v> -' DESULTORY NOTES THE GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE CHINA. DESULTOEY NOTES ON THE GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE OF CHINA, AND OX THE CHINESE LANGUAGE; ILLUSTRATED WITH A SKETCH OF THE PROVINCE OE KWANG-TIFNG, SHEWING ITS DIVISION INTO DEPARTMENTS AND DISTRICTS. BY THOMAS TAYLOR MEADOWS, Interpreter to Her Britannic Majesty's Consulate at Canton. LONDON: Wm. H. ALLEN AXD Co., 7, LEADEN HALL STREET. 1847. J, & U. cox (BROTHERS,) ^arinters to t^e ilt)onourabIc East^intiia (ffoinpani), 74 & 75, tireal Queen 5- tree! . TO ROBERT THOM, ESQ., HER BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S CONSUL AT NING-PO, ARE DEDICATED, TESTIMONIAL OF RESPECT FOR HIS HIGH CHARACTER AND TALENTS, HIS OBLIGED AND GRATEFUL FRIEND, THE WRITER. 2011794 PREFACE. That the reader may be enabled to form some judgment as to the degree of reliance to be placed on the statements and opinions put forth in the following Notes, I shall here shew on w hat grounds I found my title to write on China. I conceive myself entitled to write on China, firstly, because I have some practical knowledge of the Chinese language ; secondly, because I have bestowed my whole time and undivided attention on Chinese affairs for nearly five years ; and thirdly, because, during nearly three years of that period, I have been placed in an unusually favourable position for acquiring a knowledge of those particular subjects on which I have ven- tured to write. I commenced the study of the Chinese lan- guage in November, 1841, at the Royal Univer- sity of Munich, with the express view of seeking a place in the service of our Government in Vlll PREFACE. China. I attended the lectures of Professor Neumann at the University during the winter term, and ahnost immediately gave up every other study I was residing in Germany to prosecute for this one. I arrived in China in the beginning of 1843 ; and in July of the same year, on the opening of this port under the new system, T was sent here with the late Mr. Lay by Sir Henry Pottinger. Since that time I have held the post of interi)reter to the Consulate. Mr. Lay understood Chinese himself; but since his departure in June, 1844, i. e. for a period of two years, all the Chinese business of the Con- sulate has necessarily been and necessarily con- tinues to be transacted through me. To those who are acquainted with the extent of trade at this port, and with the multifarious duties in- cumbent on the Consular establishment in con- sequence of our treaties, this will be irrefragable evidence that I possess some practical knowledge of the language. Exclusive of a half-yearly num- ber of about 2,500 printed Chinese forms con- nected with the reporting of shij^s and goods which are issued from the Consulate, and are filled up, &c. ])y mc and under my superinten- PREFACE. IX dence ; and exclusive, also, of a considerable number of local proclamations on subjects con- nected with foreigners, which I have translated for transmission to H.M.'s Plenipotentiary at Hong-Kong, I have translated upwards of 350 official letters that have passed between the mandarins and H.M.'s Consul on a variety of special subjects. It must not be forgotten that, in addition to this, all the oral communication which has taken place in conferences with the mandarins, &c. has been kept up solely through me. I have troubled the reader with these details because I do not conceive that any man is entitled to write on a foreign people unless he possess a practical knowledge of their language. Without this knowledge it is next to impossible that he should write any thing original about them. He may collect information from those that do know the language, and he may adopt their opinions, but he cannot form them for himself; or if he does risk it, they can scarcely have other foundation than his own imaginations. That this is the case with respect to our neigh- bouring countries in Europe, every one who, X PREFACE. possessing a knowledge of the language, has lived in one of them, will admit, and will I think be ready to allow that it must be emi- nently the case with respect to China. Since my arrival here I have availed myself of every opportunity that has offered to associate with Chinese, who before have had no intercourse with Europeans, with the object, which I have constantly kept in view, of making myself acquainted with the institutions and government of the country, and with the character of the people ; of discovering the reasons for so many of their actions that appear very odd until these reasons are known ; and of learning generally by what motives they are actuated in their conduct to us. I conceived it necessary that a govern- ment servant should obtain clear and distinct ideas on all these subjects ; this could of course be best done by composing short dissertations on them, and hence the origin of these Notes. I have reduced them to less than half their original size, by suppressing all that related to Anglo-Chinese affairs. Of the purely Chinese matters, too, this volume treats only of two kinds : of those which are nearly, or entirely, new to the PREFACE. XI British public, as the civil divisions of the pro- vinces, the duties and incomes of the mandarins, and the inferior agents of government, &c. ; and of those which, though not unknown to the public, seem to me to be regarded in an erroneous light. I could easily have increased this volume to thrice its present size, had I thought proper to let the reader know for the twentieth time, that the Chinese wear tails, and have got a cock in the outer angle of the eye ; or had I thought fit to corroborate what has been already said on much more important subjects, in works too well known and justly prized to require to be specified here. In treating of those subjects which seem to be regarded in an erroneous light, it has been im- possible for me to avoid alluding, in a criticising tone, to the works of former writers — some of them great authorities — on the same subjects. T must, therefore, remind the reader, that a man of inferior intellect may, favoured by his position, ascertain facts enabling him to discover and point out the errors of more talented people, who wrote without a knowledge of such facts. There are situations, too, in which a man may get a greater Xll PREFACE. insight into the feelings and characters of other people in one lionr, than he would do in a whole year's association with them under ordinary circumstances ; and when I inform the reader that a British Consulate in China is a court of law, not merely for British subjects, but also for the Chinese, over whom the Consul has virtually (though not nominally) considerable power, he will understand that an interpreter must fre- quently be placed in such situations. He will also be pleased to remember, that if we are de- terred from criticising others by the fear of b^ing called presumptuous, there will be an end to improvement of all kinds. In justice to me, the reader will, I trust, bear in mind, that a Note on any one subject is not a full account of it. I have now, in concluding, only to offer my excuses for the frequent occurrence of the first personal pronoun /, in these Notes. As they were commenced and continued for a long time without any immediate idea of publication, I followed, in writing them, the most natural mode of expression ; and though, in preparing them for the press, I have expunged a great number of the PREFACE. XIU I's, still, as a sort of philological repugnance would not permit me to call myself we^ they could not be altogether omitted. I must therefore be content with entreating the reader to pardon this defect, should he consider it one, in a collection of Desultory Notes. T. T. M. Canton, June I5th, 1846. CONTENTS. NOTE I. On the False Notions extant in England regarding China and the Chinese Page I NOTE II. On the Business Style of the Chinese written Language 1 3 NOTE III. On the Difficulty of Learning the Chinese Language ... 23 NOTE IV. On the Colloquial Chinese as spoken by the Manchoos, inclusive of the Imperial Family and Household, and by Natives of Pekin generally 41 NOTE V. A New Orthography adapted to the Pekin Pronunciation of the Colloquial Chinese 48 NOTE VI. On the Intonations or Tones, called Sheng by the Chinese 59 NOTE VII. Sketch of Kwang-tung 71 NOTE VIII. On the Rank, Duties, and Salaries of the Mandarins ... 74 NOTE IX. On the Yamun and their various Inhabitants 101 xvi conte'nts. NOTE X. On the Ti pau and the Tai shu Page 117 NOTE XI. On the Cause of the long Duration of the Chinese Empire 124 NOTE XII. On the Principal Defects of the Chinese Government ... 155 NOTE XIII. On Personating Criminals 172 NOTE XIV. On the Extortions and Oppressions of the Mandarins ... 175 NOTE XV. On the Internal Stability of the Chinese Empire 187 NOTE XVI. On some of the more Prominent Features in the Charac- ter and Manners of the Chinese, and on the Best Method of dealing with them 197 NOTE XVII. On the Chinese Ignorance of Foreign Countries, and Feeling of Superiority over Foreigners 228 NOTE XVIII. On the Best Means of putting an end to the General Use of Opium in China 236 NOTE XIX. Application of the Conclusion arrived at in Note XI. to the PoUcy and Prospects of our own Country 246 I '^ m rmmetl ' rutmed '/ '^(mvm/ nAMtd Kwanj shau nan leen KwftfKf shaou nan leen Glnvi cliau ch.a H,my rh^on lica Shau lo Sh„c„ /,;■ Kau IfJ^n Lbi chSinlg Lti\ kfttna . ttSiljSt. %Mh ^i ^ ^ -TJi Dt/mr/7nrn/.i Disfneh. JJepartnunt^ Duslncfs al' IhpiUfmcnts Dutncts. S I)epaitfnfnh. Distnrfj. Dcpttrtmen/s. Bislnrts j I 2 1 26" Kau ^au SI gh>™. SI 6S LOI CHOI' Ghai kaiis: -4- _t, HarJcan^ '-^^ Sui cK'i -i-^ 7(f Shiin to ^,ts;^ J '^tir:^^ -^^ 2S Hsin hsing ^J^ oi KAU CHOU Kaoa chow J •^r; f«:i^ 69 f :HI 1 "fr ^4 7.V # Yung an i j^ 29 Yang chun Yantf chun E|l^ S4 Ghira (ehoul tv^A 70 / Cliiungshan ^& ■» Kcu^sluu, y\A^ 7.1 Tsungghwa ^g^i:. s atmn cbov j?^ (i^ >#-a JO ^'a^S Chiang %7^ *' 7/ "^^-Z 'M So KWASO CHOU Kvian^ chow J LtWnuin ^?7 Hsinnrng ^ Sin niru/ Tsans chJng ^*^ 6 s A-W Lli fung Tji # LiWchwan *£j,| Leen p-ing ,-*3i. .?2 SHAIJCHING Shtinu klJiq J Kaitming Gin ping m off LEEN CHOU Lecn chow , Ch'in(chou) ,^ij /-^ Ting an 'ip/jT Tinngan ^^trJC Wan ch'ang ^ a Ghivui tung b„^st m Si Hsiajigshan ^t, 9 ^tirZ" -/^^^^ 3i Kaf pintf m A« *^ ( Ling shan ^J, "■'' CHIUXGCHOU Lo Amty -^ g S4 HsingWui ^^ 10 <^';^p2;;s 4"^ aj Ghan shaTi %\^ 60 h'euatf chow 1 Lin kau «* -SL as San shivui _^-(l<. 11 / ''':^^::i '^n Jtf To ch'tu^-i;- 77^ /vfl// m. ei >m ^z:t::m se "^^^t ^4 n ^%'}t Pn .V Fihi^" cli'wan m\ 62 't&tr m^ ST »js;i *^^ 13 '^^JZ2Z§ ^i^ ss \ Kai chien m es WanicWu) *.uJ ifa^ ichmi ^n ,M \ Ghwa()lsieni;K'j«4 It out- CHOU "^^ m 39 1,6 TING \ hh ting /<5 frvw m 64 « / Chii chiajig f^^ 16 Chami chm*'J lampmy P^-^ 40 Timg an Itutfl pan ^* 65 Ai lohou) -ii-JjJ A"- ) '^i/ij^s m% 10 Ghwm lai * * 41 Hsi mng ^^ 6S Yz.^^. M\'" SHAl' CHOU Shaou chow J 43^ Jen gima y^^^ a 18 42 40 w™s.yiKn ^^ 19 \ 'ZT^ 4-f 44 ^j-i'^ ^- 20 s-mJ^ -wM 4S NAN HSIUNG 1 Jfcifi heung . 2/ 22 CHIA VING 4e 47 LEEN CHOU 1 "'St: n-^ 2.3 24 ^ii , 4S 49 LKEN SllAN' (Leonshani ,^ 2J VO KANG '?^.'r|W$PJ SO 1 3 DESULTORY NOTES ON THE GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE OF CHINA, 4"c. NOTE I. ON THE FALSE NOTIONS EXTANT IN ENGLAND REGARDING CHINA AND THE CHINESE. This note I place at the commencement, by way of apology for the publication of the others, as it partly shews how much may yet be written on China, before the subject is fully understood and exhausted. The false notions entertained with respect to China and the Chinese are very numerous. Per- haps the great reason is, that it is only during the last twelve years, since the cessation of the East-India Company's monopoly, that any num- ber of the English people generally have had a direct interest in, or inclination to examine into, the state of the nation ; while, during these twelve years, there have only been two or three persons in China, whose knowledge of the m ritten and spoken language enabled them to get any thing like accurate information on many interesting 2 NOTE I. points. Throiigli tlio medium of the Canton English it is literally impossible to obtain this sort of information. The Chinese who speak it are, or have been, most of them, servants ; hence they are very ignorant themselves, and the few who are well informed, feeling it quite impossible to express themselves in the only medinm of communication, do not attempt it, but give any sort of vague answer which they think most likely to satisfy the European, and put an end to his inquiries. In addition to this, those who speak the Canton English seem hitherto to have made it a rule to say as little as possible to the foreigner about Chinese affairs ; they cannot see what good it will do them, and there are instances, w^ell known to all, of some of their class having suffered severely for giving information. They take it for granted, moreover, that the " outlandish devil," although, it may be, a very good fellow, whom they would like to oblige, cannot understand the matters he inquires after, and therefore give him the same sort of vague and general answers that papa gives to a little boy, when the latter asks questions on subjects which his yet limited know- ledge of things in general does not enable him to comprehend. I have frequently asked this class of Chinese about matters with which I was already well acquainted, having obtained all the information regarding them from other Chinese, NOTE I. 3 and have always had occasion to be amused by the false notions, or want of all notion, their answers were calculated to give. I now proceed to particularize some of the false notions alluded to. The following is an instance of one, the more striking as having been entertained only very lately, and perhaps still, by a body of men who are doubtless both intelligent and generally well informed. The East-India Association of Glasgow, in their memorial to Sir Robert Peel, respecting the high English import duties on tea, state : " 8th. The duty charged by our tariff on tea is equal to 200 per cent, on the shipping cost, viz., 2s. Id. per lb. on an article which, at an average, costs on board about Is. ; and while a tariff is negotiating in China for the admission of our pro- ductions, it is but reasonable to expect that the Chinese will keep in view the monstrous duty charged in England on their staple." Now this forms no argument, simply because at the negotiation of the tariff probably not one of the mandarins knew there was any duty on tea at all in England ; and if any of them did know, they would certainly never reflect on the consequences of this duty on their own import trade — caring, as they in fact do, not a straw about any trade whatsoever. I, at all events, know certainly that a mandarin, who had been b2 4 NOTE I. constantly employed in the negotiations with foreigners from their commencement, did not, after the American treaty was concluded, know of this English import-duty. When I happened to mention to him, that a reduction was then being proposed in England, and that the duty then existing was double the price of teas in Canton, he made me repeat what I had said, in order to make sure that he heard rightly ; and then, instead of making any reflections on its effect on the trade of his country, he merely smiled. I am convinced he was admiring the bold and open way in which the English manda- rins levied money from their people, yet some- w4iat confounded at it ; for the whole expression of his face seemed to say, " You don't do things by halves ; but this is rather strong." Now if it be borne in mind that this mandarin knew, pro- bably, as much of foreigners as any man of his class ; farther, that his whole chance of rising depended on the good result of the treaties ; while, on the other hand, if any thing went wrong his life was in danger ; consequently, that he had every reason to make himself acquainted with the state of foreign countries ; it will be at once plain how little the Chinese diplomatists know and think of the principles on which com- mercial treaties are concluded in the West. Those engaged in the regulation of the new order of NOTE I. things had doubtless the wish to show to the Emperor a large increase in the revenue ; but their object was to quiet the barbarians, whose wild tempers and unaccountable whims might easily g\\e rise to fresh disturbances, bringing certain disgrace, if not death, on those who have the duty of managing them. I may state here, that the describing of public acts, such as the negotiating, signing, and ex- changing of treaties, &c., in the same diplomatic language used in talking of the intercourse be- tween the civilized powers of the West, tends, however appropriate such language may at bot- tom be, to give a very false idea of the light in which the Chinese view these matters ; the?/ look on them much as the ministers of the Grecian empire did their forced dealings with the northern barbarians. A great many both contradictory and erroneous opinions prevail with regard to the population of China. This the questions frequently asked, as well as passages in books, such, for instance, as the following, sufficiently prove. Smith, in his " Wealth of Nations," says : " The demand for men, like that for any other commodity, neces- sarily regulates the production of men ; quickens it when it goes on too slowly, and stops it when it advances too fast. It is this demand which regulates and determines the state of population 6 NOTE I. in all the different countries of the world — in North America, in Europe, and in China ; which renders it rapidly progressive in the first, slow and gradual in the second, and altogether sta- tionary in the last." And this passage is quoted by M'Culloch, in support of the views he main- tains with regard to " population " in his " Prin- ciples of Political Economy." But we have many good reasons for believing that the state of popu- lation in China, far from being stationary in Smith's time, is not so even now, though seventy years of almost uninterrupted peace have elapsed since he wrote. It would seem that people now, when they hear of a country containing 360 mil- lions of inhabitants, the population generally attri- buted to China, fancy, somehow, that this im- mense collection of human beings is crammed into a territory not greater than that of France or Austria, and that consequently the density of the population must be quite excessive. But the truth is, that China proper, containing, as is well known, about 1,300,000 square miles, would have, with its 360 millions of inhabitants, only 277 souls to the square mile, and thus be somewhat less densely populated than England ; which lat- ter country has, according to the census of 1841, about 297 souls to the square mile. Now, over all China, husbandry is carried to considerable perfection ; over a great part of it two crops of NOTE I. 7 rice may be had annually ; the body of its people are industrious and economical ; but at the same time all, even those who can barely afford to feed a wife, marry young, all being exceedingly anxious to have children ; such being the case, why should its population remain stationary at a less degree of density than that of England ? We may safely infer, from the results of the last census, that the population of England has in- creased since it was taken at the rate of one per cent, per annum at least, starting from a density of 297 souls to the square mile ; and the reader will avoid falling into many erroneous notions, with regard to China, by viewing that country, whenever reflecting on subjects influenced by population, as twenty-Jive Englands placed toge- ther. In books we constantly see the mandarins de- scribed as magistrates of cities of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd ranks ; while the fact of their ruling over the country towns, villages, and open country sur- rounding these cities, is left so completely out of view, that it tends to create a false notion in the minds of those who do not reflect much on the subject, and puzzles those who do, by leaving them in doubt as to who rules over the country. The improper use of European titles for the designation of the mandarins is another circum- stance which at once proves the existence of, and 8 NOTE I. tends to propagate, false notions. Thus we, for instance, frequently see the prefect of KMang chou, or Kwangchou fu, mentioned as the " Lord Mayor of Canton " ! ! * The prefect of Kwang chou is the chief local authority of a territory equalling in extent the kingdom of Holland, and containing a much larger population. His yaman is the first court of appeal from fourteen others, each resembling in their powers our courts of assize. He is generally a man of some literary attainments, who has been trained up from his youth for the civil service, and when he attains his post, one of a most methodically graduated series, is the servant of a despotic sovereign, at whose pleasure he can be removed to the most distant part of the empire, degraded, dismissed, or promoted. I need not point out the absurdity of giving such an officer the title of a Lord Mayor, the chief magistrate of a city, beyond the walls of which his comparatively limited authority does not reach, and whose post, quite republican in its nature and the manner of its attainment, is gene- rally held for one year only, by a man who spends all the rest of his life as a merchant. * In the European titles used in these Notes I have gene- rally followed the Chinese Repository. They seem to be the least inappropriate that could be adopted; but it would, per- haps, be better to employ the Chinese titles, which are short, and do not mislead. NOTE I. 9 The Chinese dress — to descend to minor topics — is generally supposed to be quite unchangeable, and the Chinese tailors a kind of stereot^-pe clo- thiers. Now it is true that the Chinese (I speak of the middle and higher classes) always wear long gowns when they go out, just as Ave wear coats ; but as every part of our coats and our other garments are constantly being subjected to all kinds of changes, within certain limits, so the length of the Chinese gown, the size and form of its sleeves, its colour, and the kind of flowers worked in it when of silk, &c. &c. are perpetually varying. The same is the case with the Chinese shoes and winter scull-caps : the former are, within certain limits, at one period thick and at another thin-soled ; and the latter are at one time shallow and at another deep, while the silk knob on the top is sometimes small, at others large, &c. &c. In China, in short, we find as many fops as in Europe, who, like their brethren of the West, are so thoroughly versed in matters of dress, that they can at a glance tell you whether a man's clothes be of the latest fashion or not. The Chinese who speak no English seem to be all quite ignorant of the idea that the eyes painted on the junks are given the latter on account of some (improbable) notion regarding its seeing — an idea that prevails in England in consequence of the old story about " suppose no got eye, how 10 NOTE I. can see walkee ?" All the junks I have seen with eyes had also noses and mouths with large tusks painted on them ; and the Chinese say, that the object in thus giving the heads of the vessels the appearance of belonging to a large animal, is to frighten away the large fish and sea-demons. This may at first sight seem a very trivial subject to notice, but as the error prevalent in Europe regarding it tends, in some degree, to give a false notion of the Chinese mind, it will hardly be con- sidered trivial by those who would Avisli to see the largest nation in the world properly under- StOO<||.. Errors of a philological nature are, as might be expected, very numerous. Thus — to refer again to one of the valuable works of a deservedly dis- tinguished and practical writer — at page 843 of McCulloch's " Commercial Dictionary " (edition of 1844) we find it stated that "Nanking is a European corruption of Kyang ning, the capital of the extensive province of Kyang nan." Now Nanking, or, according to the court pronuncia- tion. Nan ching, is not a corruption, but is the Chinese name of the old metropolis of the empire, and means " southern cajntal,^'' just as Pe king (in the court pronunciation Pei ching) means northern capital. But as two capitals would imply two sovereigns, the mandarins, regarding Nan-king as — what it now really is — the chief city of the NOTE I. 11 province of Chiang nan, and of the department of Chiang ning, use this latter name in speaking of it. In talking of the present capital they only use the word Ching, the capital, suppressing the word pei, northern, as the use of it would imply the existence of another capital. In this the mandarins follow the works published under the superintendence of the Emperor ; but the non- official Chinese of the south frequently use the terms Nan king and Pe king. As much misconception exists regarding the rendering of European names into Chinese, I would inform the reader, that after being given in the very best manner the Chinese language permits, they are usually not recognisable, so defi- cient is the language in sounds. The Chinese, too, know of course nothing of the derivation of our names, and most of them believe us so wild as to have no surnames ; yet I have, on several occasions, seen persons who were gifted with an aristocratic name of baptism before a rather ple- beian surname, evince considerable anxiety to have the former given in Chinese, altogether uncon- scious that John Stubbs sounds to a Chinese ear to the full as noble, and certainly less uncouth, than Montagu Gerald de Beverley would. These are a few of the false notions afloat regarding China ; others are mentioned in the fol- lowing notes ; and I may add, that the number 12 NOTE I. and the nature of the questions asked by gentle- men of good education, and otherwise well in- formed, have proved to me that the public has much to learn, and not a little to unlearn, respect- ing the Chinese ; and that, therefore, if this pub- lication should be deemed superfluous, it must be solely owing to a faulty execution. 13 NOTE II. ON THE BUSINESS STYLE OF THE CHINESE WRITTEN LANGUAGE. M. Remus AT, in his " Grammaire Chinoise," notices three styles of the Chinese language, which he calls, style antique^ style litteraire, and langue des jnagistrats, or langue mandarinique ; but he is not quite correct in his definitions of these, and he altogether overlooks what I call the business style of the Chinese written language, classing the works and documents in which it is found, partly with those which form specimens of the style antique^ and partly with those in which something like the langue mandarinique, or spoken language, is found. He is right when he charac- terizes the " style antique," or kou wen, as " sen- tentieux, vague, concis, et morcele," and when he mentions as specimens of it, " des anciens livres classiques appeles king, des livres de Confucius et des philosophes de son ecole ;" but wrong when he adds, " ainsi que des ecrits relatifs a la poli- tique ou a I'administration, lesquels sont com- poses meme a present, dans un style imite du kou wen (style antique)," for works on these subjects 14 NOTE II. are all written in the business style. Further on he has the following passage, which would lead one to suppose that the proclamations of the man- darins are written in a style similar to that of the spoken language, though they are also written in the business style: " les ecrits qu'on a cou- tume de composer dans un style analogue a celui de la langue parlee, tels que les instructions et les proclamations addressees au peuple " That which I call business style deserves to be particularized as such, because a very distinct and easily definable line of demarcation may be drawn between it and the other styles of the Chinese language, and because, as will be shewn below, it is for, by far, the greater number of foreigners the most useful to know. The ancient style is so sententious and concise as to become vague, so that several of the best specimens of it, as, for instance, " The Four Books," cannot be under- stood by the Chinese themselves without an ex- planation, either written or verbal, to each new passage. It contains, too, a great number of those characters denominated hsu, empty, by the Chi- nese, the influence of which in sentences it is extremely difficult for Europeans to discern. Now the business style, though sharing in the peculiar conciseness of the Chinese language, as com]iarod with those of Europe, has always so much diffu- siveness, that any man who has made such pro- NOTE II. 15 gress as enables him to read one or tAvo works in that style, will find no difficulty in reading an entirely new work composed in it. He may occa- sionally have to apply to his dictionaries for the meaning of a new term, but the style will no longer be a difficulty. There is generally nothing superfluous in it ; it is terse, but it is not so con- cise as to be vague. In the business style the hsii, or empty characters, noticed above, are scarcely ever used ; in which particular it differs, not only from the ancient style, but also from the style lit- teraire or wan ch'ang — a term that the Chinese apply almost exclusively to the compositions of the candidates at examinations, and others of a similar nature. The business style differs from the wan ch*ang in another material point. In the latter, an appropriate and well understood term, which does not suit the rhythmus, is ex- changed for one less suitable in sense and not so well defined, but which sounds better ; in the business style, on the other hand, little or no attention is paid to the rhythmus or sound, but distinctness being the chief object in view, a word or term is repeated again and again, whenever its omission would appear likely to cause ambiguity. From the spoken language the business style, like every other written style, differs very widely. As a vast number of the Chinese words which are written quite differently are pronounced exactly 16 NOTE 11. alike, they are obliged in speaking to join others to them, in order to be understood ; just as if we were obliged, in speaking English, to say : sky- sun, child-son ; sacred-holy, ail-wholly ; only- sole, spirit-soul ; ocean-sea, look-see, &c. &c. ; although there is no mistaking the words sun and son, holy and wholly, soul and sole, sea and see, &c. when written. Now in speaking English it is really not necessary, because our homophonous words are so few, that the context always leads the mind of the hearer to the particular word meant. Nearly the whole of the Chinese spoken language is, however, composed of double words, or compounds (formed in a manner similar to the above, or in some other manner, but always with the same object) ; and these are either not. used at all in writing, or only one of their constituent parts is used. The above, and some other differ- ences, reach to such an extent, that the Chinese colloquial, or spoken language, and the business style are, so far as the task of acquiring them is concerned, really two different languages. When we learn French, in learning to speak it we at the same time learn to read it ; but learning the best spoken Chinese and learning to read the written language, is like learning to speak the Parisian French and learning to read Latin. Tim is one cause of the (jreat difficnlty of learninq the Chinese; for the man who has completely mas- NOTE II. 17 tered the spoken language, and can read the same language when written, is literally as far from being able to read a book composed in the com- paratively simple business style, as a man who can speak French on all subjects fluently, and read what he speaks when written, is from being able to read the simplest Latin book ; in other words, he is unable to read a single paragraph of it. The business style is that used in statistical works, in the Ta ching ghwui tien (the collected statutes of the empire), and in the Penal and other codes. It is also used in the addresses of high mandarins and the Boards at Pekin to the Emperor, and in the edicts and rescripts of the latter (hence the Pekin Gazette is entirely written in this style) ; further, in all the proclamations and notifications of the mandarins ; in their official correspondence with each other ; in petitions from the people to the mandarins, and the answers of the latter ; in judicial decisions, bailbonds, war- rants, permits, passports, &c. &c. ; in leases, and deeds of transfer of landed property between pri- vate parties ; and in all mercantile-legal papers, as contracts for the performance of work, or for the purchase of goods, promissory notes, and bills of exchange. In some of the old statutes contained in the Ta ching ghwCii tien, and that old part of the Penal Code to which Sir George Staunton chiefly c 18 . NOTE II. confined liimsolf in his Translation, the business style is very terse, resembling, in so far, the an- cient style ; but there it distinguishes itself from the latter, by a total want of the empty particles, of which it contains a few in other specimens. It is necessary to remark, however, that there are some histories composed in a style apparently a mixture of the ancient and the business style ; and that there are many works which it would be difficult to assign to any one style. There is still another style which deserves to be noticed, and which, for the sake of distinction, I shall call the familiar style. It lies between the business style and the colloquial, and is that in which light works, such as novels, plays, &c. are composed ; for it must be observed, even the Chinese plays and the dialogues in novels do not form strictly correct examples of the actually spoken language. The reason is, that much of what is used in the spoken language is not only unnecessary to express the same idea on paper, but would, as useless verbiage, rather cause ob- scurity; just as it would render the English obscure if we were to write sky-sun, child-son, &c. when the words sun and son are of themselves sufficiently distinct. The style in plays is, how- ever, a near approach to the actual spoken lan- guage, and even the narrative in novels contains a great admixture of it. NOTE II. 19 To recapitulate : the ancient style is senten- tious, so concise as to be vague and unintelligible without explanations ; contains a great number of the difficult hsii or empty particles, but does not confine itself by a strict attention to the rhyth- mus. The best specimens of it are to be found in the ancient classics, the works of Confucius, and of the philosophers of the same school. The Chinese say of this style, that it is very 'profound. The wan ch'ang, or literary style, is sufficiently difllise to be intelligible, contains a great number of the empty particles, and conforms strictly to the rhythmus. The compositions of the literary graduates at the examinations are almost the only specimens of this style, all compositions in which are characterized by a constant reference to a theme or text. The Chinese say of this style, that it is very abstract. The business style is always sufficiently diffiise to be intelligible ; it always contains few, many specimens of it none, of the empty particles ; and it does not confine itself by any attention to the rhythmus. Works on government and statistics, and the laws, are comprised in this style ; and all documents of a legal nature, all official corre- spondence and private correspondence on business, are written in it. The Chinese say of this style, that it is plain and distinct. The familiar style is the least terse of any of c2 20 NOTE II. the Chinese written styles ; it contains very few of the empty particles, it does not confine itself by any attention to the rhythmus, and contains a con- siderable admixture of terms used in the spoken language. The ' narrative parts of novels form examples of this style, which the Chinese designate as plain but shallow. The colloquial Chinese^' is the least terse style in the language ; it contains no characters that can fairly be classed with those called empty, and in it, of course, not the slightest attention is paid to the rhythmus. Plays and the dialogues in novels are written in a style nearly resembling the colloquial Chi- nese, and sentences precisely the same as those used in oral conversation occur not unfrequently in such writings ; but I have never seen any con- tinuous piece in the exact spoken language. The above enables us to form an opinion as to the proper style to study. Missionaries may, possibly, find it useful to study the ancient style, in order to acquaint themselves with Chinese ethics in the original language. But every mo- ment that the government servant or the mer- chant spends in the study of the ancient style, is altogether misemployed. I mention this because * I refer here to the general oral language of the country, as spoken l)y the mandarins, not to any of the dialects. NOTE II. 21 it is very much the custom in Europe to com- mence the study of the language with the classi- cal " Four Books," a work that is entirely written in the ancient style. Now a man may, doubtless, with the assistance of a translation and explana- tions, go through the whole of the " Four Books," and render himself, in a great measure, master of the original. But this would be a task to him who commenced with that classic of at least a couple of years of unremitting study ; and when he had finished it, he would be totally unable to make a correct translation of the simplest official letter or mercantile contract. A thorough know- ledge of the " Four Books " in the original is, too, as useless to the man who wishes to translate busi- ness papers from English into Chinese, as it is to him who wishes to translate similar papers from Chinese into English ; for, even supposing him able (a very bold supposition) to compose in the style of that work, the want of business terms would offer an insuperable difficulty ; and if he were to finish his task by borrowing these from a dictionary, the Chinese would probably not under- stand what he had written, so concise and vague is the ancient style. In short, for the British officer or merchant to study the " Four Books," with a view of making a practical use of what he learns, is rather more absurd than it would be for the mandarin or the Chinese merchant to study 22 NOTE II. Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, with the view of writ- ing to, and drawing up their agreements with the English in the style of these books.* The first business of the foreign government agent or merchant, who intends studying the Chi- nese, is to learn to speak, which can be best done by reading some work in the familiar style, as a play or novel, with a good teacher, paying, how- ever, still more attention to the language the lat- ter uses in conversation, than to that contained in the books. When the student is able to con- verse with some degi'ee of ease, and can under- stand the explanations of his teacher, he should commence reading the more easy compositions in the business style, as the proclamations of local mandarins, contracts, &c. ; and, as he gradually progi'esses in his knowledge of the language, pro- ceed to read the Pekin Gazette, and the various books which are enumerated above as being writ- ten in the business style. When, in the following Notes, the Chinese \mtten language is spoken of, it must be under- stood that the business style is chiefly alluded to. * Those foreigners, however, who have the leisure, and wish to understand the people thoroughly, would do well to read translations of the " Four Books," and the other Chinese classics. 23 NOTE III. ON THE DIFFICULTY OF LEARNING THE CHINESE LANGUAGE. One cause of the difficulty of learning to spenk and read the Chinese language has been pointed out in the preceding Note, viz., the spoken differs so much from the written style, that those who learn the Chinese, learn, in reality, two languages. This, with some other difficulties — as, the very peculiar construction ; the great want of gram- matical particles, which in other languages serve to show the gender and number of nouns, the tenses of verbs, &c. ; and even the want in the written language of all punctuation, or of a visible division into separate paragraphs — are inseparable from the language, and will always make it the most difficult to acquire of those now existing. But at present the student has to encounter another difficulty, not arising from any peculiarity of the language, and which is by far the greatest ; this is, the trant of a good dictionary. Morrison's Dictionary (the one I have found most useful) does him, as it would any one man, great honour. Tt is impossible to use it without 24 NOTE III. feeling respect for the talent and industry of the author, and the student even learns to look back with a kind of gratitude to the man who has done so much to lighten his labours. Nevertheless, it must be confessed that Morrison's Dictionary not only has many faults, but that it is very defective, when compared, in point of perfectness, with the best French-English, French-German, or German- Eaglish dictionaries. This is a truth that conti- nually forces itself on the notice of the student, and becomes plainer to him as his knowledge of the language increases. What the French sino- logue, M. Julien, says of Chinese poetry is equally true of the business style. " La poesie chinoise abonde de mots polysyllabes, qui ne se trouvent point dans nos dictionnaires, et dont les parties composantes, traduit litteralement, ne sauraient donner le sens Dans ce travail, tout nou- veau pour moi, j'ai ete vingt fois arrete, soit par des exjiressions figur^es, soit par des mots com- poses, dont I'analyse ne saurait donner le sens, et qui ne se trouvent ni dans les vocabulaires pub- lics par les Europ^ens, ni dans les dictionnaires tout chinois que j'ai a ma disposition."* Scarcely one ])roclamation is issued that does not contain several words, generally compounds, which are not contained in Morrison's Dictionary, and the same is the case with nearly every leaf * L'Histoire du Cercle du Craie, preface. NOTE III, 25 of the Chinese Codes. Hence the student who makes any considerable progress in the Chinese language is obliged to compose a dictionary ; and when the reader reflects what an extent of varied and solid knowledge, how much sound judgment, as well as fertility of imagination, and what un- tiring industry a man must possess to perform such a task, even with a moderate degree of suc- cess, he will not wonder at the paucity of Chinese scholars of any note. If the student of Chinese do not possess, in some degree, the acquirements and talents that fit a man to become a lexicogra- pher, he stops in his progress at a certain point ; he cannot proceed beyond the narrow limits pre- scribed by the deficiencies of the dictionaries, and though he employs a life-time in working at the Chinese, his translations, whether from Chinese into English, or from English into Chinese, are, to the last, unidiomatic and incorrect. The greatest obstacle, then, in the way of those who would learn the Chinese language is the want of a good dictionary. In learning German or French (and I suppose any other European lan- guage) the memory is almost the only faculty that is called into play ; the completeness of the dic- tionaries prevents the necessity of exerting any other of the mental capacities. But in learning Chinese, memory, judgment, imagination, and pa- tience are all tried ; and according as the student 26 NOTE III. possesses these qualities in greater or less perfec- tion, and as he possesses or is wanting in a good knowledge of his own language, so his progress will be quick or slow. The lexicographers, hitherto, have not done much more than translate the meanings given in Kanghsi's Chinese Dictionary, a sort of Chinese Johnson, so far as its great use in the country is concerned, but which was compiled by a number of different persons, by the order of the Kanghsi emperor. But if we exclude the merely scientific terms, and regard many of the less important variations of a word as making but one with itself, the English language contains, at a moderate esti- mation, about 20,000 words. Of these few, even among reading people, have more than five or six thousand at their command. Now the lexico- graphers, in translating Kanghsi's Dictionary, seem to have only employed such English words as were at their command, and have thus made Chi- nese-English dictionaries containing not one-third part of the existing English words in general use. This accounts for the total want of an English- Chinese dictionary ; for when these lexicographers would compose one by reversing their Chinese- English dictionaries, they are at once stopped short by the want of English words. We have indeed got two vocabularies ; one by Dr. Morri- son, forming the third part of his dictionary, and NOTE III. 27 the other by Mr. Williams. But these contain only a very small proportion of the English words in common use ; hence, as the reader who is ac- customed to translate from English into a foreign language will at once perceive, it is excessively difficult to translate from English into Chinese, since, in order to do it with some degree of ease, it is necessary for the translator to have an exten- sive collection of synonymous words and phrases in his memory, which in other languages are sup- plied by the dictionaries. It is evidently not in the power of any one, or even of two or three individuals, however talented and industrious they may be, to compile a com- plete dictionary of two copious, but in every other respect very dissimilar, languages ; and it is cer- tain that we shall not have a good Chinese-Eng- lish, much less an English-Chinese dictionary, until we have before us the contributions of a great many sinologues, who have laboured inde- pendently, and have ascertained the meanings of the words by a careful collation of different pas- sages in which they occur, availing themselves, at the same time, of all the assistance native or the already existing foreign dictionaries may afford. Such sinologues must, too, have confined their attention each chiefly to one of the styles, with- out which they will not be able to make addi- tions to be depended on. 28 NOTE III. In the existing Chinese-English dictionaries, sometimes the particular meaning of the word which it has in the passage to be translated is altogether wanting. At other times that sense of the word is not altogether unnoticed, but instead of the synonymous English term, we find only a translation of its Chinese definition, as the latter stands in the native dictionaries, forming a very vague indication of the exact meaning of the word. It is, however, the words composed of two characters, and compounds generally, that occasion the most trouble ; for as they are seldom contained in Kanghsi's Dictionary (of which, as above stated, the foreign dictionaries are little more than translations), great numbers of them are not given at all in these latter. The mean- ings which each of the characters have when standing alone, may indeed be given, but, in many instances, such meanings form no clue to their signification when standing together as a compound. To increase the difficulty, the Chi- nese characters are, when forming compounds, not joined together as in European languages, but stand just as they do when used singly, so that the translator must in each case himself deter- mine, from the context, whether they form a com- pound or not ; just as if the English word man- hood was, when signifying virility or manly qua- lities, written man hood, in which case a foreigner NOTE III. 29 might think a head-dress of some kind was meant. Let us suppose a Frenchman learning the Eng- lish language with one of the first compiled Eng- lish-French dictionaries; suppose this dictionary to contain the word court and all its various mean- ings, also the word shi/p and its meaning when standing alone, but neither the word courtship, nor any description of the influence of the particle ship in compounds, and we have a case parallel to many that occur in studying the Chinese. Let us suppose the Frenchman to meet with the fol- lowing sentence in an English book : " While the courtship was going on." " Courtship, ship of the court? royal yacht? vessel of war?" he would ask himself. " Or does it mean some kind of ves- sel with a deck resembling a court-yard ? But where can it have been going to ? And why is it mentioned here ?" Then, seeing perhaps farther on mention made of a marriage, he would run on making surmises in a different track. " Um — courtship — perhaps there is some kind of ship in the courts of law, that when marriages — but no, that would be a very extraordinary custom. Court means to flatter — flatter ship. — Can it be that the English send wedding presents in a vessel made like a ship?" Suddenly a bright idea flashes on his mind. " By the by ! They call their ships she, why should they not call their shes ships ? They are a maritime nation, very fond of their 30 NOTE III. ships, and, it is to be hoped, fond of their women too. Court she — flatter she. — While the a-flat- tering she was going on. Precisely the thing !" And thus, though by a false track, he might be led to the true meaning of the word. Let the reader not be surprised at this outbreak in the midst of a grave discourse on such a dry topic as dictionary-making. In trying to arrive at the true meaning of words not contained in the dic- tionaries, the imagination, as above stated, must be kept constantly in play. It will, indeed, occa- sionally enable the tmnslator to jump at the real signification of a term at once, but even in this case corroboration is necessary ; and, in the great number of instances, the true meanings of the words can only be ascertained by a diligent and unprejudiced collation of a number of different passages in which it is contained — passages that cannot be collected and compared without much manual, and still more mental labour. As this is a subject which will well bear en- larging on, I subjoin a few" remarks having refer- ence to the Chinese language in particular, fol- lowed by some examples in illustration. They will, it is hoped, be of some use to the beginner, and at the same time prove the correctness of the preceding statements concerning the imperfections of the existing dictionaries. When a word or words occur in a passage, the NOTE III. 31 meanings of which, as given in the dictionaries, do not make any sense at all in connection with the other words of the passage, or, thongh com- municating an idea to the mind, sound odd to the English ear, the translator must of course find out and adopt some new meanings, giving the exact sense of the original in idiomatic English. Or when, as often happens, the dictionaries give to words occurring in a passage a great number of meanings nearly similar, yet with perceptible shades of difference among them, and sometimes even differing widely, but all of which would, if adopted, make sense with the other words of the passage, the translator has to fix on such as seem best, i. e. most correct. In all these cases the grand rule is, to find out and make a list of a number of different passages in which the word the signification of which is to be ascertained occurs ; and then to adopt for it such a meaning as is found on trial to suit per- fectly, both in sense and sound, in each of the different passages, and to be consonant to the general nature of the subjects discussed. There is another rule which will often be found of con- siderable assistance. That is, adopt such a word in the English language as, both in its original or physical, and in its figurative or moral meanings, is used in the same manner as the Chinese word the signification of which is to be fixed ; or, if 32 NOTE III. the words are not used in a physical sense, adopt such as have derived their synonymous figurative, or secondary, meanings in the same manner from the original, or primary, signification. It must be remembered, however, that this last rule is merely auxihary to the first, independently of which it cannot be safely applied; for many words and terms which are synonymous in their physical senses are no longer so when used figuratively. Take, for example, the very simple Chinese compound, ^ )^^ pu yuen. According to Mor- rison, pu means not, and the following is his ex- planation of yuen : " From origin, or source, and head. A large head ; to stretch out the head, as in looking for with expectation. The direction of the heart to an object, to desire, to wish, that to which the heart is directed, an object of desire. Each; every; a short appearance of the face. A vow/' Now you perceive, from the nature of the subject, that not to wish, not to desire, is the meaning of the compound in the sentence before you, but both of these expressions sound oddly in it. You then remember — a fact which is, how- ever, not mentioned in the dictionaries, but must be found out by experience — that the Chinese pu must often be rendered by the English negative particle un, and you think of unwillim), but this also sounds oddly. You then recollect the rule, that many Chinese negatives must be translated NOTE III. 33 by an affirmative of an opposite meaning, and repugnant, averse, reluctant, &c. occur to you ; when, by having recourse to the original and phy- sical meanings of the terms, you perceive that as yuen means, to stretch out the head as in looking for with expectation, and to wish for, therefore pit yuen, from the power of the Chinese negative, may mean, to turn aivay the head from disinclina- tion, and hence that averse, the physical or literal sense of which is, to turn away from, in manifes- tation of dislike, must be the synonymous word in English ; an opinion in which you are fully con- firmed by tr}dng it in four or five different pas- sages in which pu yuen occurs. As a second example, we may take the com- pound tfj 1^ ting chwang. It is not contained in the dictionaries, but the following are Morri- son's explanations of its component parts, ting and chwang. Ting. " From nail and head. The summit ; the vertex ; the top of a hill ; to carry on the top of the head ; the thing carried ; the knob of dif- ferent colours worn on the top of the cap by the Tartar Chinese, to distinguish rank." Then follow some compounds, all of which refer only to the knob worn by the mandarins on the cap. Chwanq. " To grasp with the hand and pound. To beat ; to strike suddenly ; abrupt ; to rush D 34 NOTE III. against ; to bounce upon ; to knock ; to take or seize." Now, in all the phrases you have collected con- taining the compound ting chivang, it is impossible to make any use of the meanings given to ting ; and if you are only commencing the language, this character brings you to a stand-still. If you have, however, attained some proficiency in speak- ing, you may have learnt, from your own expe- rience, that this word means to oppose^ or against, as in ting fungy against the wind; ting shwili, against the water ; and hence conclude that the words ting chwang might mean, to oppose and beat, or to heat against. But from the nature of the subjects in your examples, and in particular from the cir- cumstance of ting chwang being frequently pre- ceded by the words chu y^n, to put forth words, you perceive that the compound ttng chwang must be taken in a moral, not a physical sense ; and that it must have the meaning of contend, argue, debate, altercate, or dispute. By referring, then, to the original physical meaning of these words, you soon find that debate and dispute, derived from words signifying to strike, drive, or beat, are the most suitable. The Chinese expression is, however, always used of the language of inferiors to supe- riors, or at all events to equals, never of the lan- guage of superiors to inferiors ; a circumstance that agrees well with the primary meaning of ting. NOTE III. 35 This seems, from the component parts of the cha- racter, to have been the point or top of the head (hence ting chwang, to heat or hoimce upwards), and has probably obtained its use in the sense of opposition to^ or contention, from the circumstance of sheep, goats, oxen, and other animals butting with the head when they fight. And, indeed, when you ask a Chinese, how these animals fight ? he usually answers by, tou ting tou, head ting head, i. e. head against or opposing head. This meaning of ting is not given in any of the dictionaries. Every individual language contains words which have no one synonym in any other ; and, as might be expected from the long isolation of the Chi- nese, their language contains a large proportion of them. The word ^^ chit, which occurs often in official papers, is an instance of one. Its mean- ing is, to hold or have in possession as proof, or as a ground for action ; but frequently the idea of having in possession predominates so much, while those of proof or ground for action are so subor- dinate, that the word can only be rendered, cor- rectly and idiomatically, by receive. It is then like have in the mercantile phrase, " We have yours of such and such a date." At other times, the idea of having in possession is so completely sunk, and one of the others so predominant, that the word must be rendered either by grounding on, according to, or in consequence of The dic- d2 36 NOTE III. tionaries are generally very defective in their ex- planations of this kind of words. As a striking instance of the manner in which the imperfections of the dictionaries are the canse of odd sounding translations, I may instance the word 1?^ mtncj. The meanings of this word given in the dictionaries are, clear, hrkjlit, perspicuous, and others of a similar signification ; and every one who has been in the habit of reading the soi- disant translations alluded to, must have remarked the frequent and displeasing recurrence of the word clearly. According to these translations, every thing must be, ought to be, has been, or has not been, done clearly. The reason is, that the dictionaries do not even hint at the material fact, that minx) is often only an auxiliary particle, denoting the successful completion of the action expressed by the verb with which it is in connec- tion. In many cases it is, therefore, fully translated by placing such verb in the perfect, or the second future, tense, but often an entirely new word must be substituted. Thus -^ cha, means, to make an ejcamination, but clia mhuj does not mean, to make a clear Ccvamination ; it means, to ascer- tain : ^ /, means, to consult, but i mtng does not mean, to consult clcarli/ ; it means, to agree on : still less does "^ yen, to talk, mean with mttif/, to talk clearly ; it is sometimes used, with this aflix, in the sense of, to state distinctly, but more com- NOTE III. 37 moiily, it then means, to stijudcite or (ujiwe on. The Chinese terms, in this hist examjjle, are exactly like the German rebcn and abreben, the mtng havin^i^ the same power as the particle ah. What has been said above will, in some mea- sure, account to the reader for the many odd things that are given to the pubhc as translations from the Chinese; proving, as it must, to hini, that it requires several years of constant study of one style of the Chinese written language, to en- able a man to make a tolerable translation of a document written in that style. It is always an invidious and thankless task to find fault, and the soi-disant translations alluded to are probably welcome to many people, in the absence of better renderings ; but when they — though abounding with gross errors, and containing internal evidence that the translators did not understand the ori- ginal sufficiently to distinguish where one sentence ended and another began — are trumpeted as the work of " critical masters of the Chinese lan- guage," "the first Chinese scholars of the age," &c., a word of warning becomes necessary, to pre- vent the public from forming a very false notion of Chinese composition. A perfect translation ought to give the exact sense of the original, in a stvle closely resembling that of the latter ; that '^SS NOTE III. is to say, if the style of the original is fine and easy, the style of the translation ought also to be fine and easy ; if formal and stiff, the style of the translation must also be formal and stiff; and when the style of the original is obscure, the style of the translation should also be obscure. Now, by keep- ing this definition in view, even the reader whose philological attainments do not extend beyond the knowledge of his own language, can easily per- ceive of himself, that the great majority of things published as translations from the Chinese (I refer chiefly to those intended to be translations of official documents) do not deserve the name, and that they are, in fact, wretched. They are not English, even if we consider them sentence by sentence, and each sentence by itself. If we consider them as a whole, we observe a total want of all logical relation between the sentences. There seems to be no reasoning, no continuous train of thought in them ; they are merely a suc- cession of abrupt exclamations, invectives, opi- nions, and mandates, having little or no connec- tion with each other. But the Chinese have been a literary people and great writers for upwards of 2,000 years ; there is probably more written on practical business in China than in Great Britain, for a vast amount of legislative and legal business, which in the latter country is got through orally, is here transacted on paper; the Chinese are NOTE III. 39 generally considered a sober-minded, rational peo- ple ; and, indeed, the man who enters into an argument with them on subjects they understand, must have all his wits about him, without which, and without reason on his side, he need not hope to prevail. Now such being the case, is it not very extraordinary that they cannot write com- mon sense in their official documents ? The fact is (and it is a truth that must daily become more apparent to the student, as his knowledge of the lang-uage increases), the Chinese official and legal documents, especially the former, are, from the methodical, distinct manner in which they first state the grounds their arguments are based on, from the closeness of the reasoning they contain, the absence of all useless verbiage, and the constant subser^dence of sound to sense, generally superior to English documents of the same nature. The reason of this superiority seems to be, that the Chinese official documents are prepared by the shi ye — men who have spent a large portion of their lives at that work — and must be sanctioned by the mandarins, themselves generally men of talent and high literary attainments. The reader, in forming an opinion of Chinese writing, must not be led astray by certain formal expressions that occur at the beginning and end of proclama- tions and official letters ; and which, even when best translated, sound somewhat odd. After all, 40 NOTE III. the Chinese, though apt to use high-flown expres- sions in private correspondence, have in their offi- cial letters nothing so outrageous as, " I have the lionour to be, Sir, your most obedient, humble servant," &c. &c. ; and it would be easy to show, that in many other of the minor points their me- thod is really better than ours. It is worthy of remark, however, that the higher mandarins, in corresponding with the diplo- matic agents of western nations, have adopted the custom of these latter of appending some compli- mentary phrases at the end of their official letters — a thing they never do among themselves. 41 NOTE IV. ON THE COLLOQUIAL CHINESE AS SPOKEN BY THE MANCHOOS, INCLUSIVE OF THE IMPERIAL FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD, AND BY NATIVES OF PEKIN GENERALLY. This is commonly called the " Pekin dialect," but it is, in reality, the standard spoken language of the country, holding the same place in China that the London English, as spoken by the edu- cated classes, maintains in the British isles, and the Parisian French in France. If we find edu- cated and rich Chinese, as, for instance the Hong merchants at Canton, making use of a provincial dialect, differing widely from the Pekin colloquial, we must bear in mind the great extent of the country, the number of its inhabitants, and the difficulty of intercommunication, as compared with the so much smaller states of Europe ; and that, after all, it (the Pekin colloquial) is spoken with- out the slightest variation, either in the colloca- tion of the words or their pronunciation, by a far greater number of individuals than any other lan- guage in the world. Even allowing, what indeed Mould seem to have Ijeen the case, that it has 42 NOTE IV. been formed as it now exists by the present reign- ing family and their Manchoo followers, who had to learn the Chinese as a foreign language ; still the present dynasty has had quiet possession of the whole country for about 200 years ; the change made by them in the court language has not been very great, as a comparison with the plays of former dynasties will prove ; the language used by the rulers is sure to be imitated ; and the Chinese system of government is peculiarly cal- culated to insure this. Hence we need not be surprised that the colloquial Chinese, as spoken by the Imperial family and the natives of Pekin generally, is not only in almost universal use among those in any way connected with govern- ment or government offices, but is also in great use among merchants. After what I have just said, my readers will be astonished to learn, that in no work has an attempt yet been made to give the Pekin pro- nunciation of the Chinese characters in the Ro- man alphabet. The elder Morrison, it is true, was too practical a man* to neglect it altogether, * When, in any of these Notes, I chance to make depre- ciating remarks on the works of this gentleman, I would have it to be distinctly understood, that it is always with the reser- vation, that I consider he has done far more than any other person whatever to extend a knowledge of the Chinese lan- guage and people among Western nations. It was absolutely impossible that his philological works should be faultless, or NOTE IV. 43 and the student will accordingly find a note on the subject in the introduction to Part I. of his dictionary ; nevertheless, he has, in all his works, given what is called the Nankin pronunciation, probably following therein the Jesuit missionaries who lived at court during the reign of Kang hsi, about 150 years ago. Later writers have closely adhered to this pronunciation, however much they 7uay ham varied the orthography used to express it ; and hence it follows, that in no work yet pub- lished do we find the true court pronunciation of the colloquial Chinese. The chief reason is, I suppose, that we have, till lately, had no inter- course with mandarins or their people. Now, however, it is, I venture to say, the pronunciation most deserving of the attention of the generality of students. Of 231 civil mandarins, taken at random from among those stationed in the distant province of Kwang-tung, in the end of 1844, I find that 74 were natives of Pekin, 15 were natives of diffe- rent parts of Chili, the province in which Pekin leave nothing to be done by future labourers ; — but the second part of his dictionary still continues to be by far the most use- ful work on the Chinese language extant ; and throughout his works generally, there is scattered a vast deal of interesting and, particularly, oi practically useful information. Too much praise cannot be meted to him for his exertions, nor to the East-India Company for the munificent manner in which it supported them. 44 NOTE IV. is situated, and 142 were from other provinces. I may therefore state it as a fact, that one third of the civiHans, ahnost the only people with whom we have any intercourse, speak the Chinese collo- quial only as is done at Pekin ; while, as far as I can judge from my own experience, all the others speak it in the same manner tolerably well, much better, it may be safely asserted, than in any other manner, except, perhaps, that which obtains in their respective native districts. Of all the mandarins of different ranks with whom I have held conversations, during a three years' residence in Canton, while fully one half spoke the pure Pekin colloquial, and the language of all ap- proached it more or less, not one used the pro- nunciation given as the mandarin by JMorrison, and by Mr. Medhurst, in their dictionaries, and as the court dialect by Mr. Williams (with a dif- ferent orthography), in his vocabulary. It may be, however, that the pronunciation followed by these gentlemen is, in some measure, used by civilians, natives of Kwang-tiing, all of whom are, in accordance with Chinese policy, stationed in other provinces. In addition to what I have said above, proving that the Pekin colloquial is entitled to be consi- dered the spoken language of the empire, like the London English in the British dominions, I may state, that it is understood, to a considerable ex- NOTE IV. 45 tent, by the lowest classes of Canton and its vici- nity, a neighbourhood where such a very distinct patois is the common language. A knowledge of it has spread from the yamun, among the numerous inhabitants of which it is used in daily intercourse, and thus it has hap- pened that when I have, at Whampoa, met with a common boatman unable to speak the English jargon in general use between foreigners and natives, and have, in my ignorance of the local patois, tried him with the Pekin, I have found myself not only understood, but readily answered. Hence, as it is quite impossible to attain a prac- tical proficiency in any two variations of the col- loquial, it will certainly be found most advisable for the greater part of those who intend studying the language with the view of putting their know- ledge to actual use in business, to apply them- selves to the Pekin alone, as a spoken medium. Missionaries, who should preach to the common people, ought of course to make themselves, each one, master of one of the dialects spoken by that class; but the merchant, who might have occa- sion to reside at different parts, and to converse with native merchants from different provinces, will, I think, find the colloquial of the court, on the whole, the most useful ; while the man who wishes to become a really efficient government 46 NOTE IV. servant in China, should apply himself assiduously to it, and to it only. What I have said above, as to the impossibility of acquiring any practical proficiency in more than one variety of the colloquial, requires some explanation. A man endowed with a little per- severance may attain a good practical knowledge of three or four European and other syllabic lan- guages ; but such is by no means the case w^th the Chinese dialects. It is those very peculiar attributes of the Chinese language, called intona- tions, or sheng, the subjects of Note VI., which form the difficulty, the great stumbling-block in short, of those who attempt more than one va- riety of the colloquial ; and I think it will appear, from that Note, that the obstacle is a serious one. In addition to that, the vowel and consonantal sounds, the collocation of the characters, and even the characters themselves, differ in the various patois, in the Nankin and in the Pekin colloquial ; and these difficulties, taken together, are so great, that even a man possessing a considerable natural talent for languages, i. e. a good memory, pliable organs of speech, and a quick ear, will, I reassert, find it impossible to acquire a useful proficiency in more than one ; while if, instead of concentrat- ing his faculties, he disperse them by attempting to learn two or three, he will doubtless become NOTE IV. 47 able, in time, to give a laboured utterance to cer- tain successions of sounds, that, taken as Chinese, may occasionally constitute sentences of a dialect, but which, generally, will form parts of no lan- guage whatever ; and he will certainly never be able to speak any variety of the Chinese collo- quial with that degree of readiness which, in these days of the di^^sion of labour, is entitled to be called practical proficiency. I must here warn the beginner against suppos- ing, that because a Chinese when you are talking to him smiles, inclines his head, and says. Ah ! Um ! &c. that he therefore understands you. Though the Chinese may scarcely understand a single sentence of what is uttered, their national urbanity will generally induce them to do this for half an hour together, and they will not, in fact, let their non-comprehension be perceived, unless the subject be one they consider important. The two following Notes, in the first of which a new orthography, adapted to the Pekin collo- quial, is proposed, and the second of which is a dissertation on the intonations, or sheng, will, I trust, be found useful to the student commencing the Chinese spoken language. 48 NOTE V. A NEW ORTHOGRAPHY, ADAPTED TO THE PEKIN PRONUNCIATION OF THE COLLOQUIAL CHINESE. In the preceding Note I have remarked, that in no work yet published has the true court, or Pekin, pronunciation of the colloquial Chinese been given ; and as I soon found the already existing orthographies altogether unsuitable to express it, I was obliged to frame a new one. It was intended at first solely for my own use, but I now lay it before the philological public, in the hope that it may prove of some assistance to beginners. I first proceed to give my reasons for not adher- ing either to Morrison's orthography, or to that adojited in Dr. Bridgman's " Chinese Chrestoma- thy," and in Williams's " English and Chinese Vocabulary," in order to express the Pekin pro- nunciation. The latter mentioned system is, in the intro- duction to the Chrestomathy, said to have been proposed by Sir William Jones, and to have been, with some variations, since very widely adapted in India, the Pacific islands, and North America. NOTE V. 49 In the Chrestomathy, it has again been varied to suit the Canton dialect, and it might be asked, if any additions were necessary for the court pro- nunciation, \yhy were they not made, and the sys- tem retained in substance ? But the question is, should a man who devotes several years of his life to the study of the language of an immense em- pire, such as that of China, keep using an awk- ward orthography, or even one not perfectly suit- able, merely because it has been used to reduce to writing the languages spoken by the savages in the Pacific islands, and in North America, or those of the semi-barbarous natives of India? I should certainly say not, but that, on the contrary, in the study of such a difficult language as the Chinese, every thing ought to be made as conve- nient as possible, without reference to any other language whatsoever. This, then, was my reason, when I found several new sounds in the court pronunciation, for framing an entirely new sys- tem, having reference to that pronunciation alone ; and if I have succeeded in rendering it more sim- ple and distinct than that used in the Chresto- mathy, with the necessary additions, would have been, I shall consider myself perfectly justified in ha\T.ng proposed it. The sounds I call new are such as I have never heard in any language, except in the Chinese as pronounced by natives of Pekin, and which cer- E 50 NOTE V. tainly do not exist in oitlier the English, French, or German, In the orthographies hitherto used, such sounds, vowel and consonantal, as could not be exactly expressed by any of the letters of European languages, have been left unexpressed, except by an apostrophe, or some similar mark, used for all. Mr. Williams, in the introduction to his Vocabulary, calls the new sounds noticed by him, " imperfect vowels." He says : " The best mode of writing- the collection of sounds here o grouped together under the name of imperfect vowels, has puzzled writers on the Chinese lan- guage not a little. No distinct vowel sound is perceivable in any of them ; and after comparing the attempts that have been made to express the sound that is heard by some vowel, perhaps the best way is to leave it unexpressed, using an apostrophe to denote its place, and writing only the consonants." But an " imperfect vowel " is in reality an impossibility. To prevent a misun- derstanding from the attaching of different ideas to the same words, I must remind the reader, that whenever the human voice is used, utterance is given to some vowel, and that a vowel is always a simple sounds i. e. one which may be prolonged with- out any movement in the organs of speech, as long as respiration permits. As soon as the organs of speech are moved, the sound is modulated, and the whole becomes thereby a diphthong ; and if NOTE V. 51" their position be changed a second time, the whole enunciation becomes triphthongal. Thus the letters i and u, as heard in thine and cube, are both diphthongs, while the au in plausible, and the ea in plead, are simple vowel sounds ; the oi in spoil, the ou in sound, are diphthongs ; the a in man, the i in pin, and the e in me, are simple vowels. Now in those sounds which Mr. Williams calls " imperfect vowels," the Chinese can and do use the voice as loudly, and prolong them as much, as in pronouncing any other sounds of the language. They constitute, therefore, according to the above definitions, vowels as perfect as any we use ; and to make any distinction between them and other vowels as such, merely because they do not occur in our languages, tends, like every distinction without a difference, only to confuse. For this reason, I have represented all new sounds I have remarked in the Pekin pronun- ciation, whether vowel or consonantal, by letters of the Roman alphabet, with a half-circle over them ; and thus the new vowels, as expressed by e, 1, and 6, have, to an Englishman, nothing more strange in their appearance than the German o and ii. The sounds, too, represented by them are not more difficult for an Englishman to acquire than the sounds expressed by these two German letters. The half-circle in the following ortho- graphy, invariably indicates a new sound, whereby, as above stated, I understand one with which e2 *52 NOTE V. there is iiotliino- homoplionous, either in the Eng- lish, the German, or the French. The only ex- ception is the u, which represents a very common vowel of the two latter languages.* The consonantal sound represented by g is a very peculiar one. In the orthography used by Mr. Williams, and by Dr. Bridgman in the Chi- nese Chrestomathy, a consonantal sound (which does not, however, occur in the Pekin pronuncia- tion) is represented by the first ng in singing. That sound somewhat resembles the one repre- sented by g, but the nasal part of it must be omitted. An idea of it may be formed, by trying to pronounce the g in gun without pressing the tono-ue ao-ainst the roof of the mouth. One defect of the other orthography noticed above is, that some very different sounds are re- presented by a coalition of letters and diacritical marks but slightly differing in ai>pearance. I have striven to avoid this, as much as possible, in the orthography now proposed, considering it of importance that the eye should be easily able to catch the difference, whenever one is intended. * Morrison, in his Dictionary (Part I. Vol. i. xvii., and Part II. Vol. i. 620), and Williams, in his Vocabulary (Introd. viii. 13), err in considering this sound, represented here by ii, and the French eu as homophonous ; a circumstance which I mention, as the inconsistencies consequent on this error in the works of the former, confused me not a little, on commencing the Chinese. The French eu has this sound only in the tenses of the auxiliary verb avoir. NOTE V. 53 It will be remarked, that I have omitted the sz and the tsz which occur in all English orthogra- phies, and are represented by the French as " ss and ts sifflant." The fact is, that although when a Chinese pronounces the words, in which the sounds intended to be expressed by these letters occur, they may at first seem to be merely a pe- culiar buzz, yet on listening attentively, and par- ticularly when he pronounces them slowly, it will be found that the buzzing consonantal sound ceases at the commencement ; and that it is, in the one case, merely the sound of the sharp Eng- lish s in sand, and in the other that of the Ger- man 5 in 3a()e, or in the English ts in Whit- suntide. The 'peculiarity of the sound does not, therefore, lie in the consonant, hut in the vowel; which is, in fact, the one I represent by i. The English w, in the orthography now pro- posed, must not be supposed homophonous with the French ou, a coalition which, in French or- thographies, occupies its place. The French sub- stitute the ou for the English w, which is a dis- tinct consonantal sound, only because the latter does not exist, under any form, in their language. The German sounds referred to in the follow- ing tables, are those heard in the words as pro- nounced by the educated classes in Hanover, whose pronunciation of the German corresponds well with the orthography of that language. 54 NOTE V. I. Simple Vowels. Vowel of New Orthog. Homophonous Sounds in the English, German, or French Languages. a in father ; a in man As the last a in American a in fate ; e in de, cot6 e in met Between the 6 in gtorrig, and the o' in 9lorb. Resembling the eu in beurre (much broader than the eu in jeune or the eu in jeune) r i in pique, police, and ee in seed ; t in mix ... ... i in pin, thin ... ^Resembling the i in him, chin, &c., but the teeth are nearly closed in the I formation of the sound o in no I Lue ^ o in not " Resembling the eu in meute, with an approach to the o in nos. Between the o in Lord and the i in him, but most like the former '■ u in truce, true, and rue ; u in ?Oluti) ou in roule ... u in butt u in buse ; u in SSut)nc Examples in Chinese. ^ iE m 7B /S im ii5 NOTE V. 65 II. Diphthongs and Triphthongs. These are described invariably by a coalition of the simple vowels of this orthography, each of which must be sounded in the manner shown in the preceding table. Some are dwelt on longer than the others, but it would be useless to attempt to describe this by diacritical marks. Diphthong or Triphthong of New Examples in Chinese. Diphthong or Triphthong of New Examples in Chinese. Orthography. Orthography. ai ^ ^ ie %m au iJ'Mt ieu £m ea n W. ie &'] « eau m 1 io w-^ ee \M.m: 6u va \^ ei ^* 6i ^ *# eo X ui imii ei m^. ui n"^ ^ ia K if ue ^M. M iau 'h ■'%■ 56 NOTE V. III. Consonants. Consonant of New Orthog. Homophonous Sounds in the English, French, or German Languages. Examples in Chinese. ch ch' chw chw' f gh ffhw hs k k' kw ch in channel, Chester The preceding sound with an aspiration chw in chnrchwarden, catchword . . . The preceding sound with an aspiration f in fan, fun ... r Resembling the g in gun ; but in form-"' s ing the sound, the tongue must not L be pressed against the palate fch in the Scotch hoch Lomond; (t)' I in ©{)emte and in gpredE)en TThe preceding guttural sound imme-- 1 diately followed by the EngHsh wh, ^ as heard in when ... ... . . . , ^ ^ ^ ^ 1^^ 4^ '^ J A sound between that of s in see and~j |_ sh in she ... ... ... . . . [ (Resembling the French j in jaune, butl with much less of the buzzing sound J rThe preceding sound, with a full~| 1 English w immediately after it ... [ k in kalendar The preceding sound with an aspiration qu in quack, queen ... /^ n /. ^^ NOTE V. 57 III. Consonants {continued). Consonant of New Orthog. Homophonous Sounds in the English, French, or German Languages. Examples in Chinese. KW 1 Iw m n nw P sh shw sw t t' The preceding sound with an aspiration 1 in land, lee, lay, lungs Iw in bu/wark, hellwsx^ m in man, me, may ... n in nab, need, nun ... nw in Corwwall p in pan, pun, pang ... The preceding sound with an aspiration 'Resembling the r in demur ; but the' sound is prolonged. In forming this sound (which only occurs after u) the tip of the tongue must not touch the palate ... ... . • . ^ s in sand, see j'sh in shun ; i6) in Sc^anbe ; ch in cha-"j 1 mois ... ... ... ■" \ ["The preceding sound with a full Eng-"i { lish w immediately after it ; ^&p in I (Sd()tt)an, ©d)»t>uc ... , sw in swan ... t in tan, tingle, tongue, tun The preceding sound with an aspiration 'ft* ^ikH. ^^ 58 NOTE V. III. Consonants {continued). Consonant of New Orthog. ts ts' tsw tsw' tw tw' w y Homophonous sounds in the English, French, or German Languages. ts in Whitsuntide ; j in 3tt^n, 3inn, ju ) The preceding sound with an aspi - L ration ... ... ... . . . ■ The above sound of ts with a full English w immediately after it j jw in 3«)ang ... ... ... The preceding sound with an aspiration tw in twang ... The preceding sound with an aspiration w in wag, wan y in year, yes Examples in Chinese. mm 59 NOTE VI. ON THE INTONATIONS OR TONES CALLED SHENG BY THE CHINESE. This is a subject which puzzles the beginner very much, not merely in Europe, but even in China. I shall be happy if what I now say about it should save any one the trouble of racking his brains on the matter; and, as it will doubtless add some weight to my opinions, and give them more authority, I would beg the reader to bear in mind, that I am daily forced, in the discharge of my duties, to put them to a practical test. The difficulty is threefold : first, to discover what these sheng, on which so much has been written of a directly contradictory nature, possibly can be ; secondly, whether it is, or is not, useful, important, or indispensably necessary, to acquire a knowledge of them ; and thirdly, to what ex- tent, and in what manner, that knowledge should be acquired. 1. The sheng are not produced by any altera- tion of the vowel sound,* for sounds which we * I speak solely with reference to the Pekin, or court, pro- 60 NOTE VI. can only write with one and the same vowel, as, for instance, a in fang, fan, u in chu, are pro- nounced with all the different sheng; they are not formed by any modification of the consonants, for in words which contain no consonants at all, the sheng are perhaps most distinctly heard ; nei- ther do they consist in quickness or slowness, i. e. in a change of the duration of time taken to pro- nounce the words ; and still less do they consist in loudness or lowness, i. e. that alteration which renders a sound audible at a distance, or only close at hand. The sheng are produced solely by the sinking, rising, or non-alteration of the sound, as it would stand in the gamut ; i. e. sup- posing a word to be pitched at b, it will, with some of the sheng, rise higher in the scale, to c, D, or E ; with others it will maintain the b ; and with others again, it will sink to a and g. It even seems to me, that the sheng give the words an absolute place in the gamut ; i. e. that certain words, when properly pronounced with their sheng, should, for instance, always commence with c, and rise gradually to e, and that if pitched at b, and made to rise to d, they cease, to a Chinese ear, to be the word intended, and either become nunciation, in which the sheng differ materially from those in the Canton and Fuchien dialects. In the court pronunciation, only four sheng are heard ; in the Nankin, five ; and in the Canton and Fuchien, seven or eight. NOTE VI. 61 another word of the language, or no word at all. This is particularly perceptible in the Canton pro- nunciation of the provincial dialect; and if any one will listen to a coolie talking, he cannot fail to observe how the successive sounds take wide leaps up and down the gamut. It is evident from the above, that a good prac- tical musician could elucidate the matter very much to his brethren ;* but as the sheng must, after all, be acquired by listening to, and imitat- ing, the Chinese, what I have said above, together with the following remarks and table, is probably quite sufficient on the subject, serving, as it will, to show the beginner to what he ought to confine his attention. Morrison, in his Grammar, gives five sheng for the colloquial, as spoken by the mandarins ; viz., the shang ping, hsia ping, shang, chii, and ju ; which he calls the upper even, the lower even, the high, the going, and the entering ; and marks them respectively by — A \ / U • ^^ adds, however, that in the Pekin dialect the short tones (meaning thereby the entering ones, marked \j) "are lengthened, or rather, do not exist." According to Morrison, then, the sheng of the Pekin, or court, pronunciation are four, the upper even, the lower even, the high, and the going ; * The late Mr. Dyer, missionary in the Straits, has, I believe, done this in one of his works. 62 NOTE VI. which is precisely what I have found to be the case. In some few words the natives of Pekin shorten the sound abruptly, or make use of the entering sheng; but these words are exceptions to the general rule, and should be individually remembered as such. NOTE VI, 63 64 NOTE VI. 2. As to tlie use, importance, or absolute ne- cessity, of acquiring a knowledge of the slieng. On this subject many conflicting opinions have been given ; and I well remember how much I was, in consequence, puzzled, at the commence- ment of my studies, to decide whether I should or should not devote any time, — a valuable thing to the student of Chinese, — in order to make my- self master of them. I consulted both books and living scholars, in Europe and in China. Some seemed to say, that the sheng are of no use what- soever ; others, that they are useful only to the man who wishes to write Chinese poetry ; others, again, that they are generally useful, but that it is impossible for foreigners to learn them ; and some go even so far as to say, that a man cannot speak Chinese unless he be able to tell, when he sees each Chinese character, with what intonation it is to be pronounced. Now the truth seems to lie, as it has been found to do in the case of so many other contested points, between the extreme opinions. I venture to say, that no foreigner ever was, and none will ever be, able to tell, from memory alone, the proper intonations of each of the 10,000 charac- ters commonly used, when placed written before him ; and, on the other hand, if in speaking you do not give the characters used the proper into- nation, you are pcrj^etually liable to be misunder- NOTE VI. 65 Stood, and will frequently make most ludicrous mistakes. I give an instance or two of the latter from my own experience. In making out a report to the superintendent of customs, of the export cargo of a ship about to leave, I took the English manifest, and read aloud, in Chinese, the various articles to a clerk, who was sitting by me with his writing imple- ments. The last species of goods, of a very large cargo, happened to be " vitrified ware." This is called, tu shau lean, in Chinese ; I, however, gave a WTong intonation, and said, tu shau leau, whereupon the Chinese instantly lifted his hand from the paper, and looked at me with surprise, and only stared the more, when I repeated the words, — with great reason, too, for I was in fact deliberately and distinctly telling him, that the large and very valuable cargo I had just enumerated, had been " all burnt up," such being the only meaning of the three words I uttered. On another occasion, I said something to a Chinese of " bargain money," or " earnest money," as I thought. As he did not seem to understand, I repeated the words ; upon which he thrust for- ward his head, and listened attentively, and the louder I spoke, the nearer he came, anxiously turning one side of his head towards me, to catch the sound. In fact, instead of saying ting ch'i^n^ F 66 NOTE VI. 4 bargain money, I was shouting, t'irig clii^n, t'ing 4 chien, do you hear ! do you hear ! The use of an improper sheng makes, in reahty, a much greater difference to the ear of a Chinese than an alteration of the vowel, or consonantal sound. A word, for instance, which we write ling, may be pronounced as if written ling, lin, ning, ning, and nin, or one written tsung, may be pronounced chimg, chung, chun, and a Chinese would understand perfectly well ; but if the words Itng and tsung be pronounced ling and tsung, he instantly understands thereby characters different from those it was intended to use, and is conse- quently unable to comprehend the speaker. The above instances are sufficient to prove, that it is absolutely necessary^ in speaking Chinese, to give the proper intonations to the characters ; and I could give many more, either from my own early experience, or such as might occur daily in the common intercourse of life. A different intona- tion is, in truth, a different word, and therefore you cannot be said to speak Chinese, unless you give the proper intonation, any more than a Ger- man would be said to speak English who would say, " I became a pistol," when intending to say, " I got a louis d'or " (S^ befam cine ^ijlok) ; or, " We struck ourselves upon pistols," instead of, " We fought a duel with pistols " (SSir fd)lugen «n§ fluf ^iflolen). Both of these expressions have NOTE VI. 67 been actually made use of to me, and I was as much puzzled to conceive what my German friends meant, as my Chinese acquaintances doubtless were to conceive my meaning in the above quoted instances. Few of the Chinese can name the sheng with which the characters ought to be pronounced; but none of them ever use a wrong one, when called on to pronounce the characters them- selves, and in so far they are, therefore, infallible guides. 3. As to what extent, and in what manner, a knowledge of the sheng should be acquired. If the student be unable to procure a good teacher, or if he do not intend learning to speak, but merely to read the written character, then the less attention he pays to every thing con- nected with the pronunciation the better. But if he desire to study the spoken language, and have at hand a teacher whose native pronunciation is that particular one he desires to acquire, then his first business should be, to make the teacher repeat, and carefully to repeat after him, charac- ters belonging to each of the four sheng ; and he should continue to do this until able to refer, without hesitation, every Chinese word he hears distinctly pronounced by a Chinese, to its proper sheng. When he has advanced thus far, he should commence repeating, always after the teacher, f2 68 NOTE VI. words and sentences, in a loud voice, taking care to pronounce them exactly as the latter does, but without stopping to reflect what sheng they have. It would be in vain to attempt to retain in the memory what particular sheng each word is pro- nounced with, and although, as is stated above, a man cannot be said to speak Chinese who uses improper sheng, yet a practically useful command of them is only to be attained by calling in the assistance to be derived from mere mechanical habit. The words must be repeated again and again, after a teacher, first singly, and then in sentences, until the organs of speech have become so habituated to the pronouncing of a certain character in one certain manner, as always to pro- nounce it in that manner, and consequently with the proper sheng, without requiring any exertion of the reflection or memory on the part of the speaker. The principal reason for learning, as I have recommended, so much of the sheng as to be able to recognize and pronounce them as soon as heard, is, that the student thereby becomes better able to imitate the teacher. Unless he push his knowledge of them so far, he will, in reading after his teacher, find the latter correcting on one word a dozen times in succession, without his being able to discover wherein his mistake lies. And when he at length does stumble on the NOTE VI. 69 right intonation, he will, if required to pronounce the word once more, most probably not be able to do so, but go on making his former mistakes. It was the great loss of time which I experienced in this way myself, at the commencement of my studies, that first convinced me of the necessity of learning to distinguish the sheng. There are, however, other occasions on which this knowledge of them becomes useful. For instance, if in talk- ing to a Chinese you give a character a wrong sheng, and he in consequence do not comprehend you, by pronouncing the same character, as repre- sented by our letters, with each of the four sheng successively, you are sure of pronouncing it in the proper manner in, at the most, four trials ; and when you do, the Chinaman generally under- stands you at once. A friend of mine was, after he had studied according to the above plan for a few months, frequently obliged to have recourse to this expedient in giving orders to his servant ; but he thus made himself understood where he would otherwise have been obliged to remain alto- ofether silent. In concluding this note on the sheng it is ne- cessary to remark to the beginner, that the Chi- nese have also got an aspirate, marked usually by an (') following the aspirated consonant ; and that in imitating a teacher it is consequently necessary to attend to four things, the sheng, the vowel 70 NOTE VI. sounds, the consonantal sounds, and the aspirate, without which it will often be impossible to per- ceive wherein his corrections lie. It will gene- rally be found that the aspirate is the most diffi- cult to distinguish, but it is in many cases of as much importance as the sheng. .V SKETCH OF .vhowim; its dii'isi niid the .inMh'ision o, bv Tlio« Tavl -'2 ItUiTprvt^/' to Htf Miy< OBSERVATIONS / (apifal Uanton > y of (ira/it ^Station ot' an Inti-ndant i I of Department 'Station of' a Fivfect ) ctti/ / Station of a District Mapistmte I hers- in the S'ketcii correspond uitfi iL, 'he aiijoininif table. iTHKiimatf Suite t*' Btituh SttUitte Mites- 40 30 ZO 20 J. &C. Walker SctJj)* \ SKF.TIK 01 THE lMlUV[\rK KM'ANG-TrNG. by ThoT Taylor MrRdowfi, # 71 NOTE VII. SKETCH OF KWANG-TUNG. The adjoining sketch of the province of Kwang- tung has been compiled entirely from maps con- tained in the Chinese work entitled Kwang-tung timg chi,* with the exception, however, of the line of coast extending from the mouth of the Canton river eastward to the province of Fuchien, in sketching which I have in some measure followed European maps. In making the sketch, I paid little or no attention to the Chinese map of the province, or to those of the departments, but have compiled it from the district maps ; just as if I had, for instance, drawn a map of England on a small scale from large maps of the individual counties. It was at first my intention to have drawn a map, and on a much larger scale, but I found so many discrepancies between the maps of the diiFerent districts, when I attempted to deli- neate their common boundaries, that I was soon obliged to give up the idea. It would seem that the latitude and longitude of the district cities * " General Account of Kwang-tung." It is usually stitched in 140 Chinese volumes. 72 NOTE VII. only had been ascertained by observations, and not even the longitude of these always. The positions of all the other places in the districts seem to have been ascertained — if, indeed, they have been ascertained at all — not from a trig'ono- metrical net of triangles, but from some direct measurement, like our surveying by the chain. Now as the districts are about the size of English counties, it is evident no great correctness could be attained in this way, even if the w^ork were executed by good English surveyors of the pre- sent day; and when I tell my readers, in addi- tion to this, the Chinese surveyors do not even seem to have understood the plan of taking the base distances, but have manifestly run their lines close along the surface of the ground, up hill and down dale, they will perceive that the boundary line of each district map must overlap those of the surrounding districts. This is, in fact, almost invariably the case. I could, therefore, only com- pile the sketch by fudging ; and, though the fudging has been done according to one fixed rule, viz. by proportioning the reduction in the extent of the boundaries to their distances from their respective district cities, and to the apparent nature of the surface, still it must contain many errors. I trust, however, it will be found of some interest, as displacing the civil divisions of the province. NOTE VII. 73 Many of the smaller brandies of rivers con- tained in the Chinese maps have not been given again. Thus the Shun to district is literally a collection of river islands, from the number of water passages which intersect it, but I have not attempted to delineate any of the latter. In the table which accompanies the sketch, the names of all the circuits, departments, and dis- tricts are given twice ; first according to the court pronunciation, and in a new orthography, and then as written by Morrison. 74 NOTE VIII. ON THE RANK, DUTIES, AND SALARIES OF THE MANDARINS. Objections have been made, by parties whose opinions are entitled to respect, to the use of the word " mandarin " as a designation of the Chinese officers : I am, however, inclined to join with those who would retain it, for, apart from the consideration of its long use in this signification, the Chinese officers, being a large and very pecu- liar body of men, are well entitled to a peculiar designation, and it is rather to be regarded as a convenience that they should have one. The term should, however, only be employed with reference to those whose names are entered in " The Red Book," and to those who have been accepted as " expectants," or " candidates," by the government at Pekin ; and it should by no means be applied to every man who wears a button, or to the clerks and other persons employed in the Yamun. T have retained the term, with the re- striction just mentioned, throughout these Notes. The mandarins may be divided, according to the nature of their duties, into three grand orders; viz., 1st, the civil; 2nd, the literary (who super- CI/ i J..Yt ntervdanl' downwa ^ .^Ja/^ • - Ml (%^ ^/^/J^^. tytZ/e e/,ifft/,H cMer^ • Mr/lcja . Cirus BiiUon fyaiyviff la/tvirana ^tiije /// (:: n^.A)/f . ! ^a * t.ti'iiiy /u ^\ •%: .Mfh, fY^e-f'tur-t .y^nrt^/ 'K /^ *//.// y/rr/^ (ru:r/'//rnry 1 f/au, Jifir,/ /ill A'Xiii i-e m /u:;«j: «. ^ Ju rai S(^'^t9t*7t/ r///i/ ,/M ■' Mw/vr// &"Hn/ SI' tiS.Sil anrka ^t or ^$ ^ Jan fac * 1: „ir-,iu M6, .3 Tirin.ytirrfit H/tu M 'do'fffi y'-cft yim si er '^% *^ /rant/ fuu t'yitiyiir /1/tlr- Ji/lo .3.5 iiiii: ) •'^&'A sAou Asf/// fyUt or iS, ^ Caa fa^ J„/e«>/,/^/ ,/V<>r.>,^ dia> (/,//,■ 1 t/Ufo ■/,m looo -j- ^0 v^^ rJii /t r^/ tAa» funt/ cv#/ (•At c/iou dtlta dilb 1 J (i tlitto t/itta 1. 'triW"nv/ f^tt-if 26 >o:/if /iiitp ■do 26 f!S2 m:3 MP ne 2fi2 ■^a ^ r/,r /i.nrn K ^^Wve .'C^ 7^r>'.,/,^/ 7 f/iuyi I'i/l /.; 2112 r* s. /tsic/i rAau/ >, ^ '^ f^o Ifin^ r/,ftn ./,//. M /■■ill „M, Hmi^<,„ rc/in y.5 .Jll lUu-.m,, ^ =^ ••'"' f" ,/i/b, ,/m- ;i ('ill nilJf itil/nnYil l-'lpurr.i ,j lAtntAtnrtMojfiJ- ^ yf^ ',.,/m r/„a, (////f ,/,^/,^ S lAlIf *» fa*,/...,»w.. ^ 9 // m« - Z^/tfc/H ef^^'rr ,/,«>. r/f^r .0 i/i/6> ^iffp yaialmt-ii2. ^ ^ //>// s/// t/c//r r/i//f ,/.//,■ „„.,„.,,., >/illc ^lltn mUi t^etif^fHim -/ST -/& M yA,-/„i .m ^i«,ci^M:/ct cf- atkvl •J^//re M/o ./,V/. u,„-/„./ f/illf ilim. ^l,,Tr,^.„. r/,„„ mo A',, /„ sA> rA//(: r/r"o Gi/6 witi 1 iVillnit/ihynttrisiitirtitr'.U' | j Oilt m'lA. fnyftim/ /-'/ttwitt. ( lOlfl.t liikU. u F.imnmMlu' ^t.-J-2J7. -^ m yAn,An«„ . ^J^/i€'U^9t/en/^fr/' f^ Cu^jZc-tA^ 7^ >*>- f„ /rn . ^r'ff> (r-i-c^ro^ff^-t/ 3 ■Inw.tpnirnI Bl„r /.■; ,i:w 3 ^ T/teSerrehirv offhr .i/cm£ /./ ^nMl€.i 9^^-^ ?^^'/* .'^'^ m -^FrmttAn;,, { <^n7tn-uJ(/-r fAf NOTE VIII. 75 intend the examinations) ; and 3rd, the military. In the present Note I shall first make a few ob- servations about the division into classes common to all three orders, and about their uniforms, and then proceed to give a short description of the provincial civilians. With most of these latter we have frequent transactions, and their titles will consequently come daily more before the public ; while, at the same time, not one Eu- ropean in ten thousand has the most remote idea of the nature and extent of their respective func- tions. With the ministers at the capital we have, as yet, no intercourse ; and we have little or no communication with the literary and the military mandarins in the provinces. The mandarins of all the three orders men- tioned above are divided into nine classes, each class distinguished from the others by a peculiar uniform, the most characteristic part of which is the button. Each of these classes is again sub- divided into a first and a secondary division, with- out, however, any difference in the uniform. To these nine classes we may add another of manda- rins whom the Chinese call wi ju lieu, " not yet entered the stream," i. e. unclassed ; their uni- form is the same as that of the ninth class. This classification is merely one of rank, hence the button, as part of the uniform, does not indicate the particular office of the wearer, nor even show 76 NOTE VIII. his true standing as a mandarin; for a district magistrate, for instance, who by his office belongs to the seventh class, and wears a gilt button, is in reality higher, i. e. holds a more lucrative and more influential post, than the secretary of a pro- vincial superintendent of finances, who, as such secretary, belongs to the sixth class, and wears a white button. The peacock's feather has nothing to do with this classification, it being, like the European or- ders, always especially granted to the individual wearer. The full dress uniforms are described at length in the above mentioned " Red Book ;" but the following particulars respecting the buttons worn on the apex of the caps contain all the informa- tion that is ever likely to be useful to Europeans, On ordinary occasions, the mandarins of the different classes wear : 1st class, a plain red button. 2nd „ a flowered ditto, a transparent blue button, an opaque ditto. 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th „ &\ an uncoloured glass button. a white ditto. a plain gilt button. a gilt button with flowers in relief " > a gilt button with engraved flowers, Unclassed, J NOTE VIII. 77 The mandarins, from the first to the fifth classes inclusive, wear a chaplet of beads round the neck, A conical cap, on which these buttons are fixed, and from the apex of which strings of red silk, or red hair, fall down on all sides nearly to the lower rim, together with a pair of wide black satin boots, and a gown gathered round the waist by a girdle, forms what we would consider the half- dress uniform of a mandarin. It is represented in the first of the adjoining lithographs. There is no fixed colour for the gown, but a reddish brown grass-cloth is generally worn in summer, and in winter blue silks prevail, over which fur pelisses are frequently worn, as is shown in the second plate. The succeeding lithographs give an idea of the full-dress uniform of the manda- rins, which they, among themselves, wear on oc- casions similar to those on which foreigners wear their full-dress uniforms ; but they seldom appear in them when they visit barbarians. On the square of cloth in the front and back, the civil and literary mandarins have birds, the military, beasts, depicted. They have a third plainer dress, called chau i, or court garments, which is only worn on the most solemn occasions, having reference to the Imperial family. In describing the civilians of the provinces, I shall take as an example those of Kwang-tung, 78 NOTE VIII. which contains nearly every description of man- darin that is to be found in any other. I have not been able to find any Chinese book expressly treating of the particular duties of the different mandarins of the present day, and have, therefore, been obliged to collect my information partly by extracting it from the Penal Code, and the Code of the Board of Civil Office, — the laws and reofu- lations of which works occasionally throw light on the extent and nature of the powers exercised by officials, — ^partly from short notices and notes on the subject contained in the " Ta cliing ghwui tien, Institutions of the Chinese Empire," and in "The Red Book;"* partly from my own expe- rience in the transaction of the consular business ; and a good deal by conversation with the manda- rins, their secretaries, and clerks ; and though the information thus acquired may appear to the reader but scanty, I can assure him the task of collecting it has been sufficiently difficult. For instance, when you ask a Chinese, " What sort of * The works mentioned here contain a multitude of minute regulations regarding the selection, promotion, and degrada- tion of the mandarins, their obtaining leave of absence on ac- count of sickness, or for the purpose of mourning the death of their parents, &c. &c. ; but very little concerning the duties incumbent on them. What tliey do contain, too, on this lat- ter head, frequently differs widely from what actually exists in practice, a circumstance that materially increases the diffi- culty attendant on the investigation of the subject. NOTE VIII. 79 business does a Tau tai transact ?" the usual an- swer is, " Um — why he transacts a Tau tai's busi- ness." " Yes," you rejoin, varying your expres- sions, " but I want to know what particular kind of public business it is peculiarly his province to manage ?" " Ah ! ah ! I understand, why — why — all kinds of public business." And this is, in fact, the most important truth you ascertain, namely, that a Chinese mandarin is supposed to be capable of transacting all kinds of public affairs, — at least such of them as have attained the second literary grade of Chii jen. The lowest post then given the candidate is that of a district magistrate, an office in which the functions and powers of the judicial body, the police, and the fiscal department are united ; he is thus, as it were, at once judge, sheriff, director of police, and collector of taxes ; and he conti- nues, as he gets promotion, to act in all the diffe- rent departments, either at one time, or succes- sively. This must be constantly borne in mind in reading the foUowing attempt to show what are the more peculiar duties of each provincial mandarin. These I shall, for the sake of perspi- cuity, treat of under thirteen heads. 1. TSUNG TU, THE GoVERNOR-GENERAL. This is the highest civilian in the province of Kwang-tung, of which, and its sister province, 80 NOTE VIII. Kwang-hsi, he is the governor-general.* His powers and duties are much like those of the governor of a British colony, so much so, as to render any enumeration of them unnecessary ; but to form a proper idea of his standing, it must be kept in mind that the above named two pro- vinces, over which he exercises so great an autho- rity, are together as large an extent of territory, and contain a greater population, than Great Bri- tain and Ireland, taken together with German Prussia. The governor-general belongs to the first class of mandarins, by his ex officio dignity of president of the Board of War, a dignity by virtue of which he is enabled to command the military of the two provinces. It is like the dig- nity of commander-in-chief, as held by the go- vernors of our colonies. As governor-general, he exercises authority over the civil mandarins and the people. The present governor-general of Kwang-tung and Kwang-hsi is Chi ying, a Manchoo of high standing, who was chief of the commission that concluded the treaty of peace at Nankin; and has since, in his capacity of imperial commissioner for * He (as well as the officer next described, the Fu tai) has been called " viceroy," but this title seems latterly to have given place to the better one of governor-general. By the seamen at Whampoa he is entitled "John Tuck," a corrup- tion of Tsung tu, which latter word is pronounced tuk in the Canton dialect. J it'-./i>/)bin.< Hfi. A MAMDABIN riK THE SKCOND CLASS IN FULL I.IiKSd ILMKOKM. VWNTKH (;ap lr,t:,.f;„«il by *V,H Alli't, * C- l,(;Hdej,l, ,, NOTE VIII. 81 foreign commercial affairs, which he still retains, negotiated the treaties with America and France. 2. Fu TAI, THE GOVERNOR. This is the second civilian of the province ot Kwang-tiing, of which he is governor. This title is sometimes rendered by " lieutenant-governor," but this does not seem to give an adequate idea of his powers. He has, as ex officio vice-presi- dent of the Board of War, a certain number of troops under his command, altogether indepen- dent of the governor-general, — the latter must consult with him on all matters of any impor- tance, relating to the province of Kwang-tung, — in certain cases, which are sufficiently numerous, he issues a death-warrant, just as the governor- general does ; and, like the latter, he can at all times send a report direct to the Emperor on any subject, a privilege that would alone place him almost on a virtual equality with the governor- general, where there is so much to conceal, and so many stories to make up. His duties, there- fore, are also very much like those of the governor of an English colony ; the powers implied by that title being, to a certain extent, divided between him and the governor-general. A distinction in the nature of their duties that the Chinese always make, when questioned on the subject, is, that the governor-general is almost exclusively con- G 82 NOTE VIII. cerned in what passes on the rivers and the sea, while the governor is more immediately concerned with what passes on the land. The present governor of Kwang-tung, Ghwang g£in tiing, a highly talented Chinese, has been associated with Chi ying, in all his dealings with the foreigners, since the commencement of nego- tiations at Nankin ; and the latter, it is said here, defers greatly to his opinion, both in foreign and home affairs. 3. Fan tai, the superintendent of finances. This is the third mandarin whose authority ex- tends over the whole province. He is usually called " the treasurer," but this is, I think, a more inadequate term than that of " superinten- dent of finances ;" for he has himself a treasurer, a mandarin of the eighth class, with considerable emoluments and a separate establishment. The superintendent of finances receives that part of the land tax which is fixed in money, from the district magistrates and other local authorities. They pay it directly into his establishment, and he has, consequently, from the way in which these things are done in China, a great influence over them. He has, besides, the privilege of address- ing the Emperor directly three times in the year. On two of these occasions the address is said to be merely a congratulatory form, but on 'J /i Jubbtn.1., A MAr«n)ARIN OF TlIK F(JlI|{TH CLASS IN KUI,|, UltESS IINI KDHM; WINTKH CAIV httillaliod l.>. W H. Allen ft G" l.eiulfiiihall Street. Uavch \'M'I. NOTE VIII. 83 the third he makes a long report on all the aflfairs of the province. The standards of weights and measures are deposited in his yamun. He pays the salaries of all the mandarins, and those newly appointed must deliver their credentials to him. Besides these, his peculiar duties, he exercises, under the governor-general and the governor, a general superintendence over all the affairs of the pro- vince. 4. NiE TAI, THE PROVINCIAL JUDGE. . This is the next mandarin. In criminal cases he may be called the highest judicial authority of the province ; for, although the governor-general and the governor, in granting a death-warrant, also re-examine the criminal, it is merely for form's sake, and not in the hope, or with the intention, of throwing any new light on the case. The judge is the officer usually deputed to quell tumults and rebellions against the mandarins in distant parts of the province, on which occasions he has the power delegated to him of issuing death-warrants; and having then the chief com- mand of the troops that accompany him, the square of cloth he wears on his full-dress uniform has a beast depicted on it, the mark of a military mandarin. In addition to the criminal jurisdic- tion, which is especially his province, he can take g2 84 NOTE VIII. cognizance of" civil actions. He has also the general control of the imperial post in Kwang- ti^no-. Besides these duties, he is, in accordance with ^Yhat is said above,* frequently appointed by the governor-general or the governor to delibe- rate with his immediate superior, the superinten- dent of finances, on matters relating to the gene- ral government of the province, such as the abro- gation of prohibitions, the establishment of new regulations, &c. &c. He has the privilege of addressing the Empe- ror, in the same manner as the superintendent of finances. 5. YUN TAI, THE COLLECTOR OF THE SALT GABEL, OR THE SALT COMMISSIONER. This is the fifth civilian of the province, and the only one, besides the governor-general, whose authority extends to Kwang hsi. That authority is, however, confined to the salt department, and a superintendence over the sale of native iron, which he manages by the aid of his own subal- terns, independent of the district magistrates. Of these subaltern mandarins there are eighteen, from the fourth to the eighth class inclusive, dis- tributed throughout the provinces of Kwang-tiing and Kwang hsi, and some of the adjoining depart- ments of Chiang hsi, Ghu nan, and Fu chien, to * See page 80. NOTE VIII. 85 which adjoining departments the authority of the salt commissioner also extends. 6. Leang chu tau, the grain collector. This is the lowest of the mandarins whose ope- rations extend over the whole province of Kwang- tung. His duty is to superintend the collection of that part of the land tax which is fixed payable in kind, or to name the price and receive the amount of so much as may ultimately be de- manded in money. He also acts as a kind of commissary-general, superintending the distribu- tion of their rations to the military throughout the province. 7. Tau tai, the intendant of circuit. There are five of these in the province, one being stationed in each of the five circuits into which, as a reference to the " Sketch of Kwang- tung " an(^ the annexed table will shew, it is un- equally divided. While the offices of superin- tendent of finances, of provincial judge, of salt commissioner, and of grain collector, have, to a certain degree, each a particular class of duties attached to them, the office of intendant unites in itself, in a manner similar to that of governor- general and that of governor, a direct general superintendence over all the affairs of a circuit, not excluding- those of a niilitarv nature. The 86 NOTE VIII. only difference seems to be, that the intendant, as a lower officer, with his attention confined to a smaller territory, must go more into the details, while in matters of importance he must refer to the judge, or to the superintendent of finances, or both, according to the nature of the case. Like all his superiors, with the exception of the judge, he has no prisons under his immediate control ; on the other hand, he has corn stores, and seems, like the grain collector, to have some part of the commissariat duties to discharge. An intendant may get promotion, either to the post of salt commissioner or to that of provincial judge ; or he may be made grain collector, which is, how- ever, not called a promotion, inasmuch as he ranks as high as this latter officer. 8. Cm FU, PREFECT OF DEPARTMENT ; CHl LI CHOU, PREFECT OF INFERIOR DEPARTMENT ; AND CHl LI TLTNG cm, INDEPENDENT SUB-PREFECT. There are in Kwang-timg nine chi fu, each having the general superintendence of one of the nine fu, or departments, contained in the pro- vince ;* four chi li chou, one at the head of each of the inferior departments denominated chou, viz. Chia ying chou, Nan-chiung chou, Leen chou, and L6-ttng chou ; and two chi-li-tung-chi, one * See Sketch of Kwang-tung, which was drawn chiefly with the view of serving as an illustration to this Note. A iMj\NDARIN OF THE SIXTH CLASS IN SlIMMKK HAJ.K DRESS UNIFORM. Poblisheil by ¥.S. Mea &C? Leadenhall Slreet. March 1847. NOTE VIII. 87 at the head of each of the inferior departments denominated ting, viz. Le^n-shan ting and F6- kang ting. The duties of these three descrip- tions of mandarins are the same in their nature, and the only difference subsisting between them is, that the prefect of inferior department and the independent sub-prefect have a smaller territory under them, and are 'promoted to the post of pre- fect. The two former are, however, in their respective posts, not placed under any prefect ; but when they have occasion to refer to a supe- rior, they communicate directly with the in- tendant in whose circuit their departments are situated, or to the higher provincial authori- ties. What I have said about the nature of the in- tendant's duties is again applicable here, the pre- fects and independent sub-prefects exercising a general control over all the public aifairs of their departments. They seem, however, to have less concern than the intendants with the commissa- riat and financial affairs. On the other hand, they have much business of a judicial nature, and have all prisons under their immediate authority. The inferior departments, called chi-li ting, are, in point of territorial extent, not larger than the districts or subdivisions of those departments called fu and chi-li chou ; but independent sub-prefects are stationed in them, on account of circumstances 88 NOTE viri. Avhich make the administration of affairs unusually difficult, and render it expedient to have an officer of higher rank than a district magistrate always at hand. Thus the inferior department of Le^n-shan con- tains a great number of mountaineers, like the Highlanders, or the Kerry Irish, called Yau, whence the sub-prefect has the two words Li-yau i. e. " ruling the yau," prefixed to his title. 9. Tung CHI, sub-prefect; and tung pan, de- puty SUB-PREFECT. Of the former, there are eight in Kwang-tung, of the latter, seven. With the exception of one sub-prefect placed under the salt commissioner (in which post he ranks as high as a prefect), and of a deputy sub-prefect, who assists the grain col- lector, all these officers are stationed at different important points through the province : at mili- tary stations, many of them having the power to set troops in motion ; at large towns ; and in the neighbourhood of mountaineers, or of places fre- (piented by " outer barbarians." Thus there is a sub-prefect at the large manufacturing town of Fo shan, near Canton ; one at Chien-shan, near Macao (mandarin of Casa Branca) ; and one at Yai chou, in Ghai-nan, a district that is said to be " suspended, orphanlike, at the extreme south, with the vast and boundless ocean on three sides. A MANDARFN OF THK SIXTH CLASS IN WI.NTKK HALF DHKSH UNlFOflM liiM:.',. I i.. U l( All.',, It. r," l,,.i,ioii.i;ill :;trne1. Maj-ch 1847 NOTE VIII. 89 arid the Li mountaineers on the borders to be tranquillized and guided." They are also a sort of sheriffs-general for seve- ral districts, having the duty incumbent on them of apprehending criminals in these districts. The sub-prefecture of Chi6 shi, a military sta- tion near the coast, in the Lu fung district in the Ghwui chou department, was, a few months ago, removed to the Bocca Tigris.* In the inferior departments, called Chi-li ch6u, there are chou tung, sub-prefects, and ch6u pan, deputy sub-prefects, of inferior departments, who are employed much in the same way as the cor- responding officers of the superior departments. 10. ChI' Ch6u and CHl HSIEN, DISTRICT MAGIS- TRATES. The two Chinese titles are rendered into Ensr- lish by one common term, for although the man- darin bearing the lirst title ranks higher, belong- ing to the fifth class, while the chi hsi^n belongs to the seventh, yet in every other respect they are equal, their duties and powers being exactly alike. They take their titles from the names of their districts, just as if, in England, the sheriffs of * The island of Chusan is the station of a sub-prefect. This island, with the smaller neighbouring ones, forms a dis- trict called Ting ghai, the name by which it is always spoken of by the mandarins among themselves, and which it bears in all the works published by Imperial authority. 90 NOTE VIII. all those counties to which the syllable " shire " is not attached, were, with the same powers and duties as at present, to be entitled " counts " of counties, and be ranked higher than the " she- riffs " of shires. As said above, at page 79, the district magis- trate is at once judge, collector of taxes, director of police, and sheriff of his district. His yamun is the court of first instance, in all cases,* for the Chinese law prohibits, under pe- nalty of fifty blows with the lesser bamboo, any application to a prefect, or other superior manda- rin, till the district magistrate has either given, or declined giving, a decision ; while, on the other hand, if his subalterns, the assistant district ma- gistrates, township magistrates, &c. &c., take cog- nizance of any criminal case or action at law themselves, instead of referring it to their supe- rior, as soon as brought to their notice, they are, by the Code of the Board of Civil Office, to be degraded one step, and removed from their posts ; and if they venture to take up any case, criminal or civil, and there should be a subsequent loss of human life in connection with it, they are to be cashiered. * It takes the place, both in criminal and civil causes, of our quarter sessions, and, in a great measure, of our assizes, as courts of nisi prius, of oyer and terminer, and of gaol deli- very. NOTE VIII. 91 By the law, the district magistrate is obliged to execute much of his duty personally; for in- stance, when a house robbery (not theft) has been reported to him, he must himself examine into the circumstances, repairing to the spot in- stantly, without regarding " either distance or weather." Among his other functions, that of coroner of his district is included : for, in cases of violent or unaccountable death, he must personally view the corj)se ; and if he neglect to do so before pu- trefaction takes place, he is degraded one step, and removed from his office. If the distance be very great, and he have much business on hand, he may depute a subaltern to hold the inquest ; but a punishment hangs over him, if he do so without sufficient cause. If he be absent at the time the event takes place, the subaltern ranking next to him must get the nearest district magis- trate, or in case he also be engaged, the nearest superior officer, to undertake the business. The cases of greater importance must be re- ported by the district magistrate to the superior mandarins, as they occur, and he must make a monthly report of all cases, whether criminal or civil, which are brought before him. Certain periods are fixed by law for the settlement of these cases, and, in fact, for the transaction of every kind of business which it is his duty to 92 NOTE VIII. undertake ; and a certain penalty is awarded to the exceeding of each of these periods. He is, in a great measure, ansAAerable for every thing that takes phice in his district ; and is constantly liable to incur penalties for the faults or crimes of others, merely for not knowing any thing about them. If, in that case, the crime or fault be one involving serious consequences, penalties are awarded to the superior mandarins, in a sort of ratio that decreases as the rank of the officers increases.* If the district magistrate have been aware of the existence of such criminality, or if the crime committed be of a very heinous nature, then these graduated punishments run through the whole line of superior mandarins to the go- vernor-general himself. In illustration of the manner in which they are regulated in different cases, I make the following abstracts from the " Code of the Board of Civil Office for the })u- nishment of the mandarins." If, throuoh the neo^lect of the district maofis- trate, seditious assemblies are allowed to exist, until the matter ends in open rebellion, then he is cashiered ; the prefect of the department is degraded two steps, and removed from his jwst ; the intendant of the circuit is degraded one step, * It is of some importance that the agents of foreign go- vernments sliould keep this fact in view in all their dealings with the mandarins. NOTE VIII. 93 and removed from his post; the judge and the superintendent of finances are degraded two steps, but retain their posts (i. e. they are obliged to assume the button of the first rank next under them, which, however, as they retain all the powers and emoluments of their posts, is not a severe punishment) ; and the governor and the governor-general are degraded one step, but re- tain their posts. In this case none of them are allowed to balance the account with the extra " steps " which they usually have in readiness for such contingencies, and which, in many other cases, saves them from actual degradation. If false money have been coined ivithoiit the knowledge of the district magistrate, he is de- graded one step, and removed from his post ; and the prefect of the department is degraded one step, but retains his post. If the money have been coined with the connivance of the district magis- trate, he is cashiered, and afterwards punished for the crime as one of the people ; while, as it is one of those which, in a mandarin, is called " pri- vate," or " personal," he has little chance of hold- ins: office aoain. In this latter case, of connivance on the part of the district magistrate, the prefect, although ignorant of the matter, or rather, from being ignorant of it, is degraded two steps, and removed from his post. 94 NOTE VIII. If the sum coined be below ten thousand cash, and above one thousand, and there be no conniv- ance on the part of the authorities, then the dis- trict magistrate is degraded one step, but retains his post ; and the prefect is mulcted of one year's salary.* If the sum coined be below one thousand cash, and there be no connivance on the part of the district magistrate or the prefect, the former is mulcted of one year's salary, and the latter incurs no penalty; on the contrary, if he succeed in bringing the matter to light, and in seizing all the criminals, principals and accessories, he is raised one step. There are several other distinc- tions made in the matter; and, in short, in all penalties awarded to the mandarins, the distinc- tions in the nature of the crimes and faults, and the consequent modifications of the punishments, are almost interminable. The forfeit of salary is a penalty so frequently incurred, that the manda- rins seldom or never draw it from the yamun of the superintendent of finances. If they did, they would be almost certain to have to return it again ; and, as in the yamun of such a high functionary, light weights are used in paying, and over-heavy ones in receiving, they would evidently lose by the transaction. * Not his anti-extortion allowance. See table of Manda- rins' Titles and Salaries. note viii. 95 11. hsien ch ng, assistant district magis- trate; chu pu, hsun chien, township magis- trate ; li mu and tien shl, inspectors of police; gho p6 so, inspectors of river POLICE. These officers are subalterns of the district ma- gistrates. The assistant district magistrate has his yamun generally in a town of the district, second in size to that of the district city itself; or in the suburbs of the latter, if they be exten- sive, as is the case at Canton, where the assistant district magistrate of Nan Ghai is stationed in the western suburb, not far from the foreign fac- tories. Those oflficers whom, for want of a better term, I have called township magistrates,* have their official residences in different parts of the districts of which their townships form the territorial sub- divisions. I cannot describe their duties and powers, as also those of the assistant district ma- gistrate, better than by saying, that they closely * These townships contain, on an average, not less than 300 square miles ; and it may be remarked here, that the ter- ritorial divisions in China are all " en grand." What I call a township, is a large district ; a Chinese district is like a French department, or an English county ; a department is like a European province ; the circuits are like second and third-rate European kingdoms ; and several of the Chinese provinces rival the first-rate European states, in extent of ter- ritory, in wealth, and in population. 96 NOTE YIII. resemble those of our justices of the peace when acting singly or at the petit sessions. They have the power of inflicting corporal punishments for a number of minor offences, upon summary con- viction, and have large powers of an'est, — either personally, or by issuing a warrant, — vested in them, in cases where they themselves can take no judicial cognizance of the matter. They are sometimes commissioned to examine criminals, and to collect evidence for the district magis- trates. In such cases they are not, however, allowed to make use of torture (as beating) to extort evidence or confessions ; but must, when that seems necessary, again refer the matter to the personal management of the district magis- trate. Notwithstanding this, they themselves, in daily practice, examine by torture in those cases of which they take judicial cognizance on their own authority. The li mu, or the ti^n sliT, the inspector of police, always has his yamun in the district city in which, and in so much of the vici- nity as is not included in any township, or in the territory of the assistant district magistrate, he exercises the functions of a justice of the peace, acting singly. He has also the more immediate care of the gaols and prisons of the district ma- gistrate ; in the discharge of the duties that are thereby incumbent on him, he appears like our visiting justices. NOTE VIII. 97 There are only two mandarins in China bearing the title of gho p6 so, or inspector of river police, one of whom is stationed in Kwang-tung, at Canton. His powers and duties resemble those of a justice of the peace when acting singly, but his authority extends only over the population living in boats on the river. 12. ChING LI AND CHAU m6, SECRETARIES ; KU TA SHt, TREASURER ; Si YU, PRISON MASTER. There are twenty-four officers in Kwang-tung bearing one or other of the above titles, who are placed, three under the superintendent of finances, three under the judge, and the remainder under intendants and prefects. They have all separate establishments, but are nevertheless, in every case, merely the subalterns of the mandarin under whom they are stationed, assisting him in the execution of his ministerial duties. 13. GhAI KWAN, SUPERINTENDENT OF CUSTOMS. His title in Chinese is " superintendent of the maritime customs of Yu^," which latter word is an old name for the country at present included in the provinces of Kwang-tung and Kwang hsi ; but as Kwang hsi has no sea-coast, and the word " customs " has, with us, always the idea of mari- time attached to it, he may shortly be entitled, " superintendent of customs for Kwang-tung." H 9S NOTE VIII. He is frequently called by the more convenient name of " Hoppo," a corruption of glui pu, the name of " the Board of Revenue," to which he is answerable. He is not considered by the Chinese as one of the provincial authorities, but I mention him as the one with whom the foreigners have most business to transact. No officer in the province can be promoted to this post, nor can the holder of it receive promotion here. He is always espe- cially deputed from Pekin, and is invariably se- lected from the Imperial household,* for Avhich reason the Chinese, in speaking of him dispa- ragingly, say, "After all, he is only one of the Emperor's slaves !" The post was formerly the most lucrative one at the disposal of his Imperial Majesty; but as the late treaty with England takes away from the possessor all arbitrary power over the foreign commerce, his income has, in consequence, been very much reduced. However, that part of it derived from the extensive junk trade carried on at various ports in the province, remains undiminished, and there can be little doubt that he will, with the aid, and at the sug- gestion of his subordinates, very soon have esta- blished a safe and lucrative system of smuggling, in connection with the foreign commerce. As it does not consist with my purpose to give * Not the Imperial /«OTe7y. NOTE VIII. 99 any account of the manner in which lousiness is conducted at the custom-house, I will only refer those who are desirous of obtaining information on that subject, to the " Chinese Commercial Guide," which gives a tolerably correct descrip- tion of it. The two last columns of the following table shew the legal incomes of the mandarins. The amounts are those given in the " Red Book," three taels being reckoned equal to a pound ster- ling. I have found it impossible to learn, Mith any degree of certainty, what the real incomes of the mandarins, as increased by illegal fees and special bribes, may amount to. They vary with the har- vests, which, according as they are good or bad, render it easy or difficult to collect the land tax, — a proceeding in connection with which much extortion is carried on ; they vary also with the number of lawsuits, and the wealth of the litigat- ing parties ; and lastly, they vary with the cha- racters of the mandarins and his yemun. The legal incomes of the lower mandarins are, indeed, so notoriously insufficient, that they have little hesitation in speaking, even to a foreigner, of their other gains, in a general way ; but they have many reasons for not entering into particu- lars. Hence, if you do contrive to learn what h2 100 NOTE VIII. the gross income of any post is on an average, it is next to impossible to gain any idea of the net income, i. e. of how much is left after all the higher mandarins have had their presents, &c. Under these circumstances, it is little better than a guess, when I assume the highest mandarins to get about ten times, the lowest about fifty times, the amount of their legal incomes. The higher may get more, but from what individuals of the lower have said to me, and from what I have heard and seen of their private outlays, I cannot think they (the lower) get less. For instance, one of those, in the receipt of about 22/. legal income, once complained feelingly to me about his poverty, and on my hinting that his post was, after all, not a bad one, he protested, with some earnestness, that his whole income did not exceed 7,000 taels (2,333/.), of which he had, he said, to give a great deal away. Now this old gentleman seemed to be one of those who complain on prin- ciple, and I am inclined to estimate his net in- come at upwards of 7,000 taels ; but his is one of the best of the lower posts. 101 NOTE IX. ON THE YAMUN ^ Y^ AND THEIR VARIOUS INHABITANTS. The yamun are generally called " offices " of the mandarins, in English books and in transla- tions ; but as neither this, nor any other word of the English language, gives any thing but a very insufficient idea of the nature of a yamun, I have retained this latter Chinese denomination in these Notes. I am told that nine-tenths of the numerous yamun in the Chinese empire are built on nearly one and the same plan, and it is certain that they all contain in common four grand divisions ; for that we can perceive from the Imperial regula- tions regarding forms and observances on official visits, which are corroborated by facts incident- ally conveyed in the Penal and other codes. The first, or outermost, of these divisions com- prises within it, gaols and places of confinement for short periods ; and the dwellings of the chai, or police runners, bailiffs, turnkeys, porters, &c. The second contains offices (each of which is 102 NOTE IX. frequently composed of several rooms), corre- sponding to the six supreme boards at Pekin, and some other offices, which vary according to the rank and duties of the mandarin. Only the ya- mun of the higher mandarins have, however, got an office corresponding to the Board of Civil Office in Pekin ; the reason for which is suffi- ciently obvious, as the business of that Board is to govern mandarins. In these offices of the second division, all the records of the yamun are deposited. The second division contains, also, the great hall, for the formal trial of causes and of criminals, and for other great occasions. It likewise contains the treasury of the yamun.* The third division includes the office of the mandarin himself, where he superintends the des- patch of his correspondence, and of official docu- ments generally, as well as frequently holds judi- cial examinations ; the rooms in which other mandarins, sent by the higher authorities to assist, where the business is great, severally investigate the cases which have been especially handed over to them ; the apartments for the reception of visitors, and for giving entertainments; and the * When the yamun of the prefect of Kwang-chou, in Can- ton, was taken possession of by the people, in January, 1846, and partially burnt down, this division was left untouched, and the fire-engines allowed to play on it. Chi ying, the governor-general, was, in consequence, enabled to report to the Emperor, that the money and the records were all safe. NOTE IX. 103 apartments and offices for the shi ye and yemun.* Here is also the kitchen of the mandarin. This third division is called the noi (inner) shu, in contradistinction to the second, which is called the wai (outer) shu. The word shu is used very much like our word office, but with this differ- ence, that it is only employed vdth reference to (jovernment offices. The fourth, or innermost division, comprises the private residence of the mandarin, where the females of his family and his nearer male rela- tions dwell, and into which no male employed by him, not even his personal servants, are permitted to enter. Female domestics only are used here, and the communication with the kitchen is, in many yamun, kept up by means of a tub revolv- ing horizontally in a wall, like the tables used for a similar purpose in some of the European nun- neries. The yamun of a district magistrate, which forms a very good example of the establishments so denominated (and is, by the bye, the one most formidable in the eyes of the people), thus com- prises within itself what we would call a general police station, and the county gaol, as it were, for the custody of debtors, and of criminals await- ing trial or execution ; the place where courts equivalent to our quarter sessions and assizes are * Sec pages 104 and 107. 104 NOTE IX. held ; the offices of all the subordinate officers of these courts ; and the office and residence of an official who is at once judge of circuit, sheriff, coroner, and commissioner of taxes. In a popu- lous district it is inhabited by 300 to 500 indi- viduals, and even in thinly inhabited districts, where there is of course less business, it is said to have about 200 inhabitants at least. But the buildings are, it appears, seldom, if ever, so large as this population would lead an Englishman to suppose ; for the Chinese can content themselves with an amazingly small extent of space, and these yamun of the district magistrates are gene- rally crowded. Exclusive of the mandarin and his family, the inhabitants may be divided into four classes. 1. The SHI YE gip ^, the judicial advisers and PRIVATE SECRETARIES of the mandarin. These men are the only people in China who devote themselves solely to the study of the law, and, in so far, they resemble our barristers and ser- jeants-at-laAv ; but they are scarcely ever made mandarins (judges), and none of them act as coun- sel for either of the litigating parties, in an action at law. Their sole business is to protect the inte- rests of the mandarin, their employer ; to point out to him the proper way of conducting his judi- cial examinations ; and to see that the decisions lie pronounces are in strict accordance with the NOTE IX. 105 laws, and justified by the facts of each particular case, so that he may not incur any of the penal- ties laid down in the Code of the Board of Civil Office. To obviate this, too, all documents that issue from a yamun, are revised by these men, and those of importance are drafted by them. Although their existence is well known to all Chinese, they are not recognized by government as official servants, but are in the private employ of the mandarins. For this reason, they are never personally present at judicial examinations ; though the course of these latter are, as stated above, in a great measure regulated by their opinions. The most important of the shi ye are the hsing ming (punishment list) shi ye, who confine their attention to the criminal law. Next to them stand the chien ku (money and grain, i. e. reve- nue) shi ye, who apply themselves chiefly to the fiscal laws. Besides these two classes, which pro- perly comprise the judicial advisers, there are shu pin (write report) shi ye, whose business it is to take charge of the half-official correspondence of the mandarin with his superiors ; and kwan chang (manage accounts) shi ye, who superintend the keeping of the official accounts. These, and some similar classes of shi ye, may very well be denominated private secretaries. Each yamun has generally one shi ye of each class ; but when 106 NOTE IX. the business is very great, there are two hsing ming shi ye. The hsing ming, or criminal law, shi ye, of dis- trict magistrates of populous districts, get fixed salaries of about 2,000 dollars per annum, paid by their employers. The fixed salaries of those in the higher yamun do not much exceed this sum ; but, in addition to it, they get annual pre- sents from the mandarins subject to the authority of the one whom they serve. If any subordinate mandarin were to refuse this tribute, every appeal to a superior tribunal would involve him in trou- ble. The amount of these presents is said to be 1,000 or 2,000 dollars per annum, according to the number of subordinate mandarins ; but it is necessary to warn the reader here, that there are few things connected with China about which it is more difficult to obtain correct information, than the real incomes of people employed in the transaction of official business, whether such peo- ple be recognized by government, or otherwise. All the shi ye increase their incomes by taking pupils, with whom they receive an entrance fee of a few hundred dollars ; and who, as they grow up, assist them in the transaction of official busi- ness. When a safe opportunity offers, too, they " open the back door," as the Chinese call it, i. e. take bribes ; but the nature of tlieir business^ viz. the interpretation and application of the law. NOTE IX. 107 generally in grave cases, and which is subse- quently recorded, does not permit much of this. For this reason, and because it requires a long pupilage and hard study to make a hsing ming shi ye, he gets a larger Ji:ved salary than perhaps any other Chinese in private employ. The income of the chien ku, or fiscal law, shlf ye, is about one half of that of the hsing ming shi ye. The others, whom I have called 'private secretaries, get, even where best paid, only from 200 to 500 dollars per annum. The shi ye are a respectable class of men in the eyes of the Chinese ; and it in no wise dero- gates from the dignity of the mandarin, their em- ployer, to invite them to his table, and associate with them on terms of intimacy. 2. The YEMUN ^ {|^3' *^® FOLLOWERS of the mandarin. We have in England nothing similar to this class of men ; and very fortunately so, for the chief of them are the negotiators of all the spe- cial bribes, and the channels through which the other illegal gains of a mandarin are conveyed to his purse. They are, like the shi ye, in the private employ of the mandarin, but they get no fixed pay, being remunerated solely by a portion of the bribes, &c. that pass through their hands. The lower of them are the personal attendants of the manda- 108 NOTE IX. rin, but tlie higher, who have the distinctive title of P^ ^ mini shang (upon the gate), never perform any menial offices.* To each of these higher followers, the mandarin, as soon as he enters upon his office, assigns a particular duty. This will be deputed to receive the bribes from the gambling houses and other illegal establish- ments connived at by the mandarin in different parts of the territory subject to his jurisdiction ; one will have the custody and superintend the use of the official seal,']' and so on. The most important among them, and, next to the manda- rin, the most influential man in the yamun, is the kau an (draft case) mun shang. The business of this man is to report to the mandarin all applica- tions made at the yamun, or any thing that may have occurred requiring his attention ; and then to see that the proper persons set about the exe- cution of such measures as the mandarin may see fit to adopt ; to settle the amount of all the * They have, on the contrary, their own servants, who are called san ye, i. e, third ye, a phrase that is something like what " gentleman's gentleman's gentleman " would be in English ; for their masters, in addition to the term mun shang, are also called uf ye, i. e. second ye, and ye gives most of the compounds in which it occurs the signification of the German Herr, i. e. gentleman, Mr., Master, or lord, as the case may be. t In the higher yamun, as those of the governor- general, the governor, and superintendent of finances, mandarins are appointed to take this charge. NOTE IX. 109 extraordinary or special* ]3ribes to be demanded from the different parties in lawsuits, according to their ability to pay, and the urgency of the causes that oblige them to pay ; and to receive presents from mandarins subject to his master, and trans- mit those from his master to higher ones. In the temporary absence of the mandarin, the kau an mun shang will, after consulting with the shi ye, order preliminary steps to be taken in any urgent case that may suddenly occur. He is often a relation of the mandarin, and not unfre- quently the person who advanced him funds wherewith to bribe his way into his post, and who then accompanies him to it, in order to get repaid. It is evident the mandarin can place implicit confidence in his zeal, if he belong to this latter class, since his only chance of being repaid depends on the mandarin's retaining his place. Many of the mun shang are persons recommended by higher mandarins to their present masters, and the number of such persons recommended to a new mandarin is often so great, as to cause him much embarrassment, from his inability to employ them. A mandarin will also sometimes promote a cle- ver personal attendant, who has been long in his service, to the post of a mun shang, and even to * These are exclusive of a number of illegal, but tolerably well ascertained fees, exacted by the shu pan and chai yii. 110 NOTE IX. that of kau an mun shaiig. However they may have got their places, they are, notwithstanding the great influence they exercise, always consi- dered as domestics, and are frequently called chia jen, household people. They are, therefore, not looked on as fit associates for the mandarins, and cannot presume to sit in the presence of their own master. The lower mandarins are, however, glad to keep on good terms with the mun shang of their superiors ; and I have seen crystal and white button mandarins very profuse in their civilities to the kau an mun shang of the go- vernor-general. It is quite impossible to say what the annual income of these people may be, as it varies so much in different yamun, and in the same yamun at different times, depending, in a great measure, on the number and wealth of litigants; but I may mention, that the Chinese frequently speak of the more fortunate of the kau an mun shang getting so much as ten, twenty, and thirty thou- sand taels in a single year. Others, again, do not get more than a few hundred taels annually. The persons who examine goods on the part of the custom-house at Canton, are mun shang of the superintendent of customs, or hoppo (to whose yamun, by the bye, the remarks in this Note do not apply, it containing no court of law) ; and there is generally a yemun of his in charge of NOTE IX. Ill each of the numerous customs' stations on the river. 3. The SHU PAN 'f ^^. These are clerks recognized by government, frequent mention being made of them by the Penal and other codes. According to law, they ought to be changed every five years ; it being apprehended that if they retained their places for a longer period, thei/ would become so intimately acquainted with the busi- ness of the yamuns, as to be able to commit mal- practices ; but the post of shu pan has, in the higher yamun of Kwang-tung, and, I am told, of the other provinces also, become virtually the property of the holders, who can let or sell it altogether, during their lifetime, and leave it to their children at their death. So long as they themselves retain it, they are, however, obliged to change their names at the end of every five years. The mandarin who connives at this pro- ceeding is, indeed, to be cashiered, and if it be done without his knowledge, he is to be degraded two steps, and removed from his post ; yet the practice is well known to be quite common, and this, therefore, forms one of the many instances in which the provisions of the Chinese laws stand in direct contradiction to the actual practice. Here, too, as in many other instances, the low standard at which the salaries of the mandarins are fixed, is the ultimate cause of the evil ; I say 112 NOTE IX. evil, for such a too intimate acquaintance, on the part of the government agent, with the affairs of the country where he is placed, really proves itself to be, in China, under the present state of things. The business of the shu pan is to take charge of the records, to keep accounts connected with the revenue, to make out fair copies of documents issued from the yamun, and to di-aft those of less importance. Where secrecy is required, though, they are not allowed to see official papers until the affairs to which they relate have been settled. Among papers of this sort, I may instance, letters of any importance concerning the various tribes that maintain themselves in a semi-independent state, in different mountain ranges of the main- land, and on the islands of Formosa and Ghai- nan ; and although the laws, as yet printed, do not seem to have provided for such a contingency as official correspondence with " barbarians " from, the sea, I have no doubt, that a very great part of that now carried on does not find its way into the outer offices. If a mandarin gives letters of importance, concerning mountaineers of the inte- rior, to the shu pan, to be copied, he is to be de- graded one step, but to retain his post ; and his immediate superior is to be mulcted of six months* salary. The yamun of the district magistrate of a po- pulous district contains about one hundred shu NOTE IX. 113 pan, who work in ten or fifteen offices, situated in the second division of the establishment. The shu pan have an allowance from govern- ment of one or two taels per month ; but their incomes are chiefly derived from the illegal, but well ascertained, fees of office, which all litigants and other applicants at the yamun must pay, and which are shared in certain fixed proportions. These are, in some yamun, so great, as to render a shu-pan-ship a respectable property for a man of the middle classes. In the seventh month of every year, those shu pan who have served for five years, and who de- sire it, are, after presenting certificates from the mandarin under whom they served, examined by the governor-general and the governor, or by their special deputies ; and a report is sent in to the central government, which then confers one of the lowest ranks on those recommended, and also employs some of them as township magis- trates and police magistrates. Those, however, who are promoted to these inferior magistracies, have mostly served in one of the higher yamun at Pekin. 4. The CHAi Yu ^ ^X.' This is a general designation for the police, thief-takers, bailiffs, and turnkeys of China. As the duties of these classes of public servants are sufficiently well known, it is needless to enumerate them, I 114 NOTE IX. The chai yii are, like the shu pan, recognized by the general government, and a trifling monthly pay is allotted to them ; but they derive their support from the illegal fees of the yamun, from bribes for permitting delays when entrusted with a warrant for the apprehension of any one, &c. &c. In addition to this, many of the head men among them are in connection with gangs of rob- bers, who pay for their connivance and protec- tion. They are the instruments by which all ex- tortions are ultimately effected ; and are used frequently by the mun shang, as middlemen, to do the higgling, when he is negotiating for spe- cial bribes. As in the case of the shu pan, their places in the higher yamun are their property, which they let and sell, in defiance of all the prohibitions of the laws. From what is above stated in this Note, the reader will have concluded, that the interior of a busy yamun must present a very bustling scene. The yamun of a district magistrate is, from the nature and multiplicity of the functions of this mandarin, the most busy of any ; and the two which are situated in Canton, viz. the district yamun of Nan ghai, and that of Pan yii, where a number of criminal cases from other districts of the provinces are investigated by mandarins spe- NOTE IX 115 cially deputed for that purpose,* form, I am told,f a very striking spectacle, from the great stir that pervades them from sunrise to sunset. The almost unceasing flail-like sounds of beating with the bamboo, either as a punishment for ascertained guilt, or to extort confessions and evidence ; the cries of the sufferers ; the voices of the examining mandarins questioning, bullying, and wheedling ; the voices of the porters stationed at the doors between the first and second, and the second and third divisions, transmitting, in a loud singing tone, orders for shu pan of different offices and chai yu of various sorts to repair to certain places in the yamun where they are wanted ; the con- stant running hither and thither of some of the latter personages and of the other inhabitants of the place ; and the frequent appearance of crimi- nals and witnesses being escorted to and from the prisons and rooms for examination, are sounds and sights that bewilder and agitate those who have not been accustomed to them, and serve to heighten that dread which all private Chinese entertain of entering a yamun. Such, at least, is the idea the descriptions of * The district magistrates constantly keep a table for the mandarins so deputed, at which they are, however, not ex- pected to appear themselves, since that would preclude their even taking a meal in private. t Our exclusion from the city of Canton has prevented me from seeing the places myself. i2 116 NOTE IX. the Chinese, joined to circumstances incidentally mentioned, would lead me to form of the interior of the two yamun above named ; but the reader must remember that these are the busiest estab- lishments of this sort in the second city of the empire 117 NOTE X. ON THE TI PAU ^ i^ AND THE TAI SHU f-^ "^ . The ti pau is a person whose powers and duties resemble those of our constables, but with this difference, this his power (by law) is not so great as that of an English constable, and he has a responsibility lying on him which is not incum- bent on the latter. In cities, his authority and responsibility ex- tend to a few streets; in the country, to the quarter or whole of a town or village, according to their size, and including sometimes a portion of the open country in the neighbourhood to the distance of a few miles. One of his chief duties is to make himself acquainted with the names and occupations of the inhabitants of his quarter, so that when any of them have occasion to apply to the courts of law, i. e. to the yamun, he may be able to certify that the applicants are the people they state themselves to be. For this purpose, a wooden, seal or stamp is given to him, and no petitions or accusations are received at the yamun unless a ti pau's seal is affixed to them. When a warrant 118 NOTE X. or summons is issued, the police runner to whom it is entrusted always applies in the first place to the ti pau Mdthin whose quarter the person to be summoned or apprehended is said to live, and it is then the duty of the ti pau to accompany him in order to point out the person ; but he is never called on to serve a summons or execute a war- rant himself. He can, however, arrest without warrant in all cases where a crime or misde- meanor is committed in his presence. In less serious cases of theft in the streets, it is incumbent on the ti pau both to search out the thief and also recover the stolen property ; and if he fail to do so within a certain time fixed by the magistrate, the latter orders a certain number of blows with the bamboo to be inflicted on him. Another period is then fixed, at the expiration of which he is again beaten if he have not suc- ceeded ; and he is sometimes subjected to several of these punishments. For this reason, the ti pau, particularly those in large cities, take care to be well acquainted with all thieves by profes- sion, who, it is said, share their spoils with them, and thus secure immunity in such cases as are not brought by the sufferers to the notice of the magistrate. But when this latter takes up any case seriously, the ti pau, as a matter of course, sacrifices his friends. This connection of the ti pau with the thieves accounts for their being NOTE X. 119 able to recover stolen property to a degree that would otherwise be quite astonishing. In grave cases of robbery or murder, he is not held responsible for the discovery of the criminals, but he must report the cases as soon as they occur to the mandarins. Should it, however, be proved that a ti pau was aware of the existence of felons, as such, in his quarter, he is liable to punishment. He is, in short, the chief informing officer- of the quarter to which his authority extends, being bound to inform against all criminals and sus- picious persons; as, for instance, against tra- vellers who pass the night in his quarter, hav- ing with them children apparently kidnapped, &c. &c. He hires the watchmen and people who keep guard at the gates, to be seen at the end of every Chinese street, and which are regularly closed at night. Exclusive of the presents from thieves, noticed above, his emoluments consist of donations made at certain periods of the year by the householders of his quarter, and fees paid him on affixing his stamp to petitions. In cities, too, he derives no small profit from the gambling houses, the ex- istence of which he connives at in common with the people of the yamun. When the post of a ti pau becomes vacant, either 120 NOTE X. from death or superannuation, the householders of the quarter meet in a temple to select a person to fill the vacancy. Previously, they generally post notices that a ti pau is wanted for such and such a locality, and that candidates must offer themselves at the election, M'hich is to take place on a certain specified day. As is usual, whenever large assemljlies have the decision, the selection is made virtually beforehand, by a few of the more influential. To these influential individuals, therefore, the candidates apply first. After a person has been selected, the house- holders send in a report, signed by all, to the magistrate within whose immediate jurisdiction the place lies, i. *e. to the township magistrate if it be in the country, and the district magistrate if it be in a city. The magistrate invariably confirms the selection, and formally delivers over to the new ti pau the chio, the wooden seal or stamp held by his predecessor. The station of a ti pau in society is below that of a respectable tradesman or a master mechanic, though his influence be more generally felt. The pai t6u, and the chia tou, whose establish- ment, the former over every ten families, the latter over every hundred families, is provided for in the Penal Code, chapter 20, section 5, clause o, do not now seem to exist except in that work ;* * As far as regards Kwang-tung at least. The institu- NOTE X. 121 but the ti pau seems to have originally been the pan chang or overseer of one thousand families, mentioned in the clause just referred to. At all events he is now found in all parts of China, his title appearing frequently in the Pekin Gazette, in connection with cases reported from all the different provinces, and it has existed for a long time back. The tai shu are half official personages some- what resembling our attorneys, their business being the same in its nature. But it would seem that they are not recognized by the general government ; and it is certain that in looking ^Tver the Chinese codes I have never seen them noticed. The great convenience, nay, the absolute necessity where there is much business, of having attached to courts of law some persons to act for litigants acquainted with the forms of business, and able to free documents intended to be pre- sented there from irrelevant matter, has, however, been the cause of the establishment in practice of the tai shu ; and as each mandarin on assuming office holds an examination of persons desirous of acting in this capacity at his yamun, they may be said to have been formally admitted by the courts at which they practise. tion of pai tou and chia tou resembles that of hcadborough and high constable of King Alfred the Great. 122 NOTE X. After the examination just alluded to, the man- darin gives into the custody of such as he may select, the wooden stamps held by the tai shu, and which are delivered every time the mandarin- ship becomes vacant. Usually the same indi- viduals who acted in this capacity before, are again selected, but this is not always the case; hence an insecurity of the post, which, joined to the circumstance of its not being recognized by the general government, renders the calling a comparatively much less respectable one, than the profession of attorney in England. The tai shu pastes up a large red card (equi- valent to our brass plates) at his door, stating his occupation, and the name of the yamun at which he practises. He generally lives in the neigh- bourhood of the latter. His business, strictly speaking, is confined to the putting into a proper form his client's accusation or defence ; which he generally demands from him in writing, and retains as a proof that he himself has not made additions to the statements contained in it. It is said, however, that the tai shu sometimes invent stories for their clients when their cases are not strong, and also give them such advice, as " You should contrive to provoke your opponent to give you a beating, &c. &c." If it comes out, though, that they have done this, the mandarin will order their stamps to be taken from them. NOTE X. 123 Their incomes are derived from fees paid by their clients for the documents they prepare, or for affixing an impression of their stamp to such as are presented to them ready drawn up ; for without an impression of a tai shu's stamp, no accusations or petitions are formally received at the yamun. The tai shu hand in the papers of their clients to the yamun, and disburse for them the various customary but illegal fees. 124 NOTE XL ON THE CAUSE OF THE LONG DURATION OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. The long duration of the Chinese empire is solely and altogether owing to the operation of a prin- ciple, which the policy of every successive dynasty has practically maintained in a greater or less degree, viz. tJiat good government consists in the advancement of men of talent and merit only, to the rank and power conferred by official posts. The existence of a system of examinations, based on this principle, is well known to every educated European ; and it is literally impossible to conceive that the various writers on China, from the Jesuit missionaries who lived upwards of 150 years ago, to the sinologues of the present day, can have failed to perceive the effects of this institution ; — effects so obvious, and so distinctly pointed out by Chinese writers, as to require no penetration to discover them. Yet, strange to say, all those whose works I have been enabled to peruse seem to attribute tlie long duration and stability of the Chinese empire, chiefly to NOTE xr. 125 the influence of the doctrine of filial piety, as in- culcated by the Chinese sages.* Now this doctrine, I maintain, does nothing as a fundamental cause * " The vital and universally operating principle of the Chinese government is the duty of submission to parental authority, whether vested in the parents themselves or in their representatives ; and vv'hich, although usually described under the pleasing appellation of filial piety, is much more properly to be considered as a general rule of action than as the expression of any particular sentiment of affection. It may easily be traced even in the earliest of their records ; it is inculcated with the greatest force in the writings of the first of their philosophers and legislators ; it has survived each successive dynasty, and all the various changes and revolutions which the state has undergone ; and it continues to this day powerfully enforced, both by positive laws and by public opinion. *' A government, constituted upon the basis of parental au- thority, thus highly estimated and extensively applied, has cer- tainly the advantage of being directly sanctioned by the immutable and ever- operating laws of nature, and must thereby acquire a degree of firmness and durability to which governments, founded on the fortuitous superiority of particu- lar individuals, either in strength or abilities, and continued only through the hereditary influence of particular families, can never be expected to attain. Parental authority and preroga- tive seem to be obviously the most respectable of titles, and parental regard and affection the most amiable of characters, with which sovereign or magisterial power can be invested, and are those under which, it is natural to suppose, it may most easily be perpetuated. " By such principles, the Chinese have been distinguished ever since their first existence as a nation ; by such ties, the vast and increasing population of China is still united as one people, subject to one supreme government, and uniform in 126 NOTE XL to uphold the unity and stability of the Chinese empire; its influence, great though it undoubtedly be, could not of itself resist the existing causes of dismemberment for a single generation ; and even for that influence, for all that is peculiar in the practical hold it possesses on the minds of the Chinese people, it is indebted to the principle referred to above, as the sole cause of the long duration of the empire. Against so many high authorities, however, mere assertions will have little weight ; I, there- fore, subjoin some remarks, which it is hoped will leave no doubt on the mind of the reader in connection with this subject. I first proceed to show by extracts from the Chinese classics, their most ancient works, that the principle to which I have referred, was re- cognized by the Chinese government many cen- turies before the Christian era ; and by extracts from papers of writers, who either sat on the throne, or held high government posts since the days of Confucius and his disciples ; that it has, during the succeeding periods, been constantly more or less acted upon, and moreover^ looked upon its habits, manners, and language. In this state, in spite of every internal and external convulsion, it may possibly very long continue." (Staunton's Preface to his translation of the " Penal Code.") NOTE XI. 127 by them as fo^nning in its operation the principal support of government * The following was said in a conversation which took place between the Emperor Shun and his successor Yu. Yu commenced to reign B.C 2205. " When a king, says Yu, knows how difficult it is to be a good king, and when a subject knows how much it costs to fulfil all his duties faithfully, the government is perfect, and the people make a swift progress in the ways of vir- tue. That is certain, replied the Emperor ; and I love to be discoursed with in this manner. Truths so well grounded, ought never to be con- cealed. Let all wise men be distinguished, and not one of them suffered to remain in oblivion ; then all the kingdoms of the world will enjoy a profound peace. But to rest entirely upon the sentiments of wise men, — to prefer them to his own ; to treat orphans with kindness ; and never to reject the suit of the poor, are perfections only to be found in a very wise king." The following was addressed to the Emperor Ching tang, who commenced to reign B.C. 1783. * The extracts are all taken from translations contained in Du Halde, or from CoUie's translation of the Four Books. Those from the latter work have in most instances been compared with the original; but I have not been able to obtain the originals of the papers translated in Du Halde. The dates I have taken from original Chinese chronologies. 128 NOTE XT. He was the founder of a dynasty, and the Ke^ alluded to was the last of the house of Hea. "You know that the cruel Kee had likewise some wise men about his person, but most of his counsellors were as worthless as himself. You are looked upon as a very wise prince, and far removed from all base pleasures, as being en- tirely disinterested, bestowing posts only upon the virtuous, and always proportioning the reward to the merit One must have no scruple to be a king, but he must labour to render himself a good king.* With this view distinguish the wise and assist the worthy." The following was addressed to the successor of Ching tang, Tae kea, who commenced to reign B.C. 1753. " Heir of Ching tang ! the empire you possess is but new ; let your virtue be new likewise. Endeavour, by incessantly reforming yourself, that there may be no difference between the first and the last day of your reign. Raise none to posts, but such as have wisdom and talents. But as for your first minister, he ought to be a person accomplished in all respects." The Emperor Woo ting, who commenced to reign B.C. 1324, after having sent over the whole * Ching tang was almost forced by the nation to dethrone Kee, and reign in his stead. NOTK XI. 129 empire to find a good minister, at last found one, who, in the conversation that took place between them, gave him the following advice : — "Shame can only come to kings by their issuing forth unjust orders : and the rebellions of the people only proceed from their princes making war upon too slight grounds. Bestow no reward but upon merit. Clothes had better be locked up in a chest, than given away without any reason. Before you punish any one, examine yourself well. A king who perfectly fulfils these four points is truly enlightened, and every thing conspires to render him happy. The repose or the distraction of your empire depends upon those whom you place in posts. Give not, there- fore, the smallest employments away in complai- sance to a subject, whom you know is incapable to bear it ; and never trust any thing of importance to a bad man, however great his qualifications may be." The following are the opinions and injunctions of Confucius on this subject, as recorded in the Four Books. He was born B. C. 551. " Good government depends on obtaining proper men Justice is what is right in the nature of things ; its highest exercise is to honour men of virtue and talents." "Gae Kung asked how he might secure the submission of the people? Confucius replied, K 130 NOtE XI. Promote the upright, and put down the vicious, and the people will obey."* " Chung kung, when first minister to Ke she, asked respecting government. Confucius said, In the first place, have suitable officers under you ; pardon small offences ; and promote men of virtue and talents." " Confucius said, Chwang wan chung was a secret robber of office. He knew that Lew-Hea- Hwuy was a man of eminent talents and virtue, and yet did not promote him to a place equal to his own." The following are the opinions of Mencius, also recorded in the Four Books. He is mentioned in the chronology as having gone from his native principality, Tsoo, to that of Wei, B. C. 336. "Mencius says, The virtuous have glory, the vicious disgrace. To hate disgrace, and yet prac- tise vice, is like hating dampness, and yet dwelling in a low room. If a prince hate it (disgrace), then, there is nothing he can do better than to honour virtue and respect the learned." " When the virtuous occupy official stations, and men of talents are in office, then, when the * In perusing these extracts, the reader would do well to remember the following passage : — aSic [oU id^ cine fo long bett?it)rte Uebcrjeugung aufgebcn/ ia^ ®eifl unb Satent bci feinem setbcrbtf n ^erjcn n)ot)ncn ? . . . . Sjl e§ woglidf) ? ^6) bcgreifc eg nid)t — ©o gefunbe Segriffe/ fo oicl ®eifl bci einem fo trcggcTOorfcnen (St)aractfr. — ((S>d)iUcr'6 ^arafit.) NOTE XI. 131 members of government have leisure, they will illustrate the laws, so that even an extensive country will fear and respect them." Speaking of celebrated Emperors of former times, he says, " When they entered a province, if the lands were well cultivated and the fields in good order — the aged nourished, superiors respected, and men of virtue and talents in official situations — they rewarded the princes by a grant of land." " Mencius says, When men of virtue and talents are not confided in, the country is empty (of men)." The above extracts are all taken from old works, that to this day constitute to a Chinese the highest authorities ; the following will serve to show what practical influence they have had in a succession of subsequent ages. The Emperor Wan te, who ascended the throne B.C. 179, published a declaration in which he says : — " The great Yu was at extraordinary pains to procure virtuous and able persons to assist him in governing wisely. The orders he published for this effect w^ere not only published \\dthin th6 bounds of the empire, but were knovni a great way beyond them ; and we may say, they were unknown only to countries inaccessible to ships, to chariots, and to men. Every one, both far and near, esteemed it both a pleasure and a duty K 2 J 132 NOTE XI. to communicate to him their knowledge ; by these means, this great prince was never seen to take one wrong step, and became the founder of a • long and flourishing dynasty. Kaou te, in later times, has taken the same precautions in founding our dynasty. After he had delivered the empire from its calamities, his first care was, as much as he could, to furnish himself with men of merit. All such he put in posts, and recommended nothing so strongly to them, as to help him to govern aright. Aided by the powerful protection of providence (teen), and the fortune of his family, and peaceably possessing his large king- dom, he extended the effects of his goodness even to neighbouring people. From him, you know it, the empire devolves on me. You know, likewise (for I have often told you so myself), that I have neither virtue nor qualifications suflficient for the weight of government. This engages me to publish the present declaration, to enjoin all who are in posts in my empire, from the prince to the simple magistrate, to enquire carefully after persons of merit for my service. -^ Such, for instance, as know the world perfectly well ; others who have a thorough understanding of all affairs relating to the state ; but above all, such as have resolution and honesty enough to inform me freely of what they think amiss in my ,/ conduct. ' NOTE XL 133 The Emperor Tae tsung, of the Tang dynasty, who ascended the throne A.D. 627, after com- mentino- on the cause of the ruin of several o former dynasties, and attributing it to the blindness of the Emperors, "both to their duties and to their defects," goes on to say, " It is in order to shun this blindness, that after having seen, by reading history, what are the principles of good government, and what are the springs of commotions, of all these I compose a mirror for myself, in which I may behold my faults, in order to endeavour to amend them. The most essential character of good government is, not to raise any to posts but men of merit and virtue. A prince who acts thus reigns happily; but there is nothing more dangerous and fatal for a state than a contrary conduct. Is a prince in any difficulty ? He never fails to consult his ministers, and his other great officers. If these are all understanding, zealous men, let the danger be ever so great, it seldom ends in his losing all." The following was addressed by Loo ke to the Emperor Tih tsung, who ascended the throne A.D. 780. " In short, to desire to govern well, and not to make it your principal study to gain the hearts of your subjects, is pursuing wrong measures : without this, never did any prince succeed. But what measures must be pursued, in order to gain 134 NOTE XL the hearts of the subjects ? You must study to court and search for men of merit; you must even make advances to them, in order to bring them over to your service. I say you must court and search for men of merit ; for if a prince acts in the same manner witli all the world indiffe- rently, men of merit will not come near him at all. Nothing then is more important for a prince, than justly to distinguish true merit." In a paper drawn up by the same Loo ke for the same Emperor Tih tsung, the latter is made to say : " The first principle of a wise government is, to honour virtue ; earnestly to search for men of virtue and merit, is the chief duty of a prince : These are maxims universally received in all ages." The following was addressed by Sze ma kwang to the Emperor Ying tsung, who ascended the throne A.D. 1064. " It is a common and a true saying, that in point of personal perfection, filial piety is the chief ^ of all virtues, and equity is the soul of govern- ment." After discussing the first point, he reasons at considerable length to demonstrate the second proposition. The following are some extracts : — " The great rule of sovereigns is, to reward vir- tue, and to punish vice ; to advance men of probity and merit, and to banish all who want both. Honours and posts, being the most precious trea- NOTE XL 135 sures of states, a prince ought not to distribute them to his subjects whose only merit is, that they agree with him in some particular notions." ****** " At present, there is a great mixture among the officers of your empire. There are amongst them men of virtue and merit, but they are mixed and confounded in the crowd. The good and the bad are upon a footing. This is a disorder infinitely prejudicial to the good of the state, and I would wish that your majesty would seriously apply to remedy it. The thing you must do for that effect, is as follows : Lay yourself out to know those thoroughly, whose virtue and capacity are greater than ordinary, and who are thereby most capable to answer the hopes of the public. Such as you know to be men of this kind, draw immediately out of the crowd, advancing them to the first posts ; and though they had formerly the unhap- piness to displease you, yet do not fail to promote them in proportion to their services. Act in the same manner with regard to punishments. * * * * * But, on the contrary, if your majesty, leading an idle life in your palace, and abandoning yourself to your pleasures, should devolve your authority on some one of your offi- cers ; if, without examining who has, or who has not, merit ; without distinguishing genuine virtue from vice artfully disguised ; or regarding any 136 NOTE XI. consequences, you put all indifferently into posts, the first who shall present : or, which is worse still, if making your inclinations or your resent- ments your rule, if you banish from you all those •/ who have formerly displeased you, and advance only those whom you have always favoured ; if you use the power of rewarding, only that you may gratify sycophants who have no merit, and who have done no service, and that of punishing, only that you may check zealous loyal subjects, ■■' whose uprightness is all their crime ; then every thing will soon rush to confusion, both at court and in the jjrovinces : there will be no more law, no more order, no more peace. Can any thing be more fatal both to the empire in general, and to your majesty in particular ? These are the reasons why I said that equity is the principal point of government, in the same manner as in personal ^ perfection filial piety is the first of all virtues." ' Sze ma kwang, the writer of the above, was no obscure scholar, envious of those in the pos- session of posts from which he found himself excluded. He held a high post under the Em- peror Jin tsung, the immediate predecessor of Ying tsung; under which latter sovereign, in the fourth year of his reign, he was created a member of the Hati lin college, and four years after, in the next following reign, he was made assistant minister. He was well acquainted with NOTE XI. 137 former times, having written one of the best his- torical works extant, and as he is still looked back to by the whole nation as a statesman of the first order, he may be considered a conclusive authority. Now, in the above paper, he distinctly places filial piety and strict equity in the conduct of the sovereign towards the people in juxtaposi- tion ; to the first he attributes good personal and domestic effects, which in China certainly do result from it ; but it is the latter alone which he makes to consist entirely in rewarding virtue and promoting talent, in punishing vice and degrading incapacity, that he esteems the basis and main- spring of good government. Upwards of three centuries before the time of Sze ma kwang, a system of examinations was established, with the sole view of gaining the talent of the country for the service of govern- ment. In A.D. 736, the vice-presidents of the Board of Rites received orders to make these examinations the object of their especial care ; and the system has been gradually extended as well as improved in its organization, up to the present moment, when, as I have frequently occasion to observe, a literary graduate, though poor, is much more respected, and really possesses a greater practical influence, than the rich but unlearned merchant or landed proprietor. Having now, as I think, fairly proved that the \^ \ / 138 NOTE XI. principle alluded to has from the earliest times been practically applied in China, and actually considered by those best able to judge, as of vital importance to the existence of the empire, I shall endeavour to show in what manner the application of this principle operates, to produce the effects ascribed to it. First then, the strict equity of the principle makes the untalented submit cheerfully to whatever is founded on it ; and as a certain path is open to every man of real talent, able de7nagogiies are rare. However much the heart of man may be ori- ginally inclined to evil, it will scarcely be denied that strict equity is somehow very congenial to his feelings, and even though he may himself be a suf- ferer by it, there is something in it that silences him the moment it is fully recognized as equity by his own mind. Now that kind of equity which consists in elevating the truly meritorious, is peculiarly pleasing to human beings, so much so, that they will endure from a person so elevated, much that would, coming from another, be resisted to the utmost of their power. In addition to this, even such persons as have been, from poverty or other circumstances, unable to procure an education, or whose want of capacity prevents them from acquiring knowledge, even these are interested in the impartial advancement of talent. If they be fathers, then their sons are making great NOTE XI. 139 progress at school, and will one day, it is hoped, raise themselves to high rank ; if they be child- less, then they have brothers or some near rela- tions, who either have attained or are rapidly advancing towards an honourable station. More- over, in a country where, as in China, this prin- ciple has been so long acted upon, nearly every man has had an ancestor in a post of greater or less rank, and whose honourable reputation in some measure descends to him. The practical application of this principle is, in fact, that " stake in the hedge" for all orders, which political econo- mists esteem so much, as interesting the people ^ in the preservation of the public tranquillity, and inspiring them with an attachment to their coun- try and its institutions. As to the second part of the proposition, I quote in illustration the following extracts from an address to the throne of the Chinese states- man, Soo shih, who was made minister in the first year of the reign of Che tsung, A.D. 1068. " One of the things which our ancient kings feared most, was, lest some of their subjects, losing courage, and despairing of success, should ^-^ entirely abandon the care of his honour and for- tune. These wise princes well knew that when it comes to that pass, they never stop half way in j wickedness, but hold on till they commonly be- come incorrigible. For which reason, one of 140 NOTE XI. their greatest cares was to act in such a manner as that their subjects, being always animated by fear and hope, should never be weary of doing good. With this view, having established different de- grees of distinction, and different posts, to which considerable appointments were annexed, they never bestowed them but upon deserving persons; but they never laid any man under an incapacity of enjoying them, and thereby, they animated every one to aspire to them. The road to these posts and honours was open to all their subjects ; and they who did not arrive at them, could not justly impute it to any thing but their omti dis- orders and weakness. Thus there was seen through all the orders of the state, not only a great ardour for well doing, but likewise an admirable constancy not to relax nor prevaricate." " But still what secret had our ancient princes to arrive at this ? It was as follows : being per- suaded that the son of a man of quality, when he degenerates, has nothing that can in reason set him above the level of the most common people, they had regard to nothing but to merit and capacity ; they were so determined in this, that be his birth what it would, without these two quali- fications, he never could propose to be advanced. Thereby, men of a high birth had a check put upon that licentiousness which is so natural to them, and they endeavour to support their rank ; NOTE XI. 141 thereby, the meanest who were conscious of virtue had a spur to excite them ; thereby, throughout all the empire a generous emulation, which produced admirable effects, increased every day. ! what just notions had these ancient princes! What I think still worse is, that those of a certain condition are either en- tirely precluded, or some bounds are assigned them, beyond which they cannot pass. The officers of the Chow and the Heen, when they are once divested of their posts, can never re- cover them. These then become people who, being reduced to despair, and who, having nothing further to hope for or to fear, grow capable of any thing, and do gi'eat mischief among the people. Such a one amongst them at the bottom is an honest man ; he has merit and capacity ; an un- lucky accident happens to him, for which he is broken.* Thenceforward no more employments to him, he is put under an everlasting incapacity, and is a man who, contrary to the maxims of our ancients, is rendered desperate, and who conse- quently is exposed to the temptation of being very wicked." That the well directed and energetic exertions * See the Note on " The Principal Defects of the Chinese Government," in which I have endeavoured to shew that the system of punishing mandarins for " accidents " is bad in the extreme. 142 NOTE XI. of men that will rise in one way or the other, by the unassisted powers of their own minds, have, among the nations of the west, been productive of the most beneficial, or the most ruinous effects, according as the governments under which such men existed, have made them friends or enemies, is a fact established beyond all doubt, by the history of every one of those numerous revolu- tions to which the Roman empire and its subse- quent divisions have been subjected. I will therefore only add, in illustration of this point, that the character of Butler, as depicted by Schiller, in his Piccolomini and Wallenstein's Tod, shows well the depth of feeling such minds are capable of, and the strength of their attach- ment to their hard-earned honours, as well as to the power from which they hope to attain greater; for here, as we know from many ex- amples in history, fiction does not exceed the reality. Butler was faithful to the Emperor Ferdinand, in whose armies he had gained his honours, until he was made to believe, not only that his onward course was barred, but that he had been scorned. Of this his answer to Count Terzky is sufficient proof: — S{)r treffet eincn %\xiixi Sauf^. ^ein larger, ^ein Serbinanb i|i'§, bem 3t)r @ud) ioerpfIid)tet, V NOTE XI. 143 S5utt(cr (crnfifjaft). Sd) hUti meine SSreu' n{d)t fei(, ©raf Sterjft), Unb troUf dndi) nid>t gerat^en fjaben, mir SSor cincm ^albcn :Sk SSreuc, ttierjig Saf)rc lang bewa^rt, SOSenn mir bcr ttJo{)lgefparte gute S^lame ©0 tioKe 9flad)e !auft im fed^^jigfiten ! — ©toft cni) an meine 9lebe nic^t, if)r ^crrn. Sud^ mag e§ gleid)t>icl fepn, wie if)r mid) ^abt, Unb werbet, {)off' ic^ felber, nid)t erwartcn, £)af euer (Spiel mein grabeS Urt{)eil frummt — 2)af 2SanfeIfinn unb fd)neU bewegtc§ S5Iut, 9lod) Ieid)te Urfad)' fonj! ben alten ^ann SSom tanggewo^nten ©f)renpfabe treibt. How he intended to have supported Wallen- stein, after he fancied himself unjustly treated by the emperor, and his determination to revenge himself on the latter, may be seen from the above, and is still more apparent from the following : — aSuttlcr. ^it 2(nem, wa^ id) i)ah\ bin id) ber Sure : Sflic^t SJidnner biof , aud) @elb bcbarf ber %hx^* Sc^ 'i)ah' in feinem 25ienjl mir voa^ crworben, 144 NOTE XI. ^