ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, my elder brother, it is ; the flavour of an 
 orange is coarse compared to this ! ' ' One of our
 
 214 CHINA: ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 poets likens the tea-flower to the cheek of a young 
 girl' 
 
 I confessed I had never thought of such a simile, 
 though the idea seemed to me a good one. ' But,' 
 said I, ' do you gather much tea like this ? ' ' Alas ! 
 no, sir,' replied he ; 'it is impossible ; it is gathered 
 scarcely open ; a meou^ scarcely produces one pound. 
 It is not much, but all depends on the price at which 
 it is sold ; the merchants purchase it at ten francs 
 (8s. 4fZ ) per pound. It is not much, but it is an early 
 gathering, and does not keep the others back much.' 
 ' Is your crop sold yet ? ' ' No, sir, it is not ready ; 
 we shall take it to market in a few days, except what 
 we keep for the friends who come to visit us.' ' Will 
 you sell me a pound of that destined for market ? ' 
 ' Certainly, sir ; my elder brother resides, I think, in 
 the pagoda below ? ' ' Yes ; but may I ask how you 
 became aware of the fact ? I only arrived in the coun- 
 try the day before yesterday.' ' Oh, sir, everything is 
 (juickly known in our little villages, and besides, you 
 are European ; it is commonly believed you came to 
 Ijuy tea.' 
 
 ' No, I have come only to rest a little while in your 
 beautiful country, and I hope often to have the 
 pleasure of seeing you.' ' I was going to ask my 
 elder brother's permission to visit him.' I gave it 
 eagerly, and we parted. At the end of a week, my 
 interpreter brought me a large red visiting card, 
 ' Tlic fiftccntli I'lut of ii lectare.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 215 
 
 bearing in very small ctaracters the name of Ouang- 
 Ming-Tse, and asked me to fix a time for seeing him. 
 I said I would see him at once, and an hour afterwards 
 the arrival of two men was announced to me. I gave 
 orders to admit them, and made a few steps towards 
 them. One, about sixty years of age, was a perfect 
 stranger to me ; in the other, who seemed about forty 
 years old, I had no difficulty in recognising my peasant 
 friend in spite of his dress of ceremony. Both wore a 
 long dress of blue cotton, an overcoat of violet silk, 
 and a felt hat with the sides much turned up. After 
 the usual greetings, I led them to a canopy where I 
 asked them to seat themselves, assigning the place 
 of honour to the elder man. They declined, and I 
 was obliged to confine myself to an offer of two chairs, 
 taking a third myself at a little distance from the 
 places they had declined. After another greeting, we 
 began to talk. ' I did not wish,' said the older man, 
 ' to leave to my son alone the honour of bringing 
 you the tea he had promised you, and I hoped you 
 would pardon me for having come.' I assured him I 
 was delighted. ' When my son, Po-Y, made you the 
 promise he was not aware that our crop had been sold 
 the same morning, so that we can only ofi'er you some 
 of the tea we keep for our friends,' he added timidly. 
 I thanked him heartily for a present so delicately 
 offered, and the conversation took its ordinary turn. 
 I complimented him upon the beauty of his country, 
 and he bowed. * May I ask your happy age ? ' '1
 
 2i6 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 am thirty-six.' ' I should have thought you double 
 that,' ^ he replied, and I bowed in my turn. ' And 
 you, my elder brother, what is the number of your 
 years ? ' ' I am only sixty-two.' ' It would h^ 
 difficult to assign you double that age,' I answered 
 smiling, * but you appear much older.' 
 
 He bowed again, and asked, ' What is your honour- 
 able name ? ' 
 
 * Si is my humble name.' 
 
 ' And you are also from Si ? ' ^ 
 ' You have guessed it, Ouang Ming-Tse,' I answered, 
 laughing at his pun. He laughed also. 
 
 * Oh, that was not difficult, Si-Lao- Ye.^ But what 
 is your native country ? ' 
 
 ' France,' I replied, and both men bowed, 
 
 ' And your parents, Si-Lao- Ye, are they well ? ' 
 
 * They are dead, Ouang-Sien-Sen.' * 
 
 * We are very sorry for you, Si-Lao- Ye ; no doubt 
 that is why you have left your home.' 
 
 * It is so, Ouang-Sien-Sen ; but may I ask if you, 
 more fortunate than I, still possess your parents ? ' 
 
 ' My father died three years ago, but, thanks to 
 God, I still possess my mother ; she is ninety-two 
 years old and in good health.' 
 
 ' A <zreat compliment in China, where they have a proverb, ' Y 
 mo jo sin, fei mo jo hou.' 'i'he translation of whicii is: 'In a 
 <i;arment the valuable {lart is novelty ; in a man, a great a;j;e.' 
 
 •^ Si, the first syllable of my name in French, became my 
 Chinese name, and si^uiQes West. 
 
 ^ Venerable Si. * Mr. Ouau>r.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 217 
 
 'Have jou a numerous family, Ouang-Ming-Tse ? ' 
 ' I have three daughters older than Po-Y, and a 
 fourth younger ; they are married, and do not live in 
 our village. I have a son still younger, also married, 
 whose interests are of course separated from ours, but 
 who lives near our house. He has already six children.' 
 I congratulated them both. The servant here brought 
 some tea, which he placed upon stools put between the 
 chairs, with cigars and French liqueurs. The latter 
 they liked well enough, but they soon laid aside their 
 cigars, which seemed too strong. 
 
 We then conversed of France, its customs, industries, 
 and railways, and Po-Y, who had not previously opened 
 his mouth, never tired of asking questions. At last 
 they rose and took leave, first making me promise to 
 visit them the following day. On my doing so, I was 
 met by the men, who led me to a room where the 
 whole family, standing in order of their height, awaited 
 me. I was compelled against my will to seat myself 
 in the place of honour. Ouang-Ming-Tse was on my 
 right, and Po-Y introduced the others to me — his 
 mother, Ouan-Lay-Lay (Mrs. Ouang), and his wife, 
 Po-Ta-Niang (Mrs. Po), who made a deep curtsey, 
 lowering their clasped hands to the floor, and raising 
 them to their chin ; his eldest sou, A-Pe, a strong youth 
 of eighteen years old; and his eldest daughter, Po- 
 Kouei-Nin (Miss Po-Y), a modest and charming child 
 of sixteen, both of whom made the kotou} A boy of 
 
 ^ The kotou is the most respectful of Chinese salutations.
 
 2i8 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 fifteen did the same, and then two little girls of twelve 
 and ten years, and a little one of three and a half, 
 whom they all watched smilingly as he gravely 
 approached me, knelt, lowered his head to the earth, 
 and rose very proud of having accomplished the 
 ceremony of grown-up people. I went up to the 
 mother and wife of Po-Y, and returned their salutation, 
 then with a friendly gesture to the children I went 
 back to my place. I noticed the assemblage was in- 
 complete, and asked for the grandmother, Po-Sien-Sen, 
 expressing a hope she was not unwell, 
 
 'No, Si-Lao- Ye, but she cannot stand long, and is 
 late ; here she comes.' 
 
 In fact the good old lady arrived as he spoke, assisted 
 by the second son of Ouang-Ming-Tse, who had come 
 to see me, bent with age and leaning upon a stick. I 
 hastened to offer her the deepest salutation, whicli she 
 returned with a kindly look, ])eing unable to bow. 
 She was very old, her face was wrinkled, her hands 
 trembled, and her head shook. Her eyes, in spite of 
 the melancholy expression common to old people, were 
 still bright ; her scant grey hairs were ornamented 
 with the same flowers as those on the heads of her 
 grand-daughters, and her carriage was full of dignity. 
 ' Sit down, sir,' she said, ' and be welcome.' 
 
 All resumed their seats. At a sign from me ray 
 servant brought a large box wlionce he took a doll, 
 some images, packets of needles, of red candles, ribbons, 
 a German wig and a stereoscope. The variety suited
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 219 
 
 all tastes, and everyone was delighted. ' Grandmother, 
 let us do away with all ceremonial and etiquette, the 
 gentleman does not seem to mind.' 
 
 The gentleman, in fact, did not ; he resumed his youth 
 and, stepping down from his throne,^ proceeded to 
 explain the working of the stereoscope. There is no 
 end to the questions and thanks : ' Oh, Si-Lao-Ye ! 
 Oh, Si-Lao-Ye ! ' The little one is in ecstasy — the doll 
 snores ; the young girls unroll their ribbons ; but the 
 wonder of all is the stereoscope. The streets and 
 squares of Europe fill them with admiration, and they 
 are simply stupefied with astonishment at the five- 
 storied houses. They cannot understand people being 
 obliged to mount so high, nor that they can be com- 
 pelled thus to live one above another. The door, 
 however, opens, and a table loaded with a complete 
 dinner is brought in. * Ah, Ouang-Sien-Sen, that is 
 more than our bargain ; I breakfasted only two hours 
 ago.' 
 
 ' I beg you, Si-Lao-Ye, to make an effort.' 
 The grandmother, Ouang-Lao-Po,^ Ouang-Lay-Lay, 
 and the children have disappeared ; only we four men 
 remain. This in no way astonished me, and I raised 
 no question, for I knew it is not customary for women 
 to eat with men, at least when strangers are present. 
 The wife of Po-Y and their son alone remained to 
 
 ^ The canopy, or seat of honour, is often placed on a small dais, 
 raised a step or two above the floor. 
 '^ The venerable dame Ouang.
 
 220 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 serve us. I found my servant had brought my spoon, 
 fork and knife. The meal was simple but good, by no 
 means the solemn, ostentatious meal of rich people or 
 mandarins, but the common food of feast days among 
 peasants. Fish in a kind of broth of exquisite flavour 
 was in the middle of the table and took the place of 
 soup, flanked on either side by ducks and fowls, while 
 at the four corners were dishes of pork and mutton 
 cut in small pieces, and a dish of beans. 
 
 In the intermediate spaces and round the table were 
 a profusion of salt and sweet delicacies which are eaten 
 before and after meals. I noticed mushrooms, prawns, 
 sea- weed, ginger, preserved citron, lobus^ cheese (made 
 of pease). 
 
 Each person has a plate and a bowl of rice instead 
 of bread. The dinner was really good, and all honour 
 was done to it. After the dishes were finished with, the 
 young girls brought oranges, dried fruits, sweets, cakes, 
 wine, and liqueurs for dessert. The wine made me 
 wince ; it is made of rice and served hot ; it has an 
 unpleasant smell. The liqueurs are more to my taste ; 
 one of them much resembled cura^oa. 
 
 We finished our meal at last. In spite of its sim- 
 plicity it occupied two hours, and, with the conversation 
 which followed, it was nearly sunset when I took leave 
 of my friends. 
 
 During the six weeks which I passed at Ouang- 
 Mo-Khi, I did not fail to see them daily, either in 
 ' The floral stem of a kind of reed.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 221 
 
 their house or working in their fields, and I frequently 
 saw them in after years, when I occasionally visited 
 Ouang-Mo-Khi to escape the heat of summer. I may 
 therefore say that I was to a certain extent a witness 
 of their life, their labours, and pleasures, and what of 
 their history I did not learn from my own observation 
 I ascertained from their friendly replies to my ques- 
 tions. The whole was interesting to me, and I have 
 inserted it in the following pages in the hope it may 
 prove interesting to my reader. 
 
 II. 
 
 The history of the Ouang-Ming-Tse is a long one, 
 beginning with that of the canton 800 years ago, and 
 every one almost is acquainted with the principal 
 episodes. They are always recalled to mind at the 
 great anniversaries when the genealogies are read, 
 which trace all the inhabitants to the one couple to 
 whom the colonisation of the country is due. One 
 Ouang, 800 years ago, under the reign of the Emperor 
 Yuen-Fong of the dynasty of the Joug-du-Nord, of the 
 Cha country, came one day to the valley, and being 
 pleased with it, settled there. The Ta-Chouei-Khi 
 river was at that time scarcely invented ; there is every 
 ground for believing that the river existed and ran in 
 the same place, but its bed was partly underground, 
 and it was unnamed.
 
 222 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 It was lying inert and would have been much 
 astonished to know that it would leave its bed one 
 day to ascend the mountains, and mingle in the sports 
 and labours of men. Shrubs and trees grew hither 
 and thither without order, and served only as shelter 
 to wild beasts. The mountains were bare, and exposed 
 their fleshless bones to the skies. All was chaos ; man 
 in the person of Ouang took pity, and all was changed. 
 He called the river ' The Great Water of the Valley,' 
 opened up its channel so as to carry off the floods, and 
 the river became his servant. He took a piece of land, 
 cleared it and give it his surname. ' Let this,' said he, 
 'be known henceforward as the Land of Ouang.' It 
 was his second wife, whom he loved with all his 
 strength, so that if the first bore him children, the 
 second produced an abundance of all that was necessary 
 for their wants. 
 
 When his daughters were grown up they were asked 
 in marriage by the people of Yue, Ou-si, and Gao- 
 Tsong, living beyond the mountains. 
 
 When his sons were of age he assigned them a field 
 on which to build a house, and sent them to seek 
 wives among the same people. In time he gathered 
 around him sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons, who 
 were distinguished among tliemsolves by the addition 
 of a Christian name to that of their father. Thus 
 arose tlie families of Ouang-Ti-Koue, Ouang-Po-Scn, 
 Ouang-Hou-Tsang, and others. 
 
 Thus the valley was peopled and cultivated, and
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 223 
 
 thus the mountains celebrate the glory of Ouang and 
 the earth resounds with his name. The valley, 
 measuring scarcely 1200 hectares, now contains at least 
 10,000 inhabitants, almost all descended in the male 
 line from the same couple. 10,000 inhabitants scat- 
 tered over 1200 hectares is an animated picture, and 
 can hardly be termed a rural district. It is certainly 
 not rural, as in France, with fields extending as far as 
 the eye can reach, and villages separated from each 
 other by interminable spaces, a country without 
 resources and amusements, where death from ennui 
 follows a residence in winter. Nor is it town life, with 
 its noise, its feverish and often useless agitation, its 
 luxury and misery. 
 
 Ouang-Mo-Khi has all the charms of the first and 
 the advantages of the latter. Let the reader imagine 
 the coast from Bellevue to Chaville, substituting for 
 the pretentious and luxurious villas modest peasants' 
 cottages of one storey, very clean, white or grey, 
 covered with red or blue tiles, more regularly spaced 
 than between Bellevue and Chaville, and he will have 
 a sufiiciently exact idea of Ouang-Mo-Khi. There are 
 numerous schools, almost one for every fifteen houses. 
 The I)uddhist temples contain several libraries, not 
 including those placed at the disposal of all. by the 
 generosity of certain families, and kept in buildings 
 consecrated to ancestors and their archives. The 
 Buddhist temples in each of the ten quarters of 
 Ouang-Mo-Khi contain a building of a peculiar kind
 
 224 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 which Europeans also call a pagoda, but which has 
 other uses than those of public worship. It is a large 
 court enclosed by four walls of twenty to twenty-five 
 feet in height. The interior contains a gallery con- 
 structed against the sides of the wall, resting on a 
 frame of masonry, about five feet from the ground, 
 covered with a roof supported by columns. On the 
 fourth side is another frame like one at a theatre, 
 lower and larger, also covered with a roof, the angles 
 and edges of which are ornamented with female figures 
 in burned clay, with openings on the right and left 
 giving access to the court, which is open to the sky. 
 Such as it is, this building serves all purposes. Three 
 times a week it is used in the morning as a market, as 
 a club in the middle of the day; it is in it that feasts are 
 organised, and from it depart the funeral processions and 
 the processions of the different guilds. It is also used 
 as a theatre by the travelling troupes which visit the 
 country, and as a caravanserai by travellers who do not 
 wish to go to the inn. 
 
 The central pagoda of Ouang-Mo-Khi is naturally 
 larger and finer than the others. The roof tiles are 
 enamelled in green, and the walls of the inside are 
 covered with porcelain plaques, ornamented with 
 engravings. 
 
 There are very few towns in Europe better provided 
 than Ouang-Mo-Khi with all that is pleasing to the 
 eye and satisfying to the mind, but I do not wish to 
 conceal the reality, and I admit that everything in the
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 225 
 
 pretty village is not beyond criticism. There is more 
 than one objection looking at it from a close neigh- 
 bourhood. The most serious is the existence of deep 
 pits, full of liquid manure, at the end of the paths. 
 Europeans who come to shoot at Ouang-Mo-Khi com- 
 plain that there, as elsewhere, there is nothing to 
 give notice of these accursed gins. It is not that 
 there are offensive emanations from them, but they 
 are generally so closely covered with large leaves, that 
 in the excitement consequent on the pursuit of game, 
 it is easy to fall into them. 
 
 Those to whom this lamentable accident has hap- 
 pened, do not, as a rule, make a boast of it, but they 
 never forgive China for their mishap, and when a 
 traveller is heard grumbling at his neighbourhood, it 
 may generally be assumed that he has fallen into one 
 of these pits. 
 
 III. 
 
 At what period of the history of Ouang-Mo-Khi did 
 the family of Ouang-^Ming-Tse begin to distinguish 
 itself from others, and what was its connection with 
 the founder of the commune? This question can 
 be easily settled by consulting the genealogical lists 
 and family annals. There exists no surer or more 
 precise information than that gathered from such a 
 source, which is never questioned. 
 
 Q
 
 226 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 The most severe judicial inquiry could find nothing 
 to find fault with. It would be impossible to falsify 
 a civil document known to all the neighbours. And 
 the family books are controlled by those of the family 
 from which it takes its rise. And as the supposition 
 of a falsification of this kind is inadmissible, a simple 
 declaration is sufiicient. We may then be content 
 with the statement of Ouang-Ming-Tse : — 
 
 'My father,' said he, 'was the fourth child of fourteen ; 
 his elders were two brothers and a sister. The first 
 and third helped their parents, were peasants like 
 them, and never left the house. The second studied 
 for a mandarin, and was sufiiciently successful to 
 become governor of the district. The sister married 
 when my father was fifteen years old. At that time 
 my grandfather was far from rich ; he tilled about 
 fifteen mous, of which only seven or eight belonged to 
 him. I am speaking of eighty or ninety years ago, 
 and at that time fifteen mous did not bring in as 
 much as now. The canals, you see, were not all cut, 
 and the valley was less populated. Cultivation was 
 more difiicult and brouglit in less. When the number 
 of children was found to be on the increase, it was 
 decided that the boys should learn trades, and go to 
 the town to endeavour to add to the common weal. 
 My father was the one to begin. He had six brothers 
 and sisters younger than himself, and chose the trade 
 of a carpenter. His apprentice fees were paid for 
 three years, and his wants provided for until he was
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 227 
 
 able to maintain himself. He was soon, however, able 
 to save something to bring home to the fortnightly 
 meetings. Three other sons followed his example, 
 and my father increased the size of his field with 
 their savings, pushing back the boundaries, and as 
 soon as he could give employment to one of them, he 
 recalled him. Only one, the youngest, remained at 
 Fou-Cheou, and became one of the first merchants in 
 the town. He never fails to come to our anniversaries, 
 and when he gives up his business to two of his sons, 
 as he soon will do, he will return here. He bought a 
 large piece of land, a long time ago, which is culti- 
 vated by his eldest son, on which he has built his 
 tomb. 
 
 ' The pagoda used as a club and exchange nearest to 
 us, was built at his expense, and he pays half the 
 expenses of one of the schools of our quarter. It is 
 almost as if he had never left the country. But I 
 am telling you about my uncle, and we were speaking 
 of my grandfather. I have shown you how he 
 managed to marry his daughters, because it is a folly 
 to say that daughters can be settled for nothing ; they 
 cannot be allowed to leave home empty-handed. He 
 was also able to leave each of his boys ten or twelve 
 meous. Thus my father began his life. And now, 
 Si-Lao-Ye, if you wish to learn the history of my 
 great-grandfather, and his father, I will tell it you, 
 but excepting a few details of no importance, it is 
 almost the same as what I have just narrated. 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 * I must, however, tell you of some of our ancestors 
 ■who have done honour to our family. There was one 
 who became receiver - general of finances, to whose 
 liberality is owing the fifth canal of the left bank of 
 the Ta-Chouei-Khi. I will show you his tomb in our 
 family cemetery ; it was built for him by the inhabit- 
 ants of the village. Another attained the grade of 
 licentiate of the first degree, and become rector in the 
 province of Hou-Pe. One of the bridges over the 
 river was built at his cost, and he bequeathed his 
 private library to the public, and added to it a school 
 with an adequate endowment. His tomb is also in 
 our cemetery, as he died here in retirement, surrounded 
 by his children, who were almost all peasants. 
 
 ' Our annals state that almost all the inhabitants of 
 Ouang-Mo-Khi were present at his obsequies. I could 
 tell you of several of our relatives who somewhat 
 resemble those I have mentioned, but all this is hardly 
 worthy of your attention. Most of the inhabitants of 
 our valley could tell you as much of his own ancestors. 
 We like to recall them as we do the happy moments of 
 our existence, but it is necessary to have lived there to 
 be able to do that.' ' I must have been one of the 
 sons of your hundred families, Ouang-Sien-Sen, in one 
 of the former lives you believe in, for all you say of 
 your ancestors touches me as nearly as if they were 
 mine.' * Ah, Si-Lao-Ye, are not all men brothers ? ' * 
 
 ' Translation of tlic proverb : ' Le hay tchc long, liiay hiong ty 
 ye.' — I'roverhes Chinois, by M. Paul I'eriiy.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 229 
 
 * That is well said, Ouang-Ming-Tse, but I beg you 
 to continue your narrative. Let us leave antiquity on 
 one side, and tell me how your father managed.' ' I 
 have told you, Si-Lao-Ye, that he was the fourth of 
 fourteen children. He had children of his own when 
 the grandfather died; but his young brothers and 
 sisters were not of age to shift for themselves. It was 
 therefore impossible to break up the community, and 
 such a thing was not even thought of. 
 
 ' Matters remained as they were under the presidency 
 of the eldest brother, the grandmother having died 
 soon after her husband. All continued to live under 
 the same roof, and to eat at the same table ; it was 
 cheaper, and the education of the little children more 
 
 * I was beginning to grow up, and I remember all 
 this as if it were yesterday. Two of my aunts were 
 married, and only visited us at the New Year, when 
 they passed three or four days with us. My uncle, 
 the literate, had so remunerative a situation in another 
 province that he was able to leave a portion of his 
 inheritance to the community. There remained at 
 home five girls and six boys, of whom four were 
 married and had nine children. That made twenty- 
 four persons, to whom must be added four yearly 
 servants, three field labourers, and one woman for 
 house-work. 
 
 ' As long as the community lasted, we lived in great 
 comfort on the eighty meous of land we possessed, but
 
 230 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 when my aunts married, and my youngest uncle went 
 to live at Fou-Cheou, all this changed. The latter, 
 who required money for his business, wished for his 
 share of the inheritance, and the mandarin, whose 
 family increased more rapidly than his salary, took 
 advantage of the circumstance to do the same. As it 
 was also clear that sooner or later a dissolution of the 
 community was inevitable, it was decided to carry it 
 out at once. Just at that time the neighbours, having 
 more land than they required, desired to sell a part of 
 it, which made the operation more easy. The seven 
 brothers began by dividing the inheritance into eight 
 equal parts, two of which with the paternal house 
 belonged of right to the eldest son, while those 
 belonging to the merchant and mandarin were bought 
 by the community, reduced to five brothers, at a price 
 to be paid in three years, and bearing interest in the 
 meanwhile. The community also rented the fields 
 belonging to the neighbours, with the option of 
 purchase in a given time. Then a new division was 
 made. The whole, amounting to forty meous, was 
 divided into five parts, one of which was allotted to 
 each brother in addition to what he already owned. 
 
 'Houses were then built for those who did not 
 possess any, and as soon as one was finished, the owner 
 took possession. All this took time, but at the end of 
 three years, thanks to the savings effected by the 
 community, all the fields were paid for, and the 
 division completed.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 231 
 
 ' The principal cultivation and harvests were still 
 carried out in common, and all assistance was afforded 
 by one to the other ; but each lived in his own house, 
 and the products of the fields belonged to the owners, 
 who cultivated them according to taste.' 
 
 *I quite understand, Ouang-Sien-Sen. But if your 
 neighbours had not been willing to dispose of the 
 fields which the increase of your family required, what 
 then ? ' * We have relations near this who have no 
 more land than we had then, and are more numerous ; 
 we should have done like them. The soil is more 
 generous than is generally supposed.' 
 
 ' Very likely ; but if you had not had enough ? ' 
 
 ' Two or three of my uncles would have gone to a 
 less thickly peopled valley to ask their sisters and 
 brothers-in-law for a small field, which they would 
 sooner or later have become proprietors of.' 
 
 ' And if that had been impossible ? ' 
 
 * They would have gone further, that is all. I know 
 of places in this province and elsewhere where the 
 population is not more than half as numerous as here. 
 They would have been well received. All who labour 
 are members of the same family. 
 
 ' But what would have happened in a similar case 
 in your country ? ' 
 
 ' In our country, Ouang-Sien-Sen, the population is 
 much less than here, and half the land is still in forest 
 and marsh.' 
 
 ' Is it the same throughout the "West ? '
 
 232 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 ' I am sorry to say it is.' 
 
 * It is different with us ; but what I fail to under- 
 stand is why Europeans are constantly making war 
 against other countries instead of employing all their 
 strength in cultivating their own territory and de- 
 veloping the population.' 
 
 I did not answer the remark. Ouang-Ming-Tse 
 would still less have understood that the barrenness of 
 part of our territory, the scarcity of the population, 
 and the state of war which characterise Europe, are the 
 action of a handful of private egoists, and a barbarous 
 legislation. 
 
 I saw he was on the train of reflections unfavourable 
 to European civilisation, and I cut him short by 
 returning to the subject of our conversation. 
 
 ' You have told me, Ouang-Sien-Sen, that your two 
 uncles who left Ouang-Mo-Khi have replaced the fields 
 they disposed of by others bought in your neighbour- 
 hood ; but what would they have done if they had not 
 succeeded in business ? ' 
 
 * The sale of real property forming part of the 
 paternal inheritance is always subject to cancellation 
 during a certain time. IMy uncles would have returned 
 home and received back tlieir fields, or an equivalent 
 quantity of land, at the same price at which they sold 
 it, which they would have paid by degrees.' 
 
 'I understand that; but what becomes of domestic 
 worship when the separation of a family takes place ? 
 Is the moral connection equally dissolved ? In a word,
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 233 
 
 ■what were the relations between your uncles and the 
 remainder of the family ? ' 
 
 ' Generally speaking, Si-Lao-Ye, when a separation 
 is effected it is because all the sons are in a condition 
 to live by themselves. They are married, and fre- 
 quently have adult children. They can thus conform 
 to the customs and duties of the ancestral worship 
 without leaving home. They have the right to do so. 
 The right is, however, never exercised until after the 
 decease of one of the founders of the new home — either 
 father or mother. Until then all meet at the house 
 of the eldest brother. In all cases it is at his house 
 that the anniversaries of the father and mother and the 
 family feasts are held. It is the same with the feasts of 
 the seasons. If the families possess an ancestral temple 
 specially consecrated to the common worship of their 
 relations, the meetings are held there. At great anni- 
 versaries, such as those of Confucius and illustrious 
 ancients, the meetings are held at the home of the 
 headman of the village. The necessary cost of these 
 solemnities is defrayed from the increased portion of 
 inheritance allotted to the eldest brother at the division, 
 with the addition of such donations as may be made 
 from time to time by the wealthier members of the 
 family. If the amount is still insufficient, every one 
 coming to the meeting brings his contribution. We 
 managed in this way. As regards my uncles the 
 merchant and literate, as soon as they ceased to be 
 able to attend our feasts regularly, we sent them an
 
 234 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 extract from the family record, setting out their de- 
 scent up to the fourth of our ancestors, after which 
 they managed matters as they liked. But it is fair to 
 say they seldom missed our great solemnities.' 
 
 * Thank you, Ouang-Sien-Sen. I have only two 
 questions more to ask you. Does the family judicial 
 power extend to those of the family who have separated 
 themselves from it, whether present or at a distance ? ' 
 
 ' Certainly it does, Si-Lao- Ye. What recourse would 
 they have if not that of their family ? Why send them 
 an extract of the family record if not to enable them 
 to claim this right in case of need ? How could one 
 abandon relations, unless in grave and urgent cases, to 
 the tribunals of the mandarins ? It would be a dis- 
 grace ; the proverb says : " Mandarins and the law are 
 not for honest people." ' 
 
 ' The proverb is right. Are the expenses, either of 
 the Buddhist ceremonies which accompany funerals, or 
 of the religious services which many persons cause to 
 be held for the repose of the souls of the dead, as 
 obligatory as those of the ancestral worship ? ' 
 
 * No, unless specially desired by the deceased ; but 
 it is rarely that people do not contribute if they can, 
 in order to be in the custom, and avoid appearing 
 singular in trifling matters, and especially to avoid 
 being suspected of avarice.' 
 
 ' From the way you speak of these things I may 
 guess you are not a Buddhist ? ' 
 
 * Oh, I have studied its doctrine. I agree with the
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 235 
 
 Master ^ that there is only one thing of which I am 
 certain — it is that I live ; and I only consider as true 
 and necessary the doctrines my life teaches me. My 
 reason admits no more. I should not, however, be 
 telling you the truth if I allowed you to believe me 
 quite indifferent to a number of superstitious practices 
 of great antiquity, more ancient than Buddhism, used 
 by the bonzes to work on the popular mind. 
 
 ' When, for instance, our crops are threatened by rain 
 or drought, how can I help wishing for a change of 
 weather, and it is but a little way from a wish to a 
 prayer. Then I go in procession with the rest of the 
 people to the fields to pray for the intercession of the 
 spirits. You may have noticed a coloured image on 
 the chimneypiece of the kitchen in my house. It is 
 that of a saint which is handed down from father to 
 son in my family, and I am sure the women pray to it 
 from time to time. I do not believe in the efficacy of 
 such prayers ; but the image is an heirloom, which it 
 would appear to me impious to remove. There is a 
 custom among the midwives of hanging an old piece of 
 bronze money round the neck of newly-born children \ 
 it is considered an all-powerful amulet against disease. 
 You may have seen my last grandson wearing one ; 
 neither I nor my son raised any objection. When the 
 last portion of my house was constructed, I consented 
 to the burying under the door of some salt, a few 
 grains, and a red paper with the name of a star 
 ' Confucius.
 
 236 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 written upon it — a charm said to keep away bad in- 
 fluences from workers, and to assure good fortune to 
 the dwellers. I confess such ideas are not unpleasant 
 to me. You perhaps are aware that the peony is 
 considered as an omen of good fortune if it flourishes 
 well and abundantly ; the contrary if it bears but few 
 flowers, and they open badly. There is no truth in it, 
 of course; but that does not prevent my eyes and 
 heart being full of joy and hope for the day after 
 looking at the large pink and red flowers of ours, as I 
 nevet fail to do every morning. It is beautiful just 
 now. Have you noticed it, Si-Lao- Ye ? The worst of 
 it is, that if it grew badly one would become dis- 
 couraged ; but I take care it does not. However, there 
 are enough omens to make one forget that the im- 
 portant point after all is not to allow oneself to be 
 ruled by any one of them. Are you not of this 
 opinion ? ' 
 
 * Perhaps so, Ouang-Sien-Sen ; but we have talked 
 enough philosophy ; let us go back to our subject when 
 I interrupted you — your uncles and father were each 
 living in their own house.' 
 
 'Yes, and we had paid all our debts ; in three years we 
 had given, to our two uncles and the neighbours, about 
 2000 taels (10,000 francs, £640), and we had expended 
 170 taels in the construction of the four houses, a 
 short time after the marriage of my youngest aunt, 
 who was provided with a dowry and a trousseau of at 
 least 200 taels. My father and his brothers were much
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 237 
 
 worried for money, and we were only saved by having 
 kept together. If we had not done so, I do not know 
 what we should have done. The five families already 
 contained forty persons, but there were only seven able 
 to labour in the fields. I was fifteen or sixteen, but as 
 I was destined for a literate my time was taken up in 
 study, and I could render no service. The rest were 
 women and children. 
 
 ' Seven workers are not sufficient for one hundred and 
 twenty meous, and you may perhaps say that in that 
 case we should have bought less land. But we were 
 obliged to think of the future ; each year brought two 
 or three more mouths, and it was therefore impossible 
 to abandon our cultivation. There was only one 
 method — to have recourse to extraneous aid, to be 
 dispensed with gradually as the boys grew up. This 
 was done, and instead of one yearly hand, we employed 
 three, and added a second bufi'alo to the one wo 
 possessed. This relieved the men of labour only 
 requiring strength, and work requiring skill and care 
 was better done. Under the combined domestic and 
 field economy all went better than before, but the 
 advantages resulting from the new aids were not at 
 once felt. 
 
 ' We had expended so much money that our savings 
 were reduced to nothing, and time was required to 
 gain fresh profits from the soil, while our wants were 
 daily increasing. Actual food was not deficient, but 
 there are other necessities in a numerous family. The
 
 238 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 idea of taking me away from my studies was mooted, 
 and it would soon have been carried out. My father 
 was in fact worse situated than my uncles. Some of 
 them had fewer children than he, others had them of an 
 age when they could be of service. My father had no 
 other help than my eldest brother, and his share of 
 the labourers' wages was higher in proportion. This 
 may not seem much, but it was added to many other 
 anxieties. 
 
 ' My mother never said anything when the common 
 expenses between my father and his brothers were 
 spoken of, for we would all have rather died than 
 give in, but there were nothing but laments when she 
 was obliged to take sapeques from her chest. I can 
 hardly think of it without smiling at this moment, and 
 we might have been much more unhappy, and for a 
 much longer time. If we had been alone, we could not 
 have afforded a buffalo, since we had only two for five 
 establishments, and it would have been the same with 
 other things. And besides, our neighbours were our 
 near relations, and so we were morally as united as if 
 we had not ceased to live under the same roof. It is a 
 great thing to have such help at hand, and though 
 doubtless if we had dispersed we should all have 
 acquired other friends and associates, there would have 
 been a great difference. 
 
 ' When a man changes his country he changes his 
 cultivation and his habits. All this is not accomplished 
 without difficulty ; everything is easy for us here because
 
 y^ND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 239 
 
 we have known it for eight hundred years. Here, all 
 speaks to us of our people ; the water running through 
 our fields which they laid out, the trees they planted, 
 their temples and graves, and the very legends which 
 our mothers tell us of them, all keep their memory 
 alive here. We have been at home here for eight hun- 
 dred years.' 
 
 Ouang-Ming-Tse was much moved when finishing 
 this part of his tale — his voice shook ; and I — why should 
 I not confess it ? — was as much moved as he, though for 
 other reasons. I had just heard a peasant tell the 
 history of his family for a part of several centuries ; I 
 had heard him make bygone generations live again 
 and pass before my eyes, while I, the child of a presum- 
 ably higher civilisation, scarcely knew where the ashes 
 of my nearest relatives lay ! There is no reason I 
 should not confess the tears this reflection drew from 
 me, or the bitterness with which my heart was filled. 
 The idea of my Fatherland, though the word had never 
 been spoken, suddenly struck upon my mind with a 
 force I had never felt till that moment, and a splendour 
 hitherto undreamed of. For the first time it was 
 revealed to me with precision, depth, elevation in lieu 
 of the vague sentimentalism which had hitherto 
 attached to it. Can the Fatherland be said really to 
 have a being where the scattered population are 
 separated by distances untrodden by the foot of man, 
 by forests never animated by his presence, and by 
 wastes never cultivated by his hand ? Can it be said
 
 240 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 to exist where there have never been generations, where 
 the forgetfulness of predecessors is so complete that 
 the desert has taken the place of their gardens ? Can 
 it be said to exist where nothing is, where immense 
 quantities of land, without population, and yet belong- 
 ing to individuals, place between one and the other 
 distance, egoism and hatred ? Can it be said to exist 
 among a people which wilfully reduces the number of 
 its people, and to whom, as a matter of fact, posterity 
 is an enemy ? 
 
 ' To create a Fatherland, let the wilderness disappear, 
 extend the field of good, narrow that of evil, barren- 
 ness and death.' ^ 
 
 Let the laziness of custom vanish. So arrange 
 matters that, from one end of the country to the other, 
 men may be so crowded that no spoken word may be 
 lost in space. 
 
 See that every clod of earth produces its ear of corn, 
 that solidarity reigns over all generations, that the 
 memory of the past and hope for the future fill every 
 mind and heart, and then there will bo indeed a 
 Fatherland. 
 
 "When 100,000,000 men can hear its voice, and pro- 
 nounce the sweet and powerful name, the Fatherland 
 will be a reality. 
 
 Such were my reflections during the repose which 
 followed the last words of Ouang-Ming-Tse. Was it 
 the eff'ect of approaching evening, or the eloquence of 
 * Micliclct, la Bible de I'humanit^.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 241 
 
 the last rays of the sun, which setting there was about 
 to illuminate the distant country so dear to my heart, 
 or of the deep silence which surrounded us, and which 
 deepened our inmost feelings ? 
 
 I do not know ; but it is a fact that a similar senti- 
 ment had produced a current of extraordinary sympathy 
 between this Chinese peasant and myself. We were 
 looking at each other, and it seemed to me that he 
 guessed my sorrow. Let those who have never left 
 their native country, and do not know how much one 
 may desire to see it again, laugh at me if they like, 
 but for an instant I thought we should embrace each 
 other. 
 
 IV. 
 
 I went to see my friend again the next day, and found 
 him awaiting me. 
 
 ' Come in,' he called out as soon as he saw me ; 
 ' come in ; we want you.' 
 
 'I am at your service, Ouang-Sien-scn. What is 
 the matter ? ' 
 
 ' The marriage of my grand-daughter is decided upon, 
 and we were waiting for you to fix the day. You 
 know that the first, sixth, and twentieth of each month 
 are favourable dates according to our ideas, but all the 
 family are anxious for you to be present, and wc wish to 
 ask you which of these three days will suit you best.'
 
 242 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 * I am much afraid, my elder brother, I shall not be 
 able to prolong my stay till then.' We were, in fact, 
 approaching the end of the month, and it was not 
 probable that the marriage could take place before the 
 last fortnight of the following month, and the end of 
 my leave was near at hand. I had some difficulty in 
 making my friends understand this. They seemed 
 extremely grieved, and I was not less so. A foreigner 
 is rarely admitted as I was to the intimacy of a 
 Chinese family, and the evidence they gave me of their 
 trust and friendship was so exceptional that I could 
 not fail to be touched by it. There was, however, one 
 thing which helped me to resist both their requests 
 and my own wishes, which was that, as the first part 
 of the feasts would take place at the house of the 
 bridegroom's parents, I should have been obliged to 
 force myself upon the hospitality of a family with 
 which I was unacquainted, and also take a journey of 
 several leagues in a direction contrary to my home. 
 
 In declining an invitation I should have eagerly 
 accepted but for the consideration I have mentioned, I 
 took the opportunity of putting to Ouang-Ming-Tse a 
 (question which had been in my mind since the first day. 
 
 As a rule Chinese girls are married early, generally 
 in their fifteenth or sixteenth year, but Sin-Lien ^ was 
 nearly seventeen and unmarried. There would have 
 been nothing surprising in this in Europe, in spite of 
 lior beauty, grace, and her eyes, black like those of all 
 
 ' Open nynipha'a, a fluwer.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 243 
 
 Chinese, but with a charming expression ; but in China 
 it was an anomaly, which interested me, not from 
 curiosity but on account of the sincere friendship I had 
 for each member of the family. I had never been able 
 to ask a direct question on the subject, because the 
 subject was one of great delicacy, and it is good taste 
 to maintain the utmost reserve in speaking of the 
 women of a family ; but in offering my congratulations 
 to the grandfather on the news he had brought me, I 
 could very well ask what had so kept back the happi- 
 ness of the two young people. ' The marriage should 
 have taken place two years ago,' he answered ; * both 
 families were in the same position as now, and the day 
 was about to be fixed, when my grand-daughter fell ill, 
 and was weak for a long time. 
 
 ' Soon after her recovery her jiance lost his grand- 
 mother, and we were thus delayed until the present 
 time. We have shortened the delay as it is consider- 
 ably, because it ought to have been twenty-seven 
 months in duration ; but as we are persons whose acts 
 are of small importance, we considered 300 days suffi- 
 cient. The souls of our ancestors will pardon us, and 
 I hope that this time my grandchild will not be long in 
 becoming Mrs. Kou-Ouang-Chi.' ^ 
 
 ' I hope so also, Ouaug-Sien-sen ; all the more, 
 because such a delay must seem long to the young 
 people. Have they met each other ? ' 
 
 ' A woman does uot lose her fiunily name when taking that of 
 h(T husband ; she adds it to the latter. 
 
 R 2
 
 ?44 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 * Yes, when they were children, but not for ten 
 years.' 
 
 ' Not at all ? ' 
 
 ' I do not think so, except perhaps at a distance, 
 once or twice.' 
 
 ' In that case perhaps they may not be able to 
 recognise each other.' 
 
 ' It is probable.' 
 
 It was probable, and I was not ignorant of the fact. 
 Twenty times at least had I endeavoured to obtain an 
 explanation of the motives of so strange a custom, for 
 it does not always happen that the two betrothed have 
 the chance of meeting during their childhood. It 
 happens more often that they do not meet at all until 
 the marriage. Whether the cause be indifference or 
 precaution, the fact always seemed mysterious to me, 
 and I was determined, if possible, to obtain an expla- 
 nation. I made another attempt. * Let us suppose, 
 however, that the bride and bridegroom should not 
 be pleasing to each other.' 
 
 ' Why should they not be so, Si-Lao-Ye ? ' 
 
 ' I am not speaking of your grand-daughter and her 
 intended, Ouang-Sien-son ; what I want to learn is 
 this, why do the Chinese forbid all intercourse between 
 betrothed people ? ' 
 
 * it must be so, Si-Lao- Y'e, since our customs do 
 not allow of the mingling of the sexes, outside the 
 family circle, before marriage, and marriage between 
 young people of the same name is prohibited. But
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. ^45 
 
 the point at which you wish to arrive, is the reason 
 of the separation of the sexes ? I think the ancients, 
 from whom our laws and customs are derived, must 
 have fully considered the matter hefore taking up 
 the position. Whether they were right or wrong is 
 difficult to say. We can compare our system with 
 others, and you, who are well acquainted with other 
 civilisations than ours, are better able to give an 
 opinion than I. Our rules are not inflexible, though 
 the severity of them possesses this advantage, that 
 the slightest deviation is at once noticeable, and 
 precautions can be taken before greater mischief is 
 done ; actually however, every man is master of his 
 own house, and no one can find fault with him, as 
 long as general customs are not infringed. You may 
 have noticed that you were eagerly welcomed at 
 my home, although you are not only a stranger, but 
 a foreigner. You were better known to me, however, 
 than I have yet told you. I have a friend in the 
 
 office of the Taotai of N , and 1 wrote to him 
 
 immediately after your first meeting v.ith my son. 
 Would you not have done the same thing in my place ? 
 Concerning our marriages, the parties are not so com- 
 pletely strangers to one another as yon think ; the 
 necessary go-between ^ and the gossips do not fail to 
 entertain them with news of each other. 
 
 * No marriage takes place, even amoug families well acquainted 
 with each other, without the services of an intermediary, whose 
 duties strikingly resemLle those of the bayolan of our Brittany.
 
 246 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 ' Keally, however, all depends upon education ; and 
 regarding marriage as a serious matter, we endeavour 
 to reduce the enthusiasm and imagination of youth to 
 a minimum, in order to avoid painful surprises. 
 
 ' We take especial care to influence our children to pay 
 attention to character before all things, and when once 
 this result has been obtained, and we have gained 
 their sympathy on this point, what is more natural 
 than that they should allow us the choice of their 
 life companion? We know better than they what 
 their weaknesses and faults are, and what chance they 
 have of mutually pleasing each other ; and if, during 
 the long period of negotiations, we see that we have 
 been mistaken, popular superstition in the form of a 
 passing bird, or such and such a combination of 
 written characters, affords us a ready excuse to break 
 them off. If the young people were permitted to see 
 each other, what would become of our precautions and 
 of our principle of not allowing marriage between 
 relations? It would be a complete upset of all 
 things.' 
 
 ' Your precautions, Ouang-Sicn-seu, arc superfluous 
 in view of the education you give.' 
 
 ' Young people must not be asked for efforts 
 beyond their age and nature, Si-Lao- Ye, and ours are 
 not saints. You must remember that we marry 
 young, and to wait until reason was fully established, 
 would cause nothing but disorder. Many persons 
 would not marry at all, especially girls, who grow old
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 247 
 
 much more quickly than boys. What would become 
 of morality, society, and justice ? Once married, we 
 soon become attached to our wives, and our wives to 
 us, and I can say we are happy. 
 
 ' 1 do not think there are a hundred Chinese among 
 ten thousand who would not say the same thing. How 
 many would there be in countries where marriage 
 is made under other conditions, without speaking of 
 individuals, who would then be condemned to celibacy ? 
 Can you tell me, Si-Lao- Ye ? ' 
 
 I did not know, and 1 do not know now, so I leave 
 Ouang-Ming-Tse's question to the reader to answer for 
 himself 
 
 ' Clearly,' replied Ouang-Ming-Tse, who doubtless 
 was afraid of having hurt my pride, ' 1 am speaking 
 of what I do not understand ; every people has its 
 own character and customs, and it is probable that 
 things are neither better nor worse with one than the 
 other.' 
 
 This conclusion appeared subject to argument, but 
 I said nothing, desiring to end a discussion which had 
 continued further than 1 intended, and merely asked 
 Ouang-Ming-Tse to return to our former subject. 
 
 ' By all means, Si-Lao- Ye, but from where we left it, 
 our history, which has now become mine, will soon be 
 ended. I failed twice at the public examinations, but 
 thanks to my uncle, I succeeded in obtaining a situ- 
 ation in the office of a prefecture, by means of which 
 I hoped to continue my studies, without cost to my
 
 243 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 parents, and present myself a third time with better 
 fortune. 
 
 * Time elapsed, and when I was thirty I was still 
 unable to carry out my intentions. I was married, 
 and had four children, and was compelled to earn a 
 living. In the little leisure my situation gave me, I 
 made copies, and had no time for study. I was much 
 discouraged, also ; even supposing I were successful, it 
 was too late to hope for any career in the public 
 service, and the prospect of dragging on my life in an 
 over-worked and under-paid situation at my uncle's 
 heels, was so repugnant to me that I often thought I 
 had better go back to my peasant's work. I was only 
 forty years old, and my son, Po-Y, was nearly fifteen ; 
 the two of us could easily repair lost time, and in any 
 case I should leave him in a better and more honour- 
 able position than my own had been. My fiither's 
 death decided me, and I resolved to join my brothers 
 in the common inheritance. They helped me with 
 the marriage expenses of my three eldest daughters, 
 who were betrothed, but whose marriage had been 
 postponed on difFercut pretexts, because I was not rich 
 enough to afford the expense and could not avow the 
 real reason. I have only had since two other children : 
 a daughter, married a few years back, and a second son, 
 whom you have seen, the last of my children, who was 
 married years ago.' 
 
 * Why did he separate himself from you Mhilc still 
 so young ? ' I asked Ouang-Ming-Tse.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 249 
 
 ' I was going to tell yon, Si-Lao-Ye. Until two years 
 ago, neither my brother, nephews, nor myself had 
 ever thought of any separation of our interests. We 
 each possessed our own home, but our work and in- 
 terests were in common. Such a state of things wa^ 
 not without inconvenience, and could not go on for ever, 
 but no one entertained any serious idea of a change. 
 
 ' The coming of my young daughter-in-law led us 
 all to think of it. She was of a proud and restless 
 character, and was persuaded that her husband was 
 being treated with injustice. There is a proverb 
 which says " a man should listen to his wife, and 
 not believe her," but my son was only too disposed to 
 believe his, who possessed an extraordinary influence 
 over him. She seemed always gentle and obedient, 
 though really she was never in agreement with any- 
 one, and was even wanting in proper deference 
 towards my wife. There was only one remedy for this 
 state of things,^ and that was to send her and her 
 
 ^ Accordin<r to the exact reading of the legal code, and of 
 common custom, another means was open by which the family 
 could have relieved themselves of their embarrassment. The first 
 of the seven justifications for divorce in China, is want of deference 
 towards father-in-law or mother-in-law; but one condition is 
 required which is not sj^Kjken of in the text, because it is pre- 
 supposed — and that is, the consent of the husband. For this reason 
 the Ouang-Ming-Tse were unable to make use of this method. The 
 article in question is really rather a resource and guarantee given to 
 the woman against the caprices of her husband. It must not be 
 forgOcten that she is chosen by the parents of the latter. It is one 
 thing to enumerate the laws and customs of a country, and quite 
 another to show the use made of them.
 
 250 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 husband to live by themselves ; and in order to take 
 away all pretext for their suspicion, to give them their 
 share of the common property. 
 
 * We therefore decided upon a separation of our 
 common interests, which was carried out six months 
 ago. It cost us some pain at the time, but we now 
 congratulate ourselves upon it. My son has not 
 ceased to come to our house, and I have no reproach to 
 make for him ; as to his wife, she seems still to owe us 
 a grudge, but signs have not been wanting to lead us 
 to believe that she will soon make her submission, 
 which, it is unnecessary to tell you, we shall not make 
 hard for her. My wife and I are beginning to grow 
 old, and find it hard to be without our children. Is it 
 not just that the daughters-in-law should replace the 
 daughters who have left us ? 
 
 'It is very sad to witness one's family growing 
 smaller, and the parents are happy who have more 
 sons than daughters.' 
 
 * You have not told us how yours became married, 
 Ouang-Sien-sen.' 
 
 ' The first two married peasants, the third and 
 the last a merchant. They come to see us two or 
 three times a year. You see, they have not forgotten 
 us ; but they are none the less lost to us. They no 
 longer belong to the family.' 
 
 The above is a faithful translation of the history of 
 the family Ouang-Ming-Tse as related by its chief. I 
 have modified it only on one point. When speaking
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 251 
 
 of a member of his family he seldom indicated his age 
 by the number of his years, but almost invariably by 
 mentioning the then reigning Emperor and the year 
 of his reign. This is a Chinese custom, and appears to 
 have none of the inconveniences which might appear 
 inseparable from it in our eyes. 
 
 This manner of dating events and measuring time 
 seems to carry with it no inconvenience to the Chinese, 
 who are very familiar with the history of their country ; 
 but, however that may be, they believe they thus 
 unite themselves more definitely to the collective life of 
 humanity of which they form part, and the idea is so 
 dear to them that they are prepared to make any sacrifice 
 to retain it. 
 
 V, 
 
 ' You men heiou ouen yun kou se kouan tcho yong 
 yen pien te tche ' — On entering a house do not ask 
 what is the fortune of its inhabitants ; look at their 
 faces, and you will know it. — Since I had become 
 acquainted with the Ouang I had always conformed to 
 this recommendation of the wisdom of nations, and I 
 had always endeavoured to apply it to the best of my 
 ability. I knew every wrinkle of their countenances, 
 and every corner of their home. I had noticed the 
 order, ease, comfort and happiness given by security 
 for the morrow. If I had fallen among them direct
 
 252 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 from France, I should not have hesitated to attribute 
 to them the possession of thirty or forty hectares 
 (seventy-five to one hundred acres) of good sunny land, 
 or an income of from five to six thousand francs 
 (£200 to £240). 
 
 I knew, however, they possessed only twenty-nine 
 mous — that is to say, a hectare and ninety-four 
 centiares (a little more than two and a half acres) — 
 and as I had seen many other families of peasants 
 under similar conditions, their position did not as- 
 tonish me. 
 
 Nevertheless, the less exceptional it seemed to be, 
 the more I wondered at it. The more I realised the 
 existence of the phenomenon, the greater the pleasure 
 I took in its analysis, and in comprehending its 
 general existence. Nor was I ever tired of proving 
 to myself that it was no marvel peculiar to this or 
 that family or commune, canton or province. As by 
 degrees I more and more realised the simplicity of 
 the methods which create the fertility of the soil in 
 China, and the richness of its agriculture, the more 
 pains I took to assure myself of their sufficiency for 
 all purposes. I had l)een informed that in Europe 
 a capital of seven or eight hundred francs (£28 to 
 £32) per hectare (2^, acres) was essential to bring 
 out the resources of the land, and tliat even with that 
 amount it was often difficult to obtain an adequate 
 return. 
 
 I saw that in China, three simple advantages—
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 253 
 
 justice, water, and manure — ensured an abundance to 
 the first comer, and tliat almost without an ex- 
 penditure of capital, great skill, or crushing effort, the 
 soil repaid a hundredfold the grain and toil expended 
 upon it. I regarded it as a duty to collect as much 
 documentary evidence as possible in support of so 
 important and, I may add, consoling a fact, and I never 
 lost an opportunity of doing so. I seldom met with 
 more convincing proof than that afforded me by the 
 Ouang family. Its fortune, whatever it was, had 
 been entirely acquired by small cultivation on a small 
 property, since no individual members of the family 
 had ever possessed more than one or two hectares (2^ 
 to 5 acres). 
 
 The property had once amounted to nine hectares 
 (22^ acres), but it was then divided among five 
 families and forty persons. This important point was 
 clearly established by the narrative of Ouang-Ming- 
 Tse. The peasants with whom chance had previously 
 brought me into contact, although polished and hos- 
 pitable, and even thoughtful, had rarely been so to the 
 same extent as the Ouang family ; and whether it was 
 that our greater intimacy had enabled me to notice in 
 them higher qualities of mind and character than in 
 others, or whether they actually possessed them 
 owing to the superior education of their chief, there 
 certainly existed between us a sympathy which made 
 no question of mine appear impertinent or indiscreet 
 to them. They perfectly understood the objects of
 
 254 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 my inquiry, and assisted me to the best of their 
 ability. I determined therefore to push it as far as 
 possible. For the moment, what I desired to ask 
 them was in no way likely to offend any peasant. I 
 was principally interested in the industry to which 
 they owed their prosperity, and from this point of view 
 the special details I was in want of possessed only a 
 relative significance. Agriculture in China exists 
 under such similar conditions in all parts of the 
 country that the actual work of the inhabitants 
 becomes in some respects a secondary matter, while of 
 great importance from other points of view. This is 
 so much the case that it would be very difficult to 
 form a faint idea of the part attributable to them 
 without a knowledge of the general conditions under 
 which they work, and which simplify matters for them 
 in many respects. 
 
 This statement requires some explanation. Agri- 
 culture is governed in China by three elements, 
 peasant proprietorship, the employment of water, and 
 the nature of the manure. These elements are met 
 with everywhere, and (the reader will find the fact 
 worthy of notice) they result not from chance, but 
 from a thoughtfulness which prepared the way for 
 them, and by which they were derived from the 
 remotest antiquity. As regards peasant proprietor- 
 ship, if it be remembered that the soil belongs to the 
 community, that unoccupied lands are resumed by it 
 and possession given to those willing to make use of
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 255 
 
 them, that the taxation on the metrical system tends 
 to drive non-workers from the soil — if the reader will 
 recall to mind the institution of the patrimonial land, 
 which not only guarantees the individual against the 
 tyranny of a few privileged individuals, but which, by 
 fixing the possession in perpetuity of a small portion 
 of the soil in the hands of any one who has once 
 acquired it, forms a barrier against the creation of 
 large properties — if the reader will, in short, recall to 
 mind the great facilities for the transfer and parcelling 
 out of the remainder of the soil, he cannot fail to 
 perceive in all these institutions so many precautions 
 in favour of small as against large properties.^ 
 
 ^ The Chinese have never believed in the utility or advisability 
 of large properties, even for a time. It would appear, on the 
 contrary, that it has been the constant endeavour of their legis- 
 lators to preserve them from such a system, which they have always 
 regarded as constituting a possible permanent danger. It has 
 certainly existed in China; but whatever its duration, merely as 
 an accident destined to a natural disappearance under the influence 
 of the laws and institutions I have mentioned. If a further proof 
 be required, the case of Japan may be cited, which has always 
 followed on the lines laid down by China, very exactly if at a 
 distance. Large properties have never existed there, and rather 
 than permit them, the portions of territory which the want of 
 population did not permit the cultivation of, have been left 
 untouched, and the inhabitants have been concentrated on 
 determined spaces, where every family occupies a small lot on 
 which small cultivation is carried on after the Chinese manner. 
 The remainder, held in reserve, either by the State or in the 
 hands of daimios or the Mikado, awaits the coming of future 
 generations. The Japanese do not consider there is any loss 
 by this system, as much raw and net produce being brought 
 in by small cultivation as by an extensive system of cultivation 
 applied to the whole country.
 
 256 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 Eegarding the employment of water, the intention 
 of the legislator is sufficiently shown by the establish- 
 ment of the most gigantic and admirable system of 
 irrigation that has ever been dreamed of. Whence 
 could he have drawn the inspiration and audacity 
 necessary for such an enterprise four thousand years 
 ago, at a time when China possessed barely a few 
 millions of inhabitants ? It was certainly not to water 
 deserts, forests, and lands that he created, in the midst 
 of vast expanses, the reservoirs, canals, and weirs 
 which astonish the imagination of to-day. What he 
 desired, doubtless, after guaranteeing to every one 
 the enjoyment of the soil, was to guarantee him 
 equally the means of putting it to good use, and to 
 ensure that every parcel of land could be watered 
 was to ensure every parcel of land being cultivated. 
 
 Water renders all soil fertile, and covers sand with 
 crops; and if water be plentiful, it matters little if the 
 arable soil be thin, or even if it exist, since a second 
 soil can be made and fertilised by water above that 
 which is impermeable. With water always at hand, 
 no deep labour is required ; and witli water on the 
 surface, vegetation is not compelled to plunge its roots 
 deep into the soil. It dispenses also with tlie use of 
 powerful, heavy, and costly implements. One bufTalo, 
 a wooden harrow, a spade and a hoe, suffice for all 
 purposes. Could any more democratic or inexpensive 
 means be found, or any more completely justifying the 
 construction of the canals ?
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 257 
 
 It is only necessary to open tlie book of rites of the 
 Cheou dynasty, which existed twelve hundred years 
 before our era, to be convinced that the manure 
 specially recommended is that so universally employed 
 in China as to have received the name of ' Chinese 
 manure.' It is well known that the arable soil, rela- 
 tively small in extent, was then worked on account of 
 the State, as it was until lately, if it is not now, in 
 Japan. It was cultivated according to plans sent out 
 by the ministry of population, and under the care of 
 special functionaries. There were inspector-directors 
 for colonisation, for agriculture, and for irrigation. 
 The peasantry were instructed when the rice fields 
 should be prepared, sown, flooded, and denuded of 
 water, and when the growing plants should be 
 transplanted. They were given full information as to 
 the soil suitable for such and such a crop, what 
 manure was advisable, and how it could be best 
 applied. 
 
 The system, in fact, was one of a universal and 
 practical science of agriculture, which is now the glory 
 and prosperity of China. The Teteou-li, the book of 
 which I have spoken, contains a large number of 
 chapters, in which these rules are codified. The 
 manure in question is the most common of all, and 
 the most economical, for the fabrication of which 
 neither waste land for large animals are required, but 
 which is produced daily by man himself. 
 
 s
 
 258 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 In the eyes of the Chinese legislator it is the most 
 precious of all. Small properties -were created in order 
 that it might be duly collected and utilised ; and it is 
 through its agency that the soil regains its lost virtues, 
 and man is assured his food and liberty, while his race 
 developes in proportions hitherto unknown. While it 
 is collected with care and solicitude, other manures 
 are not neglected, and some strange ones are used — a 
 practice which may perhaps be explained by the large 
 surfaces there covered with forest and inhabited by 
 large numbers of wild beasts. ' The inspectors of 
 agriculture,' says the Cheou-li, ' will devote their 
 attention to the methods of preparing seed by means 
 of manure. They will first cause the grains to be 
 wetted in a bath of broth obtained from beef-bones, 
 then, according to whether they are destined for red, 
 yellow, black or white, compact, friable or flimsy soils, 
 they will cause them to be crisped in the powdered 
 excrement of oxen, sheep, goats, dogs, pigs, foxes, 
 badgers, deer, &c. I can only indicate here the sub- 
 stance of these instructions, but a literal translation of 
 them would cause amazement at their wisdom, which 
 might almost be supposed to have received the same 
 inspiration as that of jVIoscs. 
 
 The manures here spoken of are of an auxiliary 
 description, which, from their very rarity, can be but 
 little used, and are, in fact, nothing but the milk and 
 broth given to newly-born infants. But the principal 
 munure, the food of adult plants, the bread of the
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 259 
 
 coming harvest, to whicli the solemn author of the 
 Cheou-li gives all preference, is that for which our 
 peasants, engineers, and municipalities in Europe pro- 
 fess the greatest indifference, scorn, disgust, and 
 hatred, which they hold responsible for all our 
 iniquities, carelessness, and ignorance, which our 
 scientific men have the least to say in defence of 
 — a manure which all agree in conveying to the 
 sea at a cost of hundreds of millions, without think- 
 ing for a moment that it is the soil itself they are 
 wasting. ^ 
 
 I have lived ten years in China, and have passed 
 five years in districts fertilised by human manure 
 alone, and I can affirm — can swear, if need be — that 
 my health has not suffered, and that the Chinese 
 populations are as healthy and as little subject to 
 contagious diseases as in Europe. I wish my evidence 
 could be listened to. 
 
 And if it be objected that our social condition does 
 not allow of our doing otherwise, so much the worse 
 for it ; it is its own judgment and condemnation. 
 
 ^ There is nothing easier than to lay the blame of our own faults 
 on some one or something else. A splendid canal may be built at 
 a cost of two hundred millions to convey the produce of the Paris 
 sewers to the Channel ; but the question is not so easily solved. 
 If it be true that our sewage is a danger to the public health, it is 
 because we do not know how to make proper use of it in time. 
 Let our cultivators rival each other in their desire for it, as is the 
 case in China, and come into the towns to fetch it, and the danger 
 will disappear. Once brought into contact with the soil and with 
 vegetables, and nothing but benefit is derived from it. 
 
 8 2
 
 26o CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 •It is the duty of the inspectors of agriculture,' 
 says the Cheou-Li, ' to take care that none of it is 
 lost or wasted, for it makes the strength and health of 
 the people. They will cause it to be collected in vases, 
 in which it must ferment for six days ; when used, it 
 must be mixed with ten times its bulk of water. It 
 is to be used with the rice-plant while the latter is 
 growing, not before, as often as may be necessary, but 
 not oftener ; it is the plant, not the soil, which requires 
 nourishment, and evaporation is waste. On lands which 
 are not flooded, it must be laid at the foot of the plants 
 while they are growing, for if placed between the 
 lines, a large proportion will be wasted. By thus 
 dealing with it wisely and economically, but little will 
 be expended, and abundant harvests will be obtained, 
 and the people made happy. In the northern provinces, 
 where no crops are grown during the winter, the 
 surplus manure should be dried and mingled with 
 earth, to be conveyed to the south in the shape of 
 bricks.' 
 
 It is impossible, it will be seen, to establish more 
 clearly the law of circulus, which China has so long 
 religiously observed, and to which she owes her sur- 
 vival over so many nations which have disappeared 
 during 4000 years, and her power of holding in check 
 the industrial and military power of Europe. 
 
 Thus soil, water, and manure for all, was the end 
 laid down by the former sages of China, and so well 
 pursued in every aspect by the entire nation, that
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 261 
 
 there is not a corner of its territory where it has not 
 been attained. 
 
 Western nations have hoped to base their unity on 
 political conventions, and on the existence of pretended 
 natural frontiers, or on ethnographical resemblances of 
 languages and customs. We know what such bases 
 are worth ; how easy it is to thrust them on one side, 
 and when that cannot be done, to make a laughing- 
 stock of them. China has founded her unity upon the 
 inseparable conjunction of the soil and justice, and I 
 cannot help smiling when I hear of plans of conquest 
 and dismemberment spoken of at her cost. She can 
 only be conquered by the same arms she employs 
 herself. But we should then be conquered ourselves, 
 and all our private unities, instead of dividing us, 
 would make one grand and complete unity, against 
 which nothing could prevail — that of the human race. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Let me state at once the wonderful results of the 
 programme I have just analysed. The most general 
 and most immediate is the system of small cultivation, 
 which is even more widely spread than that of peasant 
 proprietorship. A few individuals may be met possess- 
 ing as many as thirty, fifty, and even three hundred
 
 262 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 hectares;^ but the average, both in the north and 
 south of China, does not exceed ten to twelve. It 
 must be supposed that there this system, the merits 
 and demerits of which have been already enlarged 
 upon, possesses highly marked advantages, since it has 
 been preferred to any system of cultivation on a large 
 scale, even when the latter would appear more advis- 
 able. 
 
 Another evident result has been, if not the complete 
 suppression, at all events an extreme reduction in the 
 surfaces cultivated for the food of animals, to the 
 advantage of those devoted to crops destined to be the 
 food of man. I may be allowed to observe here that 
 it is a general belief that there are few large animals 
 used either for labour or as food in China, and that 
 this scarcity is caused by the want of pasturage ; but 
 this is a double mistake. There are certainly but few 
 oxen and horses, but the number of buffaloes is very 
 large, and I should not be surprised if it were relatively 
 higher than that of oxen and horses in France, since 
 one buffalo is required for every three hectares of 
 land.'^ 
 
 This fact, which appears at first sight irreconcileablo 
 with the want of pasturage, is easily explained by the 
 
 * Translator's note : The hectare may be estimated rouglily at 
 2J acres. 
 
 ^ On this basis tlie bovine i»>i>ulation in France would amount to 
 more than sixteen millions, if peasant itrojirietorsliij) were in vogue ; 
 it amounts to only thirteen millions actually.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 263 
 
 existence of spade culture, as will be shortly shown. 
 In the meanwhile it may be sufficient to state that 
 China could, if it were thought advisable, largely in- 
 crease the existing number of flesh-forming animals, 
 without any modification of the existing agricultural 
 system. And if this has not been done, it is because, 
 in the first place, the alimentary equivalent of rice or 
 corn is much more costly when converted into meat 
 than when consumed as vegetable ; ^ and secondly, 
 because the Chinese are not as fully convinced as 
 ourselves of the necessity of much meat in diet ; and 
 finally, because they are able to procure the quantity 
 they regard as indispensable, in the shape of pork and 
 fowls, at less cost than in the shape of oxen. Nor 
 must it be forgotten that, as the principal part of their 
 agriculture is constituted of rice fields, they are almost 
 compelled to make use of the bufi'alo, whose flesh is 
 almost uneatable. The respect and attachment in 
 which the Chinese hold the animals which labour for 
 them is a last reason, which it would be unjust to pass 
 over. They rarely beat them, and treat them more 
 kindly than is the case in Europe, the more naturally 
 because, as a rule, each family possesses only one ox 
 or buffalo, which thus becomes a domestic pet. 
 
 The absence of pasturage is, therefore, an advantage, 
 and not an inconvenience, and the corresponding absence 
 
 ' See the report of M. Eug. Tisseraud, Director of Agriculture 
 to the Ministry of Agriculture in the Universal Exhibition at 
 Vienna, 1873.
 
 264 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 of butchers' meat in the diet of the Chinese cannot be 
 imputed to it, since they might easily increaise the 
 production, if they had not other motives for dis- 
 pensing with it, and numerous means of supplying its 
 place.^ 
 
 Spade culture, besides suppressing grass land, has 
 permitted the introduction into China of a variety and 
 quantity of crops impossible with cultivation on a 
 large scale, each being effected in different ways and 
 at different times, and often requiring manual care. 
 There are at least seventy principal crops regularly 
 cultivated throughout the Empire, and eight or ten, 
 often more, on each farm of two or three hectares 
 (five to seven and a half acres).^ The whole of China is 
 a garden, as has been often observed, and a garden of 
 the richest description. 
 
 Rice yields from 3500 to 10,000 kilogrammes per 
 hectare,^ wheat from 15 to 50 and 60 hectolitres, tea 
 and mulberries a value of from 5000 to 8000 francs. 
 There are other plants not less precious : the sugar- 
 cane ; the wax tree ; the ligustrum, on which exists the 
 
 ' The larfjer animals only arc referred to here. Sheep, which are 
 excluded from certain provinces, are found in others where pasturage 
 is reserved on the mountains. They are also bred in confinement, 
 hut this cannot Ik? done so easily with sheep as with oxen, and 
 wliile the flat, hot country in the south is not suitable to them, 
 mutton is considered an unhealthy article of diet in the summer. 
 
 ''■ I have given a list of the seventj' princijjal cmps in an cssjiy 
 u|)on the agricultural geograjihy of China jmblishcd in 18G8 in the 
 IhiUetm de la tiocietc de Gitographie. 
 
 ' As in the plain of Cheu-Tu, in Se-chuen, and many others.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 265 
 
 insect which forms the whitest and most expensive 
 wax known ; the heech trees, which nourish a particular 
 kind of silkworm, from which, in two provinces alone, as 
 much as forty thousand halls of silk are obtained 
 annually, a tree the resin of which forms, without 
 mixing, the most beautiful varnish in the world. 
 
 The returns I have given are merely in the gross, as 
 it is not possible to give the net produce of one culti- 
 vation ; for example, no estimate can be made of the 
 labour cost of three palm trees, a couple of tallow trees, 
 one or two hundred square yards of beans, and a few 
 square yards of tinctorial plants. The idea seems ridi- 
 culous. It is easy enough to imagine a collection of as 
 many orange trees as a couple of acres will support, and 
 I have done so in order to give some idea of the results 
 obtained, but to estimate the gross product is as difficult 
 as to analyse the net result. The truth is, that a collec- 
 tion of a thousand trees will never bear as much as 
 if divided into small groups, and above all cultivated 
 by diJBferent proprietors. It is the same as with the 
 buffalo just mentioned, the less there is of it the more 
 it weighs. 
 
 The question of net cost is even more difficult ; it is 
 impossible to value such infinitesimal quantities as 
 the few minutes' work required by the berries of an oil 
 tree, or the two or three minutes required to bestow a 
 spadeful of manure upon a blade of rice or wheat, or 
 such things as the taste and love which a man brings 
 to bear upon such work. It is always the same : a
 
 266 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 person attaches himself to a sheep, not to a flock; I 
 am more fond of the lime tree in front of my door 
 than of all the limes in the forest. 
 
 Why do the Chinese succeed so well with the oak 
 silkworm, which we have been vainly trying to accli- 
 matise for twenty-five years ? Because each family 
 brings up only a very small quantity. How do they 
 contrive to preserve their crops from rust, cuscuta and 
 other parasites, which they have even succeeded in 
 exterminating ? By taking care of the plants individu- 
 ally one by one. Let us suppose it possible to estimate 
 exactly the time so expended, what value can we 
 attach to the time itself? In the majority of cases it 
 is that of the members of the family, and the same 
 remark applies as that I made concerning the manure — 
 they are not obliged to purchase it, it is their duty to 
 expend it, by the mere fact of their breathing. "When 
 compelled to seek outside help, they employ so little 
 and procure it so cheaply, that the cost of it to the 
 crop is hardly worth speaking of. There is only one 
 method of estimating the profits of the various branches 
 of a cultivation, which is to consider the undertaking 
 as a whole in which the value of each branch consists, 
 in the system of which it forms part. Agriculture, in 
 fact, does not resemble manufacturing industry, neither 
 the labour nor the production can be analysed. Every 
 operation must be carried out, in some way or another, 
 at the same time. If only rice or sugar-cane were 
 cultivated, what would the cultivator do with his time
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 267 
 
 and land when once the harvest was gathered ? Could 
 one crop, which might fail, support all the charges 
 and rent for a year ? ' No,' replies spade culture ; 
 ' adopt me, and I will give you the secret of how not 
 to lose a moment of your time, nor an inch of your 
 land. I will assure you five times the price of your 
 field, and I will so multiply your crops that you shall 
 be able to sell them ten times less dearly,' China has 
 followed this counsel and has not repented of it. The 
 Chinese cannot tell you the exact cost of a bushel of 
 rice or a pound of sugar, but thanks to spade culture 
 the traveller will find all agricultural necessities 
 extremely cheap, and as many families like that of 
 Ouang-Ming-Tse as there are peasants. 
 
 Silk, among other things, is sold at a price which 
 seriously threatens our French silk- growers, who are 
 asking for protection. The system or secret of spade 
 culture is too well known to need description here, 
 though that part of it known as transplantation 
 requires special mention. A small space of ground is 
 chosen with a good exposure and sheltered from the 
 wind by one of the walls of the house, and carefully 
 prepared with good and rich soil, and so arranged as 
 to be capable of being covered with frames or straw if 
 required. This is only necessary in the north of 
 China, where the winters are long and cold. 
 
 The seeds are sown here by the handful, and very 
 thickly, and as soon as the plants have attained a 
 certain degree of development they are removed andl
 
 268 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 transplanted to the place they are destined to complete 
 their growth and ripen their fruits. Part of their 
 existence is therefore passed on a small surface of a 
 few square yards, and the time during which they 
 require a larger space is so much shortened as to 
 admit of the same field bearing several crops during 
 the same year. 
 
 This is the main object of transplantation, or rather 
 of the process known by this name, of which trans- 
 plantation itself is but a part, but it is not the only 
 one. 
 
 Persons who have thought little even about garden- 
 ing know that the oftener a plant is transplanted in its 
 youth the more vigorous it becomes. The pivot roots 
 disappear and are replaced by a number of horizontal 
 roots, which, by giving the plant a firmer hold upon 
 the ground, enable it better to resist the \viud, and 
 which, lying near the surface, the more readily absorb 
 all nutriment afforded by air, water, and manure. A 
 transplanted plant grows more numerous branches 
 than any other, and grows them more quickly, and 
 when it is so isolated as to be easily approached and 
 tended, it is easy to obtain almost miraculous results. 
 
 From a single blade of corn cultivated under similar 
 conditions as many as sixty ears have been obtained.^ 
 
 * Plants kept in nurseries for any time have a tendency to become 
 etiolated, and put forth their branches slowly. To avoid this the 
 Chinese never omit to steep the <;rains in a bath of manure. 
 Absori)tion takes place by endosmosis, and streiiglliens the cotyle- 
 dons, whence the young vegetable obtains its tirst nourishment.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 269 
 
 The promises of spade culture were therefore not 
 exaggerated, and they have even been surpassed, since 
 it multiplies five-fold not only the crops of each field, 
 but also the produce of each crop. Furthermore, it 
 economises seed ; a few litres (nearly a quart) of grain 
 suffice for a hectare of land (two and a half acres), 
 instead of two hectolitres and a half (nearly seven 
 bushels). Nor is this all ; if by spade culture a hectare 
 produces as much as ten or twenty under the ordinary 
 system, the surface to be worked is less extensive, the 
 cartage is shorter, and fewer powerful animals are 
 required. It is the same with the tools for a cultiva- 
 tion already simplified by the employment of water. 
 If to those already mentioned we add a watering-pot 
 and a dibble, we have nearly every requisite, and this 
 is not one of the least advantages. 
 
 Nor is even this all ; disposing as he does at will of 
 the water and manure, which he has constantly at 
 hand, it may well be imagined that the Chinese peasant 
 troubles himself little about the distribution, rotation, 
 and alternation of crops, and the general system 
 intended to rest the soil after exhausting it, and to 
 
 The roots are again steeped before transplantation. Witli the 
 observance of these piecautions, rice and corn fifteen to twenty 
 centimetres (six to eight inches) in height can be transplanted 
 without inconvenience. They are not prevented from ramifying 
 from the crown and pushing out suckers, as the gardeners say. 
 Instead of themselves preparing their i)lants for transplantation, the 
 northern Chinese often obtain them from the southern provinces.
 
 270 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 exhaust it after resting it. All this cunning and 
 science are useless to him, his justice and devotion to 
 duty taking their place. In return for the justice 
 rendered to it, the soil shows no caprice. For cen- 
 turies the same fields have borne twice a year the same 
 crops of rice and corn ; the other plants grown are at 
 least as exhausting, and they succeed one another every 
 six weeks, while after each the soil is as productive as 
 before. His devotion ensures to him a possession of it, 
 such as never lover has had of his mistress yet. There 
 is yet another advantage obtained by the Chinese from 
 spade culture, in the power of introducing into their 
 cultivation a certain number of animals obtained from 
 warm climates. It is sufficient so to calculate the 
 period of seed gestation of the exotics as to ensure the 
 transplantation being made at the precise moment 
 when the heat and light of the season are most 
 favourable to their flowering and fruit-bearing.^ And 
 this moment determines their place in the series of 
 crops which succeed one another on the same ground. 
 It is a true rotation of crops, but one founded upon 
 the conditions of climate and not upon the convenience 
 of the soil, and its object is the extension of these 
 vegetables to one or two degrees of latitude beyond their 
 natural habitation. One of the most remarkable of 
 
 * It may be remarked here that tlic Chinese do not distin<;uish 
 climates by differences of temi)erature, but by tlic amount of day- 
 lij^lit. They liave chmates of 13, 13J 14, Hi, 15 hours, &c. ; 
 that is to say, countries where the time between the rising and the 
 setting of the sun is 12, 13, 11 hours, i!tc.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 271 
 
 these effects which can be cited is that of the corn now 
 cultivated in Mongolia. 
 
 Long and cold winters, with a temperature often 
 falling to thirty degrees below zero, summers very hot, 
 but so short that the potato freezes in September, 
 would seem to render this country useless for any other 
 plant than the grasses of its endless pasturage, and a 
 few trees in the most shaded spots ; and in fact, until 
 thirty years ago, though a few fields of oats were to be 
 met with occasionally, there was not a blade of wheat. 
 Since then the population has increased around the 
 sparse watercourses, spade culture has come into 
 vogue, and at all events where it is best practised, near 
 the Great Wall, wheat transplanted at the end of May 
 can now ripen. Another plant, the herbaceous cotton, 
 which does not flourish north of the 36th or 37th 
 parallels in other parts of the world, is grown in 
 Manchuria north of the 40th. ^ 
 
 These examples might be multiplied, but I must 
 confine myself within limits, and as I am speaking 
 of climate, I may take the opportunity of replying to 
 an objection which has often been made to me, and 
 may perhaps have occurred to the reader : ' In China, 
 as well as in Europe, it often hails, and, unless your 
 Chinamen cover their fields with umbrellas, it is 
 difiicult to understand how spade culture can protect 
 them from natural disasters.' 
 
 ^ In the same maimer the melon and sweet potato might be 
 ripened in om' northern climates.
 
 272 CHINA: ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 China replies easily to this objection, however grave 
 it may appear. As regards the climate, without em- 
 barrassing myself with explanations in which I should 
 probably lose myself, I will confine myself to stating 
 that in China the seasons are more regular than with 
 us, and even half-seasons are recognised. A China- 
 man knows quite well on what day he will change his 
 clothing for warmer or lighter. The Chinese reckon 
 upon so many days' rain in spring, and so many in 
 autumn, and these calculations rarely prove wrong. 
 The droughts, the worst calamities in China, depend 
 upon the winters. If the snow upon the high moun- 
 tains of Thibet, whence come the two great rivers 
 which water China, is not sufficiently abundant or 
 thaws too quickly, the rivers and canals soon dry 
 up, and unless an extraordinary rain falls the disaster 
 is beyond remedy. Floods also caused by an excessive 
 fall of snow, or too rapid a thaw in Thibet, do not 
 cause so much harm, in spite of the ravages they 
 make among a crowded population. They are miti- 
 gated to a certain extent by the canals, reservoirs, and 
 embankments of the rivers, and when the scourge is 
 past the peasants replant their fields with plants from 
 other localities. The havoc disappears as if by en- 
 chantment. All Europeans who have witnessed it 
 must have been struck by it. Heavy rains seldom 
 cause much loss ; they find a sufficient outlet by the 
 canals and rivers. As far as late and early frosts and 
 hail are concerned, if the Chinese have not yet learned
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 273 
 
 to protect their crops by means of tents and straw 
 mattrasses, as is done for forcing frames and beds in 
 horticulture, they would probably have done so if the 
 accidents caused by these climatogical phenomena were 
 as common as they are in Europe. In the meanwhile 
 they repair the damage so caused by transplanting. 
 
 VI r. 
 
 Thus water, soil, and manure on the one hand, on 
 the other space, climate, and industry, form together 
 the magnificent inheritance which the ancestors of the 
 Chinese nation have left to their descendants. It is 
 important to clearly understand that here man is not 
 dependent upon those general conditions which are 
 elsewhere against him, and which make him a slave 
 and victim. The Chinese has conquered them. Water 
 runs to supply his wants ; he does as he likes with the 
 soil ; he mocks at the climate ; he does not reckon witli 
 time ; he has filled space and almost done away with 
 tools. All these obstacles have disappeared. Never 
 has man gained more brilliant victories, and it was to 
 enable him to gain them that society, inspired by its 
 founders, determined upon property for all, the use 
 of the soil for each, and, conquering its natural re- 
 pugnance, glorified that manure which we consider 
 the most abominable. Nowhere has society done so 
 much for the individual, nowhere does the latter owe 
 
 T
 
 274 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 to it to such an extent his existence and his liberty. 
 And yet he owes it something infinitely more precious 
 still. 
 
 I have stated in a preceding chapter that labour 
 among the Chinese is not a punishment but a blessing, 
 and I have just shown that by muscular, mechanical 
 effort the difficulty is considerably reduced ; while 
 there can be no pain in it for the man who is sure 
 to gather the fruits of his labour, and not to see him- 
 self deprived of them by an idle landlord, or by the 
 vicissitudes of climate. Under these conditions, labour 
 is no longer what it is elsewhere, and becomes really 
 a question of care, assiduity, address, wisdom and 
 taste. The peasant, relieved from the necessity for 
 effort, care and trouble, becomes an artist, and, to a 
 certain extent, a man of science. No one knows better 
 the precise physiological moment for the transplanta- 
 tion of rice, no one can divine as he can the exact 
 needs of a stalk of wheat. The cleanliness of his 
 fields is pushed almost to coquetry ; to suit tlie shallow- 
 ness of his tillage he has fashioned plants, those known 
 as root-plants, in the way a sculptor kneads clay ; 
 instead of length he has given them shortness, round- 
 ness and size ; he has collected wild plants, and has 
 compelled them to produce leaves, fruits, and roots 
 good for food.^ 
 
 ' Among otliers, a marsh reed kimwii as cobu, wliicli I'uruislics a 
 vt'C^etablc as excellent as asjjarai^iu or salsify; and the ruuU ol tlie 
 iiympha-'a, the capsules of tlie trapa bicoruis, &c.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 275 
 
 As regards animals, he has rendered the buffalo as 
 tame as an ox, and he has domesticated insects which 
 seemed impossible to tame. The butterfly of the 
 common silkworm, which we owe to him, and that of 
 the oak silkworm, which he offered to us, but of which 
 we have hitherto been unable to avail ourselves ; the 
 wax cochineal, as small and frail as the grub of the 
 rose tree, and during a part of its existence even less 
 visible ; he has compelled all these ' children of the 
 air ' to furnish him with an annual tribute worth 
 hundreds of millions. This is the daily return which 
 the individual makes to society for the benefit received 
 from it, for all these conquests are but the acts of the 
 individual, the fruits of his patience, observations, 
 studies and taste. The collective force of society 
 must have failed but for him. 
 
 To society, belongs the credit of work completed 
 long ago, but to the individual, that of works of art 
 and intelligence. Here we see the respective shares 
 of each — on the one hand, the- efi'acement of the col- 
 lectivity, whose active ostensible part has now reached 
 its minimum ; on the other, the triumph of man over 
 things, and the exaltation of the individual, not over, 
 but in, and through society. I have already alluded to 
 this unique evolution, and I now submit to the reader 
 the circumstantial proofs of it, with the manner in 
 which it was reached. 
 
 The Chinaman has other artistic sides to his nature 
 than those relating to the exercise of his particular 
 
 T 2
 
 276 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 calling — that of agriculture, since I am speaking at 
 this moment of the peasant. 
 
 Take the village of Ouang-Mo-Khi, and tell me if it 
 is possible to find a more harmonious mingling of 
 nature and human handiwork. Take the house of 
 Ouang-Ming-Tse, and tell me if you do not observe 
 betvN^een it and its surrounding, so intimate a relation, 
 that you cannot separate the one from the other. 
 The house stands on the slope of a hill, true to its 
 place and design. The builder made no mistake — it is 
 visible from around, and has a view from it. The 
 house or manor, the worthy, hospitable and peaceful 
 abode of the people we have met, stands in the 
 centre of a small group of five or six cottages, a 
 little smaller than itself, at a distance of a hundred 
 paces from each of them. Its aspect so reflects 
 the character of its owners, that one would be in- 
 expressibly saddened if they were not what they 
 appear to be. 
 
 If such a farm were given to me, I would not 
 exchange it for a palace, or for anything in the world 
 but one of its neighbours. Its inhabitants are not un- 
 cultivated — the head of the family is a literate, all are 
 fond of books and have read the poets. They adore 
 flowers, and grow them. Everywhere they have 
 discovered a thousand analogies between themselves 
 and animated beings. I shall not mention the one 
 they gave me as a symbol. Nor shull I speak of their 
 study of the stars. They rave about the theatre ; you
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 277 
 
 know that Guignot, Polichinelle, Pierrot and Arlequin 
 came to us from China.'^ 
 
 The children are acquainted with fables, whose 
 origin is lost in the mist of ages — the Cat and Mouse; 
 the Blind Man and the Paralytic ; the Two Friends ; the 
 Hare and the Tortoise ; the Ass in the Lions Skin : 
 the two Ducks and the Tortoise ; the Oyster and tlie 
 Laivyers ; and so many others. 
 
 I see the reader is surprised, but does he think these 
 were invented in Europe? They have also fairies, 
 elves, korigans, &c. Since the world began, humanity 
 has believed in these things ; what does it matter if 
 they are Chinese, Indian or European? The same 
 remark applies to their stories. If I had room, I 
 should like to relate one, which curiously resembles 
 the story of Ali-Baba and the Forty Thieves in the 
 Arabian Niyhts. I will narrate one of their legends. 
 I must first explain that the resonance of metals has 
 an extraordinary charm for the Chinese ear. The 
 sound given out by a gong when the instrument is 
 struck in the centre, and the sound waves reach the 
 circumference through the circles of different sizes and 
 formations which the skill of the maker has provided 
 is to them a delicious symphony. 
 
 Long after the last vibrations have faded away, they 
 listen for them still, and seem to follow them into the 
 air, where everything, forms and sounds, men and 
 
 ' Traveh of Lord Marjirtney in China. See alsi) Deuny'ri Social 
 Life in China, Doolittle, &c.
 
 278 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 things, a little sooner or a little later, finish by com- 
 mingling and disappearing. The sound of bells, more 
 powerful in its effects, evokes in them impressions of 
 the same nature, but of a graver character. When 
 from the summit of the towers from which they look 
 down on earth, they send forth their tones in every 
 direction, to fade slowly away into space, the mind 
 feels a sense of elevation, and in its turn soars above 
 its ordinary thoughts. Disturbed and moved by 
 memories of one knows not what, nor whence derived, 
 it is no longer mere musical harmonies that it yearns 
 to retain, that which disquiets it is the secret of the 
 higher harmonies that it feels to exist between itself 
 and its higher recollections. The Chinese experience 
 these feelings, and, like most people, they have asso- 
 ciated bells with the expression of their religious 
 feelings, and have dedicated them to the celebration of 
 their national worship. For the better fulfilment of 
 this end, they cover them with inscriptions in relief 
 or engraved, narrating the annals of their history. 
 The largest and best known are those of Canton and 
 Pekin. There are two in the latter town measuring 
 no less than from 18 to 22 feet in height; they are 
 covered with coiiinicinorative inscriptions, and when 
 rung at the great feasts, of the New Year, the Eartli, 
 Agriculture, &c., their sound takes a positive sense, 
 and seoins the translation into living language of the 
 characters cast in tlie bronze,- — the ancestral voices arc 
 heard to speak, and are clearly understood by the
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 279 
 
 Chinese. Unfortunately, it rarely happens that some 
 superstition is not mingled with the purest and most 
 poetic myths. It is generally believed that a human 
 being or human blood, incorporated with the metal 
 when fused, assures the success of the casting, and 
 gives the bell a clearer and finer tone. Few Chinese, 
 no doubt, are in a condition to explain the mysterious 
 alliance between past and present, of which the blood 
 is the symbol. However that may be, the following 
 legend is founded upon that idea. 
 
 The Emperor Yung-Lo, the third of the Ming dy- 
 nasty, which reigned from 1403 to 1425 of our era, 
 had a passion for bells. He caused five to be founded, 
 the smallest of which weighs 75,000 kilogrammes (75 
 tons). The tower in which the first was to be erected 
 having been completed, he allotted tbe casting to a 
 mandarin named Houang-Yu. The first operation 
 was a failure, and a second at an interval of a few 
 months was no more successful. In both instances 
 the casting was full of holes and air-bubbles, and the 
 Emperor in his anger declared that in the event of a 
 third failure, the unfortunate mandarin should lose his 
 head. No doubt it was an idle threat. Yung-Lo was 
 a wise prince. He caused the books on alchemy, 
 which deceived the people, to be destroyed, and he 
 made all who had become bonzes before forty years of 
 age, return to secular life. He was also very fond of 
 letters. There was, therefore, no reason to fear that he 
 would put his threat into execution. But Houang-Yu
 
 28o CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 might at all events fear disgrace, and in any case his 
 compromised reputation and the failure of his usual 
 skill were sufficient to account for a sadness he made 
 no attempt to disguise. Houang-Yu had a daughter 
 sixteen years old, as lovely as the early flowers of the 
 quince, whom he tenderly loved. Koue, which was 
 her name, noticed his depression, and obtained his 
 confidence. 
 
 Thenceforward she thought of nothing hut how to 
 console and encourage him, and the idea eventually 
 occurred to her of consulting a famous astrologer, as to 
 the cause of her father's misfortunes, and how they 
 might he avoided in future. The astrologer told her 
 the next casting would be no more successful than the 
 last unless the blood of a virgin were mixed with the 
 alloy. Full of misery but resolute in her devotion, 
 knowing nothing of the Emperor but his threat, Koue 
 returned home, and obtained her father's permission to 
 be present at the casting. The day came, and the 
 following is a description of the catastrophe which 
 ensued. 
 
 A silence of death reigned over the assembly at the 
 moment when the fount was opened to allow the metal 
 to pour into its mould. The breathing of all was 
 stopped, and their hearts no longer beat. Suddenly 
 Koue left her place, and threw herself into the hissing 
 and boiling metal, crying out, 'For my father!' A 
 bystander in vain rushed to stop her ; he could only 
 seize hold of one of her feet, and retain one of her
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 
 
 slippers in his hands. The father, mad with misery, 
 tried to follow her, but was stopped and taken home, 
 having completely lost his reason. The prophecy of 
 the astrologer was fulfilled. No bell was ever more 
 perfectly cast, but no trace of Koue was ever found ; 
 her blood was mingled with the casting. When the 
 bell was first rung, and ever since, each of its deep 
 tones is followed by another plaintive and prolonged 
 note, soft and full of pain, like that of a dying woman, 
 in which the word tsieli, tsieli, is clearly heard. Tsieh 
 signifies slipper, and the people, remembering the 
 event, say, ' There is the unfortunate Koue calling for 
 her slipper.' 
 
 There are very few Chinese unacquainted with this 
 legend ; there is not a house, town, or country in 
 Fokien where they are not ready to tell it. The 
 legends of which the dragon is the subject are even 
 more popular ; but it would require a whole book to 
 retail them all, and it is impossible to make a choice. 
 
 AVhich are the more interesting — the legends of the 
 Dragon of Chaldea, of Persia, of Egypt, of Greece, or 
 of the Celts, Normans, and Saxons ? 
 
 Sometimes it is the Vampire of the Jura, where oven 
 now the inhabitants of some of the villages believe 
 that it guards a treasure ; or it is the Dragon of the 
 Fleece of Gold. Sometimes it is the wicked dragon 
 which devours human beings, like the Serpent in the coat 
 of arms of the city of Milan, the Dragon of St. George of 
 the Kussians or English, the Graoli of Metz, or the
 
 282 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 Dragon enemy of the sun and moon, whom the 
 Eomans frightened with the sound of trumpets during 
 eclipses, as the Chinese do now-a-days with gongs. 
 Sometimes, on the contrary, it is the good Dragon, 
 the symbol of life among the Hebrews and Gauls, 
 or that of the Divinity whose body, and the car- 
 buncle or globe he carries on his head, represent his 
 attributes. 
 
 To enlarge on these would carry me too far. I had, 
 moreover, only a single object in view — to show, by 
 comparing the most poetic myths of humanity with 
 those of the Chinese, that, so far as imagination is 
 concerned, the latter, though essentially and at bottom 
 an agricultural people, yielded in no way to the most 
 highly-gifted peoples. Imagination, art, and poetry 
 have, doubtless, many other aspects besides these I 
 have touched upon, but what I have said suffices for a 
 special study of village people. 
 
 We know now the social, economical, and physical 
 conditions of the country to which persons in the 
 position of the Ouang-Ming-Tse owe their prosperity 
 and resources, and wo know the general tendency of 
 the life of the peasant under these conditions. 
 
 A few words and figures will suffice for what remains 
 to be said, which is scarcely more than the details and 
 proof of his income.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 283 
 
 VIII. 
 
 The holding of the Ouang-Ming-Tse family consists 
 of 29 mous (4 acres) — 11 in the valley, and 18 upon 
 the hill. The former, which are irrigated, are 
 worth ^00 francs (£16) a mou; the latter, five only 
 of which are not irrigated, but can be watered by 
 hand, are planted with tea, and their price varies with 
 the age of the plantation. Tea, in fact, is not in full 
 bearing until its fourth year ; the first two years count 
 for nothing, and it is usually replanted in the eighth. 
 It is very seldom kept till the tenth ; but it depends 
 upon the soil. Of the 13 mous planted with tea, two 
 are worth 210 francs each; three, 360 francs; three, 
 390 francs ; three, 420 francs, and the two last 480 
 francs — in all, 4890 francs for the land planted with 
 tea, and 10,790 francs (£431) for the whole. 
 
 All details of the management of the land, its 
 cultivation, and yield in weight and value for each 
 field and each crop, will be found at the end of the 
 volume. I may repeat here that the Ouang-Ming-Tse, 
 like all Chinese peasants, do not confine themselves to 
 the sale of the produce of their land ; they manufacture 
 it as much as possible. If they do not always distil 
 the rice they grow, it is because the maniifacture of 
 alcohol is in many places a specially organised industry, 
 and it is more profitable to sell the raw material. 
 There is, however, an exception. They manufacture
 
 284 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 their own oil and sugar, they spin their own hemp, 
 cotton, and silk. How should it be otherwise ? No 
 one has taught them the beauties of the political 
 economy of the West, they are unacquainted with its 
 sacred principles and the benefits arising from the 
 division of labour. It is true that our steam-presses 
 extract 33 kilogrammes of oil from 100 kilogrammes 
 of rape-seed, w^hile their hand-presses extract only 
 from 25 to 28 at most ; but, if Chinese peasants hold 
 wrong views on political economy, they have a better 
 knowledge of social, and, if they are poor manufacturers, 
 they are good cultivators. 
 
 For one thing, by confining industry as much as 
 possible to the soil, they retain there the labour, 
 which, if concentrated in large workshops, might 
 fail them at a critical moment, and they avoid the 
 stoppages to which those employed on other than 
 agricultural pursuits are subject ; while one hectare of 
 rape under their management produces 2250 kilo- 
 grammes of seed, and under ours scarcely 1100 or 
 1500, so that as they obtain from one hectare 100 
 kilogrammes of oil more than we can, the final advan- 
 tage rests with them. It has often been said that 
 agriculture is the first of all industries, but it is only 
 in China, as has been sliown, that we can sec how 
 exact is the truth of the statement. 
 
 This is but one example ; we can find another with- 
 out leaving the Ouang-Ming-Tse. It is in the manu- 
 facture of sugar. The whole apparatus required in
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 285 
 
 Cliina consists of two millstones turned by a buffalo to 
 crush tbe cane, three boilers in which to boil, thicken, 
 and coagulate the juice, and a furnace consuming 
 straw, while the ingredients are merely some lime to 
 crystallise it, and some eggs to clarify it. 
 
 With such primitive means, there is no reason to be 
 surprised at a result of only five per cent, of sugar, 
 although the cane itself is extremely rich in sugar. It 
 is said that that grown in Guadeloupe contains nearly 
 eighteen per cent, after the ground has been worked 
 with chemical manure. 
 
 ■ I cannot say what the China cane contains, but I 
 know that in no tropical country that I have visited, 
 have I tasted any which seemed to me so rich. It is 
 therefore probable that the extraction processes I have 
 described, leave a considerable quantity of juice in the 
 residues, which are given as food to animals. In spite 
 of all this one mou yields 230 kilogrammes of sugar of 
 a pale brown colour — that of 002*00 largely mixed with 
 milk — and the yield of a hectare consequently amounts 
 to about 3i00 kilogrammes. In the Antilles and 
 Reunion, an equal surface cultivated on the ordinary 
 method, and covered with farm manure, yields only from 
 2800 to :;000 kilogrammes. 
 
 Here, again, a high state of cultivation largely com- 
 pensates the imperfection of manufacture, and leaves 
 a larger profit to the peasant, which eventually benefits 
 the soil. The value of the sugar is so low, twenty-five 
 centimes a kilogramme, that China is able to export
 
 286 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 large quantities to India and California. In 1861, the 
 quantity exported from tlie two ports of Canton and 
 Swatow amounted to 270,000 kilogrammes. White 
 sugar is more valuable : thirty-five centimes a kilo- 
 gramme. It may be asked why the Chinese should 
 not prove as capable in industry as in agriculture. 
 No doubt they might, but it is by no means certain 
 that powerful and expensive steam industries could 
 be reconciled with spade culture, peasant proprietor- 
 ship, &c. This remains to be proved, and if it were, 
 and the Chinese were converted, the prospect would 
 be threatening indeed for Europe. Either she must 
 succumb in the struggle, or, after having taught China 
 her industrial processes, she would be compelled to 
 learn the economic, social and agricultural processes of 
 the latter. Perhaps the time will come for the con- 
 sideration of this question. I have already mentioned 
 it, but it is impossible to insist upon it too strongly. 
 
 At the same time, there is no immediate cause for 
 alarm ; not only are the Chinese difficult to persuade, 
 but the nature of their agriculture, its requirements 
 and profit, form a sort of guarantee against its 
 abandonment. 
 
 We may cite as an example, tea, the crop of whicli 
 has frequently been compared to that of the vine in 
 France. The comparison is a true one, both from the 
 point of view of the profits, and of the circumstances 
 under which they are gained. The tea crops are the 
 vintages of China. The analogy is exact except in one
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 287 
 
 point. In France the vintages may be destroyed for 
 several years, so that the people, ruined and despairing, 
 often end by renouncing the cultivation of the vine. 
 In China, there are no frosts to destroy the tea crops, 
 and what other dangers exist to it are such as prompt 
 intervention may avert. Cold and damp weather, with 
 languid vegetation, and an unequal leaf-development, 
 injure the quality of the leaves, and consequently lower 
 their price, without counting the loss of time of the 
 labourers engaged for the harvest. Damp and warm 
 weather, which starts the vegetation growth 'like a 
 thunderclap,' is no less to be feared. A general 
 salvage, instead of a crop, has then to be effected, and 
 however numerous the vintages may be, they are not 
 always sufficient to succeed, even under good conditions, 
 while there are never too many of them, especially for 
 the last two of the four crops. These are the most 
 abundant and important not only for China, but for 
 Europe and America. There is no industry which 
 claims and receives greater sacrifices on the part of those 
 engaged in it, and did they refuse to make them, what 
 would become of the peoples of England, Kussia, the 
 United States, and of the temperance societies ? With 
 what impatience are the first ships awaited in London 
 with the news and first cargoes of the new crop ! Five- 
 hundred thousand francs reward to the winner by half 
 a length ! ^ — while in the other hemisphere all the world 
 
 ^ As many as six vessels leaving Fou-Chow at the same hour 
 have arrived on the same day in London.
 
 2 88 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 is in the fields. Men, women, children, old men, 
 youths, and girls, cover the hills, though the sexes are 
 separated. The local population is often insufficient, 
 and people come from the plain and the valley, and 
 from a distance of over four leagues. I stated that the 
 sexes were separated, but they are not entirely so. 
 
 The tea fields are small, though generally a little 
 larger than those of Ouang-Ming-Tse, and a word, a 
 look, or a flower are soon exchanged. Sometimes at 
 meals taken in the open air, in the shade of a fine 
 Li-tchi tree, the notes of a guitar a^-e heard, and all 
 listen whilst the songstress sings the Sin Fa. The 
 song finished, they return to their work. Such are 
 the vintages of China, which coincide with the grand 
 work of the rice fields. According to the locality, the 
 people are employed in conveying the last sheafs of 
 corn to a neighbouring space to thresh them out, or 
 labouring on the rice, or beginning the transplantation. 
 The water-wheels are everywhere in motion, the water 
 is chopping, rushing and shining in all directions. Our 
 country is indeed dry, empty and dismal, compared 
 with this. 
 
 Nowhere in China would it be possible for a rich 
 man to take possession of a spring, and convey its water 
 to his pond by subterranean drains, leaving dry the 
 fields under which they pass. Water is as indispen- 
 sable to life, as sun, air, and land. No individual has 
 the right to say, It is mine. It belongs to all. This 
 feeling is very deeply rooted in China. The field
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE, 289 
 
 ranger, who is entrusted by the council of the syndicate 
 of peasants with the duty of distributing the water in 
 the irrigation canals, never has the smallest fault to 
 find ; and the council, which would take cognizance of 
 such a fault if committed, has really but one duty, 
 that of the maintenance of the canals, to which each 
 person contributes two centimes per mou. Suddenly 
 a gong is heard, and a procession is seen on the 
 sloping path of the hill; after the gong come the 
 criers, and after them the mace-bearers, the hands of 
 justice, the fans, parasol and dais of a mandarin. It 
 is the prefect or sub-prefect of the nearest town. All 
 the peasants run and welcome him, and he, standing on 
 an eminence, speaks to them of the earth, the common 
 mother of the human race, and of the worship they 
 owe to her. He speaks to them of rice, wheat, maize, 
 sorgho, and millet, in one word of grain, the symbol of 
 peace and union among men. He then bestows rewards 
 of merit upon any that may have been pointed out to 
 him as deserving. These rewards are large pieces of 
 silk inscribed with the names of the laureates and their 
 praises ; they are hung in the principal room of the 
 house, and are the honour of the family. Tho man- 
 darin departs, and the peasants fix upon a day on 
 which to feast their fortunate friends, and conduct 
 them in great state to the pagoda of the patron saint 
 of the peasants. The Patron of the Five Grains, who is 
 the same for all China. The tea-planters also have a 
 special patron, and, after the third crop is gathered, a 
 
 u
 
 290 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 banquet is prepared in the courts and galleries of the 
 pagoda which he inhabits, and sometimes also in the 
 streets if the interior is insufficient. The tables and 
 "walls are covered with garlands, vases of flowers, and 
 the fruits of the season. Then all pass in procession 
 before his statue, and oflfer him a cup of the new tea, 
 and the feast, like all in China, ends with a theatrical 
 performance and festivities. 
 
 I must beg forgiveness for this long digression on 
 the tea crop. Its attraction adds another motive to 
 those which it seems to me will always prevent the 
 Chinese from forgetting their duty to the soil ; no bond 
 could be stronger than that it forms when joined to 
 wealth and health. While relegating to their proper 
 place in the Appendix the details of cultivation, I may 
 add here a short resume of the general results. 
 
 The valley land yields 1971 francs, the tea planta- 
 tion 3033 francs, and the other hill crops 1365 francs, 
 or a gross total of 63(59 (£254 158. lOt^.). 
 
 But as the franc is not a common measure of value 
 for Europe and China, it will be better to state the 
 weight of the crops ; they are, rice 9910 kilogrammes, 
 wheat 2100, tea 1604, broad beans 300, maize 160, 
 oil 291, buckwheat 180, sugar 230, tobacco 180, 
 yams 5000, turnips 9600, cabbages 15,000, clover 9720, 
 oilcake 1095, forage in the form of twigs and leaves of 
 sorgho, soia and sugar-cane 1200, and 15,000 kilo- 
 grammes of straw from rice, wheat, maize, broadbeans, 
 buckwheat, &c., which I have not included in the
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 291 
 
 money valuation, a certain quantity of vegetables and 
 fruit, and sixty pieces of cotton/ The whole is grown 
 on an area of 1 hectare 94 ares. 
 
 It may perhaps occur to the reader, on comparing the 
 results of the different cultivations, to inquire why 
 Ouang-Ming-Tse did not exclusively select the more 
 advantageous, such as tea and yams, abandoning the 
 others. To this Ouang-Ming-Tse would first reply, 
 that the best method of keeping up the value of an 
 article, is not to throw too much of it upon the market, 
 and consequently only to grow a small quantity ; and 
 he would add that a variety of crops, by ensuring 
 the full employment of his time from one end of the 
 year to another, and the majority of his crops against 
 any misfortunes, either from the season or from the 
 market, is more advantageous than the production of 
 sometimes one article, sometimes another, which would 
 necessitate the change and renewal of his material 
 and instruments from year to year; and he would 
 quote the proverb, better understood in China than in 
 Europe, ' that it is unwise to put all the eggs in one 
 basket.' 
 
 He might perhaps add that it would be neither good 
 nor just, nor humane, nor even profitable to bring about 
 competition between neighbours and friends, and dis- 
 turb a system of cultivation which has been the work 
 of centuries, and to which all the world is accustomed. 
 
 The produce of the fields is not the only income 
 * The kilogramme is 2 Iba. 3$ ozs. avoirdupois. 
 
 u 2
 
 292 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 of the Ouang family : the stable, pigsties, and fowl- 
 yards, add a sum of 773 francs (nearly £27). 
 
 The total receipts of the family from all sources 
 amount to V142 francs (£285 14s. U). 
 
 We now come to its expenses. 
 
 IX. 
 
 The first of these is the tax, nearly the whole of 
 which is levied upon the plain and valley lands. Those 
 which are, or can be made, into rice fields, that is to 
 say, irrigable land, whether actually irrigated or not, 
 pay more than non-irrigable. If cultivated in rice, 
 the tax is levied partly in kind, and partly in 
 money.^ 
 
 Nowhere is the tax higher than 1 franc 13 centimes 
 per mou, and it is always levied on the first crop ; 
 but if this bo poor, a remission of taxation is often 
 made by the Government, although succeeding crops 
 may be good. For eleven mous on the level, Ouang- 
 Ming-Tse pays 12 francs 65 centimes ; the tax on hill- 
 land is very small, scarcely 5 centimes per mou ; the 
 whole amounts to 13 francs C5 centimes (lis. 4^(^Z,). 
 The wear and tear of the necessary instruments for 
 grinding and preparing the grain and tea, the looms 
 
 ' In the north, where wheat, millet, and maize are cul'ivated 
 instead of rice, tlic tax is also levied partly in kind and jiartly in 
 money.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 293 
 
 for spinning and weaving, the mills for the preparation 
 of oil and sugar, &c., taken at 10 per cent, on a value of 
 678 francs, amounts to 58 francs (£2 7s. Bf?,). 
 
 Of seed corn 130 kilogrammes of rice are required 
 for 26 mous at 5 kilogrammes per mou, costing at 
 8 francs per 60 kilogrammes, 17 francs ; 70 kilo- 
 grammes of wheat are required for 14 mous at 5 kilo- 
 grammes per mou, costing, at 8 francs per 60 kilo- 
 grammes, 9 francs. The remainder needs no detail, 
 and does not amount to more than 20 francs, making a 
 total of 46 francs. 
 
 In regard to manures it should be remarked that all 
 plants are not equally exacting, Some kinds from 
 which only leaves are required — such as sorgho, and 
 soia grown for forage ; tobacco and cabbages — require 
 800 kilogrammes of manure per mou ; grain-producing 
 plants require less manure, but certain additional 
 ingredients, such as ashes, lime, and the ooze from the 
 canals, are necessary. Sugar-cane, for instance, re- 
 quires 800 kilogrammes of manure, and 300 of ashes 
 per mou. Maize, buckwheat, and peas require only 
 500 kilogrammes of manure and 150 of ashes; cotton, 
 300 of manure, wheat 200, rice 600, with 150 of ashes. 
 Ouang-Ming-Tse estimates his total annual expenditure 
 of manure on all crops at 30,000 kilogrammes ; of ashes, 
 at 10,000 kilogrammes. 
 
 But as neither the manures nor ashes produced in 
 the house have been reckoned among the receipts, 
 they should not either be reckoned among the outgoings.
 
 294 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 A deduction must therefore be made of 10,000 kilo- 
 grammes of the first, derived from the personalty of 
 the house, and from the animals, and of 5000 kilo- 
 grammes of cinders obtained from the different fire- 
 places or manufactured from all kinds of rubbish, such 
 as rags, bones of animals, reduced to ashes in closed 
 receptacles. The difference, that is to say, 20,000 
 kilogrammes of manure and 5000 of ashes, costs 5 francs 
 per 600 kilogrammes for the former, amounting to 
 166 francs, and 12 francs for the latter, amounting to 
 60 francs, or a total of 226 francs. Boats specially con- 
 structed for the purpose bring these cargoes from the 
 neighbouring towns, and even from Foo-chow. 
 
 Two field labourers are required at an annual wage 
 of 100 francs each, a female servant at a wage of 
 40 francs, and sixty days' labour of men, women and 
 children, at an average wage of 25 centimes each, 
 amounting to 15 francs, or a total of 225 francs (£9), 
 without, of course, reckoning the labour of the family 
 and the assistance of the neighbours, whom the Ouang 
 help in their turn. 
 
 The principal cost of food, the details of which will 
 be found in the Appendix, amounts to 1589 francs 
 (£63 lis. 8cZ.). 
 
 This sum, divided among the fourteen inhabitants of 
 the house, gives an average for each of 116 francs, in- 
 cluding besides wine, sugar, salt, tea, fat, oil, and 
 kitchen fuel, a daily ration of 1*071 kilogramme of 
 rice, wheat, and dried vegetables, 227 grammes of meat
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 295 
 
 or fish, 245 grammes of fresh or salt vegetables and 
 mushrooms, making a total ration of 1 kilogramme 
 543 grammes. I must not omit to state on the one 
 hand that the family includes old people and children, 
 and on the other that it supplies sixty days' food to the 
 extra labourers. I say nothing of its frequent hospi- 
 tality. In an average year in the provinces of the 
 interior these expenses would not average more than 
 100 francs per head. 
 
 The cost of feeding the animals amounts to 552 francs 
 20 centimes (£22 Is. lOd), There are two matters I 
 have omitted to mention. One relates to the prepara- 
 tion of tea : except the first crop called the shoots, which 
 is dried by simple exposure to the air, the other 
 qualities are submitted to a slight heating process. In 
 a good year 18 kilogrammes of charcoal are required 
 for 48 kilogrammes of leaves, and as Ouang-Ming-Tse 
 gathers 1546 kilogrammes, he required 576 kilo- 
 grammes of wood charcoal at 6 francs per 60 kilo- 
 grammes : 57 francs (£2 5s. lOd.). The other mattei 
 is the cost of 12 young pigs sold fat three months later ; 
 it amounts to 55 francs (£2 4s. 2d.). 
 
 There is a last item of expenditure, the cost of 
 maintenance and repairs to the farm and homestead 
 buildings. The house of the Ouang-Ming-Tse consists 
 of three buildings, of which the central connects the 
 others like the bar of the letter H. The house is 
 situated in a walled court. It has often been remarked 
 in Europe that among other singular customs the
 
 296 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 Chinese commence their houses by the roof. It is true, 
 and for this reason. The walls are constructed of bricks 
 placed on the level, like those built by children with 
 dominoes. The lower partitions are half filled with 
 ashlar to give solidity to the walls, but the latter 
 remain so light that if they do not require foundations 
 they are incapable of supporting the roof. They rest 
 on large flagstones lying on well-beaten ground. This 
 method of construction has two advantages: it is cheap 
 and prevents damp rising into the walls of the house. 
 The roof is supported by wooden poles resting in their 
 turn upon stones, each of which has a foundation of 
 three or four feet in depth. The roof is the first task 
 undertaken, in order not to endanger the walls, either 
 by the ditches necessary for the foundations, or by 
 possible accident when placing the framework in 
 position. Each building is in five divisions, 8 metres 
 in length by 5 in breadth. The divisions are separated 
 by hollow bricks, through which bamboos are passed, 
 the ends of the latter being fitted into grooves in the 
 wooden uprights, the partitions being thus made both 
 light and strong. 
 
 The exterior measurement of the building is 
 33 metres in length, and about the same in depth. 
 It faces north and south, for reasons which will be 
 explained later. The windows and doors of each build- 
 ing are on one side only, that looking into the court, 
 and as much as possible on the south. The windows 
 arc not pierced in the wall, as with us. The wall
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 297 
 
 comes only to the height of the sill, the remainder of 
 the space being filled with wooden panels and with the 
 doors and windows, the latter not being glazed, but 
 fitted with thinned oyster-shells or a special kind of 
 paper. The roof is so lengthened round the court as 
 to form a verandah, under which the inhabitants pass 
 the greater portion of the day. 
 
 As I have described it, the house of Ouang-Ming-Tse 
 is worth 3200 francs (£12'<). The cost of maintenance 
 and repairs is 150 francs (£6) annually. Summing up 
 the different heads of expenditure, we have 13 francs 
 65 centimes for taxes ; 58 francs for wear and tear of the 
 agricultural implements ; 146 francs for seed corn ; 
 226 francs for manures; 255 francs for labour; 
 1589 francs for food for the household ; 552 francs 
 for that of the live stock ; 57 francs for the charcoal 
 required for drying the tea ; 55 francs for the purchase 
 of young pigs, and 150 francs for repairs to the house, 
 the whole amounting to 2988 francs (£119 10s. lOcZ.), 
 which, deducted from receipts amounting to 7142 francs 
 (£285 14s. 2(7.), leaves profits amounting to 4141 francs 
 (£165 3s. U). 
 
 And the furniture, what about that, and the main- 
 tenance of the wardrobe ? 
 
 Patience, good reader.
 
 298 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 X. 
 
 The reader must not suppose it was easy to obtain 
 leave to visit the private apartments of the family to 
 make an inventory of the beds, wardrobes, (Src. It is a 
 thing never asked in France, and still less in China. 
 The doors of the living-rooms, warehouses, and cart- 
 sheds had been freely opened to me, but my eyes had 
 never crossed the thresholds of the others, and I hesi- 
 tated to speak of my wishes. I was obliged to do 
 so, however. * I will ask my grandmother,' replied 
 Ouang-lMing-Tse. No doubt the period of the assembly 
 of the council of ministers, over which that venerable 
 lady presided, was selected for the consideration of so 
 grave a request; perhaps some little time was required 
 for preparation ; but it was not until three days had 
 elapsed that Madame Ouang, in her capacity of dele- 
 gate of the department of the interior, informed me 
 that the smaller rooms were open to me. We com- 
 menced the inspection at once. All the rooms led from 
 one into the other, even the kitchen ; and during all 
 the time it lasted I fancied myself in the house of some 
 wealthy Lorraine countryman, about to marry one of 
 his children. The planks, where not covered with 
 mats, absolutely shone ; the wardrobes, the doors of 
 which were but half closed, left well-furnished shelves 
 open to view. But I must not anticipate. 
 
 The house, as I have stated, faces north and south.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 299 
 
 and is open on this side ; it is thence that come the 
 winds most favourable to health. This, however, is 
 not the only reason for such a form of construction. 
 
 The Fung-Shui is constructed. It will be asked 
 what the Fung-Shui is. Volumes have been written 
 without explaining it, and I confess I can add very 
 little to make it clearer. It may be most clearly 
 explained as a system of geomancy resulting from em- 
 pirical observations, founded upon the topographical 
 conditions most favourable to the choice of land 
 destined for a house or tomb. If these conditions be 
 observed the prospects of happiness are favourable ; 
 and if, on the contrary, a series of mischances should 
 occur, it will be because they have been disregarded. 
 For example, the wind known as Fung, blowing from 
 certain directions, must not be interfered with in its 
 course by obstacles such as a hill or eminence of any 
 kind, while such interposition should be opposed to 
 other winds of evil influence. Nor must flowing 
 water, known as Shui, run parallel with the front 
 of a house, within a certain distance from it. If the 
 situation and topography of the land, plain, valley, or 
 hill be unfavourable, the inhabitants erect a tower, the 
 height of which is determined on certain fixed prin- 
 ciples, to avert unfavourable winds. 
 
 The foregoing are some of the conditions of Fung- 
 Shui, but there are many others, which as a whole 
 constitute a sort of science taken advantage of by the 
 individuals who specially devote themselves to it, and
 
 300 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 who are invariably consulted. It may be childishness 
 and superstition. Ouang-Ming-Tse, who is no fool, 
 conforms his actions to these beliefs, and seems to 
 share them. 
 
 The large folding door opening into the court is 
 always open during the day, but a large moveable 
 wooden screen is so placed inside as to conceal the 
 interior from view. The court, which is kept very 
 clean, is paved with large pieces of granite. The 
 verandah, used during the greater portion of the day, 
 is furnished with chairs, two tables of varnished wood, 
 and a loom. 
 
 The pillars which support the verandah, and all the 
 wood-work, inside and outside — doors, windows, and 
 panels — are varnished of a handsome red-brown colour. 
 The middle building, higher than the others, contains 
 the living room, which is used as a hall of ancestors on 
 the occasion of anniversaries. On the right is the 
 room of the grandmother, and that of the eldest 
 daughter of Po-Y, who is always ready to attend 
 upon her grandmother. On the left is the room 
 of Ouang-Ming-Tse and Madame Ouang, and that of 
 the other two young girls. In the left wing of the 
 house is the room of Po-Y and his wife, with the small 
 bed of the last child, while the three sons sleep in the 
 second. The right wing is used by Po-Scn and his 
 young wife. It is empty now, even the furniture 
 having been taken away ; it will be replaced on the 
 marriage of the eldest son. The two summer-houses
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 301 
 
 at the back are used as warehouses, and contain a press 
 and tools, with the kitchen and the room of the female 
 servant. The two workmen return home after their 
 day's work. 
 
 Immediately facing the entrance, against the wall at 
 the bottom of the room, is a long shelf, on which rest 
 two perfume stands, two large Chinese vases, two tin 
 torches, some flowers in vases and plants in pots. 
 Above the shelf hangs, like a bracket, a kind of credence 
 usually closed, which contains the ancestral tablets. On 
 either side are pendants of fine red paper, covered with 
 Chinese character, verses and moral precepts and 
 maxims ; and at the back of the shelf is a platform a 
 step higher, with a canopy ornamented with rattan. 
 Against the wall on the left rests a trunk containing 
 the family archives, and on the right a small library, 
 both flanked by pendants representing country scenes 
 or flowers. In the centre of the room, in a line with 
 each side of the canopy, are two sofas separated by a 
 round table, and a large special table between the 
 sofas. All are made of black wood. Against the wall, 
 and wherever there is room, stand common chairs of 
 varnished wood. There is a large mat under foot. 
 This furniture and that of the bedrooms are worth 
 1844 francs (£73 15s. 10^^.). On entering the kitchen 
 the eye is at once attracted by a large coloured print, 
 representing two old people in a sitting posture, a man 
 and a woman. They are the patrons of the kitchen, 
 or the genii of the hearth, which is essentially that of
 
 302 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 the kitchen, by which every house is commenced. The 
 genii of the hearth in popular belief protect the house 
 and govern the existence of the members of the family. 
 In the evening of the 23rd day of the last month of the 
 year they leave the earth, and return to Heaven to 
 render an account to the Supreme Euler of the conduct 
 of those under their charge, and they do not return to 
 their duty until the night of the 1st day of the new 
 year. This belief is as widely spread as the fable of 
 St. Nicholas in Europe. During their absence, the 
 old print is replaced and everything is cleaned and 
 put in order, the fires being extinguished at the end. 
 Then on the morning of the first day, preparation is 
 made to welcome their return, which takes place 
 towards two o'clock. JMany persons remain awake to 
 await them. A new fire is lighted and the first meal 
 of the year is prepared, care being taken to ofi"er it to 
 them before it is eaten. Just as at Christmas and 
 earlier in Europe, the good genii of the hearth bring a 
 number of presents to Chinese children, which, as may 
 be imagined, the latter await with as much pleasure as 
 ours. The furniture of the kitchen and the servant's 
 room is worth 381 francs, which with the 1884 francs 
 already mentioned makes a total of 2225 francs (£89), 
 giving at 10 per cent, a deduction of 222 francs for wear 
 and tear to bo made from the net profit of 4141 francs, 
 leaving 3919 francs (£15G 15s. 10(Z.). There remain 
 the clothes and other personal belongings.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 303 
 
 XI. 
 
 * Madame Ouang,' said I to the wife of my friend, 
 * if the compliments of a man little learned in domestic 
 matters have any value in your eyes, I pray you to 
 accept them. I have never seen a house better kept 
 than yours ! ' 
 
 Madame Ouang answered me with a smile which let 
 me see that in China, as elsewhere, the mistress of a 
 house is not insensible to a compliment of this kind. 
 ' But,' added I, ' I have noticed in the cupboards ' 
 (here Madame Ouang sent me a side look) ' a number 
 of things of which I should like to know the use. There 
 
 were, for instance ' ' Say plainly. Si Lao Ye, that 
 
 you wish to complete your inventory.' * You have 
 guessed it, Ouang-Lai-Lai.' * Well, Si Lao Ye, we will 
 ask my grandmother.' Madame Ouang then went 
 away. The old lady came in. ' My daughter tells me. 
 Si Lao Ye, that you wish to see the contents of our 
 cupboard.' * Yes, madame, if it does not cause you too 
 much inconvenience.' ' There is no reason against it 
 but the trouble it will cause the children, and I do not 
 think they can refuse you anything.' She struck the 
 ground with her stick, and everyone came running. 
 ' Here,' said she, * is Si Lao Ye, who interests himself in 
 all connected with us, and I am sure you will do what 
 he asks.' Then Madame Ouang explained my wishes. 
 Madame Po-Y began to laugh, and Sin-Lien did the 
 same. The two little girls followed their example, the
 
 304 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 boys also, and even the little one was quickly affected 
 by the contagion. ' So you want to see our treasures, 
 Si Lao Ye.' ' If you are good enough to show them, 
 Madame Po.' 
 
 ' So you want to see our dresses, Si Lao Ye.' 'With 
 your permission, Mademoiselle Sin-Lien.' ' Eeally, 
 
 Si Lao Ye, you wish ' "Yes, little ugly one.'^ 
 
 * What, Si Lao Ye ! ' ' Be off with you, little rogue ! ' 
 
 All ran away laughing like mad people. The veran- 
 dah was swept out, and they all came back with the con- 
 tents of the cupboards and chests. At first they were 
 spread upon the floor, but as the space became filled 
 the little ones placed their loads uj)on my feet, knees, 
 shoulders, and head. I was covered with clothes like a 
 travelling pedlar. The load gave them an idea, and they 
 took back the parcels, arranged them in a circle, and 
 little Hong-Yu, standing in the centre, began selling 
 them by auction All made bids which Ouang-Ming-Tse, 
 Po-Y, or one of the ladies, corrected. An inventory of 
 the clothes was thus made amidst jokes of all kinds, and 
 the incessant laughter of the children, groat and small, 
 including the latter. It is needless to say that my 
 dignity suffered greatly, but it was most amusing. 
 
 The details would be too long to go into here, but 
 they will be found in the Appendix. Tlie net results 
 were, for the clothing of the men, 1152 francs, for the 
 women 1527 francs GO centimes (total, £107 3s, 10(Z.). 
 
 ' Onkiao, a nickname of one of tlic little girls, who, by tlie way 
 was very pretty.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 305 
 
 Deducting from this sum 462 francs for watches and 
 jewellery, and assuming that the cheaper garments are 
 those most quickly worn out, we may allot a sum of 
 500 francs, a quarter of its value, for the maintenance 
 of clothing, which will further diminish our net profits 
 to 3419 francs (£132 15s. lOi.). 
 
 Ouang-Ming-Tse himself carries out the educaiion of 
 his children, who are joined by those of some of the 
 neighbours during school hours, and there is, therefore, 
 no expenditure under this head. Ouang-Ming-Tse even 
 teaches drawing to his pupils. 
 
 The chapter of extraordinary expenses is a very 
 interesting one ; the health, pleasures and religious 
 belief of a man, family or people, form the best possible 
 criterion by which to judge of their physical, moral 
 and intellectual condition. 
 
 Remembering the proverb ' Mens sana in corpore 
 sano,' the first question is that of the cost of sickness. 
 There has been none since the illness of Sin-Lien, and 
 for fourteen years no help but that of a midwife on the 
 occasion of the birth of infants has been required. 
 ' So you have no enemy ?' I remarked to Ouang-Ming- 
 Tse. ' What do you mean. Si Lao Ye ? ' 'If popular 
 belief is to be credited, the greater number of illnesses 
 originate in the hatred of others.' 
 
 ' The master did not say that. Si Lao Ye ; he said 
 that humanity is one man able to resist illness if 
 strongly constituted, insensible to heat and cold and to 
 all foreign pernicious influences, if all the organs are 
 
 X
 
 3o6 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 healthy. If harmony ever reigns over humanity, as it 
 should, sickness will have no more power. Physical 
 evil is the consequence of moral evil, of the injustice 
 and hatred which divide humanity. That is the saying 
 of Confucius.' I thought that Confucius might be in 
 the right, but I thought also that the kind of occupa- 
 tion to which Ouang-Ming-Tse and his family devoted 
 themselves, was not without its good effect on their 
 health. 
 
 There is no stronger stimulus to activity and muscular 
 development than work in the fields ; this is a fact 
 known to all the world, but agriculture may perhaps 
 ordinarily be reproached with a tendency to favour the 
 muscles at the expense of the brain. This cannot be 
 alleged of spade culture. The very multiplicity of its 
 operations requires an increased expenditure of cerebral 
 activity ; nor is it merely a sustained exercise, it is a 
 varied one— every plant has its difi"crent requirements. 
 When one among many is sickly, the cause must be 
 searched for. It may be an insect, it may be aua3mia. 
 The man has to seek out the cause, and in applying 
 the remedy, saves not only the plant, but himself, 
 by preserving the indispensable equilibrium of his func- 
 tions, without which the human organism deteriorates 
 and becomes subject to all kinds of diseases. Nervous 
 diseases are very rare in China, and never met with 
 except in the case of opium-smokers. 
 
 I have spoken only of the operations immediately 
 resulting from spade culture, but the manufacturing
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 307 
 
 industries proceeding from it afford another opening 
 for brain activity. If there is one point on which all 
 travellers are agreed, it is upon the general intelli- 
 gence of the Chinese and their aptitude for all tasks, and 
 the explanation of this remarkable fact is to be found 
 in the system of spade culture. It has been previously 
 remarked that man best cultivates and improves his 
 own condition in cultivating and improving the soil. 
 The religion of the Ouang-Ming-Tse is very compli- 
 cated. The reader who remembers the chapter on 
 labour knows that nowhere is so large a number of 
 religions professed by one individual as in China. 
 There is, first, the great religion of progress by means 
 of labour, founded on the unity of Heaven, man and 
 earth, the worship of which is the symbolisation of 
 these ideas. It is rather a philosophical system than a 
 religion ; derived from it we have ancestral worship, 
 which is the special application of the same principles 
 to each family. These primary and fundamental re- 
 ligions admit of a sufficiently large number of festivals 
 and solemnities, which are so many holidays. Without 
 taking into consideration those celebrated at the sol- 
 stices and equinoxes, at the anniversaries of ancestors, 
 of Confucius and other great men, or the monthly and 
 bi-monthly meetings of the family, which are intended 
 to stimulate all the purity and truth of religious senti- 
 ment, it may be said that each month of the year is 
 marked by a festival or rejoicing, more or less inti- 
 mately connected with religion. For example, in the 
 
 X 2
 
 3o8 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 first month of the year there are, besides the special 
 religiousi, civil and domestic ceremonies of the new 
 year, processions in honour of Spring, the Celestial 
 Dragon, and the Night of Lanterns, In the second 
 month is the Festival of Tombs, in the third that of 
 the Domestic Genius, in the fourth that of Infancy, in 
 the fifth that of the Dragon of the Waters, in the 
 sixth that of the Stars of the Milky Way, which is also 
 the Festival of Women ; then there are the Festivals 
 of the Moon, Old Age, the Pagodas, thanksgivings after 
 the harvests, &c., &c. I have mentioned only a few ; a 
 volume would be necessary to describe the most in- 
 teresting. To the above must be added the festivals 
 of the patron saints of trades and corporations, certain 
 anniversaries celebrated by the literati, &c. No people, 
 in short, has so many days dedicated, in one form or 
 another, to the recollection and consolidation of its unity. 
 In these great manifestations there arc neither classes, 
 castes, ranks, nor distinction of belief; no one is ex- 
 cluded, and an inquiry into their symbolical meaning 
 shows clearly that underlying them are the idea and 
 feeling of universal humanity. 
 
 After these festivals come tlic practice of inferior 
 religions, which are merely the expressions of private 
 belief, and tending rather to disunion than union, of 
 which I have given an account in a preceding chnpter, 
 and which I need not repeat liere. Ouang-Ming-Tsc and 
 his family arc regarded as lUiddliists, but they are not 
 more so in reality than a large number of Europeans
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 309 
 
 are Catholics or Protestants. They invariably contri- 
 bute their quota towards the expenses of the pagodas, 
 as they do to all of a similar nature. However that 
 may be, these expenses, with those arising from ances- 
 tral worship and the great national solemnities, do not 
 amount to a high figure per head when spread through- 
 out the population of Ouang-Mo-Khi. A Protestant 
 missionary, the Eev. Mr. Yates, estimates them at from 
 3 to 4 francs annually per head in all China. So far as 
 the Ouang-Ming-Tse are concerned, this estimate is 
 nearly correct, and we may allot a sum of 50 francs 
 (£2) as its annual expenditure under this head. The 
 theatre and pleasure parties are more expensive — 
 200 francs (£8) — but this sum includes hospitality to 
 friends, and a share of public banquets, and representa- 
 tions given by actors at the public expense. Eepairs 
 to bridges, paths, pagodas, or rather places of public 
 resort, cost a voluntary subscription of 30 francs 
 (£1 4s. M>j} 
 
 Under these heads, therefore, an additional deduction 
 of 280 francs must be made from the sum of 3419 francs 
 already referred to, leaving a definite net profit of 
 3139 francs (£125 lis. M). The reader will doubtless 
 have remarked that no mention has been made of in- 
 terest upon the value of the property, althougli no 
 account could be held to be complete in Europe with- 
 out such a deduction. A difi'erent opinion is held in 
 China, where investments are no more recognised than 
 ^ The maintenance of the canals is otherwise i)rovided for.
 
 31 o CHINA: ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 fundholders. Capital is there regarded as being valu- 
 able only for what it produces, and loans are considered 
 as a share with limited resj^onsibility in a common 
 undertaking. This is the reason for interest being so 
 high, or rather, so optional, and for the law and credi- 
 tors being so indulgent to unfortunate debtors. Loans 
 are also made at short dates only, and on account of 
 the high rate of interest the borrower is more desirous 
 to repay than the creditor to receive. 
 
 A fundholder, therefore, living upon invested capital 
 would be something extraordinary. In a word, capital, 
 tools, land and money, have no value except for those who 
 can use them. No Chinaman would attribute to himself 
 a power of production, or consider himself at the same 
 time borrower and lender, master and slave of capital. 
 
 For this reason, Ouang-Ming-Tse refused to separate 
 pretended interests from net profits. ' What could I 
 do with my money ?' said he. ' There is no national 
 debt here, and no borrowers who would use it on 
 my account. I must use it myself, or have children to 
 help me. Owing to the vicissitudes of my life, I could 
 not have many, but I'o-Y, who has six already, will, I 
 hope, have others, and in the meanwhile we entrust to 
 one of my brothers, a merchant at Foo-chow, what 
 money we cannot use ourselves. He uses it in his 
 l)usiness, in which we share. We shall soon require a 
 part of it again, as Sin-Lien is going to marry, and my 
 eldest grandson will soon do the same, and we must 
 think of extending: our cultivation.
 
 A ND RELIGIO US LIFE. 3 1 1 
 
 * I know that we may thus be said to become 
 creditors and debtors of one another, but in truth we 
 each work for the other, and when I am obliged to rest 
 through age, my children in their turn will labour for 
 me. Shall not I have begun by labouring for them ? 
 Can anything be more just ?' ' And more simple, 
 Ouang-Sien-Sen, and more grateful ?' 
 
 XII. 
 
 Day with the Ouang-Ming-Tse begins at sunrise. 
 Po-Y is the first to rise ; he arouses the elder children 
 and the servants, then returns to his room. A few 
 moments later three blows upon the plank are heard 
 in his room and that of his father, and the children 
 make ready to attend upon them, but before entering 
 they await another signal. They then salute their 
 parents, offer them tea, and render them such help in 
 their toilette as they may require.^ Husband and 
 wife then salute each other and the day has begun. 
 
 The first meal, which is taken immediately, consists 
 of rice, cabbage, or other salt vegetable, small fish and 
 prawns salted, with a portion of cheese made of peas 
 moistened with a sauce made from barley and beans.^ 
 Tea is taken at the end of the meal, not during its 
 progress. 
 
 The second meal takes place at midday and is much 
 
 ' Kisses are not usual between ])iirents and cliildren. 
 
 ^ This is tlie sauce called soy, which is now well-known in Euroj^e.
 
 312 CHINA: ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 the same as that of the morning, except that the vege- 
 tables are fresh, and cooked with fat or oil obtained 
 from peas, and that more is taken. The third meal, 
 which is taken towards four o'clock, is more varied in 
 character — vermicelli made from peas cooked in fat, 
 and wheaten or rice cakes are added to the repast. 
 
 The fourth and last meal is taken at seven o'clock ; it 
 resembles that of midday, with the addition of a small 
 quantity of wine. Side dishes composed of varec, sea- 
 weed, mushrooms, pulp, &c., are served with each meal. 
 Varec is sometimes served up as a dish by itself. Fruit 
 is served according to season. 
 
 In summer, a fifth meal is taken at nine o'clock, 
 between the first and that at midday, when a soup 
 of polenta made from wheat corn is taken. At the mid- 
 day and evening meals pork and duck are eaten, and 
 the quantity of wine is increased. On occasions of 
 festival better food is given, more meat, pastry, fruit, 
 and jams. Masters and servants partake of the same 
 food at the same time, but at separate tables. 
 
 After meals each goes to his own occupation. 
 
 The women, except in certain provinces or rather 
 districts, do not work in the fields, and at Ouang Mo- 
 Khi they do not leave the house or garden except 
 j)erhaps at the time of the tea crop. Their duties are 
 none the less very heavy ; they take their share with 
 the men in drying and husking the grain, bleaching 
 and grinding the rice, &c. An idea of the time required 
 for these operations may be gathered from the fact that
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 313 
 
 to dry properly 915 kilogrammes of rice, or to linsk 
 183 kilogrammes, is a long day's work. The women 
 make all the dry, salt, and sweet preserves, and they 
 attend to the kitchen, the washing of the linen, and the 
 cleanliness of the house. The care of the pigsties and 
 fowl-yard also forms part of their duty. All is attended 
 to equally by the two ladies and the young girls, 
 assisted only by the female servant, and the men, when 
 the latter have completed their out-door labours. 
 Lastly, the looms for picking the cotton, for spinning 
 and weaving, are always ready for the one or the other ; 
 while the young girls have in addition the minor 
 labours of their sex, such as sewing, embroidery, &c. 
 They sell the results, keeping the money obtained for 
 themselves. Part of the clothes is also made by the 
 women. 
 
 As regards the men, if they have no outdoor or 
 indoor employment to occupy them during the long 
 winter evenings, they spend their time in making the 
 straw or cord slippers so largely used among them, and 
 fishing-nets, the price of which they retain for them- 
 selves. Ouang and his wife jointly administer the 
 affairs of the house, one the outdoor, the other the in- 
 door, and Madame Ouang also manages the expendi- 
 ture and takes charge of the common purse. But above 
 them all reigns the aged grandmother, whose powers 
 have only been exercised by her son and daughter-in- 
 law for two years. She, at all events, nominally exor- 
 cised them in 1865. The day she parted with them
 
 314 CHINA: ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 was her ninetieth birthday. The house was full of 
 neighbours, relations and friends, who had come even 
 from Foo-chow to present their congratulations, when 
 she selected the occasion to announce her intentions. 
 Since then she has no occupation, but she is not 
 forgotten ; all devote themselves to her, and seek to 
 soothe with their care the melancholy of her declining 
 years. 
 
 She was still living in 1869, when, before quitting 
 China, I went to take leave of the family which had 
 received and treated me so kindly. Three years bring 
 many changes among old people and children, and I 
 found the aged lady much broken, but she had not had 
 a single day of illness. Ouang-Ming-Tse, Po-Y, and 
 their wives were well. Sin-Lien had left the house some 
 time before ; she was married and had two children. 
 A-Pe, the oldest son, was married and the father of a 
 fine boy, which he presented to me. The others had 
 grown considerably : Tchcn, the second, was almost a 
 man. Little Ugly and little Bahy were grown-up young 
 ladies, and impudent little Asen had become so timid 
 that he did not seem to recognise me, but he had a 
 younger brother ten months old whose large eyes 
 seemed to look upon me with little respect enough. 
 
 The property had also changed. It had been in- 
 creased by ten mous, which necessitated another 
 labourer, whose place will however soon be taken by 
 Tchen. 
 
 I passed many pleasant hours with these kind people.
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 315 
 
 and have many happy recollections of them, but every 
 time the remembrance of them crosses my mind, it 
 is accompanied by saddening thoughts. Why should 
 they possess so much comfort, quiet and happiness, 
 while we are oppressed with insecurity, instability and 
 misery ? 
 
 It may be said that the Ouang have a precious auxi- 
 liary in the tea cultivation, but in France we have the 
 vine, the mulberry, the olive, beetroot, tobacco and 
 other plants, which, duly cultivated, might equal tea in 
 value. We have also madder, which, properly attended 
 to, might perhaps compete with industrial products. 
 
 It may be said that the Ouang live in a country 
 which produces five crops annually. That is true, but 
 fourteen souls live upon less than two hectares, and 
 even if it were proved that our climate admits of only 
 one harvest, the population should amount to 70,000,000. 
 Why is it only half that ? And why is there only one 
 harvest — the gardeners make more ? With two, France 
 should support 140,000,000 souls. 
 
 Other objections may be made : the moderation of 
 Chinese taxes compared to our own heavy budgets, and 
 the privileges which the isolated situation of China 
 confers upon her, both in view of foreign war, from 
 which she has been able to protect herself, and of 
 foreign competition, against which her geographical 
 position protects her. 
 
 The whole of this book has been a reply to these 
 reasons. There should be no mistake ; if the modera-
 
 3i6 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, 
 
 tion of the tax is one of the causes of Chinese pros- 
 perity, it is not the only one, and is far from being the 
 most direct. The prosperity in question is really 
 nothing but the outcome of its institutions, and in the 
 first place, by its system of taxation and property. It 
 is owing to this system, striking as it does at the root 
 of sterility, laziness and death, that all the land is cul- 
 tivated, the population developed, and that production, 
 stimulated by an unexampled internal demand, has 
 attained proportions of which the success of the Ouang- 
 ]\[ing-Tse family is by no means one of the most remark- 
 able specimens. It is owing to this system that the 
 farmer, relieved from the continually increasing require- 
 ments of a parasite rent, himself becomes an owner, the 
 strongest possible encouragement to labour and produc- 
 tion. It is, in short, owing to this system that all the 
 forces both of man and nature have been aroused and 
 united for life. 
 
 Spread over the population, the tax amounts scarcely 
 to 3 francs per head, and at the utmost to 5 francs per 
 hectare. Hill land, however, pays only 75 centimes, 
 while it is as productive as the rest. It could not bo 
 very difficult for the Chinese Government to obtain 
 one or two francs more per hectare, especially on the 
 plain land, and peasants like Ouang-Ming-Tsc, realising 
 net prolits of 3000 francs upon less than two hectares, 
 would consent easily to such an increase. The Chinese 
 Government does not seem to have contemplated such 
 an increase, perhaps partly because of its respect for
 
 AND RELIGIOUS LIFE. 317 
 
 the rights of labour, partly because of its repugnance 
 to meddle in any way with the ancient institutions, 
 partly, in short, because it has hitherto regarded as 
 accidents, the obligations which its new relations with 
 Europe are about to create for it. It has preferred, 
 whenever extraordinary expenses hare been forced 
 upon it, to have recourse to exceptional and temporary 
 taxation upon the rich, and particularly upon indus- 
 tries not taxed as yet. But whenever it recognises the 
 permanence of such necessities, and the literati and 
 people perceive them to be unavoidable, it will be by 
 no means impossible to increase the revenue by two 
 or three hundred millions, since that presupposes an 
 increase of only forty or fifty centimes per inhabitant 
 in localities like Ouang-Mo-Khi. 
 
 It is therefore a mistake to suppose that the insti- 
 tutions of China would have necessarily been difi'erent 
 in a different geographical situation, or that it would 
 be possible for them to change under European influ- 
 ence. It is they, on the contrary, which place her in a 
 position to deal with all requirements. 
 
 Regarding foreign, commercial, and industrial com- 
 petition, it is not the isolation of China, which is less 
 than is popularly supposed, which constitutes her pro- 
 tection, but the abundance, variety and cheapness of 
 her products and the density of her population. These 
 form a better protection than custom-houses, even 
 against armed attempts. China is enabled to dispense 
 with European commodities because she is a plentiful
 
 3i8 CHINA : ITS SOCIAL AND POLITICAL LIFE. 
 
 country, full of men, and of produce ; her institutions 
 are an additional safeguard, especially her system of 
 taxation and property. The question I asked myself 
 just now, remains unanswered — AVhy should France 
 not contain 70,000,000 of inhabitants ; why should she 
 not some day contain 140,000,000 ? 
 
 There is no definite difl'erence between Europeans 
 and Chinese. The principle on which Chinese civili- 
 sation rests, is the same as that of all other great 
 civilisations, or of the religions which gave birth to 
 them. 
 
 Whether it be principle or dogma, is it not always 
 solidarity and unity ? 
 
 The only difference is that the Chinese have given 
 it a wider range, and have subordinated to it the 
 whole of their law.
 
 APPENDICES 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 DETAILS AND RETURNS OF CULTIVATION. 
 
 In the valleys, rice is the principal plant cultivated, and 
 to which all the soil is devoted. There are two harvests. 
 The first of ordinary rice, which is transplanted in May 
 and cut in the beginning of July, yields 380 kilos, to the 
 mow. The second rice for distilling, is transplanted in 
 July and cut in October. It yields a little more than the 
 preceding, viz., 400 kilos., but it is sold somewhat cheaper. 
 For the 11 mows, Ouang-Ming-Tse consequently obtains 
 of the one crop 4180 kilos, at 8 francs a picul, of 60 
 kilos,, 1 and of the second, 4400 kilos., at 7 francs ; or a 
 total of 1070 francs in round numbers for the two 
 harvests ; to which must bo added 60 francs as the value 
 of the 6500 kilos, of straw. 
 
 When the rice is removed, tillage is speedily given to 
 the plough ; and having divided the ground into four 
 equal fields, the seed is sown in lines and in patches, 
 (•eparated with due regard to the future development of 
 the plants ; turnips in one, broad-beans in another, 
 cabbages in the third, and rape-seed in the last. Ten 
 or twelve days after this operation, other rows of clover or 
 
 ' This is a high price, which is oxphained by proximity to the sea ; 
 in tlie interior it does not exceed G or 7 francs.
 
 320 APPENDICES. 
 
 of lupine are inserted in these seed or transplan ting- 
 plots, also sown in patches. No seed, it should be borne 
 in mind, is sown without having been crisped and without 
 having germinated. 
 
 The turnips, a very large kind, yield 2G00 kilos., at 
 1 franc the 60 kilos, per mow, or for the 2| of the field, 
 110 francs. The broad-beans yield 120 kilos., at 11 francs 
 for 60 kilos. — that is, for the whole field, 525 kilos., or 
 60 francs. The cabbages, 4000 kilos, at 95 c. for 60 kilos. 
 — that is, for the whole field, 11,000 kilos. Finally, the 
 hemp-seed gives per mow 150 kilos., or, for the entire 
 field, 418 kilos, of seed, which furnish 104 kilos, of oil, at 
 the rate of 22 francs for 60 kilos., or 38 francs. There are, 
 moreover, 310 kilos, of oil-cake, which is sold for manure 
 for the land and food for cattle at the rate of 8 francs 50 c. 
 for 60 kilos. This 43 francs added to the 38 francs for 
 the oil, give a total of 81 francs for the field of hemp-seed. 
 Thus all the crops of this third harvest amount to 435 
 francs. 
 
 The main destination of the clover is to be buried as 
 green manure — very suitable to air the ground. Never- 
 theless a good part is dried for the consumption of cattle, 
 carefully selected and preserved in salt ; the ends of the 
 shoots make an excellent vegetable. Estimating the 
 whole as if it had been dried, the clover yields 540 kilos, 
 the mow — tliat is, for the whole surface, 5940 kilos., 
 worth 120 francs, to which must be added 5 francs' worth 
 of grain — in all, 125 francs. 
 
 Although tlitiy are not transplanted the same day, all 
 these plants mature at the same time, in such a manner 
 that they never re(iuire excessive toil, or indee<l more 
 labour than that of the family and tlie ordinary assistants. 
 Tlie cabbages and turnijw, for example, can remain in- 
 definitely on the soil. There is i)lenty of time to deal 
 with them. Neither is replaced, in order to have the
 
 APPENDICES. 321 
 
 11 mows completely" cleared towards the beginning of 
 February. The field is then watered to soften the 
 ground, and when the water is absorbed, the clover is 
 turned up and buried by the first ploughing. Two or 
 three days later, a second and last ploughing takes place, 
 and the transplanting of the fifth harvest proceeds. 
 
 This comprises 7 mows of corn, sometimes replaced by 
 barley, and 4 mows of peas or haricots, but oftener peas. 
 In the rice district, namely in the region of Ouang-Mo- 
 Khi, the corn does not yield so much as in the more 
 northerly districts, where it is the usual crop ; there it 
 not unfrequently yields 300 kilos, per mow, and even 
 more. Here perhaps, because the temperature makes it 
 spring up and ripen too quickly, it only yields 150 kilos, 
 at the most, and is sold at 8 francs the 60 kilos., ^ the 
 same price as the rice. This appears strange, for it is 
 richer in alimentary substance, but it is sufficiently 
 explained by the fact that the population is more accus- 
 tomed to rice and consumes less corn, and that it has 
 only a current sale in the northern provinces. The 7 
 mows then yield a sum of 140 francs, besides 30 francs' 
 worth of straw. I must not leave the corn without re- 
 pairing an omission which I have made in speaking of 
 the preparations to which the seeds of the cereals are 
 submitted. I have forgotten the first of all, the liming. 
 It is said that the object of this is to destroy the eggs and 
 the parasite germs, and particularly the smut, which 
 might be in the seed. It is customary to roll the seed 
 in pulverised lime. In China they mix cinders in equal 
 proportions with the lime. 
 
 The bean cultivated is called the sola, of which much is 
 heard in Europe, where it was introduced some years ago, 
 on account of its value as food. It is as rich iu nitrogenous 
 matter as meat, and is eagerly eaten by animals. In 
 
 * A very high price. 
 
 Y
 
 322 APPENDICES. 
 
 China, oil, vermicelli or a kind of clieose, is made from it. 
 It does not contain much oil, hardly more than 17 per 
 cent, can be extracted from it, but the oil-cake fetches a 
 good pi ice. A mow produces 153 kilos, of soia, that is, 612 
 kilos, for four mows; this quantity furnishes 104 kilos, of 
 oil, at 45 c. per kilo., or 48 francs; and 500 kilos, of oil- 
 cake, at 8 francs 50 c. per GO kilos., or 53 francs ; which, 
 with 20 francs for the straw, gives altogether 121 francs. 
 Adding the price of the wheat and the peas, we have a 
 total of 291 francs, representing the result of the fifth 
 harvest. The five harvests of the eleven mows of valley 
 land have therefore produced a sum of 1971 francs. 
 When the peas and wheat are harvested, water is im- 
 mediately let in on the fields, which are then ploughed 
 twice before proceeding to the planting of the rice. 
 
 The management of the hill land is more complicated. 
 We must remember that it has an area of eighteen mows, 
 of which five are under ordinary cultivation and the other 
 thirteen ])lanted with tea. But of the latter, two are only 
 planted once a year, and three only twice. Moreover, the 
 leaves are not gathereil, and, so that the area should not 
 be unproductive, it is cultivated like the rest of the ground, 
 by pLtnting between the tea shrubs. Three other mows 
 Avhich have reached the third year of planting only give 
 half a crop of tea, but they also give half a crop of cotton 
 or maize. In the five remaining mows in full cultivation, 
 absolutely nothing is grown exce})t the precious shrub. 
 It is with this that we shall concern ourselves first. 
 There are four crops. The first, when the buds l)egin to 
 open. It must be gathered at once. A quantity of tea 
 is thus obtained which is called bud-tea, much esteemed 
 by the Chinese, who pay as much as 9 francs fur (500 
 grams ; ])ut a mow of it docs not yield much more. The 
 second crop is the most important. It is gathered twenty 
 or twenty-five days after the first, and produces from 120
 
 APPENDICES. 323 
 
 to 130 kilos. All the hope of the planter is set upon 1his 
 crop. Fortunately, it never quite fails. After a short 
 interval this second crop is followed by a third, yielding 
 61 kilos, per mow, of the value of 70 francs per 60 kilos. 
 
 The second strength at length comes, and with it the 
 last crop. It only yields 37 kilos, per mow, at the 
 moderate value of 60 francs per 60 kilos. Thus, at Ouang- 
 Ming-Tse's, the crop of tea, for the five wholly cultivated 
 mows, and for the three partially cultivated, may be shown 
 in the following manner. 
 
 1st harvest, 58 kilos, at 9 frs. the 600 grams., 870 frs. 
 
 2ncl „ 940 „ 150 „ 60 kilos. 2265 „ 
 
 3rd „ 396 „ 70 „ 60 „ 470 „ 
 
 4lh „ 210 „ GO „ 60 „ 240 „ 
 
 The ordinary cultivation of the hills occupies five mows 
 irrigated, and five mows planted with trees too young to 
 bear, but in the spaces between which other things are 
 cultivated. But Ouang-Ming-Tse has diverted the water 
 from two of the first five ; one has been made into a garden, 
 and another into a field of yams. A third is planted with 
 sugar-canes. They are thus exempt from the management 
 and rotation of the ordinary crops, since they bear the 
 same for the greater part of the year, and for this reason 
 we shall leave them until the last. There remain then 
 two mows under irrigation, cultivated in the same manner 
 as the valley land, and five mows watered solely by 
 manual labour. 
 
 The two irrigated mows are first planted with ordinary 
 rice, the yield being somewhat less than in the valley, 
 only 365 kilos, per mow. For the second harvest does 
 not consist of transplanted rice for distilling. It is not 
 the custom of the Chinese Government to regard very 
 favourably the diverting of any land from an indispensable 
 production to one less useful. The cultivators, anxious to 
 merit the favour or rewards of the authorities, are there- 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 APPENDICES. 
 
 fore very careful not to transgress a certain limit. They 
 replace the rice by a kind called mountain rice, which 
 does not require so much water as the others, a serious 
 consideration at a time of the year when it begins to be 
 t-carce. It only produces 300 kilos., but it is of the same 
 value as the other, or for the two crops and the two mows 
 1330 kilos., at 8 francs per 60 kilos., 177 francs. After 
 the rice, rape-seed is transplanted, which produces 300 
 kilos, for the two mows, or nearly 75 kilos, of oil at 37 c. 
 per kilo., and 215 kilos, of oil-cake at 8 francs 50 c. per 
 kilo. Total, 51 frs. 75 c. Then come 1080 kilos, of 
 clover worth 23 frs. ; and finally, 300 kilos, of corn worth 
 45 francs, including the straw ; thus 296 francs represent 
 the whole of the five harvests. 
 
 The five mows which are not irrigated are divided into 
 three fields, one of three mows and two others of one mow 
 each. In the first, cotton-seed is sown in rows and patches, 
 or the young cotton plant is transplanted if the tillage is 
 backward. The ground is occupied by the cotton at least 
 three months, from the beginning of May to the beginning 
 of September. To reserve the land for this piirpose, 
 nothing is planted after the fifth crop has been gathered ; 
 and when the cotton is ripe, it is too late for it to be 
 succeeded by the ordinary crops. This is theiefore a 
 troublesome crop and, if the produce is not sold directly, 
 an unprofitable one. But the cotton gives employment 
 during the evenings to the women of the house, who pick 
 and spin it, and to the men, who weave it. This is a 
 compensatitn. The cotton-plant produces about I'O kilos, 
 of raw cotton per mow, which gives 00 kilos, of })icked 
 cotton at 70 c. per kilo., and 27 kilos, of seed at .'35 c, 
 added to 90 kilos, of straw worth 1 franc. The three 
 mows then only yield in all 12" frs. 36 c. "When woven, 
 the 180 kilos, of cotton becomes 80 pieces of cotton- 
 (;luth, valued at 2 frs. 25 c. ; and the 80 kilos of ."-eed yield
 
 APPENDICES. 325 
 
 8 kilos of oil at 45 c. the kilo. ; added to 70 kilos, of oil- 
 cake at 7 frs. 50 c. per 6 ) kilos., making with the straw 
 in all 257 frs. 60 c. 
 
 Thiee or four days after the capsules of the cotfon 
 commence to expand, rows of buck- wheat, sown in patches, 
 are planted in the spaces ; but these are very far apart, and 
 are left to themse'ves until the cotton is gathered. Con- 
 sequently a mow yields very little, hardly 60 kilos., worth 
 5 francs, and 1 franc for the straw; or 18 francs for the 
 three mows. After the buck-wheat, a crop of clover is 
 sown, yielding 1620 kilos, the three mows, worth 35 francs ; 
 and finally, a crop of corn of 450 kilos, at 8 francs per 60 
 kilos. ; or 66 francs with the straw. 
 
 From off the two remaining mows 180 kilo^^. of tobacco- 
 leaves are obtained at 60 c. per kilo., making 108 frs. 
 60 c. ; then 4000 kilos, of sorghum stems, cultivated for 
 forage, at 2 francs per 60 kilos., making 132 francs ; then 
 2600 kilos, of turnips at 1 franc per 60 kilos., making 43 
 fiancs ; 540 kilos, of clover at 11 francs ; and lastly, 150 
 kilos, of corn at 20 francs. 
 
 Finally, the lust mow produces 160 kilos, of maize at 'i 
 francs per 60 kilos., 16 francs ; 4000 kilos, stalks and 
 leaves of soia at 2 francs 20 c. for 60 kilos., 145 ; 4000 
 kilos, of cabbages at 95 c. per 60 kilos., 62 francs ; 540 
 kilos of clover, 11 francs ; and 150 kilos of corn, 20 francs. 
 The threa mows now remaining are cultivated in yams, 
 sugar-canes, and as a garden. The yams yield 5000 
 kilos, per mow, which are sold at 4 frs. per 60. kilos., or 
 333 frs. ; but the land has been occupied by them during 
 the greater part of two years. That only leaves then, 
 1665 francs to add to the result of the anniial crops. 
 The sugar-cane requires a particular manure ; the ordinary 
 manure alone does not suit it, but diminishes the quantity 
 of sugar contained in the canes. It is therefore alternated 
 with ashes, and even with ashes prepared expressly \y^
 
 326 APPENDICES. 
 
 burning sea-weed, heaped up and covered over with earth 
 in such a manner that the burning is accomplished, so to 
 speak, in a closed kiln. A mow of sugar cultivated in this 
 way and plentifully watered yields 4600 kilos, of cane, or 
 230 kilos, of 25 c. i)er kilo., or 57 fr. 50 c. The residue 
 may be valued at 8 francs. Total, 65 frs. 50 c. 
 
 Ouang-Ming-Tse possesses, in the garden or on the 
 border of the fields, 7 hemp palms, 4 orange-trees, G 
 tallow-lrees, 3 oil-trees, and a small grove of bamboos. 
 The palm-trees yield 2 kilos. 500 gms. of tow at 2 c. the 
 kilo; the orange-trees producing 1200 to 1300 oranges at 
 50 c. per 100, 6 francs. The tallow trees, 60 kilos, of seed 
 at 10 c. per kilo., 6 francs. The 3 oil-trees, 35 kilos, of 
 berries, at 10 c. per kilo., 3 fr. 50c. ; and the bamboos yield, 
 either in eatable shoots or in stems from which are made 
 different implements, a value of 10 francs. Total, 31 frs. 
 50 c. The garden also produces a quantity of vegetables 
 and fruits, but these are all consumed in the house, and 
 do not count. 
 
 The seeds of the tallow and oil-trees, being too small in 
 quantity to be worked up at home, are sold in a raw 
 state. 
 
 I have said that the direct pnxlucts of agriculture are 
 not the only profits which the Ouang family gain by their 
 labour. They also possess a buffalo, but not having 
 employment for it all the year, they lend or hire it to a 
 younger son and two or three other agriculturists in the 
 neighbourhood. They thus derive, from 140 days' work 
 at ] fr. 15 c, a sum of 210 francs. But one very appre- 
 (nable source of profit is the farmyard. Between each 
 harvest they let loose the pigs, chickens, and ducks into 
 the fields, where they fiii<l suHicient food, especially when 
 the latter have been watered, wliich costs nothing. The 
 farmyard is managed by the women, who attend to it 
 admirably. No one knows better than Mrs. Ouang how
 
 APPENDICES. 327 
 
 to make and vary according to the seasons the wash which 
 is given to the pigs. No one is cleverer than Mrs. Po-Y in 
 distinguishing good from bad eggs, or in preparing paste 
 for the chickens. The pigs are not reared at the house ; 
 that is a special industry. In order that the breed, which 
 is not very large, but which is precocious and fattens 
 easily, may not degenerate, it is sometimes necessary to 
 go a distance for productive animals. It would be 
 impossible to rear all the young of a litter ; for which 
 reason it is found easier and more economical to separate 
 the fattening from the rearing. At the Ouang's, as at all 
 other farmers, they fatten four times a year, three pigs 
 at each fattening. They buy the young pigs at six or 
 seven weeks old, and sell them fattened three months 
 after. Each weighs 15 to 16 kilos, and costs 4 frs. 60 c. ; 
 after fattening it weighs 112 kilos. ; and is worth 32 frs. 
 50 c. at 29 c. per kilo., or 390 francs for the 12. They 
 never make the animals extremely fat, because that would 
 make the selling price too dear and would never pay. 
 
 Mrs. Ouang has two goats, which have each produced 
 two kids ; these were sold four months after their birth, 
 at 5 francs each, making 20 francs for the four. 
 
 The poultry, of which the fixed number is 12 fowls and 
 20 ducks, gives 150 chickens or ducklings at 35 c. a dozen, 
 45 francs ; plus 2000 hens' eggs at 35 c. a dozen, and 
 1 500 ducks' eggs at 40 c, 50 francs, the total product of 
 the stable and poultry-yard being 773 francs. It is 
 needless, I think, to say that the hens and chickens are 
 far from being as fine and weighty as ours. They weigh 
 a pound and a-half or two pounds at the outside. If they 
 weigh more they generally command a liigh price. The 
 production of the second pound costs more tlian the first. 
 If the value of a chicken of a pound and a-half is 30 or 
 35 c, one weighing two and a-half pounds will immediately 
 cost 75 or 80 c. To obtain chickens of 5 or 6 pounds it is
 
 328 APPENDICES. 
 
 either necessary to order them, or to have a tradesman 
 Avho knows the taste of his customer. However, in the 
 markets of the large towns it is common enough to find 
 poultry weighing 3 or 4 pounds. All the products of the 
 farm are carried or driven to market, or taken away by 
 itinerant buyers who wish to re sell them. Generally the 
 sellers are satisfied with a small profit. For instance, 
 they will give 18 ounces to the pound instead of 16 for 
 the i)igs and goats, and 14 eggs to the dozen. In the 
 large towns their profits are greater. 
 
 DETAILS OF WORKING-STOCK. 
 
 1 plough, 15 frs. ; 1 wooden harrow, 12 frs. ; 2 large iron 
 rakes at 2 frs. each, 4 frs. ; o hand hoes, with two teeth, 
 at 1 fr. 50 c, 7 frs. 50 c. 2 large hoes with 4 teeth, at 
 2 frs. 50 c, 5 francs ; 2 sickles at 2 francs 50 c, 5 frs. ; 
 
 1 box to grind the rice, 15 frs. ; 5 pails for fattening, at 
 5 frs. the pair, 10 frs. ; two small pails, at 4 frs. the pair 
 8 frs. ; two large feeding troughs, at 1 fr. 50 c. each, 3 frs. ; 
 
 2 small, at 1 fr. 10 c, 2 frs. 20 c. ; 3 large jars for food, at 
 7 frs. each, 21 francs ; 2 shovels, at 2 francs each, 4 frs. ; 
 2 flails, at 2 frs. 25 c. each, 4 frs. 50 c. ; 2 poles for 
 carrying the pails, at 1 fr. 25 c, 2 fr. 50 c. Total, 20H frs. 
 7i'c. These are the fai'uiing instruments. Now follow 
 those for grinding and preparing the grain. 
 
 1 hard wooden mill to husk the rice, 10 fr. ; 1 brass fan- 
 machine, 12 frs. ; 2 sieves, at 1 fr. 25 c, 2 frs. 50 c. ; 1 stone 
 flour-mill, 18 frs.; 1 mortar and pestle, 15 frs. Total, 
 57 frs. 50 c. 
 
 Then the utensils for jireparing tlio tea : 4 brick fur- 
 naces, at 12 frs., 48 frs. ; 4 iron basons, at frs., 24 frs. ; 50
 
 APPENDICES. 329 
 
 mats on which to spread out the tea, at 1 fr., 50 frs. ; 4 
 small wooden shovels at 25 c, 1 fr. Total, 123 frs. 
 
 Instruments for the preparation of the cotton and 
 weaving : 1 loom, 9 frs. ; 2 spinning machines, at 3 frs., 
 6 frs. ; 1 weaving laachine, 28 frs. Total, 40 frs. 
 
 Lastly, 1 oil mill, 18 frs. ; 1 press, 40 frs. ; 1 stone mill to 
 crush the sugar canes, 40 frs. ; 3 boilers, at 7 frs., 21 frs. ; 
 and 2 iron spoons, at 3 frs., 6 frs. Total, 125 frs. 
 
 I was about to forget a chopping-knife for forage, 20 
 frs. ; and 4 tubs for preparing the animals' food, at 3 frs., 
 12 frs. 
 
 These various additional sums give a total of 578 frs. 
 20 c, or, at 10 per cent., 58 francs for the interest of the 
 material. 
 
 DETAILS OF THE COST OF FOOD.— HOUSE. 
 
 The principal expenses for food can be shown as 
 follows : 5000 kilos, of rice at 8 frs. per GO kilos., 664 frs. ; 
 250 kilos, of corn at 8 frs. per 60 kilos., 32 frs. ; 
 150 kilos, of soia-beans, for making vermicelli and cheese 
 called Tou-wou, at 18 c. per kilo., reckoned as if it had 
 served for the manufacture of oil, 27 frs. ; salt cabbages 
 and turnips, 800 kilos, at 1 fr. per 60 kilos., together 
 18 frs. ; dried vegetables, 100 kilos, at 20 frs. for 60 kilos. 
 28 frs. ; fresh vegetables, haricots, apples, etc., 500 kilos., 
 at 4 frs. per 60 kilos., 34 frs. ; sea-weed, at 15 francs per 
 60 kilos., 180 kilos, 45 frs.; fish, prawns, mussels, crabs, 
 dried or salted, 420 kilos, at 27 frs. for 60 kilos., 189 frs. ; 
 fresh fish, 400 kilos, at 4 frs. 50 c. per 60 kilos., 30 frs. ; 
 110 kilos, of fresh pork, at 34 c. per kilo., 32 frs. ; salt 
 pork, and ham, 50 kilos, at 1 fr. the kilo., 50 frs. ; mutton 
 or kid, 40 kilos, at 25 c. per kilo., 8 frs. ; 150 chickens or 
 ducks, at 30 c. each, 45 frs. ; pork-dripping, 120 kilos, at
 
 330 APPENDICES. 
 
 75 c, 90 frs. ; 450 heus' eggs, at 35 c. the dozen, 14 fr. 
 15c.; 450 ducks' eggs, at 40 c. the dozen, 15 frs. 40 c. ; 60 
 kilos, of dried mushrooms, 20 francs; oil for eating or 
 burning, 200 kilos, at 45 c. per kilo., 90 francs; salt, 120 
 kilos., which includes that which is used for salting and 
 that which is given to the animals, at 3 frs. per 60 kilos., 
 7 frs. ; sugar, 90 kilos, at 25 c. per kilo., 22 frs. 50 c. ; wine, 
 100 kilos, at 10 frs. 50 c. for 60 kilos., 17 frs. ; straw to 
 bum in the kitchen, fruits and liqueurs, calculated at 
 50 frs. Total for food expenses, 1589 frs. 
 
 STABLE, FAEM-YARD, AXU PIGGEEY. 
 
 The buffalo's food varies with the seasons, but whatever 
 it may be, some kind of wash is given to him ; that is to 
 say, the straw, clover, fresh or dry sorghum, turnips, oil- 
 cake, etc., are always minced or cut in small pieces and 
 mixed with a little water and salt. His year's allowance 
 is G500 kilos, of rice-straw, at 65 c. per 60 kilos., 60 frs. 
 20 c. ; 2000 kilos, of clover, at 1 fr. 20 c. per 60 kilos., 39 frs. 
 60 c. ; 5000 kilos, of turnips, at 1 fr. per 60 kilos, 83 frs. 
 70 c. ; 1000 kilos, of soia-forage, at 2 fr. 20 c. per 60 kilos., 
 33 frs. 70 c. ; 450 kilos, of oil-cake, at 8 fr. 50 c. per 60 
 kilos., 63 fr. 75 c. Total, 311 frs. 20 c, without counting 
 3000 kilos, or more of refuse of all sorts, husks of rice or 
 com, bran, small grain, etc., which could not bo otherwise 
 employed. 
 
 The pigs have also consumed, in the shape of wash, 
 1590 kilos, of turnips, at 8 frs. 50 e. ])er GO kilos., 25 frs. : 
 450 kilos, of sorghum and refuse of sugar-cane, at 2 frs. 
 20 c. per 60 kilos., 55 frs. Total, 143 frs., without counting 
 a very considerable quantity of leavings and refuse of all 
 sorts, husks of rice and corn, bran, small grains, vegetables.
 
 APPENDICES. 33 1 
 
 peels and parings of yams, etc. etc., which cannot be 
 estimated at less than 4000 kilos., which are found by 
 them in the fields. 
 
 A large portion of the food which is given to the hens 
 and chickens is likewise made into paste. They have 
 received in that way or in a raw state, 120 kilos, of 
 sarrazin or black com at 5 frs. per 60 kilos. ; 100 kilos, of 
 oil-cake at 8 frs, 50 c, 14 frs. ; 100 kilos, of broad-beans at 
 11 frs., 10 frs. ; 100 kilos, of maize at 6 frs., 10 frs.; 250 
 kilos, of rice at 8 frs. 33 c ; 180 kilos, of yams at 4 frs., 12 
 frs. Total, 98 frs., without counting 4 to 500 kilos, of 
 leavings, and what they find when the harvests are 
 reaped. 
 
 As for the goats, it is estimated that the milk which 
 they furnish, and which is entirely consumed in the house, 
 is equivalent to the food which they receive. It would 
 be more correct to say that no account is taken with them. 
 That is a delusion of Mrs. Po-Y, who requires the milk for 
 the children. The entire cost of the animals' food amounts 
 then to 552 frs. 20 c. 
 
 INVENTOEY OF FUKNITURE. 
 
 The long drawing-room table is valued at 45 frs. ; the 
 square table at 30 frs. ; the vases and the candlesticks, 
 70 frs. : the trunk, 30 frs. ; the book-case, 30 frs. ; the arm- 
 chairs and the two round tables, 110 frs. ; the other chairs 
 or stools, 10 in number, 40 frs. : Total, 361 frs. In the 
 other rooms are three large beds, at 138 frs. each, 414 frs. ; 
 two children's beds, at 30 frs., 60 frs. ; and a baby's cot, 
 10 frs. All these beds are furnished in rattan, on which 
 the mattresses, or rather the bedclothes, are put, for they 
 have no mattresses like ours. In place of the latter the 
 bedclothes are doubled and form a thick padded bed.
 
 332 APPENDICES. 
 
 They put two of them at 20 frs. each on the larger beds, 
 and at 12 frs. on the small ones, or for the 8 beds, 240 frs. 
 In hot weather, in place of lying directly on this species 
 of mattress, the latter are covered with a fine mat. Each 
 bed possesses one which is valued at from 1 to 2 frs. It is 
 ihe general custom to wear a pair of drawers in the night 
 and an under-waistcoat. Each bed is also provided witli 
 a mosquito-net — for the 3 large beds, 20 frs. each ; and 
 the o others, 12 frs. ; making 120 frs. for the 8. The beds 
 furnished as I have shown, then cost altogether 850 frs. 
 Therefore it is obvious that the bed is a heavy article of 
 expense, but, with the grave, it is that to which the 
 Chinese attach tlie most importance. There are beds and 
 graves which cost several thousands of francs. 
 
 After the beds come 4 presses in the rooms of the grand- 
 mother, her grand- daughter Sui-Lieu, and Ouang-Ming 
 Tse. The first valued at 50 frs. ; the two otliers at 40 
 and 36 frs. ; and the last at 20 frs. Then 8 leather or 
 camphor- wood chests, at 10 to 12 frs. each, or 00 fis. ; 3 
 large round tables and 1 square table, worth about 65 frs. 
 the four ; 4 large toilet-tables, witli water-jugs and basons 
 iu tin or poicelain. The former at 35 frs. each , and the 
 latter at 15 frs., making, two at 35 and two at 15 frs., 
 100 frs. The three ladies and the young girl each have a 
 dressiug-ca>e worth 10 frs. each, 40 frs., and a looking- 
 glass at 3 frs. Lastly, we find in these four rooms 2 large 
 arm-chairs, and 10 cliairs, together valued at 120 frs. ; 8 
 small tin candlesticks at 2 frs. 40 c. eacli, and two co])por 
 lamps at 6 frs., or 31 frs. All the furniture is of white 
 varnished wood. The other children's rooms only contain, 
 in addition to the bed, 2 stools at 2 frs. each ; a chest at 
 5 frs. ; and a toilet table, with very common i)orcelain 
 furniture, only worth '6 frs. This makes, for the two 
 rooms, 30 frs. The sum total for this first part of the 
 furniture amounts to 1845 francs.
 
 APPENDICES. 333 
 
 In the servant's room there is a bed with its clothes 
 and mosquito-net — the whole valued at 50 frs ; also a 
 chest worth 5 frs. ; a toilet-table worth 6 frs. ; and 2 stools 
 worth 2 frs. Total, 65 francs. 
 
 The fallowing is the inventory of the contents of the 
 kitchen : 1 brick stove with 5 hearths, 50 frs, ; 5 iron 
 kettles at 3 frs., 15 frs. ; 6 iron saucepans at 1 fr., 6 frs. ; 3 
 large copper spoons for stirring the rice, at 2 frs., 6 frs. ; 6 
 small copper spoons at 25 c. 1 fr. 50 c. ; 6 smaller ones at 
 20 c. ; 3 iron ^hovel8 at 1 fr., 50 c, 4 fr. 50 c. ; 2 pairs of 
 tongs at 1 fr. 25 c, 2 frs. 50 c. 5 copper lids at 2 frs., 10 frs. ; 
 4 large water-jars at 8 frs., 32 frs. ; 6 preserving-jars 
 at 7 frs., 42 francs ; 2 kitchen cupboards at 16 frs., 32 frs. ; 
 2 tables at 5 frs., 10 frs. ; 1 block for chopping meat, 
 6 frs. ; 50 common bowls, 3 frs. fur the whole ; 50 china 
 saucers, 6 frs. ; 20 large cups, 7 frs. ; 30 ordinary cups, 
 
 8 frs. ; 40 tea-cups and saucers, 6 frs. 50 c. ; 40 small wine- 
 cups, 2 frs., ; 50 china spoons, 2 frs. 50 c. ; 40 pairs of 
 eating troughs in hard wood, 1 fr. 50 c. ; 40 pairs in 
 bamboo, 75 c. ; 2 large kitchen-knives at 1 fr. 25 c, 2 frs. 
 50 c. ; 6 bamboo baskets at 1 fr. 10 c, 6 fr. 60 c. ; 6 
 scuttles at 3 frs., 18 frs. ; 4 smaller scuttles at 2 fr. 40 c, 
 
 9 fr. 60 c. ; 6 varnished wooden bowls at 2 frs., 12 frs. ; 4 
 stools at 1 fr. 50 c, 6 frs. ; and 4 bauiboo chairs at 60 c, 
 2 frs. 40 c. The total value of the kitchen furniture, 
 
 314 frs. 
 
 INVENTORY OF CLOTHES. 
 
 Men's dressing-room : 3 felt hats for ceremony, orna- 
 mented with red silk tassels, with cords and satin inside, 
 at 8 frs each, 24 frs. ; 3 hats of ordinary felt at 2 frs., 6 frs. ; 
 5 small caps in common felt, at 75 c, 3 frs. 75 c. ; 5 dress 
 caps of satin, with tassels of red silk, at 2 frs. 25 c, 11 frs. 25 c ;
 
 334 APPENDICES. 
 
 5 satin dress cravats, at 1 fr., 85 c, 9 fr. 25 c. ; 20 cotton 
 shirts at 2 frs., 40 francs (these shirts are rather fronts in 
 shape) ; 20 pairs of cotton trowsers at 1 fr. 75 c, 35 frs. ; 5 
 pairs wadded and quilted for wearing under the trowsers, 
 at 6 frs., 30 francs ; 4 large working-aprons shaped like a 
 petticoat, similar to those worn by our brewers, at 6 frs., 
 24 frs. ; 4 large working-trowsers, for the winter, at 
 7 frs., 28 frs. ; 4 great wadded overcoats (ta koua) at 
 12 francs, 48 frs. ; 3 wadded and quilted gowns or tunics, 
 for the three men, at 22 frs., G6 frs. ; 2 goAvns, ditto, for 
 the little boys, at 1 G frs,, 32 frs. ; 6 largo cotton tunics at 
 11 frs., GG frs. ; 3 small tunics at 9 francs, 27 frs. ; 3 blue 
 silk tunics at 40 frs., 120 francs ; 3 cloth tippets or 
 camails (ma koua) at 12 frs., 3G frs. ; 3 pairs of silk 
 leggings at 7 frs., 21 frs.; 3 large silk girdles at 4 frs., 
 50 c, 13 frs. 50 c. ; G cotton waistbands at 2 frs., 12 frs. ; 
 3 cloth tippets or camails, furred with slieep-skin, at 
 3G frs., 108 frs. ; 3 furred waistcoats or cassocks at 21 frs., 
 G3 frs. ; 3 large wadded waistcoats at 9 frs., 27 frs., 3 
 small ditto at G frs., 18 frs, ; 20 pairs of sewn cotton cloth 
 stockings at 1 fr. 25 c, 25 frs. ; 10 pairs of ordinary shoes 
 in coarse taffeta at 3 frs. 40 c, 34 frs. ; 5 pairs of satin 
 dress shoes at 5 frs., 25 frs.; 10 pairs of wooden shoes, 
 large or small, at 2 frs., 20 frs. ; 4 oiled paper umbrellas 
 at 2 frs. 80 c, 1 1 frs. 20 c. ; two working cloaks in palm 
 thread for the rain, at G frs., 18 frs. ; 2 jiairs of gold watches 
 at 72 fis. the pair (the Chinese hardly ever buy a single 
 watch, they are sold in doul)le cases) 144 frs. ; G fans at 
 75 c. each, 4 frs. 50 o. Total, 1 150 francs, 45 c. 
 
 Dressing-room of the three ladies and of the three 
 young girls : 3 silver hair-pins at 7 frs. 50 c, 22 frs. 50 c. ; 
 3 small ones at 3 frs. 20 c, !• Irs. GO c. ; 2 pins in common 
 jade at 12 frs., 24 frs.; 5 silver rings, together worth 
 50 frs. ; 4 pairs of silver ear-iings at 9 frs., 3G frs. ; G silver 
 bracelets, together 110 frs.; 2 pairs of jade ear-rings at
 
 APPENDICES. 335 
 
 15 frs., 30 frs. ; 2 jade bracelets, together 40 frs. ; 3 
 coiffures of false hair at 3 frs. 50 c, 10 frs. 50 c. ; a lot of 30 
 artificial flowers, 20 frs. ; 6 satin bonnets, small or large, 
 at 3 frs., 18 frs.; 2-1 cotton chemises at 2 frs., 48 frs.; 
 24 c(;tton drawers at 1 fr. 50 c, 36 frs. ; 10 petticoats at 
 5 frs., 50 frs. ; 4 silk overcoats at 10 frs., 40 frs. ; 4 silk 
 dresses at 36 frs., 144 frs. ; 3 dresses — more beautiful — at 
 50 frs., 150 frs. ; 6 beautiful silk sashes at 10 frs., 60 frs. ; 
 4 wadded silk trowsers, for great personages, at 14 frs., 
 56 frs. ; 2 — smaller — at 9 frs., 18 frs. ; 4 wadded cotton 
 overcoats at 10 frs., 40 frs. ; 4 wadded silk dresses at 
 45 frs., 180 frs. ; 4 silk waistcoats, for great personages, 
 at 11 frs. ; 2 small ones at 7 frs., 14 frs. ; 3 silk waistcoats, 
 lined with sheep-skin — very beautiful — at 24 frs., 72 frs. ; 
 4 cotton cloaks or large overcoats, for rain, at 10 frs., 
 40 frs. ; 12 aprons at 50 c, 6 frs. ; 6 dress aprons at 4 frs., 
 24 frs. ; 15 pairs of shoes at 2 frs. 50 c, 37 frs. 50 c. ; 6 
 pairs of shoes — more beautiful — at 4 frs., 24 frs. ; 4 
 umbrellas at 2 frs. 50 c, 10 frs. ; 6 common fans at 25 c, 
 1 fr. 50 c. ; 4 — more beautiful — at 2 fr. 50 c, 10 frs. As 
 for the baby, all its little garments are worth about 50 frs. 
 Total, 1525 frs. 60 c, which, joined to ttie total of 
 1150 frs. 45 c. of the men's dressing-room, make a total 
 of 2676 frs.
 
 336 
 
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 338 
 
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 APPENDICES. 
 
 Table VII. — The Series op the Society op Tsi-Hienn-Hotiei. 
 
 Meeting. 
 
 2nd 
 Meeting. 
 
 3rd 
 Meeting. 
 
 4th 
 Meeting. 
 
 5th 
 Meeting. 
 
 6th 
 Member. 
 
 7th 
 
 Meeting. 
 
 Sums paid 
 to tbe I8t 
 Memt)er. 
 
 Sums paid 
 to the 2nd 
 Member. 
 
 Sums paid 
 lo the 3rd 
 Member. 
 
 Sums paid 
 to the 4th 
 Member. 
 
 Sums paid 
 to the 5th 
 Member. 
 
 Sums paid 
 to the 6th 
 Member. 
 
 Sums paid 
 to the 7 th 
 Member. 
 
 By 
 
 the 
 
 Taels. 
 
 By 
 
 the 
 
 Taels. 
 
 By 
 
 the 
 
 Taels. 
 
 By 
 
 the 
 
 Taels. 
 
 By 
 
 the 
 
 Taels. 
 
 By 
 
 the 
 
 Taels. 
 
 By 
 the 
 
 Taels. 
 
 2iid 
 
 3.333 
 
 1st 
 
 6 
 
 1st 
 
 6 
 
 1st 
 
 6 
 
 1st 
 
 6 
 
 2nd 
 
 6 
 
 3rd 
 
 6 
 
 3rU 
 
 3.333 3rd 
 
 2.8 
 
 2nd 
 
 6 
 
 2nd 
 
 6 
 
 2nd 
 
 6 
 
 3rd 
 
 6 
 
 4th 
 
 6 
 
 4th 
 
 3.333 4th 
 
 2.8 
 
 ,4th 
 
 2 
 
 3rd 
 
 6 
 
 3rd 
 
 6 
 
 4th 
 
 6 
 
 5th 
 
 6 
 
 5tli 
 
 3.333 5th 
 
 2.8 
 
 5th 
 
 2 
 
 5th 
 
 .667 
 
 4th 
 
 6 
 
 5th 
 
 6 
 
 6th 
 
 6 
 
 6th 
 
 3.333 6th 
 
 2.8 
 
 6th 
 
 2 
 
 6th 
 
 .667 
 
 6th 
 
 .. 
 
 7th 
 
 
 
 
 7th 
 
 3.333 7th 
 
 2.8 
 
 7th 
 
 2 
 
 7th 
 
 .667 
 
 7th 
 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 A Tael is an ingot of silver worth 8 francs. 
 
 IOMDON: PKUiXKO 3X WILLIAM (.I.oWK.S AND 8i>.N3, LIMITKb, tJTAUFUUU 6TBEKT 
 AND C'HAKIKU L'KO^S.
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 Santa Barbara 
 
 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW. 
 
 lOOM 11/86 Serin 9M2
 
 ix(/<lii,f '.v./<'//<«''.T">",7 
 
 fim 
 
 AA 000143 481 
 
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